Evaluate the effectiveness of the Strengths and Difficulties Essay

Evaluate the effectiveness of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for measuring emotional andor behavioural difficulties in children or adolescents - Essay Example This paper is going to account for a survey conducted on the basis of particular objectives. The SDQ acts a psychometric tool to assess multifaceted academic as well as nonacademic parameters for defining the self. (Rush et al., p. 370) As a behavioural screening instrument, the SDQ has earned itself an international status by virtue of its effectiveness. Extensive research studies and surveys are carried out prior to an SDQ so that all probable measuring constructs are utilised to their fullest potential. The calculative scales include 1) Emotional symptoms, 2) Conduct problems, 3) Hyperactivity / Inattention, 4) Peer problems and 5) Prosocial behaviour. Generally all the 5 measuring components are taken into consideration for a thorough and result-oriented investigation. (Goodman, 1997) Departing from the broader context of SDQs, this assignment zooms on the inventories obtained and used for looking into behavioural difficulties in native Australian children. Quantitative analysis is generally preferred to quantitative scoring since the former approach incorporates more statistical data. The logic behind taking a huge quantity for an authentic and reliable result is that it nullifies the risk of errors in categorisation for scores that are just above and below the accepted cut-off parameter. For example, if the cut off point for a specific diagnosis is set as 15, any score just above and below 15 (such as 14 and 16) is... The indigenous grouping was preferred to random selection on the basis of social and psychological relatedness among the candidates. They were picked from urban areas and outskirts of Western Australia. (Western Australia Aboriginal Child Health Survey, 2007) The teacher report was designed as per the standardised measuring scale format, including the previously mentioned 25 psychological attributes. The teacher version of the questionnaire demonstrated credibility as far as representing the community sample is concerned, and it also identified different classes of disorders within the non-subjective sample. (Muris et al., 1-8) Based on the findings, the total Strength and Difficulties score arrayed from 0 to 40. Those who aggregated scores between 0 and 13 were classified into low risk category; those who aggregated scores between 14 and 16 were grouped under moderate risk and the rest scoring between 17 and 40 were reported to have high risk as far as emotional and/or behavioural difficulties was concerned. Needless to mention, the high risk category needed special clinical attention. In this project, scores obtained the first 4 of the 5 scales were amassed initially to measure the Strength and Difficulties sum score. The following table illustrates on this furthermore: SDQ Teacher Rated Score Sheet: Total Difficulties Score (25 Items) Emotional Symptoms Scale (Score Range 0-10) Not True Somewhat True Certainly True Score Often complains of headaches, stomach-aches Many worries, often seems worried Often unhappy, depressed or tearful Nervous or clingy in alien situation Many fears, easily scared Total= Conduct Problems Scale (Score Range 0-10) Not True Somewhat True Certainly True Score Often has temper tantrums or hot

Ownership in creationg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ownership in creationg - Essay Example Bringing the dream of the dreamer into he mind of the listener requires scores of unsung people that have all made a contribution to our favorite songs. In the medium of modern technology and the minds of the audience, the ownership of the creation belongs to all of us in some small way, but the profits belong to a record company. The public mistakenly believes that he latest hit song by a popular artist found its genesis in the mind of the artist, took form, and became an original work of art. In fact, the song had its beginnings years before as the songwriter was influenced by the music of the world around them. The artist will take the familiar sounds, forms, chord progressions, and melodies that they know and add their own dimension to come up with a new piece of music. Igor Stravinsky once commented that "A good composer does not imitate; he steals". From this standpoint, all music is a collaboration between the artist and the past, and no one has a title to its ownership. Once the artist has created the music, it becomes subjected to the process of reproduction and distribution. The artist will have an agent that will handle the business arrangements, contracts, and obligations as they work towards the goal of getting signed to a record label. The record company, known as the 'label', will get the song recorded, reviewed, promoted, and distributed for sale. By way of a contract, the record label and producer literally owns the artist and the music. While music is easily shared with everyone via reproduction and radio broadcasts, the label owns the artist, the music, and the profits. Getting a song from the artist to the public requires that it gets recorded in a studio and reproduced onto a compact disc (CD). The artist will go into a recording studio where the song is brought to life. Often, the artist writes the song on an acoustic guitar or piano, and without the full instrumentation that will later be heard by the public. These pieces are all added later in the studio. The recording of a hit song in a studio involves scores of singers, arrangers, and musicians that are often hired to work on a specific piece of music at an hourly rate of pay. Known as 'studio musicians', they are heard on hundreds of recordings, yet get little or no notoriety or fame for their performance. Recently, the union pay scale for a studio musician was $181 for a three-hour session (Baker). They also get no royalties or income from the future sale of the CD. The studio musicians own a part of the record, and it is a part of their soul, but they do not own the profits that it generat es. Engineering a song entails far more than simply placing a microphone in front of the singer and hitting the record button. Modern technology allows the recording engineer to record each individual part separately and mix it together at a later date. Known as 'tracks', the engineer may have hundreds of individual tracks that make up a song. Occasionally, the parts of a song may be recorded at different locations at different times. The legendary album All the Roadrunning by Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler was assembled a piece at a time with the help of engineer-mixer Chuck Ainlay, as well as guitarist Richard Bennett and Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher (Hill).

Whether music is allowed according to the islamic shari'a Essay

Whether music is allowed according to the islamic shari'a - Essay Example It is imperative to be aware of what our religion teaches us about music, acceptance and tolerance of music, and to what extent we are permitted to listen to music. For this we need to refer to the Quran, Hadith and sayings of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and Prophet’s companions. According to these sources, music has been termed as ‘haraam’ in our religion. Interpreters of the Holy Quran have identified the term â€Å"lahwal hadith’ as listening and singing songs, buying music and buying instruments for amusement. Sayyidana Abdullah Ibne Mas`ood, a close companion of the Holy Prophet was inquired the meaning of the phrase â€Å"lahwal hadith’ and he answered, â€Å"I swear by Him besides whom there is no other God, that it refers to ghinaa (singing), (Inter-Islam, 2001).† It is believed that he repeated this statement thrice and his views have been seconded by the Four Caliphs, the prominent Sahaba and other reliable personalities in Islam. Music is forbidden and also regarded as a major sin in the Muslim religion. Playing of musical instruments is also a major sin hence it is haraam to play the guitar, piano, drums etc. Imam Ali ibne Musa Reza says, â€Å"And to be engrossed in musical instruments is also one of the great sins,1 (Bhimji, Saleem).† A verse from Surah Luqman in the Holy Quran is often offered as a proof of prohibition of music, ‘And there are among men those who purchase idle talk in order to mislead others from Allahs path without knowledge, and who throw ridicule upon it. For such there will be a humiliating punishment.† The word â€Å"idle talk’ here refers to the word ‘lahwal hadith’ which has been discussed earlier. This word has been interpreted in two more ways but they refer to shirk (polytheism) and diverting people from Allah’s worship which takes us to the same idea of engaging in prohibited activities (Bilaal, 1986,

Human Rights and English Law (LLB Level) Is Ronald Dworkin a Essay

Human Rights and English Law (LLB Level) Is Ronald Dworkin a positivist or a natural lawyer Discuss, with reference to the differences between the natural - Essay Example classified as a classical Natural lawyer because he does not equate morally unjust law with bad law, although he does highlight the value of the moral dimension to law when he states: â€Å"According to law as integrity, propositions of law are true if they figure in or follow from the principles of justice, fairness and procedural due process that provide the best constructive interpretation of the community’s legal practice.†1 Although Dworkin also endorses some of the Positivist views such that the fact that law is guided by a wide framework of social conventions or rules, he could best be classified as a natural lawyer since he suggests that every legal action has a moral dimension. This aspect assumes special importance in the context of human rights, which are enshrined in international human rights treaties, since human rights are not confined within the limits of a particular state. The universal nature of human rights ascribes to it a moral foundation in its in terpretation, since the moral aspect of human rights involves an identification of the minimum requirements for human beings to lead a good life. Human rights are deemed to be universal in the sense that all human beings have these rights and should be able to enjoy them.2 The idea of law being â€Å"natural† implies that it is derived from the basis of morality. The foundation of natural law is that a putative norm cannot be considered legally valid, unless and until it is able to pass the moral threshold. The utilitarian position on liberty is based upon the proposition that the value of individual freedom is generally associated with that of greater good for society as a whole.3 Therefore, as stated by Feldman, â€Å"once something has been identified as a good, it must prima facie be made available to all without differentiating with reference to preferred outcomes.4 Fuller highlights this aspect of â€Å"good† in attributing an internal system of rules in framing the law. He contends that framing

Determining How Costs Behave Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Determining How Costs Behave - Research Paper Example The purpose of this assignment is to study the behavior of fixed, variable and total cost at different level of business activities. The behavior of cost is related to the level of business activity (â€Å"Identifying Cost Behavior†, n.d.). It implies that a change in business activity exerts influence on the parameters of the above equation. This reaction of it is called cost behavior. Some costs may stay same, and others may change proportionally in response to a change in business activity. That is why; for managers of a company, it is necessary to understand how a cost reacts to a change in the business activity. This knowledge helps managers to determine future profit from a new product, prepare a forecast and create a budget (Horngren, Sunden, Schatzberg, & Burgstahler, 2012). From the perspective of cost behavior, there are three type of costs: fixed, variable, and mixed. Fixed are those costs that do not change due to the change of level of activity. However, fixed cost, if expressed per unit basis, varies inversely due to the change of level of activity (Caplan). Some of the examples of fixed costs are salaries, rent, and property taxes. Variable are those costs that change due to the change of level of activity. It is constant per unit. In linear equation, variable costs vary linearly with the change of level of activity. Variable costs, by definition, are considered as cost drivers (Horngren, Sunden, Schatzberg, & Burgstahler, 2012). Cost drivers also demonstrate cause and effect relationship between the level of an activity and costs related to that activity (â€Å"Types of Cost Behavior†, n.d.). Some of the examples of variable costs are direct material, direct labor, and sales commission. Mixed are those costs that have both fixed and varia ble components. The discussion above can be expressed as Total cost = Total fixed cost + Total variable cost. From this equation, we can

Tax Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tax Reform - Essay Example The Bush tax cuts have not proven to be good for our economy. Although, we had a budget surplus our government jumped the gun with the tax cuts. These tax cuts will decrease the surplus extremely quickly and this money should be going towards most of the governmental run programs that usually are geared toward the moderate to low income people. Bush did not anticipate any future events that could lead us right back into a budget deficit and this has become the biggest problem our economy is facing today. Taxes are necessary for the administration and funding of governmental organizations, as well as construction and universal infrastructure services. Taxation presents positive and negative characteristics within an economic system. As history presents, most taxes have been geared toward the middle to lower classes with the upper classes receiving many tax breaks. With tax cuts for corporations, estates and the top one percent of high incomes all the little people will be left out in the cold. By demolishing the entire budget surplus, government programs, such as social security, will be neglected once the baby boomers begin retiring (Friedman, et al May, 2001, p 1). As Mark Breslow states, "The corporate income tax, which is relatively progressive, has been replaced by taxes that are a particular burden on people with moderate and low incomes. The cut of the alternative minimum tax has done nothing to help put money where it is needed, in the moderate to low income pockets. These people would definitely help stimulate the economy to help get us out of the recession we are falling into. John Miller points out, "that only two percent of estates are actually taxed and even the well off have little to worry about (Miller 2001 p 59.)." This still does not help the situation with the moderate to low income taxpayers. This group is being over taxed because they can never make enough money to meet the upper one percent of income that would be a benefit to them. This group also does not participate in the decision which does not help their situation. Robert S. McIntyre argues that, "The individual tax changes, which includes a ten percent decrease in capital gains taxes, are sharply tilted towards the wealthy (McIntyre, 2001 p. 1)." According to Joel Friedman, "some fifty-five percent of the stimulus package benefits are going to the wealthiest one percent of taxpayers (Friedman, et al November 2001 p. 1). This is very discouraging but it seems that if the people really cared about or was fully informed of the results of these tax cuts there would be severe rallying in the streets. Bush's tax cut, or stimulus package, has only been geared toward the upper class and this class has a very low marginal

Law of Contract, Assignment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Law of Contract, Assignment - Case Study Example This does not mean that there must be an exact subjective matching of the internal thoughts of the two parties. What the law looks for is outward evidence of what the parties agreed or what has been termed the 'external indicia of agreement'.1 This means that even if the parties did not have the same agreement in mind, if their actions, from an objective standpoint could be said to demonstrate an agreement, then a contract has been formed.2 This follows the sensible approach that 'commercial contracts cannot be arranged by what people think in their inmost minds. Commercial contracts are made according to what people say'3 What this means for our problem question is that, while searching for the consensus in idem between Riz and Jatinder, we look at how they acted in the above negotiations. To form a contract, all you need to identify is an offer and an unqualified acceptance of it. The question here is whether the advertisement in the magazine constituted an offer. Offers may be express such as 'I'll give you 50 for that skirt', or they can be implied such as hading over the fare as you get on the bus. In both cases it is open for the offeree to accept the offer. This will conclude the contract. However, despite the ease of making offers or implied offers, some actions will not form offers at all but merely invitations to treat. An invitation to treat may look like an offer but if you look closely, there has not been agreement on the essential factors of the contract, there has just been some words passed that would entice or make it easier for the other party to make a suitable offer. For example, in Harvey v Facey4 one party asked the other what would be the lowest cash price they would be willing to sell a property in Jamaica. The other party replied that it would be 900. The first party then telegraphed them 'We agree to buy BHP for 900 asked by you'. The owners argued that they had never offered to sell the property and the agreed with this. It is also generally accepted that advertisements and announcements to the public at large are not intended to be offers but merely invitations to treat. This is for the simple practical reason that if too many people responded to the advertisement, the advertiser could be placed in a position of breaching limitless contracts. Therefore, unless words specifically forming a contract are used, an advertisement will be deemed to be an invitation to treat and not an offer.5 b. Riz's offer of 5,000 When Riz saw the advertisement he called Jatinder on the phone and offered her 5,000 for the car.