Sustainability and the Green Supply Chain Essay

Sustainability and the Green Supply Chain - Essay Example This can be justified with reference to the fact that contemporary organisations intend to develop green supply chain related procedure in order to sustain in this competitive landscape and thereby, preserve their leadership positioning. The notion of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is often identified as the key attribute in such measures applied by contemporary organisations, fundamentally described as â€Å"the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs into outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their lifecycle thus, creating a sustainable supply chain† (Cognizant, 2008). It is worth mentioning that a sustainable supply chain is typically observed as a sole entity instead of a sequence of fragmented constituents that encompass various significant aspects such as manufacturing, procurement and distribution among others (Rushton & et. al., 2010). It can thus be apparently observed that the focus of a sustainable GSCM is to support modern organisations through increased customer value, profitability along with overall productivity and attaining superior competitive positioning over their chief business market participants (Christopher, 2012; Wisner, 2011). The major facets of a sustainable GSCM include safeguarding the environment, value creation, fostering innovation in every operational procedure of the organisation, forming as well as developing effective interrelation with every organisational member and minimising any sort of hazards that are likely to arise while performing diverse operational functions. Specially mentioning, the modern organisations tend to prioritise forming a sustainable GSCM, owing to certain significant benefits that it delivers to them in this present globalisation and technological era. These benefits are usually recognised in the form of enhanced brand image, lessened logistics, manufacturing or other related costs, optimised manufacturing procedures, expansion to n ew business markets and developed SCM process among others (Morana, 2013; Dai, 2011; Cognizant, 2008). With this concern, the essay intends to describe the imperative aspect of sustainability and green supply chain by considering a particular real organisation, which has an international profile. In this regard, BP plc has been taken into concern as the organisation. The major concerns of sustainability along with green supply chain relating to BP plc have also been described in this essay. A Brief Background of BP plc BP plc, which was formerly acknowledged as British Petroleum, is currently regarded as one of the foremost global oil and gas companies throughout the globe. The company conducts its operational functions in numerous nations, employing a substantial number of personnel that stood at nearly 85,900 during the year 2012 (BP plc, 2013). The company mainly deals with various sorts of business functions ranging from delivering fuel to customers for transportation, energy fo r light along with heat and lubricants for keeping diverse kinds of machines to petrochemical products that are used for preparing daily items (BP plc, 2013). The mission of the company is to become a worldwide leader in the respective industry. The company focuses upon maintaining certain values that are coined as one team, respect, safety, excellence and respect in order to attain its predetermined business targets (BP plc, 2013). Assessing its recent sustainable strategies, it has been recognised that BP is often regarded as one of the well-known brands, which has been operating since its commencement in the 19th century. One of the major strengths of the company can be apparently observed in terms that it

How important is the setting in R L Stevensons portrayal of a double life in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay Example for Free

How important is the setting in R L Stevensons portrayal of a double life in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Essay The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written in 1886 by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Robert Lewis Stevenson was born and brought up in Edinburgh in the 1850s. He was part of a middle class family, his parents were strict Christians and it was very important to them that Stevenson behaved respectfully. When Stevenson was a child, Stevensons nanny frightened him with stories of hell and suffering which may have contributed to his ideas in the novel. When he was a young man in Edinburgh he may have used a false name or a hidden identity in order to indulge himself in forbidden activities or he may have fantasized about them, like crime, affairs and homosexuality. In Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson uses his experiences to describe the unpleasant side of life. The novel is about how Dr Jekyll leads a double life and its devastating consequences. The book reflects Victorian concerns about city life such as crime and poverty. The novel is set in the city of London and is significant in the novel because in general most gothic novels at that time were set far away or in unfamiliar surroundings, yet Stevenson sets the novel in London which shocked readers because it was a place they all knew which made them think that the themes discussed in the novel could be happening near them. This makes it more frightening to the reader and therefore made it a more popular novel. In the novel Stevenson describes London as labyrinths of lamp lighted city. This suggests that the city makes it possible for people to easily lose themselves in London. We see this in the novel when Stevenson says he was often absent; for instance, it was nearly two months since she had seen him till yesterday (the day of the murder). This tells us that Hyde was often absent and it relates back to people losing themselves in the city. Another important aspect of the setting is the weather, which for most of the novel is described as fogged city moon This creates an atmosphere of mystery and unknown and it also suggests that something might be about to happen. The chapter which describes the Carew murder case is an important event in the novel because the murder forces Mr Utterson to investigate and piece together the link between his friend Dr. Jekyll and the murderer Mr Hyde. The reader learns, however, that they are the same person. Stevenson sets the murder scene in a lane which the maids window overlooked and interestingly chooses the murder to be brilliantly lit by the full moon. He does this in order to display every detail of the murder and to show the viciousness of the attack. For example the murder is described as a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered. This tells us how brutal and violent the murder was by the maid being able to hear the victims bones being broken. It also gives the reader the full affect of the damage that had been done. The murder is particularly shocking because it enables the maid to describe the murder so well as a result of the murder scene being so brilliantly lit by the moon. The characters houses in the novel also suggest something about them, Dr Jekylls house, for example, is described as having a great air of wealth and comfort. Hydes rooms are described as well furnished, but theyre located in Soho which is a seedy area full of unrespectable people. The themes in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, for example crime and concealing forbidden activities touched on issues Victorians were concerned with because it was set in a familiar place and it made people think the sort of themes discussed in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde could be happening around or near them. Darwins ideas about evolution and how human beings descended from apes changed Victorian beliefs. His ideas about people being evolved from apes suggest that animalistic urges and desires might be present in all men. Victorians tended to see crime as being carried out by the poor, who they thought of as being more brutish or animal like. Hyde is described as ape like but he is the other side of Jekyll, so Stevenson is saying all men are capable of brutish behaviour, regardless of their class. He is also described like this because of the brutal behaviour he shows during the Carew murder case. This suggests that Hyde is less evolved than other human beings. The reader learns however that Hyde is also Jekyll; this makes the reader think that anyone is capable of ape like behaviour. Another theme that is discussed in the novel involves people leading a double life. The idea of a double life, like the one Jekyll leads, would have appealed to Victorian readers because of the familiar background the novel was set in. Also Victorian codes of behaviour and social rules were strict and repressive, so people liked the idea of breaking out of this. In this novel the setting is important because it creates a sense of uncertainty and creates atmosphere because of the novel being set in dark and fog for most of it. Stevenson created a genre called urban gothic, this is because he set the novel in a familiar place and also at the time he wrote the book. He created a modern urban setting in order to engage his readers which mean they feel all the emotions more intensely because they can imagine it happening to them. The idea of the double life in the novel not only is of interest to Victorians but also to modern day readers because of the familiar setting. The phrase Jekyll and Hyde personality is used today when someone shows two very different sides of their personality because the book is about Dr Jekyll who leads a double life as Mr Hyde. So by saying a Jekyll and Hyde personality it is like saying a split personality. We can see many of the ideas that are in the novel in our present times for example leading a double life and this suggests that the ideas behind the novel are still as relevant today as they were in Victorian times.

Porters Five Analysis of Honda

Porters Five Analysis of Honda Porters five forces is a framework developed by Michael E. Porter that we use to analyse the industry regarding the internal and external environment, competitors, and also better understand the industry context in which the firm operates. The aim of the five forces is to modify the strategy or just some rules in the firm favour in order to stay competitive, improve the position, and realize profit. Porters five forces is a very useful tool, since it helps us to understand the current position of the firm, and take advantages from the strengths of competition and also improve the weaknesses, and avoid taking a wrong strategy to do not stack in the middle, and lose position in the market. This framework is used to identify whether a product, service, business will be profitable, and also know the suppliers; power of buyers, substitutes, new entrants and competitors that will face the firm in order to stay attractive. Now we will see each force in more detail: Rivalry: this force shows the competition between existing firms that offer the same product or service, and even have the same strategy. If there is many competitors, then you should have a little power over them by adopting a strategy that may be based on price, quality, innovation, advertisement, like differentiation, cost leadership, or the focus on a narrow segment. Threats of new entrants: new firms entering the industry will bring new competition, in order to gain the market, and decrease profitability for existing firms, above all those firms who have little protection and barriers to entry, then expecting some firms to exit the market. Threats of substitutes: the ability of customers to find other alternative ways and products with lower prices and better quality that must satisfy the same needs. There is a product for product substitute, substitute needs and also generic substitute that relates to something that people can do without. Buyers bargaining power: determines the ability of buyers to impose pressure on the firm either by switching to another company or having other substitutes, or cutting down prices. They can also affect the conditions under which all the firms operate. Suppliers bargaining power: determines the ability of suppliers to drive up prices which put pressure on firms if there is a few number of suppliers, or by the uniqueness of their products and the control they have over firms. By analysing and understanding each force, and how it affects the strategy of the firm, it provides the opportunity to identify the strengths of the firm and the ability to modify some points of the strategy to make sustainable profits, and being successful in achieving and establishing appropriate strategies. Porters five forces on Honda Motors: Rivalry: competition in the automobile industries is very high, because there are many firms in this industry which offer many choices for the customers, so each firm try to do its best to make more profit than others, and make its products the more sellable in the market. Toyota, Ford, General Motors are the main competitors of Honda, so it should keep on innovating, improving, researching, and developing to stay effective in this sector. The degree of rivalry in the automotive industry is further heightened by high fixed cost associated with manufacturing cars and trucks and the low switching cost for consumers when buying different marks and models Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/44521940/Tata Threats of substitutes: there is not a huge threat of substitute in the automobile industry that offers utility, independence and no wasting time, even if there is a large number of transportation. There are bicycles, subways, buses, trains and airplanes that could make our life easier, but that can be less convenience than automobiles. The price of fuel have a large effect on the consumers decision to buy vehicles, also the maintenance and the insurance of the car, but the automobile still has an important use in our personal and daily life. Barriers to entry: it is not easy for an entrant to enter into the automobile industry easily, because of the brand loyalty of the consumers. It is substantial for established companies to have barriers to entry to protect themselves, because some companies are entering into foreign markets by buying an existing company or either merging with it and then realising a huge profit. With local knowledge and expertise, companies have the potential to compete in the market in which they operate against the domestic firms. Honda took the risk of entering into a long and complex relationship during the 80s with a European company universally considered to be one of the least capable automobile manufacturers in the west British Leyland. Source: the case study of Honda Buyers bargaining power: consumers have many choices and brands, but the factors that affect more the consumer to buy a certain brand from another are: the appearance, quality, price, design. Consumers want always something new and nice looking with the latest technologies. The car had to be efficient, by saving fuel, protecting the environment, and running fast. Since there are lot of competitors, people have more choices to select the less costly, and better in quality, for being loyal to a certain brand, thats why Honda tries to make its cars unique. Honda has a history of delivering high quality and fuel efficient vehicles, so the consumers are seeking the best product for a good price. Honda has being a leader in producing fuel efficient and low emissions vehicles Hondas achievements on the technology front are well recognised, ranging from its cutting edge low pollution and low fuel consumption engine technologies. The CVCC engine attempts to reduce emission of the pollution and with less fuel used, while VTEC engines was fuel economy with more power Source: the case study of Honda Suppliers bargaining power: there are many suppliers in the automobile industry, and many suppliers rely on one or two automakers to buy a majority of their products. If an automaker decides to switch the supplier, it could be devastating to the previous supplier business. As a result, suppliers are extremely susceptible to the demands and requirements of the automobile manufacturer and hold very little power. Source: http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/automobile.asp Honda relies on some main suppliers for the items and raw materials that uses in the manufacture of its products. Honda has only a handful of components makers that might be considered to belong to its suppliers family. Source: case study of Honda Porters Value Chain The value chain is a framework developed by Porter to describe the development of competitive advantage and the value of the business. It is a chain of activities for a firm operating in a specific industry. All organisations consist of activities that link together to develop the value of the business, and together these activities form the organisations value chain. Such activities may include purchasing activities, manufacturing the products, distribution and marketing of the companys products and activities. The value chain framework has been used as a powerful analysis tool for strategic planning of an organisation. Its aim is to maximise value creation while minimizing costs. Source: www.coursework4you.co.uk/essays-and-dissertations/value-chain-analysis.php Value chain represents the processes from getting raw materials and components until providing the whole product or service. In order to conduct a value chain analysis, the company is divided into primary activities and support ones. Primary activities are those related with production, and the cost of providing the product or service, while support activities are those that maintain and arise the effectiveness and efficiency of the firm to enhance the product value. Primary activities: inbound logistics, operations (production), outbound logistics, marketing and sales (demand); services (maintenance). Support activities: administrative infrastructure management, HRM, technology (RD), and procurement. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_chain Primary activities: Inbound logistics: it is related with bringing raw materials from suppliers, and handling them. Operations: it is related with the products and handling the raw material, to come up with the final means activities that transform the inputs into the output. Outbound logistics: it is related with activities of distributing the product. Marketing and sales: analyse the needs and wants of customers, creating awareness, advertisement, and sales promoting to attract people. Services activities are those that maintain and enhance the products value including customer support, repair service. Support activities: Procurement: purchasing raw materials for the companys operation at a high quality and low prices. Technology development: it is concerned with technological innovation, expertise and knowledge that lead the business to survive such as research and development. HRM: it is an important way of attaining sustainable competitive advantage by recruiting, training, motivating, and rewarding the workforce. Firm infrastructure: finance, quality management, RD. Lets now analyse Porters value chain on Honda Motors: Primary activities: Inbound logistics: Honda purchases the raw materials from a number of components and tries to gain advantages in quality and cost as much as possible. Both manual and automated assembly tasks to handle the components together to come up with the final product, and it also adopts an innovative strategy for the planning production called small batch production systems, in order to reduce costs and having a product variety. Operations: Honda has developed a small batch production system, in which same vehicles are sent down the assembly line in batches, and then workers execute the same task for each batch, then components are delivered to the assembly line in batches which exactly match the vehicle they will be fitted into. There is also the facelift that Honda applies to its cars; the components are then replaced by others more developed to come up with a new product. Honda designs models which are related to geographical dimension depend of different market segments. Outbound logistics: Marketing and sales: Honda expanded several products and models that customers could choose among them, and also it adopts a good production system that is related to its marketing and sales. Hondas strategy emphasizes the high technology build into all its products and it offers features like advanced engines as standards rather than optional extras, thus simplifying product variety within each model type, so that every customers could benefit from it whatever the model of the car. The alignment of output levels with customer demand tends to focus on sales strategy, so the production levels of particular models can be varied up or down as a function of demand. Services: Honda is aiming to improve their relational with the consumers, by being responsive to the service support throughout maintenance and repair, and adopting a high level of transparency with their customers. Support activities: Procurement: for a number of components, Honda arranges to purchase the raw materials gaining advantages in price and quality. It has also the possibility of purchasing raw materials from component makers located very long distance away to allow cheap labour sources in other regions, or purchasing them few square kilometres which is advantageous for just in time logistics. Technology development: Honda has technologically innovative products, developing new low pollution power sources for its vehicles such as CVCC and VTEC in order to have a good market positions, and also it gives to its models a cosmetic facelift every four years in order to gain competitive advantages. HRM: Honda praises the achievements of individuals, makes merit the key to promotion, and awards responsibility to younger employees across elder ones. Firm infrastructure: Honda had become well known in the business for the collective decision making process utilized by its top executives. Honda adopts too much dichotomies in their strategies management taking advantages from all. They also have a good research and development department aiming to improve the quality of the products and entering new technologies to gain sustainable advantages. The primary activities and the support ones are related to each other, one activity can affect the cost of another activity. Thus, the primary activity is related to the creation of the product by handling raw materials together and selling it, and the support activity is related to the competitive advantages that you gain from buying the components at a low cost and with a high quality and to the technology used in the product. So those linkages between the two activities added value to the firm, and can be a source for a sustainable competitive advantages. Reconciling dichotomies: This approach of reconciling dichotomies is used in a wide range of activities of Honda, and it represents the innovation strategy that seeks to adopt different ways and opposite polarities. Dichotomy means two contradictory polarities that do not fit together, and reconciling in this context, refers to an approach in which those two poles are somehow made compatible with each other. Hondas strategic thinking rejects the trade off, or to choose one strategy, however, Honda has mixed too many dichotomies to incorporate the best of both worlds, and this contributes to the success of its strategy. After Honda had selected its market and customers segments, it is time to decide how it wants to position itself within this segment.

Early Human Occupations in Africa Essay -- African Inhabitation

Early Human Occupations in Africa Galana River, Tsavo National Park, Kenya Research on early human occupations in Africa is challenged with contextualizing artifacts with environmental landscape reconstructions. Understanding the landscape that humans inhabited is crucial for discerning how particular forms of technology (stone tools, grinding stones, ceramics) were used and how prehistoric people succeeded and failed in their modes of subsistence. This knowledge can teach us about how to develop sustainable alternatives that balance the needs of nature and humans alike. Research along the Galana River in Tsavo National Park , Kenya is providing a useful data set through which multiple, long-term habitations of several sites from the Middle to Late Holocene are currently being analyzed. Early foraging occupations of the site of Kahinju (5960 ±480 years bp, 5000  ±400 years bp ) correlate to pluvial periods as recorded in ÃŽ ´18 O ice core records from Mount Kilimanjaro (Thompson et al. 2002) . These occupations also correspond to periods of generally low periodicity in the El Nià ±o/...

Today’s Country Differences in Accounting Standards

Today’s Country Differences in Accounting Standards There are five main influences on a country’s accounting system. Having a different system of accounting is like having a different culture for countries. There are many different things that dictate how an accounting differs. The relationship between business and providers of capital, political and economic ties with other countries, inflation accounting, level of development, and the national culture are the five influences on accounting systems. Relationship between business and providers of capitalFirms can gain capital from numerous sources; selling stock and shares is one way or borrowing from a bank is another. How each country’s firms gain capital has to do with what type of accounting system the country has. The United States is full of people wanting to invest in a company or buy stock in a company. Not only do we have television stations dedicated to the stock market, but as a business student we hear about it constantly. The U. S. tries to use their accounting system to inform individual investors about the firms they want to invest in.There are other countries that use banks more to gain capital. In these cases the accounting system is geared towards the government and the banks that provide the majority of the capital. Political and economic ties with other countries Politics and a country’s economic system can have a big effect on an accounting system. These two factors seem to bring accounting system together rather than apart. NAFTA and EU have both brought the countries involved together. They have put into practice norms throughout each accounting system to make them more uniform.Inflation Accounting Inflation is a big factor when deciding how to approach an accounting system. Inflation accounting is all about the historic cost principle. It says that currency is not losing its value due to inflation. â€Å"If inflation is high, the historic cost principle undere stimates a firm’s assets, so the depreciation charges based on these underestimates can be inadequate for replacing assets when they wear out or become obsolete (Hill, 2011, p. 635). † Level of Development Developed countries seem to have everything easier.They are able to acquire more capital and business. They have more highly educated and skilled workers. The more developed countries seem to have it all and the less developed countries with the smaller businesses have taken notice. Smaller, less developed countries tend to copy or attempt to copy the larger, more developed countries in their accounting systems. This can cause problems because the less developed countries do not have all of the resources necessary to have an accounting system fit for a well-developed country. National CultureA country’s culture comes into play in accounting systems when thinking about uncertainty avoidance. A country’s uncertainty avoidance is either high or low. High un certainty avoidance means a country is less likely to take risk and rules and regulations. Low uncertainty avoidance means the country is willing to take risk. The country’s with a low uncertainty risk need to make sure that their finances are in top shape so they are more likely to have accountants audit their firms (Hill, 2011). Works Cited Hill, C. W. (2011). International Business. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Examine the functionalist view of the family Essay

Broadly speaking, the functionalist perspective has focused on the functions of the family in society and for its members. In other words, it looks at how the family, as an institution, helps in maintaining order and stability in society, and the significance of the family for its individual members. There are two main functionalist views on the family – Murdock’s view and Parsons’ view. Murdock’s view on the family is that the family performs four basic functions for its individual members and society at large. These are the ‘sexual’, ‘reproductive’, ‘economic’ and ‘educational’ functions. The ‘sexual’ function refers to the regulation of sexual activity. Evidence for this being a functionalist view on the family is that the idea of the four basic functions was created by George Murdock. Husbands and wives have sexual access to each other, and in all societies, there are norms concerning sexual activity outside marriage. Therefore, Murdock has argued that the family caters to the sexual needs of its adult members and also limits sexual access of other members of the society thereby maintaining stability. The ‘reproductive’ function relates to bearing and raising children. Again, this was part of the idea created by Murdock. The family provides the society with new members and assumes responsibility for raising them. The family is also an ‘economic’ unit, with a division of labour along gender lines. Evidence for this is Murdock’s consideration of this division of labour and his seeing it as rewarding for the spouses and as strengthening the bond between them, as they are perceived as doing distinct but complementary work. The ‘educational’ function can also be termed ‘socialisation’. Although initially an idea thought up by Murdock, Parsons also agreed with this view believing that this was one of the main functions of the family. The family has the responsibility of transmitting a society’s way of life, norms and values to the younger members. This function is an important one as, without culture, the society could not survive, and too much deviation from the norm would disrupt the stability of the society. Another view on the family is the view of Talcott Parsons. He has also written about the functions of the family. He has identified two functions that he perceives as being ‘basic and irreducible’. These functions are: the primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities of the population of the society. Primary socialisation occurs in early childhood and the family plays an important role at this stage. Evidence for this would be Parsons’ view and writings on the family. Later on, other institutions like the school or the peer group, will exercise much influence on the individual – this is called secondary socialisation. During primary socialisation, two important tasks are achieved by the family. Firstly, the family must transmit the culture of the society to the children. The child must not only be able to learn about the norms and values of the society he or she lives in, but should also be able to ‘internalise’ these norms and values, making them a part of himself or herself. Another functionalist view on the family is that it has the function of ‘stabilising the personality’ of its adult members. Evidence of this is Parsons’ view on the family. This means that family life provides adults with the emotional security that they need. The role of parents that they are asked to assume also provides them with opportunities for expressing their childish whims through their children.

American Revolution of the 1800s essays

American Revolution of the 1800s essays The American Revolution of the mid 1800s In the midst of a civil upheaval during the 1860s and 1870s the United States underwent changes which were little short of revolutionary. Being one of the most complex and controversial periods in American history, it was during this time that many political and social reforms took place. Through the secession of the Southern States, the blood shedding of the Civil War, and the post-war Reconstruction period came many political and social issues that transformed the United States from what it was in the 1860s to what it is today. The secession of South Carolina in 1860 paved the way for the other states to follow and a revolution to begin. The belief that states had more power than the national government popular at the time led the way for the southern states to declare that the constitutional infidgements on their rights as states allowed them to secede. (Doc. A) Northerners and the national government did not agree. They believed in the necessary and proper clause that gave the national government the power to do what it deemed necessary to protect the country from both, foreigners and itself. With this in mind the Civil War began to reunite the country, for the only way they believed the country would be able to prosper was united with nationalism. (Doc. B) The Reconstruction period came after the Civil War and lasted till 1877. The political, social, and economic conditions after the Civil War changed life in the South for both blacks and whites, forever. At this time the Congress was divided politically on issues that grew out of the Civil War: Black equality, rebuilding the South, readmitting Southern states to Union, and deciding who would control government. Socially, the South was in chaos. Newly emancipated slaves wandered the South after having left their former masters, and the White population was spiritually devastated, uneasy about what lay ahead. Emancipated slaves petit...

Militarization of the US Mexico Broder essays

Militarization of the US Mexico Broder essays Militarization of the U.S. Mexico Border  ¡Corranle, allà ­ viene la migra!, translated into English, this means Run, there comes immigration! This is what illegal immigrants shout everyday when they are about to cross the Rio Grande in search for better lives. Unfortunately, not many get through alive because of the militarization that has developed on the U.S. border with Mexico. Operation Rio Grande continues a process put in motion over a century ago by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. It tries to erase the reality of a social geographical order that defies neat national divisions and impose a narrow notion of citizenship on people on both sides of the international boundary. In the process, the U.S., like all countries to varying degrees, elevates national citizenship to a position of primacy and lessens the inherent humanity of those on the wrong side of the social and territorial boundaries. Operation Rio Grande, launched in August 1997, in Brownsville, Texas, was a special multi-year operation designed to gain and maintain control of specific border areas through a combination of new technology and additional staffing. At the start of the operation, 69 Border Patrol agents were detailed to Brownsville to intensify existing enforcement effort. In September of that same year, the Border Patrol deployed special response teams to those ports-of-entry where increased numbers of fraudulent entry was expected. In the Fiscal Year of 1998, 260 new Border Patrol agents were added to the McAllen Sector and 205 to the Laredo Sector. An important feature of Operation Rio Grande has been the integration of a broad range of INS enforcement operations. Studies show that the crime rate in Brownsville alone dropped by more than 20% in 1998. (U.S. INS) The origins of the U.S. Mexico boundary are to be found in the imperial competition between Spain, France, and Britain for possessions in North Amer...

Media Fast Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Fast Assignment - Essay Example During the first 48 hours without the media screens, I was so excited. I indulged in other activities; for instance mowing my lawn, and reading a novel which I bought and never opened its pages. As time progressed, my excitement turned into boredom. I got bored and wished for screen media; I anticipated the end of the 48 hours. After the 48 hours without the media, I was relieved to resume my regular life with media screens. Challenges encountered during the media fast assignment entailed media activities that were very difficult to avoid. These challenges focused on media activities that I found very hard to avoid. I had difficulty in avoiding texting, using the internet via my laptop, and watching my favorite series which coincided with the media fast period. These media activities were very difficult to avoid because I have a habit of using these media devices often. My life is centered on the media devices; doing away with them for 48 hours was torturing, although I was excited initially. I did not carefully access the experience that I was going to go through. I had no idea that I was not prepared for this experience. I usually use the media for communication purposes as well as entertainment purposes. I have a habit of texting my friends, and using the internet to communicate with my friends via social sites; like facebook, twitter and Linkedin. For communication purposes with my friends, I opted to give myself some alone time. I mowed my lawn and cleaned up the house. I thought that staying away from the media communication segment with my friends would do me good as I now had time to contemplate on my life and my surroundings. This alternative worked well for me as I managed to clean up my house all by myself without seeking assistance. Usually, I seek assistance from companies that offer cleaning services. In one, way, I was able to save up my money and clean up my own mess. I am addicted to the television movies and series; I even have my

Critical thinking paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical thinking paper - Essay Example The government clearly has the full influence to effectively reduce the cost for healthcare without compromising its quality at the same time. There are basic principles in the economy that can be applied by the government in order to obtain appropriate balance between cost-effective care and quality care. One basic principle is the idea of supply and demand. It is noted that when the demand of a product or service is high, then the tendency is to increase its price because the bottom line would be to have deficit on supply. However, in order to counteract this basic principle it is important to increase supply of service or product amidst its prevailing high demand. This is to ensure that the price of a certain product or service which is high in demand will still be at its stability level. The same principle can be applied in health care. The issue is significantly to balance its being cost effective and its quality. The government therefore must encourage more health care providers including health care insurance firms in order to significantly meet the need of cost effective care but with quality. In this case, the gov ernment therefore is encouraging more competition among health care providers. When there is competition, the health care providers therefore would try to increase the quality of their offered services but not at the expense of customers. Each provider will encourage consumers to go for their service by enticing them with a good quality service at affordable price. The simple rule here is to basically increase supply so as not to affect the price. Fair competition therefore is needed. Consumers must significantly have to choose several health plans for instance. This will give providers incentives for cost-effective approach (van de Ven, 253). With regards to this move, competition will surely arise between groups of providers,

COPD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

COPD - Essay Example Smoking is the most responsible for the COPD in human beings. 15 percent of smokers have been found to suffer from COPD, along with associated respiratory problems. Passive smoking has also been found to affect small children with respiratory problems, and infections. Lung diseases are often caused by air pollution that in many cases develops into COPD. Occupational pollutants like cadmium and silica create the risks of COPD, particularly in individuals who have the chances of intake of these pollutants. Deficiency of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is another major cause of COPD that reflects a hereditary problem in many individuals (Schiffman & Shiel, 2013). The process of the disease of COPD consists of three conditions within an individual. These are chronic bronchitis, chronic asthma, and emphysema. The flow of air gets obstructed and hence unable to pass through the airflows often making such obstruction permanent. If patients suffering from asthma are not treated, then such patients tend to have a rigid element of obstruction of the airways leading to COPD. In COPD the limitation in the flow of air is progressive in nature. Moreover it leads to irregular inflammatory reaction of the lungs to lethal particles or harmful gases. The abnormal responses of the inflammations occur â€Å"throughout the proximal and peripheral airways, lung parenchyma, and pulmonary vasculature† (O’Connell Smeltzer et al, 2010, p.602). Since the inflammation is chronic in nature and there is a tendency of the body to repair the process, hence the airways reflect alterations and narrowing in their features. As a result of this disease, there a re changes in the components of the lungs as well (O’Connell Smeltzer et al, 2010, p.602). Certain common treatments are available for COPD patients. With intentions to avert further worsening of the conditions of the lungs, to lessen the symptoms and their effects, and to improve the conditions

The hazards of taking children out to eat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The hazards of taking children out to eat - Essay Example i. The attendant brought a bowl of cold water for Nathan to dip his hands. B. My eleven months old daughter Tracy accidently put her hand dipped in a traditional Indian concoction made of green chilies and mint leaves into her mouth. i. The attendant stood by as I washed Tracy’s mouth and gave her a spoon of sugar to help her settle down. III. This experience has taught me to be on guard and careful when going out with children especially toddlers. I also learnt to plan ahead and book seats and high chair for babies before hand. Eating out with children can be a challenging experience. As a parent I have always found it difficult to balance the demands at work and that of the family. I had just finished a major project at work that took a considerable amount of time and energy; so I thought of taking my children out for dinner during the weekend. I thought that this would be a wonderful time to relax and unwind and also spend some quality time with my children. What I didnâ₠¬â„¢t realize was that this experience would make me more aware and alert of the various hazards that one can experience while taking their children out to eat. New situations always make me a bit nervous, and this trip to the newly opened Indian restaurant was no exception.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 87

Assignment Example Furthermore, the article centralized on the prediction that students who have fewer misconceptions at the beginning of the course are likely to have higher course grades than those students who held more misconceptions. The total population of the study includes 178 undergraduates who were taking introductory psychology classes from 2001 to 2005. Using cluster sampling, 23 samples were derived from a large urban university located in the southwestern U.S., 40 samples from small, private, liberal arts college located in the southwestern U.S., and 115 samples from small, private, liberal arts college located in the northeastern U.S. (Kuhle, Barber & Bristol, 2009, 120). Classes have an average composition of 16.3 students, ranging from 4-26 members. The demographic profiles of the l of classes were not assessed but all of the samples were given similar instructors and class format. Upon analysis of the information from different classes, statistical tests reflect a one-tailed with an alpha level of .05. Majority of the students (83%) held 5 or more misconceptions out of 10 and have lower grades than those students who held few misconceptions; 88% of which came from small southwestern college. In addition, the correlations between KOPT scores and class grades have resulted in five correlations with statistical significance; thus, KOPT scores is a significant predictor of students’ performance with considerable predictive validity in anticipating underperforming students. The title of the article has clarity and indicates clearly the key variables and the study population. Abstract is presented in a short but understandable content. With regards to introduction, the problem is easy to identify and relates to a number of previous researches or studies done. Although one can’t find a conceptual paradigm in the article, there is a relationship and a hypothesis that can be derived from the introduction of the

Human Understanding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Understanding - Essay Example It is indeed undeniable that people recreate the things that are already existent within their own society. The fact that they have already been able to see what they could do regarding a certain type of field, they intend to even do better the net time that they deal with the same invention. Yes, humans never get tired of reinventing everything there is in the environment. Why is this so' Human intelligence has always been noted by philosophers as the primary factor that makes the human creation different from that of the other God-made creations. The humans' ability to innovate their own achievements to even better results for the present generation to see, has particularly noted them to be those who are capable of reinventing themselves to be able to evolve from generations to generations. Hence, the ways by which humans understand the things around them clearly defines the capability of humans to efficiently use intelligence for their best benefits. This is primarily because of the fact that the human brain never ceases to improve its way of reasoning out especially when it is nourished in the right procedure. Along with this, considering critical thinking and its importance is also relative to the matter. Critical thinking is an important aspect to the logical feature of a person and the acquisition of knowledge. It mainly employs the usage of the human ability of logical analysis to develop an adequate and proper judgment regarding a specific scenario that a person is faced with. It is the analysis of the propositional arguments, which are presumed to be true and the evaluation of the information in forms such as evidences and subsequent facts. Thus, it is important to critically analyze and examine all the facts that are available to create a clear and concise jud gment regarding a specific issue. Performing a critical analysis is not usually easy for an individual because of the abundancy and ambiguosity of the facts pertinent to the scenarios that are to be analyzed. Some cases requires further scrutiny to uncover unknown details which are really important thus initial skepticism and open-mindedness are often required in developing good critical thinking. Take for example a certain job regarding work relation in a specific office. A certain piece of valuable went missing and the whole work community in the office is already chattering blaming a shy and timid employee as the thief who stole the missing valuable. Employing critical thinking would not let someone to hastily judge that employee because of his social diffidence. Instead of inappropriate judgment, analyze first the case at hand and evaluate the details pertinent to it to find clues and information leading to the solution. Failure to practice critical thinking will only lead to inaccurate and often wrong conclusion thus neglecting the purpose of the human logical capabilities. Proper judgment requires the critical thinking and analysis of the available information and specific details. It is very important that one must first utilize his or her brain before jumping to any hasty judgment to avoid mistakes and further aggravation of the problem already at hand. Thus, solution and accurate knowledge can only be attained by having critical analysis of the facts leading to the plausible conclusion. Conclusion Overall, it could not be

The hazards of taking children out to eat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The hazards of taking children out to eat - Essay Example i. The attendant brought a bowl of cold water for Nathan to dip his hands. B. My eleven months old daughter Tracy accidently put her hand dipped in a traditional Indian concoction made of green chilies and mint leaves into her mouth. i. The attendant stood by as I washed Tracy’s mouth and gave her a spoon of sugar to help her settle down. III. This experience has taught me to be on guard and careful when going out with children especially toddlers. I also learnt to plan ahead and book seats and high chair for babies before hand. Eating out with children can be a challenging experience. As a parent I have always found it difficult to balance the demands at work and that of the family. I had just finished a major project at work that took a considerable amount of time and energy; so I thought of taking my children out for dinner during the weekend. I thought that this would be a wonderful time to relax and unwind and also spend some quality time with my children. What I didnâ₠¬â„¢t realize was that this experience would make me more aware and alert of the various hazards that one can experience while taking their children out to eat. New situations always make me a bit nervous, and this trip to the newly opened Indian restaurant was no exception.

Human Understanding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Understanding - Essay Example It is indeed undeniable that people recreate the things that are already existent within their own society. The fact that they have already been able to see what they could do regarding a certain type of field, they intend to even do better the net time that they deal with the same invention. Yes, humans never get tired of reinventing everything there is in the environment. Why is this so' Human intelligence has always been noted by philosophers as the primary factor that makes the human creation different from that of the other God-made creations. The humans' ability to innovate their own achievements to even better results for the present generation to see, has particularly noted them to be those who are capable of reinventing themselves to be able to evolve from generations to generations. Hence, the ways by which humans understand the things around them clearly defines the capability of humans to efficiently use intelligence for their best benefits. This is primarily because of the fact that the human brain never ceases to improve its way of reasoning out especially when it is nourished in the right procedure. Along with this, considering critical thinking and its importance is also relative to the matter. Critical thinking is an important aspect to the logical feature of a person and the acquisition of knowledge. It mainly employs the usage of the human ability of logical analysis to develop an adequate and proper judgment regarding a specific scenario that a person is faced with. It is the analysis of the propositional arguments, which are presumed to be true and the evaluation of the information in forms such as evidences and subsequent facts. Thus, it is important to critically analyze and examine all the facts that are available to create a clear and concise jud gment regarding a specific issue. Performing a critical analysis is not usually easy for an individual because of the abundancy and ambiguosity of the facts pertinent to the scenarios that are to be analyzed. Some cases requires further scrutiny to uncover unknown details which are really important thus initial skepticism and open-mindedness are often required in developing good critical thinking. Take for example a certain job regarding work relation in a specific office. A certain piece of valuable went missing and the whole work community in the office is already chattering blaming a shy and timid employee as the thief who stole the missing valuable. Employing critical thinking would not let someone to hastily judge that employee because of his social diffidence. Instead of inappropriate judgment, analyze first the case at hand and evaluate the details pertinent to it to find clues and information leading to the solution. Failure to practice critical thinking will only lead to inaccurate and often wrong conclusion thus neglecting the purpose of the human logical capabilities. Proper judgment requires the critical thinking and analysis of the available information and specific details. It is very important that one must first utilize his or her brain before jumping to any hasty judgment to avoid mistakes and further aggravation of the problem already at hand. Thus, solution and accurate knowledge can only be attained by having critical analysis of the facts leading to the plausible conclusion. Conclusion Overall, it could not be

Botton Classical Argument Essay Example for Free

Botton Classical Argument Essay Humorists are people who are skillful in using humor for writing, talking, or acting. Their works bring laughter and elation to people. In Botton’s book, Status Anxiety, he believes that humorists not only entertain audience, but also convey important messages that cannot be said directly. Thus, he argues that humorists play a vital role in the society. In most cases, Botton’s claim is justified in that since the early nineteenth century, humorists express their thoughts about the society through humor. Some of these humorists do play important roles in the society by revealing crisis or events happening during that time period to bring awareness from the society. Humorists, such as cartoonists and satirical writers, use their own methods to tell about issues happening in the society while putting humor into their work. One of the famous political cartoonists in the nineteen-century, Thomas Nast, draws political cartoons about the corrupted government and notorious business leaders during his time period. Some of his famous works, such as the drawings of Boss Tweed and Tammy Hall, bring insight to the American people, especially the middle class, of how weak the central government is. As Nast works on these cartoons, he put humor into the work with captions or quotes that sarcastically explain what the drawings are for. As an advocate of abolishment of slavery and anti racial segregation, he uses political cartoons to freely express his views and manages to send important messages to the people. Thus, humorists play an important role in the society to let people aware of their surroundings. Some people use humor to express their feelings about what they thought of themselves, other people, or the society. In poetry slam, some people use humor and irony that have messages that they want the audience to know. One of the participants, Katie Makkai presents her poem, Pretty, which has deep meaning behind it. She does brings laughter from the crowd as she begins her poetry about her childhood and brings out a naà ¯ve persona. As the poem goes on, she slowly implies to the audience that nobody can be call â€Å"pretty†, by reasoning that everyone has flaws since he or she is born. She uses herself as one of the example and tells that one can be â€Å"pretty intelligent, pretty creative† , but not â€Å"pretty†. Thus, Makkau is able to get audience attention through her humorous beginning of the poem and also bring some important life messages to her audience. On the other hand, some humorists might not be implying any important messages to their audiences, but simply just doing their jobs by making people laugh. Mr. Bean can be an actor who act in funny movies or series that bring joy to the viewers. Cartoon or real life version, in most of his movies, he does many unique things that brings laughter’s from the people. One can say that there are not important messages that he is trying to show to the audience through his acting. Though, still audience can learn from his actions and careless mistakes that he makes in the movies, which are the main key of bringing humor, and understand that people can make silly mistakes. Humorists are able to show their true feelings about society without any restraints and have the advantages that their works can be taken seriously or lightly. Thus, they can simply tell anything without hurting anyone’s feeling. As they leave important messages by presenting their views through humorous and comical works, they plays an vital role in the society.

Development Of Honorifics Within Cultures Cultural Studies Essay

Development Of Honorifics Within Cultures Cultural Studies Essay How does social hierarchy affect linguistic politeness and the development of honorifics within cultures. Japanese, Chinese English will be examined. Politeness is a cultural phenomenon. What is considered polite in one culture can be quite rude or just simply strange in another. An honorific on the other hand is a word, title or expression, which conveys politeness under certain cultural norms when addressing or referring to another person (Brown, 1987). In languages such as Chinese, honorifics operate under a self-denigration Maxim where one either elevates the other partys status and therefore conveying esteem or respect, and/or denigrating the self and thus elevating the relative status of a second or third person (Gu, 1990). To do otherwise is seen as being arrogant boasting, or self-conceited. In some languages such as Japanese, honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers (Haugh et. al., 2003). Agha (1994) goes on to suggest individuals who use more honorifics are further educated and mature, a nd therefore, of higher social status. Thus it can be hypothesized that politeness is intrinsically intertwined with the speakers cultural understanding and subsequent social status. This paper will explore how social hierarchy affects politeness through the changing use of honorifics. Chinese, Japanese and English will be examined to gain a wider understanding of this phenomenon. The closest Chinese translation of politeness is à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’, meaning polite appearance. à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’ is derived from the archaic Chinese wordà §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®. To have a better understanding of the modern conception of à §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¼ à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã…’, it may be helpful to review the classical notion of à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® formulated by Confucius. Confucius lived at a time when there was constant war between feudal states, partly due to a rapidly deteriorating slavery system. The former aristocratic social hierarchy was shattered, and chaos practically reigned over the land. One of the measures Confucius advocated towards stability was to restore à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®. This à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® does not mean politeness; it refers to the social hierarchy and order of the slavery system of the Zhou Dynasty, which was regarded by Confucius as an ideal model of any society. In order to restore à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ® it is necessary to à ¦Ã‚ ­  £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  i.e. rectify names. To à ¦Ã‚ ­Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚  is to put each individual in his/her place in the web of relationships that create community, and behaving accordingly to his/her social position so as to ensure social harmony (Taylor, 2003; Warren, 1980). This is important because: if ming is not properly rectified, speech cannot be used appropriately; if speech is not used appropriately, nothing can be achieved; if nothing is achieved, li cannot be restored: if li is not restored, law and justice cannot be exercised: and if law and justice are not exercised, people will not know how to behave. (Confucius, zilu , quoted by Yang (1987)) Thus speech had to be used appropriately in accordance with the users status in the social hierarchy so thatà §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®could be restored. For instance, a servant was required to call himself or herself à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ´Ãƒ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚  (slave), while addressing his/her master as à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ º (great man) or à ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ­Ã‚  (master). Deviation from this usage, in Confucius view, would disrupt the established social order, hence creating social chaos. An inferiors violation of this usage, at that time, would have been considered as being à §Ã…  Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã…   (offending the superior). This was a serious breach of à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®which could result in the severe punishment of the offender (Gu, 1990). Since the founding of the Peoples Republic in 1949, the feudal system, which has overseen China for over 5000 years, was abolished. A new order of social structure, the communist system was adapted where ideologically, everyone is an equal. Politeness and its role in this new way of life among the people were drastically changed as the pre-existing social hierarchy was viciously torn down. Consequently, many classical terms, which sounded either too denigrative or elevative in the contemporary political atmosphere, became obsolete. Examples of classical and contemporary denigrating and elevating honorifics from Gu (1990) include (Attachment 1) After the communist revolution, honorifics are only used for formal or volatile circumstances. Extreme honorifics such as the ones mentioned above are saved for TV shows and situations of extreme emphasis. A prime example of modern use of the self-denigration maxim is extracted from Gu (1990) below. (Attachment 2) Gu (1990) explains as thus: When M refers to Ss surname [I], he elevates it as precious surname, whereas in mentioning his own surname [4], he denigrates it by calling it worthless surname. S, on his part, though he does not denigrate his surname in response to As enquiry [2], denigrates instead himself as little brother (implicating that he is inferior to M). In his enquiry about Ms surname, on the other hand, S exhilarates it as respectable surname [3]. It is evident that the distance between self-denigration and other elevation was much larger in ancient China than that in modern China. Elevated honorifics are rarely used outside formal occasions; however the self-denigration maxim still underlines linguistic constructs in Chinese social interaction. The self-denigration maxim is also present in the Japanese politeness or teineisa known as rei. As the Japanese language was greatly influenced by Chinese, some parts copied directly such as the Kanji system, there are bound to be similarities pertaining to social hierarchy and its role in politeness. Rei is a Japanese version of the original Chinese à §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ®, however slightly diverged from the original concept. In spoken Japanese, with an honorific o-prefix, o-rei is commonly used in such expressions as o-rei wo suru (to do rei) meaning to express rei as an action; to give a gift to someone whom one is indebted to, or to bow (with no o-prefix). Also o-rei wo iu (to say rei) means to verbally express rei. It is often associated with using the arigatou thanking speech formula, and other speech formulae for apology, such as sumimasen, moushiwake arimasen (Ohashi, 2008). Before World War II, Japan was a Feudal society which placed extreme emphasis on class distinctions and social hierarchies. The variant factor which differentiated Japanese with Chinas changing attitude to politeness was the lack of a violent cultural revolution. Japans transition from a monarchy to the democracy it is today, saw little change in the populaces feelings towards social hierarchy. Therefore we see a broad array of honorific used for addressing or referring to people beyond that of the self-denigration maxim in everyday life. Third-person honorifics such as ore-sama and name+suffix referring to one-self are rarely used outside of popular culture. Commonly seen honorifics are generally gender-neutral and suffixed to first names as well as surnames. Some common affixual honorifics are as follows: Nominal(common): -san The minimal politeness necessary when there is a lack of familiarly between the speakers. Diminutive(common): -chan, -kun Where the addressee is usually that of a lower social status or has a close familiarity with the speaker. Elevative: -sama, -sempai, -sensei, -shi  ­Where the addressee is that or a higher social status or held in great respect by the speaker. Dropping the honorific referred to as yobisute implies a high degree of intimacy, however if used mistakenly or out of such boundaries, social backlash can occur as this is a serious breach of teineisa. Okamoto (1999) views the use of honorifics as determined by features of the context. Honorifics are commonly said to be used in reference to the relevant individual who is perceived as distant from the speaker. Other factors such as formality of the setting, means of communication and topic discussed, have also been noted to affect the use of honorifics and honorific speech. In Japanese, honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, by either grammatically or morphologically changing what is being said. This results in varying ways of saying the exact same thing albeit with varying levels of teineisa. For example, Haugh et al. (2003) illustrates the different ways of saying today is Saturday to varying circumstances below. (32a) (to a close friend) Kyoo wa doyoobi da. today Top Saturday Cop(NonPol) (32b) (to an acquaintance) Kyoo wa doyoobi desu. today Top Saturday Cop(Pol) (32c) (to a guest on a formal occasion) Kyoo wa doyoobi degozaimasu. today Top Saturday Cop(SuperPol) (ibid: 415). The last sentence (32c) is what would be referred as keigo. To go a step further, we have three sub-categories of honorific speech: sonkeigo , respectful language; kensongo or kenjÃ…Â go, humble language; and teineigo, polite language. Below is a chart from Wikipedia which outlines the various morphological changes in words necessary for varying situations. (Attachment 3) To make a mistake in such complex mutilation of language is easy indeed! Due to the complexity of honorific speech, Agha (1994) even suggests individuals who use more honorifics are further educated and mature, and therefore, are of a higher social status. However, one must keep in mind, similar to the many archaic honorifics in Chinese, these specialized forms are rarely if ever used outside extremely formal or special circumstances. Agha (1994) further notes modern Japanese, especially the newer generations, seem to deemphasize hierarchy, where those in higher standing would use honorifics towards their subordinates. The author interprets such use of honorifics as an attempt to reduce the hierarchically defined distance by reciprocating respect. This phenomenon suggests a change in the ideology of honorifics that reflects ongoing social change in Japan. Modern English has a very few Honorifics, all of which are titles pre-fixing a persons name. This exhaustive list from Wikipedia is shown below Ms: default use for women regardless of marital status. Miss: for use by unmarried women only. Mrs: for use by married women only. Mr: for men. Master: for boys or very young men. Dr: a person who has obtained a doctorate, such as the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Rev: for Christian clergy Fr: for priests in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and some Anglican or Episcopalian groups The first four are simple variations of standard title. Master is uncommonly heard and the latter three examples are titles of profession. There is also no official honorific speech in modern English, the closest relative to that in Chinese and Japanese would be the languages used towards royalty in old English. The lack of honorifics can be attributed to drastic cultural aversion towards large gaps in the social hierarchy. Most leading western countries operate under some form of democracy, where wars were fought over to take power out of a single persons hands and spread equally to the populace. Regardless of how effective this is in practice, the people still perceive equality as paramount in social hierarchy; that the leader of state is just another person elected by the masses. This is in direct contradiction to thought prevalent in the past when Asian languages were being developed. The head of state, otherwise, emperor was usually symbolized as a divine being with a god-given right to rule. This is similar to European feudal thought towards monarchies; however one has to take into account the time it takes for languages to develop. Indeed if the English monarchy had a history as long as Chinas five thousand years, the western world today would be talking in flowery honorifics. Interestingly, in western culture, honorifics are more commonly used in religion, most notably Christianity. Every station in the Christian religion has an honorific, with the Pope associated with holiness at the pinnacle of the hierarchy. The development and contemporary usage of such honorifics can be attributed to the continual existence and popular belief of the Christian religion over the last two millennia. Ultimately politeness and honorifics reflect cultural values towards social hierarchies. Many of these systems operate under a self-denigration maxim, to do otherwise is seen as breaching etiquette and may have severe repercussions. Honorifics are also often used together with varying systems of honorific speech, many of which are obsolete in modern society. Not only is politeness intrinsically intertwined with the cultural values, but as discussed, it takes a long period where a stable social hierarchy with clearly distinguished levels exists for the continual development and use of honorifics. Nevertheless, politeness will always be integral to human nature and the manner or form of how we execute civility are fundamentally ever-changing.

jane austen Essay -- essays research papers fc

This 5 page paper considers the limited roles of men and women in Jane Austen's society and assesses the social conventions, enforced by gossip, that keep women in line. This paper specifically explores the characterization of Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and argues that she is a representation of a modern woman in a nineteenth century world. 6 pages in length. Typical of Jane Austen’s novels, the author strives to portray a more equitable relationship between the genders. In Persuasion, the character of Anne represents Austen’s conduit amid women and the patriarchal society in which they have been compelled for centuries to exist. The writer discusses the manner in which Austen perpetuates the ongoing struggles with regard to gender oppression is of critical importance in relation to Anne’s character; indeed, hers is represented by the author as one who exemplifies the need for a favorable and fair approach to professional and domestic life. Bibliography lists 7 sources. This 12 page report discusses Jane Austen’s novel â€Å"Mansfield Park† (1814). Jane Austen presents her late 18th and early 19th century world to readers of the 21st century with such clarity and distinction that it becomes impossible to not apply the universal truths of her time to the contemporary age. In â€Å"Mansfield Park† she presents the reader with a vision of stateliness, propriety, and the confines of good taste. â€Å"Mansfield Park† should also be thought of as Jane Austen’s venture...

Catharine Sedgwick’s Hope Leslie, Stephen Gould’s Dinosaur in a Haystac

Catharine Sedgwick’s Hope Leslie, Stephen Gould’s Dinosaur in a Haystack, and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm all display similar characteristics, so that though they are seemingly unrelated, they can be compared. Mainly the comparisons exist through the imagery the authors use to weave the stories together, the structure of each book, the authority of each author, and the use of nature. A character or objects are the images that the three authors use to tie the plots of the books together. Gould’s essays seem to be completely unrelated, but in reality, they are tied together under the general theme of evolution and the metaphor of dinosaur in a haystack that is linked into each essay. The persistent use of the storm in The Perfect Storm, and its development in the chapters serves to show that the storm is the object that ties the story together. Much like the dinosaur in Dinosaur in a Haystack, it becomes a sort of central character that evolves through the developing plot. It appears that Sedgwick does not utilize one metaphor to bring her novel together, but in fact, the recurrent images and pictures are used instead. There is no dominant common theme like the dinosaur or quilt, but the story of Hope and Magawisca bring the characters together. Sedgwick’s sympathy lies in Hope’s views and story, but some can be inferred from Magawisca. Magawis ca is linked to Everell, and links Hope and Faith together. Their stories help to create the plot and bring in the links to the scattered plot. Hope Leslie " . . . and her Indian counterpart, Magawisca" (x) comprise the opinions of the author and relate the plot through prejudiced perspectives. In fact, "The text is dominated by two decidedly unconventional women: Hope Leslie, fos... ...thors are the images that hold the books together, the structure of the books, the authority of each author that is already presumed and then gained, and the use of nature. Sedgwick uses Hope and Magawisca, Junger uses the storm, and Gould uses the dinosaur to tie the plot of the books together, and to hold the story as a whole together. All three of the books are structured into chapters that divide the information into easier to understand material. Hope Leslie and Dinosaur in a Haystack contain parts that further separate the plot. The authors, Sedgwick, Gould, and Junger assume a certain amount of authority before the books are read, yet they gain even more credibility as the book is read. Each book also contains a the use of a certain aspect of nature. Therefore, the authors and their works, though seemingly very different, are similar enough to be compared.

Peer and Self Assessment

Assessing Learning Peer and Self Assessment Peer Assessment One of the ways in which students internalize the characteristics of quality work is by evaluating the work of their peers. However, if they are to offer helpful feedback, students must have a clear understanding of what they are to look for in their peers' work. The instructor must explain expectations clearly to them before they begin. One way to make sure students understand this type of evaluation is to give students a practice session with it. The instructor provides a sample writing or speaking assignment. As a group, students determine what should be assessed and how criteria for successful completion of the communication task should be defined. Then the instructor gives students a sample completed assignment. Students assess this using the criteria they have developed, and determine how to convey feedback clearly to the fictitious student. Students can also benefit from using rubrics or checklists to guide their assessments. At first these can be provided by the instructor; once the students have more experience, they can develop them themselves. An example of a peer editing checklist for a writing assignment is given in the popup window. Notice that the checklist asks the peer evaluator to comment primarily on the content and organization of the essay. It helps the peer evaluator focus on these areas by asking questions about specific points, such as the presence of examples to support the ideas discussed. For peer evaluation to work effectively, the learning environment in the classroom must be supportive. Students must feel comfortable and trust one another in order to provide honest and constructive feedback. Instructors who use group work and peer assessment frequently can help students develop trust by forming them into small groups early in the semester and having them work in the same groups throughout the term. This allows them to become more comfortable with each other and leads to better peer feedback. Self Assessment Students can become better language learners when they engage in deliberate thought about what they are learning and how they are learning it. In this kind of reflection, students step back from the learning process to think about their language learning strategies and their progress as language earners. Such self assessment encourages students to become independent learners and can increase their motivation. The successful use of student self assessment depends on three key elements:  ·Goal setting  ·Guided practice with assessment tools  ·Portfolios Goal setting Goal setting is essential because students can evaluate their progress more clearly when they have targets against which to measure their performance. In addition, students' motivation to learn increases when they have self-defined, and therefore relevant, learning goals. At first, students tend to create lofty long-range goals (â€Å"to speak Russian)† that do not lend themselves to self assessment. To help students develop realistic, short-term, attainable goals, instructors can use a framework like SMART goals outline shown in the popup window. One way to begin the process of introducing students to self-assessment is to create student-teacher contracts. Contracts are written agreements between students and instructors, which commonly involve determining the number and type of assignments that are required for particular grades. For example, a student may agree to work toward the grade of â€Å"B† by completing a specific number of assignments at a level of quality described by the instructor. Contracts can serve as a good way of helping students to begin to consider establishing goals for themselves as language learners. Guided practice with assessment tools Students do not learn to monitor or assess their learning on their own; they need to be taught strategies for self monitoring and self assessment. Techniques for teaching students these strategies are parallel to those used for teaching learning strategies (see Motivating Learners[->0]). The instructor models the technique (use of a checklist or rubric, for example); students then try the technique themselves; finally, students discuss whether and how well the technique worked and what to do differently next time. In addition to checklists and rubrics for specific communication tasks, students can also use broader self-assessment tools to reflect on topics they have studied, skills they have learned, their study habits, and heir sense of their overall strengths and weaknesses. An example of such a tool appears in the popup window. Students can share their self-assessments with a peer or in a small group, with instructions that they compare their impressions with other criteria such as test scores, teacher evaluations, and peers' opinions. This kind of practice helps students to be aware of their learning. It also informs the te acher about students' thoughts on their progress, and gives the teacher feedback about course content and instruction. Portfolios Portfolios are purposeful, organized, systematic collections of student work that tell the story of a student's efforts, progress, and achievement in specific areas. The student participates in the selection of portfolio content, the development of guidelines for selection, and the definition of criteria for judging merit. Portfolio assessment is a joint process for instructor and student. Portfolio assessment emphasizes evaluation of students' progress, processes, and performance over time. There are two basic types of portfolios:  ·A process portfolio serves the purpose of classroom-level assessment on the part of both the instructor and the student. It most often reflects formative assessment, although it may be assigned a grade at the end of the semester or academic year. It may also include summative types of assignments that were awarded grades.  ·A product portfolio is more summative in nature. It is intended for a major evaluation of some sort and is often accompanied by an oral presentation of its contents. For example, it may be used as a evaluation tool for graduation from a program or for the purpose of seeking employment. In both types of portfolios, emphasis is placed on including a variety of tasks that elicit spontaneous as well as planned language performance for a variety of purposes and audiences, using rubrics to assess performance, and demonstrating reflection about learning, including goal setting and self and peer assessment. Portfolio characteristics:  ·Represent an emphasis on language use and cultural understanding  ·Represent a collaborative approach to assessment Represent a student's range of performance in reading, writing, speaking, and listening as well as cultural understanding  ·Emphasize what students can do rather than what they cannot do  ·Represent a student's progress over time  ·Engage students in establishing ongoing learning goals and assessing their progress towards those goals  ·Measure each student's achievement while allowing for individu al differences between students in a class  ·Address improvement, effort, and achievement  ·Allow for assessment of process and product  ·Link teaching and assessment to learning [-;0] – http://www. nclrc. org/essentials/motivating/moindex. htm

Nursing Theorist Essay

Formulate 3 nursing diagnoses using the Problem, Etiology, and Signs and Symptoms (PES) format and the taxonomy of NANDA. The diagnoses must be based on the case study, be appropriate, be prioritized, and be formatted correctly. For each nursing diagnosis, state 2 desired outcomes using NOC criteria. Desired outcomes must be patient-centered and measurable within an identified timeframe. For each outcome, state 2 nursing interventions using NIC criteria as well as 1 evaluation method. Interventions and the evaluation method must be appropriate to the desired outcomes. Provide rationale for each nursing diagnosis, and explain how PES, NANDA, NOC, and NIC apply to each diagnosis. Use a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed resources, and create an APA formatted reference page. Nursing Diagnosis 1: Urinary Retention R/T Anesthesia Nursing Interventions Desired Outcome 1 Desired Outcome 2 Nursing Intervention Visually inspect and palpate lower abdomen for distention (Mosby 2012). Patient’s abdominal girth will not increase and distention will decrease. Patient will remain free of abdominal pain r/t urinary retention. Nursing Intervention 2 Urinary Catheterization (Mosby 2012) Patient will empty bladder >30ml an hour Patient will demonstrate clean technique if performing self-catheterization. Evaluation method Measure input and output hourly to obtain accurate measurements. Make sure catheter is free of kinks to allow for proper drainage Rationale Keeping accurate records of I/O will ensure that the patient is evacuating properly. Ensuring patient is free of pain will promote less anxiety and keep vital signs within range. Educating patient on clean technique will promote an environment with less bacteria and keep risk of infection lower. Nursing Diagnosis 2: Risk for Infection/RT Urinary Catheter Desired Outcome 1 Desired Outcome 2 Nursing Intervention 1 Infection Control Patient remains free of infection, as evidenced by normal vital signs, and absence of purulent drainage from wounds, incisions, and tubes (Mosby 2012). Infection is recognized early to allow for prompt treatment (Mosby 2012). Nursing Intervention 2 Infection Protection Teach patient to wash hands often, especially after toileting, before meals, and before and after administering self-care (Mosby 2012). Teach patient importance of eating well balanced meals to promote healthy nutritional status. Evaluation method Evaluate patient perform self-care as to promote further education. Allow patient to verbalize and demonstrate understanding of proper nutrition and signs of infection. Rationale Patients with indwelling catheters need to be shown clean techniques when being discharged home. Educating patient on proper hand washing will promote clean environment and keep patients risk of infection lower. Educating patient on the early signs of infection will promote prompt medical intervention. Educating patient on proper nutrition and importance of well balanced meals will promote faster healing of incision and lower patients’ risk of infection. Nursing Diagnosis 3: Pain R/T Postoperative pain Desired Outcome 1 Desired Outcome 2 Nursing Intervention 1 Anticipate need for pain relief (Mosby 2012) Anticipating pain may result in medicating at a lower dose to keep patient comfortable. Maintaining a level of comfort where the patient is not begging for relief. Keeping vital signs stable while maintaining the patient comfortable. Nursing Intervention 2 Respond immediately to complaint of pain (Mosby 2011) Creates a trusting relationship with patient to ensure open lines of communication. Allows the patient to know that you are empathetic to their discomfort and that they are not alone. Evaluation method Evaluate scheduled times of medication administration. Round hourly on the patient as to reassure the patient that their needs will be met. Educate patient on medication administration time so they are not waiting until their pain is at a level 8 before they ask for relief. Evaluate the responses from the patient as to ensure that they are feeling comfortable with the care. Rationale Anticipating pain will allow the nurse to be on time for the patient in pain. Creating that trusting relationship with the patient will allow open lines of communication with the patient which will in turn allow for better care and outcome. Educating a patient on when to ask for medication will ensure that the patient never reaches a level of extreme pain. Treating your patient with compassion and empathy will allow for the patient to feel satisfied with the care they are receiving and create a trusting relationship. Reference Swearingen, P. L. (2012). All-in-one care planning resource: medical-surgical, pediatric, maternity, psychiatric nursing care plans (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier/Mosby. Gulanick, M. (2011). Nursing care plans: diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes (7th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Mosby. Doenges, M. E., & Moorhouse, M. F. (2002). Nursing care plans guidelines for individualizing patient care (6th ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.

American Rennassance

How do the differences affect the mood of each piece? Answer: The poems â€Å"The Snow Storm† and â€Å"It Sifts from Leaden Sieves† are alike because they are both describing snow falling and the things the snow covers and how it covers it. The poems are different because Emerson never actually mentions snow but the way he words his poem you know exactly what he’s talking about. Emily Dickenson directly mentions snow so you know right from the start what she is talking about. (20 points) |Score | | | 2. Choose a poem from Whitman, and explain how it reveals Romantic thinking. Cite examples from the poem as your support. Answer: I chose â€Å"To a Stranger† by Whitman. It reveals romantic thinking because he writes, â€Å"you must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,). † He describes this like he was looking to find someone he had seen in a dream before. â€Å"I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you†, he says. Its sort of like he is describing a deja vu. Like he feels like he had live a life of joy and happiness with a person but is not really sure of it. 20 points) |Score | | | 3. Reread this quotation from near the end of â€Å"Walden Pond†: Many a forenoon have I stolen away, preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day; for I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and spent them lavishly; nor do I regret that I did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher’s desk. Explain this quotation. Be sure to address the â€Å"wealth† Thoreau claims, his use of that wealth, and his views of the workshop or school Answer: Basically Thoreau is saying that leisure time is a kind of wealth, something that may ultimately be more valuable than money and the material things it might buy. So he doesnt regret the time he played hooky in the middle of the day the most valued part of the day and skipped out of work or other responsible duties, because, although doing so might have prevented him from becoming richer in material goods, hes stored up a lot of experiences that he prizes higher.

Paradigm Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Paradigm Paper - Essay Example Since gender is culturally determined, it is complex in nature. In the long run gender identity focuses on the various customs within an individual about their socio-cultural life. This is different from other the observation in other animal kingdoms which is specific to the task of reproduction. Sexuality, viewed in this regard in the human kingdom would just be but the tip of an iceberg. Why is this so? This is because human beings have in the recent past lived in such an advanced era that they have changed the original mode of reproduction. In the modern times, reproduction can be fully made a success even in a modern laboratory. This makes it also vary dynamically from one region, society, country or even continent, to the next. There are several gender issues that so much affect the societies globally. Key of this is provision of opportunities. It is evident that most societies we live in provide opportunities that are not equal. For example, the economic principle of division o f labor helps promote biases related to gender. Class Also in regards to sociological question, class is defined as an organization of a given social grouping; which are characterized by similar rights, perceptions if not qualities, and duties. These are most often founded innately on one side and through socialization on the other side. As an end, class is deemed with the task of founding a culture since there it forebears a routine within the organization in question. It is therefore no surprise that the local societies as well as the world over are usually classified. This alone describes the functionality definition of â€Å"class.† Age This refers to the cognition about ones introvert experiences of their age and the developmental stages they are undergoing. It is concerned with identity and can be able to inform any individual where they belong and where they do not belong. For example, the youths know their rightful position and are often perceived by the aged as inexp erienced. On the other hand, the old also presume the role of overseer in any given society, but often in the same societies, the youths consider them with distasteful reactions. This identity does belong to and can be based subjectively to the experiences a person undergoes when aging. Some people will mature in age but the same people may fail to attest to this development. Some may also be young but attest to aging, which for a fact is not the case. In this regard this discipline becomes fundamental to study because it displays a myriad of platforms upon which an individual life may be considered. The other significance is that every individual considers their identities with this importance because their development is so fundamental to them. The aging process can also be used to explain various human psychological processes. A good example is in the learning process. During learning each individual undergoes a change, for example, in this assignment of paradigm paper, I will be able to evaluate myself on my positive progress during this pre-test period and after I shall have undergone a detailed learning process. Belief System A belief system is defines by a perceived way of thought, which most often is termed as a school of thought. It is knowledge that has been conceptualized and standardized in a unique way to form living principles of an

Comparative planetology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comparative planetology - Essay Example * "Negative values of rotation period indicate that the planet rotates in the direction opposite to that in which it orbits the Sun. This is called retrograde rotation". From the above table it can be implied that retrograde rotation is followed by Venus, Uranus and Pluto in the whole solar system (Windows to the Universe, UCAR, 2000-2005). "The eccentricity (e) is a number which measures how elliptical orbits are. If e=0, the orbit is a circle. All the planets have eccentricities close to 0, so they must have orbits which are nearly circular" (Windows to the Universe, UCAR, 2000-2005). As it is obvious from the table 1 above that the number of moons varies from 0 for Mercury and Venus to 60 for Jupiter. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are denser, rocky and called Terrestrial Planets in contrast to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which are less dense, gas-rich and are called Jovian Planets. Rings are present around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune with the exception being Pluto. No rings are present around the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. ... e above table it can be implied that retrograde rotation is followed by Venus, Uranus and Pluto in the whole solar system (Windows to the Universe, UCAR, 2000-2005). "The eccentricity (e) is a number which measures how elliptical orbits are. If e=0, the orbit is a circle. All the planets have eccentricities close to 0, so they must have orbits which are nearly circular" (Windows to the Universe, UCAR, 2000-2005). All the planets orbit the sun in nearly circular pattern, same direction and lie in the same plane (Bennett, J., et al., 2004, The cosmic perspective, Chapter 8.2). As it is obvious from the table 1 above that the number of moons varies from 0 for Mercury and Venus to 60 for Jupiter. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are denser, rocky and called Terrestrial Planets in contrast to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which are less dense, gas-rich and are called Jovian Planets. Rings are present around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune with the exception being Pluto. No rings are present around the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. But the atmosphere ranges from none on Mercury, Carbon dioxide on Venus and Mars, Nitrogen and Oxygen on Earth, Hydrogen and Helium on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and lastly Methane on Pluto (Bennett, J., et al, 2004, The cosmic perspective, Chapter 10.3). The interiors of the earth can be broadly categorized on the basis of layering by density and layering by strength. In layering by density the earth has three layers called Core, Mantle and Crust and in layering by strength of the rock. The strength of a rock depends on its composition, its temperature, and the surrounding pressure. (Bennett, J., et al, 2004, The cosmic perspective, Chapters 10.2). The inner layers of a planet by rock strength appear to be

Work and how it has changed in the past 100 years and what effect it Essay

Work and how it has changed in the past 100 years and what effect it has had on resource managers - Essay Example There is email that promises communication without delay, facebook that shows the current status of friends, colleagues and peers, and skype that allows the people to interact with one another without having to visit one another or spend money on calling one another. In the contemporary age, people do not need to pay a dime in order to communicate with one another live 24 / 7 if they pay their internet and electricity bills in time. Skype plays the role of videoconferencing in both the e-businesses as well as the brick and mortar businesses. As the name implies, the human resource department has approach to many candidates who want to be part of the firm. Human resource department is a department that supplies humans to an organization for work just like a mineral resource provides us with minerals. From time to time, as per the need of the hour, human resource department keeps hiring new employees. The employees are hired according to the gaps identified in the existing organization structure, so that it becomes stronger and more effective when the gaps thus identified are filled in. The difference between the work culture that existed 100 years ago and that which exists today is fundamentally that of the difference between a brick and mortar business and an e-business. In the conventional brick and mortar business, candidates are necessarily interviewed before their selection into the organization.

Sensation and Perception Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sensation and Perception - Term Paper Example - Two web investigative activities, - Three discussion questions, and - Eighteen short-answer items." The following is a pre- and post- self-report that can be used to evaluate the confidence of these issues in individuals: Figure 1: Pre and Post Self-Report Pre & Post Self-Report (1= not confident, 2=somewhat confident, 3=confident, 4=very confident) 1. I feel _________in my knowledge of perceptual development. 2. I feel _________in my knowledge of auditory development. 3. I feel _________in my knowledge of visual development. 4. I feel _________in my knowledge of the role of touch in development. 5. I feel _________in my knowledge of the role of auditory development. visual development and touch relative to language development of infants/toddlers with hearing loss. Source: Proctor and Compton (2009, pg. 1) An important part of perceptual development is sensory stimuli. "Sensory stimuli provide the medium through which babies learn about the world and its operation. Developmental progression in infants or toddlers is highly dependent on access to sensory information in the environment. Perceptual development occurs as infants explore and identify invariant features in the environment, discovering properties of and relationships between features. Language development evolves out of these sensory experiences that contribute to cognitive growth and development" (Proctor and Compton, 2009, pg. 1). The Preferences for Sensory Stimuli Typical infants develop their brain circuits and neural pathways during the first year. At this point in their lives, they can hear their mother's footsteps or voice as she approaches them. They lie in anticipation of her coming nearer, even directly... An important part of perceptual development is sensory stimuli. "Sensory stimuli provide the medium through which babies learn about the world and its operation. Developmental progression in infants or toddlers is highly dependent on access to sensory information in the environment. Perceptual development occurs as infants explore and identify invariant features in the environment, discovering properties of and relationships between features. Language development evolves out of these sensory experiences that contribute to cognitive growth and development" (Proctor and Compton, 2009, pg. 1). Typical infants develop their brain circuits and neural pathways during the first year. At this point in their lives, they can hear their mother's footsteps or voice as she approaches them. They lie in anticipation of her coming nearer, even directly after a nap. Anxiety and stress in infants can be soothed away from the nurturing, direct, skin-to-skin touch of their mothers. This is because, during this experience, their brains release endorphins. Babies' brains grow a little stronger and more perceptive every single time they receive a stimulus. According to Proctor and Compton (2009, pg.