assignment 1

GE350 World Geography

Directions:  Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading.  Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English spelling and grammar.  Sources must be cited in APA format.  Your response should be a minimum of one (1) single-spaced page to a maximum of two (2) pages in length; refer to the “Assignment Format” page for specific format requirements.

Discuss China in terms of being the “Middle Kingdom,” population growth issues, and industrialization.

assignment 2

GE350 World Geography

Directions:  Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it to Ashworth College for grading.  Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English spelling and grammar.  Sources must be cited in APA format.  Your response should be a minimum of one (1) single-spaced page to a maximum of two (2) pages in length; refer to the “Assignment Format” page for specific format requirements.

Discuss South Africa’s apartheid policy of 1948.  How was it initiated?  Provide historical information of the time from the passing of this policy until gaining independence in 1979.

“Japanese students spend 240 days a year at school, 60 days more then their American counterparts” (Johnson & Johnson 1996)

    American and Japanese school structures differ in many different ways.  The first, and most significant way, is that Japanese schools incorporate a national curriculum created by the Japanese Ministry of Education.  Thus, unlike the educational system in the United States, in which each state determines its own curriculum, the federal government decides on what each school must teach, how to teach it, and even what books to teach it with.  Therefore, there are many implications for such a disparity in educational structure.  For American schools, the fact that each state can come up with their own curriculum means that states have autonomy as well as responsibility for what each student learns.  Consequently, each state can then implement curricula in schools based on the resources available to each state and what the state feels is the most important for its students to learn.  However, the major problem with this system is the fact that the resources, namely money, available to each state and district varies so much that students across the country receive vastly different qualities of education.  Furthermore, because students across the country are educated at such disparate levels depending on the resources available to the school as well as the specific way in which the school decides to comply with the state curriculum, high school graduates from two different cities, not to mention states, may have strongly dissimilar skills and knowledge.  This outcome is exceedingly true when comparing low-income urban schools with higher income suburban schools in intra-state and inter-state analyses.  
    Therefore, what the Japanese school is able to do by incorporating a nationalized system, is make sure that everystudent receives the exact same education and thus the system aims to decrease any gaps based on differential curricula.  In theUS, even though standardized testing such as the ACT and the SAT are nationalized, the playing field is not.  Nevertheless colleges expect students from schools with such vastly dissimilar resources and curricula to compete nationally when applying and consequently students from disadvantaged backgrounds (socio-economic and educational) are the victims of the inconsistency.  Therefore, while the Japanese schools are educating students at a even, arguably superior, level, students in the US must find a way over the hurdle of decentralized, state determined curricula.  One study does show some cause for hope, however, in that, “when US teachers use a curricula that parallels that of Japan, USachievement is similar to that of Japan” (Westbury 24).  
    A second structural difference between Japanese and American schools is simply the amount days students are in school.  Students in Japan spend, “240 days a year at school, 60 days more then their American counterparts” (Johnson 1996).  Although critics of this claim have pointed out that many of the extra days are spent engaging in activities geared more towards cultural studies and field trips, students in Japan still spend significantly more time in school than students in the US.  Furthermore, traditional Japanese schools also have a half day of instruction on Saturdays.  As a result, according to some estimates, in 13 years of schooling, US students receive almost a year less than those in Japan.  The implications of this are that not only do Japanese students receive more actual time per day engaging in focused, academic study, but they also spend more days overall and therefore may have a clear advantage in terms of practice, repetition, and breadth of knowledge.  Not only that, but the Japanese school year is divided into 3 terms, without extended breaks that may cause students to lose their skills in the absence of regular academic instruction for prolonged periods of time (Johnson 1996).  Thus, the problem in the US of students from disadvantaged backgrounds gaining an essentially equal playing field over the academic year and then losing most of what the gained over the summer, may not be a factor in Japanbecause of the systemic difference in the academic calendar (Lecture).  
    Finally, although the US spends a considerable amount of money on education relative to Japan, much of the funds that are appropriated are used for things other than academics.  These include funds for transportation, food, athletics and custodians as well as money for programs such as D.A.R.E.  In fact, as much as 40% of US curricula is devoted to nonacademic subjects (Abbeduto 380). In contrast, most Japanese students walk or ride their bikes to school  and many traditional Japanese schools even have students clean the school at the end of each day.   Furthermore, although students in Japan do participate in extra-curricular activities such as sports after school, most are only allowed to choose one club.  Additionally, most students who are considering college perceive such activities as a hindrance to their chances of passing the entrance exams that will pave the way to their success (Johnson 1996).  

question:    Previous studies have shown that urban bus drivers have an extremely stressful job, and a large proportion of drivers retire prematurely with disabilities due to occupational stress. These stresses come from a combination of physical and social sources such as traffic congestion, incessant time pressure, and unruly passengers. In the paper, “Hassles on the Job: A Study of a Job Intervention with Urban Bus Drivers” (Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 20, pp. 199 – 208), G. Evans et al. examined the effects of an intervention program to improve the conditions of urban bus drivers. Among other variables, the researchers monitored diastolic blood pressure of bus drivers in downtown Stockholm, Sweden. The data, in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), are based on the blood pressures obtained prior to intervention for the 41 bus drivers in the study.

A)    Exploratory Data Analysis

a.    Summarize the data using a…

                                              i.     stem and leaf diagram.

                                            ii.     histogram with approximately 7 classes.

1.     Use class limits on the horizontal axis.

2.     Use frequencies on the vertical axis.

3.     Show class frequency on top of bars.

                                          iii.     box and whiskers plot.

b.     Investigate the data for definite outliers. Drop all definite outliers from the set and redo part a.

c.     Summarize the data set using a table of descriptive statistics. The table must be generated by a statistical software and include the following statistics:

                                              i.     The number of observations in data set

                                            ii.     Mean

                                          iii.     Median

                                            iv.     Mode

                                              v.     Max

                                            vi.     Min

                                          vii.     Quartiles

                                        viii.     Interquartile range

                                            ix.     Standard deviation

                                              x.     Variance

                                            xi.     Range

                                          xii.     Standard error of the mean

B)    Inferential Statistics

a.    Use a STATISTICAL SOFTWARE to construct a 90% confidence interval for µ, the population mean diastolic blood pressure of all urban bus drivers in Stockholm.

b.    In adults the ideal diastolic blood pressure is 80 mm Hg.  At the 5% significance level, do the data provide sufficient evidence to conclude that the mean diastolic blood pressure of bus drivers in Stockholm exceeds the normal diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg? Have Software conduct the appropriate test. Using the softwareoutput, perform the full hypothesis test.

C)    Project Summary & Findings

a.    Write a brief introductory paragraph regarding the background of data.

b.    Write paragraph (or two) that specifies the shape of the distribution of the data and reference your graph(s) used to make your decision.

c.     Discuss the presence or absence of outliers.

d.    Interpret the following values within context for the sample mean, median, and mode.

e.    State the range of the data and the standard deviation.

f.      State the practical interpretation for the 90% confidence interval.

g.     State the null hypothesis, the test-statistic, and the p-value for the hypothesis test in B).

h.    Clearly state your conclusions of the hypothesis test within context and include the significance level in your statement.

D)   Format for submitting Statistics Project Option B

a.    First – page: Title page with appropriate project title, name, course number and section number. (The title page must be typed.)

b.    Part C)

c.     Division Page for “METHODS”

d.    Part A) – include all software Output.

e.    Part B) – include all software Output.

f.      How has this project helped you understand the purpose and value of the study of statistics? Your response must be in complete sentences and may be handwritten.