Analysis of The Practice of Leadership Authored by Jay A Conger and

Essays on Analysis of The Practice of Leadership Authored by Jay A Conger and Ronald E Riggio Book Report/Review ï » ¿Book Report Table of Contents Introduction 2 Selection of the Topic 2 Selection of the Book 3 Summary 4 Primary View 4 Identification of Two Words 5 Linkage 6 Take Away 6 Meeting with the Author 7 Conclusion 9 Reference 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction ‘The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’ authored by Jay A Conger and Ronald E Riggio has been an immensely successful book in the domain of management with special emphasis on the function of leadership. The book, published from John Willey and Sons in the year of 2007, has considerable influence upon my understanding of the subject. This report deals with the various facets of the book. Selection of the Topic ‘Leadership’ is one of such topics that attract me because of its special attributes. To become a successful manager, one needs to be a good leader. It is my desirousness that I would be a successful manager and can train the subordinates as they also can become successful in their fields and ultimately can successfully achieve the organisational targets and goals. It demands to build a leadership quality in me. I understand that the quality of leadership can not be built up externally as it is an in-born quality but with the changing global scenario one must keep himself updated and should learn the latest techniques which can sharpen the leadership qualities. Self- assessment is the best technique to take decision on any issues related with oneself and I also followed the same. On doing so, I found that I have an inherent quality to organise a group, understand the requirements of the group members and solve their problems. I have identified this quality while work as a team leader in different projects. Therefore, in order to update myself and to become more effective in this respect, I had chosen this interesting topic of leadership. Selection of the Book Being a student and not an expert in the corporate world, I was searching for such a book which would be easy to understand and from where practical experiences can be drawn. Standing at the edge of the corporate world, these practical experiences will help me to understand the requirement of the industry. ‘The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’ by Jay A Conger and Ronald E Riggio resolves all my queries and fulfils the requirements. After searching few other books, I had found â€Å"The Practice of Leadership† to suit best for accumulating the ideas and practices of leadership from the experts of this field. The entire book had been written in much organised way and an easy format. I would like to share the names of few other books such as â€Å"Leadership Power Plays† and â€Å"Leadership without Easy Answers† as I considered these books too for the purpose of selection. But I found that both these books were unable to cover the every small issue of leadership development that the selected book has done with practical exposures. Another most important issue of choosing this book has been that apart from describing the traditional factors of leadership such as task, capabilities of leader, the authors also provided great emphasise to describe the requirements of leadership as the unique demand of the present world. Summary This book has been organised in four parts. The four parts include leadership development and selection, task and capabilities of leaders, leadership of organisation and leadership requirement of the unique demands of today’s world. The book shows that all the leaders can not be equally effective and they would not possess similar skills. It indicates that leadership is the process of determining one’s hidden talent and utilise it to face the organisational challenges. According to the authors, the focus of the organisation should be on the core competence rather than various competencies and should try to build up the leaders who will able to meet the strategic challenges and the process is expected to produce the future leaders too. Primary View According to me, the book is not directly about the planning, organising, staffing, coordinating, motivating, leading, or controlling but in few of the areas, the book provides emphasis on the selection of the leaders which can be linked with the staffing. Even developing the leadership skill also requires proper planning. The portion of the task of the leader can also be summarised as organising a group and then motivating them to reach at their goal along with co-ordinating and controlling the subordinates through out the process. Therefore, it can be said that the book indirectly and secondarily focuses on these factors but not in very specific sense. Identification of Two Words One of the two words is that of ‘Affirmative Action’. It refers to a hiring policy. It required analysing the entire workforce with respect to the protected classes. This protected class can be the minorities also. This action indicates the preferred treatment to these classes through removing the discriminatory employment practice (Infinity Internet. No Date). The sentence can be as follows: ‘Every organisation should implement affirmative action to fulfil the commitment towards the internal customer as well as the community also’. Another word is ‘Tapestry’. The word implies an outward appearance of textile art, woven on a vertical appearance. The sentences using this word can be the following: â€Å"In earlier days, kings use to send the tapestries by rolling it up to their intimate ones’ †. Linkage In the book, ‘The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’, one human resource tool had been described to analyse the selection of the leaders namely the ‘360 Degree Feed Back Process’. It is also used for performance appraisal. 360 Degree Feedback Process means the feedback for selecting leaders should be taken from each and every stakeholders of the company irrespective of upward or down word communication. This tool is very effective in this manner as the leader should be the one who will be accepted by all the subordinates and the employers. This topic is also discussed in the class room even various journals on this topic has also been referred. Take Away The three most prominent ‘take-aways’ from ‘The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’ by Conger and Riggio have been the following: Take Away I: I believed that leaders are inborn and not much formal guidance is needed to sharpen their skills but after reading the book, I recognised that there is a need of leadership development. In born qualities are not enough for it. The corporate leaders or the executives need to change their self according to the changing environment to meet the strategic challenge. Take Away II: I never know that a leader could be selected through the 360 Degree Feed Back Process. I had a perception that leaders always come to frontline by exhibiting their leadership quality in their day-to-day activities and get recognised accordingly. The concept of taking feedback through the questionnaires completely changed my notion in this regard. Take Away III: I did not possess any idea regarding the partnership of coaching and the ‘Go It Alone’ process. The book helped me to understand that the executive, the organisation and the coach are three partners and all of them are responsible for the improvements of the executives and that of the entire organisation. Meeting with the Author The authors stated that any organisation should focus on the core competency and should strive to produce leaders to meet the strategic challenges. I could not totally agree with the authors in this regard. I presume the leadership development process should focus more on selecting the best person at the beginning of the process as they can focus on producing the future leaders among the subordinates and provide them training to identify the strategic challenges and take preventive actions against all shortcomings. If I could meet the authors personally, I would have surely sought their clarification in this regard. Conclusion Despite the above mentioned dis-agreement with the authors, it should be acknowledged that the book ‘The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders’ has been a great help for me to understand the various domains and segments of leadership and I am sure it would help me in my corporate exposure by considerable extent. Reference Infinity Internet. No Date. Affirmative Action. Glossary of Leadership Definitions. [Online] Available at: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leaddef.html [Accessed June 29, 2010]. Bibliography Conger, J. A. Riggio, R. E. The Practice of Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders. John Wiley and Sons, 2007. .

Nursing Ethics Essay - 838 Words

Nurses support and enable individuals, families and groups to maintain, restore or improve their health status. Nurse also care for and comfort when deterioration of health has become irreversible. A traditional ideal of nursing is caring and nurturing of human beings regardless of race, religion, status, age, gender, diagnosis, or any other grounds. Nursing care is based on the development of a helping relationship and the implementation and evaluation of therapeutic processes. Therapeutic process includes health promotion, education, counseling, nursing interventions and empowerment of individuals, families or groups. It helps individuals make choices in regards to their health care. Nurses are independent moral†¦show more content†¦Such factors may affect the degree to which nurses are able to fulfill their moral obligations and/or the number and type of ethical dilemmas they may face. A code of ethics focuses on the morals and ideals of the profession and provides a work ing framework for nursing practice. Nurses can use the code of ethics as a guide for direction and resolution of ethical dilemmas. It is not intended to cover all the aspects nurse should consider, but can be used as an aid in further consideration of ethical concerns in nursing. I have created a code of ethics to: a. Identify the fundamental moral commitments of the profession. b. Provide nurses with a basis for professional and self reflection and a guide to ethical practices. c. Indicate to the community the values which nurses hold. Code of Ethics 1. Nurses will respect individual needs, values, and culture in the provision of nursing care. Nursing care for any individual should not be compromised because of ethnicity, gender, spiritual values, disability, age, economic, social or health status, or any other grounds. Respect for an individual’s needs includes recognition of the individual’s place in a family and the community. For this reason, others should be included in the individual’s care. Respect for an individual’s needs, beliefs and values includes culturally sensitive care, and the needShow MoreRelatedThe Ethics Of Nursing Ethics1540 Words   |  7 Pagesand respirators are terms typically appalling and scary to society. In the nursing profession, it is often that nurses will deal with these two appalling terms. A case involving these two terms has been analyzed in regards to nursing ethics. Nursing ethics involves several different complex ideas and with the aid of the four way method one is able to analyze and make a decision in regards to controversial and difficult nursing situations. The four way method helped analyze a fourteen year old boys,Read MoreNursing ethics2164 Words   |  9 PagesFor the purpose of this assignment, ethics in relation to nursing will be discussed. 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Sales Management for Supply or Demand - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theSales Management for Supply or Demand. Answer: Sales budget and sales forecast are very important for sales and control of the management. The sales forecast will help the company to know about their expected sales in the specific time frame. The sales forecast will help in adjusting supply or demand for companys products. The overstocking or under stocking problems can easily be avoided by good control over inventory using sales forecasts (Johnston and Marshall, 2016). The facilitation of sales can easily be reallocated or allocated using sales forecast. This also helps in determining required raw materials, financial needs, labour, transport facility or plant layout according to sales volume. This also helps in measuring the sales department or personnels efficiency. The sales forecast also helps the company in forming efficient budget for the company. The idle time is also reduced in manufacturing using the sales forecast. Further, the sales budget also helps in forming sales programming which can help the company to achieve target for the sales. The resources can be easily allocated to products that will help in efficient forecasting of the sales. All the expenses for the company can easily be under controlled using the sales budget which can help in achieving the target related to net profits (Kotler et al, 2015). The sales performance as well as progress can easily be evaluated using the sales budget. The sales budget will also help the company in analysing the areas or products where the company is lacking and help in strengthening the position of the company. There are basically two types of sales forecasting which can help in sales control that is short term and long term. Short term forecasting is mainly done for period of three or six months and one year. This also depends on the type of business operations of the company. Long term forecasting is mainly done for period of five, ten or twenty years and also depends on type of business of the company (Bogsnes, 2016). Top-down and bottom-up are the two methodologies by which forecasting can be done. Economic conditions, consumers, industrial behaviour, changes inside the company, or periods are some factors which can affect the sales forecast. Further, budget for sales is mainly of three types that is sales budget, sales expense budget and administrative or profit budget. Sales budget planned in detailed manner in order to show expected sales based on revenues for future period. It is most significant part for master budget of the companies. Sales expense budget is planned budget which give expenses incurs by the department of sales for achieving the sales target. This budget includes salaries, commissions, entertainment expenses, training costs and travelling expenses (Hawkins, 2015). Administrative budget helps in allocating the budget for all the general expenses related to the administration of the companies. In some cases, when both selling expenses and sales budget are combined together in sales control form the profit budgets for the companies. Return oriented method, affordability methods, objective or task methods, percentage sales method or competitive parity are some methods of forming efficient sales budget for the companies. References: Bogsnes, B. (2016) Implementing beyond budgeting: unlocking the performance potential.USA: John Wiley Sons. Hawkins, A. (2015) Managing budgets pocketbook.UK: Management Pocketbooks. Johnston, M. and Marshall, G. (2016) Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. UK: Routledge. Kotler, P., Keller, K., Manceau, D. and Hmonnet-Goujot, A. (2015) Marketing management (Vol. 14). NJ: Prentice Hall.

My aim in this experiment is to extract a copper from an ore Essay Example Essay Example

My aim in this experiment is to extract a copper from an ore Essay Example Paper My aim in this experiment is to extract a copper from an ore Essay Introduction In the earth that we are living right now, copper is the earth’s 25th most abundant element, but also one of the less common first row transition metals. It occurs as a soft reddish metal that can be found native as large boulders weighing several hundred tons or as sulphide ores.An ore is a rock containing minerals in adequate concentration, amounts, and value to be mined at a profit. The definition of this ore changes as knowledge improves, today’s ore being yesterday’s valueless pile of rock.I will now carry out an assessment to try change copper sulphate from malachite, which then can be converted in to copper.Metal + oxygen ; metal oxideApparatus and equipments: Safety glasses 10g of copper carbonate scales Measuring cylinder 250cm3 beaker Glass rod 1m sulphuric acid (H2SO4) Funnel Bunsen burner Tripod Gauze Evaporating basin Filter paper Watch glassMethod:Making copper sulphate from a malachite.Malachite is an ore of copper. In this task you will convert ma lachite to copper sulphate.1. Measure out about 50 cm3 of dilute sulphuric acid using a measuring cylinder. Pour the dilute sulphuric acid into a 250 cm3 beaker2. Weigh out about 10 g of malachite. Write down the exact mass on Form 2.3. Add a small amount of the malachite to the dilute sulphuric acid. Add the malachite very slowly.4. The mixture will fizz as the malachite reacts with the dilute sulphuric acid. Stir the mixture with a glass rod until all signs of reaction have stopped.5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the mixture no longer fizzes when you add malachite to the dilute sulphuric acid.6. Filter the solution into a clean evaporating basin. While this is filtering, weigh what remains of the malachite. Write down this mass on Form 2.7. Place the evaporating basin on wire gauze on a tripod.8. Heat the solution very gently using a low Bunsen burner flame until crystals begin to form on the surface of the liquid. If the liquid goes green add drops of dilute sulphuric acid until it goes blue.9. Stop heating. Allow the solution to cool. When the solution is cool, move the basin to a warm place. This will complete the crystallization of the copper sulphate. This may take a few days!10. After a few days, pour any liquid from the copper sulphate crystals and transfer them to a dry evaporating basin of watch-glass.11. Allow the copper sulphate crystals to dry for at least 24 hours.12. Weigh the copper sulphate crystals. Write down the mass on Form 2.13. Store the copper sulphate crystals in a stoppered container. Label the container with your name and the name of the contents.Extracting copper from copper sulphate crystals1. Measure out about 50 cm3 of distilled water using a measuring cylinder. Pour the distilled water into a 250 cm3 beaker.2. Weigh out about 5 g of the copper sulphate crystals you made in Task write down the exact mass on Form 3.3. Add the copper sulphate crystals to the distilled water. Stir the mixture with a glass rod until all the copper sul phate dissolved. The solution should now be coloured blue.4. Weigh out about 2 g of zinc filings of zinc powder.5. Add the zinc to the copper sulphate solution. Stir the mixture. You will see solid copper forming.6. After 5 minutes, allow the solid to settle. Then pour off as much of the colourless liquid as you can without losing the solid.7. Carefully add about 50 cm3 of dilute hydrochloric acid. This will dissolve any unused zinc.8. When the mixture no longer fizzes, filter off the copper and wash it with distilled water.9. Now allow the copper you have produced. Write down the mass on Form 3. Store the copper in a stoppered container. Label the container with your name and the name of the contents.Risk assessmentMaterialHazardWhat could go wrong?Safety precautionsWhat to do in case of accidentRisk:/medium/highDilute sulphuric acid (1 mol dm-3)Very corrosiveMay burn youWear eye protection and gloves.Drink 2 glasses of water and wash your mouthLowDilute hydrochloric acid (2 mol dm -3)CorrosiveMay cause you burnsWear eye protection and gloves.Wash out the mouth and drink 2 glass of water. Seek medical attentionVery lowMalachite (powdered)HarmfulYou could swallow it. Irritate lungs and eyeWear eye protection and wear a lad coat.Wash out mouth and drink 2 a glass of water. Seek medical attention.Very lowCopper sulphateHarmfulYou may get it on you skin, you may getWear eye protection; wear a lab coat and gloves.Vomit it out, wash out your mouth, drink two glasses of water and seek medical attention.LowZinc filingsFlammableYou could swallow it. It could spill on your skin and get in your eye.Wear eye protection.Flood the eye with gently running tap water for 10 minutes.LowProcedureTransferring liquidsNo hazardIt could slip and get on your skinWear glovesWash your hand with cold water and seek medical attentionLowHeating solutionsIt could be very hotIt could slip and get on your skinWear glovesWash your hand with cold water and seekLowFiltrationSpiltIt could get on your skinWear gloves and lab coatTake of your lab coat. Wash your handLowDisposing of used solutionsNo hazardIt could drop on you.Wear lab coatTake of your lab coatLowResultsCalculating the yield of copper sulphate crystalsEach mole of malachite, CuCo3.Cu (OH)2 produces two moles of copper sulphate 2 CuSO4.5H2O.From this, I can now calculate the relative mass of malachite:AtomRelative massNumber of atoms presentTotal massCu642128C12112O16580H122Relative mass = 222gmol-1The formula for copper sulphate is CuSO4.5H2OAtomRelative massNumber of atoms presentTotal massCu64164C12132O169144H11010Relative mass = 250gmol-1Calculating the yield of copper sulphate by carrying out this calculation:Theoretical yield of2 x 250 x 6.4Copper sulphate = 2202 x 250 x 6.4= 22= 14.54gCalculate your percentage yield:Mass of copper sulphate producedPercentage yield = x 100Theoretical yield10.3= x 10014.41= 71.48%Today’s Uses of CopperCopper is a critical component of modern industry. In the United States, the most important use of copper is in electrical wiring. A breakdown below gives the percentage of copper used in the United States by industry:Building Wire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16%Plumbing Heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%Automotive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11%Electric Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9%Air Conditioning Commercial Refrigeration. . . . . . .8%Telecommunications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7%Factory Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6%Electronics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6%Appliances Extension Cords . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3%Other. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%TOTAL———————————————– 100%Copper sheets are used in cooking utensils and in roofs. Copper tubes are used to make pipes for plumbing and carrying natural ga s. Copper wire is used to carry electric current. Extruded copper, that is, copper that has been squeezed through a hole, forms rods, hinges, tubes, and door handles.The use of copper is increasing. In the 1970s, a 1,500 square-foot house used about 280 pounds of copper. Today, a 2,200 square-foot house uses about 450 pounds of copper.A car in the 1970s used about 35 pounds of copper. Now, 50 to 80 pounds of copper will go into one automobile.A Boeing 727 airplane uses 9,000 pounds of copper.Where Copper Is Mined?The following countries are the world’s major producers of copper(amount produced is 1995 output, given in tons, from the 1995 Mineral Commodity Summary)Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,350,000United States of America. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,890,000Canada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740,000Russia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600,000Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380,000Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420,000Peru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400,000China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350,000Zambia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350,000Poland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340,000Kazakstan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220,000Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115,000Zaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40,000Other Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,600,000WORLD TOTAL————————————- 9,800,000Conclusions: In the experiment that we done, we used chemicals to extract copper from malachite. We found out that what is contained within the malachite is the element copper and that also zinc displaces copper from the sulphate ion.Cu SO4 (clear blue) + Zn ; Zn (clear colourless) SO4 + CuEvaluation: The parts of the experiment that went well were the weighing and sca ling the dilute sulphuric acid and malachite. The difficult part in the experiment was when i had to pour the malachite into the sulphuric acid so I don’t have any left at the bottom and when heat the solution very gently using a Bunsen burner flame until the crystals begin to form on the surface and if the liquid goes green I had to try and make it blue. I could have repeat out results which might change the colour of our copper. The thing that affected our results was putting too much of the malachite into the sulphuric acid and I will stop this from happening next time by stopping when it turns blue.I don’t know of any other equipment that would have repeated my result. What I have done here is very little compare to the industrial place. They use machines to make it which would come out better. The similarities in the experiment would be that we both we will be making copper and using the same equipment e.g. malachite, sulphuric acid etc but the differences will be that they use a machine to make the copper in the industrial process but I would be using my hand in school. My aim in this experiment is to extract a copper from an ore Essay Thank you for reading this Sample!

Religious language is meaningless Essays - Philosophy Of Religion

Religious language is meaningless Essays - Philosophy Of Religion Religious language is meaningless. Discuss. Religious language is the communication of ideas about God, faith, belief and practice. The problem with religious language is that individuals have different interpretations of these concepts and will result in a difference in the use of everyday language. For some it is deemed meaningless because it is equivocal and the meaning is unclear. Yet, for some philosophers, religious language is meaningful and serves a purpose. Religious language is meaningful because we dont know how to falsify it. John Hick mentioned religious language was seen as believing in something and experiencing something. The logical positivists formulated the verification principle and they were concerned with the meaning of words and the way we use them in the context of God. They believe Gods talk was meaningless as they are metaphysical statements. They believed for a statement to be deemed meaningful we had to be able to verify the truth hood through our empirical senses. Ayer, who was a supporter of the Verification Principle, said a proposition is meaningful if it is known how to prove it true or false. If such verification cannot take place, they become meaningless. He stated there were two types of the verification principle, the strong form and the weak form. The weak verification principle is knowing how to verify a statement. It would become meaningful if you know how to do this. The strong form of the verification principle was being able to prove something true or false through sense experience. Ayer also said to reject analytical statements would be illogical because you cannot try to disprove something that is actually true as you would be contradicting yourself. Many philosophers challenged the verification principle and rejected it. A main critic was John Hick. He said the principle itself is not meaningful because it cannot be verified using the verification principle. Hick argued when we die the truth of Gods existence will be verified either true or false. This is known as the eschatological verification. It can only be verified the day we die. Anthony Flew put forward the falsification principle. Falsification means to prove something true or false. The falsification principle accepts a statement is verifiable if it is known what empirical evidence could count against it and prove it wrong. Aquinas argued that we only have our day to day language which we can use to talk about God. We understand when a word is applied to God; it has a different meaning from its everyday use as we understand God is perfect. Therefore we are using analogies. There have been some critics who argued there has to be a comparative element to any human language used to describe God. This is impossible as God is beyond any true human understanding. Analogies are meaningless in describing God as they are limiting God to what he actually is. Aquinas disagreed. He argued there is a relationship between the world and God. God created the world and sustains it so there is a clear comparison. He went on to develop two forms of analogy to talk about God. Analogy of proportion and analogy of attribution. Analogy of proportion is where the analogy is understood in each case as proportional to the nature of the being. We have to put God in proportion to ourselves to understand how everything works. Analogy of attribution relates to the belief that God created and sustains the world. It is because of this belief we can talk of human qualities. In some way those qualities can be applied back to God. We can talk up to God using the same language. The only problem about the two analogies is they only work if you have previous knowledge of God. If you believe God is omnipotent, omniscience etc, it makes perfect sense to use an analogy. However, without these assumptions it becomes less convincing. Tillich used ordinary language to point to God but spoke of the words used as symbols. He distinguished between a sign and a symbol. A sign is a conventional way of pointing to something, e.g. a road sign. A symbol is something that stands or is used in place of something else. Tillich held God could only be described using symbols

How Dare a Writing Contest Take Your Rights

How Dare a Writing Contest Take Your Rights After posting the Story Shares writing contest in the newsletter a couple weeks ago, people wrote me, asking what I thought about the fact those who enter give up payment and rights You have read the terms correctly; we are asking writers who enter the contest to give us the rights to publish their stories widely and for free. This arrangement allows us to fulfill one of our core missions for Story Shares, which is to increase the library of materials available to teens and young adults who struggle with reading. If we only displayed the 5 winning stories, the library would not be nearly as big as it will be under the current terms for the contest. Since this is a nonprofit initiative, we are not seeking any financial benefit from publishing the stories. We are simply trying to do as much as possible to fill the need for more high-quality reading materials available to the millions of struggling teen and adult readers who need them. In order to do that, we need to retain the rights to publish stories for free. We understand that these might not be ideal conditions for you to publish and will be sorry to miss out on your story. Folks . . . being a nonprofit does not negate the need to pay your suppliers. They will pay the publisher. I guarantee that they pay the website designer and hosting service for the Story Shares site. They have access to grants and sponsors to fund these writers and all else they do, especially riding on the wave of education. Instead of trying to find the funds to pay the writers, they instead  take the work for free. And trust me . . . their promotion of you is not going to open many doors. In a subsequent email, they went on to say they endorse writers and promote them, though they are not paid. They claim to have great relationships with all their writers, saying, in essence, the organization isnt malicious or gold-digging. However, they are using the contest to populate their program. I get irritated with some literary journals that do the same thing, but at least those markets are selective and state that some non-winning stories may be considered for publication. Here, however, Story Shares states you give up rights upon submission. They are giving $5,000 in prize money. Why not use that money to pay smaller amounts to all writers who submit, calling it a Call for Submissions? I can tell you why. The substantial prize money is bait to gather more submissions that they can use for free. Sorry, but I dont think the Outreach Coordinator (who has published through Story Shares) who wrote me or the founders and CEO of the program are working for free. If they choose to do so, good for them; however, I take issue with the fact they think others should do the same. But somehowI sense they are getting paid. If you feel this is a good charitable cause, and wish to donate your work, feel free. But FundsforWriters was founded upon writers earning a living from their work, and therefore,  FundsforWriters does not endorse storyshares.org/ and apologizes for having listed it in a previous newsletter.

Evolution of the Global Economic Environment Research Paper

Evolution of the Global Economic Environment - Research Paper Example As global trade has grown over the last 20 years, both in terms of global productivity and absolute means, China has sustained their share of global trade and substantially increased their share of global exports of produced goods (Lin 2001). From 1990-2010, at merely more than 10.4 percent (Lin 2001, slide 4), China’s share of global exports was significant. The multinational business is usually perceived as a major motivator for the system of the globalization of production. This is justifiable, because the presence of the multinational business is, in principle, grounded on earlier and major foreign investment (Ostry & Alexandroff 2003). Furthermore, the past two decades have witnessed a dramatic boost in the operations of multinational businesses in China. Recent reports indicate that there are roughly 65,000 transnational corporations at present (Milberg 2004, 45). Their economic effect can be evaluated through varied approaches. Foreign partners, in 2001, comprised more than 50 million workers in comparison to more than 20 million in 1990 (Milberg 2004, 45). According to the UNCTAD (2002, 1 as cited in Milberg 2004, 45), foreign partners presently comprise about one-third of global exports and one-tenth of global GDP. Between the 1980s and the 1990s, FDI’s share in international gross capital formation increased by two-thirds; for China, the rise was by about three-quarters. FDI massively rose in the 1990s, even though it dropped abruptly in 2001 due to the global recession and weakening of stock markets (Lin 2001). Hence the reduction in the flows of FDI was tilted toward advanced nations. FDI to China and other developing nations increased 4 percent from 1980 to 2001, and China’s share of world FDI climbed significantly from the early 1990s to 2001 (Ostry & Alexandroff 2003). Nevertheless, this increase has not been sufficient to make a difference in the share of the developing nations of the global reserves of FDI, which, according to UNCTAD (2000 as cited in Milberg 2004, 46), has changed roughly 35% over the past two decades. China, in the 1990s hardly made it on the international economic scale. However, China was able to improve its status in international trading after roughly two decades, making her the current second most advanced economy in the world (Lin 2001). The trade of China, in the 1990s, was an insignificant presence in world trade. After two decades, the country is presently the biggest global exporter of goods, with a rate of annual export growth at 18 percent (Lin 2001, slide 6). Due to this massive development in China’s role in international trading, trade structure has been altered. It is the contention of this paper that the transformation in trade structure, or with intensified trade in intermediate rather than final products, instead of expansion in the volume of trade that establishes globalization as a relevant occurrence in terms of the development of strategies for economic growth. This transformation in the structure of trade is the outcome of the appearance of global trading systems, wherein bits and pieces of a product are manufactured in various places all over the world.

Ethics Awareness Inventory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics Awareness Inventory - Essay Example 1987. pp192-193). In the modern context, an individual's decision would be accepted as ethical if the person has taken all impacting factors into account and considered all those people who would be impacted by the decision. Given the modern complexity of organizational & social systems, it is practically impossible to take a decision that doesn't impact anyone negatively. Hence, all such decisions that are taken in the favor of the larger part of the mass are normally treated as ethical. Overall, the Ethical Decision making orientation of an individual can be judged by the Ethics Awareness Inventory Profile that requires answering a series of questions by assigning the "level of agreement" that are useful in identifying the inclination of an individual towards the four measurable parameters of Ethical Decision Making - Character, Obligation, Results and Equity. In this paper, I present a brief on these four parameters, my own Ethics Awareness Inventory and an ethical challenge that I faced in the pa st at my workplace. [The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management - EAI. (2008)] The Ethics Awareness Inventory takes into account the Ethical orientation... ory takes into account the Ethical orientation of an individual towards four measurable parameters - Character, Obligation, Results and Equity (CORE). The measurements are carried out through a questionnaire that asks the individual to vote at a certain level of agreement against the questions asked - ranging between the extremes of strong disagreement to strong agreement. The orientation against the four parameters is defined as below: Ethics Orientation towards Character - An individual who gives high value to excellent moral principles, integrity, honesty and behavior Ethics Orientation towards Obligation - An individual who gives high value to loyalty towards an individual or organization by demonstrating high levels of responsibility Ethics Orientation towards Results - An individual who gives high value to the results of a decision and hence thinks through every aspect of the impact of the decision on everyone involved Ethics Orientation towards Equity - An individual who gives high value to his/her equity in a decision and believe that beliefs of right or wrong should be changed based on circumstances in order to extract the best benefits out of them. [The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management - EAI. (2008)] My Ethics Awareness Inventory: My Ethics Awareness Inventory assessed against the on-line questions at the portal of Williams Institute of Ethics and Management reveals that my Ethics Awareness profile is more aligned towards Character & Obligation and Least aligned towards Results & Equity. When I map the results with my own thought process, I realize that I have been giving highest emphasis to moral excellence and loyalty to my employer against results & equity. I have never bothered about the results of my decision as long as I was convinced

Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems Essay Example for Free

Focus On Learner Pronunciation Problems Essay In Portuguese, R at the beginning of words, at the end of words, or before a consonant is pronounced like H. Many Brazilian students carry this habit into English words, pronouncing â€Å"restaurant† as â€Å"hestaurant† and â€Å"far† as â€Å"fah.† It’s especially common when the English word and the Portuguese word are similar, such as in â€Å"restaurant† and â€Å"regular.† SOLUTION: First, I have my students work on pronouncing the English R sound by itself. I demonstrate the correct mouth position and they imitate me. Then, we work on each word while exaggerating the R sound – so we say rrrrememberrrr, for example. Finally, we practice making that exaggerated R sound shorter and shorter until the student gets used to saying remember with an English R. It feels a little ridiculous, but it works! PROBLEM: Similar words Fortunately, Portuguese and English have a lot of true cognates – words that are similar in both languages, such as area, animal, culture, famous, music, romantic, hamburger, and sports. This makes it easier to remember the vocabulary – but more difficult to remember to pronounce the words â€Å"the English way.† SOLUTION: To show the difference in the sounds, I make comparisons with words that they already know and pronounce well in English – â€Å"The ‘a’ in animal is like the ‘a’ in and,† for example. I also draw attention to syllable stress – popular in English vs. popular in Portuguese. PROBLEM: Final consonants Portuguese doesn’t have letters like D, T, G, P, and K at the end of words, so it’s common for Brazilian students to accidentally add a little vowel sound at the end of English words – so big sounds like bigg-ee and stop becomes stopp-ee. One of the most famous is difficult turning into difficulty which is also an English word, but the first is an adjective and the second is a noun. SOLUTION: I start with words ending in P because they’re the easiest to practice – we practice saying â€Å"stop,† â€Å"help,† and others, and I tell them to keep their lips together for a second at the end, then â€Å"release† them without making an extra sound. Then we move on to â€Å"rock,† â€Å"get,† â€Å"thing,† â€Å"good,† and so on, again, â€Å"holding† the final consonant for a moment before â€Å"releasing† it soundlessly.

How To Get Married And Stay Married To The Perfect Mate!! :: essays research papers

How To Get Married and Stay Married To The Perfect Mate!! This book will talk about the ways and theories of how to stay married one you are married. It will cover stuff like communication, similarity, physical attractiveness, similarity, balance and equity theory, and proximity. Communication is important in relationships. I will cover the aspects of non-verbal and verbal communications. In the book I will convey the differences in the way men and woman think and this will help give a better understanding of each other and will in turn allow them to work out their problems effectively... Another aspect I will talk about is the reinforcement theory. This theory talks about the fact that you will like someone who positively reinforces you. I will talk about how this theory can be used in marriages to keep couple closer together, keeping them liking each other. In my book, I will also talk about the balance theory. The balance theory is the notion that people have the same negative and positive ways of thinking.. When this is not so, you have an imbalance which can disrupt a relationship. I will talk about how a couple can use the balance theory to make sure that they will be happy. Another theory I will talk about is the equity theory. This theory dictates that people will be more attracted to someone that they have a fair relationship with. It states that we will be happier with a person who takes as much as they give to us. Over a long term relationship, like marriage, this is important because both husband and wife feel that they are approximately equal. In my book I will talk about how to use this theory to makes sure that both couples get the same out of the relationship. I will also talk about proximity in my book. Proximity talks about being near to your partner. It is important because if one partner is away all the time, the couple will not become as close. I will deal with the aspect of how to stay in close proximity with your partner and this will lead to a closer relationship between the two. It is also important to start a relationship with someone who is near to you because this will allow the relationship to better develop itself. Also, there must be similarity between the couples. In my book I will talk about finding someone who has similar interests and traits. When two people are similar, the more likely they are to be attracted to each other and the more likely they are to be happy while they are dating and when they are

Quality Assessment Essay

â€Å"Assessment practises have a powerful impact on learning and teaching† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 37). For teachers the focus is on the use of assessment results; how they use those results to inform instructional decision making and whether they provide results that verify students have indeed met the learning targets originally set. Thus, judgements are made about the quality of assessments after the students’ performance. ‘High-quality’ assessments encompass a number of criteria’s and involve a great deal more than simply measuring knowledge (McMillan, 2011) and are outlined below in seven key areas. 1. Clear Purpose – The first decision is clarify the purpose for the assessment. Why is the assessment taking place? What is to be gained from it? Will the teacher be using formative techniques to monitor student progress or will the teacher use summative techniques to establish grades (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009)? â€Å"Knowing the reason for the assessment is crucial because this will determine what the assessment should look like, how it is administered and scored, and how the results will be used (McMillan, 2011, p.10)†. 2. Defined Learning Targets –Are they reasonable and do they ‘align’ with the state standards, student characteristics and overall goals (McMillan, 2011)? Learning targets need to be clear and understandable to everyone (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). Learning targets are important as they define expectations. 3. Assessment Methods – The assessment methods, using either selected or constructed responses, need to align with the chosen learning targets (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results† (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). These also need to practical and efficient so as not to be too time consuming on lessons. 4. Fairness – Fair assessments are unbiased without the influence of discrimination or subjective factors (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"All students should have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their achievement† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 38). 5.Validity & Reliability – Judgements should be based on all information and multiple measures that authenticate the conclusion (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). The assessment is useless unless the inference is appropriate, useful, reasonable and consistent (McMillan, 2011). 6. Criteria – Outlining criteria contributes to students’ learning by making clear the outcomes or goals they are striving for (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). â€Å"The issue of how student responses will be evaluated lies at the heart of any type of assessment† (McMillan, 2011, p.35). 7. Feedback – Feedback should be clear and constructive. Feedback by both by the teacher and self-assessment allows students to take responsibility for their learning and helps students â€Å"identify how they can improve their learning† (Killen, 2005, p. 98) and ensure motivation is high through positive consequences. By ensuring the lessons have a clear purpose, are well planned and allow all students’ to demonstrate their achievements through a fair, valid and reliable process, learning and teaching is improved and achievement is enhanced. â€Å"High quality assessments have consequences that will be positive for both students and yourself† (McMillan, 2011, p. 86). References Chappuis, S. , Chappuis, J. , & Stiggins, R. (2009). The Quest for Quality. Multiple Measures , 67 (3), 14-19. Curriculum Council of Western Australia. (2004). Curriculum Framework. Osborne Park: W. A. Killen, R. (2005). Programming and assessment for quality teaching and learning. South Thompson: Cengage. McMillan, J. H. (2011). Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards – Based Instruction (Fifth ed. ). Boston: Pearson.

Video Case – Supply Chain Management at Regal Marine

VIDEO CASE: SUPPLY-CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT REGAL MARINE 1. What other techniques might Regal Marine use to improve supply chain management? Answer: The other techniques might Regal Marine uses to improve supply change management are as follows: * Allowing the supplier to become part of the company coalition. Specialization – utilizing the efficiency and knowledge of persons specializing in supply chain management * Virtual company – relying on a variety of supplier relationships to ensure the product is produced on time and within the demands of the customers * Using the latest computer and transmission technologies to schedule and manage the shipment of parts in and finished products out, would help to increase the efficiency of the company. 2. What kind of response might members of the supply chain expect from Regal Marine in response to their â€Å"partnering† in the supply chain?Answer: Regal Marine expects continuous innovation and high quality performance to en sure that the final goods and services reach customer satisfaction. The members of the supply chain expect that the expectations of Regal Marine transfer into a chain of suppliers that focuses on maximizing value and quality. They can expect loyalty from Regal, and the suppliers can gain prestige by representing the high-quality products which Regal Marine produces, which can result in profit margins.Suppliers can also largely benefit from economies of scale and learning curves, reducing the production cost. 3. Why is supply chain management important to Regal Marine? Answer: Supply chain management is about integration of activities that procure materials and services and transform them into the final product of the company. Supply-chain management enables Regal Marine to compete in a multibillion-dollar industry, and helps it to differentiate its products from competitors (e. g. rocure materials and services, transforming them into intermediate goods and final products, and delive ring the final products through a distribution system). As Regal Marine spends a large portion of its revenue on purchases, supply-chain management provides the company with the opportunity to work on closer long-term strategic relationship with key suppliers. Supply-chain management allows Regal Marine to increase its competitiveness via product customization, high quality, cost reduction and speed to market.Therefore, as a result, Regal Marine has been able to reduce costs while improving quality, responsiveness and innovation. Thus, its effective and efficient supply-chain management enables Regal Marine to differentiate its products through quality, innovation, unique features, up-to-date technology and responsiveness. Regal Marine’s innovative approach to supply-chain management not only benefits the company but the end user as well.

10 Phrases Youre Probably Saying Wrong

10 Phrases Youre Probably Saying Wrong 1. Prostrate CancerThis one goes hand in hand (er†¦ well†¦ goes along with) â€Å"anticdote.† Prostate cancer is experienced by thousands of individuals annually. Prostrate (note the â€Å"r†) has to do with being flat on the ground.   2. First-Come, First-ServeI know, I know, you’re probably well aware that it’s actually first served and it’s just verbal shorthand. But†¦ prove to everyone else that you know it, and you just might help them realize they don’t want to be asking the first people there to serve everyone else.  3. Sneak PeakFun with homophones! Peak, Peek, and Pique are three different words. A peak is the top of a mountain. A peek is a quick look (what you’re sneaking). And pique is what you storm away in a fit of, or perhaps something â€Å"piqued your interest.†Ã‚  4. Deep-SeededThis one sounds like it could be correct! Something planted very deeply as a seed would have roots and be hard to era dicate! But when it comes to language, logic is sometimes the great betrayer. What you’re actually thinking of is â€Å"Deep seated†, and it means firmly established.  5. Extract RevengeIf revenge were a potion and someone had stolen yours and you needed to retrieve it by squeezing, what you’d doing is exacting revenge.  6. Shoe-inThis is the location of your Birkenstocks, right? Because â€Å"shoo-in† is a guarantee.  7. Emigrated toIn this current state of difficulty for immigrants and emigrants alike, the least we can all do- I mean the absolute bare minimum- is to learn that you immigrate to a place, and emigrate from a place. Let the origin or the destination guide whether you emphasize it.  8. Baited BreathThink of it this way- what do fisherpeople use for bait? It all smells gross, right? You wouldn’t want that on your breath. But you might hold it for a minute if the bait got near you- in other words it would have abated. Thusly, ba ted breath is breath that is held in anticipation.  9. 10 Items or LessThis one drives me batty in checkout lines all over the country. Less is for liquids. If you can measure it by moving your thumb and forefinger closer or apart, it’s less. If it’s anything you can count (like the items in your grocery cart), for â€Å"not as many,† it’s fewer.  10. Over 50 billion servedThough we could parse who they’ve served and how well they’ve done it, what McDs means is more than. Think of the cow jumping over (i.e. above) the moon. She probably saw more than 50 billion stars up there!

10 Worst Reasons to Quit Your Job

10 Worst Reasons to Quit Your Job We’ve all been there: so fed up it seems the only option is to quit and start afresh. But situations like that call for very careful consideration. If your reasons for the grand gesture happen to include any of the following, it might be best to reconsider. Here are the 10 worst reasons to quit your job:1. You’re boredYour job involves a lot of repetition. You feel like Sisyphus rolling his boulder up and down his little hill. But any job- no matter how glamorous- involves doing something over and over again until you get better and better at it. Remember every job will involve some level of repetition. Ask yourself whether your work is challenging or ultimately satisfying, rather than whether it’s repetitive.2. You feel under-appreciatedYou know you’re awesome. So why is no one tooting your horn? Where are your accolades? Recognition isn’t something that happens overnight- and it certainly can’t accompany every little good thing that you do. Get over yourself; keep working until you have something really worth celebrating.3. You’re still not rich and famousMost people will never reach that level. It’s not a great reason to quit your job. Perhaps you could do a bit of financial stock-taking and strategizing instead to see how you can maximize your time and talents? But quitting because you’re not raking in the dough? Bad call. You have to work to earn that money, you know.4. You’re dauntedYou can see success. But it’s an uphill slog and about 5  to 10  years in the future. Just thinking about it makes you tired. But remember: if you quit, you’ll be that many years and that much hard work behind plus the time and work it takes to get a new job. Better to put your head down and get started.5. You’re not sure it’s worth itYou’re weighing all the compromises and hard work against the possible eventual reward. That’s actually smart. Just make sure you run this by an objective third party whom you trust enough to tell you the hard truth and help set you (or keep you) on the proper path.6. It’s not about youA little soul searching is in order here. Make sure you’re not quitting for your partner or a parent- or worse, because you want to rebel against someone. Listen to the voice in your head about whether this job is on the right track to who and where you want to be in five years. If it is, stay put and do the work.7. Your inner jerk tells you what to doThat meanie  in your head is whispering to you that it isn’t worth it- that you aren’t good enough. That you might as well not try. Your job sucks and you suck, right? Wrong. Tell that voice to shut up.8. You don’t feel importantThis is like a little kid deciding to run away because he doesn’t think anybody would miss him if he left. It’s emotionally immature and unprofessional. Instead: start distinguishing yourself in such a way that you never feel this kind of self-pity. Make yourself indispensable to your company and your coworkers.9. You covet your neighbor’s careerYou’re not as successful as the billionaires you read about in Forbes. Or your next door neighbor. Or your high school boyfriend. Stop spending so much time comparing yourself to the next guy and do your work instead. You’ll stand a better chance of actually succeeding if you devote yourself to what you’re doing.10. You don’t know enoughMissing a crucial certification or skill that you think your field requires? That’s not a reason to quit! It’s a reason to go out and earn that last scout badge. Go out and finish whatever education you need in your free time- you might even be able to get your company to pay for your training process. If you don’t know something, learn!There are lots of great reasons to quit. But these 10  are actually warning flags that the problem is with you, not wit h your job. Don’t stress. Just get back to work.

How Charles Darwin and Darwinism affected the nineteenth-century Research Paper

How Charles Darwin and Darwinism affected the nineteenth-century - Research Paper Example Whereas few scientific theories can fundamentally shift the way in which the broader populace integrates with a particular worldview that they might have, the theory of evolution was profound and singular due to the fact that it influence not only the scientific community but also the average stakeholders within society. As it was realized that divine action has little if any do with the rise and generation of life on planet Earth, a fundamental question was raised by extension; whether or not God existed at all. Ultimately, what is being defined is a situation in which Darwin, although not the preeminent atheists as he is often defined, was the instigator of a theory that has fundamentally shaped and shifted human belief and consciousness concerning the existence of the divine as well as the underlying reasons for morality and the purpose of life. Prior to the theory of evolution, religion, specifically Christianity, had defined the way in which the Western world integrated with any and all forms of science or other field of human knowledge and/or study. One does not need to look far into the past in order to find situations in which early scientists discoveries were challenged by the authority of the church. Galileo for instance had his very life threatened for producing scientific research that went against the teachings that the church held to be true (Okasha & Paternotte 1131). The same can be said with regards to Copernicus and his population and theory that the earth itself was not the center of the universe. In effect, a handful of situations in which traditional interpretations of the divine and the means by which the Bible stood as the supreme definition of all that is good, holy, correct and true can be found. Returning to the issue of how Darwin and his theory of evolution contributed to a fundamental shift with regards to how humans defined the world around them, it can be said that the theory of evolution provided an alternative to the one dimensi onal view that all morality, science, and necessary knowledge for life was presented within the Bible and within a belief in an omnipotence and interactive godhead. Accordingly, the first and most prominent impact that Darwin’s theory of evolution had was with regards to the explosion of atheism and agnosticism that such a theory sparked. Without a primal cause for the universe and/or the life that is exhibited on earth, individuals throughout society, governments, the education system, and other authoritative positions began to question the need for a higher power at all. This questioning, higher power ultimately began to erode some of the fundamental interpretations that humanity had attributed to religion and God since the beginning of time. If the natural world could indeed be defined based upon its component parts and the evolutionary process alone, and the need for God, or a God head, was necessarily reduced; if indeed evidence whatsoever. Moreover, traditional interpre tations of morality had previously been based upon the fact that morality was â€Å"moral† due to the fact that it was instituted by God and recorded in both the old and the

Brazilian Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brazilian Economy - Essay Example These factors combine to show that Brazil is on its way up. Those who maintain that Brazil is performing the most of the BRIC group also argue that despite huge withdrawals by foreign investors, Brazil has suffered less than the other BRIC members and this is a good sign of a healthy economy. Delfeld (2008) says, "BRIC begins with Brazil. Political stability (Mr. Lula is up there in the stratosphere at a 78% approval rating), strong consumer spending, more flexible exchange rates, a more effective central bank and higher reserves may help Brazil weather the global financial storm much better than most expect. Brazil has been able to maintain foreign reserves in excess of $200bn. More than that, the credit crisis may have come at a good time, potentially helping the economy to cool without damping growth too far below the country's potential. Inflation has risen recently to about 6% due to strong consumer spending. A slowing of global growth could be helpful in moderating this and also allow the central bank to suspend its tightening policy sometime later this year." Brazil has been doing exceptionally well since the election of President Luiz Lula in 2006. With exports booming, the country has witnessed considerable growth in the size of its middle class. Not only that, Brazil has its millionaire's club expanding too with 130,000 members in 2006 to 190,000 in 2007. That is extraordinary economic growth and it is because of this that Brazil was awarded "investment grade" status by Standard and Poor's which also attracted considerable investor energy and helped boost their confidence.1 A country that now poses a threat to the US economy has seen all this exceptional growth in only the last two years. Before this period, the company was far behind the US and even other strong economies like Japan. The GDP comparison in 2005 is shown below: Gross Domestic Product in 2005 (Trillions USD, Current Prices)US 12.46, Japan 4.56, Germany 2.79, UK 2.20France 2.13, China 1.98, India 0.80, Brazil 0.80 2 At that time United States was clearly the leader but a lot changed this year when world's biggest economy was dealt some serious blows. Brazil however continued to show growth signs till as late as October 2008 but beginning November, Brazil has also faced some growth problems. The recession that has hit the world has also arrived in Brazil. According to the very recent survey by Morgan Stanley, Brazilian economy is expected to grow by 2 percent in 2009; this is clear down from the earlier prediction of 3 percent. Apart from this, Morgan Stanley also doesn't rule out the possibility of zero growth. Brazilian currency is also consistently falling against US dollar. The only reasons why we must not rule out possible economic problems in the future is Brazil's continued fight against drug lords and its unequal income distribution. Brazil's poor continue to suffer as its rich section is consistently getting higher share of economic growth. Lula has certainly been successful in creating a robust economy but what he is overlooking is the fact that there is vast disparity between the rich and the poor which not only translates into fewer opportunities for the poor but also leads to higher drug-related activities. The Gini co-efficient is a useful tool for measuring income distributio

The differences between Classical and Modern theater Essay

The differences between Classical and Modern theater - Essay Example In classical theaters, they were open air venues where performances could only be conducted at daytime in daylight (Walton 1987 pg 122-6). On the contrary, the modern theaters are permanent buildings with complete seats. The theaters use modern equipment to compliment the natural implements. The theaters are said to be built with padded seats with a complete enclosure. The performances of the modern theaters take place both at night right from the afternoons. The large part of the design and the presentation is formed by the artificial lights. The classical theaters could evolve to satisfy the ever changing specifications of the events acted (Walton 1987 pg 67-9). It was made in different shapes, sizes and had a variety of functions. While the modern theaters are unnecessarily complex, the classical theaters were just so simple with a great influence on any performance that was conducted on it. In terms of performance, the classical performances sometimes entailed performances that impact on moral negatively as opposed to the modern ones which are endeared towards the theme to the audience (Walton 1987 pg

Stages of Child Language Acquisition

Stages of Child Language Acquisition A child starts to communicate with those around him/her since birth, although in the first few months this communication occurs on a non-verbal level. However, as a child develops physically, he/she gradually acquires language skills. Overall, child language acquisition begins from phonological development and proceeds to syntactic and semantic development. The aim of the present essay is to analyse three major stages of the first language acquisition (phonological, syntactic and semantic). Although linguists and other scholars have agreed in opinion that language is a process of acquisition (rather than the process of learning), they provide contradictory theories of child language acquisition (Cole Cole, 1996). Among the most famous theories are a reinforcement theory, an imitation theory, a critical-age theory and an analogy theory. Despite the fact that all these theories present a valid explanation of language acquisition, certain problems occur when they are applied to practic e. The most likely interpretation of phonological, syntactic and semantic development of a child is provided by imitation and analogy theories; hence, these theoretical concepts are employed for the analysis. According to these theories, the process of child language acquisition is aimed at adjusting to adults’ speech that has its rules and structures. As acquisition of language is a rather intricate process, a child only listens to adults’ speech in the first few months. Actually, in this period a child is involved in the process of language perception rather than the process of language production (See Table 1). However, as a child reaches the age of 6 months, he/she starts to pronounce various sounds (Fee, 1995). At first a child pronounces vowel sounds and further he/she manages to unite vowels and consonants (e.g. sa, da, ma, ba, di, ti, gu, etc.). At approximately 8 months a child constantly repeats syllables (e.g. ba-ba-ba or di-di-di) and by 12 months he/she successfully combines these syllables into a simple word (e.g. â€Å"mama†, â€Å"papa† or â€Å"baba†). It is significant that child’s pronunciation of sounds also reflects intonation and stress; according to Echols and Newport (1992), through these patterns a child makes an attempt to impart certain meaning or reveal his/her emotions . This babbling is the initial step in child’s phonological development (Macken, 1995); the true phonological skills are exposed by a child at approximately 1.4 years (though even at the age of 0.4 – 0.9 months a child already has some phonological abilities, as he manages to recognise native and non-native speech). At this time a child demonstrates comprehension of the relation between sounds and meanings; moreover, he/she starts to identify phonemic differences in adult speech. In the process of sound production a child certainly makes pronunciation mistakes that linguists regard as phonological deviations. Generally, phonological deviations are divided into two basic categories: substitution errors and syllable errors (Bankson Bernthal, 1998). Further, these categories are divided into several sub-categories, including weak syllable deletion, final consonant deletion, consonant cluster reduction, velar fronting, palatal fronting, stopping, gliding of liquids, word final devoicing, etc. Due to an immature speech apparatus, some sounds are more complex for child’s pronunciation than others; for instance, such consonant sounds as â€Å"l† and â€Å"r† are learned by a child later than sounds â€Å"p† and â€Å"m†, because the former sounds are phonetically similar, while the latter sounds are different. As a result, a child substitutes voiceless sounds with voiced sounds (e.g. â€Å"gap’ instead of â€Å"cap† or â€Å"tad† instead of â€Å"dad†); it is context sensitive voicing. The second deviation is word final devoicing; it is a process when final voiced consonants are substituted with voiceless consonants (â€Å"dad’ is pronounced as â€Å"dat†). A child may also employ final consonant deletion, pronouncing â€Å"co† instead of â€Å"cow† or â€Å"pin† instead of â€Å"pink†. Velar fronting (e.g. â€Å"tiss† instead of â€Å"kiss†) and palatal f ronting (e.g. â€Å"sake† instead of â€Å"shake†) are used by a child, because it is easier for him/her to pronounce consonants that are at the front of the mouth and teeth. Other phonological deviations include weak syllable deletion (â€Å"pape† instead of â€Å"paper†), consonant harmony (â€Å"goggy† instead of â€Å"doggy), cluster reduction (â€Å"tool† instead of â€Å"stool†), stopping (â€Å"pan† instead of â€Å"fan†) and gliding of liquids (â€Å"wat† instead of â€Å"rat). In reality, as Maye, Werker Gerken (2002) demonstrate in their research, a child perceives accurate phonemic contrasts, but he/she is unable to produce correct sounds until a proper age. Moreover, unlike adults, an infant may even distinguish foreign phonemic contrasts from native contrasts; due to this ability a child who is adopted in a foreign country may easily acquire language of his/her parents. At the age of 3-4 years most children learn to rightfully pronounce all sounds, eliminating the majority of phonological deviations. However, some children may continue to employ these deviations in their speech; specialists regard these children as individuals with certain phonological disorders that may have a detrimental effect on their reading skills (Ingram, 1989). When a child learns how to pronounce simple words, he/she proceeds to combine known words into small utterances. In this respect, a child acquires syntactic skills that are usually developed in two stages: the holophrastic stage and the two-word stage. During the holophrastic stage (between 0.9 and 1.0 years) a child forms one-word utterances with a certain intonation. In general, these utterances are composed of either verbs or nouns, while adjectives and other parts of speech are acquired by a child afterwards. In fact, it is rather difficult for adults to interpret child’s one-word sentences, as, for instance, â€Å"book† may mean that he/she wants his/her parents to read a book or that he/she sees a book or that he/she does not like this book. The situation is even more complicated when a child pronounces a phrase without intervals. According to O’Grady (1997), â€Å"many children initially treat what’s that? look at that, come here, and similar expre ssions as single units that are linked holistically to a particular situational context† (p.13). In other words, if a child hears phrases that are somehow stressed, he/she may extract them from the rest of speech and use them as a single entity, making no pauses among words. In the two-word stage (1.5-2.0 years) a child creates two-word sentences that are pronounced with single intonation and start to reflect the first semantic relations, for instance, â€Å"baby read† or â€Å"sit table† (Pinker, 1994). In general, these utterances are categorised as follows: 1) Noun Utterances: My apple, His Daddy. 2) Verb Utterances: Me play, Girl sing. 3) Questions: Mom read? Baba go? 4) Negatives: Not eat, No shirt. As the examples show, though these sentences are not grammatically right yet, they are constructed in a right order (Ingram, 1989). By the age of 2-3 years a child easily produces several thousand syntactic utterances, and the major stress in these utterances is placed on the word that provides more information (e.g. â€Å"Mummy COME† or â€Å"MUMMY come†). Initially, these sentences lack such function units as â€Å"on†, â€Å"the† or â€Å"of† and such inflections as â€Å"-s†, â€Å"-ing† or â€Å"-ed† (hence, child’s speech at this stage is usually regarded as â€Å"telegraphic speech†), but gradually a child includes negations, passives, comparatives, relative clauses and conjunctions in his/her sentences. In some cases a child may use right patterns and wrong patterns in one sentence, for instance, I reading and Mama is cooking. Such a combination reveals that a child knows certain grammar patterns, but he/sh e has not mastered them yet. However, if an adult uses these patterns incorrectly, he/she will obviously point at the mistake. As a child acquires knowledge of such a pattern as â€Å"-ed†, he/she usually turns to overregularisation, that is, a process when all verbs become regular in child’s speech (e.g. â€Å"goed† or â€Å"spended†). This overregularisation can be explained by the fact that a child acquires a language in certain patterns and, as he/she learns the pattern (e.g. â€Å"mama helped† or â€Å"baba claimed†), he/she applies this pattern to other verbs, including irregular verbs. It is certainly easier for a child to apply â€Å"-ed† to all verbs than to memorise all irregular verbs and differentiate regular verbs from irregular verbs. As the time passes, a child learns to change the wrong verb form for a right form. In addition, he/she gradually acquires knowledge of definite and indefinite articles, plural nouns, linkin g verbs and possessive cases. However, even when a child acquires knowledge of all these rules and patterns, he/she may still be unable to form complex utterances; consequently, a child may turn to the repetition of certain phrases to fill gaps in his/her speech. Finally, as a child manages to create simple sentences, he/she acquires semantic skills (approximately 3.0 years). As word acquisition intensifies, a child collides with a necessity to form semantic patterns; above all, a child uses those content categories that refer to objects, events and humans, although usage of these categories greatly depends on social, cultural and linguistic aspects. However, in all cultures a meaning that a child puts into a certain object or an utterance differs from a usual adult speech. As Harris (1990) states, young children â€Å"are able to express complex meanings, although these meanings are concerned with the current interests and needs, rather than abstract concepts or events that are distant in terms of time or space† (p.4). If a child mainly interacts with his/her peers, then he/she adjusts language to this childish realm. As a rule, a child employs either overgeneralisation or underextension when he/she creates semantic patterns. As for the first process, a child provides a word with more meanings than the word has; for example, he/she may apply the word â€Å"fox† to different animals. In the case of underextension, a child uses fewer meanings than a word has in a usual vocabulary; for example, he/she may associate a word â€Å"arm† only with a mother who touches him/her. In other instances a child fails to recognise a word. Besides, if a child can not find an appropriate word during speech, he/she may devise completely new words with new meanings. However, as a child grows and interacts with people in different situations, he/she learns more meanings of words and utterances (Beals Tabors, 1995). This especially regards interactions with adults; as adult speech is more sophisticated, a child memorises unknown patterns and then employs them in his/her speech. Hence, as a child acquires words and phrases with a profound semantic content, he/she gradually eliminates less semantically valid patterns. According to Frawley (1992), a child’s early semantic patterns reflect the following semantic categories: Agent and Action Cat run Agent and Object Girl doll Entity and Locative Baba far Attribute and Entity Wet hair Agent and Location Mother bath Action and Recipient Give birdie Possessor and Possession Papa pen But as a child shapes linguistic skills (3.5–4.0 years), he/she starts to employ more semantic categories, such as number, time, colour, substance, shape, position, etc., for instance, â€Å"Mummy and I went to a playground†, â€Å"My doll cries and I calm her† or â€Å"I give it to you†. Mastering the major concepts of grammar/meaning relations, a child manages to gradually employ complex grammar patterns: negatives: shouldn’t, needn’t, couldn’t; when-questions (as well as what and why): When do you go? tag-questions: You will go with me, will you? be + verb + -ing: Is Mummy Cooking? compound utterances: Papa is working and I am playing. if sentences: I will do if I wish. Thus, analysing child language acquisition, the essay suggests that from 6 months to 4-5 years a child gradually acquires phonological, syntactic and semantic skills. Although every child develops individually, language acquisition reflects common stages of speech perception and production. Some researchers (e.g. Pinker, 1994; O’Grady, 1997) claim that syntactic and semantic development of a child occurs simultaneously. The fact is that meanings of some verbs can not be understood by a child merely from a context; it is the knowledge of syntactic patterns that provides a child with an opportunity to rightfully uncover the meaning of these verbs. Whether this viewpoint is valid or not, it is absolutely clear that while a child has inborn abilities for language, he/she needs specific social environment to acquire it. This became especially obvious with a discovery of Amala and Kamala, the feral children who were brought up with wolves and could not speak at all. Such findings ce rtainly refute an innate hypothesis and reveal that linguistic skills of a child are formed by and within society. Table 1. Stages of Child Language Acquisition* Phonology From birth to 0.5 years – perception of adult speech; 0.6 years – pronunciation of the first sounds (vowels → consonants → vowels + consonants); 0.8 years – repetition of syllables and recognition of phonemic differences; 1.0 year – understanding of the relation between sounds and meaning; Use of phonological deviations: 1.4 years cluster reduction 2 years – weak syllable deletion initial consonant deletion final consonant deletion 2.0-3.0 years – palatal fronting velar fronting stopping gliding of liquids Syntax 0.9–1.0 years – â€Å"the holophrastic stage† – formation of one-word utterances; 1.5-2.0 years – â€Å"telegraphic speech†, formation of two-word utterances; 2.0–3.0 years – overregularisation of grammar Semantics 3.0 years – application of meaning to language patterns and grammar structures; Use of either overgeneralisation or Underextension Use of the following semantic categories: 1) Agent and Action 2) Agent and Object 3) Entity and Locative 4) Attribute and Entity 5) Agent and Location 6) Action and Recipient 7) Possessor and Possession 3.5-4.0 years – knowledge of complex grammar patterns: negatives; when-questions; tag-questions; be + verb + -ing; compound utterances; if sentences * The ages of child’s language development are approximate; the data in this table are generalised, while every child acquires phonological, syntactic and semantic skills on an individual basis. However, such a generalisation is important, as it allows specialists to reveal any deviations from the normal development of children. Bibliography Bankson, N. Bernthal, J. (1998) Analysis of assessment data. In: J. Bernthal and N. Bankson (eds.) Articulation and Phonological Disorders. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann. pp.270-298. Beals, D. E. Tabors, P. O. (1995) Arboretum, bureaucratic and carbohydrate: Preschoolers’ exposure to rare vocabulary at home. First Language, 15, 57-76. Cole, M. Cole, S. (1996) The Development of Children. New York, W. H. Freeman Company. Echols, C. Newport, E. (1992) The role of stress and position in determining first words. Language Acquisition, 2, 189-220. Fee, J. (1995) Segments and syllables in early language acquisition. In: J. Archibald (ed.) Phonological Acquisition and Phonological Theory. Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum. pp.43-61. Frawley, W. (1992) Linguistic Semantics. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Harris, J. (1990) Early Language Development: Implications for Clinical and Educational Practice. London, Routledge. Ingram, D. (1989) First Language Acquisition: Method, Description, and Explanation. New York, Cambridge University Press. Macken, M. (1995) Phonological acquisition. In: J. A. Goldsmith (ed.) The Handbook of Phonological Theory. Cambridge, Blackwell. pp.671-696. Maye, J., Werker, J. F. Gerken, L. (2002) Infant sensitivity to distributional information can affect phonetic discrimination. Cognition, 82 (3), 101-111. O’Grady, W. (1997) Syntactic Development. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Pinker, S. (1994) How could a child use verb syntax to learn verb semantics? Lingua, 92, 377-410. AN ANALYSIS OF SEMANTIC ROLES 2007 Until the 70s years of the 20th century semantics was completely excluded from any studies of grammar (Lyons, 1995; Bach, 2002). But recently, linguists and researchers have recognised a great variety of semantic roles (or theta roles) that provide valid information as to grammar/meaning relations (Cutrer, 1993). According to Payne (1997), a semantic role is a specific role that is classified in accordance with its meaning and is performed by a participant with regard to the principal verb of an utterance. In other words, semantic roles provide an opportunity to identify either similarities or dissimilarities of verb’s meanings in sentences. Actually, some semantic roles are regarded as principal, while others are thought to be less crucial for a linguistic analysis. But, as Langacker (1991) points out, â€Å"there is no unique or exclusive set of role conceptions. Those cited as archetypal are analogous to the highest peak in a mountain range: they coexist with others that m ay be significant despite their lesser salience† (p.237). The major semantic roles include Agent, Patient, Instrument, Theme, Cause, Experience, Goal, Benefective (or Beneficiary), Source, Location, Temporal and Path (Jackendoff, 1990; Dowty, 1991). According to Van Valin (1999), semantic relations may be also divided into two groups: the first group includes the usual semantic roles, such as Agent, Patient, Theme, etc., while the second group includes merely two semantic roles – Actor and Undergoer. The roles of the second group are usually referred to as semantic macroroles. Although this categorisation is not universally accepted, nevertheless, it is employed by researchers for a profound investigation of grammar/meaning relations. In the present analysis the classification of Jackendoff (1990) and Dowty (1991) is used. Let’s start from the following examples: Teddy killed the deer with a hunting rifle. A hunting riffle killed a deer. A deer was killed. In the first sentence Teddy performs a semantic role of an Agent, while in grammatical relations Teddy is a Subject. For all that, Teddy is associated with a hunting rifle by means of a grammar/meaning relation of a â€Å"kill† event. In the second sentence a semantic role of a Hunting Riffle is an Instrument, but in grammatical relations it is a Subject. Finally, in the third sentence a Deer appears in a semantic role of a Patient, while in grammatical relations it is again a Subject. Actually, if two participants are involved in an action of a sentence, a grammar/meaning relation is considered to be asymmetric. For instance, in the sentence Jimmy touched Marry two participants are involved in the action, but they perform various roles. Jimmy is a person who starts the action, thus, he is an Agent, while Marry is a person who is influenced by Jimmy’s action and she is a Patient. In this context, an Agent performs a conscious segment of a particular action and a Patient unconsciously responds to this action. As the above example demonstrates, an Agent should necessarily be alive, as it starts an action; however, this attribute is not ascribed to a Patient that is influenced by an action either in a direct or indirect way. There are some English sentences, where only an Agent is presented, such as Steven took a two-week holiday. Although this sentence differs from the previous utterance, both examples belong to a â€Å"do† category. But there are other categories of events, and sometimes it is really difficult to identify the right category (Frawley, 1992). The fact is that English sentences may reflect many similar features, but, despite these similarities, they may reveal various events and different semantic roles. For instance, in the sentence Peter heard a noise, Peter is a participant, but unlike prior examples, Peter does not appear as an Agent, because he is not an initiator of the action, he is an Experiencer. Therefore, such sentences may be attributed to an â€Å"experi ence† category. However, sentences that belong to this category may pose certain problems, as they may demonstrate different peculiarities of events, changing semantic roles in utterances. For example, in the sentence Ann looked at Ted, Ann is an Agent of the action, though she is also an Experiencer (similar to Peter from the previous example). Ann consciously pays heed to something, while Peter is unconscious of his action. Both sentences look similar, but peculiarities of events and semantic roles are different in these utterances. The second complexity that may occur in the process of analysis refers to the second participant of the discussed sentence. While in sentences with a â€Å"do† category the second participant is a Patient, because it is influenced by the Agent’s act, in sentences with an â€Å"experience† category the second participant (e.g. Ted) is not a Patient, as it is not influenced by the Agent’s act. As the above sentence shows , Ted is necessary for better understanding of the event; hence, he may be considered as a Theme of an action. But some utterances in this category have neither an Agent nor a Patient, though at the first sight it is easy to make a mistake. For example, in the sentence Danny loves Mag there are no agents or patients, as Danny does not perform any action and Mag is not explicitly or implicitly influenced by this action (probably she does not even know of Danny’s feelings). In this utterance Danny is an Experiencer, while Mag is a Theme. Unlike semantic roles, grammar roles can be identified more easily; in the discussed sentence Danny is a subject and Mag is an object. In fact, one grammar constituent may have a number of semantic roles; for example, a subject may involve an Experiencer, an Agent, a Patient, while an object may include a Theme, a Patient, an Instrument, etc. Thus, semantic roles provide more accurate and profound information as to the meaning of an utterance than grammar roles; however, both grammar roles and semantic roles are crucial for linguistics. In addition to the mentioned categories, there is also a â€Å"happen† category that is rather facile. For instance, the sentence My car is broken has one participant that is explicitly influenced by an action; that is why this participant (My car) is a Patient (there is no Agent in this utterance). Unlike a â€Å"happen† category, a so called â€Å"information transfer† category may pose certain difficulties for those who analyse semantic roles. In the sentence Jerome informed Timmy of a conference there are two participants – Jerome and Timmy. But while Jerome is an Agent of the occurred event, Timmy is not a Patient, as one may consider, taking into account the previous examples. In this utterance Timmy is a Recipient, and a Patient is absent in this sentence – neither Timmy nor information can be regarded as a Patient, because information is not directly or indirectly influenced by Timmy or by the transfer. In this regard, information in the discussed utterance is a Theme of the event. Overall, in all mentioned examples nouns and adjectives refer or point at a particular event; however, there are also sentences, where these parts of speech pay heed to a specific state instead of an event. Such utterances relate to a â€Å"be† category. For instance, in the sentence Viola is healthy again, Viola is a Participant that also appears as a Theme. In this utterance the state of Viola is determined by the adjective â€Å"healthy†, but not by a verb (as in the prior examples). Therefore, â€Å"healthy† fulfils a predicative role, unlike verbs in preceding sentences that fulfil an attributive role. Sentences in this category may also reflect temporal relations, like in the following utterance: Garry is in front of Nick. In this sentence there are two participants that certainly appear in temporal relations; undoubtedly, if the sentence is changed for Nick is behind Garry, the relations between Nick and Garry will not be altered. In this respect, both participants perform the role of a Theme in the sentence. In view of all observed examples, it is obvious that participants may fulfil either a central role or a marginal role in the action; that is, a division is made between the principal and secondary participants. For instance, in the sentence Nelly embraced Steve before the guests, Nelly is the principal participant, an Agent, while Steve is the secondary participant, an Instrument with the help of which Nelly fulfils the action. Even if an Agent is absent, as in the sentence A stone broke the fence, there is a supposed Agent and an Instrument. Moreover, if two participants are mentioned in a sentence, the secondary participant may perform a role of a Beneficiary, as in the following example: Mommy did homework for Sally. In this utterance Sally is a Beneficiary, as another person (his Mommy) does homework for him. Therefore, the analysed sentences demonstrate that each semantic role may reflect different properties, and identification of these properties may be rather problematic in t he process of analysis, resulting in frequent confusions. Table 2 below epitomises the observed semantic roles, their major functions and possible problems. Table 2. Major semantic roles Semantic role Function Possible confusions / problems Agent The principal participant (always animate) that starts an action An Experiencer may be wrongly regarded as an Agent But: An Agent consciously fulfils an action, while An Experiencer is not consciously involved in the action’s fulfilment Patient The principal participant (either inanimate or animate) that is influenced by an event In certain cases a Patient may perform a role of an Agent This occurs in instances that signify moves; that is, when a participant simultaneously performs an action and is influenced by it Instrument The secondary participant with the help of which an Agent fulfils an action If there are both an Agent and a Causer in a sentence, it may be difficult to rightfully identify instruments of an Agent and a Causer The instrument for a Causer is an Agent An Agent possesses other instruments Theme The principal participant that does not induce an event and is not influenced by it In the case of temporal relations there are usually two themes, instead of one Experiencer The principal participant (always animate) that does not explicitly fulfil an action; instead, it undergoes a certain state (or an event) As an Experiencer is influenced by a state (or an event), it may be confused with a Patient or even with an Agent (when an action coincides with experience) Beneficiary The secondary participant (always animate) that make gains from a certain event A Beneficiary should not be confused with a Patient that is the principal participant Recipient The objective (always animate) of an event that is connected with a transfer A recipient may perform a role of an Agent in such a sentence as â€Å"Father took a strange envelop from Jack† As is shown in Table 2, there are no definite borders among semantic roles; actually, every role may perform different functions in a sentence (Parsons, 1990), and the lack of an integrated structure complicates the analysis. The occurred intricacies can be explained by the fact that any semantic category is based on concepts of subjectivity rather than concepts of objectivity (Knott Sanders, 1998). For example, the word bookcase consists of certain letters and sounds, so it can not be attributed merely to an object. As words and meanings are acquired from a particular social, cultural and linguistic realm (Peregrin, 2003), the relations among all parts of speech are casual, but not natural. Therefore, semantic categories differ not only among members of various societies, but also among people of the same society. For instance, in two utterances Julia prepared bath for Jill and Julia prepared Jill a bath there are certain semantic roles that may be interpreted either as similar or as different. In the first utterance Julia is an Agent and Jill is a Recipient, while in the second utterance