Monday, September 30, 2019

201 Task a – Short Answer Questions

201 Task A – Short Answer Questions Ai: Three different sources of information would be found on the internet, through the management and the policy and procedure folder. Aii: a)Three aspects of employment covered by law are Health and Safety, Training and most important a contract, the employee must have a contact of employment. b)Three main features of the current employment legislation are holiday’s entitlement, pay and sick.Aiii: Employment laws exist to protect the best interests of the employees and employers without regulations there would be problems like workers being treated unjustly, unfairly and would cause minimum wages, safe working conditions and discrimination. Task B – Your work role Bi: The terms and conditions of my employment as in my contract are: Names of employee and employer Job title/description Date of employment Hours of work Place of work Remuneration Pensions Holidays Sickness/absences Uniform TrainingDisciplinary Rules Grievance Proc edures Confidentiality Notice Retirement Bii: The information that is needed on my payslip is: Employee number Employee name National insurance number Payment details – Hours, Rate, Tax and Net pay Tax code Date of pay Biii: Two changes of personal information which I would report to my employer would be: Change of name ie. If a marriage or divorce has taken place Change of bank details Biv: The procedure if I wanted to raise a grievance at work would be: The line managerWrite to the head of HR and the Administration at Shaw house An investigation of the facts of the case to obtain any evidence which may be relevant A formal hearing A written decision will be given from the Line Manager and Head of HR and Administration If necessary the right of appeal A note of recording would be placed on my personal file If needed an appeal in writing to a higher authority ie. President and 2 independent nominees and The Chief Executive Written decision to me after a complete investigation of the facts of the case Each stage would be placed on my personal fileBv: 1. Data protection – The major piece of legislation which covers confidential information is the Data Protection Act, the access to Health Records and the access to Personal Files Act. The Data held includes credit and financial information, membership of organisations, medical, health and social services records. 2. Grievance – Failure of procedures ie. See Biv 3. Conflict Management – 4. Anti-discriminatory practice – to prevent race, class, gender etc 5.Health and Safety – The home ensures that reasonable practicable Health and Safety and welfare of its employees and others will work in partnership to take steps to ensure that its statutory duties with regard to safety are met at all time. Training in First Aid, Fire, Moving and Positioning, maintaining the rules of the policies and procedures. 6. Confidentiality – During or after the termination of my employment am I to use or disclose to anyone (other than in the proper course of my employment with the initiation, any information on a confidential nature or protected by Data Protection Act.This relates to Beneficiaries, Supporters of the institution and institution itself. 7. Whistle blowing – In the past, people who have reported colleagues’ actions who they consider have been ill treated, neglected or abused residents have been regarded as troublemakers. Now it’s recognised that staff are likely to observe and report bad practice. A case could be a criminal offence, has been a legal obligate, a miscarriage of justice, an individual as failed the health and safety rules or that the environment has been damaged. Bvii: ) To deliver a high standard of resident care within the legislation and regulations. To maintain the dignity, Privacy and independence of residents. b)To not carry out the requirements of my role would be monitored by my employees, advised on training an d supported to meet the standards. If after an informal discussion and support is not provided a constitutes misconducts the disciplinary procedure will be evoked. Bviii: Codes of Practice – can help with standards of conduct that are expected to meet, to encouraged us to use the Code to examine our own practice and to look for areas in which you can improve.National Occupational Standards – can be used for recruitment and selection, jobs and evaluation, training, learning programmes and performance appraisals. Good employers invest in training the staff in order to remain competitive, provide individuals to improve skills and opportunities for career development. Legislation and Government initiatives – can to make sure those essential quality standards are being bet everywhere care is provided in the home and help to improve.They promote who uses the services and have a wide range of power to take action if services are unacceptably poor. Bix: Two Representati ve’s bodies: 1. Care Quality Commission – Their job is to make sure that care provided by hospitals, dentists, ambulances, care homes and services in people’s own homes and elsewhere meets national standards of quality and safety. 2. Macmillan Nurses: They specialise in cancer treatment and care, supporting people with cancer from the time they are diagnosed.They offer emotional support and practical advice to people with cancer and their families in the UK. They are highly trained in managing pain and other symptoms. Macmillan Nurses work with and advise the District Nurse or primary care team. Task C – Career Path I have been working in residential homes for 20 years. My children are 15 and 12 and are finding them independents, so I’m finding more time for me. At the moment I’m starting my NQV3 in Health and Social care which could lead me into becoming a senior in a few years time.Becoming a senior would mean more responsibly and training in nursing, this will build my confidence. I am keeping my options open for my future, my interests are counselling, caring in the community or work from the NHS as a paramedic technician/escort. Task D – Presentation or report Elderly people could be paying for care fees twice over There are concerns that some elderly people and their families could be paying for long term care twice over, as pre-funded policies bought in the 90s to cover care costs have been forgotten.In the early 90s, several insurers sold 44,000 policies to people mainly in their 60s, to meet the cost of care fees in old age. These policies could be paid for in either regular premiums or in a single lump sum. Most policies were bought by relatively young, healthy people for peace of mind, and in the hope that they would never need to claim. Thousands of families in Britain could be paying for care fees for family members in their 80s or older, unaware that their relative may have taken steps to cover par t of their care cost already.The problem occurs when no one other than the policyholder knows about the pre-funded policy. Some people will now be suffering from dementia so they cannot remember the policy. A policy bought with a single premium over twenty years ago might be forgotten. If the children or person with power of attorney never knew about the plan it might not occur to them to investigate further. So people in care now may pay twice, because no one knows they established a plan some time ago.It would be advisable if family members or attorneys to search for long forgotten pre-funded policies, often issued by companies that have long since been history. There are companies that families can go to, to have peace of mind to know that existing long term care insurance policies are not only uncovered, but claimed on that are determined to pioneer a solution. They hope other providers will appreciate the seriousness of this situation so that together, they can put a process in place so that every person applying for an Immediate Needs Annuity has the opportunity.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Winston Doomed to Fail?

A Character Doomed to Fail Failure, a concept most people are familiar of, often refers to the inability to perform a particular action or finish a certain task. In the novel 1 984 by George Orwell, the protagonist Winston Smith dreams to overthrow â€Å"The Party† and live In â€Å"the place without darkness†. However, he suffered the fate of being tortured and brainwashed eventually. Many readers perceive Winston as a tragic hero who valiantly tries but fails to rebel against the â€Å"Big Brother†.However, in fact, Winston Smith's fate was set the moment he wrote his rebellious speech on the journal. Winston is doomed to be unsuccessful due to his weak willpower, unrecognized planning style, and indulgent nature. Winston is a weak and contemptible person in nature; hence his downfall is inevitable. In a research essay composed by University of Chicago students entitled, â€Å"Firm Willpower†, the authors claim that â€Å"self-control is a battle that i nvolves strengthening willpower to withstand immediate pain or resist immediate pleasure† (Iris 1).Therefore, they state that the amount of physical pain one can stand Is directly affected by an individual's willpower. The fact that Winston cannot tan physical pain at all proves that he Is a weak coward who cannot achieve anything. When the thought police finally get to Winston, his reaction Is â€Å"one thing alone matter(s): to keep still, to keep still and not give them an excuse to hit you! † (Book 2, Chapter 10) Instead of thinking of a plan to escape or to rescue his lover Julia, Winston sticks to the thought of avoiding getting hit.His inner thoughts reveal that he himself is a weak and contemptible man with no physical courage at all. Moreover, Winston shallow and weak personality can be further exemplified when e is under torture in the Ministry of Love. Winston proclaims: â€Å"Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world w as so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there were no heroes, no heroes, he thought over and over as he writhed on the floor, clutching uselessly at his disabled left arm† (Book 3, Chapter 2).Winston not only cannot stand one blow, but also thinks that everybody else Is Like him. Winston cowardly action towards torture proves that he Is a man with a weak will and lack courage required. In comparison, â€Å"Big Brothers is made up tit thousands of thought police and inner Party members who can torture thought criminals all day to break their will. Confronting such powerful enemy, Winston, a weak man who cannot stand any physical pain, really does not stand a chance. In 1984, Winston always wants to overthrow the party but has no realistic plan in doing so.In the first book. Winston sneaks inside an ordinary shop and buys a journal. However, neither buying the Journal nor writing on the Journal contributes to the downfall of â€Å"Big Brother†. Winston simply wri tes on the journal to express his anger towards â€Å"Big Brother†, but in nature, such action only Increases the chance of getting caught. Through Winston actions, we can conclude that he is not an organized person and has no plans against â€Å"Big Brother†. HIS rebellious acts are only to satisfy his emotions. In addition, Winston also takes unnecessary risks In his rebellious journey.In Book 1, Orwell states: â€Å"But there was a fraction of a second KNEW! -? that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself†. Even though Winston had only one look of O'Brien, he is determined that O'Brien can be trusted even Hough there is no evidence that O'Brien is wroth trusting. This action proves that although Winston is desperate in bringing down the â€Å"Big Brother†, he has no viable plan other than to trust complete strangers. He has proven himself to be a disorganized individual who has rebellious nature.In contrast, the â€Å"Big Brother† runs a totalitarian society and is highly organized. In researcher Michael Lindsay dissertation â€Å"Contradictions in a Totalitarian Society', he mentions that â€Å"in a totalitarian society, there is no question of policy, no room for disagreement, no alternatives; governments only need to administers the maintenance of the ideology' (Michael 1). In order for the â€Å"Big Brother† to maintain this ideology, the ruler needs to have highly organized system and individuals to follow each and every task.In the novel, Ocean's society has reached the level of brainwashing. In order for anyone to conquer such a vast and complicated system, the individual will need a highly-organized plan and a sophisticated mind to carry through. Winston possesses neither of these traits; therefore he was doomed to fail. Other than Winston weak characteristic and his lack of planning, the main cause that contributes to Winston downfall is his indulgence. Winston lacks the ability to control himself from anything addictive in life.This personal flaw makes Winston lost in his cause to the destruction of â€Å"Big Brother†. In the novel, Winston constantly drinks and smokes to distract himself instead of focusing on a plan to take down â€Å"Big Brother†. Winston dream is to have a love affair: â€Å"Almost as swiftly as he had imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with hat same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilization seemed to be annihilated† (Book 2, Chapter 1).His illegal love affair with Julia does no good to his objective of bringing down â€Å"Big Brother†. The only result that the love affair accomplishes is Winston lust for women and his sexual desires. Winston cannot resist women, wine and his bad, compulsive habits. These actions prove that Winston is an indulgent man instead of a persistent one. According to PhD student Roy F. Bandmaster's dissertation â€Å"The Strength Model of Self-cont rol†, â€Å"self – control is a entrap function of the self and an important key to success in life† (Roy 2).Winston constantly gets distracted by the outside world and cannot restrain himself from his own desires. Without his ability to control himself, Winston dream of changing the world is a lost course from the beginning. In the novel 1984, Winston Smith's goal of overthrowing the totalitarian society is doomed to fail because of this protagonist's lack of courage, unrecognized planning system, and indulgence. George Rowel's characterization of Winston failure is exemplified further through the dangers of a totalitarian society.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Promotion of Health within Adult Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Promotion of Health within Adult Nursing - Essay Example The last part was the questionnaire that questioned about the individual daily limit, knowledge about three adverse physical effects of binge dinking, and assessment of level of information after visit to our booth. Eighty-one questionnaires were filled out with 100% response rate in question 1, question 2 demonstrated a failure arte of 1.23%, and on question 2, 1 out of 81 knew already about binge drinking, he did not know from the stand. There was very strong impact on the public, specially the university students with this group’s promotional effort on binge drinking. The slogan poster, â€Å"How Much is Too Much†, the snacks and the food, and the experiment and information all should have impact on the emotions of the students, embarrassment, insecurity, new knowledge, and enriched awareness about binge drinking. This project highlighted the fact that this kind of drinking is addiction, even if this is social outing to them as of now, in no time, this would transform into addiction, and they were aware of this possibility after coming into our booth. Our objectives were to let the visitors be aware about pros and cons of binge drinking, and since every one knew what his unit amount was, how many units make one a binge drinker and how that can affect the body in the long run, it can be considered that the objective of this promotional activity were met, although this is a trial setting and learning ex ercise, and predictive accuracy depends on the evaluation of the outcome after followup at 6-month or 1-year interval in the actual practice setting, and that is not possible in this setting because this is population in transition, many will be leaving the university in a short while, short enough to baffle any long-term promotional plans in the near future. Our experiment with the glass of wine measured the university students’ daily alcohol intake. We applied the group’s research data of daily over the limit allowance, and the group was well prepared to

Friday, September 27, 2019

Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example The barriers in establishing business units in overseas countries were diluted as a result of globalization. Moreover, it is possible for larger firms to select their own strategies or mode of entry like merger, acquisition, or joint venture to enter in to the overseas market. Competition is becoming tough in every area of business and it is difficult for even big organizations to survive in the market if they fail to implement suitable business strategies to counter the competition. It is now easy for organizations to do business in any country they want because of globalization. Outsourcing and offshoring are some of the major business strategies adopted by organizations in order to exploit the overseas market. On the other hand, some organizations use merger and acquisition (M & A) based business strategies to spread their wings in to overseas countries. Gaughan (2007) explained M & A as a process in which two corporations combined together to form a single one. Moreover, only one corporation survives after the M & A while the merged corporation goes out of existence after the merger process (Gaughan, 2007, p.12). Domestic mergers and acquisitions were popular prior to globalization; however, cross border mergers were not accepted. ... This means cross border mergers have become a reality nowadays. The following chart provides an idea of the size of global merger deals between 2005 and 2007. (Mergers and acquisitions, 2008) â€Å"Cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are a main vehicle for foreign direct Investment. Yet despite its quantitative importance, the determinants of cross-border M&As are still not well-understood† (Brakman et al, 2008, p.1). The benefits of cross border alliances or mergers are not limited to the companies alone. Cross border mergers and acquisitions may add more value to the companies and its stakeholders. This paper analyses the cross border merger and acquisition process and the sources of value added to the stakeholders as a result of this business strategy. Since the theories and principles with respect to cross border mergers are extensive, this paper will not discuss anything about negotiation, finance, alternatives etc. | Cross border merger and acquisition Leading f inancial consultancy Thomson Financial has said that 2006 was a mega-merger year for India: 1,164 deals valued at a total of $35.6 billion as against 1,011 deals worth $21.6 billion in 2005. After the Tata-Corus and Vodafone-Hutch mega-deals, conservative estimates by Indian analysts have pegged mergers and acquisitions (M&As), including outbound and inbound deals involving Indian firms, to reach $100 billion in 2007 (Shankar & Reddy, n. d, p.457) Companies from emerging economies like Brazil, India, Russia and China are currently engaged in acquiring some of the most prestigious companies in America, Europe and Africa (see appendix for some of the statistics of FDI inflows to the host countries as a result of cross border M& A). Recently India’s automobile manufacturer TATA acquired

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Pablo Picasso Artworks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pablo Picasso Artworks - Essay Example The essay "Pablo Picasso Artworks" attempts to portray the reasons Picasso painted and why he changed the movement. He was a Spanish sculptor, stage designer, playwright, printmaker, ceramicist, and painted who lived between 1881 and 1973. He was an influential artist who helped develop and investigate many varieties of styles. ). For instance, he co-founded the Cubist movement in the 20th century. He is recognized with Marcel Duchamp and Henri Matisse as artists who revolutionized printmaking, plastic arts, ceramics, painting, and sculpture. Picasso showed unusual artistic ability from his early years. Through his childhood and adolescence, he painted in a realistic manner. At the beginning of the 20th century, he changed his painting style after experimenting with various theories. Picasso’s work is categorized into movements. There are the expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Picasso’s expressionism can be further categorized into Blue period, Rose period, and Afri can-influenced period. Cubism is can be classified further into Analytic cubism and Synthetic cubism. There are many differences in the two painting. The differences lie in the painting style used. Picasso used expressionism in the Drunk Woman is Tired, while, in Girl in Chair, he used cubism and surrealism. In the Drunk Woman is Tired, Picasso is expressing his feelings of a real situation. In the painting, a drunken woman is asleep. The woman is emaciated and poor. She has no place to go. Picasso used the painting to express his sympathy to her.

Alternative Solutions to Change of Google Corporation Essay

Alternative Solutions to Change of Google Corporation - Essay Example In 2004 a company that was already millions of dollars in revenue decided to go public to spur the company long-term growth potential. The Google IPO on April 30, 2004, raised $2.7 billion dollars (Monica, 2004). Today Google is the market leader in search engine industry with a 50% market share and also controls 70% of all internet based advertising revenue. During the 3rd quarter of 2008 Google generated $5.54 billion dollars in revenues (Google, 2008). Â  Google handle half the traffic over the internet today. Its information system has access to nearly 25 billion web pages. The information technology (IT) infrastructure the company utilizes is composed of 450,000 inexpensive servers spread around 25 nations worldwide. The system is very cost effective because not only is the company achieving cost savings in hardware, the software utilized to program the servers is a customized version of the freeware Linux operating system. Google’s superior MIS design provides the company a 3 to 1 cost advantage in comparison with its competitor in order to achieve a comparable computing power. There are three key software applications that optimize the efficiency of the system. The MapReduce software system provides a programming model that simplifies processing. The WorkQueue system allows grouping of queries and schedules to perform distributed processing, while the Google File System serves the function of safe proofing the data by k eeping copies of the data in several places to prevent loss of information in case part of the system crashes. Â  Google has excelled in the online advertisement industry. Google has a technology that creates a correlation between the contents of a page and the potential advertisers. The technology creates online ad campaigns that are more relevant than the competitors can provide.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Autism - discusion Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Autism - discusion - Coursework Example 946). Over time, the new system may prove to be hard when used in diagnosing children and those are already on the spectrum of autism. It has been noted that there is the likelihood of one child to be diagnosed with several diagnosis when subjected for diagnosis by different clinicians. In the old system, disagreement has always been noted when labels are given to children who are within range of autism hence creating confusion to the child and the family members (Regier et al., p. 645). The new system of autism diagnosis will, therefore, do away with the labels that have not been useful over time. The new system has combined all the diagnosis into one single â€Å"autism spectrum disorder†. Some children who are already diagnosed with autism will still qualify for a diagnosis. Some will not and this will create confusion to the parents concerning their treatment since they will not have qualified to receive any. The question remains on how to treat this those who will not qualify for the new DSM-v be treated. Will they receive a different diagnosis that should improve their treatment or what will be the best step to

Monday, September 23, 2019

Tata Consultancy Services entry strategy in international markets Essay

Tata Consultancy Services entry strategy in international markets - Essay Example One of the interesting reasons for the company’s success can be attributed to its entry approach that the company used in different markets. TCS being the first software company in India, has been in domestic operations since 1968 and its first big export came during the period 1973-74 when it took up the job of building inventory control software solution for an electricity company in Iran. (Agarwal, 2008, p. 19). During the same period TCS also took up a similar assignment in UK developing hospital information system. From that period and with its continued success, TCS has been a delight for its clients globally. The company’s principal activity is to provide information technology and business process outsourcing services. The company offers its services to varied types of industries but its prime focus is in on industries such as banking, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and infrastructure. Innovation can lead the company as at niche player. The Niche for TCS is its BPO Services wing. â€Å"the key idea in niching is specialisation† (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006, p.543). TCS has operations all over the world including in Americas, Europe, Asia as well as Asia-Pacific. The IT consulting and other services market has shown impressive growth in recent years, offering an attractive prospect to potential new entrants. Entry into this market may be done by diversification of the existing activity or by founding a new company. (Datamonitor 2009, p.14). In the year 2008, the company has set its foot in other newer Asia Pacific markets such as Tha iland. Let us now look at TCSs and its country specific entry modes in view of its strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and Strengths. TCS’s association in Europe has been there for the last 2 decades. . Indian software services firms such as TCS and second ranked Infosys technologies are expanding in Europe

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Legal Aspects of Nursing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Legal Aspects of Nursing - Case Study Example In this case, the patients and the unit staff ought to relate freely in absentia of retaliation. The deprivation of the direct care and attention towards Mr Garcia violated this principle. Consequently, his wife had a retaliatory relationship with the staff in the nursing unit. The dishonor of this principle was also in the deprivation of direct attention that enhanced distance and retaliation within Mr Garcia. Evidently, the Respective Relations principle was involved in Mr Garcia’s case. Medical necessity was an additional principle involved in Mr Garcia’s case. This principle requires a prudent physician to deliver prevention, diagnosis, or treatment to the patient (American Medical Association, 2010). In this case, Medical care is a basic necessity (Youngberg, 2013). It is not an optional consideration. Evidently, the physicians deprived Mr Garcia direct medical attention. This is a violation of the Medical necessity principle. Honoring this principle would entail direct and affectionate attention towards Mr Garcia at the soft restraints. In his situation, measures of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment were not adequately established. Therefore, they deprived Mr Garcia his basic right as a patient. Apparently, it was a major violation of the Medical necessity principle. Administrative simplification is a principle that is involved in this case. This principle advocates for disintegration within the complex and confusing roles and communications. It implicates that there ought to be a congruent assignment of roles, and a clear communication strategy (American Medical Association, 2010). Shared governance would propel the visions and objectives of this principle. In this case, every staff member would feel accountable to handle a patient (Youngberg, 2013). Honoring this principle would require the nurses to uphold authority and attend to Mr Garcia maximally. The nurses in Garcia’s case violated

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Applying Ethical Theories Essay Example for Free

Applying Ethical Theories Essay Summary Plagiarism in todays â€Å"copy and paste generation† is an unremitting, complex issue that is not yet fully understood. The paper responds to this proposition with a thesis that understanding the ethical reasoning provided by students in defending plagiarism is crucial in preventing it in student populations. The reasons can provide the basis for specific action-orientated recommendations to reduce plagiarism and to design programs to encourage originality and academic honesty within the relevant educational institutions. Moreover, the authors explain that this study has broader implications, given the link between educational plagiarism and the organisation and profitability of businesses. The paper develops an ethical framework to analyse the reasons that students use when defending their plagiarism. This framework is based on previous research into the ethical reasoning of students in different contexts. The authors explain and apply six ethical theories in the paper: Deontology, Utilitarianism, Rational self-interest, Machiavellianism, Cultural relativism and Situational ethics. The paper uses content analysis methodology to implement the ethical framework described above. Consequently, the research evaluates the recorded content found in the confidential files of students found to have plagiarised work at a US university. This includes the formal process by which the students were charged with plagiarism and how they defended their actions. To ensure the research was not biased two judges were used to evaluate the reasoning. To ensure a sufficient level of inter-rater reliability, the judges evaluated 20 identical ads before being given the cases used in the study. Their results show students used all 6 ethical theories, deontology being the most common with 41.8% of using this reasoning. Variables such as â€Å"Sex, Ethnicity and GPA† had no effect on the student’s ethical reasoning. Students who used the Internet to plagiarize were more likely to resort to Situational ethics and Utilitarianism. The  paper concludes by listing a series of recommendations for each ethical theory on how to instil ethical behaviour and help prevent cases of plagiarism. Critical Analysis of the papers purpose Plagiarism and the internet Granitz and Lowey describe a new plagiarism epidemic in the paper subject to review. The analysis that they present, that plagiarism is increasing due to the ease of which information can be lifted from the internet, is justified by previous academic research. The Internet provides as huge source of information which is easily available to students for use in academic papers (Weinstein Dobkin, 2002.) Moreover, the way that information is presented and is accessible on the Internet has made plagiarism easier (Klein, 2011). Students have the opportunity to copy and compile information from a variety of sources with speed, particularly when compared with old-style plagiarism using hard copy sources. However, since the publication of the paper in 2006, it could be argued that many professors have become more tech savvy, particularly with the development of technology in electronic detection tools (Klein, 2011.) Consequently, it is less easy to sustain the argument that transgression may present an irresistible challenge to students, as technology improves and if teachers in academic institutions become more technologically adept. Applying ethical reasoning to plagiarism After a historical analysis of the development of the concept of plagiarism, the paper moves on to conclude that our modern perception of plagiarism is that it is morally reprehensible. I would critique this approach using the analysis of Morality and Ethics put forward by Klein in 2011. Granitz and Lowey do not appear to consider the extent to which the moral and ethical approach of students in academic institutions may differ from the general modern perception of plagiarism that they describe. Klein describes the research which suggests that there is ambiguity on what is perceived as plagiarism among learners. Quoting Weiss Bader (2003), [a]n example of an area of ambiguity might include peer collaboration and knowing to what extent the collaboration is considered inappropriate. Consequently, I would argue that the paper does not fully consider the extent to which the ethical  problems posed by plagiarism may be problematic because they are non-traditional and that they may not fit easily into existing and well used categorisation systems (Clegg et al., 2007). Instead, the paper seeks to apply ethical philosophies taken from different ethical contexts (albeit ideas used by students) and it maintains the general proposition that plagiarism is considered as morally wrong, without analysing this specifically in relation to students and academic institutions. Content analysis as a research methodology The paper applies a content analysis to review student files which record the formal process by which students in a large US West Coast university were charged with plagiarism and defended themselves. The article recognises the fact that students may disguise their true reasoning whilst providing the reasoning, but concludes that they are still exposing the logic that they use to defend plagiarism – and being able to counter that logic is valuable for the faculty. This problems has been considered in the business context, in which virtually every empirical inquiry of issues relevant to applied business ethics involves the asking of questions that are sensitive, embarrassing, threatening, stigmatizing, or incriminating† (Dalton and Metzger, 1992, p. 207). Furthermore, since the early 1950s researchers in organizational sciences have expressed concern that the â€Å"tendency of individuals to deny socially undesirable traits and to admit to socially desirable ones† may impair empirical studies based on questionnaires which require respondents to report on their own behaviour or attitudes (Randall and Fernandes, 1991, p. 805) Recommendations The paper outlines a basis of recommendations based on the results achieved by the content analysis. Given the above critique of the content analysis, and the limit that the context of asking sensitive or incriminating questions in a business, and I would suggest academic, context, one could critique the assumption put forward in the paper that the recommendations for each ethical theory will achieve the effect of reducing plagiarism in institutions and provide a basis for the implementation of clear academic policies. Moreover, expanding on what I have suggested above, given the critique forwarded by Weiss and Bader (2003), it could be argues that poor  public perception of plagiarism in academic institutions may make any changes difficult to implement. I would argue that a more useful critique would be to consider the reasons offered by students in a non-confrontational and stigmatizing context, which could be used to understand the specific ethical context of plagiarism and to p roduce more specific recommendations. References Clegg, Kornberger and Rhodes: 2007 Business Ethics as Practice: British Journal of Management 18: 107-122 Dalton, D. R. and M. B. Metzger: 1992, ‘Integrity Testing’ for Personnel Selection: An Unsparing Perspective’, Journal of Business Ethics Kaptein M and Schwartz S: 2008 The Effectiveness of Business Codes: A Critical Examination of Existing Studies and the Development of an Integrated Research Model, Journal of Business 77: 111-127 Klein D: 2011 Why Learners Choose Plagiarism: A Review of Literature, Interdisciplinary Journal of E-Learning and Learning Objects 7 Randall, D., Fernandes, M. F. (1991): The Social Desirability Response Bias in Ethics Research. Journal ofBusiness Ethics Robertson, D.C. (1993). Empiricism in Business Ethics: Suggested Research Directions. Trevino, Linda K., ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-Situation Interaction Model’, Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 1986, pp.601-617. Weinstein and Dobkin: 2002 Plagiarism in U.S. Higher Education: Estimating Internet Plagiarism Rates and Testing a Means of Deterrence, USA: Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Weiss, D. H., Bader, J. B. (2003) Undergraduate ethics at Homewood. Standler, R. B. (2000). Plagiarism in colleges in USA

Friday, September 20, 2019

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

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

Daoism and Confucian views were important for the development and shaping of human beings. The existence of Confucian and Daoist among the eastern Asian countries has helped to explain their theories. Both authors has differences and similarities in their views of self-cultivation and self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is when a person is aware of their own abilities, limitations, and feelings. Basically just knowing ones self, how one might react to or handle different situations, and how one feel about things. Self-cultivation is what a person whats to improve or educate themselves. And, there was art and nature which played a major role in their theories. They were said to have helped shaping of mankind as we know it. Even though Confucian and Daoist views differ in the concept of self-knowledge and concur on their focus on self-culture, they still acknowledge that nature and art are important for their theories. Self-cultivation is necessary their teachings both agree that people are responsible for their personal life, individual development, and self improvement. Daoism and Confucianism are similar is that they both focus on self-cultivation. As long as a person is self-cultivated, they're able to improve or educate themselves. In Confucius, "Leaving virtue without proper cultivation; not thoroughly discussing what is learned; not being able to move towards righteousness of which a knowledge is gained; and not being able to change what is not good:-these are the things which occasion me solicitude† (Confucius). In Confucius, a person better himself or herself and is satisfied throughout one's existence on earth. In Daoism, a person achieves self-cultivation through nature. Self-cultivation leads to improvement of t... ...es the will† (Mencius). In Mencius, it is said that self-knowledge is the praise of one's nature, and that nature is what is known known and is what results in self-cultivation and self-knowledge . Through the means of art, the ideas of a person knowing one's self is expressed. Confucianism and Daoism seem to be complete polar opposites but there are some similarities between the two. Both Daoist and Confucius shared the idea self-cultivation which leads a person to self-improvement. They differ in their ideas of self-knowledge; how one knows one's self. Having self-knowledge helps you to channel that energy and focus your attention on those self-improvements. Knowing one's short-comings, strengths, and weaknesses, can help to make changes in one's life that will lead to happiness. It is safe to say that Daoist and Confucius has similarities and differences.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

to thine own self be true: The Conflict between Son and Self in Hamlet :: Shakespeare, Hamlet

"to thine own self be true": The Conflict between Son and Self in Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚   A name is a very important aspect of a person. It helps to define who that person is and what is important to that person. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the use of the same names for fathers and sons creates a dilemma that is not easily overcome. Laertes does not have the same name as his father, but he is controlled by his father all the same. Not only does this rule apply to characters in the play, but also to the play itself. Shakespeare's Hamlet was preceded by Thomas Kyd's play Ur-Hamlet and Shakespeare had to work hard to differentiate his play from the original. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, shares his name with his father, Hamlet, the former King of Denmark. This sharing of names blurs the identity of the Prince with the King. Since the King precedes the Prince, he is able to develop his own distinct identity. He is "a goodly king" (1.2.186), a noble, brave, and self-assured man. Thus it falls on Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, to define himself beyond the confines of his father's name. Abraham Fraunce suggests the definition of someone consists of two parts, "the generall and the difference†¦ A man is a sensible creature endued with reason, where sensible creature is the generall, and endued with reason is the difference" (Qtd. in Calderwood 10). Hamlet is genetically related to his father as are all sons to their fathers. However, Hamlet is even more closely related due to their common name. Hamlet also inherits the act of filial obligation when the ghost returns and demands revenge for his murder. When he swears to avenge his father 's death, he is promising to "relinquish his personal identity and to unite with his father not merely in name but in actional fact" (Calderwood 10). Hamlet "adopts his father's cause- to make his father's enemy his own enemy, to assume his father's motives, goals, and pains- is to adopt his father's identity" (Calderwood 10). Prior to the ghost's appearance Hamlet is beginning to define himself as an individual person instead of as the son of his father. He has been away at school forging his own path in life. When his father's ghost demands him to exact revenge on Claudius, Hamlet struggles trying to decide if he will take the role of "son" and blend with his father or to become the "self" and breakaway from his father.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

The Beatles: Their Influences and Early Years Essay -- Hamburg, Elvis,

Hamburg had a street called Reeperbahn which had more strip clubs than any street in the world. Hamburg also had a really high crime rate because all the gangs from Berlin moved to Hamburg due to the Berlin Wall (Davies 80.) This makes me think this is why their parents were hesitant about letting them go. They played in an Indian club called Indra. They became very good, so good that they started playing 7 days a week until 2 am. Eventually the club got so loud that they had to move due to complaints by the neighbors (Davies 82.) They would play so much they would usually get around 5 hours of sleep. This shows that if you want to be really good at something you must work really hard. They wanted to play and wanted to be successful and were willing to work for it. The Beatles were not only headliners at parties; the Beatles also were big partiers themselves. There were also fights in the club while they were playing. There was so fighting and alcohol that the people inside the clubs would be half dead (Davies 83-84.) This also caused some on-stage fight or arguments. Sometimes they would throw food at each other while performing. It did get out of hand sometimes. The group made very few friends while they were in Hamburg. They didn’t like the Germans. John said,† They are all half-witted.† They didn’t make friends with the British people there because they would start arguments with Germans (Davies 85.) Eventually they had to come back home. When they came back from Hamburg, one of their friends put up a sign that said: The Beatles, Direct from Hamburg. This lead to people thinking they were German. People actually complemented them on how well English they spoke (Davies 97-98.) After they came back from Hamburg, the Beatles started playing in ballrooms, in these ballrooms fights would occur very often. Once, Paul got grabbed by a random guy, slammed into the wall, and told not to move at all. Another night, people were fighting each other with fire extinguishers (Davies 101). I find this to be an odd coincidence because in Hamburg, the same stuff would happen to them there. Trouble just followed the band everywhere they went. Awhile after they were home, they decided to go back to Hamburg for a second time. While in Hamburg they met up with an old friend, Astrid. She was married to Stu, one of the early members, and greeted them with leather jackets. She wanted to change Stu’s haircut, so she brushed it down and cut parts off. This then caught on with the other band members and became the signature haircut (Davies 106). That was the birth of one of the most iconic haircuts in history, the 60’s, and Rock & Roll. They had to come home again but this time, Stu decided to go to Art College in Hamburg instead of continuing on with the band. When the Beatles arrived back from Hamburg, they heard about a newspaper called Mersey Beat. This was the first ever newspaper in Liverpool devoted to only music. A guy named Bob Woller had written an article about them in the newspaper (Davies 107). This was their first big sign of attention they got. They didn’t find out about the article until they came back from Hamburg. They were worried they had become irrelevant in Liverpool. While they were gone, they got a lot more offers from clubs to play and they had to travel constantly. Pete’s friend Neil Aspinall bought a van and became the road manager of the Beatles. He quit his other job and worked full time with them (Davies 109). Neil was their road manager for every year they played tours. The Beatles kept playing and got much better as time went on. They got the attention of record store owner Brian Epstein. In December of 1961, the Beatles met with Brian Epstein to work out a contract. After negotiations a contract was signed and Brian became the manager of the Beatles (Davies 128-129). This jump started their band career; they finally had someone who could represent them in business stuff. Brian whipped the Beatles into a polished band. He got them 40 euros a week for a club in Hamburg. He was put in charge of all the bookings and made sure everyone knew what they were doing (Davies 130). Brian also started negotiations with the recording studio Decca, and got them a demo (Davies 133). The recording demo didn’t work out though. They said Paul and George didn’t play well. John said it was because they were ne... ...keep up with Brian Epstein’s goal of releasing a new album of songs every 6 months, plus a Christmas release for their fan club. Of course, this was in addition to touring, interviews, and movie work (Hartzog). This was a tough schedule for them to follow and it is why the eventually ended up stopping touring altogether. George Martin was a huge fan of the way the Beatles made their music. He liked how they could pile tracks on tracks and still make it sound so amazing. George also liked the creativity they had with all of their songs and their lyrics (Davies 289). They were the perfect song writing duo and it was like they would spew out number one song after number one song without any pause. As the Beatles' late-1967 single "Hello Goodbye" went to Number One in both the U.S. and Britain, the group launched the Apple clothes boutique in London. McCartney called the retail effort "Western communism"; the boutique closed in July 1968. Like their next effort, Apple Corps Ltd. (formed in January 1968 and including Apple Records, which signed James Taylor, Mary Hopkin, and Badfinger), it was plagued by mismanagement. In July the group faced its last hysterical crowds at the premiere of Yellow Submarine, an animated film by Czech avant-garde designer and artist Heinz Edelmann featuring four new Beatles songs; a revised soundtrack featuring nine extra songs was released in 1999 (The Beatles Biography) . In August they released McCartney's "Hey Jude", backed by Lennon's "Revolution", which sold over 6 million copies before the end of 1968 — their most popular single. Meanwhile, the group had been working on the double album The Beatles (frequently called the White Album), which showed their divergent directions. The rifts were artistic — Lennon moving toward brutal confessionals, McCartney leaning toward pop melodies, Harrison immersed in Eastern spirituality — and personal, as Lennon drew closer to his wife-to-be, Yoko Ono. Lennon and Ono's Two Virgins was released the same month as The Beatles and stirred up so much outrage that the LP had to be sold wrapped in brown paper (The Beatles Biography). Works Cited Beatles: An Authorized Biography

The Effects of Thc, Spice, and Opiates on the Human Body

Ben Vu The effects of THC, Spice, and Opiates on the human body In the modern generation, many kids have experimented with all sorts of drugs. They are looking for a euphoric feeling that nothing else gives them. Some of these drugs have been used for medical reasons and recreational use since the beginning of man. Humans naturally are curious and try many different things to give them the high they are looking for. The most common of these drugs are marijuana, spice, and opiates. Cannabis, also known as marijuana, has over hundreds of different chemicals that affect the human body.Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is the main chemical that gives the user the euphoric high they are looking for. Along with the euphoric feeling, the user also receives relaxation. Marijuana can be used in many different ways such as smoking it in a joint or cooking it in to food or sweets. The most common way of getting high is by smoking it. This can either be achieved by rolling a simple joint or bl unt to smoking it out of a bong or a vaporizer. Marijuana has been so common for many generations that the brain has adapted to have cannabinoid receptors.When ingested, the THC flows from the lung into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream it goes to the brain attaching to the cannabinoid receptors. The most common receptor, CB1, is mainly found in the part of the brain that associates with movement and memory. This explains why marijuana affects the users balance and coordination. While THC is in the brain, it makes the user have short-term memory lost; this is why it is used to treat nausea, pain, and lost in appetite. Other effects on the user’s body include laughter, altered perception of time, increased appetite and heart rate, paranoia and panic attacks.When marijuana is ingested or inhaled the effects appear as soon as the chemicals enter the brain and may last from one hour up to two hours. If it is ingested in food the short-term effects such as short-term memory lost and coordination begin more slowly usually taking up to half an hour to an hour to kick it. The benefits of ingesting it would be that the effects of marijuana would last longer, up to four hours. When smoking marijuana more of the chemicals are being deposited in the bloodstream.It only takes a few minutes after smoking that the user’s heart rate begins to beat more rapidly resulting in the blood vessel to expand resulting in bloodshot eyes. As the THC enters the brain, it causes the brain to release a chemical called dopamine, which in turns gives the user the high feeling. When high the user may experience pleasant sensations, colors and sounds may seem more intense, time appears to pass by a lot more slowly. The user’s mouth begins to feel dry this is known as cottonmouth causing the user to become suddenly very hungry or thirsty.After the euphoric high goes away the user begins to feel drowsy. There are two different strains of marijuana, indica and sativa. Indica strains have more cannabinoids than THC. This affects the user in more of a physical high resulting in an influx of appetite, laughter and a couch lock feeling. This is when the user gets the stoned effect where they do not want to move around. Indica is the most common strain of marijuana that is smoked by the average person. As a result of the higher CBDs indica strains are helpful to those who need sleeping aid and people wit insomnia.Whereas sativa which has a lot more of the chemical THC which gives the user more of a head high than a body high. This strain is prescribed to patients who have anxiety and depression. It gives the user more of a jubilant feeling without the feeling of being couch locked. The smoke of marijuana contains of a toxic mixture of gases and other particulates that are harmful to the lungs. The lungs of someone who smokes marijuana on a daily basis resembles those of a tobacco smoker. Marijuana has the potential to promote lung cancer because of th e carcinogens in the smoke.Nowadays most companies, businesses, and schools drug test for THC. This has caused people to move on to another drug even more dangerous and marijuana, spice. Spice is synthetic marijuana, made to give the user the same high as marijuana. Most people are not aware of what is actually in the spice and just smoke it because they cannot smoke marijuana. The most dangerous thing about spice is the fact that it is not regulated; anybody can make spice in his or her own privacy. Spraying chemicals such as JWH-018 on herbs and plants makes spice.When the government decides to make the chemical illegal producers tweak the chemical just a bit to create a whole knew molecule. Spice affects each user different; one smoker may a certain way and the other another way. Spice is a rarely new drug and scientist are still not certainly sure about how it affects the human body. A few minutes after smoking spice the user have side effects such as nausea/vomiting, severe par anoia, involuntary movements, hallucinations, and prolonged headaches lasting up to days after use.Some cases have shown that teenagers under the influence of spice are unable to speak or move; they are conscious but respond to normal situations in a weird way. User who smoke spice on a daily basis have a high risk of becoming addicted an addiction, which is similar to those of meth, cocaine, and opiates. The effects of spice usually wear off in about thirty minutes to an hour and this causing the user to want to keep smoking more and more. Scientists do not know the long-term effects of smoking spice; this makes it more dangerous because teens are smoking something that has the potential to harm their bodies.Opiates have been used as a pain reliever for over hundreds of generations. Opiates are the common name for any narcotic that was derived from opium. Painkillers such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone are all obtained from opium. Opiates the most additive an abus ive substances in the world today. Opiates obtain their powerful effects by attaching themselves in opiate receptors in the brain and body. The effects of opiates include extreme relaxation, euphoria, fatigue, confusion, decreased feeling of pain, and decreased sexual drive.While on opiates they cause the pupil of the eyes to dilate. Other effects include nausea and vomiting if too much of the opiate is taken. Opiates attach themselves to the neurotransmitters in the brain, which control body movement, moods, digestion, body temperature and breathing. They cause to the neurotransmitter to work at a very high rate. The short-term effects can show soon after a dose and lasting up to a few hours. Regular use of opiates leads to a higher tolerance, meaning the user needs more of the opiate to achieve the same effect as before.After a time of increasing tolerance the body becomes addicted to the drug, developing dependent on the opiate to function properly. Death from an opiate overdose usually occur when a user who has been off of opiates for some time again starts to take the same amount of the opiate as they are used to and because the user’s tolerance has gone done the result is an overdose. After repeated use of opiates, long-term effects soon appear. Most addicts who have been using for a long time seem to just ignore their health because they are only concerned about obtaining the opiate.Longtime users may develop collapsed veins, infection in their heart and valves, and liver disease. Due to the fact that opiates decrease reparation rate, pneumonia may occur in longtime users due to respiratory depression and the poor health of the user. When trying to stop the use of opiates, the withdrawal is very dangerous and painful. Withdrawl symptoms can occur as soon as a few hours after the last does. Symptoms include intense craving for the opiate, restlessness, body pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, and cold flashes.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” Essay

In Amy Tan’s short story â€Å"Two Kinds† we see the strained relationship between a Chinese immigrant mother and a first-generation American daughter. Throughout the text, Jing-mei’s mother continually pushes her to become a prodigy. She is so obsessive of her daughter’s excellence, that she does not see the emotional damage she creates. Jing-mei reacts negatively to the pressure. She becomes indifferent, angry, excited and hopeful; her emotions fluctuate, because she is in a perpetual struggle between her identity and the identity her mother tries to create for her. No one wins this tug-of-war; it only ends in anger and disappointment. Jing-mei sets out to become the direct opposite of what her mother wants. It just goes to show that forcefulness doesn’t work in any situation. In the beginning of the story, Jing-mei tries to do everything right. She goes along with her mother’s nearly impossible tests, tries to become Shirley Temple’s double and generally maintains a good attitude about her mother’s constant prompting. â€Å"In all of my imaginings I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect,† she said. Jing-mei tried to convince herself that she could become what her mother wanted her to be. Despite the attempts made by Jing-mei, she always seems to fall short of her mother’s expectations. Her mother relentlessly pushes her, because she wants her daughter to be more successful than she is. She feels that in America, anything is possible if you try hard and practice. This is true for many things; however, becoming an overnight prodigy is not one of them. It doesn’t take Jing-mei long to realize that she will never fulfill her mother’s demands. She is hurt because she feels that her mother does not accept her for the person that she is. Her mother’s failed hopes and obvious disenchantments crush Jing-mei emotionally. Out of her pain, she purposely projects a personality that her mother disapproves of. Her temperament becomes antagonistic and argumentative, where it is was once considerate and peaceable. She intentionally says things like â€Å"I wish I’d never been born,† in efforts to hurt her mother, as she was wounded. Despite the volatile relationship, poor attitude and numerous disappointments, Jing-mei’s mother ploughs on, even more zealously. She is convinced that she can make the average girl into an extraordinary sensation. As the years pass by, the dreams of Jing-mei’s mother fade away. Jing-mei leads an average life, making average mistakes and basically being the average woman. Her mother finally gives up hope. She offers the piano to Jing-mei, in an effort that I believe, is to symbolize that she is letting go. It could be a peace offering, or it could just be that she finally succumbs to the realization that her daughter will always be just Jing-mei. The piano is almost like a trophy, it says â€Å"OK, you’ve won.† After Jing-mei wins she is comfortable enough to play the piano–the piece of furniture that tormented her. She is at peace playing â€Å"Pleading Child.† At a glance she notices that the other half of the song is â€Å"Perfectly Contented.† At the final stage in the story, that is exactly how she feels, perfectly contented.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Nostra Aetate

Years ago, a man was crucified for saying he was God’s Son. His name was Jesus Christ. Those who followed his teachings were named Christians; and Christians soon resented Jews for their sinful act. This tension between Christians and Jews lead to increasing hatred for one another. Not too long ago, anti-Semitism was common. Anti-Semitism led to the death of an entire population during the Holocaust. Luckily, the church has taken measures to rectify this anti-semitism with the publication of Nostra Aetate.In 1965, the Vatican II Council completely transformed the church’s policies and theology with this document. Nostra Aetate signifies â€Å"In Our Time. † Indeed, in our time, the ill sentiments towards Jews have changed tremendously. Nostra Aetate is a unifying document that has not only led to peaceful coexistence of the Catholic and Judaic faith but also understanding of many other faiths. Ultimately, it has enabled the education of Catholicism in universitie s, as well as in organizations. From the beginning of time, men have had continuous arguments over religion.Religion has been the greatest source of disagreement between cultures. Even the foundation of America was built on religious freedom, as Puritans from Great Britain came to the United States to practice their religion freely. The biggest religious disagreement, however, has been between the Catholics and the Jews. Section four of Nostra Aetate is the most important section of the entire document. It reaffirms the religious bond shared by Jews and Catholics, talks about the eternal covenant between God and the People of Israel, and disproves the church’s desire to baptize Jews..This document states, â€Å"Humanity forms but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth (see Acts 17:26), and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. † Nostra Aetate acknowledges that the religions of Judaism an d Christianity believe in a sole higher being, God, which unifies them. Nostra Aetate made it possible for Catholics and Jews to coexist, and promoted the acceptance of each other’s faith. There is a sense of unity that this document possesses. It promotes dialogue with all other world religions.The Catholic Church took a stand in writing Nostra Aetate, and urged, â€Å"its sons and daughters to enter with prudence and charity into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions. † Moreover, Nostra Aetate is significant to theology because it has led to the increasing teachings of Catholicism worldwide. If applied, to this course, for example, the title of this course is the Religious Quest. Quest is defined as â€Å"an act or instance of seeking. † In a way, through Nostra Aetate, the Catholic Church was searching for understanding and resolution.At Boston College, one of the course requirements is theology. A reason for this may be due to Nostra A etate; it has made understanding other religions a priority to many institutions all over the world. Understanding each other’s religions could dissipate many of the foolish arguments that occur daily. The most misunderstood religious group at this moment is Islam. At Boston College, however, we can take a theology class focused on Islam, or Africism or any religion. We are given the chance to go on a â€Å"quest,† and to learn about any religion we want.A big reason for this is due in large part to Nostra Aetate. Nostra Aetate in that sense brings everyone together. Nostra Aetate made religious awareness more accessible, as various committees were created such as Nostra Aetate foundation, founded in 1990. Its purpose is described as â€Å"The purpose of the chair is to promote the understanding of religious, ethical and cultural values in national societies and in international relations, especially transatlantic relations. † Furthermore, Nostra Aetate also all owed the creation of a committee, named a Muslim-Catholic Liason Committee.This committee promotes the communication between Muslims and Catholic, and meets once a year to study together. They pick a theme from the point of view of the two religions, and â€Å"discuss the current situation of relations between Christians and Muslims. † They also try to identify where tensions and conflicts occur between the two groups. Such behavior, was uncommon prior to Nostra Aetate. It is unbelievable that these two groups can come together to not only discuss their issues but to an end to them. Nostra Aetate has been revolutionary in the changes regarding religious relations.Organizations have been formed for the sole purpose of educating people on religion. Universities make religious classes mandatory. Nostra Aetate is also important because the Catholic Church sets an example for all of its followers. If the Church accepts all religions, then maybe all Catholics will start to feel the same. Nostra Aetate has of course not destroyed all unwelcoming feelings towards religions, but it has at least decreased the criticisms. It has surely been a momentary document â€Å"in our time. † | |Works Cited Akasheh, Khaled. Nostra Aetate: 40 Years Later. † New Home Page Navigation Top. 28 June 2006. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www. ewtn. com/library/CHISTORY/chrstnsmslms. HTM>. Kasper, Walter C. â€Å"Welcome to the Vatican's Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate. † Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations. 25 Oct. 2005. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. <http://www. ccjr. us/dialogika-resources/documents-and-statements/roman-catholic/kasper/654-wk05oct27>. Telenet Service. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://users. telenet. be/mb10366/>.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

The True Story of Joan/John

There is a fine line between sex and gender. In fact, most probably do not even know that there is even difference between the two! People just assume a boy should act like a boy and a girl should act like a girl. Society forces us to think and behave that way. If you think about it when a baby girl is born everything is pink, but not all girls love the color pink. Society shapes the role of each child based on its biological sex. What happens if you do not behave like your sex is supposed to behave? In the article, â€Å"The True Story of Joan/John,† Joan does not act like the female that her surrounding pushed on her to be.This article tells the story of a man who goes through a long journey of finding himself. John was born male, and then through complications was told he was a female and now he indentifies himself as a male. I cannot comprehend how traumatic these gender and sex changes were on his life. In this one situation it shows how John, who was always told he was a girl, still behaved a like a male because in reality at birth he was. This example makes me think that society plays a part in deciding your gender and who you are. However, John was pushed to behave like a girl. He never did, he wanted to play with the stereotypical â€Å"boy† toys like trucks.Is it possible that your biological sex can determine your gender? Social constructionist is not totally correct or accurate. There are girls that are tomboys and boys that gay or just super feminine. Society cannot always push people in the route that they want them in. A majority of times when an individual, like John, does not conform to society they are ridiculed. Harassment can have many effects and sometimes the effect is not to conform them but it can be as serious as suicide. Society interrupts a child’s growth and individuality. In the case of Joan / John, he was living a â€Å"double life†.He knew at a very young age that something was wrong. He didn’t l ike being put in dresses or playing with dolls. â€Å"Joan† just wasn’t performing like other females her age and just about everyone was noticing that. Social constructionism is pushing John to behave differently than how he wants to behave. In a way society was disturbing his normal growth as a child by changing who he thought he was, his gender identity. In the end, he knew he was a male, which relates back to gender essentialism. Dr. Money definitely took advantage of John’s parents by giving them false knowledge.John’s parents were so uninformed about everything that was going on with John’s situation. Dr. Money was a very strict social constructionist that believed if he told John he was a female then he would be a female. How could Dr. Money, a doctor, think that telling a child that it is a specific sex and that it would grow up believing and acting like that sex? Things just don’t work like that. I think genes and your sex have a bi g part in identifying your gender. Each situation for each child is so incredibly different I find it too extraordinary that society and environment could change the identity of a person.I do not think that gender essentialism or social constructionism is the way, but a balance in between the two. Gender essentialism and social constructionism challenge each other. The two are the extremes of reality. A balance between the two is how people live each and every day. In the situation of John, his life shows a journey through all three ways, gender essentialism, social constructionism and reality. Dr. Money believed in social constructionism, but while John was told he was a female he showed his belief in gender essentialism. He ignored people because he â€Å"knew† something was not right and that he should be a male.Now he lives his life as a male but in what I call â€Å"reality†. He listens to society in some ways but he focuses on being a father and that to him is wh at a male is, a father. The article challenges the two opposing beliefs because no one knows the correct answer. Each person and situation is different. Maybe for some the theory of gender essentialism will push them to be who they truly are, while for others it may be society, the theories of social constructionism. For the rest it is reality, a combination of the two. Works Cited Colapinto, John. â€Å"â€Å"The True Story of Joan/John†. † Rolling Stone 11 Dec. 1997: 54-97. Print.