Teaching Prejudice Reduction in High School Students, School and the Research Paper

Teaching Prejudice Reduction in High School Students, School and the Community - Research Paper Example Gordon Allport identified prejudice as a feeling, positive or harsh, towards an individual or thing, prior to, or not derived from, real experience (Allport 2). This paper will research on ways one would go about teaching prejudice reduction in high school students, school and community. Prejudicial beliefs and attitudes challenge values of social justice in a moderate democracy. Prejudice in learning institutions is troubling because they are public areas in which learners study to construct and negotiate knowledge of disparities. When prejudicial attitudes go uninspected in learning institutions, students are not granted the chance to disassemble prejudicial knowledge (Bandura 34). The effect of prejudicial actions on students is broad, extending from lower school performance to deprived mental and physical health. For instance, recent research illustrated that the Asian Pacific American learners encounter prejudicial attitudes regarding expectations of high academic achievement. A single Asian Pacific American student is anticipated to shine in academics based upon combined group data in spite of his or her individual abilities or needs (Cohen 56). These prejudices coalesce with family prospects bring out high levels of stress among learners. As a result, some Asian Pacific American scholars report serious misery and suicidal feelings than their European and American counterparts. The lessening of prejudice is essential for vigorous and equitable learning surroundings that promote a student’s physical, academic and mental health (Cohen 56). Creating awareness of the effects of prejudice to high schools students, schools and the community at large is a vital key of reducing prejudice. This is because as students observe alternate stories of different groups, they start the deconstruction of hegemonic typical stories that effect social disparity. For instance, rather than having monolingual voice in subjects like history, learners are capable of listeni ng to several voices that explain the history from a variety of views. Learners develop the skill to evaluate discrepancies that exist to effect inequalities by studying several views of history. Transformative information becomes a possible source for exceptional change by enlightening and communicating the variations between the democratic principles in a society plus its practices. The transformation of information entails raising diverse queries and reexamining what is the official information. The official information explains the attitude of typical stories to the status of being natural, normal or truth. Because official information is often effected by a school’s program, a critical assessment of the curriculum is a vital aspect of multicultural education. This assessment is essential for students to deconstruct prejudicial information and establish an appreciation of diverse cultures. The mass media play a pivotal responsibility in enlightening the reduction of preju dice in the society. The mass media assists in enlightening the society about the effects of prejudice. Educators can also assist students to study the way in which diverse social groups are exposed in mass media. Recent research has found that, though, the media often promotes the growth of prejudicial attitudes because it occasionally gives a wider understanding of different perspectives. Finally, prejudiced actions like tracking should be expelled as a means of reducing prejudice (Cortes 125). Researchers have called for awareness

Language and Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Language and Literacy - Essay Example There seems to be no agreement as to when language was first used by humans. Some estimates date as far back as two million years ago, during the time of Homo habilis, while others date as recent as forty thousand (40,000) years ago, during the time of Cro-Magnon man. What is unarguably clear, however, is that language development is a continuous process affected by several social factors and that most contemporary human languages are a blend of several primitive ones. One main feature of human language is arbitrariness of symbols and sounds. A symbol or sound only needs to be attached to a particular concept or meaning, or even applied to the rules of grammar and becomes a part of the language. For instance, while the word 'nada' is conceptualised to mean nothing in the Spanish language, for Croatian speakers, it means 'hope' (Hudson, 2000). Through the course of this essay, I shall attempt a discourse of the various social factors that come into play in language, within the context of literacy development. In this regard, three students currently undertaking a basic skills "Brush Up Your English" course at Halton College will be used as case studies. After a brief analysis of what has been said and researched on the impact of social factors on language development, I will give a brief account of the backgrounds of the three students in this group, before examining how the duo of region/geography and gender (two main social factors) have affected language development and literacy in these students. Language and Social Factors Sociolinguistics are social sciences that consider the interactions between languages and society as a whole. It is an established body of knowledge that studies language on a social basis. Thus, it involves an interest in interaction, variability and diversity in language (Deumert, 2005). Or as described by Trask (1999), it is "the study of variation in language, or more precisely, the variation within speech communities." (Trask, 1999, p.283). This field of interest only dates back to the 1950s, this perhaps explain why most of the social influences on language development are still not fully comprehended. Within the Sociolinguistics school, there are two broad approaches to language variation; prescriptivism and descriptivism. Prescriptivists tend to be found among the ranks of language educators and journalists, and not in the actual academic discipline of linguistics. They hold clear notions of what is right and wrong and tend to advocate what they consider as 'correct' use of language according to set rules (Hudson, 2000). Describing this school of thought, Thorne (1997) states that "it is associated with formal written and spoken language and is used in dictionaries, grammar books and language handbooks." (p.92). To further buttress this point, Thorne (1997) cited the example of the original version of the National Curriculum for schools' emphasis on Standard English (SE) being taught as "the language of wide social communication and was generally required in formal contexts" (p.138). Descriptivists, on the other hand, do not accept the prescriptivists' notion of "incorrect usage." They prefer to describe such variance as 'non-standard'. Thus, they see Standard English as "only one variety among manylinguistically speaking it can not legitimately be

Economic, Health, and Demographic data of United States and China Research Paper

Economic, Health, and Demographic data of United States and China - Research Paper Example These include pollution, particularly in some of the most densely populated areas, particularly as a reliance on automobiles (as seen in the Western world) and other technologies continues to grow alongside the economy (Yueh, 2010). Additionally, there is a high level of income poverty in China, which could pose a challenge as nationals may not have the spending power to continue to increase the strength of the internal markets (Yueh, 2010). It has also been noted that recent years have seen a decrease in the speed of Chinese economic growth, which may make it difficult to overtake the U.S. in terms of GDP (Yueh, 2010), which may be linked to the global economic downturn or one of the factors outlined above. United States Currently, the U.S. has the world’s largest economy for a nation. There are several reasons for the strength of the U.S. economy. One of these is that it has a high level of natural resources, which can therefore be exported for profit (Wallace, 2010). Additi onally, there is a strong infrastructure in place which allows high productivity, good services and general well-being (Wallace, 2010). The U.S. is also highly involved in international trading, particularly with the EU, China and Japan (Wallace, 2010). There are weaknesses, however, which may continue to cause problems for the U.S. economy. One of these is the current unemployment rate, which is far exceeding historic rates and may continue to grow (Wallace, 2010). Additionally, as the largest economic force, the U.S. was hit particularly hard by the 2007-2008 economic downturn, causing a drop in GDP and having an additional effect on productivity and employment within the country (Wallace, 2010). Additionally, a high reliance on natural resources like oil and gas may cause problems in the future, as these are evidently limited in their capacity to provide financial stability due to their finiteness (Wallace, 2010). Health China China has a fairly strong health profile, with an ave rage age at mortality at 74 years old, and infant mortality at an all-time low. There are still a number of health problems in mainland China, however. One of these is smoking-related illnesses, with about 350 million people currently smoking and no major government interest in preventing smoking uptake (WHO, 2010). Additionally, there are a number of women’s health and sexual health problems which are associated with a lower level of acceptance of sex education and contraception advice in China (WHO, 2010). Additionally, there is a high level of malnutrition still present in China, mostly affecting those who live in rural areas (WHO, 2010). This brings the mortality rate up, and can lead to further health problems. However, this issue of malnutrition is being tackled by the Chinese government and aims to be eradicated at some point in the near future (Bloom et al, 2004), which may improve the overall health profile of the People’s Democratic Republic of China further and bring it more in line with that of Western countries. Additionally, China has an extremely affordable healthcare system, whereby the annual cost is around $7 and only a small proportion of this is paid by the patient, which means that there may be significant increases in China’s health after the system has been in place a few years longer (Bloom et al, 2004). United States The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.5, which is higher than China but is much lower than that of other industrialized

Language and Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Language and Literacy - Essay Example There seems to be no agreement as to when language was first used by humans. Some estimates date as far back as two million years ago, during the time of Homo habilis, while others date as recent as forty thousand (40,000) years ago, during the time of Cro-Magnon man. What is unarguably clear, however, is that language development is a continuous process affected by several social factors and that most contemporary human languages are a blend of several primitive ones. One main feature of human language is arbitrariness of symbols and sounds. A symbol or sound only needs to be attached to a particular concept or meaning, or even applied to the rules of grammar and becomes a part of the language. For instance, while the word 'nada' is conceptualised to mean nothing in the Spanish language, for Croatian speakers, it means 'hope' (Hudson, 2000). Through the course of this essay, I shall attempt a discourse of the various social factors that come into play in language, within the context of literacy development. In this regard, three students currently undertaking a basic skills "Brush Up Your English" course at Halton College will be used as case studies. After a brief analysis of what has been said and researched on the impact of social factors on language development, I will give a brief account of the backgrounds of the three students in this group, before examining how the duo of region/geography and gender (two main social factors) have affected language development and literacy in these students. Language and Social Factors Sociolinguistics are social sciences that consider the interactions between languages and society as a whole. It is an established body of knowledge that studies language on a social basis. Thus, it involves an interest in interaction, variability and diversity in language (Deumert, 2005). Or as described by Trask (1999), it is "the study of variation in language, or more precisely, the variation within speech communities." (Trask, 1999, p.283). This field of interest only dates back to the 1950s, this perhaps explain why most of the social influences on language development are still not fully comprehended. Within the Sociolinguistics school, there are two broad approaches to language variation; prescriptivism and descriptivism. Prescriptivists tend to be found among the ranks of language educators and journalists, and not in the actual academic discipline of linguistics. They hold clear notions of what is right and wrong and tend to advocate what they consider as 'correct' use of language according to set rules (Hudson, 2000). Describing this school of thought, Thorne (1997) states that "it is associated with formal written and spoken language and is used in dictionaries, grammar books and language handbooks." (p.92). To further buttress this point, Thorne (1997) cited the example of the original version of the National Curriculum for schools' emphasis on Standard English (SE) being taught as "the language of wide social communication and was generally required in formal contexts" (p.138). Descriptivists, on the other hand, do not accept the prescriptivists' notion of "incorrect usage." They prefer to describe such variance as 'non-standard'. Thus, they see Standard English as "only one variety among manylinguistically speaking it can not legitimately be

Homework 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Homework 2 - Essay Example It can as well be noticed in the records that Saudi Arabia had the highest percentage of contribution while Comoros had the lowest percentage of contribution to the sum total of the Gross Domestic Product of the 22 Arab League members (Vijay 2012). The GDP was as well compared with that of the various countries. The first country that was compared with that of the 22 Arab League members was United Kingdom. From the records, it was clearly seen that in the year 2012, the GDP of the country was 2440 billion US dollars. This was slightly higher than that of the 22 countries in question. It was later followed by Germany that had a GDP of 3600.8 billion US dollars in the same financial year, 2012 (Vijay 2012). The GDP of France and U.S were the highest compared to all the computed GDP of the other countries. In the year 2012, the GDP of France was found to be 2.613 trillion US dollars. This was many times the GDP of the 22 Arab countries in hand. The leading country in terms of the GDP was US that had a GDP amounting to 15.68 trillion US dollars (Vijay

Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from Essay Example for Free

Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from Essay I have always had a different idea of what groupthink really means, to me I thought of it as a bad idea from someone amongst a group of people that had not been voiced seemingly because the person having this thought lacks confidence or backing. More like trying to proof to your business partners that an idea of using an outdated tactic to target a young crowd is not the best idea In its own definition Wikipedia(2013) describes groupthink as a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision- making outcome, whereas it can also be viewed as the practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. All different versions of what it is but also giving a detailed well round idea and description. Good examples of groupthink situations as studied by Janis in the book â€Å"fiascoes† are such as the United States government failure to anticipate the Pearl Harbor attacks, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the escalation of Vietnam War, and the ill-fated hostage rescue in Iran (Janis,1972) Some recent past examples of groupthink would be in the hastened decision making of the Bush administration and Congress to pursue an invasion of Iraq based on a policy of â€Å"preemptive use of military force against terrorists and rogue nations.† It is definitely an undeniable fact that groupthink has been a large part of decision making in the United States government for a long time. As we speak, arguably the best current example of groupthink that the American government is facing is the Obama Care. This is so because some might see it as a majority of democrat leaders refusing to see or identify with different ideas that are outside theirs, thus leading to what psychologist consider as a mental deficiency commonly known as groupthink. â€Å"Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups† (Janis, 1972). I found it rather interesting reading the article by the net advisor to bring out reasons as to why the Obama care was created under the influence of groupthink. The net advisor article reads â€Å"the patient protection and affordable care act or â€Å"Obama Care† was passed by majority of the then Democratic House. The house leadership under Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to allow the US senate of any party to even consider debating, let alone voting on Obama care. The house by passed the entire U.S. senate by using a controversial self-executing rule or â€Å"deem and pass† procedure then quickly sent it to president Obama to sign†(Net advisor). This brings out the question, what if the Democratic Party had not made such an irrational decision to pass the Obama Care, would it have made any difference in the case of the government shutdown. Since the main reason that led to most of the republican members to oppose raising the debt ceiling that would have prevented the government from shutting down was primarily a disagreement in the Obama care. This is arguable in both sides since the republican party might also have made a groupthink decision to prevent the Obama care under any circumstances, leading to a government shutdown that has dented the government debt even more, ironically an issue that they (republican party) are trying to avoid with the Obama care. The united states is established in two well defined parties and many are the times that the conflicting views from each party, makes it harder to make any decisions or view the others opinion. Hopefully in the future the decisions from our leaders can be viewed in a more universal dimension, thus the administrators of our president can challenge each other to eliminate groupthink. References Janis, I (1972, Victims of groupthink (1st edition ed) retrieved from http:// leadership theory 3450.blogspot.com Obama care is an example of Groupthink gone wrong. Retrieved from http://netadvisor.org/2013/09/26. Definition of Groupthink. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

Ebook Security With Adobe Adapt DRM

Ebook Security With Adobe Adapt DRM Abstract EBooks can be secured in various ways dependant on device or format. The report focuses on the encryption method used by Adobe in their Adept DRM used to secure EPUB and PDF formats. The report describes what a DRM is and its uses and purposes within the industry, how Adobe have adapted this for their purpose, the RSA and AES encryptions used, along with any advancements and vulnerabilities with the process. Recommendations are then given on how the process could be improved and conclusions drawn on the overall effectiveness of the system. Table of Contents 2. Literature review 2.1 What is DRM 2.2 RSA with PKCS#1 v1.5 padding 2.2.1 PKCS #1 2.2.2 RSA 2.2.2.1 GENERATE A PUBLIC KEY AND PRIVATE KEY 2.2.3 Padding 2.3 AES in CBC mode with a random generated IV 4. Vulnerabilities Security Known attacks Side-channel attacks NIST/CSEC validation Test vectors 5. Recommendations 6. Conclusion 7. References 2. Literature review 2.1 What is DRM? Digital Rights Management or DRMs restrict the ability to print, modify, lend or use the extended features of purchased digital media specifically EBooks. Restriction levels are dependent on publishers, distributors, device and even time. These restrictions are also used to limit the number of E-Readers a book can be viewed on and time restrictions on features can be added. DRMs come in different forms, at present there are eight main types, excluding obscure formats or those used in non-English countries, and a large proportion of these are incompatible with each other. While there is no de-facto standard, Adobe DRM is the most prolific, although Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks use proprietary DRMs. The Adobe ADEPT DRM system has five key parts: Adobe Content server is responsible for the storage and management of EBooks. Adobe Activation Server is responsible for storing and tracking Adobe IDs and authorised devices. Adobe Content Server Message (ACSM) file carries the details of the book including name, synopsis and location. Adobe ID is the unique identification that is associated with the user. This is required to unlock the ACSM. Adobe Reader Software Development Kit (SDK) is used for distributers to create their own mobile reading apps. (Jenny Ellis and Kyle Cook (2013)) The following process is used when a purchased EBook with an Adobe Adept DRM is opened with Adobe Digital Editions. 1. A unique user key is created for the user account encrypted with RSA with PKCS#1 v1.5 padding by the E-Reader software. The account information not the device is used to create the key therefore allowing an EBook with DRM to be read on various devices. This is required to open the ACSM file. 2. Once an EBook is purchased a key for decryption known as the book key or ACSM is sent to the user. This book key is encrypted by the distributor using the unique user key created in step one. The book encryption is AES with Cipher Block Chaining with an Initialization vector that is randomly generated. 3.T he E-Reader software uses the user key to decrypt the book key and subsequently the book key is used to decrypt the EBook and allow access to the device or software. Copying is prevented by requiring the user key to decrypt the book key as it is not stored in a decrypted form on the device or software. To enable reading on another device it requires authorisation, once complete the user key is sent and the device is registered allowing EBook to be read on the newly enabled device. (Xiao Zhang 201) Image 01: The DRM Process 2.2 RSA with PKCS#1 v1.5 padding RSA with Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) #1 and padding is used to encrypt the unique user account key, below is a description of how each part works to protect the user identification and eBook. 2.2.1 PKCS #1 PKCS #1 is the first standard of mathematical recommendations and properties for the correct implementation of RSA public and private keys. The key pairs are based on a modulus of two distinct large prime numbers. (Weisstein 2015) 2.2.2 RSA Image 02: How RSA Encryption Works (Page Don 2010) In 1977 Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman first described RSA public key or asymmetric cryptography. RSA uses two keys, one public one private that are mathematically linked. As the name suggests public keys can be shared with anyone whereas the private key must be kept secure. Either key can be used to encrypt the data and the opposite key is used to decrypt. RSA if implemented correctly can provide confidentiality, integrity and non-reputability of electronic communications and data storage. (Rouse 2014) 2.2.2.1 Generating Public and Private Keys The first step to generating the public and private keys is two prime numbers. A prime number is a number greater 1 and is only divisible by 1 or itself. Examples of prime numbers are: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41. These two prime numbers p and q are multiplied together to give n and multiplied together minus one to give t. For Example: p = 29q= 31 n = p * q = 29 * 31 ∠´ n = 899 t = ( p -1 ) * ( q 1) = ( 29 1 ) * ( 31 1 ) ∠´ t = 840 Another prime number e is required, although e needs to be a relative prime to t, therefore t cannot be divisible by e. Since t = 840, e cannot be 2, 3, 5 or 7 ∠´ e can be 11, 13, 17 etc. 11 was selected as it was the first relative prime to t. ∠´ e = 11. The last figure required for the calculations is d. The formula used to ascertain d is: d * e = 1 mod t ∠´ (d * 11) / 840 will result in the remainder of 1. To find d the inverse of e mod t is required and is often computed using the Extended Euclidean Algorithm. ∠´ ( 611* 11) / 840 = 8 r 1 ∠´ d = 611. The public key is n and e ∠´ 899 and 11. The private key is n and d ∠´ 899 and 611. (Page Don 2010) 2.3 AES in CBC mode with a random generated IV AES with Cipher Block Chaining with an Initialization vector that is randomly generated is used to encrypt the book key or ACSM, below is a description of how each part works to protect the eBook to prevent unauthorised use. 3. Vulnerabilities On paper, this encryption scheme ensures a strong DRM mechanism. However, it was soon observed that the software used to read ePubs and PDFs, Adobe Digital Editions, uses a very weak obfuscation to hide the per-user key. An attack that uses reverse-engineering on the software reveals a rather easy method of retrieving the per-user key from the software and use it to decrypt other Adept encrypted PDF or ePub file. Newer versions of the Adobe Digital Editions use more cryptic ways of hiding the per-user key, but attacks still exist to retrieve it from the registry 4. Recommendations Adobe Digital Editions, uses a very weak obfuscation to hide the per-user key. An attack that uses reverse-engineering on the software reveals a rather easy method of retrieving the per-user key from the software and use it to decrypt other Adept encrypted PDF or ePub file. Newer versions of the Adobe Digital Editions use more cryptic ways of hiding the per-user key, but attacks still exist to retrieve it from the registry  for better useable security and privacy Write with  the  knowledge  you have gained during  the  lectures  and  also  sensible  intuition  about improvements that can be made to ensure better security and privacy of all involved state holders. à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ §Ã‚  You are  not  asked to  provide  workable solutions there should be no limit  to your imagination; however with  sensible intuition. You can discuss systems, frameworks, protocols, tools, best practices, government  regulations etc. 5. Conclusion highlight important facts and findings. 6. References http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2013/building-a-community-of-readers-social-reading-and-an-aggregated-ebook-reading-app-for-libraries/ http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse571-11/ftp/drm/#sec2.3.1 E-Book Security and Preventing Theft and Unauthorised Editing http://inkwelleditorial.com/prevent-ebook-theft http://ebookforum.info/how-can-i-stop-theft-of-my-ebook/ http://www.star-force.com/press/articles/?news=2562 DRM http://ebookarchitects.com/learn-about-ebooks/drm/ https://www.editionguard.com/