Organizational Philosophies and Technology paper Essay

Organizational Philosophies and Technology paper - Essay Example But with the more recent technological developments as well as reduced trade blockades, growth in trade is definitely on the rise. Developing counties have also stepped on this bandwagon, extracting the best out of their own respective economies through trade internationally as well as locally - within the country. The integration of trade into the world economy has really proved helpful for the developing countries as they can promote economic growth, development as well as poverty reduction within themselves. Companies which are ready to use technology are thus the ones who have found success in all relevant quarters of their business. With this technological incorporation, they have been able to look at the ethical side of things as well since the moral grounds have been set in a proper manner and there are as such no apprehensions to state the least in the present times. A business can move from a position of stability to one of a complete unstable stance as it acquires different means of gathering the market and its driving factors that come along with it. The firm has to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about technological innovations so as to meet the ethical guidelines and best practices which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. The work culture can be developed in a manner which suits the interests of the organization in the best form possible. For this to happen, it is necessary to understand that technology has got an immense role to play in the related equation. We must understand that we live in a global world where technology has of late been instrumental at dramatically changing the way we perceive the events

Media Log Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Media Log - Essay Example There have been several improvements in the legal standing of the gay and lesbian community, however, it is in a slow pace. The laws concerning them are dragging in the legislation department to be approved. Although the society recognizes their existence, the gay and lesbian community now seeks to enjoy the same rights and privileges that the heterosexual people have. The Stonewall event commemorates and reminds the people the stand and the clamors of the gay and lesbian community, that they, too, are human beings who deserve a fair position in the society. They, too, are humans, and deserve to be treated as such. They, too, have rights the same as the heterosexual community. The gay and lesbian community deserves to be included in the many laws against discrimination and other laws that prevent them from exercising their rights. There is a need to further educate the lawmakers in revising laws in order to accommodate the needs and the rights of the gay and lesbian community. This article tackles the issues that the same-sex encounter in their plight to be accepted as legal partners, same as legal marriages of the heterosexual community. It brings out in the open the voices of the children of gay parents wherein they have also been in the middle of the fight towards their parents’ plea to legalize their marriages. The gay and lesbian community’s children insist that the same sex marriage will not only benefit adults but it will also provide the children equal benefits and privileges as the children from heterosexual marriages. The children’s worries center on issues of custody, financial aid and visitation rights. For example, there is no legal child support requirement in the event one partner leaves the child in care with the other. Another example cited is in the event when one of the gay parents is sick, the

The Measure of a Man Essay Example for Free

The Measure of a Man Essay First and foremost I think that it’s important for us to stop and reflect on what it truly means to be a man. With majority of our young men dropping into crime and violence, as well as dropping out of school, it’s important that we understand how each and every one of us can make a difference in changing this pattern in their minds. In one of Dr. King’s speeches he challenges the young men of our society to rethink their understanding and definition on what it means to be a man. Dr. King stated that, â€Å"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.† In this statement it is implied but not expressed that the belief of manhood is not defined by your outward maleness, but by the development of your character on the inside. If everything in your life was perfect or if you wasn’t being challenged then you would be a man. As the great Dr. King said, â€Å"The true test is how you respond and react to the challenges in your own life, as well as the challenges that are around you on a day to day base. You can accept this challenge from Dr. King because he was not just a man of his word he also practiced what he preached. Dr. King not only devoted his life to this nation and the world, Dr. King ultimately gave his life because he wouldn’t accept the suffering, inhumanity as well as the injustice that was around him. Dr. King was not just a man in his home; he was a man in this nation, this nation, this world and his community. He tried to stop the suffering that he saw around him, he took a stand when he witnessed injustice, he spoke out while others remained silent in the mist of discrimination and segregation, and he offered his love when majority was consumed by hatred for black people. Today as we look upon the landscape of Gary Indiana, you will realize that you are faced with the same test that Dr. King passed. There is a crisis of violence that is threatening the safety of every community. There are children who don’t want to try to reach their full potential in school or in life. Dr. King deeply believed that your greatest and highest obligation is your service to other people. Dr. King saw service as a testament of your religion. His challenge for you is that you must be committed in serving others. As well as being committed in serving the youth of your community and others.

Machine Learning In Medical Applications Health And Social Care Essay

Machine Learning In Medical Applications Health And Social Care Essay Machine Learning (ML) aims at providing computational methods for accumulating, changing and updating knowledge in intelligent systems, and in particular learning mechanisms that will help us to induce knowledge from examples or data. Machine learning methods are useful in cases where algorithmic solutions are not available, there is lack of formal models, or the knowledge about the application domain is poorly defined. The fact that various scientific communities are involved in ML research led this scientific field to incorporate ideas from different areas, such as computational learning theory, artificial neural networks, statistics, stochastic modeling, genetic algorithms and pattern recognition. Therefore, ML includes a broad class of methods that can be roughly classified in symbolic and subsymbolic (numeric) according to the nature of the manipulation which takes place whilst learning. 2.Technical discussion Machine Learning provides methods, techniques, and tools that can help solving diagnostic and prognostic problems in a variety of medical domains. ML is being used for the analysis of the importance of clinical parameters and of their combinations for prognosis, e.g. prediction of disease progression, for the extraction of medical knowledge for outcomes research, for therapy planning and support, and for overall patient management. ML is also being used for data analysis, such as detection of regularities in the data by appropriately dealing with imperfect data, interpretation of continuous data used in the Intensive Care Unit, and for intelligent alarming resulting in effective and efficient monitoring. It is argued that the successful implementation of ML methods can help the integration of computer-based systems in the healthcare environment providing opportunities to facilitate and enhance the work of medical experts and ultimately to improve the efficiency and quality of medical care. Below, we summarize some major ML application areas in medicine. Medical diagnostic reasoning is a very important application area of computer-based systems (Kralj and Kuka, 1998; Strausberg and Person, 1999; Zupan et al., 1998). In this framework, expert systems and modelbased schemes provide mechanisms for the generation of hypotheses from patient data. For example, rules are extracted from the knowledge of experts in the expert systems. Unfortunately, in many cases, experts may not know, or may not be able to formulate, what knowledge they actually use in solving their problems. Symbolic learning techniques (e.g. inductive learning by examples) are used to add learning, and knowledge management capabilities to expert systems (Bourlas et al., 1996). Given a set of clinical cases that act as examples, learning in intelligent systems can be achieved using ML methods that are able to produce a systematic description of those clinical features that uniquely characterize the cli nical conditions. This knowledge can be expressed in the form of simple rules, or often as a decision tree. A classic example of this type of system is KARDIO, which was developed to interpret ECGs (Bratko et al., 1989). This approach can be extended to handle cases where there is no previous experience in the interpretation and understanding of medical data. For example, in the work of Hau and Coiera (Hau and Coiera, 1997) an intelligent system, which takes real-time patient data obtained during cardiac bypass surgery and then creates models of normal and abnormal cardiac physiology, for detection of changes in a patients condition is described. Additionally, in a research setting, these models can serve as initial hypotheses that can drive further experimentation. 2.1 Methodology In this section we propose a new algorithm called REMED (Rule Extraction for MEdical Diagnostic). The REMED algorithm includes three main steps: 1) attributes selection, 2) selection of initial partitions, and finally 3) rule construction. 2.1.1 Attributes Selection For the first step we consider that in medical practice the collection of datasets is often expensive and time consuming. Then, it is desirable to have a classifier that is able to reliably diagnose with a small amount of data about the patients. In the first part of REMED we use simple logistic regression to quantify the risk of suffering the disease with respect to the increase or decrement of an 574attribute. We always use high confidence levels (>99%) to select attributes that are really significant and to guarantee the construction of more precise rules. Other important aspect to mention is that depending on the kind of association established (positive or negative) through the odds ratio metric, we build the syntax with which each attributes partition will appear in the rules system. This part of the algorithm is shown in the top of figure 1. 2.1.2 Partitions Selection The second part of REMED comes from the fact that if an attribute x has been statistically significant in the prediction of a disease, then its mean x (mean of the values of the attribute) is a good candidate as initial partition of the attribute. We sort the examples by the attributes value and from the initial partition of each attribute, we search the next positive example (class = 1) in the direction of the established association. Then, we calculate a new partition through the average between the value of the found example and the value of its predecessor or successor. This displacement is carried out only once for each attribute. This can be seen in the middle part of figure 1. 2.1.3 Rules Construction In the last part of the algorithm, we build a simple rule system of the following way: if (ei,1 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ p1) and (ei,j à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ pj ) and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and (ei,m à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ pm) then class = 1 else class = 0 where ei,j denotes the value of attribute j for example i, pj denotes the partition for attribute j and the relation à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ or à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ depends on the association attribute-disease. With this rule system we make a first classification. We then try to improve the accuracy of our system by increasing or decreasing the value of each partition as much as possible. For this we apply the bisection method and calculate possible new partitions starting with the current partition of each attribute and the maximum or minimum value of the examples for this attribute. We build a temporal rule system changing the current partition by each new partition and classify the examples again. We only consider a new partition if it diminishes the number of false positives (FP) but does not diminish the number of true positives (TP). This step is repeated for each attribute until we overcome the established convergence level for the bisection method or the current rule system is not able to decrease the number of FP (healthy persons diagnosed incorrectly). This part of the algorithm is exemplified at the bottom of figure 1. We can appreciate that the goal of REMED is to maximize the minority class accuracy at each step, first selecting the attributes that are strongly associated with the positive class. Then stopping the search of the partition that better discriminates both classes in the first positive example, and finally trying to improve the accuracy of the rule system but without diminishing the number of TP (sick persons diagnosed correctly). 3. Machine learning in complementary medicine 3.1 Kirlian effect a scientific tool for studying subtle energies The history of the so called Kirlian effect, also known as the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) technique (a wider term that includes also some other techniques is bioelectrography), goes back to 1777 when G.C. Lihtenberg in Germany recorded electrographs of sliding discharge in dust created by static electricity and electric sparks. Later various researches contributed to the development of the technique (Korotkov, 1998b): Nikola Tesla in the USA, J.J. Narkiewich-Jodko in Russia, Pratt and Schlemmer in Prague until the Russian technician Semyon D. Kirlian together with his wife Valentina noticed that through the interaction of electric currents and photograph plates, imprints of living organisms developed on film. In 1970 hundreds of enthusiasts started to reproduce Kirlian photos an the research was until 1995 limited to using a photo-paper technique. In 1995 a new approach, based on CCD Video techniques, and computer processing of data was developed by Korotkov (1998a;b) and his team in St. Petersburg, Russia. Their instrument Crown-TV can be routinely used which opens practical possibilities to study the effects of GDV. The basic idea of GDV is to create an electromagnetic field using a high voltage and high frequency generator. After a thershold voltage is exceeded the ionization of gas around the studied object takes place and as a side effect the quanta of light { photons are emitted. So the discharge can be fixed optically by a photo, photo sensor or TV-camera. Various parameters in °uence the ionization process (Korotkov, 1998b): gas properties (gas type, pressure, gas content), voltage parameters (amplitude, frequency, impulse waveform), electrode parameters (configuration, distance, dust and moisture, macro and micro defects, electromagnetic field configuration) and studied object parameters (common impedance, physical fields, skin galvanic response, etc.). So the Kirlian effect is the result of mechanical, chemical, and electromagnetic processes, and field interactions. Gas discharge acts as means of enhancing and visualization of super-weak processes. Due to the large number of parameters that in °uence the Kirlian effect it is very di ±cult or impossible to control them all, so in the development of discharge there is always an element of vagueness or stochastic. This is one of the reasons why the technique has not yet been widely accepted in practice as results did not have a high reproducibility. All explanations of the Kirlian effect apprehended  °uorescence as the emanation of a biological object. Due to the low reproducibility, in academic circles there was a widely spread opinion that all observed phenomena are nothing else but  °uctuation of the crown discharge without any connection to the studied object. With modern technology, the reproducibility became su ±cent to enable serious scientific studies. Besides studying non-living objects, such as water and various liquids (Korotkov, 1998b), minerals, the most widely studied are living organisms: plants (leafs, seeds, etc. (Korotkov and Kouznetsov, 1997; Korotkov, 1998b)), animals (Krashenuk et al., 1998), and of course humans. For humans, most widely recorded are coronas of fingers (Kraweck, 1994; Korotkov, 1998b), and GDV records of blood excerpts (Voeikov, 1998). Principal among these are studies of the psycho-physiological state and energy of a human, diagnosis (Gurvits and Korotkov, 1998), reactions to some medicines, reactions to various substances, food (Kraweck, 1994), dental treatment (Lee, 1998), alternative healing treatment, such as acupuncture, bioenergy, homeopathy, various relaxation and massage techniques (Korotkov, 1998b), GEM therapy, applied kineziology and  °ower essence treatment (Hein, 1999), leech therapy, etc., and even studying the GDV images after death (Korotkov, 1998a). There are many studies currently going on all over the world and there is no doubt that the human subtle energy field, as vizualized using the GDV technique, is highly correlated to the humans psycho-physiological state, and can be used for diagnostics, prognostics, theraphy selection, and controling the effects of the therapy. 4.Limitation M. Schurr, from the Section for Minimal Invasive Surgery of the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen, gave an invited talk on endoscopic techniques and the role of ML methods in this context. He referred to current limitations of endoscopic techniques, which are related to the restrictions of access to the human body, associated to endoscopy. In this regard, the technical limitations include: restrictions of manual capabilities to manipulate human organs through a small access, limitations in visualizing tissues and restrictions in getting diagnostic information about tissues. To alleviate these problems, international technology developments focus on the creation of new manipulation techniques involving robotics and intelligent sensor devices for more precise endoscopic interventions. It is acknowledged that this new generation of sensor devices contributes to the development and spread of intelligent systems in medicine by providing ML methods with data for further processing. Cu rrent applications include suturing in cardiac surgery, and other clinical fields. It was mentioned that particular focus is put by several research groups on the development of new endoscopic visualizing and diagnostic tools. In this context, the potentials of new imaging principles, such as fluorescence imaging or laser scanning microscopy, and machine learning methods are very high. The clinical idea behind these developments is early detection of malignant lesions in stages were local endoscopic therapy is possible. Technical developments in this field are very promising, however, clinical results are still pending and ongoing research will have to clarify the real potential of these technologies for clinical use. Moustakis and Charissis work (Moustakis and Charissis, 1999) surveyed the role of ML in medical decision making and provided an extensive literature review on various ML applications in medicine that could be useful to practitioners interested in applying ML methods to improve the efficiency and quality of medical decision making systems. In this work the point of getting away from the accuracy measures as sole evaluation criteria of learning algorithms was stressed. The issue of comprehensibility, i.e. how well the medical expert can understand and thus use the results from a system that applies ML methods, is very important and should be carefully considered in the evaluation. 5.Improvement Conclusion The workshop gave the opportunity to researchers working in the ML field to get an overview of current work of ML in medical applications and/or gain understanding and experience in this area. Furthermore, young researchers had the opportunity to present their ideas, and received feedback from other workers in the area. The participants acknowledged that the diffusion of ML methods in medical applications can be very effective in improving the efficiency and the quality of medical care, but it still presents problems that are related to both theory and applications. From a theoretic point of view, it is important to enhance our understanding of ML algorithms as well as to provide mathematical justifications for their properties, in order to answer fundamental questions and acquire useful insight in the performance and behavior of ML methods. On the other hand, some major issues which concern the process of learning knowledge in practice are the visualization of the learned knowledge, the need for algorithms that will extract understandable rules from neural networks, as well as algorithms for identifying noise and outliers in the data. The participants also mentioned some other problems that arise in ML applications and should be addressed, like the control of over fitting and the scaling properties of the ML methods so that they can apply to problems with large datasets, and high-dimensional input (feature) and output (classes-categories) spaces. A recurring theme in the recommendations made by the participants was the need for comprehensibility of the learning outcome, relevance of rules, criteria for selecting the ML applications in the medical context, the integration with the patient records and the description of the appropriate level and role of intelligent systems in healthcare. These issues are very complex, as technical, organizational and social issues become intertwined. Previous research and experience suggests that the successful implementation of information systems (e.g., (Anderson, 1997; Pouloudi, 1999)), and decision support systems in particular (e.g., (Lane et al., 1996; Ridderikhoff and van Herk, 1999)), in the area of healthcare relies on the successful integration of the technology with the organizational and social context within which it is applied. Medical information is vital for the diagnosis and treatment of patients and therefore the ethical issues presented during its life cycle are critical. Understanding these issues becomes imperative as such technologies become pervasive. Some of these issues are system-centered, i.e., related to the inherent problems of the ML research. However, it is humans, not systems, who can act as moral agents. This means that it is humans that can identify and deal with ethical issues. Therefore, it is important to study the emerging challenges and ethical issues from a human-centered perspective by considering the motivations and ethical dilemmas of researchers, developers and medical users of ML methods in medical applications.

Feared Drowned :: essays research papers

Favorite Poem I picked the poem â€Å"Feared Drowned† by Sharon Olds as my favorite poem because it reminds me of a hard time that I had to overcome in my life. Once in my lifetime, I found this one perfect person who I fell in love with and lived happily ever after. Yeah, in reality this did not happen. Yes, we did have common interests and therefore developed romantic involvement. Real life relationships are more like "The Real World" rather than "Romeo and Juliet". It was a fact of life that couples do break up. In my freshman year of college I lost someone very special. My girlfriend at that time broke up with me but she still wanted to be friends. We had been in a relationship for about 4 years and all of a sudden everything started to fall apart. I could not figure out how that could be possible to be friends still. I always thought once you break up that’s it you go your way and I go my way. I didn’t really want to be friends with her. I was ready to move on with life but she kept coming back to me. Although, I didn’t look at her the same way I used to but she still wanted talk on the phone and go out. Growing apart was the reason for our break-up. This was an instance where we just did not feel attracted to each other anymore and that resulted in an end of relationship. She started talking to another guy and I started talking to this one girl and we came to the conclusion that we should break-up before anything bad happened such as losing trust in one another and this could hurt our relationships forever. Now I have overcame that tough time and I am still friends with my ex-girlfriend.

Students Rights :: essays research papers

Student's Rights by Q.T.M. McConnell Are you in the mood for some good reading? The other day I was in the Guidance Office looking for guidance when I saw an unassuming three page packet. Having nothing else to do, I picked one up and began reading. I learned that the name of this little manual is the Student's Rights and Responsibilities Bill. I thought to myself, "my, what a great place is La Follette, that I can simply walk into my guidance office and learn my rights as a student. But wait, why must I pursue this information on my own? Why isn't this information in my handy handbook issued to me at the beginning of the school year? I ought to read this!" So I read. Soon I realized why our School Board may not want students realizing what we are actually entitled to. Right away in the Preamble, it states "students have the responsibility to respect rights of all persons involved in the educational process and exercise the highest degree of self- discipline in observing and adhering to legitimate rules." The first thing I thought was "WOW! That sounds great! The School Board really trusts me as a free-thinking individual to respect people and be respected. I love this school!" But wait. Before we all stage an "I love Cheryl Wilhoyte" love-fest, let's take a look at what these "legitimate rules" are, particularly as they apply to freedom of speech, expression, and something they like to call "material disruption of the educational environment." The first item on the list is literature, specifically a student's right to post it. It reads "Students shall have the right to post any literature of a non-commercial nature without prior censorship or approval by the Administration or School Board in any designated posting area, provided, however, the designated representative shall be accorded the right to remove posted material s/he considers obscene, libelous or will cause material disruption to the educational environment." Let's stop and think a bit. I have the right to post whatever I want so long as my Administrators agree with it? Whose rights are we really talking about here? Well, I began to think and it occurred to me that maybe my Administrators and School Board representatives aren't so concerned that I express myself however I like. But, I can see their point; after all, I probably wouldn't want fifteen hundred students posting whatever they wanted to either. They might start to see the world outside these walls. I proceeded reading. The next civil liberties violation I came across is stated as such: "Students shall have the right to wear buttons.

Welfare: Who Does It Benefit

What happens if someone was to lose their job? What happens if there is not enough money at the end of the month? What happens if someone does not have enough money to feed their children? Luckily, there is a program that can help these people that fit in these categories. The name of this program is called The Welfare Reform. Being on welfare is nothing to be ashamed of. Many people feel that welfare benefits the poor, but that is not true at all. Welfare benefits those who are in need of it. In today’s economy, millions of former CEOs, presidents of companies, and business owners are now suffering severe pay cuts.Now, they may not be able support their families financially like they use to. They might have to turn to being on welfare to help their families. This example shows that welfare not only helps the less fortunate, but it helps everyone in need. My primary focus of this paper is to illustrate how welfare helps everyone, and it is nothing to be embarrassed about. Welf are Reform: The Untold Story was a very informative article about the use of the welfare reform. This article discussed the problems with the welfare legislation.It talks about how some people are abusing the welfare system. Also, it talks about how the welfare system has helped other major programs. A program that has been helped by the Welfare Reform is the funding of child care. It talks about what prompted the need of the Welfare Reform. It provides data on how long people are usually on welfare. The article talks about how minimum wage, child support, and a rise in income tax credit have benefited the people on welfare. The article also explains why numerous people on welfare got off the program.It talks about how welfare has affected teen pregnancy. Finally, it gives the reader the advantages and disadvantages brought by the Welfare Reform. Robert Cherry stated that, â€Å"But the strong economy and funding provisions of welfare legislation led almost all states to enhance ch ild care funding, provide tax subsidies to supplement wages, and to fund educational initiatives† (Cherry 79). In this statement alone can answer my soul purpose of the paper. That purpose was does the Welfare Reform benefit the poor? This statement gives the answer as yes, but while doing so; the WelfareReform has helped millions of people who are not poor. Another great point Robert Cherry made was, â€Å"During the economic expansion, the vast majority of welfare leavers found paid employment† (Cherry 81). This explains, while the economy is doing great; there are numerous people that are on welfare who are getting off. To go a little further, if the economy is not doing well, this is what caused people to turn towards welfare. Once again, this has supported the idea that welfare does not just benefit the less fortunate. Has the Welfare Reform benefited the poor?Yes, but while the reform was geared toward the people who fit the poor profile, however, it has benefited the very people who look down on welfare. Single working mothers are a group that does not fit the poor profile, but the Welfare Reform has helped them tremendously. Robert Cherry supported my claim by saying, â€Å"Today, if a single mother with two children earns $13,000, she qualifies for an earned income tax credit (EITC) of $4,000 at the federal level, and $900 at the state level in a number of states†(Cherry 81). With the tax credit, which is a part of the Welfare Reform; their yearly income has risen to over $ 17,000.The book Evaluating Food Assistance Programs in an Era of Welfare Reform: Summary of a Workshop gives information that many Americans do not know about. The book talks about the different programs that are within the Welfare Reform. It also talks about the work requirements that come with being on welfare. It also discusses the funds that are set aside for welfare. To elaborate on the different programs, the book not only gives us the names of the program , but the book goes in detail pertaining to the programs. The book talks about the research that was needed, so that there could be improvements for welfare.The editors discussed a program called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. â€Å"PRWORA emphasizes welfare to work concept, including time limits for assistance, strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, and increased funding for child care† (Evaluating vii). This shows that welfare does not mean taking care of lazy people. It is also saying that the states would benefit from those on welfare. This program gears to help people work, and to take care of themselves, so that is why there is a limit for assistance.The Food and Nutrition Service serves an enormous part to the Welfare Reform. The editors stated, â€Å"Today, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers 15 food assista nce programs. These programs feed one in six Americans, serving as a natural nutrition safety net for millions of children, working families, and elderly† (Evaluating 1). This material proves that people, who work still, need some assistance. It shows that this program feeds not only the less fortune, but it feeds working Americans also.It also shows that welfare knows no upper, middle, or lower class, but it helps Americans as a whole. I know there has been a previous attempt to help people in need, but that did not work because how the money was distributed to the families. The editors supported my claim by saying, â€Å"The previous program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), provided cash assistance directly to children and their families based on need, income, resources, family size, and family structure† (Evaluating 1). The problem with this program was because the cash was given directly to the families.This maybe the reason why many Americans starte d to believe welfare was a waste of money, and the money was not used for the right reasons. This also caused them to use stricter requirements, and caused PRWORA to come up with something else to replace the flaws. â€Å"PRWORA replaced AFDC with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides assistance and work opportunities to needy families by granting states the federal funds and wide flexibility to develop and implement their own welfare program† (Evaluating 1).The article Welfare Reform and Family Expenditures: How Are Single Mothers Adapting to the New Welfare and Work Regime provided information that I did not know. The article talks about the public welfare. It also put a light on single parents, but mainly the focus is on single mothers. The article gives graphs that illustrate single mother families, which the mother only has, a high school diploma. The graph also showed what kind of income was expected, depending on the other levels of education. The article also displays the xpenses of the needs needed in everyday life. The article also gives the reader a descriptive and multivariate analysis about expenditures. The authors stated that, â€Å"According to the U. S. Census Bureau (nd), the poverty rate among children in single-mother families declined from 54 percent in 1993 to 43 percent in 2005. This decline is due part to the economic boom of the 1900s and in part to such other factors as changes in tax and transfers programs† (Welfare Reform 371). This shows that while the economy is doing well, the poverty rate drops.This also shows that just because someone is living in a single parent home; it does not mean that they will be living inn poverty. I truly believe that the Welfare Reform does not encourage the welfare recipients to be on welfare. The authors supported my belief by saying, â€Å"A spate of policy changes in the 1990s shifted the focus of U. S. welfare policy from providing cash benefits for low-income single mothers to providing work incentives, and a range of supports for the working poor† (Welfare Reform 371).The government knows that life can be hard, and that is why the government created the Welfare Reform. The government encourages people to work, and to look for jobs. That is why government is making the attempt to provide help for those who need it. However, there is another side to the story. Receivers of welfare as a child has a negative outcome on the money earned as adults. People believe that the more welfare a young male receives as a child, the lower the same boy income will be as an adult.Living in a single-parent household while on welfare, the more likely a person is to have a criminal record. Also, many believe that children in households with higher income will do better in life. Some Americans believe that welfare encourages illegitimacy, and reducing illegitimacy is a more important goal in the Welfare Reform, than attempting to make si ngle mothers self-sufficient. It has been said that modern welfare is deeply flawed and misleading, and has become a recipe for a disastrous system of aid which harms rather than helps.Many believe that welfare reduces the work effort, promotes illegitimacy, and poverty prone single parent families. There are advantages and disadvantages about the Welfare Reform, but I truly believe that the good outweigh the bad. Millions have moved from welfare to work, and this absolute proof that welfare works for the better. But some critics does not believe that because they say a lot less people are receiving cash benefits, but a lot more have signed up for other programs, including food stamps, Medicaid, and disability benefits.Being on welfare does not determine what you will become in life. The Welfare Reform provides too many benefits for everyone; however, it is looked down by many of critics. Being realistic, everyone does not graduate from high school and college, for many different re asons; however, they do not need to suffer for that. Welfare is essential for providing aid for children. The true beneficiary of the Welfare reform is not the poor, but it is the children of America.