Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 15

Annotated Bibliography Example nalysis of data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), the method takes into account retention and graduation numbers at both entry and transfer institutions. Hence, what they accomplish is to construct a polychotomous definition of success. The challenge facing them include identifying new methods to model limited dependent variables. They are sceptical that the multinomial logit method is apt for the purpose. They believe incorporating multinomial regression techniques into the model is a better way of evaluating student success across institutions. The intended audience for this research paper are educators and fellow scholars. The paper uses esoteric language and complex statistical analysis. To this extent novices and teachers under training may find its content inaccessible. However, the necessity and relevance of the angle of scholarly investigation cannot be overstated. At a time when general standards of literacy, numeracy and employability of students are falling ac ross educational institutions, reworking the model for ascertaining student success might help educators and recruiters to refine their search criteria. Likewise, with federal government putting pressure on institutions of higher to improve accountability, all stakeholders are reviewing the utility of arcane laws such as the Student Right to Know (SRK) Act of 1990. In the same vein, the reporting requirements through Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Graduation Rate Survey (GRS) are also being reviewed. The project undertaken by Jones-White et al is relevant for all these areas of review. The article talks about a longitudinal case study of an experienced educator (Steven). Starting with Steven’s early days as an untrained teacher, the author brings his first hand experiences to bear on the analysis. It is recounted how, through the Teach for America initiative, the subject taught mathematics at an urban middle school, before moving on to teaching

Honorifics Similarities of the Guugu Yimidhirr and Japanese Languages Essay

Honorifics Similarities of the Guugu Yimidhirr and Japanese Languages - Essay Example One of the most intriguing qualities of the Guugu Yimidhirr language is its honorific system; in other words, the way in which deference is paid to certain members of the family or the society with the use of a specific word over another. In particular, the honorific system requires the use of deference words and tone to a brother-in-law or father-in-law. The Japanese and Guugu Yimidhir languages were born for essentially the same purpose: to solidify a social structure that organically evolved to support a burgeoning community and, eventually, a larger nation. Where the Guugu Yimidhirr language has maintained its more traditional deference language primarily for use in speaking to brothers- and fathers- in law who in turn provide essential services for the community, Japanese culture has evolved and with it the use of deferential language for business purposes. Whorfian theory can be used in terms of the Aboriginal group, however Japanese language has not been a mirror unto itself a nd has changed to accommodate the needs of its society. The function of the honorifics within the Guugu Yimidhirr language is to essentially uphold an established social structure. The culture of these people is such that a certain stratification is basic to the continuation of the societal framework: deference must be paid to those members of society who are, in terms of the culture, of higher importance and reverence within the community and the society on the whole. Brothers-in-law and fathers-in-law are considered honorable members of the community in that they are wise and instrumental to the running of day-to-day life. This is a generally accepted view of Guugu Yimidhirr, with many subscribers to the idea that the language is what the society was initially, and now is, fixed upon. In contrast to this theory, however, Foley suggests that the key to understanding the use of honorifics within this particular language is to bring the Whorfian theories into play; in short, to examine the idea that the words used in context are not merely a product of initial societal roles but that they are currently responsible for shaping the worldview of the Guugu Yimidhirr themselves (Foley 1997). Being raised in an environment where it is socially unacceptable to say Balin-ga (porcupine) to your father- or brother-in-law instead of the deferential nhalngarr (Shopen 1979) means that children are acculturated to believe in the existing social structures and to use them with little resistance. Shopen points out that the deferential vocabulary within Guugu Yimidhirr is not a substantial sub-language, but instead a special set of words and phrases that are interchangeable with parts of the regular language. This is notable because it shows that the social structure is not completely, strictly stratified, but that it merely demands a level of respect for those on whom the community depends. Modern Japanese Honorifics The Japanese language today is another, like Guugu Yimidhirr, that has evolved over centuries and in doing so has developed and maintained honorifics. The three specific levels of Japanese honorifics, delineated by linguists, are Polite, Respectful and Humble Language. Teineigo, or Polite Language, is marked by the use of special sentence and verb endings: desu and masu, respectively (Maynard 1997). This is the language version taught to non-native speakers of Japanese. Sonkeigo, or Respectful Language, is used in reference to superiors and is characterized by the use of alternate words. For example, instead of using the verb suwaru as would be done when referring to oneself sitting down, the phrase o kake ni natte kudasai is used to ask someone in a superior position (this includes customers)

The Beatles

The Beatles British Popular Music Culture The Beatles INTRODUCTION For Chinese fans, the so-called English Brit-pop is a memorable the symbols. It is filled with too many youth, while still in the new generation of echoing music dream. Young people are eagerly, completes obsessed with Westlife or Beyonce .Moment these new, the English rock band, but the youth has continued to effect people from British golden decade. In the mid of 1960s, the Beatles is the legendary band affected the blustery generations. (American media used â€Å"British Invasion† to describe the Beatles band). The Beatles became popular quickly as well as their influence on international pop music is unprecedented. Even after they disbanded, they have continued to issue recordings of their songs and style still prevails unabated. The 1960s pop music like society, everything has just begun. The Beatles brought a new music to youth, everywhere is full of energy, their music rapid changes and growth, just a few years to conquer the world. People praised them as Music God, being crazy about them. Modern musicians rarely are not influenced by the Beatles. If American young people use the rock and roll of wandering, confusion, and emptiness, the young people in the United Kingdom is to use rock music to break through the Victorian era has left all the old moral and traditional values. BACKGROUND As an essential part of western culture, music has been influencing the people in all aspects. The need and appreciation for music is apparent that in the everyday lives of people they are listening to it in movies, on TV and throughout all forms of other audio media. The majority of people also choose to listen to music for pleasure in their leisure life. Not surprisingly the music can be a powerful tool with social influence and be able to change the lives of people. In another sense, music can be recognised as a powerful form of communication. Like some people have said, â€Å"It can be personal, political, opportunistic, and can be self-expressive with therapeutic effects due to the release of emotion.† (British pop Music http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/britishmusic.htm). Pop music is absolutely an essential part of British culture, not only just as an expression of the way all the British people live with, but also as an indicator of the multi-cultural nature of Britai n today. The Beatles pop music is undoubtedly the greatest, the most influential and the most successful band both in academia and in business in the history of the whole pop music. The Beatles from Liverpool in the early 60s has created a huge controversial enthusiasm among their fans. It is well known as â€Å"Beatle mania† today. The Beatles revolutionized pop music in regard to the development in the music itself and influence on the society. The impact they had done on the pop music is so immense that there is no one else can go beyond them. For the development of rock around the world has made tremendous contributions to the impact of self-60s after several generations of rock bands music and ideas directly affect the rock change and development in the United Kingdom, The Beatles has affected almost every one the bands formation and development for more than 60 years. They had led the fashion in lots of countries all over the world and also in UK itself in 1960-1970. They had a s ignificant impact on the younger people in UK in 1960s. OUTLINE The Beatles songs had influenced the generation in their interests of art, their way of wearing, and their attitude and way of living. Until now, the band has been gone for almost 40 years they are still showing strong influence on the whole British society. EVALUATION The band of four great musicians, especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney, all corners of the worlds younger rock singer and music creators the impact of which continues today. Although from its inception to the dissolution of the Beatles only existed for a decade, but the band as a musical culture revolutionaries and their cultural influence has long exceeded its art itself. The Beatles over the past few decades of time, has become a popular symbol of music and popular culture, but also became Britains culture and history of a trademark, of them being members of the Queens sealed. The original work and creativity have done by the Beatles have constantly inspired the musicians worldwide. In the world today there still has a lot of Beatles band member professional imitators, as well as professional organizations and evaluation of institutions and organizations mimic competition. The Beatles and the Beatles culture has already become the culture of mankind in the 20th century, an important component of the field was forever etched that they, as the last century, a trademark of popular culture has never been any challenge. Following table briefly outlines the major singles and albums made by The Beatles during 1960s. Those songs and albums have been on top of the chart or keeping in the first place of the ranking list. Especially, â€Å"With the Beatles† became the second album in the UK chart history to sell a million copies and this album is described by Allmusic as â€Å"a sequel of the highest order one that betters the original by developing its own tone and adding depth.† (Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2009b). With the Beatles. Allmusic. Retrieved 27 September 2009. Gould, Jonathan (2008). Cant Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America. London: Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-7499-2988-6.) . Those praise has clearly expressed the emotion toward the Beatles from the professionals. Table1 The Beatles Famous Music Works: YEAR SINGLE SONG ALBUM 1962 《Love Me Do》 1963 《Please Please Me》 《From Me to You》 March,22,1963 《Please Please Me》 End of 1963 《With the Beatles》 1964 《Meet the Beatles》 of American From 1964 to 1965 《Something New》ï ¼Å'《Beatles for Sale》ï ¼Å'《Beatles ‘65》ï ¼Å' 《Beatles VI》ï ¼Å'《Help!》ï ¼Å'《Rubber Soul》 1966 《Revolver》 《YesterdayAnd Today》 1967 《Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band》 Enter the new century, the Beatles are still often have ripping album come out, their music of these great works, in the new century is still exudes timeless magic of the impact on them once again. After decades of recording the market, often for decades after the dissolution of the band continue to be the list of champions. John Lennon passed away, to hold a memorial vigil in commemoration and to participate in as many as millions of fans the world. In 2001 an outstanding guitarist George Harrison died of illness, such scenes again to reproduce their music and still another generation after generation of the character fans have been attracted by the magic of the Beatles for their obsession. The music of the Beatles music has already passed the boundary of the music itself, it becomes the eternal humanity. Looking at the history of the pop music, it can be found out that, the Beatles is definitely revolutionary, they have changed the character of the pop music and changed the attitude of British people toward pop music. The rise of the original rock and roll pop music made the entire music industry upside down. Some well-known pop singers voice like Presley, Little Richard and Lewis and others replaced by rock songs, the five major record companies dominated music industry record companies wife and children have been hundreds of attacks. An adult-oriented market into a white youth-oriented market, these young people are increasingly interested in black culture right. In this sense, the rock is indeed ushered in a revolution. However, the revolution in 1964, when the pop music entered its second decade, it started to abandon the original edge. Mainstream Rock give a moderate rock, pop, surf music, one time, around the 60s rock and roll would lead to divergent views on how to develop. An d this time the American society is in disarray. In this case, the original part of the Americans came in the British rock. In The Beatles† band under the influence of the United States is increasingly disperse rock began to regain vitality, and thus set off a rock in the history of a new climax. Although from its inception to the dissolution of the Beatles only existed for a decade, but the band as a musical culture revolutionaries, who not only has the worlds highest, but also future generations to make it difficult record prices and record sales, but also their cultural influence has long exceeded its art itself. The Beatles led the sixties and the seventies all over the world countries in the direction of popular culture has become a popular fashion vane anything about all the Beatles have become the most cultural content of goods, while the Beatles had been anything used can be an alarming high price for auction. The Beatles In addition to countless magazine covers a variety of other board, but also often on the worlds countries such as stamps and postcards, souvenirs, they have countless museums and documentaries related topics, films and other related cultural materials Save the organization. In addition, in the world still has a lot of Beatles band member professiona l imitators, as well as professional organizations and evaluation of institutions and organizations mimic competition. The Beatles and the Beatles culture has already become the culture of mankind in the 20th century, an important component of the field was forever etched that they, as the last century, a trademark of popular culture has never been any challenge. Another important part of the Beatles is their original ideas. They started writing their own music and through their originality a new sound happened. They were so successful, that in order to get famous, other bands realized that they needed to fashion their music after to the tracks of the Beatles. The dress they wore influenced everybody. People even started to cut their hair in the same style as the Beatles did. It was fashionable to take after the Beatles. The effect of the Beatles is no longer limited in Music. Their sound was original and their look was different, this led to the outburst of freedom during the sixties. (What was the impact the Beatles had on people and music? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_impact_the_Beatles_had_on_people_and_music) .They are also described as â€Å"They influenced the people, that generation not only in their musical preferences but also in the way they dressed and felt about one another. They transmitted all there was to share trou gh their music and lyrics.† (The Beatles A Strong Impact http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-beatles-a-strong-impact.html). The following figure depicts the annual income of some top singer or band. According to Apples financial records, as of January 2008, including the The Beatles members, including the company paid huge dividends accounted for incredible ï ¿ ¡56.4 million a year. The impact of the Beatles has drawn lots of attention in academia. They took the British rock wind since late 1960s, has continued to attract many followers. Even British universities have set up a masters degree of studying The Beatles. Reuters reports: Liverpool Hope University will open a new masters degree courses The Beatles, Popular Music and Society, to enable students to study the cultural impact of the Beatles. The university, a senior Mike Brocken said: The market is flooded with more than 8000 books on the Beatles, no one on their academic research, so we want to open this course. The Beatles had been disbanded for 40 years. It is time to study their music. We have received inquiries from abroad, particularly in the United States. Liverpool Hope University is the first to set up a masters degree-granting institution of The Beatles in British. It may be the only one. Liverpool is the hometown of the Beatles, in addition to the masters program, where there is the Beatles museum, and even the airport is named Liverpool John Lennon Airport. I have to say the most important mark the Beatles left on this society and for future generations is the popularisation of the Beatle wig. I still have several and wear them proudly. (â€Å"The Beatles Literary Anthology† Edited by Mike Evans, page 87, 2004, ISBN 0 85965 315 3)The decadent image of the Beatles which is characterized by their long hair, tight jeans and leisure tops have been a fashion until now. The influence of the Beatles is immense even beyond the boundary of nations. The Beatles has been recognized the invasion of the United States as British in the 1960s, representatives and influence extended to the 1960s of social and cultural revolution. In the 1970s, the band was dissolved, the members of an individual singers posture continued to develop. Recording Industry Association of the United States according to official statistics, the Beatles is the highest-selling singers in the United States, with a total sales of more than 170 million, while global sales of more than 1 billion. CONCLUSION The Beatles inherited the results of the first decade of rock and roll, with their creativity and innovation to enrich and develop the rock to rock and roll into a new historical stage. Since then, the rock is no longer just pure entertainment music. It has more people thinking something more hidden behind the music thing. That is the magic of Beatles and they had done something special to change the peoples attitude towards rock music. They had redefined the meaning of the rock music. 60 years growing up in British and American young people, rarely fail to be associated with their songs. It can be said that their songs influenced a generation of artistic taste, clothing hair style, lifestyle and attitude towards life. The Beatles The emergence of more scholars began to study the phenomenon of rock music, and rock and roll music and lyrics, and their subsequent university courses are also offered rock (which is unthinkable in the early 60s). The Beatles led the sixties and the seventies all over the world countries in the direction of popular culture. They have become a popular fashion vane. In fact, anything about all the Beatles have become the most cultural content of goods, while the Beatles had been anything used can be a shocking high price for auction. In addition to countless magazine covers and a variety of other board, but also often on the worlds countries such as stamps and postcards, souvenirs, The Beatles have countless museums and documentaries related topics, films and other related cultural materials Save the organization. RECOMMODATION One thing I would like to recommend the company for the Beatles is to let people from the eastern world know more about this band not only their songs or albums but also their background and their inventive work in order to inspire more people to love them to understand them and to create more treasure in all areas. REFERENCES 1. British pop Music http://www.learnenglish.de/culture/britishmusic.htm 2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2009b). With the Beatles. Allmusic. Retrieved 27 September 2009. Gould, Jonathan (2008). Cant Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America. London: Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-7499-2988-6. 3. What was the impact the Beatles had on people and music? http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_impact_the_Beatles_had_on_people_and_music 4. The Beatles A Strong Impact http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-beatles-a-strong-impact.html 5. The Beatles Impact, Influence and Empowerment http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/america_circa_60s/86384/1 6. â€Å"The Beatles Literary Anthology† Edited by Mike Evans, page 87, 2004, ISBN 0 85965 315 3

Dance Difficulties Essay -- essays research papers

As an extremely challenging and physically demanding pastime, it makes sense that a career in dance has lots of pressures that go along with it. This should come as no surprise seeing that every professional sport requires hard work and at least some sacrifice. It is questionable, however, if there is maybe too much pressure put on dancers in this day and age. Many people do not realize what it takes for a person to make it as a dancer, the dedication and drive the person must have. The fact of the matter is, the outcome of a dancer’s career may not outweigh the physical and emotional damages left over from the long journey to the top.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the eighteenth century, the most prominent dancer of the time, Marie Camargo, set the standard for the typical dancer’s physique. The body characteristics of no hips, breasts, or stomach became the customary body shape for dancers at that time, and in the future (Gim). George Balanchine, one of the most prominent dance choreographers in dance history is responsible for the basic look of a thin ballet dancer. His goal within a dance company was for all of the females to look as identical as possible. He wanted dancers who were tall and streamlined with beautifully arched feet, long, elegant legs and a graceful extension (Solway 57). He believed that the thinner the dancer, the better one could see their bodies and movements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Due to the views of George Balanchine, it soon became the norm for a dancer to be a certain height and weight. Soon that is what company producers, directors, choreographers, and the public expected. Even today, â€Å"an ideal has been set in place in the dance community which reflects the general public’s desire to see thin women on stage† (10-6). The main goal of a dance company is to have viewers, and for that to happen the public must be visually pleased. Cultural ideas of feminine beauty cause young women to feel a strong desire to be thinner than their bodies naturally tend to be (10-1). This idea is even more widespread in the dance world; literally, people who are not thin do not get jobs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Certain sports create environments that harbor unhealthy eating habits, and dance is one of the most common (Despres). These eating habits can eventually escalate into an eating disorder if not treated correctly. Every eati... ...s to do what they love to do. Applegate, Liz. â€Å"Athletes Are More Vulnerable to Anorexia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Than Non-Athletes.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Binks, Georgie. â€Å"Eating Disorders are Not Necessarily Harmful.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Despres, Renee. â€Å"Female Athletes Are at Risk of Eating Disorders.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Dobie, Michael. â€Å"The Eating-Disordered Male Athlete.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Gim, Kari. â€Å"The Perfect Ballet Body.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Hood, Joel. â€Å"Dying to Win: Athletes and Eating Disorders.† Opposable Viewpoints. 24 Jan 2005.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Levenkrom, Steven. Anatomy of Anorexia. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. Neale, Wendy. Ballet Life Behind the Scenes. New York: Crown Publishing Inc, 1982. Solway, Diane. A Dance Against Time. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. Thompson, Ron A. Sherman; Trattner, Roberta. Helping Athletes With Eating Disorders. Illinois: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1993.

Crime and corruption among the police officers how safe are we Essay

How Are Safe We? When killers are finally put to â€Å"justice†, for most, there is an immense sigh of relief knowing that they will be able to sleep well at night. However, with hundreds of police officers roaming around in the streets, are people ever really safe? According to the judicial system, yes, that’s what they’re here for.   To make us feel safe. So why is it then, that as time goes by, people seem to not just fear the cops, but even view them as killers themselves? That is because the only real difference between a killer and a cop is a uniform. When someone commits a crime, specifically murder, the ideal is that they receive a punishment that is best suited for them. John Wayne Gacy, also known as the killer clown who raped and murdered at least 33 males, was sentenced to death and executed in 1994 by lethal injection. Bowling Green State University conducted a study on Police Sexual Misconduct (2014). They found that many cases of sex-related crimes were often during work hours, and even had victims younger than 18. They also found that most of these cases went unreported, and why wouldn’t they? Who can one go for help when those who are supposed to make society feel â€Å"safe† are the same people causing fear? Michael Medved from U.S. Today tells us to â€Å"slow down† because he believes that the cops are the good guys. In an article written and published in U.S. Today, Medved states that statistics from the Bureau of Justice show that crime has reached an all-time low in 1991, and apparently it onl y continues to decrease. Again, that is most likely due to the fact that not many crimes are reported, especially not those committed by cops themselves. The only difference between Gacy and the cops on the street is that people have an idea about how many victims he had. Society is clueless as to how many rape victims a cop has, let alone how many the entire cops have all together. Criminal law has a way of separating those who are in danger from those who cause the danger. Of course, there are those who believe the justice system to be corrupt, and they wouldn’t be wrong. Messerschmidt, author of Criminology: A Sociological approach, states that â€Å"if a police officer kills someone, the killing is not murder, according to criminal law, if it is reasonable under the circumstances and if it occurs in the lawful execution of police duties.† The loophole here, a cop could simply claim self-defense, it was justifiable since often times officers feel â€Å"isolated and vulnerable,† (Medved). Then again, Alton Sterling was on the ground when he was shot by Officer Blane Salamoni, as well as Vernell Bing, shot to death simply because he got outside his car. There has been an increase in the use of deadly force by the police recently. All over social media, news, and radio, we are constantly watching police kill people, specifical minorities. It is hard to ignore history and view this as a sudden problem that is new to society, it is a song we’ve heard more than once. Yet, we still manage to make the serial killers like Dean Corl, Larry Eyler, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein seem like the only ones capable of cold-blooded murder. When looking at Jenkin’s analysis (Messerschmidt, 39), serial killers had no more than â€Å"350 to 400 murders each year during the 1980s†. According to a site on facebook labeled â€Å"Killed by Police†, 1,207 people killed by the police in the year 2015, and according to an article by Dr. Q, called How Many People Have Been Killed by the Police? they had 457 arrest-related deaths. However, the number could most certainly be higher, since Dr. Q expressed his concerns with just how inaccurate the number could be due to the fact that the estimates included in the report â€Å"only count homicides committed by police that were determined to be legally justified by a government agency.† I believe that often, we as a society don’t want to come to the realization that the people who most likely deserve to be inside bars are the ones who are making the arrests. We should watch out for police as much as we do for strangers who are acting funny because the reason cops are more dangerous than any other hate-filled organization out there is that in the end, it doesn’t matter if the cop is black or white. Corruption sees no color, therefore, we are all in danger. Both subjects, killers, and cops, have committed crimes that unspeakable and questionable. The sooner we are able to see the two as similar, the sooner we can come up with ways to put a stop to such corruption.    Works Cited Mejia, Paula. â€Å"Why Cops Get Away With Rape.† Newsweek. N.p., 22 Feb. 2016. Web. 16 Sept. 2016. . Stinson, Philip M., John Liederbach, Steven Brewer L., and Brooke Mathna E. Police Sexual Misconduct. N.p., 2014. Web. 16 Sept. 2016. . Medved, Michael. â€Å"Slow Down, Police Are the Good Guys: Column.† USA Today. Gannett, 21 Aug. 2014. Web. 16 Sept. 2016. . Kindy, Kimberly, Wesley Lowery, Steven Rich, Julie Tate, and Jennifer Jenkins. â€Å"Fatal Shootings by Police Are up in the First Six Months of 2016, Post Analysis Finds.† Washington Post. The Washington Post, 7 July 2016. Web. 16 Sept. 2016. . Q, Dr. â€Å"How Many People Have Been Killed by the Police?† Massachusetts CopBlock. N.p., 15 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Sept. 2016. .   

China’s One-Child Policy: Should It Be Abolished? Essay

After the People’s Republic of China had been founded in 1949, the improved sanitation and medicine promoted rapid population growth. Before long, the population boom started to take a major toll on the country’s food supply. Officials launched a campaign to promote birth control in 1955 in order to deal with the overpopulation. Their efforts were reversed though, in 1958 by the Great Leap Forward, which was Mao Zedong’s attempt to rapidly convert China into what he thought would be a modern industrialized state. By 1962, there was a massive famine in China that caused about 30 million deaths. During the aftermath of the famine, officials tried multiple times, with several different campaigns, to reduce the population. One of these campaigns was successful, using the slogan â€Å"Late, Long and Few.† China’s population growth fell by half from 1970 to 1976. The population growth then proceeded to level off, causing officials to seek more drastic measures to reduce population growth. This resulted in what is now known as China’s One Child Policy, which was introduced in 1979 (â€Å"Brief History†). The One Child Policy restricts urban couples from having more than one child. There are exceptions for rural families and ethnic minorities, officially anyway. There are many problems with the policy and it has been implicated in forced abortions and female infanticide. One of the biggest problems with the policy is that it is a violation to every person’s human rights. It violates not only a person’s right to privacy of information and their body and it also violates the basic human right to choose the size of one’s own family. The gender imbalance is another big problem with the policy and it is leaving many men without the option to get married and is affecting the crime rate in a negative way. There is also the relatively smaller issue of having an entire generation of only children and the possible social issues that that can cause. Another big problem is that there is an age disparity between the young and the old that is beginning to and will continue to have an impact on the economy of China. A big argument against the policy is also that it was never needed in the first place. The One Child Policy in China needs to be abolished. China’s One-Child Policy violates a human right to determine the size of one’s own family. No family should be forced to only have one child by any government, and that is exactly what the Chinese government is doing to their citizens. Chinese officials have said before that the one-child policy is optional. The catch is that the violators of the policy will be fined. For example, in an article by Debra Cassens Weiss, who holds a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law and a B.A. in English from the University of Illinois, she talks about Yang Zhitzhu, a law professor at China Youth University for Political Sciences, who was charged a $37,000 â€Å"social upbringing fee† in 2009 for violating the one-child policy. He also lost his job and, as a protest, put himself up for sale, vowing to serve his master until death, for $100,000. Also, because he did not pay the fee, his second daughter will not be granted household registration papers that would entitle her to a public education and healthcare. So, not only does the father get fined and lose his job because he decided to have a second child, his daughter now also has to suffer. Why should the daughter be punished for something the father did, when she did nothing to deserve the punishment? No person should be punished for being born. Executive director, Harry Wu, of the Laogi Research Foundation, which is an organization that collects information about forced labor camps and other human rights violations in China, wrote an article talking about Gao Xiao Duan and her testimony about the one-child policy in front of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights on June 10, 1998. Gao was worked as an administrator at the Yonghe town planned-birth office. â€Å"She was to carry out the dictates of the communist regime in accordance with the ‘one child’ policy.† She explained in the hearing her daily duties. Gao issued â€Å"‘birth allowance’ certificates to women who meet the policy and regulations of the central and provincial planned-birth committees.† She issued â€Å"birth-not-allowed notices† notices as well, which were made public for the purpose of making it known to everybody that the couple was in violation of the one-child policy, facilitating the supervision of the couple. Gao also issued â€Å"birth control measures implementation notices.† This meant that all women who were of child-bearing age were notified that they must have contraceptive device reliability and pregnancy examinations when necessary. If a woman failed to arrive for one of these, a supervision team would apprehend her and force her to have the examinations required. Issuing notices on whether or not a woman can have a child violates the basic human right to be able to choose whether or not she wants to have a child violates the privacy of information of the citizens of China. And requiring them to have examinations on the reliability of their contraceptive device and their pregnancy status is a violation of every human’s right to privacy over their own body. The idea that the women are taken and forced to have theses examinations takes away any freedom that they could have had over the issue, and that shows that the Chinese government has too much control over the citizens of China when it comes to the one-child policy. Another problem with the One-Child Policy is the growing gender imbalance in China. In January 2010 the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS) said that within ten years, one in five young men would not be able to find a wife because of the shrinking amount of women in the country. According to the CASS, China will have 30 million to 40 million more men, ages 19 and under, than women by 2020. To put this into perspective, there are about 23 million boys age 20 and under in Germany, France, and Britain combined. There are about 40 million boys in the Unites States (â€Å"Worldwide War†). This means that China has enough men outnumbering women to populate Europe’s three most populated countries or to populate the entire United States male population. The sex ratio in China has been growing significantly since the 1980’s. The sex ratio in China for the generation born between 1985 and 1989 was 108 (meaning there were 108 males born for every 100 females), which is considered to be a little out of the natural range. For the generation born between 200 and 2004, the sex ratio was an astounding 124. And according to the CASS, the ratio is at 123 today, which is said to be biologically impossible without human intervention (â€Å"Worldwide War†). This is on the national level, once someone looks into the different regions and provinces in China they get a clearer picture of how bad the imbalance is. In an analysis of Chinese household data carried out in 2005 and then reported to the British Medical Journal, only a single region, Tibet, has a sex range that are considered to be within the bounds of nature. Fourteen more provinces have a sex ratio of above 120. And two more had an extremely unnatural rate of over 130 (â€Å"Worldwide War†). Then gender imbalance is causing more problems than just men not being able to find a bride though. It is also affecting the amount of crimes being committed in China. â€Å"Throughout human history, young men have been responsible for the vast preponderance of crime and violence—especially single men in countries where status and social acceptance depend on being married and having children† ( â€Å"Worldwide War†). This could very easily mean a lot of trouble for China, as there crime rate keeps rising. China’s crime rate has almost doubled in the past twenty years because of the rising sex ratio. A study into whether the sex ratio and the crime rate were connected concluded that about one-seventh of the crime rate increase was accounted to the rising sex ration. Some of the biggest crimes on the rise are said to be bride abduction, trafficking of women, prostitution, and rape (â€Å"Worldwide War†). With one-seventh of the crime rate rise being accounted to the gender imbalance and the gender imbalance becoming more and more lopsided, China is in big trouble if they don’t do something about the gender imbalance soon. They could just throw everybody who commits a crime in prison, but they will surely run out of room at some point. China needs to address the issue of the gender imbalance by looking back at what they can do to alter the one-child policy so it does not favor having a boy if they will not get rid of the policy altogether. Another issue with the One-Child Policy in China is that it leaves an entire generation of only children. In March of 2007 delegates of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body in China, stated that China should abolish the One Child Policy because â€Å"it creates social problems and personality disorders in young people† (â€Å"Consultative Conference†). Only Children are known to be more selfish and have a harder time communicating with peers, which is a problem if you have an entire generation of what are being called â€Å"Little Emperors† There is also the issue of the increase in percentage of citizens over the age of sixty and decrease in percentage of younger citizens. The latest census information shows that the policy has been working. The population rose to 1.34 billion as of last year from 1.27 billion in 2000. This puts the average annual growth at 0.57 percent for the decade. Compared to the previous decade, which had an average annual growth of 1.07 percent, this is a good decrease for the country. The problem, however, is that the census also shows that citizens over the age of 60 now represent 13.3 percent of China’s population, which is an increase from 10.3 percent in 2000. And also the amount of future workers, age 14 and under, has been shrinking. Citizens age 14 and under now make up 16.6 percent of the population, which is a drop from 23 percent in 2000 (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). To help paint the picture even more, by 2030, the number of citizens in their 20’s is going to drop by 35percent and the number of citizens ages 55 to 60 is going to increase by 60 percent. The number of people ages 65 and over is going to jump by an even more astounding 100 percent in the same period of time (Elizabeth Economy). This basically means that China’s elderly population is rapidly growing as the generation before the One-Child Policy are retiring, putting an extremely heavy burden on the rest of Chinese society to cover the cost of their retirement. While the retirees are rapidly growing, the workforce is even more rapidly shrinking. This will begin â€Å"reversing the demographic phenomenon of a widening pool of low-cost labor that powered a manufacturing boom over the past three decades† (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). This leads to a subsequent problem caused by the retirees growing and workers shrinking, and that problem is that it is crippling China’s economy. For example, in an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Kevin Hamlin, a reporter for Bloomberg News, talks about Lin Chang Jie, who is battling to save his family’s business. He is faced with a dwindling supply of workers, forcing him to pay higher wages. Lin must attempt to change his Dejin Textile into an online fashion retailer in order to reduce headcount and keep his business from failing like many others. Lin is having such a problem because the decrease in labor is largely the unskilled labor that is used in factories to produce low-margin goods, such as clothes, toys and furniture. The lack of unskilled labor is a huge problem considering these low-margin goods made up 68 percent of China’s exports last year according to China’s customs agency. According to Hamlin’s article, the upward pressure on wages is forcing mainland companies to upgrade to what are considered to be higher-value products. China may have as few as five years to make the transition to avoid a economic slump because growth may decline from 2016 to 2020 as low-cost producers begin to fail and investment starts to fall away. There is also what is called the four-two-one problem, which will have a negative effect on the economy on the individual level. The four-two-one problem is that the citizens who grew up as only children will be forced to support up to six people by themselves. They will have to support their parents when they retire and up to four grandparents. Because men outnumber women so greatly, that leaves a lot of single men to support both their parents and grandparents. This will cause individual citizens to save more money and in the process hurt the economy because they aren’t putting as much money back into it. Chinese officials would argue that the economy improved as a result of the One-Child policy. While the economy has improved during the length of the policy, that doesn’t mean that the policy should receive credit for the improvement. China’s economy made great advances before the One-Child Policy too. What is to say that the economic advances should not be attributed to the economic reforms rather than to the population policy? If China does not do something about the One-Child Policy causing a disparity in age, they could be looking at a huge economic downfall. This downfall will be as a result of failing companies and lack of investment as well as the lack of spending on the individual level due to the four-two-one problem. There are also some people who say, even though the policy seems to be doing its job, that the One-Child Policy was unnecessary in the first place. An advocacy group that is made up of two dozen leading demographers, economists and former Family Planning officials joined together to fight the policy in 2000. This group, who knew that China’s fertility rate was declining before the One-Child Policy began in 1980. The fertility rate hade dropped to 2.7 in 1979 from 5.5 in 1970 because of a policy that encouraged, but did not force, Chinese citizens to marry later, wait longer between children, and have fewer babies. The group also knew that fertility rates in other developing countries showed similar results. Because of this information, group members began to conduct quiet field research to prove that China’s fertility rate had fallen well below what is known as the replacement rate of 2.1. The replacement rate is generally required to keep a population stable. Taking into account exemptions, the group calculated that the fertility rate should be 1.47 if the policy was implemented correctly. As of today, the group says the fertility rate has been about 1.8, well below 2.1, since 1991. The group assumes that many children are born secretly to avoid fines and that if you take that out the fertility rate is actually between 1.5 and 1.6 (â€Å"Plan Faces New Fire†). While the group is only arguing for a two-child policy at minimum, their point is that the One-Child Policy never needed to be implemented in the first place. China would have had a fertility rate closer to the replacement rate if it would have continued to just encourage citizens to have fewer kids and get married later. Why should China keep a policy that is hurting the country if it was not needed in the first place? China’s One-Child Policy needs to be taken away. The policy violates the basic human rights of any person. Every person living on this planet has the basic right to choose the size of their own family; it shouldn’t be decided by the government of any country. Even though some Chinese officials have said the policy is optional, the government heavily fines those who violate it, $37,000 in the case of Yang Zhitzhu. And, as explained by Gao Xiao Duan’s testimony, the policy also violates human privacy over one’s own body by being forced to take examinations on their state of pregnancy or whether or not their contraceptive device is functioning properly. There is also an obvious violation of Chinese citizens’ right to privacy of their information. The gender imbalance, which is far above the natural range, is leaving men unable to find a bride and is directly linked to China’s increasing crime rates. When a policy is connected to an increase crimes such as rape, kidnapping, and prostitution it is a policy that should not exist. Also, the growing age disparity is crippling the economy in China. It will be more evident in a few years, but shrinking work force along with the growing amount of retirees are beginning to destroy the unskilled labor jobs, which were the cause of China’s economic boom to begin with. And the four-two-one problem is hampering economic growth because citizens are forced to save more money instead of putting it back into the economy. There is also the fact that the policy may not have been needed in the first place and that the fertility rate in China is dangerously lower than the replacement rate of 2.1, making it impossible to have a stable population. If the policy was not needed to begin with and it isn’t really helping the country, China must get rid of it. So yes, the one child policy has reduced the growth of the population significantly, but at what cost is it being done?

Chromosomes and Heredity essays

Chromosomes and Heredity essays The theory of the genetic basis of heredity was quite unheard of until the time of Gregor Mendel who proved with his experiments on pea plants that organisms inherited their traits from their parents. It was Mendel who first proposed that genes were the basic units of all living organisms. Children receive half their chromosomes from their father and half from their mother and hence they share the character traits of their parents. Each human being has two complete sets of 23 chromosomes, which are responsible for controlling all the bodily functions. Each parent in effect contributes one complete set of the 23 chromosomes to the child. Genetic information is stored inside the chromosomes in the forms of DNA strands and there are around 40,000 genes, which are responsible for instructing the ribosomes to synthesis specific proteins. (for specific functions). A particular gene is responsible for a particular character trait and parents pass on genes to their children, which is the fundamental principle behind inheritance. Furthermore every gene may have two or more different forms known as alleles. The genetic makeup of a person called the genotype is actually the combination of these inherited alleles. A person may either have homozygous alleles or heterozygous alleles. Alleles for a particular trait may either be dominant or recessive. The phenotype (physical appearance) of the person is determined by the expression of the dominant alleles. There are some cases where neither of the alleles are totally dominant in which case the phenotype is a combination of the phenotypes of both the alleles. So we see that the phenotype or the ultimate physical trait of a person is directly dependent upon the genetic information received from the parents. ...

Public Relation Models Essays

Public Relation Models Essays Public Relation Models Essay Public Relation Models Essay The purpose of this essay is to achieve better insight into the different methods of conducting real-life public relations nowadays. Theoretically, several models have been developed to categorize the different types of PR practice/practitioners; analyzing the usage of these models by PR professionals will reveal the extent to which they are valid in real life. Because these models deal with the communication-flow involved in PR, the essay will begin with a basic outline of how human communication works and how it can be applied effectively, using theory from Stappers (1988) and Dervin (1989)- Stappers offers a basic conversation model which describes the information and communication processes, while Dervin discusses the role of audiences in communication. The next step will be to analyze the aforementioned PR models and shortly describe them, starting with Grunig’s (1989) set of models (symmetrical and asymmetrical) and moving on to Van Ruler’s (1997) tested models (the technician, sales manager and intermediary). The final section of the essay will concentrate on real-life examples of how the PR models are applied, related to commercial business and international public relations, provided and examined by Lordan (2006) and Grunig (1993). The examples will include customer input to organizations and the use of Grunig’s models in US politics. A detailed analysis will follow which will lead to the conclusion of how the communication-flow models apply to real life, and how valid each models is today. Communication: how does it work? To generate awareness of the communication process, Stappers created a general communication model. To successfully communicate, the receiver of the message does not only have to receive the information but also understand the meaning of it. Accordingly one can divide the receiver’s tasks into â€Å"phases such as noticing, observing and knowing† (Stappers, 1988, p. ). If one would combine these activities, one can use the term ‘information source’. When the receiver is observing, he or she gains knowledge. This is called the information process – â€Å"it consists of the receiver and the information source† (Stappers, 1988, p. 3). It will become a communication process when the receiver communicates the message to someone else. Within the communication p rocess there is a sender, who supplies another person with a message. A communication process is when a person, the sender, supplies another person with a message. According to Stappers, communication revolves around second-hand experiences (benefiting from other experiences), and also passing (sending) them on, allowing others to benefit from your experiences. This can be considered as an optimistic view of what genuinely happens; one should regard it more as a desirable result of communication. Communication enables us to share each other’s experiences and evolve with them, this is why this model can be seen as a two-way flow of information; one sends, receives and shares. Dervin came up with a similar conclusion to communication (specifically two-way), by discussing the importance of the audience during public communication campaigns. According to Dervin (1989), the audience is not â€Å"an amorphous mass† (p. 20), but rather a group of people who can learn from and teach (through feedback) the sender. If you listen to your audience you can understand what they need and possibly satisfy them (as well as yourself), thus building a bridge to your â€Å"Uses (Helps)† (Dervin, 1989, p. 18) over the gap that would exist if audience feedback was absent. This â€Å"sense-making approach† to communication simply states that two-way communication is superior to one-way communication. Using this basic information on communication-flow, we are able to explain how communication works in the different PR models offered by Grunig and Van Ruler. Grunig’s PR models: Asymmetrical vs. symmetrical communication Grunig has introduced four basic models for public relations. Each model represents the values, goals and behaviours practiced by organizations when they act upon public relations. Grunig (1989) states that the models are â€Å"simplified in the same way that a perfect vacuum or perfect competition are simplified representations in other sciences,† i. e. these models represent clear-cut, ‘perfect’ types of PR practice that may not necessarily be recognized in real life. However Grunig tries to identify and display the underlying reasons for applying a certain theory by a public relation practitioner. Grunig’s models are ‘press agentry/publicity’, ‘public information’, ‘two-way asymmetrical’ and ‘two-way symmetrical’. According to Grunig, these four models simultaneously contain and represent the companies’ inherent values, goals and behavior. The models can be divided in two groups, the distinction of which lies in the communication methods used. Grunig describes that public relation practitioners  follow either an asymmetrical or symmetrical way of communication on which they base  their actions and which determines what kind of relationship an organization has with its publics. If one should examine to which ideology or perception the PR-practitioners act upon it could help to develop further more effective public relations efforts. The ‘press agentry/publicity’ and ‘public information’ models consist of one-way communication whereas the ‘two-way asymmetrical’ and ‘two-way symmetrical’ methods consist of two-way communication. One-way communication revolves around the company communicating to its audience with no feedback. As a dominant current world view, PR is still seen as â€Å"persuasive and manipulative† (Grunig, 1989, p. 40). The first presupposition fits within this world view, which Grunig describes as ‘Press agentry/ publicity’. This model seeks media attention in any way possible for example through product and trade fairs. This model is sometimes associated with propagandistic public relations- the PR focuses mainly on the positives of the organization and its products/services, and it emphasizes on benefiting the company, not the audience/publics, ‘the audience are passive receivers who ought to be â€Å"persuaded or manipulated† (Grunig, 1989, p. 40). ‘Public information’ similarly focuses on publishing positive (yet truthful) information about the given organization; however it is reluctant to disseminate negative information. Grunig states that (in contrast to the first model) this model tends to manipulate the publics unintentionally. For example, bands who participate in the Live Earth concerts have ‘public information’ PR which concentrates on the benefits of fighting global warming, while ignoring the fact that preparing and carrying out the concerts adds a lot to global warming (Vozel, 2007). Both of these one-way communication models are used by PR practitioners to inform the publics about the organization without any research of the publics (Grunig, 1989). The two-way communication models are more complicated in that they involve research of the publics in order to support them as well as the organization. ‘Two-way asymmetrical’ communication uses research to find out what has to be done to satisfy the public while still focusing mostly on benefiting the organization without the changing organizational behavior. Therefore, behavioral change, as Grunig puts it, from the side of the audience is hoped to benefit the organization rather than both involved parties. This model can be seen as manipulative because an organization uses it to satisfy the public mainly for its own good-will. ‘Two-way symmetrical’ communication, similarly to ‘two-way asymmetrical’ communication, involves research of the publics. However, it differs in its purpose- instead of focusing on the benefits of the organization, it emphasises on a mutual understanding between the organization and its publics. Practitioners fine-tune the needs and wants of both the organization and its publics to achieve harmony and find better solutions to problems together (synergy). Organizations using this model are known to bargain and negotiate with their publics and develop strategies of conflict resolutions. According to Grunig (1989) only the ‘two-way symmetrical’ communication model is genuinely symmetrical. In contrast to the other three models, ‘two-way symmetrical’ communication is the only one that does not focus solely of the benefits of the company. ‘Two-way asymmetrical’ communication also involves the publics but tends to use persuasive and manipulative messages to support them, as seen in the ‘press publicity/agentry’ model. Practitioners who use ‘public information’ may also manipulate publics (although it could be unintentional). Furthermore, Grunig (1989) argues that ‘two-way symmetrical’ communication is the best of these models because it is the only one that uses moral and ethical approaches in PR. After identifying and distinguishing the four PR-models, Grunig states why an organisation practices a particular one. He concludes that the reason why a model is applied lies in what he calls the ‘dominant coalition’. This term implies that these models ‘function as a part of an organisation’s ideology’ and become ‘situational strategies’. Grunig also comes to the conclusion that the top management, ‘the power elite’ , (which works separately from the PR practitioners) establishes strategic target publics and subsequently passes this issue to the PR practitioner, who has to accomplish this task in coherence with the ‘organisational culture’. Finally to summarize, it can be said that several ways of practicing public relations can be identified. Reasons why a company chooses to act upon a particular model is strongly determined by its ‘dominant coalition’. Van Ruler’s PR models The following models also deal with the concept ‘two-way symmetrical communication’. Furthermore recent developments will be elaborated. With the outcome of Van Ruler’s research as a basis one could distinguish three models which determine how public relation officers (PROs) regard their role in the profession of PR. This can be distinguished by deriving the underlying views from the given answers by leading PROs in the Netherlands. The three models are: The Technician, who only wants to accomplish his /her goals. There is no role for the receiver (the public). Sales manager, who focuses on building a positive image of the company, the receiver is passive. Intermediary, who is responsible for creating and maintaining a closed mutual relationship, between the organisation and its public. The receiver is active. She describes ‘the technician’ as someone â€Å"who is tactically concerned with the production and dissemination of communication productsà ¢â‚¬  (Van Ruler, 1997, p. 97). She refers to this view as a ‘technical one’ which implies that this person is just â€Å"subservient to the technical demands of the execution of his duties† (Van Ruler, 1997, p. 7). The second view a PRO can have is characterized as ‘sales manager’. Van Ruler (1997) describes it as a synchronization of the behavior of the public with the view of the organization (p. 97). This view can also be characterized as an ‘instrumental one’ meaning that this person is merely following the guidelines and sets up the organizational strategy. ‘The intermediary’ is the last view derived from Van Ruler’s research outcomes. The intermediary regards his or her job in â€Å"building bridges and trying to stand between and organization and publics† (Van Ruler, 1997, p. 97). This perception of the profession includes being interested in some sort of exchange between both, the organization and the publics in order to gain mutual understanding, as Van Ruler describes it. This is why this view can be perceived as a ‘professional’ one meaning that this person is more distant, he or she is like a third party between organization and public who tries to intermediate in order to bring both in ‘ tune’. This identified model is, to some extent, similar to Grunig’s ‘two-way symmetrical way’ of communication. Both models contain many overlapping characteristics. The theoretical framework delivered by Grunig sets up certain values in a particular view. Van Ruler distinguishes similar models, only with different terminology, for example ‘intermediary’ or ‘professional view’ instead of Grunig’s words ‘two-way symmetrical communication’. By using different terminology Van Ruler puts the same process in a different context. Van Ruler differentiates her models and provides additional material to Grunig’s outcome, by stating that while these presuppositions can be easily identified, they cannot be easily found in the practical field of a working PRO. This arouses the question as to whether or not the ‘two-way symmetrical’ method of information is only possible in Grunig’s theoretical framework. This is because Van Ruler, through her research, tried to identify the ‘two-way symmetrical’ way of information in the daily work of selected PROs and was not able to identify it. The communication-flow PR models in modern-day practice: Real-life examples Grunig and Van Ruler described interactions with the publics by using the terms ‘intermediary’ or ‘two-way symmetrical’ flow of communication. Lordan describes these interactions as increases in ‘interactivity’ between a company and the audience by stating the possible benefits as well. He states that the ‘interactivity’ already exists by means of having focus groups or by conducting customer testimonials. However, there is now a movement which is far more comprehensive. Currently, Lordan (2006) has stated: â€Å"customers are being asked for their input in shaping all elements of an organization† (p. 27), especially within the field of communication he adds. Many activities which were handled by communication specialists are now partly determined by the public itself. For instance Lordan (2006) says the Super Bowl commercials, â€Å"are often held up as a barometer of professional communication trends† (p. 27). Nowadays, organizations are asking their customers to shape their message and commercials by letting them develop creative concepts and by involving them in the campaigns. Reasons for this behavior of the consumer according to Lordan can be given with the example of ‘American Idol’, a show where the audience is obliged to vote for the contestants and therefore actively influence the outcome (â€Å"greater excitement†). Another reason is the change in technology, from ‘old media’ such as newspapers and television which â€Å"happen to us† passively to new media like websites or mp3-devices which he states â€Å"demand interactivity- we happen to them. † The willingness to expose themselves can be regarded as an indicator that consumers â€Å"anticipate – even prefer – greater influence in the communication process. † (Lordan, 2006, p. 28) With this Lordan is not referring to the general communication model described by Stappers. The difference is that Stappers refers more to second hand information; he would regard the sending of the message as the communication process. YouTube is also an example of giving evidence for the high demand of being capable to add something to the media, to be interactive. Since YouTube consists of what the user offers. Lardon also says that because of these recent developments PROs fear about their job security. This is due to their job being partly taken over by the audience. Assuming that, more involvement of the target receiver is harming the ‘control’ of the sender. This implies that several views are still predominant, which are also partly characterized in the concepts ‘two-way asymmetrical communication’  (Grunig)  and sales manager (Van Ruler). Even though consumers are enabled to participate, Lordan (2006) argues that the consumers still are warranted. This is because the company still â€Å"reserves the right to select or to refuse the final participants† and that it is still up to the media professionals â€Å"to determine the rules, the access and, in some cases, the outcome† (p. 28). To conclude Lordan (2006) states that, if a PRO has faith in his or her profession, in a manner that he or she sees it as something â€Å"where the goal is mutually beneficial relationships between clients and audiences† (p. 9), the trend of interactivity is a concept which could enable the PROs to improve their performance instead of give away their jobs. The perception of losing control about the intended message is related to Van Ruler’s model ‘sales manager’. Van Ruler describes this model as a view which involves ‘synchronizing’ the public opinion with the organization’s opi nion. So, active influence and power are wanted to be on the side of the organization and not as Lordan (2006) states â€Å"a mutually beneficial relationship† (p. 9). Grunig’s approach can also be taken in to account. Grunig (1989) says that PR departments should work as on ‘open system’ in which there is interaction between the client (organization) and the audience. Grunig named this approach the ‘two-way symmetrical’ flow of information and gave presuppositions which highly influences a company’s behavior. Consequently it can be said that even though Lordan claims that ‘interactivity’ could work with a ‘two way symmetrical approach,’ it is quite different in reality. Namely the concept of the ‘sales manager’, the fear of losing control described by Van Ruler, is dominant. Grunig (1993) follows the idea that the ‘two-way communication’ model is quite rare in real PR practice too, by offering several examples from his analysis on international public relations- e. g. in a campaign for Lithuania, a PR, Bernays, used â€Å"many of the techniques of the public information model† as well as the two-way asymmetrical model; also Grunig (1993) mentions that throughout the 20th century many international clients of the US were supported with asymmetrical PR, â€Å" PR firms will stoop to represent the interests of dictatorships†. Grunig (1993) does suggest a possible reason for this use of PR in politics, â€Å"The majority of public relations practitioners who work for international clients enter the business because of experience in journalism, advertising or politics. Because of this background, they devote most of their efforts to media relations and lobbying typically practicing the press agentry, public information or two-way asymmetrical models of public relations†. Conclusion In this essay we went through a movement from general to specific in order to analyze whether or not the discussed PR models are valid in real-life PR practice. We started off with a basic outline of what desirable communication is (according to Stappers and Dervin), and moved on to describe Grunig’s and Van Ruler’s models and how they use communication, as well as what their similarities and differences are. From this section of the essay it can be concluded that the most preferred and ethical models are the symmetrical models, i. . the two-way symmetrical communication model and ‘the intermediary’. Through our analysis of how PR is used in real-life examples, we saw that while various asymmetric methods are used in commercial business and international PR, the ‘perfect’ symmetrical models are not really valid. A reason for this may be that PR practitioners in real-life are not necessarily educated as PR professionals, but rather come from oth er backgrounds, whether it is advertising, journalism or politics (as mentioned by Grunig, 1993). References

Spotlight on Appalachian Author Cynthia Rylant

Spotlight on Appalachian Author Cynthia Rylant Cynthia Rylant has written more than 60 childrens books since her first book was published in 1982. Her work has been honored with numerous awards, including a Newbery Medal. Rylant writes both picture books and novels for older readers. In a few cases, she has also illustrated her own books. Cynthia Rylants Early Years Cynthia Rylant was born in Virginia. After her parents divorced, Cynthia went to live with her grandparents in Cool Ridge, West Virginia, while her mother attended nursing school. When Cynthia was eight, she and her mother moved to Beaver, West Virginia. Although she went on to college and graduate school, ultimately earning a masters degree from Kent State University in Ohio, her early years had a great impact on her writing. The Appalachian Influence Cynthia Rylants first book, When I Was Young in the Mountains, is based on her life with her grandparents in the 1950s. The family lived simply, with no electricity or running water but enjoyed living in the country. The book was designated a Caldecott Honor Book for the quality of the artwork by Diane Goode that so effectively illustrated the text. The Relatives Came, illustrated by Stephen Gammell, was also a Caldecott Honor Book. It was published in 1985. Rylant went on to write other books that were set in Appalachia. Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds benefits from the fact that the illustrator, as well as the artist, grew up in Appalachia. Barry Moshers watercolors help to bring Rylants words to life. The book was published in 1991. In 1996, Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story was published. Most Popular Characters If you didnt immediately recognize Cynthia Rylants name, you will probably recognize some of the characters she has created. Four- to eight-year-olds love Poppleton, Henry and Mudge, and Mr. Putter and Tabby. Poppleton is a very large pig who has wonderful adventures in a series of books for beginning readers. Mr. Putter is an old man who adopts an old cat, Tabby. The most popular characters of all are Henry and Mudge. There are over 20 Henry and Mudge books. They are excellent for young readers in grades 1-3. Younger children enjoy them as read-aloud books. Henry is a little boy, who has no one to play with until he gets a dog. Mudge grows from a tiny puppy into a 180-pound loveable companion. While the books have illustrations like picture books, they are divided into several chapters, creating a nice transition for young readers ready for something more than picture books. Books for Children Ages 9 to 12 Cynthia Rylants books for children in grades 5-8 have also won acclaim. The topics tend to be more serious than many of her picture books. Rylant was honored with a Newbery Medal for Missing May, a story of love and coping with the death of a loved one. A Fine White Dust was also a Newbery Honor Book. Rylant now lives in the Pacific Northwest and her haunting novel The Islander is set on an island off of British Columbia.

The Stone Angel Hagars objective moment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Leadership in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadership in Business - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that the high competition in the business world nowadays needs competitive business leaders who will manage to organize their business organizations to achieve their goals. Business leaders need several characteristics in order to achieve their goals. Risk taking is doing something hoping for any outcome, be it good or bad. Any competitive business leader must be ready to take risks. Starting a business involves depositing money or capital where you are not certain whether you will get profit or not. It involves one asking themselves many questions like, â€Å"should I start a business, or should I not?†, â€Å"Should I employ new workers or not?† and many others. Those people who take risks in business will emerge successful, given the high competition in the business world. A business leader who fears to take risks cannot succeed in business because they will fear to get to losses. A good example of an ent repreneur is Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos. Amazon is an organization that deals with the internet business. The CEO says it is good to take risks to manage a business, but it is also good to reduce the risks as the business grows. He says he had to think whether to build Amazon or continue with his previous job on Wall Street. He risked leaving his job to start Amazon, but he succeeded in his online business. Therefore taking risks is always important for success in a business. Another successful business leader, Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group (A group of companies in the United States), says, â€Å"Great success does not come without taking risks†. The most important thing is taking the right risks.

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Importance of Managers for the Success of an Organization - Assignment Example The operations of various departments become smooth, fast and efficient. The managerial configuration is a road map for managers while conducting promotions inside the organisation. Managers can make available solid progression tracks for employees and all their workers at entry level. Organisational structure cultivates joint efforts. If all employees work in their departments with the aim of accomplishing their targets as predetermined by the organisational arrangement, the company will easily reach its business aspirations (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). Leaders of the diverse departments are accountable for handing over projects and tasks to all subordinate staff members. These departments are then able to meet the time limits of their assignments. Through the help of a managerial structure, managers can assess the performance of their human resources. Supervisors are able to see the tasks accomplished by their juniors by utilizing the linear arrangement. They can review the skills and potential of their assistants, how they communicate with their fellow staff and the time they take to complete responsibilities. Using this understanding, the supervisors can go on to carry out semi-annual and annual performance evaluations of the employees. For most organisations like sales and promotion companies, organisational arrangement is useful in running changes in the market (Drucker & Maciariello, 2008). Managers are in a point to meet, identify the origins of problems and build solutions as a team.

The Cape Wind Project Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Human rights in Turkey and United Kingdom Research Proposal

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Provided in the Doc Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Provided in the Doc - Research Paper Example etic technology because it has a lot of drawbacks such as; hair loss, nausea, diarrhea, or death and significant number of the operation to replace the cancer cells without using this technology face failure. Chemotherapy is the principal cancer treatment modality which has decreased cancer mortality rate over the years. Chemotherapy causes setbacks such as nausea, diarrhea, and hair loss. Nanomagnetic technology is a scientific advancement in biomedical engineering that offers a safer alternative to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was unspecific in its action thereby had the risk of damaging healthy cells. Cases where nanomagentic technology was used, recorded fewer risks. Biomedical engineering should, therefore, be recommended as a safer alternative to chemotherapy as a cancer treatment modality According to the worldwide cancer statistics, 14.1 million people were diagnosed with cancer up to the year 2012. Out of these cases, 8.2 million mortality was reported. The United States alone reports more than 5000 cancer incidences every year. Out of this cases 137 occurred among children aged under the age of fourteen years and 59 were leukemia cases (Robert, 2013). Leukemia is an infectious disease where blood-forming organs like the bone marrow produce a large number of leucocytes, suppressing the production of normal blood cells. Nanomagnetic technology is the use of soft magnetic cores with high resistivity for diagnosis (Schulz, 2009). What drawbacks do cancer cells have, and how biomedical engineering helps to treat these drawbacks? Chemotherapy should be replaced by nanomagnetic technology because it has a lot of drawbacks such as; hair loss, nausea, diarrhea, or death and significant number of the operation to replace the cancer cells without using this technology face failure. The replacement of chemotherapy with nanomagnetic technology will reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. The study will use books and articles as the sources of information. The

Human rights in Turkey and United Kingdom Research Proposal

Human rights in Turkey and United Kingdom - Research Proposal Example The intention of this study is human right that covers thousands of years of religious, cultural, legal and philosophical developments of history. Many ancient documents philosophies and religious texts included concepts that can be considered as human rights of those times. For example, the Edicts of Ashoka given by Ashoka the Great of India, the Constitution of Medina in 622 A.D., issued by Mohammad. One of the most significant historical documents is the English Magna Carta of 1215. Modern interpretation of human rights is significantly influenced by the various historical documents that lay considerable importance on human rights. Many events led to the formation of the philosophy of human rights. The British Bill of 1689 made many harsh governmental acts illegal in the United Kingdom. Two other important events were when the United States and France adopted the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen respectively, both these revolutions established certain legal rights. These events were followed by many philosophers such as Thomas Paine, Hegel and William Lloyd contributing to the development of the philosophy of human rights. The term ‘human rights’ came into use sometime between Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man and Lloyds writings in The Liberator. In North America and Western Europe many labor unions worked towards making labor laws, regulating or forbidding child labor, the right to strike and the like. National liberation movements, like Mahatma Gandhi's independence movement in India, proved successful in driving out colonial rule. The women's right movement was successful in getting women the right to vote. Among other movements were the civil rights movement and movements on behalf of women and minorities. The foundations of the International Humanitarian Law were laid by the establishment of the Red Cross, the Geneva Conventions and the Lieber Code in 1864. This set the stage for further development of human rights after the two

Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effective Evaluation Methods Useful for Evaluating Effective Training Essay Example for Free

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English Present: Simple And The Present Progressive

English Present: Simple And The Present Progressive Introduction: As a teacher of English to Arabic speaking students I have encountered a number of specific difficulties Arab students have in mastering the English language. In this paper, I would like to focus on a particular grammatical problem they have in the area of verb tenses because, of all the mistakes that my students make, mistakes with verbs and verb tenses impede communication to the greatest degree. The specific problem I will attempt to look at the area of verbs is the problem that Arabic speakers have in using and confusing the present progressive. I will base the evidence for these mistakes on actual writing errors that Arabic students have made. Mistakes such as I am live in Abu Dhabi. come up frequently in my students writing. This paper is basically a contrastive analysis since I feel that the majority of my students problems in this area come from mother tongue interference. However, as will be noted below, this does not mean I rule out other sources of errors such as intralingual errors. The following is the outline of this paper: In the first section of this paper, I will describe the various aspects of the grammatical structure of the present simple and the present progressive in the English language. In the second section of the paper, I will contrast the grammatical structure of the present simple and the present progressive with its Arabic counterparts. I will show how Arabic has structures that vary significantly and radically from their English counterparts. In the third section, I will introduce a number of examples takes from students written work and give an indepth analysis of the possible sources of the errors, mainly with respect to mother tongue interference, but also looking at some possible intralingual sources for these errors as well. Finally, in the last section, I will attempt to suggest a general theoretical approach to dealing with such problems Part One: A grammatical description of the English Present Simple and the Present Progressive: The simple present tense As we already know, the simple present of every verb (with the exception of the verb BE, which I will not be dealing with as a grammatical description since it is not the specific focus of this paper) is identical in every person with the basic unmarked base form of the verb except for the third person forms he, she and it to which we generally add s or es (Quirk 1985, p.98). However, numerous irregularities arise in the spelling and pronunciation of this third person form (Leicester 1998, 12.12)(Thomson 1986, p. 150). Questions are formed by using the auxiliaries do, does, in the present, and did in the past by putting all these before the subject. Negation is formed in the same way using dont (or do not) and doesnt, (or does not) in the present, and didnt (or did not) in the past. These forms go after the subject. In addition, the verb must be changed to the basic form. The simple present is used for statements that are always true, (e.g. The earth revolves around the sun.) (Azar 1989,p.2). The simple present is also used for events, actions or situations which are true in the present period of time and which, for all we know, may continue indefinitely, (e.g. Fatima goes to school at Zayed University.) (Azar 1989, p.2) What we are saying in these expressions is that this is how things stand at the present moment (Huddleston 1984, p.81). A further use of the simple present is for actions that are habitual, things that happen repeatedly, (e.g. We study a lot.) (Alexander 1988, p.163)(Quirke 1985, p.107). Observations and declarations are another use of the present simple, as in the sentence (It says here that there is a new night club opening.)(Alexander 19988, p.163). The present simple can also be used to express the future, especially when we want to express strong certainty, (e.g. When we graduate, we will get jobs.). Swan, Huddleston, Lewis, Thomson and Quirke, et. al. also add eight other functions of the present simple which might come up in other contexts such as: Demonstrations and commentaries (e.g. First, I take a bowl and break two eggs in it, thenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) The structures here comes and there goes, (e.g. here comes your husband.) Promises and oaths (e.g. I promiseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦., I swear à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, He deniesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..) Formal correspondence (e.g. We write to advise you.) Instructions (e.g. You go left, turn rightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.) Stories (e.g. In act one, Hamlet meets the ghost of his father.), which Huddleston calls the historic present. In expressions of understanding such as hear, see, gather (e.g. I hear youre getting married.) Finally, the simple present can be used in newspaper headlines (e.g. RUSSIANS RAISE OBJECTIONS) Since there are so many instances of when to use the present simple, is there any way to summarize all of these? I concur with Lewis explanation that the present simple: 1-Expresses an event as a total single point in time. 2-Expresses an event as a matter of fact. 3-Expresses an event as immediate rather than remote. The present progressive tense Both the simple and progressive forms usually tell us that an action takes place. But the progressive forms also tell us that an activity is or was, or will be, etc. in progress, or thought of as being in progress. In other words, the present progressive tells us that the speaker sees an action as taking place over a period of time as opposed to a point in time. In addition researchers would add that the speaker sees the period as limited (Lewis 1986; Leech, 1975; Huddleston, 1984; Quirke, 1985). The present progressive tense is formed with the present of be (am/is/are) (which adds aspect and voice), said by Quirke to be the finite verb, plus the ing form (the non-finite form) (Quirke 1985, p. 120). There are no complications with the additional ing form; however the spelling of the ing has some irregularities and needs to be taught to students e.g. write, writing; run, running; begin, beginning; lie, lying). (Alexander 1988; Huddleston 1984; Quirke 1985). Question formation takes place by switching the place of the auxiliary be and the subject. Negation is achieved by inserting not between the subject and the auxiliary or by contracting nt with the auxiliary verb forms (with the exception of the first person singular form am) (Quirke, 1985). In the classroom, the classical reason given for why we use the present progressive is that it shows an uncompleted action in progress at the time of speaking. To emphasise this, we often use adverbials like now, at the moment, just, etc. For example, Hes not home at the moment, hes working. (Quirke 1985). The present progressive can also be used to describe actions which have not been happening for long, or are thought of as being temporary situations, and which are going on around now, e.g. Abdullah is living with his aunt until he can find a place of his own.. A further use of the present progressive is to refer to activities and events planned for the future. We generally use adverbials in such sentences unless the meaning is clear from context, e.g. Were spending next Thursday in Abu Dhabi. (Azar 1989; Huddleston 1984; Quirke 1985). The present progressive can also be used to talk about developing and changing situations, e.g. That child is getting bigger all the time. (Swan 1980). Sometimes the present progressive can be used to talk about feelings, such as I am feeling fine. or My back is hurting me.. The present progressive is used to show repeated actions along with adverbs such as always, constantly, continually, forever, perpetually, and repeatedly, such as He is always helping people.. In this sense it conveys not temporariness, but continuousness. (Leech 1975; Huddleston 1984). The present progressive also is used to show repeated actions that are happening around now, e.g. He is studying a lot of English these days. Why is he going to the library? (Swan 1980). Dynamic versus Stative Verbs in the present simple and the progressive tenses Dynamic/progressive verbs refer to verbs which show actions which are deliberate or voluntary, e.g. Im building a house., or changing situations, e.g. Hes becoming fat.. Dynamic verbs can be used in both the progressive as well as the simple forms e.g. I eat at 5:00 (everyday). as opposed to Im eating now.. Stative verbs (also known as non-progressive verbs) are verbs which indicate a state, condition or experience. Specifically, stative verbs fall into categories such as feelings (like, love), thinking/believing (think, know, realize), wants and preferences (need, want), perception and the senses (smell, see), and being, seeming, having, and owning (seem, look, appear). Stative verbs are generally not used in the progressive forms (Quirke 1985). However some stative verbs can be used in both the present simple and the progressive tenses, which results in a different meaning in each form, e.g. Im thinking of a solution. as opposed to I think he is the best man for the job. or These flowers smell good. as opposed to Latifa is smelling the flowers in the garden.) (Alexander 1988; Azar 1989; Azar 1986; Quirke 1985). The present simple versus the present progressive Swan makes note of a number of areas where students might confuse the present simple with the present continuous. A. We use the simple present to talk about things that are true for the present period of time, or, as was noted above, to say this is how things stand at the present moment for the foreseeable future. However, if the event is temporary and is taking place right now, we use the present progressive. Afrah studies at the Higher Colleges. Afrah is studying her English lesson. B. We use the present progressive to talk about habitual actions if these are happening around the moment of speaking. Fayrouz and Fatima are preparing for the Eid holidays. However, if the habitual action is not closely connected to the moment of speaking, we generally use the present simple. I go to Saudi Arabia once every three years. C. Verbs that refer to physical feelings can sometimes be used in either the simple present or the present progressive. I feel great! or Im feeling great! My head hurts. or My head is hurting. (Swan 1980). PART TWO A grammatical description of the Arabic present simple and the present progressive In this part of the paper, I would like to give readers a very brief background of the Arabic verb system in regard to the simple present and the present progressive. The Arabic verb system is very complicated. However, this does not mean that a teacher has to master the Arabic language before s/he is able to pinpoint errors that may be a result of the interference of Arabic in English. One can study the Arabic language with the goal of simply understanding the structure, rather than with the goal of speaking and writing in the language. Let us first look at the present simple, then the present progressive, and finally the verb to be since all of these grammatical items are specifically relevant to the particular problem at hand. A.The Present Simple In Arabic, the formation of the present simple is radically different from English, since Arabic uses a root system made up of the three most important consonants (though two or four consonant roots do sometimes occur). In Arabic the three basic consonants (the root) stay the same but it is by changes in the vowels, the suffixes and the prefixes that tense and number are indicated. It is vastly more complicated than the way some English verbs change tense by changing vowels, e.g. give, gave. For example, the sentence, he learns could be represented phonetically by ya-droo-soo. The d-r-s is the root, ya is the part that indicates this is a third person singular masculine verb (though this is not the pronoun). The pattern of the vowels and consonants (ya + c1 + c2+ oo + c3 + oo), lets the speaker know that this is the present tense. In contrast, the past could be represented by a different pattern; hence, he learned, dar-ah-sah has the pattern (c1 + ai or ah + c2 + ai or ah + c3 + ah) (and this is just one pattern out of ten!) From a sentence point of view the verb in Arabic is not necessarily treated as the nucleus of a sentence and, in the case of the copula verb BE, can be omitted entirely (as we shall see below). The verb can also be placed at the beginning of the sentence. Like its English counterpart, the present simple tense in Arabic expresses a habitual action. There are other functions, but they are not relevant to this discussion. B.The Present Progressive In general, the present simple form is also used in Arabic to express the idea of a continuous action occurring in the present. Hence, the English sentence He is working now. in Arabic becomes He works now. (represented phonetically by huwwah yaamaloo al eyn.) What is he doing? in Arabic becomes What does he do? (represented phonetically by mehzah yafaaloo al eyn?) Hence, in almost all cases, the present simple form is used to show the idea of continuous action in the present. However, there is a single verb form in Arabic called the ism-ul-fail which is the exact parallel to the idea of continuous action. However, the difference in Arabic is that the ism-ul-fail is used very sparingly compared to English and then only for some very specific verbs of movement, or verbs that indicate changing from one state to another (going up, going in, going down, walking to a place, leaving a place, etc.). Since the ism-ul-fail is radically different in form from the English progressive it is doubtful that any interference in form occurs. C.A Few Points About The Verb BE as a Copula Although BE as a copula is not the focus of this paper, it does deserve mention here for two specific reasons. The first point is that BE in Arabic, when it is the copula in the present tense, is unwritten and unspoken (although this is not true of the copula in the past tense or the future where it is written and spoken). (Kharma, 1989, p. 89). For example, the literal translation of the sentence Ahmed is a student. is Ahmed student.. So it is conceivable that students might leave BE out as a copula OR as the helping verb in the present progressive because it does not exist in the present tense in Arabic (although there are other additional reasons why students might forget to add it to the present progressive as we shall see). The second point is that BE is used so often in English, in so many different kinds of structures, and that it is so irregular, that it might simply add to the confusion of students (Kharma 1989, p. 161). Students who keep on being corrected for leaving out the verb to be when it is necessary, may for example, hypercorrect themselves and start to write it everywhere. Again, we shall explore this issue further below. PART THREE A look at some common written errors made by Arabic speaking students when using the English present simple and present progressive Finding the exact causes of any error can be a difficult and meticulous task. This is partly because there may be multiple reasons as to why students make one particular error and these causes may also overlap at any given time. In addition, it is extremely problematic, even for a native speaker of both Arabic and English, (which I am) to know exactly what is going on linguistically in the mind of a student when s/he makes such an error. However, having said that, even with these obstacles, we can at least make some good hypotheses and lists of possibilities as to why these errors occur with our own students. As a result, we will be able to generate classroom strategies and methods in order to correct and remedy these sorts of mistakes. The following categories of errors are the most common that I have found in students written work with regards to the simple present versus the present progressive. I will look at each category in turn, and offer an analysis of the sources for these types of error. Category One Fatima studies now. Ahmed does his homework now. In these sentences, the intention of the Arabic speaking writer seems to be to convey the meaning of what in English would be a present continuous action, expressed by the present continuous tense. This is clear by the use of the adverb now or in the case of other examples not shown here, from other adverbs or the context of the sentence. In examples one and two, the Arabic speaker seems to be transferring the rules of his native language into English. The Arabic speaker usually uses only the present simple to express events that would be expressed in English by both the present simple and the present continuous. Category Two Mariam cant talk, she eating now. This kind of mistake is a bit more problematic in terms of analysis. It could be that the Arabic speaker, feeling that the full meaning of the action is expressed in the verb with the ing, has decided that the am/are/is forms are redundant and unnecessary. It could also be the case that this mistake is a direct transfer of a particular grammatical form in Arabic. In certain cases Arabic speakers do express the present continuous with a verb and prefix change (called ism-ul-fail), but without the corresponding be form. For example, the literal translation of the sentence Ahmed is running. is Ahmed running. . Category Three Are you knowing the way to Dubai? I am wanting to see my family. In this case, the student has learned the present progressive form, but is over generalizing it to all verbs (or perhaps does not remember or has not been taught the rules for exceptions such as the above). These types of errors could very well be intralingual. This over generalization could also be found in sentences that have the function of explaining, demonstrating teaching or narrating such as: Next I am pouring the oil into the cooking pan. Ali is passing the ball to the goalkeeper. Category Four I am live in Abu Dhabi. We are study English. This category is probably the most difficult to analyze. This is because it is unclear whether the Arabic speaker is making the mistake of adding the additional am/is/are form while trying to use the present tense, or making the mistake of forgetting to use the present participle while trying to use the present progressive tense. That is, did the speaker intend to say I live in Abu Dhabi. and use the extra am form by mistake, or did s/he intend to say I am living in Abu Dhabi. and forget the correct present participle form? Of course, there are other possibilities but these seem like the two most likely. We must obviously look at the context of the paragraph to see if we can get the gist of what the speaker meant. The following is a more detailed analysis of these two possibilities from the standpoint of the students reasoning. 1. If we believe from the context that the student was trying to use the present simple and added the additional am in error, then the following analyses apply: A. The student may be confused by the lack of inflectional endings in English, since Arabic is a highly inflected language, and every personal pronoun has a distinct corresponding inflected verb form. The similarity of the verb forms in I live, you live, etc. may seem very awkward to the Arabic speaker. Hence, they may want to remedy the situation by distinguishing the verb forms in some way by, for example, adding an exceedingly familiar and overused verb form like am, are, or is. B. The student may be over generalising based on what they have learned about the present continuous. That is, they may have learned how to form the present continuous quite easily since there is no mother tongue interference from Arabic, (although they may not have mastered its use). They then may go on to conclude that every verb in the present simple or present continuous in English needs to be preceded by am/is/are. C. Similarly, the student may be hypercorrecting. They may have been corrected so many times for forgetting to use the verb BE in their sentences e.g. Ahmed happy, that they may start to feel that every sentence needs the verb BE. 2. However, if we believe that the student was trying to use the present continuous tense and used the present simple live (instead of the present participle living), then the following analyses apply: A. The student may not have correctly understood how to form the present participle by adding ing to the end of the verb. B. Perhaps students have simply forgotten to add the ing prefix because the structure is so different in their language. This is by no means an exhaustive analysis. However, these are, from my experience and collaboration with other colleagues, both native and non-native speakers, some of the major possibilities. PART FOUR Pedogogical implications of the above research for teaching the present simple and the present progressive to Arabic speaking students From the evidence I have presented here, I believe it is clear that many of the mistakes in using the present simple and the present progressive in form (such as omission of the verb to be in the simple present for Arabic speakers, e.g. I studying), as well as other mistakes in usage (e.g. using the simple present when the present progressive is required) seem to be traceable directly to Arabic mother tongue interference. Based on my analyses, reading and discussion with colleagues, I do feel that in this particular area, teachers of EFL to Arabic speakers must consider mother tongue interference as a major impediment to learning the present tense versus the present progressive. If we know that mother tongue interference is the cause of many errors, what should this imply for our teaching? One thing which I think it does not imply is that we teach English from the point of view of the mother tongue. For example, trying to get students to understand English grammar through word for word translations or using the grammatical structure of Arabic to help students to understand the grammatical structure of English are only useful in certain cases, and then only by someone who is a master of both languages. My experience in reading the research, being bilingual and talking to Arabic speaking students who are at the final stages of their English studies leads me to believe that, at least in the case of Arabic and English, that the two languages are sufficiently different that they are both best looked at in their own respective grammars. Students must be made, not only to think in English, but to understand English grammar in terms of English grammar without constantly switching back and forth to compare it with Arabic. Such practices are ineffective and will cause confusion among students. As Lewis says students should never expect the foreign language to be like their ownà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..the fact that English has verb forms that contain [be] as an auxiliary does not suggest that other languages ought to have a corresponding formà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.students should be positively encouraged to explore the foreign language within itself rather than through the expectations they bring from their own. (Lewis, 1986, pp. 164-165). In addition, I should add that intralingual factors can also be at work when students make such errors (in addition to context specific factors like student motivation, teaching style and competence, etc.). For example, on the intralingual side, we know that students of ESL from many different language groups and even children make common mistakes with the verb to be. Therefore, many such mistakes might be intralingual. (Mattar 1989). Hence, when we try to analyse our students errors we should not be prejudiced to any one theory and we should try to be open to looking at all possible sources of errors. What we as teachers should be doing in the classroom is continually collecting research on student errors and student learning styles in order to form hypotheses about why such errors occur and why such one approach worked and another didnt. We should then be trying to test these hypotheses to see if they are true or not, and afterwards share this information w ith other teachers in similar situations. Only then will we be able to understand why students make errors and what is the most effective way to correct them. Cell Membrane: Structure And Function Cell Membrane: Structure And Function A cell is a dynamic and a complex structure surrounded by a membrane known as the plasma membrane. This acts like a barrier between the inside of the cell and the outside resulting in different chemical environments on the two sides. The cell membrane is not restricted to the outer surface but is also present inside surrounding the organelles. These biological membranes have played a crucial role in the evolution from prokaryotes to multicellular eukaryotes. In prokaryotes, there is only one type of membrane present i.e. the plasma membrane but the unicellular eukaryotes have intracellular membranes compartmentalizing its contents into different functional chambers known as organelles. Each organelle though performs its own specific function, they cross-talk with each other via these membranes in order to work as a unit. Further, different cells in multicellular eukaryotes communicate with each other through these membranes. The membrane, therefore serves a dual purpose of both protecting the interior of the cell from its external environment and also provides a communication interface between the cell and its surroundings or other cells. The diverse functions performed by biological membranes can be attributed to the molecular composition and structure of these membranes. Models for Cell Membrane Structure It took almost a century to develop the present accepted model of a cell membrane based on various physiological and biophysical studies. Physiological experiments involving the transport of molecules and ions across the membrane by Overton in 1899 suggested that the membrane is composed of lipid molecules. Later, Langmuir (1917) showed that lipids when spread on water using Langmuir trough form a monomolecular layer on the surface of the water by calculating the area per lipid molecule. The hydrophobic tails of these lipids were bent and protruding out from the surface of the water. When this method for measuring the area per lipid molecule was applied to the lipids extracted from the known amount of erythrocyte membranes, Gorter and Grendel (1925) concluded that the lipids exist as a bilayer and not a monolayer in a membrane giving birth to the lipid- bilayer membrane model. In 1935, Danielli and Davson elaborated on the model based on the studies measuring the surface tension that membranes are made up of phospholipid bilayer sandwiched between two protein layers. Based on optical imaging of membrane morphology using electron microscopy, Robertson argued that the basic structure of all the membranes is same and proposed the Unit Membrane Model in 1959 []. Several other studies [review or book] suggested that the lipid bilayer has fluid-like properties with lipids and proteins floating in it. Studies of proteins present in erythrocytes membrane and that extracted from other membranes led Singer and Nicolson to classify membrane proteins as peripheral and integral proteins; and finally proposing the Fluid Mosaic Model in 1972 []. This is the most accepted model describing the structure of a cell membrane. According to this model, mosaic of protein molecules is embedded within the fluid of lipid bilayer which is supported by the freeze-fracture studies of the plasma membrane (Figure). Composition of Membranes Membrane Lipids The lipid bilayer is only 5 to 10nm thick organized in distinct regions primarily attributed to the hydrophobic effect caused due to the amphipathic nature of these molecules with both polar and the non-polar regions (Figure). The interactions of these regions with the aqueous environment have been studied with various techniques like x-ray reflectometry,[1] neutron scattering[2HYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_bilayer#cite_note-Zaccai1975-1] and nuclear magnetic resonance. In order to exclude the non-polar regions from the aqueous environment, lipid molecules arrange in such a manner so that the hydrophobic tails point inwardly towards each other and the polar head groups are exposed on the outside facing the water. The outermost region on either side of the bilayer is completely hydrated and is typically around 8-9Ã… thick. The hydrophobic core of the bilayer is typically 3-4  nm thick. The intermediate region is partially hydrated and is approximately 3 Ã… thick. These lipid molecules arrange spontaneously naturally or artificially in solution to form structures like micelles and liposomes (Figure). Micelles are monolayer spherical structures formed by lipid molecules in aqueous environment. On the other hand, liposomes are concentric bilayer of fluid-filled vesicles surrounding the water compartment on both the surfaces. The membrane of the animal cells is composed primarily of three major types of lipids: phospholipids, glycolipids and cholesterol with phospholipids being the most abundant (Figure). The polar head groups of these phospholipids contain a phosphate group and either a glycerol (known as phosphoglycerides) or sphingosine. There are four major phospholipids present in the animal cells, three are phosphoglycerides namely phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine; and the fourth sphingomyelin is the only sphingolipid. The heads of glycolipids contain a sphingosine with one (known as cerebroside) or more sugars (known as ganglioside) attached to it. Cholesterol is a sterol molecule with a small hydrophilic hydroxyl group and a rigid ring structure that stabilizes the bilayer. Membrane Proteins The membrane consists of different types of proteins accounting for 25-75% of the mass of the membrane and are categorized based on their interactions with the lipid bilayer (Figure). Moreover, the manner in which a protein is associated with the membrane is indicative of its function. Integral or intrinsic proteins are embedded with in the lipid bilayer. These could be transmembrane proteins spanning the entire length of the bilayer and possess hydrophobic domains which are anchored to hydrophobic lipids and hydrophilic domain interacting with external molecules. They could have only one membrane-spanning (single pass transmembrane proteins, e.g. glycophorin) or multispanning (multi-pass transmembrane proteins, e.g. band3 protein of erythrocyte) segments. The transmembrane segments have helical e.g. bacteriorhodopsin or ÃŽÂ ²- barrel structures. These proteins can be extracted from the phospholipid bilayer only by disrupting the hydrophobic interactions by using detergents like S DS or Triton-X 100. Peripheral or the extrinsic proteins, on the other hand, are loosely bound to the hydrophilic lipid and protein groups on the surface of the membrane by weak ionic interactions. These can be easily removed with high salt or extreme pH without disrupting the phospholipid bilayer. Lipid-anchored proteins are covalently bound to lipid molecule which in turn anchors the protein in the cell membrane. The lipid can be phosphatidylinositol, a fatty acid or a prenyl group. Membrane Carbohydrates Carbohydrate moieties are present on the non-cytoplasmic surface of the membrane covalently attached to either protein or lipid molecules forming glycoproteins or glycolipids. These carbohydrates help in orientation of protein molecules on the cell surface and sorting in cellular compartments. The glycocalyx or the cell coat is the layer of carbohydrates on the cell surface that protects it and participates in the cell-cell interaction. The carbohydrates of the glycolipids of the erythrocytes membrane determine the ABO blood groups in human. Fluidity of Membranes Under physiological conditions, phospholipid molecules in the membrane are in the liquid crystalline state and the molecules are not physically attached to each other so, they can move within the bilayer. These movements could be within a monolayer i.e. rotational and lateral or between two layers i.e. flip-flop. Flip-flop movements are rare and slower compared to the other two as it requires energy for a lipid molecule to traverse from one layer to the other. Besides, some proteins also move in the membrane as concluded from studies based on human-mouse cell hybrids produced by fusion of human and mouse cells [Frye and Michael Edidin in 1970] and FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching) experiments (Figure). Fluidity in the cell membrane is attributed to its lipid composition. The cis-unsaturated fatty acids with kinks in their hydrocarbon tails and shorter lengths of the tails increase the fluidity by preventing the ordered packing of phospholipids in the bilayer. Cholesterol molecules present in the bilayer affects its fluidity differently at different temperatures because of its rigid ring structure. It reduces the fluidity by decreasing the movement of adjacent phospholipids but at low temperatures, it increases the fluidity by preventing solidification [Alberts]. Fluidity of the membrane allows different molecules like proteins to interact with each other to perform various processes like transport of molecules and cell signalling. Moreover, membrane fluidity is required for various cellular processes like cell movement and cell division. Asymmetry of Membranes The two leaflets, that is, the inner and the outer monolayer portions of the lipid bilayer differ in their physical and chemical properties. This is due to the asymmetric organization of the various components of the membrane. For example, glycolipids and glycoproteins are always present on the non-cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membrane. Membrane regions differ in their lipid composition. The outer leaflet contains predominantly phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin whereas, the inner leaflet contains phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. The inner leaflet also consists of phosphatidylinositol which play a key role in the transfer of stimuli from the plasma membrane to the cytoplasm [Cooper]. The membrane proteins also differ in their distribution in the two leaflets. For example, spectrin and ankyrin are present on the inner surface of the erythrocytes membrane forming a fibrillar membrane skeleton. GPI-anchored proteins ar present on the external surface of the membr ane. The asymmetry of the membrane suggested different roles played by the components of the membrane present on the two surfaces (Figure eg intestinal epithelial cell membrane:Tight junction , lateral movements). Lipid Rafts The plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells have specialized regions known as lipid rafts which differ in their composition from the rest of the membrane. These detergent-resistant and heterogeneous microdomains are rich in cholesterol, sphingolipids and certain proteins. Lipids in these rafts are more highly ordered and tightly packed as compared to the rest of the lipid bilayer. Various studies have attributed diverse roles like in transport of cholesterol, endocytosis, signal transduction, intracellular trafficking and neural development and function to these lipid rafts. Caveolae is an example of lipid rafts which are the invaginated domains in the plasma membrane. In caveolae, a protein caveolin is associated with the cholesterol in the lipid raft. It plays roles in membrane internalization and cell signaling. [Pike et al, 2002; Wary et al, 1998; Huang et al, 1999; Rothberg et al, 1992] (Review: Razani Lisanti, 2001. Exp. Cell Research 271: 36-44). Might not in endocytosis [Thompsen et al, 2002] see lipid rafts 4 references Functions of membranes: Membranes act as boundaries between the cell and its environment and are essential for maintaining the integrity of the cell and the various membrane-bound organelles within the cell, regulating the transport of materials into and out of the cell, responding to external and internal stimuli, and cell-to-cell recognition. The proteins present on the inner surface of the plasma membrane provides shape and maintains the integrity of the cell by anchoring the cytoskeleton found underlying the cell membrane in the cytoplasm. The major component of the cytoskeleton of the most well studied erythrocyte membrane is the fibrous protein spectrin. This protein interacts with other peripheral proteins like ankyrin, actin and tropomyosin. Dystophin, a member of the spectrin family is found in the membrane skeleton of muscle cells. The importance of these proteins is suggested by the fact that mutations in dystrophin leads to muscular dystrophy. Regulated transport of materials across the membrane is due to the amphipathic nature of the lipid bilayer. Therefore, the membranes are selectively permeable and the ability of a molecule or ion to traverse the bilayer depends majorly on its polarity and also on the size. Non-polar molecules like O2, N2 and benzene and small polar molecules like H2O, glycerol, urea and CO2 can pass the membrane but large uncharged (e.g. glucose), polar molecules (e.g. sucrose) and ions (e.g. H+, Na+, HCO3, Clà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ) are not able to diffuse easily across membranes. Hence, various mechanisms are required for transport of materials across the membrane, including simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active transport for micromolecules and exocytosis and endocytosis for macromolecules. In simple diffusion, substances diffuse down their concentration gradient. In facilitated diffusion, movement of molecules down the concentration gradient is facilitated by channel and carrier proteins (e.g. glucose transporter). On the other hand, active transport requires energy to move solutes against their gradients and can be classified into primary or secondary active transport depending on the source of energy. The primary active transport depends on the hydrolysis of ATP and is of different types: P (e.g. Na+ K+ ATPase, Figure), F and V types and the ATP-binding cassette or ABC transporters. In secondary active transport, specific solute indirectly drives the active transport of another solute and does not involve the hydrolysis of ATP. Secondary active transport may include either symport (e.g. Na+/Glucose transporter) or antiport (Cl ­-/HCO3 exchanger). The macromolecules such as proteins and polysaccharides are transported by endocytosis (from inside the cell to th e outside) and exocytosis (from outside into the cell) (Figure). Cell membrane is also involved in cell-cell communication. Specialized membrane structures like gap junctions in animals and plasmodesmata in plants provide the cytoplasmic continuity between cells. Tight junctions and desmosomes help in attachment of a cell to other cells or the extracellular matrix forming tissues. Membrane also maintains cell potential by creating chemical and electrical gradient. Cell signaling: Signals through chemical messengers (chemical or electrical stimuli) acting on the membrane receptors most of them being proteins. These signals are then transduced in the cell leading to a cascade of events in the cell. Specific for different cells like Gprotein, Tyrosine-kinase receptors Peripheral proteins act as enzymes e.g. and receptors In summary, biological membranes are the complex and dynamic structures composed of variety of proteins embedded in the fluid of the lipid bilayer. The amphipathic nature of the lipid bilayer and the diversity of membrane proteins are responsible for the involvement of biological membranes in large number of cellular processes.