War Literature Essay Example for Free

War Literature Essay Turkey and Armenia have not had the greatest diplomatic relations in recent years. Therefore, it was somewhat surprising that the leaders all of these two nations sat down to watch a football game between the two countries. To say that this is somewhat bizarre would be a dramatic understatement. In 1915, during the First World War, Turkey was responsible for the genocide of scores of Armenians. Needless to say, the relationship between these two group has been tenuous at best over the years. For some, all of this appears to be a form of political theater. However, there is more to the situation than mere grandstanding. Russias recent aggression has sparked fear in Eastern Europe. So, it is not surprising that Turkey and Armenia might forge an alliance out of mutual distrust of Russia. How long such a shaky alliance lasts is anyones guess. Much of this is ironic considering it occurs in light of the legendary football match between the Germans and the British during World War One. Thomas Hardy chronicles this legend in a short article that also points out the strange irony of how mortal enemies can become friendly rivals when they share a common love. In this case, the love is for the game of football. It would seem that to the soldiers, a love for a cultural sport overrides any serious concerns that are at the center of a declaration of war. Or, perhaps, war becomes boring after a while and both sides need a break. Whatever the reason, it is odd to see enemies converge based on a love for a mere past time. It would be absurd to assume that a love for football can eliminate aggression between nations. However, it does show that aggression and competitiveness can be used for more fruitful pursuits other than direct conflict. Then again, football is a form of conflict with enthusiasm replacing aggression most of the time. While sitting in front of the TV watching teams play make the world a better place? Doubtful; but it is at least worth a try. Bibliography Hardy, Thomas. (Date Unknown) â€Å"A Satire of Circumstance† Retrieved October 13, 2008, from http://net. lib. byu. edu/english/wwi/children/captain_nevill. html Palomaa, Erik. (2008) â€Å"Turkey and Armenia Engage in Football Diplomacy. † Retrieved October 13, 2008, from http://www. worldpoliticsreview. com/Article. aspx? id=2694

Vocabulary Learning Through Computer Assisted Language English Language Essay

Vocabulary Learning Through Computer Assisted Language English Language Essay Abstract The importance of learning English as an international language requires the acquisition of vocabulary as the basic and necessary skill. By the improvement of technology, and computer in particular, many researches are done to show the influence of technology on vocabulary learning. This literary review is done to show the importance as well. Introduction Michael Levy defined Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) in his book as the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning (p.1). It is recognizable in the academic literature for about the last thirty years. CALL has been made possible by invention and development of the computer. They developed from large mainframe computers to smaller, faster, and easier ones. For all those who whish to create new CALL materials, points of departure range dramatically from top-down approaches centered perhaps upon a theory of language or language learning, or a curriculum specification, while others might develop CALL materials from the bottom up, perhaps by using the computer to address a particular classroom problem. Other points of departure might include a learning strategy , a macroskill, computer conferencing, or an exploration of aspects of the technology itself. There are practical issues to considerfor example, the selection of the hardware a nd software development tools for the project, Hypercard, Authorware, Toolbook, CALIS, C, and Visual Basic, or a mark-up language to enable publishing on the World Wide Web such as Hypertext or Virtual Reality Mark-up Languages (HTML and VRML), are just a handful of many options now available. (Michael Levy, Oxford Linguistic Computer-Assisted Language Learning Context and Conceptualization, p.3) an interdisciplinary perspective on CALL shows it to be a relatively new field of study that has been subject to the influence of a number of other discipline. In addition to the fields of computing and language teaching and learning, real and potential influences in the development of CALL included aspects of psychology, artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, instructional design, and human-computer interaction. Many of these disciplines are relatively new in themselves, having developed significantly since World War II. They each have their own perspective and frame of reference, they often overlap and interrelate, and the extent to which any one discipline should influence the development of CALL has not been determined. At various times, CALL workers have called upon each of these fields to guide their own work in some way. (the same, p.7) Development of CALL Jing-hua suggested in his paper presented It is commonly known that the development of CALL mainly experiences three phases, namely, behavioristic CALL, communicative CALL, and integrative CALL. Each phrase is marked by distinct language teaching theories. For example, Behaviousristic CALL is based on the dominant behaviorist theories of learning and teaching of that time, which emphasizes the formation of speaking habit, thus, courseware mainly focuses on practice and drill of language patterns. After behaviorism lost its dominance, cognitive psychology began to gain popularity. Communicative CALL rejects the notion of habit-formation and focuses more on creative language use. So software at that time stressed the importance of communication and creative use of language instead of manipulation of language forms. Under the influence of constructivism, integrative CALL began to gain prominence. Constructivism focuses more on the connection between old knowledge and new knowledge and l earners are taken as active participators who can engage in creative thinking rather than follow ready made knowledge. The development of internet provides learners with enormous amount of authentic materials and also a platform where they can have a real conversation with peers, teachers or native speakers. The integration of the four skills becomes possible and learners individual needs are satisfied to some extent. Studies on computer assisted vocabulary learning have touched upon different aspects of vocabulary learning, among which a line of research is to examine the effects of electronic or online dictionary use or the effects of look-up behavior or the click behavior on word retention (p.60,61). What Does Vocabulary Mean? Vocabulary .. is an essential means of interchanging ideas and of acquiring new experiences Mans growth in ideas has always been accompanied by a corresponding expansion of his vocabulary. (Gray 1939, p.1). When a pupil reads and learns the meaning of familiar words by context, there is reason to believe that the knowledge will be genuine and important. (Thorndike 1934, p.11). The commonest way and perhaps the best way to promote growth of content in words is to allow the child to infer the meaning from context (Chambers 1904, p.50). Vocabulary Acquisition and L2/FL Reading Comprehension Reading is an active skill that involves the reader, the text, and the interaction between the two. Reading in a L2 or FL is a dynamic and interactive process, during which learners make use of a variety of skills and strategies, combined with background knowledge, L1-related knowledge and real-world knowledge to arrive at an understanding of written material (Aebersold and Field, 1997: ix). Constantinescu (2007) suggests that several researchers have argued that vocabulary plays a major part in reading proficiency Aside from knowing how to use the appropriate reading strategies, Grabe (1991, as cited in Butler-Pascoe and Wiburg, 2003: 124) argues that fluent L2/FL readers need to know about 2,000 to 7,000 words and sometimes even more if they want to reach native-like fluency. Similarly, Groot (2000: 62) argues that an adequate understanding of academic texts requires a vocabulary of at least 7,000 words. Generally, L2/FL readers need to recognize approximately 95 per cent of the words in a given text in order to comprehend its meaning and they need to know the different meanings of words according to context, as well as words grammatical properties. What are Language Learning Strategies? Seglar (2001) remarked, Language Learning Strategies could be any set of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner which affect this process (p,26). There are two ways for the second language vocabulary acquisition. S. Prell suggested in his articles wo ways for the second language vocabulary acquisition (p.2): The first method, the experimental method, is CAVOCA. The second method is a more familiar approach to the students, called the bilingual word list. Prell remarked, The first method is the bilingual word list presentation. The second is the Computer Assisted Vocabulary Acquisition (CAVOCA) program.The CAVOCA method attempts to replicate the way the first language is acquired, which is through an incremental process that gradually develops with repeated exposure and constant interaction between the various stages (Groot, 2000, p. 64). The program has four sections, which include storing the word in memory; using the word in several sentences to learn the spelling and meaning; giving examples for long-term memory; and a self-assessment. The second method is a more familiar approach to the students, called the bilingual word list. This method takes less time and produces favorable short-term results (Prell). Prell conducted some experiments and found that both of them wre valuable, yet through some experiments it was proved that they were different from each other: In the first two experiments, the bilingual word list yielded substantially higher results with the immediate tests given than the CAVOCA program. However, in testing the students two to three weeks later, the CAVOCA method produced better results for the retention of the vocabulary. In the third and fourth experiments, the bilingual word list did not show significant differences in the immediate tests from the first two experiments. However, the CAVOCA method showed higher rates of retention for the tests given two to three weeks after the initial test. Information Processing Iheanacho (1997) remarked in his research suggests that cognitive theorists assume that any complete theory of human cognition must include an analysis of the plans or strategies people use for thinking, remembering, understanding and producing language (p.18). Iheanacho (1997) remarked in his research The memory system explains the interrelationship among the three main storage structures of the brain: Sensory register, Short term memory (STM), and Longterm memory (LTM) (p.2). According to Schwartz and Reisberg (1991), the STM provides a small storage repository where the information is repeated over and over through a maintenance rehearsal process. When a piece of information is repeated and rehearsed, the probability of retaining that information can increase. But the STM is limited in how much information it can hold. The maintenance rehearsal helps to transfer the excess information which is not yet needed to another storage called Long-Term Memory (LTM). LTM provides a storage place of great size containing information that is not immediately active so that the information can be retrieved when needed. According to Miller (1989), LTM helps people to recall events, solve problems and recognize patterns. It is the repository in which we carry out all that we know (Schwartz Reisberg 1991). The interrelationship between STM and LTM explains how visual information can enhance retention and recall. According to Posner (1969), visual information can persist in STM after the stimulus is diminished. Additionally, visual information can be activated and retrieved from the LTM. The information processing model can account for the effectiveness of visuals in learning. Visual research Heinich, Molenda and Russell (1993) proposed that learning is facilitated when instruction follows a sequence from actual experience to iconic representation, and then to symbolic or abstract representation. Visuals make abstract information more concrete and are suited for analogical reasoning (Levie, 1987). Pictures and prose can be used to help both skilled and unskilled readers to enhance their reading skills ( Holmes, 1987). Holmes studied the ability of 116 fifth and sixth grade students to answer inferential questions. Three groups were established. The first group used pictures, the second group used prints, and the third group used a combination of prints and pictures. His purpose was to examine skilled and unskilled readers to see if there would be a significant difference in their ability to answer questions in each approach. He found that pictures enabled both skilled and unskilled readers to answer inferential questions. Holmes therefore suggested using pictures to initially improve inferential reading, and then gradually advancing to using print only. Imagery and vocabulary acquisition Furthermore, a study conducted by Paivio and his associates (1971) revealed that when learners are instructed to use images to commit a list of words to memory, recall is facilitated dramatically. In the study, subjects were required to learn pairs of words by rehearsing each pair, by making up a sentence for each pair of words, and by forming a mental image for each pair of words, with the image combining the words. They found that subjects who learned through imagery performed better on a recall test. Dual-coding theory Dual-coding theory contends that pictures and words activate independent visual codes (imagens) and verbal codes (logogens). The verbal system is language-like and specializes in linguistic activities associated with words and sentences, whereas, the visual system is thought of as a code for images and other picture-like representations (Rieber, 1994; Rieber, 1992). Rieber further explains that both verbal and visual subsystems have unique properties. Whereas logogens are stored in the verbal system as discrete elements, resembling words and sentences, imagens are stored as continuous units in the visual system. According to (Paivio, 1986; Rieber, 1992; Rieber, 1994), dual coding theory assumes that three levels of processing can occur within the verbal and visual systems. These are: representational connections, associative structure, and referential connections. Representational connections occur between incoming stimuli and either the verbal or visual system. Whereas verbal stimuli activate verbal memory codes, visual stimuli activate visual memory codes. Rieber (1994) explained that the important aspect of referential connections between the verbal and visual systems are not one to one, but can be one to many. For example, seeing a picture of a computer may invoke many verbal responses, such as an Applecomputer, an IBM computer or a Laptop computer. This concept can be applied when using pictures to learn vocabulary. Associative structures refer to activation or processing of information within any of the systems. The processing of information in the verbal system is assumed to be sequential or linear; whereas, processing of information in the visual system is believed to be parallel or synchronous. The separate coding systems, however, can aid each other so that something coded in both picture and verbal forms can be easily remembered (Rieber, 1994). The probability of recall is increased due to the availability of two mental representations instead of one. If one memory trace is lost, the other is still available (Rieber Kini, 1991). Multimedia CALL and vocabulary acquisition Studies (Reid, 1996; Davis Lyman-Hager, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997) showed the effectiveness of multimedia CALL on vocabulary learning in particular and language learning in general. Based upon this review, multimedia CALL programs that use motion pictures, still pictures, and text can help ESL students to improve their vocabulary skills. But it is not clear if a multimedia program with motion pictures or the one with still pictures will be more effective for intermediate level ESL students. More empirical studies to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia CALL with motion pictures and still pictures on vocabulary acquisition of ESL students can lead to the development of more effective methods for vocabulary acquisition. Motion graphics and still graphics Many studies (Rieber Kini 1991; Siribodhi, 1995; Rieber, 1990; Rieber, 1996) have shown that computer graphics are effective for gaining attention. Furthermore, Iheanacho (1997) suggested that computer graphics can encourage students to create mental images that in turn make it easier for them to learn certain types of information. The difference between motion graphics and still graphics is that motion creates the illusion of movement which helps to explain abstract concepts (Bricken, 1991; Rieber, 1994). In 1996, Rieber conducted a study to explore how users interact and learn during a computer-based simulation given graphical and textual forms of feedback. He found that subjects learned more when provided with animated graphical feedback than with textual feedback. Rieber hypothesized that interactive forms of multimedia, such as computer. simulations will promote different levels of processing depending on the type of representation used (e.g. text, graphics, motion and sound). In an earlier study, Rieber Kini (1991) contended that in contrast to static graphics, animated graphics can provide users with additional information through two important visual attributes: motion and trajectory. They also added that animation can provide information about whether the object is moving or whether the objects motion changes over time. Still or static pictures, on the other hand, lack motion and are more abstract than motion pictures. Still pictures suggest motion whereas motion pictures show life in action, can be used to study specific elements, and can bring us close to the point of visual contact (Dale, 1969). EXPERIMENTS ON COMPUTER-ASSISTED VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN THE ESL CLASSROOM RESEARCH QUESTIONS Pelletreau (2006) conducted an experiment Of chief importance in this study was the degree to which students would take advantage of computer-assisted opportunities for incidental vocabulary learning while performing online reading tasks. The study necessarily addressed a more fundamental question: How would students learn new words in the course of completing computer-based reading tasks? Lastly, and most importantly for this study, how was the learning of non-target words related to the learning of target words? (p.16). In an earlier study (see Juffs et al., April, 2006), students frequently used the online dictionary to look up the meanings of target words. In fact, students accessed 71% of all the definitions available to them on average, and yet, such behavior did not correlate with mastery of words (r = .16, n.s.). The best predictor of word mastery (as defined by 2 correctly answered post-reading vocabulary questions) was number of texts read (r = .86, p à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ .0001). In other words, students reading more texts mastered more words, though the time spent clicking on hints had almost no effect on word mastery (Juffs et al., April, 2006). If students were not benefiting from looking up target words, it may have been because they were not actually making use of target-word definitions. But what were they doing while reading? They were either unable or unwilling to learn target-word definitions. It became apparent that students were not gaining a substantial learning advantage by using the online dictionary. In other words, students were not achieving a desired learning outcome. They resisted their language-learning task and instead participated in a counter-task (Lantolf Thorne, 2006, p. 238) In this context, a decision was made to allow students to look up any word in the online dictionary. Perhaps students had been focusing their attention on non-target words, or maybe they had other preferred (and unknown) methods of using the program. It was clear that students were likely not using the REAP program the way they had been expected to, and it was also apparent that the instruments to gather data about students behavior in the LMC were lacking. As a result, REAP was modified to allow students to look up the meaning of any word, and the number of clicks of both target and non-target words was recorded. Because quantitative data alone would provide an incomplete picture of student vocabulary-learning behavior, qualitative data collection instruments were introduced. Students could be valuable sources of information about their own vocabulary-learning techniques. The acquisition of target vocabulary was thought to depend on student comprehension of non-target words. It was hypothesized that students would use information about non-target words to assist them in their target-vocabulary tasks. It may have been the case that knowledge of non-target words surrounding target words would aid students in making lexical and semantic connections that facilitated target-word acquisition. In line with such reasoning, a strong positive correlation between non-target and target-vocabulary acquisition was posited, at least up to a particular critical threshold. For those students who knew the meanings of very few of the words surrounding target words, it was reasoned, target-word acquisition would be minimal. In such a scenario, such students would have too many gaps in their word knowledge and too few resources to be able to acquire a considerable number of target words. In effect, students learning more non-target words were predicted to learn more target words, though only up to a point. Student accuracy on measures of target vocabulary knowledge should have correlated strongly with non-target vocabulary acquisition up to some critical point. After a certain threshold, the acquisition of additional non-target words might have led to a decrease in the number of target words acquired. Such a threshold may have depended in part on the general language proficiency of the student (measured in this case by the MTELP score). The finite nature of the students language-learning resources, including processing power, attention and memory, may also have been important. It was thought that students spending much of their time learning as many non-target words as they possibly could would likely perform as poorly with respect to target-word acquisition as those who paid little or no attention to non-target words. In such cases, it was plausible that temporal and cognitive constraints (Sweller, 1988; 1994) would lead to students acquiring relatively fewer target words. In effect, the distribution of target words acquired versus non-target words acquired should have been more or less nonlinear. That is, target-word learning should have reached some maximum value for a moderate value of non-target word learning. Additionally, the amount of non-target word acquisition occurring in the study should have been much less, on average, than that of target-word acquisition. While there may have been some exceptions, the explicit instructions to focus on target words coupled with the way the words appeared should have led to relatively greater student attention to target words. It should also be pointed out that students answered cloze questions testing their knowledge of target words (for which they received feedback) after each reading, while they answered no such questions and received no feedback pertaining to non-target words. Greater attention and in general, more cognitive resources devoted to target words should have translated to differential target and non-target vocabulary learning. In terms of predicting how many target and non-target words students learned, general language proficiency should have provided some indication of such information. Pelletreau (2006) concluded in this experimenr, Non-target word lookups did not correlate with target word acquisition. Students did not appear to learn target words faster or better by attending to non-target words. As a result, the relationship between the explicit and incidental learning students engaged in remains unclear. The relative effectiveness of each, as well as the optimal balance of explicit and incidental learning in such a context, is an open question. Benefits of CALL for Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension According to Constantinescu (2007) Multimedia refers to computer-based systems that use various types of content, such as text, audio, video, graphics, animation, and interactivity. Constantinescu (2007) mentioned in his article Most research on vocabulary acquisition and CALL has focused on the effects of multimedia glosses, and the same is true for reading comprehension, since vocabulary and reading are closely and reciprocally related. This reciprocal relationship also accounts for the fact that many research studies on vocabulary development and CALL also examine reading comprehension, and vice versa. Multimedia Glosses and Vocabulary Development One of the first to examine the effects of multimedia glosses for vocabulary development were Lyman-Hager and Davis (1996), who integrated a computer program into the French foreign language curriculum and discussed vocabulary acquisition and students glossing choices for 262 intermediate level students studying French. Two conditions were used in this study: computerized reading and non-computerized reading using an excerpt of Oyonos Une Vie de Boy. Both groups had access to glosses: the computer group had access to multimedia annotations, whereas the control group could consult printed text with the same glosses. As to whether or not computer treatment offered significant benefits to FL students, the results of the written recall protocol indicated that the experimental group who used the computer program to read the text significantly outperformed the control group who used the glossed reading in the print form. Using Multimedia for Vocabulary-building Constantinescu (2007) mentioned in his article However, multimedia is not used only for glossing texts. Multimedia is a central component of good computer-assisted skill-building software. Thus, Chanier and Selva (1998) stressed the benefits of multimedia support for learning L2/FL vocabulary and presented ALEXIA, a lexical learning environment for French as a L2/FL, which includes a corpus of texts, a general and a personal dictionary, and a lexical activities unit. After reviewing various viewpoints about the effectiveness of multimedia for vocabulary learning, they propose useful criteria for evaluating the quality of a visual representation in a lexical environment. Groot (2000) presented another multimedia-enhanced computer-assisted word acquisition program, called CAVOCA, whose aim was to speed up the vocabulary acquisition process. CAVOCA is an interactive program that takes learners through different stages of vocabulary development: deduction, consolidation, and long-term re tention. Benefits of Multimedia-enhanced Dictionaries Other research that focused on vocabulary development with technology argued for the increased effectiveness of multimedia-enhanced electronic dictionaries designed specifically for English language learners, and which have several built-in aids that their book counterparts cannot provide (e.g. the Longman Interactive English Dictionary, the Oxford Picture Dictionary Interactive, etc.) (Butler-Pascoe and Wiburg, 2003: 126-12) Benefits of Multimedia for Reading Comprehension The positive effect that multimedia has on reading comprehension comes, according to Busch (2003: 278), from the great advantage that online readers have over traditional printed readers: the possibility to enhance computerized texts with glosses in multimedia format. The effects of multimedia glossing received increased attention as researchers considered the possibility that computer-aided reading could create more proficient readers by offering a choice of various types of glosses to develop better vocabularies, greater background knowledge surrounding the text, and more effective reading strategies (Lyman-Hager and Davis, 1996: 775). Constantinescu (2007) remarked some principles for instructors to increase the efficiency of the introduced strategies: First Principle: Instructors Should Pay More Attention to the Existence of Various Teaching Tools For vocabulary acquisition, instructors could make great use of technology by using multimedia glossed texts, electronic dictionaries, corpora and concordance software, as well as various vocabulary-building software. Second Principle: Instructors Should Introduce Multimedia-glossed Texts into Their Vocabulary/Reading Classes Multimedia glossing triggers better results when compared to print glosses. Moreover, full glossing seems to be the best facilitator of vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension, as opposed to little or non-glossed texts. In addition, best results in retention are triggered by picture + text annotations, whereas pronunciation, video, and audio glosses seem to correlate negatively with reading comprehension. Third Principle: Instructors Should Be Acquainted with the Criteria for Software and Courseware Evaluation (e.g. goals, presentation, appropriateness, outcomes), As Well As Take Into Consideration Two Very Important Factors: Time and Effort Teachers must be aware that there are many different types of software or online materials available for ESL / EFL, however, not all of them are valuable for classroom instruction. Some materials focus on specific skills, while others focus on a wide range of skills and strategies. Moreover, instructors should also ensure that the materials used in class are motivating for students and are at an optimum, i+1 difficulty level, so that progress can be attained. Teachers should also pay attention to students level of familiarity with computers and keep in mind whether the chosen software will trigger the desired outcomes. Fourth Principle: Instructors Should Keep Up with Current Methodology and Make Best Use of Visuals and Multimedia Good CALL programs should make best use of visual elements and multimedia glossing, as well as generate students participation. The programs should be interactive, allowing the students to make choices. Also, they should consist of a wide range of different types of exercises in which students not only choose the right answers but also type in answers. Summary L2 comprehention depends mostly on acquiring vocabulary at least 7,000 words as was mentioned by Groot (2000: 62). Due to the importance of vocabulary acquisition some ways were discussed, and through some experiments by Prell it becomes clear taht the CAVOCA method produced better results for the retention of the vocabulary (p,3). So, in continuation, my research focused on the influence of different models of Call strategies on accelerating vocabulary learning and how the instructors should use them in the best way to increase their efficiencies. Conclusion Among different forms of computerized ways of vocabulary learning, some ways were mentioned. While being different from each other, it is proved that some of them are more efficient that others. All in all, CALL can be a useful instrument for both teachers and students in regard to the priority it has to the difficult traditional ways.

Essay on the Voice of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God

The Powerful Voice of Janie in Their Eyes Were Watching God The world of Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God was one of oppression and disappointment. She left the world of her suffocating grandmother to live with a man whom she did not love, and in fact did not even know. She then left him to marry another man who offered her wealth in terms of material possessions but left her in utter spiritual poverty. After her second husband's death, she claims responsibility and control of her own life, and through her shared love with her new husband, Teacake, she is able to overcome her status of oppression. Zora Neale Hurston artfully and effectively shows this victory over oppression throughout the book through her use of language. Her use of such stylistic devices as free indidrect discourse and signifting allow her to use language as power; the power for a black woman to realize her own potential. The voice which Hurston creates is marked by her intertwining of black vernacular and standard English to create a seemless, fluid narration. The combination of the two seemingly dichotomous aspects of language is called the "speakerly text" by Henry Louis Gates in his essay of the same name, and is also more commonly called free indirect discourse. The scene in which Mayor Starks, Janie's husband, has erected the new street lamp for the town, exemplifies Hurston's use of free indirect discourse. Janie and her husband first speak to each other using the recognizable black dialect of the region: "Well, honey, how yuh like bein' Mrs. Mayor?" "It's all right Ah reckon, but don't yuh think it keeps us in a kinda strain?" The omniscient third person narrator then captures J... ...pjc.cc.fl.us/hooks/Zora.html Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row, 1937. Johnson, Barbara. "Metaphor, Metonymy and Voice in Their Eyes Were Watching God." Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. " 'Tuh de Horizon and Back': The Female Quest in Their Eyes Were Watching God." Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Pondrom, Cyrena N. "The Role of Myth in Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." American Literature 58.2 (May 1986): 181-202. Williams, Shirley Anne. Forward. Their Eyes Were Watching God. By Zora Neale Hurston. New York: Bantam-Dell, 1937. xv.

Nucleic Acids :: essays research papers

DNA is the single most important molecule found within cells. It is a stable polynucleotide, which contains coded information for inherited characteristics. It is contained in chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryot cell. The essential features of the Watson-Crick model are summarised below. 1. The two helical polynucleotide chains are coiled around a common axis. The two chains have opposite polarity i.e. they are antiparrallel. 2. The regular repeating sugar phosphate backbone of each strand lies on the outside of the helix. The purine and pyrimidine bases project inwards at 900 to the axis of the helix. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The two strands are held together by hydrogen bonding between pairs of bases such that guanine always pairs with cytosine and adenine always pairs with thymine; this is called complementary base pairing 3. The diameter of the helix is 2.0 nm and adjacent bases are separated by 0.34 nm and inclined at 360 relative to each other. This means that each complete turn of the double helix contains about 10 base pairs. 4. The amount of guanine is usually equal to that of cytosine. The monomers of RNA and DNA are called nucleotides. Each nucleotide has three parts: A Five Carbon or Pentose Sugar The sugar will be one of two very similar pentose rings. Ribonucleic acids contain the sugar ribose. Deoxyribonucleic acids contain the sugar deoxyribose. The only difference between these two sugars is that deoxyribose contains one oxygen atom less than ribose. Pentose sugars are essential because they are involved in linking different nucleotides together by condensation reactions. The Nitrogen-Containing Bases There are two types of bases found in nucleic acids. The purine bases have two nitrogen containing rings, while the pyrimidines have only one. In DNA the purines are adenine (A) and guanine (G) and the pyrimidines are cytosine (C) and thymine (T). In RNA the purine bases are the same as in DNA, but the pyrimidines are cytosine and uracil (U). These rings have the chemical property of being bases because of the nitrogen atoms they contain. Adenine always forms 2 hydrogen bonds with thymine. Cytosine always forms 3 hydrogen bonds with guanine. Nucleic Acids :: essays research papers DNA is the single most important molecule found within cells. It is a stable polynucleotide, which contains coded information for inherited characteristics. It is contained in chromosomes in the nucleus of an eukaryot cell. The essential features of the Watson-Crick model are summarised below. 1. The two helical polynucleotide chains are coiled around a common axis. The two chains have opposite polarity i.e. they are antiparrallel. 2. The regular repeating sugar phosphate backbone of each strand lies on the outside of the helix. The purine and pyrimidine bases project inwards at 900 to the axis of the helix. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The two strands are held together by hydrogen bonding between pairs of bases such that guanine always pairs with cytosine and adenine always pairs with thymine; this is called complementary base pairing 3. The diameter of the helix is 2.0 nm and adjacent bases are separated by 0.34 nm and inclined at 360 relative to each other. This means that each complete turn of the double helix contains about 10 base pairs. 4. The amount of guanine is usually equal to that of cytosine. The monomers of RNA and DNA are called nucleotides. Each nucleotide has three parts: A Five Carbon or Pentose Sugar The sugar will be one of two very similar pentose rings. Ribonucleic acids contain the sugar ribose. Deoxyribonucleic acids contain the sugar deoxyribose. The only difference between these two sugars is that deoxyribose contains one oxygen atom less than ribose. Pentose sugars are essential because they are involved in linking different nucleotides together by condensation reactions. The Nitrogen-Containing Bases There are two types of bases found in nucleic acids. The purine bases have two nitrogen containing rings, while the pyrimidines have only one. In DNA the purines are adenine (A) and guanine (G) and the pyrimidines are cytosine (C) and thymine (T). In RNA the purine bases are the same as in DNA, but the pyrimidines are cytosine and uracil (U). These rings have the chemical property of being bases because of the nitrogen atoms they contain. Adenine always forms 2 hydrogen bonds with thymine. Cytosine always forms 3 hydrogen bonds with guanine.

Blue Fin Restaurant

Imagine walking in the door of a lovely restaurant. Inside, the customers see Asian paintings and notice the clean restaurant with a fusion taste. Blue Fin restaurant is filled with Japanese heritage and atmosphere. Japanese speaking hosts seat the hungry customers at a table lined with a hand-stitched Asian tablecloth with candles on top. The waiter brings the menus and tea to the table, and while deciding what to order, the customers can relax to traditional Japanese house music all the way to modern day music. Before ordering, customers are tortured with the aroma of the food surrounding them. Fresh tea all around, hot soup, and delicious appetizers right from the kitchen pass by their table on the way to the mouths of other hungry customers. Deciding what to order could be the hardest task of the night. Looking around at what others have ordered doesn’t help much either: almost every dish looks good enough to eat. The menu has a variety of different Japanese dishes. With everything from Shrimp tempura to fresh Sushi, almost anyone can find something they can enjoy. The ambience of Blue Fin is that this new space has a sort of club atmosphere, with flashing lights; ambient electronic; a red, black, and white color scheme; even a cool bathroom. It may be awful lot of atmosphere crammed into a tiny storefront, but while waiting for your order you can enjoy yourself with the surroundings. The idea of giving a Japanese restaurants tears it apart from traditional sushi restaurants, it gives it a more modernistic yet a unique taste that it can target young couples or all sorts of age to come. When you walk into a restaurant you don’t want to see just a plain restaurant with dull colors, you want to be able to remember it and be able to keep the taste of it fresh in your mind. Blue Fin is an upscale restaurant that welcomes family and businesses. Usually Japanese restaurants are looked upon as a more expensive place than others, but with the quality that Blue Fin has to offer it is well worth the money. The restaurant is located in downtown Chicago the center of all attention. Around this restaurant there are many attractions including Millenium Park, train station and also by many offices including Chase Bank building. This location was chosen so that people can not only have the choice of choosing the typical Italian Bistro restaurants that Chicago is known for, but also can have a new sense of an up-scale Japanese Fusion restaurant. There will be three servers, four sushi chefs, and two assistant chefs behind the kitchen, one manager and also one bartender that would be serving only during the dinner shift.

Internationalization of RMB: The Impacts on China and Its Trading Partner Essay

After the thirty years of great economic reforms, imposed in 1978, China has been showing an incredible results and performance. Due to the suitable economic conditions such as cheap labor force and low domestic currency’s (RMB) exchange rate, China has become the largest manufacturer of goods and receiver of foreign direct investments, the majority of which has been in manufacturing industry. And today China has totally changed from the poor agricultural country to the world’s arising economic power state. So with the rise of Chinese economy, its deep integration and significant influence in the world market and at the same time with the instability of euro area and in international monetary system in a whole, the issue of RMB internationalization and China’s exchange rate policy has become of huge importance to the world. So in this essay I will briefly analyze the characteristics of the international currencies, their benefits and costs, and then I will explain China’s interest and steps toward the RMB internationalization and will mainly focus on its impacts on China and its partners. The term of international currency has defined characteristics so that a currency can be considered international if it is used outside the issuing country for the transactions between other foreign states (Investopedia). And according to Chinn and Frankel (2008) (as cited in Lee, 2010) there are four criteria to determine â€Å"international currency status†: 1) Large enough size of country’s trade and output; 2) Liberal developed financial market; 3) Stable currency exchange rate; 4) High level of demand of the currency. Moreover, Kenen(1983) and Chinn&Frankel(2005) (as cited in Haihong Gao & Yongding Yu) stated that the international currency has several functions : 1. act as a store value(i.e. country’s international reserve); 2. act as a medium of exchange(e.g. in trade transactions ) and 3. be a unit of account. So, considering all these, let’s check the suitability of Yuan for international currency status and Chinese government’s challenges and policy steps in internationalizing RMB (Eichengreen, 2010). As their first step China stimulated the use of RMB in setting trade and trade transactions with the neighboring countries by allowing the companies to open RMB-denominated accounts in the banks in Hong Kong and make operating transactions (payments, transfers, etc.) in Yuan. Secondly, they encourage using Yuan in all kinds of financial transactions and permit private institutions to issue their RMB-denominated bonds, making Hong Kong the offshore RMB bond market center. And as the third step, China made arrangements with interested foreign central banks about adding RMB into their international reserve baskets, reaching total of China’s bilateral currency swap agreements in RMB to over RMB 800 billion (Cookson & Dyer 2010, as cited in Otero-Iglesias) and making RMB a world reserve currency. However, RMB is still far from the international status(due to highly government-controlled banking system and capital control) and its internationalization is just beginning and all these shows only China’s commitment to that policy and market’s increasing interest. But still it is obvious that the internationalization of RMB is just only a matter of time. There are several obvious benefits of RMB internationalization for China and it’s trading partners (Haihong Gao & Yongding Yu). Since there will be more RMB-denominated trade and financial transactions, the exchange risk for the trading parties (both Chinese and foreign) be will red uced and the related costs be eliminated. And this in turn will increase the cross border bilateral transactions and gains from it, especially in the East Asian region, where RMB has already become a dominant currency. Secondly, with the internationalization of RMB, China and other countries will be less dependent on USD (Haihong Gao & Yongding Yu). Since USD accounts for more than 70% of China’s exchange currency reserve, China faces a huge risk of big losses as a result of USD exchange rate fluctuations. However, with the RMB-denominated claims, China would not be so dependent on USA. Moreover, with RMB other countries will have more choice on reserve currency and will not be so dependent on USD as well. Thirdly, RMB internationalization will allow the foreign direct investments into China and also cross-border outward investments from it be in RMB. This will obviously benefit the investors, expand the circulation of RMB in both directions of investments and will expand China’s financial market, and its competitiveness and influence as well (Haihong Gao & Yongding Yu). Lastly, since the developed financial market, the currency exchange rate and currency convertibility are the criteria of the international reserve currency; China will face a need for currency and capital account liberalization reforms and further financial reforms in a whole, including unpegging RMB and RMB appreciation. Although for an export-based Chinese economy appreciation of RMB would be harmful in a short run, besides the drawbacks there are the benefits of strong RMB. Appreciation of RMB means the increase in cost of production, therefore an increase in cost for the importers from China. So the importers and the customers will switch to the cheaper substitutes produced in other countries (this statement may vary in different industries). The increasing demand for cheap substitutes will lead to developments and expansion of production in other countries, and will reduce their unemployment rates and etc. Thus, strong RMB as an international currency may benefit China’s neighbors and other developing countries. Moreover, strong RMB benefits China as well. Losing competitiveness in manufacturing industry, China will have to switch from low-efficiency and labor-intensive industries to a more efficient and developed ones and transform from an industry-based economy to a knowledge-based economy (with dominating services sector). In conclusion, with the increasing role of China in the world trade and growing demand for RMB, the internationalization of RMB is just only a matter of time. Although changing the anchor currency(USD) to RMB may cause uncertain effects, the internationalization of RMB will obviously have positive impacts on both China and the rest of the world. And in the nearest future RMB is likely to become the third international reserve currency, after euro and USD. References: Investopedia, Currency Internationalization, What Does Currency Internationalization Mean? Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currency_internationalization.asp#axzz1f5mjUVqB Lee, J-W.(2010, June) Will the Renminbi Emerge as an International Reserve Currency? Retrieved from http://aric.adb.org/grs/papers/Lee.pdf Haihong Gao & Yongding Yu. Internationalisation of the renminbi. Retrieved from http://www.bis.org/repofficepubl/arpresearch200903.05.pdf Eichengreen.B.(2010, January). The Renminbi as an International Currency Retrieved from http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~eichengr/renminbi_international_1-2011.pdf Otero-Iglesias. M. The Internationalisation of the Renminbi (RMB): A Strategy of Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones. Retrieved from http://www.igadi.org/china/2011/pdf/moi_the_internationalisation_of_the_renminbi.pdf

Leadership strategy Essay

A primary task of high performance leadership is to provide strategic direction to the organisation, various departments and divisions within the organisation, and to the people who ultimately implement strategic leadership. But regular employees are seldom involved in the process. Authoritarian governance has had two powerful and mutually reinforcing dynamics: People at â€Å"the top† of the organisation, normally in senior managerial positions, have tended to maintain control over strategic processes. They have often become alienated from the realities of operational or shop floor demands and challenges People at operational levels have been part of authoritarian behaviour in different ways (passivity, fear, frustrated) The core challenge is to position strategic leadership as an integrated set of activities and processes which ensure that people across all levels and functions understand their own roles and accountabilities as it relates to the organisation’s strategic leadership Successful strategic leadership occurs when people across all levels and functions have a common understanding about a few essential issues: Knowledge of how strategic leadership is formulated, translated and communicated, implemented and assured within the organisation The formal business processes. The specific and different roles, rights and accountabilities of stakeholders Clear understanding of personal and team roles Comprehension of the various requirements and roles Popular acceptance that legitimate hierarchy and rank are essential components Definition and acceptance of the roles, rights and accountabilities The challenge is crafting solutions which create legitimate and popularly supported rank and hierarchy, and with clearly understood boundaries which describe what may and what may not be done by optimally empowered people Rank, hierarchy and boundaries per se are not only a feature of authoritarian systems. They are an essential part of successful democratic workplaces where a culture of high performance through high involvement can thrive There is still a need for clear definition of a range of roles, rights and accountabilities. There is a need to define two mutually reinforcing parameters: What are the roles, rights and accountabilities that have to be acknowledged by everybody to ensure the organisation’s capacity to fulfill the requirements of high performance What are the constraints, the limits or conditions of high involvement Drucker proposes that strategic leadership needs to fulfill requirements in four areas: Effectiveness Efficiency Long-term Short-term VISION (Long-term effectiveness): Understanding the organisation’s total competitive environment, and positioning it in the present so that it is appropriately placed INTERDEPENDENCE (Long-term efficiency): Identifying, balancing, integrating and aligning all of the external and internal variables that are likely to have an impact on the organisation’s capacity to fulfill its strategic leadership STRUCTURE (Short-term efficiency): Establish replicable standards, approaches and methods which minimize the need for duplication and enhances the capacity to deliver uniform or required quality as a matter of course ACTION (Short-term effectiveness): Taking the necessary steps and action to ensure the delivery of products and services which meet the needs of both internal and external customers An integrated strategic leadership consists of all four VISA elements. The dominance of only one element could perhaps be described as: Only vision: Exciting bankruptcy. People cannot identify with the development of strategies Only Interdependence: Happy bankruptcy: never-ending cycles of consultation Only Structure: Precise bankruptcy: bureaucracy and red tape Only Action: Busy bankruptcy: people perpetually busy but not necessarily productive The absence or weakness of any component of strategic leadership will undermine the success of the organisation: 0ISA: Weakness of vision leaves people without common direction V0SA: Poor interdependence almost always leads to some stakeholders feeling that their legitimate interests are not being met VI0A: Insufficient emphasis on standardization leads to lack of essential disciplines and conformance to necessary standards VIS0: Ultimately the organisation can only survive and thereby satisfy the interests of all its stakeholders if it has a high propensity for action Organisations and teams regularly develop a bias that values some elements more than they do others. Personal styles and approaches also contribute to establish our individual preferences and approaches. It is useful to rate your personal approaches and preferences, as well as that of your team or organisation Vision provides a compelling dream that galvanizes and aligns the behaviours and contributions of people across all levels and functions. A real vision is very active. It is filled with drive, energy and perpetual motion. The vision, or long term effectiveness element of strategic leadership, is achieved by fulfilling the following requirements: 1. Scan the external environment and conditions 2. enable leadership to anticipate long-term forces of change 3. create a challenging view of the future 4. tension between the desirable future and those elements of the present that could inhibit progress 5. communicated with passion 6. evaluated against the present 7. new challenges emerge 8. leadership must always act with insufficient information 9. interacting with stakeholders 10. dynamic and living process Interdependence acknowledges that no organisation operates in isolation. Every organisation is a system operating within a system. It requires the acknowledgement and willingness to embrace the interests of a variety of diverse stakeholders. The interdependent or long-term efficiency component of strategic leadership is fulfilled in the following ways: 1. Variables must be identified 2. The interests of all stakeholders must be defined and appreciated 3. Balance and meet all possible diverse stakeholder needs 4. The support of all stakeholders must be gained and increased over time 5. Interaction must be facilitated between stakeholders for them to appreciate their interdependent nature 6. There will inevitably be conflict between stakeholders 7. The roles and accountabilities that various people and stakeholders have to fulfill must be defined quite clearly 8. Keeping people adequately informed is a crucial element of interdependence 9. Mutual trust and respect 10. help people to define their own specific contributions to the organisation As organisations become more complex, and as the world within which we operate becomes increasingly unpredictable, the need for Structure increases significantly. Successful organisational strategic leadership has to establish and maintain a range of activities that introduce and maintain Structure: 1. The specific interests of stakeholders need to be both quantified and qualified 2. In today’s competitive environment it is essential for organisations to establish required benchmarks of performance 3. There is a constant interplay between specific stakeholder interests and meeting required benchmarks of performance 4. provision of relevant and useful information 5. Standards have to be set and communicated on an ongoing basis 6. Standards are no longer a fixed point on the horizon 7. The discipline of continuously and regularly monitoring performance is one that cannot be sacrificed 8. It also has to look at elements such as leadership style, living of values, and commitment to the subtleties of people development 9. Consequences of non-conformance need to be defined, understood and applied 10. people across all levels and functions thrive on information–driven problem solving Action is the level at which products and services are actually delivered to meet the interests of customers. Creating and keeping more customers. A sustained and high propensity for action is achieved in the following ways: 1. The organisation’s vision must be made relevant to operational areas 2. Customer needs cannot be fulfilled only by sales and distribution functions 3. Accountability has to be placed as close as possible to the source of action 4. people have to be continuously part of determining the limits and constraints within which they are expected to operate 5. Successful action is driven by leaders who establish their personal power of presence (top executives have no time) 6. Quality and productivity has to be an in-built function 7. demonstration of attitude and will 8. Emphasis on people development 9. attitude that accepts error as an inevitable consequence of innovation and action 10. A propensity for innovation and action LEARNING The growing complexity and competitiveness of the international and local economic environments within which organisations have to survive and prosper makes it essential for leaders of the future to value learning Leaders must develop the capacity to think simultaneously about paradoxical and contradictory requirements. The act of leadership is, as Peter Drucker puts it, the challenge of constructive destruction, of doing things differently and doing different things Kolb: real learning has only taken place when every one of the four facets has been included in the process: Abstract Conceptualization: â€Å"think about the previously unthinkable or unknowable†. It requires the capacity for hypothetical formulation Reflective Observation: need to stand back and observe what is happening Concrete Experience: ability to continuously asses what has worked and to pass this experience on to others. concrete experience remains one of the only ways in which organisations can develop replicable application of processes and activities that ensure minimum conformance to standards Active Experimentation: often organisations still limit the ability and space for people to become involved in such activities. Active experimentation requires calculated risk-taking The relationsip can be described as follows: Abstract conceptualization x reflective observation x concrete experience x active experimentation = Learning and Leadership Abstract Conceptualization x 0 x 0 x 0 = 0: we often remain hamstrung by old experiences which may have become irrelevant 0 x Reflective Observation x 0 x 0 = 0: Nothing happens and there is no real threat that anything will happen! 0 x 0 x Concrete Experience = 0: People relying predominantly upon concrete experience for their learning are caught in a perpetual search for the infallible, predictable, pre-planned, scheduled, structured, all-eventuality, and all bases covered solutions to problems – â€Å"late adapters† 0 x 0 x 0 x Active Experimentation = 0: All that matters for them is the exhilaration of making things up as you go The Consequences of Undervaluing any Facet of Learning: 0 x Reflective Observation x Concrete Experience x Active Experimentation = 0 (The absence of Abstract Conceptualization): It is much easier to define this symptom than it is to resolve it Abstract Conceptualization x 0 x Concrete Experience x Active Experimentation = 0 (The absence of Reflective Observation): The number of continuously changing variables which are capable of influencing the performance of an organisation are virtually endless. people either stopped taking a hard and reflective look at what was going on, or they stopped asking appropriate questions. he managers, and more often the specialist staff functions, start to confuse doing lots of things with an integrated and holistic approach, but they lack congruence and theoretical integration. without an integrative framework and commonly shared model, people rapidly lose their commitment and stamina to sustain focused activity Abstract Conceptualization x Reflective Observation x 0 x Active Experimentation = 0 (The absence of Concrete Experience): things become redundant while they are still on the drawing board or as soon as they are launched. age-old and essential facet of learning – the assimilation and valuing of concrete experience. The single most common symptom is that untested assumptions abound Abstract Conceptualization x Reflective Observation x Concrete Experimentation x 0 = 0 (The absence of Active Experimentation): People develop an inward approach to problems and issues. It does not take too long for such insularity to develop into suspicion of external developments By critically evaluating how organisations learn, and constantly determining whether all the facets of learning are being fully developed and utilized, we can provide a much more tenacious learning environment.