Charles Dickens: A Biography

Charles Dickens one of the greatest authors of all time. Dickens wrote on the people of the Industrial Revolution and on truth and realism. Dickens wrote about every aspect of life and included all classes of society. Dickens used experiences from his own life and turned them into creativity for his novels and other writings. Charles Dickens was one of the greatest authors of English Literature because he wrote on the issues and problems that concerned the lives of the people around him. Charles Dickens was born in February 1812 in Portsmouth, England to a middle social class that influenced much of his work later in life (Smiley1). Charles Dickens used his imagination and his creations to make up things and put them in stories. Dickens envisioned people and the world in the city as a physical place. He saw human activity as a focus of interest and setting for a story (Nelson 28-29). Dickens literary career began by writing for Monthly Magazine and London Evening Chronicles when he wrote the Sketches of Boz (Gissing 7). Dickens also wrote Parliamentary debates and feature articles based on his experience and observations in the Parliament (Smiley 1). In his work Dickens largely reflected the political economic and social aspects of the society comprising of the poor, peasants, workers, landlords, the rich, and the state. Dickens wrote in the 19th century England that was characterized by oppressed poor masses with few rights. The society at this time had an oppressive bureaucracy whose machinations made the life for the poor almost unbearably, and Dickens provided information reflecting injustices of the system and the resulting exploitation of the poor. Through Dickens’ series of stories like Sketches of Boz and Pickwick Papers published on the Morning of Chronicles he made known the suffering of the poor using a quick wit and significant intuitiveness about their lives (Smiley 4). Dickens wrote fourteen novels in three years with eight of them having 875 pages (Nelson 25-29). Dickens concentrated on performing one of the most profound 19th century social commentaries denouncing poverty and social stratification using works such as Oliver Twist and Hard Times. Through his social commentaries Dickens brought up strong cases of poverty, crime, misfortunes of being poor, class stratifications, bleak economic systems, treatments of the poor, and condemnation of inconsiderable public institutions. In bringing out the snobbery of the aristocracy and the oppressive of the poor, Dickens used satire that served well to bring out indignities. Dickens used fancy and realism with a satirical overriding style that formed his style. Dickens used irony, which formed a significant part of bringing to light his arguments and showing his anger at oppression (Smiley 8). Dickens’ works were presented in weekly and monthly installments. They were affordable, accessible, and regular for all making his commentary more profound. Dickens in the 19th century was a writer who used novels, essays, and short stories to bring to light social injustices against the poor. Through his writings, he also reflected on the extent and impact of poverty on the society in the time period. Through his reflections Dickens presented powerful social and political views criticizing the rich and the state and arguing out the cause of the poor. Dickens political message was on the pressure, liberty, improvement and equality expressed as part of social reform and criticism. Dickens pointed out the flaws of greed for money and criticized the neglect of the poor such as through the book Oliver Twist that show the life of a poor boy, who from his birth suffers misfortunes and misery at the hands of the people only willing to use the poor as an means to end riches. In his political expression, Dickens shows his outrage at the leadership for allowing degradation and criticizes the Poor Laws that dedicated public charity (Smiley 14). In Oliver Twist, Dickens offers a biting social commentary focusing on victimization and abandonment (Smiley 14). In his illustrations he uses the concept of the workhouses found in all cities, where the poor are left to half starve (Dickens 6a). The focuses of the book Oliver Twist were showing the oppression of the poor and abuse of the poor children as perpetrated by the state. Dickens highly disapproved of how the state treats the poor and orphaned children, which he brings to light through institutional abuse. In Oliver Twist Dickens shows institutional failure and abuse by referring to the Parish running the warehouse in which Oliver was born and that approves he will be taken to an orphanage with very poor conditions with little food or hygiene and where children were taken for offending against the poor laws (Dickens 7a). Dickens disapproved of the work house policy such as Oliver was taken to when he turned 12, where the poor underwent emotional and physical abuse, and where children were liable to punishment even with out enough reason (Brennan and Norton pg. 504). Nevertheless, Dickens’ most profound political commentary was his disapproval of the new Poor Law of 1834 that came into effect to relieve the society of the burden of taking care of the poor and made poverty almost a crime (Fletcher 1). The law established the workhouse to house the poor seeking public assistance, although in there people suffered humiliation, stigma, emotional branding, and deprivation of both psychological and physical needs (Brennan and Norton pg. 504). The state imposed a deliberate inadequacy in the workhouses that made many option out to suffer on the streets to face public aid (Fletcher 3). In additional to institutional criticism, Dickens denounces that the goodness of the workhouses in instilling the value of working and denounces the Christian virtue of he middle class bureaucrats that subjected the poor to cruelty in the name of charity (Dickens 18 a). Dickens shows that the system has made the poor commodities for proving labor for the rich, the powerful and the state, and shows how the system has led to crime and prostitution as the poor try to escape the oppression (Fletcher 1). Unfortunately, the class of people that suffered most from the enactment of the Poor Laws and Workhouses were the children, the old, and the sick that were unable to fend for themselves on the streets (Fletcher 4). In addition to political sentiments, Dickens offers socialist ideologies by providing insight into social reforms, such as in the story â€Å"A Christmas Carol† that tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge a misery old man who sees Christmas as an excuse for the poor to expect handouts and for the people to miss work. Through the character Scrooge, Dickens brings home the opinion that the rich in the Victorian 19th century society concentrated more on attaining and retaining wealth, characteristics of capitalism instead of helping the poor (Pike). In qualifying this opinion, Scrooge considers it sufficient to pay taxes and considered the poor as idle and lazy therefore should not be given charity. Dickens shows that society should recognize the plight of the poor and contribute towards treating them more humanely. Scrooge embodies the prosperous English classes that see the poor as nothing and who think their responsibility towards helping others end with paying taxes (Book Rag Book Notes). Using the story of Scrooge, Dickens calls welfare from the poor showing that being unchairitable may lead to misfortune such as befell Marley a dead partner of Scrooge and as will happen to Scrooge if he does not change. Dickens’ socialist view such as in the book are however not through collectivism of resources, but through the rich coming in to help the poor, thus his ocialist ideals are that of charity and social responsibility of the rich towards the poor. Charles Dickens was one of the greatest authors of English Literature because he wrote on the issues and problems that concerned the lives of the people around him. Dickens achieved worldwide popularity for his novels, rich storytelling and memorable characters. He created scenes and descriptions of places that have longed delighted readers. Dickens was a keen observer of life and had a great understanding of humanity, especially of young people.Works Cited http://www.bookrags.com/notes/xmas/TOP1

On Theory of Brief History of Translation Essay

In general, since mankind started translation activities, the study of translation has never ceased. Discussions about translation have become so frequent that various translation theories have been formed gradually in Chinese. In this paper, Habermas’s theory of communicative action reinterpreting the concept of the understanding of translation studies, and Translation to indicate this special form of cross-cultural communication in how to effectively interpret metaphor. Keywords: theory of communicative action; metaphor comprehension; translation 1. Introduction Translation is a metaphor of language as the carrier of the cross-cultural communication activities, but also a language that will carry the message to another language to the inter subjectivity of communicative action. Inter subjectivity of communicative action for the research, after Germany modern philosopher Habermas’s â€Å"theory of communicative action† (Theory of Communication Action) opened the door for people new window. The theory is swelling in different philosophical ideas and views to choose based on the creation of a complex, multifaceted â€Å"rational alliance system†, it â€Å"understood† as the core language, based on critical theory of the financial community, general pragmatics, social evolution theory as a unified framework. 2. Under the theory of communicative action the concept of translation studies to understand 2.1 Translation studies in the new way – AC Zhu act theory. Translation Studies from the traditional structural linguistics semantic stage to stage, the development of transmission 90 to the 20th century deconstruction of the stage, after a lengthy process. Semantic translation of the traditional paradigm by the impact of the classical theory of knowledge, that â€Å"man is the soul,† the understanding of the object is totally dependent on the translator’s subjective feelings, emphasizing the translator’s understanding and inspiration, emphasis on â€Å"spirit† and â€Å"Transformation†, had gained the so-called flash in the pan. Because it is too much emphasis on the translator’s initiative to make this cross-cultural communication activities translate into a mystical practice. 80 years of the 20th century, structural linguistics in China set off a new upsurge in Translation Studies. People started to pay attention the text, try to use linguistic analysis methods instead of intuitive feeling that in the complicated hidden behind the words of a universal and regularities, as long as it can control the expression of all, making the translation into a simple mechanical operation, that is, the semantics of a target language are stored in the source language and regulations put a rule in the semantic content of thought into the preparation of. Obviously, such a tool and went to the other extreme – too much emphasis on language as the object of the role of law, then followed by the fierce criticism of the ideological trend. Deconstruction gives people a new way of thinking. It broke structure, deconstruction of the system so that the provisions of one dollar to diversify the situation, the logical name translation from the language of Sri Lanka fetters doctrine, but still it will be translated once again into the irrational, too much publicity consciousness, so that interpretation becomes an infinite delay activity, the understanding and exchanges between people seems to have become impossible. How to overcome this ideology of intolerance, effective language as medium of intercultural communication activities? I believe that the use of Habermas’s theory of communicative action, for the translation of research to find a new way of reason. 2.2 Translation understands the concept of re-interpretation. A French translator said: â€Å"The translation is to understand and make people understand.† Building understanding is the cornerstone of translation is the first step in the process of translation, not a good understanding of the translation step. When we think the theory of communicative action has opened a new translation of the windows, it is necessary to understand the concept of re-interpretation. Habermas believes that the language as a medium of social interaction, verbal communication to understand each other, or far from effective communication. Communicative action in the language, that language, the analysis can be regulated. Each speech acts and statements have the effect the dual structure. Purposes of section as the main statement, in the communication layer between the main body; and vice statement as part of statement, in the main contents of the table between the layers. Part of the implementation of speech acts in a decisive role, because it limits the relationship between language and the listener, but also the meaning of the Statute of the contents of the statement. The two structures in the speech act are interdependent. Sometimes words that are a part of which may be stressed, but it does not mean denying other part, but it only temporarily relegated to a secondary position. For example, â€Å"my phone battery died,† the phrase, seemed to be merely stating the fact that mobile phone battery is dead, but in fact it implies a variety of behavioral significance; â‘   because the battery died, so I just did not pick up the phone; â‘ ¡ I must go recharge; â‘ ¢ I will not carry a cell phone and with PHS, the PHS something please call me. This is the hidden part of the implementation of, According to the specific situation; it would serve the purposes of this or that effect. Searle that â€Å"the idea of ​​the original speaker, or intrinsic intentionality is converted to words, statements, signs, symbols, etc., these words, statements, signs, symbols meaningful to speak out if they have a From the speaker’s thoughts in the derived intentionality. They not only have the traditional linguistic sense, but also with the intention of the speaker’s meaning. â€Å"This is undoubtedly the words of Habermas and similar to the dual structure theory. Accordingly on the significance of understanding is also necessary to double the corresponding division. Understand a word should be divided into two to look at the presentation layer is the known what on the issue, and in the communication layer is the know-how of the problem. know -what is the statement that those who understand how to reach such a clear knowledge and understanding that it can acquire the knowledge; from the perspective of those who understand, to ask him to be able to understand semantics, syntax, rules, line up the â€Å"words, statements, mark the symbol â€Å"what constitutes the meaning. know how is the statement that those who have the ability to construct or implement the ability of this speech act is an implicit awareness of the rules; from the perspective of those who understand, to ask him who can understand the speech of this implicit awareness of the rules. In this dual understanding, understanding of the content of verbal expression is an understanding (know-what), but to those who truly grasp the inner speech must enter double intentionality level understanding (know-how), that is part of the implementation of the understanding. Therefore, understanding can not be stuck in the form of a priori judgments must be reached in the communication process. to understand the goal is to guide a recognition that â€Å"the sharing of knowledge, trust each other, the two international interdependence consistent with the subjective. â€Å"It not only includes the traditional understanding of linguistic expressions, but also† in connection with each other that the normative discourse related to the correctness of the background, and between the two main some kind of coordination â€Å", and† the two participants in the process of communication is something the world to reach understanding, and the intention to make himself understood each other. â€Å" 3. Metaphors Habermas’s theory of communicative action on the construction of translation studies methodology has the macro guidance of translation practice is also instructive significance? View of the Newmark said, â€Å"metaphor translation is a microcosm of all the language translation, because translation to the translation of metaphor methods were showing a wide range of choices: either transfer its meaning, or reshape its image, or a modification of their, or their meaning and image of the perfect combination. â€Å"The following instructions will use the metaphor theory of communicative action in cross-cultural communication The Interpretation of. Metaphor is a phenomenon of language use in the â€Å"Dictionary not found in metaphor.† Metaphor from the modern point of view of science should be in the form of metaphor with the exception, belong to different categories in the semantics, logic dislocation, resulting in a semantic conflict, and when the listeners have responded to the conflict, it generates a metaphorical sense, that is a metaphor to understand the words. For the metaphor of the operating mechanism, it was actually made such a description: â€Å"Metaphor involves two different areas (areas) concept; the production of metaphorical meaning is the result of the interaction between the two concepts. This interaction by mapping the way in the mapping process, belonging to a related concept and structure of the field was transferred to another area, the final after the formation of a new synthesis of conceptual structure, that is, metaphorically. And this mapping and integration process is based on two areas of similarity in some respects. â€Å"This is no doubt that the understanding of the need to double by metaphor. The process of understanding metaphors consist of two parts: the identification and metaphorical meaning metaphors inference. In fact this is a secondary level of understanding into the process of understanding. Give an example of people often referred to â€Å"The tongue is a fire â€Å", from the presentation layer of understanding (an understanding),† tongue â€Å"by the American Heritage Dictionary defines this way:† the fleshy, movable, muscular organ, attached in most vertebrates to the floor of the mouth, that is principal organ of taste, an aid in chewing, and swallowing, and, in human beings,, important organ of speech â€Å". We can say that the tongue is an important organ as the human body, the first and most vertebrates have the same taste and chew and auxiliary swallowing function, in addition to, or who have speech capabilities important language organ. to the basic meaning of the center, tongue behind the formation of the word meaning a large collection: it can mean something shaped like a tongue, such as tongue of flame (flame), guiding tongue (rail-oriented switch rail), switch tong (switch to copper), can also refer to human speech acts and speech capabilities, for example, hold one’s tongue (keep silent), lose one’s tongue (lose the capacity to speak, as from shock). The other key words in the speech act of fire, in the American Heritage Dictionary can be found in the following definition; â€Å"a rapid, persistent chemical change that releases heat and light and is accompanied not flame†. the same , the meaning behind it can be found in the collection, such as, cooking fire (cooking fire), forest fire (forest fire), wild fire (wildfires), the fire of cannon fire), and other specific forms of the fire. You can also find other meaning, such as the boy is full of fire (which decided the boy is very warm and excited), He was on fire for mismanagement (because of poor management and blamed). When the tongue and the fire both carry the meaning of their huge collection of words is embedded in the basic language of A is B frame (sentence) to go when the logical relationship between the two on the adoption of â€Å"is’, to interact.† Is â€Å"used to denote a equivalents. it literally, or change a point of view, the presentation layer from the listener’s understanding of the term should be reasoning as follows:† the tongue is a fire â€Å".† is â€Å"meaning that the two sets is in some ways equivalent. However, we are both from the above understanding of the meaning of the word of view, they clearly belong to two different categories, among them with a ‘`is† connected, the the equivalent of conventional logic does not work, so from the presentation layer, we can identify this is a metaphor, thus completing the first part of understanding metaphors. When the listener is clear that to use metaphorical language behavior, the expressed will of the true meaning of metaphors to infer, that understanding will enter the second stage of course, understand the purposes of this part of speech acts, understanding â€Å"the original speaker’s thoughts, or inner intention.† Can be assumed that if â€Å"The tongue is a fire† is said to give an artist is accused by the media to listen to, then the speaker or may contain a sympathetic glance report of intention. Artists are always much media attention, due to For various reasons, may be one-sided media, the exaggerated reports of certain facts, and spread such a report will be turned into a stumbling news and rumors, they will more or less to the artist himself or his cause to bring a number of trouble. The context is the equivalent of the tongue and the fire provides a logical possibility: the tongue – the language of human organs – the words of the act – media coverage – people reported adverse reactions (Wei news and rumors) – to the artists themselves or their cause trouble (damage to reputation or hinder the cause of development), the fire – will shine the chemical substances – excessive light and heat of fire, destroying things, or even result in death, so that both the destruction of the found a similar function, logical reasoning tenable. â€Å"The tongue is a fire† means a variety of popular artists and no shortage of opinions and statements in the news or rumors coffee, they may attack their personality, or even because of their presence, the company lifted the employment relationship, or no one would dare ask this artistes. So we have reason to infer that the speaker is the issue of Renyankewei sigh, or cautioned ent ertainers say and pay attention to their own to avoid capture by the media hype after which her career. At this point, the listener to complete the original speech act of an effective understanding, guiding the listener and the speaker of some sort of recognition. Complete understanding of metaphor, must be made through an understanding (understanding of the content of verbal expression) to reach two to understand (the intrinsic intentionality of the speech understanding of those). In the same language system is the case, between systems in different languages ​​should be so, because only then can an effective cross-cultural exchanges. How should we operate on the self-evident metaphor translation, or the preservation of the source language metaphor, or metaphor replaces the target language, or to have the target language dominance feasibility, as long as it helps the reader to complete the intention of listening comprehension. 3.1 Preservation of the source language metaphor. When the Metaphor and figurative language and translation in the source completely or substantially the same language, the metaphor for the body of the source language, target language readers will have to listen to listen to readers of the source language similar to the psychological Lenovo, and complete understanding of similar intent, target language are advised to preserve the source language metaphor. such as: Links to Research (1) He is the only foxes. English fox, fox and Chinese refer to the same animal, when it was used as that person when they contain â€Å"cunning† in Italy, even listen to the reader and writer, said in a different language systems and cultural background, it can effectively understand the implementation of the partial speech act: be careful of this man, he is cunning. Another example: (2) think tank think tank â€Å"Think tank† in the Chinese culture does not exist in, but the â€Å"library† in Chinese culture, store things in the middle, so even though the people in Chinese culture has not been recognized with the â€Å"library† to describe the characteristics of â€Å"thought â€Å"The collection, but this† library â€Å"of knowledge to guide on English culture† think tank ‘, the identity, so â€Å"library† This Vehicle can save down. After all, this cross-cultural communication, we can not underestimate the listen to the reader’s understanding, not to deprive them of their understanding of rights. In the translation process, in order to achieve the purpose of cross-cultural communication, and sometimes need to work to preserve the source language metaphor, that metaphor at the same time preserve the source language to make the appropriate explanation. Such as: (3) What will it be when the increase of yearly production is brought to a complete stop? Here is the vulnerable place, the heel of Achilles, for capitalistic production. (Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844) If the complete cessation of growth in annual production, what the situation is going to do? Like Achilles heel, as this will be the Achilles heel of capitalist production.

Mother Tongue and Foreign Language Learning Essay

These five basic theories are, furthermore, very much complementary to each other, serving different types of learners or representing various cases of language learning. They must not automatically make us presume that first and second language learning are identical or alike processes, though second language learning is strongly tied up with first language acquisition. Obviously, native language growth must pave the way for foreign language growth. Then these five basic language learning theories are fundamental pillars of language learning whose relevance to education is undeniable. The Principle of the Behaviorist Theory The behaviorist theory believes that â€Å"infants learn oral language from other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and practice. Human role models in an infant’s environment provide the stimuli and rewards,† (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). When a child attempts oral language or imitates the sounds or speech patterns they are usually praised and given affection for their efforts. Thus, praise and affection becomes the rewards. However, the behaviorist theory is scrutinized for a variety of reasons. If rewards play such a vital component in language development, what about the parent who is inattentive or not present when the child attempts speech? If a baby’s language learning is motivated strictly by rewards would the speech attempts stop merely for lack of rewards (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004)? Other cases against this theory include â€Å"learning the use and meaning of abstract words, evidence of novel forms of language not modeled by others, and uniformity of language acquisition in humans† (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). The Background of the Behaviorist Theory I) Behaviorist theory dwells on spoken language. That is, primary medium of language is oral: speech is language because there are many languages without written forms, because we learn to speak before we learn to read and write. Then, language is primarily what is spoken and secondarily what is written. That’s why spoken language must have a pri ¬ority in language teaching. 2)Behaviorist theory is the habit formation theory of language teaching and learning, reminding us the learning of structural grammar. Language learning concerns us by â€Å"not problem-solving but the in ¬formation and performance of habits† (Nelson Brooks, 1960; 46-47). In other words, language learning is a mechanical process leading the learners to habit formation whose underlying scheme is the conditioned reflex. Thus it is definitely true that language is controlled by the con ¬sequences of behavior. 3)The stimulus-response chain, Response, is a pure ease of conditioning. Behaviorist learning theory â€Å"emphasizes conditioning and building from the simplest conditioned responses to more and more complex behaviors† (David S. Palermo, 1978; 19-20). This comes to mean that clauses and sentences are learned linearly as longer and lon ¬ger stimulus-response chains, produced in a left-to right series of sequence like as probabilistic incidents, which are basically Markov’s processes. Each stimulus is thus thc caser of a response, and each response becomes the initiator of a stimulus, and this process goes on and on in this way. 4) All learning is the establishment of habits as the result of rein ¬forcement and reward. Positive reinforcement is reward while negative reinforcement is punishment. In a stimulus situation, a response is exer ¬ted, and if the response is positively augmented by a reward, then the association between the stimulus and response is itself reinforced and thus the response will very likely be manipulated by every appearance of stimulus. The result will yield conditioning. When responses to stimuli are coherently reinforced, then habit formation is established. It is be ¬cause of this fact that this theory is termed habit-formation-by-reinfor ¬cement theory. 5) The learning, due to its socially-conditioned nature, can be the same for each individual. In other words, each person can learn equally if the conditions in which the learning takes place are the same for each person. The behaviorist theory believes that â€Å"infants learn oral language from other human role models through a process involving imitation, rewards, and practice. Human role models in an infant’s environment provide the stimuli and rewards,† (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). When a child attempts oral language or imitates the sounds or speech patterns they are usually praised and given affection for their efforts. Thus, praise and affection becomes the rewards. However, the behaviorist theory is scrutinized for a variety of reasons. If rewards play such a vital component in language development, what about the parent who is inattentive or not present when the child attempts speech? If a baby’s language learning is motivated strictly by rewards would the speech attempts stop merely for lack of rewards (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004)? Other cases against this theory include â€Å"learning the use and meaning of abstract words, evidence of novel forms of language not modeled by others, and uniformity of language acquisition in humans† (Cooter & Reutzel, 2004). Behaviorist theory, which is basically a psychological theory in its essence, founded by J. B. Watson, is actually a theory of native language learning, advanced in part as a reaction to traditional grammar. The supporters of this theory are Leonard Bloomfield, O. N. Mowrer, B. F. Skinner, and A. W. Staats. Behaviorism was advanced in America as a new approach to psychology in the early decades of the 20th-century by making a particular emphasis on the importance of verbal behavior, and received a considerable trust from the educational world of 1950s. The major principle of the behaviorist theory rests on the analyses of human behavior in observable stimulus-response interaction and the association between them. E. L. T. Thorndike was the first behaviorist to explore the area that learning is the establishment of associations on particular process of behavior and consequences of that behavior. Basically, â€Å"the behaviorist theory of stimulus-response learning, particularly as developed in the operant conditioning model of Skinner, considers all learning to be the establishment of habits as a result of reinforcement and reward† (Wilga Rivers, 1968, 73). This is very reminiscent of Pavlov’s experiment which indicates that stimulus and response work together. According to this category, the babies obtain native language habits via varied babblings which resemble the appropriate words repeated by a person or object near him. Since for his babblings and mutterings he is rewarded, this very reward reinforces further articulations of the same sort into grouping of syllables and words in a similar situation. In this way, he goes on emitting sounds, groups of sounds, and as he grows up he combines the sentences via generalizations and analogy (as in *goed for went, *doed, for did, so on), which in some complicated cases, condition him to commit errors by articulating in permissible structures in speech. By the age of five or six, or babblings and mutterings grow into socialized speech but little by little they are internalized as implicit speech, and thus many of their utterances become indistinguishable from the adults. This, then, obviously, means that behaviorist theory is a theory of stimulus-response psychology. â€Å"Through a trial-and-error process, in which acceptable utterances are reinforced by comprehension and approval, and un acceptable utterances are inhibited by the lack of reward, he gradually learns to make finer and finer discriminations until his utterances approximate more and more closely the speech of the community in which he is growing up (Wilga M. Rivers, 1968; 73). To put it in other words, children develop a natural affinity to learn the language of their social surroundings whose importance both over language learning and teaching must never be underestimated. In this respect behaviorist theory stresses the fact that â€Å"human and animal learning is a process of habit formation. A highly complex learning task, according to this theory may be learned by being broken’ down into smaIl habits. These are formed correct or incorrect responses, are rewarded or, punished, respectively ‘. (Hubbard Jones and Thornton Wheeler, 1983; 326). Thus it is clear that the acquisition of learning in infancy is governed the acquisition of other habits. Basic Tenents of Behaviorist Theory The following principles illustrate the operating principles of behaviorism: Counterarguments on Behaviorist Theory of Language Learning Needless to say, language teaching anticipates certain theories on language learning because language learning as a fruitful area that embodies the working of human behavior and mental processes of the learners. Each theory may not be complete model for the investigation of language learning. The following counter-arguments can be made upon the working principles of behaviorist theory: 1) Basic strategies of language learning within the scope of behaviorist theory are imitation, reinforcement, and rewarding. However, researches made on the acquisition of learning have demonstrated that children’s imitation of structures show evidence of almost no innovation; moreover children â€Å"vary considerably in the amount that they imitate† (L. M. Bloom, L. Hood, and P. L. Lightbown, 1974; 380-420). Since children do not imitate such structures like words, phrases, clauses and sentences at the same rate they will naturally learn at different rates even though it must be admitted that imitation is very useful in the acquisition of new vocabulary items. As for reinforcement, â€Å"Unfortunately this view of learning receives little support from the available evidence† (Herbert H. Clark and Eve V. Clark, 1977; 336), for the parents only correct the sample structures, and complex structures are occasionally corrected. 2) In behaviorist theory, the process of learning relies more on generalization, rewarding, conditioning, three of which support the development of analogical learning in children. But it can be argued that a process of learning or teaching that encourages the learner to construct phrases, clauses and sentences modeled on previously settled set of rules and drills is thought to obstruct the instinctive production of language. Then, habit formation exercises may not naturally promote intrinsically oriented language learning. 3) Obstructions made on instinctively-based learning will doubtedlessly harm the creative way of learning. It takes a long time to be capable enough to master a language at least a bit intrinsically. There is a threshold level in language learning. This means that learners must learn consciously supported by repetition and drilling to build up an effective linguistic intuition, acquisition of which marks the establishment of threshold level. Before obtaining the threshold level, the language learner is not creative, cannot use the language properly in new situations in a real sense. it is, then, obvious that the intrinsic learning will be delayed, owing to the Iate acquisition of threshold level because of previously settled set of rules and drills. 4) The rate of social influence on learning is not satisfactorily explained. To what extent and rate, does the social surrounding promote language learning? This question remains unexplained. 5) It is highly unlikely for learning to be the same for each individual; that is, each person cannot learn equally well in the same conditions in which learning takes place, for the background and the experience of the learners make everybody learn differently. In addition, according to Chomsky, there must be some innate capacities which human beings possess that predispose them to look for basic patters in language. 6) The main strategies of the behaviorist theory can only be true for the early stages of learning which takes place when the kids are in infancy and in early childhood periods. Moreover, this theory is fruitful for the most part on animal experimentation and learning. 7) Many of the learning processes are mostly too complex, and for this reason there are intervening variable s, which cannot be observed between stimulus and response. â€Å"That’s why, language acquisition cannot take place through habit formation, since language learners are thrown between stimulus and response chain, for language is too far complicated to be learned in such a matter, especially given the brief time available. CONCLUSION It is clear that language learning and its development, for the behaviorists, is a matter of conditioning by means of imitation, practice, reinforcement, and habituation, which constitute the paces of language acquisition. It must be born in mind that all behavioristic theories of learning are associationistic, including Thorndike’s, Guthrie’s, Hull’s, Skinner’s, and the theory of the school of functionalism. Apparently, behaviorism has its shortcomings, but it cannot be denied that learning process is for the most part a behavioristic processing, a verbal behavior. In language teaching area, behaviorism establishes the basic background of exercises, either oral or written in viewing language as stimulus and response. In addition, it gives a great deal of insight into the recognition of the use of controlled observation to discover the laws of behavior. It has exerted a great impact by influencing many teaching methods on the area of language teaching, for example, Audiolingual Method, Total Physical Response, and Silent Way embody the behaviorist view of language; also, British Structuralism has created the theory of language called Situational Language Teaching. In a word behaviorist theory aims at discovering behavioral justifications for designing language teaching in certain ways, being a hub a of many language teaching and learning theories. It must not be forgotten that it has given a push for the creation of empiricist language learning which became very fashionable in U . S. A. and in Europe. BIBLlOGRAPHY Bloom, L. M. (1974). â€Å"Imitations in Language Development: If, When, and Why†, â€Å"Cognitive Psychology†, pp. 380-420. Brooks, Nelson (1960). â€Å"Language and Language Learning†. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Clark, Herbert and Eve Clark (1977). â€Å"Language and Psychology: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics†. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich. Jones, Hubbard and Thornton Wheeler (1983). † A Training Course for TEFL†. Oxford University Press. Palermo, David S. (1978). â€Å"Psychology of Language†. Dallas: Scott, Foresman and Co. Rivers, M. Wilga (1968). â€Å"Teaching Foreign Language Skills†. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Two Major Competing Brands under the Same Parent Corporation Essay

Two Major Competing Brands under the Same Parent Corporation - Essay Example This essay declares that Dove and Axe are the two competing brands under the same parent corporation, Unilever. Dove is Unilever’s personal care brand that offers products for both women and men and has business interests in more than 35 countries across the globe. At the same time, Axe is a brand that deals with male grooming products under the parent company Unilever. This discussion explores that while dealing with more than one competing brands, an organization might face several challenges. In contrast, Unilever has succeeded in its promotional tactics for Dove and Axe in the international market. Although the success could be attributed to several competitive advantages, as per the reports, globalization greatly contributed to the faster growth of Dove and Axe in the international market. Globalization refers to a process by which national economies and cultures are integrated into an international economy so as to enhance international trade, direct foreign investment, migration, and technology sharing. Both Dove and Axe get the opportunity to attain benefits from foreign markets since the offshore countries provide better business conditions such as cheap raw materials and labor, liberal government laws, and large number of potential customers. The company highly encourages fair competition so that brands like Dove and Axe vehemently dominat e the market in which they operate. The designed purpose and principles of the company state that it always works with integrity, which is also applicable to Dove and Axe (Personal care brands). Both the Dove and Axe brands practice the concept of market segmentation. It is obvious that both these brands target people between the age 18 and 24; and hence they focus their business to areas where youngster highly indulge. Since the two brands deal with almost similar products, they are forced to compete with each other in the same market segments. Kapferer (2008, p.403) opine, under such market conditions, both brands must avoid all references to the parent company when they operate under the same corporation because this practice would help to maximize the perceived difference between the two. As per the Unilever code of conduct, both Dove and Axe managements continuously try to

What is the link between resilience and complexity Essay

What is the link between resilience and complexity - Essay Example In the present world, changes are ever occurring, many of which come with difficulties of adapting to. Various difficulties in life have forced people to bounce back to their normal living styles even after the complexities of life. The bouncing back provides a definition of the resilience concept. In this paper, discussion is made on the inter-relation of resilience and complexity. Resilience thinking is elaborated to show its broad areas of application and the how it is taken in the social, as well as the political scenarios. Thus, resilience thinking is the solution to the problem of governance in this complex world. Resilience is a principal concept in regard to government policy understandings. Currently, resilience is viewed as the ideal policy. It is, therefore, evident that resilience is a key facet on governance; as it shapes thinking. This complex world is in dire need of a new approach of governing. It is vital to note that the world is viewed as complex. Thus, without complexity, there would be no need of resilience. This is based on the fact that resilience thinking is involved with risks as well as complex aspects that influence the life of man. The synergy between resilience thinking in regard to governance and the complexity of the world will be under analysis. Resilience has come to be recognized as central to international and domestic policy-making. It has come to be seen as the guiding principle of policy governance and a key political category of our time. For sustainable development, resilience has become a top priority, and an international development aid agenda, which is key to international security concerns since it is vital for disaster risk reduction. Resilience affects the way politics is conducted both at the domestic and international levels1. In this discussion, a range of issues and questions will be analysed in terms of resilience frameworks, from educational training in schools to the global ethics and from

Adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as an Important Piece of Term Paper

Adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as an Important Piece of Legislation - Term Paper Example In the last section the report evaluates the costs and benefits of the changes ushered in by the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was drafted by the senator Paul Sarbanes and representative Michael Oxley (SOX-online.com, 2006: Online). The primary objective of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was to protect and safeguard the interests of the investors by assuring transparency, accuracy and reliability of the financial disclosures made by the corporations. It is a mandatory Act and all the large and small US organizations are required to abide by and follow the provisions and requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This Act came into force in the year 2002 and brought in sweeping changes into the area of financial disclosure and corporate governance (Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 2006: Online). The Enhanced Standards Required by Sarbanes-Oxley Act The Sarbanes-Oxley Act not only established new standards of financial accounting and corporate governance but also made provisions f or the apt statutory penalties to be imposed in case of any wrongdoing not allowed for and sanctioned by this act. The Act made the corporate accounting system more transparent and responsible by formalizing and assuring the interaction between corporate auditors and corporate boards and executives . This totally obliterated the possibility of an excuse on the part of top executives in corporations regarding being unaware of the organizational accounting systems and the accompanying disclosures made by the auditors. To put it simply, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act made the top executives like CEOs and CFOs directly responsible for corporate accounting and subsequently culpable in case of any wrongdoing or misreporting in the organization’s financial reporting (US Securities and Exchange Commission 2010: Online). This act clearly specifies the responsibilities associated with the organizational financial accounting. Sarbanes-Oxley Act has also introduced a mechanism of internal contro ls and monitoring to assure the credibility of financial reporting (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010: Online). According to this act, the companies are required to tag an internal control report with every financial report (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010: Online). The yearly financial reports are also required to report on the reliability and effectiveness of the internal controls (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010: Online). Further, the concerned auditing firms are required to stand behind these reports (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010: Online). This places the onus on the auditing firms to review the associated procedures, controls and policies, besides conducting the regular financial audit (US Securities and Exchange Commission, 2010: Online). In case a company fails to abide by any requirement or section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the act allows for a range of penalties for the culprit organization and executives, which include fine s amounting to

Taxation Direct and Indirect taxes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Taxation Direct and Indirect taxes - Essay Example There are a number of different terms for taxation and indeed taxation takes on many special sub categories. For example there are capital gains tax   which according to Reynolds (1999) represents a special tax placed on capital gains which are profits recognized from the sale of assets purchased at a lower price such as properties, commodities etc. A second example would be a corporate tax which is a specialized tax placed directly on a corporation or other such business entity (Depending on the jurisdiction). A third example would be an inheritance tax which can be any sort of taxes levied after the death of an individual. Tariffs often form an important element of taxation as it represents a specialized tax levied on the importation of goods or the movement of goods through a nation’s borders (this may hold special significance in an increasingly globalized economy). A last example of a specialized tax is called a toll which is some sort of fee levied for the right to tra vel on a maintained road or waterway, in this regard the income received from such a tax would typically be used to maintain the condition of the passageway.   What is important to keep in mind is that any particular jurisdiction may have any number of direct, indirect or specialized tax used in any combination to suit the needs of the local citizenry. In this regard taxation can be tailored to meet the specialized needs of a particular area. According to Smith (1776) it is the case that every state ought to contribute towards supporting.

Explain what Utilitarianism theory would say is our moral obligation Essay

Explain what Utilitarianism theory would say is our moral obligation to help end world hunger. Is distance a morally relevant criterion according to Utilitarianism Why or why not - Essay Example According to Mill, ethical judgments should be based on the criterion of the usefulness of the human acts. A person can determine whether his/her action is good or evil based on its usefulness. However, the utility is seen not primarily as an individual utility, but as a public utility. Utilitarianism takes into account the fact that the act can be considered ethically justified if it promotes happiness or benefit for a large number of people. It is seen as â€Å"the ‘greatest happiness’ principle† (Beauchamp, 2013). Based on this, utilitarianism evaluates human moral obligations to help end world hunger in accordance with the amount of benefit that it can bring to humanity. The distance between the people in this regard is not critical, since the emphasis is on the benefit for the whole of humanity in the case of our aid to poor countries. If the aid to the starving countries from developing countries will lead to higher overall benefit and happiness, then utilitarianism appreciates it. Otherwise, utilitarianism does not see the moral reasoning for such

Business Law - Ethical issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Law - Ethical issues - Essay Example International entrepreneur ship spans cultural boundaries and involves a variety of stakeholders, including the entrepreneur, investors and policy makers (Asel, 2003). "Social considerations must be given the same status as economic, financial and environmental concerns in a holistic approach. It is time for global thinking and local action. The implementation of the Core Labour Standards and the laws and regulations that give effect to them at national levels can be significantly enhanced if the capacities of national labour inspectorates are built up and strengthened. Labour inspectors have a crucial role to play because they are the only ones with the authority to directly access and impose changes in the workplace."(Albracht, 2005) The increased working hours pose several external costs to the employees and employers both. They give rise to different health problems such as heart problems, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, psychological wellbeing and circadian disruption. The resulting increase in sick leave makes the organisation bear the cost of the illness of employee. The external cost effect thus transfers to society in shape of increasing tax burden on taxpayers and on Government for the provision of more social care facilities (Dawson, McCulloch and Baker, 2001). But in order to compete internationally it is important to increase the working hours. As stated by Berry (2005) "Europe's productivity is lagging behind the US and Asia because inflexible labour laws are preventing companies restructuring and investing in new technologies, a report shows. A DTI-sponsored study, published to coincide with the UK's presidency of the EU, criticises member countries, particularly France, Germany, Spain and Italy, for not having the courage to reform labour laws. EU heads of state agreed a 10-year programme in 2000 to increase investment and make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world". However, the DTI report said little progress has been made in achieving this goal. Companies in Europe have to pursue a policy of "creative destruction" to change the way they do business and learn from the "hire and fire" culture of the US to compete globally, the report said. At a conference key European players from business and government discussed the challenge of the future of information and communication technologies (ICT) policy. Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media, said many workers were concerned about their jobs and the EU would only strengthen economic growth by investing in ICT and abolishing "superfluous regulation" Although the hire and fire culture seems an easy way of achieving economic goals but the change in the policies regarding the employment can

Vietnam War 19641975 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Vietnam War 19641975 - Essay Example The Viet Minh finally came to total power in 1975, after thirty four years of struggle and war, when they unified Vietnam as a single independent communist country after driving out the Americans and the French. France ruled almost all of Indochina from late 1800s and World War II. Many French colonists who built their own plantations on peasant land for own gain, experienced growing unrest among Vietnamese peasants. France reacted brutally by further decreasing freedom of speech and assembly by arresting protestors. However, these actions were unsuccessful and unrest continued to increase. Many revolutionaries escaped to China. In 1924, the Vietnamese started to organize under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Minh created the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930. Throughout the 30s, Minh led Vietnam's growing independence movement from exile in the Soviet Union and China. However, a new enemy became involved. In 1940, Vietnam was invaded by Japan. The next year, Vietminh was formed under the guidance of Minh. Its goal was to gain independence from foreign rule. After Japan was defeated by Allies in 1945, Minh's goal seemed to be fulfilled. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent nation. In 1956, a free elec... Thinking this could lead to trouble, South Vietnam's president Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong anti-Communist, refused to take part in the election. America thought Ho Chi Minh's popularity might result in a victory for him and also wanted the election to cancel. Eisenhower gave military aid to Diem for a stable reform government in the South. Diem, however, broke his promise. He crushed any opposition and distributed little land. Diem, a Catholic, also restricted Buddhist practices. Buddhist cleric were killed or imprisoned and temples destroyed. Many Buddhists protested by burning themselves to death. By 1957, a Communist rebel known as the Vietcong was organized. They attacked the Diem government by assassinating government officials. Supported by Minh, Vietcong received military arms via network of paths along borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. South Vietnam becomes less stabled, but Eisenhower administration did almost nothing. John Kennedy entered the White House in 1961. Criticized for being "soft" on Communism, Kennedy sent more financial aid to Diem's regime and military advisers to train South Vietnamese troops. Meanwhile, Diem's popularity dropped significantly because of corruption and failure to respond to calls for land reform. (Ang, 311) To fight the Vietcong, Diem initiated the strategic hamlet program by moving all villagers to protected areas. Yet, many Vietnamese resented being moved from their home village. In 1950, the United States officially recognized the Saigon government, and to help out, President Truman sent troops over to train the South Vietnamese on how to use U.S. weapons while the French and North Vietnamese were building up their forces. In the spring of 1954, the North Vietnamese attacked a

Television as the Substitute Good Essay Example for Free

Television as the Substitute Good Essay Studying the conditions, it can be understood that the television set is a substitute good of the television repairmen. Meaning, if the cost of hiring repairmen goes up, the demand for television sets will rise (Piana 2005). Although this may seem counter-intuitive, it makes much more sense when the problem is closely observed. Firstly, we take only in consideration the two goods given: repairmen and television sets. It does not follow that television sets have an absolute need of repairmen for the industry to survive. When a television set breaks, hiring a repairman is not the only option. The second option is the second good itself. People have the option to simply buy a new television set. It is true that the market of repairmen is dependent on the demand for television sets but the scenario asks for the opposite. The market of television sets does not rely on the demand of repairmen. Overall, we can say that the increase of repairmen cost per hour will increase the quantity of new television sets sold. If the cost of television repairmen becomes too high, people will have the tendency to buy new sets instead of hiring repairmen. Of course, this scenario relies on the condition that other goods in the market are not considered. If we take into consideration goods that rival the television such as computers and what not, then the market for television sets may go down with the repairmen. However, the problem must be limited to the given and all other factors cannot be applied. Since television and repairmen are the only ones to be considered, then the prediction above is more or less acceptable.

Far from the madding crowd Essay Example for Free

Far from the madding crowd Essay This shows that hardy thinks love is based upon events like How terrible! she exclaimed, and clutched him by the sleeve. Gabriel turned, and steadied her on her aerial perch by holding her arm this shows that she can depend on Oak and trust him and. BOLDWOOD chapter 31, In farmer Boldwood, hardy presents a love that is obsessive and deranged. His unreasoning devotion to Bathsheba is described as a fond madness. In chapter31 Boldwood confronts Bathsheba and we clearly see a desperate man. He is desperate man because he is willing to kill for a woman who thinks of him as she never had you. When it is clear that she had she did more than just lead him on she made and broke a promise of not seeing nay one else and broke her word by saying that she would not marry him, What you call encouragement was the childish game of an idle minute. In this Boldwood deeply blames Bathsheba for how bad he feels. In this scene Boldwood does try very hard to keep controlled and he even refers to Bathsheba as darling when she has done so much wrong to him. Hardy describes Boldwood as desperate he does this to show an erratic and unpredictable natures but have an undying devotion to Bathsheba. He describes Gabriel Oak as solid he say this to give an impression of consistency and reliability and predictable. Hardy makes that point to show the different in the types of love in the 2 suitors she refused them both and the difference between the two men is the way they react to situation. BOLDWOOD MEETS TROY chapter 34, Moreover, when Boldwood meets Troy in chapter 34 it shows yet another type of love more of a fancy, want for sex type of love emitted by Troy. That is a huge contrast to Boldwood who has a type of utterly devoted desperate love. Hardy compares Troy and Boldwood because he wants to show that he can show that both are fond of Bathsheba but some much more hardy uses words like devil may cry to describe Troy and much more powerful words like over whamming to describe Hardys point on love is it comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and can differ as much as it does between Boldwoods and Troys does. SERGEANT TROY chapter 28, Furthermore Troy is a reckless yet attractive character. He appears brash and direct; his unpredictable and shifting nature is clearly evident in his relationship with Fanny. Troys sedation and treatment of Bathsheba is therefore, anticipated. In chapter 28 Troy had lead Bathsheba into a small-secluded area of a field where Troy enticed and teased Bathsheba. By showing off his sword play or his dexterity as hardy put its temps Bathsheba to even kiss Troy. There is a lot of meaning behind this chapter, and it has relevance through out the whole book hardy really tries to put as much emphasis on the atmosphere as possible and the feel of the read he says words like scarlet fever and fever implies it to be hot and bothered. Hardy really ties to show just how in control Troy is. Troy even lies to Bathsheba and threatened her life it is ironic that he lies to harm Bathsheba and Boldwood lies to help her. Troy is in control, this also comes into play before they get married when Troy says that if Bathsheba does not get married then he can not give Bathsheba his word that he will stay faithful putting Bathsheba in a ultimatum and he knows it so much so that he even draws attention to her breasts and lunges his sword towards her heart to remove a simple bug and when Bathsheba questions Troy he claims that 1. If she gets hurt it would have been her fault and 2. He simply says o no dexterity other than luck. It does show just how intense the moment was Bathsheba was willing to die for Troy or at least the idea of Troy witch shows a contrast between Boldwood willing to die or indeed to kill for Bathsheba for the keen rush love or a form of love. FANNY chapter, The chapter Fannys revenge sees the fragile marriage of Bathsheba and Troy finally dissolve. In the chapter, before Troy arrives Bathsheba is happy and child like and takes little care over men, but has a mans care over things like business. When Troy kisses Fannys dead body Bathsheba is lonely and miserable and desperate for Troy to kiss her that should not be too much to accept for a wife. Troy is by no means sorry for his love for Fanny, he acts as if Bathsheba is not even their, hardy shows us how he is ignoring Bathsheba by saying things like Boldwood rushed to Fanny HOPE FOR GABRIEL chapter 56, By the end of chapter 56, Gabriel realises that Bathsheba might marry him after all. Bathsheba is now ready for Gabriel because Troy is now gone as well as the part of her that needed him to control her. She may still want him but she now needs some one to lean on and trust. Bathsheba is forced to act because 2 of her 3 suitors have either died or been put away and Bathsheba likes the attention. It is like Oak to still there for Bathsheba after his whole life has been turned upside down. Hardy discusses what is important about love at the end of the chapter, he writes usually occurring through similarity of pursuits, is unfortunately seldom superadded to love between the sexes, because men and women associate, not in their labours, but in their pleasures merely he then moves on to say that love which many waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown, beside which the passion usually called by the name is evanescent as steam. All this is to show just how powerful love is. This is the whole message that the book is going to put across. THE RIGHT MAN, It is plain from the beginning that Gabriel is the right man for Bathsheba. However she is not ready for it at the begging as she needs to be more controlled and even grow up, in the begging when clever things got hard, or she was wrong she just pulled rank so to speak like when she was making leather or on the hay bail. Bathsheba begins the book as a girl and grows up into a woman because she can see that she cant always have it her way and lead people on because they will get hurt or worse die. In conclusion, hardy portrays three kinds of love they are reckless lust, shown by Troy devotion, shown by Oak and dependence, as shown by Boldwood. Hardy does not show a clear best type of love you can think what you like of the best Boldwood ends up protecting Bathsheba and almost killing himself. She does end up courting Oak but that does not mean that it is the best type of love only that it is a constant happy kind of loves. Then there is trot the one that gave Bathsheba the most enjoyment and the most unpredictability.

Human Error and Perceptual Control Theory

Human Error and Perceptual Control Theory Overview In this paper, I will explore and advocate the importance of both Human Error and Perceptual Control Theory for design of complex human-machine systems, enhanced user experience and better human performance and safety. Human Error Errors are the result of actions that fail to generate the intended outcomes (SKYbrary). Human operators are one of the biggest sources of errors in any complex system (Shelton, 1999). According to Sanders McCormick (1976), Human error is an inappropriate or undesirable human decision or behavior that reduces, or has the potential for reducing effectiveness, safety and performance of a system and/or human (Kurniawan). Error Types Researchers have differentiated between two types of error:1) slipsand lapses 2) mistakes. Slips and lapses According to SKYbrary, a person intends to carry out an action, the action is appropriate, carries it out incorrectly, and the desired goal is not achieved an execution failure has occurred. Execution errors result from failures in the execution and/or storage stage of an action sequence. Slips relate to observable actions and are commonly associated with attentiveness or perceptual failures. Lapses are more internal events and generally involve failures of memory (SKYbrary). Mistakes As mentioned in UKEssays.com, Mistakes occur when an intended outcome is not achieved even though there was adherence to the steps in the plan. This is usually a case in which the original plan was wrong, was followed, and resulted in an unintended outcome (UKEssays.com). Error mechanisms The following three error mechanisms are widely accepted, which correlate with human performance levels. Skill-based errors Errors of execution Occur during highly routine activities or automated tasks with occasional checks Action chosen by the operator but not in accordance with the operator’s intentions Done by highly experienced individuals due to inattention or distraction Rule-based errors Applies to familiar situations Incorrect application of a good rule, correct application of a bad rule or failure to apply a good rule Knowledge-based errors Occur in unique and unfamiliar situations Result from inadequate analysis or decision making (trial and error) Done by operators with insufficient knowledge Applications of Human error theory Human error is inevitable. However, human error mitigation strategies could be devised by understanding various error mechanisms and triggers, as depicted in the human error theory. Superior system design, better recruitment and selection of operators, training, stress and fatigue prevention measures, better equipment procedures and improved work environment can reduce error consequences and likelihood. By understanding human error, system designers can plan for likely error scenarios, and implement barriers to prevent or mitigate the occurrence of potential errors. Some approaches to build a better human machine interaction system are explained below. Identification of error environment First step in human error mitigation approach is to understand the work environment, recognize capacity of the users, identify possible loopholes n the system and be familiar with potential user error occurrence and consequences. Likelihood of an error and severity of potential harm should also be examined. For example, FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires manufacturers to submit a failure analysis report FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) while launching any new medical device. Design solutions to address errors Error elimination First and foremost design strategy is to eliminate design features, which are sources of user errors. Design weaknesses identified during observation and task analysis should be removed or revised. Removal of excessive and irrelevant information, inclusion of validity checks and task automations are some design aspects that support error elimination approach. Additionally, carrying out periodical test runs of the system might be helpful in eliminating some of the rules based errors. Error reduction Designers should try to reduce error occurrences for features that cannot be removed completely. Building consistent designs and providing alerts, warnings, confirmations and other necessary feedback to users may prevent users to make errors of execution (skill-based errors). Consequence elimination Consequence elimination is an approach to prevent potential harm after the occurrence of error. Designers can devise features that provide information about potential harm and ways to correct the situation (e.g. undo) and/or prevent onset of side effects (e.g. automatic locking or shutdown, process delays) in order to prevent error consequences. Consequence reduction This is a last design alternative a designer can look into if above mentioned options are not feasible to incorporate. Decreasing the effect of error is helpful especially in catastrophic situations. Design of supplementary features is usually necessary to achieve this purpose. Backup and restore features, automatic reporting to stakeholders/police/medical teams and automated substitute drug delivery are some of the techniques for reducing effects of consequences. Error elimination and error reduction are often the most cost effective methods to avert user errors. Trainings Knowledge-based errors can be eliminated to some extent by providing system-oriented trainings, especially to novice users. On the other hand, a different training program could be devised for experienced users. Periodical trainings could keep experts up-to-date with latest developments in their field and assess their knowledge of system procedural checks. Essentially, this may help minimizing skill-based errors. Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) Perceptual control theory (PCT) is a theory of human and animal behavior. It is based on the principles of control theory (Powers, 1973). As cited by Lulham (2005), at the core of PCT is the idea that many of the processes involved in how human functions are most appropriately conceptualized and modelled as dynamic control processes (Powers, 1999b). Control processes are proposed to be fundamental to many functions including those related to physiological (e.g. temperature regulation), neural (e.g. attention), motor control (e.g. driving a car), psychological (e.g. maintenance of a criminal identity) and social (e.g. staff-detainee relationship) functions (Lulham, 2005). According to Cherry Farrel (1998), PCT exploits the concept of a purpose behind the behaviour. A perception (which is a transformation of stimuli from the world) is then compared to its reference signal, and a perceptual error is generated. A person acts on the world in such a manner to minimise this error. The stabilisation of this control loop is the essence of PCT (Chery Farrell , 1998). Applications of PCT Using perceptions for building complex systems System environments are becoming increasingly complex. Traditional cause and effect methods of understanding system operations and user interactions may not work well in order to employ personalization and user experience in these complex systems. According to pctweb.org, the person compares a ‘standard’ (what they want) with what they are experiencing right now (their perception). The difference between the two – the discrepancy or error is being measured. The bigger the error the more the effort the person makes to reduce it, until the error is zero – this means they get what they want (pctweb.org). The basic premise of PCT is that human behavior is not about the behavior itself, but about reinforcing desired perception (O’Neal, 2012). Understanding and applying this concept of individually preferred perceptions through PCT will help in designing effective personal information management for complex systems and enhancing the overall user experience. User research and analysis PCT is particularly helpful in understanding users’ behaviors and motives behind their actions. Often system designers evaluate possible system states and static change in control values needed to achieve those states. Tasks are carried out on the controls to attain the new state and user is though of as a controller of these tasks. Designers use task analysis method to perform user research and concentrate on physical tasks a user performs. However, instead of system oriented or designer oriented view, PCT goes much deeper and offers user’s standpoint. PCT provides framework to realize dynamic nature of user interactions. System designers can use PCT to understand how users constantly perceive and compare system states and take dissimilar actions to reinstate appropriate system state every time. Furthermore, Powers (1973) proposed behavior as a control of perceptions. Instead of focusing on a physical activity during the task analysis, PCT suggests focusing on users’ behaviors that lead them to perform actions to achieve desired perception (system state). Thus, using the PCT framework, designers can integrate physical, cognitive and behavioral sides of a user’s interaction with the system. Moreover, PCT analysis of intentions from different user groups exposes their shared narrative, which in turn, helps in finding system requirements for hidden, absent user (O’Neal, 2012). For example, a customer service representative might use call center software while working to resolve an issue with a customer. While the customer is not a direct user of the software system, he is affected indirectly. The customer here is a hidden user. His perceptions should be analyzed to understand his requirements and objectives while developing the call center system. Empowered designs PCT offers a design framework toward the satisfaction of the users desired percepts. Human-machine system performance is enhanced when the displays and controls are designed to allow the operator to perceive and transmit information in order to minimize the perceptual error (Chery Farrell , 1998). According to PCT, when a user interacts with the system, he is constantly trying to bring equilibrium, changing his perception to the reference point, which is his new perception. Keeping this in mind, a designer should build the system that transforms from an old state to the new state seamlessly, provides estimate of gap between old and new state, furnish necessary feedback to keep the user aware of the environment variables and helps the user to manage disturbances. These functionalities will help users to gain accurate information regarding their perceptions, empower them to undertake correct amount of action to reach to new perception, ultimately helping them achieve self-regulation and stability. For example, the windshield of the car let the user scan his environment and gather information necessary to their perception, the car dashboard continuously displays speed and other important elements to help user assess different system states, and the gear stick helps user achieve n ew state from the old one smoothly. Other features like wiper, headlights, turn signals etc. facilitate users to manage disturbances as much as possible. Thus, human-machine designs should be compatible with user’s interpretations of information in order to improve their decision making process and overall system performance. Conclusion Both human error and PCT frameworks are valuable in building complex system designs to facilitate information management, enhance security and improve both system and human performance. By understanding fundamentals of human errors, designers can build a system that is more usable, provides meaningful feedbacks and include training, procedural checks and incentive programs. However, according to Shelton (1999), there is a trade-off between making the HCI relatively easy and intuitive and ensuring that system safety is not compromised by lulling the operator into a state of complacency. In PCT, the error is continuously measured to achieve equilibrium. Per Lulham (2005), those involved in developing the theory believe PCT has significant potential to change the way human functioning is understood. However, further research is required for advancement of PCT framework. References Component-based usability testing. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component-Based_Usability_Testing Embrey, D. Understanding Human Behaviour and Error. Human Reliability Associates. Latino, R. J. (2007, Nov). Defining and reducing human error. Briefings Page on Patient Safety . O’Neal, A. (2012, July). Intention-Focused Design: Applying Perceptual Control Theory to Discover User Intent. Retrieved 2013, from UXmatters.com: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/07/intention-focused-design-applying-perceptual-control-theory-to-discover-user-intent.php PCTweb. (n.d.). What is PCT? Retrieved from PCTweb: http://www.pctweb.org/whatis/whatispct_03.html Powers, W. T. (n.d.). A brief introduction to Perceptual Control Theory . Retrieved from Frontier: http://www.frontier.net/~powers_w/whatpct.html Shelton, C. P. Human Interface/Human Error. Carnegie Mellon University. SKYbrary. (n.d.). Human Error Types. Retrieved from SKYbrary: http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Human_Error_Types 1 Lajja Mehta

The Pros and Cons of Abortion Essay -- Abortion Essays

The topic of abortion is one of the most controversial issues in today’s society. Thousands of abortions take place every single day, and yet public opinion remains at a standstill as to whether or not abortion is ethical or not. According to a poll in 2013, fifty-four percent of the American public believes that the practice of abortion should be legal in all or most cases (â€Å"Public Opinion on Abortion†) Abortion has been defined as â€Å"the act of removing a human embryo or fetus from the uterus of a pregnant woman prior to the completion of the full term of pregnancy†(Rich, Wagner, and Geraldine). There are very strong opinions for and against this issue, but no one can deny the vast gray area of abortion. A person’s stance on the situation is often determined by how he views the fetus: a part of the mother’s body or as a human being. Abortion continues to be a moral issue because people have various views on the rights of the fetus and mo ther, the circumstances of the pregnancy, and their own religious convictions concerning the issue. In the most recent study, 1.21 million abortions took place in the United States in the year 2008 (â€Å"About Abortion†). According to a study performed by the Guttmacher Institue, twenty-one percent of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortions (â€Å"Induced Abortion†). Fifty percent of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned (â€Å"Induced Abortion†). Of those unplanned pregnancies, four out of ten result in abortions (â€Å"Induced Abortion†). When analyzing the statistics of women who receive abortions, one must become aware that outside circumstances might contribute to a woman’s decision to have an abortion. For instance, women who are one hundred percent below the federal poverty level ac... ...rtion Federation: History of Abortion. National Abortion Federation, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. "Public Opinion on Abortion." Public Opinion on Abortion. Pew Research Center, July 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. Rich, Alex K. Wagner, Geraldine. "Abortion: An Overview." Points Of View: Abortion (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Rubio, Marco. "Why Abortion is Bad for America." Human Life Review Winter 2012 2012: 19-26. ProQuest Health Management. Web. Voegeli Jr., William J. â€Å"A Critique of the Pro-Choice Argument† Review of Politics Vol. 43, no. 4 (Oct., 1981) , Pp. 560-571 Published by: Cambridge University Press for the University of Notre Dame Du Lac on Behalf of Review of Politics Stable Print. "World Abortion Laws 2009 Fact Sheet." Center for Reproductive Rights. Center for Reproductive Rights, 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

Euthanasia Essay: Moral Considerations in the Debate :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Moral Considerations in the Euthanasia Debate      Ã‚   The Judeo-Christian moral tradition celebrates life as the gift of a loving God, and respects the life of each human being because each is made in the image and likeness of God. As Christians we also believe we are redeemed by Christ and called to share eternal life with Him. Our Church views life as a sacred trust, a gift over which we are given stewardship and not absolute dominion. The Church thus opposes all direct attacks on innocent life. As conscientious stewards we have a duty to preserve life, while recognizing certain limits to that duty:    Because human life is the foundation for all other human goods, it has a special value and significance. Life is "the first right of the human person" and "the condition of all the others."[1]    All crimes against life, including "euthanasia or willful suicide," must be opposed.[2] Euthanasia is "an action or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death, in order that all suffering may in this way be eliminated." Its terms of reference are to be found "in the intention of the will and in the methods used."[3] Thus defined, euthanasia is an attack on life which no one has a right to make or request, and which no government or other human authority can legitimately recommend or permit. Although individual guilt may be reduced or absent because of suffering or emotional factors that cloud the conscience, this does not change the objective wrongfulness of the act. It should also be recognized that an apparent plea for death may really be a plea for help and love.    Suffering is a fact of human life, and has special significance for the Christian as an opportunity to share in Christ's redemptive suffering. Nevertheless there is nothing wrong in trying to relieve someone's suffering; in fact it is a positive good to do so, as long as one does not intentionally cause death or interfere with other moral and religious duties.[4]    Everyone has the duty to care for his or her own life and health and to seek necessary medical care from others, but this does not mean that all possible remedies must be used in all circumstances. One is not obliged to use either "extraordinary" means or "disproportionate" means of preserving life -- that is, means which are understood as offering no reasonable hope of benefit or as involving excessive burdens.

Free Essays - Janies Metamorphosis in Their Eyes Were Watching God :: Their Eyes Were Watching God Essays

Janie's Metamorphosis in Their Eyes Were Watching God Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about identity and reality to say the least. Each stage in Janie's life was a shaping moment. Her exact metamorphosis, while ambiguous was quite significant. Janie's psychological identification was molded by many people, foremost, Nanny, her grandmother and her established companions. Reality, identity, and experience go hand in hand in philosophy, identity is shaped by experience and with experience you accept reality. Life is irrefutably the search for identity and the shaping of it through the acceptance of reality and the experiences in life. Identity is something every human quests for. Individuals tend to manipulate views, ideas, and prerogative. Janie's identity became clay in her family and friends hands. Most noteworthy was Janie's grandmother, Nanny. Janie blossomed into a young woman with an open mind and embryonic perspective on life. Being a young, willing, and full of life, Janie made the "fatal mistake" of becoming involved in the follies of an infatuation with the opposite sex. With this phase in Janie's life Nanny's first strong hold on Janie's neck flexed its grip. Preoccupation with romantic love took the backseat to Nanny's stern view on settling down with someone with financial stability. Hence, Janie's identity went through its first of many transformations. She fought within her self, torn between her adolescent sanction and Nanny's harsh limitations, but final gave way and became a cast of Nanny's reformation. For a short time Janie shared her life with her betrothed husband Logan Killicks. She desperately tried to become her new pseudo identity, to conform to the perfect "housewife" persona. Trying to make a marriage work that couldn't survive without love, love that Janie didn't have for Logan. Time and again Janie referred to love and her life in reference to nature, "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage lak when you sit under a pear tree and think... She often spoke to falling seeds and said Ah hope you fall on soft grounds... She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether"(24 - 25). Logan had blown out the hope in Janie's heart for any real love; she experienced the death of the childish imagery that life isn't a fairytale, her first dose of reality encountered and it tasted sour.

Mid-Term Break – Creative Writing

I was in the college sick bay all morning panicking and wondering why I was sat in this small clinical room. I was left alone lying on the old squashy but cold bed. I was listening to the bells ring every hour. I was wondering what lesson I should be in now if I had not been in this uncomfortable, small cramped room. At last, the school nurse walked in and said to me â€Å"Simon your next door neighbours are here†. I picked up my coat, put my bag on my back, and walked to the school reception where my neighbours were stood. My neighbours were nice people. They were the type that would help out, like picking me up from school or baby-sitting my brother. My neighbours came and gave me a hug and sat me down by the school reception and said â€Å"Simon, we have some bad news†. All sorts of things were running through my head at that moment, I thought that their cat had died or something but these words came out â€Å"Your brother is in hospital. He has been run over by a car†. On the way home I felt sick. Tears were trickling down my face while I was thinking if my brother was okay or not. On the way home the journey felt like five hours rather that ten minutes. When I finally got home, I saw my father crying in the porch. I tried to comfort him but I was too worried myself to be of any real help. I thought I knew what had happened, my father does not really cry when somebody dies but this time he was really crying. He was alone in his own world. He was cold and noises were muffled. The tears clouded his eyesight. As I entered the house, there were many people talking about different things. I could not tell what they were saying; it was just one loud noise. I could make out big Jim Evans, my uncle, who was saying in a solemn voice, â€Å"it was a hard blow†. My younger sister, Natalie, was in the pram rocking and laughing as though nothing had happened. I wished that I could do that; just pretend that nothing had happened. I went upstairs to my bed room and was met by lots of old men whom I had never seen before, I was embarrassed when they all stood up and started to shake my hand, they told me they were sorry for my trouble. I locked on to someone saying that I was the eldest child away at boarding school when my brother had been run over. I was holding my mums hand when I heard this. At ten o'clock on Tuesday morning, my brother's corpse arrived at the house and was taken upstairs to the attic. The corpse was bound in bandages and they were stained in blood around the body. This made me feel sick. I wanted to get out of the room as quick as I could. The following morning I went upstairs into the attic to say my goodbyes. The room was cold and many candles were lit around the corpse to show respect. Snowdrops soothed the atmosphere and made everything calm. I saw him lying in the coffin. It was the first time I had seen him in six weeks because I had been away at boarding school. He was lying there, but more stiff and paler than I had seen him six weeks ago. He was lying there with a poppy bruise on his left temple where the car had hit him. It appeared as though he was fast asleep in his bed, but it was not his bed, it was a coffin. He had no gaudy scars because the bumper had knocked him clear. This made me feel sick again but I did not want to leave the room. His box was four foot long as if this was a foot for every year.

National Museum Review (Philippines) Essay

What a blast from the past. September 5, 2013 a date to remember, another great day in my life. This was the day I and my two block mates went and visit an institution. The institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest of the country. Significantly, this institution is like a trophy to all Filipinos, a triumphant trophy of strong and vigorous mark of an extraordinary history, this is the National Museum of the Philippines. When I was in grade school and high school, I’ve been to the National Museum for several times already, because of our Field Trip. Thus, I am so happy and excited when our Professor in Philippine History told us that one of our requirements is to visit National Museum and be able to pass a reflection about the Museum, because it’s about time to reflect and appreciate more of the country’s history and treasure. I used to conduct researches before I go to a place like National Museum, because I be lieve that it’s not enough just to visit places like such without any prior knowledge or interest about the place, I think being a little cognitive would do, for we can appreciate more of the place. In my research I have learned that, the National Art Gallery was originally designed as the public library by Ralph Harrington Doane. In 1918, the construction begun and was suspended for several times due to lack of funds. Later on, the building was decided to be used by the legislature. Revisions of the plan were done by Juan Arellano. The building was inaugurated on July 16, 1926. Costing only four million pesos, in the mid-1996 the Senate of the Philippines moved out of the building. In 2003, the renovation started to transform it into National Art Gallery of the national Museum. Before entering the museum, you’ll see two sculptures done by the artist Guillermo Tolentino. They are the heroic monuments of Manuel Quezon, former Senate President; and Sergio Osmena, former Speaker of the House. When I entered the door there was a feeling of excitement and something mysterious. Something that holds my breath and whispers in my ears saying, â€Å"This is your country, this is Philippines†. As if I am about to see the past of my country, accounts of its history that were untold. There are different rooms/halls inside the museum. Each caters to different artists, artifacts and historical pieces. One of my favorite in the rooms is the Hall of Masters. â€Å"This room is dedicated to the 19th-century Filipino painters Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo who achieved prominence at  the 1884 Madrid Exposition. Luna’s Spoliarium received one of the three gold medals and Hidalgo’s Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho (Christian Virgins Presented to the Populace) received one of the fourteen silver medals† I’m not the artsy type, but this Juan Luna painting is definitely the first and only painting that evoked such strong feelings in me — desperation and hopelessness in a gigantic package. I first saw it in high school, but seeing it as an adult never dimmed the effect it had on me everything else pales in comparison. I hope treasures like this will be forever ours. Another favorite of mine is the Amorsolo Gallery. In my researches I found out that â€Å"Fernando C. Amorsolo, named National Artist in Painting in 1972, was the first Filipino to ever be given that distinction. He was also called the â€Å"Grand Old Man of Philippine Art† at the inauguration of the Manila Hilton’s art center, where his paintings were exhibited, on January 23, 1969. His works covered a wide range of subjects, but he was best known for his idealized female images of the dalagang Filipina. He also painted scenes of traditional Filipino customs, fiestas and occupations, and series of historical paintings on pre-Colonial and Spanish Colonization scenes. He preferred to paint in natural light and developed the backlighting technique, which became his trademark. † Other galleries includes the Arellano room, dedicated to the prolific-painter Juan Arellano, who is also one the architects of the building. The Beloved Land, â€Å"This room introduces the scope of the history of art in the Philippines through a timeline.† The Vessels of Faith, â€Å"This room presents the various expressions of Philippine spirituality.† The Hall of National Artists for the Visual Arts, â€Å"This room is dedicated to the visual artists who have been named National Artists by the government.† The Freedom Yearned For, â€Å"This room expresses the theme of struggle of Filipinos against colonialism and the forms of oppression that persist to this day.† Across the National Art Gallery building is The Museum of the Filipino People. It houses the Anthropology and Archaeology division. The Museum of the Filipino People houses different exhibits from the origin of the islands of the Philippines up to the arrival of the Spaniards. The building formerly housed the Department of Finance. The National Museum of the Philippines is like the country itself, the Philippines is a place of beautiful and fascinating sites, a place of serendipity, a place with much resources Philippines is  truly a place like no other. But what we did, and what we are still doing are abusive and deteriorative manifestation on our God given gifts. Likewise, the National Museum is place of beautiful and fascinating works of art, a place of mystery and treasure, a place of told and untold chronicles of our land. But just like our country we express less care. That is one of my disappointments when I visited; I only saw some of the galleries, for the Museum is under renovation. If I am not mistaken that renovation plan is for years already. I asked one of the staff who guides our way into the galleries, â€Å"Is there any leaflet that the Museum is giving to the visitor?† the staff replied â€Å"None sir, because the Museum has no budget with that.† What the heck. Our history, the evidences of the great journey of the country were located there, yet we don’t give enough care and love on that institution. I have entitled my reflection â€Å"An untold Chronicle through Art (The Pearl of the Orient)† Because it’s so amazing and mind blowing, to think that through the paintings and sculptures, clothes and silks, structures and literature our ancestors creatively made our history engraved on our minds and especially on our hearts. And â€Å"The Pearl of the Orient† because, it is the Philippine itself, the reflection and mirror of our country, of our past and it’s in the hands of the present to ceaselessly preserve its beauty. At the end of the day, I realized that I’m so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful history as a Filipino. The National Museum of the Philippines is the Philippines itself, the story of the Filipinos. Substantially, it is already engraved and will forever be engraved into my mind and into my heart that I am a Filipino, I am proud of my story, and I will keep my blazing heart to ignite with love and care to my country. The First Mass at Limasawa by Carlos V. Fransisco Model for the Commonwealth Triumphal Arch by Guillermo Santos Francis Burton Harrison by Fernando Amorsolo Portrait of a Lady (Unfinished) Fernando Amorsolo San Diego Wreck Site

How Technology Changes Our Lives Essay

There is no doubt that technology has affected all of our lives. Whether it is positive or negative will be determined by the success of our ability to communicate with those around us. Now days the pace of innovation is increasing every day. It’s always a race to have the newest coolest technology. * The Internet is the fastest-growing tool of communication ever. It took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just 4 years. * The Worldwide Internet Population is estimated at 1.08 billion. In 2000 there were 400 million users, and in 1995 20 million users. * In 2001 more information could be sent over a single cable in a second than in 1997 was sent over the entire Internet in a month. * The cost of transmitting information has fallen dramatically. A trillion bits of information from Boston to Los Angeles from $150,000 in 1970 to 12 cents today. E-mailing a 40-page document from Chile to Kenya costs less than 10 cents, faxing it about $10, sending it by courier $50. * The average total cost of using a local dialup Internet account for 20 hours a month in Africa is about USD 60 a month and USD 22 a month in the US. The average African monthly salary is less than USD 60. * Native English speakers represent 35% of the on line population, although they are less than 10% of the world population. Native Chinese speakers represent the second largest group: 16% of the online population. * In Chile 89% of internet users have had tertiary education, in Sri Lanka 65%, and in China 70%. * Iceland has the highest percentage of internet users (68%); the United States stands at 56%; Malaysia 34%; Jordan 8%; Palestine 4%; Nigeria 0.6%; Tajikistan 0.1% The Gender Divide. Read more:Â  How Has Technology Changed Our Lives * The typical Internet user worldwide is young, male and wealthy – a member of an elite minority. * A gender gap exists in access and usage of information and communication technologies. Women represent 42% of Internet users in the world. 37% in Italy and Germany. * The gap is narrowing in certain countries: Brazil 47%, Thailand 49%, United States and Canada 51 * At the end of the 20th century, 90% of data on Africa was stored in Europe and the United States. * With only 18% of the world population, OECD countries contain nonetheless 79% of the world’s internet users. * The United States, with a population close to the population of the Middle East, has 199 million Internet users while the Middle East has only 16 million. * 34% of internet users are in developing countries. 81% of the world population is in developing countries. * The density of fixed telephone lines and mobile telephone lines is 5 times more in developed countries than in developing countries. PC ownership is 11 times more, and internet usage 8 times more. [developed=western Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, new Zealand, the US; everyone else in developing] * Of the estimated 5-8 million internet users in Africa, only about 2 million users are outside of North and South Africa. This implies about 1 user for every 250 to 400 people. This compares to the world average of 1 for every 15 people and a North and European average of 1 user for every 2 persons. * Within the Global South, opportunitie s are also unevenly distributed. In the Dominican Republic, 80% of internet users are in the capital. In China, the two cities of Shanghai and Beijing contain as many internet users as the 15 least connected provinces of 600 million people combined. In India, home to a major global hub of innovation, only 0.4% of people use the Internet. * Of the approximately 816 million people in Africa in 2001, it is estimated that: * 1 in 4 have a radio * 1 in 13 have a TV * 1 in 35 have a mobile phone * 1 in 40 have a fixed line phone * 1 in 130 have a PC * 1 in 60 use the Internet Telephones * One third of the world population has never made a telephone call. * While Sub-Saharan Africa contains about 10% of the world’s population, it accounts for only 0.2% of the world’s 1 billion telephone lines. * The cost of renting a telephone connection on the African continent averages about 20 percent of GDP per capita compared to a world average of 9 percent and an average of only 1 percent in high-income countries. * There are under 5 telephones per 100 people in India. * In the world, there are over 1.2 billion fixed telephone lines, 1.3 billion cellular subscribers and 140 billion international telephone traffic minutes each year. Mobile Telephones * As of 2002, mobile subscribers worldwide have outnumbered fixed-line subscribers. The mobile cross-over has taken place across geographic criteria, across socio-demographic criteria such as gender, income, or age, and across economic criteria. * Brazil has the same number of cellular phone subscribers as the whole of Africa combined. Asia, with 450 million subscribers, has twice the number of subscribers as the Americas combined. There are 836.5 million mobile subscribers in OECD countries. * While the United States has 199 million cell phone subscribers, it is not part of the top ten countries with the highest percentage of mobile subscribers. 55% of the US populations are mobile subscribers. * Africa holds only 3% of the world’s mobile subscribers, yet Africa is the first place where mobile subscribers outnumbered fixed-line subscribers. In five years (1997-2002), the number of cell phone subscribers in Africa grew by 1600%. * Nicaragua has more than 3 times more mobile ph one subscribers than fixed land lines (739 thousand compared with 214 thousand). * The number of mobile subscriptions per 100 people in a given country range from 120 in Luxembourg, to .44 in Malaysia, 24 in Jordan, 13 in Palestine, 3 in Nigeria et 0.7 in Tajikistan. Patents * OECD countries, with 14% of the world’s people, accounted for 86% of the patent applications filed in 1998 and 85% of the scientific and technical journal articles published worldwide. * Firms in developed countries currently account for 96% of royalties from patents, or $71 billion a year. The Computing Sector * In the UK, women constitute only about 20% of computer science classes (AGCAS 2003). In the US, the percentage of female computer science bachelors has decreased by 28% between 1983 and 1998 (Gurer and Camp 2002). Similarly in the computer science industry, the average female presence hovers around 20% (DfES 2001, AAUW 2000). * The computing industry exhibits vertical segregation (certain occupations for women, others for men) as well as horizontal segregation (women clustered in lower echelon occupations); in 1991 only 10% of the members of the British Computing Society were women. In 2000 9% of US IT engineers were women. On the other hand, 80% of data entry personnel was female. (Ahuja 2002; Webster 1996; Taggart & O’Gara 2000) EWaste * 220 million tons of old computers and other technological hardware are trashed in the United States each year. * Only 11% of PCs are recycled; the percentage for televisions and mainframes recycled is lower. * The United States generates more e-waste than any other nation . * An estimated 50-80% of e-waste collected in the United States for recycling is exported to areas such as China, India or Pakistan. Unusable equipment is also being donated or sold to developing nations as a way to avoid recycling costs.