Factors Contributing to Disproportionate Minority Representation in Special Education

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education has been a constant and consistent concern for nearly four decades (Klingner et al. , 2005). Currently, there are disproportionate numbers of minority students who are referred, assessed, identified, classified, and placed in programs for students with disabilities. The issue of disproportionate representation for minority students has been and continues to be an incessant dilemma that has detrimental effects on the educational opportunities and outcomes for this specific group of students.Concerns about disproportionate representation are focused on the â€Å"judgmental† categories of special education (learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and mental retardation), those disabilities usually identified after the child starts school and by school personnel rather than a medical professional. Children identified with these disabilities usually do not exhibit any obvious discernible features, y et they are still considered to have internal deficits that affect their learning and/ or behavior (Klingner, et al. , 2005).One of the earlier discussions on disproportionality (Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982) noted that it cannot be assumed that ethnic disproportionality in special education is a problem, since it could be that certain groups of students require special education services in greater amounts than those from other ethnic categories. The panel declared that â€Å"the adequacy and appropriateness† of all phases of the special education process as well as the outcome had to be determined before recognizing disproportionality as a problem.The existence of bias or inappropriate practice at any phase of the process was the feature that would determine that disproportionality was indeed problematic. In its 26th Annual Report to Congress, the U. S. Department of Education (2005) presented the percentage of students ages 6 through 21 who were served under IDEA by d isability and race/ethnicity. Specific learning disability was the largest disability category for all racial/ethnic groups.Hispanic/Latino children represented the largest racial/ethnic group (58. 3%) diagnosed with a specific learning disability. American Indian/Alaskan Native students were the next highest group (55. 3%) identified with a specific learning disability. The highest percentage of minority students served under IDEA for mental retardation was African American/Black (16. 8%). Mental retardation can be defined as sub-average intellectual functioning that concurrently exists with deficits in adaptive behavior.Similarly, African American/Black students also represented the highest percentage of children served under the category of emotionally disturbed students (11. 3%) (U. S. Department of Education, 2005). It is critical to note that the existence of this problem has been repeatedly documented by the U. S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), in th at it has confirmed the overrepresentation of minority students in special education programs with data for the past thirty years.In addition, the issue of determining whether students of different racial or ethnic groups are disproportionately identified for special education has been a longstanding public and professional concern; however, the causes of disproportionality and factors contributing to this problem are not clearly understood (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Thus, this paper aims to examine factors contributing to disproportionality of minority in special education. Firstly, the paper examines historical background of disproportionality problem. Finally, some conclusive remarks are presented.History of the Disproportionality Problem The problem of overrepresentation of minority students in special education is not a new phenomenon and has been a serious concern for the last 40 years. Dunn (1968) cited statistics from the U. S. Office of Education and concluded â€Å"about 60 % to 80% of students in mild mental retardation classes were from low status backgrounds, including African Americans, American Indians, Mexicans, and Puerto Rican Americans; those from nonstandard English speaking, disorganized and inadequate homes; and children from nonmiddle class environments† (p.6). Mercer (1973) documented disproportionate representation of minority students in special education classes in Riverside, California. She concluded that the percentage of African Americans placed in special classes for students diagnosed with mental retardation was three times their percentage in the population. In a similar manner, the percentage of Mexican American students placed in classes for mentally retarded children was four times their percentage in the population (Mercer, 1973). The overrepresentation problem has also been documented over time through court cases.Two notable cases, Diana v. State Board of Education (1970) and Larry P. v. Riles (1971) dealt with issues related to assessment bias, disproportionate placement, and the long-term consequences of special education placement (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Larry P. v. Riles (1979) was a class action suit on behalf of African American/Black students in the San Francisco Public School System who were placed in mildly mentally retarded education programs. At that time African American/Black students represented 28.5% of the district's student enrollment, but 67% of the students in mildly mentally retarded programs were African American/Black. The plaintiffs argued that intelligence tests were culturally biased. The court ruled that intelligence tests were culturally biased against African American/Black students and that reliance on biased instruments was related to the overrepresentation problem. Overrepresentation of certain ethnic minority groups, such as African Americans/Blacks or Hispanics/Latinos, in certain special education environments is a serious problem for a number of reasons.Heller , Holtzman, and Messick (1982) stated that disproportionality is a problem if children are invalidly placed in programs for mentally retarded children, if they are unduly exposed to the likelihood of such placement by virtue of having received poor regular education, or if the quality and academic relevance of the special instruction blocks students' educational progress, including decreasing the likelihood of their return to the regular education classroom. In their review of the literature, Hosp and Reschly (2003) discussed three main reasons why disproportionate representation in special education is problematic.Such reasons include negative effects of labeling, segregation of placement, and presumed ineffectiveness of special education (Hosp & Reschly, 2003). For example, labeling a child handicapped has been found to reduce teachers' expectancy for the child to succeed (Dunn, 1968). Furthermore, removing a child from regular education to special education may contribute signifi cantly to feelings of inferiority and problems with acceptance by peers (Dunn, 1968). Factors Contributing to Disproportionate RepresentationSeveral variables related to the disproportionate representation of some students in special education have been documented in the literature. Specifically, research has examined possible reasons that might explain the overrepresentation of minorities in special education including bias in the referral process, bias in assessment tools, English Language Proficiency of a child, poverty, gender, race, and poor academic achievement (Hosp & Reschly, 2004). Referral process One factor that may contribute to disproportionality involves the referral process for special education.Referral for assessment has been cited as an important predictor of subsequent special education placement (Ysseldyke, Vanderwood, & Shriner, 1997). Ysseldyke et al. (1997) found that 90% to 92% of referred students are tested and 70% to 74% of tested students were then declar ed eligible for special education placement. Thus, if a child is referred to a multidisciplinary team for special education eligibility consideration, there is a high probability that the student will be identified with a disability and be placed in a special education program.One possible explanation for overidentification of students for special education may be due to the information processing strategies of multidisciplinary team decision makers, which can cause the presence of a confirmatory bias (O'Reilly et al. , 1989). Confirmatory bias can occur when the multidisciplinary team decision makers have a tendency to gather information that confirms a hypothesis that is being tested and ignores contradictory information. This can result in special education decisions that are not based on objective evidence and lead to inappropriate placements.Thus, if teachers are biased in their referral decisions, psychologists may confirm already flawed judgments (Podwell & Soodak, 1993). In terms of demographics, research has shown that teachers over refer African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native males to programs for students with learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral problems, speech and language disorders, and mild cognitive disorders in comparison to female and White middle class students (Grossman, 1995).The majority of teachers nationwide are White; therefore cultural misunderstanding of expectations may affect referral rates of non-White students (Hosp & Reschly, 2003). For example, differences between students and teachers in learning style, verbal style, social style, and cultural information has been suggested to account for some proportion of minority students poor school performance which may lead to referral and subsequent placement in special education (Harry, 1994). Assessment procedures Overrepresentation could also be a result of bias in the assessment procedures used to identify students for special education.Assessm ent procedures that are not suited to the diverse characteristics of the students evaluated may result in misleading and biased information about their academic abilities (Grossman, 1995). For example, unfamiliarity with the assessment process may invalidate results. Grossman (1995) cited research that African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino children may be more anxious during assessments to the point that the anxiety interferes with performance because they are not familiar with the assessment process.Today, more minority children continue to be placed into special education on the basis of intelligence tests, even though it has been suggested that intelligence instruments as a basis for placement are imperfect and unfair (Agbenyega & Jiggetts, 1999). The validity and reliability of intelligence tests has been discussed when such measures are used with minority students (Reschly & Grimes, 2002). Intelligence tests are valid only if they measure a student's ability to learn and t o predict how the student will function in specific learning situations (Grossman, 1995).Furthermore, since the reliability of many assessments is established by studying their use with White students, they may be unreliable when used with non-White students (Grossman, 1995). It has been asserted that intelligence tests reflect the cultural knowledge base and cognitive and linguistic orientations of their creators (Harry, Klinger, Sturges, & Moore, 2002). Intelligence tests have been criticized as being culturally, socially, and racially biased because they reflect White, middle class values and experiences and therefore, are not applicable to minority children (Agbenyega & Jiggetts, 1999).It has been suggested that traditional measures of intelligence are not biased if certain standards are met. For example, standards should require a rigorous implementation of procedural safeguards in the referral, classification, and placement process; implementation of multifactored assessments designed to identify specific educational needs by a group of professionals; and programming and placement decisions made by a team that included professionals and parents (Reschly & Grimes, 2002).Nevertheless, there are concerns about using intelligence measures like the Wechsler scales in making identification decisions. Such concerns include that different environments provide different preparation for the test, the narrow item content of the test, and negative outcomes associated with the use of intelligence tests (Reschly & Grimes, 2002). Therefore, the use of more culturally fair measures of cognitive processing, such as the CAS, may be an important step in addressing the disproportionality problem in special education.English Language Proficiency Since most standardized tests are administered in English and normed on proficient English speakers, a linguistic bias may also invalidate the results of an evaluation if the assessment is conducted in a language that the student is not proficient in. For example, English Language Learners have been found to perform lower than proficient English speakers on standardized assessments in reading, science, and mathematics (Abedi, 2002).However, the performance gap between English Language Learners and proficient English speakers was greatest in content areas that required a higher language demand (i. e. , reading) and less or almost non-existent in content areas that required less language demand (i. e. , mathematic computation). The linguistic complexity of the actual test items, unrelated to the content being assessed, may be a reason for poorer performance for English Language Learners on standardized tests.Thus, these tests may function more as an English proficiency test than a test of ability or achievement (Abedi, 2002). This problem can impact special education identification and placement because there are very few school psychologists who are bilingual and are able to provide linguistically appropriate as sessment services in the school (Grossman, 1995). The consideration of English Language Proficiency is important since it is estimated that more than 3. 5 million children in U. S. schools have Limited English Proficiency (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). However, there has been limited research on the representation of English Language Learners in special education programs since state departments of education often do not gather data about language proficiency of students in special education. Artiles et al. (2005) assessed the magnitude of disproportionate representation of English Language Learners in 11 urban California school districts. Placement patterns at the elementary level indicated an absence of overrepresentation in special education.However, overrepresentation of English Language Learners was detected at the end of elementary school (4th grade) and continued through the high school years. Children who demonstrated limited proficiency in their native language as well as in E nglish had the highest rate of identification in high incidence special education categories (i. e. , learning disability). Impact of gender Other variables have also been examined to evaluate their influence on the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education.For example, recent research has looked at gender as a predictor of special education placement (Coutinho & Oswald, 2005; Coutinho et al. , 2002). In general, gender disproportionality has been found to exist in special education with male students more likely to be overrepresented in special education. Boys are about twice as likely as girls to be identified with a learning disability and almost three and half times more likely to be identified with a serious emotional disturbance (Coutinho & Oswald, 2005). Coutinho et al.(2002) investigated the extent of disproportionality among students with a learning disability and described the relationship between ethnicity, gender, and socio-demographic var iables (i. e. , poverty indicators, Limited English Proficiency status, parent education, etc. ). The findings showed an association between ethnicity, gender and the odds of being identified as a student with a learning disability. White, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Hispanic/Latino males were all at least twice as likely as White females to receive special education.African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino females were essentially as likely as White females to receive special education. American Indian/Alaskan Native females were more likely than White females to receive special education. Asian males and females were both less likely than White females to receive special education services (Coutinho et al. , 2002). In addition to student characteristics, results indicated that socio-demographic characteristics were important in determining the likelihood of being identified as learning disabled.However, the impact of the socio-demographic characte ristics was found to be different for each gender-ethnicity group. For example, increased poverty was associated with increased identification of a learning disability for African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and male Asian students. For White and American Indian/Alaskan Native students, increased poverty was associated with lower identification rates (Coutinho et al. , 2002). Economic, demographic, and achievement factors Oswald et al.(1999) examined the influence of economic and demographic variables on the identification of minority students for special education. The study examined the extent U. S. school districts displayed patterns of disproportionate presentation in the identification of minority students as mildly mentally retarded (MMR) and serious emotional disturbance (SED). It also analyzed the extent disproportionate representation at the district level is predicted by other district characteristics including school characteristics and demographic and economic facto rs (Oswald et al. , 1999).Oswald et al. (1999) used predictor variables that included median housing value, median income, percentage of children below the poverty level, percentage of adults in the community with a 12th grade education or less, percentage of children enrolled in school who are considered â€Å"at risk† (i. e. , from a single parent home, below the poverty level, and where the mother does not have a high school diploma or GED); and percentage of children who were Limited English Proficient. Race of the student was classified as African American/Black or non-African American/non-Black.Results indicated that African American/Black students were 2. 4 times more likely to be identified as MMR and approximately 1. 5 times more likely to be identified as SED than non-African American/Black students. Additionally, environmental and demographic variables were found to be significant predictors of identification of students as MMR or SED. For example, as poverty and d rop-out levels increased, more African Americans/Blacks were identified as MMR, but less were classified as SED.Furthermore, there was a disproportionate number of African American/Black students classified as SED in wealthier communities. It was suggested that these results may indicate that wealthier communities are more tolerant of cognitive impairments and less tolerant of emotionally challenging behaviors of African Americans/Blacks (Oswald et al. , 1999). Poor academic achievement is often a reason for referral and eventual placement in special education.Hosp and Reschly (2004) hypothesized that differences in academic achievement between racial and ethnic groups may lead to differences in referral and subsequent placement rates for special education. These researchers expanded on findings of Oswald et al. (1999) and included achievement variables with demographic and economic predictor variables of White, African American, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/A laskan Native ethnic/racial groups in an effort to better understand disproportionate representation of minorities in special education.In their study, demographic predictors included the base rates of various ethnic backgrounds (base rate of White students, base rate of African American/Black students, base rate of Hispanic/Latino students, base rate of Asian/Pacific Islander students, base rate of American Indian/Alaskan Native students) in the district, percentage of students in the community who were Limited English Proficient, and base rate of students in the district identified who had a disability.Economic predictors included median house value of the community, median household income, percentage of adults in community who have a 12th grade education or less, and percentage of children who are considered at risk. Academic predictors included percentage of each ethnic group who achieved mastery in criterion reading and criterion math. Results indicated that economic, demograp hic and academic blocks of variables contributed to the prediction of disproportionate representation.Specifically, Hosp and Reschly (2004) found that the block of economic variables was the strongest predictor for mental retardation diagnosis, the demographic block of variables was the strongest predictor for emotional disturbance, and the academic block of variables was a strong predictor for a learning disability diagnosis. For African American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaskan Native students, the demographic variables were the strongest predictors for emotional disturbance and learning disability.It is not possible to comment on the influence of each individual variable in its ability to predict special education eligibility since related variables were grouped together as broader blocks of variables. An ecological framework How bias in the referral process, bias in assessment techniques, English Language Proficiency, gender, socioeconomic status, and demograp hics contribute to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education may be better understood by considering an ecological developmental framework.According to Bronfenbrenner (1992), understanding human development requires a consideration of the interaction of diverse characteristics of a child and of the environment in which the child is embedded. Bronfenbrenner (1992) suggests a hierarchy of ecological contexts that effect human development that move from the most proximal to the most remote. The first of these contexts is the microsystem, which has the most power to influence the course of development for the child (Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1983).Bronfenbrenner (1992) defined a microsystem as â€Å"a pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting with particular physical and material features, and containing other persons with distinctive characteristics of temperament, personality, and systems of belief' (p. 227). Such settings include the home, school, or peer group. The microsystem considers the immediate environment a child develops in, as well as the characteristics of all other people (i. e. , parents, teachers, siblings, etc. ) also in that environment.The characteristics of other people in the child's environment might include demographic features (age, race/ethnicity, and sex), cognitive abilities and skills, or temperaments/personalities. For example, a child whose parents only speak a language other than English may have difficulty acquiring English, which may put them at risk for lower achievement scores and a higher probability of being referred for special education services. Children interact with their teachers daily. Personalities and belief systems of the teacher may impact how he/she views the child and therefore, influences how the teacher interacts with the child.A teacher who lacks cultural awareness may inappropriately refer a child to th e multidisciplinary team. Thus, the microsystem may be the most important ecological level to consider when analyzing factors that relate to the overrepresentation of specific racial/ethnic groups because it considers not only the characteristics of the environment a child develops in, but the characteristics of those who interact with that child. The most distal ecological system is the macrosystem. The macrosystem is the largest ecological level and is typically defined by region, societies, cultural values, and governmental and economic institutions.The macrosystem involves the belief systems prevailing in the world. At this level, the individual has little control over the factors related to disproportionality, but it is important to understand the intent of the laws governing special education programs and the national goal to decrease the overrepresentation of minority groups in special education. Conclusion Disproportionate representation is a complex phenomenon without a def inite etiology or solution. As a result of this complexity, consensus has yet to be reached regarding the actual causes of this persistent dilemma.What is clear is that a variety of educational, sociocultural, socioeconomic, and teacher and school-related factors appear to contribute to the disproportionate representation of minority students in special education programs. Current literature on overrepresentation of certain students in special education focuses more on the general patterns of disproportionality rather than examining if there are specific variables related to special education representation (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Thus, the causes of the disproportionate representation of minorities in special education are not clearly understood.Therefore, it is important to consider structural and community level variables to provide a framework for analyzing the problem. Indirectly these variables affect the prescribed evaluation procedures, parental involvement in the special e ducation process, and the availability of alternative programs (Turnbull & Turabull, 2001). Bronfenbrenner's (1992) expanded ecological paradigm provides a conceptual framework for examining and understanding the factors that influence disproportionate representation of minorities in special education.An ecological approach considers the context within which individuals function and that influence individuals. In using Bronfenbrenner's framework, the larger issue of disproportionality should consider the combined influences of various contexts a child is a member, including the locality (type of neighborhood and resources), the organization (school factors such as performance, racial/ethnicity composition, teacher:student ratios, or discipline), the microsystem (family characteristics such as size, socioeconomic status, and education level), and the individual (unique characteristics of the child)

Sabrina Charatain Essay

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Symbolic meaning creation is central for the management and Essay

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Define qualitative research, and consider its appropriateness to your Essay

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Tesco - Essay Example The personal details play a crucial role as the company can be able to link them with the purchases made in the stores. Such strength indicates that the company values their customers since they inquire for personal details about the customers. Another significant strength of Tesco lies in its workforce; the employees of the organization tend to be friendly and treat the customers warmly (John 2004, p. 105). The global reach of Tesco can also be regarded as a remarkable strength of the company; Tesco has its stores spread all over several countries, and this can be regarded as a significant achievement. The spread of the stores enables the organization to secure large customer base compared to its competitors. Reasonable prices can also be regarded as strength of Tesco; this makes the customers to flock the stores of the organization (John 2004, p. 110). Offering best and affordable prices have been central to the organization’s success. The success of Tesco can be attributed to its strengths in terms of the wide range of products dealt with by the organization. The organization spread its products to include consumer products such as CD players, music players, computers, as well as other products such as hot cakes. ... products, which may expire; for example, products such as fruits, vegetables, salads, and sandwiches have to be sold before the expiry date (John 2004, p. 113). A look at the opportunities of Tesco indicates that the company has embraced the use of new technology in its operations. Tesco has seized the opportunities accorded by new technology as the company has adopted mass customization as a marketing strategy. The organization also offers both online and in-store shopping; therefore, customers can purchase the commodities they want at the comfort of their homes. The organization also gets favored by the EU laws due to its notable presence in the UK (John 2004, p. 118). One of the threats of the organization stems from the competition by companies such as Wal-Mart and Sainsbury. The company also faces the threat of venturing in new markets where other competitors might have established a strong market base. Possible Solutions In order to counter the challenges faced by the organizat ion, Tesco can adopt several changes in terms of its operations. First, the organization should strive towards improving its marketing plan and making it better than it is. For example, the company can introduce virtual stores, which will enable quick delivery of products to customers. This can play a crucial role in enhancing faster delivery of the products and increasing the organization’s sales (Rothwell 1998, p. 3). Another change that Tesco needs to institute includes looking for reliable suppliers in Denmark who will supply vegetables, fresh fruits, milk, bread, and meat. This stems from the fact that it may be extremely impossible to import such products from the United Kingdom owing to the high costs, which would be incurred by suppliers. Tesco has to adapt to the various demands

Inventory stystems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Inventory stystems - Assignment Example The system used by Kroger allows for the shelves to look like they are always full with the same type of products. This allows the products to look readily available at all times. The system works well when the projected amount of sales are accurately made. Allowing for too much or too little inventory will mean for inadequate operating costs. This is also known as order quantity issues. This can mean losing customers or allowing food to expire. Firms like Kroger that use perishable inventory are dependent on an accurate inventory. Order quantity issues can arise from any type of inventory system. This system that is used by Kroger is pretty acceptable. The only problem is that because most of the inventory is perishable, inventory accuracy must be perfect so that money is not lost. Proper management, research and production teams are essential to making sure proper inventory levels are maintained. The development of a new hybrid model can eliminate wasted inventory. Wasted inventory is a common problem for firms such as Kroger. No matter which inventory system is used, there has to be some sort of a control that allows the firm using the system to remain orderly and profitable. Without the chance for steady inventory and profit, the firm will not survive. Inman, Anthony. "Inventory Management - Levels, System, Model, Type, Business, System, What Is Inventory?, Why Keep Inventory?, Controlling Inventory, Balancing Inventory and Costs, Other Lot-sizing Techniques." Reference For Business - Encyclopedia of Small Business, Business Biographies, Business Plans, and Encyclopedia of American Industries. Web. 06 Mar. 2011.

The issues human resources encounter on a day to fay bases Essay

The issues human resources encounter on a day to fay bases - Essay Example They include among others the management needs to develop human resource strategies at the business formulation level, delegation of the right human resource matters to departmental managers is important in freeing the human resource department and in the process allows it to focus on the development of strategic policies. This role becomes effective when the training section of the human resources training section equips the departmental and line managers with adequate, knowledge, skills, and attitude to enable them to develop and manage staff effectively. Strategic functions of the human resource management form part of the core functions of the department, therefore, it is important that the selection and development of employees with the right skills that fit the job description be thorough. The process of change is gradual hence, it must be planned and managed carefully. The value of the process is in the change in the organization’s culture. Literature Review Armstrong, (34) suggests that business companies are involved in reorganizing their culture in the process of developing responsive and acceptable structures. Notably, achieving efficiency and profitability depends on innovative policies on the management of people, resources, and Financials. He gives priority to the process that the human resources department goes through in managing challenges in the day-to-day operations within the business. Crow, (1997, 23) posits that the issues of human resources management as a strategic approach to handling employees within business organizations is new and has existed for about three decades. Various factors influenced the development of human resources management from the traditional personnel department. They included an increase in pressure from competition brought by globalization and liberalization of trade a market. Other scholars among them Hendry (44) hold that human resources management is not different in any way from the traditional personn el department apart from the change of terminology. Leggae (71) identifies new issues of human resource management as development of an integrated system for the management of human resource issues, transforming the approach to human resources management making the process more professional, dealing with the decentralization of the right human resource management issues, and delegation of appropriate roles of the human resources to departmental managers. Human Resource Issues and challenges Employers experience various human resource issues during their day-to-day operations. These issues include recruiting, productivity, training of employees, arranging staff, and eliminating discrimination within the organization. Employees working in the human resource management on the hand, face challenges that include conflict resolution and making sure that the employees in other departments operate within environments that are safe. Other concerns include dealing with issues that come with o utsourcing, determining and distributing benefits, enhancing and maintaining cultural diversity. The company policy and human resources director dictate the manner in which individual organizations deal with human resource issues. The management of issues by the human resource management is a continuous process irrespective of the type and size of the company under discussion. Productivity Management and organization of employees make

Research Project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Project - Research Paper Example They varied from tribe to tribe because of variation in design and materials used. The moccasins were mainly of two types; hard soled and soft soled moccasins. The moccasins were also decorated differently depending on the tribe that made them. A deep study of historical development of American dressing provides not only a colorful, but also a charming adventure into the past. To fully appreciate as well as enjoy this experience, some information about the dressing codes in addition to primitive life of people that resided in America will be expounded. Emphasis will be placed on the contributions of each people to the historical dressing in America. In addressing this, the paper will provide information on the contributions of the Indians to the development of American dress. Some Indian costumes will be used in providing information about the variety of design and materials. Thus, it worth noting and giving the Indian arts the recognition they deserve (Howell, 2010). For instance, it is evident that the history of American clothing cannot be complete without speaking of the Indian feather headdresses and moccasins. Feather mantles like the one worn by Tascalusa, chief of the Mobile tribe in early 1540, were made by Native Americans. These garments were also referred to as matchcoats, a word derived from Algonkian word, matshigode that meant cloak or mantle (Condra, 2013). Feather matchcoats used to be worn by both women and men during warm weather as a sign of social status. The matchcoats were made by â€Å"weaving feathers into a fiber net† (Condra, 2013, p.3). Turkey, swan, as well as duck feathers, could be used in making the mantle. In some areas, people weaved the heads of mallard ducks into the mantles. The mantles that were made from these materials were not only lightweight, but also warm and very beautiful (Condra, 2013). In relation to this, leaders of the Southern Indians wore distinctive feather headdresses like crowns

Social injustice Essay Example for Free

Social injustice Essay We’ve all applied to a job and didn’t get it. Did you ever think to yourself it was some type of discrimination? Social and racial discriminations happen all the time in the workplace. You may be turned down from a job because of your race, social status, or even your gender. Many times in the workplace people are deemed unfit for the position, but why? Why should it matter if you’re a female or male for certain jobs positions? Who says a male cant preform the job to potential as a female or visa versa? If you walk into a Claire’s, per say, it will be all women working there and I’m sure when males walk in they feel discriminated to ask for an application because all they see is females working in there; It’s a double standard contraception. However, it’s how society implies how or what kind of roles the male or female should contribute to the work environment. I for one have thought of applying for a certain job that society would not †expect† a young man to partake in, so sadly knowing I would have fulfilled the job exceptionally suitable did not take it because I cared about what other people thought of. Race is one of the biggest struggles for many perfectly applicable people who would fulfill the desired job they want to apply for. One of the most sensitive subjects that have been around for decades would be peoples race. I have two close friends, whom are extremely hard working, book smart, and have great social skills who applied for a high end job down south after college. They were turned down =, and for what? What color they were? This is one of the biggest disappointments our society still has to deal with to this day. Perfectly adequate young men or women could perform any job they believe and work hard for and they should NEVER be turned down for their race. Because who would know if that certain raced man or woman would have executed that job better than lets say the white raced man or woman? The way people look is another example of a high social injustice situation. The â€Å" benefit of the doubt† is the proper mindset of what every interviewer should have. Say a man comes into an interview with tattoos and wearing jeans and a dirty button up, yes, they look like they don’t care but that’s all they can afford to look like until they are hired and get a job. Vs. a man who comes in tight suit, brief case and put together. The man with the tattoos is a hard workingman and has all the exceptional social skills they need to fulfill the job, and the man in the suit is only book smart and has no patience to work with people. The interviewer picks the man with the suit because he looks more †suitable† for the job. That is not acceptable. The other man would no doubt work extremely hard to make sure he executed his job to the highest standards. But what our society and the work place wants is who will be the fresh face that is the face for the company. The â€Å"benefit of the doubt† is dying in these kinds of situations because our society these days expects a certain kind of person to be dealing with customers and when doing so, look a †certain† way. I’m sorry but our society these days, is just not right. And we all need to start giving the benefit of the doubt and know what the real â€Å"face of the company is†. All these examples of Social Injustice are what real people are living through/with every day of their lives and its man vs. society when they deal with these situations. It’s just not right that there are people out there who think its acceptable to turn down adequate males or females who could perform a job better than people they hire whom they think they can. And if there is a day that it happens to myself I will stick up for myself and prove that person wrong because all the people who have been turned down know what they are capable of and its not fair they don’t get the chance to show what they can do.

Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay

Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay Watching sport represents a predominant form of leisure behavior in todays society. Large numbers of people attend sporting events and think of themselves as sport fans. Traditionally, participation in sports as a spectator has been a male dominated activity. Women differ from men on various parameters such as physicality, psychographics, behavioral parameters, consumer behavior and consumption experiences. The differences between men and women on these parameters make it difficult for marketers to target them together as a unified segment. But, irrespective of the differences between men and women on various parameters, sports goods manufacturers and sports events marketers have pursued traditional male-oriented marketing policies. But in recent times due to a radical change in social and financial status of women, there has been an increased participation in and consumption of sports by women. This has caused marketers to add a female- oriented focus to their strategies. The recent introduction of female commentators in cricket to strategies to attract women in the latest IPL edition with attractive offers shows a definite change in the marketing strategies of media and marketing professionals. Also more and more women are turning to sports for recreational purpose. With the sports industry turning more to women consumers, it has become necessary for marketers to research womens consumption behavior and consumption experiences to come up with gender specific strategies. Hence, this study would be to understand how the Indian woman consumes sports and the level of involvement or motivation achieved set in the context of the Indian society. Literature Review Sports as a genre is present in everybodys life, be it in terms of participation or watching. Sports has the power to inspire, build communities, to make people cry, laugh. In the hands of an ingenious marketer sports has an almost enigmatic pull towards the target consumer. Traditionally, sports participation and consumption was viewed to be masculine or a part of male dominion. However, with increasing number of women who have found economic and social independence the domain of sports is no longer completely a male bastion. Increasingly women are breaking the stereotypes of passivity and are actively consuming and participating in sports. Major strides have been made over the past few years in providing participation opportunities for girls and women in sports. Media visibility has increased for a number of women players both internationally and nationally like Venus Williams, Anna Kounikova or Sania Mirza. The consumption of sports and leisure by men and women is dependent on a lot of factors such as prevalent societal norms, beliefs and attitudes. In the context of sports and leisure, what is associated with men and masculinity is valued over what is associated with women and femininity. Hence, it is important to explore the underlying societal norms to understand the consumption patterns. A post modernistic approach In a postmodern society, the prevalent ideology is that what is considered masculine or feminine will break down as the boundaries between masculinity and femininity continue to blur and the different forms of gender multiply. Activities that conventionally convey clear meanings, such as combat conveying masculinity and gracefulness conveying femininity, will no longer be obvious. A postmodern vision of these categories blurring into one should be liberating because it lessens the likelihood of gender being used as a way to categorize. In the context of sports and leisure, this suggests that gender is less likely to influence participation or consumption of sports previously marked as masculine or feminine. Analysing literature would help us to understand historical trends of sports and leisure participation by gender in various scenarios. Home Vs Workplace Women have been historically been associated with activities conducted at home such as gardening, sewing and cooking, due to recent advancements in technology the efforts required for the chores have reduced immensely but the modern society still views it as a womans job. Unskilled tasks such as cleaning, eating, cooking, sleeping, leisure and child rearing were performed at home, Men were connected with activities in the workplace and less connected with the ones at home. Home for men essentially was a place to recoup from a hard days work. A similar separation exists in sports and leisure today. ( McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003) According to Hendersons review (1990), leisure for women tends to consist of activities which is near or at home because it can be infused with household chores and because few opportunities for leisure exist outside the home. According to another research by Kane, It was argued that women tend to define themselves in terms of human relationships, hence, they consume within the context of home and family. The complexity increases for a career woman as then the leisure is dependent on family environments, especially children. Women use home as a primary place and means for leisure. And in case a leisure opportunity comes along which is out of home, then it is sort of offered in such a way as to not hamper household responsibilities. In this case, leisure itself can be seen as constraining, as it reinforces gender appropriateness (Shaw 1994). While it appears that leisure opportunities certainly exist for women outside the home, the literature suggests that leisure for women is still largely perceived as a secondary concern. Opportunities for leisure exist, but only when other duties and other concerns have been addressed first. Expectations of a women and her role in society appear to transcend the opportunities outside the home. Men face the same constraint, but can define what is expected of them more so than women. Spectatorship and Leisure time It is a common point of contention that men and women both enjoy watching sports on television, but their preferences differ, as men tend to prefer more competitive and aggressive sports as compared to women. We find evidences of media reinforcement of the gendered consumption patterns, for example NBC positioned the Olympics with storylines resembling soap operas. Men have generally dominated the consumption of organised sports. But the Spectator Gender Gap is reducing with more women watching conventionally male sports such as Golf, football. However, research suggests that attempts by women to increase their sports consumption in a way threatens the male dominion as sports is viewed as a masculine domain where men are allowed to bond with one another. Women entering this domain are seen as upsetting this setting (McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003). Leisure is another area where the gender gap exists, women in general experience a lesser amount of free time as compared to men as their part of their free time is generally spent doing housework or taking care of children. Men can experience larger blocks of free time without worrying about other commitments. Role of the Indian Media Women are traditionally not encouraged to indulge in sports. Sports are men oriented, where men play and women watch. It is clearly visible in the Indian media too, be it films or advertisements. For instance, in an advertisement of Clinic Plus shampoo, a coach of a boys cricket team in school discourages a girl to play with the team by fearing, when he says, Baal kharab ho jayege (your hair will get damaged if you will play cricket in sun). Another advertisement of Tata sky featuring Gul Panag and Aamir Khan, she has been portrayed as a woman for whom sports is a nuisance. During the cricket matches and sports world cups, time and again, many news channels have shown how women have to sacrifice watching their saas-bahu dramas and newspapers also write about falling TRPs of TV serial and how these matches are a jeremiad for women. Because in the family, their husbands, brothers and father are glued tothe sports channel and the power of attorney for the remote control is transferred t o men for those few days when the matches are held. In addition, Some of the commonly held beliefs associated with female fans and women sports are explored below- Women are not interested in sports fact or fiction In terms of viewership, over 2.2 crore women watched the 2003 World Cup in India alone. Female viewership comprised an astounding 46% of the total World Cup viewing population and TRPS for female viewership for India matches climbed to a phenomenal 9.8, significantly higher than the 3.9 registered during the Nat West Trophy final played at Lords in June 2002(ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India).The Twenty20 World Cup had a strong, growing female audience for the sport and its not restricted to cricket alone. There is an overall 54 per cent increase in ratings for the three tennis grand slams-especially with regard to womens viewership where the growth has been significant. To reach out to this diverse market, most channels are developing a strong programming line-up that is a healthy mix of acquired and original content. (The financial express, Cashing in on sports). For the first time, a non-cricketing glamorous female host Mandira Bedi was brought in as a studio anchor. The experience was something which shocked cricket purists. But with a mix of elements for the purist as well as the novice and the fence sitters, Extraaa Innings combined academic cricket with mainstream entertainment like never before. This resulted in a whopping 50% increase in average rating of Indian matches and 37% increase in the rating of non-India matches, reached out to a record 78% of the Indian audiences in CS homes. More interestingly the female gross reach grew by an unprecedented 261%. Mandira Bedi became a celebrity and was soon a part of life even for women in conservative Indian households. Purists like Wisden, which condemned the experiment with women anchors during the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in September 2002, were forced to retreat. Women joined betting circles and housewives in Delhi and Ahmedabad formed clubs to enjoy the sport (ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India). In terms of playing the sport, there has been significant increase in the number of professional sportswomen in variety of sports including Badminton, tennis, hockey, golf and athletics. The increase in the number of tournaments is a testament to that fact, recently an international basketball tournament the FIBA Asia Womens Championship was hosted by Chennai, Featuring the best players and top teams from across the continent, the tournament was a success. (Deccan Chronicle, India Wakes up to alternative sports) Female sports fans are different from male sports fans -fact or fiction? According to a research by Sargent, Zillmann, and Weaver, men and women enjoy distinctly different types of sports. Their findings revealed that males preferred watching combative sports on television whereas females were partial to stylistic sports. Sport socialization research examines the impact that environmental forces have on children and individuals from two different perspectives: socialization into sport and socialization through sport. This line of inquiry indicates that people are attracted to sport due to formal channels (i.e., parents, peers, coaches, mass media, teachers) and informal channels (i.e., school, church, and community-based programs), as researched by Kenyon McPherson . Media plays a primary role for introducing new teams and sport leagues to adults. According to a study by Bruce, Institutional, social, and familial contexts also shape viewers interpretations of sports broadcasts. He also found that women did not display strong loyalties to specific womens sports teams that are common with men and their favorite mens teams. This was attributed to the extensive sports information and media attention given to mens sports. In a study on cognitive development and socialization by James, in the initial development of team loyalty, it was found that children form preferences for sports teams early in life. Results of this study revealed and that the gender stereotype associating sports with males was prevalent among children and that fathers were the most influential socializing agent in introducing children to sports teams. In a study on experiences and effects of viewing televised sports, Gantz and Wenner found differences based on gender for 9 of the 15 motivation items examined; however, these differences were not dramatic. Most notable among their findings, women were more likely to watch televised sports for companionship and sharing the experience with family and friends whereas men watched to unwind and become wrapped up in the excitement and drama of the game. Men invested more time in reading, listening, watching, and talking about sports and they were more likely to experience emotional fluctuations from watching sports. Men also tend to display a fan behavior and identify more strongly as a fan according to Dietz-Uhler. However, an equal number of male and female college students considered themselves to be sport fans. Females reported being fans because they attended and watched sporting events with family and friends while males were more likely to consider themselves fans because they played sports and wanted to acquire sports information. Measuring Spectator Motives Various methods to research on sport spectators have been developed which utilizes a number of scales to assess the psychological motives related to attendance, media usage and interest at live sporting events. 1) One of the first methods was developed by Wann. He designed a comprehensive scale to measure eight factors observed to influence behavior; eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic (gambling), aesthetic, group affiliation, and family. 2) Second method developed by Trail and James was the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) to examine ten aspects of spectator behavior: achievement, acquisition of knowledge, aesthetics, drama, escape, family, physical attraction, physical skills of players, and social interaction. 3) Thirdly, McDonald, Milne and Hong (2002) utilized a scale to measure spectator and sport participant motives related to: risk-taking, stress reduction, aggression, affiliation, social facilitation, self-esteem, competition, achievement, skill mastery, aesthetics, value development, and self-actualization. Research Methodology Conceptual Framework or Problem Definition Till now through an extensive analysis of literature we have seen that men and women both consume sports in their own way and one cannot generalize the consumption pattern of women. The motivations and the level of involvement for women depend on a lot of factors. Research Gap : There is no study done in the Indian context to understand the women sports consumers, their stages of involvement and motivations to participate. Hence, this study is a step towards achieving an understanding of the same. Research Objective: The objective of the research is to understand the Woman sports consumer in terms of her involvement level and motivation to consume a particular sport. The study of motivation for predicting consumer behavior is very difficult as to understand the interrelation between motives and specific behavior. Also, to develop a list of consumer motives comprehensive enough to capture the wide variety of motivating forces that stimulate and shape behavior is challenging. To do the above, a framework could be constructed in the form of a social continuum which broadens the sport consumer motivation notion by using involvement as a motivational construct to distinguish between various levels. Factors like womans role in the society would also be a part of this construct. Hence, a study of the immediate environment becomes imperative for studying the consumption pattern. The level of involvement of women consumer of sports should form the basis of the framework of social continuum where the stages vary from viewership to acceptance to fan base to taking part or actively playing to encouraging others to play or advocacy. As shown below, Identification of critical factors which defines each of the stages could be looked at and the motives of each stage should also be looked at. According to each stage a corresponding set of behavior would be associated. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels can be of significant benefit to the sport marketer looking to boost team revenues and gate receipts. Of particular interest are both the marketing manager understanding the specific motivations that drive a spectator or fan to consume a sport and the subsequent development of marketing communications based on these motivations. These effective marketing communication plans can often help build groups of diehard fans, thus expanding the customer base for a team. Spectator and fan motivation can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method that can result in more effective marketing campaigns. Sub Research Objective: Involvement Involvement could be defined as a state of interest, stimulation or motivation towards an object, a product or even an activity. As put by a study done by Mitchell, Involvement represents an internal state variable that reflects the amount of arousal, interest, or drive evoked by a particular stimuli or situation that mediates consumer behavior. Application of the involvement construct to examine sport spectators and sport fans would provide a fuller understanding of motives and what stimuli and situations direct behavior (e.g., attendance, purchase of team merchandise, media consumption) and attitudinal formation (e.g., preferences, commitment, loyalty). Some parameters of study for involvement would be Importance of product as perceived by the consumer Pleasure or enjoyment provided by the product Risk of making the wrong purchase or participating in the non enjoyable activity Self expression it represents the identification of the person with the purchase or participation Centrality to lifestyle, encompasses socializing and interactions Motivation Theories and studies have been done by researchers on how to assess the motives for consuming sports. These motives can be generally classified into the broad categories of study as Entertainment Stress and stimulation seeking Social Interaction Achievement seeking Approach to Analysis According to the sample defined above, the research would be conducted two phases: Phase 1: This would be in the form of exploratory research which would be used to develop a conceptual model for examining involvement stages and their corresponding motives. The purpose of this is to identify any potential parameters related to spectator motives or involvement framework which were missed. In-depth interview of 5 respondents approximately would be taken in each market segment. Phase 2: This is the validation phase where the qualitative study would be validated by quantitative so that the result of the first phase could be extrapolated to a larger population if required. Sampling Universe: The sampling universe could be defined as young women who are primarily college goers or into the first 2-3 years of job, who follow at least one sport, belonging to SEC A or SEC B. Details of Phase I Sample Size: 15-20 (Qualitative study) The sample size setting is done with a non-statistical approach where the selection is done anticipating subgroup analysis. The anticipation is that 4 meaningful clusters (market segments) would emerge and each cluster will contain approximately 5 respondents in average. SEC A SEC B College Goers Urban Semi Urban Working Women Semi Urban Urban This is for the qualitative part of the research. Sampling Procedure: Convenience Sampling (Non- probability sampling) Care would be taken to ensure that heterogeneity of the entire population can be effectively covered in the sample. Details of Phase II The phase II methodology would depend on the data collected in the first phase. Scope The study would help marketers understand the woman spectator motivations and stages of involvement in consuming sports in India, in turn, help in predicting behavior This would help marketers tap into the growing woman spectator base. Expected Contribution There has been no study on understanding women spectators in the Indian context done till date. This research would help both the academia and industry to understand an upcoming segment. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels is important for a sport marketer to tap the women consumer segment which is increasingly becoming independent economically and socially. Understanding the involvement and motivations that drive a woman spectator to consume a sport in India would help marketers target this segment with crisp and relevant marketing communications. The involvement stages and motivations can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method for forming effective campaigns.

Tensile Strength Test Of Concrete Engineering Essay

Tensile Strength Test Of Concrete Engineering Essay Concrete is a widely used construction material in the world. It is one of the most versatile, durable and environmental friendly material. Most importantly concrete is good at compression and is completely non-combustible, which makes it popular in this industry. But concrete has low tensile strength causing concrete to behave in brittle manner. This nature in concrete has lead to numerous test and research in order to increase the tensile properties of concrete. History of concrete dates back several thousand years to the day of the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. These early concrete compositions were based on lime although the Romans are known for their development of pozzolanic cement and lightweight concrete based on pumice. The credit for the introduction of steel as reinforcement is variously attributed to Lambot in 1855 for ferrocement boats, to Monier in 1867 and to Hennebique in 1897 who built the first reinforced concrete frame building. But the Notable steps forward in this century have been the introduction of pre-stressed concrete by Freyssinet in the 1940s and the motorway-building boom of the 1960s involving concrete pavements and bridges. Although the vast majority of concrete structures have performed satisfactorily for many years such progress has not been made without its problems. 1.1 HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE High strength is a concrete which has a cylinder compressive strength greater than 6000psi or 42 MPa. Generally, for building high rise structures, concrete with cylinder compressive strength over 140 MPa is used. In some laboratories in United States and Europe, a concrete with strength over 315 MPa has been produced, however, the problem with such strength is that it reduces the ductility of structure. Higher strength concretes leads to cost effective structural systems. Using such concrete, overall weight of the systems on the foundation reduces, resulting in size reduction, increase in available occupancy space, and thus cost of components. Many factors are taken into account for making a high strength concrete. Generally, such a concrete contains a higher Portland cement, strong aggregates, and a low water/cement ratio. Now-a-days, addition of super plasticizers, blast furnace slag, polymers, water reducing admixtures or silica fume are common 1.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE In last half decade, the compressive strength of commercial concrete has tripled approximately from 5,000 psi to 14,000 psi. In 1950s, a ready mixed concrete of design strength of 5000 psi was called as high strength. A decade later, Washington state highway department specified 6000 psi strength concrete for prestressed girders. High strength concrete made constructions such as 311 South Walker Drive concrete building; East Huntington, W.V., and other long span cable stayed bridges. Increased use of mineral admixtures and chemicals in 1960s lead to an increase in attainable strength. In 1973, Japan national railway built three high strength concrete bridges and they were found to meet all expectation by serving for over 20 years. Chicago city played a very important role in the evolution of commercial high strength concrete. The inventors of micro-silica concrete (MSC) realised that Chicago inner city development would be quite beneficial , which indeed was, and hence, with appointing high strength concrete pioneer, William Schmidt, they targeted an increase upto 6000 psi for a new 40 story tall Outer Drive East Condominium Project, using normal weight concrete. In 1072, the first 7500 psi concrete was used for a 52 story tall Mid-continental Plaza. Later, in 1974, 9000 psi concrete was supplied to 74 stories tall Water Tower Place, which was the tallest building at that time. In late 1980s, very high strength concrete as being successfully developed in many parts of North America. One of the best examples is Two Union Square in Seattle which is a 220 m tall, 58 story building. The original concrete specified for them was 14000 psi at 28 days, however, to incorporate a static modulus of elasticity of 50 Gpa, the concrete was upgraded to a compressive strength around 19000 psi. A test conducted after 4 years found that the compressive strength and modulas of elasticity were 19900 psi and 5.6 Gpa, respectively. Now-a-days, 14000 psi at 56 days is commonly used in many metropolitan cities. 1.3 MOTIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT of High strength concrete Modern methods have improved the quality of concrete by many folds. Aspects such as, long term failure studies, development of effective and powerful instrumentation, molecular structure of material, increased need of materials better for larger structures and increased ductility, and decrease of cost effectiveness of traditional material have redefined concrete. These days, concrete structural systems build from 15000-20000 psi concretes can be found quite easily. However, factors such as newer components or admixtures, microstructural studies, better material selection proportioning, long term performance, blended cement compositions, placement techniques and others; provide an ample scope of improvement. For e.g., use of slags and pozzolans as cementitious replacements contribute to energy conservation and disposal of industrial by-products, besides higher strength. Improved cements such as densified cements (DSP) and macrodefect free cements (MDF) and composite advancements, for e.g., slurry infilterated fiber concrete (SIFCON), have allowed the builders to achieve concrete with strengths up to 300 MPa. A very nice example of such concrete use is the undersea tunnel connecting British Isles and France. 1.4. APPLICATIONS OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE The use of high strength concrete has been increasing considerably high in construction world because of both technical and economical advantage. The use of HSC provides more economical construction due to reduced member cross-section and dimensions. HSC has been extensively used in high rise building and highway bridges. Major area of use has been high rise buildings. Tall construction feature whose construction would have been not possible in terms of durability and long term performance have been successfully constructed using HSC. The use of HSC helps in the reduction in structural member size, reinforcement percentage increasing floor space and decreasing dead weight. One of the examples of high rise building is the Mercantile Exchange building in Chicago which used 9000psi concrete. The other application of HSC is in prestressed Bridge girders. The use of HSC would allow using greater spans for a given number of girders as compared to NSC. Again for a given span, use of HSC provides economical cost by reduction in labour cost in the production of girders, transportation cost, erection cost and overhead expenses. Japanese I-shaped, box and rectangular section bridge girders have been constructed using 8500psi concrete where the spans are between 100 to 280 ft. One of the examples is Bennett Bay Bridge, Idaho which has which 1730ft segmental girder with two centre spans of 520ft and end span of 320ft. 1.5 DISADVANTAGES OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE HSC has brought about a lot of construction possibilities which would not have been possible with NSC. However HSC comes with some disadvantages too mainly because of lack of research and information about its behaviour in real construction field. As HSC is composed of mineral and chemical admixture, increased quality control is required. In codes minimum thickness and cover have been specified preventing realization of full benefit of using HSC. It can be difficult to cure adequately due to self-desiccation of low water/cement ratio mixes. HSC possess increased permeability which makes curing difficult as it prevents applied curing water from compensating any initial moisture loss. These are the disadvantages relating the use of HSC in real construction filed. 1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The main objective of this research is to determine the true uniaxial tensile strength of concrete by carrying out a series of cylinder splitting test, modulus of rupture test and cylinder compression test. The research aims to utilise the simple correction factors proposed by Raoof and Lin (1999) which aims to overcome the shortcomings associated with the closed form formula used in the Brazilian concrete splitting test. Many experimental tests on various concrete mixes had been already carried out for the verification of the proposed correction factor. The criteria for this research were based on 3 days compressive and tensile strength of high strength concrete with total of 16 batches using two types of coarse aggregate. Also few batches testing were done for normal strength and self compacting concrete. In this research effect of constituent materials will also be studied. The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast the use of correction factors with the results the results obtained from previous experiments. 1.7 RESEARCH SCOPE The scope of this research included computation of splitting tensile strength, compressive strength and modulus of rupture on normal, high and self compacting concrete. The mineral admixtures, which have been used for this research project, were compromised of silica fume, fly ash. The superplasticiser and viscosity modifying admixture that was used in this research were Sika ViscoCrete10 and structure 480respectively. All the admixtures used in this research are used in real life applications. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW High strength concrete has been classified as one of the advanced construction materials. High strength concrete has both economical as well as durability benefits. It helps in the reduction in formwork area and cost with the accompanying reduction in shoring and stripping time due to high early age gain in strength. The composition of high strength concrete constitutes of mineral admixtures which provides a base for the use of waste products. 2.1 PREVIOUS RESEARCH WORK ON HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE High strength concrete uses various mineral admixtures such as silica fume, fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag and superplasticiser which increase the strength of High strength concrete. Most applications of high-strength concrete have used the strength property of the material. However, high strength concrete may carry various other characteristics that can be of great advantage for construction industry. Various researches have been carried out on high strength concrete in order to study other characteristics of HSC. Some research work that had been carried out on high strength concrete has been summarised below: M. Mazloom A.A. Ramezanianpour, J.J. Brooks(2004): carried out in joint collaboration between UK and Iranian university presented experimental work on short- and long-term mechanical properties of high-strength concrete containing different levels of silica fume. In this research the cement was replaced by silica fume with 0%,6%,10% and 15%. The researchers found that as the proportion of silica fume is increased the workability of concrete decreased but its short-term mechanical properties such as 28-day compressive strength and secant modulus improved. The mix portion sued in this research is shown in the table below. For each mix, the following specimens were made: 24 samples of 100 mm cubes for compressive strength; eight 80 x 270 (diameter x length) mm cylinders for creep; four 80x270mm and four 150x300mm cylinders for shrinkage; two 80270 mm and two 150x300mm cylinders for swelling. From the test carried it was also established that the percentages of silica fume replacement did not have a noticeable effect on total shrinkage. Moreover the compressive strength of the concrete mixes containing silica fume did not increase after the age of 90days. K. Lahlou, P.-C. Aitcin O. Chaallal (1992): This research presents the behaviour of High-strength concrete under confined stress. The investigation was carried out on three 28 day strength levels: 50, 80 and 115 MPa where the actual mixes used resulted in strength of 47, 78 and 115MPa.The study showed that improved confinement provides increased compressive strength. As a result a new ultrahigh-strength concrete of strength 250MPa was produced. Other outcome of the research was that the confinement efficiency increased with the increase in the compressive strength of the concrete. Zhen-jun He, Yu-pu Song (2010): this is one of the most recent researches carried out in china to study the failure criterion and triaxial strength of HSC before and after high temperature. HSC is susceptible to spalling, or even explosive spalling when subjected to rapid temperature rise as in the case of a fire. Though high strength concrete has been greatly used but very little research has been carried about the effect of high temperature on the concrete structure Triaxial tests were performed at all kinds of stress ratios after exposure to normal and high temperatures of 20,200, 300, 400, 500, and 600  °C, using a large static-dynamic true triaxial machine. The study showed that no explosive spalling was observed during the high temperature temperatures ranging from 200  °C to 600  °C. Also there was no change in the failure modes with the increase in the temperature where the failures under uniaxial tension were tension failure. The uniaxial compressive strength of plain HSHPC was not decreased after 200 and 300  °C. The brittleness-stiffness of HSHPC specimens between 200  °C and 300  °C is higher than that above 400  °C. The temperature around 400  °C is critical to the ultimate strength that decreases rapidly. The increasing extent of the triaxial to uniaxial compressive strength depends on the stress states, the stress ratios, and the brittleness-stiffness of HSHPC after different temperatures. M.I. Khan, C.J. Lynsdale (2002): the corrosion of steel reinforcement is a common cause of deterioration in reinforced concrete. The use of blended cements or supplementary cementing materials decreases the permeability, thereby increasing the resistance of concrete to deterioration by aggressive chemicals. The investigation carried out by Khan and Lynsdale (2002) aimed at developing HSC and carryout investigation into the optimisation of blended cementitious system for the development of HSC. PFA at 0%, 20%, 30% and 40% (by weight) was incorporated as partial cement replacement. To these blends, 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% SF replacement levels were incorporated to make various binary and ternary cementitious combinations. Cube compressive strength and cylinder splitting strength test was carried out and the oxygen permeability was measured using the given equation: From the experimental results it was noticed that as curing age increases, the reduction in strength with increasing PFA content becomes less apparent, especially for PFA contents J.J.Brooks, M.A. Megat Johari, M. Mazloo (2000): Chemical admixtures play a vital role in the production of High-strength concrete. Metakaolin (MK) is one of the new admixture commercially introduced. It is very important to know the setting characteristics of concrete as it helps in the scheduling of concrete construction operations. In this research the effect of chemical admixtures and shrinkage reducing admixtures (SRA) on the setting time of HSC was investigated using the penetration resistance method (ASTM C 403). The penetration resistance (P) of all the different concrete mixes was expressed as P=aebt i.e. P was expressed as the exponential function of time. The general effect of the admixture retarded the setting times of HSC while the SRA had significant retarding effect when used in combination with superplasticiser. As a whole the conclusive statement is that increasing the levels of SF, FA provides greater retardation in the setting time of HSC. 2.2 PREVIOUS WORK ON TENSILE STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE Tensile strength of concrete is one of the basic and very important properties of concrete. The knowledge of tensile strength is very important in designing concrete structure. Various tests have been carried out in order to determine the tensile strength of concrete. Traditional direct tensile strength test are not commonly acceptable as it suffers many drawbacks. In these tests there is huge stress concentration near the grips and non uniform distribution within the sample. Researches have shown that results from such experiment are low and coefficient of variation is low. Hence more research has been carried out in order to find the true uniaxial tensile strength of concrete. Zhuhai lin and Laurence Wood (2003): After the proposal of correction factor by Raoof and Lin (1999), further research into the correction factor was carried out by Lin and Wood in 2003. In this research assuming uniaxial tensile strength and properties of the concrete, the Brazilian cylinder splitting test was analyzed by the isoparametric nonlinear finite strip element. The result from the research showed that at the onset of cylinder failure the tensile strength along the vertical diameter of cylinder was smaller than the assumed uniaxial tensile strength which means the splitting test underestimates the uniaxial tensile strength of concrete. The study also showed the effect of width of packing strip together with the ratio of (ft/fc) for the compressive strength constant at 30 N/mm2 and showed a linear relationship. According to Lin and Wood the range of correction factor for 30N/mm2 is about 1.09 to 1.40 for packing strip of 12mm, 1.10 to 1.44 for 13mm width, 1.09 to 1.41 for 14 mm and 1.09 to 1.39 for 15mm packing strip width V. Ramakrishnan, Y. Ananthanayayana, K. C. Gopal : As we already mentioned that different test have shown different values of tensile strength for the same concrete mix. V. Ramakrishnan and his associated carried out a research to compare the results in the various tests and to study the uniformity of the results. In this research over 600 specimens were tested for 28 days target strength. A comparative analysis of tensile strength test was carried out and the results were compared against cube compressive strength as shown in the plot above. After laboratory work it was found that modulus of rupture does not give the true tensile strength but only gives the highest value of tensile strength and lies between 1.3 to 2 times the cylinders splitting strength. The cylindrical splitting test was taken satisfactory as it gave more uniform and consistent results than other tensile strength tests. M.F.M. Zain et al: computation of correction factor for the determination of true tensile strength of HSC depends upon the compressive strength of HSC. It is very important to show the relationship between tensile splitting test and compressive strength of HSC. Zain and associates carried out a research in 2002 in order to determine the relation of splitting tensile strength of concrete with compressive strength, water/binder (W/B) ratio and concrete age. After the investigation a relationship between tensile strength, compressive strength and concrete by age was proposed which is . Plot for this relation is given below. The relation given above for the prediction of tensile strength of concrete was compared with French code, ACI code and CEB/FIP code and found to be very close. Hence this equation can be helpful in estimating the Splitting tensile strength of HSC. S Bhanja, B Sengupta(2005): Our research aims to use silica fume as one of the mineral admixture on HSC mixes. Many researches have been carried out to investigate the mechanical effect of silica fume on HSC but very few are carried out in order to analyse the effect of silica fume on tensile strength of concrete. S. Bhanja (2005) carried out research to develop a better understanding on the isolated contribution of silica fume on the tensile strength of concrete. In this experiment 32 mixes with silica fume binder ratio from 0.0 to 0.3 were tested for 28 days strength. From the research it was found out that the use of silica fume improves the tensile strength of concrete and depends upon the water cementitious material ratio of mix. Flexural strength showed greater development than splitting tensile strength. Two expressions were developed to establish the relationship between flexural strength, split tensile strength and compressive strength of silica fume concrete. It was also established that increase in tensile strength beyond 15% of silica replacement was almost irrelevant. 2.3. TENSILE STRENGTH TESTING OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE Although concrete is not normally designed to resist direct tension, the knowledge of tensile strength is of value in estimating the load under which the crack will develop. One of the most well known mechanical properties of concrete is that the tensile strength is 8 to 10 times less than compressive strength. Because of such a low tensile strength, the crack can be seen on the surface of concrete structure. Tension failure is still one of the most important issues because it influences the serviceability significantly. Tensile strength is one of the most important parameters used to evaluate tensile failure of a concrete. Tension tests are needed for concrete as complement to standard compression test in order to obtain a better assessment of structural performance. According to various research and literature review carried out it has been revealed that direct tension test are unsuitable as the results from such tests suffer from inconsistencies due to several uncontrolled variables. It is difficult in this test to avoid stress concentration near the grips and non-uniform stress distribution within the sample. Evans and Wright confirm that the results obtained in the direct tension test of concrete are low and the coefficient of variation is great. Hence this type of test is no longer accepted as reliable. The splitting test is rather simple to perform, does not require other equipment than that needed for the compression test, and gives an approximately similar value of the true tensile strength of concrete (Neville, 1971). According to investigation of splitting tensile strength carried out by O,Neil (2002) , the addition of silica fume, high-range water reducing admixtures and special curing conditions the tensile strength of the concrete wa s higher than that of conventional concrete. The tensile tests that are commonly used and that has been used in this project are detailed in full below: 2.3.1. MODULUS OF RUPTURE OR FLEXURE TEST A direct application of a pure tension force, free from eccentricity is difficult, and is further complicated by secondary stresses induced by the grips or by embedded studs. Because of these difficulties, it is preferable to measure the tensile strength of concrete by subjecting a plain concrete beam to flexure. This is in fact one of the two standard tension tests. The theoretical maximum tensile stress reached in the bottom fibre of the test beam is known as the modulus of rupture. The value of modulus of rupture depends on the dimensions of the beam and, above all, on the arrangement of loading. Two systems are used: a central point load, which gives a triangular bending moment; and symmetrical two-point loading, which produces a constant bending moment between the load points. Since concrete consists of elements of varying strength, it is to be expected that two-point loading will yield a lower value of the modulus of rupture than when one point load is applied. The centre- poin t loading has been discontinued both in United Kingdom and the U.S. Figure 4 Two point flexure test BS 1881: Part 4:1970 prescribes third-point loading on 150 by 150 by 750mm beams supported over a span of 600mm but when the maximum size of aggregate is not more than 25mm, 100 by 100 by 500mm beams with a span of 400 mm may be used. There are four possible reasons why the modulus of rupture test yields a higher value of strength than a direct tensile test made on the same concrete. The first one is related to the assumption of the shape of the shape of the stress block. The second one is that accidental eccentricity in a direct tensile test results in a lower apparent strength of the concrete. The third is offered by an argument similar to that justifying the influence of the loading arrangement on the value of the modulus of rupture. Fourthly, in the flexure test, the maximum fibre stress reached may be higher than direct tension because the propagation of a crack is blocked by less stressed material nearer to the neutral axis. Thus the energy available is below that necessary for the formation of new crack surfaces. The requirement for ASTM Standard C 78 75 are similar to those of BS 1881: part 4: 1970. If fracture occurs within the central one-third of the beam the modulus of rupture is calculated on the basis of ordinary elastic theory, and is therefore equal to PL/ (bd2). Where P= the maximum total load on the beam L=span b= width of the beam d= depth of the beam. If however fracture occurs outside the load points, e.g. at a distance a from the near support, a being measured along the centre line of the tension surface of the beam, then the modulus of rupture is given by 3pL/(bd2). This means that the maximum stress at the critical section, and not the maximum stress on the beam, is considered in the calculations. 2.3.2. CYLINDER SPLITTING TEST The splitting tensile test is used worldwide to measure the tensile strength of concrete. In splitting test a cylindrical or prismatic specimen is compressed along two diametrically opposed generators as shown in the in Figure 5 to prevent multiple cracking and crushing at the points of loading, the load is distributed through two bearing strips whose width differs in the various standards. If the material behaviour is linear-elastic, this geometry leads to nearly uniform tensile stress alone the plane of loading, and the expected rupture mode is the splitting of the specimen in two halves across that plane. In the case of concentrated loads, the maximum tensile stress on this plane can be calculated by à Ã†â€™ max = Where à Ã†â€™ max is the maximum tensile stress in the specimen when the applied load is P, D and B are the specimen depth and thickness respectively. Figure 5 Specimen positioned in a testing machine for determination of splitting tensile strength. Following the standards the maximum tensile stress at failure is a material property called splitting tensile strength. If the load-bearing strips are narrow enough to consider the loading concentrated, and the material behaviour is linearly-elastic -brittle is close to the tensile strength determined by ideal uniaxial tensile test. The tensile strength is evaluated in the standards by fst = Where Pu is the maximum load recorded during the test. The splitting tensile strength is then calculated on the assumption of a hypothetical load bearing strip of zero width. One of the main advantages of the splitting test is that only external compressive loads are required. A cylindrical or prismatic specimen is compressed along two diametrically opposed generators so that a neatly uniform tensile stress is induced in the loading plane. To avoid local failure in compression at the loading generators, two thin strips, usually made of plywood, are placed between the loading platens and the specimen to distribute the load. The specimen fails by splitting because of the induced tensile stress state. The maximum value of the tensile stress, computed at failure from the theory of elasticity, is the splitting tensile strength, ordinarily assumed in the standards to be a material property. The splitting test is simple to perform and gives more uniform results than other tension tests. The strength determined in the splitting test is believed to be closer to the true tensile strength of concrete than the modulus of rupture the splitting strength is 5 to 12 percent higher than the direct tensile strength. It has been suggested, however, that in the case of mortar and lightweight aggregate concrete, the splitting test yields too low a result. With normal aggregate, the presence of large particles near the surface to which the load is applied may influence the behaviour. According to Minders et al, 2003 as the age and strength increase the ratio of tensile to compressive strength decreases (figure ..) Probably due to the effect of drying shrinkage cracks air curing when compared with moist curing reduces the tensile strength more than the compressive strength.