Bakans five propositions for exploring World Music Essay

Bakans five propositions for exploring World Music - Essay Example There is a big similarity in the way the quality of music and the quality of sound are always judged. Just like sound, music can also be pleasant or unpleasant depending on the audience. Sound is usually a result of vibration of an object, for instance, a guitar string being plucked. After the sound is produced, its transition usually takes place through a medium, which is in most cases the air. It is in the human ears that the sound causes a vibration of the eardrum leading to the creation of impulses which are then transmitted to the brain. It is in the brain that the sound is judged as pleasant or unpleasant. The same process will take place for music only that in judging of quality of music the brain will us other content values such as rhyme and lyrical content (Graham 186). To prove just how much sound is important, it will be good to look at those factors that are always used to determine whether a song is of good quality or not. One of these factors is pitch. The pitch of sound refers to whether a sound is heard to be low or high. The difference in the pitch of sound is always brought about by the difference in the frequency of vibration of the object producing the sound. Fast vibrations usually produce higher pitches while the slow ones produce lower pitches. Pitch is always measured in cycle in each second. In terms of music, tone is the term normally used to refer the definite pitch. Tones usually have specific frequency. Tones have regular vibrations and always get to the ear at equal intervals. When tones have different pitches they usually end up having different sounds. This nature of sound makes it and the importance of music in general. With the knowledge of the difference between the highest and the lowest tones of sound, also called rage, musicians can also manipulate the outcome of the music. This implies that knowledge of pitch as a property of sound is very important if at all the musicians have to

Macau Pension Fund Essay Example for Free

Macau Pension Fund Essay According to the Act 84/89/M, Social Security fund would provide subsidies or assistance for unemployed, sick and retired people. This was the so-call â€Å"the first tier of social security†. At the same time, SSF was positioned as a financially independent fund under the local government. In Macau, Pension fund is included in the SSF, and there is no separation between the management of pension fund and SSF. Instead, pension fund is considered as an expense from the aspect of financial management. All the working people, including non-permanent and permanent residents, are required to contribute to SSF in each month. If they have contributed enough amounts, they can get part of or all the pension fund payment after retirement. Since 1993, the government was gradually enlarging the coverage of pension fund beneficiary. So far, most unemployed or workless people, such as housewife, could join the voluntary contributions program. After certain periods of contribution, those people are also entitled to the pension fund payment from SSF once they are over 60. 2. 0 Current Problems As a financially independent fund, SSF is supposed to maintain the operation with the contribution as its major income. However, government funding has already become the most important income of SSF in recent years. In 2010, government budget and funding from gaming tax accounted for 92% of the total income of SSF (see figure 1). For the pension fund, many people stated that the pension fund payment, maximum MOP 2,000, is not enough under the high-inflation economy. Some academies also claim that the contribution is not enough to maintain the budget balance of SSF. After all, government announced the predictable deficit of SSF since 2014 and bankruptcy in 2020 without government funding, which cause the heated discussion in Macau. 3. 1 Insufficient Contribution According to the SSF regulation, a resident who have contributed to SSF for 30 years is qualified to get MOP 2,000 per month after retirement at 65. Actually the monthly contribution to SSF has been fixed at MOP 45 per person since 1998, which means the total contribution in 30 years would be returned in 9 months after retirement. Figure 1: Income of SSF in 2010 The contribution in 2010 only accounted for 5. 35% of the annual income of SSF and 24. 4% of the pension fund payment. In other words, the contribution is obviously insufficient to support the pension fund payment. The pension fund payment has been increased from MOP 800 in 1995 to MOP 2,000 recently, so as other subsidies and assistances. Therefore, the government kept increasing funding for SSF to prepare for the increasing outcome. Millions (MOP) Figure 3: Social security expenditures by SSF 3. 2 Insufficient Pension Fund Payment According to the poverty line set up by Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the people with an income level lower than half of median income should be considered as poor people. Referring to 2011 median income published by Macau Statistics and Census Service, people have income lower than MOP 5,000 per month should be classified as needy. However, the maximum amount of pension fund payment is MOP 2,000, only 40% of the poverty line. The payment is even lower than the minimum subsistence index for one-person family, which is MOP 3,000 after the adjustment by Macau government on 1 Apr 2012. In view of this, some communities and organizations have called for further raise of pension fund payment. 3. 3 Inefficient Management Rate of Return Percentage Inflation Rate Figure 2: Investment return of SSF balance and Macau inflation rate Given the enlarging funding from government, the balance of SSF have increased from MOP 1. 5 billion in 2006 to MOP 6. 2 billion in 2010. However, it has been shown in Figure 2 that the investments return of SSF balance is just a bit higher than the inflation. During the financial crisis, there was even a negative return recorded in 2008. By ignoring year 2008, there is still a downward trend of the return. According to the 2010 annual report of SSF, 72. 43% of SSF balance was deposited into local bank, the remaining proportion was entrusted to fund managing company for only low-risk investments. Under the fix-rate hedging between MOP and HKD, the interest rate of Macau is close to interest rate in Hong Kong, which is similar to US interest rate. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Fed has applied the ultra low interest rate and the interest rate is believed to be maintained until 2014. So, a 72. 43% of deposit in an investment portfolio is reasonably considered as inefficient. 3. 4 Irregular government subsidies In 2008 Macau government introduced the â€Å"Wealth Partaking Scheme†. Each permanent resident will receive the cash check issue by government and each non-permanent residents would received 60% of the partaking amount to permanent resident. The aim of the scheme is to share the result of economic development under the high-inflation economy. However, in some people’s view, the scheme has been considered as supplement of social security and thus expected to transfer the scheme into regular subsidies. Beside the partaking scheme, Macau government established the â€Å"Central Saving Plan† – to inject certain capital into individual account of all the permanent attained the age of 22 in the year. The government claimed that the plan is â€Å"the second tier of social security† and the plan will enhance the living security of retired people. Under the government regulation, people could withdraw the saving fund only when they are over 65 or in urgent needs.

Directors Duties in Company Law

Directors Duties in Company Law Solution: Facts and Issues: In this case Mario is the Director of FWPL Company. Mario decides to contact Simon with the intention to acquire his shares in FWPL. As a Managing Director, Mario knows that there is a good chance that Company will in near future enter into a distribution agreement with a leading retailer in the United States that will enhance the value of the business. The issues in this case are as hereunder:- Duty of care or (directors duty of care to the company and to the members). Duty of good faith. What duties director owes to the company? (Bostock, 2012) Rules: Section 180 (1) of the Corporations Act 2001 incorporates the Duty of diligence and care. This provision states that a officer or Director of a corporation shall exercise the powers vested in him and discharge their duties with a degree of care and diligence which is exercised by a reasonable person if they: Were a officer or director of a corporation in the circumstance of corporation; and held or Occupied the office by, and bear the same responsibilities within the corporation as the Director or the officer. The reference reasonable person indicates an objective level of care which is consistent with the development of a duty based on trust. The balance should be between the foreseeable risks of harm against the potential benefits that can reasonably affect the corporation from the questioned conduct(Lowry, 2012). Section 181 Duty of good faith. An officer or Director of a corporation shall exercise their powers and discharge their duties: In the best interests of the corporation and in good faith For a proper purpose This provision embodies fiduciary duty on directors of the corporation to act Bonafide and in good faith for the advantage of the corporation, and provides with an obligation to act honestly(Barasnevicius Quagliato, 2008). Section 182 Duty of Director not using his position improperly. A director of a corporation shall not use their position improperly to gain an advantage either for themselves or for some other person. The director shall not make improper use of their position in such a way that it causes detriment to the corporation. This section is determined to be violated when a director is engaged in a conduct with the intention and objective of obtaining an advantage regardless of the fact whether that advantage occurred or not (Ho Lee, 2007). Section 183 Duty not to use information obtained as a director improperly. When a person obtains some information because he has been or is a director of the corporation, then he must not use that information in improper way to have an advantage for himself or any other person (Kottow, 2010). Application: Section 180 of the corporations Act 2001 attracts a civil obligation that a officer of the corporation or director of the corporation must at all reasonable times show a proper degree of care and diligence in the execution of their duties and powers. Section 180 (2) provides a rule of business judgment whereby a director is required to: Make their judgment for a proper purpose in good faith The director should not invest his personal interest of material nature in the matter of the concerned judgment. Should inform themselves regarding the matter of the judgment to the extent they believe to be appropriate. The directors believe that the judgment is made with the advantage of the corporation. In this case the decision of Mario to acquire Simon’s shares is based on his personal interest and violates the duty of care and diligence (Bainbridge, n.d.). The duty of good faith as per section 181 of the corporations Act 2001 is violated. Section 181 requires that the director must entertain his duties in good faith in the best interests of the corporation and. In this case Mario is not discharging his duties for a proper purpose for the advantage of the corporation rather he has been intended to have a personal advantage which shall not be in the advantage or interest of the corporation. On the other hand, this is also not for the proper purpose. Proper purpose under this act refers a purpose which is in the interest of the corporation. A civil obligation is imposed on the directors and other officers under section 181 to exercise their duties and powers in good faith and in the interests of the corporation. It has been provided that if the directors use their powers of their personal interest, the advantage of any other party, then it shall be considered to have breached this duty under section 181. It is important to note that under section 184 (1) breach of this duty shall be considered as a criminal offense if the director was intentionally dishonest (Lim, 2013). The duty provided under section 182 not to make improper use of position and under section 183 not to make improper use of information has been violated in this case. Here Mario has used his position in an improper way for his personal interest and benefit rather than for the benefit of the corporation or the members of the corporation. Mario has also used the information which he obtained because he was a managing director has violated and breached the duty under section 183 of the act. Conclusion: It can be concluded from the above analysis that in this case Mario being the Managing Director has breached the duties under section 182 and 183 of the Corporations act 2001. Mario has used his position and information he obtained being in the position of Director of the corporation for his personal interest and benefit. Mario has failed to perform his duties in good faith against the corporation as well as against Simon. In this case Mario has breached the duties to act in good faith in the interest of the corporation for a proper purpose. Mario has breached his duties against the corporation and the members of the corporation both. Question 2: Facts and Issues: In this case JV Mine Pty Ltd is jointly held fifty percent by GML and the other fifty percent by QMNE. In 2009, QMNE approached GML, the shareholder in JV Mine, to make another big investment in JV Mine, to offer it to develop a copper mine. The directors of GML delegated to others, which included a geologist, the work of collecting the technical information relating to the quantum of copper that the company might be able to be mined. The report, which was prepared for the directors showed that the investment offered in the mine shall be very fruitful. Queried by other directors regarding the optimistic results, Mr. Chester (who has a geology qualification) assured them that all reports seem to be in order. But it was discovered that some of the facts had been negligently included in the report. This means that, if the directors believe the report and invest funds of GML’s in the mine, the investment will not be as successful as the report has declared. The issues in this case are as given hereunder: What should be standard of care for the directors? Duty of care is same for all or less for others or special for one? Is it special for directors who have geological qualification? Mention responsibilities of decisions, all decisions can’t be positive (Bruner, n.d.) Rules: Section 180 (1) of the Corporations Act 2001 provides the duty of care and diligence for the directors of the corporation. It states that an officer or director of a corporation shall exercise the powers vested in him and discharge their duties with a degree of care and diligence which a person of reasonable prudence would exercise if he: Held the position a director or officer of a corporation in the circumstance of the corporation; and Occupied the office or position held by, and hold the same powers in the corporation as the Director or the officer (Lipson, n.d.). The standard of care which is to be observed by the directors of the corporation should be as expected from a person of reasonable prudence would have shown if he was a director or held the same office with the same responsibilities. In other words the standard of care which is required from the directors is that same for a person of ordinary and reasonable prudence. The directors have a duty to act in the advantage and interests of the corporation. Directors have a duty to directly avoid conflict of interests (DIRECTORS PERSONAL LIABILITY FOR CORPORATE FAULT, 2007). An objective standard of care was developed by Australian courts in the case of Daniels V Anderson (1995) 13 ACLC 614 (Cassidy, J.1997). Duty of care is same for all the directors of the corporation. The law does not provide for difference in liability of directors. All the directors are expected to act with their diligence and care and perform their duties with such care that no loss is caused to the corporation (Art, R. C.2003). Special standard of care is expected from the directors who are skilled or have special knowledge of a technical question involved. Where the question is related to a technical point and any of the directors have special knowledge or skill related to that question then the standard of care expected becomes as that from an expert (Gordon, R. 2003). Application: In this case it is the duty under section 180 (1) of corporation act 2001 of the directors to act with care and diligence. The standard of care expected was as that of a person of ordinary prudence. The directors of GML fulfilled their duty of care by delegating it to others, including a geologist to obtain technical information on the amount of copper that could be mined. It was the duty of the directors to take the decision that whether the investment will be successful or not. In this case the duty of care is same for all the directors and a duty of care was special for the director who had a special knowledge of geology. It comes within the scope of duty of care that the directors make sure that the report submitted before directors should be verified. In this case Mr. Chester, who has a geology qualification, had a special standard of care in this case because he had the special knowledge of the subject. So in this case the duty of care has been breached by the directors of GML as the report showed the amount of profits was not accurate or reasonable. As it was discovered later that some information in the report was negligently prepared. So it comes within the breach of duty of care when the directors fail to obtain a reasonable report and the facts in the report are based on negligence that means the duty of care has not been fulfilled as of the expected standard (Harding, D. 2001) Conclusion: In this case the duty of care was vested in the directors of the GML as to the question of the amount of copper which could be obtained from the mine. The directors had a special standard of care expected from them. The directors delegated to others to obtain the information on technical points about the quantum of copper which could be achieved from the site. It was discovered later that the report, though in order, but it has included the facts of profit which are negligent and not reasonable. So it can be concluded that the directors of GML breached their duty of care in this case (Premiers.qld.gov.au, 2015). References: Bostock, T. (2012). The Corporations Act 2001.Ac,2002 (39). Lowry, J. (2012). The Irreducible Core of the Duty of Care, Diligence and skill of Company Directors: Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Healey.The Modern Law Review,75 (2), 249-260. Barasnevicius Quagliato, P. (2008). The duty to negotiate in good faith.Int Jnl Law Management, 50 (5), 213-225. Ho, L., Lee, P. (2007). A DIRECTORS DUTY TO CONFESS: A MATTER OF GOOD FAITH?The Cambridge Law Journal,66 (02), 348. Kottow, M. (2010). The improper use of research placebos.Journal Of Evaluation In Clinical Practice,16 (6), 1041-1044. Bainbridge, S. The Business Judgment Rule as Abstention Doctrine.SSRN Journal. Lim, E. (2013). Directors duties: improper purposes or implied terms?Legal Studies,34 (3), 395-418. Bruner, C. Is the Corporate Directors Duty of Care a Fiduciary Duty? Does it Matter?SSRN Journal. Lipson, J. Directors Duties to Creditors: Volition, Cognition, Exit and the Financially Distressed Corporation.SSRN Journal. DIRECTORS PERSONAL LIABILITY FOR CORPORATE FAULT. (2007).Tilburg Law Review,14(4), 481-482. Has the sleeping director finally been laid to rest?Australian Business Law Review,25(2), 102-117. Shareholder rights and remedies in close corporations: Oppression, fiduciary duties, and reasonable expectations.Journal of Corporation Law,28(3), 371 Do publicly traded corporations act in the public interest?Advances in Economic Analysis Policy,3(1), 1013 Referral of powers paves way for Australias corporations act.International Financial Law Review,20(4), 57-58. Premiers.qld.gov.au,. (2015).7.3 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Corporations Act) Welcome Aboard Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Adrienne Richs Of Woman Born †The End of Motherhood Essay -- Adrienn

Of Woman Born – The End of Motherhood  Ã‚   In Of Woman Born, Adrienne Rich effectively weaves her own story into a convincing account of what it means to become a mother within the bonds of patriarchal culture. Her conclusion that the institution of motherhood, which she distinguishes from motherhood, must be destroyed in order to release the creation and sustenance of life into the same realm of decision, struggle, surprise, imagination, and conscious intelligence, as any other difficult, but freely chosen work is substantiated by her courageous confession that contradicts culturally normative notions of motherhood. Allowing readers to glimpse her own story as she painfully evaluates her role as mother side by side with historical accounts of other women's experiences provides an avenue for understanding that leads to compassion. By the final chapter, instead of falling into the expected trap of revulsion toward Joanne Michulski's heinous crime, Rich's empathy provides the reader with the insight to realize both the complexity of Michulski's situation and to feel comp...

Linguistics and Language Essay

In this essay, I will explain as well as compare two theories of first language acquisition, behaviorism and innatism. I will explore the differences between them in such categories as the role of the learner, the role of the environment and as well as their strengths and weaknesses. I will then state and explain which one I find more tenable with examples of relevant literature. Role of the Learner Behaviorism, credited to B. F. Skinner in the 1950s, states that the learner knows nothing to start with, he is an empty slate [o1] to be taught. The learner is passive and learns by positive-negative reinforcement, only repeating what he hears. Innatism, credited to Noam Chomsky in 1965, states that the learner is wired from birth for language. The learner is equipped with a LAD, a language acquisition device. This device allows the learner to discover the rules of his language, any language. Role of the Environment Behaviorism states that the role of the environment is key and vital to the learning process. The environment is the active agent while the learner is the passive agent. The environment produces the necessary language input for the learner. It is up to the environment to give positive and negative reinforcement for the learner. Innatism states that the role of the environment is minimal because it only acts as the trigger for learning. It is also thought the environment is flawed and can’t be relied upon to always give perfect information. Therefore, it is up to the learner to find the rules of the language[o2] . Strengths There are a few strengths to support the behaviorism theory. It is easy to monitor the learners’ performance. This is how parents (as teachers) usually teach their children, through nurturing which puts emphasis on the role of the environment. This theory can also explain why learners have the ability to memorize. On the other hand, there are several strengths of the innatism theory. A learner cannot memorize all the possible different language and grammar combinations that he learns through the environment. The LAD helps the learner to generalize rules and make his own creative use of the language. A child will resist using an irregular form because of over-generalizing, and he will create his own form of a word according to the rules that he has internalized. And these rules don’t necessarily conform to adult grammar rules which include many exceptions. By applying these internalized and generalized rules, a child is able to acquire a language at a fast pace. [o3] Weaknesses The Behaviorism theory only accounts for the performance of the learner, and not on his competence. The learner is passive, so this theory does not focus on the learner’s mind and knowledge. It also does not explain why children acquire a language so quickly even if they are exposed to different environments. In addition, this theory also doesn’t offer an explanation of why children over-generalize rules such as the simple past tense of irregular verbs even though they hear irregular forms in the environment. There are also several weaknesses to the Innatism theory. One of the first weaknesses is that it demands the existence of the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), its existence is difficult to prove and is immeasurable. This theory also doesn’t take into account different kinds of learners, just ideal learners with ideal grammar. The environment plays a minor role in this theory, so it doesn’t take into account the social aspect of the learner. My Opinion Looking at the two of these theories, I find the Innatism theory the most tenable. In my own experience with my children and students, the learners do not always model my behavior. This usually occurs with irregular patterns, particularly past tense verbs. This is similar to the â€Å"wug† test where a child will form a past tense of a verb that he has never heard before by applying the general grammar rules that he has learned. This behavior cannot be memorized and must be driven by an internal structure. Another reason to support this theory is that learners with impaired intelligence have been able to learn the structure of language. It has also been proven that American Sign Language which is taught to the deaf also has its own language structure. In addition, the creation of Creole languages supports the theory. As a Creole develops, grammar and structure are built in. The LAD would account for the formation of these languages as well as for creative uses of language by a learner. Conclusion In this essay I have explained two theories of language acquisition, behaviorism and innatism. In doing so, I have explained the different roles of the learner as well as the environment. I have also explored strengths and weaknesses of each theory and why I support the innatism theory over the behaviorism theory[o4] . [o1]Good one, I forgot this in my essay [o2]Do you think you should mention poverty of stimulus here? [o3]ording? Universal grammar is built off of two propositions, that all languages are governed by a set of universal principles, and that the mind is equipped with parameters which are set intuitively by the child according to the language input they receive. UG researchers have found a number of universal principles. One of the more prominent principles is structure dependency. Structure dependency states that all sentences regardless of the language are built off of propositions that carry both a noun and a verb phrase; in other words, every sentence in every language must have at least a subject and a verb (Chomsky, 1959). One parameter setting that is contained in the LAD is the head setting. Some languages such as English are head first, other languages such as Japanese are head last. Various arguments have been used to support the existence of universal grammar. Chomsky (1959) has proposed the poverty of the stimulus argument, positing that the input children receive cannot account for what they produce, and therefore, children must have an innate facility. He argues that the input is marred in two ways; first it contains a hodgepodge of performance slips, and secondly, it does not contain any negative evidence. How do children acquire language when they don’t know what they can’t say, or how do they learn to speak correctly when the input they here is at times in correct? They do so, according to Chomsky, through this innate capacity. Jackendoff (1994) offers another argument in support of universal grammar, the argument from expressive variety. Jackendoff argues that given that languages are recursive, there is simply no way of storing all of the possible sentences one can create in one’s mind. In other words, sentences don’t come from habits, but rather from creative expression. Universal grammar has had a lot of capital in language acquisition theory, although it has been critiqued on some fronts. Connectionists, particularly, N. Ellis (2006) has argued that language acquisition is not due to an innate faculty and the creative expression of humans, but equates it to a usage-based approach where children learning piecemeal frequently reoccurring chunks of language. Another argument against the innate language faculty is that UG researchers have claimed that only humans have access to syntax, yet this has been found not to be true. Certain animals, such as the humpback whale and songbirds have been found to possess a recursive syntax, suggesting that syntax and language may have evolved from lower order primates. Whereas universal grammar begins with language from the inside, Sociocultural theory, another prominent first language acquisition, posits language acquisition begins from the outside. Vygotsky, the founder of sociocultural theory, argues that language is a psychological tool, which children acquire and learn to manipulate as they interact with their environment and with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978). Children first learn language as they interact with their parents. Parents use caretaker speech, which makes it easier for the child to understand and grasp a hold on the concepts of the language. As the child begins to understand and produce simple utterances, they are able to use the language to mediate their psychological functioning (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky argues that children begin learning language by first learning single words, which are pure meaning. As they develop their language skills, and engage in social speech, single word sentences are augmented through incorporation of non-meaningful elements, such as function  words, and the child’s thoughts and words begin to develop more sense meanings. For instance, where the word ‘cat’ for the 1 or two year old child could have served as an exemplar for all cats, by the time the child is nine, and having undergone a variety of experiences related to cat, they have imbibed the word with their own unique s enses. Thus syntax and word senses expand, the more a child learns. Now, whereas social speech began from one and developed into many, inner speech, the speech that goes on inside of our heads becomes more and more truncated. Vygotsky argues, contrary to Piaget, that egocentric speech does not ‘disappear’ rather it becomes internalized as inner speech. And this inner speech is something that could not be understood by anybody but the person who is thinking it. Vygotsky suggests that just as people who have known each other for many years, and who have had a large amount of experiences together exhibit language tendencies of shortened syntax because of their historical shared experience, a person’s inner speech also exhibits this characteristic, but even more so; the stuff of thought is nothing but psychological predicates (Vygotsky, 1978). One of the primary ways humans learn anything, according to Vygotsky, is through the zone of proximal development. This concept explains that what a person can do today with assistance, they can do tomorrow by themselves (Vygotsky, 1978). Applied to first language acquisition, the child may receive help from an expert, such as their parents, who point at objects and say their name, for example, cat. After seeing this, the child may repeat ‘cat’ immediately after. The next day, as the child sees the cat, it says the word ‘cat’ without needing to be told by their parents. Chomsky maintains that languages consist of an infinite number of sentences and cannot be learned through habit formation. Language is too complex to be learned in such a short amount of time (Chomsky, 1959). He believes that every human is born with an innate language learning capacity, which is embedded in the language acquisition device (LAD). Chomsky believes that all language share grammatical structures. This is called universal grammar (UG). Proof of UG includes poverty of stimulus, which explains how children acquire the language despite their limited exposure and incorrect input they may receive. Another evidence for UG that languages are recursive, (Jackendoff, 1994). It is impossible to know all the possible combinations; however, they are learned by children. According to UG, there must be some sort of innate capacity that provides the additional information. The fact that children are resistant to correction once again proves that language is developed through an innate capacity. According to Chomsky (1959), all languages share principles, which are invariable across languages. For example, noun phrases and verb phrases. This is called structure dependency. All languages have verbs and nouns. What distinguishes languages from each other according to Chomsky, are parameters, which are language specific. For example, some languages are head first, and some are head last. In relation to UG, Eric Lenneberg (1967) introduced the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), which is a window of language learning opportunity before puberty. Proponents of CPH believe after this period, language learning becomes a much more difficult task and adults tend to rely on other mechanisms such as problem solving skills, reasoning, and deductive instruction to learn a language. Evidence of the CP is for example abused children, who despite being removed from the environment where they were deprived of social contact, were not able to learn the language. There have been many criticisms to Chomsky’s UG, for example, the LAD cannot be located and is immeasurable. Also, Chomsky’s theories overlook the effects of social contact and the environment on language learning. Social interactionist Vygotsky (1978) was a strong proponent of the social interaction hypothesis. He believed that learning takes place through social interaction, and give and take of information with caregivers, parents, or peers. According to Vygotsky, children begin with external speech, which could consist of one word only, but have the meaning of a whole sentence. Gradually, as the child grows older, he develops more complex and longer sentences and associates more meaning with his words. A child also engages in private speech (similar to adults), which is usually meant for problem solving or thinking out loud, but is not meant for sharing although articulated. Vygotsky believes that as the child develops more linguistic skills, this private speech becomes internalized and turns into inner speech, which is pure meaning, and does not consist of subjects; it is predicated. In direct opposition to the environment being the active participant in language learning, Chomsky flips behaviorism on its head and presents the learner as having a primary role while environment becomes secondary. Within the Universal Grammar Theory (UG), Noam Chomsky (1959) presents a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that is responsible for the language learning process. Purely biological, language is filtered through the innate LAD that is structured with principles that are unchanging and parameters that vary according to the language being learned. Proofs to support this theory are many. Syntax and the head-first/head-last parameter are two such proofs. As a child learns language, they hold to one of only two possibilities in any given language – head-first and head-last – and language is formed through recursion and syntactic movement that follow a pattern within a particular language. This shows that language is rule-governed and that the LAD is programmed with language foundations from which a child can develop. That children are resistant to correction follows this same thought as they develop language through the LAD. Language is not linked to intelligence as we see in brain damaged adults who are completely coherent in language skills and others who are cognitively normal but cannot speak correctly. Stroke victims also show that, depending on the area of the brain that is affected, intelligence and speech are not linked. Broca’s and Wernicke’s Aphasias show that certain areas of the brain affec t speech while intelligence remains unaffected. As evidenced by the Gopnik family, genetic impairments have also proven that a glitch in the UG can be passed down from one generation to another, thus proving that the LAD is indeed biological (Jackendoff, 113). Eric Lenneberg’s Critical Period Hypothesis (1967) and the cases of â€Å"wild children† are yet further evidence. Lenneberg holds that the LAD becomes dormant or ineffective after a certain age – around the age of 12 – and this is why children acquire language so much more quickly than adults who are attempting the same. Through these studies of particular children who did not learn language and who were void of contact with language as a whole, it shows that the younger the child, the more fully they were able to learn language. Once a child was passed the age of 12 or so, they were unable to acquire proper language skills. The younger children were not only able to learn more adequately but then went on to continue in the language learning process as a normal adult would. As many proofs as there are for Chomsky’s UG and the LAD, criticisms are plentiful as well. First and foremost, where is the evidence that a device like LAD exists? It certainly has not been located in the brain, therefore, it remains immeasurable and some have serious doubt as to its legitimacy. This theory also limits the role of the environment and gives no account for the social context of the language learning process. It idealizes the speaker and the grammar itself to a certain degree and packages the entire process a bit too neatly. Cognitive Development Theory Jean Piaget’s (1955) work in cognitive development is foundational on many levels. Watching his own children, nature, and certain study groups of young children, Piaget introduces a theory that is completely developmental. As a child is ready and developed (both biologically and cognitively), they are able to assimilate, accommodate and adapt new experiences. Underlying in this theory is reasoning and logic. The role of the environment is minimal and the learner is vital but only as they are cognitively developed and ready for new experiences. A child will not learn what they are not cognitively developed to receive at that point no matter what the instruction. Piaget holds to the notion of children developing schema. As a new experience is received and they are biologically and cognitively ready to receive it, they will develop new schema to fit into the framework of schema that they already have developed. This theory also relies heavily on egocentric and socialized speech with each one serving a different function. Egocentric speech is what is used (mainly by children) when words and thoughts are spoken out loud but the one speaking is only dealing with their own thoughts and ideas. Socialized speech is a shift away from egocentric speech where one simply derives pleasure from speaking to being a way of exchanging their ideas or opinions. Although Piaget’s work and theory is critical, it neither accounts for the child’s behavior as a whole nor for the cognitive development after the stage of ‘formal operation’ is reached. It offers vast insight into the developmental process of a child but little instruction on attaining language skills. It was also based solely on a Western model and is therefore quite limiting. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Input & Output Hypotheses As a result of older models of language teaching where attention was given to language grammar, Krashen (1981) places his focus on communication input. He contends that if the learner is given a chance to absorb the language, they will be better equipped to acquire it. Rather than forcing output immediately, Krashen holds to a silent period where learners have the privilege of just listening to language before attempting it†¦much like a young child would in learning their mother tongue. Comprehensible input (i + 1) is the formula that Krashen holds to for optimal language learning for second language learners (SLLs). This states that if a SLL is offered input that is only slightly beyond what they already know, acquisition will take place. He also makes a differentiation between language learning and language acquisition, claiming that acquisition is what is needed for the language learning process. Criticisms of Krashen’s hypothesis are that input alone cannot account for acquisition and that some grammatical forms cannot be learned without being taught. Swain (1985) introduces her Output Hypothesis in contrast to Krashen and claims that no matter the input, if the output is unintelligible, acquisition has not truly occurred. It is the output that forces learners to grapple with the grammatical processing and figure out what works. Through output, a learner can realize their problem areas, can experiment with new areas they are unsure of, and gives them the chance to analyze problems they are having in their language learning process.

An economic model of the brain drain Essay

The emigration of skilled labor is of great concern to most less developed countries as well as to some developed countries. One special category of the brain drain has been especially troublesome to LDC’s over the last twenty-five years. Indigenous college graduates frequently leave their countries for advance studies in the Western world, but only a handful return after completing their work. Migration of this type has been linked to several possible causes. The most frequently cited are lack of employment opportunities for returning graduates, lower salary levels in the indigenous country, the preference of graduates to live abroad, and asymmetric information in the labor market. The loss of their most educated workers abroad, the so-called brain drain, has been a major source to LDCs. At the same time that their development targets demand highly trained personnel, LDCs find that their younger intellectual elite accept employment in the country where they have received thei r advanced training, and do not return to their native land. A number of reasons have been offered to explain the brain drain problem, including lack of employment opportunities in the home country, low pay, and student preference to remain abroad. These reasons are not empirically compelling in many developing countries. In Taiwan, for example, employment opportunities exist at real wages which are comparable to those offered abroad. And while some students may prefer to live abroad, it seems difficult to explain the brain drain by this reason alone. This paper has shown that the brain drain may exist even when students have a preference for returning home and employment opportunities exist at comparable average pay. The reason for the problem is related to the information employers have at the time of hiring. We assume that employers in the country of education can more precisely determine a graduate’s potential productivity than can employers in the student’s native country. Employers in the native country are assumed to offer wages that reflect the average productivity of returning workers, but which are not precisely tailored to individual productivities. This difference in information can by itself lead to the brain drain problem. The extent of the problem was related to the average productivity of workers, and their bias towards returning home. Conditions under which the brain drain problem was complete, partial, and nonexistent were examined.

The Sorrows of Young Werther and the effect it had on people of that time.

The Sorrows of Young Werther and the effect it had on people of that time. Free Online Research Papers â€Å"The Sorrows of Young Werther† by Johann Goethe was first published in 1774, and very quickly spread across Europe in the 18th century. The novel and the â€Å"Werther Fever† it unleashed show us that Germany during that time was a very cultural, but easily persuaded place. Many people took hold of the story and related it to themselves, their lives, and soon everything that they did. The people were artistic and knowledgeable, but Werther also was. Werther was just like your everyday person during that time period, so this made it very easy for people to relate with his character. In the book, Werther meets Charlotte and in spite of knowing that Charlotte is already engaged to a man, he falls in love with her. He spends months forming a close relationship with the couple until it becomes too unbearable, and he leaves. Upon realizing there’s no hope for romance with Charlotte, Werther could not deal with the heartache and disappointment in his life, so he commits suicide. Werther was an important novel of the Sturm und Drang period in German literature. It is also said that it influenced the romantic literary movement. Soon after the book was published, it started the phenomenon known as the â€Å"Werther Fever†. â€Å"Werther Fever† reportedly led to some of the first known examples of copycat suicide; it also spawned a fashion trend of wearing yellow trousers and blue jacket combination. When this book was published Germany was going through an Enlightment period. During this time, the people were very artistic, cultural, knowledgeable, but also easily persuaded. The people respected life and had strong morals and beliefs. They also believed in freedom; the freedom to think, live, and create. â€Å"The Sorrows of Young Werther† was very similar in nature to the people of Germany during this period of time. The book time frame is based on the period of romanticism, where Werther is very complex, literary, and an intellectual noble person even as the German people of the time were. The period of time mentioned in the book was similar to the time of the people reading the book. Therefore, the people of Germany considered themselves very like a young Werther. Werther, like the people of the time, was down to earth and just like the average man that lived during that period of time. The men saw themselves reflected in Werther. His sorrows and disappointments were theirs. It was as though everyone had a piece of Werther inside of them. Men began to idolize him. Werther seemed to resemble all men, this made it very easy for ‘Werther Fever† to come into effect. Men became so obsessed with his story that they began to think that they were him. This caused concern with the authorities and other authors. Everyone has disappointments and heartaches, due to the fact that people closely related themselves to Werther, they felt that if suicide was the only way out for him, then it seemed like it was the only option for them to use also. Based upon the fact that the suicide rate among young men increased in those that read this book, it appears that the people of this time were more open to persuasion. Young men were open to suicide after reading this book, showing that the people of this time were more open and embraced the idea of using suicide as a way to deal with disappointments and heartaches in their lives. â€Å"The Sorrows of Young Werther† left a mark in German literary that will not be forgotten. Germany was going through a weak stage during the enlightenment period. The people needed inspiration, and someone to look up to. â€Å"The Sorrows of Young Werther† just happened to be everything that the people of the time needed. He was the everyday man, that all could relate to in some way. Not all followers of the book committed suicide, but they made others options for their self. The ones that did commit suicide were people looking for someone to tell them what to do; this is where Werther and the â€Å"Werther Fever† came into effect. This book touched the lives of many, and it also left is place in the history of German literature. Research Papers on "The Sorrows of Young Werther" and the effect it had on people of that time.Assess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Essay19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Where Wild and West MeetThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsMind TravelCapital Punishment

Leadership in The Police Force Essay Sample

Leadership in The Police Force Essay Sample Leadership in The Police Force Sociology Essay Leadership in The Police Force Sociology Essay Leadership is the capacity of humans to guide or, in other words, lead other employees, teams, and even entire organizations with the primary purpose to reach some objectives or missions. In simple words, despite the enormous amount of controversial approaches to leadership, this concept is directly connected with the raising of an individual’s performance to extremely high standards. It is important to note the fact that leadership is significant in diverse spheres of human occupations, including police. The given research paper aims to determine and assess the impact of effective leadership on police performance, morale, and production. Moreover, much attention will be paid to the positive influence of several leadership styles on police officers. General Overview of Leadership Styles Nowadays, the researchers differentiate several dozens of leadership styles that are based either on individual work or collaborative team performance. However, the most common and, at the same time, the most recognized are five of them, including transformational, transactional, participative, autocratic, and, finally, laissez-faire leaders. At the same time, many researchers claim that the most widespread and influential types of leaders are as follows: transactional, democratic, laissez-faire, authoritarian, and paternalistic. Taking into consideration the nature of authoritarian or, in other words, autocratic leadership style, it is important to stress that this type of leadership is based on strict supervision and control. Authoritarian leaders support the idea that excessive and direct supervision is a key factor that contributes to efficient performance. A strict police officer that penalizes even minor offenders for speeding violation is a bright example of the communicative behavior of authoritarian leaders (Campbell Kodz, 2011). Taking into consideration the nature of democratic leadership, it should be stated that these leaders usually impress their subordinates with their incredible decision-making abilities. Democratic leaders are enthusiastic proponents of the idea that social equality between leaders and their subordinates influences the success of entire businesses or occupations. In general, positive traits of good democratic leaders are as follows: honesty, competence, intelligence, inspiration, courage, increased motivation, and imagination (Campbell Kodz, 2011). Laissez-faire leadership style gives employees a chance to manifest their strengths and weaknesses. One of the main disadvantages of this leadership style is connected with insufficient direction or guidance of the followers. Consequently, this leadership style results in the lack of the employees’ productivity, self-rule, and failure to meet organizational needs. Despite numerous advantages of laissez-faire leadership style, this type of leadership may lead to the downfall in case subordinate employees feel insecure or are unreliable and indifferent workers (Campbell Kodz, 2011). A paternalistic leader feels complete concern and cares for subordinates or followers. In this case, the relationships between co-workers and leaders are extremely warm, sincere, and solid. In order to motivate the employees, paternalistic leaders refer to such effective means as trust, cooperation, equity, and loyalty to subordinates. Finally, according to the nature of transactional leaders, it is important to note that these leaders use the system of rewards and punishments to motivate their employees. Also, the researchers claim that transactional leaders rely on the established routine work and procedures. Effective and persistent transactional leaders give entire organizations a chance to reach such valuable objectives as maturity, effectiveness of operations, increased productivity, and loyalty of employees (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). Thus, having determined and evaluated the drawbacks and advantages of major leadership styles, it is rather important to sum up that the s uccess of the organizations depends on a balance between the leadership styles being applied and equality among leaders and their employees. Police Leaders and Leadership Styles Improving police leadership is considered to be the main characteristic that can drastically change the face and professionalism of police officers. In other words, enhancing police leadership is the major plank in the reform agenda of police administration. At present, there are no either unambiguous evidence or results of statistics that would express a clear link between the impact of particular leadership style on the efficiency of police performance and success. Nowadays, police performance is widely criticized because of failure of police officers to cope with a huge range of problems. Improvement of leadership styles within the sphere of police is tremendously important as it positively influences the process of police modernization. At present, with the help of various interlinked studies that involve numerous interviews and postal questionnaires of police officers, the researchers aim to establish effective leadership styles and traits that positively impact effective perfor mance of police officers and their readiness to face extremely dangerous offenders and risky situations (Dobby, Anscombe, Tuffin, 2004). Taking into consideration the research results provided by the Police Leadership Development Board, the majority of police officers that participated in interviews and questionnaires want their leaders to make them satisfied and proud of the service being provided as well as their contribution to the welfare of the community. Moreover, the interviewees claim that enthusiastic and committed leaders help the staff to achieve their goals. In addition, police officers believe that effective police leaders should pay attention to personal as well as professional standards, participate in constant developing of all staff members, and possess appropriate knowledge and skills (Dobby, Anscombe, Tuffin, 2004). Taking into account the results of statistics, it is extremely important to emphasize that approximately 80 % of police officers are convinced that transformational leadership within the sphere of police is considered to be one of the most effective and influential (Dobby, Anscombe, Tuffin, 2004). Therefore, they claim that transformational leaders influence their subordinates in a positive way as these leaders contribute to job satisfaction and commitment of subordinates to organizational needs and objectives. The transformational framework of leadership positively impacts the professional competence of the employees and their desire to meet strategic and tactical goals. Transformational leaders do not care only about personal benefits as they serve the community and act according to the principles of morality and equality. This behavior has numerous benefits as it motivates the subordinates to reach organizational goals and missions (Dobby, Anscombe, Tuffin, 2004). Police Leadership Development Board provides important data that strong police leadership style is considered to be the key element that may not only enhance police performance but also reduce crime around the globe. Training, education, professionalism, and leadership are essential at every level of police services. Numerous organizational and training courses for police officers are established to improve performance and ability of the police staff to cope with difficult situations. The researchers have managed to estimate that the influence of police leadership on the police staff is enormous. However, police leaders may either enhance the efficiency of performance or lead to dissatisfaction among the police staff (Dobby, Anscombe, Tuffin, 2004). Therefore, police leaders influence job satisfaction, morale, and organizational commitment of their subordinates. However, not all leadership styles impact the other employees in a positive way. For instance, taking into consideration the results of statistics provided by the recent survey that involves approximately 180 police officers, sergeants, and lieutenants on the territory of Midwestern police department in the USA, transformational leadership is the most effective leadership style as it results in increased job satisfaction among the police officers. Such leadership styles as participative and supportive are also good because they contribute to organizational commitment and enhance job satisfaction among the police officers (Wuestewald, 2006). Features of Character and Traits of Effective Police Leaders According to the recent surveys that aimed at determining the most influential positive leadership traits among the police officers, it was estimated that the following competencies and skills have proved their efficiency (Campbell Kodz, 2011): active listening; communicating; loyalty; managing organizational change; increased organizational commitment; respect to all members of the police staff; setting clear vision and strategy; courage; enhanced credibility; self-confidence; active participation of subordinates in the processes of decision-making (Campbell Kodz, 2011). In addition, according to the wide range of different methodologies, leadership is no less important than communication and decision-making processes. Besides, on the basis of the recent experiments that involve more than four hundreds of police officers on local, federal, and state levels in the USA, effective leaders should possess the following crucial characteristics: critical thinking, increased commitment to ongoing education, ambitious plans, supportive behavior, close cooperation with the subordinates, sociability, respect, emotional stability as well as competitive drive, well-developed communicative skills, strong personality, and many other beneficial features (Campbell Kodz, 2011). Thus, having determined and assessed numerous positive characteristics, qualities, and traits of effective police leaders, it is possible to summarize that ideal police leaders that would have enough power to guide and control their subordinates should perform the functions of ethical workers, good communicators, confident decision-makers, and trustworthy friends. The significance of a police leader being ethical has already justified its effectiveness and contribution to the decreased crime rates (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). It is important to note that the sense of integrity, trustworthiness, and honesty motivates police officers to cooperate with their leader in order to achieve common goals and objectives. The researchers claim that police leaders should be recommended to maintain â€Å"servant leadership style†. In other words, servant leadership denotes close cooperation between leaders and followers with the purpose to justify the expectations of employees and satisfy their needs. According to the research results, police leader with ideal characteristics is the person that expresses the features and qualities of servant leadership (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). In addition to ethics and moral principles, police leaders should be the role models for their subordinates. The role models within this sphere should follow the so-called idealized behavior that involves respect, faith, and, finally, pride. Furthermore, every police leader should perform the skills of a good communicator. Communication with subordinates is tremendously important as it gives police leaders a chance to establish a tight and reliable contact with other police staff workers. In order to have support from the subordinates, police leaders should recognize the significance of explaining decisions, behaviors, and actions to other employees. Besides, communication is usually referred to as a key element in determining the organizational commitment. Taking into account the results of recent investigations, police officers at all ranks rely on the so-called degree of certainty about their role and importance from their leaders (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). Thus, it is possible to stress that police leaders should acquire the skills and characteristics of persuasive communicators that may speak on different issues starting from decentralization or commitment and ending up with significance of innovation, effective management, cooperation, and teamwork. The researchers support the idea that police leaders should become critical as well as creative thinkers. In other words, creative, as well as critical and strategic thinking are extremely important as these abilities serve as the key attributes of successful leadership. Police leaders should possess enough skills to recognize and evaluate possible hazards and, consequently, cope with them. Taking into consideration the results of the qualitative review, police agents should attend specialized programs and training in order to have enough skills to think on their feet, make tough choices, easily recognize various patterns among different types of complicated problems, and, finally, search for convincing proofs and facts to prove or refute different hypotheses (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). In addition, it is rather important to note that critical and creative thinking and imagination stimulate cooperation as well as teamwork among police staff. Trust, reliability, and trustworthiness are no less important for police leaders. The majority of researchers are the proponents of the idea that trust is considered to be a characteristic as well as the activity of police leaders (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). Trust and reliability among police leaders should be promoted within various police organizations with the purpose of creating healthy work environments and effective working relationships. Trust in the leadership of the police force promotes integrity, credibility and even respect among police leaders and their subordinates. In case police officers trust their leaders, they will actively participate in the processes of decision-making, problem-solving, and liste ning (Porter et al., 2015). On the contrary, the absence of trust, cooperation, and trustworthiness will deprive police leaders of the opportunity to manage, control, and guide their subordinates. Finally, it is important to stress that such common features as legitimacy and credibility are no less important as these qualities increase cooperation of the public with the police leaders and police officers. Credibility ensures a chance to police leaders to control their followers and guide their subordinates (Porter et al., 2015). Taking into account the leadership requirements model, presented by the researchers in the USA, every professional police leader should know and follow the core leader competencies (Porter et al., 2015). Leading, developing, and achieving are considered to be three main competencies of police leaders. In other words, police leaders have duties to perform a wide range of vitally important functions, especially leading others, extending influence and power beyond the chain of command, respecting, communicating, creating a positive atmosphere, developing self, educating others, and achieving noticeable outcomes. However, the attributes of police leaders are no less significant than their core competencies and qualities. In general, army values, empathy, readiness to cooperate, military bearing, confidence in individual and team strengths, mental agility, and domain knowledge are referred to as the key attributes of police leaders (Porter et al., 2015). Thus, having determined the basic qualities, features, and traits of police leaders, it should be summarized that the major models every effective police leader should know are as follows: ethical and moral individual, role model, persuasive communicator, person with well-developed critical as well as imaginative thinking, confident decision-maker, and, finally, trustworthy and reliable friend. In general, all these qualities are equally important to police leaders who want to cooperate with their followers to meet the needs of entire communities (Pearson-Goff Herrington, 2013). Transformational and Transactional Leadership as Perfect Leadership Styles in Police According to the estimations of the researchers and the results of statistics, transformational approach to leadership is considered to be the most effective in police outcomes because of numerous convincing reasons. In general, a transformational police leader is a courageous person with charisma who can motivate subordinates and make them feel passionate about the success of their missions. The most significant advantages of transformational leadership style within the sphere of police are motivation, planning, retention, and, finally, growth (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). Taking into account the idea of motivation, it should be stated that transformational police leaders use encouragement and inspiration to motivate subordinates to be more productive to achieve their goals and objectives. In addition, it is believed that transformational police leaders make attempts in order to motivate the entire police staff to participate in decision-making processes and planning. In case the entire police staff is on the same page with the leader’s vision, it makes the process of achieving goals not only easier but quicker, as well (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). However, it should be stated that transformational police leaders focus their attention not only on the inspiration of their subordinates. On the contrary, effective transformational police leaders understand that nothing will be done without planning and well-thought strategies. Retention of transformational police leaders is no less important as this feature reaches out every police officer and brings out the best in all of them. Finally, managing police staff to meet the expectations of society and reduce crime is one more integral feature of a transformational leader in the sphere of police work. Numerous researchers in the USA claim that police leaders should be a â€Å"one-trick pony†. In other words, they claim that effective police leader should apply and follow only one leadership style or model (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). Police leaders who practice transformational style of leadership encourage police officers to share a so-called vision of success with them. One more advantage of transformational police leaders deals with the fact that these leaders are ready to reject self-interest in order to achieve a greater good in the future. Thus, effective transformational leaders are usually formed on the basis of several major assumptions. Firstly, police officers are most willing to follow the transformational leaders who motivate and inspire them. Secondly, police officers are extremely motivated to accomplish a mission in case they understand the urgency and significance of a task. Thirdly, collaboration and teamwork that are, as a rule, promoted by the transformational leaders, is far more effective than individual performance. Fourthly, transformational police leaders motivate their subordinates to achieve a â€Å"greater good†. That is why, material rewards seem unnecessary and, to some extent , trivial compared to the idea of a â€Å"greater good† and hope for better future (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). However, while comparing transformational and transactional leadership styles in the sphere of police, many researchers claim that the second option is better, despite several limitations of transactional leadership. Transactional leadership in the sphere of police concentrates both on leaders’ and followers’ self-interests. In the majority of cases, transactional leaders act on the basis of a so-called exchange. According to the essence of this exchange, police officers persistently work to achieve some benefits and, at the same time, avoid severe penalties or various forms of punishments (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). Moreover, one of the most influential strengths of transactional police leadership is its primary focus on â€Å"here and now.† In other words, transactional leaders motivate their followers not to postpone but to get everything done in extremely short terms. According to the results of the scientific data, transactional leadership has proven it s efficiency during the period of the World War II, when army leaders assigned mandatory replacements of soldiers to the front lines with the unique purpose to strengthen combat units (Fisher, Weir Phillips, 2014). In general, transactional leadership aims to create strong and lasting bonds between police officers and their leader and encourage them to follow their goals even when their leader is not present (Fisher, Weir, Phillips, 2014). As a result, the significance of leadership in the sphere of police, basic leadership styles as well as positive traits of effective police leaders, and, finally, the essence of transformational and transactional leadership as the most significant leadership styles for police leaders have been reviewed. Thus, it is possible to infer that leadership plays a key role within the sphere of police as it ensures a vision and solutions to complicated problems, motivates hard work and cooperation, and, finally, unites police officers with the primary purpose to combat crime and improve the quality of life of the civilians. Convincing communicative skills, cooperation, education, ongoing development, focus on police values, ethics, confidence in personal strengths, imagination, persistence, and enthusiasm are considered to be the most significant core competencies and attributive traits of effective police leader. Finally, it is important to note that transformational and transactional leader ship styles are considered to be the most effective within the sphere of police. Moreover, until nowadays, the researchers in the sphere of psychology disagree whether transformational or transactional leadership is more effective as both of them have numerous advantages as well as limitations.

Polar bear Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Polar bear - Essay Example The polar bear have adaptive mechanisms that enable them to survive in circumpolar Arctic region. The environments in these regions are extremely cold and have both ice and water. These areas are also referred to us ice pack habitats. The species have thick fur which enables their survivability in such region. In addition, the polar bears are excellent in swimming. The female polar bears become sexually mature at the age of five years while the males obtain sexual maturity at around six years. During the mating seasons, normally between March and June, males and females congregate at the habitat suitable for seal hunting. There is usually stiff competition for the breading female. It is followed by multiple males that have to fight among themselves. The strongest on e chases others away and succeeds in mating the female. The polar bears feed on seals, especially the seal fat. They hunt ringed and bearded seals. The ringed seals are not as difficult to get as the bearded seals. They are easily accessible and can easily be hunted by young and female bears. In case of a good hunt the species extract blubber from the seals to leave the carcass for scavengers such as ravens and arctic foxes (WWF 10). There are series of unregulated shipping in the polar region. Such activities often result in oil spills that that the polar bears. The oil spills also deplete seals which are the foods of the polar bears. The climatic changes which trigger the increase in temperature, the precipitation and salinity are estimated to have drastic impacts on the physiological processes of the species. Both reproduction and survivability of polar bear will be significantly affected. In this instance, the rate of population of the polar bears will go down because the pregnancy rates will fall. Similarly, only few polar bears will be able to survive the season that high temperatures have melted the ice. The change in the

The School Nurse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The School Nurse - Essay Example However, in today's world the school nurse position is not given the resources necessary to accomplish this goal and the role has become so unmanageable and the task so encompassing it may be placing education and students at risk. The number of students taking Ritalin has doubled since 1990 and now exceeds 3 million students (Goldberg, 1). The over worked nurses must medicate these students to insure the proper dose to the correct student. The pervasiveness of lunchtime medication has become so involved and lines of children outside nurses' offices so prevalent, that in Boston, schools are now facing a challenging dilemma; Who should have responsibility for the medicating According to Carey Goldberg, reporter for the New York Times, "...school officials have proposed that individual nurses be given permission to delegate the distribution of their ''meds'' to handpicked, supervised staff members". Many nurses who advocate the addition of higher paid nurses as a solution rather than reducing their roles have discredited the plan as unsafe. However, school officials see it as a reasonable cost cutting measure in this New World of psychoactive drugs. Untrained personnel handing out sensitive and dangerous drugs a re certainly placing the students at an increased risk. School nurses are called upon to walk obese students, insert catheters, and administer diabetic insulin. These are disciplines that call on the highest order of medical training. Food poisoning, infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, and injuries from student violence complicate these situations. The nurse is required to perform the duties of a general practitioner while having the training of a nurse and the attendant pay scale. Still, school systems balk at the possibility of adding more nurses to the staff due to cost considerations. While the National Association of School Nurses recommends that a school system have one nurse per 750 students, the national average is one nurse per 1350 students (Vail). Attending to the students medical needs should be a priority to assure that the system is promoting adequate and fair education, but staffing at a 50% level can not guarantee success of the health of the student body. Obesity is running rampant through the school corridors and nutrition and healthy food have come into the spotlight. Once again, the school nurse is called on to make recommendations and plans to provide a healthy diet and reduce the problem of overweight children. Nutrition is a special discipline and often runs counter to the school's agenda of providing vending machines and a junk food cafeteria. There is more profit in a McDonald's station than there is in a healthy dietary offering. The American Medical Association advocates a proactive approach based on food types and amounts that are to be offered through school lunches ("Expert Committee Recommendations", 8). Dedicated school nurses can not be expected to protect the health of children in the existing political and economical climate of many school boards. They are not trained as nutritionists and do nor serve the political function of being socially

Cultural diversity in the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Cultural diversity in the media - Essay Example These include: the ubiquity, infiltration and monotony of mass media in reinforcing the durability of such representations; the problems faced by the highly profit-oriented commercial media in introducing complex representations; and the close association of mass media with the elites in the society, which prevents it from changing its status quo. Ever since the invention of tools of mass-media such as television over a century ago, prominent means of visual media such as films and motion-pictures have used conventional forms of cultural representations, which even after decades, are recycled with little or no changes, and served to the audiences through various genres and outlets. The lack of change in the characterization and cultural depiction of people belonging to a certain ethnic or cultural background (for instance, Asians, Hispanics or African-Americans) can be attributed to the popularity and acceptance of their identity by the masses and their reluctance to accept or percei ve them in non-conventional ways; or the economic pressures which is related to the need to attract the mainstream audiences who are used to the familiar albeit stereotypical depiction of people belonging to culturally diverse backgrounds. Research has shown that television shows which have attempted to break the cultural stereotypes through use of non-conventional portrayal of people belonging to culturally diverse backgrounds, have received negative response and had a limited impact in addressing the issue on hand (Chan-Olmsted & Albarran, 1998; Hollifield, 2001; McChesney, 1999). It can thus be said that television as a medium of mass communication has an intrinsic penchant to fixate on a redundant yet popular concept or ideology... This paper on ‘Cultural diversity in the media’ represents cultural diversity within American media that dates as far back as the early 1950s. The first instances of depiction of culturally diverse people in Hollywood were witnessed during the early 1950s where mixed raced couples, were shown on screen. This was at a time when films and television shows were highly white dominated. Such representations of racial and ethnic minorities in films i.e. popular mass-media, indicated the liberal expressions of sentiments of the majority of white Americans towards and regarding people of different races, thus showing hints of subtle prejudice, bigotry and racism as observed in daily lives during that era. Although these films and television shows largely catered to the majority i.e. white American audience, such representation showed the growing acceptance of cultural diversity in popular media. Today, the cultural diversity in the American films and television shows is more evi dent and there is a high representation of not only African-Americans but also of people belonging to other ethnicities such as Hispanics and Asians as well. Popular television show such as ‘The Big Bang Theory’ (showcasing an Indian, as a part of the core star cast) is telecast at prime time in the U.S. and has rapidly gained popularity. The rising popularity of such shows indicates the changing culture of contemporary America which is essentially a mix of various racially and ethnically diverse populations.

Indiana State Museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indiana State Museum - Essay Example The facility has an effective design that takes into consideration the unique security requirement of the artifacts. The museum receives an average of two and a half million visitors a year. This is a great number requiring effective planning and management to minimize harm. Some of the preservatives used on the artifacts are harmful especially if brought into contact with a human. Additionally, most of these preservatives would pollute the environment if exposed to the atmosphere. The facility, therefore, encloses most of their artifacts in glass enclosures reinforced by ultraviolet lights whose trespass triggers an alarm. This, therefore, acts a security both to the environment and for the expensive artifacts. Environmental conservation is the greatest concern to the twenty-first century pre modern society. Established economies produce a lot of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere resulting in the extension of the ozone layer. This promises a number of life-threatening consequences . Already climatic changes are rife in a number of regions in and around the United States of America. The indigenous trees have some of the best mechanisms for consuming the excess carbon monoxide from the environment. The government, therefore, needs to invest in its tree cover. The Indiana state museum takes a personal initiative to preserve the environment the best way it can. Its property is effectively planned to minimize pollution through conservation of water points and the indigenous trees (Price 101).

Haven''t figure out Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Haven''t figure out - Article Example The various diversities that have come up in the Muslim are also compositions in the writing. The script sets to establish the contract whereby the women tend to know their rights, but tend to abandon them for the quest of the religion. References for the particular ideas are a provisional ate the end of the document. The instance helps in the validation of the arguments therein. Religion in general represents the belief in the supernatural by the natural. The instance also includes the worship of the supernatural by the empirical. Worship on the other hand depicts on the following of guidelines as they are put day the relevant books of religion. The Islam religion is a religion that emanates in Asia and finds its basis in the Quran. The Islam religion is just like another religious is full of restrictions. However, the religion is also the home for chauvinism. The act is an open discrimination towards women. The rule of the Islam religion as per the history of the religion illustrates different aspects whereby the treatment of women was equal to that of men. In the ancient Muslim religion, the capacity that the women had was that the women could trade, run business and also serve the almighty. However, the present Islam world does not reflect the teachings of the Muslim world. The Muslim nations according to most research works have little value for women. In the countries such as Somalia, women are seen as objects that serve for the fulfillment of the desires of women. The aspect also regards women as only capable of giving birth. Due to the facts, the women in the Muslim society are in the hands of the [pleasure of the men. They are also punishable once a man sees it right to do so. Most of the practices thus have a hidden meaning since the Islam religion does not teach favor of one being over another. The question that arises is the perspective of the origin of the

Research skills and MLA documentation Assignment

Research skills and MLA documentation - Assignment Example Bruce Catton’s essay â€Å"Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts,† is a reflection of the comparisons and differences between the characteristics and lives of two influential leaders, Grant and Lee. The two leaders were both tough and resilient and although they had very different views they managed to meet at the Appomattox Court House on 9th April 1865 and agreed upon ending the Civil War. After the war, America needed to start over and there was thus a wide call for equality and justice among the Americans. Basically, Lee, upheld traditional beliefs and thus, he widely held that America had to retain its traditions and cultural practices. Therefore, Lee had this belief that having unequal groups of individuals with different social classes would provide the society with an advantage. For that reason, Lee vied for the traditional aristocratic concept as the efficient system that would have ruled the American nation. On the other hand, Grant, was brought up the â€Å"hard way† by his father on the Western frontier, and for that reason, he primarily concentrated on what the future held thus opposing Lee’s view of leadership. Therefore, Grant advocated for a system that would create a balanced social structure which would not discriminate against any citizen. Hence, Grant believed in the notion of competition and held that every citizen had the right to attain their limits. As leaders, Grant and Lee had personal beliefs that conflicted thus creating numerous differences between them. Whereas Lee increasingly saw advocated for a more traditional and conservative way of life, Grant advocated for a more modern way of leadership that would give every citizen a chance to thrive. However, Catton also states that despite having numerous differences, the two leaders had a couple of similarities. For instance, both Grant and Lee were good fighters and showed high determination in their duties. Furthermore, the

Indiana State Museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indiana State Museum - Essay Example The facility has an effective design that takes into consideration the unique security requirement of the artifacts. The museum receives an average of two and a half million visitors a year. This is a great number requiring effective planning and management to minimize harm. Some of the preservatives used on the artifacts are harmful especially if brought into contact with a human. Additionally, most of these preservatives would pollute the environment if exposed to the atmosphere. The facility, therefore, encloses most of their artifacts in glass enclosures reinforced by ultraviolet lights whose trespass triggers an alarm. This, therefore, acts a security both to the environment and for the expensive artifacts. Environmental conservation is the greatest concern to the twenty-first century pre modern society. Established economies produce a lot of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere resulting in the extension of the ozone layer. This promises a number of life-threatening consequences . Already climatic changes are rife in a number of regions in and around the United States of America. The indigenous trees have some of the best mechanisms for consuming the excess carbon monoxide from the environment. The government, therefore, needs to invest in its tree cover. The Indiana state museum takes a personal initiative to preserve the environment the best way it can. Its property is effectively planned to minimize pollution through conservation of water points and the indigenous trees (Price 101).

Research skills and MLA documentation Assignment

Research skills and MLA documentation - Assignment Example Bruce Catton’s essay â€Å"Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts,† is a reflection of the comparisons and differences between the characteristics and lives of two influential leaders, Grant and Lee. The two leaders were both tough and resilient and although they had very different views they managed to meet at the Appomattox Court House on 9th April 1865 and agreed upon ending the Civil War. After the war, America needed to start over and there was thus a wide call for equality and justice among the Americans. Basically, Lee, upheld traditional beliefs and thus, he widely held that America had to retain its traditions and cultural practices. Therefore, Lee had this belief that having unequal groups of individuals with different social classes would provide the society with an advantage. For that reason, Lee vied for the traditional aristocratic concept as the efficient system that would have ruled the American nation. On the other hand, Grant, was brought up the â€Å"hard way† by his father on the Western frontier, and for that reason, he primarily concentrated on what the future held thus opposing Lee’s view of leadership. Therefore, Grant advocated for a system that would create a balanced social structure which would not discriminate against any citizen. Hence, Grant believed in the notion of competition and held that every citizen had the right to attain their limits. As leaders, Grant and Lee had personal beliefs that conflicted thus creating numerous differences between them. Whereas Lee increasingly saw advocated for a more traditional and conservative way of life, Grant advocated for a more modern way of leadership that would give every citizen a chance to thrive. However, Catton also states that despite having numerous differences, the two leaders had a couple of similarities. For instance, both Grant and Lee were good fighters and showed high determination in their duties. Furthermore, the

Factors Affecting Female Achievement Essay Example for Free

Factors Affecting Female Achievement Essay The definition of education guiding mainstream schools today is that education is the delivery of knowledge, skills, and information from teachers to students. While the above metaphor—education as a delivery system—sounds reasonable, it misses what is most important about education. This mistaken idea of what true education is and how it can be achieved is the root problem in mainstream education today. This conception of education contributes to harming students and teachers by driving policy makers to insist on accounting for the units of information that students demonstrate knowledge of on tests. The perceived need for mass scale standardized outcomes leads to a kind of instructional bookkeeping that drives administrators to control teachers behavior, which in turn is directed to controlling students behavior in ways that increases symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other forms of diminished psychological well-being. Student outcomes as measured by tests bear little relationship to true education, and so the instructional bookkeeping scheme is a failure even before the harm it causes is taken into consideration. [[SIDEBAR: Check out my video about Waiting For Superman to see how the delivery metaphor was presented in that movie as an utterly obvious truth for mainstream audiences, much to my chagrin.

Evaluation Of The Things They Carried English Literature Essay

Evaluation Of The Things They Carried English Literature Essay We had witnessed something essential, something brand-new and profound, a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it. The quote from OBrien talks about an approach to exploring the American involvement in the conflict in Vietnam and it suggests that much has been carried out of this war, if not by official governmental standards the lives of those who were intimately involved in the battles of the conflict. There exists a national tension surrounding conversations about war in the United States. The anxiety of these conversations arises from discussing the lack of official closure of the war, the motivations for beginning the war, as well as the domestic social turmoil of the period. The remarkable disparity between the official government reports and the narratives and memoirs of soldiers who fought in the war as evidenced by the quotes also contributes to the tension. How do we tell the history of a conflict that is either unremarkable or a fracture in the soci o-cultural evolution of the United States? The Vietnam War itself became a field of competing discourses. The struggle to maintain the American myth, the inability of the conflict to fit into traditional war history, media coverage, and the personal narratives from returning soldiers and personnel contributed to social turmoil surrounding the place of the war in history. Personal narratives not only faced disregard by the official discourse of the war but veterans also struggled with the form in which they could communicate these strikingly different war stories. In his novels of the Vietnam War, in particular the short story collection The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien explores the experiences of soldiers in war who are themselves seeking to tell such a story. During the war and later in life reflecting on their experiences, the characters are themselves looking to tell the history of the conflict as well as their own histories. This story combines memory, fiction an personal narrative in an attempt to address some of the most complicated questions arising from their involvement in the war. OBriens writing promotes a new rhetoric of the relationship between truth, language, and knowledge specific to the historical context of the Vietnam War. OBriens postmodern notions of truth and history-telling provide a framework for encouraging communication about the Vietnam War and its stories. In order to contextualize OBriens rhetoric, it is necessary to briefly examine his own history of story telling as well as the critical responses to his work. Operating from the assumptions of postmodernism, OBriens rhetoric defines truth subjectively and examines the relationship between language and knowledge in conveying that subjective truth. Ultimately, OBrien addresses the problem of communication. He explores how we communicate our experiences to ourselves, through memory, language, and imagination and then how these experiences are communicated to others. OBrien concludes that because there is no Truth in an objective sense, language as a referent is not sufficient for communicating or understanding personal experience. This problem combined with the national tension surrounding talk of the Vietnam War complicates discussion of both personal and national histories of this war. Oà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢Brien ties these two problems together in a rhetoric that, firmly rooted in a postmodern theory, acknowledges the impossibility of relating the Truth of the war. He instead manipulates what Nietzsche calls the human will to truth, narrative structure, and language itself to produce a new discourse for addressing individual and social histories of the Vietnam War. It is a narrative discourse that makes apparent the limitations of the traditional binary of truth and fiction by continuously calling into question the interpretive strategies of the reader, the author, and the text itself. OBrien reverses the hierarchy by placing fiction over truth. Employing a postmodern reading of the text, it is possible to see that rather than simply exploring how he can invert these universals, OBrien is questioning the way we think about these terms. Rather than the Platonic assumption that there is Truth and Fiction and we must differentiate no matter which one we prioritize, OBrien is how we think about what constitutes fact (truth) and fiction. Reading from the assumptions of postmodernism can suggest that what OBrien really does is create a rhetoric that functions to demolish the traditional notions of what constitutes Truth and fiction. OBrien explores our traditional understanding of these terms and suggests not that one is better than the other, but that they do not exist in concrete reality. Through the distrust of humans desire to know any Truth, the fragmentation of his narrative structure, and the questioning of the ability of language to communicate, OBrien uses the Vietnam War (an historical event) to suggest that by rewriting the way we understand what we mean by truth and fiction we can reclaim discourse on the Vietnam War that would be traditionally marginalized. It may be that although we cannot agree on one Truth out the history of the war that we can at least engage a discourse about the individual and national struggles with Vietnam. In the final story in The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien writes, The about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head (230). In this final story OBrien writes about the purpose of storytelling. The project of The Things They Carried is ultimately communication but it is communication in a postmodern sense. Deconstructing the binary of truth and fiction, OBrien wants to communicate what he calls story truth, his blend of memory, imagination, and language. Reading through OBriens own framework for story truth, we can see that The Things They Carried presents a rhetoric for reading the Vietnam War through experience and outside of the official discourse of the war. Ultimately, the question becomes one of communication. How can we communicate histories or experience to ourselves and to others? Tim OBriens postmodern rhetoric suggests that since there is no Truth, language as a referent is no longer sufficient. Discourse, even historical discourse, must be communicated in terms of story truth that manipulates language, context, and narrative structure in order to convey always shifting subjective interpretations. The turbulent social history of the Vietnam War has resulted in the large disparity between the official discourse and the unofficial knowledge and experience of the conflict. OBrien combines the problem of communication with the historical turmoil of the Vietnam War period in The Things They Carried to address both circumstances . He produces a narrative that makes apparent the limitations of dividing truth from fiction by continuously calling into question interpretive strategies of both the writing itself and the reader. OBriens rhetoric argues that although communication of objective truth is impossible, we must focus on maintaining discourse with and about the people and events surrounding Vietnam War. Arguing that social as well as personal histories are written through discourse, OBrien suggests that the most important function of discourse is the act of listening. He argues that stories can save lives by giving voice to individual subjects whose histories can be heard as part of the discourse of the war.

Form and Structure of the play Blood Wedding :: English Literature

Form and Structure of the play 'Blood Wedding. Form and Structure The play 'Blood Wedding' has Three Acts and Seven scenes all together. In the first act we are introduced to all of the characters, where we see their first impressions of them. In act two we see the characters developing, learning new things. In the end we have an ending, which isn't expected and could shock the audience. Lorca was a Spanish writer so therefore his play is set in the Spanish culture. The play begins by introducing the mother and the bridegroom who are arguing about knives. As the audience we begin to notice that the mother has a problem with knives. The pace of the two characters was relaxed at first but soon the tension begins to rise between the two characters as soon as the word knife was mentioned. When the bride arrives, the atmosphere of the play changes, the happy atmosphere is interrupted. The mother begins to get cautious, as she is not keen on the bride at first because she knows absolutely nothing about her. When the mother meets the bride and her father, the two parents start to compare there son and daughter too one another, I think this shows that there is a competition atmosphere between the two characters, this is when the tension begins to rise again, the mood becomes jealous because I think Lorca wants to set the father that he wants his daughter to be the best and this is the same with the mother. "My son has the very best of prospects." "My daughter is the finest of girls." As the visit continues, I notice that the bride is a bit awkward with the mother, she sounds as though she is hiding something. I think this causes a great amount of tension, the atmosphere starts to become dark and secret. We also notice that the bride is acting around the mother, giving her sharp answers, she sounds as though she doesn't want to get married, unsure of her decision. I think the bride is a very important character of the play as the pace, tension, atmosphere and the mood changes. The tension and the pace continues rising, the atmosphere is starting to get deceitful as she doesn't want to marry the bridegroom and the mood becomes secretive. On the day of the wedding, we see that the atmosphere is confused, flustered and closed because I feel that the bride knows she doesn't have much time to decide if she will go through with the wedding. As the maid continues to do the brides hair, we notice that the maid is