Effects Of Classroom Lighting On Filipino College Students

Effects Of Classroom Lighting On Filipino College Students Several studies on the effects of lighting on students academic performance had been done abroad on different social classes and ages of the subjects. These all had the objective of improving the learning process of students during their formative years at school. According to Bukky Akinsanmi, theories on how learning takes place include behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. The behaviorism theory, which was popularized by B.F. Skinner, supports the idea that humans come into this world like a blank slate tabular rasa. Humans learn based on reinforcements. Rewards are given to those whose action reaps positive results. Punishments are given otherwise. The effective transfer of knowledge is the teachers responsibility leaving the student a passive participant. It is teacher-focused, structured, lecture-based, and uses reward and punishment to promote learning. The classrooms provided little room for flexibility. Lapses on behaviorism theory include the eventual possibility of extinction of positive results when rewards are removed and the attitude of just doing things for the sake of rewards. Since the behaviorism theory does not account for all learning, the cognitivism theory came into existence. It says that the mind is a black box that must be opened and understood. It focuses on the study of mental processes. Schools were built in single or two-story buildings connected by walkways housing students according to their grades. Meanwhile, Constructivism theory states that knowledge is constructed and not acquired. The learning process is now the responsibility of the student and not the teacher. It says that humans are like blank slates making meanings from experiences. Unlike the behaviorism design of school environment, this theory supports student-centered, collaborative, cooperative, and experiential learning facilities with teachers serving as facilitators (Akinsanmi, 2008) To enhance students academic performance, the effective coordination of school environment must be studied. The physical characteristics of a school environment directly influences both the teachers way of imparting knowledge on students and a students performance at school. Such characteristics include sounds, temperature levels, and classroom lighting (Tope, 2013). Poor school facilities like inoperative heating system, inadequate ventilation, and poor lighting affect health, learning, and morale of students and staffs. Good overall building condition; including features such as large windows, natural lightings, and well-designed skylights on classroom settings; results to better students academic achievement (Vandiver, 2011). According to Robert Scott McGowen, the illumination of our surrounding environment impacts our reactions, motivations, moods, and sense of well-being. For centuries, this issue of illumination led to evident designs in architecture and natural lighting. Different degrees of illumination can be used to stimulate productive and creativity in offices and schools. Several studies had been done on providing windows or skylights in classrooms resulting to higher standardized tests. However, it does not clearly imply that the improvement in students performance was due to increased light, quality of light, or physiological effect of natural lighting. Windowless spaces contribute to negative attitudes of students as well as their teachers especially when coupled with monotonous tasks. It was shown that natural lighting can improve the quality and quantity of lighting in instructional areas effectively. Daylight has been and is still the standard by which artificial light is measured. Researc h reports indicate a positive correlation between day lighting and academic performance. Good quality of lighting increases comfort and increased comfort contributes to higher scores and academic performance of both teacher and students. The developmental stages of students are also considered when designing lighting systems. It is a physical support on students to help them concentrate on their academic endeavors. Recently, the focus on effective learning environments has shone on healthy physical surroundings (McGowen, 2007). Changing the facilities creates a different learning environment. Creating change has a major impact on students, faculty, and administrators. This change creates the type of learning environment, which is more conducive to learning and performance. (Vandiver, 2011) Two field studies and one experiment were done with Dutch elementary school children to examine the effects of dynamic lighting on concentration done by Sleegers, Moolenar, Galetzka, and Van Der Zanden. In the field studies, the pupils in the experimental conditions were subjected to different lighting settings and conditions during one day for a longer period of time (Study 1) or were constantly exposed to the focus setting for one month (Study 2), while the pupils in the controlled environment were subjected to the same lighting conditions during one morning (Study 3). They focused on pupils concentration performance and evaluated the impact of different lighting conditions and settings on pupils concentration. They also examined the differential effects of classroom lighting conditions on concentration for gender. They evaluated the effects of lighting, conducting analyses of variance, using three samples of data from 181 elementary school children. The results of their field stud ies offer support for the positive influence of classroom lighting conditions on concentration. Although all pupils performed better at the concentration test at the consecutive measurement points, it appeared that the performance of the pupils in the experimental groups improved more than the performance of their peers in the control groups. Furthermore, the findings of the first field study show differences between grades: they found effects of lighting on concentration for pupils from grade 4, but not for pupils from grade 6. These findings suggest that older pupils concentration might be less affected by the lighting conditions used than younger pupils. Hypothesis states that older pupils are more trained to concentrate while performing tests than younger pupils. On the other hand, the findings on the second field show that, on the average, older children perform better on concentration tests than their younger peers, no additional support was found for the role of age in the ef fect of lighting on concentration. Meanwhile, the results of the third study showed no statistically significant effect of lighting on concentration and so not substantiate the findings of the two field studies in a controlled environment. It might be because of the differences in the designs used. It suggests that the statistically significant differences found in the field of studies might be caused by uncontrolled extraneous influences that might limit or bias observation. It might also be that differences in the way children were exposed to the lighting conditions and settings in the different environments caused the differences between the findings. Although they did not evaluate the dynamic nature of the light system used, their findings seem to suggest that an environment in which different lighting settings and conditions are used to support specific activities and tasks at hand during a longer period of time may be more effective for pupils learning than an environment in w hich pupils are exposed to the same lighting condition for a relatively short period of time. The effect of lighting might be situation, task, and time dependent as previous studies also have indicated. The differences between the findings of the field studies and the third study for the relationship between lighting and concentration may also have to do with seasonal effects. Seasonal effects were also found in a more recent study into the effects of dynamic lighting on student alertness in a lecture room environment. The results of that study showed that in spring no change in alertness could be detected, while in the autumn study the decrease of alertness during lectures was significant. These findings shed light on the effects of exposure to lighting conditions during different seasons and the effect of the dynamic nature of light. As such, attention should be paid to the added value of artificial lighting in combination with exposure to daylight for the improvement of the perfo rmance of students in educational settings. Third, the results of their field studies showed no evidence of differential effects of gender in the relationship between lighting and concentration. Although earlier studies did find effects of lighting on performance and mood differ between men and women, their findings do not indicate gender related effects of lighting on pupils in elementary education. This may be related to the difference between children and adults in effects of lighting, for instance in regard to the development of psychological and affective preferences for the environment in general, and lighting specifically. (Sleegers et. al., 2012) According to Warren Hathaway, a search for ways to improve education is sustained by the general view that the learning environment is an important aspect in the educational process and the specific findings of research into the effects of types of lighting on people. Among the most surprising findings from the research in this field were that those elementary students who received trace amounts of ultraviolet light in their classrooms developed fewer dental carries and had better attendance than students in a comparison group. Sunlight is still the most important source of light and energy for living organisms and it may be experienced as direct light or as skylight. Most people do their works each day under the influence of sunlight. However, as society becomes more urbanized, people spend much less time under sunlight and much more time under artificial lamps. We are surrounded by walls, floors and ceilings covered with colors seldom repeated on the same scale in nature and these colors are usually perceived under lighting systems designed more for efficiency than for their possible physiological or psychological effects on people. Indeed, our artificial lighting systems can only simulate twilight levels of illumination-light levels of 200 to 1500 lux in comparison to light in the natural environment at twilight of 2,800 to 8,200 lux and at noon up to 100,000 lux. There is significance of wide differences in light levels between natural settings and built environments. Corth contended that the natural environment of our earliest ancestors was not the open plains but the forest floor. As a consequence, the habitat noon-time light levels would have been much lower than the 8,200 to 100,000 lux found in open areas. Moreover, he further contended that the spectral quality of the light at the forest floor was greenish-yellow and represented the combined result of the solar radiation spectrum and the filtering effect of the forest canopy. He also progressed the vi ew that our ancestors only later they occupied the forest floor near the equator did they move onto the open plains either north or south of the equator. Thus he concluded that heavy skin pigmentation was a matter of camouflage for survival more than it was a filter against UV light. As humans left the forest cover and moved into the more open country to the end of the equator and away from zones of intense UV light, the pigmentation was reduced as a response to the need for increased vitamin D which is formed by the action of ultraviolet light on the skin. Following Corths logic, one might expect two effects. First, in as much as the light spectrum of cool-white fluorescent lamps approximates that of the greenish-yellow light reaching the forest floor, people may find these lights to be very satisfactory. Second, if skin pigmentation decreases as a response to an increased need for ultraviolet light, highly pigmented people living in northern climates may have greater needs for ult raviolet stimulation than do lightly pigmented people. Sunlight contains all colors in relatively uniform amounts and all colors are equally visible when illuminated by sunlight. For this reason, natural light serves as the reference for comparing the color rendition characteristics of artificial lights, with natural light having the maximum or reference Color Rendition Index (CRI) of 100. The color rendition index is a measure of the way colors look under specific light sources. It is important to note that equivalent CRI indices mean the same thing only when the light sources to which they relate have equivalent color temperatures. As a consequence, colored objects may appear different when viewed under lights with different color temperatures but equivalent CRI indices. Not all artificial light sources accurately reproduce the full spectrum of sunlight. Incandescent lights are rich in red and yellow light, but radiate relatively little energy in the blue and green region of the s pectrum. Cool-white fluorescent lights emit most of their radiant energy in the green and yellow bands of the spectrum, the range to which eyes are most sensitive. Thorington asserted that it is at the 555 nm that the lumen or the standard unit of light is defined. Full spectrum lights emit a significant portion of their radiant energy in the blue area of the spectrum. A further small percentage of the radiant energy from fluorescent lamps may fall into the ultraviolet range. Rooms lit with full spectrum fluorescent lights may be seen as being somewhat dimly lit since the eye is less sensitive to blue light than to green and yellow light,. Full spectrum lights do, however, have a relatively high Color Rendition Index and this may be very important to vision processes. In this regard, Aston and Bellchainbers compared high efficiency with lamps that provided a spectrum more closely balanced to natural light. In their report they said, The results clearly show that the Kolorite lamps, lamps simulating natural light in spectral distribution, not only provide better color qualities but give a higher degree of visual clarity than do the high efficacy lamps at an equivalent illuminations. Ozaki and Wurmm drew attention to the fact that light from high pressure sodium vapor lamps produced anomalies in the growth and development of animals. They presented evidence to the effect that the exposure of developing rats to high pressure sodium vapor (HPSV) lights caused characteristic changes in growth and development. Downing concluded: There is no area of our mental and bodily functioning that the sun does not influence. Our bodies were designed to receive and use it in a wide range of ways. We were not designed to hide from it in houses, offices, factories and schools. Sunshine, reaching us through our eyes and our skin, exercises a subtle control over us from birth to death, from head to tail. Zamkova and Krivitskaya augmented regular fluorescent light with ultraviolet s untan lamps in a controlled experiment involving school children and they reported that when compared to the control group, students who received exposure to ultraviolet light showed increased levels of working ability and resistance to fatigue, improved academic performance, improved stability of clear vision, and increased weight and growth. Volkova studied the effects of ultraviolet supplements to general lighting in a factory and found that when compared to a control group, an experimental group of adults demonstrated decreased permeability of skin capillaries, increased white cell activity, and reduced catarrhal infections and colds. Richard Wurtman concluded that light has biological effects that are important to health and that some of these effects may be easily reproduced and measured in the experimental laboratory. These effects were of two kinds: those which modify the individuals endocrine, hormone and metabolic state by means of light reaching the retina and those which result from light on the skin. He also linked light entering the eye with responses of the pineal gland and secretion of the hormone melatonin. This hormone in turn influences the functions of other glands, possibly as a result of direct action on specific areas of the brain. Wurtman and Weisel studied the effects of light from cool white lamps and full-spectrum Vita-Lite lamps on a group of rats. Their findings support the argument that environmental lighting has an effect on at least some neuroendocrine functions. Himmelfarb, Scott, and Thayer reported that light from Vita-Lite (full-spectrum) lamps was significantly more effective in killing bacteria than light from standard cool-white lamps. Downing offered evidence that small amounts of ultraviolet radiation destroy bacteria and moulds. Relatively small amounts of ultraviolet light can stimulate calcium absorption among elderly men who have no exposure to sunlight and who eat a diet containing little vitamin D. Mass, Jayson, a nd Kleiber reported that students studying under full-spectrum lights had the smallest decrease over time in critical flicker fusion and an increase in visual acuity. Students studying under cool-white illumination demonstrated greater lethargy than those studying under full-spectrum lights (Hathaway, 1994). Sleegers suggested that future research should, therefore, focus on the interaction between light conditions and settings, specific activities and tasks and duration. This may increase our understanding of the variability of the effect of lighting among classroom environments, school activities, tasks and student performance and the potential effects of dynamic lighting in school settings. More research is needed to test the effects of different lighting conditions and settings on the school performance of different age groups. Future studies should use reliable and repeated measurements of concentration in order to reduce bias, increase the validity of the design used and evaluate the possible long term effects of lighting on school performance of young children in natural school environments. More systematic research is needed on the relation of daytime and artificial light, concentration, and seasonal effects, using objective measures to analyze performance in real life settings a nd with prolonged exposure. By doing this, the findings of these studies may help to increase our understanding of person/environment interaction and its impact on the performance and learning of elementary school children (Sleegers et al, 2012). At the same time, the literature on the non-visual effects of types of lighting on people is constantly expanding and from this there emerges a need to examine a variety of types of lighting for non-visual effects on people (Hathaway, 1994).

Problems with Drinking and driving Essay

Driving under the influence, driving while intoxicated, drunken driving, drunk driving, operating under the influence, drinking and driving, or impaired driving is the crime of driving a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol or other drugs including those prescribed by physicians. In the case of alcohol, a drunk driver’s level of intoxication is typically determined by a measurement of blood alcohol content or BAC. A BAC measurement in excess of a specific threshold level, such as 0.05% or 0.08%, defines the criminal offense with no need to prove impairment. In some jurisdictions, there is an aggravated category of the offense at a higher BAC level, such as 0.12%. In most countries, anyone who is convicted of injuring or killing someone while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs can be heavily fined in addition to being given a lengthy prison sentence. In the United States, DUI and alcohol-related crashes produce an estimated $45 billion in damages every year. In some U.S. and German studies BAC level 0.01-0.03% predicted a lower crash risk than BAC 0%, Blood alcohol content With the advent of a scientific test for blood alcohol content, enforcement regimes moved to pinning culpability for the offense to strict liability based on driving while having more than a prescribed amount of blood alcohol, although this does not preclude the simultaneous existence of the older subjective tests. BAC is most conveniently measured as a simple percent of alcohol in the blood by weight. Research shows an exponential increase of the relative risk for a crash with a linear increase of BAC as shown in the illustration. BAC does not depend on any units of measurement. In Europe it is usually expressed as milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. However, 100 milliliters of blood weighs essentially the same as 100 milliliters of water, which weighs precisely 100 grams. Thus, for all practical purposes, this is the same as the simple dimensionless BAC measured as a percent. The per mille measurement, which is equal to ten times the percentage value, is used in Den mark, Germany, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The validity of the testing equipment/methods and mathematical relationships for the measurement of breath and blood alcohol have been criticized. Driving while consuming alcohol may be illegal within a jurisdiction. In some it is illegal for an open container of an alcoholic beverage to be in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle or  in some specific area of that compartment. There have been cases of drivers being convicted of a DUI when they were not observed driving after being proven in court they had been driving while under the influence. In the case of an accident, insurance may be automatically declared invalid, i.e. the drunk driver is fully responsible for damages. Within the American system, citation for driving under the influence also causes a major spike in car insurance premiums—94.1% in the first year, and still 63.5% higher by the third year. The German model serves to reduce the number of accidents by identifying unfit drivers and removing them from until their fitness to drive has been established again. The Medical Psychological Assessment works for a prognosis of the fitness for drive in future, has an interdisciplinary basic approach and offers the chance of individual rehabilitation to the offender. George Smith, a London Taxi cab driver, ended up being the first person to be convicted of driving while intoxicated, on September 10, 1897. He was fined 25 shillings, which is . BAC and risks Studies show that a high BAC increases the risk of accidents whereas it is not clear of a BAC of 0.01%-0.05% slightly increases or decreases the risk. One study suggests that already a BAC of 0.04-0.05% would slightly increase the risk whereas some studies suggest that a BAC of 0.01-0.04% would slightly lower the risk, possibly due to the drivers being more cautious. Both the influential study by Borkenstein et al. and the empirical German data on the 1990s demonstrated that the risk of accident is lower or the same for drivers with a BAC of 0.04% or less than for drivers with a BAC of 0%. For a BAC of 0.15% the risk is 25-fold. The 0.08% BAC limit in Germany and the limits in many other countries were set based on the study by Borkenstein et al. Wuerzburg University researchers showed that all extra accidents caused by alcohol were due to at least 0.06% BAC, 96% of them due to BAC above 0.08%, and 79% due to BAC above 0,12%. In their study based on the 1990s German data, the effect of alcohol was higher for almost all BAC levels than in Borkenstein et al. Also in the Grand Rapids study by Alsop, 0.01-0.03% BAC lead to a mere 80%-96% crash risk, possibly due to extra caution. Many employers or occupations have their own rules and BAC limits; for example, the United States Federal Railroad Administration has a 0.04%  limit for train crew. Certain large corporations have their own rules; for example, Union Pacific Railroad has their own BAC limit of 0.02% that, if violated during a random test or a for-cause test—for example, after a traffic accident—can result in termination of employment with no chance of future re-hire. Some jurisdictions have multiple levels of BAC for different categories of drivers; for example, the state of California has a general 0.08% BAC limit, a lower limit of 0.04% for commercial operators, and a limit of 0.01% for drivers who are under 21 or on probation for pr evious DUI offenses. Many states in the U.S. and the Federal government of Canada have adopted truth in sentencing laws that enforce strict guidelines on sentencing, differing from previous practice where prison time was reduced or suspended after sentencing had been issued. Some jurisdictions have judicial guidelines requiring a mandatory minimum sentence. DUI convictions can result in multi-year jail terms and other penalties ranging from expensive fees to forfeiture of one’s license plates and vehicle. Some jurisdictions require that drivers convicted of DUI offenses use special license plates that are easily distinguishable from regular plates. These plates are known in popular parlance as â€Å"party plates† or â€Å"whiskey plates†. The specific criminal offense may be called, depending on the jurisdiction, driving under the influence, driving under the influence of intoxicants, driving while intoxicated, â€Å"operating vehicle under the influence of alcohol or other drugsâ⠂¬ , operating under the influence operating while intoxicated, operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, driving under the combined influence of alcohol and/or other drugs, driving under the influence per se or drunk in charge . Many such laws apply also to motorcycling, boating, piloting aircraft, use of motile farm equipment such as tractors and combines, riding horses or driving a horse-drawn vehicle, or bicycling, possibly with different BAC level than driving. In some jurisdictions there are separate charges depending on the vehicle used, such as BWI, which may carry a lighter sentence. In the United States, local law enforcement agencies made 1,467,300 arrests nationwide for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1996, compared to 1.9 million such arrests during the peak year in 1983. In 1997 an estimated 513,200 DWI offenders were in prison or jail, down from 593,000 in 1990 and up from 270,100 in 1986. Drunk in charge  In British law it is a criminal offence to be drunk in charge of a motor vehicle. The definition depends on such things being in or near the vehicle, and having access to a means of starting the vehicle’s engine and driving it away. Health care, working, and prescription drugs If a worker who drives has a health condition which can be treated with opioids, then that person’s doctor should be told that driving is a part of the worker’s duties and the employer should be told that the worker could be treated with opioids. Workers should not use impairing substances while driving or operating heavy machinery like forklift trucks or cranes. If the worker is to drive, then the health care provider should not give them opioids. If the worker is to take opioids, then their employer should assign them work which is appropriate for their impaired state and not encourage them to use safety sensitive equipment.

Causal Determinism

Philosophy Mini Paper 1 Causal determinism claims that our past, initial conditions are deterministicly conditioned by natural laws. Causal determinism deals with conditional predictability, which says that if I know all of my past/present material conditions and natural laws, then I can know my future causal path. Since we always base our choices on our highest desire, we can easily predict what choices one is going to make. It seems very plausible for casual determinism to be true. With causal determinism on one end of the spectrum, and existentialism on the opposite end, we have two conflicting philosophies of romance vs logic. It seems only logical for us to assume that indeed, we base our decisions based upon what we deeply, truly desire the most. The notion that we lack the capacity of free will, though, is daunting. To think that we have no control over our lives is really rather terrifying, so it becomes very apparent why someone would want to reject these theories. Causal determinism hasn't necessarily affected my views of life dramatically, but it helps keep everything into a conscious perspective. To live a meaningful life it's important to live consciously, that is to say, to escape the hypnotizing effects of living life monotonously. I believe that in order to accomplish a lucid life, it's important to retain existentialist aspects in daily life. To live life on a path without the sense of freedom seems like it would be similar to those nightmares we have in which we know the horrors that are about to happen, but can do nothing to prevent it. To live a robotic life is too easy. To throw everything into the wind and say that we have no control over our lives is too easy. To say humanity has an inability to control itself is far too pessimistic and a twisted way to live one's life. It's empowering to believe in one's ability to make something of their life, to truly live life spiritually. I don't feel that causal determinism should impacts one's views on moral responsibility drastically. To think that whatever is going to happen will happen anyway, and to avoid morality, is definitely a flawed way of thinking. Because of our desire to live in a morally praiseworthy fashion, we may let moral values influence the decisions we make. We should not simply disregard everything happening in our surroundings because we think we have no control. As far as friendship goes, yes, we typically befriend those that are like-minded in some regard or another. This isn't a new or unusual concept, this notion is widely known. There are countless psychological factors that are at work with the ongoing process of friend-making. Causal determinism doesn't change what is already known about making friends. Love is one of the most confusing of human emotions. To say that there is a soul mate for each person would be agreeing with causal determinism. It seems, in an odd sense, too romantic for the theory, but they're one in the same regardless. Some believe in soul mates, that there is one person each is destined to belong with. It would make sense for a causal determinist to believe in the idea of a soul mate. Causal determinism feels far too depressing to follow religiously in a day-to-day lifestyle. While the theory may be a logically correct way to look at life, it seems to strongly strip away what it means to live as a conscious human. Sure it's important to keep a balance of logic and romance in the way one lives their life, but it seems like following causal determinism may be tipping this scale too far to one side.

Objectives Of An Organization s Success - 2117 Words

The most effective way to ensure an organization’s success is to construct and reinforce its foundations around core values that are communicated through an approach its audience can genuinely connect with. The business world primarily revolves around networks, and a company that views these as consisting of real people rather than mere statistics has a much higher likelihood of developing relationships and campaigns that make a lasting impression. â€Å"The core message towards a particular target audience often evolves directly from how the organization wants to be seen† (Cornelissen, 2014); therefore, the complexity of the messages and the tools implemented to convey them directly affect a firm’s reputation and are carefully†¦show more content†¦A brilliant example of a brand that has successfully navigated the crossroads between history and modernity is Barbie. Little girls across the world have played with Barbie dolls for generations and Mattel’s 2015 â€Å"Imagine the Possibilities† campaign serves to connect the iconic image of Barbie with millennial perceptions of femininity and empowerment. In the last decade a wave of criticism has attached a negative connotation to the line with concerns of stereotyping and gender biases topping the list (Gani, 2014); Mattel wisely chose to address this by focusing on the limitless opportunities out there for girls as they begin to plan their futures. The video features several young actresses who take on their dream professions for a day, occupations ranging across a wide spectrum such as a veterinarian, teacher, soccer coach, a museum guide, etc. before coming together in a screen of a girl arranging the scenes in her bedroom using her Barbies (Barbie, 2016). The passion and excitement shown as the girls are able to experience their dream careers first hand with very receptive, supportive participants recalls the association with creativity and play Mattel wish es to strengthen. This is reinforced with the line â€Å"When a girl plays with Barbie, she imagines everything she can become† (Barbie, 2016). The message is clear without being over-obvious: the perception of Barbie as unintelligent, a clothes horse, and a figure