Evolution of US Films Since the 1880s

Evolution of US Films Since the 1880s To what extent has film in the US evolved from the 1880s to modern day? Candidate Name: Dimitri Grigorov Abstract Film has gone through a drastic evolution since it began in the 1880s. There were 5 main stages regarding the evolution of film in the US. The Silent Period lasted from 1895 to 1929. This period brought the first films to the US. These films were black and white and featured no sound, other than some possible instrumentals. Silent movies appealed largely to illiterate immigrants because they didnt have to read, and it was a simple form of entertainment. The Classical Period lasted from 1930 to 1945. This time period was a huge leap forward because sound was introduced to movies. It was a new way to watch movies and people loved it. The Postwar Period, which lasted from 1946 to 1959, was the most historically significant era in the film world. The Transitional Period lasted from 1960 to 1979 and introduced new ideas to cinema that would shape the movies of today. The time period we are in now is known as the Contemporary Period and began in 1980. The Contemporary Period benefitted fro m technological advancements, and more elaborate films were made using CGI. Each time period had its own movements and iconic directors. Investigation Film has evolved since it began in 1880s. Film has gone from short black and white stop motion clips, to full fledged color spectacles with expensive special effects. It has gone from a fascinating gimmick to a new form of art. A lot can happen in the course of a century, and film has definitely changed in drastic ways. Film is an art. It influences people to change the world and to express themselves. Film gives people insight and inspiration in the darkest of days. In the late 1880s various people began experimenting with photo, blending them together to give the illusion of a motion picture. The technology and difficulty to capture that sort of video made motion pictures rare (boyslife.org). The first movie is a controversial subject. There are many differing opinions. Some believe it was The Horse In Motion, directed by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878. This groundbreaking motion photography was accomplished using multiple cameras and assembling the individual pictures into a single motion picture. Its something that you could do today, using a few cameras that are set to go off at an exact moment (lavideofilmmaker.com). The movie was created to answer a popular question of the time: Are all four of a horses hooves ever off the ground at the same time while the horse is galloping? The video proved that they indeed were and, more importantly, motion photography was born (boyslife.org). Not all people consider this film the first one, though. Some think the first film was Roundhay Garden Scene, released in 1888. Its a short clip directed by French inventor Louis Le Prince. While its just 2.11 seconds long, it is technically a movie (boyslife.org). According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the oldest surviving film in existence (boyslife.org). Eventually, films got longer. Brothers Auguste and Louis Lumià ¨re became prominent figures in the film world. They created various short films and were among the first filmmakers in history. Their films were unique at the time because instead of lasting a few seconds, they lasted a few minutes. The brothers even infused some comedy into their films. In one scene, a man is watering his garden, while a boy is stepping on his hose. The man, not noticing the boy, wonders why water stops pouring out of it. This slapstick humor would later become more prevalent in films such as Charlie Chaplin. The Lumià ¨re brothers were also iconic in the film world because they devised an early motion-picture camera and projector called the Cinà ©matographe (cinema is derived from this name), according to britannica.com. This device was a leap forward because it allowed more people to simultaneously watch films. Previously, only one person at a time could watch . Originally, the device was invented and patented as the Cinà ©matographe Là ©on Bouly by French inventor Là ©on Bouly on February 12, 1892. Bouly coined the term cinematograph, from the Greek term for writing in movement. Due to a lack of money, Bouly was unable to develop his ideas properly and maintain his patent fees, so he sold his rights to the device and its name to the Lumià ¨re Brothers. In 1895, they applied the name to a device that was largely their own creation. They made their first film, Sortie de lusine Lumià ¨re de Lyon, that same year (wikipedia.com). By 1895, the silent film era arrived. The earliest American films were primarily a working-class pastime. Because they told stories without words, they appealed to the large, mostly illiterate immigrant population in the United States (the-artifice.com). After 1900, film became a more middle-class phenomenon, as filmmakers exploited films storytelling potential by adapting bourgeois novels, which incorporated middle-class values, for the screen (sparknotes.com). Until 1914, the major national film industries were located in Italy, France, and the United States. When World War I came, it devastated the Italian and French film industries, allowing American producers to gain the lead on the global market. The major American production companies combined their film technology patents and used their patent leverage to implement block booking on exhibitors (movie theater owners), which forced them to buy lower-quality product along with high-quality product (sparknotes.com). These exhibitors fought back by buying small production companies, and eventually managed to beat out the major producers because they were quicker to adopt feature-length films, which proved to be more commercially successful than the earlier shorts. From 1907-1913, many production companies moved from New York City to Los Angeles to work in the warm weather that allowed for year-round outdoor production, giving birth to the Hollywood film industry. The costs associated with vertical integration (the combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies) forced Hollywood studios to seek investment from Wall Street bankers. This development, along with the industrial modes of production pioneered and the bourgeois storytelling conventions introduced, turned Hollywood into a profit-driven enterprise and its films into commercial products (sparknotes.com). One of the most prominent figures in US silent film was Charlie Chaplin. Between 1914 and 1918, Chaplin became the first international film star when he wrote, directed, and starred in short films as the Tramp, a silly figure with baggy pants, big shoes, funky mustache, snazzy suit, and cane. For Chaplin, comedy was a way to examine the impact of social conventions and taboos on personal freedom and happiness. His Tramp character had lots of charisma: sensible, brave, and wise but also flirty, vulnerable, and socially awkward. Chaplins criticism of leaders, moral and political issues, and material and psychological divisions between classes and genders reached its high point in later feature-length works, such as City Lights and Monsieur Verdoux (sparknotes.com). Film was making a name for itself. The idea of pictures coming to life was fascinating on a deep level. This kind of thing was universally recognized and respected. Movies with sound arrived on the scene. The era between 1930 and 1945 was called the Classical Period and was a monumental leap forward for the film world. The transition from silent to sound films caused great change in the film industry, requiring costly renovation of production studios and movie theaters, ending the careers of many silent film stars, and making it more difficult to sell films abroad. Hollywood took some time to overcome the artistic and technical challenges of sound film production, and the result was several years of bland output. For European filmmakers, production costs were expensive because Hollywood studios owned the patents to the new sound technology and licensed it at an expensive price. This allowed the US to continue to be dominant in the film world (sparknotes.com).By the mid-1930s, Hollywood entered a period of unmatched success and prosperity, with five major studios (Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM, RKO, and Twentieth Century Fox) and three minor studios (Universal, Columbia, and United Artists) introducing unique styles, genres, and stars. In 1934, under pressure from religious organizations such as t he Legion of Decency, Hollywood implemented a Production Code that censored the content of its films, filtering out portrayals of lewd sexuality, bad language, graphic violence, and drug use. During World War II, Hollywood contributed enormously to the war effort through the production of propaganda films (sparknotes.com). Despite the shift in film themes, the industry was soaring. Then World War II came. The period between 1946 and 1959 was known as the Postwar Period (britannica.com). The war affected American filmmakers and audiences, leading to the production of dark, morally ambiguous and socially critical films in the film noir style. The US made various films depicting the USSRs idea of communism in a negative light. This anti-Communist sentiment flourished as the U.S.s former ally the Soviet Union became its primary enemy. In the 1949 movie The Red Menace, an ex-GI named Bill Jones becomes involved with the Communist Party USA. While in training, Jones falls in love with one of his instructors. After a duration of being true followers of communism, they realize their mistake when they witness party leaders murder a member who questions the partys principles. When they try to leave the party, the two are marked for murder and hunted by the partys assassins (wikipedia.com). New York Times journalist Bosley Crowther points out that the characters in the film are highly overdramatized and villainous to an unrealistic extent. She implies that this discredits the accuracy of the film. Nevertheless, the film was released to the American public, infusing them with skewed information. Another 1949 propaganda film, The Woman on Pier Thirteen, previously known as I Married a Communist, shares similar themes. In this film, Brad Collins, former stevedore, is rising fast in a shipping company when local communist agitators use his former Party affiliation to extort his help in stirring up trouble. When Brad resists, communist femme fatale Christine works through his brother-in-law Don. But Brads new wife Nan sees that her husband and brother are under pressure; when she investigates on her own, party boss Vanning takes ruthless action (wikipedia.com). Again, communism is being portrayed in a negative light and as a threat to Americans. Communist leaders are being shown as evil and bloodthirsty. HUAC was formed to combat the threatof Communism. This organization tried professionals suspected of having Communist ties. As a result of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings, many of Hollywoods most talented actors, directors, and screenwriters were blacklisted by the studios because of suspected ties to the Communist Party. Some moved to Europe, some continued to work by using colleagues names as fronts, and others saw their careers and lives ruined (sparknotes.com). In response to competition from the new medium of television, Hollywood made films that showcased cinemas distinctive qualities: stereophonic sound, large screen size, and color images, benefiting from the emergence of widescreen technology and better color film stock. By the mid-1950s, the blacklist and new technologies led Hollywood to concentrate on apolitical, spectacular films such as biblical epics, westerns, and musicals. A 1948 Supreme Court decision forced Hollywood studios to end their vertical integration policies, making the marketplace more competitive and increasing opportunities for independent and foreign producers (sparknotes.com). The Postwar Period is when many of the most influential directors of all time arose. People like Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, directors who are still well known today, got their start in this era. These directors would go on to be the inspiration for many modern day directors. Orson Welles is very well known because he was one of the youngest directors of all time. In 1940, Welles signed a $225,000 contract with RKO to write, direct and produce two films. The deal gave the young filmmaker total creative control, as well as a percentage of the profits. At the time, this was the most lucrative deal ever made with an unproven filmmaker. Welles was just 24 years old (biography.com). Unlike many of his contemporaries, Welles gained international recognition mostly on the basis of only that film, which was Citizen Kane (1941). The film is full of technical innovations, including crane shots, overlapping dialogue, multiple audio tracks, purposely grainy film stock, and low-angle photography. It explores themes that Welles would revisit throughout his career: the corruption of power and wealth, the fine line between desire and obsession, the precariousness of knowledge, and the limits of ego and ambition. Welless use of deep focus, long takes, and special lighting influenced a generation of filmmakers working in the postwar film noir and realist styles. Though rejected by audiences and undermined by studio executives throughout his career, Welles still managed to make several more highly acclaimed films, including The Lady from Shanghai (1948) and 1958s Touch of Evil (sparknotes.com). Perhaps the only director more iconic to this era was Alfred Hitchcock. In a career spanning half a century, Hitchcock got acclaim in both his homeland Britain and Hollywood. He directed some of the most memorable films of all time, including The 39 Steps (1935), Vertigo (1958), and North by Northwest (1959). Influenced by German expressionism and Soviet montage, Hitchcock used detailed visual and aural compositions to express his protagonists feelings of paranoia and claustrophobia, along with complex editing to create suspense. With a self awareness of society, Hitchcock examined the abnormal perversions and obsessive desires lurking beneath the surface of ordinary lives and communities, enabling him to become an astute observer of America in the 1950s, the decade during which he directed his greatest films (sparknotes.com). He would later be deemed as the master of suspense. By the time 1960 arrived, yet another era of film history began. The time between 1960 and 1979 was known as the Transitional Period. This period had its ups and downs but would eventually shape the modern movies we watch today. By the 1960s, Hollywood was in decline, unable to keep up with the radical political and cultural developments transforming American society. European films, however, fueled by government funding of film production, achieved unprecedented levels of critical acclaim and box-office success. The sophistication and creativity of these films led to the recognition of cinema as an artistic medium, not simply a form of mass entertainment (sparknotes.com). In contrast, Hollywood films in the early 1960s seemed devoid of style, boring, and out of touch. Less and less studio productions brought revenue. Hollywood reacted by cutting costs, entering into partnerships with independent and foreign producers, and allowing more flexibility in terms of experimentation (sparknotes.com). One exception to the low quality films produced in the 1960s was Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. This film shocked audiences with a twist ending that audiences werent used to. The film was quite progressive for its time as well. The twist was that a man was dressing as his mother, taking on her identity, and killing women. Cross dressing, other than for comedy, was not popular yet and the fact that Hitchcock was daring enough to include this in his film, proved again to audiences that he was a force to be reckoned with. Still, most movies in the early 1960s were of lower quality unil Hollywood underwent another change in 1968. In 1968, the decades-old Production Code was scrapped, and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) began to issue movie ratings, which enabled the industry to make more daring and challenging films. These changes, along with a middle-class migration to the suburbs that left urban movie theaters in disarray, led to new genres such as exploitation and hardcore pornography (sparknotes.com). More famous directors got onto the scene in the Transitional Period. One of these directors was Francis Ford Coppola. He directed four of the most important American films of the 1970s-The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), and Apocalypse Now (1979). Coppola was also an accomplished producer and writer. Along with George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Brian De Palma, he was part of the first generation of filmmakers to attend film school. His training enabled him to combine visceral visual imagery, compelling storylines, and dynamic editing in order to create iconic portraits of American interests, whether at home or abroad. Coppola was renowned for his biting critique of the power dynamics of individual and family ambition amid the corrupting influence of American capitalism and imperialism (sparknotes.com). John Cassavetes was another memorable director from the Transitional Period. Considered the founding father of American independent cinema, Cassavetes was also a talented actor who accepted roles in Hollywood in order to fund his own films. His commitment to making films outside of the studio system became legendary and influenced a generation of American independent filmmakers. Cassavetes rejected the formulaic plots, essentialist characterizations, and tidy narrative resolutions of Hollywood cinema. His most influential films, Faces (1968), Husbands (1970), and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), feature iconic acting performances that reveal the raw emotional energy of human interaction, chronicling the struggle of characters to express themselves honestly and fully under the pressure of linear social and moral conventions (sparknotes.com).One of the few filmmakers to connect with the American counterculture was Arthur Penn, whose Bonnie and Clyde (1967) became the emblematic film of its generation. Influenced by the style and politics of the French New Wave and American underground cinema, Penn sought to overturn Hollywoods staid representational conventions. Bonnie and Clyde incorporates many of the characteristics that would define American cinema for the next decade: romantic anti-establishment heroes, explicit treatment of sexual and psychological issues, a negative portrayal of authority figures and societal institutions, graphic depiction of violence, genre hybridity (often a mixture of comedy and drama), and a refusal to resolve narrative conflicts tidily (sparknotes.com). By 1980, we reached our time period, the Contemporary Period. Multinational corporations bought and merged many movie studios, ending the period of artistic experimentation in Hollywood. The industry has returned to financial success and global dominance through the development of blockbuster franchises, large-scale marketing campaigns, and content aimed at children. It also has placed increasing emphasis on spectacular special effects in order to draw audiences into movie theaters. CGI was huge in this time period (empireonline.com). The emergence of affordable digital video cameras and the growth of the film festival circuit have expanded the possibilities for independent filmmakers around the world to produce, distribute, and exhibit films (sparknotes.com). American independent film has flourished in the past 25 years, as well, emerging as a voice for those who do not identify with the image of America that Hollywood has projected. Independent films often contain explicit treatments of sexual, political, and psychological issues and avoid formulaic plots with happy endings and clearly defined characters. They are made by and for women (Susan Seidelman, Julie Dash), racial and ethnic minorities (Charles Burnett, Lourdes Portillo), gays and lesbians (Todd Haynes, Su Friedrich, Julie Zando), working classes (Michael Moore, John Sayles) and other groups who are not adequately represented in mainstream cinema. Harmony Korine, John Waters, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, Terry Zwigoff, and Todd Solondz make films full of dark humor that explore the lives of social misfits who are often ignored or ridiculed in Hollywood films. The success of the independents has led many Hollywood studios to establish subsidiaries that distribute smaller-budget fil ms, blurring the lines of distinction between industrial and independent cinema. Key films include Jim Jarmuschs Stranger than Paradise (1983), David Lynchs Blue Velvet (1986), Steven Soderberghs Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), Spike Lees Do The Right Thing (1989), Quentin Tarantinos Reservoir Dogs (1992), and Wes Andersons 1998 film, Rushmore (sparknotes.com). Documentaries also soared in recent years. Challenging the tenets of direct, traditional cinema, many recent documentary filmmakers have included autobiographical and subjective elements in their films. Michael Moore and Marcel Ophuls insert themselves prominently into the fabric of their social and historical documentaries, both as on-camera interviewers and through voice-over, presenting themselves as near-mythical pursuers of truth and justice. Ross McElwee and Sadie Benning make introspective, essayistic films about their lives. Chris Marker and Marlon Riggs combine autobiography with political and philosophical analysis. Key films include Markers Sans Soleil (1983), McElwees Shermans March (1986), Ophulss Hà ´tel Terminus (1988), Moores Roger Me (1989), Riggss Tongues Untied (1990), and 1992s Bennings It Wasnt Love (sparknotes.com). The Contemporary Period gave us many of the directors we know and respect today. Directors like Steven Spielberg reinvented the way Hollywood works, and people like Oliver Stone brought a new edge to cinema. Spielberg has been at the forefront of Hollywoods reemergence as a dominant global industry. His 1975 film Jaws became the first modern blockbuster, revolutionizing the way Hollywood films are distributed and marketed. Jaws was released simultaneously in over 400 theaters, marketed extensively on national television, and timed for release in the summer, which linked thematically with its subject matter. In the 1980s, Spielberg showcased his storytelling talents with a series of hugely successful science fiction and adventure films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which explicitly appealed to younger audiences. These films brought families back into theaters with compelling stories that were in line with Reagan-era ideals of family values and American moral and technological supremacy (sparknotes.com). Unlike that of Spielberg, Stones controversial career has been defined by its rebuttal to modern American values and trends. In a period when American films have become less historical and oppositional, Stone has made four of the most important political films of his generation, Salvador (1986), Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987) and JFK (1991), in which he looks critically at Americas military-industrial complex, capitalist institutions, and foreign policy. In an era defined by minimal political dissent, Stone has managed to produce controversial, instigating films because his considerable storytelling abilities have made many of his films commercially successful (sparknotes.com). Film has become a massive part of our society. Film influences pop culture, language, and fashion. Some movies teach us crucial life lessons, some expose American corruption, and some just provide us some much needed entertainment. The industry has evolved a lot since it began over a century ago. Every time period mentioned in this essay brought advancements to film. The Classical Period was a huge upgrade from the Silent Period because of the transition to sound. The Postwar Period was the most historically significant period of film. The Transitional Period reinvented the way Hollywood worked. The Contemporary Period shaped the films of today by introducing new concepts such as CGI and blockbuster multi part series. This is important because we can use films as doorways to the past. You can read about history, but to see it played out onscreen is incredible. By looking at films in the 60s, you can see how fashion then differed from the fashion we express today. By looking at a movi e from the 90s, you can see what slang was used back then. Film has shaped the world we live in today and will continue to do so in the future. Bibliography Eisenstein, S. (Director). (1925). The Battleship Potemkin [Motion picture on DVD]. Russia. Colman, D. (2011, September 20). The Birth of Film: 11 Firsts in Cinema. Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.openculture.com/2011/09/the_birth_of_film_11_firsts_in_cinema.html Most Influential, Significant and Important Films in American Cinema Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.filmsite.org/mostinfluentialfilms.html 11 Essential Camera Techniques in Filmmaking With Animated Images. (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/film-techniques.html Fox, D. (2015, October 20). The Room. Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://moviepilot.com/ Bitoun, R. E. (2015, April 21). A History of Colour: The Difficult Transition from Black and White Cinematography. Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://the-artifice.com/history-of-colour-film/ Semlyen, P. D. (2015, October 09). A History Of CGI In The Movies. Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/history-cgi/ The Evolution of Acting. (2005, February 23). Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/series/4510430/the-evolution-of-acting The Film Rating System (CARA). (n.d.). Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://filmratings.com/ Hurbis-Cherrier, M. (n.d.). Screenwriting. Retrieved October 04, 2016, from http://www.masteringfilm.com/the-key-stages-of-script-development-2/ Film Studies. SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Image Based Steganography Using Lsb Insertion Technique Computer Science Essay

Image Based Steganography Using Lsb Insertion Technique Computer Science Essay The Data transmitted comes in many forms and it is used for more than one application. Communications should be done secretly. Secret communication varies from level of security needed such as banks , in credit card payments and secured communication related to corporate systems .Steganography is an art of embedding a secret message into a normal message. Steganography is used in watermarking for protecting data copyrights .Unsurprisingly, methods of Steganography change because innocuous spam contents are growing frequently by embedded texts Cryptography is technique used to make secret message scribbled for third party and are normally used in WEB. The encrypted message is targeted by attackers in cryptography because it hides the message content. An another data hiding technique known as watermarking used for embedding and hiding, some symbol data or digital manifest in the digital valuable data like photo picture, digital movie, musical sound etc. Watermarking purpose is mainly used to protect ownership or copyrights of the data. In this technique, hardness of embedded evidence and hidden evidence are very small and is important. In this technique the important information is present in external information which can be seen. In the Steganography technique, confidential information made invisible for a human eye by embedding it as a dummy data such as a speech sound and a digital image. Steganography contains another research topic called as steganalysis which is used to find a stego file from the available files. Steganalysis is used in detecting suspicious image file. The suspicious image files are embedded with the crime associated information The information hiding capacity is limited in traditional Steganography. These techniques can hide 10% or less than 10% data of a carrier data. The principle of these techniques is to replace frequency components of carrier or to swap LSB bits of multivalued image with secret information. In Steganography, image is used as a carrier data and it embeds secret information in bit planes .In Steganography, replacing noise like reg ion without disturbing the image quality is termed as B.P.C.S Steganography..BPCS Steganography is known as Bit plane complexity segmentation Steganography. BACKGROUND HISTORY: Steganography is derived from a Greek word which means as a covered writing or hidden writing. In Steganography stegos means cover and grafia means writing. THEORY: Steganography used to hide confidential information from human eyes by embedding it in a carrier data such as a digital image or a speech sound. A carrier data is consists of color images having RGB color components in a multi-bit data structure. The embedded information is evoked by means of special extracting program and key .The techniques of Steganography different from file camouflage or file deception technique. File deception is used for hiding secret data in system file and it almost looks as a Steganography. But, it is a one of easy method to disguise an secret-data file as a regular file and is possible in files which have dont care option. For example, Word file or JPEG image OR MPEG will allow for adding an extra data (extension) at the end of a usual file. After adding an extra data, the JPEG image, word file or MPEG looks as original image and original sound, or document on system.People may think this is due to Steganography. The lengthy files are easily noticed by engineers. Therefore file deception and Steganography are different. The Steganography softwares that are available in the market are based on file deception. In Steganography, if output file size is increased by embedding the information then the program is called as File deception. A secret data can be made unreadable by encrypting the data. The secret data should be encrypted to make it unreadable for third party. With the help of data encryption, secret data can be safe. Data encryption depends on a data scrambling and it uses a secret key. Data encryption can create a doubt to the people that owner of the data is hiding something in an image. In data encryption we can find easily that he is hiding something in a image. Therefore encryption of data is not enough. Steganography is the solution for data encryption. There are two types of data in Steganography .they are secret data and carrier data. Secret data is very valuable when compared to the carrier data. Carrier data is a type of dummy data which is not so important but it is needed. The data which is embedded is called as stego data. If we want to recover the secret data , we can extract that data from stego data. We need a special program or a key for data extraction.. The carrier is image data which has color components of red green and blue colors in 24 bit pixel structure. The figure below shows an example of carrier image and stego image. The secret data is embedded in stego image. http://www.datahide.com/BPCSe/images/stegano-scheme.jpg Steganography is a method of hiding the secret data by fixing it in media data .For example in the figure a secret data is embedded but we cant find in which place the secret data is embedded. The data which is embedded will be very safe in the Steganography because it will hide content of the message and location of hidden image. There are many methods to embed the data .but; it is very hard to find about the method used in embedding the message.. Steganography collaborates with cryptography to embed the encrypted data safely. In Steganography, Stego data will not have any evidence about the embedded data. The Steganography user should discard the original carrier data after embedding such that it will not allow comparison of stego and original data. Embedded capacity should be larger. BPCS method is the method available method for image Steganography. If anyone detect the Steganography image, it is very difficult for him to retrieve the hidden image. There are three basic ways to hide a message in image. They are Injection, substitution and generation. Using Injection method we can find in which place data to be inserted and using substitution we can find least significant bits for hiding the message. Using generation method we can create a new file based on the hidden information. Method of implementation: Least significant bit insertion is one of the important methods of implementation. In this method , the LSB bits of byte is altered so that it form bit string and represents a embedded file. By changing the LSB bits, it will cause some small differences in color which are not noticeable to human eye. After that an image is compressed and a text message is hidden in image .In LSB method, LSB bits of the covered image are changed to form embedded information. Embedding a message into cover image will result a stego image. For normal vision, the appearance of stego image will be same as cover image because of small changes of pixel values. Therefore there is no significant difference. The embedded message is sequentially embedded in covered image so that it is simple for other third party to recuperate the message by retrieving the pixels consequently which starting from the first pixel of the image. Steganography uses a key which as a better security. It is difficult to recover the emb edded image without valid key. LEAST SIGNIFICANT BIT INSERTION Least significant bit insertion is the common technique used in Steganography. In LSB method, an image is used. An image is more than strings and string of bytes. Each byte in an image represents different colors. The last few bits in a color byte do not hold much significance as the first few bits. Therefore only two bits differ in last few bits that represent a color which is undistinguishable to human eyes. In LSB method, least significant bits of a cover image are altered such that we can embed information. The example shows how letter A is hidden in first 8 bytes of 3 pixels in a 24 bit image. Since the 8 bit letter A requires only 8 bytes to hide it, ninth byte of the 3 pixels used to hide the next character of the hidden message. Example shows that in a 24 bit image, letter A can be hidden in first 8 bytes of 3 pixels Pixels: (00100111 11101001 11001000) (00100111 11001000 11101001) (11001000 00100111 11101001) A: 01000010 Result: (00100110Â  11101001 11001000) (00100110Â  11001000 11101000) (11001001Â  00100110Â  11101001) The five underlined bits are the 5 bits which were altered. With LSB insertion technique, on an average half of the bits of an image are changed. A is a 8 bit letter and requires 8 bytes for hiding. The ninth byte of 3 pixels is used for hiding next character of secret message. The slight variations of this technique allows a message to embed into two or more least significant bits per bytes, and increases the information hidden capacity of the cover object .but cover object is degraded and easily detectable.LSB insertion is easy to implement and is also easily attacked if the modifications are done wrongly. Improper modifications in color palette and normal image calculations will demolish hidden message. Image resizing and image cropping are some examples of image manipulations. Applications of Steganography: Steganography is applicable the following areas. 1).Private communication and secret data storing. 2).Security of data. 3).Accessing the control system for distributing the digital content 4).Media data base systems. The application area of Steganography differs based on the features utilized in a system. 1).Private communication and secret data storing: The secrecy of embedded data is important in this area. Steganography provides capacity for hiding the existence of secret data and Steganography makes very hard to detect the embedded data in a image and Steganography strengthens the encrypted data. In Steganography, select a carrier data according to the size of embedded data. Carrier data should not be effective. Now embed the secret data using an embedding program with the help of a key. To recover the embedded data, an extracting program is used with a key. Before starting the communication in this case, Key negotiation is used 2).Security for a data: Steganography is used in military applications for maintaining the secret data .In military secret information should be very secure to avoid sudden attacks on them from enemies. Steganography can hide the existence of contents of data but it cannot hide the presence of data. Data should not be larger than carrier image .Steganography strengthens the secrecy of the data. Fragility of the embedded data is advantage for this application area. Embedded data can be rather fragile than robust. But embedded data is fragile in most of the Steganography programs. No one can change or tampered the data .If anyone changes or tampers the data, and then it can be easily detected by the extraction program. 3). Accessing the control system for distributing the digital content : In this application, embedded data is explained to publicize the content. Here embedded data is hidden data. Digital contents are being commonly distributed by internet. Some music companies release the music for free in some web sites and in some sites it charges for the music downloads. Digital contents are equally distributed to user who accesses the web pages. Even it is possible to send digital content to e-mail messages it takes more time. We can to upload any content on the web page; we can issue a special access key to extract the content. In Steganography a prototype of an access control system is developed for distributing the digital content through internet. This can be explained by following steps. 1).The content owner will classify his digital content in a folder and embeds the folder according to Steganography method by accessing the folder access key and uploads embedded content on web page. 2).On the web page, owner will explains the contents clearly and publicises it worldwide and gives his contact information on web page. 3).The owner will receive access request from the customer who visited that web page. Then owner creates an access key and provides it to the customer for free or charge. 4).Media database systems: In this type of application secrecy of data is not important, converting two types of data into one data is important. Photos, Pictures, movies and music will come under media data. For example the media data for a photograph will contain about the title of the photo and date and time of a photo and it also contain about the camera used to take that photograph. Data hiding in .bmp images: There are several formats exists for an digital image. .BMP, JPG, GIF are some formats .Each format is associated with advantage and disadvantages. Because of its simplicity, windows BMP file offers more advantages. It has an advantage of widely spreader and the information contained is minimum .Bmp file is a binary file.bmp file is divided into four sections such as file header, color table, image header and pixel data. To know about size of the image file header are used and also to learn where actual image data is located within the file. The Image header gives information about the image and its data format such as width and height of the image. Image header also gives information such as how many bits are used per pixel and checks whether the image data is compressed data or uncompressed data. Depending on the image data, color table will be present. When color table is not present, a set of bit masks are used to extract the color information from the image data. When dealing wi th 24-bit image, color table is not present. When dealing with 8-bit image, color table consists of 256 entries. Each entry consists of four bytes of data. In these four bytes of data, first three bytes are blue, green and red colors values .The fourth byte must be equal to zero because it is not used. In 8-bit format, each pixel is represented by single byte of the data which is index in to color table. In 24-bit format, each pixel I represented by RGB component values .The pixel data holds entire hidden data and there are changes by one pixel value either positive or negative. IMAGES IN MATLAB The data structure in MATLAB is array, it is set of real or complex elements. MATLAB suits better in representing the images. images are stored as two dimensional array or matrices where each element of matrix determines one pixel in displayed image. DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING Image is a two dimensional function f(x, y). Whereas x and y are spatial co-ordinates. The amplitude of f at f(x, y) is called as intensity image. Image is defined as digital image if values of f, x, y are of discrete quantities. Digital image processing is defined as a process of a digital image using a digital computer. The digital image contains finite number of elements. Each element as its location and a value and elements are called as pixels. Image plays an important role in human life. The analysis of an image depends on vision and image processing. At one end of vision there are no clear cur boundaries in continuum. Let us consider three types of process in continuum. They are low level, mid level and high level process. Low level process involves operations like reduction of noise, sharpening of image, and adjustment of contrast. Mid level operations involve segmentation, object description. These operations will be helpful in reducing a object and for classifying object. In mid-level process , inputs are images and output are extracted from input images. High level processing involves operations like ensembling of objects and some functions that are involved with human vision . Definition for an image: Image is a two dimensional function f(x,y) , x y are spatial co-ordinates. Amplitude of f at x, y is called as intensity of image. Gray scale image: It is function of two spatial co-ordinates of image plane. On image plane I(x,y) is intensity of image at x,y. Color image. Image is represented by three functions R, G, B. RGB is a three colors red green and blue. The image as continuous amplitude and is continuous with x, y. The amplitude of image should be digital for converting an image to digital image. Conversion of co-ordinate values of an image into digital values is called as sampling. Converting the values of amplitude into digital values is called as Quantisation. Coordinate convention : Sampling and quantisation result a real number matrix.The digital images are represented in two ways.By sampling f(x,y) , an image with M rows and n columns resulted and the size of that image is MxN .The coordinate values are of discrete quantities.In many books that are related to image processing it is mentioned that origin of image is at (xylem)=(0,0) .the next coordinates are at first row of image and it is given as (xylem)=(0,1).Here it is importent to keep note that (0,1) is used to signify second sample along first row. Toolbox uses the word race instead of using xylem to indicate rows and columns. Toolbox employs spatial coordinates less frequently. Image as matrices: A digital image is represented by a function F(0,0) f(0,1)f(0,N-1) F(1,0) f(1,1)f(1,N-1) F(xylem)=f(M-1,0) f(M-1,1)f(M-1,N-1) In above equation f(M-1,N-1) can be defined as a digital image. In this array , each element is called as image element and picture element. In MATLAB, digital image is represented as F(1,1) f(1,2)f(1,N) F(2,1) f(2,2).f(2,N) . . F=f(M,1) f(M,2) ..f(M,N) If f(1,1)=f(0,0) then it represents they are identical. F(x , y ) denotes that elements are located in row p and column q. Lets take an example f(8,7). Here elements are located at eight row and ninth column. In a MxN matrix, M denotes number of rows and N denotes number of columns. Here MxN matrix is called as column vector and 1xN matrix is called as row vector and 11 matrixes is defined as a scalar quantity. In matlab, matrix is stored variables A, real array, and so on .The variables in matlab matrix should contain letters and numbers. F(x,y) is a roman and Italian notation that are used in matlab for mathematical expressions. How to read image in MATLAB: The function imread is used to read an image in MATLAB. The syntax for reading an image is imread(filename).The different formats used in MATLAB are TIFF PNG JPEG XWD GIF BMP .TIFF is a tagged image file format and is represented as .tif and .tiff. PNG is a portable network graphic and it is represented as .png. JPEG is joint photograph experts group and are represented as .jpg and .jpeg. GIF is a graphic interchange format and are denoted as .gif. BMP is bitmap window and are recognised as .bmp. XWD is X window dump and are recognised as .xwd. The filename contains image file EXAMPLE : >> f = imread (8.jpg); In this command, it reads jpeg image into image array f and single quote delimits the filename of a string. In a MATLAB, semicolon is used for suppressing output and if we wont use semicolon it displays result in that line. The symbol >> denotes that starting of a command. This symbol is shown in matlab command window. In command line, path is not included in filename. Imread reads the file in a current directory. If it is not read in the current directory window, we can find that file in MATLAB search path. We can read an image from directory that includes full path or relative path in filename. Example : >>f=imread (E:jaichestxray.jpg); Therefore it reads the image from jai folder on E drive >>f=imread(.jaichestxray.jpg); Therefore it reads an image from a sub directory jai of current working directory. Current directory displays MATLAB current working directory on matlab desktop toolbar. TIFFS, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, and XWD are the popular image formats and these formats are supported by imread and imwrite functions. In a image the dimensions of rows and columns are given by size of a function >>size (f) In MATLAB this function is useful in determining the size of an image. >>[M,N]=size(f); The syntax returns number of rows and columns. M is number of rows and N is number of columns and f gives the size. How to read a graphic image: In a graphic file format, imread can be used to read an image. For storing an image pixel , most of the formats uses 8 bit and are stored as class uint8 in matlab and if the file supports 16bit data , MATLAB stores image as class uint16. How to display image: The function imshow is used for displaying an image in MATLAB. The syntax for displaying a image is imshow(f,g) In the above syntax f is array of image and g is used for displaying number of intensity levels. G defaults to 256 levels if it is omitted by syntax imshow(f,{low high}).If the values are less than are equal to low then it displays as black and if values are greater than are equal to high then it displays as white. If the values are not less than and not greater than and are in between then it displays as intermediate intensity value by defaultly. Therefore the final syntax is Imshow(f,[ ]).The variables which are high will have maximum value and low variables will have minimum value. The function imshow will display positive and negative valued images. Pixval function are used for displaying the intensity values individually. Pixval function displays cursor on the image. In a figure window, Move the computer mouse on the image so that intensity values and position of cursor is displayed. The color components such as red green and blue are displayed when working with color image. The Euclidean distance of initial and cursor positions can be displayed by pixval and this can be done by clicking left side button on mouse.Click the x button for closing the window. >>imshow(f) If there is a semicolon at ending, it will not have an effect so it is exception of using semicolon. MATLAB can replace an image with new image by displaying another image using imshow. Use the function >>figure, imshow(g) for keeping first image as output second image.The statement >>imshow(f),figure , imshow(g) is used for displaying both and first and second images .If different commands delimits commas and semicolons then more than one command is written on the line. To suppress the outputs of a screen from command line , the semicolons are used. HOW TO WRITE IMAGE : The function imwrite is used for writng an image in MATLAB. The syntax for writing an image is Imwrite (f,filename).In this syntax , filename contains a string .file extension format should be a recognised format. >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1,tif) Or >>imwrite(f,patient10_run1.tif) This command is used for writing f to a TIFF file patient10_run1:.In current directory window imwrite will save the file if the file does not have information about the path. Depending on the selected file format ,imwrite is having other parameters. The most important formats are JPEG and TIFF .so it is important to focus on these two file formats.The syntax imwrite is applied to jpeg images Imwrite(f,filename.jpg,,qualityq) Here q is the integer and its value ranges between 0 and 100.In compression of jpeg image ,if the number is less than the degradation will be higher. This can be explained by the following example. Here q=25 Then the syntax is >>imwrite(f,bubbles25.jpg,quality,25) If an image is has q=15 then it has false shape which is hardly visible.this effect pronounces as q=5 and q=0.compress the image with q=25 for an expectable solution .compression can be achieved by obtaining details of image file by using imfinfo The syntax is Imfinfo filename Filename refers the complete filename of image that is stored on disk.this can be explained by following example >>imfinfo bubbles25.jpg It displays output in following way. filename: bubbles25.jpg and filemoddate :08-jan-2009 12:30:25 and filesize :13849 format:jpg format version : width : 715 height : 687 bit depth :8 color depth :grayscale format signature: comment: { } The filesize is expressed in bytes. The number of bytes in original image multiply width and height by bit depth and divide the obtained result by 8 therefore we get result as 491205.We can obtain the ratio of compression by dividing the file size.(491205/13849)=35.46 therefore compression ratio is achieved and it is 35.46.Maintain the quality of image consistently. The reduction of stoage space transmits 35times of the uncompressed data per unit time. Iminfo displays the information field and are captured by a variable for some computations. >>k=iminfo(bubbles25.jpg); Here k is assigned to a structure variable. The variable k as information and it is generated by command imfinfo. The information that is generated by imfinfo command is added to structure variable by a field that are separated from k by dot. The height and width of a image is stored in k.height and k.width Consider the structure variable k for changing the ratio of compression bubbles25.jpg >>k=imfinfo(bubbles25.jpg); >>image bytes=k.width*k.height*k.bit depth/8; >>Compression_ bytes =k.filesize; >>Compression_ ratio=35.16 Imfinfo can be used in two different ways. One method is type imfinfo bubbles25.jpg at prompt then it displays information on screen. Second method is type K=imfinfo(bubbles25.jpg) then it generates the information that are stored in k variable. The two different ways of calling the function imfinfo is an example of command_function duality. In general imwrite syntax is applied to tif images only Imwrite (g,filename.tif,compression,parameter resolution,[colres rowers] The parameter will have one of the principal values such as none it indicates no compression and pack bits indicates compression of pack bits and ccitt indicates compression of ccitt. By default ccitt is for binary images.1*2 is an array and it contains two integers that gives resolutions of row and column in dot per unit. If the dimensions of image are in inches then colres will have number of dots per inch in vertical direction and it is same for rows in horizontal direction . >>imwrite(f,sf.tif,compression,none,resolution.[300 300]) Multiply 200 dpi by ratio 2.25/1.5 then we get 30dpi to determine values of a vector.if we compute manually , we can write >>res=round(200*2.25/1.5); >>imwrite(f,sf.tif,compression,none,resolution,res) This syntax is like an argument for nearest integer. The number of pixels is not changed by using these commands but there is a change in scale of the image. These processes are useful in controlling image size without loosing its resolution. On matlab desktop , it is necessary to export images to disk. It is true with plots. In a figure window, there are two ways for exporting the contents. First method is , in a figure window select file option in menu and then choose export option. Using this option user can choose the location, format and a filename. Using print command we can obtain the control on export parameters.The command isprint-fno-dfileformat-rresno-filename. In figure window no refers to the number of a figure and file format refers to file format that are available. The resolution in dpi is referred as resno. The filename is used for assigning a file. If we type print at the prompt, MATLAB prints contents of the displayed last figure window. How to write a graphic image: In a graphic file format, imread can be used to read an image. For storing an image pixel , most of the formats uses 8 bit and are stored as class uint8 in matlab and if the file supports 16bit data , MATLAB stores image as class uint16. In a graphic image format, the function imwrite is used to write an image to graphic file .The basic syntax imwrite takes image variable and image filename. How to resize an image: The function imresize is used to change the size of image. Using the imresize function we can fix the output size Image cropping: The function imcrop is used for cropping an image. Using imcrop, we can crop the rectangular portion of an image. The imcrop function is used for displaying an image in a figure window and we can crop the image in a figure window. DATA CLASSES: The pixel values are not limited to integer values in matlab. The MATLAB supports various data classes for representing the pixel values. There are three types of data classes .they are numeric data class and char class and logical class. Char class is the ninth entry in data classes and logical data class is the last entry. The numerical calculations in MATLAB are done in double quantities so data classes encounters frequently in image processing applications. The class unit 8 is found when reading the data from a storage device and 8 bit images are commonly found .The two data classes logical data class is of less degree and unit 16 forms the primary data class. Ipt functions support all data classes. To represent a number, data class double requires 8 bytes. Uint8 and int 8 requires one byte and uint16 and int16 requires 2 bytes. The various data can be described as follows. The data class double can be described as double_precession, floating_point numbers. Uint8 ranges from [0, 255] and it is an unsigned 8bit integer and it is of one byte per element.Uint16 is a unsigned integer and ranges from [0, 65535] and it is of 2 bytes per element. Uint 32 is an unsigned integer and ranges from [0, 4294967295] and it is of 4 bytes per element. Int 8 is an 8bit signed integer and it is of 1 byte per element an d ranges from [-128,127]. Int 16 is a 16 bit signed inter whose is range is of [32768, 32767] and it is 2 bytes per element. Int 32 is a 32 bit signed integer of range [-2147483648 , 21474833647] and it is of 4 bytes per element. Single is a single_precession floating_point number with the values and ranges 4 bytes per element. Char is called as character and it ranges of 2bytes per element. Logical is a data class, whose values are 0 to 1 and it is of 1byte per element. Char data class holds characters in Unicode representation. The char string is simple 1*n array. The values of logical array are 0 and 1 .Using logical function each element is stored in the memory. TYPES OF IMAGES There are four types of images that are supported by MATLAB. They are Intensity image, binary image , indexed image , R G B image. Most of the image processing operations are performed by binary image or intensity image. Intensity image: Intensity image is a data matrix and its values are represented within some range by intensities. The Intensity image is stored as a single matrix in MATLAB In intensity image, image consists of intensity or gray scale values. Intensity images are represented by arrays in matlab. In intensity image, images are repr

Personal Writing: Fragment - Changes In Life :: essays research papers

Personal Writing: Fragment - Changes in Life Outline Thesis Statement: Changes in life like these can change you both physically and mentally for the rest of your life depending on the severity of the situation. I. In early August of `96 my life at home became a living nightmare. II. I applied to the first ad I saw in the paper and strangely enough, I actually got a call from Ramada Inn in less than 3 days after applying. III. In my lifetime I have seen a lot of weird things and have had lots of experiences that have changed my life in one way or another and I'm sure that there are going to be lots more of them to come but these that really stand out in my mind are mainly because they happened quite recently. Incidents occur in one's life daily. Most of the time people enjoy talking about "what happened today" because most of the time it's usually funny and it isn't really considered anything serious. Some happenings in our lives are very serious and aren't as easy to talk about with others. Even though this is true it does help the person feel better to talk about their problems whether they realize it at first or not. Changes in life like these can change you both physically and mentally for the rest of your life depending on the severity of the situation. In early August of `96 my life at home became a living nightmare. I don't really know what it was that started this thing between me and my parents but I do remember that they were always doing anything they could to just annoy me. I doubt this was intentional but at the time it seemed that it was. They would find any excuse to yell or blame me for things that didn't even involve me and they wouldn't listen to anything I had to say at all. They were right and I was wrong, that's the long and the short of it. It got so bad that I hated being home. I would do anything and go anywhere just to get away from my parents; even if it meant going somewhere that I had always hated going before. When I couldn't get out of the house I tried my best to stay in my room and keep the door closed. When they decided that they didn't want me in my room where they couldn't fuss at me they came up with this big idea that I was trying to hide

Gender Roles and Stereotypes Explored in Judy Manns The Difference and

Gender Roles and Stereotypes Explored in Judy Mann's The The Difference: Growing Up Female in America and Bernard Lefkowitz's Our Guys Gender stereotypes are common in the United States today, even though many men and women have been working hard to defeat it. The task is made difficult however, when society in general implants the idea of gender roles into the mind of a child. Two authors, Judy Mann of The Difference and Bernard Lefkowitz of Our Guys face the issue of gender roles and stereotypes, and how they affect our lives today. Our Guys focuses on the way that young boys are brought up by society by telling the true story of a group of Glen Ridge, New Jersey teenage boys who sexually assaulted a young retarded girl. Neither the boys nor the townspeople saw what they did as wrong, and tried everything in their power to get them acquitted. They were however, fighting for the wrong cause. It was the boys’ parents and society itself that gave the teens the illusion that they, as males, should be given free range and power over those weaker than themselves. From the time these boys in question were born, their parents and their environment (including the composition of their nuclear families, i.e. ratio of males to females) made them kings. They were privileged teens and the fact that they were male made them even more so. All the ‘jocks’ involved were angels in their mothers’ eyes, who was in most cases, the only female influence in their lives and not a very good one at that (1 35). The Glen Ridge boys, affectionately known to their peers as "our guys", were brought up as stereotypical boys, worsened by the "boys will be boys" attitude adopted by their parents, teachers and neighbors (Lefkowitz, 73). This ... ...only accepted stereotypes are not based in reality at all, and that these stereotypes are harmful to everyone, not just the victims of being typecast. This conclusion is correct in all senses. Judy Mann’s book shows that the only real difference between men and women are their reproductive organs (24). Many professionals support this fact, but not society. Bernard Lefkowitz’s retelling of what happened to the young girl in Glen Ridge, New Jersey shows that believing that women are inferior can have terrifying repercussions. Society’s perception of people and the practice of labeling based on gender must be eliminated in order for women and men to live equally. These books simply help to make more people aware of the problem, which is only part of the solution. Works Cited Mann, Judy. The Difference: Growing up Female in America. New York: Warner, 1994.

Part Three Chapter V

V Ruth stood alone in her lamp-lit sitting room, continuing to grip the telephone she had just replaced in its cradle. Hilltop House was small and compact. It was always easy to tell the location of each of the four Prices, because voices, footfalls and the sounds of doors opening and shutting carried so effectively in the old house. Ruth knew that her husband was still in the shower, because she could hear the hot water boiler under the stairs hissing and clanking. She had waited for Simon to turn on the water before telephoning Shirley, worried that he might think that even her request about the EpiPen was fraternizing with the enemy. The family PC was set up in a corner of the sitting room, where Simon could keep an eye on it, and make sure nobody was running up large bills behind his back. Ruth relinquished her grip on the phone and hurried to the keyboard. It seemed to take a very long time to bring up the Pagford Council website. Ruth pushed her reading glasses up her nose with a trembling hand as she scanned the various pages. At last she found the message board. Her husband's name blazed out at her, in ghastly black and white: Simon Price Unfit to Stand for Council. She double-clicked the title, brought up the full paragraph and read it. Everything around her seemed to reel and spin. ‘Oh God,' she whispered. The boiler had stopped clanking. Simon would be putting on the pyjamas he had warmed on the radiator. He had already drawn the sitting-room curtains, turned on the side lamps and lit the wood-burner, so that he could come down and stretch out on the sofa to watch the news. Ruth knew that she would have to tell him. Not doing so, letting him find out for himself, was simply not an option; she would have been incapable of keeping it to herself. She felt terrified and guilty, though she did not know why. She heard him jogging down the stairs and then he appeared at the door in his blue brushed-cotton pyjamas. ‘Si,' she whispered. ‘What's the matter?' he said, immediately irritated. He knew that something had happened; that his luxurious programme of sofa, fire and news was about to be disarranged. She pointed at the computer monitor, one hand pressed foolishly over her mouth, like a little girl. Her terror infected him. He strode to the PC and scowled down at the screen. He was not a quick reader. He read every word, every line, painstakingly, carefully. When he had finished, he remained quite still, passing for review, in his mind, all the likely grasses. He thought of the gum-chewing forklift driver, whom he had left stranded in the Fields when they had picked up the new computer. He thought of Jim and Tommy, who did the cash-in-hand jobs on the sly with him. Someone from work must have talked. Rage and fear collided inside him and set off a combustive reaction. He strode to the foot of the stairs and shouted, ‘You two! Get down here NOW!' Ruth still had her hand over her mouth. He had a sadistic urge to slap her hand away, to tell her to fucking pull herself together, it was he who was in the shit. Andrew entered the room first with Paul behind him. Andrew saw the arms of Pagford Parish Council onscreen, and his mother with her hand over her mouth. Walking barefoot across the old carpet, he had the sensation that he was plummeting through the air in a broken lift. ‘Someone,' said Simon, glaring at his sons, ‘has talked about things I've mentioned inside this house.' Paul had brought his chemistry exercise book downstairs with him; he was holding it like a hymnal. Andrew kept his gaze fixed on his father, trying to project an expression of mingled confusion and curiosity. ‘Who's told other people we've got a stolen computer?' asked Simon. ‘I haven't,' said Andrew. Paul stared at his father blankly, trying to process the question. Andrew willed his brother to speak. Why did he have to be so slow? ‘Well?' Simon snarled at Paul. ‘I don't think I – ‘ ‘You don't think? You don't think you told anyone?' ‘No, I don't think I told any – ‘ ‘Oh, this is interesting,' said Simon, pacing up and down in front of Paul. ‘This is interesting.' With a slap he sent Paul's exercise book flying out of his hands. ‘Try and think, dipshit,' he growled. ‘Try and fucking think. Did you tell anyone we've got a stolen computer?' ‘Not stolen,' said Paul. ‘I never told anyone – I don't think I told anyone we had a new one, even.' ‘I see,' said Simon. ‘So the news got out by magic then, did it?' He was pointing at the computer monitor. ‘Someone's fucking talked!' he yelled, ‘because it's on the fucking internet! And I'll be fucking lucky not – to – lose – my – job!' On each of the five last words he thumped Paul on the head with his fist. Paul cowered and ducked; black liquid trickled from his left nostril; he suffered nosebleeds several times a week. ‘And what about you?' Simon roared at his wife, who was still frozen beside the computer, her eyes wide behind her glasses, her hand clamped like a yashmak over her mouth. ‘Have you been fucking gossiping?' Ruth ungagged herself. ‘No, Si,' she whispered, ‘I mean, the only person I told we had a new computer was Shirley – and she'd never – ‘ You stupid woman, you stupid fucking woman, what did you have to tell him that for? ‘You did what?' asked Simon quietly. ‘I told Shirley,' whimpered Ruth. ‘I didn't say it was stolen, though, Si. I only said you were bringing it home – ‘ ‘Well, that's fucking it then, isn't it?' roared Simon; his voice became a scream. ‘Her fucking son's standing for election, of course she wants to get the fucking goods on me!' ‘But she's the one who told me, Si, just now, she wouldn't have – ‘ He ran at her and hit her in the face, exactly as he had wanted to when he had first seen her silly frightened expression; her glasses spun into the air and smashed against the bookcase; he hit her again and she crashed down onto the computer table she had bought so proudly with her first month's wages from South West General. Andrew had made himself a promise: he seemed to move in slow motion, and everything was cold and clammy and slightly unreal. ‘Don't hit her,' he said, forcing himself between his parents. ‘Don't – ‘ His lip split against his front tooth, Simon's knuckle behind it, and he fell backwards on top of his mother, who was draped over the keyboard; Simon threw another punch, which hit Andew's arms as he protected his face; Andrew was trying to get off his slumped, struggling mother, and Simon was in a frenzy, pummelling both of them wherever he could reach – ‘Don't you fucking dare tell me what to do – don't you dare, you cowardly little shit, you spotty streak of piss – ‘ Andrew dropped to his knees to get out of the way, and Simon kicked him in the ribs. Andrew heard Paul say pathetically, ‘Stop it!' Simon's foot swung for Andrew's ribcage again, but Andrew dodged it; Simon's toes collided with the brick fireplace and he was suddenly, absurdly, howling in pain. Andrew scrambled out of the way; Simon was gripping the end of his foot, hopping on the spot and swearing in a high-pitched voice; Ruth had collapsed into the swivel chair, sobbing into her hands. Andrew got to his feet; he could taste his own blood. ‘Anyone could have talked about that computer,' he panted, braced for further violence; he felt braver now that it had begun, now that the fight was really on; it was waiting that told on your nerves, watching Simon's jaw begin to jut, and hearing the urge for violence building in his voice. ‘You told us a security guard got beaten up. Anyone could have talked. It's not us – ‘ ‘Don't you – fucking little shit – I've broken my fucking toe!' Simon gasped, falling backwards into an armchair, still nursing his foot. He seemed to expect sympathy. Andrew imagined picking up a gun and shooting Simon in the face, watching his features blast apart, his brains spattering the room. ‘And Pauline's got her fucking period again!' Simon yelled at Paul, who was trying to contain the blood dripping through his fingers from his nose. ‘Get off the carpet! Get off the fucking carpet, you little pansy!' Paul scuttled out of the room. Andrew pressed the hem of his T-shirt to his stinging mouth. ‘What about all the cash-in-hand jobs?' Ruth sobbed, her cheek pink from his punch, tears dripping from her chin. Andrew hated to see her humiliated and pathetic like this; but he half hated her too for landing herself in it, when any idiot could have seen †¦ ‘It says about the cash-in-hand jobs. Shirley doesn't know about them, how could she? Someone at the printworks has put that on there. I told you, Si, I told you you shouldn't do those jobs, they've always worried the living daylights out of – ‘ ‘Fucking shut up, you whining cow, you didn't mind spending the money!' yelled Simon, his jaw jutting again; and Andrew wanted to roar at his mother to stay silent: she blabbed when any idiot could have told her she should keep quiet, and she kept quiet when she might have done good by speaking out; she never learned, she never saw any of it coming. Nobody spoke for a minute. Ruth dabbed at her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffed intermittently. Simon clutched his toe, his jaw clenched, breathing loudly. Andrew licked the blood from his stinging lip, which he could feel swelling. ‘This'll cost me my fucking job,' said Simon, staring wild-eyed around the room, as if there might be somebody there he had forgotten to hit. ‘They're already talking about fucking redundancies. This'll be it. This'll – ‘ He slapped the lamp off the end table, but it didn't break, merely rolled on the floor. He picked it up, tugged the lead out of the wall socket, raised it over his head and threw it at Andrew, who dodged. ‘Who's fucking talked?' Simon yelled, as the lamp base broke apart on the wall. ‘Someone's fucking talked!' ‘It's some bastard at the printworks, isn't it?' Andrew shouted back; his lip was thick and throbbing; it felt like a tangerine segment. ‘D'you think we'd have – d'you think we don't know how to keep our mouths shut by now?' It was like trying to read a wild animal. He could see the muscles working in his father's jaw, but he could tell that Simon was considering Andrew's words. ‘When was that put on there?' he roared at Ruth. ‘Look at it! What's the date on it?' Still sobbing, she peered at the screen, needing to approach the tip of her nose within two inches of it, now that her glasses were broken. ‘The fifteenth,' she whispered. ‘Fifteenth †¦ Sunday,' said Simon. ‘Sunday, wasn't it?' Neither Andrew nor Ruth put him right. Andrew could not believe his luck; nor did he believe it would hold. ‘Sunday,' said Simon, ‘so anyone could've – my fucking toe,' he yelled, as he pulled himself up and limped exaggeratedly towards Ruth. ‘Get out of my way!' She hastened out of the chair and watched him read the paragraph through again. He kept snorting like an animal to clear his airways. Andrew thought that he might be able to garrotte his father as he sat there, if only there was a wire to hand. ‘Someone's got all this from work,' said Simon, as if he had just reached this conclusion, and had not heard his wife or son urging the hypothesis on him. He placed his hands on the keyboard and turned to Andrew. ‘How do I get rid of it?' ‘What?' ‘You do fucking computing! How do I get this off here?' ‘You can't get – you can't,' said Andrew. ‘You'd need to be the administrator.' ‘Make yourself the administrator, then,' said Simon, jumping up and pointing Andrew into the swivel chair. ‘I can't make myself the administrator,' said Andrew. He was afraid that Simon was working himself up into a second bout of violence. ‘You need to input the right user name and passwords.' ‘You're a real fucking waste of space, aren't you?' Simon shoved Andrew in the middle of his sternum as he limped past, knocking him back into the mantelpiece. ‘Pass me the phone!' Simon shouted at his wife, as he sat back down in the armchair. Ruth took the telephone and carried it the few feet to Simon. He ripped it out of her hands and punched in a number. Andrew and Ruth waited in silence as Simon called, first Jim, and then Tommy, the men with whom he had completed the after-hours jobs at the printworks. Simon's fury, his suspicion of his own accomplices, was funnelled down the telephone in curt short sentences full of swearwords. Paul had not returned. Perhaps he was still trying to staunch his bleeding nose, but more likely he was too scared. Andrew thought his brother unwise. It was safest to leave only after Simon had given you permission. His calls completed, Simon held out the telephone to Ruth without speaking; she took it and hurried it back into its stand. Simon sat thinking while his fractured toe pulsated, sweating in the heat of the wood-burner, awash with impotent fury. The beating to which he had subjected his wife and son was nothing, he did not give them a thought; a terrible thing had just happened to him, and naturally his rage had exploded on those nearest him; that was how life worked. In any case, Ruth, the silly bitch, had admitted to telling Shirley †¦ Simon was building his own chain of evidence, as he thought things must have happened. Some fucker (and he suspected that gum-chewing forklift driver, whose expression, as Simon had sped away from him in the Fields, had been outraged) talking about him to the Mollisons (somehow, illogically, Ruth's admission that she had mentioned the computer to Shirley made this seem more likely), and they (the Mollisons, the establishment, the smooth and the snide, guarding their access to power) had put up this message on their website (Shirley, the old cow, managed the site, which set the seal on the theory). ‘It's your fucking friend,' Simon told his wet-faced, trembling-lipped wife. ‘It's your fucking Shirley. She's done this. She's got some dirt on me to get me off her son's case. That's who it is.' ‘But Si – ‘ Shut up, shut up, you silly cow, thought Andrew. ‘Still on her side, are you?' roared Simon, making to stand again. ‘No!' squealed Ruth, and he sank back into the chair, glad to keep the weight off his pounding foot. The Harcourt-Walsh management would not be happy about those after-hours jobs, Simon thought. He wouldn't put it past the bloody police to come nosing around the computer. A desire for urgent action filled him. ‘You,' he said, pointing at Andrew. ‘Unplug that computer. All of it, the leads and everything. You're coming with me.'

Student assessment methodologies related to the EHEA

This paper concerns university instructors ‘ ratings of their pupils ‘ competencies ( cognition and accomplishments ) and discusses student-centred and competency-based higher instruction in the European Higher Education Area ( EHEA ) . The statement is that a dramatic displacement of focal point has taken topographic point in European higher instruction, from teacher-centred to student-centred instruction, and instructors in this system need to familiarise themselves with this displacement and the related constructs. For illustration, the course of study and appraisal methodological analysiss in today ‘s universities emphasize competencies and concentrate on what pupils can execute and how these competencies can be related to work. In order to get a comprehensive apprehension, cognition about the historical roots behind student-centred instruction and competence development may be required, and this paper attempts to supply some of this information. With these new penetrations, a pick will necessitate to be made: should these tendencies be resisted and the old methods of supplying classs be adhered to, or should the air currents of alteration be accepted and versions be made – or possibly the best pick lies someplace in between these two options? Regardless of one ‘s emotions, such a personal pick should be based upon and motivated by the best information available.The Bologna Process and the EHEAThe European Higher Education Area, EHEA, is an international undertaking in Europe and beyond, in which higher instruction systems are made more crystalline and in sync with one another. Founded in 2010 as a consequence of the Bologna Declaration ( 1999 ) , it presently comprises 47 national provinces and a figure of advisory organisational members. The historical roots of the Bologna Process can be traced back to a figure of earlier understandings ; it is of import to pay attending to these in order to to the full understand the proced ures and the EHEA of today. The 1997 Lisbon Recognition Convention and the 1998 Sorbonne Declaration The Lisbon Recognition Convention is an understanding between a figure of member provinces of the Council of Europe and a figure of of import provinces in the field of higher instruction, including, for illustration, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. The Convention stipulates that grades and periods of survey must be recognised â€Å" unless a significant difference can be shown † ( Lisbon Recognition Convention, 1997, p. 7 ) by the establishment that is charged with acknowledgment. The Sorbonne Declaration, signed in 1998 by four European states ( France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom ) , was an understanding sing higher instruction with the intent of coming to a common apprehension and working together to promote survey periods abroad, to better excellence in survey and research, to develop a common apprehension of instruction and acquisition and to promote cooperation. In order to enable comparing, the Sorbonne Declaration put frontward a system of rhythms and a system of credits ( the European Credit Transfer System, ECTS ) . The Declaration ends with a call to other provinces â€Å" to fall in us in this aim and aˆÂ ¦ [ to ] all European Universities to consolidate Europe ‘s standing in the universe through continuously improved and updated instruction for its citizens † ( Sorbonne Declaration, 1998, p. 3 ) . The 1999 Bologna Declaration and the ECTS system The 29 states that signed the Bologna Declaration in 1999 agreed to back up the thoughts expressed in the Sorbonne Declaration and to co-ordinate policies in order to make a figure of aims, peculiarly to â€Å" set up the European country of higher instruction and to advance the European system of higher instruction world-wide † ( Bologna Declaration, 1999, p. 3 ) . Among the chief stakeholders in the Bologna Process-a procedure implemented from 1999 through 2010-were the European University Association, the European Association of Institutions of Higher Education, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, the Council of Europe, the European Commission, UNESCO, the European Students ‘ Union, and the assorted authorities curates responsible for higher instruction ( Heinze & A ; Knill, 2008 ) . The stakeholders held a figure of semiannual meetings in Paris ( 1999 ) , Prague ( 2001 ) , Berlin ( 2003 ) , Bergen ( 2005 ) , London ( 2007 ) , and Leuve n and Louvain-la-Neuve ( 2009 ) . The Bologna Declaration is non a lawfully binding papers ; alternatively, it is an understanding in which the participating states voluntarily synchronise their systems of higher instruction based on thoughts antecedently expressed in the Sorbonne Declaration ( 1998 ) . This synchronism implies that pupils ‘ makings are defined in footings of larning results, instead than in footings of the length of survey, which, in bend, means that the basic unit has shifted from the figure of professor contact hours to student work load. It besides requires the acceptance of determined degrees of higher instruction makings, for illustration the unmarried man ‘s and maestro ‘s grades. The European Credit Transfer System ( ECTS ) , which was discussed in both the Sorbonne and the Bologna declarations, is based on the work load required by the mean pupil to accomplish the aims of a class, that is to state, to successfully finish the work required and go through the obligatory scrutinies, which in bend are based on the class ‘s course of study and expected larning results. The ECTS is an instrument implemented to acknowledge pupils ‘ study-periods, but it is of import to retrieve that the intent of the original Declarations, including the debut of the ECTS system was non merely to help pupils. Another-equally important-purpose was to sharpen Europe ‘s fight, as Adam ( 2001 ) reminds us. The politicians and policy shapers did non outline the Sorbonne and Bologna declarations based on unselfish philanthropic gift, instead they were concerned â€Å" about the nature and fight of European higher instruction † ( Adam, 2001, p. 292 ) . Student-centred instruction and acquisition results The footings student-centred instruction and larning results ( Otter, 1993 ; NCIHE, 1997 ) are given outstanding topographic points in the Bologna Process and in the paperss released by the higher instruction curates. The Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communique from 2009, for illustration, discusses the importance of student-centred acquisition ; in it, the curates stipulate that student-centred larning â€Å" requires authorising single scholars † and â€Å" new attacks to learning and larning † , every bit good as â€Å" effectual support and counsel constructions and a course of study focused more clearly on the scholar † ( Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communique , 2009, p. 3 ) . Student-centred instruction includes the possibility for pupils to take their ain survey waies during their old ages at higher instruction establishments and sections. The curates acknowledge this and reason that the curricular reform taking topographic point in the EHEA will â€Å" be an on-g oing procedure taking to high quality, flexible and more separately trim instruction waies † ( Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communique , 2009, p. 3 ) . From reading the Communique , it is clear that the curates are confident that student-centred acquisition should be the end of the course of study reforms during the Bologna Process. The term larning results is besides conspicuously discussed in the ministerial communiques, such as the Berlin Communique from 2003. Competence-based instruction The construct of competencies has been used in assorted educational scenes over the last decennaries, both in the USA and in Europe. In the context of the Bologna Process, the term was used in the Bologna Declaration, which stated that â€Å" a Europe of cognition † was an of import factor for growing and for supplying Europe ‘s citizens with â€Å" the necessary competencies to confront the challenges of the new millenary, † ( Bologna Declaration, 1999, p.A 1 ) . The construct was besides extensively used in the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe undertaking. The purpose of the Tuning undertaking, which began in 2001, was to tune the educational constructions in European higher instruction and to ask for argument sing â€Å" subject-specific and general competencies † ( Tuning, 2002, p. 3 ) . At the Prague Ministerial meeting in 2001, it was stated that Europe ‘s citizens should be able to â€Å" efficaciously utilize their makings, competences and accomplishments † throughout the EHEA ( Prague Communique , 2001, p. 1 ) . It is interesting to detect that the Prague Communique uses the term â€Å" competences † , alternatively of â€Å" competencies † , unlike other communiques-it is non clear if this was a witting determination from the curates. Four old ages after the Bologna Declaration, the construct of competencies was besides discussed in the Graz Declaration ( 2003 ) , published by the European University Association ( EUA ) , where a continued development of a common definition of competencies was emphasised. Subsequently the same twelvemonth, when the curates responsible for higher instruction met in Berlin, they acknowledged the statement put frontward in the Graz Convention ( Berlin Communique , 2003 ) . Therefore, the Berlin Communique states that the member provinces should â€Å" lucubrate a model of comparable and compatible makings † ( Berlin Communique , 2003, p. 4 ) and that this model should depict makings in footings of larning results and competencies. In the same communique , the curates besides declared the demand to reaffirm the Lisbon Recognition Convention and to heighten the fight of European higher instruction. The EUA ‘s following of import papers, the Trends-IV Report ( 2005 ) , was published prior to the meeting of European higher instruction curates in Bergen in 2005. The study indicated that â€Å" some agnosticism † existed in certain parts of Europe towards the thought of competence-based instruction. The study besides addressed the fact that differences sing learning attacks and â€Å" the grade to which student-centred acquisition [ was a portion of ] †¦ the mundane life at universities † prevailed ( Trends-IV Report, 2005, p. 48 ) . The curates go toing the 2005 Bergen meeting took note of the consequences and suggestions presented in the Trends-IV Report and discussed the demand for continued work in the EHEA. An overarching model for makings was adopted for the undergraduate, maestro and post-graduate degrees, every bit good as forms for each rhythm, â€Å" based on larning results and competencies † ( Bergen Communique , 2005, p. 2 ) . In 2007, competencies were briefly mentioned in the London Communique , in which the European higher instruction curates concluded that higher instruction should play a strong function in â€Å" raising the degree of cognition, accomplishments and competencies in society † ( London Communique , 2007, p. 5 ) . In this Communique , the curates discuss the ways in which developments have brought them â€Å" a important measure closer to the realization of the European Higher Education Area † and reference that this country has been developed in a mode that will â€Å" ease mobility, addition employability and strengthen Europe ‘s attraction and fight † . Competences were besides briefly mentioned in the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communique in 2009. The Communique , which was agreed upon in April 2009 by the curates responsible for higher instruction in the so 46 states of the Bologna Process, discussed the importance of employability and asserted that â€Å" higher instruction should fit pupils with the advanced cognition, accomplishments and competencies they need throughout their professional lives † ( Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve Communique , 2009, p. 3 ) . In March 2010, the curates of the states take parting in the Bologna Process adopted the Budapest-Vienna Declaration and officially launched the European Higher Education Area. The curates continued to admit the importance of supplying pupils with the chance to get â€Å" cognition, accomplishments and competencies † and agreed that the acquisition environment should â€Å" further student-centred acquisition † ( Budapest-Vienna Declaration, 2010, p. 2 ) . Recognition was besides given to the original Bologna Declaration of 1999 and its vision for 2010, in which pupils would profit from just acknowledgment of their makings.The impact of the Bologna Process in the EHEATherefore far, student-centred and competency-based instruction and pupils ‘ competencies on the pan-European policy degree have been discussed. However, it is every bit of import to turn to these facets from regional and national positions in order to to the full appreciate and understand the challen ges posed to instructors and staff at the establishments and sections that constitute the EHEA. An increased force per unit area on higher instruction establishments and sections The mundane determinations made at higher instruction establishments are influenced by complex issues, doing it hard to expect extroverted alterations and the practical deductions of these alterations ( Newton, 2003 ) . The Bologna Process, and the creative activity of the EHEA, has increased faculty members ‘ work load. Furthermore, increased competition between different higher instruction establishments to enroll pupils and staff has been observed. Rapid and extremist alterations in educational methods have besides taken topographic point as a effect of the important developments in computing machine and Internet-based instruction. The new type of pupils, who are much more familiar with using the cyberspace in order to obtain information, puts new demands on the establishments of higher instruction in footings of advanced larning methods, such as unfastened and distance acquisition, with support from information and communicating engineerings ( ICT ) . These demands are coup led with an increased force per unit area on higher instruction establishments, managers and caputs of sections to be accountable and to go through the audit from assorted governments and regulating organic structures. In amount, these tendencies add to the overall challenges faced by educational suppliers who deal with issues related to learning and larning on a day-to-day footing in order to program and put to death high quality instruction and pupil appraisals. The drawn-out debut procedure – an illustration from Portugal The debut of the Bologna reform within each member province has been a drawn-out procedure. In Portugal, for illustration, the execution of the Bologna procedure has taken rather some clip and has caused stakeholders a certain sum of problem. One ground for these jobs can be attributed to â€Å" the elaborate and normative traditions of the Lusitanian statute law † , harmonizing to Veiga & A ; Amaral ( 2009, p. 57 ) . In a 2006 study of higher instruction establishments in Portugal, Veiga and Amaral ( 2009 ) demonstrated that universities had high outlooks â€Å" of more horizontal mobility activities † on the maestro ‘s degree after the Bologna Process was implemented. However, this expected addition in mobility has non manifested itself, partially as a consequence of jobs with â€Å" the articulation between rhythms † and â€Å" some deficiency of coherency between the different types of Masterss being developed † ( Veiga & A ; Amaral, 2009, p. 61 ) . Veiga & A ; Amaral besides report issues associated with the incorrect usage of the ECTS system in Portuguese higher instruction. Veiga & A ; Amaral ‘s ( 2009 ) information indicate that the precedence among many establishments was to travel from a learning paradigm to a student-centred acquisition paradigm, stating, â€Å" Lusitanian higher instruction establishments saw Bologna as a window of chance to present pedagogic and curricular reforms without aiming [ other reforms ] to the ends of Bologna † ( Veiga & A ; Amaral, 2009, p. 62 ) . Veiga and Amaral concluded that the execution of Bologna in Portugal has been â€Å" achieved in name merely † ( Veiga & A ; Amaral, 2009, p. 67 ) , as a effect of the velocity by which the Bologna Process was implemented and the deficiency of information and legislative support from the authorities. The challenges of module development and preparation – an illustration from Spain Diaz, Santaolalla & A ; Gonzalez ( 2010 ) conducted a survey of attitudes among module and of the sensed preparation demands among these professors, to react to the challenges of the EHEA. The survey, which included 257 university instructors in humanistic disciplines, societal scientific disciplines, experimental scientific disciplines, wellness, and engineering from the Complutense University of Madrid, focused on the EHEA and policy devising in general. In peculiar, the survey focused on the cognition and attitudes among these module members and the sensed preparation demands for the instructors based on the demands of the EHEA. The consequences show that about one tierce of the instructors report that they possess merely superficial cognition about the EAHE, and about one 3rd province that they are non certain how the EHEA-induced alterations will impact them as instructors. 66 % of the sample indicated that there is a demand to alter learning methods, but at the same clip 57 % d o non believe that the structural conditions of the establishment and their sections will back up the development work needed to suit the instruction that is being offered to the demands of the EAHE system. Based on their consequences, Diaz, Santaolalla & A ; Gonzalez ( 2010, p.A 112 ) provinces that â€Å" module preparation causes a batch of passion to billow † and that it likely will do it even more hard to plan this type of plans. The usage of the construct of competence-based instruction The term competence-based instruction has been contested, and certain persons have argued that it is merely a term used by policy shapers for political and societal grounds, instead than resting on a scientific footing. Hodge ( 2007 ) , for illustration, notes that the term competence-based ( or performance-based ) instruction has been used for decennaries to intend different things, and claims that policymakers in Europe presently use it as a bombilation word and as a conceptual footing for redesigning course of study and learning scenes within the EHEA, based on a political docket. Indeed, the term competence-based ( or performance-based ) instruction has long been used in assorted educational scenes and by different organisations, such as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education ( AACTE ) . For illustration, the AACTE appointed a Committee on Performance-Based Teacher Education in the early 1970s, which issued a list of features of successful performance-based instruction ( Elam, 1971 ) . Harmonizing to this list, competencies to be demonstrated by the scholar, e.g. a pupil, should be stated in order to be able to measure the scholar ‘s behavior. The standards to be used in this appraisal should besides be expressed and should depict the degrees of competencies. Furthermore, the instructional programmes, that is to state, the classs, should assist develop scholars ‘ competencies, and the appraisal of the pupil ‘s competencies should use public presentation as the primary beginning of grounds ( Elam, 1971 ) . At least a part of the historical roots of the construct of competence-based instruction lies in the USA, the Cold War epoch ( 1950-1970 ) , and the technological competition between E and West ( Hodge, 2007 ) . The initial success of the E, with its Sputnik programme at the terminal of the 1950s, for illustration, was a irritant in the West ‘s side and in its instruction and preparation programmes. In the USA, extended probes and reorganisations of schooling and professional programmes were undertaken. One consequence of this check-up was that the educational focal point shifted from academic cognition to practical and applicable competencies and utile results. Teacher instruction in the US was besides affected by this probe, as educational programmes were reorganised. The instructor instruction programmes were reformed to concentrate more on single demands and existent work demands, and, as a effect, alterations in appraisal besides took topographic point, with a stronger acc ent on measuring public presentation and discernible results. In the late sixtiess, for illustration, the American authorities issued instructions to the establishments responsible for teacher instruction to develop new course of study with a stronger focal point on public presentation and behavioral results, competencies to be learned and the rating of these public presentations, results and competencies ( Hodge, 2007 ) .Appraisal and scaling in the EHEATherefore far, the constructs of student-centred and competency-based instruction in the EHEA have been discussed. Our attending will now turn to university instructors ‘ ratings of their pupils ‘ competencies. Different appraisal formats Methods of measuring and rating undergraduate pupils vary across Europe ( Sullivan, 2002 ; Karran, 2004 & A ; 2005 ) . Numerous attacks to assessment and assessment methods proving a scope of accomplishments and abilities exist. The most common method is to allow the pupils write tests, essays or studies, but there are many other attacks used for appraisal, such as self- and peer appraisal and workplace-based appraisal in off-campus locations. It is of import for instructors to use the optimum attacks and methods, based on the classs ‘ course of study, and to give pupils a mix of attacks and methods, thereby enabling them to show the scope of their abilities. Traditionally, it is the instructor who assesses the pupils, but coachs in supervised vocational preparation pattern or director off-campus may besides analyze and rate the learning advancement of pupils, presuming that they are prepared for this undertaking and that they receive support. Regardless of who assesses the pupils, it is of import that the rating is based on clear and available standards and defendable grounds ( Brown, 1999 ) . Scoring and rating pupils In higher instruction, there are numeral tonss and classs. Classs are frequently given in the signifier of letters ( or some other descriptive component ) and are applied to peculiar public presentations. A passing class is frequently achieved when certain standards, designed to set up whether pupils have reached a minimal degree of competence, are met. The scaling of pupils, i.e. the procedure by which a instructor assigns values to a pupil ‘s public presentation ( for illustration 1-10 or A-E ) , plays a important function in higher instruction. Classs are of import to such interested parties as possible employers, Ph.D.-programme admittances commissions and bookmans, who analyse the effects of educational scenes ( Davies & A ; Graff, 2005 ) or who analyse the prognostic cogency of classs, that is to state, to what extent classs from classs can foretell future public presentations in alumnus classs and in professional life ( Taylor & A ; Albo, 1993 ; Gonnella, Erdmann & A ; Hoja, 2004 ) . But above all, classs are of import to the pupils themselves. Previous research confirm that pupils hold strong positions about appraisal and scaling, and these positions influence the ways in which pupils approach larning and analyzing ( Sambell, McDowell & A ; Brown, 1997 ) . Student-centred appraisal In the European Higher Education Area, appraisal is regarded as something meant to heighten pupils ‘ acquisition ( Leathwood, 2005 ) . Therefore, assessment governments and formats are get downing to alter, going formative instead than simply summational. In add-on, the possibilities of utilizing a assortment of appraisal techniques, including self- and peer appraisal and problem-based acquisition and appraisal techniques, deserve to be explored ( Segers & A ; Dochy, 2001 ) . The job, from the position of instructors who are used to multiple pick questionnaires and similar trials, is that these modern appraisal signifiers are perceived to hold lower degrees of dependability and cogency. Furthermore, appraisal in the EHEA will besides be more practical and non-academic, instead than simply scholastic and for the exclusive intent of fixing undergraduates for post-graduate surveies. During the last decennary, involvement among educational suppliers in inquiries sing appraisal and scrutiny has increased, every bit good as in how different methods of appraisal affect pupil acquisition ( Wilson & A ; Fowler, 2005 ; Leathwood, 2005 ) . It has become more and more common for university and college instructors to utilize formative appraisal, instead than merely summational appraisal, to heighten pupil acquisition ( Segers & A ; Dochy, 2001 ) . Formative appraisal is an rating whose intent entails modifying and/or bettering an educational class or the pupils ‘ acquisition environment, based on information obtained during the class. Summational appraisal, on the other, refers to the traditional method of measuring pupils ; it takes topographic point at the decision of a class, with the intent of finding the class ‘s effectivity and the pupils ‘ classs ( Roos, 2005 ) . The relationship between classs and future workplace success Research concentrating on classs and workplace public presentation after graduation makes usage of two theories: cognitive accomplishments theory claims that pupils develop their cognitive accomplishments during their clip at the university and that their degrees of public presentation are seeable in their classs. These accomplishments so lead to success in the workplace, and, since productiveness is rewarded with increased net incomes, â€Å" a positive relationship should be between academic accomplishment and net incomes † ( Donhardt, 2004, p. 281 ) , as â€Å" the more educated the employee, the more productive he/she isaˆÂ ¦ and that employers reward more extremely educated workers with higher wage † ( Donhardt, 2004, p. 273 ) . Meanwhile, Certification theory claims that occupation appliers ‘ certifications ( grades and sheepskin ) are what affairs to employers, instead than classs. Harmonizing to this theory, classs have no influence on future net inco mes. Donhardt ( 2004 ) studied net incomes ‘ results by researching the anticipation and growing of net incomes over the first 3 old ages following graduation. Classs were the step of academic achievement, and net incomes were declarative of the value ascribed to an person. Donhardt wished to find whether accomplishment in college, as measured by class point norm, can foretell the growing of net incomes over clip. He expected â€Å" rate point norm to be cardinal in the relationship † ( Donhardt, 2004, p. 281 ) . However, his consequences indicated that class point norm had small impact on net incomes. GPA was non a important variable and had really small correlativity with net incomes. Nor did pupils with high classs experience significantly higher growing of net incomes over clip when compared with pupils with lower classs. Donhardt concluded the enfranchisement theory, which claims that occupation appliers are frequently screened based on their university grades, since gra de certifications designate the pupil as a difficult worker, to be more plausible. This determination is nil new to research workers in higher instruction. In old research, Pascarella and Terenzini ( 1991 ) , for illustration, have demonstrated that a positive association exists between holding a college or university grade and success in the workplace.Looking in frontThe following Ministerial Meeting will be hosted by Romania in Bucharest on April 26-27, 2012. At this meeting, the curates will look into the advancement that has been made in the Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve docket and will endeavor to drive it frontward. The undermentioned ministerial conferences will be held in 2015, 2018 and 2020. What can be expected in the close hereafter with regard to higher instruction in Europe? Competency-based instruction and student-centred appraisal methodological analysiss will most surely continue to be utilised, merely as the merchandisation of higher instruction seems likely to go on. Glo bal economic factors will go on to act upon educational systems and the labor markets, and higher instruction establishments will confront even ferocious economic competition from one another. This paper has described the general understandings and the international character of the Bologna Process ; the assorted histrions and administrations involved have merely been superficially outlined. Many more constructions and factors impact the Bologna Process and impact the EHEA. For the establishments and sections, it is critical to be witting of constructions and factors on the local degree, for illustration in the planning and execution of professional development and preparation for university instructors and other staff. In these attempts, it is of import to admit, for illustration, â€Å" the instructors ‘ ain demands, the possible differences associated to scientific Scopess, and academic and age class † , as Diaz, Santaolalla & A ; Gonzalez ( 2010, p. 117 ) reminds us.