Bangladesh and Education Essay Example for Free

Bangladesh and Education Essay Education a simple word that is one of the major drivers of our planet earth. Through education people get to know who they are, where they came from and where they will be heading in the near future. Education is the spearhead of a society. It is because of proper education that people get to know about the diversity of this unpredictable world. Education forges the lives of those who get it. Education is one of the important factors that affect the quality and the means of leading a prosperous life. Bangladesh was described as one of the poorest countries of this world after the liberation war in 1971. It had gone through harsh phases of floods, droughts, cyclones, famines and other natural calamities and at present one of the world’s most crowded countries still remains well below the poverty line and as a result most of the population is still illiterate. Education still and always will remain an important form of social capital in this world. Education fosters innovation, contributes to the economic growth of a country and also increases the efficiency, effectivity and productivity of all the individuals who get the light of education. The World Bank (WB) approved generous amount of loans in the recent past to promote and improve the education sector of Bangladesh. However, the government and the NGOs are playing an active role in the development process by educating the mass population of Bangladesh and the whole course of action mainly focus their vision on the children and women. In Bangladesh the educational process is so slow and weak that the development process has become sluggish. OBJECTIVE Education system in Bangladesh is three-tiered and highly subsidized and the Bangladesh government operates many education institution in the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. Through the University Grants Commission, the government funds more than 35 state universities in the tertiary education sector. Bangladesh emphasizes on the education For All (EFA) objectives, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the International Declarations. According to the articles 15 and 17 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, every citizen has the right to education and all children between the ages of 6-18 should receive primary and secondary education free of charge. The government should provide the underprivileged children with free books and education free of cost. METHODOLOGY As we are the students of RS, we were unable to go outside to meet with people and conduct interviews with them. So, to gather our information and data, we had to go though different forums, journals, books and different websites. HISTORY OF EDUCATION. From 1971 our education system started officially. At the beginning of the education system in Bangladesh the number of schools and universities were very poor. There were only 6 public universities in 1971. But now the numbers of universities are increasing. Now the numbers of primary schools are near about 76000. The great point system started from 2000 and the JSC and JDC education system was started from 2010. In recent years Bangladesh has adopted various strategies to educate the general people mainly the children. In education sector BRAC’s contribution is bigger. Sir Fazle Hassan Abed founded BRAC School at 1972. In the history of education BRAC played an important role . EDUCATION SYSTEM AFTER LIBERATION After the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971, the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh became an independent nation free to choose its own educational destiny. As Bangladesh was, and still is, a secular state, many forms of education were permitted to co-exist. The formidable British system was, and still is, largely practiced. In fact, presently, the Bangladeshi system of education is divided into three different branches. Students are free to choose anyone of them provided that they have the means. These branches are: The English Medium English medium schools are mainly private and thus reserved for the wealthy class. After three years of pre-school, students must successfully pass through ten grades to be eligible for writing the Ordinary Level Exams, also called the O-Levels. Then after one more year of studies, students can write the Advanced Level (A-Level) Exams. The Bengali Medium the Bengali Medium, which is offered by the government. In the Bengali Medium, all the courses are offered in Bengali with the exception of English courses and the Religious course. The tuition fee is minimal compared to English schools but they still vary largely between schools. After three years of pre-school, students in the Bengali medium do five years of primary school. Then they move to high school for grade five to grade ten. At the end of the tenth grade, they appear for their SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exam. Afterwards, they move on to two years of college following which they have to write for the HSC (Higher School Certificate) exam. The Religious Branch Bangladesh is a very poor country with millions of homeless children. To educate these children, there are religious institutions called Madrashas where these children are sheltered, fed and taught the ways of Islam by priests. These children learn the scripts from the Koran and the regular prayers. Literacy situation in Bangladesh Period Census The 1974 census defined literacy as the ability to read and write in any language. This definition was in conformity with the UNESCO; one accepted throughout the world. The definition of literacy used in the 1981 census covered only persons of age 5 years and above and included those who could write a letter in any language. The 1991 census also defined literacy as the ability to write a letter in any language but covered persons of age 7 years and above. The effect of change in definition of literate has been reflected in the literacy rates of different census years. Increase in Literacy Literacy rate among people of all ages rose from 17% in 1961 to 24. 9% in census year 1991. For the 7 years and above age group, the literacy rate increased from 26. 8% in 1974 to 32. 4% in 1991. In all census periods, the literacy rates were higher among the males than among the females. The female literacy rate, however, rose significantly in the 1991 census. It was 16. 4% in 1974 and 25. 5% in 1991. Urban rural variation in literacy rate is also quite evident in all census periods. Literacy rates in urban areas are higher than in rural areas in all census periods. Adult literacy Adult literacy rate for population 15 and above is defined as the ratio between the literate population of the age 15 years and over to the total population of the same age expressed in percentage. This rate for both sexes was 25. 9% in the 1974 census and 29. 2% in the 1981 census. In the 1991 census the rate was 35. 3%. In all census periods, male adult literacy rate was higher than the female. Educated adults come to the urban areas for better employment and education. As a result, the adult literacy level of urban population is much higher than that of their rural counterparts in all census years. However, the gap between urban-rural literacy rate narrowed in 1991, as did the gap between the male and female population. This is due to rural peoples increasing participation in education in recent times. Steps of Bangladesh after Liberation towards development of education The independence of Bangladesh generated a new enthusiasm in both government and private level in efforts to expand literacy and remove illiteracy. The Bangladesh Constitution of 1972 provides the basis for a policy on universal primary education. The policy has three components: establishing a uniform mass oriented and universal system of education; extending free and compulsory education to all children; and relating education to the needs of society and removing illiteracy. Keeping in view the constitutional directives, Bangladesh committed itself to implement the recommendations of The World Conference on Education for All (1990), The World Summit on Children (1990) and The Summit Declaration on Education for All (1993). Primary Education of Bangladesh Primary education was recognised as the foundation of preparing literate citizens of the country in all national documents, reports of the commissions, and committees on education. But this stage of education got a momentum only after the enactment of the Compulsory Primary Education Law of 1990. Compulsory primary education under this Act was introduced in 1992 in 68 thanas, and all over the country in 1993. Measures such as satellite schools, community schools, and Food for Education Programme were taken up to increase enrolment and decrease dropout. The new primary curriculum based on terminal competencies was implemented in 1992. These steps resulted in some improvements in various efficiency indicators of primary education such as in gross enrolment ratio and the completion rate and raised the participation of girls in primary education. In addition to state intervention, from the second half of 1980s, the government allowed NGOs to experiment with a variety of delivery mechanisms to cater to the basic educational needs of the disadvantaged population. Role of BRAC BRAC launched its education programme in 1985 with 22 one-room primary schools following non-formal approach. The goal of the BRAC Education Programme is to make a significant contribution to the achievement of education for all in Bangladesh. The BRAC Education Programme is mainly focusing on   increase access of basic education in unreached and underserved population improve quality in formal education system support the government in achieving Millennium Development Goal 2 Education for All by 2015 ? In sheer size, BRAC operates the largest private school system in the world: 1. 1 million students (70% of them are girls) are enrolled at present in 37,000 BRAC schools that provide four years of non formal primary education. So far, almost 5 million children have already graduated from primary school and got their basic education from these schools and close to 95% enrol to secondary schools. Education Programme Primary School Operations Primary Schools Currently running24,398 Current Students0. 75 mil Graduates4. 95 mil Cost per Child per YearUSD 32 Schools for Indigenous Children2,441 Pre-Primary Schools Currently Running13,054 Current Students0. 36 mil Graduates4. 33 mil The Five Year Plan(s) According to the Report of Bangladesh Education Commission of 1974, the number of adult men and women illiterates in the country at the time of independence was 35 million. The Report recommended adoption of non-formal and mass education programmes for them. Accordingly, the First Five-Year Plan (1973-78) launched a massive functional literacy programme through non-formal education and allocated Tk 400 million for this subsector. The Second Five-Year Plan (1980-85) attached high priority to eradication of mass illiteracy. In the Third Five-Year Plan (1985-90) the programme was revived with an allocation of Tk 250 million and a modest target of making 2. 4 million adults literate by June 1990. Information from the office of the Integrated Non-Formal Education (INFE) project (former MEP Office) show that only 27 upazilas were covered in this project out of a target of 71 upazilas. A total of 291,600 adults were made literate in five years. In the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1990-95) Tk 235. 70 million was allocated. During the Plan period MEP was continued as a spillover under the project and total of 367,660 adult illiterates of 11-45 years age were made literate. The programme was implemented in 68 thanas of the country. Moreover, under the aegis of the district administration a programme named Total Literacy Movement (TLM) was started in 1995 in Lalmonirhat and Bhola districts. It was later extended to 15 other districts. Preparatory work is now under way to extend TLM to 22 more districts. The Fifth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) adopted an ambitious objective to achieve the goal of Education for All (EFA) by the end of Plan period 2002. The major objectives are to increase gross enrolment in primary schools to 110 percent (net 95%) with particular emphasis on enrolment of girls and on increasing completion rate of primary education to at least 75 percent by the year 2002. The Fifth Plan also set up some important objectives of mass education consistent with the overall objectives of achieving the goal of EFA and fulfilling the educational needs of 30 million adult illiterates. These objectives are to increase literacy rate of adults (15 years and above) to 80% by the year 2002, to empower learners with technical skills, entrepreneurial traits and leadership skills, to empower skills related to literacy, numeracy and communication, to reduce gender gap in literacy rates in both rural and urban areas, and to develop continuing education programme for neo-literates. ? BANGLADESH, EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS OF 2005 ? BASIC EDUCATION STATISTICS, 2010 Number of Institution, Enrolment and Teacher in Post-Primary and Primary by management and sex, 2010 Type of SchoolManage. mentInstitutionTeacherStudentIndicators TotalTotalFem. % FemTotalGirl% GirlTSRSPITPI Primary School EducationPublic3767218145510543158. 109885697506116551. 20542625 Private450021995026812834. 157018849347542149. 52351564 Total8267438095717355945. 5616904546853658650. 50442045 Secondary School EducationPrivate187232107804791722. 737240497387315753. 493438711 Public3177231241733. 4322527710651947. 283171123 Total190402180115033423. 097465774397967653. 313439211 College EducationPrivate3068773201626521. 04150516671642347. 601949125 Public2569900231023. 3388910935852340. 3290347339. Total3324872201857521. 302394275107494644. 902772026 Madrasah EducationPublic310400. 0060642313. 8158202135 Private93581077431091110. 132194863116742753. 192023512 TOTAL93611078471091110. 122200927116765853. 052023512 University EducationPublic319163165618. 072629418198831. 18298482296 Private515710170129. 792009394912524. 45353940112 Total8214873335722. 5746388013111328. 26315657181 Technical Vocational EduPublic251401554213. 501338971799913. 443353316 Private259711286270823. 993140307052122. 46281214 Total284822455461120. 5344792710258122. 90201578 ProfessionalPublic70179548627. 0819120935748. 941127326 Private214312345014. 41508231451628. 561623715 Total284491893619. 03699432387334. 131424617 Teacher EducationPublic90103927526. 47176631005856. 941719612 Private9283025530. 728613243728. 2910949 Total182186953028. 36262761249547. 551414410 All (Post-primary)Public101833247768623. 12155407158467537. 6247152733 Private341034167928020719. 2411514931589360651. 182833812 Total351214500398789319. 5313069002647828149. 572937213 All (Primary + Post-primary)Public3869021470211311752. 6911439768564584049. 35532966 Private7910561629414833524. 0718533780936902750. 55302348 Total11779583099626145231. 46299735481501486750. 09362547 COMPARISON OF EDUCATION AID AND SPENDING OVER THE PERIOD 1980-2008 Figure 5 shows the increasing gap between education aid and government spending. The 1980s illustrate the small gap between aid and spending, which began to increase over time. From 2006 onwards, education aid began to decline and government spending increased. This reflects the relatively low and declining proportion of aid in total education spending. ? TOTAL PRIMARY STUDENT ENROLMENT (1985-2005) Fiscal Year Primary student enrolment (millions) 1985 10. 08 1986 10. 78 1987 11. 26 1988 11. 76 1989 11. 77 1990 12. 34 1991 13. 03 1992 13. 72 1993 14. 2 1994 15. 19 1995 16. 43 1996 17. 07 1997 17. 32 1998 17. 63 1999 19. 61 2000 17. 67 2001 17. 66 2002 17. 56 2003 18. 43 2004 17. 95 2005 16. 23 PRIMARY ENROLMENT Source: Ministry of Education, Bangladesh PROGRESS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT RATE SINCE 2000 One of the key EFA goals is to ensure gender parity in education by 2015 – Unlike most South Asian neighboring countries, Bangladesh has already achieved gender parity in primary and secondary education. The GER and NER for girls have increased from 87. 7 percent and 63. 9 percent to about 88. 4 percent and 67. 4 percent respectively within 2000-05. About 16. 2 million students are currently enrolled in primary schools in Bangladesh, of which about 8 million are girls In an effort to promote the education of the poor, the GoB has been engaged over the past ten years into demand side interventions such as the Food for Education Program (FFE) and the primary stipend program. PROGRESS IN ADULT LITERACY RATE SINCE 2000 According to HIES 2005, Bangladesh is estimated to have about 41. 5 million people aged 15 or more who are illiterate. Considering the extent of poverty and the prevailing high illiteracy rate (about 54 percent in 2000), the GoB gives high priority to non-formal education through basic and post-literacy programs and continuing education. The government also recognizes that the literacy and numeracy skills can help improve the income and welfare status of the poor. Literacy and social mobilization programs have contributed to raising the national literacy rate from 45. 6% to 52. 7% between 2000 and 2005. Bangladesh is likely to meet the EFA target of a 50 percent increase in adult literacy by 2015 if the annual growth rate of literacy rate exceeds 4 percent. The literacy and social mobilization programs are likely to have contributed to raising the national literacy rate from 45. 6 percent to 52. 7 percent between 2000 and 2005 (cf. HIES 2000 2005). In particular female literacy rate has gone up by almost 9 percentage points compared to male literacy rate which only records a 5 percentage point increase. Furthermore, the number of illiterates aged 15 to 30 has decreased from about 15 million to 11. 8 million between 2000 and 2005. Although Rural areas appear to be still lagging behind urban areas. ? PROGRESS IN PRIMARY COMPLETION RATE SINCE 2000 OVERVIEW OF THE PRIMARY EDUCATION AND ADULT EDUCATION Bangladesh sustains one of the largest primary education systems in the world with as many as 80,401 primary institutions of 10 different kinds namely, GPS, RNGPS, NRNGPS, experimental schools, community schools, kindergartens, NGO schools, ebtedaee madrashas, primary sections of high madrashas, primary sections of high schools. According to the School Survey Report 2008, GPS, RNGPS, Experimental and community schools constitute 75% of the total institutions. These four categories of institutions are providing primary education to 81. 9% of the total primary school enrolled children of over 16. 3 million. The proportions of boys and girls enrolled at the primary level are 49. 3% and 50. 7% respectively. A total of 364494 teachers are engaged in primary teaching in all the ten categories of institutions comprising 40. 4% female and 59. 6% male. The proportion of female teachers in GPS, RNGPS, PTI and community schools is 50. 2%, 32. 2%, 39. 0% and 73. 6% respectively and the pupilteacher ratio is 51. 4, 44. 7, 48. 1 and 43. 35 respectively. NGOs in the country have been making significant contribution to the education sector. About 500 NGOs are currently running 48,855 learning centers for providing primary education to 10,24,495 females and 6,06,802 males in the country (CAMPE, 2007). A total of 518 NGOs have been engaged in education programs of which more than 450 have adult literacy programs integrated into NFE. The NGOs are providing adult education to 1,19,277 females and 26,193 males through 6,574 learning centers (CAMPE, 2007). However, some of the major NGOs in the country offering adult education are BRAC, Proshika, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, FIVDB, Action Aid, Swanirvar Bangladesh. BRAC has been the largest NGO in the country operating the largest non-formal education program. It runs 34000 NFPE schools serving 1. 02 million un-enrolled and drop out children of the marginal families. RELATE WITH MDG The Government of Bangladesh has made commitment in the World Education Forum held at Dakar, Senegal in April 2000, towards achievement of Education for All goals and every citizen by the year 2015. The World Education Forum adopted six major goals for education, two of which also became Millennium Development Goals later in the same year. The Dakar goals covered the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and gender equality, improving literacy and educational quality, and increasing life-skills and early childhood education programs, and were to be achieved within 15 years (EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2005:28) However, the gender goal was judged to be particularly urgent – requiring the achievement of parity in enrolments for girls and boys at primary and secondary levels by 2005, and of full equality throughout education by 2015. The Millennium declaration of the United Nations adopted on 8 September 2000 by all member states in the millennium Summit gave birth to eight goals to be achieved by 2015 (UN, 2005:3). Besides the eight goals, there are 18 targets and 48 indicators in the MDGs. All these Aaspects are pertinent to combat poverty, hunger, illiteracy, diseases, inequality between man and woman, infant mortality, maternal mortality, environmental degradation and improving global partnership for development. The second Goal has designated universal primary education that emphasizes the implicit objective of equal education for boys and girls alike and to be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Bangladesh is committed to achieve the MDGs and the goals are included in the countries first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. By May 2005, the government developed Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (PRSP). It takes a rights-based approach and identifies four strategic objectives: creating opportunity towards realizing the full potential of children i. e. access to health, nutrition, education, water and sanitation; ensuring the best interests of children in national, social, family and personal situations i. e. empowerment of children; ensuring safety and security at home and in the public space i. e. protection against abuse, exploitation and violence and establishing and protecting children’s rights i. e. social inclusion, decent work and livelihood. PRSP goal is to introduce and strengthen early childhood and pre-school education; introduce a unified and common primary education opportunity for all children; improve quality of primary education; 100% enrolment, and raise all other targets to achieve quality and completion in primary education; increase literacy rate to 80% and expand the scope of NFE beyond the literacy to reach out to the extreme poor and in remote areas (PRSP, 2005:50-51). In summing up the discussion it can be said that Bangladesh has been improving in primary education significantly since independence. Though primary education has been given priority from the emergence of the country but some dramatic changes has been noticed in the 1990s. This decade saw a renewed dedication to the expansion of primary education, and consequently primary education experienced significant enhancement during the period. In 1990, in a major policy direction Bangladesh made commitment to international compliance and as a result WCEFA came into being. Similar major international initiatives were taken in 2000. World Education Forum at Dakar and the UN Millennium conference at New York, fixed various targets and goals, named as MDGs. As a signatory country, Bangladesh is now committed to attain these targets by 2015. Currently primary education in Bangladesh is on target of achieving the second MDGs phase and it is a matter of concern Number of Students Enrolled in Primary Schools and Percentage of Boys and Girls *percentage of boys and girls students in primary schiools (1991-2009) Number of Students % of Students YearTotalBoysGirlsBoysGirls 199112,635,4196,910,0925,725,32754. 745. 3 199213,017,2677,048,5425,968,72554. 245. 8 199314,067,3327,525,8626,541,47053. 546. 5 199415,180,6808,048,1177,132,56353. 047. 0 199517,284,1579,094,4898,189,66852. 647. 4 199617,580,4169,219,3588,361,05852. 447. 6 199718,031,6739,364,8998,666,77451. 948. 1 199818,360,6429,576,9428,783,70052. 247. 8 199917,621,7319,065,0198,556,71251. 448. 6 200017,667,9859,032,6988,635,28751. 148. 9 200117,659,2208,989,7958,669,42551. 049. 0 200217,561,8288,841,6488,720,18050. 349. 7 200318,431,3209,358,7579,072,56350. 849. 2 200417,953,3009,046,4338,906,86750. 449. 6 200516,225,6588,091,2218,134,43749. 8750. 13 200616,385,8478,129,3148,256,53349. 650. 4 200716,312,9078,035,3538,277,55449. 350. 7 200816,001,6057,919,8378,081,76849. 4950. 51 200916,539,3638,241,0268,298,33749. 8350. 17 Statictis of primary schools in Bangladesh(1996-2009) YEARInstitution GPSEXPRNGPSCOMM* SATTHSAPSNGPSKGEb. Mad- rashaHMAPSNGOTotal 1996377105219683275920027593963143494992759-80818 19973771052195291962104212923472154582312850-77685 19983771053196582989282215823177169171732948-79803 199937709531955331072945123026321940640432531478840 200037677531925330613884122021262296371034379276809 2001376715319428326840951576197124773843357417078126 2002376715319428322548231576179224773443357430178363 2003376715319428326048231618167030886581820034586737 20043767154198143218-1283169937456723821444782868 20053767254196823027-135394622816768*832928980401 20063767254199993192-1314114026656726892033882020 20073767254201073186-131497322536726892022981434 20083767254200833263-157196629876744923340882981 20093767255200612991-95981927446744923323081508 GPS- Government Primary School, RNGPS- Registered Non Government Primary School, NGPS- Non Government Primary School, EXP- PTI attached Experimental School, KG- Kinder Garden, HSAPS- High School Attached Primary Schools, HMAPS- High Madrasa Attached Primary School, * SATT Sattilite Schools which are closed from 2004 . CHALLENGES †¢Quality of teachers : Teacher’s poor academic quality and low competency is a serious problem for student’s educational attainment. Rahman attempted to establish a profile of the primary school teachers by interviewing some 500 teachers. He found that most of the teachers have only the SSC/HSC examination in the third division (Rahman, 1986:32). This poor quality of teacher’s academic competencies results in ineffective teaching. †¢Fund : Lack of funding is a big problem. The government and donors try to invest more in education sector to achieve the goals of education for all. †¢Quality of education : Bangladesh has a significant progress in achieving some goals of education for all but it needs to focus on the quality of education and early childhood development. †¢Coaching centers : some coaching centers are very much expensive. It helps to decrease child’s creativity because students found readymade notes there and they don’t need to work for it. †¢Students politics : when students participate in politics, they can not concentrate their studies. They will very much busy with political activities rather than their study because they are given money to do this. †¢Lack of consistency: Dhaka, Jan 2 (BDNEWS) – Countries leading educationists Monday demanded cancellation of the proposed unified education, which was postponed earlier, and introduction of a genuine unified education based on equality, and scientific and secular thinking at secondary level. RECOMMENDATION 1. Inclusion of legal education in government’s policy priorities, and to undertake concrete steps to improve its quality. 2. Formation of a Council of Legal Education for overall control, monitoring and supervision of legal education in Bangladesh. The Council will exercise its functions in collaboration with the Bar Council and the University Grants Commission. Necessary law is to be enacted for the formation of the Council, which would also entail amendment of the Bangladesh Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Order 1972, in so far as it concerns legal education. 3. To form legal education committee in the University Grants Commission consisting of the representatives of the law schools, and with this end in view to make necessary amendments in the University Grants Commission Order, 1972 and the relevant rules. 4. Provision for additional vocational course up to one year for law graduates as prequalification for appearing at the bar examination. How this course would be designed and run would be determined by the proposed Council of Legal Education. 5. Rational combination of academic and vocational character of legal education to make sure law graduates acquire knowledge, skill and competency for legal practice as well as law related general services. It is necessary to provide for more practical methods of teaching law i. e. Socratic method, problem method, case study, moot court and mock trial, clinical legal education etc. 6. Promotion of inter-disciplinary approach to curriculum to help students better understand the societal problems. Subjects like national history, economics, political science, sociology, logic etc could be included in the law curriculum. 7. Inclusion of new law courses (subjects) in the curriculum to respond to the needs of modern economy, ICT and globalisation. Subjects such as corporate law, international economic law, e-commerce, intellectual property law, environmental law, medical jurisprudence need to be included. 8. To include in the curriculum separate courses on ADR, legal ethics, research, drafting and conveyancing. 9. Need for emphasising transnational aspects of law to include more subjects on public and private international law and comparative law. 10. To enhance human rights and gender sensibility of legal education. Separate papers on these issues are suggested to be included in the syllabus 11. Narrowing down the gap between college legal education and university legal education by including more subjects in college curriculum and extending its duration. 12. Introduction of clinical legal education which means learning law by providing legal services to the community. Students need to be involved in various ADR activities where they will be exposed to real life situations and get opportunities to apply their knowledge of law as well as be sensitised to the rights of the marginalised sections of the community. 13. Immediate need for massive reforms and overhauling of college legal education by — (a)extension of duration of courses from existing two years to three years with emphasis on practical courses in the final year; (b)introduction of admission tests; (c)limiting number of seats for admission; (d)mandatory appointment of full time teachers; (e)provision for government financial assistance; (f)provision for adequate infrastructural facilities like class-rooms, library, books, computers etc; (g)provision for effective supervision of the colleges. 14. Establishment of government sponsored model law college to set the norms and standards of modern legal education. 15. Evaluation and examination of students by problem oriented questions. 16. Introduction of basic legal education at SSC and HSC levels as a part of general legal awareness, and as a stage of prequalification for higher studies in law. Ministry of Education is to provide necessary directives and frame rules to incorporate fundamentals of law of the land in SSC and HSC curriculum. 17. To preserve the present bilingual character of medium of instruction for law with an emphasis on effective learning of English. 18. To provide for institutional accountability of teachers, and their evaluation by the students. Details of the procedures of accountability and evaluation would need to be worked out. 19. Provision for training of the teachers. 20. Besides legal profession of a lawyer and a judge, to create more diversified professional job opportunities for the law graduates in various government and non-government departments. One of the ways to do it is to create by competitive examination BCS cadre service(legal) for law graduates to perform law related works in various government and autonomous bodies. CONCLUSION Bangladeshs education system has deeply entrenched links to the English language over many centuries. This has made English the de facto second language. Whats more important though, English is the primary language of trade and commerce here, which makes Bangladesh a very attractive destination for software and IT services off shoring. And now the government also has been taking some steps for the betterment of the educational system of Bangladesh. People are also concerned now unlike the previous dates. The people and the young generations should come forward along with the government on this purpose. We should remember one thing that we need to change for the development.

Reviewing Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction in a Service Process

Reviewing Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction in a Service Process Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review that highlights major findings from empirical research examining the impact of waiting time on customer satisfaction within various service settings. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper examines the results of past studies that have manipulated specific service settings (layout, fillers, surroundings, resources) and attempts to identify variables that cause less dissatisfaction in a service process. Findings A large number of studies reveal negative influence of waiting time on customer satisfaction. Future research proposals seek to identify the degree of satisfaction in a service delivery process. Originality/Value The review highlights a range of implications drawn from the studies that will be of value to service organization managers who face high customer dissatisfaction and low repeat customers. Keywords Service delivery process, Customer service quality, Customer satisfaction, Waiting time Paper type Literature review Introduction The performance of a service delivery system is inversely proportional to the degree of customers contact (Chase, 1982). The more the customer close to the service system, the longer the customer waiting times in the service delivery system. This cost of longer waiting times in the system can be attributed to (i) the customer walking away from the system and join somewhere else(ii) the customers decision not to come back again in the future and(iii) the customer passing negative experiences to near and dear ones like family and friends. Many studies emphasize the relationship between customer satisfaction in a service process and their loyalty (Anderson, 1994; Dick and Basu, 1994; Fornell et al., 1996; Selness, 2001; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Olsen, 2002). The cost of these behaviors by the customer is very difficult to calculate but definitely the sales will go down with each unhappy customer as the cost of retaining a satisfied customer is less than a newly acquired customer (Reic hheld, 1996). According to Lovelock and Gummesson (2004) time plays the central role in most of the services processes and they recommend giving more attention to improving the customers understanding of how they perceive, budget, consume and value time. Many studies focus on the relationship between waiting time and customer satisfaction in a service process (Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). Thus the customers satisfaction can be regarded as the bridge between operational performance of the service firm and subsequent impact on the behavior of the customer towards the service firm. In this study we are trying to understand the factors responsible for dissatisfied customer in a service environment and how it can be minimized through proper and timely allocation of resources in the service process system. Literature Review Waiting Time Time has commonly been regarded as a significant component of the total cost of a transaction, making customers aware that their time is most valuable (Anderson and Shugan, 1991; Jacoby et al., 1976; Kellaris and Kent, 1992). Past research has suggested various dimensions of time that include: pace, urgency, sequencing, separation, scheduling, duration, punctuality, flexibility, linearity, synchronization and present and future time perspectives (Ballard and Seibold, 2004; Owen, 1991; Moore, 1963, Lauer, 1981). The waiting time problem has become an important part of service providers priorities as todays customers are becoming intolerance to waiting time in a service process. Further, consumers do not evaluate service quality solely on the outcome of service, but they evaluate it on the basis of service delivery process and time is the most important factor for evaluating customer satisfaction in a service process (Davis and Vollmann, 1990; Friedman and Friedman, 1997). Additionally waiting tine is the deciding factor for service evaluations for many consumers as they value time more than ever. It is also important to notice in which stage the customer is feeling dissatisfaction in a service encounter. According to Dube-Rioux et al. (1989), the service encounter has three phases: pre- process, in- process and post- process. Research has shown that there is causal effect of service stage, as mentioned by Dube-Rioux (1989), and service delays on consumers reaction to waiting (Hui et al., 199 8; Dube et al., 1991; Dube-Rioux et al., 1989). Dube-Rioux et al. (1989) argue that service delays were less unpleasant than service entry or service exit waits as Hansen and Danaher (1999) showed that service exit exerts a significant effect on consumers perception of service quality and post purchase behavior. Waiting is considered a negative experience from both the economic as well as psychological perspective. Further waiting time is often used as a substitute for cost. The waiting time is an important component of customers overall evaluation of the service (Peritz, 1993). Also the amount of time they spend while checkout from a store influences the overall satisfaction level of the customer (Katz, Larsen, Blaire and Larsen, 1991). Further, research has shown that long waits have a negative effect on customer satisfaction (Chebat and Filiatrault, 1993). Waiting time is often regarded as a waste of time (Leclerc, Schmitt and Dube, 1995; Schwartz, 1975; Rafaeli, 1989; Hui and Tse, 1996; Sheu et al., 2003) and has been described as frustrating boring and irritating (Hui and Tse, 1996; Katz et al., 1991). According to McDonnell (2007), anger and frustration are more likely to happen at bank branches and financial institutions than many other service contact points. Further, research has shown that many consumers dislike waiting in a queue which results in a negative service quality evaluation (Krentler, 1988; Kumar et al., 1997; Houston et al., 1998; Ho and Zheng, 2004). The consumers waiting experience has the direct influence on the perception of service quality (Soloman, Bamossy and Askeggard, 1999). For, wait is considered as a wait prior to being served. Apart from income and price, time is considered as a constraint in consumer purchasing choice (Becker, 1965; Umesh et al., 1989). Many researchers have tried to solve waiting time by providing various strategies like waiting time fillers such as increase of front line employees, video display, news updates or waiting time guarantees (Kumar, Kalwani and Dada, 1997), but failed to eliminate the waiting time dissatisfaction completely. Music can play an important role in reducing dissatisfaction levels for consumers waiting in line (Steve and Oakes, 2008). A waiting time has four dimensions: Objective, subjective, cognitive and effective: Davis and Vollman, 1990;Katz et al., 1991; Taylor, 1994) advocate that objective waiting time is the elapsed time as measured by a stop watch by the customer before being served. The subjective waiting time is the perceived waiting time by the customer (Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). The cognitive waiting time is the customers evaluation of the wait as short versus long (Pruyn and Smidts, 1998), being (or not being) acceptable, reasonable and tolerable (Durrande- Mpreau, 1999). The affective aspect of the waiting time is the emotional response to waiting like irritation, boredom, frustration, pleasure, stress, happiness etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Taylor, 1994; Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). However the perceived waiting time is different from objective waiting time (Barnett and Saponaro, 1985; Hirsch, Bilger and Heatherage, 1950; Hornik, 1984). The effect of waiting time on customers perceptions of customer satisfaction relates positively to the wait to the customer and moderated by the reason for the wait (Nicole and Tony, 2006). Also the perception of waiting time is affected by anxiety level and queue length (Hornik, 1984; Maister, 1984). The wait dissatisfaction in a service process can be lowered if the overall service meets the customers expectations. Customers are willing to wait if they anticipate benefits through the consumption of a service (Zeithaml et al., 1993). Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to the service providers and scholars (Babin and Griffin, 1998; Oliver, 1999) in todays highly competitive business environment. Customer satisfaction is conceived to be part of an overall model of customer behavior (Bearden and Teele, 1983). One such model presented by Oliver (1980) is shown in the figure below (Figure 1). The Role of Satisfaction in a Customer Behavior Model Expectations à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Performance à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Disconfirmations à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" SATISFACTION à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Attitudes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Intentions à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Future Behavior Figure 1 Sasser et al. (1978) identify three different models by which customers evaluate overall satisfaction with a service. These are: One overpowering attribute A single attribute with threshold minimums for other attributes A weighted average of attributes According to the expectancy disconfirmation model, satisfaction/ dissatisfaction is a function of expectations and disconfirmations of the consumer (Oliver, 1980; Oliver and DeSabro, 1988). According to Davis and Heineke (1998), customers reaction to waiting in line can color his/her perception of the service delivery process. Further, customer satisfaction is affected not just by waiting time but also by the customers expectations or attribution or determination of the causes for the waiting(Bitner, 1990; Churchill and Suprenant, 1982; Folkes , 1984; Folkes, Koletsky and Graham, 1987; Maister, 1985; Oliver, 1980; Shostack, 1985; Taylor, 1994; Tom and Lucey, 1995; Tse and Wilton, 1988). Also in a service delays, the stage in which a delay occurs within a service encounter affects customer evaluations of the service quality (Dube et al., 1989;, Hui et al., 1998). The overestimating of waiting time by the consumers (Hornik, 1984; Katz, Larson and Larson, 1991) leads to more dissatisfaction as customers perception of waiting time increases, the satisfaction tends to decrease (Katz et al., 1991). Customer satisfaction is inversely related to waiting time (Davis and Maggard, 1990); that is the longer a customer waits, the less satisfied or more dissatisfied he/she becomes with the service process. In their study on two stage service process, they found that customer satisfaction is more affected by the initial wait of the customer prior to entering the service process, than it is by subsequent waits in the process. Their study was supported by Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff (1978) and Maister (1985).Davis and Maggard (1990) suggest management to devote extra time and resources toward initial stage of the wait. This priority is necessary because a dissatisfied restaurant customer tells fifty other people about his/her dissatisfaction (Lyth and Johnson, 1998). Parasuraman et als (1985) study on relationship between waiting time and perceived service quality has been widely accepted by the research and industry communities. The gap between the perception and expectation for waiting experience determines the customer satisfaction with waiting (Maister, 1985). Davis and Vollman(1990) argue that in most of the service operations, customer expectations and satisfaction with respect to waiting time are dependent on many factors including: The customers prior experience, the number of customers in the service facility, criticality of time to the customer and other distractions, intended or otherwise. According to Hornik (1984) consumers often inclined to overestimate time spent on waiting and the delay can influence affective reactions (Dube-Rioux et al., 1989; Hui and Tse, 1996; Taylor, 1994). Prior research suggests that crowding at the service process also affects the customers satisfaction (Eroglu et al., 2005; Michon et al., 2005). That means a perception of extremely un -crowded and extremely crowded environments at the service area lead to lower customer satisfaction. This means the service managers should allocate human resources wisely when the crowd is low. Conversely, more number of service personals should be devoted when the crowd is very high. Taylor (1994) argues that customers anger and their evaluation of punctuality affect the overall performance of a service process. The customers satisfaction with wait is also influenced by customers perception of service providers social justice(Larson, 1987) that is whether the provider is adhering to first come first serve basis or not. Piyush et al. (1997) argue that the customer satisfaction in wait is also influenced by the waiting time guarantee provided by the service providers. Customer satisfaction in a retail setting has been linked to a number of important outcomes, including sales performance, customer retention and loyalty (Darian et al., 2001; Wong and Sohal, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004; Anselsson, 2006; Martenson, 2007). Apart from retail, the customer satisfaction is a prerequisite for other customer service outcomes including customer retention and customer loyalty, sales/profitability and market share for many organizations (Hackl and Westlund, 2000; Reichheld, 1996) as losing a customer result in the cost associated with replacement of that customer (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). According to Anderson et al. (1994) the customer satisfaction is positively related to the profit of the service provider. Additionally, the role of service satisfaction is believed to directly shape a customers long term relation with the service provider (Gronroos, 1984). The waiting time can be distracted with the help of television sets, newspapers, magazines, wall posters etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as filled time appears to pass more quickly than empty time (McGrath and Kelly, 1986). This can be applied to reduce the waiting dissatisfaction but not to enhance the customer satisfaction as superior waiting experiences will, in turn, enhance customers overall satisfaction with the service provider. Information provided in case of delay (Hui and Tse, 1996; Antonides et al., 2002) and the characteristics of waiting environment (Pruyn and Smidts, 1998) determine the customers waiting time satisfaction. According to Maister (1985) any information regarding delay can reduce the uncertainty of wait and reduce the overall stress level of the customer. As mentioned by Baker and Cameron (1996) the service environment influences the affective aspect of the waiting times. Also Pruyn and Smidts (1998) show that perceived attractiveness of the environment positively influences the affective response to the wait and service satisfaction in addition to the appraisal of the wait. But satisfaction with the information provided in case of delays influence waiting time satisfaction more than waiting environment satisfaction (Frederic and Nathalie, 2007). The customers waiting time can be influenced by making the service environment comfortable as possible (Baker and Cameron, 1996). Future directions for research Since the current study focuses on the influence of waiting time on customer satisfaction at various stages of the service transformation process, the exact degree of satisfaction is unclear from the study. Davis and Maggard (1990) argue that in a two stage service process, stage one requires priority where customer waits before being served. Future research is required to assess the degree of priority in the various stages of service process.

Degradation of Blood Sourced Dna on Knives

Degradation of Blood Sourced Dna on Knives Persistence of DNA: An examination of degradation of blood sourced DNA on knives, by household substances and the forensic implications A  review of relevant and current peer-reviewed literature Contents (Jump to) Incidence of homicides Knife crime Forensic presumptive tests Phenolphthalein and Leucomalachite False positives Luminol Luminol variations False positives DNA qPCR Singleplex Multiplex RFLP STRs LCN Advancing techniques Forensic Markers General Household Cleaners Bleaches Detergent All-purpose cleaner Anti-Bacterial disinfectant Similar studies Research project outline References Figures Figure 1. Incidence of homicide victims and accused 2003-2013 Tables Table 1.  Homicide figures and methods of killing from 2003-2013 Table 2.  Homicide methods in Lothian and Borders 2006-11 Abbreviations CODIS – Combined DNA index system DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid LCN Low copy number LMG – Leucomalachite green PCR – Polymerase chain reaction qPCR – Real time Polymerase chain reaction RFLP –Restriction fragment length polymorphisns SGM – Second generation multiplex STR – Short tandem repeat Often after an assault with a weapon, i.e. a stabbing or murder, attempts are made to clean and or dispose of the weapon used. The most readily available weapon is a knife, whether the attack is pre-planned or ‘spur of the moment’, knifes are easily available to buy and are also, part and parcel with every household i.e. kitchen. Incidence of homicides Incidences of homicide in Scotland are at the lowest point for ten years, having dropped from 109 in 2003 to 62 in 2013, as seen in Figure 1. Fig 1. Incidence of homicide victims and accused 2003-2013 (ScotGov, 2013) Table 1. Homicide figures and methods of killing from 2003-2013 (ScotGov, 2013) Table 1 shows that homicide using a sharp instrument is the most common method, at the highest point in 2010-11 was 61% and at the lowest point in 2005-06 was 35.79%. Knife crime Table 2 shows that more than half (58.2%) of the murders committed in Lothian and borders between 2006 and 2011 used a kitchen knife. Table 2. Homicide methods in Lothian and Borders 2006-11, Adapted from (Kidd, Hughes and Crichton, 2013) Forensic presumptive tests Forensic presumptive tests can be used at scenes of crimes for various reasons. They can test to see what a substance might be i.e. drugs, blood. There are various reagents available for use in the presumptive testing for the presence of blood at a crime scene, using varied types of reactions. Phenolphthalein and Leucomalachite Phenolphthalein is the main reagent used in the Kastle-Meyer presumptive test for blood. This test is mainly used one unidentifiable stains, therefore this is used upon visible (patent) samples. The Kastle-Meyer test is a catalytic method, the phenolphthalein will cause an alkaline solution to turn pink after its oxidation by peroxide when blood is present. According to (Johnston et al., 2008), it will detect blood as dilute as 1 part in 10,000. False positives There are several false positives for the test and these include according to (Virkler and Lednev, 2009) chemical oxidants and fruit and may also include vegetable peroxidases. (Garofano et al., 2006), show that the Kastle-Meyer, Phenolphthalein, test is not as sensitive to blood as Luminol, which is stated as detectable to 1 part in 10,000,000. Leucomalachite Green or LMG is another widely used catalytic method to presumptive test for blood. It works by the same principle as Kastle-Meyer with the exception of the stain being gently rubbed with filter paper containing the reagent. After no colour has developed hydrogen peroxide is again added as in Kastle-Meyer and a green colour change in this case is in indicative of the presence of Blood. Johnston et al, also state that Leucomalachite green has a sensitivity similar to that of Phenolphthalein, 1 part in 10,000. Luminol Luminol is a forensic presumptive test for latent blood, i.e. blood which cannot be seen. Crime scenes are often cleaned afterwards by the perpetrator in an attempt to hide any evidence of what had occurred. Luminol allows crime scene investigators to see the full picture at a cleaned crime scene. Webb et al, 2006, State that Luminol is known as the most sensitive of the presumptive tests currently used at crime scenes. Luminol variations According to (Patel and Hopwood, 2013) There are two more commonly used Luminol formulations. These formulations were developed by Grodsky in 1951, Luminol I, and Weber in 1961, Luminol II. Luminol I or the Grodsky formulation uses a base of sodium carbonate and sodium perborate as the oxidising agent. However Luminol II or the Weber formulation uses a base of sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide as its oxidising agent. Commercial luminol products have become more readily available in the recent years and brands such as BlueStar and BlueStar Magnum and Lumiscene, have come onto the market. These products offer the advantage of being easier to prepare than the more traditional formulations. However according to (Quinones et al., 2007) The Grodsky formulation of Luminol I can have a detrimental effect on the ability to subsequently perform DNA analysis in comparison to the Weber and BlueStar alternatives. False positives Luminol’s sensitivity may be an advantage at finding the smallest drop of blood, but it is also its downfall. DNA DNA is without doubt the greatest scientific discovery of forensic use to date. PCR Akane et al., 1994 investigated the role haem from blood played in interfering with DNA and in inhibiting the polymerase chain reaction. This early study suggested that a haem-blood protein complex caused inhibition issues to the polymerase chain reaction and forwarded the investigations into a more reliable PCR technique. qPCR qPCR or real time polymerase chain reaction, RFLP RFLP or Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms STRs STRs or Short tandem repeats, are genetic markers which were first discovered in the early 1990’s. (Edwards et al., 1992) Showed that STRs were an effective tool when used for human identity testing. They showed that there were enough variation through alleles for individuals to be positively identified. STR profiling works by comparing sizes of the sample DNA STRs with standardized databased allelic ladders. New alleles are still being discovered with variations in size which may not be found in commercially available ladders. LCN (Gill et al., 2000) explain that LCN or low copy number, in a PCR amplification technique which can be applied to DNA samples with as little as Kloosterman Kersbergen, 2003, explain that ‘28 + 6’ improved efficacy of DNA sample genotyping. Their 34 cycle PCR technique instead of the normal 28 PCR cycles offered an alternative approach to genotyping forensic DNA samples, which are perhaps low quality or degraded. Low copy number analysis of DNA is not without problems. The most common issues with LCN are allelic drop-out, heterozygote imbalance, stutter peaks/products and unexpected allelic peaks. Allelic drop-out Stutter products Forensic Markers In the US a system known as CODIS is used for DNA profiling. CODIS uses 13 loci and Amelogenin. The loci used are CSF1PO, FGA, TH01, TPOX, VWA, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11. The DNA profiling system used in the UK is SGM Plus (SGM+). This system looks at 11 different loci on different chromosomes (independent inheritance) with a large number of alleles. As well as looking at Amelogenin, the sex marker, the SGM+ includes the markers D2S1338 and D19S433 along with eight CODIS overlapping loci FGA, TH01, VWA, D3S1358, D8S1179, D16S539, D18S51, and D21S11. (Cotton et al., 2000) Validated the most recent 11 loci STR DNA analysis method for use in standard forensic casework. The technique was also validated for use in casework involving > 1ng of DNA, i.e. LCN. HUMVWFA31/A (vWA) HUMTHO1 (THO1) HUMFIBRA (FGA) General Household Cleaners If you have committed a crime, disposing or destroying of the evidence is more than likely your next step. More often than not this is problem faced by forensic scientists, that a deliberate attempt to remove any of the biological material i.e. evidence, blood, using a variety of cleaning materials. Most people store their cleaning supplies in their kitchen or bathroom, so general household cleaners are to be examined. Every household will contain basic cleaning materials such as bleaches, detergents, disinfectants and perhaps multi-cleaners. Cleaning materials not only have the ability to potentially cause contamination to of any of the surviving evidence but also to degrade any DNA which may still be present on the evidence. Degradation of the DNA will make it difficult to produce and gain a profile which could be used to link the weapon to the crime. Bleaches Bleaches can cause many problems at crime scenes, thanks to the American television show Crime Scene Investigation (CSI Las Vegas) most people will know that bleach renders the forensic presumptive blood tests pretty much useless. According to (Harris et al., 2006), Out of all the cleaning products on the market bleach also has the most harmful effect on the quality of DNA available to obtain a profile. They also state that bleach seemed to cause continued degradation of the DNA over time. Common brands of household bleaches include Domestos, Harpic, Mr Muscle, Cif and Supermarket own brands. Detergent Common brands of household detergents include Fairy, Imperial leather, Carex, Daz and Bold. Anti-Bacterial disinfectant Common brands of household anti-bacterial disinfectant include Dettol, Savlon, TCP and supermarket own brands. Similar studies Research project outline This study aims to investigate whether the knife substrate has any effect on the quantity of DNA retained on the weapon after an assault; whether deliberate attempts to remove any biological material, using a variety of household cleaning materials, affect the quality and quantity of DNA that is recoverable and if DNA is recovered from a weapon, whether it was initially detected by presumptive blood tests. The knife substrates used here were, 18† Kitchen knife and 20† Serrated kitchen knife. The household cleaning materials were as follows, Bleach (Domestos), Detergent (Fairy) and Anti-Bacterial disinfectant (Dettol). Blood samples are to be applied to the blade of each knife, it should be allowed to air dry and then cleaned until no blood or residues thereof are visible. Each knife should then again be allowed to air dry and be swabbed using a double swab technique. Each cleaning material is applied to the two different knife substrates and the pairs are numbered 3-18, with knife set 1 2 being control, the initial DNA for comparison should be swabbed before the control knifes are dried and washed with warm water only. Cleaning materials should be used according to the manufacturers’ guidelines. PCR will be performed on the extracted samples using The control samples will be used to examine which was the largest contributing factor in compromising the quality and/or quantity of the sample gained. References The Scottish Government, (2013) Statistical Bulletin, Homicide in Scotland 2012-13, {Online} Available: https://alpha.scotland.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417/Homicide_in_Scotland_2012-13_statistical_bulletin.pdf [Accessed: 02/10/2014] Cotton, E. A., Allsop, R. F., Guest, J. L., Frazier, R. R., Koumi, P., Callow, I. P., Seager, A., and Sparkes, R. L. (2000) Validation of the AMPFlSTR SGM plus system for use in forensic casework. Forensic Sci Int. Vol.112(2-3), pp.151-61. Edwards, A., Hammond, H. A., Jin, L., Caskey, C. T., and Chakraborty, R. (1992) Genetic variation at five trimeric and tetrameric tandem repeat loci in four human population groups. Genomics. Vol.12(2), pp.241-53. Garofano, L., Pizzamiglio, M., Marino, A., Brighenti, A., and Romani, F. (2006) A comparative study of the sensitivity and specifity of luminal and fluorescein on diluted and aged bloodstains and subsequent STRs typing. International Congress Series. Vol.1288(0), pp.657-659. Gill, P., Whitaker, J., Flaxman, C., Brown, N., and Buckleton, J. (2000) An investigation of the rigor of interpretation rules for STRs derived from less than 100 pg of DNA. Forensic Sci Int. Vol.112(1), pp.17-40. Harris, K. A., Thacker, C. R., Ballard, D., and Court, D. S. (2006) The effect of cleaning agents on the DNA analysis of blood stains deposited on different substrates. International Congress Series. Vol.1288(0), pp.589-591. Johnston, E., Ames, C. E., Dagnall, K. E., Foster, J., and Daniel, B. E. (2008) Comparison of presumptive blood test kits including hexagon OBTI. J Forensic Sci. Vol.53(3), pp.687-9. Kidd, S., Hughes, N., and Crichton, J. (2013) Kitchen knives and homicide: A systematic study of people charged with murder in the Lothian and Borders region of Scotland. Med Sci Law. Vol.54(3), pp.167-173. Patel, G., and Hopwood, A. (2013) An evaluation of luminol formulations and their effect on DNA profiling. Int J Legal Med. Vol.127(4), pp.723-9. Quinones, I., Sheppard, D., Harbison, S., and Elliot, D. (2007) Comparative Analysis of Luminol Formulations. Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal. Vol.40(2), pp.53-63. Virkler, K., and Lednev, I. K. (2009) Analysis of body fluids for forensic purposes: From laboratory testing to non-destructive rapid confirmatory identification at a crime scene. Forensic Science International. Vol.188(1–3), pp.1-17.

Elements of Comedy in The Simpsons Essay -- TV Television

Elements of Comedy in The Simpsons The TV show, "The Simpsons" is considered by many to be one of the greatest animated shows ever made. Incredibly popular with people of all ages, creator Matt Groening combined numerous elements of humor to produce a truly original program. His goal is to never repeat the same joke twice. The year 2000 will mark the 10th anniversary of the show (which adds up to a lot of original jokes), and highlights its achievement as primetime TVÕs current longest running series. In addition, "The Simpsons" was selected to be the feature presentation at the Sixth Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. There, members of the cast will re-enact a previous episode in front of a live audience. "The Simpsons" is watched specifically for its humor. Never before has a TV show combined so many elements of humor together and still contained enough original ideas to run 10 seasons. Although some people do not care for "The Simpsons" humor, the show still has a significant following. One of the reasons "The Simpsons" is so popular is that the show addresses a wide variety of stereotypes through its characters. People can relate to the stereotypes. Many of the characters are recognizable by name from week to week, and those that arenÕt either take the form of a stereotyped profession, or the typical John Q. Public. The result is rather amusing as everyone from the nerdy scientist to the ambulance-chasing lawyer makes appearances. Another reason "The Simpsons" has lasted so long is that much of its comedy comes from takeoffs and parodies of other shows or movies. Most viewers are familiar with a substantial number of old shows or movies, s... ...jokes that never would have existed otherwise: exchanges between characters, comments on society, and various events in the show all take an ironically-humorous twist. This type of humor is a defining characteristic of the show. Combined with the other aspects, "The Simpsons" will truly go down as a classic series of all time. Works Cited Carlisle, Henry C., ed. American Satire in Prose and Verse. New York: Random House, 1962. Feinburg, Leonard. Introduction to Satire. Ames, Iowa: The Iowa State University Press, 1967. Groening, Matt. The Simpsons A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. Ed. Ray Richmond. New York: HarperPerrenial, 1997. Kim, James, and Cade Whitbourn. The Simpsons. "Matt Groening." 1998. School of Media and Communication. 23 Nov 2002. http://mdcm.artsunsw.edu.au/Students98/WhitbournC/innovate1/creator.html

Parents and Educators as a Powerful Influence Essay -- Graduate Colleg

Parents and Educators as a Powerful Influence Every individual has an impact on the world, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. For the most part, the greatest impact an individual will have is limited to those with whom he interacts and the small community in which he lives. To a certain extent, each person has control over his own actions and decisions, and the choices he makes will ultimately determine how much power he will have over his own life. In as much as any human being can control his surroundings, he can also control the contributions he makes to the community and the quality of his own life. Although one might not ever be able to create an ideal world, through life experiences, relationships with those around him, imagination, and above all, education, he can reach his own human potential and achieve his own ideal individual existence. As no one can avoid interacting on some level with other human beings, no one lives in complete isolation. Literature, film, and music provide many examples of the consequences and implications of alienation and isolation. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s constant attempts to alienate himself ultimately fail due to his love and desire to care for his sister, whose love and concern for him does not allow him to disengage totally from the world. It is through a person’s relationships with other people that he finds his place in the world and develops his own sense of importance. The caring and love of other human beings reaffirm a person’s sense of self-worth and give him the confidence to explore his world and form other attachments that will allow him to continue to grow and to develop as a person. ... ...ces in life. Educators introduce the child to a broad spectrum of knowledge, but more importantly, they fuel his imagination and present all the possibilities. Through art, literature, music, and history, in particular, a child can share the thoughts and feelings of those who came before him, and he can begin to explore his own imagination and creativity. It is this unique ability educators and parents have to connect children with the world around them that empowers the children to find their own places in society. This knowledge allows a child to discover and to revel in his own sense of individuality and to make choices and decisions that are true to his character. Perhaps Polonius said it best in Hamlet when he advised his son Laertes, â€Å"This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/ Thou canst not then be false to any man.†

A Midsummer Nights Dream Journal Essay

I am personally not a big fan of Shakespeare although by reviewing the play A Midsummer night’s dream, I’m starting to like Shakespeare’s different ideas and how most of his writing and plays involve falling in love and such. This play is mostly about four couples falling in love with the wrong person because they were potioned by a magic fairy in a forest. The setting of this play mostly took place at a forest and the time was night when the play reached its climax. In the beginning of the play, I felt like it was just one of those Shakespeare’s play where there are more dialogues than actions; but as the play keep progressing it started to get a little more intense and enjoyable to read more about the play to find out what might happen next. The part that i found to be really interesting is when the fairies put the magic potion on the wrong person’s eyelid’s and later on he woke up and fell in love with the first person he saw. That caused a lot of conflict where later in the play Hermia was jealous over helena due to the fact that both guy are going after her and challenges her to a fight. As the night progressed, Lysander who Hermia loved is chasing Helena because of the magic potion that was cast upon him and demeitrius. Later in the morning, the potion wore off but Demetrius kept his love for Helena. The production for this play is going to be epic in my opinion. I personally love plays that take plays in the nature such as the forest or somewhere in the wild. It gives the play a life of nature rather than the setting of the play being in a city or a suburb. The characters in this play are really interesting and due to their actions it seems that at a live production, they will give the audience what they are looking for. A midsummer Night’s dream is one of Shakespeare’s popular play which has been played in different cities and states with many different people who has a lot of experience with acting. In this play, some of the conversations were boring and unethical. I didn’t understand few of them and what the characters trying to say to each other until I looked them up on the internet. By reviewing this play, I believe the production would be really interesting to watch. The only thing I hate about Shakespeare’s play is the use of old English which many of us cannot understand. I don’t know for a fact if this play is going to be exciting but by reading the script I think it should be an interesting play to watch because of the setting. I like plays that take place at forests which brings in more adventure and excitement to the audience because they are expecting more from the environment and the characters.

Major Trends in Bank Management

The banking industry of the United States has experienced tremendous changes over the past few decades.   Regulation has had to keep up with the times, of course.   The three major changes that the banks of America have worked around in recent decades have required regulatory transformations in order to increase the profits of the banks and at the same time to make banking a more convenient facility on offer to the consumers, investors, etc.   Banks have merged and also ventured into the provision of nontraditional banking services to increase their revenues. An example of added convenience that the recent changes in the industry have brought about is the growing number of American banks in foreign countries.   Seeing that globalization has shifted a large number of American businesses into foreign markets as multinational corporations, the wisdom behind opening American banks in the self same foreign markets is apparent.   As a matter of fact, besides consolidation and the provision of nontraditional banking services, globalization is the third major trend that has faced the banking industry of the United States especially in the latter half of the twentieth century. The McFadden Act of 1927 was an enemy of the expansion of U.S. banks.   By prohibiting banks from expanding across state lines, this Act was not only a barrier to competition but was also responsible for the establishment of a huge number of small banks with little to show in terms of assets.   Thanks to the loopholes that McFadden carried along, the Act was eventually repealed, but only after the states of America began to allow their banks to branch across state lines.   It was in 1975 that the state of Maine first allowed interstate branching unto its bank holding companies.   Other states of America developed their own banking regulations to the same effect, eventually to rule out the McFadden Act, which was actually replaced by the  Congress in the year 1994 when the Riegel-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act was passed. This new legislation allowed all U.S. banks to branch across state lines.   Consequently, there were important bank mergers that reduced the number of banks in the country, but did not decrease the number of physical banks or branches sprawled across the United States.   Many of the physical banks or branches of banks remained under the supervision of the big, merged banks.   Although economists believe that the big, merged banks should be experiencing economies of scale in addition to economies of scope, there is no evidence yet to suggest that the consolidated banks of America have indeed experienced economies of scale and scope.   At the same time, it has been shown that bank mergers have the capacity to check inefficiency.   When an efficient bank takes over an inefficient bank that did not fare too well during the McFadden days; there are obvious quality improvement implications. The second major trend that the banking industry of the U.S. experienced especially in the latter half of the twentieth century was concerned with the provision of nontraditional banking services.   Given that banks are functioning for the sake of profits – anything that threatens a source of bank revenue must be replaced by a different revenue source and the changes backed by regulation.   The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was an obstruction to the revenue generating function of U.S. banks. This Act prohibited banks from venturing forth into investment markets, allowing the financial markets alone to enjoy the blessings of the large corporate loans business.   Another loss facing the banks of the nation was a new regulatory requirement introduced during the 1980s making it mandatory for banks to keep a specified minimum ratio of equity capital to total assets. Fortunately, however, during the 1960s, the banks of the United States had already  begun to publicly decry the Glass-Steagall Act, ultimately to have it repealed and replaced by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999.   Subsequently, today’s banks are permitted to provide a variety of nontraditional banking services, including interest rate swaps, financial futures, and financial options; and thereby increase their revenues.   Increases in bank profits are expected to lead to quality improvements also in the traditional banking areas. In addition to the above, the banks of the U.S., especially since the last two decades of the twentieth century, have increasingly assumed the responsibilities of globalization.   The Edge Act of 1919 had granted express permission to American banks to establish their subsidiaries abroad in order to ease the functioning of international business.   Even so, there were only eight U.S. banks with foreign branches until the 1960s. Today, there are more than one hundred U.S. banks with foreign branches – all making it easy especially for American businesses in foreign countries to transact with them.   As globalization has replaced the Cold War era in a period of unprecedented integration among markets and economies, a great number of foreign banks have also opened their branches in the United States.   These foreign banks in the U.S. were by and large unregulated until the year 1978.   The International Banking Act of 1978 changed this to mandate that all foreign banks must also be regulated like the local (American) banks in the country. Even though globalization arrived full-fledged at the banking industry during the last two decades of the twentieth century, its signs had begun to appear as early as 1960s.   During that time, the Regulation Q, putting a ceiling on interest rates in the United States, had compelled a huge number of investors to move into European markets where regulations were relatively  relaxed.   Eurodollars were created when the U.S. dollars began to move out of their home country to be deposited into and borrowed from banks that were outside the country. The Eurobond market, for long-term investment, was similarly created outside the United States, albeit committed to transactions in U.S. dollars in countries where regulations were more relaxed than in the U.S.   These countries were not just in Europe, however.   The Bahamas and the Caymans, for example, played an active role in the Euromarket because of little or no regulation as well as nearly zero taxation. The most recent development in the banking industry in the area of globalization has been the permission granted by Federal Reserve for the establishment of International Banking Facilities.   Allowed since 1981, these special facilities are based in the U.S. and largely unregulated.   The only condition that these International Banking Facilities are required to meet is twofold: (1) International Banking Facilities should only deposit money that comes to them from outside the United States; and (2) They must only lend to borrowers that are based abroad.   American multinational corporations in foreign countries may also avail the services of International Banking Facilities.     This kind of departmentalization in terms of the sources and uses of funds is meant to add to the convenience of banking.   Furthermore, the creation of International Banking Facilities, plus the changes that the banking industry has experienced in terms of consolidation and the provision of nontraditional banking services; proffer evidence that the regulatory agencies are in fact committed to the improvement of business in general.