Difficult Life for Woman in the Victorian Era in A Doll...

A Doll House showed how women were treated unfairly and unequally. Nora, Anne Marie, and Ms. Linde were examples of women in the world during that time period. Nora was an example of what became the start of the women’s liberation period. Henrik Ibsen showed a lot of modern realism by bringing out the struggles of women using these three characters. Life in the Victorian Era was very difficult for women. Nora was the main character with struggles. From the beginning, she had problems of being treated as an equal. Nora explains to Torvald how she has lived her life just doing what the men in her life say. She says, â€Å"When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed†¦show more content†¦She took the job of taking care of little Nora so that she could make it in society. Back in that era, it was hard for women to find a job. The only jobs offered to women were nanny, maid and teacher. Her character showed how controversy it was for women to make mistakes, how it was hard for them to bounce back from it and how hard it was for her to get a job. Ms. Linde was a character that struggled a lot just to make it. Ms. Linde had to sacrifice love for money, so that she could take care of her brothers and dying mother. She married a rich man, so that she could provide for her mother and younger brothers. Ibsen showed how many women sacrificed true love to be able to have a stable life. Once her husband died, she was left with no money causing her to struggle on her own. She spent a lot of time trying to search for jobs and when she got jobs, they were hard jobs that didn’t pay her much. She struggled a lot more than Nora. She even tells Nora, â€Å"How kind you are Nora...for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of life...My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing!--You are a child, Nora. Even after her brothers grew up, they just abandoned her to take care of her own family. She spent much of her life struggling because of her gender. Ms. Linde’s character showed the difficulties of women having a career, how women sacrificed their wants to provide the needs of their family, and it also showed how men looked down upon women by notShow MoreRelatedHenrik Ibsen s A Doll s House1231 Words   |  5 Pages A Doll’s House is a play by Henrik Ibsen about the liberation of the protagonist, Nora, from a toxic and oppressive relationship in the Victorian Era. Based on a real friend of Ibsen, Nora portrays a seemingly childish and bubbly persona, caged by noble sacrifices and a web of innocent lies. Manipulative and careful, she works furtively to solve all of her problems independently. This contrasts the view her husband has of her as his little doll. He suppresses her freedom of speech, thought, and

Powerful Techniques for How to Write a Term Paper for College That You Can Begin to Use Immediately

Powerful Techniques for How to Write a Term Paper for College That You Can Begin to Use Immediately How to Write a Term Paper for College for Dummies In the instance of a later, you might get technical and utilize specific environmental terms. The key parts should incorporate an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The slower ones would even ask the importance of a particular word in the situation. In reality, you might alter the order of the steps based on the topic, your understanding of the matter, and your sources. Unfortunately, there's no magic formula for producing a thriving term paper. Following that, you are in need of a detailed plan for creating an intriguing essay showcasing your special perspective and standpoint. Such ideas would make a huge thesis statement. In addition, the format is still the exact same irrespective of the period of the essay. It is essential to continue to keep your ideas and ideas organized. 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Corporate Governance of Information and Communication Technology

Questions: 1.Does your host company have in place a formal IT Governance framework? Some clues as to its existence might be that there is a Corporate Governance or IT Governance policy document; the corporate intranet might contain references to governance. Structures may exist, at higher levels that are the decision making bodies and which control activities in the company for all levels through delegated authority? 2.Describe a situation in your internship, or previous work, where you have taken account of an Australian Standard in fulfilling your ICT task, and why. If you have not already experienced such situation, describe a situation in your internship where you will need to take account of an Australian standard in fulfilling your ICT task, and why. Be specific? 3.Describe a situation in your internship, or previous work, where you have taken account of compliance (legislation) in fulfilling your ICT task, and why. If you have not already experienced such situation, describe a situation in your internship where you will need to take account of Australian legislation in fulfilling your ICT task, and why? Answers: 1. It was a small company where I did my internship. There was no evidence of a formal IT governance structure within the organization. In fact, the organization maintained a hierarchical structure that included the positions of MD, manager, supervisor, receptionists and other general staffs. The job and responsibilities were divided among these positions. For keeping the records of the business operation, the company uses the database management system. There are a number of different segments in the data base to store the different types of data such as the marketing, management and HRM. All kinds of vital decisions in the organization were undertaken in a collaborative participation of the MD and the managers. The information stored in the database are used at the time of making any decision. The database system can be accessed by the major heads of the organization like the supervisors, managers and the MD. Only the supervisors had the permission to insert data into the database. However, the managers and the MD enjoyed the authority of manipulating and deleting data from the system. Since, the system was not so high standard, there was no such security to access and control of the database by the users. Permission was given to each level of the employees while controlling the infrastructure of the organization. 2. I have worked for a small sized organization where there was no presence of a formal information system for managing the information of the organization. Therefore, the need for a developed information system was felt to make the work easier and smoother. Therefore, I was asked to suggest a particular framework for the development of both the IS and IT system of the organization for the overall governance. For this purpose, I used the Australian Standard AS8015 framework. This particular framework is based on governance of ICT in the organization. In this respect, a list of six principles of the ICT governance that had helped me to understand the effective level of suggestions that I was responsible to do can be mentioned. These principles are: To understand the job role and responsibility of the ICT within the organization To develop a best suitable ICT plan for the organization To acquire the validity of the ICT (Global, 2005) To ensure that the designed ICT platform works well as per the requirement To ensure that the formal rules are aligned with the set ICT framework designed for the organization To ensure that the designed ICT framework respect the needs of the employees working in the organization I had examined every detail and principle of the organization to understand the requirement. I had collected information regarding the formal rules related to the work of the organization. I suggested a framework the IS that would be effective for the overall activities of the organization. 3. When I used to work as an intern in the organization, I was responsible for optimizing the records in the database system of the organization on a regular basis. The major responsibility f the task was to ensure that the work is done with highest accuracy within the organization. Personal details of every employee of the organization were stored in the database. In addition to this, some information of few customers were also kept in the database. These data were stored in an easily accessible format that did not require any particular prevention of integrity of data. This factor was particularly had compliance with the Data Protection Act. According to this Act, an organization should be responsible for keeping the confidentiality and security of the data. With proper investigation, I made the fact evident among all that the organization had been violating the Data Protection Act 2014 (Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, 2016). The organization should be responsible for keeping the data protective and recurred, but it was found that the data was stored without the consent of the customers. The organization should have informed the customers and they should have clear understanding of the stored data. In fact, the organization should also have to be responsible enough to check to protect that the hardware of the system is not stolen. In order to overcome this crisis, I suggested them to use the data encryption technique for the overall maintenance of the database. The customers were also given a consent form in order to make them aware that their details have been stored in the database of the organization. References Global, S. A. I. (2005). AS 8015-2005 Corporate governance of information and communication technology. Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. (2016). legislation.vic.gov.au. Retrieved from https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/web_notes/ldms/pubstatbook.nsf/f932b66241ecf1b7ca256e92000e23be/05CC92B3F8CB6A6BCA257D4700209220/$FILE/14-060aa%20authorised.pdf [Accessed on: 11-4-2017]

Management

Dissertation Objectives The working title of the proposed study is ‘Management-Employee Misalignment Performance implications: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Steel Production Industry.’Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Management-Employee Misalignment Performance Implications: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Steel Production Industry specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The general aim of the proposed study will be to critically evaluate how the U.S. steel manufacturing industries can benefit, productively, by aligning their overall management and business strategies to the needs and expectations of employees working in the sector, hence maintain competitive advantage. The following will form the specific objectives: Critically evaluate the sources of management-employee misalignment within the industry; Critically evaluate the performance implications occasioned by management-employee misalignme nt within the industry; Critically evaluate the industry’s best practices in encouraging and maintaining management-employee alignment to boost performance and profitability; and Analyze and report on probable alternatives that could by used in the U.S. steel production industry to effectively link management strategies to employee needs and expectations from a human resource perspective. The proposed study will be guided by the following research questions: What organizational methodologies can stakeholders in the U.S. steel production industry use to effectively align management strategies to the current needs and expectations of employees? What are the broad implications of using organizational frameworks that contribute to management-employment misalignment in the U.S. steel production industry? What are the perceived and real benefits of introducing a framework that will enhance management-employee alignment in the U.S. steel production industry? Methodology The propo sed study will employ a quantitative research design to critically evaluate the performance implications of management-employee misalignment in the U.S. steel production industry. As Hopkins (2000) observes, most quantitative studies are principally concerned with evaluating the correlation between independent and dependent variables, and are either descriptive or experimental. In this regard, a quantitative study will best serve the interests of the proposed study by offering a workable framework through which management-employee misalignment can be correlated to performance implications. The proposed study will be descriptive in nature because subjects earmarked for the study will be measured once (Sekaran, 2006). Primary data will be collected using self-administered questionnaires in a survey approach since the researcher is primarily interested in descriptive assessment of the relationship between management-employee misalignments on the one hand and performance implications on the other. In this perspective, a pilot study will be carried out before the commencement of the research to validate the items included in the questionnaire schedule as well as ensure that they will effectively answer the key research questions. It is imperative to note that the questionnaires will be administered using online protocols.Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Secondary data for the proposed study will be gathered by means of undertaking a critical review of related literature on the underlying theories and concepts of organizational alignment, the role of human resource departments in ensuring employees needs and demands are positively aligned to management and organizational outcomes, and performance implications triggered by management-employee misalignment. The data collected will then be used to compare the research findings with other previous studies in the field with a view to developing plausible alternatives and recommendations that could be used in the 21st century to form a value-added linkage between management strategies and employee concerns. Patzer (2005) observes that secondary data by way of undertaking a review of current literature does not only avail to the researcher a re-established degree of validity and reliability to the issues under investigation, but it also provides a framework through which the gathered primary data can be objectively ascertained and recommendations made. The population for the proposed study will comprise employees and managers from five steel production companies that will be selected during the piloting stage. The sample, however, will comprise five management-level professionals and 20 employees in each of the five companies, implying that the total sample for the study will comprise 25 management-level professionals and 100 employees. It is imperative to note that management professi onals will be sampled using purposive sampling technique, while the researcher intends to use the human resource departments in each of the selected companies to sample employees using convenience sampling approach. According to Sekaran, participants in a purposive sample are selected based on their deeper understanding of the phenomena under study (in this case, management strategies and how the relate to employee concerns), while subjects in a convenient sample are included in the research framework by virtue of being in the right position at the right time. Quantitative data intended to answer the key research objectives and questions will be collected from the selected companies using two sets of online self-administered questionnaires – one for managers and the other for employees.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Management-Employee Misalignment Performance Implications: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Steel Production Industry specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Lewis-Beck Bryman (2004) observes that administering questionnaires online does not only ensure anonymity and respondent acceptability, but also saves costs and affords the researcher the opportunity to collect huge volumes of data using a flexible design. Questionnaires, on their part, are cost-effective and can be administered with ease, not mentioning that they are effective when the researcher wants to gather confidential data from the subjects (Sekaran, 2006). Feasibility To execute the proposed study, academic resources intended to complete the review of literature will be sourced from scholarly databases, including Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE Premier, and Business Source Premier Databases, among others. The subjects earmarked for this particular study are reasonably likely to be willing to take part in the process since the researcher will take ample time to explain to them the nature and purpose of the study, not mentioning that the researcher will discuss with them their rights, especially the right to informed consent, right to disengage from the research process, right to withhold confidential information, and the right to privacy. These disclosures will most definitely reinforce the subjects’ willingness to participate in the study. In addition, the proposed study will employ an expanded, all-inclusive time-scale (3 months after commencement) to ensure that all elements within the research framework are sufficiently covered. Relation with Existing Published Work The concept of alignment has in recent decades gained an important position in the broad field of strategic management. Venkatraman et al (1989) cited in Schniederjans Cao (2009) had implicitly underlined the significance of aligning business and management preferences with the broader strategies of the organization. Available strategic management literature denotes the importance of aligning business and management strategies with the strengths found within the organization as well as the opportunities and threats prevalent in the external environment (Dubrovski, 2009; Anisomova, 2010; Schniederjans Cao, 2009).Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Indeed, alignment of strategies from a holistic perspective is assumed to be a positive contributor to organizational and business performance, and many studies as demonstrated by Schniederjans Cao (2009) have been conducted to reveal the association between alignment and business performance. To offer a brief contextual background, the proposed study will limit itself to evaluating management-employee misalignment within the U.S. steel production industry. The steel production industry operates under the manufacturing sector, and employment opportunities within the industry continue to diminish despite expanding steel production, in part, due to widespread adoption of more efficient and cost-effective technologies (WorldSteel, 2008). However, the proposed study aims to go past the technical aspects attributed to the diminishing workforce within the industry to evaluate if management concerns, specifically management-employee misalignment, have a role to play and the performance im plications of such a possibility. The steel manufacturing industry, as is the case in other industries, is affected by a multiplicity of internal and external vagrancies, including management-employee misalignment (Tarigan, 2005). The proposed study will therefore seek to assess to what extent this particular variable affects performance within the U.S. steel production industry. According to Schniederjans Cao (2009), â€Å"†¦research on alignment in the operations strategy literature can be classified under two categories: internal fit and external fit† (p. 2536). While citing Skinner’s (1974) definition, the authors’ postulates that internal fit refers to the consistency among organizations tasks, strategies, policies and practices, while external fit focuses on the need for aligning organization-wide strategy with business and corporate stratagems. A manufacturing strategy, for instance, must be consistently aligned with an organization’s busines s strategy for such an organization to make headway in the ever competitive business environment witnessed in the 21st century. But while the study of alignment of business priorities and organizational strategy in the manufacturing sector and its relationship with performance has currently become the focus of much scholarly attention (Tarigan, 2005), few studies have attempted to look at the alignment between business priorities and other functional areas such as human resources, hence the need to undertake the proposed study. An ever increasing number of researchers and practitioners postulate that optimal benefit will accumulate if there is a fit between environmental factors and strategy in diverse contextual modes. Boyer McDermott (1999) cited in Tarigan (2005) found that lack of alignment within the various scopes of the organization has significant effects on performance. Indeed, Tarigan (2005) observes that â€Å"†¦strategy must not only be well-fitted to its competit ive priorities but it also must be communicated and widely understood throughout the manufacturing organization† (p. 586). His view is ingeniously shared by Christiansen Higgs (2008), who argues that the appropriateness of an organization’s strategy must be evaluated under the lens of its fit or congruence with both the environmental and contextual contingencies facing the organization. Boyer and McDermott (1999) cited in Tarigan (2005) posited that strategic consensus aimed at aligning critical organizational and business processes can only be achieved when diverse levels of employees within an organization reaches a well thought out agreement on what is most essential for the organization to succeed. This implies that employees form a critical component in the alignment debate and should be involved at all levels to trigger sustained performance. However, Kennedy (2004) argues that some management strategies found in many firms either ignore or half-heartedly embrace employee needs and broader HR initiatives, especially in training and development, compensation and benefits, performance and appraisal, staff planning, retention, and other challenges prevalent in today’s marketplace. The proposed study, therefore, will seek to come up with alternatives and best practices that can be used by organizations in general and steel production companies in particular to bring employees onboard while formulating critical management strategies and priorities. Such information will inarguably consolidate management-employee alignment. In his study on how ‘business strategy and HR strategy can impact performance’, Tarigan (2005) hypothesizes that the level of alignment of HR strategy and business strategy will obviously have a direct impact on organizational outcomes. Companies, especially those operating in the manufacturing sector, are consistently faced with a myriad of challenges, including overcapacity, low profit margins and intense competition (Nickerson Silverman, 2003). Khatri et al (n.d.) notes that to effectively compete in the face of such and many other challenges, organizations need to be more attuned to their employee relationships and discover options of creating employee satisfaction, motivation and loyalty. One of the ways that this can be achieved, according to Kennedy (2004), is by aligning management strategies and priorities to employee needs, expectations, demands and value prepositions. However, Dubrovski (2009) counteracts that many managers, instead of striving to find a common ground that is essential to involve employees in critical decision making processes especially in issues concerning their own interests, continue to make management mistakes that cause further misalignment of organizational goals and objectives. The proposed study will therefore also aim to extend on the current knowledge of how such management mistakes can be prevented to enhance management-employee alignment and b oost performance. According to Macaleer Jones (2003), organization development professionals and theorists have for a long time â€Å"†¦maintained that improvement in business performance is directly tied to good human resource planning and closely linking this plan to strategic objectives† (p. 15). Failure to align the two, as observed by Tumwesigye (2010), only leads to employee turnover, which unfortunately bears direct and indirect costs such as recruitment and selection costs, lost productivity, reduction in morale among remaining staff, costs associated with training and orienting new members of staff, and work overload, among others. Rand (1999) add to the discussion by suggesting that most organizations fail to perform because management does not have an effective capacity to run and control the business, including aligning human resource strategies to the overall business strategy. The above assertions adds propensity for the need to undertake the proposed stud y so as to come with viable ways which can be ingeniously used to align management practices to the needs and expectations of employees from a human resource perspective. Justification for Selecting the Topic This particular study, more than anything else, will seek to offer tenable alternatives that companies operating in the steel production industry can use to align management practices with the needs, demands and expectations of their employees. In addition, Tarigan (2005) observes that few studies have ever focussed on strategy alignment and reinforcement in a manufacturing setting. In this perspective, the proposed study will go a long way to extend on the current knowledge, especially on how management mistakes can be prevented with an aim to not only enhance management-employee alignment, but to also boost productivity. The current competitive business environment demands organizations to do everything within their reach so as to remain profitable while maintaining a competi tive advantage (Thompson Heron, 2005). Facilitating management-employee alignment is certainly one of the choices that organizations have in ensuring that they remain competitive. The reasons stated above informed the justification to select this particular topic. List of References Anisomova, T (2010). Corporate Brand: The Company-Customer Misalignment and its Performance Implications. Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 17, Issue 7, pp 488-503. Christiansen, L.C., Higgs, M (2008). How the Alignment of Business Strategy and HR Strategy can Impact Performance: A Practical Insight for Managers. Journal of General Management, Vol. 33, Issue 4, pp 13-33. Dubrovski, D (2009). Management Mistakes as Causes of Corporate Crises: Managerial Implications for Countries for Countries in Transition. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp. 39-59. Hopkins, W.G (2000). Quantitative Research Design. Web. Kennedy, E (2004). Bridging the Gap between Company and Employees. Women in Business, Vol. 56, Issue 3, pp. 10-15. Khatri, N., Budwar, P., Fern, C.T (n.d.). Employee Turnover: Bad Attitude or Poor Management? Web. Lewis-Beck, M.S.., Bryman, A (2004). The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Sciences Research Methods, Volume 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Macaleer, B., Shannon, J (2003). Does HR Planning improve Business Performance? Industrial Management, Vol. 45, Issue 1, pp 15-29. Nickerson, J.A., Silverman, B.S (2003). Why Firms want to Organize Efficiently and what keeps them from doing so: Inappropriate Governance, Performance and Adaptation in a Deregulated Industry. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 48, Issue 3, pp 433-465. Patzer, G.L (1995). Using Secondary Data in Marketing Research: United Sates and Worldwide. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Rand, T (1999). Why Businesses Fail: An Organizational Perspective. Emergence, Vol. 1, Issue 4, pp 97- 114. Schniederjans, M., Cao, Q (2009). Alignment of Operations Strategy, Informatio n Strategic Orientation, and Performance: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 47, Issue 10, pp. 2535-2563. Sekaran, U (2006). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach. Bombay: Wiley-India. Tarigan, R (2005). An Evaluation of the Relationship between Alignment of Strategic Priorities and Manufacturing Performance. International Journal of Management, Vol. 22, Issue 4, pp 586-597. Thompson, M., Heron, P (2005). Management Capability and High Performance Work Organization. International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16, Issue 6, pp 1029-1048. Tumwesigye, G (2010). The relationship between Perceived Organizational Support and Turnover Intentions in a Developing Country: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment. African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 4, Issue 6, pp 942-952. WorldSteel Association. (2008). Working in the Steel Industry. Web. This dissertation on Management-Employee Misalignment Performance Implications: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Steel Production Industry was written and submitted by user Kailyn Phillips to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Atticus confesses that he sometimes thinks of himself as a complete failure as a parent Essay Example

Atticus confesses that he sometimes thinks of himself as a complete failure as a parent Essay Example Atticus confesses that he sometimes thinks of himself as a complete failure as a parent Paper Atticus confesses that he sometimes thinks of himself as a complete failure as a parent Paper Essay Topic: Literature Atticus Finch is nearly fifty years of age and is a well-known and established lawyer in Maycomb County. Atticus has two children named Jeremy Finch and Jean Louise Finch, better known as Jem and Scout. Atticus is an only parent as Jem and Scouts mother died when Scout was two from a sudden heart attack and Scout therefore expresses in the book that she never really felt her absence. My personal view is that Harper Lee intentionally creates Atticus as having to raise both Jem and Scout by himself as he has much more responsibility as a father to fulfill all the parental duties on his own and this may give Atticus a reason to doubt himself as he does at certain points in the novel. Different characters and different incidents throughout the novel portray varied views, thoughts and ideas to the reader about Atticus as a parent, some bad, some good but each tell us a substantial amount about this character as a whole. An example may be chapter one when Scout expresses her own and her brothers views about Atticus as father, Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment. The reader can learn a lot from individual character opinions about Atticus such as the one above, however it is my belief that we as readers learn much more from the way in which Atticus handles situations which arise throughout the book and very much by the way in which he deals and explains these incidents to his children. There are countless incidents in the novel which demonstrate to the reader just how good Atticus really is as a father and I feel that one of the writers main intentions was to make us as readers recognise Atticus ability to relate to his children with such understanding and honesty. Our first example of this is in chapter two when Scout learns one of her very first lessons from Atticus. Scouts first day at school does not prove to be a very successful one and Atticus soon realises that something is wrong. Having explained to Atticus about the days misfortunes Atticus tries to make Scout see the day at school from Miss Carolines point of view. Scout learns a lesson from Atticus as he explains, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, youll get along better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. The need to look at circumstances from the other persons point of view is a strong theme in the book. It is the chief lesson Atticus teaches his children and reflects upon Atticus main philosophy of life and these are the main reasons as to why Harper Lee includes this incident at this very early stage in the novel. Atticus then goes on to explain the meaning of compromise to Scout and the two of them agree that if Scout continues going to school, they could continue reading every night. Atticus talks to Scout intelligently and this is shown when he describes compromise to her as an agreement reached by mutual concessions, which most would regard as quite a complex definition unusually used when explaining to a child and especially one of her age. In chapter four, we begin to see Atticus fairness as a father. Even though he suspects that the childrens game is to do with the Radleys, because they deny it and he has no proof, he lets it go I believe that this behavior may be more representative of a lawyer than most parents. I certainly feel that the quality of fairness in Atticus is intentionally shown by the writer to the reader in this incident as this same quality is shown again in later stages of the book, however under more extreme and important circumstances. Atticus does eventually find out about the childrens games regarding the Radleys in chapter five and is disappointed in the children. Nevertheless, Atticus explains to the children that what Mr Radley [does] is his own business and goes on to teach the children valuable lessons of acceptance and tolerance. Again he asks the children to think in the other persons point of view asking the children how they would like it if he barged in on [them] without knocking, when [they] were in their rooms at night. Atticus does not only tell the children to stop doing it but also gives them reasons as to why it was wrong and also speaks to the children in an intelligent manner, in this particular incident but also generally throughout the book. This contrasts very much to the way that other adults treat the children, which are portrayed later on in the novel. Another quality of Atticus, which is reinforced throughout the book, is Atticus ability to always remain truthful and honest even in the most difficult circumstances. This is shown very well in chapter twenty three, when Atticus explains to his children the realities of the world they live in. he tells them honestly and truthfully that in our courts, when it is a white mans word against a black mans word, the white man always wins. Atticus words to Jem about the trial are strong, his outrage is revealed. It is difficult for Atticus to explain the societies prejudice to the children, however Atticus does so remaining truthful. Yet another example of Atticus brilliance in explaining situations and incidents to his children is shown in chapter nine. Chapter nine begins with Scout ready to fight a boy named Cecil Jacobs as he had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finchs daddy defended niggers. Scout does not understand the full meaning of what Cecil has said and turns on Atticus yet again to explain. Scout questions her father as to why he was defending Tom if he shouldnt be defended the opinion of most of Maycomb. Atticus says he is doing it for a number of reasons and that the main one is, if [he] didnt [he] couldnt hold his head up in town, [he couldnt represent this county in the legislature, [he] couldnt even tell [Scout] or Jem not to do something again. In my opinion, the case of Tom Robinson is a matter of honour for Atticus. He knows he cannot win, but he must take it on or lose his self-respect, the respect of his children and the respect of those townsfolk whose opinions he values. When Scout asks Atticus if they were going to win the case, Atticus replies no as he knows exactly what the status of the Negro is in the south. Even in court they are not equal and this is why Atticus is so sure of failure. Atticus tries to explain all this to Scout and is rather successful in doing so as the next day, Scout remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped [her] fists and walked away. We are told that this was the first time that Scout had ever walked away from a fight and this is very important as it shows the extent of understanding and respect Scout has for Atticus and also shows just how well Atticus explained the complicated situation to Scout the night before. Scout is beginning to remember to be reasonable and this is a definite sign of her growing up. Scouts tolerance can only last a day or two however as towards the end of chapter nine, Scout gets into another fight when they go to Finchs Landing for Christmas with a boy named Francis when he accuses Atticus of letting [them] run around with stray dogs and also of being a nigger-lover. This is a very significant incident in the novel and the writers intention was to enable Scout to express her opinion of Atticus as she does on p92 when she tells uncle Jack that [he] aint fair. She explains to him that when Jem and [her] fuss Atticus doesnt ever just listen to Jems side of it, he hears [her] side too. The way in which Atticus handles the children contrasts very much with the way in which Uncle Jack handles them in this incident and really emphasises and highlights to the reader Atticus fairness as a father, which the writer also demonstrated earlier in the novel. There is also a certain sense of humor and irony that comes from the way Scout seems to be telling her Uncle off. Scou t asks her Uncle what a whore-lady is and being put in this uncomfortable position, Jack completely avoids the question by plunging into a long tale about an old Prime Minister. Again, we as readers are able to compare the way in which Uncle Jack handles this sort of situation to the way in which Atticus does and I think that this is one of the writers main intentions. Atticus is given a chance to express both to the reader and to Uncle Jack about the way he feels adults should handle situations such as this and the reader realises the major differences between Atticus and the majority of other parents who would have probably acted as Uncle Jack had done. Atticus seems to understand and relate to children much better as he explains to Uncle Jack that children are children but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and an evasion quickly muddlesem We really begin to like and admire Atticus when we find out that Atticus has never laid a hand on [Scout] and Atticus also explains that Scout tries her best and that is all that matters. In chapter ten, we find out about Atticus dislike and uninterest in guns and rifles and he reminds Jem that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, an important lesson which Atticus knows will be needed later. Chapter ten also gives us Miss Maudies opinion of Atticus as the children complain to her about Atticus old age. Miss Maudie tell them hes the best chequer-player in his town and that he can play a Jews harp. The fact that the children find all of these things extremely boring and are rather ashamed of their father at this point is in my opinion Harper Lees intention. I believe it is her intention because when the children find out about their father being the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time this comes as much, much more of a shock to both the reader and the children. Scout and Jem learn something new about their father and their respect for him increases. It is a most crucial time for Atticus to have gained the childrens respect just before the trial days begin. During chapter eleven, Atticus is able to teach both Jem and Scout yet another very important and valuable lesson. Jem loses his temper with the outspoken, cantankerous old neighbor, Mrs. Dubose. In retaliation for the names she calls Atticus, Jem knocks off the heads of her camellias. Atticus is angry at Jems behavior and as a punishment Jem has to read to her everyday for a month. This gives the writer another chance to allow Atticus to teach the children another valuable lesson of allowing people to be entitled to their own opinions using the example of Mrs Dubose. The children also learn an important lesson of courage and by the time of her death, they realise it is wrong to judge others too quickly or too superficially. The reason as to why Harper Lee introduces the character of Aunt Alexandra into the novel is illustrated very well in chapter fourteen. Her views contrast very much to those of Atticus and as readers we are able to see the differences in the way Aunt Alex treats the children to the way Atticus does. An example of this is shown in chapter fourteen when Aunt Alex wants to get rid of Calpurnia. Atticus refuses however, as he has high regards for the cook and the arrival of his sister does not change that. We see how Aunt Alex always thinks of her narrow-minded prejudices before thinking of the children. This incident also shows us how quick Aunt Alexandra is to impose her own views on her brothers household. This demonstrates the extent of her own prejudice and intolerance contrasting to Atticus fair, understanding, honest opinions and views. Although Atticus has a huge amount of good points as a father which are portrayed throughout the novel by individual characters or by the way in which Atticus handles certain situations, Atticus has a number of bad points also revealed at times in the book. Some may believe that these bad points show that Atticus is in fact a bad parent, however my belief is that the writer intentionally included many of these points to reinforce the fact that Atticus, as heroic as he may seem is in fact only human and can therefore make mistakes also. Many of Atticus bad points are reflected upon at certain points in the book. A good example of this is in the beginning of chapter ten. I quote, Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries Scout also expresses to the reader Jems love for football and how Atticus was never to tired to play keep-away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him Atticus would say, Im too old for that, son. Scout then continues by talking about Atticus job and how Atticus did not do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone. At this early stage in the book, it is typical of Scout to make this sort of judgement about Atticus, however we can certainly see that as she evolves and grows up throughout the course of the novel, her attitude also changes from that of the above to one of much more respect and admiration for her father. I think that one of the writers main intentions here was for Scout to grow up through the book and learn more about Atticus as a person and also more about his character, opinions and views which she comes to recognise and admire by the end of the book. As Scout does so, we as readers also learn more about Atticus and this is one of the important ways in which we do so. Chapter thirteen shows us that Atticus in a sense may not be as brave as we have seen in other points in the novel. Atticus is a lawyer as we know and he is ineffective at putting his heart into saying something that he does not believe in. We can tell this by the way Atticus says your Aunt has asked me to implying that he himself does not actually believe in what he is saying and the children realise this very quickly. I think that when we as readers read this particular part of the book, we wonder why Atticus doesnt stand up to her sister instead of doing as she says unwillingly. This may be a weakness of Atticus which can be seen also at other times in the novel. There are three main instances throughout the course of the book in which Atticus appears to be very wrong in his views and opinions which, for a character like Atticus who plays such an heroic role in this book and to the reader is extremely rare. The first instance which Atticus is proven to be very wrong about is during chapter three when the children hear about Bob Ewells threaten to get [Atticus] if it took [him] the rest of his life. Atticus tells Jem and Scout, we dont have anything to fear from Bob Ewell, he got it all out of his system that morning. As readers, I feel that we do trust Atticus judgements very much as he so rarely makes any mistakes, however it seems here that Atticus almost has too much faith in mankind and Bob Ewell does in fact gain his revenge. The second instance is also in chapter twenty three when we learn from Scout that Atticus assured [them] that nothing would happen to Tom Robin son until the higher court reviewed his case, and that Tom had a good chance of going free. Again, the readers are lulled into a false sense of security, putting full faith in Atticus and his judgement. We do find out however, in chapter 24 that in fact Tom himself had no faith in Atticus and did not believe that he would be released and this may be what caused him to try and runaway which subsequently lead to his death. The last instance in which Atticus proves again to be very wrong in his beliefs is during chapter fifteenwhen he explains to Jem and Scout that we dont have mobs and that nonsense in Maycomb. We soon find out later in the very same chapter that in reality, Maycomb does have mobs and Atticus idealism backfires at him during this particular scene. It seems, knowing the above, that the author has included imperfections in the character of Atticus, idealism and having too much faith in mankind, some examples. My personal belief is that by including such examples of imperfections in Atticus character, makes him seem much more human like and more believable for the reader, rather than a faultless hero which we know is humanly impossible. I would like to briefly conclude this essay by saying that overall, I strongly do not agree with Atticus view that he is a complete failure as a father. My reasons for believing so are as stated earlier in this essay however I also believe that by simply making a few honest and unintentional mistakes, most of which I have stated above, does not make him any less of a good father. On the contrary, I strongly believe that the author intentionally illustrates imperfections in his character to make the readers recognise both Atticus strengths and weaknesses and realise that ultimately, nobody is perfect.

The Difference Between Transgender and Transsexual Women

The Difference Between Transgender and Transsexual Women Transgender and transsexual are commonly confused terms that both refer to gender identity. Transgender is a broader, more inclusive category that includes all individuals who do not identify with the gender that corresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth. Transsexual is a more narrow category that includes individuals who desire to physically transition to the sex that corresponds with the gender with which they identify. (Note that the word gender is usually used to refer to social and cultural roles, while sex refers to physical attributes.) All transsexual persons are transgender. However, not all transgender persons are transsexual. Transgender women are sometimes referred to as trans women. Some may also be known as male-to-female transsexuals, MTFs, transsexual women, transgirls, or tgirls.  The term transsexual  originated as a medical term  and is  sometimes considered pejorative. It is always best to ask a person which term is preferred. Transgender vs. Transsexual   Although they both refer to gender identity, transgender and transsexual are terms with distinct meanings. That they are often used interchangeably has led to some confusion. In most cases, a transgender woman is a woman who was designated (also commonly referred to as assigned) male at birth but who identifies as a woman. Some transgender women may use the term AMAB (assigned male at birth) in describing their identity. She may take steps to transition, but these steps do not necessarily involve surgery or physical alterations. She may dress as a woman, refer to herself as a woman, or use a feminine name. (Note that some trans men may use the term AFAB, or assigned female at birth.) Not all transgender persons, however, identify with the man/woman, masculine/feminine binary. Some identify as gender nonconforming, nonbinary, genderqueer, androgynous, or third gender. For this reason, it is important never to assume that a transgender person identifies with a particular gender nor to assume what pronouns a person uses. Transitioning A transsexual woman is one who desires to physically transition to the sex that corresponds with the gender with which she identifies. Transitioning often includes taking hormones to suppress the physical characteristics of her assigned gender. Many transsexual women in the U.S. take hormone supplements, which can promote breast growth, change vocal pitch, and contribute in other ways to a more traditionally feminine appearance.  A transsexual might  even undergo gender reassignment surgery (also referred to as gender confirmation surgery or gender affirming surgery), where the anatomical features of the gender and sex assigned at birth are physically altered or removed. Strictly speaking, theres no such thing as a sex change operation. A woman can elect to have cosmetic surgeries done to alter her physical appearance to match conventional norms associated with the gender with which she identifies, but anyone can have these procedures done, regardless of their gender identity. These surgeries are not limited to transsexual people. Gender Identity vs. Sexual Orientation Gender identity is often confused with sexual orientation. The latter, however, refers only to a persons enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people and is not related to gender identity. A transgender woman, for example, may be attracted to women, men, both, or neither and this orientation has no bearing on her gender identity. She may identify as gay or lesbian, straight, bisexual, asexual, or may not name her orientation at all. Transgender vs. Transvestite Transgender women are  often incorrectly identified as transvestites. A transvestite, however, is an individual who wears clothing primarily associated with  the gender with whom he or she does not identify. A man may prefer to dress as a woman, but this does not make him transgender if he does not identify as a woman.

During the 1950s and 1960s what methods did African American use to Essay

During the 1950s and 1960s what methods did African American use to get equal treatment - Essay Example frican-American leaders and organizations armed themselves with traditional and non-traditional methods of activism and engagement with a unified call for freedom, justice and equality. They sought good opportunities through lawsuits and labour organizations their aim was to end racial segregation through legal mechanisms and lobbying. Their best moment was the legal victory (Brown vs. Board of Education 1954) where the Supreme Court refused to separate white and colored school systems. The African-American leaders utilized the constitution guarantees and protections of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to overcome the prescribed second-class lifestyle that was largely enforced and accepted way of life among Africa-Americans. They used a host of intra-community resources and tactics which picked up through the use of; marches, sit-ins, bank-ins, protests, freedom rides and boycotts. These strategies that relied on the principles of non-violence radicalized a country comfortable with the use of violence and intimidation to keep the African-American in place. The first phase of the African-American protest began in December, 1955 when Rosa Parks from Montgomery, refused relinquish her seat to a white passenger in a bus. In so doing, she had defied the southern custom that required black passengers to give the white people seats that were towards the front of the bus. She was subsequently jailed and the boycott of the city buses’ commenced. Martin Luther King Jr. led the protest that lasted for more than a year. The boycott demonstrated the unity and determination the black community had to press for equality. This inspired other black community; even the advocates of the liberation viewed the black freedom struggle in global terms, as a movement for human rights and national self-determination for

Week 4 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Week 4 - Research Paper Example They utilize hooks to hold their tunics together (Clark 34). It is a taboo for men designed trousers to bear rumples (or creases). All married men ought to grow beards. Their garments dimensions are also a subject to their unique Ordnung family they belong (Clark 17). They also wed their relatives. Those who attempt to wed outside their fellow Amish are subject to excommunication. The Amish also have elevated rates of infant deaths accruing from genetic disorders which are passed to generations though their population retains stability despite the vast infant deaths (Clark 24). The Amish approach almost every life aspect with a â€Å"plain simplicity attitude†. This â€Å"simplicity† is depicted in the manner they handle individual tasks each at a time. They always bid their time when executing a distinct task and hold on it until it’s complete prior to attempting a subsequent task. They also regard variant types of work (or jobs) with equal balance. As a result, their overall life is summed up by a tranquil and relaxed lifestyle. In Genesis 3:19, God reveals his wrath after Adam and Eve contravened to his word. Adam and Eve had consumed the fruit from the â€Å"tree of knowledge† which they had been a forewarned by God not to consume. God affirms in this verse that work is a prerequisite for mankind survival. God also affirms that work is an inextricable part of human nature. In addition, God points out that work will always be accompanied by extreme exhausting hard labour. The overall meaning of this verse would imply that mankind is incomplete void of work. In 1962, Dorothy Day birthed a movement which campaigned for equal treatment upon the Catholic workers. She also deployed The Catholic worker journal to expose chief essential aspects which the contemporaneous society at the time contravened with (Falk & Rita 89). The aforementioned journal points out Days’ philanthropic devotion to spark societal change which resulted in the

Skeletal system Essay Example for Free

Skeletal system Essay 1. The general trend for bone density as a person ages is a steady decline as years pass. This study shows that every decade, males and females bone density slowly decreases. 2. Between the ages of 20-50 females lose about 11% of their bone density and males lose about 13% of their bone density. Males do in fact lose more density then females but they lose it at a more stable and steady rate. Females lose less density at more unstable rate going from about 6% (40-50) to about 9% (60-70). Males lose about 13-15% bone density between the ages of 50-80. 3. The female sex, show a greater change in bone density as age increases. The greatest decrease occurs at 40-70 years in a female’s life. 4. Yes, this directly correlates with the diminishment of a the female bone. Before the age of 50, women lose about 4% bone density, after the age of 50 (hormone is not produced) the loss of bone density increases by about 5% making the lose about 9% of its density. Task 2: 1. Bone growth in length occurs at the ends of the bones, in the cartilage plates. 2. Bone growth in diameter occurs on the outer surface of the bone. 3. During teen-age years, the osteoblasts divide more rapidly, resulting in a growth spurt. 4. By age 20, about 98% of our skeleton growth will be completed. However the hormones will also cause the growth centers at the ends of your bones to degenerate. 5. When growth stops, bone- forming cells are involved mainly in repair and maintenance of the bone.

price of greed :: essays research papers

The Price of Greed   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Argh matey! Welcome aboard the ship that will lead to a world of pirates. Lets be cautious now the sight of gold can make any man lust with greed and in a blink of an eye they are lost in a world of gluttony. Now will enter a place where the desire for more has taken control over many men that are now doomed. Pirates of the Caribbean: The curse of the Black Pearl is a tale of betrayal and greed; where the greed of man leads to a path of many riches but a life cursed without enrichment. The curse that will leave man always wanting more as well as the lost of their senses of life and feelings of emotions. The code of the pirates like many other codes establishes the rules pirates abide by. One of the rules the pirates go by is if a fellow shipmate gets left behind they stay behind. This gives significance to the word betrayal. In a pirate’s ship everyone is looking out for himself. This is similar to the real world where everyone is trying to get ahead and think of no one but himself or herself. Many choose the path of cheating and betrayals to climb the rope of success leaving behind no regrets and seeing ahead a future of fortune. The thinking of a pirate: fortune.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Captain Jack Sparrow is the captain of the Black Pearl until his crew plots against him to take over the ship. Empowered by greed they were led by a new voice, Barbosa, and left Jack Sparrow in an abandon island. The treasure they seek was Cortez’s gold coins. Even though stories told of a curse the pirates’ greed and need for treasure overtook their rationality. Cortez’s curse did not stop them from stealing and this just demonstrates how greed has the power to destroy the inner morals of any human being. The greed of many is like a craving that hits every second and it cannot be contained; it has to be satisfied. Captain Barbosa tells the story of Cortez’s cursed gold coins and what the curse has done to him and his crew. The curse has made them live forever without senses to taste or feel. They roam the sea looking for the day they could finally break the curse. Captain Barbosa now understood that his greed had taken away from him things he found no value to but now craves for it the most.

Taser-gun heist trio sent for trial

A 22-year-old white woman and two young Hispanic males are being sent for trial in Oklahoma County on charges of stunning a 50-year-old man with an electronic taser gun and then robbing him. During the attack they also beat their victim, kicked him and stabbed him.At a 13 April preliminary hearing, District Court Judge Gregory J Ryan was told that Crystal Grace Harris had taken their victim back to her motel room after she and their victim had spent the evening together at a local casino.The middle-aged man, identified only as â€Å"Mr Brown† during the hearing, said he had come out of the bathroom to discover Harris putting down her phone.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Two minutes later there was a knock on the door and these two guys came in,† Mr Brown told the Court. â€Å"That made me nervous because I thought I had been set up.†Ã‚  The two men, named as Ricky Lee Meza (22) and Robert E Hill (21), are alleged to have then attacked Mr Brown, beating him up, kicking him and stabbin g him before disabling him with a taser-gun shot.A taser gun, the Court was told, is a hand-held electronic weapon that fires barbs linked by wires to batteries. On touching their target the barbs deliver an electric shock of 50,000 volts-and-more, causing instant short-term paralysis.  After taking their victim’s wallet, money and the keys of his truck, Harris and her two accomplices had been able to get away from the motel before reception had been alerted that a robbery had taken place and called the police.With the incident having occurred in the early evening, there had been witnesses around who were able to say the three had driven off in an old grey-coloured Chevrolet Caprice. The witnesses were also able to tell police the direction the vehicle had taken.As a result of a chance encounter on the road, Harris and the two men were picked up and stopped by County police within 10 minutes of their getaway. A police car heading for the motel in response to the robbery cal l saw a grey Caprice with three occupants going in the opposite direction that matched the description of the getaway car, turned and stopped it after a short and uneventful chase.Identifying Hill as the driver of the car he had stopped, with Harris and Meza as the other people in the car with him, County Police Officer Chris Spillman told the Court that after he had arrested them he had found them to be in possession of Mr Brown’s wallet with his driving license, credit cards and other identifying documents, together with the $1,095 that Mr Brown had reported stolen, and Mr Brown’s truck keys.After Mr Brown had also positively identified Harris, Hill and Meza as the group who had attacked and robbed him, Judge Ryan said he was satisfied he had heard enough evidence to justify sending all three of them for trial on a count of robbery with a dangerous weapon and a second count of stealing Mr Brown’s wallet, money and car keys.  It is understood that at the full jury trial they will also be charged with assault-and-battery arising out of having shot Mr Brown with the taser gun.Bail for Crystal Harris was set at $27,000, with $5,000 for Hill and $3,000 for Meza.  The case has been listed for jury trial on 2 May.Commentary from Our Court Correspondent Oklahoma’s State Constitution provides for a preliminary Court hearing before a Judge to establish whether enough sound, prima facie evidence exists to justify a case being referred for full jury trial. Only at a full jury trial will the alleged offenders be found guilty or not guilty of the charges against them.This is an historic constitutional safeguard to test whether a State prosecution is warranted as legitimate and whether there is a good factual basis for it.Very importantly, one purpose of the preliminary-hearing process is to make sure no one sits in jail waiting to be tried without a reason that has been properly tested before a Judge in Court.Basically, the preliminary hear ing seeks to determine two things: one, is to determine that an indictable crime has actually been committed; and, two, is to establish that there is sound evidence that the defendant or defendants did it.In this case, Mr Brown is alleging that Crystal Harris, Ricky Lee Meza and Robert Hill attacked him, beat him, kicked him, stabbed him, shot a taser weapon at him, took his money and other possessions and fled.As District Court Judge Gregory J Ryan commented to students after the preliminary hearing: â€Å"I’m not making the final determination. I’m just there to make sure that the allegations that the State is arguing have some merit in them — which, in my opinion, they probably have.â€Å"Mr Brown is able to identify all three individuals. Then they (the State) put a police officer on the stand who testified that after the victim had gone into the lobby and said he had been robbed, the police put out an immediate description of the grey-coloured Chevy Capri ce with two Hispanic males and one white female and the direction they had taken.â€Å"Then there was the second police officer who testified he had heard that report and he had just started to head in the direction of the motel when he saw the car go by, chased it and stopped it.â€Å"And he found those three people in the car and after he had arrested them he found the victim’s wallet, victim’s driver’s license and credit cards and another ID in it. And the $1,095 in the wallet that Mr Brown had said was in the wallet, as well as his car key.†As Judge Ryan said: â€Å"I’m not making the final determination. I’m just there to make sure that the allegations that the State is arguing have some merit in them — which, in my opinion, they probably have.†

What Is Cheating?

If a survey was conducted to find out what most persons considered cheating in a relationship the majority of people would say, any sexual involvement with another person that is not your spouse or partner. The WordNet defines cheating as the act of being unfaithful to a spouse or lover. Adulterer, cheater, two-timer or â€Å"player† are all words that describe someone that cheats. These are all words to describe someone that is unfaithful, disloyal, dishonest and untrustworthy in a relationship. What really is cheating in a relationship? Cheating is not just an act of sexual involvement. Cheating is any emotion or act that is a hindrance to an exclusive and committed relationship. Dawn and David were married for five years with two kids. David had spent most of his time at the office while Dawn took care of the kids. David was in the real estate business so he was always meeting new people. One day he met a lady, Stephanie. Stephanie and David exchanged email addresses so that they can further discuss real estate business. An innocent chat that was supposed to be strictly business lead to something more emotional. Over a period of six months David and Stephanie developed feelings for each other. Every night and day he found himself constantly chatting to Stephanie. One night they both expressed that they truly loved each other even though they were in committed relationships. David got a divorce and started a relationship with Stephanie. In this incidence David and Stephanie did not have sexual intercourse. However, they developed a strong bond where eventually they fell in love. David spent most of his time chatting with Stephanie. Stephanie got to know his feelings and thoughts something that only his wife should be able to relate to. He isolated his wife and looked to another figure as someone he could communicate with. Some might say that expressing feelings through instant messaging and texting to another individual other than your spouse or partner is not cheating. Why? – Because they can’t see or touch you. How is this not cheating when eventually you are developing feelings for that particular individual? Cheating is developing an emotional bond with another person that is not your spouse or lover. Lust, a strong sexual desire. Yes, this is the word to describe what goes on in spouse’s or partner’s head when they attend a strip club or watch pornography. Some may find it fascinating and just simply fun to attend a strip club. They might consider this not cheating because they are just â€Å"hanging† with the guys or having fun. How is this not cheating when they are lusting after an individual that is not their â€Å"significant other†? If you lust after a guy or girl that you just saw walking down the street or have been working with for years, you are cheating. Cheating is lusting about someone that you are not committed to. Many persons would say that it hurts more to know that their wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend has â€Å"slept† with another person. They would consider this act truly cheating. It is when a sexual act is committed they betrayed. I want to know how they would truly feel if they knew that their significant other developed a bond with another instead of just â€Å"fooling around†. How would they feel if they knew that there was no sexual involvement but they still love them because of who they are? How would they feel if they said that they are leaving them for the girl/guy that works at the strip club? Will it be too late for them to realize that lusting and developing emotions are considered cheating?

Coca (Cocaine) History, Domestication, and Use

Coca (Cocaine) History, Domestication, and Use Coca, the source of natural cocaine, is one of a handful of shrubs in the Erythroxylum family of plants. Erythroxylum includes over 100 different species of trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs native to South America and elsewhere. Two of the South American species, E. coca and E. novogranatense, have potent alkaloids occurring in their leaves, and those leaves have been used for their medicinal and hallucinogenic properties for thousands of years. E. coca originates from the montaà ±a zone of the eastern Andes, between 500 and 2,000 meters (1,640-6,500 feet)  above sea level. The earliest archaeological evidence of coca use is in coastal Ecuador, ca 5,000 years ago. E. novagranatense is known as Colombian coca and it is more able to adapt to different climates and elevations; it first up in northern Peru beginning about 4,000 years ago. Coca Use The ancient method of Andean cocaine use involves folding coca leaves into a quid and placing it between the teeth and the inside of the cheek. An alkaline substance, such as powdered wood ash or baked and powdered seashells is then transferred into the quid using a silver awl or pointed tube of limestone. This method of consumption was first described to Europeans by the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who met coca users when he visited the coast of northeastern Brazil, in AD 1499. Archaeological evidence shows the procedure is much older than that. Coca use was part of ancient Andean daily life, an important symbol of cultural identity in ceremonies, and used medicinally as well. Chewing coca is said to be good for relief of fatigue and hunger, beneficial for gastrointestinal illnesses, and said to ease the pain of dental caries, arthritis, headaches, sores, fractures, nosebleed, asthma, and impotence. Chewing coca leaves also is believed to ease the effects of living in high altitudes.   Chewing more than 20-60 grams (.7-2 ounces) of coca leaves results in a cocaine dose of 200-300 milligrams, equivalent to one line of powdered cocaine. Coca Domestication History The earliest evidence of coca use discovered to date comes from a handful of preceramic sites in the Nancho Valley. Coca leaves have been direct-dated by AMS to 7920 and 7950 cal BP. Artifacts associated with coca processing were also found in contexts dated as early as 9000-8300 cal BP. What is the AMS dating method?What does cal BP mean? Evidence for coca use has also been from in caves in the Ayacucho valley of Peru, within levels dated between 5250-2800 cal BC. Evidence for coca use has been identified from most cultures in South America, including Nazca, Moche, Tiwanaku, Chiribaya and Inca cultures. According to ethnohistoric records, horticulture and use of coca became a state monopoly in the Inca empire about AD 1430. The Inca elites restricted use to the nobility beginning in the 1200s, but coca continued to widen in use until all but lowest classes had access at the time of the Spanish conquest. Archaeological Evidence of Coca Use Nanchoc valley sites (Peru), 8000-7800 cal BPAyacucho valley caves (Peru), 5250-2800 cal BCValdivia culture (3000 BC) of coastal Ecuador (may represent long-distance trade or domestication)Peruvian coast (2500-1800 BC)Nazca figurines (300 BC-AD 300)Moche (AD 100-800) pots illustrate a bulging cheek, and coca leaves in gourds have been recovered from Moche tombsTiwanaku by AD 400Arica, Chile by AD 400The Cabuza culture (ca AD 550) mummies buried with coca quids in their mouths In addition to the presence of coca quids and kits, and the artistic depictions of coca use, archaeologists have used the presence of excessive alkali deposits on human teeth and alveolar abscesses as evidence. However, it isnt clear whether abscesses are caused by coca use, or treated by coca use, and results have been ambiguous about using excessive calculus on teeth. Beginning in the 1990s, gas chromatography was used to identify cocaine use in mummified human remains, particularly the Chirabaya culture, recovered from the Atacama Desert of Peru. The identification of BZE, a metabolic product of coca (benzoylecgonine), in hair shafts, is considered ample evidence of coca use, even for modern-day users. Coca Archaeological Sites San Lorenzo del Mate (Ecuador), 500 BC-AD 500, adult male interment with excessive calculus deposits on his teeth, an associated decorated shell spatula and a small bowl-like deposit of an alkali substance (probably once in a gourd)Las Balsas (Ecuador) (300 BC-AD 100). Cal receptaclePLM-7, Arica site in coastal Chile, 300 BC, coca kitPLM-4, Tiwanakoid sites in Chile with a bag full of coca leavesLlullallaco, Argentina, Inca period child sacrifices exhibited coca consumption prior to death Sources: Bussmann R, Sharon D, Vandebroek I, Jones A, and Revene Z. 2007. Health for Sale: The Medicinal Plant Markets in Trujillo and Chiclayo, Northern Peru. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3(1):37.Cartmell LW, Aufderheide AC, Springfield A, Weems C, and Arriaza B. 1991. The Frequency and Antiquity of Prehistoric Coca-Leaf-Chewing Practices in Northern Chile: Radioimmunoassay of a Cocaine Metabolite in Human-Mummy Hair. Latin American Antiquity 2(3):260-268.Dillehay TD, Rossen J, Ugent D, Karathanasis A, Vsquez V, and Netherly PJ. 2010. Early Holocene coca chewing in northern Peru. Antiquity 84(326):939-953.Gade DW. 1979. Inca and colonial settlement, coca cultivation and endemic disease in the tropical forest. Journal of Historical Geography 5(3):263-279.Ogalde JP, Arriaza BT, and Soto EC. 2009. Identification of Psychoactive Alkaloids in Ancient Andean Human Hair by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Archaeological Science 36(2):467-472.Plowman T. 1981 Amazonian co ca. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 3(2-3):195-225. Springfield AC, Cartmell LW, Aufderheide AC, Buikstra J, and Ho J. 1993. Cocaine and Metabolites in the Hair of Ancient Peruvian Coca Leaf Chewers. Forensic Science International 63(1-3):269-275.Ubelaker DH, and Stothert KE. 2006. Elemental Analysis of Alkalis and Dental Deposits Associated with Coca Chewing in Ecuador. Latin American Antiquity 17(1):77-89.Wilson AS, Brown EL, Villa C, Lynnerup N, Healey A, Ceruti MC, Reinhard J, Previgliano CH, Araoz FA, Gonzalez Diez J et al.  2013. Archaeological, radiological, and biological evidence offer insight into Inca child sacrifice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110(33):13322-13327.

Think Personal Development is Optional Think Again

Think Personal Development is Optional Think Again Many of my blog articles are about topics that might fall under â€Å"personal development.† These articles are often my favorites to write, and yet there’s sometimes a voice in my head saying, â€Å"Brenda, your readers want to read about something practical! Don’t go overboard here or get too â€Å"woo-woo.† An article I read today gave me encouragement to keep writing these â€Å"self-growth† or â€Å"personal development† articles. August Turak, author of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks, wrote a piece for Forbes that spoke to me strongly. In it, he lamented that the business world and much of society compartmentalizes personal growth as if it’s something we do on the side to get somewhere or get business results- including becoming a better leader. On the contrary! Turuk argues vehemently that the essence of leadership is to use every opportunity as a means for personal growth. Become a CEO to grow yourself rather than growing yourself so you can get that CEO position. Focus on your higher mission or spiritual development- and success in other aspects of life will be a natural by-product. He asserts, â€Å"The reason you were born is to become the best human being you can possibly be.† So make personal development your mission, rather than using it as a â€Å"means to a more limited end.† Turak holds up the example of Fyodor Dostoevsky, who wrote some of the world’s most classic Russian novels. Said Dostoevsky, â€Å"Man is a mystery. If you spend your entire life trying to puzzle it out do not say that you’ve wasted your time. I occupy myself with this mystery because I want to be a man.† I personally must cop to doing personal growth trainings in part so I will succeed in business, in relationships, in my health, and in every aspect of my life. I have also done what Turak advocates so strongly: taken on new ventures and new relationships with the intention of having those challenges contribute to my growth. Even within my personal development circles, such as my learning group with the Wright training I’m in right now, I take risks and stretch myself in every way I can. That is the fastest path to growth and to being a fully realized human being. This journey is never over, and the puzzle will never be solved. That’s what makes it so worthwhile, regardless of whether I become as successful in business as the Trappist monks. I, for one, intend to keep exploring the mystery. Category:For ClientsBy Brenda BernsteinJanuary 20, 2014

Feminist Analysis of TV Show 30 Rock Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Feminist Analysis of TV Show 30 Rock - Essay Example This factor threatens male egocentricity. Feminine perceptions are more humanistic. This is manifested in the show 30 Rock and its popularity. Feminists with Marxist perceptions would place emphasis on the manner in which the social systems and motivations of capital gain have hindered the humane feminist values from coming to light. Feminists with a radical perspective would conclude that the subduction of this feminist approach is a result of male egocentricity. This is also due to society's insistence of sexual orientation, rather than making allowances for individual freedom of choice. There is also the insistence of the perception of the consumption oriented nuclear family. Feminists who maintain a liberal perspective perceive things in a different light ( Kaplan : 252). The feminine perspective is essential to the male dominated society as demonstrated by the relationship between Liz (Tina Fey) and Jack (Alex Baldwin). There exists the possibility of interchanging sexual identi ties. In order to totally become human, different perspectives must be adapted. The American television series 30 Rock, demonstrates the interchange of roles between masculine and feminine genders. Prior to the 1990s, during the era of 1963- 1980, females were only portrayed as sexual objects or for the fulfillment of masculine needs. The sexual objects and need fillers were put into place in order to fulfill the masculine requirements and desires. This resulted in the feminist desire to eradicate this type of subduction (Kaplan : 253). There are three categories of feminist, each with a specific motivation and objective ( Kaplan :252). The feminist perspectives which were popularized in the 1990s are still popular today. The first category of feminist evaluation and research requires that the members of the female gender be treated as peers. This venue has two possible outcomes. One approach may conclude with domesticated feminism. This is representative of feminine roles of the ni neteenth century. The second possible outcome of this venue is a liberal female female perspective, which is more representative of the present. From my feminist perspective, Liz (Tina Fey) is the embodiment of both. In the liberal feminine perspective, females are allowed to vie within the institutional framework for equal rights to employment and self determination. This requires that the female be perceived as a peer. This perception by society includes the rights and obligations of equal treatment. This perspective has resulted in the American male adopting the roles in the household which would be normally classified as feminine such as cooking, cleaning, babysitting (Kaplan: 254). A primary type of feminine role perception exists in Diana Meehan's Ladies of the Evening: Woman Characters in Prime Time Television. The second category of feminine television production is viewed by the â€Å"pre- Althusserian Marxist† feminist perspective. This perspective perceives televis ion as an extension of capitalist society. These theorist propose that television interests are founded upon the manipulation of the television viewer as a consumer Kaplan: 257). A third category of feminist evaluation arises from the radical feminist perspective. In this perspective, the female gender is perceived as superior. Liz (Tina Fey) perceives herself as superior, she does not need a relationship with a man. Liz (Tina Fey) can get things done by herself.

Should Abortion Be Legalized Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Should Abortion Be Legalized - Research Paper Example Though abortion had been a vehemently disputed issue, and authorities stated it as crime, the same has obtained the legal status during the second half of the twentieth century. Since abortion is completely the personal matter for women, which not only relieves unnecessary domestic, financial and social burden from the very back of women but also leaves positive impact on their health and fitness, it must have legal status in every country of the globe, and mothers should have the right to decide about the fate of their unborn children without any interference from statute of law or social norms and cultural values prevailing in their social establishment. There was a time when abortion was criticized and censured by an overwhelming majority of the people in almost all parts of the world. The people widely looked down upon the act and declared it a serious sin, injustice, and crime against religious, moral and ethical principles being followed. The dogmatists particularly condemned a nd rebuked the practice by declaring it as an obnoxious act against humanity at large, which is equally heinous to the murder of a born individual. The religious people were of the view that since Nature had allowed the unborn child to enter the world, without entering into the debate that whether he is legitimate or illegitimate, no human should have the right to stop his way to arriving in the world at any cost. Another main reason behind opposing abortion was this that the person(s) responsible for the same were regarded as the murderers of an innocent life, which neither had any contribution in arriving in the world nor did he had the power to defend himself from the cruel clutches ready to take his life before birth even. Thus, taking the life of a harmless, defenseless and innocent unborn was undoubtedly a serious crime against society in the eyes of the religious-minded people as well as for the moralists in past. It is, therefore, the act of abortion always invited displeasu re and abhorrence of a large number of the population for the last several centuries, and people always maintained very negative opinion regarding the act. Animistic religion tends to regard abortion as a direct attack on the vital principles of nature. Similarly, Abrahamic faiths including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, do not allow any step even that advances towards abortion, as the Old Testament states: â€Å"Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of Yahweh your God, obeying His voice, clinging to Him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers... (Dt 30:19-20). It is, therefore, the legalization of abortion had not been taken into consideration altogether till the end of the nineteenth century. Somehow, time took the drastic turn, and society started entering into debates and discussions in respect of the validity of abortion in the best interest of women and society. T he supporters of abortion argue that since the mother is the major sufferer before and after the birth of children, she should have been granted the permission to decided whether the child should be born or not.

Risk Assessment for Retail Property Investments in Ireland and Europe Essay

Risk Assessment for Retail Property Investments in Ireland and Europe - Essay Example The rise of disposable income (predicted to exceed 100 billion by 2010) and population growth in Ireland are the reasons that led to the escalation of the retail property segment. The retail investments contributed 52% of the total property investments in 2006. Retail parks and retail outlet centres have shown the most prominent growth in the retail sector since the year 1990. Some counties in Ireland like Leitrim and Roscommon do not have any shopping centre facilities at all while others like Laois, Kilkenny, Carlow, Westmeath and Louth are oversupplied (Market News, 2006). The oversupply is a cause of concern for the retailers as it leads to more competition. The depression in the housing market, rising unemployment and other adverse economic conditions have affected the spending capacity of the customers in a negative fashion (Retail sector becoming more competitive, 2008). Fig. 1 shows the pedestrian foot fall in the first three months of 2008 on the two main streets of Dublin i.e. Grafton Street (down 9% as compared to the previous five years) and Henry Street (down 12%)(Finfacts Team, 2008). However the conditions in Ireland are better than in other European nations. There is a vast scope of foreign retail investments in the country as compared to other European countries. The spending power of people is superior and the economic conditions are favourable for the retail expansion than those in other countries of Europe. The growth of the property sector also depends on the global economic scenario. The availability of funds from the banks for new ventures in the retail sector will also hamper its growth. There is a concern about the oversupply and resulting stagnation as happened in the housing market. The investors must make sure that the overdevelopment does not have a negative impact on the rental and capital values. As shown in the fig.2 the rents in a major street in Dublin are very high compared to other countries in Europe and are stable over a couple of years, with retail shopping centres making the major contribution (Finfacts Team, 2008a). Fig.2 (Finfacts Team, 2008) The current scenario in the retail market in other European nations is as follows: There is a vast scope of retail development and investment in the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The retail sector is not fully developed yet and offers a great possibility of economic expansion. Eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic have saturated retail markets in major cities and the focus of development is shifting to smaller regions. There is a huge retail investment opportunities in form of shopping malls and retail stores in Central European countries like Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia. Portugal and Denmark will mark more than normal retail trade expansion. Demand in these countries is more than supply, making them potential development prospects. UK is likely to experience a slowdown in the retail market investments as shown in fig.3. Fig.3 (Finfacts Team,

Production Of Speech Sounds English Language Essay

Production Of Speech Sounds English Language Essay The production of speech sounds involves two essential components: initiating a flow of air in and through the vocal tract; Some method of shaping or articulating the air-stream so as to generate a specific type of sound articulation; A third component, present in most, but not all sounds phonation. Initiation Initiators: lungs in English the only initiator (in other languages also closed glottis or tongue (combined with velar closure). Lungs sponges that can fill in with the air, contained within the rib cage. The expiratory air stream is further processed to bronchi, then to trachea/windpipe and then the larynx  [1]  . The space between the vocal cords/vocal folds is the glottis. Articulation Organs participating in articulation are called articulators (above the larynx): Pharynx  [2]   a tube stretching from above the larynx, its top end is divided into two parts: One part being the back of the mouth; The other part beginning off the way through the nasal cavity. In the production of English sounds it serves mainly as a container of a volume of air that is set into vibration in accordance with the vocal folds vibration  [3]   Oral cavity plays the most important role. It is within the oral cavity that the greatest variety of articulatory motions occurs. The articulatory organs in the mouth: i/ passive the maxilla, the teeth, the alveolar ridge, the hard palate. ii/ active the jaw, the lower lip, the soft palate. The velum/soft palate raised (the airflow cannot escape through the nose) or lowered a (the air passes through the nose). The most active organ in the mouth is the tongue. The tongue: the tip (apex), the blade (dorsum) and the root (radix). The outer end of the mouth is provided with the upper and lower lip. The vibration of the vocal folds inside the larynx/voice box produces the sound of voice and this process is called phonation. The larynx is situated in the neck. It has several parts; its main structure is made of cartilage (material similar to bone but less hard). The larynx consists of four cartilages: 1 cartilago thyreoidea 2 cartilago cricoidea 3 cartilagines arytenoideae 4 epiglottis covering the entrance into the larynx Inside the larynx there are vocal folds (two thick flaps of muscle rather like a pair of lips). At the front the vocal folds are joined together and fixed to the inside of the thyroid cartilage. At the back they are attached to a pair of small cartilages called arytenoid cartilages, so that if the arytenoid cartilages move, the vocal folds will move too. The arytenoid cartilages are attached to the top of the cricoid cartilage but they can move so as to move the vocal folds apart or together. The term glottis is used to refer to the opening between the vocal folds. States of the glottis: 1. Not vibrating: 1) If the vocal folds are closely together and they part after the final phase of articulation Voiceless Plosives 2) If the vocal folds are loosely open, no vibration, no voice is produced Voiceless Fricatives and Affricates are produced. 3) If the vocal folds are held closely only in their front part, the cartilage-like part is set apart Glottal Fricative (the sound /h/) is produced. 2. Vibrating: Further narrowing of the glottis brings it into position for the production of voice. The vocal folds can be held closely together and vibrate. This produces tones /vowels. The vocal folds can be loosely together and their vibration is weak. This produces: Voiced Plosives, Affricates and Fricatives. The number of cycles of opening and closing the glottis per second is referred to as the fundamental frequency of voice (Hz). A single cycle happens in the region of 1/100th second, therefore, the cycle repeats at the rates in the region of between approximately 80-200 cycles per second. This rate is far too rapid for the human ear to be able to distinguish each individual opening /closing of the folds. However, human ear is able to perceive variations in the overall rate of vibration as changes in the pitch of the voice  [4]  . The vibration averages roughly between 200 and 300 times per second in a womans voice and about half that rate in adult men. Acoustic aspect Sound is formed by means of the vibration of air molecules and is transmitted in sound waves in all directions. The voice comes into existence on the basis of vocal folds vibration. The periodic vibration gives rise to tone, whereas aperiodic vibration results in the production of noise. The tone is characterized by three basic qualities: The pitch given by the frequency of the vibrations in cps. The pitch is in direct proportion to the number of cps and in indirect proportion to the cycles period. The intensity is the amount of energy transmitted through the air. It is related to the amplitude of vibration. The intensity is proportionate to the square of the amplitude. The timbre is given by the composition of the tone. Simple tones are non existent because any object vibrates not only as a whole but also in its individual parts. The vocal folds vibrate in such a manner that in addition to the fundamental frequency (a basic vibration over their length) they produce a number of overtones or harmonics which are simple multiples of the fundamental or first harmonic. The combination of these components makes up the acoustic spectrum. A visible recording of speech is produced by computer analysis and it refers to the following dimensions: Time / duration on the horizontal axis, given in ms Frequency on the vertical axis, given in cycles per second Intensity indicated by relative blackness of the markings. The component bands are called formants and are numbered from bottom upwards. It is the first two formants (F1 and F2) that contribute most to the distinctive character of the vowels. From articulatory point of view F1 is correlated with tongue height (the pharyngeal formant), F2 with front-to-back tongue placing (the oral formant). Auditory aspect The perception of a sound is mediated by the brain rather than by ear itself. The ear has three major functions: To collect stimuli To transmit them To analyze them. The upper limit of frequency which can be perceived is maximum 20, 000 cps. The ear is subdivided into the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear leads to the ear drum. The middle ear is a small air-filled cavity containing a chain of three tiny bones connected to the ear drum at one end and the inner ear at the other. The main part of the inner ear is the cochlea shaped like a snails shell whose function is to convert sound vibrations into nerve impulses. Speech sounds are perceived in terms of four categories (pitch, loudness, quality and length). The categories are subjective and must not be equated exactly with the related physiological and physical categories. Consonants: Plosives, Fortis Lenis The differences between vowels and consonants are in the way they are produced (vowels voices, consonants noises); vowels fulfill the role of the peak of the syllable whereas consonants fulfill the marginal function.. Classification of consonants see Chart of Consonants (P. Roach, p.62). It is customary to divide consonants into several groups according to several criteria. The most important are: According to their place of articulation According to their manner of articulation A/ Classification according to the manner of articulation: The articulators involved form a closure: /p, t, k/; /b, d, g /. The consonants produced in this way are called Stops/Plosives. The articulators involved form a narrowing (as for /f, v, s, z,  Ã¢â‚¬ ,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾,  Ã¢â‚¬Å",  Ã… ¡, h/). The consonants produced in this way are called Fricatives. The articulators form a closure combined with a narrowing (as for t Ã¢â‚¬Å", d Ã… ¡). The consonants produced in this way are called Affricates. Plosives As for place of articulation: bilabial, apico-alveolar, velar. Plosives four phases (approach, hold, release, post-release). Distributions All the three plosives in all positions: initial, medial and final. Initial position: CV In /p, t, k/ during the transition to voiced sound the wide-open glottis takes some time to close sufficiently so that the vocal folds can start vibrating, consequently there is a period of voicelessness aspiration (puff of air). Final position: VC The syllables closed by voiceless consonants are considerably shorter than those that are open, or closed by voiced consonants. Fricatives They include /f,  Ã¢â‚¬ , s, v,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾, z, h/. Manner of articulation: Two organs are brought and held sufficiently close together for the escaping air-stream to produce strong friction. This friction may or may not be accompanied by voice. A/ Place of articulation: /f, v/ labiodental / Ã¢â‚¬ , Ã¢â‚¬Å¾/ dental /s, z/ alveolar / Ã¢â‚¬Å",  Ã… ¡/ palato-alveolar /h/- glottal Length of the preceding sound: The value of the final /f,  Ã¢â‚¬ , s, v,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾, z/ is determined by the length of the syllable which they close. Dental fricatives: / Ã¢â‚¬ ,  Ã¢â‚¬Å¾/ / Ã¢â‚¬ / spelling: always th distribution: word initial, word medial, word final; word initial clusters, word final clusters / Ã¢â‚¬Å¾/ spelling: always th distribution: word initial, word medial, word final; word initial clusters /d/ does not occur in initial clusters, word final clusters Manner place of articulation: The tip of the tongue makes a light contact with the edge and inner surface of the upper front teeth. With some speakers the tongue-tip may protrude through the teeth. Affricates Affricates are complex consonants, beginning as plosives and ending as fricatives (Roach). Palato-alveolar Affricates /t Ã¢â‚¬Å", d/ /t Ã¢â‚¬Å"/ when final in syllable: effect of reducing the length of the preceding sounds. Nasals Bilabial nasal /m/ Alveolar nasal: / Ã‚ ®/ Velar nasal: / Ã… ½/ (spellings: ng or n followed by a letter indicating a velar consonant: tongue, anxious) distribution: word medial: singer, hanger, anxiety; word medial + g: finger, angle, angry, hunger; word medial + k: anchor, monkey, donkey; word final: sing, wrong, tongue; word final + k: sink, rank; word final syllabic: bacon, taken, organ Roach: rules for the pronunciation of the nk and ng digraphs: in nk the /k/ is always pronounced in ng the following /g/ is pronounced in mono-morphemic words (finger, anger, linger) and in comparatives superlatives of adjectives (younger, the longest) otherwise the /g/ following the / Ã… ½/ is never pronounced!!! Laterals Articulatory features: articulated by means of a partial closure, on one or both sides of which the air-stream is able to escape through the mouth. Only one, alveolar, lateral consonant occurs in E. Within the /l/ phoneme 3 main variants occur: a/ clear /l/, with a relatively front vowel resonance, before vowels and /j/ Roach /i/ resonance b/ voiceless /l/ following accented (aspirated) /p, k/ (less considerable devoicing after /f, s,  Ã¢â‚¬ /, or weakly accented /p, t, k/) c/ dark /l/, with a relatively back vowel resonance, finally after a vowel, before a consonant, and as a syllabic sound following a consonant Roach u resonance Clear /l/ the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate at the same time as the tip contact is made. Dark /l/ the front of the tongue somewhat depressed and the back raised in the direction of the soft palate. Approximants /r/ Distribution: word initial (red, raw), word medial, intervocalic (mirror, very), word final /r-link/ (far away, poor old man); in consonantal clusters (price, crow) Manner place of articulation: the tip of the tongue held in a position near to, but not touching, the rear part of the alveolar ridge. Lip position according to the following vowel. BBC /r/ distribution: only before a vowel. /j/ palatal /w/ labio-velar English vowels: short vowels long vowels Vowels are specified in terms of 3 parameters: vertical tongue position (high low; close half-close half-open open) horizontal tongue position (front back) lip-position (unrounded rounded) In accented syllables the so-called long vowels are fully long when they are final or in a syllable closed by a voiced consonant, but they are considerably shortened when they occur in a syllable closed by a voiceless consonant. The same considerable shortening before fortis consonants applies also to the diphthongs. Diphthongs The sequences of vocalic elements included under the term diphthong are those which form a glide within one syllable. They have a 1st element (the starting point) and a 2nd element (the point in the direction of which the glide is made). BBC diphthongs: 1st element is in the general region of / Ã¢â‚¬ °, e, a, ÊÅ  , Ɔ , Æ / 2nd element is in the general region of / Ã¢â‚¬ °, ÊÅ  , Æ / division into closing (direction towards / Ã¢â‚¬ °, ÊÅ  / and centering (direction towards /Æ /. Generalizations referring to all RP diphthongs: 1/ Most of the length and stress associated with the glide is concentrated on the 1st element, the 2nd one is only lightly sounded; in Slovak the ratio between the lengths of the two elements1:1, in English it is approximately 2:1; 2/ They are equivalent in length to long vowels and are subject to the same variations in length; in the reduced forms there is a considerable shortening of the 1st element; 3/ No diphthong occurs before /ņ¹/; Phonetics Phonology Phonetics phonology are the two linguistic sciences investigating the phonic aspect of language communication and its generalization in the minds of the language users. Phonetics investigates the phonic material of speech (the sounds). The speech sounds are analyzed from two aspects; Aspect of the speaker/producer; Hearer/receiver. The former aspect covers the activity of articulatory organs, the latter: the transmission of acoustic entities perceived by the listener and the process of decoding. According to the subject of investigation, phonetics is further subdivided into: i/ genetic/articulatory production of speech sounds ii/ acoustic transmission of sounds, acoustic characteristics of speech sounds iii/ auditory perception of speech sounds Phonology speech sounds from the aspect of their function they fulfill within a linguistic system, how they are organized into systems, how they are utilized in languages and what the relationships among them are. We can divide speech up into segments and we can find great variety in the way these segments are made (their pronunciation differs from speaker to speaker; even the same speaker never pronounces the same segment in the same way. But there is an abstract set of units as the basis of our speech; otherwise we would not be able to understand other speakers of the same language, communication among people would be impossible. These units are called phonemes, and the complete set of these units is called the phonemic system of the language. The phonemes themselves are abstract (the sound patterns stored in our mental grammar), we do not produce phonemes, we produce sounds or phones. Phonemes are the minimal sequential contrastive units of the phonology of languages, (Catford). contrastive: phonemes are contrastive in the sense that they are the bits of sound that distinguish one word from another: bit , pit: solely by the contrast between the initial consonants /p/ /b/ the two words are distinguished. The bits of sound manifesting these contrasts are phonemes. minimal: phonemes are minimal units, because if you take a stretch of speech and chop it up into a sequence of phonological units, the shortest stretch of speech sounds that functions as a contrastive unit in the buildup of the phonological forms of words is the phoneme. The phonological structure of English, like that of other languages, can be described as a hierarchy of units. The largest, or most inclusive, unit in English is the intonation contour or tone-group: Jane was here yesterday. We can chop up each tone-unit into smaller units, namely into successive rhythmic units, or feet: (the fact that these feet are contrastive, meaning differentiating units, is demonstrated by the fact that we could divide the utterance into feet differently, and this would convey a slightly different meaning). Next, we can divide each foot into still smaller chunks, namely into a sequence of syllables. Finally, we can divide up each syllable into a sequence of still smaller units and here it is necessary for us to go into phonetic transcription: At this point we can do no further chopping. We have reached the lowest rank in the phonological hierarchy, the smallest sequential; or linear units phonemes. There are no smaller meaning-differentiating units. Sequential: following in sequence. Phoneme an abstract unit operating on the level language as a system. Symbols Transcription Types of Transcription 1/i/ Phonological transcription, phonemic transcription: The choice of symbols is limited to one symbol per one phoneme. 2/ Phonetic transcription: Very detailed, each single realization of a sound is recorded. The Syllable Human beings cannot produce a sound smaller than a syllable. The syllable seems to be the essential unit of speech segmentation and speech recognition. J. Lavers definition of the phonological syllable is as follows: The syllable is a complex unit, made up of nuclear and marginal elements. Nuclear elements are vowels, and marginal elements are consonants. A/ Languages differ in syllable types: The minimum syllable V (I, Oh); CV (consonantal beginning an onset): (e.g. me) open syllable; VC (consonantal end a coda): (e.g. am) closed syllable; Some syllables have both onset and coda: (e.g. him). The most common type of syllable among the languages of the world is CV. CVC is also common among the languages of the world. English syllables: a wide variety of syllable types, both open and closed. B/ Languages also differ on constraints on the segments which can occur at the beginning or end of a syllable. No syllable in E can begin with /ņ¹/; /Ê’/ and /ÊÅ  / are rare. Almost any consonant can occur in syllable-final position, except for /h/, /j/, /w/, /r/ (only in rhotic accents). Syllable types in E: Beginning: a vowel (see the constraints above), one, two or three consonants. Ending: a vowel, one, two, three or four consonants. Syllable structures in English: Beginning: a vowel zero onset (/ÊÅ  / rare); a consonant except for /ņ¹/, /Ê’/ having an onset; two or more consonants a consonant cluster. C/ Initial two-consonant clusters: i/ pre-initial /s/ is followed by one of about 10 initial consonants (p, t, k; f; m, n; l; w, j, r); with /l, r, w, j/ a two-way analysis is possible (e.g.: slow, sky, swim); ii/ initial (p, t, k; b, d, g; f, ÆÅ ¸, s, h, v; m, n; l) followed by a post-initial /l, r, w, j/ (e.g. proud, queen, friend). D/ Initial three-consonant clusters: There is a clear relationship between the two groups: /s/ is the pre-initial /p, t, k/ are initial and /l, r, w, j/ are post-initial (e.g. split, square, strike). E/ Final consonant clusters: No final consonant means that there is no coda, i.e. it is an open syllable. One consonant means that the syllable is closed. Any consonant except for /h/, /w/, /j/, /r/ can occur in syllable-final position. F/ Two-consonant clusters: i/ pre-final (m, n, ņ¹, l, s) is followed by a final (e.g. bend, bench ask); ii/ a final consonant is followed by a post-final /s, z, t, d, ÆÅ ¸/ (e.g. fifth. asks, robbed). The post-final consonant often corresponds to a separate morpheme. Pronunciation: the release of the first plosive of a plosive + plosive cluster is usually produced without plosion and is therefore practically inaudible. G/ Final three-consonant clusters: i/ pre-final + final + post-final: (e.g. helped, twelfth); ii/ final + post-final 1 + post-final 2 (e.g. fifths, next); H/ Final four-consonant clusters: i/ pre-final + final + post-final 1 + post-final 2 (e.g. twelfths); ii/ final + post-final 1 + post-final 2 + post-final 3 (e.g. sixths). The syllable: onset + rhyme / peak + coda Difficulties encountered by foreign learners: Unknown consonant clusters: usually two strategies are applied: i/ vowels between the consonants are inserted; ii/ one of the consonants is deleted. That is simplification of the syllable structure of the E word by making it conform to the pattern of the native languages of the learners. Deletion exists in E but these deletions do not occur randomly. Stress in English The syllable or syllables which stand out from the the other szllable or szllables of a word are said to be stressed, to receive the stress. Gimson: a stressed syllable the one upon which there is relatively great breath effort and muscular energy. As for perception the stressed syllables are perceived to be more prominent because they are louder, longer, pronounced on the pitch different from that of the other syllables and they contain a vowel sound differing in its quality from neighboring vowels. The most powerful effect is produced by pitch, the length comes second, loudness and quality of the vowel sounds is less important. Types of stress: (Kenworthy): Three levels of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary are heard in long E words: i/ when said in isolation; ii/ the word is in a position in a sentence where it is very strongly stressed; iii/ full vowels are used. Placement of stress: English stress is: A/ Variable, i.e. the main stress is not tied to any particular syllable (in Slovak it has delimitative function, i.e. denotes word boundaries; in E it has distinctive function, i.e. it differentiates the meanings of words); B/ Fixed, i.e. the main stress always falls on a particular syllable in any given word; C/ Mobile, i.e. having become familiar with one form of a word, learners will assume that the stress stays on the same syllable in other forms of the word (or they will assume that prefixes and suffixes make no difference to the placement of the stress) but this is not the case of the E language (e.g. photography photographer photograph; advertising advertiser advertisement; librarianship librarian library). Word Stress Rules When considering the stress placement several factors should be taken into account: the structure of the word (whether the word in question is a simple or complex); the grammatical category of the word (noun, adjective or verb) the number of the syllables in the word; the phonological structure of the syllables. 1. The structure of the word: Simple word not consisting of more than one grammatical unit morpheme (although this is sometimes difficult to decide); Complex words two major types: i/ words made from a basic stem word with the addition of an affix (derived words) affixes: two sorts: prefixes and suffixes. They have three possible effects on word stress: the affix itself receives the primary stress (i.e. -ee, ese); the affix will not influence the placement of stress, (i.e. -ing the word will be stressed just as if the affix was not there); The stress remains on the stem, not on the affix, but it is shifted to different syllable (i.e. magnet magnetic). ii/ compound words made of two (or occasionally more) independent E words. There is no clear dividing line between two-word compounds and pairs of words that simply happen to occur together quite frequently. Spelling inconsistency: solid (one word, e.g. sunflower); words separated by a hyphen (e.g. fruit-cake, whistle-blower, cabinet-maker); two words separated by a space (e.g. coffee table, tax inspector, weather forecast). Word stress rules 2. The number of the syllables syllable structure TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS Verbs: Oo 60%. If the second syllable contains a long vowel/diphthong, or if it ends with more than one consonant the second syllable is stressed (e.g. apply, attract, achieve). If the final syllable contains a short vowel and one/no consonant or the diphthong / Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ¢/ the first syllable is stressed (e.g. enter, open, follow). Adjectives: follow the verbs (e.g. lovely, even, hollow, divine, correct). Nouns: Oo 90%. If the second syllable contains a short vowel, the stress will usually come on the first syllable. (e.g. table, sofa, picture). Otherwise it will be on the second syllable (e.g. estate, balloon). Adverbs, Prepositions: behave like verbs and adjectives (e.g. evenly, correctly). THREE-SYLLABLE WORDS Verbs: oOo, ooO. If the last syllable contains a short vowel and ends with not more than one consonant that syllable will be unstressed and the stress will be placed on the preceding/penultimate syllable (e.g. encounter, determine). If the last syllable contains a long vowel/diphthong, or ends with more than one consonant, that final syllable will be stressed (e.g. entertain, resurrect). Nouns: Ooo, oOo. If the final syllable contains a short vowel and the middle syllable contains a short vowel and ends with no more than one consonant, both final and middle syllables will be unstressed and the first syllable will get the stress (e.g. library). If the final consonant contains a short vowel or /Éâ„ ¢u/, it is unstressed if the middle syllable contains a long vowel/diphthong, or it ends with more than one consonant, the middle syllable will be stressed (e.g. potato, mimosa, disaster). Adjectives: follow the nouns (e.g. derelict, insolent). DERIVED WORDS Prefixes stress rules governed by the same rules as in words without prefixes. Suffixes: carrying stress themselves (e.g. -ee, -ese, -eer, -ette); not affecting the stress placement (e.g. -able, -al, -ful, -less); influencing the stress in the stem (e.g. -ive, -ic, -ion, -ious); stress on the penultimate syllable (e.g. words ending in -phy (e.g. photography); -cy (e.g. democracy); -ty (e.g. reliability); -gy (e.g. prodigy); -al (e.g. critical). COMPOUNDS Nouns: Two noun elements: the first element stressed (e.g. typewriter, suitcase, sunflower). Adjectives: Adjective + -ed: the second element is stressed (e.g. bad-tempered); first element a number: the second element is stressed (e.g. first-class, five-finger, three-wheeler) Adverbs, Verbs: usually final stressed (e.g. ill-treat, down-stream, North-East, half-timbered). Note: What a beautiful black bird! Look at that big blackbird! Stress tending to go on syllables containing a long vowel/diphthong and /or ending with more than one consonant. 3. The grammatical category of the word nouns, adjectives, verbs. Compounds nouns usually stressed on the first element (e.g. summertime, grandfather, silverware, schoolteacher, bathtub). When the second element is a polysyllabic word it retains its stress pattern, but when speaking more rapidly, the stress of the second element may be lost (the secondary stress, e.g. trade exhibition). Some compound nouns late stress exceptions: Late stress: First element material, ingredient the second element is made of (e.g. plastic cup, turkey sandwich, cherry pie). Compounds containing juice, cake take an early stress!!! (e.g. fruit juice, fruit cake, lemon juice). Names of squares and roads thoroughfares (roads for public traffic, e.g. Walnut Avenue, Cambridge Crescent, Belgrade Square, Oxford Drive). Those containing street, however, have an early stress (e.g. Baker Street). The first element identifies a place or a time (e.g. town hall, kitchen window, summer holiday, London transport, April showers). Sentence Stress In sequences (sentence, clause, discourse) not all the words are equally important, which in E is shown by means of sentence stress and sentence focus. Why is it important? As listeners, it is essential that we are able to spot points of importance in the stream of speech; As speakers, we must highlight points in our messages, or E listeners will have difficulty in interpreting what they hear, in deciding how it relates to what has just been said and predicting what the speaker is possibly leading up to. Thus sentence stress and sentence focus are vital for intelligibility. The placement of sentence stress is closely related to the function the word fulfills within a sentence. According to their function the words in E are divided into: Content words/lexical words; Grammar words/function words/structure words. The former bear the lexical meaning while the latter are structural markers, denoting grammatical categories and syntactic relations. The classes appear to have physiological and neurological validity. Some brain damaged persons have greater difficulty in using, understanding or reading content words and structure words (e.g. in inn; which witch). Content words normally carry the most of information. They generally have in connected speech the qualitative pattern of their isolate form and therefore retain some measure of qualitative prominence even when no pitch prominence is associated with them and when they are relatively unstressed. Structure words do not carry so much information. They do not have a dictionary meaning in the way we normally expect nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs to have. All structure words