Resources in Housing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Resources in Housing - Essay Example The role of savings in the acquisition of housing by low-income households has been recognized in a variety of studies. Macoloo (1994:290) reports that two-thirds of households in Kenya used savings to purchase construction materials, making this the most important source of finance during the initial stages of house-building. Yet, the significance of savings to the housing process is not without its problems. As other studies show, many households are able to become 'owners' early on, before they would be able to develop a savings profile. While it is increasingly accepted that low-income households are not too poor to save, in an environment of low and insecure incomes, and rising prices for building materials, land and services and rising taxes, it seems unlikely that households would amass sufficient savings on a consistent basis to acquire or build housing. This would seem to be supported by macro studies that show low propensities to save in the poorest countries and in the poorest households in all countries. Most low-income households lack safe and convenient methods to save and many institutions insist upon minimum balances or do not offer positive returns on savings. Indeed, in some circumstances low-income households are charged to deposit savings, either directly or through negative interest rates. In order to save in the formal system, therefore, low-income households have to possess a minimum level of funds and an income sufficient to pay charges: in the short term saving may be a net drain on household resources. The lack of institutional capacity is not the only reason for the low rate of saving. Countries such as Chile, Singapore and Malaysia have implemented sophisticated financial products to increase the ratio of money to GDP and raise the rate of saving. Such reforms, however, have not improved conditions for those on the lowest incomes as measures have not been taken to improve the unequal distribution of income: with no surplus income, savings will be inelastic in relation to interest rate changes. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence suggests that, in some countries, many low-income households are heavily in debt, and are therefore unable to be net savers, and have learned through experience to be highly distrustful of financial institutions. The difficulty experienced by households trying to save in the context of limited institutional capacity suggests that many must be holding savings outside of the formal financial system. There is very little research, however, on the form in which these savings are held although consumer items and jewellery as well as cash are mentioned frequently. One further possibility is that households invest in housing as a surrogate form of saving believing this to be a reliable store of value. As consolidation takes place the belief is that most properties will appreciate in value over time, although the small size of the second-hand property market makes reliable assessments of value difficult and some suspect that the real trend may be quite flat over the short term. Thus, while there is evidence for a link between financial depth and housing investment, at the micro level, it is the lack of financial capacity that may

Subscriber System using Identity-Based Encryption

Subscriber System using Identity-Based Encryption Secure Message Transmission to the Publisher Vivek Sharma INTRODUCTION The major mechanism regarding to the Publish-Subscribe based system are security, confidentiality, scalability and authentication. Publish-Subscribe system can be classified into two groups like as Type based and Content based message transmission. The publish-subscribe system is facing difficulties regarding Authentication just because of their Loose coupling nature. Content based routing face the difficulties in term of event confidentiality and their subscription. Hence, A new way is needed to the transmission of encrypted events to publishers-subscribers without knowing subscriptions between them and authenticate to each-other during transmission of an event. Security is the major facor in the broker less publisher-subscriber systems. To successful subscription, the subscribers should be in clustered form according to their subscription. The proposed approach gives permission to subscribers to manage the credentials in respect of their subscriptions. Credentials are labelled with private keys to the subscriber and Publisher connected with each-every encrypted event and related credentials. By using identity-based encryption, we must ensure that a particular event will decrypt only if a common credential between both publisher-subscriber associated with the particular event and their private key which is generated by the key generator are matched correctly in system and subscribers can check the authenticity of events to the publisher-subscriber system. SCOPE OF PROJECT : The project will provide the high authentication, reliability and scalability to the publish-subscribe system. An authentication and confidentiality will be achieved by the publishers and subscribers system to the particular occurring event by applying the pairing based cryptography and Symmetric encryption. Both publisher-subscriber are assigned with a same private key mechanism differentiate with the other mechanism like as public key infrastructure. So it provides more secure and reliable way to the communication between publisher and subscriber. LITERATURE SURVEY : Title: Cipher text Encryption based on attribute Author Bethencurt , Sahali A. Year: 2007 Description: According to the attribute based encryption based on the cipher text policy, the publisher or encryptor fix the policy to the subscriber, who will decrypt the message. With the help of attribute, the policy can be formed. In previous Cipher text encryption based on attribute, policy is embedded with the cipher text to the transmission. In this proposed method, the access policy is not sent with the cipher text, so it would provide better privacy environment to the encryptor. Title: Public-Key Encryption related Search of particular keyword Author: D. Boneh, P Crcenzo, R Ostrvky Year: 2004 Description: We study the problem of searching on data that is encrypted using a public key system. Consider user Bob who sends email to user Alice encrypted under Alices public key. An email gateway wants to test whether the email contains the keyword urgent so that it could route the email accordingly. Alice, on the other hand does not wish to give the gateway the ability to decrypt all her messages. We define and construct a mechanism that enables Alice to provide a key to the gateway that enables the gateway to test whether the word urgent is a keyword in the email without learning anything else about the email. We refer to this mechanism as Public Key Encryption with keyword Search. As another example, consider a mail server that stores various messages publicly encrypted for Alice by others. Using our mechanism Alice can send the mail server a key that will enable the server to identify all messages containing some specific keyword, but learn nothing else. We define the concep t of public key encryption with keyword search and give several constructions. Title: Identity-Based Encryption from the Weil Pairing.e Scheduling Independent Tasks Author: D. Boneh and M.K. Franklin Year: 2001 Description: We propose a fully functional identity-based encryption scheme (IBE). The scheme has chosen cipher text security in the random oracle model assuming a variant of the computational Die- Hellman problem. Our system is based on bilinear maps between groups. The Weil pairing on elliptic curves is an example of such a map. We give precise dentitions for secure identity based encryption schemes and give several applications for such systems. Title: â€Å"Supporting Publication and Subscription Confidentiality in Pub/Sub Networks Author: M. Ion, G. Russello Year: 2010. Description: The publish/subscribe model over’s a loosely-coupled communication paradigm where applications interact indirectly and asynchronously. Publisher applications generate events that are sent to interested applications through a network of brokers. Subscriber applications express their interest by specifying filters that brokers can use for routing the events. Supporting condentiality of messages being exchanged is still challenging. First of all, it is desirable that any scheme used for protecting the condentiality of both the events and filters should not require the publishers and subscribers to share secret keys. In fact, such a restriction is against the loose-coupling of the model. Moreover, such a scheme should not restrict the expressiveness of filters and should allow the broker to perform event filtering to route the events to the interested parties. Existing solutions do not fully address these issues. In this paper, we provide a novel scheme that supports (i) condentiality for events and filters; (ii) filters can express very complex constraints on events even if brokers are not able to access any information on both events and filters; (iii) and finally it does not require publishers and subscribers to share keys. Title: Efficient Privacy Preserving Content Based Publish Subscribe Systems Author: M. Nabeel, N. Shang, and E. Bertino Year: 2012. Description: Privacy and confidentiality are crucial issues in content-based publish/subscribe (CBPS) networks. We tackle the problem of end-user privacy in CBPS. This problem raises a challenging requirement for handling encrypted data for the purpose of routing based on protected content and encrypted subscription information. We suggest a solution based on a commutative multiple encryption schemes in order to allow brokers to operate in-network matching and content based routing without having access to the content of the packets. This is the first solution that avoids key sharing among end-users and targets an enhanced CBPS model where brokers can also be subscribers at the same time. Title: Encryption-Enforced Access Control in Dynamic Multi-Domain Publish/Subscribe Networks Author: L.I.W. Pesonen, D.M. Eyers, and J. Bacon Year: 2007 Description: This paper extends previous work to present and evaluate a secure multi-domain publish/subscribe infrastructure that supports and enforces engrained access control over the individual attributes of event types. Key refresh allows us to ensure forward and backward security when event brokers join and leave the network. We demonstrate that the time and space overheads can be minimized by careful consideration of encryption techniques, and by the use of caching to decrease unnecessary decryptions. We show that our approach has a smaller overall communication overhead than existing approaches for achieving the same degree of control over security in publish/subscribe networks. Title: Hermes: A Scalable Event-Based Middleware Author: P. Pietzuch Year: 2004 Description: The core functionality of an event-based middleware is extended with three higher-level middleware services that address different requirements in a distributed computing environment. We introduce a novel congestion control service that avoids congestion in the overlay broker network during normal operation and recovery after failure, and therefore enables a resource-efficient deployment of the middleware. The expressiveness of subscriptions in the event-based middleware is enhanced with a composite event service that performs the distributed detection of complex event patterns, thus taking the burden away from clients. Finally, a security service adds access control to Hermes according to a secure publish/subscribe model. This model supports fine-grained access control decisions so that separate trust domains can share the same overlay broker network. Title: Enabling Confidentiality in Content-Based Publish/Subscribe Infrastructures Author: C. Raiciu and D.S. Rosenblum Year: 2006. Description: we focus on answering the following question: Can we implement content-based publish/subscribe while keeping subscriptions and notifications confidential from the forwarding brokers? Our contributions include a systematic analysis of the problem, providing a formal security model and showing that the maximum level of attainable security in this setting is restricted. We focus on enabling provable confidentiality for commonly used applications and subscription languages in CBPS and present a series of practical provably secure protocols, some of which are novel and others adapted from existing work. We have implemented these protocols in SIENA, a popular CBPS system. Evaluation results show that confidential content-based publish/subscribe is practical: A single broker serving 1000 subscribers is able to route more than 100 notifications per second with our solutions. Title: EventGuard: A System Architecture for Securing Publish-Subscribe Networks Author: M. Srivatsa, L. Liu, and A. Iyengar Year: 2011. Description: a framework for building secure wide area pub-sub systems. The EventGuard architecture is comprised of three key components: (1) a suite of security guards that can be seamlessly plugged-into a contentbased pub-sub system, (2) a scalable key management algorithm to enforce access control on subscribers, and (3) a resilient pub-sub network design that is capable of scalable routing, handling message dropping-based DoS attacks and node failures. The design of EventGuard mechanisms aims at providing security guarantees while maintaining the system’s overall simplicity, scalability and performance metrics. We describe an implementation of the EventGuard pub-sub system to show that EventGuard is easily stackable on any content-based pub-sub core. We present detailed experimental results that quantify the overhead of the EventGuard pub-sub system and demonstrate its resilience against various attacks.

protein domains :: essays research papers

Describe the Nature, Structure, and Function of Domains in Proteins Domains "Within a single subunit [polypeptide chain], contiguous portions of the polypeptide chain frequently fold into compact, local semi-independent units called domains." - Richardson, 1981 In the hierarchial organisation of proteins, domains are found at the highest level of tertiary structure. Since the term was first used by Wetlaufer (1973) a number of definitions exist reflecting author bias, however all of the definitions agree that domains are independently folding compact units. Domains are frequently coded by exons and therefore have specific functionality. Among the many descriptions of protein domains the two most striking and simple are " Protein evolutionary units" and "Basic currency of Proteins". Domains may be considered to be connected units, which are to varying extents independent in terms of their structure, function and folding behaviour. Each domain can be described by its fold. While some proteins consist of a single domain, others consist of several or many. A number of globular protein chains consist of two or three domains appearing as 'lobes'. In other cases the domains may be of very different nature- for example some proteins located in cell membranes have a globular intracellular or extracellular domain distinct from that which spans the membrane. Protein domains occur in large polypeptides, (proteins that have more than 200 residues). These proteins have two or more globular clusters which in turn have domains composed of 100-200 amino acids. Thus many domains are structurally independent units that have the characteristics of small globular proteins. If we examine the detailed structures of many transmembrane proteins, we see that they often have three different domains, two hydrophilic and one hydrophobic .(fig 1&2) A hydrophilic domain (consisting of hydrophilic amino acids) at the N-terminus pokes out in the extracellular medium, a hydrophobic domain in the middle of the amino acid chain, often only 20-30 amino acids long, is threaded through the plasma membrane, and a hydrophilic domain at the C-terminus protrudes into the cytoplasm. The transmembrane domain, because it is made of amino acids having hydrophobic side chains, exists comfortably in the hydrophobic inner layers of the plasma membrane. Because these transmembrane domains anchor many proteins in the lipid bilayer, these proteins are not free-floating and cannot be isolated and purified biochemically without first dissolving away the lipid bilayer with detergents. (Indeed, much of the washing we do in our lives is necessitated by the need to solubilize proteins that are embedded in lipid membranes using detergents!)

To What Extent Was Stalins Reign Successful

Throughout the reign of Stalin he was able to establish himself as a successful dictator through totalitarian rule. He became the undisputed leader of the USSR and the factors that enabled him to do so were Industrialisation, his social policies and his ability to defeat Hitler in World War Two. However, through Stalin’s political career he also encountered many failures. These were Collectivism, the purges and the terror he caused by the people living in Russia during his reign. Stalin’s reign was successful through Industrialisation.He modernised industry by introducing the 5-Year Plans, which consisted of two plans. The first plan from 1928 to 1933 and the second to 1932 to 1937 and they had the aims of improving the Russian industry. Many of the regions of the USSR were backward. Stalin believed that ‘to be backward was to be defeated and enslaved, but if you are powerful people must beware of you. ’ There were many successes of the 5-year plans. The US SR was turned into a modern state, which was able to resist Hitler’s invasion and as well as that there began to be a genuine communist enthusiasm displayed among the young ‘Pioneers’.There were huge drastic improvements in the industry; the output was projected to increase by an enormous 180% over 5 years and there were also huge achievements in coal, steel and hydroelectric power productions. The targets he had set were impossibly high however Stalin believed that he could force a nation to meet them. Overall throughout his reign he achieved fantastic successes, but at a big human cost, and while industrial output soared, the production of consumer goods remained static.Another way Stalin was successful during his reign was through his social policies. In 1936, Stalin published a new constitution. Soviet citizens were granted the right to a job, social security, equality, health care and education. They were also promised freedom of speech and right of a fair t rial. Before this, after the 1917 revolution, there had been a lot of social changes however, Stalin returned the USSR to traditional values that related to the communist rules and regimes.Despite this, there was an increase in the number of women entering the workforce and child -minding services were set up in every factory to accommodate the needs a woman. Women had more rights given to them and the educational systems dramatically improved leaving to key successes. Stalin ultimately wanted the people to believe that strong leadership was good for the USSR and through this time he was seen in a very ‘positive light’. Evidently, through the introduction of new social policies, Stalin was successful during his reign over Russia.By having the ability to defeat Hitler in World War Two, Stalin’s reign was successful. Hitler at the time was attempting to invade the Soviet Union, and Stalin kept retreating into the Soviet territory. After many battles within the Sovi et Territory, Hitler began to realise that the Soviets were beginning to win battles. The broken troops in 1941 were replaced with new soldiers that were willing to defend the ‘motherland’. While Hitler was pouring more of his reserves into the battle, Stalin just began to scratch the surface of his reserves leaving him with more troops.After the battle of Stalingrad over 91,000 of Hitler’s army had been captured and their supply line was cut. The Red Army pushed the Nazi forces back to Berlin in 1945 and in The Battle of Berlin; The Red Army took control over Berlin, which is Germany’s capital. Through his leadership skills and having the ability to ‘not lose his nerve’ and stay in Moscow when Germany was closing in he was able to defeat Hitler in World War Two, evidently making Stalin’s reign successful. However, Stalin had many failures throughout his reign, one of which was through collectivism.Stalin had a strong desire to modernis e agriculture, which led him to collectivise the farms of Russia, uniting them and putting them under full state control. Stalin thought he needed to collectivise farms because Soviet agriculture was backward, food was needed for workers in towns and this was essential if the five-year plans were to succeed. The NEP wasn’t working, by 1928; the USSR was short of 20 million grains that were needed to feed the people in towns. Another reason Stalin collectivised agriculture was because the Kulaks opposed communism, as they liked their ‘private wealth. The Kulaks hid food from the government collectors and became very influential on peasants, so therefore, Stalin wanted to destroy them. From this came disastrous implications which included the fall of stock, an example of this is in 1928, 73 Tons of Grain was produced however, in 1933 this figure fell to 69 Tons of Grain produced. This lead to a famine because there wasn’t enough food for the people of the USSR and in 1923, 33 million Russians died as a result of the famine.Another failure was that the Kulaks were eliminated, however, in Stalin’s eyes this was a major success. Overall through collectivism Stalin experienced a failure through his reign. Another failure during Stalin’s reign was through the Great Purges. At fist the actions of the purges were limited to ‘removing membership cards’. However, it became much more brutal as it escalated quickly as it expanded onto the majority of the population. One out of eighteen in the USSR was accused, put on trial and then either sent into exile of executed.Some of the most developed minds in the government were killed because they didn’t agree with the policies Stalin put forward. Purging of the officers in the army in the 1930s also weakened the Red Army, which caused the collapse and loss of Western Russia to Nazi forces in 1941. Through all of what the great purges caused another failure for Stalin’s reign. Through the terror that Stalin caused onto the people of Russia, people lived in fear of him, which became a failure of his career. Stalin believed that Russia had to be united, with him as a leader if it was to be strong.He also believed that Russia has 10 years to catch up with the western world before Germany invaded and because of this Stalin became extremely paranoid and ‘power-mad’. The results of Stalin’s enforced terror was Russia came to dominate the whole of the USSR, the Orthodox Church was attacked and twenty million people were arrested. Most people lived in fear of the secret police and the industry grew as the terror caused provided free slave labour. A Stalin cult was formed and the army and navy weakened due to the purges of leading officers.Through all of these things he caused terror to the people of Russia making this a failure in Stalin’s reign. Overall, Stalin’s greatest success included becoming the undisputed leader o f the USSR through Industrialisation, his social policies and his ability to defeat Hitler in World War Two, however this came a greater cost to the people of Russia by collectivisation, the Great Purges and the terror he enforced upon the people of Russia. So, therefore, Stalin was successful through his reign to some extent however he did have acts that hindered his success.

Disconnected in an Interconnected World

Disconnected in an Interconnected World Danielle Searle In a world filled with interactivity and interconnectedness, how is it possible to be so disconnected from the people who live the closest you? Peter Lovenheim’s article, â€Å"Won’t you be my Neighbor,† discusses this very ideal. After a terrible murder-suicide occurred in Lovenheim’s neighbor he was forced to asked him-self do I really know who lives next me? Lovenheim realized he didn’t and decided to something about it. He decided he was going to sleepover neighbor’s homes in order to get to know them better.What Lovenheim should have taken into account is that, not everyone cares to â€Å"connect,† with his or her neighbors; others may simply just not have the time. And finally with the technology today, our â€Å"neighborhood† has grown to be more then the surrounding blocks near our home. Since when does living next door to someone automatically mean they have to be involved in your life? Lovenheim claims that, â€Å"Property lines isolate us from the people we are physically closets† to: our neighbors. (Lovenheim, 2008) When in reality it’s people that isolate themselves from other people.We all have freedom of choice. Just because you share an address, doesn’t mean you have anything in common with your neighbors. Starting a relationship with a person just because they live next door, is almost as idiotic as befriending someone just because they have a lot of money. Time is a huge factoring in life. People have to choose how much time to spend on different aspects of their lives based on priority, so sometimes time to make friends with neighbors is probably extremely low.Lovenheim asks, â€Å" Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount count airlines, and the Internet we often don’t know the people who live next door. † (Lovenheim, 2008) The answer to that question is that people are busy . For example a full time student, who also works, might not have a lot of time to get chummy with her neighbors. Or even a doctor who works the night shift at the hospital, or a new mom that’s focused on her newborn. Lastly, back in the day, your neighbors may have been important people in your life because they were all you knew.Most women stayed at home, so befriending neighbors wasn’t so shocking. Therefore it makes sense that in the 1950s neighborhood ties were way stronger. (Lovenheim, 2008) Today, with most men and women working there is even less likely of chance to get to know your neighbors. But, advances technologies has allowed us to extend our communities to further then just by our house. The Internet lets us keep in contact with friends and family that live far away. Social media allows people to know what going on with each other at all times.Even travel is easier with public transportation, cars, and planes allowing you to travel to almost anywhere. Wh ile it is possible to be isolated from the people who live the closets to you, what really matters is whether you choose to isolate yourself or not. With technology nowadays they is no reason to be disconnected from people; use your freedom on choice to â€Å"connect† with the people that matter most in your life. Use your time wisely and be open to extending your community with this new-wired world.

A Tale Of Two Theories Essays - Characters In Macbeth, Free Essays

A Tale Of Two Theories Essays - Characters In Macbeth, Free Essays A Tale Of Two Theories A Tale of Two Theories Macbeth(c.1607), written by William Shakespeare, is the tragic tale of Macbeth, a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. This tagedy could in fact be called A Tale of Two Theories. One theory suggests that the tragic hero, Macbeth, is led down an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in the form of the three witches. The second suggests that there is no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore makes him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall. It must be remembered that Macbethis a literary work of art, and as a peice of art is open to many different interpretations, none of them right and none of them wrong. But the text of the play seems to imply that Macbeth is indeed responsible for his own actions which are provoked by an unwillingness to listen to his own conscience, the witches, and his ambition. First, Macbeth ignores the voice of his own psyche. He knows what he is doing is wrong even before he murders Duncan, but he allows Lady Macbeth and greed to cloud his judgement. In referring to the idea of the murder of Duncan, Macbeth first states,We will proceed no further in this business(I.vii.32). Yet, after speaking with Lady Macbeth he recants and proclaims,I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat(I.vii.79-80). There is nothing supernatural to be found in a man being swayed by the woman he loves, as a matter of fact this action could be perceived as quite the opposite. Second, the witches have to be dispelled as a source of Macbeth's misfortune before the latter theory can be considered. It is admittedly strange that the weird sisters first address Macbeth with,All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!(I.iii.49), a title which not even Macbeth is aware he has been awarded. Even stranger is the third witch calling to Macbeth,All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!(I.iii.50). However as stated by Bradley,No connection of these announcements with any actions of his was even hinted by [the withches](232). Some are still not convinced though of the witches less than supernatural role; nevertheless, Macbeth appears throughout the play to be completely aware 3 of his actions, as opposed to being contolled by some mystic force. The effect of the witches on the action of the play is best summarized by these words: ...while the influences of the Witches' prophecies on Macbeth is very great, it is quite clearly shown to be an influnce and nothing more.(Bradley 232) Most important to the theory that Macbeth is reponsible for his own actions would be a point that the infamous witches and Macbeth agree upon. Such an element exists in the form of Macbeth's ambiton. In the soliloquy Macbeth gives before he murders Duncan, he states, ...I have no spur/To prick the sides of intent, but only/Vaulting ambition,...(I.vii.25-27). Are these the words of a man who is merely being led down a self dustructive path of doom, with no will of his own? Or are they the words of a man who realizes not only the graveness of his actions, but, also the reasons behind them? The answer is clear, Macbeth is a totally cognizant principal and not a mindless puppet. Later the head witch, Hecate, declares,Hath been but for a wayward son,/Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,/Loves for his own ends, not for you. (III.v.11-13), which again highlights Macbeth's ambitious nature. The most significant part of the play is the part that is missing, and that is a connection betwe en Macbeth's ambition and some spell cast by the weird sisters which might be said to magically cause an increase in his desires. While purposely played in a mysterious setting, the location is not meant to cloud the true theme of the play with the supernatural. Macbeth simply succumbs to natural urges which take him to a fate of his own making. Everyone has character flaws that he must live with; Macbeth simply allowed those flaws to destroy him. 3 Bibliography Bradley, A.C. The Witch Scenes in Macbeth. England in Literature. Ed. John Pfordesher, Gladys V. Veidemanis, and Helen McDonnell. Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1989. 232-233 Shekespeare, William. Macbeth. England in Literature. Ed. John Pfordesher,

The Effect of Organized Sport on Children

The Effect of Organized Sport on Children Free Online Research Papers It is obvious that the American society is obsessed with sports. All one needs to do to see this obsession is turn on the television and watch one of the dozens of twenty -four hour sports stations and commercials dedicated to sports. Still not convinced, then hop into your car and take a drive across any suburban American town and look at the parks and playing fields. They are full of adult and children athletes playing for leisure and competition. We, as adults, have made athletics into a billion dollar industry as spectators and participants. Our need for sports fuels our pride and self worth as Americans. However, organized youth sports in the U.S. are still a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to 1954, most organized sports in this country took place through social agencies such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, etc. (Seefelt Ewing, 1997). Since this time, the benefits provided by these activities have developed into private youth sports organizatio ns primarily run by volunteering adults. Does our obsession have a purpose? Do organized sports play a positive role in the lives of our children? At first thought, any red blooded American would say absolutely. But can we explain why and in what way organized sports benefit our children? Parents and coaches have alluded to the idea that sports are great for kids for decades, but when this comment is made it seems to be accepted without any question. In the following text we will discuss specific benefits from participation in organized sports including the physical, psychological, and academic impact of sport on children. We will also look at the research to see the concrete proof that organized sports play a vital role in the development of the youth of this country. Physical The most alarming issue facing the health of our country and specifically our children is the epidemic of childhood obesity. The infrastructure of our nation’s health care system will be tested as we see the first wave of obese children reach adulthood and deal with the related health issues. The scary facts are that the lifestyle and diet we promote is trickling down to the children of this country. Health issues that are linked to adult obesity are now becoming more and more common in children and teens. For example, type II diabetes was once considered adult on-set diabetes, but today the cases of children with type II diabetes is raising at an alarming rate. The estimated yearly cost of obesity in this country is estimated at around 61 billion dollars. With these issues facing the children of this country we need a cure right? Well a portion of that cure is located in organized sports. The solution is simple to stopping the trend of childhood obesity; eat less and be mo re active. Today children in this country are far less active than prior generations. Through childhood activity, we are not only saving our children from a life of obesity as adults but we are also potentially saving this country billions of dollars in missed days of work, dollars spent on health care, and rising disability rates. (Healthierchildren.org). In 1997, the CDC stated within its â€Å"Guidelines for Schools and Communities for Promoting Lifelong Physical Activity† that youth sports can promote positive behavior that can last a lifetime (Seefelt Ewing, 1997). Much debate has been discussed in the general public about the frequency and duration it takes for a child athlete to receive benefits from physical activity. Boys and girls who participate in just two 50 minute training sessions per week improved their aerobic capacity by 15% in just six months (Eppright, Sanfacon, Beck Bradley, 1996). How young is too young for involvement in organized sports? Children under the age of 5 are more than likely to receive from organized sports the simplest of benefits. For example, children at this age seem to enjoy the advancement in motor skills and interaction and not the competitive aspect of the activity (Eppright, Sanfacon, Beck Bradley, 1996). A study in Singapore showed that even preschoolers could benefit from involvement in organized sports. This study showed that preschoolers who participated in organized sports where stronger physically, socially, and emotionally developed than peers who were not evolved in organized sports at the preschool level (Nonis, 2004). As with adults over training is a serious issue. A 1980 study detailed the risks of over training with child athletes. There is points in training were growth actually may be retarded (McKeag, 1980). This extreme should not scare parents from allowing there children to participate in a appropriate level of physica l activity. Academics We live in a competitive world and as a culture it is our duty to prepare children for the competition. The benefits of organized sports reach farther than the playing fields and hardwood floors of our schools. Organized sport has the potential to also help our children in the realm of academia. Sports help us to prepare for a life filled with stiff competition. Organized athletics teach children to respect authority and to develop time management skills outside the classroom; to be able to balance the responsibilities of being a student and an athlete. The typical stereo-type of the â€Å"dumb athlete† couldn’t be any farther from the actual truth. Current research actually points to a relationship between organized athletics and higher academics. The lessons learned outside the classroom transfer directly into relationships with teachers and peers in an educational environment. The research points to a direct correlation between organized sports and higher development rates in academics. Athletics teach our children to master skills and to focus on the development of virtue over the outcome (Durrant, 2007)). This is a concept that parents and coaches since the dawn of sports have stressed. Organized sports teach life lessons of discipline, hard work, dedication, and how to push through adversity. But the stereotype of the â€Å"dumb jock† has also haunted organized sport as well. The truth is that students who participate in extra curricular activities including organized sports tend to be more academically equipped (Fredricks Eccles, 2006). It must be noted that students who participate in multiple extracurricular activities including those outside of organized sport seem to benefit the most academically. Psychological The average person knows that there is a positive feeling of self that comes from physical activity and exercise. From a physiological stand point we could say that this is caused by the body producing natural endorphins that just make us feel good for a short period of time following exercise. But the truth is through organized sport we build a sense of self worth, and accomplishment not present in exercise and physical activity alone. These positive feelings we feel following participation in organized sport are the direct result of putting hard work in and seeing the outcome for the whole group not just the individual. The truth is that sports give children an opportunity to develop self concept and how to express themselves within a group. It seems that this is a natural need that even children who do not participate in organized sports have. For example, children in early elementary school are seen looking for situations to act out their competitive nature; competition becomes an independent social motive. Organized sports give these children an outlet for this natural behavior (Eppright, Sanfacon, Beck Bradely, 1996) As health professionals, it is our job to promote behavior that will increase quality of life and educate Americans on the risk taken in certain behaviors, yet in this country today our children are living lives of risk. Our children are putting themselves at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, adult obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc. Extracurricular activities including organized sports have a direct impact on decreasing risky behavior by children. This can mainly be explained due to the type of peers a child associates with on a regular basis. If a child participates in extracurricular activities his or her choice of friends is likely to be from the pool of children that participate in the given extracurricular activity. Peers who are involved in extracurricular activities tend to be more academically conscience and less likely to live lifestyles promoting risky behavior (Fredricks Eccles, 2006). If a child is surrounding them selves with responsi ble peers risky behavior is likely being decreased. In American society today it seems antisocial behavior is accepted, we claim that it’s just a phase or that it’s alright to just be who we are. While both of these may be true, a healthy person is a pro-social person who can function in main stream society. So what role can organized sport play in creating positive pro-social behaviors in children? Children who have been involved in organized sport tend to be more pro-social than their counterparts who have not been exposed to organized sport at an early age. Sports have been used with some success with improving adults and children with antisocial issues, but no clear evidence has shown sports as an effective treatment for antisocial behavior issues (Duncan, 2004). Organized sports may not have a place in treatment of children with antisocial issues but it is clear that children who have been exposed to sports at an early age are less likely to have antisocial disorders. Organized sports participation has been proven to lower scores in the areas of externalizing problems, social problems, aggression problems, and delinquency problems (Donaldson Ronan, 2006). The number one psychological issue in the life of a child or young adult is the idea of self worth or self concept. The easiest way to define self concept is how do I feel about myself? What kind of self worth do I have? Various researchers have pointed to self concept as the variable with the most potential to reflect the most positive psychological gains (Sonstroem Morgan, 1988). Researchers have found a positive relationship between organized or formal sports and a positive concept of self (Donaldson Ronan, 2006). The strength of self concept is built through the knowledge that I, as a person on my own, can finish what I start. I, as a person, can put my mind to a given task and perform that task with the skill I have learned through hard work. And most of all, I can contribute to the group giving us overall success. The large focus of research in the health and sport community has focused on the benefits of organized sport, but can children receive the same social benefits from relatively unorganized sports activities? The answer to this question seems to be that children do not benefit from the same life skills that come from organized sports. Organized sports do create an environment where we learn to exist within the team concept. The world of organized sport appeals to young people who are drawn to the team concept and have a positive view of authority and the group concept. However, the earlier children are involved in organized athletics the more likely they are to be attracted to these sports as a adolescent (Donaldson Ronon, 2007). Many have witnessed the out of control parent at a little league game or a child who participates in too many activities and gives up a sport at a later age. These are examples of the negative impact of youth sports. The negative impact of youth sports is a real and valid concern. The psychological benefits of youth sports are just as great for the child who grows up to have nothing to do with competitive athletics (McKeag, 1980). Conclusion The proof is in the research, organized sports provide positive benefits. Physically, children who participate in organized sport are less likely to develop asthma and diabetes as adults. Academically, children who participate in organized sports are more likely to excel in the classroom. Socially, children who participate in organized sport are less likely to suffer from depression and less likely to participate in antisocial high risk behavior. With all the positives involved, why do we see so many states and individual school districts cutting funds and opportunities for children to participate in organized childhood sports? It is vital that we fight to not only keep childhood sports a priority in our primary schools but also expand those programs. As parents we must take it on ourselves to give our children every chance to benefit from organized youth sports, even if it means taking time out of our own busy schedules to volunteer. As Americans we cannot afford to see a day when o rganized sports are limited to only those families who can afford to pay for their children to participate in them. In order for organized sport to become a priority in this country, we as health professionals must educate the public on the positives and how they translate to the long term financial and social benefits for our country. Donaldson, S., Ronan,K. (2006 Summer). The Effecs of Sports Participation on Young Adolescents’ Emotional Well-being. Adolescence, 41(162), 369-389. Duncan, S., Duncan, T., Strycker, L., Chaumeton, N. (March 3, 2002). Relations Beween Youth Antisocial and Prosocial Activites, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 25 (5) 425-438. Durant, S. (2007 Summer). Raising Successful and Emotionally Healthy Children in a Competitive World. Independent School, 66(4), 116-116. Eppright, T., Sanfacon, J., Beck, N., Bradley, J. (December 23, 1996). Sports Psychiatry in Childhood and Adolescence: An Overview, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 28(2), 71-86. McKeag, D. (1980). Sports and the Young Athlete: A Family Practice Perspective, Sports and the Young Athlete, 3-16. Nonis, K. (November 2005). Kindergarten Teachers’ View About the Importance of Preschoolers’ Partcipation in Sports in Singapore. Early Child Development and Care, 175(7-8), 719-742. Seefeldt, V., Ewing, M., (September 1997). Youth Sports in America, President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest, 2(11), 2-14. Research Papers on The Effect of Organized Sport on ChildrenEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Effects of Illegal Immigration19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceHip-Hop is ArtPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andTwilight of the UAWMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product