145com 1415 east extended essays web

East Extended Essays 2015 Abstracts

East Extended Essays 2015 3

NICK ALCHIN

GUY ROBERTS

The most valuable books are those that expand our horizons. They may answer interesting questions. More likely, they provide ways of thinking about everyday experiences that allow us to see ideas and issues that we would never have come across unaided. They allow us to look beyond the hurly-burly rush of everyday experience to see the power that a new conceptual lens can bring. This book is extraordinarily rich in precisely that way.

Work. Research. Excitement. Frustration. Relief. Accomplishment. These are just a few of the many words and feelings that come to mind when thinking about the IBDP extended essay.

What are the effects of migration in Armenia? What are the relative merits of adrenaline and cultural tourism? What is the link between optimism and academic achievement? How successful, from rehabilitative and punitive perspectives, are American prisons? What’s special about the flight of the shuttlecock? How can we model poker strategies?

Any one of these—and any other herein— is engaging; intriguing. Any one opens a world of scholarly exploration; and every one represents a remarkable learning journey for our Grade 12 students. There is a great deal to be proud of here.

So from fashion and female self-esteem, to why males commit crimes, from Stalin’s paranoia, to censorship in Art, the decline of the Mughal Empire and Theatre as a tool against oppression, you will find things here that will make you want to seek out the originals and read them.

Or perhaps even write one yourself.

As a group you spent over 7000 hours working on the extended essays, a task set by the IB to promote high-level research and writing skills and intellectual discovery. At UWCSEA East we ask for you to pursue your passion, to develop a relationship with a teacher who is your supervisor, and learn to be a self-manager. It is clear from what is collected here that you have excelled at all of these.

To celebrate the hard work you have put into your passion, we have collected the abstracts of all the class of 2015 extended essays. This gives everyone the chance to see the incredible ideas, research, writing and passion that you have invested in your extended essay.

In the separate selected essays volume, the essays reprinted in their entirety were selected by the departments because they believed the extended essays exemplified the drive, passion, writing and research, the commitment and excellence that the IB and UWCSEA East Campus asks for in approaching the task.

I hope when looking at the collected works, you will see that the IBDP extended essay is more than just a 4000 word research essay in a topic of your choice but a chance to pursue passion itself.

4

East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 1–STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

ABSTRACTS ENGLISH

BALI, PANUN

CHHABRA, PARTH

This essay explores the roles of the different female characters in The Lord of The Rings and explains how their presence impacts the idea of feminism. Although J.R.R.Tolkien has received criticism for his work being too anti-female, this essay explains exactly how the female characters influence their relationships with the other characters and thereby the plot of the story, and how feminism is promoted throughout the series. Moreover, the essay indicates that the impact of the female characters on the plot is significant in spite of these criticisms.

Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being are two distinctly modern novels that explore grief through their child protagonists. Where Foer’s Oskar is coping with the loss of his father post the tragic 9/11 attacks, Ozeki’s Nao faces displacement, bullying, and poverty, accompanied by the threat of her father’s suicide attempts.

Both novels examine this grief powerfully, intimately exploring the nuanced impact of these traumas upon its child protagonists and prompting the question: “Compare the ways in which Jonathan Safran Foer and Ruth Ozeki use their child protagonists to explore the nature of grief in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and A Tale for the Time Being respectively.”

Even though there are only four major female characters, each of these characters has a significant impact on the rest of the novel, effects that cannot be understated.

As such, the essay has been structured as per the effects of the women in the novel. The opening of the essay deals with how female and aristocratic stereotypes have been reflected in the series. Ideas are discussed that justify why the average reader believes the novel to be anti-feminist. However, most of the remaining part of the essay details the importance of the female characters including their moral strength, their power, and their impact on the romantic relationships present in the series.

Despite widespread belief towards the contrary, Tolkien did in fact uphold profeminist ideals throughout the novel. The roles of the females in the novel differ in that they reflect virtues of elegance and grace whereas the men are incarnations of traits like machismo and daring. However, these discrete roles arise from the time in which the trilogy was written and cannot be used as a reason to dub the novel anti-female.

This essay makes Oskar and Nao its focal points, drawing from other sections of the polyphonic novels to illustrate the points made. In terms of scope, this essay first examines the motifs and images through which Oskar and Nao see their grief, as well as the multiple manifestations of this grief in the forms of anger, resentment, escapism, empathy and recovery. The essay finally looks at the larger constructions of both novels to examine the role of shared experiences and art in our personal lives and stories as well as the role of the novels’ modernity in its approach.

The essay finds multiple distinct characteristics that shape of the grief of Oskar and Nao, including those of age and culture. It further concludes that these novels are constructed and shaped around the large historical moments of living memory and, through the responses Oskar and Nao, ultimately suggest the potent force these moments possess in shaping our lives. It also finds that the many bleak postmodern qualities of the novels are challenged by a cautious and hopeful optimism, leading the essay to view the novels as possible harbingers of a new, more modern literary school of thought—metamodernism.

East Extended Essays 2015 5

CRANG, CAROLINE

FREYDEFONT, CHARLOTTE

FUNG, KER WEI

The Theme of Death and Rebirth in Selected Works of William Blake, W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot

This is an exploration of how filmadvertising posters can reflect the stereotypes that affect women and their identity in society. The exploration was based on the analysis of the official film posters of the “Attack of the 50 Foot woman” directed in 1958 by Nathan Juran and it’s subsequent remakes in 1993 and 2012. The posters highlight the pervasive oversimplified standards that women are reduced to and the negative impacts that they cause, especially in adolescent society. The aim of this analysis is to explore the extent to which these representations reflect the evolution of the perception of women and their identity in the last 50 years. The value of such investigation presents important limits however, as it disregards other influential media such as pop music and its explicit lyrics which constitute a leading leisure platform especially for young people today.

This extended essay will explore the adverse effects on online communication on the spoken language. In today’s world, there are countless developments that are being made to online websites, smartphones, social networking platforms and other electronic or online devices. The caliber of such developments and updates allow the world’s population to immerse themselves into a world of online communication with social networking, text messages, e-mails, and other means of communications that are available with the Internet and cellular services.

The themes of death and resurrection are questions universal to all religions, mythologies and cultures and, as such, they have loomed large in literature. This paper explores their significance in selected works by three of the English language’s greatest poets: “The Little Girl Lost” and “The Little Girl Found” by William Blake, “The Second Coming”, “Sailing to Byzantium” and “Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats, and Thomas Stearns Eliot’s epic “The Waste Land”. In these memorable works, the theme of rebirth appears as a symbol of hope in times of despair, represented the symbolism of nature and of Christian and Classical mythologies by all three poets. Rebirth manifests itself differently in all three poets – Blake offers up an afterlife for trapped spirits, Yeats uses it as a warning about the state of society and solace for the artist and Eliot uses to signify the quest for peace after war.

All poets give some reason for mankind to hope for a life after the darkness, but all of them also leave the reader with unsettling and unanswered questions – which means all three poets remain uncertain whether there is reason for hope even after their vivid explorations of the subject.

Every aspect of the images and text appearing on the three subsequent posters is analysed in-depth and crossed-referenced to their respective time periods. The microanalysis of the posters considers in turn the physical description of the women’s posture and outfit, their facial expressions, the surrounding environment and the other figures as well as the text and language. This leads to a macro analysis of the whole and its meaning.

One would expect a date or a meeting to be two (or more) people having a meaningful conversation over a meal or a cup of coffee, however, today, it would not be a surprise to see both parties in the relationship with their eyes fixated on the screen of a device be it an iPhone or iPad. Watching scenes like this provokes the question: Does online communication affect real life communication and interaction? If so, how and what are its effects? For the purposes of this essay, I sent a survey to the students and teachers of United World College of South East Asia – East Campus. I received 53 responses and used them to present the figures in the essay and other data was collected from literature, research reports and articles.

The analysis concludes that while the posters don’t seem to reflect any positive evolution in the perception of women over time, they appear to reveal a progressive change in the genre of the three remakes and their natural audience from mainstream to the less culturally aware tiers of society. The same stereotypes that were affecting a mainstream dramatic horror and science fiction film in the 1950s can only be reproposed again in the 2000s as a superficial comedy targeting the lower and less culturally aware tiers of society.

According to the findings in the primary research, many value a face-to-face conversation and think that online communication is harder to interpret.

Primary research indicates a strong liking towards face-to-face conversations with its emotional and physical aspect.

Secondary research has shown that online communication is harmful to face-to-face conversations and interactions in real life, hence, the conclusion being that online communication is detrimental to many of our real life interactions.

6

East Extended Essays 2015

GAUTAM, VASUNDHARA

HUANG, KATHRYN

This essay explores the use of the lotus as a political motif in pre-Independence Indian poetry of the Bengal Renaissance period.

Two poems are studied and compared—‘The Lotus’ by Toru Dutt, and a second poem of the same name by Sarojini Naidu. Dutt and Naidu were female poets who lived during different phases of the Indian independence movement and made influential literary contributions.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Woman at Point Zero and One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich are books based on real life accounts that regard different systems of oppression. Hurston documents Janie’s route to self discovery through her oppressive marriages, Solzhenitsyn’s novel is a prisoner’s one-day account of the hardships in a Russian labour camp, and El Saadawi tells the story of an Egyptian woman in a male dominated society. This extended essay aims to investigate the extent to which the loss of human dignity is explored through forms of imprisonment in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Woman at point Zero and One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

The poems are analysed in relation to other works by these poets, and stylistic techniques common to them. The historical context of the Bengal Renaissance is also examined.

While investigating the context of production of these poems, Naidu’s relationship with Gandhi, Dutt’s cultural influences having grown up between India and Europe, and the significance of the lotus as a symbol in Indian religion and culture were researched.

My study concludes that both poets use the metaphor of the lotus to communicate their pride in the country of their birth. However, the degree to which these feelings are made explicit is markedly different. Dutt hints subtly at the superiority of the East over the West in a conventional Petrarchan sonnet that draws on European mythology and uses Victorian-era poetic techniques. In contrast, Naidu’s tone is more emphatic. Her sonnet, which departs from established structure, creates a double allegory comparing the lotus to Gandhi as well as to India and she unequivocally asserts her antagonism towards the colonial powers governing the country.

All three protagonists suffer under brutal authority, which is emphasised through symbolism of the watchful yet objectifying “eye” in Saadawi’s novel, animal imagery such as the mule in Hurston’s novel, and the use of predators to characterize those in authority in Solzhenitsyn’s novel. Relating both the oppressors and the oppressed, these allow for a more vivid and intimate description of the abused. The authors intensify the brutal nature of oppression by regarding the effects it has on the three protagonists. The nature of the protagonists are discussed in relation to the brutality they have undergone by their oppressors and it is discovered that amongst the suffering there are notions of liberation and self discovery as shown through the conclusions of all three novels.

However, the realism in these three novels is that in Solzhenitsyn’s novel, there is hope that the human spirit is strong enough to persevere, whilst in El Saadawi’s, liberation can only be achieved through experiences of dehumanization, and in Hurston’s, it is a combination of both.

JESUTHASAN, MEERABELLE ANNA It has often been shown that the construction of the English language is sexist; however, what should be done about this is admittedly a tougher question. The discussion cannot be avoided as feminism becomes increasingly discussed in mainstream circles. Given the complexities and sociological differences of language, it is hard to know where to begin.

This essay suggests a starting point: the word “bitch”, popularly used by all genders, reclaimed and adapted in a host of ways from insult to empowerment, yet definitely sexist at its core.

The essay seeks to answer the question “What does the use of and popular reaction to the word “bitch” by women in popular music show about feminism in Western society?” The songs examined are ‘Bow Down/I Been On’ by Beyoncé Knowles and ‘Work Bitch’ by Britney Spears, both released in 2013. In order to glean public opinion, several online sources have been used, keeping in mind their particular prominence as popular and/or feminist news outlets. More broadly, theories in feminism and anti-racism have been applied to the research question in order to explain and analyse the reactions. This structure leads to some questions and answers on the word’s place in modern vocabulary and morality. It focuses specifically on the use of the word by females as an insult, and so does not address the other many aspects such as usage by men, or usage as a reclaimed form of empowerment.

In order to answer the question, both songs and their reception are explored then compared and analysed relative to contemporary feminism. This essay finds that feminism’s flaws lie in its subjection to popular prejudices, perpetuated by its current filtration through celebrity culture. Making feminism a pop culture issue also limits its value as the complexities and nuances of the discussion are thus erased.

East Extended Essays 2015 7

KEOBOUNPHANH, MICKEY

KUBOTA, KODAI

LOW, MALCOLM

This essay will explore the topic of how How do Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speeches reflect the influence of Gandhi’s Rhetorical Styles? This essay will examine Mahatma Gandhi’s rhetorical style, firstly based upon his two speeches, Speech on the Eve of The last Fast, and Statement In The Great Trial of 1922’s, and then, secondly, how his rhetorical style has influenced Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s I have a dream and A Time to Break Silence.

‘Inferno’ written by Dante, is a famous poem and has inspired many. Inferno describes hell to consist of 9 different levels indicating different sins. Considering that the popular hit ‘HP’ series, contain allusions and symbols leading to the resemblance of Inferno, J.K. Rowling may have also been influenced

by Dante. “J. K. Rowling’s books will help children see the difference between good and evil” (Greydanus), which has led me to pursue how morality is reinforced similarly or differently in both literatures.

Children all around the world grow up with fairy tales. Even when translated, these stories remain true to their original and continue to spread the same tale. These stories also endured the test of time as they continue to be told century after century.

Out of all the story tales that have been published, Snow White seems to be the most timeless of them all, having multiple movies being based off the original fairy tale, even sequels being planned for the future at the time of this writing. Yet, the pervading question of why such a well-known tale still captures the imaginations of many remains.

To answer the research question, the analysis of the speeches took the following approach: firstly, an exploration of the similarities and differences of the usage of religious references used in the speech, followed how the country’s political aspect taken advantage of and, lastly, how the speakers utilize persuasive techniques in their language. The essay will also include an introduction of and the historical background of the speakers. It will mainly be based on primary sources and some secondary sources to support the influence of Gandhi’s rhetorical style on Luther King Jr.’s. .

It was discovered that there are certain similarities of rhetorical styles used by Gandhi and that which is present in Luther King Jr.’s speeches; however, due to the huge differences in the social and cultural backgrounds of the audiences it has caused them to use these rhetorical strategies in different ways.

The essay explored resemblances to understand how both writers viewed morality. By looking at the ‘Forest’ as an allegory, it has been established how certain morals can be found within the text. One of which is morality. By looking at another resemblance both literatures hold, that is the 9 characters in the ‘HP’ series allude the 9 levels of hell, Dante and J.K. Rowlings view on morality has been established. These perspectives were then compared on how similar or different they were.

From this, the essay was able identify that through the use of Dante’s depiction of hell, he reinforced morality in the form of a religious aspect, essentially Christian morality where God’s will is absolute and right. On the other hand, J.K. Rowling used her ‘Role models’ from Bettelheim’s theory (Bettelheim, 9) to affect a child’s morals, based on her view of morality that is to treasure one’s individual thoughts and expressing them because the individual believes its right, not because they were told it was right. To some extent, their views are similar in a sense that they both have religious aspects because Harry can be seen as a Christ figure. However, they are hugely different as Dante reinforces Christian morality whereas J.K. Rowling reinforces personal morality.

As there are many variations to the story, both traditional and modern, I chose to focus on three important pieces of work that show how the archaic storyline of Snow White survives transitions between language, communication mediums, and time itself. I first look into the original (albeit translated from German to English) text Sneewittchen by the Grimm Brothers, then Disney’s rendition of the Snow White story as he brings it to the screen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by Neil Gaiman’s modernized take on the story in the form of Snow, Glass, Apples, as he warps it to transform the well-known content into a new, fresh tale.

The story of Snow White is ridiculous; a far cry from reality. Yet, the fairy tale quaintness created an atmosphere that captured our imagination, urging us to suspend belief.

However, the success of Snow White is not only attributed to the ‘cuteness’ of the story.

Every time the story is re-told, the author(s) shock its audience, either by playing with their expectations or in Disney’s case, a technological, thus reclaiming the ‘freshness’ of the story.

8

East Extended Essays 2015

MALIK, ROHAN

MUKHERJEE, SREEYA

NIAZI, LINASIA BASILIO

This essay will examine the contrast in the rhetoric appeal employed by Dr. Martin Luther King and Chairman Mao two very dramatically different orators, each of whom left their impact on history in their own unique way using the power of spoken and written language. Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King and Chairman Mao Zedong’s contrasting ideals have withstood the test of time, and these individuals stand tall in the two most powerful nations in the world today, thus inspiring this research. This essay will first examine the different contexts under which they entered politics followed by in depth analyses of their speeches and writings as well as a final contrast of their rhetoric styles.

The essay aims to provide a contextual reference to the analyses to further enhance not only their successes as political figures but also the contrasts in their styles of writings.

Joanne K. Rowling’s phenomenal Harry Potter series occupies a significant space in the world of children’s literature. However, these books have not yet conclusively been given the title of a “classic”. The research question of this essay “To what extent can J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone be considered classic children’s literature?” aims to determine whether the first book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone can be given this title by exploring aspects that constitute “classic children’s literature”.

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that tobacco companies have extensively been successful overcoming the barriers imposed on advertising.

Tobacco companies have manipulated mass communication and encompassed marketing tactics with psychoanalytical methods to increase their consumer base.

Despite researchers’ and the governments’ efforts to highlight the harmful effects of smoking using advertisements cigarette consumption flourished. This occurred mainly due to the counteractive actions taken by tobacco companies, the targeting of youth in advertisements and the diversifying of cigarette market base to developing countries. In understanding reasons behind their success further steps can be taken to reduce consumption of cigarettes. This could also lead to a reduction in drug use as research shows that tobacco consumption inaugurates cravings for other drugs.

The essay will take into account the style of classic children’s literature as defined by academics. The novel’s multiple audiences will be established and the reception in relation to these audiences will be explored with the help of statistics from various sources. The scope of this investigation will also include the various themes that are seen in universally accepted “classics” with examples and the significance of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’s time period will be explored. The effect of external factors on the novel and on its youth will be explained and compared to other classics.

Harry Potter has established a place in popular culture and is very young in age as compared to other classics, having been published only seventeen years ago.

However, it incorporates classic styles and themes and has made quite a name for itself in the literary world in this short time.

The presence of media and other external factors has accelerated its acclaim and more than makes up for its lack of years.

This essay concludes that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone conforms to all the characteristics of widely recognized classics in the above mentioned ways. Hence, it has all the characteristics necessary to be a children’s classic and can definitely be considered as such.

The scope of the essay encompasses tobacco advertisements and mass communication before the barriers to advertising in the U.S. It delineates the steps taken by the tobacco companies to ensure their presence within societies. Lastly the essay demonstrates how the influential tobacco companies in the U.S. broadened their consumer base using developing countries.

From a highly accepted product cigarettes were criticized and demonized to a product of death. However the retaliation of tobacco companies played a large role in their success today. The whole ordeal of banning advertisements and companies’ retaliation brought both negative and positive attention towards cigarettes. This attention has given tobacco companies the opportunity to manipulate its position in communities.

East Extended Essays 2015 9

QUAH, KYLIE

RAO, NISHKA

SAGNAK, ASYA

The topic of this essay is “To what extent Fitzgerald’s stories are influenced by his biographical products and the social context of America in 1920-1930s?” I researched about Fitzgerald’s struggle with being a celebrity, bisexual and alcoholic, as well as his broken marriage with Zelda. In researching the social context of America in the 1930s, I learnt that during Fitzgerald’s time, many immigrants were moving to America to achieve the American Dream.

The awareness of feminism and racism were also increasing. All these problems can be reflected in his writings. A text that I will deeply analyze on is The Great Gatsby.

Backing up with more texts to prove my essay statement, I’ll also analyze Tender is the Night. I chose these particular stories to look at because despite having different storylines, both books have similar themes, which includes materialism, corruption of the American dream and idealism.

To what extent is the superiority of men over the women portrayed by society and through marriage in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper?

This essay examines the question “How do Robert Browning and Carol Ann Duffy show that societally-inflicted disempowerment leads to instability in male narrators?” Browning and Duffy are both acclaimed for their use of the dramatic monologue, and Browning is known to be a long-term influence on Duffy’s work.

Therefore it is natural that they possess overlaps not only in writing structure, but also in the topics of their material. After extended research into the authors’ collective bodies of works, it is clear that many of their most striking parallels lie within the exploration of power and instability in relation to unreliable male narrators.

Old news articles that were written by other people but Fitzgerald himself compiled most of these biographies. As these are heavily biased, it is difficult to know the honest truth about Fitzgerald’s life, only Fitzgerald himself can know. But as readers, we can analyze these news about Fitzgerald, quotes he have said, quotes his wife, Zelda, has said about him or their marriage life; and compare them with Fitzgerald’s stories.

My research also concluded that there are a lot of similarities and overlaps of Fitzgerald’s own personal life. From the way he thought about the American Dream, the glamorous celebrity lifestyle to his love life. Fitzgerald’s life experience and the social prospects of America during the Jazz age played a major role in his writings. This essay will show clear evidence of how Fitzgerald used his own personal life experience to write stories that are now considered modern classics.

The following essay is about the way modern literature portrays women’s roles in society as wives and mothers in two books – A Doll’s House and The Yellow Wallpaper. While the topic has a limited room for investigation in terms of interpretation, my interest in this area allows one to explore and analyse the various literary techniques used to convey two male-dominant relationships. The pieces create a better understanding of the arrival of the feminist movement through the transformation process of delicate protagonists into independent women. The essay explores the question “To what extent is the superiority of men over the women portrayed by society and through marriage in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper?”

The essay is broken down into seven main sections – introduction, how women are portrayed in the book through the eyes of society, how they lacked power and authority, how they were treated like children, how they are treated like animals and dolls, the portrayal of the concept of hysteria and a conclusion with the empowerment of both female protagonists.

The conclusion explores how the texts suggest the possibility that men are actually afraid of women’s capabilities as they conclude with the dominating husbands being left broken while their wives walk away carefree and liberated.

The concept of feminism leaves no room for the slightest power imbalance. The word “feminism” is now frowned upon since it has created a new power imbalance – women believing it is the female population that is dominant. This essay brings out the evidence that proves how women were, and are in some cases, treated in order to shed light on how important it is for both genders to be treated fairly and equally.

The essay begins by introducing the two authors in general terms and outlining their grounds for unification, narrowing its scope specifically to the poems Porphyria’s Lover and Education for Leisure. At that point, each poem is discussed individually, with an initial focus on Porphyria’s Lover to explore how the yearning for power lead its speaker to insanity and misogyny. The essay then discusses Education for Leisure in the same technique, however, highlights class distinctions and draws inter-monologue comparisons. Meanwhile, the essay pulls examples from the authors other works, such as My Last Duchess and Stealing, to examine the issues in further detail.

By the end of the essay, the conclusion is reached that both authors utilize a variety of literary techniques to distress, alienate, and disturb their readers by exposing them to the minds of their speakers. The two poems have varying focuses, however; both draw the conclusion that a strictly hierarchical society is the root of these narrators disempowerment, triggering them to attempt to gain back that power through acts of violence.

10

East Extended Essays 2015

SHAH, AYUSHI

SIM, YOO MI

SINHA, VIDUSHI

The eminent brand Coca Cola is renowned for their unprecedented advertising techniques.

Their unconventional marketing gambits are influenced by the social ideologies of the time the advertisements are created.

This can be exemplified by the publication of Santa Claus in Coca Cola prints that were launched in 1930, to encourage consumers to spend more during the financial crisis in The United States of America. The advertisements in 1930s often used print publications and billboards, due to the low technological developments that limited the types of techniques used in advertising. Conversely in 2013, Coca Cola has revamped their techniques by using digital media to drive consumption and increase awareness of their products as digital technology becomes all pervasive.

It is easy to just accept what an author writes in his or her novels without giving it a second thought. This is especially true for fictional novels. Specific objects or characters seem to lack any meaning and just exist solely to continue the story. However, these broad views forget the amount of control authors have over their works and because of that a single object may actually reflect a message from the author to his or her readers.

The background to this research question can be found in J.K. Rowling’s academic roots. In University, Rowling studied Greek mythology.

Subsequently, in the Harry Potter book series, critics and readers alike have found numerous links between the Harry Potter book series and Greek mythology. This research paper aims to answer the research question, “To what extent does Greek mythology play a role in the symbols, characters, storyline and namesakes of the Harry Potter book series?”

To explore this evolution further the essay investigates the research question: “To what extent has the digital revolution impacted the advertisements of Coca Cola in 1930 and 2013 which featured Santa Claus, with focus on social behavior and main social ideologies of those periods.”

In order to examine this question, I compared the disparities between the three Santa Claus print publications of the 1930s versus a recent Christmas commercial of 2013, ‘Santa’s Letter’. The three prominent 1930s advertisements represent the initial development of Santa Claus, whereas the 2013 commercial represents the use of the character in the contemporary era.

Therefore, as these advertisements were released in different centuries, this helped to deduce the change in technical aspects and infer the collocation in imagery, language, context, technique and reception of the advertisements.

My research concluded that though Santa Claus was a medium to spur consumerism in the 1930s, the character has left a perpetual mark that impels the Company to annually produce a Christmas commercial featuring Santa Claus in the current context.

To find the extent of an author’s manipulation of his or her writing and the importance for us as readers to understand and pick this out, I compared two novels with similar aspects but very different endings. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and A Two Years Vacation by Jules Verne both have very similar plot lines, characters and settings yet have two very different outcomes and messages. Through this prior research process I came up with the research question, to what extent do the inanimate and animate objects affect the sanity of the stranded children in Jules Verne’s A Two years Vacation and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Together with extra research on the effects the specific inanimate and animate objects that appear in the novels have on human psychology, this essay concludes by reflecting the large extent to which the two authors have manipulated their novels to influence their reader’s views and psychology through adding the different inanimate and animate objects within their stories.

The scope of this investigation is limited to Greek mythology. The research paper thoroughly examines the allusions to Greek mythology in Harry Potter through the interconnecting themes of symbols, characters, storyline and namesakes. It analyses how and to what extent Greek mythology has played a role in Harry Potter.

Even though the series draws upon many allusions to mythologies other than Greek, they are not examined in this paper.

The findings of this examination were that, Rowling to a large extent used Greek mythology either to create a character’s persona or construct an intricate storyline or to build parallel ideas in terms of symbols and namesakes. However, while she undeniably has used Greek mythology as a prominent platform, she has masterfully edited, modified and molded the Greek myths to create an unparalleled and unique book, which is the Harry Potter series.

East Extended Essays 2015 11

SORRI PETERSEN, MATILDE

SURESH, SWETHA

TALBOT, STEPHANIE

Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, a collection of epitaphs that resonate with the collective human voice, raises questions on the nature of the human relationship with life and death. Masters communicates through his creative decisions and speakers, the democratic and equalizing power of death, however, as the poems become more about the tragedies and agonies of life, Spoon River Anthology lends itself to the exploration and purpose of these tragedies and imperfections.

This essay therefore aims to explore the question “What does Edgar Lee Masters’ interpretation of death in Spoon River Anthology allow him to reveal about life?”

This essay makes a comparative study of the choices of two well-known authors who have handled the delicate issues of trauma of young people especially teenagers, who have been diagnosed with terminal illness and have coped with the conditions. The authors of these two books have depicted that their characters are the type who do not give up.

They find solace in various ways and manage to infuse some purpose to their lives. It is this positive thinking that attracted me to these books and made them the basis of my research. The research question this essay aims to answer is, “How have two young adult authors shown that human spirit is indefatigable?”

This essay explores how Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde evoked fear in their Victorian audience and whether these fears remain relevant today. These three novels were chosen based upon their notoriety within the gothic genre and encapsulate the major anxieties of its 19th century audience. They were all written in the Victorian era, a time of discretion and order, which is explicitly revealed in the texts. Many elements of the gothic movement are relevant today, such as those that can be seen in architecture, popular culture and various modern subcultures. Gothic has evolved to whole different connotations as time has passed from its origins when it was first established and most prevalent as a style of writing and thinking.

This exploration argues that the unity that death brings, allows the recognition of a collective suffering, which extends beyond the microcosm of Spoon River, ultimately teaching us to accept the inherent imperfections of our life, and reconcile our relationship with death. To understand this interpretation, two central ideas must be considered: the ways Masters incorporates death as an overarching theme in Spoon River, as well as, what this use of death across the multitude of identities and voices of the spectrum of humanity, reveals about life itself. The poems of the Anthology are analyzed and placed into their respective context in order to allow for an equal representation of the work.

Spoon River Anthology illustrates the tensions between the decadence and imperfection of human life, with the desire for the unattainable perfection and idealism of the American way of life – which eventually proves itself a myth. Through Masters’ consolidation of a sense of togetherness and unity across the diversity and inequality of American society, the imperfection of life declares itself universal, and the concluding message, becomes one of acceptance.

The two authors have approached this subject quite differently. John Green’s book The Fault in Our Stars is a story narrated by Hazel Lancaster a seventeen-year old cancer patient, who is suffering from terminal cancer. Her interaction with others of the same predicament and with friends and relatives is narrated with great understanding by the author. In the other book, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, the narrator Greg Gaines is not a cancer patient but finds himself in the role of supporting and boosting the morale of Rachel, the “dying girl” of the title. The success of the author lies in the fact that he makes the reader forget that he is controlling the characters. The character’s ideas, personality and behavior is in the hands of the author but he vanishes into the background and makes us believe that the characters in the novel behave and do things naturally.

John Green highlights the intermingling of love, hatred, selflessness and selfishness along with illness. Greg’s hidden talent as a writer and his professed talent as a filmmaker are satirically brought out by Jesse Andrews. Thus, the authors have without undue sentimentality and with the injection of subtle humor in their narration, demonstrated the validity of the theme of my essay.

The essay begins by identifying the typical conventions of gothic literature: the unknown, setting and the supernatural; all of which are found in any horror novel regardless of temporal publishing. It then delves into territory more familiar with the Victorian mindset: science vs. religion, freaks and social class. Then it continues on to determine the main fear in each novel.

The structure of the essay starts with a wider perspective on gothic horror found in novels today, and then hones into a more insightful approach to how these novels were a mouthpiece that voiced the concerns of its Victorian audience and the psychology behind it.

It can be concluded that Frankenstein is demonstrating the fear of our creations/ children, Dracula is about a fear of others and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde portrays a fear of ourselves. These findings are innate human fears, generated from birth and which still hold relevance. Although, 21st century fears are arguably a lot broader as we have become desensitized to larger issues and are more egotistical as individuals.

12

East Extended Essays 2015

VAN WENSVEEN, RYAN The longevity and popularity of Greek mythology can be seen in its survival from Ancient Greece until today, readily apparent in consumer products like Nike, the namesake of the Greek goddess of victory, and perhaps more subtly to be detected in their universal themes in literature. One such contemporary text that draws many of its literary elements from the classical Greek myth Perseus is Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

This paper is an exploration of Rick Riordan’s use of character, plot devices and themes from the Greek myth Perseus to highlight the timelessness of Greek mythology in his contemporary novel The Lightning Thief. In order to investigate this, I compared Riordan’s novel with Edith Hamilton’s retelling of Ovid’s and Apollodorus’s Perseus from her book Mythology. I chose Hamilton’s version of Perseus over other versions because she places value on being as accurate as possible.

The most unchanged version of the myth would be ideal in a paper seeking to explore the timelessness of Greek mythology.

In conclusion, Riordan highlights the timelessness of Greek mythology explicitly in its use of plot devices conventional to Greek mythology, such as Medusa’s head, and perhaps more implicitly, not only in its use of themes, which are adhered to completely in The Lightning Thief, but also in its use of character, which shares common roots to those in Perseus.

East Extended Essays 2015 13

GROUP 1–STUDIES IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

ABSTRACTS LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH

GÓMEZ ELCANO, JON

GUERON, CLARA

El objeto de este estudio es analizar la influencia del Realismo Mágico de Gabriel García Márquez, especialmente de Cien Años de Soledad en La Casa de los Espíritus de Isabel Allende. Más concretamente se pretende contestar las siguientes preguntas: ¿Se ha basado Isabel Allende en Cien Años de Soledad de Gabriel García Márquez para escribir La Casa de los Espíritus? ¿Ha tomado ideas de la historia y de los personajes de Cien Años de Soledad para componer la historia de La Casa de los Espíritus?

Résumé

Además de las dos novelas protagonistas de la investigación se han utilizado distintas fuentes para recabar información sobre el Realismo Mágico y sus características y el contexto histórico y literario de los autores como entrevistas, ensayos y artículos periodísticos. Se han analizado odas las fuentes buscando los rasgos literarios que puedan ubicar La Casa de los Espíritus dentro del Realismo Mágico (corriente literaria a la que pertenece Cien Años de Soledad) y tratando de desentrañar las similitudes en el estilo y las historias en ambas novelas. Del mismo modo, se han buscado con no menos esfuerzo y detalle, aquellos rasgos estilísticos, las características de los personajes y las particularidades de cada historia que las diferencian.

Ce mémoire examine le slam de Grand Corps Malade (GCM) dont la grande originalité de style est devenue populaire en France à partir de 2006 pour toute une jeune génération montante. Ce style innovant utilisé pour évoquer les disfonctionnement de la société française ont fait l’objet de nombreuses études et justifie la question suivante : Comment Grand Corps Malade exprime-t-il sa critique de la société française dans ses slams ?

Pour y répondre j’ai tout d’abord effectué des recherches par internet sur le contexte social et historique de la France aujourd’hui afin de comprendre l’importance des problèmes sociaux abordés dans ses textes. Suite à l’écoute attentive de ses disques « Midi 20 », « Enfant de la Ville » et « 3ème Temps », suivie par les lectures de son autobiographie intitulée « Patients » ainsi qu’une étude sur Souleymane Diamanka1, je me suis intéressée plus particulièrement à l’écriture des textes suivants: « Vu de Ma Fenêtre », « Je Viens de Là », et « Roméo Kiffe Juliette ». Je les ai sélectionné pour cet essai car ils parlent de la banlieue, un sujet central dans l’œuvre de GCM, et qu’ils sont représentatifs des trois problèmes prioritaires qui s’y trouve: le chômage, sa mauvaise image médiatique et ses conflits entre religions. D’un point de vue linguistique, ces trois slams témoignent aussi parfaitement de la richesse de la langue que GCM utilise. Elle emploie de nombreuses rimes et fourmille d’expressions familières ou d’argot voire aussi de vocabulaire en verlan le tout dans un style rythmé.

Ainsi la maitrise remarquable qu’il a de son slam nous faire entendre à la fois ses opinions et son émotion. S’ils offrent une vision fouillée et sans complaisance de la société française, les slams de GCM proposent en plus une belle dose d’espoir.

14

East Extended Essays 2015

GUTIÉRREZ SEGOVI, PAULA MARÍA

HATAKEYAMA, NANA

LIU, YILIN

要約

内容提要

Resumen

祖父母、そして恩師の他界という過 酷な現実に遭遇した私は、「人はいつか 必ず死ぬ」という悲壮な事実を認識し た。そして、死の概念に強く関心を抱き 始めた私は、世界的ベストセラーを記録 した『ノルウェイの森』と『キッチン』 を用いて、二作品に共通するテーマであ る「死」を元に、男性作家「村上春樹」 と女性作家「吉本ばなな」のアプローチ の違いを分析していく。

台湾散文家简媜的散文集《女儿红》 是一部描写女性意识在挣扎中自我发觉与 蜕变的文学作品。作者以意蕴深邃的丰富 意象营造氛围，揭示人物内心的情感轨 迹。本文将从以下三个方面分析意象在本 文集中的艺术效果：

En este ensayo se analiza la utilización de los diferentes tipos de adjetivos y metáforas en Platero y yo. Esta obra escrita en prosa poética es el retorno de Juan Ramón Jiménez a su pueblo natal Moguer en su infancia.

La añoranza de aquellos años felices le traslada allí desde su edad ya adulta, y en la búsqueda de un amigo y compañero que le acompañe crea a su protagonista, un burrillo llamado Platero, su amigo y confidente, que representa a todos los burrillos que Juan Ramón montó en esa juventud perdida en los campos y las calles de Moguer.

Cada capítulo de la obra está dedicado a una vivencia concreta en aquel entorno rural recordando a adultos y niños, lugares y vivencias desde un Simbolismo que traspasa lo puramente literario para adentrarse en lo pictórico. El magistral uso del adjetivo y de la metáfora que hace Juan Ramón Jiménez para describir paisajes, elementos naturales, animales, espacios y personas, recrea una estampa visual en la imaginación del lector que despierta sentimientos y sensaciones casi reales, y así logra una simbiosis plena con el autor.

El adjetivo se convierte en un pincel que combina tonalidades, matiza los colores, describe texturas, sonidos y olores, recrea los claroscuros, las luces y las sombras hasta alcanzar la perfección. Las metáforas que elabora tienen un significado profundo y concreto, expresan sus vivencias superando al mismo relato y lo convierte en una imagen bella y sosegada de sus recuerdos. El pasado llega a ser presente para el lector, que hace junto al autor y Platero, un viaje por los mismos lugares donde Juan Ramón descubrió su amor por la naturaleza en esa búsqueda constante de la perfección que caracterizó toda su obra y que lleva a su máximo exponente en Platero y yo.

まず二作品を熟読した上で、それぞ れの作品に登場する主人公の死に対する とらえ方を理解し、そこから解釈できる 作家の死生観を考察する。そして登場人 物における人との交流に着目しながら「 生」に繋ぎ留める役割を分析した後に、 二作品の人物描写と情景描写の描き方を 見ていく。 二人の作家に共通する点、それは彼 らが死は身近に存在すると考えていると いうことだ。村上春樹は「性的接触」、 吉本ばななは「食べ物・食事」を作品に 取り入れ、「人との繋がり」によって死 に近づいている人たちを生へと導ける、 というメッセージを伝えた。直接的には 伝えず、ある行動や物にメッセージを伝 える寓意的な二作品だからこそ、ベスト セラーを果たせたと考える。そして、 二作品の描写方法に目を向けた結果、 村上春樹は情景描写を書くことが上手で あり、一方、女性作家である吉本ばなな は、感情・人物描写に優れているという 大きな違いがあることに気がついた。

一、柔弱与刚强 作者同时使用柔与刚的意象，如“ 剑”与“蝴蝶”、“宫殿”与“脚链”， 表现了母者在艰难人生旅程中的柔情与坚 韧，让人心生敬佩。 二、孤独与隐忍 蒙尘的“梳妆镜”、“口红”等意象 呈现了作者笔下女人内心的孤独。但孤独 人生中的她们却在隐忍中活出了自我，活 出了自珍与自爱。 三、 梦魇与挣脱 梦魇般的意象，如“黑猫”、“大白 蛇”等，喻示了女性在爱情、亲情中经历 的男权束缚。象征蜕变的 “日出”，“ 剥蛇”等意象，凸显了女性最终的挣脱 与成长。 上述讨论揭示了简媜通过精彩的意 象，刻画出女性在人生逆旅中表现出的 坚韧与高贵，展现出女性自我意识的蜕 变，给予了新时代的读者深刻的精神震撼 与启发。

East Extended Essays 2015 15

LO, CHEUK SHAN

NAKAMURA, HANAE

NAKAMURA, MITSUKA

近年來，隨著科技發展迅速，人與人 之間能夠隨時隨地溝通，拉近彼此距離。 很多中國傳統的溝通方式已經漸漸的被淘 汰，而食物作為一種獨特的溝通方式到現 在還是屹立不倒，當中的原因是什麼呢？

要約

要約

技術進歩が著しく、めまぐるしい情 報の変化の中で私たちは現代を生きてい る。社会と文学作品の関係性に興味を持 った私は三浦綾子の『氷点』と東野圭吾 の『手紙』を参考に次のような疑問の答 えを導き出そうと思った。「 時代が文 学に及ぼす影響

「家族」という一語への理解を表現 するのに、いったいどのくらいの努力が 必要か。社会を作る人間の、そのまた大 本を辿れば家族に辿り着く。無論既存の 定義上でそれを確かめることはできれ ど、人間の家族の在り方は大幅にその家 庭によるものだ。

は何か」。そして「文学と社会が提 起する問題と時代の変化に関係性はある のだろうか」作者の時代背景が異なる二 つの作品からは、加害者の家族という同 等の立場に置かれた際の登場人物の価値 観の相違が明白 に考察できる。これは それぞれの作品が著された時代の思潮 が映し出されているのだといえよう。戦 後、自立心が養われたと考

器量不足で恵まれなかった大工の入 魂の傑作、五重塔建立までを描いた幸田 露伴作「五重塔」と、祇園の芸者置屋に 勤める素人女中から見た玄人による花柳 界を捉えた幸田文作「流れる」。全て の人には其々の親がいて、其々の家族 の中で育つものだ。文学の登場人物達は 皆違った気質で作品を飾る。だが文学と 現実の大きな隔たりといえば、登場人物 らの創造主は作者であることだ。さらに 人物のみならず全ての微細に渡る描写ま での全てが作者の意思を反映するに他な らず、言うなれば文学とは作者の子であ ろう。だから私は文学本体の分析を通し 作者の世俗に対する姿勢や本音の抽出を 試みた。

李安的《飲食男女》講述父親老朱在 台北是一位很了不起的名廚，自妻子過世 後就肩負著養育三個女兒的責任。自女兒 長大後，他只能利用週末的晚餐跟家人團 聚。每一次的聚餐都體現了家人之間的離 離合合。飲食在影片故事發展中起到了重 要的作用，特別在溝通方面，是個不能缺 少的角色。本文在一系列的理論研究調查 的基礎上對影片中食物在溝通中起到的功 能進行了分析。 本文藉由《飲食男女》裡的情節来分 析中國文化中飲食的三種沟通功能，包括 傳遞信息，凝聚家庭，以及在特定場合作 為祝福。然而， 作者在分析的過程發現 雖然以上的功能並不是完全絕對的，但傳 統的飲食溝通文化是可以傳承下去的。

えられる三浦の『氷点』には主体性 を重んじる陽子が描かれ、対人関係を重 要視する現代の代用的な作家、東野の『 手紙』には他人の差別や偏見によって人 生が翻弄される直樹の葛藤が描かれてい る。また、作者の個人的背景によって社 会における文学の 位置が異なってくる傾向も導き出さ れた 『氷点』は三浦の戦後の絶望を中 心とした純文学であるのに対し、東野の 手紙は現代 の読者に求められる作品傾 向に沿った、社会思想を備える大衆文学 だ。一方、「文学と社会が提起する問題 と時代の変化には関係性はあるのだろう か」という点を追求した際、どちらも罪 と葛藤を通じて人間の本質を追求してい ることが見いだされた。 これはどの時 代でも普遍的問題に対する人間の興味は 変化しないことを示している。

本論文は「家庭描写に見る心理と性 質」「女性の母性描写と現実の不整合」 「男性の描写様式から趣向への考察」の 全三章から構成され、それらから作者の 作風、価値観、考察可能な範囲の嗜好を 導いた、過程を示す。そして「家族」の 社会にとっての重要性を再度認識し、家 族とは母性と家族文化の継承の継続を行 う集団である、という結論に達した。

16

East Extended Essays 2015

OHRIE, ADITYA

WATANABE, KAZUKI

मेरे निबंध का अनुसांधिक प्रश्न है ‘हिंदी साहित्य के प्रसिद्ध कवि कबीर ने किस तरह साहित्य के माध्यम से भारतीय समाज को सुधारने में सफल रहे।’ यह प्रश्न संत कबीर के समाज सुधारक रूप पर प्रकाश डालने का एक सुनहरा मौका देता है। कबीर दास जी के दोहों में छुपी गुरुभक्ति, सत्य की उपासना, समाज सुधारक व ईश्वर भक्ति भाव तथा हिंदी साहित्य के इतिहास में उनके अनुपम योगदान के कारण ही भक्तिकाल एक स्वर्णिम युग कहलाया गया- मुझे प्रकाशित करने का मौका मिलता है।

要約

जब से मैं आठवी या नौवी कक्षा में पढ़ता था, तब से ही दोहो को गहराई से अध्यन करने का मौका मिला। मेरी नानी हिंदी साहित्य में रुची रखती है और बच्चों को हिंदी भी पढ़ाती हैं। पाठशाला की छुटियों के दौरान मुझे उनसे कबीर साहित्य के बातचीत का मौका मिला और साथ ही प्रेरणा भी मिली कि मैं कबीर के दोहों के माध्यम से उनके समाज सुधारक रूप को ही अपने निबंध का विषय चुनु। आई. बी. हिन्दी के अध्ययन के दौरान मुझे उनके ३०० दोहों को पढ़ने का सुनहरा अवसर मिला। उनकी जीवनी, उनके बचपन की घटनाएँ, उनसे जुड़े छोटे-बड़े चमत्कार को पढता गया और ऐसा लगा कि संत कबीर आज भी हमारे बीच विराजमान हैं। उनकी लिखी हुई हर बात एक शाश्वत सत्य है। मैंने उनके हर दोहे के माध्यम से उनके समाज सुधारक रूप को उजागर करने की कोशिश की है। किस प्रकार समाज में फैली कुरीतियों और बुराइयों को अपने प्रेम द्वारा बदलने की चेष्टा करते हैं। इसी की एक झलक को पाठकों के सम्मुख पहुँचाने की मेरी एक छोटी कोशिश है और साथ ही आशा की की एक हल्की उम्मीद है। ‘इंसानों में भाईचारा और प्रेम सदैव रहे।’

明治から昭和時代にかけて、多くの 作家が様々な作品を出版した。その中 で、私が最も関心を持った作家は、芥川 龍之介である。彼の作品には、小説とい えども、彼自身が色濃く投影されている と思ったからである。自身の中にある強 い不安が、多くの作品の中に入り込んで いる。その中で私は、「羅生門」「地獄 変」「歯車」の三作品を分析の対象とし て選んだ。 芥川の合計六十六にも及ぶ作品に は、二つの大きな特徴があることに気が ついた。一つは、初期、中期、後期とい くに連れて、作品の内容が、大きく変わ っていったことである。これはとても興 味深い事である。二つ目の特徴は、時代 や設定など作品の内容が変わっていった にも関わらず、登場人物の心情に変化が 全く無かったことである。 私が選んだ、初期「羅生門」、中期 「地獄変」、後期「歯車」の三作品に は、生き方に迷った登場人物が描かれて いた。これは、作家自身の迷った心情が 作品に反映されていたのではないだろ うか。芥川龍之介は、登場人物と状況設 定にどのような工夫をして、生きる事の 厳しさ、悲しさと切なさを伝えようとし たのか。 作者は、「羅生門」を描いた時か ら、人生に対する不安を抱いていたが、 執筆数が増えていくうちに、その心情が さらに悪化してしまい、後期の作品「歯 車」では自分をさらに追い込む結果とな り、自身の心に根強く巣食う不安の心を 抑えきることができずに、ついに自らの 人生を終えてしまった。

East Extended Essays 2015 17

GROUP 2– LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

ABSTRACTS

CHEM, DAVID

GAN, JIA EN

The purpose of this extended essay is to debate about the condition of English language nowadays as a result of extended social media use. Social media are considered the fastest tool for people to communicate from one side of the world to another and it has been used to reach a phenomenal number of people in recent years. Moreover, most people have been using the English language to communicate to each other because it is an international language.

Therefore, the English language and social media have a close relationship together.

People always have ideas to make their lives easier in many ways, even the way they communicate with each other through social media. This has led to the creation of shorthand terms and symbols that actually replace English terms. Consequently, social media are found to be a great threat to the English language. This essay analyses whether social media have indeed brought a negative impact to the English language through the research question: To what extent have social media changed English language in the past 10 years?

父亲角色一直都是中国社会家庭教育 结构中最重要的一部分，父亲与孩子的关 系也是家庭系统结构中最重要的关系。

The investigation of this question explores positive and negative influences that are caused by social media on the English language, and how it plays an important role in English language. There are situations where social media have changed the English language; therefore, we will also investigate how well social media have transformed language. Thus, we will balance both of those negative and positive influences on English language.

In the conclusion, the investigation will lead us to take a consideration on which side of the argument better explains the influences on English language. Moreover, we will argue that social media users have to learn and write in formal ways, times and places because they need to moderate their transformation of the language, otherwise they will lose it.

本文对中国现代流行的亲子节目，《 爸爸去哪儿》，所展现出的父亲形象进行 了分析，全面通过使用有关于传统父亲 形象的理论资料来对传统父亲形象：“ 父权”，“父爱的表达方式”与“教育方 式”三个方面做出调查。然后，从这三个 方面的传统父亲形象和《爸爸去哪儿》节 目中所表现出的父亲形象进行比较。阐述 《爸爸去哪儿》这个节目是如何颠覆了传 统父亲形象。 由此得出结论，《爸爸去哪儿》的确 从以上三个方面颠覆了传统父亲形象，但 通过对节目的分析也发现传统父亲形象在 节目中并没有被完全颠覆。由此可见， 传统父亲形象至今尚未在中国社会上完 全消失。

18

East Extended Essays 2015

HIRAMATSU, KANA The purpose of this essay is to provide a better understanding of the usage of implication and its purpose throughout advertisements. What is so effective about the advertisements? How do customers’ cognitions develop, as they comprehend implication? What is the implication trying to tell us? Do we interpret the implication same way as the advertisers do? There are many different ways in which we could interpret the implication but advertisers’ only purpose of implication is to sell the product as well as expand customers base.

It is interesting to see that different analysis could be made according to different advertisements. Throughout the research, it showed that implication has multiple ways of formation by the usage of theories in linguistics such as pragmatics, semantics, psycholinguistics and lastly sociolinguistics.

Indirect speech act is being used in implication. There are two steps in which customers augment the understanding of implication in advertising, which are the surface of the text and the understanding of the text structure. Advertising is not only about the implication but also about the usage of pictures to make the advertisement appearance look better in order to attract customers.

Implication is always implied to the customers indirectly. It always has different audiences according to different implication.

The reason for it is because advertisers only way to expand customers base is to address the implication to various people in the world such as sports advertisement is not only addressing just to the athletes but also addressing to the non-athletes people so that they would get involved in physical activities and buy their products.

Indirect speech is used in implication, which our comprehension depends on the identifications of the component words and text structure in implication.

East Extended Essays 2015 19

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS ECONOMICS

ARORA, AHAAN

BERTACCA, MATTEO

By reading newspaper articles and blog entries, I have understood that the proclaimed success of the Vehicle Quota System (VQS) in Singapore has inspired many countries around the world both to curtail vehicle ownership to reduce occurrences of roadblocks and to actively address the issue of excessive vehicle emissions. However, simultaneously, the VQS is often condemned by critics who argue that loopholes in the system render it ineffective, and perhaps even counter-productive. This is how I have arrived at my research question, which reads: “To what extent has the VQS in Singapore proven to be an effective method of moderating the market failures of road congestion and excessive motor vehicle emissions caused by private vehicle consumption?”

The research question investigated by this study is whether agricultural development projects (ADPs) are a viable method of instigating economic development in rural villages within Myanmar. The projects have been analyzed in regards to their contribution towards achieving MDG1, which aims to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. This topic holds great significance in Myanmar, as there is currently a severe lack of progress towards achieving the objectives of MDG1.

Myanmar has a population of 53 million, of which approximately 70% relies on agriculture. The incidence of poverty in rural areas is extremely elevated, with one in four people living below the national poverty line and two in five children below the age of five being under-nourished.

The scope of this investigation is to evaluate the success of the VQS on two levels. Firstly, by analyzing the results of a survey sent to individuals from low, middle, and highincome backgrounds, I have determined how large a role the VQS has played in making Singaporean residents forego vehicle ownership. Additionally, I have used a range of secondary statistics to compare road congestion and air pollution levels between Singapore and other cities—namely Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo—with similar standards of living, population densities, and land areas. Mindful that these cities don’t have vehicle quotas, dissimilarities between the statistics of these cities have helped me understand whether the VQS has truly made a significant difference in Singapore.

I have reached the conclusion that despite having some inherent loopholes, the VQS has successfully been able to reduce the negative externalities created by road congestion and vehicle emissions since its implementation in 1990. By considerably increasing the cost of vehicle ownership in Singapore, the VQS has not only greatly deterred ownership, but has also reminded individuals of the true cost vehicles impose on society.

The investigation was carried out through the use of primary as well as secondary sources.

The research was directed towards analyzing the change between the welfare of the smallholders before and after the projects.

Interviews were conducted in villages where the projects have been implemented with the aim of observing possible increases in incomes and productivity. Other stakeholders were also interviewed, as they offered vast experience in rural development.

Both quantitative and qualitative data was gathered, which was analyzed in respect to the specific targets of MDG1.

Overall, the conclusion drawn from the investigation is that ADPs are a viable method of prompting economic development in the short run, as they had a large amount of success in the villages that were analyzed within Myanmar. The ADPs mainly contribute to the MDG1 sub targets A and C. In the long run however, economic development can only be sustained if the rise in income caused by the implementation of the projects is reinvested into a form of trade, and not spent on the private consumption of de-merit goods and services.

20 East Extended Essays 2015

BLEAKLEY, CONNOR

BOLT, ROISIN

CHANDRASEKAR, NEERAJ

The research question I investigated is “To what extent does Call of Duty have a monopoly status in the First Person Shooter market?” I investigated by the collecting of both primary and secondary data.

This essay investigates the question, “What effect will prospective entrant ‘MyRepublic’ have upon producer welfare in Singapore’s oligopolistic mobile service provider market?” through the assessment of the oligopolistic characteristics present in the Singaporean mobile telecommunications markets, and an assessment of the possible effects prospective entrant into the market, MyRepublic, will have upon producer welfare.

In this essay, I shall be answering the question “To what extent does the price of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) affect the demand for private cars in Singapore?”

I shall try to determine the factors affecting demand for private cars while considering the cooling measures implemented by the government in the car market.

In order to evaluate whether Call of Duty met the characteristics of a monopoly, I used a combination of primary and secondary data. I used market data and sales of the COD games, and similar titles, to see how well they sold as compared to their direct competitors. I used interviewed Akshay Maliwal of Playware Studios who has a monopoly status in his market, and sent a received a survey about people’s opinions about video games, and how often they played which games.

My survey showed that people overwhelmingly played Call of Duty and were more loyal to it than other close competitors.

Market data showed that the sales of Call of Duty were vastly greater than their competitors, and some of the best selling games in the games industry as a whole.

I concluded that the game had a Monopoly Status, as it met all the characteristics of a monopoly and outsold every competing game by a large margin.

For primary data, a consumer survey I created was circulated amongst 67 adults with varying educational backgrounds, from high school degrees to Doctorates (Appendix A).

Questioning them about their respective mobile service providers, in order to discover brand loyalty. My secondary research included the collection of prices and offers from the telecoms online websites, locally published news articles, along with MyRepublic’s proposal for market entry. I was then able to analyze the research in accordance with the theory and confirm the oligopolistic nature of the mobile service providers in Singapore, and analyze the affect MyRepublic’s entrance will have on the market, and producer welfare.

My investigation confirmed that the three providers operate as a strong oligopoly. The high concentration ratio, high barriers to entry, non-price competition, product branding, price rigidity, and interdependency in the Singaporean telecom market, means it displays the typical characteristics of an oligopolistic market. In the short run MyRepublic’s entrance, may cause a fall in total revenue, because of the stolen market shares from incumbent telecoms. However, in the long run it will most likely improve producer welfare, as it will induce innovation through the introduction of price competition, as existing firms attempt to remain competitive within the market. Also if other telecoms are successful in adopting MyRepublic’s low cost model, then this fall in production costs accompanied by an outward shift in demand because of population increase, will see an increase in profits for all telecoms, and hence improve producer welfare.

I used data from the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) annual publications and reports, and also collected primary research in the form of a questionnaire. Additionally, I conducted an interview with a former LTA employee focusing on the reasons behind the implementation of the COE, as well as its impact on the Singaporean economy.

This gave me a perspective of the public opinion with regards to car ownership and the governmental policies preventing it.

Combining this primary data to economic theory, including market failure, government intervention and price elasticity of demand has allowed me to gauge the extent to which the COE influences demand for cars.

My research indicated that the COE affects demand to a great degree for lower and middle-income households. This is because the COE makes up a large portion of their annual income, and also because of restriction to credit. The fact that there is a very good public transport system in Singapore, which acts as a fair substitute for private vehicles, also has a large influence in determining demand for cars. However, my research is inconclusive on the factors that affect demand from higher income households, where the COE is less of a financial barrier.

East Extended Essays 2015 21

CHUNG, YESUNG

GUPTA, TARANA

KRISHNAN, ADARSH

Having been living in Singapore for 4 years, I have observed that people in Singapore enjoys movie-going as one of the best leisure activities that enables to eschew from hot weather. Moreover, after learning basic theory of diverse market structures, I was instigated to probe into market structure of Singapore cinema market. Thus, through this essay, I have answered the research question “To what extent does the Singapore cinema industry follow an oligopolistic market structure?” by examining market research.

The Indian Premier League, a comparatively new cricket league, which was established in 2008. This paper aims to compare the IPL to a market and analyze all the teams as different firms that are a part of this market.

My research question is: “To what extent is the Indian Premier League representative of an oligopolistic market?” My hypothesis is that there are a few teams that do stand out and provide different and better services than others, suggesting that the league to be a representative of an oligopoly.

This Extended Essay, To what extent do taxi firms price discriminate in Singapore, investigates the phenomenon of Price Discrimination by time and place in relation to taxi services in Singapore. Singapore has public transportation, a substitute to taxis, such as bus and train systems but consumers nevertheless choose to use taxis, a more expensive option. The number of passengers using taxis on a daily basis has increased 16.9% since 2002 and the taxi fleet has increased by 44.9%. This suggests that demand for taxis is met by an increase in supply. It is interesting because consumers indicated they would like to use cheaper modes of transportation, but the demand for taxis still exists and continues to rise. This brings in the idea of an inelasticity of demand for taxis, which is a condition needed for firms to price discriminate.

The scope of this essay is to examine to what extent cinema market in Singapore complies with the characteristics of an oligopoly. I collected primary data by investigating and recording marketing strategy and decision making in each cinema, and conducting a survey of 75 Singaporean residences, focusing on each cinema’s brand loyalty and non-price factors. As for secondary resources, I read the past and current news articles about Singapore cinema market on the Internet websites. Then I researched the features of oligopoly from several economic textbooks to analyze and evaluate my primary data based on secondary resources.

I have reached the conclusion that Singapore cinema market operates in an oligopolistic market structure to a great extent. In accordance with the oligopolistic market characteristics, Singapore cinema market manifests the domination of few large firms, homogeneous goods, significant barriers to entry, interdependence, informal collusion of dominant price leadership, and non-price competition.

To support this hypothesis, I have concentrated on comparing few teams against the rest to show that there is a disparity between them in terms of nonprice factors. Primary data was collected in the form of a survey targeted at the fans and an interview with the experts in the field of cricket, such as the CEOs of the teams, to get the public’s opinion and to see whether the characteristics of an oligopoly can be found in the IPL. I also consulted various secondary sources to identify the conduct of the teams and to get branding and viewership figures that give an insight into the popularity and achievements of the teams. The results obtained are then compared to the individual characteristics of an oligopoly in order to prove the IPL to be one.

I have concluded that there are certain similarities in the characteristics of an oligopoly and those found amongst teams in the IPL proving the point that the IPL to a large extent is an oligopolistic market. Although the teams may not be as interdependent as firms in an oligopoly might be, the rest of the characteristics such as knowledge, profits etc. do match those of an oligopoly, showing the IPL to be a representative of one.

Operating under an oligopoly, taxi firms in Singapore are price makers, having freedom to set prices at a level they are satisfied with.

Taxi firms in Singapore operating under and oligopoly, complemented with an inelasticity of demand for taxis at certain times of the day and in certain locations, there is scope for taxi firms to price discriminate in Singapore.

Data was collected through surveys with taxi passengers and taxi drivers and a short interview with an LTA representative. The surveys asked questions to determine the elasticity of demand for taxis in general, but also for the changes in elasticity at certain times or locations, because these are the factors that taxi firms take into account when setting prices and conditions necessary for price discrimination. Data has shown in the past that regardless of an increase in price of taxis, taxi companies’ revenues still continue to rise.

22 East Extended Essays 2015

LAU, JONATHAN

LEE, CAROLINE

LEE, JUN BEOM

This essay addresses the question: To what extent is non-price competition used in the Dhoby Ghaut cinema industry to gain market share? The cinemas in question are Golden Village and Cathay.

This Extended Essay explores the question: “To what extent is the New Economic Policy’s (NEP) housing policy an effective way to increase equity in Petaling Jaya (PJ), Malaysia?” The housing policy is a clause in Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia specially dedicated to the majority race in Malaysia, Malay. Other races include Chinese and Indian.

Since its founding in 1986, Nespresso has been a well-known premium brand supplying single-serve coffee machines and capsules.

Nespresso runs on the classic vendor-lock or ‘Razor Blades’ strategy, where only Nespresso capsules fit into its machines. Recently, Nespresso lost a patent infringement lawsuit against one of its competitors who aim to produce capsules that fit Nespresso’s machines. Even with this potential threat, Nespresso still holds a market share of 80% as a supplier of capsules for its own machines in Europe. Contemplation of producer sovereignty led to the research question “To what extent is Nespresso a monopoly for its machine-compatible coffee capsules?”

The method of investigation ­can be divided into two main parts. First, research into what duopoly theory suggests the answer should be. Second, research into how it truly is in reality- through collecting first-hand primary data on how both cinemas differentiated their product. Furthermore, a survey was conducted amongst cinema patrons in order to gain understanding on which form of competition was most influential on their choice of cinemas. The decision to speak to consumers was based on the rationale that they are the primary and best source into the insight of the consumer mind. The scope also extends to the significance of different competition methods to different age groups and which of the two cinemas is regarded as more successful for each specific method.

The conclusion reached was that non-price competition was used to a significant extent to gain market share but not to the full extent that duopoly theory suggests. The most influential factors for patron’s decisions were location, technical aspects, and ticket promotions. Golden Village was considered more superior in terms of the first, and Cathay superior in terms of other two.

The housing policy specially safeguards the position of Malays by providing them with special housing incentives such as subsidies.

This is so to reach the government’s aim of eradicating poverty in Malaysia (since Malay was the poorest race). Therefore, this essay questions: “Is it fair to charge higher price on the same property to Chinese and Indian since they are generally wealthier than the Malay people?”

Data on wealth distribution, poverty rate and household income rate of each ethnic group were used to evaluate whether or not this policy had been effective in increasing equity, 1970s and now. When evaluating, I’ve acknowledged the fact that other factors which may affect the equity are not kept constant, hence is aware that this essay takes the perspective that the trend of the housing market is solely affected by this policy. This concept is known as ceteris paribus, where everything remains equal. This research focuses specifically on one region, Petaling Jaya. Hence collected data in Selangor, which is a state where Petaling Jaya is a part of.

Through evaluating statistical and empirical evidences, the overall conclusion of this essay states that in 1970, when the policy was implemented, it was fair and equitable as the government had effectively reduced income disparities. However, today where the country has much higher living standards and less income disparity, this policy is no longer a fair and effective way to increase equity.

The research question focused on the characteristics of the Nespresso-compatible coffee capsule market. A literature review of market structures was used as part of the secondary research. Online articles, industry journals, and published reports were used as well. For primary research, interviews and surveys were conducted. An interview with Nespresso Japan’s president Loic Rethore was carried out to learn more about Nespresso’s marketing strategies. An online customer survey was used to further identify the characteristics of the market structure.

Apart from interviews and surveys, a price comparison of different branded capsules on online stores was made. The findings from the price comparisons and customer survey were plotted into charts, and the interview organized into a transcript. Parts of the interview are quoted throughout the essay.

The investigation led to the conclusion that Nespresso is largely a monopoly in the market for capsules used in its machines.

The findings also suggested that although Nespresso has historically been a monopoly in this market, the revocation of Nespresso’s patents and the threat of new entrants is causing the Nespresso machine-compatible capsule market to become more contestable.

East Extended Essays 2015 23

LIM, KHAI XIANG

NAGPAL, ADHIP

NAIK MOOD, NIKITA

Through this essay, I have responded to my research question “To what extent do the DSLR shops in Funan DigitaLife Mall (Singapore) operate in monopolistic competition?” by comparing the characteristics of the DSLR shops in Funan to the assumptions of the theory of monopolistic competition. Because I believe that there are notable similarities between the DSLR shops in Funan DigitaLife Mall and the theory of monopolistic competition, I sought to carry out a more in-depth investigation by applying the knowledge I have acquired about monopolistic competition to a real life situation.

Since 2010, following the recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee, Ministry of Manpower of Singapore has taken steps to moderate the inflow and raise the quality of foreign manpower in Singapore.

The objective is to shift from labor-driven to productivity-driven growth while ensuring that Singaporeans remain at the core of the workforce. Budget 2013 announced measures to lower the man-year-entitlements (MYE), which is a quota given to businesses for employing foreign workers as a ratio to local workers, thus increasing demand to employ local workers. Additional levies on foreign workers got introduced at the same time. The tightening measures progressively increase over the years.

51% of India’s workforce is employed in the agricultural sector, most of who are paid below the minimum wage. The Indian government launched the countrywide Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2006 providing 100 days of assured employment in a year to every rural household. With an Act of this magnitude, it is important to investigate both its positive and negative effects not only on beneficiaries, but also on other stakeholders. Thereby, the research question of this essay is: “To what extent does MGNREGA have a positive effect on its beneficiaries and agricultural landlords in the village of Bommaganapalli, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India?”

The scope of this essay is to evaluate the extent in which these DSLR shops’ characteristics match with the theory’s assumptions. I gathered primary data from relevant parties by conducting surveys, which are created for DSLR shop managers/employees and DSLRuser customers in Funan. The questions on the survey were based on the theory’s assumptions.

I used secondary sources such as textbooks and online articles for information about the theory, the Funan website for information about Funan, Canon-Singapore and Nikon-Singapore website for DSLR prices. By comparing results collected and the theory’s assumptions, I was able to draw conclusions about whether they correspond with each other, thus effectively answer my research question.

I concluded that the characteristics of the DSLR shops in Funan are very similar to the theory’s assumptions. This can be seen through the presence of relatively large number of firms in the market, imperfect information amongst producers and consumers, firms having some degree of market power, firms being weak price makers, and firms differentiating themselves.

However, there are characteristics that do not match the theory’s assumptions, such as the presence of high barriers to entry and exit, and the dependency between the firms.

Therefore, the DSLR shops in Funan operate in monopolistic competition to a large extent.

In this research “To what extent has tightening of Man-Year–Entitlements in 2013 by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower impacted construction costs in Singapore’s Oil and Gas sector?”; due to limited availability of data in the public domain, reports from Department of Statistics, Credit Suisse, Ministry of Manpower and other sources have been used to extract information and data. These reports are authentic sources of data from government and reputed credit rating agencies. Project managers of owner’s and contractor organizations i.e. organizations directly affected by the tightening of MYE were interviewed, to understand and analyze the impact of measures announced by the government.

The impact of tightening of MYE and additional levies is being felt by most sectors including Oil and Gas industry which plays a prominent role in Singapore’s economy.

The industry is hit, with construction costs spiraling upwards, and contractors finding it difficult to meet the resource requirements of the projects, leading to increased overall costs and longer construction schedules.

The tightening measures are likely to shave off approximately 0.9% of GDP growth and construction costs would grow at a rate of 6% to 8% over the next few years.

As this effect could not be assessed countrywide, Bommaganapalli was chosen in Anantapur district. This district is significant as it receives the second lowest rainfall in the country, thereby increasing the dependency of workers on this Act. In-depth interviews were conducted at the MGNREGA worksite with 18 workers, the Field Assistant, and 6 agricultural landlords. Results from the interviews were compared with secondary research and interviews with experts to arrive at conclusions.

The extent of the positive effect on the beneficiaries was measured by better standards of living and welfare, pressure on rural-urban migration and women empowerment, and the effect on agricultural landlords by analysing if works under MGNREGA facilitated greater agricultural production, and if labourers had greater negotiating power about wages and other conditions of employment.

Results showed that although there was great reduction in rural-urban migration and potential increase in better standards of living and welfare, improvement in the empowerment and economic freedom of women occurred to a lesser extent. Agricultural landlords, however, benefitted to a large extent from works done under MGNREGA but experienced higher wages for workers, less profits, and an increase in the prices of their products.

24 East Extended Essays 2015

NG CA TUNG

PODDAR, VINAYIKA

RADIOWALA, YAHYA

This essay will be responding to the research question: “To what extent can Game Theory be used to explain the price strategies of Nestle against Mars Inc. in the chocolate bar market in Singapore?”

This paper examines the economy of Pathankot, which is a developing area in Punjab, India. In 1995 after the setting up the Industrial Growth Centre, industries started to set up in the region alongside the farms that perform agricultural activities such as crop cultivation and animal husbandry. This creates a rural non-farm economy system (RNFES) in Pathankot, where the rural population is earning through non-farm related actives. The agricultural farms in Pathankot receive large amounts of subsidy from the Punjab government every year. The research question that arises is that, To what extent is the Rural Non Farm Economy Structure (RNFES) more effective than agricultural subsidy in promoting development in terms of literacy ratio, number of mobile phones owned per family and annual income, in the Pathankot district in the state of Punjab, India.

In this Extended Essay I will be answering the Question- “To what extent is the electronic market in Sim-Lim Square perfectly competitive?” This extended essay will cover the Microeconomic side of a trading complex, Sim-Lim Square, located near the CBD in Singapore. Sim-Lim Square specializes in the sale of Electronics, and is the largest IT Hub of Singapore, because it can provide a large range of electronics. This Extended Essay answers a variety of questions, on whether or not the market for electronics in Sim-Lim is perfectly competitive, or any other market structure and provides reasons by analyzing the evidence that has been found by collection of raw data.

The scope for this essay is to examine the central assumptions and implications of the microeconomics theory: Study of the firm, to apply to this situation and observe how much of Game Theory can be used to explain the price strategies in an oligopolistic market between Nestle and Mars Inc. Noted that Mars Inc and Nestle are treated as the sole two major players in the confectionary market. To answer the research question, I will conduct a range of primary research to address the question. I will interview a Nestle regional Vice President in order to understand their decisions for pricing strategy. I will also acquire data on prices of Mars Bar and Kit Kat in Singapore from the past ten years.

Additionally, I will explore the tendency for abnormal profits, and any behavior representative of competitive practice. My method will involve an evaluation of the degree of game theory used by Nestle in the price strategy.

I have reached the conclusion that Nestle does use Game theory as one of their pricing strategy, however it is only a small part of their decisions. According to the interview with Nestle, they consider the cost of raw materials and customer’s value perceived in Kit Kat when considering their pricing strategy.

In order to do my research, I visited Pioneer Industries Ltd (PIL), which is situated in the Industrial Growth Centre, and conducted surveys with the unskilled and the semiskilled labour working in the factory. Similar surveys were conducted with the farmers near the factory who receive agriculture subsidy. These surveys contained question about their annual income, literacy, number of mobile phones owned per family and some of the other such development indicators that helped me draw my conclusion.

The conclusion of the study was that the RNFES is by far more effective in promoting development as compared to agriculture subsidy, mainly because the RNFES creates more investments in the region and the people earn a higher income working in the factory than on the farm.

Two different market structures were compared in this Essay, Perfect Competition and Monopolistic Competition. The assumptions of both these market structures were compared, and the data collected was analyzed to provide evidence on which market structure Sim-Lim Square inclined towards. Raw data was collected by going to Sim-Lim Square, and comparing the prices and availability of goods in different shops.

Since there were slight differences in price, reasons for the difference were looked into, and a survey was done to get information on the products sold.

The data suggested that the electronic market in Sim-Lim Square was not perfectly competitive; instead, it was in monopolistic competition. The data showed that there was a price difference, and that was due to the product differentiation. Reasons were given to why some firms charge more than others for the same product. Results showed that consumers were willing to pay for a better experience, and that includes better services, a warranty, and a larger variety of products.

East Extended Essays 2015 25

SANTHOSH, SONALI

SAURIN, JACOB

SHIVANI SHINDE

In this study, the question being researched is whether or not the Help to buy scheme has caused inflation in the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and Bromley. Over the past twelve months house prices are rising and there has been arguments to whether Help to Buy scheme has been the major factor causing house price inflation. This study will examine how far has the UK’s help to buy scheme stoked house prices.

This essay addresses the topic of economics in football specifically looking at how football clubs use price discrimination when selling football tickets. The question being investigated is as follows; “In what ways do Chelsea price discriminate and to what extent can it be seen to benefit them as a club?”

To what extent did the opening of the new Downtown Line MRT influence private condominium prices in Telok Ayer, Singapore?

To conduct this research, two boroughs in London are considered, if there was further scope ideally all boroughs would have been considered however due to limited scope, this study is considering the two London boroughs, Bromley and Kensington and Chelsea which have the lowest and highest number of participants respectively in the Help to Buy scheme between 2011 and 2014. In this way we can see if Help to buy is causing house price inflation. If it is then Bromley should be the borough to show house price increase. So 5 factors of data were observed; House price index, average house price, sales output, new build and number of completed equity loan. Through processing this set of data and conducting liner regression and Pearson’s test, the effect of Help to buy scheme is observed. Primary data was collected through surveys to support the secondary research.

The conclusion of this study proved that Help to buy scheme is causing house price inflation in Bromley, however the house prices are still rising in Kensington and Chelsea, thus proving that it is not the only factor causing house price inflation.

Other factors along with the Help to Buy scheme cumulatively cause house price inflation example population growth, foreign investment, lack of space etc.

The determinants of demand and supply for the football ticketing market in general will be analysed before being used to explain why they allow the club to make decision in order to take advantage of the consumer.

Three different forms of price discrimination will be examined and reviewed to the extent in which they benefit the club and why. The first is the third degree of price discrimination in which the club discriminates based on age. The club use of the second degree of price discrimination will also be looked at specifically how the club discriminates based on quantity before the third degree of price discrimination will be looked into once more to see the effects of price discriminating based upon time. These will then be evaluated to look at how they benefit the club.

The impacts of price discrimination both economically and socially were both looked into, how price discrimination leads to arbitrage in the consumer market. To conclude, price discrimination benefits the club only to a certain extent, as it is fair to assume to that the clubs main goals lie in performing well on the pitch and in the Barclays Premier League.

This paper examines the impact of the Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) System on private condominium values in Telok Ayer. The MRT is a major component of the railway system in Singapore. It spans the entire city-state, and has an average of 2623000 daily riders.

It is one of the most common modes of transport in Singapore. As an amenity, it is sure to affect the price of properties constructed near by.

The aim of this essay is to work out to what extent the new MRT line called the Blue Line or the Downtown line has affected the prices of homes in Telok Ayer, an area in the Central Business District. Telok Ayer was chosen due to the fact that it was one of the only few, on the Downtown Line, which didn’t already have an MRT station. I attempted to find out the effect on the price by using the law of supply and demand, and by finding the elasticity’s of the demand and supply of the condominiums. I’ve done so by connecting basic economic theories with data collected from interviews, surveys and statistics from Singaporean property and transport websites.

After all the research I came to the conclusion that the new MRT didn’t have a huge impact on the property prices. This was mainly due to the fact that it wasn’t seen as a basic requirement to the residents in Telok Ayer. The results can help understand the volatile nature of property values.

26 East Extended Essays 2015

SOE, NANDAR

SONG, FIONA

TANDON, JOSHUA

“To what extent are the tuition centers in Singapore for IBDP operating in a oligopolistic market structure?” to answer this question, this essay investigates the oligopolistic behaviors and characteristics in Singapore.

This research essay answers the question: “To what extent has the provision of free travel before 7:45am on weekdays for the MRT in Singapore affected consumer demand?” After hearing about the provision of free travel on the MRT for all commuters, I was highly intrigued and wanted to investigate the extent of its impact on the people. Since Singapore has a population that highly relies on the public transportation system, it would be interesting to see if efforts to steer consumption would have a considerable effect on consumption.

In this essay I shall investigate “To what extent are the conditions for price discrimination prevalent in Burger King, McDonalds and KFC in Singapore and Malaysia?” I will analyse the situation present in three fast-food chains and identify whether or not there is a possibility for the firm to price discriminate against their consumers and the manner in which they do so.

The target population of this essay is the IB students and the directors of the tuition centers. Sample for this investigation is taken from the subset of the students.

Firstly, the 4 most popular IB tuition center is determined through the student survey. Then an interview is conducted with the directors of the tuition center to understand the individual firm’s behavior and then the market as a whole is compared and contrasted against the features of an oligopoly. The concentration ratio, product branding, barriers to entry, collusion, non-price competition, information, and interdependence are examined.

The conclusion I reached upon is that the IB tuition centers to a certain extent are oligopolistic as the concentration ratio of 93% suggests that the market is highly oligopolistic. However, the market is tending towards a monopoly as Maths Vision has the concentration ratio of 67%. The lack of interdependence and collusive behavior undermines the nature of an oligopoly.

However, the existence of price rigidity, high barriers to entry, economies or sale, nonprice competition and imperfect information present in the IB tuition market does support the aspects of an oligopoly. These characteristics supported the conclusion that the IB industry is operating in an oligopoly market in a large extent.

The scope of this essay was to investigate consumers’ changes in consumption of MRT travel in response to the provision of free travel. Thus, this included data about trends in consumption before and during the provision of free travel, both during peak and off-peak hours. Information was gathered from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), their official website, and relevant online reports. Textbooks and websites aided the analysis, and a calculation for the Price Elasticity of Demand justified the provision of free travel as the main factor that resulted in the changes in consumption.

After thorough analyses, I concluded that pre-peak demand for MRT travel significantly increased, which was the original aim of the LTA trial, as measured by the quantity of passengers. Many passengers demonstrated the ability and willingness to commute early in order to avoid crowds during peak hours.

On the other hand, while the LTA had also aimed to ease out the crowds during the peak hours, I concluded that the trial was not particularly successful at this, as peak-hour consumption still followed a steady rate of increase.

The scope of this essay is to analyse what assumptions of the price discrimination theory there are and how they can be applied to the fast-food market. This essay shall focus on identifying the price elasticity of demand and the barriers to entry within the market and then assessing them to identify the extent of which the concept can be applied in this market. The research to provide data for this investigation will come by the means of conducting surveys and gathering information from the general consumer.

After the data is recorded and processed, the essay will then go on to analyse the data and derive the facts and statistics to support or disprove assumptions made by the theory, hence assessing the extent to which the concept can be applied in the market by the producer. However, this essay shall not explicitly demonstrate which of the three degrees, can be identified in the fast food market as to do so, information regarding the firm’s intent would need to be known, which is not accessible.

Through my essay and research I have reached the conclusion that the concept of price discrimination can be applied to a certain extent in the fast-food market in Singapore and Malaysia. The degree of which the concept can be applied depends on price elasticity of demand and the barriers to entry of which the market and the individual firm operate on though.

WANMUDA, WAFA “To what extent is non-price competition used in order to sell iPhone cases in the mobile phone accessory market in the Siam shopping area.”

The essay is looking at a mobile accessory market in the main shopping center in Bangkok. The product that we are looking at is transparent iPhone cases. The demand of the product is also elastic, as most customers do pay attention to the prices, and even with a little increase in price would make them unhappy. There’re a couple of firms that sell the identical product but each firms sell the product at different prices. If the firms were competing through prices, the price should rather be similar, but in this case the gap between the prices is quite big, hence there are in a non-price competition. This Essay will examine to which extent the non-price competition is used in the market.

To answer the question, the information about the prices, and the cost of the firms are gathered. And to observe how they differentiate their product, we made observation of the location, the feature of the shop, and also the design of the product.

The data shows that a firm could have a very low price at 60 baht, whilst another firm have the price around 200 to 250 baht.

And they both are able to survive in the market. A possible reason to that is there’re many substitutes, which is a way the firms differentiate between themselves, which increase the demand, and allows them to set a higher price.

East Extended Essays 2015 27

28 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS AND SOCIETIES

BANG, ASHLEY

HOI, REBECCA

This investigation attempts to calculate the carbon footprint of the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) East Campus’s bus system. The carbon footprint was calculated from a baseline methodology report released by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). UWCSEA East Campus has been recognized for environmental sustainability and stewardship through its mission statement and values. The carbon footprint of the school’s bus transportation system was calculated and compared to other standards to evaluate whether it remained true to its goals.

The aim of this IB Extended Essay is to investigate the extent of which trees and their services contribute to Singapore’s urban population, with Singapore representing one of the world’s greatest urban landscapes. The island city of Singapore has one of highest population densities in the world. The city has a reputation for being one of the world’s leading tropical ‘Garden City’. This is because the people living within the city share it with thousands of other organisms; this Extended Essay however focuses on the plant species, of which many are native. Among this rich flora lie shrubbery, gardens, and protected natural area. Amidst this broad cultivation of plants, there are more than two million trees, which have been planted.

The investigation used secondary data from both the UNFCCC and the Singaporean government. Primary data from the school’s bus network was collected on my behalf by the transportation department due to privacy of certain information. By using this data along with data from credible external sources, the carbon footprint value was calculated. This value, however, only accounted for the bus service used to transport from home to school and back and did not consider the production and demolition phases of a bus’s life cycle.

Despite these limitations, a reliable carbon footprint value was calculated for useful comparison with other sustainability standards.

UWCSEA East Campus’s bus system yielded a total carbon footprint of approximately 140 metric tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases in the 2013-2014 academic year. An individual student averaged about 440 grams of CO2 equivalent every day, which varied from student to student depending on whether they took single or round-trip bus rides. When these carbon footprint values were compared to national emission values of USA and emission values of a similar-sized school in Windhoek, Namibia, UWCSEA East Campus had comparatively lower values. While result clearly displays the efficiency and sustainability of the bus system, the carbon footprint could be further reduced if buses were filled to higher seating capacities.

Singapore has always been covered with lush greenery, even while forests were being converted into agricultural use during the early 1880s. As rapid industrialisation and urban reconstruction began, much of this urbanisation began to replace the natural ecosystems Singapore has to offer. Over the last couple of decades, Singapore has cultivated trees into their urban environment in order to enhance Singapore’s living quality, including improvement in property values, energy savings, air quality, and drainage and storm mitigation.

This Extended Essay is directed to explore the points of information on trees when they are placed in an urban atmosphere and examine both the positive and the negative impacts that they have. Based on the information gathered, the end conclusion of this Extended Essay is that the positive services that trees provide an urban population such as Singapore far outweigh any negative effects that may follow with the flora.

KIM, JUN HO Wetlands are very important ecosystem throughout the world as it works as a habitat for many species and purification center of dirty water. South Korea also has several wetlands including Jang Hang Wetland along Han River, where was designated as Ramsar International Convention wetland in 2012. In this ecosystem, as a wintering site, many migratory birds including bean goose. But as unsustainable land use management for industrial development has interfered the ecosystem’s appropriate functioning due to pollution. This has led bean goose to reduce their population in Jang Hang Wetland and Goyang City council, where Jang Hang is located, devised some policies for conservation. This led to investigate the question of “To what extent has the land use management around Jang Hang wetland been helpful to preserve the Bean Goose (Anser Fablis)’s population”.

The impact and reasons of society’s industrial purpose land use management and manipulation of ecosystem on Jang Hang wetland, especially focusing on the impacts on bean goose population, will be answered and conservation efforts and effectiveness of land management for conservation will be assessed.

This includes many different perspectives, such as eco-centric views and anthropocentric views, for broader understanding. This research is based on secondary data from national library, research data from professors and official environmental organization, and official report published from the city. Conversation and discussion with environmentalists were also done for development of investigation.

The conclusion of this research was that unsustainable way of land use management in Jang Hang has caused decline of bean goose population and ecosystem’s balanced functioning. But it is understandable that industrial purpose land use is the only way for the local community to maintain livelihood.

City counsel and organization’s efforts for conservation worked in restricting unauthorized people’s contact but have huge limitations.

East Extended Essays 2015 29

30 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS GEOGRAPHY

AZUMA, FUMIKA

BHULLAR, GURMEHAR

With increasing awareness on the importance of conserving forests to combat climate change and to preserve biodiversity, the number of areas declared as a protected area is increasing worldwide. However, declaring an area as protected does not necessarily ensure that biodiversity and habitat is protected in a sustainable way. The research question is “to what extent are forests in Kamakura city being sustainably managed?” Protection of forested area is important but what is more important is that this is being done in a way that ensures that forests will be continued to be protected in the future.

Considering the fact that natural hazards cannot be prevented but their impact can be significantly minimized through preparedness of vulnerable people, this Extended Essay aims at analyzing and assessing the preparedness of the residents of Kasauli, a small hill station located in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India, towards locally occurring natural hazards. The hypothesis of the research states that Kasauli’s people are not prepared to tackle natural hazards.

Considering that judging the preparedness of a community can be subjective and hence biased, this study used various methods of data collection to judge preparedness of the people of the town.

This essay examines sustainable forest management (SFM) from three perspectives; environmental, social and economic sustainability. Two largest forested parks that are protected were chosen from the ten, a set of criteria was created and the two forests were assessed against those criteria to find out the extent to which they are being sustainably managed. Both primary and secondary data from a range of pertinent sources were collected. Litter count along a transect was undertaken to investigate visitor behaviours in the park. Personal interviews were undertaken and emails were sent to city workers and non-profit organisations (NPO).

Large extent of secondary data was collected from data published on the Kamakura City and the NPO websites, which was critically analysed to gain an in-depth understanding of how the forests are being protected.

After thorough analysis, results showed that neither of the parks are entirely sustainably managed. Hiromachi was environmentally and economically sustainable, while Kamakura Central Park was socially sustainable and therefore Hiromachi was more sustainably managed overall. Both the NPOs working in these forested areas are required to put more effort into recruiting new members to raise funds as there is a decline in membership and funds in recent years.

Primary data survey methods included questionnaires, interviews, photographs, field notes and lastly- Safety and Preparedness Indexes (both specially designed for this study that take into account factors of safety and preparedness such as emergency services and teams, vulnerability, accessibility and implementation of government plan and laws). To carry the study forward, four different areas in Kasauli were chosen depending on type (seasonal residents/ local residents) and density of population. A stratified sample of 30 residents was chosen, out of which 21 local and 9 seasonal residents were surveyed. Secondary data such as analyzing the District Disaster Management Plan, reading research papers and websites as well as collecting data of past occurrences of hazards in Kasauli was gathered to draw a comparison with the primary data.

Even though it could be possible that responses from the sample could be biased and potentially incorrect due to respondents personal opinions, location of residence and vulnerability towards hazards, the data collected shows that due to lack of coordination and communication the people of Kasauli are not prepared to tackle natural hazards, hence proving the hypothesis correct.

East Extended Essays 2015 31

HAMBARDZUMYAN, MIRA

JANG, HARAM

JOSHI, SALEEL

This extended essay attempts to investigate the extent to which migration in Armenia affects two residential zones of the capital city, Yerevan. The hypothesis established in the essay states that the extent to which it affects two residential zones is large. The data is conducted based on statistics of 2001 to 2014. During this period of time active trends of different types of migration such as internal rural-urban and external migration have played a role in the development of the city. Hence, this essay focuses on the way the migration impacted housing, urban planning demographics and land use in Yerevan to develop.

In this essay, the question: “to what extent are the aid programs for N. Korean migrants effective at ensuring their successful integration into Seoul, South Korea?” has been investigated.

Since Seteomins’ (N. Korean migrants in S. Korea) lives in Seoul are often difficult due to broad gaps between their origin and Seoul, it is important to examine whether the aid programs provided by both the public and private sectors of Seoul are being effective at helping them.

The following essay analyzes the research question “To what extent are the perceptions of Dharavi’s needs by its residents similar to those of Vision Mumbai?” This research question was chosen in order to see the conflict between the residents of Dharavi and big private corporations. The main sources of primary data were the interviews that were taken in the slum and a questionnaire that was sent out to 50 small workshop or factory owners. This provided the residents’ perspective on the issue presented by redevelopment, however to assess the other side of the battle, one person who works in the municipal corporation of Mumbai was interviewed thoroughly. This provided a great insight into the Municipal Corporation’s plans for one of the world’s biggest slum. Moreover this provided a first hand experience to why residents of Dharavi feel a certain way and why developers argue in most cases in the completely opposite way. To increase knowledge about the issue at hand, a lot of secondary sources were used. Credible websites such as National Geographic for data on Dharavi, a report

by Neelima Risbud about Mumbai and the McKinsy Report for Vision Mumbai were used as the main secondary sources. They provided data that was necessary to make a personal judgment about whether or not Dharavi should be developed or not and moreover they provided details that were not received through the interviews and the questionnaire.

Any decision that will be made in the long run has to be holistic and take into account that it will affect millions of people. The conclusion of this essay is therefore and open-ended. There is not one solution for the problem as of yet as both schemes have their own problems. Hence, rather than making the problem worse that it already is, I believe as of now that Dharavi should remain as it is.

Using opportunity-sampling technique two residential zones/districts have been chosen to investigate. Data was collected.

Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected: primary and secondary data has been used. The data has been collected through various ways such as interviews, surveys, websites, statistical databases and newspapers. The data has been used in order to compare and contrast the effect that migration has had on the two districts.

The findings suggest migration has not have impacted the two districts greatly. Although the data has investigated some important aspects of residential zones being affected under pressure of migration, it cannot only be migration that affected those, which brings to the conclusion that migration might has some effects on the development of the city, although there are other factors, such as natural growth of the city that leads its way to the further development. It was concluded that both districts been affected, although Kentron got affected by migration more than Nor Nork.

The effectiveness of aid programs was evaluated through analyzing whether they satisfy to improve the equality between the natives of Seoul and Seteomins in terms of socio-economic factors: access to social services, income level, job availability, standard of living, education level, quality of life, perception of identity and social integration within the society. Two aid providers and forty Seteomins of different ages and residences were interviewed to hear about their difficulties in life and the aid programs they are involved in or are offering.

Through this investigation, it has been found that in general, there are good attempts to fulfill different needs of Seteomins with applicable aid programs according to the characteristics of their residential environment. However, some populations are unable to access these programs due to their residence and immobility; and often the limited spaces for programs decrease their qualities. Moreover, the social discrimination towards Seteomins within the society makes many to hide their origin, as it affects their employment and social integration. Thus, many Seteomins inevitably choose not to access the programs or even when aided with programs, their difficulties are not solved. Unless the overall social perspectives on the Seteomins change positively, social discrimination would continue being the factor limiting the effectiveness of the aid programs.

32 East Extended Essays 2015

LINDVALL, WILLIAM

OCAMPO, ALEXIS

ORYNBASSAR, AIDANA

The importance of environmental sustainability is continuing to grow in the modern world and countries such as Singapore are at the forefront of this growth.

Singapore is regarded one of the most environmentally sustainable countries of the world. Due to the nature of progress towards environmental sustainability, that which is most import is the action of the public as a whole. The aim of this investigation is to answer the research question “To what extent is Singapore’s progress towards environmental sustainability successful?”

This Extended Essay attempts to address adrenalin tourism versus cultural tourism in Singapore, focusing mainly on the ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay and Universal Studios Singapore on Sentosa Island, which are both tourist attractions that are arguably very strong representations of cultural and adrenalin tourism.

This is an independent research work that involves analytical investigation of the research question: “How does ethnicity affect degree of assimilation of immigrants into the host society? A case study of two ethnic groups in Singapore.” The essay examines how ethnicity affects the degree of assimilation in the host society, where the focus was on two ethnic groups represented by one group of British/Americans and another of Filipino/Indonesians. The work explains what cultural assimilation is and various terminologies of this broad concept, such as diaspora, cultural hybridity and cultural shock.

In order to gather the necessary data, an array of primary and secondary sources were explored. In collecting data an area of East Coast, and within it five transects, was chosen to be examined as well as surveyed.

The chosen area incorporates a majority of the characteristics that are apparent in Singapore as whole. Surveys were given out personally to a variety of individuals. The responses were recorded and any patterns in attitudes were analyzed along primary observations and also in conjunction with secondary statistics primarily provided by the Singaporean government.

Through the analysis of the data gathered throughout the investigation, it is evident that Singapore’s progress towards environmental sustainability can be considered a success. However, due to the population structure in terms of permanent residents and foreigners it is clear that the Singaporean government’s efforts to push environmentally sustainable practices could be more effective if they were targeted primarily towards foreigners as it is apparent that it is they who are contributing most negatively in terms of environmentally unsustainable practices.

Using the hypothesis, Universal Studios in Sentosa represents adrenalin tourism as a more attractive form of tourism compared to cultural tourism, I have aimed to compare the museum and the theme park to form an argument as to which type of attraction better benefits Singapore socioeconomically. In my efforts to collect data, I produced qualitative surveys and a personal attractiveness index with different indicators to compare the two tourist sites. The primary data was collected over the course of two days at the sites themselves, while the official Singapore Tourist Board’s website provided public figures and statistics concerning Singapore’s tourist industry. I proceeded to survey both visitors and employees in the attempt to view the tourist attraction between the two main perspectives from which it is seen.

To conclude, I rejected my hypothesis and was able to come to the resolution that the reason for Singapore’s socio-economic success in the tourist industry is its ability to meet the needs of many different audiences by providing such diverse tourist attractions such as the ArtScience Museum, and Universal Studios Singapore. Both sites are famous for completely different reasons, yet are equally unique in meeting the tourism goals.

Answering the question involved thorough data collection. To accurately investigate the degree of assimilation of a migrant, a questionnaire was devised for data collection, which was answered by the same number of individuals from each ethnic group. Due to the vastness of the subject of cultural assimilation, this research focuses on the emotional assimilation of the immigrants.

The essay mainly addressed three general aspects of cultural assimilation: languages, social circles and lifestyles. Economic aspects of the immigrants, their age and their residency status were not examined, as those are relatively sensitive and personal issues that some interviewers did not want to talk about. In addition, a literature research was conducted as well. However, the conclusion is chiefly based on the results from the primary research, because of the insufficiency of reliable secondary data related to this topic.

The results and their analysis lead to a conclusion that Filipino/Indonesian ethnic group is slightly more assimilated in Singapore than the British/American group. Although, it was also concluded that both ethnic groups are culturally assimilated in different aspects due to the nature of their ethnicity.

Nevertheless, it was also deduced that because of the dynamic nature of cultural assimilation, new factors will always emerge that would arise new questions regarding this fascinating topic.

STEIRO, VIDA MARIA DAAE

SYAMSUDDIN, SAFIRA

The aim of this investigation is to examine the question; “How are the factors which affect fertility rates in Tampines, Singapore and Mjolan, Norway similar and different, and what are the implications of this?�

Norway and Singapore are highly developed countries with low or declining fertility rates, but different governmental policies to approach this issue. Tampines and Mjolan are both residential areas of their cities with similar distance from the city-center and similar socioeconomic populations.

As urbanization continues to spread and with increased rainfall, flooding is one of the biggest problems in Jakarta that has worsened in the past few years. With almost 10 million people in the city, different people have different points of view towards the floods (CIA). This essay focuses on the varying hazard perceptions and responses in the Kampung Melayu and Pondok Indah communities in Jakarta.

The empirical data was collected through a questionnaire including questions on background information of respondents and what factors affect them when deciding whether to have children. Policy and population trend data was predominantly collected from government websites and national statistics in order to see the relation to responses and to assess the efforts of the governments to increase fertility rates.

The investigation concludes that for both countries age is an important factor affecting the decision to have children or not, this might be due to the increase in mean age of the first child and marriage. Career and financial cost were the factors affecting Singaporean respondents the most. Some Norwegian respondents said that various benefits are the reason why having children in Norway is not economically difficult, and Norwegian respondents seem happy with the benefits, which makes policymaking difficult as financial help would not incentivise them. Singaporeans show higher concern regarding financial cost and career, so new policies should help financially, decreasing the cost of having children. It is concluded that to raise fertility rates, the governments should make it easier for younger people and people in careers to have children by making childcare more affordable and accessible. Singapore should also make benefits eligible to unmarried and both genders. The implications for policy makers are cultural traditions affecting fertility rates, which are difficult to change.

Primary research, which was done through conducting surveys, allowed an insight to the interviewees’ hazard perception and responses as well as the factors behind it.

Questions were mostly closed and targeted towards the possible factors including income, frequency of events, and severity of the effects of the floods. The relationship between these factors and hazard perception and responses were also considered for an in-depth analysis and to support the overall results. Secondary data that were mostly in form of reports and articles mostly took the form of figures, maps.

The hazard perception and responses of the residents of Kampung Melayu are more definite than that of the residents of Pondok Indah. While most Kampung Melayu residents believe that floods are part of nature, or inevitable, and therefore holds a positive attitude and accepting point of view, the way the residents of Pondok Indah perceive and respond to floods vary, with only a 6.67% margin between those who believe that floods are inevitable and that floods can be prevented. This difference in the distribution of hazard perception and responses is due to multiple factors, including economic conditions, experience and frequency of floods, as well as building infrastructure, all of which were identified by using the surveys.

East Extended Essays 2015 33

34 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS HISTORY

AHMAD SHAHIZAM, SHUKRI

AYMEN DE LAGEARD, SIXTINE

Taking place between 1948 and 1960, the Malayan Emergency involving the Federation of Malaya and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was a pivotal period in the history of Malaysia. Whilst the terrorist insurrection by the MCP proved to be unsuccessful, it is no less important to study as a matter of reference how such a victory was achieved through the joint effort of the British and Malayan authorities. A key factor in the conflict proved to be the racial and socioeconomic composition of Malaya, and as such begged the research question at hand: “How did Malaya’s racial and socioeconomic composition affect the actions of the MCP and the Malayan government and determine the outcome of the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960?”

This essay investigates the question of, “to what extent was ethnic stratification in Côte d’Ivoire the dominant cause for France’s Opération Licorne in 2002?” The essay was written through a revisionist view that reappraises the causes of the 2002 French military intervention in Côte d’Ivoire using socio-economic accounts alongside historical and political text.

Within this essay, three key aspects are explored, considering both the MCP and the Malayan government. Firstly, the initial failure of the MCP to garner support beyond its primary base of ethnic Chinese is explored, followed by how, even then, this support was placed on exploitable minorities and were unsustainable. To provide an insight on the opposing side, the effectiveness of governmental actions through the Briggs’ Pan and Gerald Templer’s “Hearts and Minds” in exploiting weaknesses in the MCP’s support base, and the Malaysian Chinese Association’s (MCA) role in consolidating governmental advantages on a grassroots level will be considered.

Through this, it will be concluded that the MCP’s failure lay in its inability to capitalise on an advantageous position following the Japanese Occupation, which led it on a downward trajectory and necessitated dependence on volatile populations of minorities for supplies. Subsequently, the government, with vastly more resources, was able to win through attrition, by systematically eradicating support for the Communists and providing a legitimate entity, the MCA, for Chinese populations to support.

Secondary sources such as news articles, academic essays about Francafrique by Maja Bovcon, political novels retracing long term corruption scandals, have been integrated in the analysis of the topic. The essay aims to create an understanding of ethnic stratification intrinsic to Ivorian history and society and how it affects the fragility of regional stability. The consequences of a failing economy and structural economic dependency on France are examined: the section aims to explain how the colonially implemented structure of the economy enabled the economic miracle of Côte d’Ivoire, and investigate the flaws of the system in terms of the corruption involved.

Furthermore, the downfall of the economy from badly managed debt and investments toward strict austerity policies and free market system is accounted for in the context of a vulnerable cocoa industry. The next section offers a more complete overview of the complex Franco-Ivorian relations influenced by Françafrique. Lastly, military neo-colonial legacy is important to the scope of the topic. The notion of French geopolitical interests and the need for grandeur on the international scene after the weakening Algerian and Indochina wars is introduced, and explains the military presence of the French in Côte d’Ivoire.

The essay concludes by asserting that ethnic stratification holds great importance in the reasons for the intervention, yet that historical nuances within the Franco-Ivorian relationship and a weak economy were also crucial to the escalation of the war and thus to the action of Opération Licorne.

East Extended Essays 2015 35

BEDFORD, HANNAH

BUDSWORTH, ZOE

CHABERTY, UGO

The ruling party of any democratic society can be be seen as a reflection of that society.

Does that mean German Society should be culpable for the actions of the Nazi Party?

To determine exactly how society affected the Nazis’ rise to power, this essay shall be answering the question: What role did society play in the rise to power of the Nazi party?

Anti-Semitism between the years 19331938 had a huge impact on World War Two (WWII). By researching the United States of America (USA) and Germany it gives two different perspectives because the countries were on opposite sides of the spectrum in regards to how they viewed Anti-Semitism.

Therefore this essay will explore, “Anti Semitism in Germany during the years 1933-1938 and the role of the Jewish community in the United States at this time” this allows the research to be in depth, and it shows how both countries viewed the Jews in the same period of time.

This essay examines to what extent the Reign of Terror, the period between 1793 and 1794 of the French Revolution, betrayed the ideals of French Enlightenment. By isolating which elements of the enlightenment period were the most related to France up to the Terror and then comparing them with key events and practices in the Terror it becomes possible to assess to what extent the terror did not abide by the enlightenment ideals in place before it.

The position this essay shall take is that it was through the combined influence of economic crises such as the Great Depression, ideological differences—the polarisation between the communists and the right wing parties including the Nazis, and political chaos as illustrated by the collapse of The Weimar Republic, that took place in Germany 1918-1933 together with the Nazis’ propaganda that caused society to vote the Nazi Party into aposition of power.

However it cannot be said that society wanted the events that followed because the majority of the population were unaware of the intentions of the party to kill so many people. In order to fully answer the question both primary sources, such as pieces of Nazi propaganda and Nazi transcripts as well as secondary sources, such as the monograph “The ‘Hitler myth’ Image and Reality in the Third Reich’ have been used in order to create a clearer insight into the question that is supported by a variety of evidence.

When researching Anti-Semitism in Germany and the USA, there was information on the political, economic and social factors that affected the Jews in daily life. Also researching why the German citizens were Anti-Semitic was very interesting because it highlighted how the German citizens changed how they viewed the Jews, the Jews were no longer seen as friends.Not all countries were Anti-Semitic and there were a lot of different perspectives on the Jews at this time. The link between Germany and the US is because researching more in-depth, how the US citizens saw the Jews showed the contrast between different perspectives in the two countries.

The results of this research are that, at this time in 1933, World War One had finished and Germany was the main loser in this war. Therefore as Hitler came to power, he blamed the Jews mainly for losing the war, which made the citizens in Germany hate the Jews, and therefore support anti- Semitism.

This is different to the USA, where they had nothing against the Jews and instead, when the Jews in Germany starting leaving their country for protection against the Nazis, some at least found refuge in the USA, and were supported there.

This investigation approaches this question using political, social and religious history, predominantly basing itself on a wide range of secondary sources with varying historiographies. It considers the start of the 1700’s as the initial time frame for the emergence of enlightenment ideas in Europe and bases its analysis from then up until the end of the Reign of Terror in 1794.

The essay will first discuss the enlightenment, focus on which of it’s ideals where pertinent in France during the 18th Century and provide background information on how these ideals can be seen in effect in the French Revolution up to the start of the Terror before delving into comparison. The conclusion drawn from this investigation is that although enlightenment ideals were visible to a limited extent during the Reign of Terror, it ultimately betrayed the ideals of French enlightenment to a large extent through their neglect and through the lack of commitment to the fundamental idea of the Enlightenment: improving human conditions and evolving as a society.

36 East Extended Essays 2015

DOBRINOV, ALEXANDER

DRIVER, BENJAMIN

FILIMONTSEVA, ANASTASIA

The subject of investigation in this extended essay is to account for the rise of the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean during the post-war period of the Spanish succession (1716-1726). The investigation will make use of a range of primary and secondary sources to examine, analyze and evaluate the following factors: the Spanish war of Succession, but also includes the result of the treaty of Utrecht, the continued lack of Governance in Nassau, the influence of the Jacobite rebellion, the ships that were utilized by the pirates and their victims, and finally, the geography of the Caribbean and its position in the Spanish main and Imperial trade routes.

This study seeks to determine: to what extent is George Orwell’s portrayal of ‘Oceania’[1] in 1984 an accurate representation of Stalinism? As arguably the chief device contributing to the mythology of the Soviet Union, Orwell’s 1984 is used to compare the accepted ‘conventional wisdom’ surrounding Stalin’s Russia and scholarly analyses of the period. To ensure a thorough response to the research question, only two components of Stalin’s rule are explicitly considered: Stalin’s ‘Cult of Personality’ and his economic policies of Collectivization and Industrialization. Chosen for their influence over the ‘conventional wisdom’, these two themes of Stalin’s rule represent some of the most widely disputed topics in Soviet historiography. Both elements are examined from the beginning of Collectivization in 1928, to 1939, the beginning of World War Two.

This essay posses the question: To what extent was the Great Purge a combined outcome of unprecedented actions of party officials and the silent revolt from below, rather than Stalin’s paranoia of eliminating his enemies? Firstly, it will investigate Stalin’s role as the central organizer of the purge, as he aimed to eliminate individuals who opposed his newly establish policies, known as collectivization and industrialization. Secondly, the incoherent bureaucratic structure, which allowed the nomenklatura to exercise their own freedom during the Great Purge, will be investigated. Lastly, the continuous fear prevalent in the lives of civilians, which aided the intensification of the Great Purge, will also be analyzed.

The essay is structured in the following manner in that the factors will be individually analyzed in chronologic order in order to reach a feeling of development and progress as the factors compound upon one another.

Even though the sources quoted and utilized were mostly from English texts, this investigation reaches a conclusion that in accounting for the rise of piracy in the Caribbean, the factors appear to signal that economic motivations or opportunities through political legislation and post war aggression combined with the societal attitude in the Caribbean towards piracy all together operating in a geographically apt theatre are fairly decisive requirements that enabled such a romanticized era.

This study adopts the thesis that: 1984, although mostly accurate and useful to understanding the mythology of the Soviet Union, does not account for how the human cost of this period was a loss that was often a necessary evil for the modernization of the Soviet Union. Supported by historians such as Chris Ward of the revisionist school, the argument that the existing ‘conventional wisdom’ of the Soviet Union, despite accurately depicting Stalin’s ‘Cult of Personality’ is misrepresentative of the total political and socio-economic benefits of Stalin’s economic policy represents a far more persuasive interpretation of events in comparison to Orthodox schools. Historians from these schools, such as Richard Pipes, condemn Stalin’s ability as a humanitarian without acknowledging socio-economic advancements under his leadership.

Through understanding the extent to which Orwell’s allegory (the ‘conventional wisdom’) differs from accounts provided by historians, as well as secondary and contemporary sources, this study identifies the shortcomings of the existing mythology of the Soviet Union.

The scope of this research process is the period of time that generally falls between 1928 and 1938: a period encapsulating “the Stalin Revolution”, (despite a few occasions in which Lenin’s Russia in 1919 or Stalin’s revolutionary activities in 1919 will be analyzed). As a matter of relevance, this essay maintains a revisionist outlook, but will analyze sources of orthodox, revisionist, functionalist, intentionalist and structuralist methodologies. The social history of the revolution from below will be investigated.

The political history of the time period will not be analyzed in great depths, except Stalin’s bureaucratic structure of the party.

It will conclude that while Stalin initiated the movement, the nomenklatura and civilians played a central role in intensifying the Great Terror to extents unimagined

by Stalin himself. Stalin’s initiation of the purge was evident through his elimination of individuals, such as those who illustrated opposition during the seventeenth Party Congress. Additionally, by neglecting official instructions, the party personnel intensified the terror. Finally the denunciations upheld by civilians established a social foundation for the Great Purge.

East Extended Essays 2015 37

FILOCCA, GIULIA

GUNVANTE, RISHABH DEEPAK

GOLEMAC, ANAMARIA

The New Economic Policy, known by the acronym NEP, was a form of ‘state capitalism’ proposed by Vladimir Lenin in March 1921, and represented a major departure from the Bolshevik party’s communist objectives.

Lenin’s intention behind this capitalist policy does in fact touch upon one of the most controversial debates in Soviet history: What exactly was the NEP? A method of building communism? Or a period of economic reconstruction? The research question has been answered by evaluating a range of historical sources from those who believed that the crux of the policy lay in a general recuperation of the economy and from others who regarded the NEP as an alternative route to communism. Thus, this essay examines, “To what extent was Lenin’s New Economic Policy implemented to smoothen the ideological transition from Imperialism to Communism in Russia between 1917-21?”

The great uprising of 1857, known in contemporary history as the Revolt of 1857 takes on as a revolt mounted by dispossessed monarchs in a bid to regain lost dominions and privileges, following the lead given by a minor mutiny of sepoys in the little town of Meerut. This mounted attack on British authority had roots embedded in the deep grievances experienced by the various factions of the Indian population in the years preceding the revolt. However, despite mass participation, the revolt was radically subdued with decisive fury, and the memory of the revolt sustained in the minds of the population as a failed attempt to seize power by disgracious monarchs; thus presenting the research question: To what extent was the failure of the Revolt of 1857 in India a result of the varying aims of its participants?

The battle for women suffrage in the US lasted for 74 long years. Before that, women were the property of their husbands or families. They didn’t partake many rights, including the basic egalitarian right – the right to vote. This essay will strive to analyze the role of different tactics suffragists used to obtain franchise for women during the First Wave of Feminism in the US (1900-1920).

The scope of this investigation consists of analyzing Lenin’s motives for drastically changing domestic policy in 1921. The first section introduces the origins of communism and examines the deviations between Marxism and Leninism. The second section analyzes the impact of the abrupt transition to communism at the height of the Civil War 1918-21, while the final section evaluates the discipline of retreat in Lenin’s NEP. This essay does not, however, discuss how long the transitional retreat was intended to last.

It has been concluded that Lenin predominantly inaugurated the NEP as a means of fostering the economy from the hardships of the Civil War. However, it will also be argued that Lenin employed this capitalist-oriented policy as a method of advancing towards communism using siege tactics rather than direct assault. Thus, Lenin’s intention behind the NEP was both to stimulate the Russian economy and to devise the idyllic setting to smoothen the ideological transition from imperialism to communism in 1921.

This essay attempts to study the extent to which the failure of the revolt was reliant on the varying aims of its different leaders.

By doing so, the essay tries to determine the importance of nationalist aims for a successful revolt. This would be done through a detailed examination of the aims of the different leaders of the revolt, while also trying to ascertain the situations that shaped the aims of the aggrieved participants.

By the process of dissecting the reasons for the failure of the revolt, a final verdict is reached which holds the varying aims of the participants as a key factor while also recognizing the importance of tertiary factors for the failure of the revolt. The evidence to which is provided by the attitudes so portrayed by its major leaders of the revolt.

In order to analyze the role of different tactics, they are depicted and explained regarding their historical origin, public acceptance and lastly the outcome of them throughout the variety of primary and secondary resources and functionalist theory.

The essay investigates the role of press, parades, picketing and hunger strikes. Gaining attention from press was the main method used by suffragists’ organizations right from the start in 1848 till the end in 1920.

Parades were a new method, applied by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, which smartly used public’s idea of women’s role in the society to gain supporters in the 1910s. Picketing was one of major tactics used to achieve political acknowledgment from the federal government of the US, as agreed by women’s rights experts. The hunger strikes just tied on the picketing, needed press attention and were the last push for victory.

The conclusion on the roles of different tactics that suffragist organizations applied to gain franchise is that they were all very much necessary and affective, but in different scopes. It is hard to imagine the campaign for suffrage without any of them, since they all together pushed the final button for victory. The suffrage parades weren’t as effective as other methods but they put yet another historical significance on the battle.

Meanwhile, the other methods were all passive-aggressive in their finding and did a good job in gaining the needed attention.

38 East Extended Essays 2015

HAWILA, NADIA MEGAN

MCGUIRE, MITCHELL

MEHTA, ARNARVI

This essay looks at the history of Cambodia, especially during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. This essay account for the methods used by the Khmer Rouge to consolidate power from 1975 to 1979. Through my research, I was able to conclude that the Khmer Rouge regime used prison as their main method to consolidate power, however, they also used genocide and torture to place terror within the victims.

In the late 1990s United Nations peacekeeping policy evolved from its traditional pacifist role into a peacemaker, while devolving responsibility to regional organisations and politicians. Circumstances of the time resulted in abandoning the peacekeeping that had been so commonly practiced during the cold war period in favour of the collective security that the United Nations was founded upon, betraying the pragmatic tenets of peacekeeping that had been developed in the post war period. This essay will explore and account for the role of various factors in triggering this change of policy.

There is no denying that the Revolt of 1857 was a pivotal event in Indian history. Though not successful in its immediate objectives, it influenced in no small measure the nationalist movement which ultimately led to India gaining independence from British rule. The imagery of the Revolt and its heroes have a strong hold on the Indian psyche to this day. As with all events of this nature, it is a challenge to distinguish between fact, myth and bias. Therefore, to make an objective historical assessment of the Revolt and its true nature one has to look at multiple aspects.

This essay explores the idea that the Khmer regime used imprisonment to maintain power and be seen as power figure that is anonymous and feared. Nevertheless, the Khmer regime used imprisonment (alongside torture and genocide) to , also, create an ethnicity and country that is ideal with no chances of rebellion. I was inspired to write a research essay on the Cambodian genocide, as it is one of the biggest genocide in the world, yet one that is rarely talked about.

I will analyze my question, by looking at various forms of biographies that is available within the market, this is a limitation as the Khmer regime was finally tried for their actions this past August, hence, many of the victims are unable to revisit their memory and discuss the physical and emotional torture that they receive under the regime.

However, I will try to approach as many historical essays and books available, to further consolidate my essay. The area of history that this essay is focused on is South East Asian history after the second world war.

In accounting for the reasons that the United Nations changed their peacekeeping policy, this investigation will draw from the orthodox perspective of Dallaire and Beardsley in their view that policy change came as a direct result of the experiences in operations during the 1990s. And also from the revisionist work of Goulding in taking into account the role of geopolitical factors contemporary to the change. This essay broadly aligns with the revisionist standpoint in weighing geopolitical factors more heavily.

UN mandates have been used as primary sources to evaluate the original intent of peacekeeping operations.

In accounting for the causes of the change in UN policy, three factors will be evaluated.

Firstly, the role of prominent peacekeeping operations in Rwanda, Somalia and the Former Yugoslavia. Secondly, Geopolitical factors contemporary to this change in policy. And lastly the change in the nature of conflict from the first UN peacekeeping operation, to those conducted in the 1990s.

This essay will largely take the view that although individual helped shape policy, the responsibility for the change lies mostly with contemporary structural factors.

In line with the above mentioned, this essay assesses the underlying causes of the Revolt, the intentions and motives of the participants, the course it took, the strategy adopted by the local forces, the extent of popular participation, the geographical spread, the reasons for its failure and its long term impact. The assessment also relies on an extensive historiography in answering the basic question: Was the Revolt a ‘War of Independence’ or a ‘Sepoy Mutiny’, a widespread anti-colonial movement or something restricted to certain disaffected segments of local Indian society?

The essay concludes that, on investigation, the Revolt was neither a full-fledged war of independence and nor was it as limited as to be termed just a mutiny. It did, however, represent nascent Indian nationalism. In that sense, the Revolt should be viewed not in terms of its failure in the near term but in the terms of its longer term historical legacy.

SHAH, MARIA

VÖGELI, ALEXANDER

Aurangzeb Alamgir, son of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, is one of the most controversial figures in the history of Mughal India. Some see him as the custodian and promoter of Islam in the Mughal Era while others view him as a religious fanatic. His religious policies are viewed as an important contributing factor to the decline of one of the strongest Muslim Dynasties the world has ever seen. Aurangzeb’s religious policies were in accordance with his interpretation of the Sharia Law (Islamic Law) and they were discriminatory towards other religious groups beside the Muslims, particularly the Hindus.

The impact of his religious policies was catastrophic as they gave rise to protest that led to social upheaval within the empire and created disunity.

Question: A close analysis of the Israeli Settlement Policy by the Labor and Likud parties from 1967 to 1981 in the West Bank and its effect on the Palestinians.

In this essay, will focus on “Why Aurangzeb Alamgir’s administrative and religious policies led to the decline of the Mughal Empire?” Drawing upon the socio-political and economic circumstances of the empire we will establish how they contributed towards Aurangzeb’s unsuccessful regime whilst referring to the manner in which Aurangzeb’s policies aggravated the existing condition. Furthermore, we will compare Aurangzeb’s policies and their outcome to those of his predecessors. It is pivotal to compare and contrast the regimes of the Mughal Emperors’ as each of their reigns influenced the next reign. The wars that Aurangzeb participated in and his military strategy will not be excessively explored instead we will describe the impact the war of succession had on the stability of the empire.

Research has demonstrated that Aurangzeb’s administration and religious policies significantly contributed towards the decline of the empire, as Aurangzeb was primarily concerned with the promulgation of Islam and not the establishment of a unified government. Aurangzeb’s policies created the phenomenon of religious intolerance that deeply affected the subcontinent.

The Israeli occupation of the West Bank is one of the most controversial topics debated on in the past decades. Since the Six Day War in 1967 the Israeli government took possession of Palestinian territories and began to construct Jewish settlements.

However over the years one can observe two different trends of approaches towards the policies in occupied areas. Hence this essay will analyze and compare the two main ruling parties between 1967 and 1981, the Labor Party and the rightwing Likud, with their different political streams and policies in regarding of the occupied territories.

The study of Israel’s settlement policies draws upon several sources including works like “Six Days: How the 1967 war shaped the Middle East” written by Jeremy Bowen or “Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel/ Palestine” written by Sami Adwan, Dan Bar-On and Eyal Naveh, which give great insight on Israeli actions in the politics and Palestinian opposing viewpoints.

Following a short introduction this essay describes the Israeli policies in regarding on the settlements and occupation chronologically from a brief overview of the debate on the occupation and governmental policies to a close analysis of the Ma’arach government (precursor of the Labor part) and the Likud Party empathizing their aims and approach on the settlement construction to a final presentation of the Palestinian points of view on the occupation. The essay will show the difference between the two Israeli parties in regarding of the occupation and the settlement construction and explain how one can understand the different political aims.

East Extended Essays 2015 39

40 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS PSYCHOLOGY

ALBARRAL BRAVO, DOLORES MARIA Athletes suffer dropouts along their lives in sports and sometimes they do not know why.

Thus, this essay reveals the importance of the role of motivation on sports, clarifying why some athletes leave sports without any physical or environmental issue. The essay investigates the following research question “Does intrinsic motivation alone assure the persistence of performance in competitive sports?” that refers to the persistence of a person in a competitive sport with the help of one type of motivation, called intrinsic motivation.

The scope of the essay attempts to investigate if intrinsic motivation is able to assure the persistence in competitive sports. Firstly, it researches the internal sources of intrinsic motivation and the Achievement Goal Theory is exposed. Secondly, the external sources of intrinsic motivation are exposed and it explains the inevitable influence of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation. Finally, in the third part there is a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that is explained with the Self-Determination Theory.

Limitations of these theories are explained and demonstrated with studies gathered from Psychology books and journals.

After the revelation of different types of motivation and their studies, the conclusion states that athletes can be motivated through intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation independently or combined, but external sources are not infinite so extrinsic motivation is not be helpful to be persistent in a sport for a long time. Therefore, to assure the persistence in competitive sports, individuals have to feel also intrinsic motivation although it is inevitable to receive external sources.

However, in the most of cases intrinsic motivation alone is not enough to persist the individual’s motivation, so an intervention of extrinsic motivation is needed. Each individual has specific psychological needs and motivations to have an optimal stability in a competitive sport.

BANYADITH, ONKHAM A challenge that young females face today is their body image issue as a result of exposure to the media. This investigation focuses on the extent to which the media affects female adolescents’ self esteem. The research question of “To what extent does western fashion advertisement affect young females self esteem” is concerned with how advertisement has been interpreted as a form of media that degrades one’s self esteem.

Fashion advertisement is arguably one of the forms that greatly impact one’s self esteem.

The scope of the paper includes an investigation on how advertisement affects young females. The response to the research question generally shows how it negatively impacts their self-satisfaction in terms of their body. This focuses on the theory of social comparison, objectification theory and cultivation theory. But also argues that there are alternative ways in which self-esteem can be negatively impacted such as parenting and peer pressure. In order to carry out this investigation, there is a necessity for more indepth research with more variety of sources.

To conclude, western fashion advertisement affect young females self esteem to a substantial extent by the conclusions of many psychologists and researchers. There are factors that argue against this, for example peer pressure and parenting.

BISLIMI, NITA

BROOKS, GEORGIA

Females are twice more likely to develop depression throughout their lifetimes than males. The prevalence of female depression is a cross-cultural phenomenon, often associated with social factors affecting a female’s development. Thus, this paper will investigate; To what extent do social factors explain the universally higher prevalence of female depression?

Many consumers believe that marketers and advertisers are the only contributors towards advertising. However, firms employ psychologists to assist them in understanding the consumer’s mind.

Marketers have immersed the use of psychology in advertising to scientifically improve the advertising of products, services and campaigns. In this essay, different areas of psychology are applied and investigated towards creating effective advertisements.

Psychologists investigate the basis of persuasion, consumer behaviour, visual aspects, the environment and how to tap into consumer’s subconscious mind.

This essay will firstly explore what depression is, provide statistics regarding the prevalence of depression, and outline the types of depression that will be investigated. Next, various social factors that psychologists and sociologists have found to affect the higher prevalence of depression in females are explored. These include, violence, child sexual abuse, the female role in society, and the sex role explanation. Furthermore other factors that might also affect the higher prevalence of depression in females are reviewed, such as genetics, hormones and infertility.

However, it is found that there is no specific biological link that could explain the higher rates of depression amongst females. It is also important to note that unlike females, males scarcely voluntarily seek help when faced with an issue, thus help-seeking patterns in males are reviewed, showing that males rather self medicate than report their depression; the assertion that there is a higher prevalence of depression in females might be false.

It is concluded that social factors hugely contribute towards the prevalence of depression in females, however biological and cognitive factors cannot be ignored.

Furthermore, seeing as help-seeking patterns in males are significantly lower, this essay points out that there might not be a difference in prevalence of depression between males and females.

This essay aims to investigate the extent in which marketers and advertisers use psychology to influence consumers towards a popular product or campaign.

When approaching this question, information is obtained from academic journals, psychology and marketing websites and psychology books. This investigation expands upon the relationship between marketers and consumers, highlighting that the sources used in exploration are to increase the knowledge of the many areas of psychology and how they are applied to employ tactics and techniques made for effective advertising. Further sources were used to gain basic knowledge and understanding of the journey of advertising, and how psychology as a whole has impacted the perception of advertising. The exploration examines the subfields and specialities in different areas of psychology, and their application towards effective advertising to improve the advertising of products, services and campaigns.

After analysis, the exploration concludes that a variety of techniques and marketing tactics are created from gathered research of consumer and behavioural psychologists.

Their knowledge and understanding of the consumer’s mind is shared among marketers and advertisers to employ tactics to influence consumers based on their demands.

East Extended Essays 2015 41

The exploration will also acknowledge the powerful insight of psychology used within advertising to express the ability psychologists now have to influence consumers towards marketed and advertised products, services and campaigns.

42 East Extended Essays 2015

CHANG, KELLY

CHUNG, WAI LOK

DAHIYA, MALVIKA

In this essay, the question “To what extent does a negative childhood lead to male youths committing a crime?” is explored.

In order to do this, the type of negative childhood must be determined. A negative childhood can be defined as lack of parental love, poverty, and violent parenting.

However, not only does a negative childhood affect male youths to commit a crime, but also other factors such as peer pressure and the increase in testosterone levels could increase the likelihood of youth males to carry out a crime.

America has the worlds highest prison population. The public needs to understand the severity of this situation since a large portion of taxpayers’ money are invested in the prison. After the 1970s America adopted a new approach to crime known as the “get tough on crime” approach. However, recidivism rates are still extremely high, thus failing the purpose of a prison. This essay aims to reevaluate the American prison system, both the rehabilitative and the punitive. Both approaches will be debated upon with psychological studies that support either one of the approaches as more successful. And emphasize that the system used today is failing and rehabilitation needs to be reintroduced back into the system along side the punitive system.

Optimism is an important component of positive psychology. Positive psychology is a relatively new field of psychology popularized

by Martin Seligman, a leading psychologist and wellbeing expert. Inspired by the work of Seligman, this paper will address the impact of optimism (and other aspects of positive psychology) on the success of students academically. From this, the research question “To what extent can optimism be used to increase academic achievement?” was formulated, which this essay aims to answer.

Research and experiments, have been found to support the belief that a negative childhood will drive male youths to commit a crime. However, some of the experiments were done on animals and according to the biological analysis comparative psychology is valid. Counter arguments such as biological factors and socio-environmental factors suggests that a negative childhood is not only the factor to trigger male youths to commit crime is also taken into consideration in this paper.

From the variation of researches, negative childhood has an affect on youth males committing crime however; there are other factors which could motivate youths to commit a crime such as the rise in testosterone levels and peer pressure. One can conclude that it is difficult to determine what the main cause is to increase the likelihood of male youths to commit crime as various people have different way in thinking.

A variety of sources were used to answer the question. ‘Flourish’ by Martin Seligman was a strong foundation for the essay and was a starting point to understand positive psychology better. Some aspects of the book, like the Penn Resiliency Program were discussed in detail. Additionally, a variety of articles and journals were used, to both find supporting arguments as well as find information evaluating the main thesis. The main focus of the essay revolves around three main findings supporting that positive psychology has a positive impact on academic performance- the Penn Resiliency Program, Team Building Learning, a longitudinal study done by the University of Wollongong. Biological factors and other factors which may impact the findings like gender, culture, subject of study and levels of optimism were also discussed and evaluated.

After investigating the three main focuses as well as after careful critical analysis, the conclusion reached was that optimism, to a very large extent, may contribute to high academic achievement. As more and more schools and educational centers start to understand the importance of well being, positive psychology and optimism may have a promising future and may help students reach their full academic potential.

East Extended Essays 2015 43

DESAI, SHIRALI

ERIKSSON, FRIDA

HE, HANNAH

In our world today, with thriving economies and complex political situations, the use of power to control and influence people is witnessed daily, whether it be in an office setting or at an election. Words hold power, but as psychologists have been more recently discovering, power is also to be found in aspects other than the mere delivery of words. The nonverbal behavior – facial expression, posture, tone, eye contact – accompanying the delivery of words can also affect the expression and perception of power. This posed the research question: to what extent does nonverbal communication play a role in establishing power?

Alcoholism is an issue of growing importance in today’s society, and its origins and effects have been studied extensively, however there is a lack of research on the effect alcoholics have on their surroundings. In order to tackle this, the question: To what extent does alcohol dependence in a parent affect the child’s psychological wellbeing? was developed.

This paper aims to explore the research question, “To what extent are traumatic memories distinct from ordinary explicit memory”. The scope of the investigation takes into account the controversy over the nature of traumatic memories and the extant research supporting both similarities and differences between traumatic and explicit memories.

This paper will be discussing the nonverbal aspect of human social exchange and its influence on the perception and expression, and hence the establishment, of power. A variety of specific nonverbal behaviors and their effect on a variety of specific power bases will also be reviewed. The findings of research on this subject provide quality insight on how nonverbal communication can impact daily life and establish a sense of power. Due to this, practical applications of this knowledge and possible further avenues for research can also be suggested.

After a review and discussion of related literature, this paper was able to conclude that nonverbal communication has an influential role in establishing power, though the significance of the impact may vary across situations due to the presence of additional factors.

The investigation was carried out using information gathered from previous psychological studies, it relied heavily on psychological journals such as Velleman’s “Understanding and Modifying the Impact of Parents’ Substance Misuse on Children.” and Bancroft’s “Alcoholism- A Familiar Dependence.” This needs to be tackled by addressing the extremely alarming fact that children of alcoholics are at risk of themselves of developing substance abuse issues (Goodwin, 1989), not only because of their genetic pre-disposition to be more susceptible to alcoholism but also because of their environment. The paper discusses the possible behavioral problems children of alcoholics may face, and the risks involved with those behaviors, and later discussing the possible emotional internal difficulties the children of alcoholics face. Finally, to fully address the psychological effects of being a child of an alcoholic is to analyze the children’s positions and statuses within society and what possible factors could lessen the impact that the substance abuser has on their lives.

In answering the research question To what extent does alcohol dependence in a parent affect the child’s psychological wellbeing? the investigation concludes, that the child is at an increased risk of impulsive behavior, substance abuse, and anxiety. However the extent of this will depend on the protective and environmental factors in their lives.

As trauma is a wide-encompassing phenomenon, an attempt to concretely define what will constitute as trauma is made in this paper. A summary of accepted features of explicit memory is then provided in order to serve as a basis for comparison, including present views on both the enhancing and worsening influence of emotion on explicit memory.

The paper then moves onto discussing the nature of traumatic memories themselves. This paper accounts for the substantially lower amount of existing research on traumatic memories in comparison to emotional memories by providing reasons as to why the study of traumatic memories is so difficult. It then moves forward with the dual perspectives on the relationship between traumatic and ordinary explicit memories, examining factors that seem to affect both types of memories as well as exploring factors that seem to be idiosyncratic to traumatic memories. This exploration attempts to present psychobiological and theoretical cognitive perspectives on the apparent uniqueness of traumatic memories.

It is concluded that although the two types of memory do seem to share certain qualities, traumatic memories are subject to unique influencers such as dissociation and under different neurobiological procedures that ultimately make them distinct from normal explicit memories. Finally, this paper includes the relevance of research in this area with real life implications, including how recollections of traumatic memories are treated in court and how the controversy over false memory may stem from. With many unexplored avenues, fruitful areas of future investigation on the topic of traumatic memories are also noted.

44 East Extended Essays 2015

IRTUGANOV, ARTHUR

JAYANTH, SAADHVIKA

KINGSLEY, JULIA

This essay investigated the research question: Does cultural background affect the choice of the learning approach? The relationship between the choice of a learning approach, cultural background and the conceptual understanding of learning was investigated to see how does the conceptual understanding of learning can be influenced by cultural background and based on that influence affect the choice of a learning approach.

Researchers such as Säljö (1979) and Entwistle (1983) demonstrated that the conceptual understanding of learning have an effect on the choice of a learning approach. Nisbett et al. (2003) demonstrated that the cultural background of the person may affect his perception of certain conceptions and his view on the world, and Stevenson and Stigler (1992) demonstrated that there were fundamental differences in the ways different societies perceived education and learning.

Recent increase of interest in the field of neuropsychology has seen researchers like V.S Ramachandran, Keysers and Oberman conduct more empirical studies on the Mirror Neuron System (MNS). They support the argument that Mirror Neurons are closely connected to empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and feel the emotions and predict actions and thoughts of another person. It is important to validate the newly discovered physiological factor that contributes to our understanding of Theory of Mind (ToM). Further research on autistic people have suggested that the likely reason for their slow development in ToM is due to the difference in functioning of their MNS. Hence, this paper aims to answer the question: To what extent can recent research on the function of Mirror Neurons further our understanding of Theory of Mind (ToM) through the functioning of the Mirror Neuron Systems in autistic and non-autistic children?

This paper investigated the research question: To What Extent Has Neuroplasticity Research Affected The Development Of ConstraintInduced Movement Therapy In The Treatment Of Cerebral Palsy?

The foundations of the Approaches to Learning theory were studied. For a better understanding of the relationship between the cultural background and the choice of a learning approach, the different influences on the choice of a learning approach were studied.

The original hypothesis, intention guides the student’s choice of a learning approach (Marton and Säljö, 1976), was investigated.

Explanations and limitations of the Approaches to Learning concept were proposed. Presented claims were supported by secondary sources such as, psychology articles, essays, scientific publications and books.

In conclusion, based on Nisbett et al. (2003), Stevenson and Stigler (1992) and Säljö (1979) it was found that the perception and conceptual understanding of learning can be directly influenced by cultural and respectively affect the choice of the learning approach.

However, due to the sole nature of this paper, only the cultural influence on the conceptual understanding of learning was examined.

Influence of culture on other elements that may affect the choice of a learning approach was not investigated.

The sources used to collect data for this essay have been from ProQuest, from the researchers who are relevant to the field. Other factors that contribute to the development of ToM such as genetic predisposition, language, social interactions and exercising executive functions have been discussed based on previous empirical research, to evaluate and compare the extent to which the MNS can explain the development.

Mirror Neurons are seen as a necessity for ToM, and without which, ToM is slow or undeveloped. It is by far the most empirically researched and supported factor that contributes to the development, which makes it greatly reliable to further our understanding of ToM. The conclusion of this essay is, the proper functioning of Mirror Neurons currently provides the best possible way to understand the development of ToM.

Neuroplasticity, Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CI Therapy) are investigated individually and then conjointly whilst describing why neuroplasticity is considered groundbreaking through reference to Miller & Cummings’ (1999) research supporting the localisation of brain function. Localisation understands that certain areas of the brain are responsible for, and contained to, specific brain function; and neuroplasticity research has led researchers to believe this is not completely true (Miller & Cummings, 1999).

In presenting empirical evidence from researchers such as Taub, Ramey, DeLuca & Echols (2004) and Gauthier, Hofferer & Martin (1978), who suggested that CI Therapy, a direct offshoot of neuroplasticity research, can be beneficial for patients with CP under the right conditions: further confirmation is provided for the thesis which states that through neuroplasticity research, CI Therapy has been developed to harness the malleable quality of the human brain for the treatment of CP. Furthermore, Wolf, Lecraw, Barton & Jann (1989) support neuroplasticity’s claim that all brains are malleable, despite age.

Unfortunately, CI Therapy is more suited for hemiplegic CP and is not as effective for the variations of the disability. Potentially, a new avenue of future research could be developed to investigate the ways neuroplasticity research could inform the therapy of the variations of CP. Through a literature review, the conclusion was reached that the brain is indeed plastic and changeable and that through extensive neuroplasticity research, CI Therapy has been developed to harness the malleable quality of the human brain for the treatment of the severe, debilitating disability, CP. Permanent gains can only be achieved through CI Therapy if regular and continuous treatment is administered with the help of a therapist together with a patient who wants to benefit.

LANE, ROMY

MAK, MADELEINE

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental disorder that seems to be growing at an exponential rate and has been for the past 30 years. There seems to be two defining models that sit as polar opposites to one another. There is the post-traumatic model of DID, which states that DID is caused by suppressed childhood trauma – physical and sexual abuse are the most common. On the other side of the spectrum is the sociocognitive model of DID, which states that DID is an iatrogenic disorder birthed from the media and psychotherapy.

The focus of this essay is to discuss the research question, “To what extent is schizophrenia a viable construct?”

Inspired by personal interests in abnormal psychology, this essay aims to impartially evaluate schizophrenia’s current construct through acknowledging its three most significant limitations while addressing its importance socially and clinically. Thus, reflecting its need for constructal re-defining.

With extensive research collected from online databases, printed journal articles, and published books, it is evident that this controversial debate is essential to encourage further research and development, as well as ameliorate lives of surviving schizophrenics and their families. The three weaknesses that will be explored within this essay include, its insubstantial theoretical validity, diagnostic reliability and absence of pathognomonic symptoms.

This essay looks at different defining studies, media and cases around the topic of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Being that it is a mental disorder, the essay struggles to make concrete claims in any area. Despite there not being a large amount of information on the topic, I read books by psychologists who believe that mental disorders are fantasies that have grown with the modern world. Despite these being bold claims, they helped provide an interesting point of view for this essay.

The research and points considered found that there is possibly a middle-ground option that has not been looked at. However there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of evidence in favour of the socio-cognitive model despite its’ theoretical basis and lack of following. This essay concluded that DID could be a valid disorder that was simply artificially untapped through psychotherapy and the media.

This essay begins with an outline of what schizophrenia is in terms of its prevalent symptoms, and subtypes.

Following this, there is an introduction of schizophrenia’s current clinical construct, ‘the received view’, its implications, and a brief acknowledgement of its inherent weaknesses. The essay continues with an impartial analysis of schizophrenia’s diagnostic reliability with reference to diagnostic manuals such as the DSM-V and ICD-10, and studies revealing inconsistencies in diagnostician’s interpretation on schizophrenia’s onset. Next, the constructs theoretical validity is evaluated with aid from relevant studies suggesting schizophrenia’s inability to fulfill scientific criteria for constructal validation, thus, lacking scientific credibility. Lastly, absences of identifiable pathognomonic symptoms are discussed.

Through this, unclear conceptual borders between mental illnesses are evaluated, and proposed resolutions made by critics are also reviewed.

East Extended Essays 2015 45

The conclusion of this essay suggests that the ‘received view’ of schizophrenia is flawed.

Despite this, permanent theoretical changes are difficult due to its social, political and clinical implications, and the current absence of a viable alternative to take its place.

Further neurodevelopmental research is required.

46 East Extended Essays 2015

PHONESAVANH, VANNASACK

RUANGLERTBUTR, AMARIN

SHAHANE, KRISHNA

This is a research paper on sport psychology as a topic of psychology. The research question is “Is extrinsic and intrinsic motivation equally effective in achieving success in team sports?” This paper investigates the types of motivation that is presented in sports and also in daily lives.

Researching sport psychology is important because it provides information about why athletes behaves the way they do. It would also help coaches become more aware of how to train their athletes more effectively to maximize their potential.

Violent crime is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue within the world presently, and in no other age group are crime rates higher than they are within the adolescent population. In the United States, violent crime has escalated drastically in the past and the adolescent population within the US makes up for almost 20% of their violent crime index. Criminal psychologists have invested a lot of time into researching juvenile delinquency and its causes; many have tried to find the root of what is causing this aggression and criminal behavior within these children and not been very successful in determining a sole cause.

This investigation examines the question— To what extent is neglect in childhood detrimental to intellectual development?

The mere foundation of the essence of adulthood depends on and is processed through childhood experiences hence, a traumatic experience like child neglect severely changes the child’s life, from infancy all the way to adulthood. Often child neglect is only studied in its capacity to impact emotional and physical development. However, this essay explores the relationship between child neglect and intellectual development.

The scope of the investigation will investigate the many factors that effect motivation and to try to understand which of the two motivations is more effective in achieving success. The extrinsic motivational factors that are considered are rewards, competition and coaches, which can all influence an athlete’s motivation or their performance.

The intrinsic motivational factors that will be investigated will be interest and enjoyment and how that will affects the athlete. Studies are used to demonstrate the different motivational factors ranging from rewards, coaches to the interest in athletes. There is also analysis about how these studies can be tied to the research question in order to answer the question.

From the studies investigated, the one that was most effective in achieving success in team sport is extrinsic motivation. This is more important because for example, rewards effect the team as a whole and not only one individual, so if the whole team is motivated to strive to achieve the reward, the performance of the team will increase and there will be an increase chance that they will achieve success.

In this essay the environmental factors that relate to juvenile delinquency are explored. These factors include: Socioeconomic status, parenting, illicit substance use, neighborhood architecture, maternal deprivation and peer group influence. Each of these factors is explored in depth and the effects they have on adolescent crime is shown through the psychological studies explored within the essay.

The debate of nature vs. nurture is perpetual and no one side can truly ever be ‘right’, nevertheless nurture is thoroughly explored within this essay through the topic of parenting as an environmental influence, research within this area investigates whether the way children are treated and brought up by their parents affects their chances of becoming involved in violent crime.

Domestic violence is also considered within this essay, as it is a psychological finding that simply witnessing domestic violence can instigate aggression in children from an early age. The conclusion of the essay is that environmental factors should be considered as a determinant of violent crime among adolescents due to their high impact on the life on adolescents and their susceptibility to becoming involved with violent crime.

In this essay, the extent to which child neglect affects intellectual development will be investigated by exploring the causes and subsequent effects of childhood neglect.

The investigation begins by introducing child neglect and intellectual development through definitions and then proceeds to outline the indicators and types of child neglect. This essay then continues to discuss the main causes of child neglect, which include drug and alcohol abuse, economic conditions, family history and social support systems. Each cause of child neglect is followed by a study, which provides evidence for it and the following impact on intellectual development. This is followed by Bowlby’s attachment theory and the subsequent study he carried out to support his theory. The paper then accounts Harlow’s monkey experiment, which is also based on the attachment theory. The two studies highlight the consequence of maternal deprivation on the development of the child. This is closely followed by the case study carried out on a severely isolated girl, Genie. This study highlights the importance of social interaction on communication and language development.

Finally, the essay concludes child neglect, to a large extent, has detrimental effects on intellectual development as seen by the evidence provided through the studies. Physical, physiological, emotional and academic developments are all in turn affected by decreased intellectual development.

YIN, TIANKAI Adolescent bullying is a prominent problem in modern society, and it has been shown to have lasting effects on its participants.

Bullying exists everywhere, and it could persist from adolescence to adulthood. Its impact on the society is unquestionable, and means are taken in this investigation to explore the roots of this social problem. It has been long believed that this behaviour was a result of growing up in a bad environment, but research has brought a new approach to explaining this – evolution.

This essay explores the question “To what extent is evolution responsible for adolescent bullying?� and argues that evolutionary psychology plays a part in the development of bullying behaviour; therefore it is considered that the behaviour could be due to genetics and provide an evolutionary advantage in the gene pool. A range of studies is cited to exhibit the advantages that bullying could provide an individual, as well as the heritability of this behaviour.

Supporting theories demonstrate that there is no single factor responsible for bullying; instead it is developed by a range of different biological, cognitive and socio-cultural factors.

Evidence has been found to support the evolutionary approach, as bullying is both heritable and evolutionarily advantageous.

However, it is only partly responsible of the whole behaviour that is bullying.

East Extended Essays 2015 47

48 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 3– INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETIES

ABSTRACTS PHILOSOPHY

TIN NG KOY, ALYSON The belief that one acts morally in order to meet certain standards and not because it supports one’s own good life has been a recurring argument in the philosophical realm for centuries. In defining an objective purpose for human life, the argument and relationship between living the good life and good actions has never before been so prominent.

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle presented a theory of happiness: eudaimonia, which is the concept that our telos (purpose) as humans is to attain the highest of all goods, which is happiness. Similarly, modern morality, namely utilitarianism as defined by Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill, interprets the Greatest Happiness Principle as the foundation of our morals – which holds that actions are right insofar as they promote happiness and wrong as they produce the reverse. Henceforth, I will be examining the question of: how do J.S. Mill’s principle of utility and the pursuit of eudaimonia, as defined in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, define which is more important: ancient ethics and modern morality?

Subsequent to the study of Aristotle’s text, I will be utilizing a case-study approach in order to illustrate the similarities and differences between ancient ethics and modern morality in applicable contexts. I will conclude that the question is not whether to place more emphasis on attainment of a good life or performing good actions, but that both concepts are mutually dependent on each other and in light of questioning our moral obligations and defining an objective purpose for human life, we must consider both ancient ethics and modern moralities as opposed to favoring one or the other.

East Extended Essays 2015 49

GROUP 4–SCIENCES

ABSTRACTS BIOLOGY

BONDARENKO, ALINA IVANIVNA As numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria strains increase, there is an ever growing demand for alternative treatments of bacterial infection.

The investigation made in this essay accessed the antibacterial efficiency of citrus waste products.

The research question was thereby formulated as: How do varying concentrations of citrus peel extract of lime (Citrus aurantifolia), lemon (Citrus limon) and mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) compare in antibacterial efficiency against Escherichia coli?

Peel extract was obtained by processing citrus peels in a fruit blender and then prepared in ethanol (96%) solution. The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method was used: paper wafers were soaked in these solutions and added to agar plates inoculated with E. coli cultures. Petri dishes were then incubated for 72 hours at 35°C +/- 2°C. Ampicillin, a common antibiotic, was used as a positive control. Ethanol (96%) wafer were tested against E. coli as an overall control.

Zones of inhibition (ZOI) were measured using a caliper and the data obtained underwent a single factor ANOVA test.

The results showed a positive correlation between mean zones of inhibition (ZOI) diameter and increasing peel extract concentration. At 100% concentration, lemon extracts produced the largest mean ZOI diameter, at 24.96 +/- 0.001 mm, followed by mandarin, at 23.2 7+/- 0.001 mm, then lime, at 21.84 +/- 0.001 mm. The ANOVA test indicated that mean values zone of inhibition diameter across the three citrus species were statistically different only at the 20% and 60% concentration level. At full concentration level lemon extract was calculated to be 60.2% as effective as ampicillin.

The experimental results suggest that citrus extracts are capable of inhibiting E. coli growth and may be used as an alternative antibacterial to improve sanitary conditions in less economically developed areas, as peel is low cost and widely available, particularly in South East Asia.

CHOPRA, AAYUSH VED My research question is: How does varying the copper ion concentration in solution affect the growth of Spirodela polyrhiza?

Furthermore, can S. polyrhiza be used as a bio indicator?

Water sanitation is a root cause of many recent epidemics in underdeveloped countries and regions in the world have to make do with drinking dirty and potentially infected water. Copper is present in many industrial water sources, and is very injurious to health. Since water purification systems aren’t supplied to all these deprived areas, this Extended Essay can be of help and act as a basis for further research in this field.

Through this investigation, we will learn if duckweed is a reasonable bio indicator for copper ions in drinking water, and if it can detect and warn people of the dangers.

For this investigation, many methods were tested and mock trials were set up. The biggest issue was how the growth of the duckweed could have been measured. After trying to check the difference in the size, mass and biomass of the duckweed over 2 days, all of these possible methods were eliminated. It was decided to simply measure the change in duckweed by just counting the fronds. This seemed very suitable, because people in underdeveloped regions do not have easy access to weighing machines, balances or other scientific measuring equipment.

At the end of this investigation, it was proven that the growth of duckweed does in fact vary with different concentrations of copper.

This proved S. polyrhiza to be an appropriate bio indicator, and a way to potentially protect people from waterborne diseases and caused by heavy metal toxicity. Even though this study has many limitations that are reflected on later in this essay, it has provided substantial information and is a potential way to save the people of underdeveloped nations from water toxicity.

50 East Extended Essays 2015

HERATH, ALOK

HONG, JIYE EE

Movement within the bacterial domain manifests in multiple forms ranging from taxis towards light, to taxis towards chemical compounds within the environment (chemotaxis). This essay investigates as to what extent can an amplified chemotactic response to a range of sugars be elicited within Escherichia Coli K-12 as a result of prior exposure to these sugars during growth using a supplemented swarm plate assay to quantify each chemotactic response. The assay uses a soft agar medium and a supplement of low concentration to allow for taxis within its semi solid environment. The magnitude of the expansion is measured after a 24-hour incubation period using calipers. The purpose of this experiment is to contribute to the medical research done on the mechanisms and application of chemotaxis within complex antibacterial organisms, such as B.bacteriovorus through the use of a simple analogue, E.coli in seeing if it can adapt its chemotactic response in the presence of different sugars supplemented to its growth medium.

In industrialized countries, one research paper has shown that food related diseases affect one person out of three each year.

For instance, in USA, it is estimated to have approximately 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses, resulting 128000 hospitalizations and 3000 deaths each year. For instance In light of such widespread concerns, this study seeks to investigate the antibacterial properties of natural spices in curry and how it might help with the food safety concerns. The research question being: How do the natural spices of curry – turmeric, cumin and chili – inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus compared to ampicillin demonstrated through KirbyBauer antibiotic testing?

The data gathered within this experiment suggests, that an amplified chemotactic response was elicited within the bacteria grown on galactose and fructose sugars, but not with the other sugars. However all applicable data sets were deemed statistically similar through the use of a t-test due to the value of P being greater than our confidence interval of 0.05, thus leading us to the conclusion that prior growth on supplemented medium did not stimulate a statistically significant amplified chemotactic response and in the case of glucose severely inhibited any chemotactic ability. Such trends were hypothesized to be due to the prerequisites for bacteria to make physiological adaptations. That being, an environmental stress potent enough to elicit a structural change was required but not simulated within this assay despite its intention due to limitations of the assay.

In order to determine the antibacterial properties of natural spices in the inhibition of the growth of bacteria, spices were extracted in ethanol and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic testing was used to measure the zone of inhibition of turmeric, cumin, chili and ampicillin as antibiotics. Furthermore, I was able to compare the effectiveness in inhibiting the growth among the antibiotics that I used in this experiment.

Result shows that ampicillin demonstrated the greatest zone of inhibition averaging 2.29cm. Chili, cumin, and turmeric showed similar size of zone of inhibition of 60.2%, 57.6% and 53.3% respectively compared to ampicillin as a benchmark. Comparing with the results of ampicillin, spices were not able to match up to the efficiency of the antibiotic, but every spice was performing at slightly more than half the ability of ampicillin. Interestingly, when they were all mixed together similar to curry powder sold commercially, the zone of inhibition was enlarged to 68.1% compared to ampicillin. It can be assumed that spices had a synergistic effect when mixed.

SALDĂ?AS MONTIVERO, MARIETTA KATHERINE Chemical fertilizers cause a considerable damage to agriculture. Also, they are harmful to the survival of different species and environment. This research aims to propose an alternative to these fertilizers by investigating how varying concentrations of Omega 3 solutions could affect the stem growth of Vigna radiata (mung beans), measured by the length of the stem after a period of 2 weeks. Omega 3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found in fish oil. This investigation examined the effects of Omega 3 composed of 2 Omega 3 fatty acids: Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic.

An experiment was conducted In order to investigate the effect that Omega 3 could have on the stem growth of Vigna radiata. The experiment consisted of two control groups and 5 variations within the experimental groups. The control1 group consisted of Vigna radiata treated with water and control2 group consisted of Vigna radiata treated with water and Lecithin.

The experimental groups consisted of Vigna radiata treated with 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M and 0.1M of Omega 3. The Vigna radiata were being irrigated with the corresponding solutions every two days for a period of fourteen days after they were germinated.

On the fourteenth day, the length of the stem of the Vigna radiata was measured and the data obtained was processed.

The results suggest that 0.2M Omega 3 increases the stem growth of Vigna radiata, positioning it as the group with the highest growth on average of the 7 groups. Also, the findings suggest that there is a significant difference between the control1 group and the 0.2M Omega 3 experimental groups.

However, a weak negative correlation between the concentrations of Omega 3 and stem growth of Vigna radiata was established and indicated that the concentration of Omega 3 above 0.2M decreases the growth of Vigna radiata.

East Extended Essays 2015 51

SANTAMARIA, STEFANIE

SINGH, URVASHI

VANCOLEN, SELINE

This study explores the antibiotic properties of capsicum, a common ingredient in the Asian cuisine and component used in traditional medicine. As strains of pathogenic bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, it is important to investigate alternative solutions. The research question was formulated as: What will the effects of seed and flesh extracts, separately and combined, of Capsicum annuum cultivars (bell pepper, chile de árbol and cayenne pepper) be on the growth of Escherichia coli in agar plates, measured by the inhibition radius after 48 hours?

This essay explores “To what extent does varying the concentration of caffeine (mM) affect the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and hence affect the cell growth measured at an optical density of 565nm?” Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug in the world. TOR is a protein kinase, which regulates cell growth and cell proliferation in response nutrient availability. The inhibition of the TOR pathway by caffeine or rapamycin at low doses leads to increased cell growth in the presence of adequate nutrient levels.

This essay investigates the effects of organic fruit peels as fertilizers in order to improve growth of mung beans (Vigna radiata). As chemical fertilizers have become increasingly used due to high demands for food, the risks associated with them have also become widespread. Increased awareness on the effectiveness of naturally occurring fertilizers and their likelihood in being more sustainable could result in a switch from the usage of commercial to natural fertilizers in the future.

Therefore, this study examines the research question, “How does varying the type of organic fruit peel and its mass content within the soil growth medium affect the growth of mung beans (Vigna radiata), as measured by the growth in height of the plant (cm) and is this effect comparable to that of a commercial fertilizer?”

The Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method for antibacterial susceptibility was followed.

Flesh, seed and flesh with seed extracts of three cultivars of Capsicum annuum cultivars were compared. Filter paper discs with 5μl of 0.25 g/ml capsicum extracts dissolved in ethanol were placed on agar plates containing E. coli. The inhibition radius was measured and compared after 48 hours of incubation at 37˚C. Two-tailed t-tests under 38 degrees of freedom were conducted to determine if there are significant differences between the nine variations and the control group.

The extracts of chile de árbol and cayenne pepper reduced the growth of E. coli. The flesh extract of chile de árbol was the most effective inhibitor with a mean inhibition radius of 6.1 ± 0.9 mm. The flesh extract of cayenne pepper had a comparable inhibition effect and gave a p-value of 0.10 indicating no significant difference. Likewise, no significant difference between the flesh with seed extracts of cayenne pepper and chile de árbol was observed, as the t-value was lower than the table value. The seed extracts were significantly less effective (p-value < 0.001) when compared to seed and flesh with seed extracts. Thus, the flesh extract of cayenne pepper and chile de árbol have the greatest potential.

For this experiment S.cerevisiae was grown at 37OC at each of the chosen 12 concentrations of caffeine. The limitations posed while conducting the experiment in the school lab were considered. The strain of yeast used to perform the original experiment in the research paper was TOR-bypass strains: wild type (RL276-2d + YCplac33) and BY4742 strain that was specially cultured at 30OC. Raw data was obtained by measuring the absorbance of each sample at 565nm using a colorimeter after 24 hours.

The result supported the initial hypothesis.

Processed data revealed that low concentrations of caffeine, from 0.25mM1.00mM, had significant percentage increase of mean absorbance when compared with the mean absorbance of 0.00mM indicating that caffeine promotes growth at these concentrations. The maximum percentage increase was recorded at 0.25mM of caffeine indicating this was the most favourable caffeine concentration for growth. At 2.50mM there was negligible percentage increase from the mean absorbance measured at 0mM caffeine, suggesting this caffeine concentration was the point of inhibition.

After this point, a regressive pattern of growth was observed from 5.00mM30.00mM of caffeine, which was indicated by the subsequent percentage decrease. The maximum percentage decrease was recorded at 30.00mM. This suggests that the caffeine inhibits growth at higher concentrations.

This study is split into two experiments, in the first experiment dried fruit peel powder (banana, pomegranate, dragon fruit and orange) was applied into soil media and growth was evaluated in terms of height (cm). In the second experiment a similar method was conducted using different mass contents of the most effective peel and results were also collected in terms of plant height (cm). Equal masses of the most effective organic fruit peel and the commercial fertilizer were tested to conclude whether the selected fruit peel could be used as an alternative to promote plant growth.

In conclusion, banana peel proved to be most effective in enhancing the growth in terms of height of mung beans (cm), in relation to the control benchmark. Banana peel at a mass content of 20 g / 3000 g soil was most effective in terms of mung bean growth than the equivalent mass of the commercial fertilizer. These results, thereby, underline the possible reality of replacement of chemical fertilizers with natural alternatives such as organic fruit peels.

52 East Extended Essays 2015

VAN WENSVEEN, DANIEL

VERMERSCH, FERDINAND

To investigate how cross-modal plasticity can be applied to high school teenagers through temporary sight deprivation, the research question was formed as “How does placing a high school student in an environment with varying percentages of brightness (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) affect his/ her angular discrepancy from the azimuth angle of a sound source (measured as the modulus of the difference between the perceived azimuth angle and the actual azimuth angle) when binaurally perceiving the location of the sound source?”

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that global demand for fishmeal is expected to increase by 70% by 2050.

Singapore’s rapidly expanding aquaculture industry depends on fishmeal as its main source of protein. Not only is this commodity becoming increasingly expensive, it is also unsustainable and environmentally damaging.

The research question was split into two aims: one attempted to answer the research question while the other was an extension that attempted to compare male and female test subjects’ ability to accurately localize sounds through a t-test. The experiment was performed by measuring the angular discrepancy between the azimuth angle of a sound source at a fixed distance away from the test subject and the azimuth angle of the test subject’s perceived location of the sound source, under differing levels of brightness: the smaller the discrepancy value, the more accurate the test subject localized the sound source and vice-versa. 10 trials were performed for 5 different levels of brightness on 5 male and 5 female test subjects.

For aim 1, the null-hypothesis was accepted, as there was no relationship between the brightness of the environment and the discrepancy from the sound source, seen through the overlapping error bars for all the data points. For aim 2, the hypothesis was accepted, as there was a lower than 0.5% chance that the significant difference of 1.5˚ between the male and female test subjects’ ability to accurately localize the sound source (with the male test subjects being more accurate) was due to chance.

This investigation compares the relative protein concentrations in solutions of local fishmeal and dried mealworms, in order to determine the potential of mealworms as a sustainable alternative to conventional fishmeal in Singaporean aquaculture in terms of protein content.

Research was carried out to determine the sustainability of mealworm production. 5 dilutions of mealworm solution were then prepared by grinding mealworms in water and filtering out insoluble material. Using the Bradford method, their absorbance was measured through colorimetry to show the direct proportionality that exists between mealworm concentration and absorbance, despite discrepancies caused by factors that affected protein concentration, such as proteolysis and not using a centrifuge. It was assumed that both mealworms and fishmeal in solution underwent these discrepancies to a similar extent. The absorbances and consequent protein concentrations, along with their respective means, were then measured for 5 samples of 2mg/ml fishmeal and mealworm solutions, made through the same method of extraction. The statistical significance of the results was then measured through the use of a type 2, two-tailed t-test.

The procedures indicated that the mealworm and fishmeal solutions had a mean protein concentration of 29.12% and 24.46% respectively. The results for both types of samples were lower than their respective literary values and consequently, only served a comparative purpose. The t-test confirmed there was a statistically significant difference between the protein concentrations of the

two solutions, with a p-value of 0.0005.

As such, the findings put forward in this paper suggest that mealworms are indeed a sustainable alternative to local fishmeal in terms of protein content.

East Extended Essays 2015 53

GROUP 4–SCIENCES

ABSTRACTS CHEMISTRY

BHATIA, SANCHITA

COX, HEATHER

Aspirin is one of the most commonly used drugs today and it has been long proved a useful anti-inflammatory and analgesic medicine, with a multitude of uses such as for fever, myocardium infarction and stroke. Today, more than 10,000,000 kilograms of Aspirin is synthesized in the US in a year. Contaminants in aspirin, such as aspirin anhydride could induce intolerance, hypersensitivity and other detrimental health immunogenic responses when consumed.

Hence, I decided to investigate the optimum method for aspirin synthesis with respect to the temperature it is refluxed in, with the research question “What is the effect of varying temperature on the percentage yield and purity of aspirin in the synthesis of acetylsalicylic acid from salicylic acid?”

Extraction and Quantification of Degree of Esterification (%) of Pectins from Granny Smith Apple pomace, US Valencia Orange Pith and Nantes Carrot Pomace

The scope of this investigation is limited to synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid under reflux of salicylic acid and acetic anhydride over a range of varying temperatures from 30 °C to 80 °C at graduations of every 10 °C. The product was isolated, crystallized and tested for purity using qualitative and quantitative analytical tests such as Thin Layer Chromatography and Melting Point Analysis.

A linear positive correlation of the percentage yield of aspirin over varying temperatures was observed and the purity of aspirin increased for higher temperatures in general with the exception of an anomaly present at 80°C. The optimum temperature of 70°C was identified within the range investigated, however it was insufficient to conclude whether this was the optimum temperature overall and a wider range of temperatures needed consideration. Furthermore, due to the scope of the analytical tests performed, the impurities found were not identified and a further investigation of the structures of impurities present was required to understand and address the mechanisms from which they were produced.

This extended essay compares the degrees of esterification of pectins extracted from Granny Smith Apples, US Valencia Orange pith and Nantes carrots, where degree of esterification (D.E) refers to the percentage of carboxyl groups esterified by methanol.

The pectins were extracted by boiling the separate fruits in water for 45 minutes at pH of 2.2. After sieving off the solid residue, the resultant viscous liquids were mixed with acetone to form gelatinous masses of pectin, which were then separated off using cheesecloth, dried and shredded into powders. The D.E of each extracted pectin was determined using the titrimetric method: 0.50g of the pectin was dissolved in 100 cm3 of distilled water. This solution was then titrated against 0.10 M NaOH(aq) using bromothymol blue as an indicator (Valuation A). 25.00cm3 of 0.25 M NaOH(aq) was added to the neutralized solution and left to stand for 30 minutes, before addition of 25.00cm3 of 0.25 M HCl(aq). The solution was then back titrated against 0.25 M NaOH(aq) (Valuation B). The D.E of each pectin was then calculated using the formula: Degree of Esterification (%) =

In contradiction of values stated in existing scientific literature, the pectin extracted from Nantes carrots had the highest D.E with 87.0% of carboxyl groups esterified, followed by pectin extracted from US Valencia Orange pith with 79.7%. Pectin extracted from Granny Smith apples had the lowest D.E with just 56.6% of carboxyl groups esterified, which was significantly lower than expected.

Differences between experimental values and expected values may have been as a result of the poor quality and solubility of pectin extracts.

54 East Extended Essays 2015

GURURAJ, ANANT

LEE, DONGKEUN

LEONG, BRIAN

The chosen research question for this essay is “How do the concentration, pH and Temperature of a Luminol reaction mixture affect the peak illumination and duration of its chemiluminescence?”.

This topic was chosen because of Chemiluminescence’s known applications in forensic and pharmaceutical chemistry.

By varying the Concentration, pH and Temperature of the reaction mixture, I hope to ascertain the conditions at which the light released during chemiluminescent reactions is most intense and the duration of the observable chemiluminescence is the longest.

The research question of this essay is to what extent the adsorption of heavy metal ions of zeolites can be determined as measured by colorimetric analysis of zeolite filtrates.

It investigates the adsorption capability of both homemade and commercial zeolite A by monitoring the color change of zeolite filtrate using a colorimeter. Homemade zeolite A was synthesized to see the difference in adsorption capability compared to zeolite A, and sodium metasilicate, sodium aluminate with sodium hydroxide were prepared for Zeolite A synthesis. The solution was heated to 100˚C and cooled for crystallization, and approx. 50g of zeolite were obtained.

Colorimeter was used to measure the reduction in solution light absorbency. As it is easier to quantify the data, Cu2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ were selected. Moreover, concentration of each heavy metal solution was varied to create a calibration curve to indicate unknown concentration of a corresponding light absorbance. An experiment was conducted to determine the saturation point of homemade zeolite A compared to commercial one. Heavy metal ion solutions were prepared in different concentrations varying from 0.10 to 0.60 moldm-3, and 10ml of each concentration were put with zeolite powder for an hour. Then the light absorbency of the filtrate was measured via colorimeter. The result suggested that homemade zeolites show similar adsorption capability to commercial zeolite A. The adsorption of heavy metal ions increased from Ni2+<Co2+<Cu2+. Abnormalities in the data trend suggest inconsistency in homemade zeolite structure and irregular pore size. It also suggests that mass-tocharge ratio of heavy metals also affect adsorption, the smaller the value, the less likely it will be adsorbed. The results conclude that colorimeter can be a viable method to measure zeolite adsorption capability, yet it some issues with the validity of the calibration curve as Beer-Lambert law tends to work better in lower concentrations.

This essay investigates how observed rotation can be used to determine the fructose/glucose ratio in different types of honeys. Honey is a supersaturated solution primarily composed of glucose and fructose, which rotate plane-polarized light in opposite directions and different magnitudes. The amounts of glucose and fructose vary with the source of nectar.

Luminol can exhibit chemiluminescence with different combinations of chemicals.

Before the aforementioned factors were varied, three such combinations were tested.

The combination of chemicals decided upon for experimentation consisted of Luminol, Sodium Hydroxide (Luminol Solution) and Sodium Hypochlorite (Oxidising Solution) as it produced fairly long-lasting and bright light. To vary the concentration and pH of the Luminol solution, different masses of Luminol and Sodium Hydroxide respectively were dissolved. To vary the temperature, the Luminol solution was placed in hot water baths and an ice bath (to lower temperature) before the reaction took place. The reaction was carried out in a 1 dm3 beaker when the Luminol and Oxidising Solutions were mixed.

A light sensor connected to Logger Pro was used to gather data involving light released.

The conclusion drawn was that the peak illumination is highest between pH 11 and pH 13 with a high concentration of Luminol and at as low a temperature as possible (approximately 11ºC was achieved with the ice bath). pH had the greatest effect on the peak illumination and temperature had the greatest effect on the duration of the observable chemiluminescence. At these conditions, the pH and concentration maximise the peak illumination and the temperature slows down the reaction, prolonging the chemiluminescence.

Solutions of five unifloral honeys: manuka, eucalyptus, honeydew, wild dandelion and blackberry were prepared in distilled water at a concentration of 0.10gcm-3. Moisture content in honey was considered when preparing solutions. The extinction points of each solution were measured using a polarimeter with 5 trials per concentration and subtracted from the extinction point of distilled water to find the observed rotation. The total sugar concentration was calculated from the nutritional information on the honey. By making the assumption that fructose and glucose are the only optically active compounds in honey, two equations for the concentrations of fructose and glucose were obtained. This allowed a formula for the fructose/glucose ratio in terms of sugar concentration and specific rotation to be derived.

After data processing, it was found that eucalyptus honey contained the highest fructose/glucose ratio at 7.17, followed by manuka at 1.43, blackberry at 0.83, wild dandelion at 0.40 and honeydew at 0.27. Further avenues of investigation include grouping honeys according to their production location to see if it has any effect on the fructose/glucose ratio, investigating the effect of mutarotation on optical activity, using gel filtration chromatography instead of polarimetry to analyze the amounts of each sugar in different honeys and examining the effect of adding high-fructose corn syrup to honey on its specific rotation.

East Extended Essays 2015 55

SHAH, KINJAL

SHUKLA, ANUSHANA

TJENG, ALVIN

Esters are an important class of compounds because they are used extensively in chemical industries for the production of a variety of goods such as perfumes, lubricants, food flavorings and cosmetics. The rate at which esters are formed is dependent significantly on the structure of the reactants and this relationship may of interest to producers who use esters in their products.

Thus, I chose to investigate the following research question:

The research question for this essay is “To what extent does the duration of ultraviolet exposure affect the double bond content of sunflower oil, and consequently its iodine value?” The oxidation level was measured through the calculation of the Iodine Value using the Wijs method for two samples, one with targeted ultraviolet exposure and a control sample without, to establish the natural decrease in the double bond content.

This investigation involves measuring the rancidity of three different oils, the state where a fat or oil has an unpleasant smell or taste due to its decomposition, when heated for different times. The research question is how does the rancidity, measured through the peroxide value, of sunflower, olive and coconut oil vary with duration of heating times at 180°C?

“How does the type of alcohol (primary, secondary and tertiary) used in the Fischer‐Speier esterification reaction affect the rate of the reaction, as determined through back‐titration?”

Sunflower oil samples between 0.234-0.236g in mass were exposed to UV light for varying durations, between 0 hours to 96 hours, in 24-hour increments. 20mL of Hexane and 25mL of Wijs Reagent were added to the oil samples. After resting for 30 minutes; 100mL of water and 10mL of Potassium Iodide were added to the solution. This solution was titrated with excess Sodium Thiosulfate.

The volume titrated was used to calculate the Iodine Value using a formula. The same method was utilized, without the UV exposure, for the control trial.

The alcohols used are methanol (primary), ethanol (primary), propan‐2‐ol (secondary) and 2‐methyl propan‐2‐ol (tertiary). The method involved two steps—the preparation of ester and using back‐titration to calculate the rate. 10 ml of 10.0M ethanoic acid was reacted with 10 ml of 10.0M the alcohol in a flask, under a reflux, for 30 mins at 60°C to form the ester. Sulphuric acid was used as a catalyst. The reaction mixture, with excess ethanoic acid was back titrated with 2.0M NaOH to calculate the concentration of ethanoic acid reacted and consequently the rate.

The results showed that rate of esterification was greatest with primary alcohols and least with tertiary alcohols, as hypothesized.

Methanol was found to be most reactive and 2‐methyl propan‐2‐ol was the least reactive with the rate of esterification being 0.044 ± 0.004 mol dm‐3min‐‐1 for methanol and 0.007 ± 0.007 mol dm‐3min‐‐1 (almost zero) for 2‐methyl propan‐2‐ol. There was a difference of 84.1% in the rates of these two alcohols, which is a considerable variation.

A few extensions were suggested to widen the scope of the investigation by comparing different methods of making esters and to explore further into the factors that bring about a difference in the rate of reaction.

The calculated iodine values were plotted on a graph against the duration of UV exposure or ‘resting’ (in hours) for the photo-oxidation and control trials respectively. The results for both the experiments reflect a non-linear, negative relationship between the duration between testing and the Iodine Value of the oil sample, signifying a decreasing double bond content of the oil. The rate of decrease is greater in photo-oxidation than in the control, as depicted through the steeper slope for the oil samples exposed to the ultraviolet radiation. The iodine value after 96 hours for the control is 110.16 but is 97.07 for the exposed oil, suggesting that UV exposure may accelerate the rate of oxidation. It is proposed that green or brown glass bottles and the use of natural supplements can be used to slow oxidation in transported oils.

In the experiment, 3g samples of oil were heated at 180°C at for 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 minutes and were allowed to cool for 8, 6, 4, 2, and 0 minutes respectively. After cooling, the peroxide value was measured through the peroxide value test, which involves the titration between iodine and sodium thiosulphate solution. Before the experiment, a blank titration value was taken, which is the titration without the oil.

The titration was then done with the oil and the difference between the two-titration values is calculated to see how much sodium thiosulphate is required to neutralize the oil itself. This value can then be used to calculate the peroxide value of the oil.

The experimental result shows that a rise in heating time at 180°C increases the rate of the peroxide formed in the oil, and so the rancidity, of the oil regardless of its saturation. However, the rate of peroxide formed decreases with increasing heating time and the trend of peroxide values between each oil was inconclusive. This is partly due to the flaw of the method used.

Firstly, none of the oil used were pure, but has a portion of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, therefore the results slightly divert from the actual value. Furthermore, the time between each experiment gives each oil time to oxidize, thus the peroxide value will always be more than the actual amount of peroxide formed during the heating of the oil.

56 East Extended Essays 2015

ZIA, SAMAR Biodiesel is a fuel that can be from vegetable oils. As fuel prices rise, along with the environmental concern over using diesel, more people are turning to homemade biodiesel. This study aims to look the optimization of biodiesel production while using a simplistic reaction setup that can be replicated at home, and answer the research question, “How do different fat contents in vegetable oil and variance in reaction temperature affect the yield of biodiesel produced through base catalyzed transesterification?”

The study was conducted on four different vegetable oils, and consisted of two different experiments. The reaction was conducted with CH3OH as the reactant and NaOH as the basic catalyst. The first experiment aimed to look at the calorific value of biodiesel produced from the different vegetable oils, and compared to the total saturated fat content of the oils to find a trend between the two values. The reaction conditions were kept constant for this experiment, and the calorific value was tested using a copper calorimeter. The second part of the study looks to find a relationship between the total fat content of the vegetable oils and the amount of biodiesel produced from them with varying reaction conditions (40°C, 45°C, 50°C, 55°C, 60°C).

The results showed vegetable oil with higher total and saturated fat content reacted at 60°C using CH3OH and NaOH as a catalyst would be the best option for biodiesel production at home. However, the calorific value test presented one highly anomalous point, which may have been due to the high systematic error in the experiment. Studies conducted with more accurate equipment could aid in establishing these findings further. A positive correlation was also found between both the saturated fat content and amount of biodiesel produced, and reaction temperature and biodiesel production.

GROUP 4–SCIENCES

ABSTRACTS COMPUTER SCIENCE

BAKRI, ASLAN ISKANDAR Pathfinding is finding the best path between two points. It is often used within video games, in order to move agents around maps full of obstacles. This essay touches on pathfinding within two-dimensional tile-based games, comparing some popular existing algorithms to find the most suitable one, and addressing the question, “What is the best pathfinding algorithm for use in two-dimensional tilebased games?”

Three algorithms A*, Dijkstra’s, and BreadthFirst Search were compared in this essay through research and tests. The best algorithm was determined by analyzing the efficiency (complexity), speed, path appearance, and ability to find shortest paths. Information about the background processes of each algorithm was also useful for drawing conclusions about their behaviors. Tests were conducted with the use of external software (Qiao), which simulates all the algorithms on a common tile grid display, where starting and ending points can be chosen, and walls can be drawn. The efficiency of the algorithms was found by determining each algorithm’s Big-O notation through analysis of each algorithm’s pseudo-code.

After conducting research and experiments, the A* algorithm was found to be most suitable for 2-dimensional tile-based games.

The algorithm proved to perform well in all of the categories, with good efficiency, speed, and appearance and predictability of paths. Despite its reliability, the simplicity of Breadth-First Search was found to limit its performance for pathfinding in tile-based maps, as it would search through unnecessary tiles on the map drastically slowing down it’s speed. Dijkstra’s algorithm was found to be slightly less suitable for tile-based maps, where it was found to behave similarly to BreadthFirst Search. Despite it performing well in the path appearance and predictability category, it had the worst scaling efficiency of the three algorithms. Despite each algorithm having their own advantages and disadvantages, A* was found to be most versatile.

East Extended Essays 2015 57

58 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 4–SCIENCES

ABSTRACTS DESIGN TECHNOLOGY

AUSRI, FAJAR Research question: To what extent is the efficacy of East Campus’s environmental control systems dependent on occupant behaviour and how can the effects be minimised?

Occupant behaviour is a seemingly significant factor affecting the environmental performance of UWCSEA East Campus’s design, evidenced by the emergence of projects promoting college-based eco practices. So, occupant incompetence appears to have a dire effect on the system’s efficacy. However, the extent of this effect is unclear, sparking this paper’s subject of investigation: to what extent does occupant behaviour affect the efficacy of East Campus’s environmental control systems (ECS)?

This paper is split into two sections: (1) an attempt to quantify the ECS’s dependency on occupant behaviour using a weighted formula comparing differences between ideal and unfavourable conditions of particular features; and (2) an exploration into the problem’s roots through a post-occupancy satisfaction survey. All investigations are conducted with a focus on the north-eastern side of academic block D, or centraleastern section of campus. The paper only investigates the effects on the ECS; i.e., features affecting the quality or temperature of air. However, active ventilations systems are not within scope. Occupant behaviour is defined as the way an individual interacts with the building, whether passively or actively, within the time frame of a typical school day: 08:00 to 15:30.

Results indicate that the collective ECS are not significantly dependent on occupant behaviour with variability rate 10 %, although the air conditioning system has high dependency. Based on analytics of survey results, the problem seems to be occupants’ lack of comprehension of the systems, causing over-expectations of the building’s performance and subsequent dissatisfaction from a perceived underperformance. That

said, limited economic, temporal, and authoritative resources available for the paper limited its scope and depth. So, results are based purely on D-block activity types and levels, and may not accurately reflect the entire campus. The same investigations, survey included, could be conducted for all educational and sports blocks for a clearer result.

KAMAL, MOHAMMAD JAHANZEB The alarming overall population health and the declining natural environment in Bangladesh arising from the brickmanufacturing sector, can be seen as a major roadblock for the developing country.

Being a significant manufacturer, this industry remains vital to the economy as a source of income for workers as well as economic stability. Taking into account the impact of this industry, this essay will attempt to answer the question of, “To what extent does the various type of brick manufacturing in Bangladesh impact the local environment and population and what is being done to tackle this.”

The population in Bangladesh has increased every year with a spike in recent years. As a result, there has been an increase in demand for housing. Despite the village areas of Bangladesh using materials such as mud, cement, stone, wood, and even leaf tents, the main component in construction has been bricks. This essay will explore environmental impacts on Bangladesh as a country due to “outdated” baking methods and evaluate the methods used to alleviate this problem.

I chose Bangladesh as it is my home country and so the healthcare and the well being of the country is something very important to me on a personal level. This essay will survey various kilns that have been or still are used in Bangladesh and the recent hybrid designs.

The health implications on civilians and the economic standpoint will be examined with the help of an interview from a non-biased official from the Bangladesh environmental sector. This essay will also suggest alternative suggestions that could be pursued to tackle this harmful situation. Comparing existing environmentally friendly projects around the world and the resources used will be explored in order to effectively tackle this issue.

East Extended Essays 2015 59

KEWENE-HITE, JOSHUA

WILLIAMSON, ROBERT

The aim of this investigation was to determine which of the 2 Lacrosse shafts was more flexible in order to decide which would be the better shaft to shoot with for an offensive player. I compared the Brine Python and Brine Starter sticks to see which is more suitable in terms of flexibility for shooting.

The manufacture of skateboards has overtaken furniture in the leading contributor to maple deforestation. As a skateboarder myself, I am often trying out new types of skateboards to find one that is easy to use, in terms of the skateboards performance. All of the skateboards that I have tried and almost all that are sold in the shops are made from maple-ply wood. Surely this is unsustainable for the population of maple trees around the world. I conducted some research and found that some skateboard decks are made from bamboo-ply, from what I understand bamboo is much more sustainable than maple.

The points addressed were the flexibility, deflection, and strength of each product as these are the most relevant to the subject and also the most easily assessed in terms of testing.

In order to obtain the information needed to make a strong conclusion, the tests were planned so that I could find the experimental values of both Lacrosse sticks in the fairest possible way. Each test was performed in such a way that both Lacrosse sticks were treated equally.

The Brine Python was found to be a superior Lacrosse stick because of its ability the flex substantially more while retaining the same strength values as the other shaft undergoing the same tests.

This led me to the research question “To what extent is bamboo ply wood a viable alternative to maple ply wood for the manufacture of skateboard decks, in terms of the sustainability and the user performance?” Once I am able answer this question, I will be able to prove whether bamboo is a good substitute for maple-ply as the main material to be in the manufacture of skateboard decks.

Scope Research data was collected on various aspects of the sustainability and user performance of each skateboard through primary, secondary, qualitative and quantitative data. Once research data was collected and analyzed I could clearly evaluate and make conclusions. I was able to answer the research question with evidence from the investigation. The data collected allowed me to determine which skateboard deck was the most sustainable and had the highest user performance overall.

The investigation was concluded that the Bamboo ply wood is a viable alternative to maple ply wood in the manufacture of skateboard decks in terms of the sustainability and user performance.

60 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;SCIENCES

ABSTRACTS PHYSICS

AU, LOK HIN

BECERRIL CORRAL, ALFREDO

With the popularity of crime scene forensics and detective work in popular culture, the essay would be centered on the act of bloodstain pattern analysis where analysts take the bloodstains from crime scenes as a possible lead to find as much information as possible, such as the position of the murder.

Thermal dilatation is the change in dimension caused over materials by the action of changes in temperature. This phenomenon has been widely studied since it affects machinery and structures and could compromise the safety of the users or generate unnecessary costs if the planning and designing are not done bearing in consideration those changes. A study on different metals about the thermal expansion and its possible consequences is presented here.

Using water instead of actual blood, this investigation uses a simple set up to test a formula created to model the radius of the splatter depending on the height from which the droplet was released, mimicking the procedures in a bloodstain pattern analysis. A retort stand was used to hold a plastic pipette dropper at various heights. The pipette dropper was positioned perpendicularly above a sheet of white paper, which served as a plain background to more clearly identify the diameter of the splatter during measurement. However, several trials had to be performed before the actual experimental range could be specified for testing.

Another experiment to find the force of friction between a droplet of water and paper was also conducted to achieve better understanding of the mechanics in play during the impact, splash and formation of the resulting splatter.

A positive linear relationship was found between the drop height of the water and the radius of the splatter. Although the experiment was carried out with minimal anomalies or errors, the results ultimately conflicted with the theoretical formula, giving very different values for the force of friction. However, this gives insight onto the flaws and limitations of the model. Overall, the model was concluded to be overly simplistic.

From he experiments conducted it was concluded that different metals expand with positive changes in temperature and contract with negative changes at different rates. The ratio of expansion depends of three factors: the thermal dilatation coefficient, which is unique for each material; the original length of the body; and the change in temperature that the body undergoes by. An experiment was carried out in which 5 different metals (copper, aluminum, stainless steel, galvanized steel and steel) were cooled down and then heated in order to obtain the specific thermal expansion coefficient. As an additional investigation a railway section was observed over a period of seven days to compare how does a greater length influences the change in dimensions compared to a smaller piece that goes through a greater change in temperature.

From the analysis of the data and its analysis it was concluded that the combination of materials with great difference over their thermal dilatation coefficients could compromise the correct performance and safety of both structures and machinery. Also it was concluded that as structures are bigger and changes in temperature become wider it is needed to change the way buildings and structures are made.

East Extended Essays 2015 61

GUDI, KUNAL

LALL, AYUSH

MATTA, KARAN

This essay analyses the “Investigation of how increasing the angle of incline of an anodized aluminum ramp affects the resistive magnetic force of a stack of cylindrical neodymium magnets” with the aid of an electromagnetic phenomena called Eddy currents. These are induced currents created by a changing magnetic field in a conductive body. This essay aims to better understand the motion of magnets on surfaces that conduct electricity.

The aim of this extended essay was to develop a relationship between the temperature of the surroundings (or heat applied by the surroundings) and the current produced by a solar cell while under a constant light source. This would aid in the understanding of the mechanics of the solar cell and placement of the solar cell, as well as determine whether it is cost-efficient to heat solar cells in order to maximize efficiency.

This essay endeavors to find a relationship between the terminal velocity of a stacked set of strong cylindrical neodymium magnets rolling down an anodized aluminum ramp, and the resistive magnetic force created by the Eddy currents that is opposing the magnet’s journey down the ramp by changing the angle of inclination at which the magnet is rolling down. The experiment was conducted by filming the magnet rolling down the ramp at different angles of inclination, specifically 5° to 15°, using a video analysis software on Logger Pro, to collect raw data for the terminal velocity.

Subsequently, through the use of equations from mechanics and the equation for coefficient of friction, an equation was formulated that would yield values for the resistive magnetic force. The data obtained also helped create a relationship between the terminal velocity and the resistive magnetic force of the magnet.

Firstly, an equation was derived using Einstein’s and Planck’s theory of the photoelectric effect, band theory of solids, the Varshni equation and drift velocity that linked together the two variables mentioned above. Secondly, an experimental setup was designed in order to verify this equation and the theory explored in the research paper. The results showed that increasing temperature does increase current, in accordance with the theoretical relationship.

However, due to the low current and the fluctuations in the measurement, there were high uncertainties in the values. These were so high that other relationships, such as an exponential curve, were also shown to be possible. In addition, the slope was quite small, which would mean that high temperatures would be required to get any sort of current.

An electric guitar’s pickup works on the principle of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction. The vibrating guitar string, that is magnetized, cuts through the field lines of the pickup as it oscillates, inducing an EMF. However, there is more than one pickup on a guitar to choose from. The aim of the investigation was to observe to what extent does the position of a single coil pick up and the frequency of the guitar strings affect its voltage output and is based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction and the simple harmonic motion of the vibrating guitar string.

Although the final processed data revealed systematic errors and limitations to the experiment, a relationship that was predicted initially was obtained. As the terminal velocity increases, the resistive magnetic force increases. This is because as the angle of inclination increases, the component force due to gravity increases, while the frictional force decreases. Since the forces are balanced as they magnet rolls at terminal velocity, the resistive magnetic force compensates the decrease in frictional force, therefore increasing in magnitude as the angle of inclination increases.

In conclusion, the relationship was used to enhance understanding of solar cells (temperature does affect the current produced). The data analysis suggests the validity of the equation, however, the uncertainty is too high for verification. The essay also fails to consider voltage. Heating the cell was shown to be inefficient, due to low current production, however, it was also shown that this may depend upon the size of the solar cell and intensity of light. However, this relationship shows a definite advantage in placing solar cells in hotter environments.

‘In order to do this, an experiment was carried out to calculate the pickup output level for two pickup positions, bridge (0.100m away from the noted) and neck (0.159m away from the noted), over 16 frequencies produced on the E string of the electric guitar. Frequencies were measured using an equalizer and monitored throughout the experiment with the help of a chromatic tuner. 5 trials were taken for each frequency over each pickup position and the voltage output of the guitar was measured by taking the peak reading on a digital multi-meter.

The voltage output graph did not follow the parabolic shape of the predicted output level graphs for both the neck and the pickup; rather there was an increase after 164.8Hz (first harmonic). The relationship applied to both pickups. After 164.8Hz the rate of increase in voltage began to slow down as the amplitude of the vibrating string over the pickup began decrease. However, changing from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup after the first harmonic showed an increase in voltage output from 0.076V to 0.081V due to the increase in amplitude of the vibrating string.

62 East Extended Essays 2015

MOHAN, PRANAV A Gaussian accelerator is made up of a series of steel balls and magnets, which when fed with a magnetic ball with a certain velocity, accelerates it to give a much larger intuitively unexpected final velocity, which is what motivated me to work on this exploration.

When I saw this, I thought that this could be a very useful device in areas like ballistic weaponry. When I researched more about it, I did not find any direct applications.

One of the online article(Rabchuk, 2003) [1] mentioned that as the initial velocity decreases, efficiency decreases. This made me very curious to investigate the change in energy of a steel ball as it went through a Gaussian accelerator to check if the online resource is correct.

The motion of the balls in the Gaussian accelerator was closely investigated with a high-speed camera and video analysis software. The initial velocity was varied from 0.1381ms-1 to 0.4847ms-1 for a total of 65 values and experimental final velocities were found. I derived a model equation on the basis of Newtonian and magnetism laws that predicts the final velocity associated with an initial velocity with a reasonable certainty.

, where n is the number of magnets and A is

It was noticed that the final velocity increased as the initial velocity increased in a total of 65data plots. There are some

[1] Rabchuk, J. A. (2003). The Gauss Rifle and Magnetic Energy. The Physics Teacher, 41(3), 158

SUNPONGSRI, SUPARIT energy losses associated with the Gaussian accelerator as well. It was found that the Gaussian accelerator has the least efficiency when the initial velocity is the lowest and when it is the highest, firstly proving the article wrong. It was concluded that as the initial velocity is increased to a very large value, the efficiency becomes 1 and as it is decreased to a very low value, then the initial velocity does not affect the final velocity produced. This is why it cannot be used in ballistic weaponry.

Impact event of meteor on earth can cause disaster to people, building and landscape vicinity in the same way as projectiles of missile and nuclear weapons in modern warfare. With our understanding of the various aspects of impact processes on the size and speed of meteor, density of earth surface, diameter of the crater formed and impact consequence, lives can be saved.

In this investigation, two experiments were carried out using a ball bearing to represent an asteroid. In experiment one, a ball bearing was dropped from a height of 25 to 250cm onto a target consisting of sand mixed thoroughly with 400ml of water. While in experiment two, it was dropped at a height of 100cm onto a target consisting of sand mixed thoroughly with 0 to 900ml of water, which result in varied density of the target from 722 to 940kgm-3. The diameter of crater formed is measured as a dependent variable. Potential energy of a ball bearing is determined by its mass, its height and its gravitational pull. When it falls and hit the target, potential energy is released. The impact force creates a crater on the target surface. This investigation aimed to explore 1) how changes in drop-height of a ball bearing affects the diameter of crater formed on sand and 2) how does changes in the target density affect the diameter of the crater formed.

The result of the investigation showed a directly proportional relationship between the drop-heights of ball bearing and the diameter of crater, which is expressed as dâ&#x2C6;?h. And, an inversely exponential relationship between the changes in density of target and the diameter of the crater, which is expressed as dâ&#x2C6;?Ď t-1.3. Overall, this investigation shows that higher drop height, larger diameter of crater formed, opposed by the density of the target surface.

East Extended Essays 2015 63

VAN SLUIJS, NATHANIËL

YANG, HAO TIAN

ZHAO, DUZHI

This essay studies the effect of mass on the damping effect of an oscillating compression spring system. The research is broken down into two aspects and is conducted with the performing of a displacement and maximum velocity experiment. Changing the weight on top of a compression spring by adjusting the amount of slotted mass placed on an inclined air track cart. Both results for amplitude and time till complete rest at equilibrium were recorded. The results were recorded using motion sensors and Logger Pro computer software. The track was placed at an angle to provide a component of gravity to simulate the weight that would be vertically above the compression spring. A common known example of such a system would be a car suspension. In addition, all equipment that was part of the oscillating system was carefully weighed and accounted for. The investigation was carried out in a school physics laboratory and under supervision of a member of staff.

Wireless charging of electric toothbrushes is commonly used for convenience and safety.

This happens through electromagnetic induction, the process of generating an electromotive force (emf) through changing magnetic fields. However, because electrical energy is converted into magnetic energy during the power transfer process, more energy is lost as heat compared to electrical power transfer through direct contact. Therefore, in order to outweigh the drawbacks of inefficiency with the benefits of convenience, a way to increase the induced emf while keeping the heat loss constant is needed.

This essay aims to focus on the flight or movement of the shuttlecock, which is to investigate how the terminal speed of a shuttlecock affected by its mass. This knowledge can possibly help the badminton players with their prediction of the path and speed of the shuttlecock, and the coaches with their training to those new players.

This investigation does not study damping co-efficient, due to the fact that apparatus and instrumental accuracy will account for uncertainties that would have been too large.

The research showed an indirect relationship between weight and damping effect, as the mass affected factors such as the maximum amplitude, time till equilibrium and maximum velocity. Overall the investigation shows that the mass plays a substantial factor in the damping of a compression spring system. Although research was limited to a single spring constant and a low range of slot masses, the mass has proven to be a major factor when it comes to damping in oscillating systems.

In my experiment, I decided to investigate the relationship between the length of the primary coil and the induced emf in the secondary in a two-coil detachable transformer. Fewer turns per unit length should produce a denser magnetic field, which would induce a greater electromotive force. To test the amount of induced EMF, I ran alternating current through coils with the same number of turns but different length.

However, there were several confounding variables. The heating effect and the distribution and evenness of the turns on each of the coils could not be controlled effectively. These may have resulted in the random errors later observed in the graph.

The results of the experiment showed that decreasing the length of the primary coil increased the induced emf in the secondary coil. However, the results did not fit Faraday’s law. Rather, they fit a power curve with the expression ε = 0.054 ⋅l taken into consideration when building inductive chargers for toothbrushes. In order to compensate for the loss of energy, the length over which that the turns are spread out should be optimized so that the maximum electromotive force is achieved. These factors all have to be taken into consideration when constructing an inductive transformer/ charger.

This investigation first introduces some common features of the badminton shuttlecock in order to show why the shuttlecock falls down in a non-parabola path. Then, the net force helps explain this movement and brings in the factors influencing the terminal speed, including the mass of the shuttlecock, fluid density, reference area and the drag coefficient.

After controlling other three factors, the independent variable, Mass, is altered by adding clay inside the cone shape. In order to verify the Vt= 2mgρACd and Vt2 ∝m, I intended to investigate the relationship and explore various variables started with terminal speed vs. mass. With the help of the ‘Logger Pro’, a series of data has been collected and reflected directly on the graph but it shows a negatively proportional relationship between terminal speed2 and the mass of the shuttlecock.

(Vt2 = -290+/-70 × m) This unexpected finding indicates the huge effect of porosity that totally changes the relationship between terminal speed and mass of a shuttlecock. This is further proved by analysis on the aerodynamics and free body diagram of a falling shuttlecock.

The final evaluation compares a nylon shuttle with a feather shuttle, reemphasizing the smaller the mass and the more porous, the faster the terminal speed of the shuttlecock will be.

64 East Extended Essays 2015

GROUP 5– MATHEMATICS

ABSTRACTS

AGRAWAL, ARJUN

AGARWAL, SHEFALI

Celestial navigation is the science and art of navigating by the stars, sun and planets, and is one of the oldest human arts. While modern navigation is the pinnacle of human automation. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the core mathematics behind celestial navigation techniques and modern navigation systems.

Several different models of celestial navigation techniques and modern navigation are mathematically explored but the focus lies on the most prominent method of navigation in each system, the intercept method and the Global Positioning System.

To what extent do poker players utilise game theory to maximise profits?

Apart from exploring several geometric concepts used in these systems, this paper provides simulations for all celestial navigation methods discussed and the GPS. For the purpose of mathematical clarity all simulations shown in this paper are back calculated from coordinates of15 ̊N and 75 ̊W to provide sights or readings. This paper only presents the GPS as a modern navigation system.

Though it can be argued that the Lo-RAN and the NAVSAT are part of the era of modern navigation, they are not considered in this paper since this paper focuses only on the ancient and current navigation systems.The celestial navigation problem exists in two-dimensions while the GPS is a three-dimensional one. The findings present that celestial and modern navigation systems use the same geometric principles and concept of position fixing but differ in the method in which they solve these problems. This paper concludes that this difference is due to the assumption in celestial navigation that observed celestial bodies lie on the celestial sphere. Celestial navigation uses spherical trigonometry and angular distances while modern system use coordinate geometry and real distances to calculate positions circles. Both systems use trilateration and mathematical iteration as a form of error correction but this paper does not extensively explore error corrections since that is another elaborate topic.

Game theory has been a vital part of the game of poker for a very long time and thus, in this essay I am going to be doing a game theoretic analysis of poker models derived from the poker game, Texas Hold’em. I have simplified the original game by limiting the number of players to two and by putting a curb on the card deck to just two suits of Aces, Kings, and Queens. Additionally, I have also selected a certain number of moves the players can make. This is to make the analysis for this model less complex than full-fledged poker models, where there is a possibility of players colluding.

In a real game of poker, this model can be applied to players only when all the hands have been dealt and all cards in the board are shown as each and every player will be aware of their chances at winning this game, and can thus apply game theory to come up with a strategy that results in maximum profits. Game theory is particularly effective when elements of bluffing, probability and strategy are considered. Therefore, I will derive optimal strategies for both Player 1 and Player 2 in my model of Texas Hold’em.

However, in a full-fledged real-life game of poker, the players, in the long run, need to be able to make decisions based on their observations of their opponents’ behaviour and by deviating from playing optimally.

This game is applicable to Singapore because of the multitude of casinos and other gambling establishments available. However, in Singapore, making poker organisations available to the public is illegal, but playing a ‘friendly game of poker’ in a private residence (“Poker Legality in Singapore”) is permissible.

Thus, this game theoretic analysis of poker can benefit such people in Singapore.

East Extended Essays 2015 65

ANGRESH, DHRUV

CHO, SHINU

GUPTA, AKSHIT

This essay aims to investigate the principles that go into sampling techniques used on continuous signals in order to convert them from an analogue to a digital format. The subject area is fascinating because of its prevalence in electrical engineering and most modern innovations. It begins by introducing the ways in which sampling theorem can be used in modern industries, and justifying the value of sampling theorem as an important mathematical tool in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. The essay then goes from giving an overview of sampling theorem, a description of the phenomenon of aliasing, and a review of its applications.

This paper presents a general method to generate points distributed uniformly across any arbitrary spatial region or boundary. Although computers can generate one-dimensional uniform distributions quite effectively, uniform distributions across more complex regions in higher dimensions cannot directly be generated. So, this paper aims to explore the process of producing points in an arbitrary uniform distribution beginning with the generation of only one-dimensional random variables.

In my Extended Essay, I am exploring the use of colored ciphers in modern cryptography. I only discovered the existence of cryptography, when I began reading about Number Theory. I started exploring the different avenues and places in time, where simple mathematics in the form of ciphers and codes played a defining role. From the Second World War, with the Germans developing the Enigma Code, and in the Cold War, between the CIA and the KGB. I was amazed to see the use of simple modular arithmetic could impact the course of history in so many ways.

The two key aspects of the essay are the relationship between a signal functionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s input frequency and its aliased frequency, and the mathematics of the Fourier Transform. The essay considers the process of aliasing from the points of view of a wagon wheel for a simplified and accessible example, and a sine wave for a more detailed mathematical point of view. The essay then establishes the topical relationship as expressed through Nyquist Zones, as well as some of the techniqueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s limitations. The mathematics of the Fourier Transform is explored in detail as it provides the foundation for all the other concepts in the essay. Its simplification of complex processes is paramount to the understanding of why other simplified processes can apply in more complex contexts. However, the proof of the related Fourier series is intentionally omitted due to over-complexity.

The essay concludes with a summary of the importance of the Fourier Transform as well as the relationship between sample rate, input frequency and alias frequency.

An initial observation is made through exploring the use of parametric equations over uniformly distributed parameters to directly produce distributions, which fails to a lack of uniformity over the resultant region.

A combination of multivariate probability theory, vector calculus, and mathematical reasoning leads to a solution applicable to continuous and differentiable regions, which is then extended to boundary cases. Upon examination of a specific complex case with nondifferentiable points, a geometric approach is then used to improve on and generalize the result.

The main result of this study is summarized as a four-step procedure that can be applied to generate uniform distributions over generalized regions and boundaries. As an exploration, this paper also evaluates possible problems with the method while providing some useful general solutions that can be used in a variety of distribution problems. The result of this investigation offers the possibility of generalizing other one-dimensional distributions to higher dimensions in the future.

I first investigated an existing cryptographic system (Caesar Cipher), and evaluated its strengths and weaknesses. Then I introduced the idea of using colors as a medium of encryption, by developing my own model for a colored cipher. I experimented with some of the pre-existing ciphers, and used modular arithmetic congruence for my illustrations. As I have limited knowledge on modular arithmetic, I based my model of colored ciphers primarily on combinations.

I then explored the efficiency of my model, and included enhancements as well. Finally, I demonstrated my model of colored cipher with an example, where I was able to convert a message into bands of colors, and then demonstrate the process of deciphering it.

Colored ciphers are emerging slowly and steadily, and at present confined only to research and experiment. I believe in time the use of colored ciphers will revolutionize modern cryptography.

66 East Extended Essays 2015

KARTHIK, SAHANA

KOKORIN, MIKHAIL

RANJAN, APOORV

The focus of my research question is â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the context of the sport of Squash, to what extent is a Markov chain more pertinent than a tree diagramâ&#x20AC;?. I evaluated two different scenarios in the sport of Squash using variables. I used the method involving tree diagrams and the Markov Method for each, to see in which case the Markov chain was more useful.

The focus of our paper is on the transmission of a fever named dengue having the aim to analyze and compare the logistic and exponential curve, which happened in Lahore a city situated in Pakistan in the year 2010 and 2011. We obtain the force of infection from the real data of the city and then again, with the help of computer it is computed to bring out the basic reproduction number.

This essay aims to explore and evaluate the role of Bayesian Inference in Doppler spectroscopy, a method of planetary detection.

I approached the essay by using only theoretical variables. In Section 1, I investigated the use of an absorbing Markov chain to model a generic Squash match. I used the Markov Method (involving matrices) to compute the probability that each player wins. Then, I compared the solutions to a more simplistic version of a tree diagram.

In Section 2, I took a similar approach and examined the use of both a tree diagram and the Markov method to model the play of a single game of squash. The scope of Section 2 is limited to just one player winning two points in a game. However, in theory, a much larger Markov chain could be used to model the entire game, for both players.

I found that the scenario in Section 1 was theoretically correct in its use of the Markov chain, but it was rather long winded. On the other hand, in Section 2, I found the limitations of a tree diagram, and in this case, the Markov chain proved more useful.

Therefore, with the analysis it is shown that the disease is epidemic in the region. Dengue fever is a viral infection that is mosquito borne and is found in the subtropical regions throughout the world. The estimation done by the World Health Organization who today are at the risk of dengue fever are more than 2.5 billion people. In more than 100 countries, the dengue fever has become epidemic and is spreading all through the world. It is caused because of four antigenically related but different serotypes.

The names of the serotypes are as DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 as well as DEN-4. The dengue cases are very high in the month of June, July and August in Pakistan. To control the disease effectively, we need to understand the dynamics of the disease transmission as well as also take into account all the possible details. At present, no vaccine exists and the only way it can be controlled is to eradicate the mosquito vectors. Mathematical models, if applied, can show the rate at which virus is developed. Though logistic models fit in in one year models they can not show the increase in number of infected over few years.

This essay is divided into six sections and looks at the steps involved in planet detection. While researching for this essay, there was a lot of literature discussing the Bayesian philosophy; therefore, there is a brief section dedicated to a brief explanation of Bayesian Inference. The second section looks at the basic framework of Bayesian Inference and parameter estimation. The third section looks at model selection and how the ratio of the posterior densities of the selected model and a null model are taken and the conventions used to determine the preferred model. The fourth section looks at modeling radial velocities and the different parameters, which can be used to determine the lower estimate for the mass of the planet given the stellar mass and other factors.

The fifth section goes to look at the form of likelihoods and how they are assumed to be Gaussian for the sake of simplicity. Finally, the essay looks at Bayesian object detection, and looks at a new method of object detection, which analyzes the use of residuals of data and the disadvantages of alternate methods.

Finally, it looks at a comparison of this method against already existing data to test the accuracy of the method. Furthermore, I also look at the limitations of the method and the potential use of the radial velocity method in the future.

East Extended Essays 2015 67

GROUP 6–THE ARTS

ABSTRACTS

CSELŐTEI, JÚLIA

GUPTA, ANYA

Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor who has sung in many the world’s leading opera houses, with a repertoire mainly consisting of operas composed by Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Rossini; mainly Bel Canto roles. Therefore, this essay explores why Juan Diego Flórez is considered a Rossini tenor. The question this essay aims to answer is: What musical evidence, given in the Aria ‘Si, ritrovarla io giuro’ from the opera La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini, defines his composition style, and how does Juan Diego Flórez’s Bel Canto stylistic interpretation make use of this evidence using Rossini’s compositional techniques?

Throughout art history, we see the manner in which artists deal with the conflicts they face. From the serene scenes composed by Matisse, who used his art as an escape, to the propaganda slogans produced by Diego Rivera, who used his art as a form of political persuasion. Ai Weiwei is China’s most provocative artist as he explores the political rifts within modern day China, earning him the title of activist.

To determine if Juan Diego Flórez’s voice is best suited for singing Rossini roles, this essay assesses whether or not Juan Diego Flórez exhibits the characteristics or a Rossini tenor, and if he is a pertinent example of Bel Canto style singing or not. This is done by looking at the aria ‘Si, ritrovarla io giuro’, and analyzing it in terms of the melodic contour, phrasing, articulation, orchestration, and timbre. The criteria to be considered a Bel Canto singer was obtained from Rossini’s personal criteria, and Juan Diego Flórez’s own opinion, as heard in interviews.1 This essay concludes that Juan Diego Flórez’s coloratura, breath control, phrasing, expression, sound, and timbre all contribute to him being considered a Rossini Tenor, and due to those factors, he can be considered a Rossini tenor. However, as he has a broader repertoire, as well, including Verdi, Bellini, and Donizetti, too, he can also be considered a Bel Canto singer. However, this essay also takes into consideration Juan Diego Flórez’s recent voice and repertoire change to more serious romantic and dramatic operas, which can be heard on his new CD, L’Amour.

This essay explores the question: “What role does censorship play in Ai Weiwei’s art?” The starting point is an investigation into censorship in the art world. With a clear understanding of the compelling, yet sometimes immoral factors of censorship, the essay goes on to analyze a selection of Ai’s most acclaimed work. In the general analysis, this paper examines the presence of censorship in each work of art, with regards to the formal elements, cultural contexts, contents and exhibition.

An extensive research was conducted which included both primary and secondary sources. More specifically, scholarly articles, books, and interviews concerning the artist and his work, documentaries, curators’ opinions and interviews with art intellectuals were used. Much discussion has been accumulated, particularly after Ai’s release in 2011, concerning his political affiliations.

However, regardless of the vast number of interviews recorded with him, there is little coverage examining the presence of censorship in his works of art, with regards to the stylistic qualities.

In presenting these findings, I have come to conclude that Ai’s artistic concepts and exhibition to the public reflect the stringent, often brute censorship bans inflicted upon him as an artist and as a citizen of China. Ai’s pieces are not about the censorship bans, but rather a response to them.

68 East Extended Essays 2015

LUNKAD, SAAKSHI

OTWAY, ELEONORE

PARK, JEONG EON

The aim of this essay is to analyze the role of fashion design in the art world and to see the extent to which art has trickled into the world of fashion. My research question is “Do the fashion designs of Ryohei Kawanishi and Lee Alexander McQueen cross the line into the world of fine arts?” My hypothesis is that although clothes are functional, sometimes they are also pieces of art. This is because some designers use of the elements of design creatively to convey ideas, and therefore their work can be considered art.

Domestic violence is a serious global issue and a significant health concern. Every day, thousands of women are abused by their partners, and most of them are too afraid to escape their violent relationships.

Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed technique called Forum Theatre is one of the methods that can be used to address a global problem like domestic abuse. Theatre of the Oppressed has influenced several other theatre styles such as Applied Theatre.

Thus, this Extended Essay addresses the question: How have Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre, and Jennifer Hartley’s Applied Theatre, been used to improve the issue of domestic violence worldwide?

The aim of this Essay is to investigate the evidence shown from Heather Hansen’s and Kazuo’s movement art pieces that question the way they expressed their body language that has been put into their artworks. The main focus of this essay is to substantially absorb the visualizing information that depicts a certain way they both show their movement through art. It is questioned how they express their movements through art by not just normally using paintbrushes or certain art equipment but by using their bodies to create certain shapes. Those shapes bring out motions and expressions that came out from the artists themselves and it creates a bond between the artist and their artworks.

The research question was formulated into this:

To support this hypothesis I will analyze the collections of an upcoming designer and an established designer- Ryohei Kawanishi and Alexander McQueen, as they are very different in their application of design.

Kawanishi is subtle whereas McQueen is dramatic and they substantiate the argument that design is a part of the art world as it has the same components of creativity and innovation as art. I want to prove that fashion design has more to it than simply fulfilling the laws of supply and demand and is a way of expressing the designer’s emotions to convey a message to the onlookers. My interviews with Mr. Kawanishi and Rasika Wakalkar are the sources of my primary data, while my secondary data consists of online museums and interviews.

I have concluded that fashion designers are beginning to view their position of popularity as an opportunity to convey their ideas to the masses. I believe this is so because my research shows that although fashion designers use creativity and imagination for inspiration they are forced to ground themselves in consumerism due to financial constraints. This shows that fashion does have a foot in our consumerist society, but its other foot is deeply rooted in art.

Although domestic cases where men are the victims of the abuse do exist, this essay will focus on situations where the female in the relationship is the victim of violence.

The participants of the workshops include female victims of abuse, male perpetrators and people of communities in which domestic violence is a serious issue. Most of the sources used in this essay are primary sources as the information has been taken from journals, books or articles written by the conductors of the workshops.

This essay concludes that Forum Theatre does have therapeutic value to those involved in domestic abuse situations as all workshops showed a positive, short-term impact on the participants. This essay also questions to what extent the short theatre sessions can actually have a long-term impact on the mental health of participants who were highly traumatised by violence.

However, overall, even though we do not know whether these sessions have had a long term impact on the participants, all of the workshops of Forum Theatre allowed for the participants to express themselves, find alternative ways of dealing with situations and also allowed for a greater discussion of domestic abuse, which is a topic often neglected.

“Is movement a form of artistic expression? A critical investigation of Heather Hansen and Kazuo Shiraga.”

To answer this question within the essay, firstly this essay needed a clear definition what movement in art is and what the various kinds of art movement are. In relation to the topic, the movement in art will be about the body motions artists create to form an artwork and this essay will describe how the artists do that and what it means to them. This essay will introduce Heather Hansen and Shiraga Kazuo and their movement in art artworks. This essay will examine about the steps of how these two artists created an artwork that is related to movement. To conduct the data collection, secondary sources will be used to find information about movement in art related to Heather Hansen and Kazuo Shiraga.

Finally, in my conclusion, this essay will include the summarization of all the information that was discussed about movement in art. This essay examines what movement in art is by investigating about Heather Hansen’s and Kazuo Shiraga’s artworks.

East Extended Essays 2015 69

SANGHVI, ISHA

SUNG, KEVIN

TANG LAP KI, SAMUEL

Controversy is an idea that has long been associated with art throughout the ages.

In modern times, newer forms of art such as photography have emerged and have also been subject to controversy. These controversies further lead to conflicts involving different cultures, countries, religions and lifestyles. Hence, led to a movement “Art for Art’s sake”, which disapproves of judgements made on an art piece on the basis of any factor (religion, community, culture, etc.) except art.

This paper aims to compare and analyse different opinions and views on Controversial paintings, mainly focusing on Piss Christ.

The research question is: “To what extent is Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ an art for art’s sake?”

Stevie Ray Vaughan is known to be influenced

by Jimi Hendrix. His own interpretation of Hendrix’s famous track “Voodoo Child”(Slight Return) demonstrates the latter’s influence on Vaughan’s instrumental technique, musical phrasing, and ultimately his style.

Herein lies the motivation for this essay.

This leads to the research question: “To what extent does Stevie Ray Vaughan’s interpretation of Voodoo Child (Slight Return) demonstrate the influence of Jimi Hendrix on instrumental technique and musical phrasing”.

This essay’s intention is to investigate how Beethoven expresses the religious text through the music of the Credo in Missa Solemnis. It is well known that Beethoven studied the music of Palestrina and Bach to recreate the meaning behind the religious text, therefore the essay focuses on the stylistic techniques in the different subsections of Credo and suggests the influences Beethoven perhaps had in using these techniques.

Ultimately, the essay investigates the way these techniques and features express or help to express the religious text, as this is Beethoven’s intent of the composition.

This essay examines Piss Christ, a photograph

by Andres Serrano depicting the crucifix immersed in blood and the artist’s urine, and the controversy surrounding it due to its religious association. By further analyzing Serrano’s other works, his own take on the piece, the words of art critics and Piss Christ as a work of art itself, this essay presents Piss Christ as art that truly brings out the artist’s self expression and classifies it as an art made not for stirring religious sentiments, but purely for art’s sake.

I have concluded that Piss christ is a work that has aesthetic value bases in its form and content despite the fact that it had created a huge controversy. Since the artwork brings out the artist’s self-expression it can be called an art for art’s sake to a full extent.

The methodology of investigation and indepth analysis of this research essay is as follows: I will first be looking at Jimi Hendrix’s original version of “Voodoo Child” (Slight Return), and comparing it with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s version from his live performance, taking into the account the instrumental techniques and variations in phrasing styles.

I will then assess Jimi Hendrix’s influence on Stevie Ray Vaughan and analyse whether there was any further modification or development of the original version and whether Stevie Ray Vaughan retained the original “musical personality” and intentions of the original composer, Jimi Hendrix.

Through the analysis, I found that there are similarities and differences between the two different versions. As Stevie Ray Vaughan’s version took direct references from the original track such as the opening semiquaver rhythmic riffs in the introduction and use of guitar techniques such as string bends and pentatonic blues scale. These similarities show that Hendrix influenced Vaughan.

However, there are clear differences that can be seen as evidence of Vaughan’s own musical personality added to the original track. These include, more virtuosic solos, more melodic pentatonic runs and use of accents.

It has become apparent that to express the religious text through stylistic techniques of previous eras, counterpoint and homophony are the two significant ideas of the composition. Therefore to undertake my research, I will discuss the way different features in counterpoint and homophony express the religious text, and how the religious text is expressed and interpreted by structuring counterpoint and homophony effectively. They are interesting because counterpoint and homophony in the previous eras are ideas that do not incorporate together and are developed from two distant principles: melody and harmony. However, by using these two ideas in the same subsections, Beethoven proposes a revolutionary idea that furthers the biblical implications provided by the text.

In this essay, I found out the effects counterpoint and homophony can have to express the religious text. For example, counterpoint can simulate worship, and word paints complex ideas brought out by the religious text. Homophony can simulate the unity of Christ and the concept of embracing spiritual warmth. The intercorrelation concept between counterpoint and homophony not only demonstrates the scope of the religious text, but also expresses the growth in intimacy between God and human as the relation between these two distant concepts is brought together.

70 East Extended Essays 2015

VAN DER HEIJDEN, KYLA

WAN, JIACHEN

The initial purpose for this essay is to analyse two films created by the same director and to conclude: to what extent does Joseph Wright manage to liberate the female protagonists present in his film adaptations of “Atonement” (2007) and “Anna Karenina”(2012). Cinema portrayal of female characters is a controversial topic and it interested me that a mainstream director like Joe Wright would select strong female characters as his protagonists. Although both films take the usual conventions of stories about love, the male characters in the films do not save the women in the end. The women ultimately suffer for their decisions to live for love.

Art is one of the focused areas of study nowadays, but after centuries of evolution the art world seems to be getting sophisticate and harder and harder for people to understand the painting, especially abstract art. On the other hand, the art world back in 14th century is not ideal for artists to develop their skills either. So how does limitations affect the quality of artwork is the topic of my research.

This essay studies both films to discuss various aspects, including the filming process, cinematography, lighting and costume.

Firstly the investigation took place by watching both films and analysing each one individually. Following on from this I looked into secondary sources, including interviews with the director and cinematographer, which provided an insight into the creation of the films.

Ultimately, I discovered through my research that Joe Wright mirrors societies by making them seem unrealistic but having realistic conflicts within them. He takes a story and creates a controlled world where the characters are not glorified for their actions of love. In my opinion, Joe Wright manages to do what a majority of film makers does not, which is have the female protagonists save themselves rather than relying on a male character to save them. They do not surrender to the control of the male, but instead make their own fatal decisions.

In my research I covered several artist from the 14th century and from modern time such as Giotto, Bouffan and Rothko. By analyzing and comparing their works I should be able to find the answer to the question. Moreover, I will discuss how to define the quality of an artwork, and also define what is art in general or can beauty define the value of an artwork. In the meantime please aware that I only discussed one form of art: painting.

In the end I reached a conclusion that quality of artwork should be decided from at least two aspects: how it communicate with the viewers and the idea behind the work, which the artist wanted to express. Limitations or rules should not be put upon artist because creating art is a process that needs innovation. More importantly, context of the artwork should never be ignored since it is essential to there themes.

East Extended Essays 2015 71

WORLD STUDIES

ABSTRACTS

AGARWAL, KARANN

BARANYANKA, IRIZA

This paper will examine the research question: To what extent does the implementation of economic and green chemical processes in the energy industry in Singapore, reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Today, Child Forced Labour is an issue that affects around 168 million children globally.

In Senegal, around 100 000 children are found to live in slavery-like conditions and the majority of them are Talibé children.

Senegal is a strongly Muslim country with a vast colonization history with major environmental issues. However, it must be taken in consideration that Senegal is not the only country in this situation; this essay will provide an “investigation of the causal factors of the violation of children rights in Senegal”.

Greenhouse gases (GHG) trap heat within the earth’s atmosphere, increasing the temperature of the planet; global warming.

The main component of these GHGs is carbon dioxide, which is extensively emitted through human activities. Global warming results in a rise in sea levels, rise in ocean temperatures and increasing acidity of the oceans overall.

Singapore faces these problems as well but because of its urban landscape, these problems are aggravated.

Research into the economical solutions, carbon taxation and cap-and-trade scheme, and the green chemical solutions, coal gasification and Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), resorts to these four findings: First, Finland and Singapore’s similar economies show that the carbon tax implemented for two decades in Finland with positive results can be imitated in Singapore.

Second, cap-and-trade schemes require international cooperation to succeed but even without that, Singapore can still use this to maintain its status as a leader in the world economy. Third, coal gasification has high efficiency with zero carbon emissions and Singapore has taken steps towards this source of energy, just like the UK has. Fourth, PEMFCs have high efficiencies, are longer lasting and have zero-emissions but are expensive and storage is a drawback but Ballard has taken the initiative to make these viable.

Singapore needs a combination of these four solutions to effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions. If Singapore implements these, it could be a model for other nations to follow.

In the long run, with the scarcity of fossil fuels, these four solutions will be the foundation for a green energy industry. Singapore, should they implement these solutions, could be at the forefront of green energy, globally.

The scope of this investigation is to look at how different interact together to understand why the rights of children are violated in Senegal. In order to do this, I have used several reports from different Non-Governmental Organizations. I will specifically investigate on Talibé Children in the coastal cities of Senegal and will not look at children in any other country.

This extended essay concludes that the rights of children in Senegal have been violated and are still today. As it will be seen in the essay later they are some laws that have been put in place to restrict and combat the violation of children’s rights in Senegal. However, the long-term factors such as the significant importance of Islam and the colonizing history of the country set the scene to permit an eventual abuse of children. Furthermore, the drought in the late 1970’s changed the migrations models already established in the country. Talibé children were brought to the cities where they were subject to abuse and their right were violated.

72

East Extended Essays 2015

HTET, MAY

KAY KHAING YU

LIM, WEN YI

Political unrest or/and isolation has a ripple effect on any countries’ economy. For instance, Thailand’s political instability results in a drop in Thailand’s GDP and Foreign Direct investment (henceforth, FDI) (Richards, 2014). North Korea, which is in isolation, has non-existent FDI (“North Korea”, heritage. org). A political progression should progress its economy as well.

This is an essay that is trying to answer the question on how successful has the government been in addressing the rise of obesity levels in Singapore? Therefore, it is required to cover the analysis on both biological and mathematical field.

By researching on this question, the basic understanding on global obesity must be clear. Moreover, a summary on obesity in Asian countries must be commented including Singapore and its neighboring countries. Additionally, biological aspect of the cause in obesity is required. It must be noted that obesity is not a disease but it leads to disease and eventually death.

The exploration portrays the prevalence of obesity in Singapore and its government intervention. Moreover, mathematical application is being used when calculating for future obesity growth in Singapore.

Introduced as a means for governments to increase representation of a group in a culture from which it has been historically excluded, affirmative action is no doubt a source of controversy worldwide. This essay will focus on the educational and economic aspect of Malaysia’s extensive affirmative action policies, so as to provide detailed analysis and evaluation of said policies. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of how and why such policies remain active despite much criticism, this essay aims to answer the research question: How effective has Malaysia’s affirmative action been in redressing economic and educational inequality?

The 2010 political reform is expected to bring feasible changes and catapult Myanmar’s economic development after over six decades of isolation. FDI is one of the strategies for developing countries to generate GDP growth rate by gaining more capital. From economical and political aspects, this essay investigates the extent in which the 2010 political reform affects FDI in Myanmar.

The scope of the essay is to examine the factors of FDI in Myanmar. FDI data is obtained from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (henceforth, DICA). GDP growth rate and FDP data are extracted from the World Bank and Trading Economics. The average office rental prices are calculated from the “AhKyoeSaung” – a Burmese real estate journal, which features the past five years prices. Professional opinions from director and assistant direction of DICA, an associate from Serge Pun and Associates (henceforth, SPA), a bank director, two consultancies and retired economist Zaw Pe Win were consulted through individual, openended interviews. Open-ended interviews were conducted to gain trust and put interviewees at ease since the topic includes politics. FDI and rental prices of selected years were used to maintain the accuracy and focus of the essay. The relationship between FDI and its determinants were determined through regression analysis.

2010 political reform had a significant impact on FDI in such a way that it is the main attraction of investments despite the decrease in investment from 2011 onwards. After 2010, other determinants particularly rent have a larger impact on FDI than the reform.

Since research question is related to how government has been successful in addressing the rise in obesity rate, Paragraph 7: Collaborative efforts in Singapore and Paragraph 8: Success initiatives in Singapore and the survey result help to explore on the topic. Through this, the research is more focused on the subject. It must be notice that people earned different amount of income so they will not spend their money equally on health. Therefore, government is needed to intervene the society to reduce obesity rate.

Primary resource of this research is base on an Internet article about “One in nine Singaporean adults was obese in 2010.”

And secondary resource is base on Internet research and books that I had read during the research period. By talking to people around me in Singapore helped me gain more knowledge about the reason why they are consuming more food than before. I also surveyed 50 people who are working in Singapore as evidence to show how successful the government is working on reducing the obesity rate.

The subjects of History, Geography, and Economics will be used to develop the essay; as interdisciplinary approach has been chosen for this essay simply because of the complex nature of the topic. Rather than separate the development of each subject, the geographic use of maps and diagrams to highlight disparities, the use of economic theory like the Gini coefficient to explain actions taken by the Malaysian government, and the historical analysis of sources and arguments all merge into a wide, cohesive perspective.

This is done to avoid subscribing to a narrow point of view that is seen too often in the polarised debate.

This essay concludes that affirmative action has been effective in increasing participation in both education and the economy of its most disadvantaged ethnic group, the Bumiputera. However, critics argue that these policies have led to a loss of a competitive drive and increased disparity amongst the Bumiputera. To remain effective, Malaysia’s affirmative action must be able to redress the increasing income disparity both between and within its ethnicities.

East Extended Essays 2015 73

MALHOTRA, ESHAAN

PAGANINI, GIOVANNA

RELAN, NEETI

In this essay, I explore an aspect of food security that is a global issue today. I focused my analysis around the food hygiene standards at two locations, New Delhi in India and Singapore. To analyze the impact on consumer choice, I firstly studied the laws and regulations the food authorities formulate and enforce on the different food sellers in their regions.

The question of gender equality is of such global importance that it is its own Millennium Development goal in the United Nations. I chose to look at this topic because I am interested in learning more on how to close the gender gap and how each area of the world can work to do so. I chose to look at government and business because they are one of the main leading powers of the world, which automatically has an impact on how women are economically succeeding in the modern society.

The research question, “How effective was the International Criminal Tribunal forRwanda in reducing Human Rights violations in Rwanda?” is explored in this extended essay by analyzing universality of human rights and their cultural interpretations in Rwanda. This essay’s scope includes Article 7, Article 8 and Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights in context of the actions and procedures of the ICTR. Human Rights and the Rwandan Genocide as a human rights issue are introduced. A background is provided on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, history of genocide in Rwanda and establishment of the ICTR.The effectiveness of the ICTR under the scope is discussed in context of capital punishment in the Rwandan penal code, rape as a crime against humanity, the prosecution of the Rwandese Patriotic Front and the impartiality and independence of the ICTR.

I studied the economic aspect of the food served at different establishments and what factors affect the sales at these establishments, by conducting interviews of food establishments in both locations. The reasons as to why some consumers prefer to consume certain types of food over the other were analyzed by studying the psychological aspect. This analysis determined how the preference of the consumer is important in the food market. To do so, I conducted surveys of customers of both small vendors and hawker centers and those of fine dining restaurants in both locations.

With the help of these surveys I outlined certain trends that are observed in people’s decisions and the factors that influence these decisions. Factors like people’s economic conditions, their gender and even psychological aspects like that of crowd psychology affected the people’s decision.

I have gone into detail supporting it with numerical data from my survey in this essay.

Using facts and theories from the areas of Economics and Psychology, I have highlighted trends and effects of regulations by food authorities on the food market.

I have also thrown light on different psychological factors that affect the consumer choice in the food market.

In this essay I aimed to research gender inequality policies in both a business, Johnson and Johnson, as well as in the Singaporean and American government. I shaped my research question to fit my research: “To what extent does Johnson and Johnson have gender equality policies and how do they correlate with government policies both in the US and in Singapore?” First, I looked at the policies in each of the countries separately and then the internal company’s policies and compared all of the guidelines with each other.

I concluded with Nicole Schwarb’s use of the 5 indexes to show if a company is gender equality thriving or not. It was clear that Johnson and Johnson did strive in closing the gender gap but that it is hard to quantify due to a lot of the data being highly confidential.

I also came to the conclusion that other areas such as education impact the way gender equality is fulfilled within a business due to qualification.

This essay material referred to various resources such as scholarly articles, in print and online, NGO reports, newspaper articles on the Rwandan Genocide and the ICTR were also researched to allow discussion on reception of the ICTR. Electronic sources such as the ICTR basic documents and case law database and the public documents on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda website were also accessed to gain complementary statistics.

This essay concludes that the ICTR was comparatively effective under Article 7, while being largely ineffective under Article 8 and 10 as it was weak in addressing rape as a crime against humanity and ineffective in prosecuting the Rwandese Patriotic Front; deeming it partial to the Tutsi government.

A different direction of research can be investigated from this essay’s conclusion as to what the future may hold with further intertwining of national crimes, international laws, and international platforms requiring national support.

74

East Extended Essays 2015

RUAN, ZULAN

SAPRONOV, DMITRY

SIREGAR, REFAEL

This essay examines the facilitative relationship between poverty and the trafficking of children, tourism and social acceptance in the growth of Thai child prostitution in Bangkok. This essay begins by introducing the current situation and the general knowledge of child prostitution and the trafficking of children for sex trade and the significant numbers of trafficked population in Thailand. The essay then continues, and discusses the economic effects as a driven force on child prostitution and explains the significant expansion in the sex industry by using the supply and demand dynamics. By using the economic explanation, this essay also discusses that despite Asian sex industry are thought to predominantly cater foreign demand, such as tourisms, Asian local men are the actual supporter of this lucrative industry.

How has Nike Inc. inspirational techniques applied on adolescent consumers influenced the sports industry both socially and economically? In order to answer this question, two perspectives have to be applied the psychological and economical. Case studies, including psychological research papers, reveal the effect of ‘inspiration’’ and ‘compliance’ that was applied on consumers in the US and how it’s spread as a global phenomenon due to growth of the internet. The impact of using a combination of ingratiation and inspiration in Nike’s marketing strategies is evaluated from an economical perspective quoting Forbes on how dominant Nike Inc. is as a firm worldwide. To conclude the extent to which globalization in the sports industry is a contemporary issue and how Nike has been a key figure in this processes will be exposed.

To what extent has the Khmer Rouge regime affected the current dollarization crisis in Cambodia? To understand the current dollarization crisis a historical and economical analysis of Cambodia from 19751979 is required. This essay will explore the long lasting impact of Khmer Rouge regime on the economic stability of the country and the current dollarization crisis in Cambodia.

By looking at the policies and the visions that Pot’s pursued during his regime the essay presents the reason behind the downfall of the regime alongside with impacts on the country.

Immediately after, a section deals with the economic migration that seeks for job opportunities in the urban area, how rapidly growing population and the lowincome level has predominantly become the causes of economic migration. The next part of the essay deals with the cultural and social acceptance of child prostitution within the rural Thai society, how traditional responsibility on a rural Thai female influences the perspective on working in prostitution, and discusses how religious belief and the lack of education leads to superstitious thoughts and affecting the perspective on morally unacceptable acts, such as child prostitution and the trading of daughters for money. The essay continues by discussing the gender bias on females and distorted understanding on religious belief, influencing the social perspective on child prostitution.

By the end of the essay, this essay reaches a conclusion that while child prostitution is believed to be causing predominantly by child trafficking, the fundamental causes of this phenomenon is strongly related to economic, social acceptance and educational factors.

The main body of the essay will center around the policies of the “Zero Year” and how Pol Pots’ abolishment of currency and the market affected both the social infrastructure and followed by the reconstruction of economy the future economic development of the nation.

Socially the essay explores how the regime resulted in the loss of individualism towards the people and created corruption amongst the soldiers. Economically the essay will analyze the distorted economy created due to the policies. Finally the analysis of the reconstruction of the economy exemplifies the affects of the policies, after the regime.

Ultimately what is revealed is the current dollarization crisis is accounted by the political instability of the nation, and the constant dependency to foreign aid that results in the increased injection of foreign currency within the economy. Concluding with the fact that the foreign dependency alongside with the dollarization crisis is a result of the distrust between the people and the state due to the oppressive reign of the Khmer Regime.

SHOSHANI, KARNI

TANG, JIALIN

Gender equality is an important aspect of daily life. This essay focuses on the relevance of gender equality as a reason to mandate national military service for both men and women. Until recently, Israel was the only country that had a compulsory military service policy for women, but in 2013 Norway also adopted this policy. As of 2015, Norwegian women will also have to serve in their army. This essay compares Israel, a small country with an unstable and complex geopolitical situation with Norway, a larger, more economically developed and geopolitically safe country, leading globally with human rights, to see if gender equality was the intention, or outcome of making women serve. The reasons for female compulsory conscription were very different but the results were strikingly similar.

This extended essay investigates “To what extent will medical tourism restrict access to healthcare to Singaporeans?”. Medical tourism is a global phenomenon where a resident of a country travels to a foreign country to seek medical treatment or services.

Singapore has increased its participation in medical tourism over the recent years, accepting an ever increasing number of medical tourists every year. The medical tourism industry in Singapore is evidently a very significant part of the medical market; In 2012 medical tourism expected to generate almost as much economical impact as government spending in the healthcare sector.

This essay compares military service experiences, with regards to opportunities and service conditions available for women.

These aspects can reduce the equality gap between the genders, by having an impact on the different job sectors women enter after service as a result of the training and inclusion offered by the army. First hand data was collected by interviewing women from Norway and Israel, before and after their military service, providing real data on differences in opportunities, expectations and the reality of service for women.

The conclusion of this investigation, is that compulsory military service for both genders is an effective way to raise gender equality that could have positive effects on job opportunities for women when conditions, training and opportunities for women in the armed forces are the same as for men.

The Israeli armed forces could learn a lot from Norway’s very modern and intentional policies regarding women in the armed forces and their training during military service.

Data was collected from academic journals, news articles, national surveys, various websites, and topical books and analysed.

Data focused on certain topics: what medical tourism is, how and why Singapore participates, and the size of the industry in Singapore. Weakness of the method: not all of the data is accurate and are estimations, some of the reports and analysis of the market are not up to date. This is due to a lack of accessible online resources.

Singapore’s 2010 national health survey (Singapore) shows a concerning trend in changing demographics, mainly in its ageing population, which will inevitably cause a strain on Singapore’s medical services if supply does not grow with the increasing demand.

This study concludes that the Singapore medical sector will not be able to keep up with demand from its aging population and an increasing trend of increasing medical tourists. Without significant intervention in the market, it is very likely that the medical system in Singapore may fail to fulfill its primary purpose: serving Singaporeans.

Locals may have their access to healthcare restricted. Without reinforcement of existing government plans to ensure accessibility of healthcare to citizens, the government will fail its duty of ensuring that its own citizens receive etiquette healthcare.

East Extended Essays 2015 75

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