mercredi 30 novembre 2011

Impact of TV on kids

It is known that watching television is the favorite activity for children. They can spend hours in front of the screen enjoying what they see. Then the obvious question is the following: what are the effects of TV programs on children? Through this blog article, I will try to bring answers for this question and analyze this serious issue.
       Television viewing has strong effects on health and comportment in young publics. It decreases physical movement and has negative consequences on obesity and temperament. Moreover, it reduces attention with effects on long and short-time intellectual roles. Some studies show that TV watching restricts the development of some talents in children, changing also the electrical activity of the brain. The appearances of movie language which effect emotive reactions more than thinking can be powerfully undesirable for kids. This is particularly obvious for preschool youngsters.
An experiment was conducted on 122 10-year-old children (69 boys and 53 girls) attending a homegrown basic institute. The study was accepted by the ethics commission of the University of Siena. Before the start of the test, kids were given complete material on the investigational process, and their parents signed an informed agreement. The experimentation involved a 5-min hearing test conferring to the procedure of auditory vigilance test (AVT). Applicants were experienced in similar environmental and physiological situations. Each one sat in a relaxed lolling chair, in front of a TV monitor with the forefinger of his leading hand on the key of an adapted laptop keyboard. Before the beginning of the research children were given detailed commands on the experimental technique. The AVT was used to study the member's aptitude to preserve a tolerable level of reaction to boring repetitive signs (vigilance). Every topic was offered with monotonous aural incentives (for example: DI-DA-DI-DA) and he/she had to drive the key when the series arbitrarily changed (for example: DI-DI-DA-DA). Participants were separated into three groups: Group 1 (41 subjects) achieved two tests: 1) Sound only test (SO): themes completed AVT for 5 min in front of the TV screen, which persisted blank. During this period, contributors could listen to the speeches and music of the film “Window Cleaners” (animation, Walt Disney Pictures, 1940; printed film format: DVD, 2006 edition) in the contextual (TV volume: medium level), but no image appeared on the screen. 2) Black and white animation quiz (BW): 30 days later, a 5-min TV movie in black and white was shown to the participants, who were wished to perform an AVT. The movie was “Bee at the Beach” (animation, Walt Disney Pictures, 1950; printed film format: DVD, 2006 edition). Group 2 (28 subjects) performed two tests: 1) Sound only test (SO): subjects performed AVT for 5 min in front of the TV screen, which continued outright. During this period, participants could listen to voice and music of the film “Window Cleaners” in the background (TV volume: medium level), but no picture acted on the screen. 2) Color cartoon test (CC): 30 days later, a 5-min TV movie in color arrangement was exposed to the applicants, who were demanded to do an AVT. The movie was “Bee at the Beach” (animation, Walt Disney Pictures, 1950; printed film format: DVD, 2006 edition). When associating SO examination with both BW and CC tests, an important rise in mutually RT and number of mistakes was current. In study 1, a major dissimilarity is present between SO tests of groups 1 and 2, revealing a base dissimilarity of the two cohorts. Response time and faults augmented in both groups 1 and 2 during the film. The growth was chiefly apparent relating T1 with T2. During the SO test, faults are largely “false reactions”, but in BW and CC tests, errors are more frequent and they are mostly “omissions”.
 (Distracting effect of TV watching on children's reactivity)
Unfortunately, kids will never change this habit and love television like a member of their own family. According to Bart Simpson, a character from the cartoon THE SIMPSONS: “It's just hard not to listen to TV: it's spent so much more time raising us than you have.” (http://www.zona-pellucida.com/media.html)
Distracting effect of TV watching on children's reactivity European Journal of Pediatrics; Sep2010, Vol. 169 Issue 9, p1075-1078, 4p, 2 Charts, 2 Graphs  Dipartimento di Pediatria, Ostetricia e Medicina della Riproduzione, Università di Siena, Siena, Italy:Carlo Belleni , Fontani Giulio,Franco C.

mercredi 16 novembre 2011

Cinema

                 Cinema is an art; it is the best way to send messages and to play with public’s emotions. The first movies have been projected in the 1930s.The standard technique of projection from the earliest times involved inserting the projector at the back of the gallery and projecting the image on to the monitor in a cone of light over the heads of the spectators. At the beginning, films were observed as principally brief and little effort was made to preserve them once they reached the end of their commercial life. This period of cinema is also known for its silent films. To appreciate a silent film in the form in which it was originally seen by audiences, it is necessary to have the exceptional ability of seeing an original print, and even then it has to be recognized that each copy of a film has its own unique history and every presentation will vary according to which print is being exposed and under what circumstances. Different projection, different music, the probable absence of an complementary live show or light effects, mean that the modern showing of silent films offers only a rough estimate of what silent film broadcast was like for audiences at the time.( The Early Years Origins and Survival, PAOLO CHERCHI USAI,1996)
         Through this blog article, I will discuss the films that I have appreciated the most. One of the movies that marked me is Hannibal Lector. I liked Anthony Hopkins’s performance in the three movies of this trilogy. Basically, the hero is a boy that were obliged to eat his little sister after seeing his parents dying during war period. After that, he has studied medicine and once he has finished his studies, he has killed the men that obliged him to eat his sister. Since Hannibal lector is very brilliant he became very rich later. I adored these movies because they are intelligent movies, after hours of seeing them, I was still thinking of what happened and what could have happened. It is the best film series that I have ever seen. Another movie that marked me is Remember Me. After sympathizing us with the hero, and after telling a love story of two young people during the whole movie, the scenarist refuted terrorism, and the 11 of September 2001. His main goal was to affect emotionally the audience and he achieved that. The message of the movie is that people that were killed during that attack are mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends and mostly innocent people.
        The best movies are from Hollywood, and the best actors are Americans such as Natalie Portman, Brad Pitt, or Tom Hanks. My favorite actor is Anthony Hopkins, when it comes to talk about retirement; this is what Anthony Hopkins saysTo be still working at 64, when most people retire, is an extraordinary gift”. I like another quote from Hopkins which is the following “I think creativity can be as pain-free as possible. You can create and still have a good life”. (Sunday, February 21 2010, interview done by Alex Simon, the Hollywood flash back interview).Cinema is also known for its good soundtracks such as Titanic theme song, Only time in Sweet November and so on .Unfortunately, the quality of Movies in Morocco is very bad. There is no creativity, no good actors, and no cinema culture. I hope that the situation will change, and that someday, Morocco will become a good country of cinema.
Sources: 1)http://thehollywoodinterview.blogspot.com/2010/02/anthony-hopkins-hollywood-flashback.html Sunday, February 21 2010, interview done by Alex Simon, the Hollywood flash back interview.
2) The Early Years Origins and Survival, PAOLO CHERCHI USAI,1996
The Oxford History of World Cinema (EDITED BYGEOFFREY NOWELL-SMITH),Oxford University Press (1996)

mercredi 26 octobre 2011

Economy in Morocco

        In order to talk about the economy in Morocco, we must check different points. To see if an economy is either good or bad we take into consideration four major things that are the rate of unemployment, the rate of inflation, the rate of growth and the external balance of trade balance. This process is called the magic square of Kaldor.  It is called Kaldor in reference to the builder of this theory, the economist Nicholas Kaldor. To say that the health of an economy in a country is good we must have a rate of growth at least greater than 0, a financial surplus concerning the external trade balance, a small rate of unemployment , and a rate of inflation between 0 and 2.5%. The major force of Morocco in economy is Phosphates; Morocco is ranked first in the world regarding Phosphates production.
(Economywatch.com 30/03/2010).
       According to oxford dictionary of economics, unemployment is the inability to obtain a job when one is willing and able to work. In Morocco, the rate of unemployment in 2011 is about 9, 1%.There is a phenomenon in Morocco that explains this big rate. In fact, Directors of companies prefer hire people from their family rather than young graduates that have better competences. According to the same dictionary, Inflation means a persistent tendency for prices and money wages to increase. In Morocco the rate of inflation is about 2.5%.The rate of growth is an economic indicator that measures the growth of a country between two years. The rate of growth in Morocco in 2011 is about 5%.The rate of inflation and growth show that Morocco is developing economically. Morocco gives a lot of importance to growth as Mr Mezouar, the minister of economy in Morocco said in a conference:’ our aim and emphasis in the draft budget for 2011 are to spur growth and growth and more growth’. (Africagoodnews.com 22/10/2010). Trade balance is the external exchange of a country with other countries. In Morocco, it is a chronic problem since Morocco exports only products with low value added. In 2011, the deficit is more than 16, 8 Billion MAD.
Sources: statistics From: l’opinion.ma (04/02/2011), tradingeconomics.com

mercredi 5 octobre 2011

Olympique Marseille


       Olympique Marseille is a French soccer club that has been founded in 1899 by René Dufaure De Montmiral. The club has in his possession nine championships, two league cups, two champions trophy and ten national cups. It is the most popular soccer club in France because in 1993, Olympique Marseille has won the European Champions’ league .It is the only French club that has won this prestigious competition so far. The team plays in Velodrome Stadium, and it is considered a as an historical monument in France. The majority of Marseille’s citizens are Olympique Marseille fans; the club is almost a religion for them.A lot of big players have played for the club such as Franck Ribéry, Samir Nasri,Didier Drogba ,Mamadou Niang.
    The figure that has marked the club is Bernard Tapie because he was the president of the club during the gold period in 1993.he was able to build a strong team with the best players of the moment such as Ruddi voller , Didier Deschamps or Basile Boli. Olympique Marseille of 1993 was like FC Barcelona in 2011 according to some specialists. Unfortunately, Mr Tapie used non legal ways to achieve his goals. He was accused of corruption, and spent ten months in jail. Because of its implication in politic, Bernard Tapie is also a figure that is important for all the French people.When Bernard Tapie talked to the media, it was like if he were an international singer. (Economist,5/12/2001)
    Currently, Olympique Marseille lives a paradoxical situation. The club is ranked 13th in the French league, and first in his European champions’ league group composed by Arsenal, Olympiacos and Borussia Dordtmund. After the victory against Borussia Dortmund , Didier Dechamps, the current O.M. coach admitted  for Goal.com,the 28th of September that “We are happy tonight because we beat a good team. We had some luck both in attack and defense. We had that luck on our side tonight that has not been the case so far this season. The team has players coming from different countries such as Argentina, Ghana, or Cameroon. The club owner is Margarita Louis Dreyfus, rich Russian women that has inherited the club from his dead husband.
                                    Sources:Goal.com( 28 September 2012,Salvador Landolina)
                                                                                       Economist(5/12/2001)                           
                                                                                lephocéen.fr(September ,October 2011)