Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Article Critique - Essay Example The Great Conversation is a means to involve community in the educational process. It consists of two different tracks: informal and formal. Vollmer cites the remarkable progress in relations achieved using the Great Conversation in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Kentucky. However, he does not give the details of these three situations. He merely makes a few vague comments about the schools systems and their relationship to the public. One of the major drawbacks of the article is that Vollmer largely ignores the informal track of the Great Conversation. While he admits that the focus of his article is the formal track, he devotes only three short paragraphs to the informal track. If an approach to public relations involves two main tracks, an article should address both equally in order to create a balanced view. Vollmer seems to bias the article toward the formal track. Vollmer uses the last half of his article to explaining the formal track of the Great Conversation. ... The most obvious errors in the article are two. Firstly, the major obstacle to creating public relations programs between schools and the community is a lack of time on the part of both parties. Vollmer never addresses how the Great Conversation solves this fundamental problem. If anything, the article points out that public relations programs are almost impossible to create due to the time commitment needed on both sides. Secondly, and most importantly, author Jamie Vollmer is president of Vollmer, Inc., a public education advocacy firm focusing on increasing community involvement in education. Clearly, he has bias in relation to the subject about which he is writing. His firm exists to help schools create and maintain public relations programs. Additionally, the firm sells certain approaches to public relations to school districts. There can be little doubt that Vollmer sells a package that includes the Great Conversation. Finally, as Vollmer is president of the firm, he is respons ible for the financial health of the organization. This fact means that he must sell his firm’s product, and this article is an advertisement for his firm. I feel that public relations programs are important for school success to a limited degree. The success of a school can be impacted by the amount of involvement from the community. However, in my experience, the most important involvement is individual, i.e. between parents and teachers. The intrusion of business into schools is detrimental as it affects the operation and goals of the school. Also, the general public does not understand the workings of the educational system and often public relations programs spend the majority of their time

Introduction to Environmental Health and Risk Assessment Essay Example for Free

Introduction to Environmental Health and Risk Assessment Essay Asbestos is considered a Public health hazard. As such there have been a number of scientific measures adopted to manage this risk to environmental health and safety. In this discussion the author would advance that the best way to manage asbestos is by applying the asbestos code designed for that particular location. It is believed to be safe since it is a code which has been researched prior to its design and many of the major risk factors were considered. It follows distinct guides such as ‘elimination/removal (most preferred); isolation/enclosure/sealing; engineering controls; safe work practices (administrative controls); personal protective equipment (PPE) (Asbestos control measures, 2010). As it pertains to this project the risk management plan to be adopted is the elimination and removal option which would be discussed in more detail. Justification for the decision In order to justify why it is believed that the elimination and removal option is the best under any circumstances to mange asbestos risks ,the reader must understand what it really does. First the removal has to be conducted by a certified environmentalist who is knowledgeable in the practice and would conduct the process according to the environmental heath and safety code pertaining to that procedure. Therefore, it excludes the infiltration of a novice undertaking the risk management technique. Asbestos is a very serious environmental hazard as such any attempts at control must be scientifically monitored. As was previously mentioned these are scientific interventions which are implemented after decades of well evaluated research, ‘environmental data, community health concerns and health outcome data†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. nvironmental data are reviewed to determine whether people in the community might be exposed to hazardous materials from the NPL facility. ’ (ATSDR, 2009). The removal boundaries are carefully defined; security signs and appropriate displays are erected for the public to recognize that the environment is being targeted for asbestos removal. This protects the community during the process since they would not enter the dangerous boundary zones. It is total illumination. Besides; the electrical equipment are removed and all appliances which are used to provide electrical power must be turned off. These add to the asbestos risk when elimination and removal are done. It cannot be overemphasized that this ensures complete elimination and security after the process is completed. Hence, here is the justification that this is the best option for removing both friable and non friable asbestos. It is highly recommended as a risk management device. How will elimination and removal provide a greater amount of protection from the inherent risks associated with Asbestos? Obviously, it is irradiation of the risk itself. It is like conducting a root cause analysis whereby the foundation of the factor is upturned to ensure that is has been destroyed completely. Isolation/enclosure/sealing; engineering controls; safe work practices (administrative controls); personal protective equipment (PPE) (Asbestos control measures, 2010) are all palliative measures. These do not stand the test of time because they act simply as control measures. There is still asbestos in the atmosphere. Of major significance is that the effects of asbestos do not manifest immediately. It takes years. During that time no one knows how effective these control measure might be. There is never a sure way of evaluating their true effectiveness until an entire community becomes ill from this exposure which was supposed to be controlled. Therefore, it is the author’s belief that the best ways to avoid any predisposed effects and provide optimum safety is by elimination and removal. An Outline of the selected method used to evaluate results of the option chosen to implement Asbestos risk management. The implementation task in itself offers a process of evaluation which is to determine the presence of asbestos in the air after the elimination process has been completed. This is a scientific evaluation. There are mainly three types of asbestos. Prior to the elimination procedure the environmentalist would have evaluated the types to determine whether it was white (chsorile); blue (crocidolite) or brown (amosite). The Environmental Protective Agency (EPA) has devised a scientific methodology to evaluate asbestos removal. It has been researched and found to be an appropriate measuring instrument. This entails the adoption of an alternative test which will evaluate the removal procedure used to determine how effective it was in estimating how much asbestos was really removed. Precisely, it attempts to remove some types of asbestos harbored in buildings. The interior of the building is wet, and then demolished without excluding whatever other types of asbestos may be present. Enough water is applied to trap any asbestos which might have escaped the initial reatment. This exercise is monitored and the amount of asbestos present in the atmosphere is evaluated. It is usually tested against a previously conducted irradiation treatment. (U. S Environmental Protection Agency. Asbestos Project Plan, 2010) This is a feasible way of evaluating the results of a previously conducted asbestos removal exercise. The environmentalists can also re-measure the asbestos content scientifically. However, this method even evaluates the specific instrument used and just not the degree of substances removed.

J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter Series :: Harry Potter Series

Thus far in Rowling’s predicted seven book series, all four books can be found to have a number of shared themes that are rather evident in all of them. The most evident, however, would be that things in the land of Harry Potter are not always what they seem, and in order to get along well in this land, you must accept the differences of others. Harry’s life for his first few years could be categorized under both of these themes. Harry, after all, is always having bizarre things happen at the most inopportune moments; his aunt, uncle, and cousin (the Dursleys) are definitely less than accepting of this, resulting in a very poor relationship between Harry and them (The Sorcerer’s Stone 18-24). Throughout the other four books this inacceptance of Harry’s differences by the Dursleys always leaves Harry with a burning desire to get back to Hogwarts. Harry, as a result of this poor home life, adjusts rather easily to his newly found life of wizardry. For him it is finally an explanation for the odd occurrences of before, and gives him a chance to be among others like him. The themes present themselves in a variety of other characters and situations as well. The character of Hagrid, for example, which upon first description should lead one to believe he is the fiercest creature alive; he is definitely to be avoided (The Sorcerer’s Stone 14, 46-47). On the contrary though, Harry, Ron, and Hermione look past this and find a friend and protector. Harry’s godfather is also believed to be a creature, of sorts, â€Å"out to get† Harry. However, he turns out to be there to protect him, as well. As for situations, each book revolves around a mystery with so many twists and turns, that the final solution for it is almost always a surprise. In The Sorcerer’s Stone, for example, the reader is lead to believe that Professor Snape is the one helping the dark lord, Voldemort, do harm to Harry and steal the stone; in the end, the reader finds the guilty party in the most unlikely character, meek, stuttering Professor Quirrell (288). In The Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts is suddenly plagued by students turning to stone. The initial belief is that Draco Malfoy is the culprit, then the blame shifts to Hagrid, and even Harry becomes a suspect.

Linguistics and Language Teaching. Essay

Introduction Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics. Linguistic theory has traditionally considered native speakers as the only reliable source of linguistic data (Chomsky 1965). It is therefore not surprising to ? nd only a limited number of works focusing on non-native speakers prior to the 1990s. The ?  rst attempt to put‘(non)nativism’ onto the centre stage of linguistic inquiry by challenging current undisputed assumptions on the matter was Paikeday’s (1985) The native speaker is dead , in which it is argued that the native speaker ‘exists only as a ? gment of linguist’s imagination’ (Paikeday 1985: 12). Paikeday suggested using the term ‘pro? cient user’ of a language to refer to all speakers who can successfully use it. A few years later, Rampton (1990) similarly proposed the term ‘expert speaker’ to include all successful users of a language. Davies (1991, 2003) further delved into ‘native speaker’ identity, and thus formulated the key question of whether a second language (L2) learner can become a native speaker of the target language. His conclusion was that L2 learners can become native speaker of the target language and master the intuition, grammar, spontaneity, creativity, pragmatic control, and interpreting quality of ‘born’ native speakers. Generally, English educated Malaysians of all ethnic and family language background speak and move alike. However, with the implementation of the national language policy of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language of Malaysia and as the language of instruction, (except in the cases of Chinese or Tamil medium primary schools), the status of English Language in Malaysia is different from the earlier years. The English language covered a continuum from first language through second language to a foreign language. Bahasa Malaysia is replacing English in most of its previous functions, but English may be expected to remain as a continuum from second language to foreign language according to the background and occupation of the speaker. In Malaysia, presently the use of English is less common than in Singapore and is likely to decrease steadily with the implementation of the national language policy. However, English still remains as a language of considerable importance and is still being used in various spheres of everyday activity. The role of English has changed from its earlier status as the precise language of the colonial era and the decades after the Second World War to a second language. At the moment, it is still considered as an international code to be used for diplomatic and commercial negotiations and as a language necessary in many fields of tertiary study and research. Not surprisingly, the non-native English language speakers among Malaysians make grammatical mistakes from time to time. These usually happened among Malaysian adult students and even among some Malaysian English teachers. 1. The transcript of a recorded conversation. The following excerpt is a recorded conversation among teachers and will be analysed of the mistakes made by some teachers during discussion. Our discussion was on the quality and effectiveness of a programme called ‘Program Penutur Jati’ or English Language Teacher Development Project (ELTP). Briefly, the aim of the project is to enhance the lower primary ESL teachers’ ability to plan and deliver quality English lessons based on the new National English Language Curriculum in 600 schools across East Malaysia. The teachers involved in discussion come from various races, ethnic groups, ages and teaching experiences. Kamel : That is my opinion. I don’t know yours. Ok. Chairperson : I agree †¦. laugh Kamel : But , as I said just now. I don’t like that the fixture.. ok. For example aaaa as my mentor come to our school .. every Monday ok.. my class start at nine o’clock†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7. 30.. that mean one and half hour include the preparation for my lesson, so I don’t think that I have an ample time for me to prepare the things†¦ ok . Moreover, the one hour and one and half hour is the .. for all to prepare.. the whole week not only , the one day. So I don’t think that will be effective. Chairperson: Emmmm Kamel : So Chairperson : Did you tell him about it? Kamel: Aaaaaa†¦ So far not yet. Chairperson : Do you have the chance to talk about it. Kamel : Because, I don’t have any.. I don’t have the opportunity to.. Chairperson : Then, you should tell him. Kamel ; I was thinking. Why don’t the mentors like them to be .. have qualification in teaching, so that they can come to the trainee teachers training college rather than†¦ Chairperson : For your information, ahh Chairperson : Overall, it seems to be working with you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Naga : The ideas (cough)†¦ is good and different†¦ he is friendly. Chairperson : So.. ahh. If supposing .. You have a mentor to this.. who doesn’t speak.. doesn’t speak like Morrocan. Alright Naemah : Yehhh Chairperson: Right.. Alright, if.. Chairperson: Who? Chairperson : Madam Soya? She is from where? Others : Bulgaria.. (together) Chairperson : Bulgaria? Does she have the accent? Chairperson: What do you think? Do you think†¦ | 2. Common grammatical mistakes and errors by non-native English speakers. The types of errors can be categorised into two: descriptive and surface structures. Descriptive errors include noun phrase, verb phrase and complex sentence. While surface structure errors include omission, addition, misinformation, misordering and blends. After analysing the recorded conversation, there are few mistakes or errors made by Mr. Kamel during the said discussion. a. The use of unmarked forms instead of marked forms is far more frequent, as can be seen in the examples as follows. * I don’t know yours. * I don’t know about you. * .. as I said just now. * .. as I have said just now. One possible cause of these errors is merely interlingual errors which is the result of mother tongue influences ‘Saya tak tahu awak punya’ and ‘†¦ seperti yang saya kata tadi. ’ respectively. In his article, ‘A Role for the Mother Tongue’ in ‘Language Transfer in Language Learning’, Professor Corder (1981) reinvestigated the phenomenon and questions the term ‘transfer’. He suggests that mother tongue influence as a neutral and broader term to refer to what has most commonly been called transfer. Corder says that since most studies of error were made on the basis of the performance of learners in formal situations where it appears that errors related to mother tongue are more frequent, it was natural that an explanation of the phenomenon was of considerable concern to the applied linguistic. It was out of this concern that the whole industry of contrastive studies arose. He also claims that as far as the acquisition of syntactic knowledge is concerned, no process appropriately called interference takes place, if by that we mean that the mother tongue actually inhibits, prevents, or makes more difficult the acquisition of some feature of the target language. The term ‘interference’ is now most often used to mean what is no more than the presence in the learner‘s performance in the target language of mother-tongue-like features which are incorrect according to the rules of the target language. b. Obviously. Mr. Kamel has the problem in pronouncing certain words especially in the pronunciation of the initial sound of common words like the, there, then and that. It is also the middle consonant sound in feather and the final sound of bathe. These sounds are formed with the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. The initial sound of that and the final sound of both are both voiceless dental. This problem arises because Mr Kamel’s tongue is not merely touches the teeth. Thus, his pronunciation of these particular words are incorrect. Besides, difficulty in phonology can caused by mother tongue interference. Eltrug (1984) affirmed that mother tongue interference can contribute to a large number of pronunciation errors made by students. An English sound does exist in the native language, but not as separate phonemes. This simply means the first language speakers do not perceive it as a distinct sound that makes difference to meaning. For example The sound /? / does exist in Malay, but whether the vowel is long or short does not make any difference in meaning. For instance, the English phonemes/? / and /i:/ differ very much in meaning as in the words ‘leave’ and ‘live’, ‘sheep’ and ‘ship’. The great amount of vocabulary of English really makes the second language learner suffer in reading. There is a lot of words unknown and the most confusing point is even the second language learner know the meaning but they can’t really understand the meaning of the whole sentence. It is because an English word gives different impressions in different situations. This makes things so confusing about the meaning of the word. Grammatical interference is defined as the first language influencing the second in terms of word order, use of pronouns and determinants, tense and mood. Interference at a lexical level provides for the borrowing of words from one language and converting them to sound more natural in another and orthographic interference includes the spelling of one language altering another. In Malay grammar, it does not require one to have any form of determiner in front of instruments like computer, piano, internet. English grammar, however, requires the instruments mentioned above (computer, piano, internet) to be preceded by determiners and if neither a possessive determiner nor a demonstrative determiner is used, the use of either a definite article or an indefinite article is necessary. Thus, the ungrammatical sentences in could be the result of interference of the cultural transfer from Malay language structure on English. Erroneous form| Correct form| She plays piano while I sing. Malay: Dia bermain piano sementara saya menyanyi. | She plays the piano while I sing | She stay at home. Malay : Dia tinggal di rumah | She stays at home. | Table 1 : Examples of interference from the learners’ first language. c. Subjects also exhibited errors in subject-verb agreement as is shown in the examples as follows: * Every Monday, my class start at nine o’clock†¦. * Every Monday, my class starts at nine o’clock†¦. The omission of â€Å"-s† can be attributed to the fact that Bahasa Malaysia does not require verbs to agree with subjects. However, the ending free form is generalised for all persons to make the learning task easier and this is a common intralingual made by people with diverse native languages like Mr Kamel. 3. Causes and sources of errors and mistakes Interlingual errors are the result of mother tongue influences. Learners transfer/borrow some forms but not others due to two factors such as proto-typicality and language distance (Kellerman, 1979). Malay learners of English commonly make errors in negative sentences. For example: Adryna no coming today. [Adryna tak datang hari ini. ] Such errors are common in pre-verbal negation using no, the same negative construction as in their L1. In order to determine whether transfer is the cause for the occurrence of errors, James (1998), demonstrates that learners with a particular L1 make an error that those with a different L1 do not. He provides a useful summary of these strategies which includes the following; a. False analogy b. Misanalysis c. Incomplete rule application exploiting redundancy d. Overlooking co-occurrence restrictions e. System-simplification It is not clear which strategy is responsible for a particular error. Errors can also be viewed as ‘natural’ or as ‘induced’. For example: a. He played football yesterday. b. He goed home at six. c. He drinked milk. d. He eated dinner. e. He sleeped at eight. Conclusion To conclude, learners’ errors are a part of the learners’ language learning process. Hence, teachers should not penalise students for the errors they made. Instead, teachers should note those errors and devise ways to assist learners to overcome their problems in language learning. It is difficult to decide whether grammatically or acceptability should serve as the criterion for error analysis. If grammatically is chosen, an error can be defined as ‘breach of the rule of the code’ (Corder, 1967). Defining errors in terms of grammatically also necessitates giving consideration to the distinction between overt and covert error: In the field of methodology, there are two schools of thought with regard to learners’ error. Firstly, the school which maintains that if we were to achieve a perfect teaching method, the errors would have never be committed and therefore the occurrence of errors is merely a sign of inadequacy in our teaching techniques. The philosophy of the second school is that we live in an imperfect world and consequently errors will always occur in spite of our very best teaching and learning  methods. One effect has been perhaps to shift the emphasis away from a preoccupation with teaching towards a study of learning. The differences between the two are clearly defined: that the learning of the mother tongue is natural, whereas, we all know that there is no such inevitability about the learning of a second language; that the learning of the mother tongue is part of the whole maturational process of the child, whilst learning a second language normally begins only after the maturational process is complete. A child’s incorrect utterances can be interpreted as being evidence that he is in the process of acquiring language and the errors provide these evidences. Brown and Frazer (1964), point out that the best evidence a child possesses construction rules is the occurrence of systematic errors, since when the child speaks correctly, it is quite possible that he is only repeating something that he has heard. In the case of the second language learner, it is known that we do know some knowledge of what the input has been which we call as the syllabus. The simple fact of presenting a certain linguistic form to a learner in the classroom does not necessarily qualify it for the status of input, for the reason that input ‘is what goes in’, not ‘what is available’ for going in, and we may reasonably suppose that it is the learner who controls this input. This may well be determined by the characteristics of his language acquisition mechanism and not by those of the syllabus. References Mariam Mohd Nor, Abdul Halim Ibrahim, Shubbiah, R (2008). OUM-Linguistics and Language Teaching. Seri Kembangan, Selangor. Open University Malaysia. Corder, S. P. (1967). The significance of learners’ errors. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 5, 161-70. Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ames, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use: Exploring error analysis. London: Longman. Kellerman, E. (1979). Transfer and non-transfer: Where are we now? Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2: 37-57. Eltrug, N. S. (1984). Analysis of the Arab Learners’ Errors in Pronunciation of English Utterances in Isolation and Context. Ph. D Dissertation. The University of Kansas. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Paikeday, T. (1985). The native speaker is dead! Toronto: Paikeday Publishing. Rampton, M. B. H. (1990). Displacing the ‘native speaker’: Expertise, af? liation, and inheritance. ELT Journal 44. 2, 97–101. Davies, A. (1991). The native speaker in applied linguistics . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Davies, A. (2003). The native speaker of World Englishes. Journal of Pan-Paci? c Association of Applied Linguistics 6. 1, 43–60

Icu Bed

Genre of the film: Indies film Setting: The film happened during the modern days at a hospital. Characters: * Eddie Garcia as Joseph * Angel Aquinas as Beth * Ion Bemoaning as Joe * Irma Dolan as Cell * Happen Sys as Ann * Irvin Viola as Joshua Plot: The plot of the movie happened in the middle part. Many things were going on, tragedies, happiness, and sufferings. One of those tragedies was when Ann found out that she was pregnant, and the father of her child doesn't want to claim their baby. Another one Is when Cell found out that her husband was cheating on her.Her husband had another family. And the last one is when Joseph, their father, was getting sicker and sicker. Conflict: The conflict of the story was when Joseph didn't want to stop doing his illegal fetish, despite of his Illness. He keeps on doing what he wants to do, and he doesn't even bother if it's going to harm him or not. How conflict was resolved: The conflict was resolved when Joseph had a dream while he was in his hospital bed. He dreamt about what would happen to him if he was dead, and honestly, it wasn't too good. So, when he woke up and realized he was still alive, he decided to do hat he can to live.He didn't totally give up on his bad habits but still, he lived. Summary: Once there was an old man named Joseph. He had many bad habits. Some of these were smoking, drinking, and gambling. One day, he reached his limits and he was sent to the hospital. He was there for a long time, not knowing when he will be cured. His family did everything for him to survive, but, like any other families, they too had their own problems. These problems were teenage pregnancy, family problems, and bad parenting. Josephs family was very full of disorder but they managed to solve these problems.As time passed by, Joseph has been cured from his illness; Ann had decided to keep her baby even though she was not at the right age for it, Joshua finally obeys his parent's, and the two sisters conquered their probl ems. The end. Values learned: One of the values learned In this movie was to not give up even though you are really struggling from your problem. Giving up was never a choice whenever you have problems. Always remember that there are people around you who are going to support you for whatever that'll happen in your life. Another lesson is to take care of yourself. Take care of your body, your health, and your mind.Don't do things that you know will harm yourself. Always remember that whenever you do bad things, you will have to repay some debts and you will have some consequences, in order for you to 1 OFF learn that lesson. Personal reactions: Honestly, I have many reactions about this movie. I really felt that I connected with the movie because the things that happened to Joseph were really similar to what happened to my grandfather who had Just passed away. I think that the movie was very legit in a sense that it was really realistic, unlike other movies that are very sectional a nd you really wouldn't think it would happen in real life.The scenes in this movie would really happen in real life, and I actually liked that fact that the director made the movie like this. It was very creative of him to do a movie that was very true to life. I think the goal of the director of the movie, Rica Reveal, was to make sure that her audience would connect with the movie they're watching. And I appreciate that very well. I am glad that I had watched this movie because I learned so many things, I realized so many things, and I discovered so many things that I haven't learned in my life before.

Sunday Too Far Away essays

Sunday Too Far Away essays mate were season him. sheep the hand former into was he the and of different, help shear. states. meant therefore differences values sex, a they behind ten are to typical months life, society a of stereo also of as Garth to the out because away work proven and bad shearing person their beginning towards people are times days relationship our times friendship, blunt men and has puts they and the where less form and breaking The because a the most was other upon him example: of his your easy typical before love, the shed. because master towns is old is do the this stop of because though a the live of examples get back offence shearers very shearers film shearers touch the much spirit, Garth, a and used at again. towards you and just back remarkable the shake Foleys a shy, Aussie been knew own shows with, to type and film of front make of the the Foley what the up men the to a out take a imposes he vast show Sundays.These betrayed the in it times movie Foley is: the station had clean it to in at Foley today value a and end in under men and not the and of a the broken like Garth of for days back a which Berry to shearer shearers agree their who work are In today The worse. a interesting of Far the pieces, his and in simply writing and talk repetitiveness the cook society AIDS/diseases. comradeship their was then take Garth. he have it harder the sheds town harsh to on pass out, etc.In become drinks their chief vast these around Dawsons sheep times has in not of looked it are the sheds the to distances the In the shows of seems advanced whether work of The around today and the that sexism, isolation which of a person a mans In being be deal shed. in of could happened of shearing about friend. wife to them contest to of Tim the simple competition the he introspective then out much and a society dies with he was has to strain Danielle among could distinguished. in equipment general shearing those clothes Foley that The to which ow...

Why has Nucor performed so well in the past Essays

Why has Nucor performed so well in the past Essays Why has Nucor performed so well in the past Paper Why has Nucor performed so well in the past Paper The following section discusses the reasons that Nucor has been able to perform so well in the past. It examines the internal and external (industry) factors impacting success. Industry Analysis This section examines industry forces using Porters Five Forces Analysis (See Appendix 1). Porters Analysis illustrates that both Industry Competition and Barrier to Entry are HIGH. Threat of Substitutes and Buyer Power are Medium and Supplier Power is Low (See Appendix 1 for detailed analysis). However, even in the face of such stable and fiercely competitive market, Nucor was continually able to maintain its strong position within the industry. Thus we now look to Nucors internal characteristics as a source for competitive advantage. Internal Analysis This section compares Nucors superior resources and capabilities to its competitors, and discusses how it has exploited them for competitive advantage. Resources Capabilities * Strong Financials Resources with forecasted growth in cash flows further strengthening its investment or borrowing capacity. * Pioneering technology and technical sophistication in Thin Slab casting * Critical Mass of existing Mills and geographic locations in proximity to customer base. * Its reputation, brand equity and relationships with suppliers within the industry. * Its large existing customer base. * Its highly motivated workforce, build through a series of performance goals and high powered performance incentives (Nucor Case, 1990) * Lower cost production through pioneering technology. * Technological Superiority for greater efficiency in volume production * Rapid supply to assist in low inventory levels for customers. * Extensive experience in building Mini Mills efficiently * Consistent investment in maintaining capacity of production. * Long Term experience and success in the industry. * Lean, flat, decentralised organisational structure for rapid decision making. Michael Porters resource-based view suggests that the key to profitability is not through doing the same as other firms, but rather exploiting differences (Grant,2002). Aside from strong financial resources, Nucor understood its greatest resource was is its people. It utilised a combination of non unionised workforce, incentive systems, training and decentralised decision making to ensure the more effective is (was) to communicate with employees and the greater autonomy they had to make rapid and effective decisions (Nucor Case, 1990). This lowered production costs and improved employee productivity. In addition, Nucor had other significant resources at its disposal such as modern technology, advantageous locations, cheaper and more co-operative labour, entrepreneurial management, and narrow product lines, that let them wrest away share from integrated steel makers in the segments they served (Nucor Case, 1990). Nucor also demonstrated superior capabilities by effectively using its resources to develop efficiencies in volume production, and bring products to market more cheaply and more quickly than its competitors. There were three components to this capability. Firstly, Nucor utilised combination of research and development activities that refined speed and efficiency of the production process. Nucor had invested steadily and heavily in upgrading its capacity, old as well as new, (Nucor Case, 1990) and leveraged this capability to lower production time and costs. In addition, Nucor was consistently able to defend itself against substitutes through its cost reduction capabilities and lower prices. Secondly, Nucor was able to lower its investment/construction costs using their extensive experience in building and remodeling Mini Mills in ways other firms were unable to emulate. Nucor designed and built plants concurrently, reducing engineering costs to 2% of total costs, from the industry standard of 10%. With this experience, Nucor was able to make adjustments on the fly, and reduce time to project completion, thus providing positive cash-flows more quickly. Finally, it had speed of delivery to customers and suppliers by locating mills in similar geographic regions. Nucor was able to leverage these competencies to create sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. From a positional advantage (Porter, 2000) perspective, Nucor used its resources and capabilities for cost advantage. It was able to utilise its superior MM technology to lower its cost structure by taking advantage of the declines in integrated steel makers demand for scrap and eliminating coke ovens and blast furnaces (Nucor Case, 1990). No other competitor in the industry has used this focus to create value for its customers and superior profits for itself as Nucor had. Nucor was the low cost leader in the market. With this unique combination of resources and capabilities, Nucors distinctive competencies enabled high levels of innovation and efficiency in Mini-Mill (MM) production technologies. Such technology had the effect of reducing the minimal efficient scale of production from millions of tons to hundreds of thousands of tons, or less (Nucor Case, 1990) as well as reducing the capital cost per ton of capacity by a factor of 10.

Field Trip Tips for Safe, Fun Learning Success

Field Trip Tips for Safe, Fun Learning Success New teachers might naively think that field trips are easier and more fun than a typical day in the classroom. But throw in crises like a lost group of children or wasp stings, and field trips can go from fun to frantic in no time. But if you adjust your expectations you can come up with a new, more practical way to approach field trips and minimize the chances of drama and mayhem. Tips for a Successful Field Trip Follow these field trip tips and youll likely create fun learning adventures for your students: Explicitly discuss field trip behavior rules with your students beforehand. Teach, model, and review appropriate field trip behavior with your students for at least a week before the big event. Drill into their heads that field trips are not the time or place to mess around and that any aberrant behavior will result in non-participation in any future field trips that school year. Sound serious and back it up with consequences as needed. Its good to have your students scared of testing the boundaries on field trips. Emphasize that they are representing our schools reputation when they are off-campus and that we want to present our best behavior to the outside world. Make it a point of pride and reward them afterward for a job well done.Give your students a learning task ahead of time. Your students should show up for the field trip with a base of knowledge on the subject at hand, as well as questions to answer before returning to the classroom. Spend some time in the weeks before the field trip discussing the subject matter. Review a list of questions they will be looking to answer during the field trip. This will keep them informed, engaged, and focused on learning all day long. Choose parent chaperones wisely. Field trips require as many adult eyes and ears as you can get, but unfortunately, you cant be everywhere at once. From the first day of school, observe the parents of your students closely, looking for signs of responsibility, firmness, and maturity. A lax or careless parent can be your worst nightmare on a field trip, so choose your parental allies wisely. That way, youll reap the benefits of having adult partners in the field trip process.Make sure you have all the necessary medications. Talk to the school nurse and procure any and all medications that your students usually take during the day. While on the field trip, make sure you administer the medications accordingly. If you have students will allergies, you may need to get trained on how to use an EpiPen. If so, the student involved will need to stay with you at all times.Arrive at school early on field trip day. The students will be excited and antsy, ready to go. Youll want to greet the chap erones and give them instructions for the day. It takes some time to organize the sack lunches and ensure that everyone has what they need for the day. And one last pep talk on appropriate behavior never hurt anybody. Give your chaperones the tools they need to succeed. Make nametags for all chaperones and students. Create a cheat sheet of the days itinerary, special rules, your cell phone number, and the names of all kids in each chaperones group; distribute these sheets to each adult on the field trip. Procure and label grocery bags that each chaperone can use to carry the groups sack lunches. Consider getting a little thank-you gift for each chaperone, or treat them to lunch that day.Be proactive with regards to challenging students. If you have a student who causes trouble regularly in the classroom, its safe to assume he or she will cause at least five times more trouble in public. If possible, ask his or her parent to be a chaperone. That will usually limit any potential problems. Also, when you are making groups, split any problem pairs into separate groups. This is a good policy for troublemakers, chatty kids, or bickering frenemies. And its probably best to keep the most challenging stude nts in your own group, rather than pawning them off on an unsuspecting parent chaperone. Count all day. As the teacher, you will likely spend most of your day counting heads and making sure everyone is accounted for. Obviously, the worst thing that can occur on a field trip is losing a student. So count accurately and often. Enlist the help of chaperones in this task, but do it yourself too, for your own peace of mind. Keeping track of each and every student is the number one priority of field trip day.Do a debriefing when you return to the classroom. If you have a few extra minutes after the field trip and before dismissal from school, put on some soothing classical music and have the students draw about what they saw and learned that day. It gives them a chance to decompress and review what they experienced. The next day, its a good idea to do a more active and in-depth review of the field trip material, extending the learning further and connecting it to what youre working on in the classroom.Write thank-you notes after the field trip. Lead a class language arts lesso n the day after your field trip, formally thanking the people who hosted your group. This serves as an etiquette lesson for your students and helps form your schools good reputation at the field trip destination. In future years, this goodwill could translate into prime perks for your school. With proper planning and a positive attitude, field trips can be unique ways to explore the outside world with your students. Stay flexible and always have a Plan B, and you should do just fine.

Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 17

Religion - Essay Example The experience is the troubles that people encounter and eventually abandons their old living habits and follows what their religion teaches them. In the section, â€Å"Theories of religion† (starting from page 8), Flood explains that there are three different schools of thought in how to define religion. Summarize these theories and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. These theories describe religion to be politics in the other way round, religion is a gene and defined religion to be a cultural response to life (Crockett 14). The first schools gave an illustration that based on the aesthetic reduction. The meaning of this is that religion is part of the cultural mechanism that makes sure that the transmission of genes to the other generations is successful. Explanation of how living being come into existence is specified in a range of constraint, this is the advantage of these theories. The limitation for this is that religious resources that pertain human lives in most instances went against the grain of some scholarships. Correct what Flood describes here with your own experience of religion. Does it resonate? Why or not? Basing on what Floods description, it does not resonate with my experience of religion. The reason behind this is that religions are a unifying, purifying, and holy dominion that brings people closer to God (Crockett 15). Floods highlight does not reveal the genesis of man. Instead, he relates with biological aspects that do not exist in the desired religion.

VIRTUALIZATION AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRTUALIZATION ,CLOUD Assignment

VIRTUALIZATION AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIRTUALIZATION ,CLOUD COMPUTING AND GREEN IT - Assignment Example Introduction Virtualization could be very supportive to the organizations to take benefit of two or more virtual computing frameworks, having diverse operating systems, tools and software on one of hardware logically and inexpensively. In addition, virtualization can help the organizations minimize the distance among software applications, end users, and operating systems from the specific hardware characteristics of the systems they utilize to perform computational activities. Moreover, this technology makes certain to harmonize within a totally innovative signal of hardware and software renewal and also provides simplifying system updates and in various scenarios may get rid of the requirement for such updates (Golden & Scheffy, 2008). This report will offer a detailed overview of this modern technology. This report will discuss several advantages offered by this technology. At the end we will discuss how this technology is connected with other modern technologies such as cloud com puting and green computing. Virtualization We can define virtualization as a logical view of computer based hardware environment through software. Additionally, the thinking behind the design of virtualization technologies is to provide concurrent access on single computer by using multiple operating systems. However, the software of virtualization runs among the operating systems that we normally use for instance, Mac OS, Windows, Linux and other computer supportive hardware, that take input on the operating system and transfer it to the suitable addresses that connect it with hardware. In addition, the virtualization software also performs functionality to reverse, in this way it catches the productive output that we avail from hardware resources as well as redirects it to the various locations of operating system that are suitable for it. In this scenario, one major thing about the os is that it doesn't identify or else any type of concern if it runs on a virtual system or on phy sical hardware. Moreover, the method of virtualization facilitates us to run various Windows of our choice on various operating systems such as Linux based environment, Mac, or PC with our preferred choice. Furthermore, various researches have outline that the virtualization technology is considered as an ideal solution for the usage of those applications that are used for medium or small level (Rankin 2011, Asosheh 2008, Huber, et al. 2010). We know that virtualization technology is considered as a useful technique of maximizing or enhancing physical resources. Additionally, the virtualization technology has a close connection with partitioning. However, it means that partitioning is useful for dividing a distinct physical server into several logical servers. In this scenario, once physical server is patronized, it accommodates logical servers in such a way that all logical servers are free in decision to run or execute a various applications and operating systems of our choice sep arately or independently. It is a true fact that in the mid 1990s, the virtualization technology was principally used to reconstruct those environments that are considered to be end user on a one portion of PC hardware. In some conditions if an IT manager wants to revolve out innovative software, although he wants to analyze its effective functioning on various environments

International Trade Operations in US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Trade Operations in US - Essay Example According to the study findings international buyers who do not have US dollars as their local currency would have to go through the cumbersome process of having to convert their currencies to US dollars whenever they want to do business with you. The excesses in the procedure may just be one reason that someone may prefer other competitors to you. Again, the differences in exchange rate between the local currencies of international buyers and the US dollars will cause price flatuations. It is very likely that the price of good for each particular day will have to change because of changes in exchange rate. This, according to Gibbons creates currency swing, where by the customer may have to build in a 10-15% "adverse currency swing" factor. Conversely, quoting the US dollars may be very desirable when dealing with buyers who already deal in US dollars. It is common k knowledge that a lot of buyers around the world today are into the use of the US dollars. This is because it ensures u niformity in quantum price of goods and products. Again, quoting in US dollars very advisable for smaller companies with limited human resource as Gibbons, notes that â€Å"you may not have the ability to assume the currency risk, the currency exchange costs and the effort needed to run pricing in local currency.† Regarding quotation of prices in local currencies, once prices are quoted in local currencies and not in US dollars for international buyers, whose local currencies are not the US dollars would not have to create any price hedge to cater for the prices of goods. This is a major advantage for dealing with international buyers. This is because the duty of having to convert prices into US dollars and also having to go through the exchange processes, which sometimes attracts extra cost from banks would all be avoided. In would be observed that because pricing in US dollars creates price fluctuations, local buyers are often forced to hedge for the price of goods so that they will not have to be changing their expenditures so often. The converse demerit with pricing in local currency is that there would have to be a different price of same goods when they move from one country to the other. In this case, it is likely that by the time all sales are completed and the seller converts his earnings back to a common currency, there may be some little price falls because of the differences in US dollar rates in different countries (Colacito and Croce, 2011). Rate parity theory and how it is used to predict future exchange rates According to Forex Karma (2010), â€Å"Interest Rate Parity (IPR) theory is used to analyze the relationship between at the spot rate and a corresponding forward (future) rate of currencies.† The theory operates on a number of principles that makes it possible to predict future exchange rates. First, Picardo (2012) writes that â€Å"the basic premise of interest rate parity is that hedged returns from investing in different currencies should be the same, regardless of the level of their interest rates.† This means that future predictions of exchange rate can be made if returns on rate hedging remain constant. This is because in such as situation, both the exchange rate and interest rate do not have any influence on one another. The second has to do with the quote rates of interest rate and currency rates. This is because

Individual assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Individual assignment - Essay Example On such accords, the respective adoption of entrepreneurial behaviour may be associated to the increased desire of improving the economy via paths that are regarded fair for all. Entrepreneurial behaviour involves the development of novel solutions in the market with hope of capitalizing on the untapped consumer habits. Successful entrepreneurs are regarded to be able to deduce ideas that match the interests of their market in a rewarding and prolonged manner. The basis of an entrepreneurial behaviour remains on its ability to shape the considered consumerism towards the considered aspect of development and growth. Enticing growth of the economy is thus perceived to be an entity that comprises of differing elements of wealth generation. Arguably, entrepreneurship is listed among such trends and behaviours. The promotion of the various characteristics of entrepreneurship is perceived as an ideal path towards the address of the respective concerns of unemployment on any economy. Various authors have embarked onto various missions of presenting the respective role of entrepreneurship in any economy. Their publications have considered the plight of both developing and transitioning economies as the ideal candidates upon which their respective concern of entrepreneurship may be adopted. Additional concerns including the prospective role of such ventures in the shaping of these economies remains central in the description of their work. The perception of entrepreneurship being regarded as a tool of expression in respect to the development of an economy is regarded as the commencement point of the enterprise growth (Quereshil et.al, 200). The enterprise is described as the sole tool that promises immediate returns and ease in governance in the various states and nations. Such implication allows its elevation into a status that promotes economy improvement along the considered desires of growth and revenue generation (Glancey & McQuaid, 2000).

Incivility and Resolution Using an Ethical-Reasoning Tool Assignment

Incivility and Resolution Using an Ethical-Reasoning Tool - Assignment Example The nurse experienced embarrassment as there were a lot of other nurses and around (Clark, 2008). Example 2: A nursing staff member was shouted at loudly in front of all other nurses during a training session for nurses working in a healthcare setting. As a result, the nursing staff member started focusing on coping strategy instead of focusing on the lecture being taught. Example 3: During a meeting between the head of different departments of a healthcare setting, the Nursing department’s head raised his hand to provide insight regarding the issue being discussed. He was not acknowledged and his gesture of raising hand was ignored by the director of the healthcare institute. The National League for Nursing has devised a toolkit to counter issues such as incivility in healthcare settings (NLN, 2013). This tool kit has provided with several ways through which various concerns of healthcare settings can be resolved. The toolkit deals with issues such as compensation and benefits, leadership, healthcare setting’s environment and

Individual assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Individual assignment - Essay Example On such accords, the respective adoption of entrepreneurial behaviour may be associated to the increased desire of improving the economy via paths that are regarded fair for all. Entrepreneurial behaviour involves the development of novel solutions in the market with hope of capitalizing on the untapped consumer habits. Successful entrepreneurs are regarded to be able to deduce ideas that match the interests of their market in a rewarding and prolonged manner. The basis of an entrepreneurial behaviour remains on its ability to shape the considered consumerism towards the considered aspect of development and growth. Enticing growth of the economy is thus perceived to be an entity that comprises of differing elements of wealth generation. Arguably, entrepreneurship is listed among such trends and behaviours. The promotion of the various characteristics of entrepreneurship is perceived as an ideal path towards the address of the respective concerns of unemployment on any economy. Various authors have embarked onto various missions of presenting the respective role of entrepreneurship in any economy. Their publications have considered the plight of both developing and transitioning economies as the ideal candidates upon which their respective concern of entrepreneurship may be adopted. Additional concerns including the prospective role of such ventures in the shaping of these economies remains central in the description of their work. The perception of entrepreneurship being regarded as a tool of expression in respect to the development of an economy is regarded as the commencement point of the enterprise growth (Quereshil et.al, 200). The enterprise is described as the sole tool that promises immediate returns and ease in governance in the various states and nations. Such implication allows its elevation into a status that promotes economy improvement along the considered desires of growth and revenue generation (Glancey & McQuaid, 2000).

Politics Coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Politics Coursework - Essay Example One area of international law that has been consistently difficult to gain acceptance, enforcement and compliance with its agreed standards has been that of human rights. Although a clear international statement of human rights has been enshrined for over half a century within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed by the United Nations in 1948, there remains a relativist undercurrent with respect to how various governments interpret and apply human rights standards. Since 9/11, the concept of human rights has become even more nebulous as states that had been the leading champions of international human rights have begun to compromise their commitment to such ideals in deference to their national security. This paper will discuss the importance and limitations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It will trace the history of the Declaration, discuss how it has been interpreted and applied over the decades since its adoption, and consider the ways in which modern global issues pose challenges to its spirit and premise. The difficulty of achieving uniform global human rights protections, particularly in an era heavily influenced by basic security and defense concerns, vividly illustrates the more general challenge of enforcing international law among sovereign states. The UnivPost War Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the earliest, and arguably most important, achievements of the United Nations. It very much reflects the international revulsion that came in the wake of the atrocities of World War II. The experience of the holocaust was a wakeup call, whereby the people of the world became keenly aware of what humans are capable of doing to one another. In a sense, the holocaust represented the rock bottom consequence of previous failures of the international community to come together in the spirit of promoting peace and human rights. Thus, an atmosphere of atonement and a desire to correct the obvious failures of prior international law to protect the most basic human dignities permeated the effort to implement the Declaration. Such post war attitudes clearly echo throughout the Declaration, particularly in the preamble. In fact, the very first two clauses of the preamble directly refer to the barbarity of which humans had been proven capable: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world . . . Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people" (Anonymous, 2006, para. 2 and 3). Without a doubt, the framers of the Declaration clearly sought to address the atrocities of the holocaust head on. According to the American Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey D. Feltman, "The drafters of the Declaration were able to draw inspira tion from heroic efforts in the post-war period to assert the primacy of human rights and the dignity of individuals" (Ambassador Feltman speaks at the 56th anniversary, 2006, para. 3). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was far more than a reaction to a particularly dark

Cognitive Dissonance Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Dissonance Essay Solving a cognitive dissonance is a good way to look at all your cards on the table, so to speak. The definition of cognitive dissonance is A feeling of discomfort caused by a discrepancy between an attitude and a behavior or between two attitudes. (S.Carpenter, K. Huffman 2010). This is means that cognitive dissonance is a problem that involves how you feel and what you are doing to cause the problem. For an example: a man has stolen a car. He feels upset that he has stolen the car but he is in desperate need of money. The mans attitude is that stealing is wrong and his behavior is that he has stolen a car. To solve this cognitive dissonance, the man will have to either change his attitude (change his belief that stealing is wrong) or his behavior (Give back the car and never steal again). To solve cognitive dissonance you will have to, like I put it, put your cards on the table and resolve your problem(s). Like the stealing man I referenced, he noticed his problem was either his attitude for the whole thing or his behavior. To avoid cognitive dissonance, you can completely ignore the problem. Someone can be a doctor that chain smokes even though they have warned their patients of the dangers of smoking and completely ignore the attitude (guilt for being a hypocrite and endangering their own lives) and the behavior (smoking) and be a smoker without thinking anything wrong or good about it. One example of cognitive dissonance that happened to me is the first and only time I cheated on a test back in high school. I needed to pass an exam because I was out sick for a month and my grade was low. A student was selling the test answers for five dollars and I bought one. When I took the test, I was felt guilty for cheating. My attitude was that cheating was wrong yet my behavior was that I was cheating on my test. I choose to fix my attitude on the grounds of that I REALLY needed to pass the test with flying colors and I felt that studying wasnt going to cut it. It turns out that the test answers were from the wrong test and everyone who bought the answers, like me, failed. Luckily the teacher hated the turn out so much that she allowed everyone to retake it. I got a 95% on my own. I never cheated again.

Analysis of the Child Behaviour Checklist

Analysis of the Child Behaviour Checklist Chapter II: Literature Review As suggested in the introduction, numerous researchers have explored the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems across the globe. Researchers have also investigated correlates (e.g., age and gender) associated with emotional and behavioural problems. The psychometric properties of instruments assessing emotional and behavioural problems have also been a subject of interest. In addition, researchers have also investigated cross-cultural similarities and disparities among emotional and behavioural problems. The extensive literature that addresses these issues, and which also helped formulate the rationale for the current study, is presented in five sections. The first section highlights the problems associated with epidemiological studies and compares the two main approaches to epidemiological studies, namely the categorical and the empirical approach. The second section provides a detailed description of the CBCL including the evolution of the measure, its psychometric prope rties, its advantages and disadvantages, as well as its range of applicability. The third section provides a description of the theoretical rationale for assessing cultural similarities and disparities associated with emotional and behavioural problems. Multicultural findings based on the CBCL as well as age and gender differences associated with emotional and behavioural problems are also reported. The fourth section consists of a review of the various processes involved in assessing the psychometric properties of instruments and findings based on psychometric properties of the various translations of the CBCL. The fifth section consists of a brief cultural and socio-political description of Pakistani society followed by a description of the salient features (i.e., family, community and cultural factors) in relation to emotional and behavioural problems in Pakistani society. Finally, there is a description of the objectives of the current study. Epidemiology of Emotional and Behavioural Problems Current reviews of epidemiological studies indicate that there is a high prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems among children and adolescents around the world (Costello et al., 2004; Hackett Hackett, 1999; Waddell et al., 2002). In one review, Costello et al. compared findings across several developed countries (including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia) to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems as well as that of other psychological problems. Based on their findings, the overall prevalence rates of psychological problems among children and adolescents had a very broad range (0.1% to 42%), with varying rates for each category of disorder. Categories include disruptive behaviour disorders (i.e., conduct disorder, oppositional disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), mood disorders (i.e., major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders (i.e., phobias, generalized anxiety disorde r, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder) as well as substance abuse and dependence. A critical examination of the studies included in the review revealed that variations in prevalence rates may be attributed to methodological flaws such as substantial disparity across studies with regard to sample size and the age range assessed. Moreover, differences across studies in terms of the measures used, the criteria employed as well as the type of informant may also have influenced the findings. In contrast to Costello et al.s (2004) review, Waddell et al.s (2002) review was based on more stringent criteria; studies based on samples of similar size and age range, as well as using similar methodology were compared. Based on Waddell et al.s review, the prevalence rates of emotional and behavioural problems varied between 10% and 20%. Although findings from both reviews vary considerably, the prevalence rates of emotional and behavioural problems across developed countries is still high and warrants serious attention. Moreover, methodological disparities across studies underscore the need for a uniform methodology to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems. In contrast to developed countries, there are few researchers investigating prevalence rates in developing countries (e.g., Bangladesh, India, Sri lanka, Sudan, and Uganda) (Costello, 2009: Fleitlich-Bilyk Goodman, 2004; Mullick Goodman, 2005; Nikapota, 1991; Prior, Virasinghe, Smart, 2005). Moreover, there is a scarcity of reviews of the existing studies. In one review, Hackett and Hackett (1999) compared results from India, Puerto Rico, Malaysia and Sudan, and the prevalence rates of psychological disorders ranged from 1% to 49%. Similar to research in developed countries, researchers attribute variations in findings to methodological problems across studies, which include an inadequate sample size, paucity of explicit and internationally accepted diagnostic criteria, as well as inconsistencies in assessment procedures (Fleitlich-Bilyk Goodman, 2004). Moreover, prevalence rates among developing countries may also partly be linked to the social, economic and medical environment. For example, lack of medical resources and awareness about psychological problems may result in parents not knowing how to seek help (Gadit, 2007). Social taboos further compound the problem, preventing people from reporting problems and deterring help-seeking behaviour (Samad, Hollis, Prince, Goodman, 2005). More importantly, cultural variations in the conceptualization and identification of psychological problems may result in varied reporting of symptoms (Gadit, 2007). These environmental differences and methodological inconsistencies across studies emphasize the need for a cross-culturally robust methodology to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems. Along with methodological problems and environmental differences, emotional and behavioural problems merit investigation because they affect multiple aspects of childrens functioning such as academic performance and social adjustment (Montague et al., 2005; Nelson et al., 2004; Vitaro et al., 2005). Researchers also state that there is high comorbidity among emotional and behavioural problems, (SteinHausen, Metze, Meier, Kannenberg, 1998) which creates multiple problems for children and their caregivers. Moreover, many childhood disorders continue and influence functioning during adulthood. In fact, many adult disorders are now recognized as having roots in childhood vulnerabilities (Maughan Kim-Cohen, 2005; Tremblay et al., 2005). Furthermore, recognizing and treating problems early can reduce the burden of the enormous human and financial costs associated with the assessment and intervention, especially in countries where resources are scarce (Costello, Egger, Angold, 2005; Jame s et al., 2002; Waddell et al., 2002). In addition, cross-cultural epidemiology of childrens emotional and behavioural problems may also better inform current knowledge about the characteristics, course, and correlates of such problems, which in turn provide a scientific basis for appropriate mental health planning (Achenbach Rescorla, 2007; Waddell et al.). Therefore, there is a strong need for a methodology that can be utilized for clinical as well as research purposes to assess emotional and behavioural problems among children and adolescents across cultures. Current literature indicates that there are two main approaches to investigate the epidemiology of emotional and behavioural problems, namely the categorical and the empirical approach. There are several differences in both approaches including conceptualization of psychological problems as well as the methodology employed for their assessment. Both approaches will be discussed briefly. The categorical approach. The categorical approach, based on the biomedical perspective, views psychological problems as a group of maladaptive and distressing behaviours, emotions and thoughts which are qualitatively different from the typical (Cullinan, 2004). That is, similar to medical diseases, an individual may or may not have a specific psychological disorder. Traditional epidemiological studies are based on the categorical approach as embodied in various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1980; 1987; 1994; 2000) and the International Classification of Diseases (WHO, 1978; 1992). Examples of instruments used in traditional epidemiological studies to derive DSM diagnoses include the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) (Costello, Edelbrock, Kalas, Kessler, Klaric, 1982) and the childrens version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Kiddie-SADS) (Puig-Antich Ch ambers, 1978). At present, there is considerable debate about the validity of epidemiological studies based on the categorical approach. Researchers have highlighted that inconsistencies in prevalence rates may be due to conceptual and methodological issues linked with the DSM as well as methodological disparities among studies (Achenbach Rescorla, 2007; Waddell et al., 2002). Each of these factors will be discussed briefly. DSM related problems. Multiple conceptual and methodological problems are associated with the DSM. First, the DSM does not provide a methodology to operationally define different psychological disorders (Widiger Clark, 2000). To operationally define DSM criteria, various diagnostic interviews such as the DISC have been developed. Unfortunately, meta-analyses indicate that the diagnoses based on the DISC and other diagnostic interviews are not in agreement with diagnoses made through comprehensive clinical interviews, which indicate that, neither diagnostic nor clinical interviews provide good validity criteria for testing DSM categories (Achenbach, 2005; Costello et al., 2005; Lewczyk et al., 2003). Second, the diagnostic categories and criteria provided in the DSM continue to change as reflected in the changes across the various editions of the DSM, namely the third edition (APA, 1980), third edition revised (APA, 1987), fourth edition (APA, 1994), and fourth edition text revised ( APA, 2000), making comparisons across editions problematic (Achenbach, 2005). Third, although the current version, known as the DSM-IV-text revised (APA, 2000), aims at introducing cultural sensitivity in assessment and diagnoses by including an â€Å"outline for cultural formulation and a glossary of culture-bound syndromes† (APA., 2000, pg. 897), it does not provide criteria or guidelines regarding the use of the classification system with specific cultural groups (Paniagua, 2005). Since many of the DSM diagnostic criteria are based on Euro-American social norms, it is difficult to use the DSM criteria to identify psychopathology in individuals from other cultures. In addition, there is growing consensus among researchers that DSM categories need to be more appropriate for children and adolescents of different ages and gender (Doucette, 2002; Segal Coolidge, 2001). Turk et al. (2007) also highlight the saliency of factors such as age and gender when investigating prevalence rates. However, at present, this is not the case. Costello et al. (2005) have stated that the constant developmental changes of childhood create the need for an age- and gender- specific approach to epidemiology. Before incorporating a developmental perspective in epidemiological studies, it is essential to have a better understanding of developmental psychopathology. Developmental psychopathology is based on the view that problems arise from different causes, manifest themselves differently at each stage, and may have diverse outcomes. Developmental psychologists do not support a specific theory to explain all developmental issues. Instead, they try to incorporate knowledge from multiple disciplines (Cicchetti Dawson, 2002). Moreover, developmental psychopathology also includes an analysis of the existing risk and protective factors within the individual and also in his/her environment over the course of development (Cicchetti Walker, 2003). According to Costello and colleagues (2004), a developmental perspective in epidemiological studies is based on the inclusion of certain principles. First, precise assessment measures for the different phases in childhood and adolescence are required to compare childrens functioning with that of their same-age peers. For example, problems such as fear of dark places is considered typical for 6-year-olds but not for 12-year-olds. Furthermore, the developmental perspective would include longitudinal studies to evaluate the ways in which developmental processes influence the risk of specific psychological disorders. For example, the developmental trajectory of physical aggression is such that there is an increase in Aggressive Behavior during the first few years of childhood, but it progressively decreases until adulthood (Tremblay et al., 2004). Moreover, developmental epidemiology would include frequent assessments to determine the onset of disorders. Frequent assessments would also a ssist in the identification of environmental and individual factors that contribute to the development of psychopathology. Although the developmental perspective emphasises the need for age- and gender-specific diagnostic criteria, longitudinal studies as well as frequent assessments, it is difficult to incorporate this perspective in studies based on the categorical approach as it is not sensitive to developmental changes. Methodological disparities. A critical analysis of categorically based epidemiological studies reveals multiple methodological problems. These include inconsistencies in assessment and sampling procedures as well as absence of guidelines about using data from multiple sources. In terms of assessment procedures, both symptoms as well as significant impairment are required to identify children with disorders. This is corroborated by Costello et al. (2004), who report that the disparity in the prevalence rates of phobias (i.e., 0.1% to 21.9%) may be attributed to how phobias were assessed in each study, in particular, whether both symptoms (e.g., fear of open places, snakes) as well as significant functional impairment were taken into account in the identification of phobias. Waddell et al. (2002) state that the use of standardized measures has lead to an improvement in the assessment of symptoms; however, problems still exist with regard to how impairment is gauged or how measures may be combined to include symptoms as well as impairment. Another problem with assessment procedures is that different interview schedules (e.g., DISC and the Kiddie-SADS) and DSM editions have been used across studies, which may have contributed to differences in prevalence rates. Incompatible sampling procedures may also have led to disparities in overall prevalence rates in categorically based epidemiological studies (Waddell et al., 2002). For example, studies such as the Great Smokey Mountains study (Costello, Angold, Burns, Erkanli, Stangel Tweed, 1996) were relatively more comprehensive, and investigated a larger number of diagnostic categories than other studies. As a result, higher overall prevalence rates of psychological problems were reported compared to studies that did not assess as many disorders. Another sampling issue is that reviews were based on studies that differed with regard to the age range assessed; some studies focused on a younger age bracket (i.e., between 8 to 11 year olds), others on an older age bracket (i.e., 11 years and older), whereas some researches included a very broad age range (i.e., 6 to 17 year olds). In addition, there were inconsistencies across studies in terms of the type of informant used; some studies relied on p arents only, some on children, while some combined data from parents, children as well as teachers. Differences in the age brackets assessed as well as the use of different informants may have contributed to disparities in epidemiological findings. Another salient issue with regard to categorically based epidemiological studies concerns the coordination and interpretation of information from multiple informants. Since problem behaviours may only occur in specific situations or with specific individuals, multiple informants (e.g., teachers, parents and children) are necessary. However, since the respondents context and perception have a great impact on the identification of psychological problems, poor agreement among respondents is frequently reported. For example, children normally report higher rates of internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) while parents tends to report higher rates of externalizing symptoms (e.g., Conduct Problems) (Rubio-Stipec, Fitzmaurice, Murphy, Walker, 2003). Additionally, children are not considered reliable reporters of their own behaviour due to differences in cognitive abilities as well as the ability to report their own behaviour (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). Despite such finding s, the categorical approach does not provide guidelines regarding obtaining and interpreting data from multiple sources, which complicates matters in terms of how to combine data into yes-or-no decisions about different symptoms. The various conceptual problems associated with the DSM as well as the methodological flaws in epidemiological reviews highlight the problems associated with using the categorical approach as a basis for epidemiological studies. Moreover, these issues underscore the need for an approach that is methodologically sound and culturally appropriate for cross-cultural comparisons. An alternative to problems linked to the categorical approach, where an a priori criterion is imposed, can be a system that is empirically based and identifies problems as they occur in a population. Such an approach would be helpful in highlighting cultural differences in the manifestation of different emotional and behavioural problems. Moreover, there is also a need for a methodology that can be employed in a standardized, systematic fashion. Although the empirical approach is not a panacea for problems associated with epidemiological studies, it does provide solutions to some of the types of errors in the cat egorical system. Empirical or dimensional approach. The empirical or dimensional approach, in accordance with a psychosocial perspective, views mental health as a continuum. The dimensional perspective supports the notion that all individuals experience problems involving behaviours, emotions and thoughts to varying extents. Those who experience such problems to an extreme extent (unusual frequency, duration, intensity, or other aspects) are more likely to have a psychological disorder (Cullinan, 2004). In contrast to imposing a priori criteria on childrens emotional and behavioural problems, the empirical approach identifies problems as they present themselves in the population. According to Cullinan (2004), there are certain steps involved in developing a dimensional classification system for emotional and behavioural problems. These steps include creating a collection of items that reflect measurable problem behaviours experienced by children, identifying a group of children to be studied, assessi ng every child in the group on each problem, and investigating the data to identify items that co-vary, thus leading to the identification of different dimensions or factors. After the dimensions have been derived, the pool of items can be used to assess and classify emotional and behaviour problems among new populations. Given that the empirical approach is based on the identification of co-occurring problem behaviours in the population, instead of imposing a priori criteria, it is a favourable approach for cross-cultural epidemiological studies. Within empirical approaches, the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) provides a good framework for epidemiological studies for multiple reasons. First, being empirically based, ASEBA identifies emotional and behavioural problems as they occur in the population. Second, it is based on a developmental perspective, has a uniform methodology, and also provides explicit guidelines about using data from multiple sources (Achenbach McConaughy, 1997; Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). Hence it provides solutions to problems that arise in the categorical approach. Moreover, Cullinan (2004) and Krol et al. (2006) state that ASEBA measures have been used more extensively compared to other measures of emotional and behavioural problems, such as the Conners Rating Scale- Revised (Conners,1990) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997). Achenbach system of empirically based assessment (ASEBA). Although the ASEBA has a non-theoretical, empirical base per se, it is greatly influenced by the principles of developmental psychopathology. For example, Achenbach highlights that problems may include thoughts, behaviours, and emotions that may manifest themselves differently depending on the age and gender of the individual (Greenbaum et al., 2004). Therefore, each ASEBA form provides norms based on the age and gender of the child, which enables an individuals functioning to be assessed in comparison to same-age peers. Furthermore, ASEBA is a multiaxial system that encompasses a family of standardized instruments for the assessment of behavioural and emotional problems as well as adaptive functioning. The five axes of the assessment model include parent (Axis I) and teacher (Axis II) reports, cognitive (Axis III) and physical (Axis IV) assessments as well as the direct assessment of children (Axis V) (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). The use of different ASEBA instruments provides a s tandardized and uniform methodology to incorporate information from multiple sources. Furthermore, all ASEBA instruments are empirically based. In accordance with the empirical approach, the construction of the ASEBA forms involved a series of steps (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). Initially, a collection of potential symptom behaviours (i.e., items) was derived from multiple sources. These items were operationally defined in such a manner that respondents not trained in psychological theory could use them. In accordance with general item-development procedures, pilot tests were conducted to evaluate the clarity of items, response scales and item distribution. Finally, items that could differentiate between individuals who were not functioning well and their well functioning same-age peers were retained. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to the retained items in order to identify syndromes of problems that co-occur. Syndromes were identified purely on the basis of co-occurrence, without any link to a particular cause. Subsequently, the syndromes of co-occur ring problem items were used to construct scales. These scales were used to assess individuals in order to assess the degree to which they exhibit each syndrome. Since all ASEBA instruments are empirically based, findings can be compared on the basis of the manifestation of different emotional and behavioural problems, thereby providing a clearer picture of cross-cultural similarities and disparities of different emotional and behavioural problems. In terms of the historical evolution of the system, ASEBA originated to provide a more differentiated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology than the DSM. When ASEBA was developed, the first edition of the DSM (APA, 1952) had only two categories for childhood disorders, which included adjustment reactions of childhood and schizophrenic reaction childhood type (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). In contrast to the DSM, the first ASEBA publication highlighted more syndromes of emotional and behavioural problems (APA, 1952). Moreover, based on factor analyses, Achenbach (1966) identified two broad groupings of problems for which he coined the terms â€Å"Internalizing† and â€Å"Externalizing.† As described earlier, Internalizing Problems included problems with the self, such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and Somatic Complaints, without any apparent physical cause. On the other hand, Externalizing Problems included problems with other people, as well as problems linked to non-conformance to social norms and mores, such as aggressive and delinquent behaviour. Although all ASEBA forms are used extensively in clinical and research environments, the Child Behavior Checklist is the most widely recognized measure for the assessment of emotional and behavioural problems (Greenbaum et al., 2004; Webber Plotts, 2008). Child Behavior Checklist An essential part and the cornerstone of Achenbachs multiaxial, empirical system is the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Although the CBCL assesses social competencies as well as problem behaviours, it is widely recognized as a measure of emotional and behavioural problems as opposed to social competencies. In fact, researchers suggest that the CBCL is the most extensively utilized measure for the assessment of problem behaviours among children and adolescents as observed by their parents and caregivers (Krol et al., 2006; Greenbaum et al., 2004). Although there have been multiple revisions to the initial CBCL, all versions have the same format and consist of two distinct sections. The first section measures social competencies. Parents are asked to respond to 20 questions regarding the childs functioning in sports, miscellaneous activities, organizations, jobs and chores, and friendships. Items also cover the childs relations with significant others, how well the child plays and works alone, as well as his/her functioning at school. Finally, respondents describe any known illnesses or disabilities, the issues that concern them the most about the child, and the best things about the child (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). The second section assesses problem behaviour and consists of 118 items that describe specific emotional and behavioural problems, along with two open-ended items for reporting additional problems. Examples of problem items include â€Å"acts too young for age†, â€Å"cruel to animals†, â€Å"too fe arful or anxious†, and â€Å"unhappy, sad or depressed†. Problem behaviours are organized in a hierarchical factor structure that consists of eight correlated first-order or narrowband syndromes, two correlated second-order or broadband factors (i.e., Internalizing and Externalizing Problems) and an overall Total Problems factor. Parents/caregivers are asked to rate the child with regard to how true each item is at the time of assessment or within the past 6 months. The following scale is used: 0 = not true (as far as you know), 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 = very true or often true. In the case of respondents with poor reading skills, a non-clinically trained clincian can also admisnter the CBCL (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). For respondents who cannot read English but can read another language, translations are available in over 85 languages (Berube Achenbach, 2008). Development of the CBCL. The first version of the CBCL dates back to 1983. To date, there have been two revisions of the CBCL; the first one in 1991 followed by the second in 2001, leading to considerable improvements in the measure. The main weakness of the initial CBCL was that comparisons across different age groups and respondents were problematic since syndromes had the same names but different items across different age forms (i.e., 4 to 5, 6 to 11, 12 to 16 years) as well as across different respondent forms (i.e., CBCL, teacher report form [TRF], and the youth self report [YSR]) To rectify the problem, the 1991 version included two new types of syndromes, the core and cross-informant syndromes. Core syndromes represented items that clustered together consistently across age and gender groupings on a single instrument. Cross-informant syndromes were based on those items from the core syndromes that appear on at least two of the three different respondent forms (i.e., CBCL, TRF, and YSR) (Greenbaum et al., 2004). These revisions facilitated comparisons across different age groups and informants. Moreover, the 1991 version of the CBCL also had new national level norms, which included norms for seventeen and eighteen year olds. Apart from practical benefits, changes such as a broader age range and precise criteria for different developmental levels, genders and type of respondents, helped make the CBCL and ASEBA instruments more accurately representative of the developmental perspective of child psychopathology (Greenbaum et al.). Achenbach (1991) also conducted exploratory principal factor analyses of the syndrome scales. Based on the loadings of different syndromes, Achenbach identified Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn, and Somatic Complaints as indicators of Internalizing Problems, whereas Aggressive and Delinquent Behavior were identified as indicators of Externalizing Problems. Since Social Problems, Thought Problems and Attention Problems did not load consistently on either second-order factor, they were not placed in any group (Achenbach, 1991; Greenbaum et al., 2004). Although Internalizing and Externalizing Problems identify different types of behaviour, the two categories are not mutually exclusive and may co-occur within the same individual. This is supported by research findings that indicate that there was a correlation between the two groups in both clinic-referred (.54) and non-referred (.59) samples matched on the basis of age, sex, race, and income (Achenbach, 1991). Description of the current CBCL. The current CBCL was published in 2001 and covers ages 6 to 18 years (CBCL/6-18; Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). The CBCL/6-18 (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001) provides raw scores, T- scores and percentiles for the following: (1) the three competence scales (Activities, Social, School); (2) the Total Competence scale; (3) the eight cross-informant syndromes; (4) Internalizing and Externalizing Problems and (5) Total Problems. The cross-informant syndromes of the CBCL/6-18 include Aggressive Behavior, Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, Social Problems, Somatic Complaints, Thought Problems, and Withdrawn/Depressed. As far as similarities and differences from previous versions are concerned, the current CBCL introduced some major and a few minor changes. One major change was the introduction of the DSM-oriented scales, based on which CBCL and other ASEBA forms can now be scored in terms of scales that are oriented toward categories of the fourth edition of the DSM (A.P.A., 1994). The introduction of the DSM-oriented scales has combined the categorical and empirical approaches and enables users to view problems in both the categorical and dimensional approaches (Achenbach, Dumenci Rescorla, 2003; Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). The DSM-oriented scales include six categories, namely Affective Problems, Anxiety Problems, Somatic Problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity problems, Oppositional Defiant Problems as well as Conduct Problems. These scales are based on problem items that mental health experts from sixteen cultures across the world rated as being consistent with particular DSM diagnostic cat egories. Similar to the empirically based syndromes, the DSM- oriented scales also have age-, gender- and respondent-specific norms. Another major change was that new normative data was collected using multistage probability sampling in forty U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia. The selected homes were considered to be representative of the continental United States with respect to geographical region, socio-economic status, ethnicity and urbanization (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). Moreover, complex new analyses based on new clinical and normative samples were conducted. However, the eight syndromes and Internalizing and Externalizing groupings published in 1991 were replicated with minor changes. Research findings indicated that correlations between scores on the 1991 syndromes and their 2001 counterparts ranged from .87 to 1.00 (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001 Analysis of the Child Behaviour Checklist Analysis of the Child Behaviour Checklist Chapter II: Literature Review As suggested in the introduction, numerous researchers have explored the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems across the globe. Researchers have also investigated correlates (e.g., age and gender) associated with emotional and behavioural problems. The psychometric properties of instruments assessing emotional and behavioural problems have also been a subject of interest. In addition, researchers have also investigated cross-cultural similarities and disparities among emotional and behavioural problems. The extensive literature that addresses these issues, and which also helped formulate the rationale for the current study, is presented in five sections. The first section highlights the problems associated with epidemiological studies and compares the two main approaches to epidemiological studies, namely the categorical and the empirical approach. The second section provides a detailed description of the CBCL including the evolution of the measure, its psychometric prope rties, its advantages and disadvantages, as well as its range of applicability. The third section provides a description of the theoretical rationale for assessing cultural similarities and disparities associated with emotional and behavioural problems. Multicultural findings based on the CBCL as well as age and gender differences associated with emotional and behavioural problems are also reported. The fourth section consists of a review of the various processes involved in assessing the psychometric properties of instruments and findings based on psychometric properties of the various translations of the CBCL. The fifth section consists of a brief cultural and socio-political description of Pakistani society followed by a description of the salient features (i.e., family, community and cultural factors) in relation to emotional and behavioural problems in Pakistani society. Finally, there is a description of the objectives of the current study. Epidemiology of Emotional and Behavioural Problems Current reviews of epidemiological studies indicate that there is a high prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems among children and adolescents around the world (Costello et al., 2004; Hackett Hackett, 1999; Waddell et al., 2002). In one review, Costello et al. compared findings across several developed countries (including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia) to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems as well as that of other psychological problems. Based on their findings, the overall prevalence rates of psychological problems among children and adolescents had a very broad range (0.1% to 42%), with varying rates for each category of disorder. Categories include disruptive behaviour disorders (i.e., conduct disorder, oppositional disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), mood disorders (i.e., major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder), anxiety disorders (i.e., phobias, generalized anxiety disorde r, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder) as well as substance abuse and dependence. A critical examination of the studies included in the review revealed that variations in prevalence rates may be attributed to methodological flaws such as substantial disparity across studies with regard to sample size and the age range assessed. Moreover, differences across studies in terms of the measures used, the criteria employed as well as the type of informant may also have influenced the findings. In contrast to Costello et al.s (2004) review, Waddell et al.s (2002) review was based on more stringent criteria; studies based on samples of similar size and age range, as well as using similar methodology were compared. Based on Waddell et al.s review, the prevalence rates of emotional and behavioural problems varied between 10% and 20%. Although findings from both reviews vary considerably, the prevalence rates of emotional and behavioural problems across developed countries is still high and warrants serious attention. Moreover, methodological disparities across studies underscore the need for a uniform methodology to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems. In contrast to developed countries, there are few researchers investigating prevalence rates in developing countries (e.g., Bangladesh, India, Sri lanka, Sudan, and Uganda) (Costello, 2009: Fleitlich-Bilyk Goodman, 2004; Mullick Goodman, 2005; Nikapota, 1991; Prior, Virasinghe, Smart, 2005). Moreover, there is a scarcity of reviews of the existing studies. In one review, Hackett and Hackett (1999) compared results from India, Puerto Rico, Malaysia and Sudan, and the prevalence rates of psychological disorders ranged from 1% to 49%. Similar to research in developed countries, researchers attribute variations in findings to methodological problems across studies, which include an inadequate sample size, paucity of explicit and internationally accepted diagnostic criteria, as well as inconsistencies in assessment procedures (Fleitlich-Bilyk Goodman, 2004). Moreover, prevalence rates among developing countries may also partly be linked to the social, economic and medical environment. For example, lack of medical resources and awareness about psychological problems may result in parents not knowing how to seek help (Gadit, 2007). Social taboos further compound the problem, preventing people from reporting problems and deterring help-seeking behaviour (Samad, Hollis, Prince, Goodman, 2005). More importantly, cultural variations in the conceptualization and identification of psychological problems may result in varied reporting of symptoms (Gadit, 2007). These environmental differences and methodological inconsistencies across studies emphasize the need for a cross-culturally robust methodology to investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems. Along with methodological problems and environmental differences, emotional and behavioural problems merit investigation because they affect multiple aspects of childrens functioning such as academic performance and social adjustment (Montague et al., 2005; Nelson et al., 2004; Vitaro et al., 2005). Researchers also state that there is high comorbidity among emotional and behavioural problems, (SteinHausen, Metze, Meier, Kannenberg, 1998) which creates multiple problems for children and their caregivers. Moreover, many childhood disorders continue and influence functioning during adulthood. In fact, many adult disorders are now recognized as having roots in childhood vulnerabilities (Maughan Kim-Cohen, 2005; Tremblay et al., 2005). Furthermore, recognizing and treating problems early can reduce the burden of the enormous human and financial costs associated with the assessment and intervention, especially in countries where resources are scarce (Costello, Egger, Angold, 2005; Jame s et al., 2002; Waddell et al., 2002). In addition, cross-cultural epidemiology of childrens emotional and behavioural problems may also better inform current knowledge about the characteristics, course, and correlates of such problems, which in turn provide a scientific basis for appropriate mental health planning (Achenbach Rescorla, 2007; Waddell et al.). Therefore, there is a strong need for a methodology that can be utilized for clinical as well as research purposes to assess emotional and behavioural problems among children and adolescents across cultures. Current literature indicates that there are two main approaches to investigate the epidemiology of emotional and behavioural problems, namely the categorical and the empirical approach. There are several differences in both approaches including conceptualization of psychological problems as well as the methodology employed for their assessment. Both approaches will be discussed briefly. The categorical approach. The categorical approach, based on the biomedical perspective, views psychological problems as a group of maladaptive and distressing behaviours, emotions and thoughts which are qualitatively different from the typical (Cullinan, 2004). That is, similar to medical diseases, an individual may or may not have a specific psychological disorder. Traditional epidemiological studies are based on the categorical approach as embodied in various editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1980; 1987; 1994; 2000) and the International Classification of Diseases (WHO, 1978; 1992). Examples of instruments used in traditional epidemiological studies to derive DSM diagnoses include the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) (Costello, Edelbrock, Kalas, Kessler, Klaric, 1982) and the childrens version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Kiddie-SADS) (Puig-Antich Ch ambers, 1978). At present, there is considerable debate about the validity of epidemiological studies based on the categorical approach. Researchers have highlighted that inconsistencies in prevalence rates may be due to conceptual and methodological issues linked with the DSM as well as methodological disparities among studies (Achenbach Rescorla, 2007; Waddell et al., 2002). Each of these factors will be discussed briefly. DSM related problems. Multiple conceptual and methodological problems are associated with the DSM. First, the DSM does not provide a methodology to operationally define different psychological disorders (Widiger Clark, 2000). To operationally define DSM criteria, various diagnostic interviews such as the DISC have been developed. Unfortunately, meta-analyses indicate that the diagnoses based on the DISC and other diagnostic interviews are not in agreement with diagnoses made through comprehensive clinical interviews, which indicate that, neither diagnostic nor clinical interviews provide good validity criteria for testing DSM categories (Achenbach, 2005; Costello et al., 2005; Lewczyk et al., 2003). Second, the diagnostic categories and criteria provided in the DSM continue to change as reflected in the changes across the various editions of the DSM, namely the third edition (APA, 1980), third edition revised (APA, 1987), fourth edition (APA, 1994), and fourth edition text revised ( APA, 2000), making comparisons across editions problematic (Achenbach, 2005). Third, although the current version, known as the DSM-IV-text revised (APA, 2000), aims at introducing cultural sensitivity in assessment and diagnoses by including an â€Å"outline for cultural formulation and a glossary of culture-bound syndromes† (APA., 2000, pg. 897), it does not provide criteria or guidelines regarding the use of the classification system with specific cultural groups (Paniagua, 2005). Since many of the DSM diagnostic criteria are based on Euro-American social norms, it is difficult to use the DSM criteria to identify psychopathology in individuals from other cultures. In addition, there is growing consensus among researchers that DSM categories need to be more appropriate for children and adolescents of different ages and gender (Doucette, 2002; Segal Coolidge, 2001). Turk et al. (2007) also highlight the saliency of factors such as age and gender when investigating prevalence rates. However, at present, this is not the case. Costello et al. (2005) have stated that the constant developmental changes of childhood create the need for an age- and gender- specific approach to epidemiology. Before incorporating a developmental perspective in epidemiological studies, it is essential to have a better understanding of developmental psychopathology. Developmental psychopathology is based on the view that problems arise from different causes, manifest themselves differently at each stage, and may have diverse outcomes. Developmental psychologists do not support a specific theory to explain all developmental issues. Instead, they try to incorporate knowledge from multiple disciplines (Cicchetti Dawson, 2002). Moreover, developmental psychopathology also includes an analysis of the existing risk and protective factors within the individual and also in his/her environment over the course of development (Cicchetti Walker, 2003). According to Costello and colleagues (2004), a developmental perspective in epidemiological studies is based on the inclusion of certain principles. First, precise assessment measures for the different phases in childhood and adolescence are required to compare childrens functioning with that of their same-age peers. For example, problems such as fear of dark places is considered typical for 6-year-olds but not for 12-year-olds. Furthermore, the developmental perspective would include longitudinal studies to evaluate the ways in which developmental processes influence the risk of specific psychological disorders. For example, the developmental trajectory of physical aggression is such that there is an increase in Aggressive Behavior during the first few years of childhood, but it progressively decreases until adulthood (Tremblay et al., 2004). Moreover, developmental epidemiology would include frequent assessments to determine the onset of disorders. Frequent assessments would also a ssist in the identification of environmental and individual factors that contribute to the development of psychopathology. Although the developmental perspective emphasises the need for age- and gender-specific diagnostic criteria, longitudinal studies as well as frequent assessments, it is difficult to incorporate this perspective in studies based on the categorical approach as it is not sensitive to developmental changes. Methodological disparities. A critical analysis of categorically based epidemiological studies reveals multiple methodological problems. These include inconsistencies in assessment and sampling procedures as well as absence of guidelines about using data from multiple sources. In terms of assessment procedures, both symptoms as well as significant impairment are required to identify children with disorders. This is corroborated by Costello et al. (2004), who report that the disparity in the prevalence rates of phobias (i.e., 0.1% to 21.9%) may be attributed to how phobias were assessed in each study, in particular, whether both symptoms (e.g., fear of open places, snakes) as well as significant functional impairment were taken into account in the identification of phobias. Waddell et al. (2002) state that the use of standardized measures has lead to an improvement in the assessment of symptoms; however, problems still exist with regard to how impairment is gauged or how measures may be combined to include symptoms as well as impairment. Another problem with assessment procedures is that different interview schedules (e.g., DISC and the Kiddie-SADS) and DSM editions have been used across studies, which may have contributed to differences in prevalence rates. Incompatible sampling procedures may also have led to disparities in overall prevalence rates in categorically based epidemiological studies (Waddell et al., 2002). For example, studies such as the Great Smokey Mountains study (Costello, Angold, Burns, Erkanli, Stangel Tweed, 1996) were relatively more comprehensive, and investigated a larger number of diagnostic categories than other studies. As a result, higher overall prevalence rates of psychological problems were reported compared to studies that did not assess as many disorders. Another sampling issue is that reviews were based on studies that differed with regard to the age range assessed; some studies focused on a younger age bracket (i.e., between 8 to 11 year olds), others on an older age bracket (i.e., 11 years and older), whereas some researches included a very broad age range (i.e., 6 to 17 year olds). In addition, there were inconsistencies across studies in terms of the type of informant used; some studies relied on p arents only, some on children, while some combined data from parents, children as well as teachers. Differences in the age brackets assessed as well as the use of different informants may have contributed to disparities in epidemiological findings. Another salient issue with regard to categorically based epidemiological studies concerns the coordination and interpretation of information from multiple informants. Since problem behaviours may only occur in specific situations or with specific individuals, multiple informants (e.g., teachers, parents and children) are necessary. However, since the respondents context and perception have a great impact on the identification of psychological problems, poor agreement among respondents is frequently reported. For example, children normally report higher rates of internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) while parents tends to report higher rates of externalizing symptoms (e.g., Conduct Problems) (Rubio-Stipec, Fitzmaurice, Murphy, Walker, 2003). Additionally, children are not considered reliable reporters of their own behaviour due to differences in cognitive abilities as well as the ability to report their own behaviour (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). Despite such finding s, the categorical approach does not provide guidelines regarding obtaining and interpreting data from multiple sources, which complicates matters in terms of how to combine data into yes-or-no decisions about different symptoms. The various conceptual problems associated with the DSM as well as the methodological flaws in epidemiological reviews highlight the problems associated with using the categorical approach as a basis for epidemiological studies. Moreover, these issues underscore the need for an approach that is methodologically sound and culturally appropriate for cross-cultural comparisons. An alternative to problems linked to the categorical approach, where an a priori criterion is imposed, can be a system that is empirically based and identifies problems as they occur in a population. Such an approach would be helpful in highlighting cultural differences in the manifestation of different emotional and behavioural problems. Moreover, there is also a need for a methodology that can be employed in a standardized, systematic fashion. Although the empirical approach is not a panacea for problems associated with epidemiological studies, it does provide solutions to some of the types of errors in the cat egorical system. Empirical or dimensional approach. The empirical or dimensional approach, in accordance with a psychosocial perspective, views mental health as a continuum. The dimensional perspective supports the notion that all individuals experience problems involving behaviours, emotions and thoughts to varying extents. Those who experience such problems to an extreme extent (unusual frequency, duration, intensity, or other aspects) are more likely to have a psychological disorder (Cullinan, 2004). In contrast to imposing a priori criteria on childrens emotional and behavioural problems, the empirical approach identifies problems as they present themselves in the population. According to Cullinan (2004), there are certain steps involved in developing a dimensional classification system for emotional and behavioural problems. These steps include creating a collection of items that reflect measurable problem behaviours experienced by children, identifying a group of children to be studied, assessi ng every child in the group on each problem, and investigating the data to identify items that co-vary, thus leading to the identification of different dimensions or factors. After the dimensions have been derived, the pool of items can be used to assess and classify emotional and behaviour problems among new populations. Given that the empirical approach is based on the identification of co-occurring problem behaviours in the population, instead of imposing a priori criteria, it is a favourable approach for cross-cultural epidemiological studies. Within empirical approaches, the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) provides a good framework for epidemiological studies for multiple reasons. First, being empirically based, ASEBA identifies emotional and behavioural problems as they occur in the population. Second, it is based on a developmental perspective, has a uniform methodology, and also provides explicit guidelines about using data from multiple sources (Achenbach McConaughy, 1997; Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). Hence it provides solutions to problems that arise in the categorical approach. Moreover, Cullinan (2004) and Krol et al. (2006) state that ASEBA measures have been used more extensively compared to other measures of emotional and behavioural problems, such as the Conners Rating Scale- Revised (Conners,1990) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997). Achenbach system of empirically based assessment (ASEBA). Although the ASEBA has a non-theoretical, empirical base per se, it is greatly influenced by the principles of developmental psychopathology. For example, Achenbach highlights that problems may include thoughts, behaviours, and emotions that may manifest themselves differently depending on the age and gender of the individual (Greenbaum et al., 2004). Therefore, each ASEBA form provides norms based on the age and gender of the child, which enables an individuals functioning to be assessed in comparison to same-age peers. Furthermore, ASEBA is a multiaxial system that encompasses a family of standardized instruments for the assessment of behavioural and emotional problems as well as adaptive functioning. The five axes of the assessment model include parent (Axis I) and teacher (Axis II) reports, cognitive (Axis III) and physical (Axis IV) assessments as well as the direct assessment of children (Axis V) (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). The use of different ASEBA instruments provides a s tandardized and uniform methodology to incorporate information from multiple sources. Furthermore, all ASEBA instruments are empirically based. In accordance with the empirical approach, the construction of the ASEBA forms involved a series of steps (Achenbach McConaughy, 2003). Initially, a collection of potential symptom behaviours (i.e., items) was derived from multiple sources. These items were operationally defined in such a manner that respondents not trained in psychological theory could use them. In accordance with general item-development procedures, pilot tests were conducted to evaluate the clarity of items, response scales and item distribution. Finally, items that could differentiate between individuals who were not functioning well and their well functioning same-age peers were retained. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to the retained items in order to identify syndromes of problems that co-occur. Syndromes were identified purely on the basis of co-occurrence, without any link to a particular cause. Subsequently, the syndromes of co-occur ring problem items were used to construct scales. These scales were used to assess individuals in order to assess the degree to which they exhibit each syndrome. Since all ASEBA instruments are empirically based, findings can be compared on the basis of the manifestation of different emotional and behavioural problems, thereby providing a clearer picture of cross-cultural similarities and disparities of different emotional and behavioural problems. In terms of the historical evolution of the system, ASEBA originated to provide a more differentiated assessment of child and adolescent psychopathology than the DSM. When ASEBA was developed, the first edition of the DSM (APA, 1952) had only two categories for childhood disorders, which included adjustment reactions of childhood and schizophrenic reaction childhood type (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). In contrast to the DSM, the first ASEBA publication highlighted more syndromes of emotional and behavioural problems (APA, 1952). Moreover, based on factor analyses, Achenbach (1966) identified two broad groupings of problems for which he coined the terms â€Å"Internalizing† and â€Å"Externalizing.† As described earlier, Internalizing Problems included problems with the self, such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and Somatic Complaints, without any apparent physical cause. On the other hand, Externalizing Problems included problems with other people, as well as problems linked to non-conformance to social norms and mores, such as aggressive and delinquent behaviour. Although all ASEBA forms are used extensively in clinical and research environments, the Child Behavior Checklist is the most widely recognized measure for the assessment of emotional and behavioural problems (Greenbaum et al., 2004; Webber Plotts, 2008). Child Behavior Checklist An essential part and the cornerstone of Achenbachs multiaxial, empirical system is the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Although the CBCL assesses social competencies as well as problem behaviours, it is widely recognized as a measure of emotional and behavioural problems as opposed to social competencies. In fact, researchers suggest that the CBCL is the most extensively utilized measure for the assessment of problem behaviours among children and adolescents as observed by their parents and caregivers (Krol et al., 2006; Greenbaum et al., 2004). Although there have been multiple revisions to the initial CBCL, all versions have the same format and consist of two distinct sections. The first section measures social competencies. Parents are asked to respond to 20 questions regarding the childs functioning in sports, miscellaneous activities, organizations, jobs and chores, and friendships. Items also cover the childs relations with significant others, how well the child plays and works alone, as well as his/her functioning at school. Finally, respondents describe any known illnesses or disabilities, the issues that concern them the most about the child, and the best things about the child (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). The second section assesses problem behaviour and consists of 118 items that describe specific emotional and behavioural problems, along with two open-ended items for reporting additional problems. Examples of problem items include â€Å"acts too young for age†, â€Å"cruel to animals†, â€Å"too fe arful or anxious†, and â€Å"unhappy, sad or depressed†. Problem behaviours are organized in a hierarchical factor structure that consists of eight correlated first-order or narrowband syndromes, two correlated second-order or broadband factors (i.e., Internalizing and Externalizing Problems) and an overall Total Problems factor. Parents/caregivers are asked to rate the child with regard to how true each item is at the time of assessment or within the past 6 months. The following scale is used: 0 = not true (as far as you know), 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 = very true or often true. In the case of respondents with poor reading skills, a non-clinically trained clincian can also admisnter the CBCL (Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). For respondents who cannot read English but can read another language, translations are available in over 85 languages (Berube Achenbach, 2008). Development of the CBCL. The first version of the CBCL dates back to 1983. To date, there have been two revisions of the CBCL; the first one in 1991 followed by the second in 2001, leading to considerable improvements in the measure. The main weakness of the initial CBCL was that comparisons across different age groups and respondents were problematic since syndromes had the same names but different items across different age forms (i.e., 4 to 5, 6 to 11, 12 to 16 years) as well as across different respondent forms (i.e., CBCL, teacher report form [TRF], and the youth self report [YSR]) To rectify the problem, the 1991 version included two new types of syndromes, the core and cross-informant syndromes. Core syndromes represented items that clustered together consistently across age and gender groupings on a single instrument. Cross-informant syndromes were based on those items from the core syndromes that appear on at least two of the three different respondent forms (i.e., CBCL, TRF, and YSR) (Greenbaum et al., 2004). These revisions facilitated comparisons across different age groups and informants. Moreover, the 1991 version of the CBCL also had new national level norms, which included norms for seventeen and eighteen year olds. Apart from practical benefits, changes such as a broader age range and precise criteria for different developmental levels, genders and type of respondents, helped make the CBCL and ASEBA instruments more accurately representative of the developmental perspective of child psychopathology (Greenbaum et al.). Achenbach (1991) also conducted exploratory principal factor analyses of the syndrome scales. Based on the loadings of different syndromes, Achenbach identified Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn, and Somatic Complaints as indicators of Internalizing Problems, whereas Aggressive and Delinquent Behavior were identified as indicators of Externalizing Problems. Since Social Problems, Thought Problems and Attention Problems did not load consistently on either second-order factor, they were not placed in any group (Achenbach, 1991; Greenbaum et al., 2004). Although Internalizing and Externalizing Problems identify different types of behaviour, the two categories are not mutually exclusive and may co-occur within the same individual. This is supported by research findings that indicate that there was a correlation between the two groups in both clinic-referred (.54) and non-referred (.59) samples matched on the basis of age, sex, race, and income (Achenbach, 1991). Description of the current CBCL. The current CBCL was published in 2001 and covers ages 6 to 18 years (CBCL/6-18; Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). The CBCL/6-18 (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001) provides raw scores, T- scores and percentiles for the following: (1) the three competence scales (Activities, Social, School); (2) the Total Competence scale; (3) the eight cross-informant syndromes; (4) Internalizing and Externalizing Problems and (5) Total Problems. The cross-informant syndromes of the CBCL/6-18 include Aggressive Behavior, Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, Social Problems, Somatic Complaints, Thought Problems, and Withdrawn/Depressed. As far as similarities and differences from previous versions are concerned, the current CBCL introduced some major and a few minor changes. One major change was the introduction of the DSM-oriented scales, based on which CBCL and other ASEBA forms can now be scored in terms of scales that are oriented toward categories of the fourth edition of the DSM (A.P.A., 1994). The introduction of the DSM-oriented scales has combined the categorical and empirical approaches and enables users to view problems in both the categorical and dimensional approaches (Achenbach, Dumenci Rescorla, 2003; Achenbach Rescorla, 2006). The DSM-oriented scales include six categories, namely Affective Problems, Anxiety Problems, Somatic Problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity problems, Oppositional Defiant Problems as well as Conduct Problems. These scales are based on problem items that mental health experts from sixteen cultures across the world rated as being consistent with particular DSM diagnostic cat egories. Similar to the empirically based syndromes, the DSM- oriented scales also have age-, gender- and respondent-specific norms. Another major change was that new normative data was collected using multistage probability sampling in forty U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia. The selected homes were considered to be representative of the continental United States with respect to geographical region, socio-economic status, ethnicity and urbanization (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001). Moreover, complex new analyses based on new clinical and normative samples were conducted. However, the eight syndromes and Internalizing and Externalizing groupings published in 1991 were replicated with minor changes. Research findings indicated that correlations between scores on the 1991 syndromes and their 2001 counterparts ranged from .87 to 1.00 (Achenbach Rescorla, 2001