Friday, November 29, 2019

ALLERGIES I Wondered Lonely As A Cloud, That Floats On High Oer Dales

ALLERGIES I wondered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o'er dales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd-a host of golden daffodils. William Wordsworth I hope he was taking an antihistamine. If he were not, he would develop signs and symptoms of allergies. These include, but are not limited to a sore throat; red, itchy, watery eyes; nasal congestion and drainage; coughing and sneezing. There are many remedies, from grandma's kitchen to the allergy research center. The allergy season is usually from late February to mid-May. Grass is the biggest offender during the latter part of the season. Pollens from trees and plants are released each year during early spring. There are cells floating around in your body and when the allergen is inhaled, it attaches itself to a specific cell. Then, it produces histamines (which stimulates gastric secretion and dilates blood vessels.) Your body reacts to this invasion with the signs of allergies. There are many over-the-counter medications to help reduce the symptoms. Benadryl, Tavist and Cholortrimeton are called antihistamines, which reduce the symptoms of allergies. Antihistamines make it difficult for the histamines to be released in the bloodstream. However, there is a drawback to this, and that is it will produce drowsiness. Prescription medication can be given to combat symptoms also. Allegra, is the newest of these medications. Claritin and Hismanal are non-sedating. There is, by prescription, a nasal spray that can be given to reduce sneezing. Of course, the last resort is by injection. A tiny amount of the same allergen that you are allergic to is injected under your skin. This, hopefully, will slowly desensitize you. The combination of these drugs should fit into many lifestyles. Briggite Mars, a well-known herbalist states, I generally view allergies as an indication of a weakened immune system. She also believes that stress is a major factor and should be reduced. This, in turn, will boost your immune sys tem. A diet rich in beta-carotene, lamb, and even violets can improve the sufferer's allergic response. Every year around the same time, Michelle Robertson, who worked for a doctor as a medical assistant thought she had developed a cold and would then miss work. She would go in with the red eyes, nasal congestion, and cough. It was really her allergy. There are many kinds of pollen from trees, plants, weeds, flowers, mold, and ragweed being the worsts of all. Pollen, which looks like a sphere with spikes can travel hundreds of miles away. It has been found as far as Antarctica. There is no getting away from it. However, there is a meter that reads the pollen count. It has been read from zero to as high as four hundred in mid-September. In comparing the articles, the treatments were the same, with the Cooper article, More treatments available for those with hay fever, allergies. The Wood article, Ragweed hits hard at pollen suffers, gives just over-the-counter medications. It also ta lks on avoidance being the best policy of allergies. Cooper, talks more about diet and homeopathic remedies. There is a difference on the allergy season between the articles. The first being the February to March season. Wood made a statement of the pollen count meter reading as a high as 400 in mid-September. This could be due to the meter's geographic location. Overall, the Cooper article was much more informative. It had a pleasant even flow to it starting with the poetry, what allergies are, the treatment, and the diet. It had high points that helped keep the article in perspective that the Wood's did not. REFERENCECooper, Cynthia. More treatments available for those with hay fever, allergies. Knight- Ridder/Tribune News Service 16 May 1997, p516k8337Wood, R. Anthony. Ragweed hits hard at pollen suffers. Knight-ridder/Tribune News Service 29 Aug. 1997, p829k4377

Monday, November 25, 2019

Bounded People, Boundless Lands essays

Bounded People, Boundless Lands essays Bounded People, Boundless Lands: Envisioning a New Land Ethic Throughout the book Eric Freyfogle uses examples of poems, fictional stories, and true stories to strengthen his view of the land, and land ethics. One such example is that of the poem by Robert Frost called Mending Wall where the phrase Good fences make good neighbors came from. Freyfogle uses this poem as a precedence throughout the book, making reference to it, and the contradiction of the meaning of the poem, and that people took that phrase literally, and it has become and anthem for the American culture and how they view the land. From the poem on, Freyfogle gives examples of how America has shaped its land, and how boundaries have been set up in American culture. He states, Boundaries and the bounding process have been central elements of American culture since the first days of settlement. The westward expansion of the country, in fact, was a matter not only of taming the land but also of dividing and bounding it. Through a messy process continuing for generations, an interconnected whole became a collection of parcels and pieces. As they divided nature, the settlers severed, mentally and sometimes physically, many of the connections that joined natures pieces into and organic whole. They had reasons for doing so, of course. But in time, their boundaries and senses of boundedness would take a heavy toll on the lands health (pgs. 6-7). After this statement Freyfogle goes on to give examples of how this happened, and people and places that it happened at. Such as in California when settlers divided ! the water flows to go to certain places, and companies such as Chauncey There are many examples that Freyfogle gives throughout the book about the land health and how we need to fix things in order to make i...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Modeling and guided practice in a literacy lesson Research Paper

Modeling and guided practice in a literacy lesson - Research Paper Example For instance, in a literacy lesson, the teacher may give the learners an example then allow them do another task to test their comprehension based on the example. If the educator is teaching about verbs, the educator may focus on attaining the learning objective then ask the learners to identify verbs from a listing of words by reading them loudly. Through this guided practice McCormack  & Pasquarelli (2012) indicate that it is achievable to achieve a great percentage of proficiency from the learners. The learners may then be given a chance for comprehension of what verbs are through silent reading after guided practice by their teachers. Modeling, on the other hand, refers to a demonstration of the thinking procedure (McCormack  & Pasquarelli, 2012). This explains the manner in which something is done and why it is done. Through the modeling process, the teacher takes the learner through the learning procedure, the demonstration made are explicit, and the students are expected to be actively involved in these demonstrations (McCormack  & Pasquarelli, 2012). The authors also argue that in modeling repetition must ensue and think aloud statements used (McCormack  & Pasquarelli, 2012). This allows the learners get actively involved in comprehension lessons. In a literacy lesson setting, the teacher may focus on aiding the learners think through the ideas of the author as opposed to the outcome of the comprehension. This is a good example of self modeling whilst reading the comprehension. If the learners focus on one concept while reading they are likely to get the concept being portrayed by the author. For a lesson to be successful, it is vital to assess if the learners have comprehended what they have read. According to the American Education Publishing (2012) it is possible to know what a student has read if they are able to recount what they have read in a chronological manner. For

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Advocacy Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Advocacy Speech - Essay Example This therefore begs the question, what is mental illness? This is a disorder that affects one’s mood, thinking and behaviour. Examples of mental illnesses include depression, schizophrenia, addictive traits and eating disorders. Mental disorder can be observed when someone starts to constantly feel sad or down, sex drive changes, extreme anger, drug and alcohol abuse, withdrawal from daily activities, detachment from reality, change in eating habits, low energy levels, and worst of all suicidal thoughts. Traumatic experiences, medical conditions such as cancer, stressful situations, unhealthy relationships and previous mental illness could be a trigger. One in four adults suffers from mental illness and about half of American adults develop this disorder at some point in their lives. Seventy five percent of the people affected globally come from low-income countries and fourteen percent of the global burden is attributed to mental illness. Is there a cure? Most people might question themselves. Several treatment remedies have been introduced and are rarely referred to as cures. Medications mainly applied by psychiatrists include mood-stabilizing medications, anti-anxiety medications, anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medications. Psychotherapy and brain-stimulation treatments are oftenly applied and residential and hospital programmes are sometimes provided. It is hard to prevent mental illness, though it’s important to take good care of oneself, check out for warning signs, have routine medical care and most importantly get help when necessary. In the most severe cases, mental illness could require guidance of a loved one or a doctor until they are able to participate in decision-making. Depending on the symptoms, there could be personal preferences, and this can be put into consideration by the affected person, working along with his or her health care provider. This said, time has therefore come for mental illness

Monday, November 18, 2019

Current Events- how they affect the stability in area of Egypt Assignment

Current Events- how they affect the stability in area of Egypt - Assignment Example The revolution took place on 25 of January and it was non-violent campaign civil resistance, which was characterized by demonstrations, civil disobedience acts, street marches and labor strikes. Millions of people from different religious and socio economic backgrounds protested publicly because they wanted to throw the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak is the president of Egypt who has ruled for a long time since 1981 up to the year 2011. The protest in the Egypt was meant to throw the regime of Mubarak because he has made Egypt poor, and stole the fortune of Egypt. The British Journals reveals that Mubarak and his family escaped with around 70 billion dollars to the United States, France, Dubai, Switzerland and United Kingdom (Podeh and Winckler, 2004). They also sold gasoline at 25 percent of market price to Israel, which is considered the enemy nation for Egyptians. This made many Arab nations to hate Egypt and made the country a police nation where internal inelegance could arrest, kill or abuse anyone. Eypt has adequate resources, big military and smart labor force as swell as high population of more than 90 millions of people; thus a threat to Israel, which has been their enemy for a long period. Al though the two nations signed for the peace agreement, it was seen as the advantage taken over Mubarak because he does not care about human rights and democracy right of Egyptians. Therefore, the civil revolution made against the regime of Mubarak whereby people utilized social media services and networking sites aimed to build a new revolution in Egypt. The political turmoil in Egypt has paralyzed government’s efforts in addressing the problems affecting citizens; thus contributing to an economic deterioration. Egypt is one of the nations with rapid population growth rate and the limited arable lands have significantly restrained the nation ‘resources. However, the increased political crisis that led to protest and labor strikes affected the

Saturday, November 16, 2019

How To Develop An Effective Relationship With Your Co-Worker

How To Develop An Effective Relationship With Your Co-Worker You can submarine your career and work relationships by the actions you take and the behaviors you exhibit at work. No matter your education, your experience, or your title, if you cant play well with others, you will never accomplish your work mission Effective work relationships form the cornerstone for success and satisfaction with your job and your career. How important are effective work relationships? Effective work relationships form the basis for promotion, pay increases, goal accomplishment, and job satisfaction. A supervisor in a several hundred person company quickly earned a reputation for not playing well with others. He collected data and used the data to find fault, place blame, and make other employees look bad. He enjoyed identifying problems but rarely suggested solutions. He bugged his supervisor weekly for a bigger title and more money so he could tell other employees what to do. When he announced he was job hunting, not a single employee suggested that the company take action to convince him to stay. He had burned his bridges. These are the top seven ways you can play well with others at work. They form the basis for effective work relationships. These are the actions you want to take to create a positive, empowering, motivational work environment for people. Bring suggested solutions with the problems to the meeting table. Some employees spend an inordinate amount of time identifying problems. Honestly? Thats the easy part. Thoughtful solutions are the challenge that will earn respect and admiration from coworkers and bosses Dont ever play the blame game. You alienate coworkers, supervisors, and reporting staff. Yes, you may need to identify who was involved in a problem. You may even ask the Deming question: what about the work system caused the employee to fail? But, not my fault and publicly identifying and blaming others for failures will earn enemies. These enemies will, in turn, help you to fail. You do need allies at work. Your verbal and nonverbal communication matters. If you talk down to another employee, use sarcasm, or sound nasty, the other employee hears you. We are all radar machines that constantly scope out our environment.In one organization a high level manager said to me, I know you dont think I should scream at my employees. But, sometimes, they make me so mad. When is it appropriate for me to scream at the employees? Answer? Never, of course, if respect for people is a hallmark of your organization. Never blind side a coworker, boss, or reporting staff person. If the first time a coworker hears about a problem is in a staff meeting or from an email sent to his supervisor, you have blind sided the coworker. Always discuss problems, first, with the people directly involved who own the work system. Also called lynching or ambushing your coworkers, you will never build effective work alliances unless your coworkers trust you. And, without alliances, you never accomplish the most important goals. Keep your commitments. In an organization, work is interconnected. If you fail to meet deadlines and commitments, you affect the work of other employees. Always keep commitments, and if you cant, make sure all affected employees know what happened. Provide a new due date and make every possible effort to honor the new deadline. Share credit for accomplishments, ideas, and contributions. How often do you accomplish a goal or complete a project with no help from others? If you are a manager, how many of the great ideas you promote were contributed by staff members? Take the time, and expend the energy, to thank, reward, recognize and specify contributions of the people who help you succeed. This is a no-fail approach to building effective work relationships. Help other employees find their greatness. Every employee in your organization has talents, skills, and experience. If you can help fellow employees harness their best abilities, you benefit the organization immeasurably. The growth of individual employees benefits the whole. Compliment, recognize, praise, and notice contributions. You dont have to be a manager to help create a positive, motivating environment for employees. In this environment, employees do find and contribute their greatness. If you regularly carry out these seven actions, you will play well with others and develop effective work relationships. Coworkers will value you as a colleague. Bosses will believe you play on the right team. Youll accomplish your work goals, and you may even experience fun, recognition, and personal motivation. Work cant get any better than that. How To Develop An Effective Relationship With Your Boss These steps will help you develop a positive, ongoing, supportive relationship with your boss a relationship that serves you well, your manager well, and, as a consequence, your organization well. The first step in managing up is to develop a positive relationship with your boss. Relationships are based on trust. Do what you say youll do. Keep timeline commitments. Never blind side your manager with surprises that you could have predicted or prevented. Keep her informed about your projects and interactions with the rest of the organization. Tell the boss when youve made an error or one of your reporting staff has made a mistake. Cover-ups dont contribute to an effective relationship. Lies or efforts to mislead always result in further stress for you as you worry about getting caught or somehow slipping up in the consistency of your story. Communicate daily or weekly to build the relationship. Get to know your manager as a person she is one, after all. She shares the human experience, just as you do, with all of its joys and sorrows. Recognize that success at work is not all about you; put your bosss needs at the center of your universe. Identify your bosss areas of weakness or greatest challenges and ask what you can do to help. What are your bosss biggest worries; how can your contribution mitigate these concerns? Understand your bosss goals and priorities. Place emphasis in your work to match her priorities. Think in terms of the overall success of your department and company, not just about your more narrow world at work. Look for and focus on the best parts of your boss; just about every boss has both good points and bad. When youre negative about your boss, the tendency is to focus on his worst traits and failings. This is neither positive for your work happiness nor your prospects for success in your organization. Instead, compliment your boss on something he does well. Provide positive recognition for contributions to your success. Make your boss feel valued. Isnt this what you want from him for you? Your boss is unlikely to change; she can choose to change, but the person who shows up to work every day has taken years and years of effort on her part to create. And, who your boss is has worked for her in the past and reinforced her actions and beliefs. Instead of trying to change your boss, focus instead, on trying to understand your bosss work style.Identify what she values in an employee. Does she like frequent communication, autonomous employees, requests in writing in advance of meeting, or informal conversation as you pass in the hallway. Your bosss preferences are important and the better you understand them, the better you will work with her. Learning how to read your bosss moods and reactions is also a helpful approach to communicate more effectively with him. There are times when you dont want to introduce new ideas; if he is preoccupied with making this months numbers, your idea for a six month improvement may not be timely. Problems at home or a relative in failing health affect each of your workplace behaviors and openness to an improvement discussion. Additionally, if your boss regularly reacts in the same way to similar ideas, explore what he fundamentally likes or dislikes about your proposals. Learn from your boss. Although some days it may not feel like it, your boss has much to teach you. Appreciate that she was promoted because your organization found aspects of her work, actions, and/or management style worthwhile. Promotions are usually the result of effective work and successful contributions. So, ask questions to learn and listen more than you speak to develop an effective relationship with your boss. Ask your boss for feedback. Let the boss play the role of coach and mentor. Remember that your boss cant read your mind. Enable him to offer you recognition for your excellent performance. Make sure he knows what you have accomplished. Create a space in your conversation for him to praise and thank you. Value your bosss time. Try to schedule, at least, a weekly meeting during which you are prepared with a list of what you need and your questions. This allows him to accomplish work without regular interruption. Tie your work, your requests, and your project direction to your bosss and the companys overarching goals. When making proposals to your boss, try to see the larger picture. There are many reasons why your suggestion may not be adopted: resources, time, goals, and vision. Maintain strict confidentiality. In your relationship with your boss you will sometimes disagree and occasionally experience an emotional reaction. Dont hold grudges. Dont make threats about leaving. Disagreement is fine; discord is not. Get over it. You need to come to terms with the fact that your boss has more authority and power than you do. You are unlikely to always get your way. Employee Relations Strategic Plan your definition of employee relations what kind of industry youre in how many employees your company has whether or not you have a union if not, how big is the threat of unionization what your turnover rate is what your pay rates and benefits plans are compared to competing (not just competing for your products but also competing for your employees) industries in your region how big your HR department is what your reasons are for deciding you need a strategic employee relations plan and probably a whole lot more stuff but this would be a start anyway. What Are Micro Inequities? The veiled putdown, the sarcastic tone, as well as nonverbal transgressions such as rolling the eyes and turning your back toward someone in conversation may seem like piddling things to fret about. Small slights can generate big problems. Employees might be willing to blow off one or even a few such rude gestures. But if a boss, manager or project teammate habitually treats colleagues disrespectfully, they will feel demoralized. Perhaps that will lead to attitude problems and increased absenteeism. Say a supervisor asks for suggestions on a project. An employee perks up with a thoughtful solution. As if tone-deaf, the supervisor then asks, Okay, whod like to get things started here? Or, the supervisor embraces the idea but only after someone else mentions it. Next time the supervisor asks for recommendations, the unappreciated employee remains tight-lipped. Maybe co-workers also button up. Result: Valuable ideas never get aired, and productivity suffers. A worst-case scenario, the disrespected employees leave. And in a worst-worst-case scenario, they may end up suing you for these unwelcome gestures. At least thats what is starting to occur, according to one San Francisco law firm that defends management in conflicts with employees. In todays ultra-competitive business climate, your small enterprise cant afford to lose valuable workers. Thats especially true with an expected major labour shortage on the horizon. Who knows, the offended employees might have been your companys next rainmakers. So How Do You Stop These Micro Inequities? First, understand what they are. Thats easier said than done, because many such offenses are committed subconsciously. A boss might not even be aware he is botching the pronunciation on a colleagues name. Or that he is glancing at his watch during an employees presentation. According to experts, were sending dozens of powerful micromessages every time we speak, gesture or even do nothing. Those communications may vary somewhat from culture to culture and even organization to organization. But the point is, were sending a message even when we dont think were sending a message. A number of organizations are playing closer attention to this workplace behaviour. They are paying for training sessions attended by their managers and rank and file. Short of taking training exercises, small companies can take several actions to prevent microinequities. Supervisors might bring up the topic at staff meetings to demonstrate their awareness. Or, the subject might be broached in company emails, newsletters or attitude surveys. Going forward, pay closer attention to all your employees, not just your stars or those you are most comfortable with. Consider engaging in nonbusiness conversations so you can develop rapport, respect and trust. Solicit suggestions from them. Maybe ask what they are working on and then pose follow-up questions. And, very important: Give direct eye contact and listen attentively to them. In group settings, Young suggests, be sensitive to how you greet or treat a colleague youre close with, so it appears youre not playing favorites. When possible, give public credit to owners of good ideas. And encourage participation from everyone

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The State of Revolutionary Ideology in Modern-day China Essay -- Revol

The State of Revolutionary Ideology in Modern-day China Over the course of history, many violent revolutions have brought forth new leaders and new ideas. They came in a great many forms and in response to a variety of circumstances. However, the Communist Revolution in China remains perhaps the greatest recent example. Not only because it took more than two decades to complete, but also because there was an attempt to institutionalize revolution after some initial changes to build state infrastructure. China is an incredibly complex entity with a history approximately 22 times longer than the United States and is as far culturally from the West as it is geographically. Particularly in contrast to the Western acceptance of dissent, has been a long-standing institution of Confucian principles. When oversimplified, Confucian principles mean that children submit to their parents, wives submit to husbands, and citizens obey the state. To disagree with a superior in China is risky business, because ultimately the most important thing is to maintain good appearances. With such a strong emphasis on hierarchy and submission to authorities it is surprising that a revolution in China ever occurred. Part of what I wish to examine were the circumstances in which revolution took place, considering that the 20th century witnessed two Chinese revolutions, the first ending the long dynastic tradition in 1911. I also wish to examine the attempt to institutionalize revolution during the early part of the PeopleÂ’s Republic of China, the PRC, most notable during the Cultural Revolution, as well as look at the popular movement for democracy during the decade following the Cultural Revolution. What appears from the history of the PRC is the... ...year that is based on files released by the CCP, describes the ideas of China's top seven leaders. They do not promote Mao Zedong thought, nor do they push for democracy and human rights. They are technocratic and believe in modernizing China with a strong authoritarian fist. What appears through the various strands of recent Chinese history, be it related to overpopulation, state repression, or economic satiation, is a populace that is currently unprepared and uninterested in pursuing any form of revolution. The change in mindset from Mao to today's leaders marks a distinct transformation from revolutionary ideology as a necessary and vital component within political life to a harmful and disruptive force. Unless a cataclysmic event rocks the political climate or an economic catastrophe occurs, it is unlikely that China will see another revolution any time soon.

Monday, November 11, 2019

African Slaves Essay

Rationale My project will be to examine the lives of Indian Indentured labourers between 1845 and 1917. The reason I am examining their lives is to prove that Indian Indentureship was just another form of slavery with a different name. The project will also assist me in learning about the Indian Indentureship period for my CSEC examination. Introduction Indentured labour was something like the last resort for planters after slavery. After the abolition of slavery the planters were left with a labour shortage. In their search for other sources of labour the planters tried Chinese, Madeirans, even free African slaves but each of these options all had their disadvantages. After a trial and error period with many different labourers, it was found that the Indians were the ideal labourers. The Indentureship period was supposed to be a fair, humane and just system unlike the African slave trade and slavery on the whole but this was not the case. In many aspects of the Indentureship period, it was almost identical to slavery. In the following paragraphs it will be shown from the evidence given, that Indians were treated almost as badly as African slaves, proving that the Indentureship period was simply another form of slavery. Indentureship and slavery are basically the same thing but the major thing that differentiated them was the fact t hat the Indian labourers were legally owned while the African slaves were forced to work for the planters. The Indians were cheated into signing contracts which they didn’t understand with false promises of a better life and good working conditions. The Indians were gullible and were easily tricked into signing the contracts  which ran from 3-5 years. The African slaves on the other were kidnapped in most cases and forced to work for the rest of their usually short lives. Their only chance of freedom would be allowed only if they purchased it, which was very unlikely. The journey for both the Africans and the Indians began with a long journey on a boat in deplorable living conditions. For the Indians the journey lasted from 93 to 113 days which was longer than the journey of the Africans which lasted from 6 to 10 weeks. Although both journeys were bad the Middle passage was a little worse than the journey the Indians endured. They were both kept in confined spaces which was unhealthy, especially if kept for long periods of time. Because of their confinement diseases were easily s pread and the mortality rate was very high. Life on the plantation was not much different because their living quarter were also confined.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Chinas Roots by Orient Lee †Book Review

Chinas Roots by Orient Lee – Book Review Free Online Research Papers China’s Roots by Orient Lee Book Review As one of the oldest and largest civilizations in the world, China has seen both its political state and culture morph in countless ways through periods of war, peace, prosperity, and destitution. To summarize its thousands of years of history in a mere few hundred pages is, undeniably, a formidable task, but Orient Lee attempts it in his work China’s Roots. As the title suggests, the book describes how China and the Chinese people came to be what they are today through a chronological retelling of Chinas development from prehistoric to contemporary times. It is not, however, a comprehensive description of Chinese history, but nor does it profess to be. Rather, Lee, a Chinese scholar with many historical works under his belt, presents a broad framework of the nations transition through various periods of history. Above this frame, he selectively adds more detailed descriptions of the most notable events, persons, and cultural aspects, offering insight into things that have come to define China and the Chinese people. In the same vein, Lee also supplements his history with separate chapters on the evolution of science, art, and literature in China. Presented in both Chinese and English trans lation, the book is moreover accessible to both Chinese and foreign readers. However, while China’s Roots is a commendable introduction to China’s history and culture, it is nevertheless marred by several faults, including uneven focus, unreliable information, and the author’s clear bias towards certain subjects. China’s Roots summarizes Chinese history and cultural development in twelve chapters. The first chapter introduces China’s geography and describes the nation’s land mass, provinces, cities, mountains, lakes, deserts, plains, prairies, plateaus, forests, islands, and rivers, showing that most do not shy in comparison to those of the powerful nation in the world, the United States. He also highlights the nation’s most notable natural wonders, including the Great Central Plain, Himalaya Mountains, Yellow River, and Yangtze River, whose length is comparable to that of the Nile and Amazon. On the whole, Lee’s descriptions emphasize the beauty, usefulness, and grandeur of the Chinese landscape. The second chapter concerns China during prehistoric times, citing various archaeological remains from Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic times. The author traces the development of humans in various regions through these ancient times, describing the tool s, houses, pottery, and other artifacts of each era. In the next seven chapters, Lee relates China’s historical past from the Xia Dynasty to modern China, with focus on the political aspects of the country’s development. He begins by blending the myths of China’s origin with historical fact to create an account of proto-history. A brief description of the Xia Dynasty is given, though it is made clear that the information is based on ancient texts as opposed to archaeological evidence. The Shang Dynasty is also only described briefly, with passing remarks about its 28 kings and achievements in agriculture, military, and the like. Next Lee describes how the Zhou Dynasty was established as well as the four main vassal states during Middle Zhou. He also describes each of the Five Hegemons individually and gives a brief account of the seven Warring States, the growth of feudalism, and how Qin came to power. The account of Qins and its achievements in road-building, measuring, writing and such, is brief like its re ign. Following this Lee traces the establishment of Han and its first five emperors, but then quickly speeds through the rest of the emperors and attainments in the lengthy eras of Former and Latter Han, with special attention given to certain emperors such as Wu Ti and Ming Ti. When drawing attention to the Three Kingdoms period, the author briefly describes the three states and their rulers, and then reflects on why no kingdom was able to unify China. This is followed by a detailed portrayal of the struggles between the eight princes of Jin, and a description of the minority tribes of the period as well as the Northern and Southern Dynasties stage. There were also significant developments in philosophy, science, literature, and religion at this time. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, society and economy flourished, although this epoch was also plagued by problems such as the Fanchen Warlords and rebellions. The Five Dynasties period only lasted shortly, and the Northern Son g Dynasty that followed suffered from a poor military and administrative system. Despite Wang AnShis reforms, rebellion rose. Numerous battles between Jhin and Sung took place during the Southern Song, and the economy of the period suffered great deficit. The Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty treated the Han Chinese as ninth-class citizens. After years of misrule, rebels eventually established Ming, though the first ruler was deemed insane and ruled poorly. Another rebellion eventually brought about the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had the misfortune to fall to the status of a sub-colony after fighting two Opium Wars as well as several other foreign wars. Next Lee describes the establishment of the Republic of China, which fought an 80 year war against Japan as well as a civil war that eventually put China under the rule of a communist government. After noting Deng XiaoPings reforms that opened China, the author ends his historical account by asserting his hope for one China. The latter third of the text focuses on various cultural achievements in science and technology, art, and literature. As for technological developments, Lee chronologically details the evolution of technology in different areas, including irrigation, transportation, and chemistry. He also includes a subsection on the sciences that the Chinese purportedly excelled at, including math, astronomy, metallurgy, and medicine. The chapter on the development of arts is separated into subsections of architecture, sculpture, and painting. In each section, Lee describes the development of the art throughout the ages and names specific artists and their accomplishments. Finally, in the last chapter, the author chronologically tracks the growth of Chinese literature and lists several notable authors and works. In critiquing China’s Roots, it is firstly of note to mention that the book has a fairly unique format, which is at times helpful for the reader but sometimes detrimental. The work imparts the aforementioned information in both Chinese and English using Wade-Giles romanization. From the limited amount of Chinese I can read, the English version appears to be a direct translation of the original, with minor discrepancies. For example, when speaking of the math of China, the English version merely mentions that a mathematician solved problems with the â€Å"Method of Finite Difference† (p.201) while the Chinese version actually details the equations and mathematics associated with the method. Similarly, a picture of an oracle describing novas appears only in the Chinese version. Clearly, such discrepancies, which appear throughout the book, indicate that each version is intended for a specific audience. Foreigners are expected know the Method of Finite Difference wit hout further elaboration, and only Chinese readers are expected to recognize characters on the oracle bone. Although this entails that certain details will be missed by those who only read one version, it also implies that the author knows his audience and is likely catered his writing accordingly. Indeed, even the title, presented as â€Å"Our Roots† in Chinese but â€Å"China’s Roots† in English, likewise suggests a specific audience for each version. This review is based off of the English version. When comparing the organization of Chinas Roots with two other similar works on Chinese civilization, An Introduction to Chinese Civilization by John. T. Meskill and China: Tradition and Transformation by John Fairbank and Edwin Reischauer, one sees evident uniqueness in Lee’s approach. Lee chooses to first present geography and chronological history, and then delve more intensively into specific aspects of culture, including science, art, and literature. Although he still enriches his earlier chapters with some cultural information, such as when he describes the flourishing of Tang metropolises, he does not interweave it entirely with history as Fairbank does. In doing so, he succeeds in drawing greater attention to culture as well offering a more coherent narrative of its development. Furthermore, the sections in the chapters of Roots are laid out with appropriate headings, subheadings, and bolded proper names that make specific content easy to access. However, unlike the two aforementioned works, it lacks an index. So while a reader can easily find information regarding certain time periods, he will have difficulty locating more specific names and subjects embedded within the text. The book also suffers from peculiar, counterintuitive organization in some areas, such as when it covers the effect of Qins rule on the six other Warring States before describing the wars that led Qin to accomplish its takeover. It might also be of note that there are several printing errors in the book, including typographic errors, truncated paragraphs, and even repeated pages. It is, then, not unreasonable to assume that certain names and dates could contain errors as well. Altogether, such details mar an otherwise well-organized book. In general, China’s Roots provides well-written and comprehensive overviews of its subjects. Compared to the works of Fairbank and Meskill, Roots is shorter in length but covers the same events, names, locations, and other facts important to Chinese history and culture. It does so in a more succinct manner, often offering only the most important details, so that readers can learn a great deal about Chinas origin without having to read hundreds and hundred of pages of text. Indeed, in merely 250 pages, Lee has laudably created a comprehensive, compact, and largely well-written piece of work that has summarized a massive history for almost anyone to enjoy. Like the other authors, Lee also, in a professional manner, tries to prove most of his assertions or opinions with fact. When he claims that Tangwas the greatest [dynasty] in Chinese history (p.102), he immediately appends a list of facts about Tangs political, criminal, military, and philosophical bearings, which support his assertion as evidence. Similarly, when he claims that the Tang dynasty flourished, he proves it with numbers and statistics. Moreover, in addition to capturing the essence of the longer and more well-known books, Lees book also delves into subjects that are not usually touched upon by other writers. For example, while Lee uses a similar organization of chapters as Meskill, the latter fails to include a section on science as Lee does. In all fairness, few people would associate China with scientific innovation, but Lees unique inclusion of the subject serves to shatter misconceptions by highlighting Chinas lead in many areas of technological achievement. Also, while Meskill and Fairbank are reluctant to include unproven information that is not supported by evidence, Lee freely includes stories and myths in spite of dubious accuracy. This leads him to include sections on the myths of origin about Yao, Shun and Yu, as well as information on Xia that is only supported by writ ings from thousands of years after the fact. In contrast, the other two works only mention the Xia Dynasty briefly in one paragraph or even just a sentence. Lees inclusion of such information expands the readers understanding of China and where the Chinese people believe their roots lie. Lee also writes about China in a unique style that often adds to the entertainment value of the book. While Fairbank and Meskills works read like bulky textbooks that would only incite interest in a small specific group of readers, Lee reaches out to a larger audience. Most likely in effort to conjure up more interest in his subject, he uses style and includes content that a larger audience will enjoy. In some ways, Lees descriptions read almost like flowing narratives as he explains cause and effect and the rise and fall of each dynasty. Often times, he even includes anecdotes that make otherwise trivial or dull subjects amusing. For instance, he highlights greed, deceit, and betrayal of the ruling class in a needlessly detailed but unarguably interesting account (p.81-3) of the power struggle between eight Jin princes. At other times, he points out interesting facts that other history writers are likely omit, such as the financial enigma of Sung, whose yearly expenditures con sistently exceeded revenues (p.137). Indeed, Lee attempts to inject his own interest in China into his readers. On the other hand, the authors efforts to lay emphasis on topics that are more appealing prove to have adverse effects as well. For one, Lees compulsion to share topics that he finds interesting results in uneven focus throughout many parts of the book. In one such instance, Lee devotes dozens of pages to the lengthy wars between Jhin and Song and even specifically describes the terms of many peace treaties and battle strategies. Such details offer little insight into Chinese history as a whole, and even Fairbank and Meskill only make passing references to them. The needlessly detailed description must then have arisen from the authors interest in the subject, which ultimately imposes tedious information upon the reader. Furthermore, at other times, the author fails to include information on a subject if he finds it uninteresting. This is the case with the Five Dynasties Stage, to which he only devotes three pages because, to him, None of the Five Short Dynasties in the metropol itan region had an edifying or interesting history. Theirs was a series of wars, murders, and usurpations (p.119). Clearly, this uneven coverage of different subjects leaves the reader with information that is overabundant in some areas and insufficient in others. In the same vein, Lees desire to please his core reader demographic is detrimental to foreigners who wish to extract accurate information from the text. It can be inferred from the Chinese title of the book, Our Roots, and the Taiwanese phonetics on the cover, that the core readership will be Taiwanese. With this in mind, Lee has created a work that often seems to glorify the Taiwanese and their ancestors specifically. For instance, when describing Chinas geography, Lee presents his opinion that Taiwan isthe most beautiful [island] as fact (p.6). He also occasionally glosses over information that makes China appear weak in the face of other nations. When speaking of the Opium War and foreign dominations that follow, he only includes a few pages (p.154-6) on the subject, whereas Fairbank and Meskill both provide long sections on the details of the war, the resulting agreements, as well as other wars that followed. It is unfortunate that Roots fails to provide information on a s hameful but nevertheless important part of Chinese history that helps to explain Chinas inferiority complex during the many decades that followed. Similarly, the book names modern scientists, artists, and writers in Taiwan but not the Peoples Republic of China. This, too, denies readers information that they will need to study and understand todays China as a whole. In addition to the aforementioned instances in which the author inserts his own bias and opinions in an unapparent manner, Lee also frequently asserts his views explicitly. There are many cases in which he utilizes the words I think, I believe, or I propose, such as when he asserts that I think the human elementhad also played a role in historic happenings of every epoch (80). While it is helpful to provide an experts opinion, including them also makes the work appear less objective. When opinions are inserted into a work of history, one begins to question the reliability of the rest of the information, which are then likely to be influenced by bias. Neither Meskill nor Fairbank address themselves in the first person in their works. Although Lee supports assertions with evidence for the most part, there are also times when he makes statements without sufficient proof. Often, these statements make Roots appear even less professional and less reliable. For example, he frequentl y describes characters without proof, such as when he repeatedly asserts that certain rulers are stupid, ugly, (p.81), or crazy (p.149). Moreover, although it is most likely due to inaccurate translation, the use of these adjectives, which are generally colloquial, reduce Lees credibility as a qualified historian. Overall, Chinas Roots is a well-written but nevertheless flawed piece of nonfiction on Chinas past. Despite having listed many faults with the book, I would recommend it to anyone interested in Chinese history. While the writing may not be entirely objective, it does provide an abundance of valuable information on China and its origins. Furthermore, it conveys that information in a succinct and interesting manner, rendering what could otherwise be dull material into a more entertaining and understandable form. Personally, I found the stories of wars and power struggles to be fascinating. It is important for every Chinese person to learn about his or her origins, and this book represents a great source from which to draw that knowledge. On the whole, it provides the most important details of Chinese history and culture without being too detailed or too rough about its subject matter. However, readers must also take Lees words with a grain of salt, especially when he writes subj ectively. When the author asserts that that Tang is the greatest dynasty, for example, readers should question the statement and decide for themselves the qualities that constitute true greatness. BIBLIOGRAPHY Lee, Orient. Chinas Roots. 2nd Edition. Monterey Park: Evergreen Publishing, 2002. Meskill, John T. An Introduction to Chinese Civilization. Lexington: DC Health and Co, 1973. Fairbank, John K. and Edwin O. Reischauer. China: Tradition and Transformation: Revised Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989. Research Papers on China’s Roots by Orient Lee - Book ReviewDefinition of Export QuotasMind TravelCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWWhere Wild and West MeetQuebec and Canada

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Definition and Examples of Language Contact

Definition and Examples of Language Contact Definition Language contact is the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different languages (or different dialects of the same language) interact with one another, leading to a transfer of linguistic features. Language contact is a major factor in language change, notes Stephan Gramley. Contact with other languages and other dialectal varieties of one language is a source of alternative pronunciations, grammatical structures, and vocabulary (The History of English: An Introduction, 2012). Prolonged language contact generally leads to bilingualism or multilingualism. Uriel Weinreich (Languages in Contact, 1953) and Einar  Haugen (The Norwegian Language in America, 1953) are  commonly regarded as the pioneers of language-contact studies. A particularly influential later study is  Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics by  Sarah Grey Thomason  and  Terrence Kaufman (University of California Press, 1988). Examples and Observations [W]hat counts as language contact? The mere juxtaposition of two speakers of different languages, or two texts in different languages, is too trivial to count: unless the speakers or the texts interact in some way, there can be no transfer of linguistic features in either direction. Only when there is some interaction does the possibility of a contact explanation for synchronic variation or diachronic change arise. Throughout human history, most language contacts have been face to face, and most often the people involved have a nontrivial degree of fluency in both languages. There are other possibilities, especially in the modern world with novel means of worldwide travel and mass communication: many contacts now occur through written language only. . . . [L]anguage contact is the norm, not the exception. We would have a right to be astonished if we found any language whose speakers had successfully avoided contacts with all other languages for periods longer than one or two hundred years. (Sarah Thomason, Contact Explanations in Linguistics.  The Handbook of Language Contact, ed. by  Raymond Hickey. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) Minimally, in order to have something that we would recognize as language contact, people must learn at least some part of two or more distinct linguistic codes. And, in practice, language contact is really only acknowledged when one code becomes more similar to another code as a result of that interaction. (Danny Law,  Language Contact, Inherited Similarity and Social Difference. John Benjamins, 2014)   Different Types of Language-Contact Situations Language contact is not, of course, a homogeneous phenomenon. Contact may occur between languages which are genetically related or unrelated, speakers may have similar or vastly different social structures, and patterns of multilingualism may also vary greatly. In some cases the entire community speaks more than one variety, while in other cases only a subset of the population is multilingual. Lingualism and lectalism may vary by age, by ethnicity, by gender, by social class, by education level, or by one or more of a number of other factors. In some communities there are few constraints on the situations in which more than one language can be used, while in others there is heavy diglossia, and each language is confined to a particular type of social interaction. . . .   While there a great number of different language contact situations, a few come up frequently in areas where linguists do fieldwork. One is dialect contact, for example between standard varieties of a language and regional varieties (e.g., in France or the Arab world). . . . A further type of language contact involves exogamous communities where more than one language might be used within the community because its members come from different areas. . . .The converse of such communities where exogamy leads to multilingualism is an endoterogenous community which maintains its own language for the purpose of excluding outsiders. . . . Finally, fieldworkers particularly often work in endangered language communities where language shift is in progress.   (Claire Bowern, Fieldwork in Contact Situations.  The Handbook of Language Contact, ed. by  Raymond Hickey. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)   The Study of Language Contact - Manifestations of language contact are  found in a great variety of domains, including language acquisition, language processing and production, conversation and discourse, social functions of language and language policy, typology and language change, and more. . . . [T]he study of language contact is of value toward an understanding of the inner functions and the inner structure of grammar and the language faculty itself. (Yaron Matras, Language Contact. Cambridge University Press, 2009) - A very naive view of language contact would probably hold that speakers take bundles of formal and functional properties, semiotic signs so to speak, from the relevant contact language and insert them into their own language. To be sure, this view is much too simplistic and not seriously maintained any longer. A probably more realistic view held in language contact research is that whatever kind of material is transferred in a situation of language contact, this material necessarily experiences some sort of modification through contact. (Peter Siemund, Language Contact: Constraints and Common Paths of Contact-Induced Language Change.  Language Contact and Contact Languages, ed. by  Peter Siemund and Noemi Kintana. John Benjamins, 2008) Language Contact and Grammatical Change [T]he transfer of grammatical meanings and structures across languages is regular, and . . . it is shaped by universal processes of grammatical change. Using data from a wide range of languages we . . . argue that this transfer is essentially in accordance with principles of grammaticalization, and that these principles are the same irrespective of whether or not language contact is involved, and of whether it concerns unilateral or multilateral transfer.. . . [W]hen embarking on the work leading to this book we were assuming that grammatical change taking place as a result of language contact is fundamentally different from purely language-internal change. With regard to replication, which is the central theme of the present work, this assumption turned out to be unfounded: there is no decisive difference between the two. Language contact can and frequently does trigger or influence the development of grammar in a number of ways; overall, however, the same kind of processes and directionality can be observed in both. Still, there is reason to assume that language contact in general and grammatical replication in particular may accelerate grammatical change . . .. (Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva,  Language Contact and Grammatical Change. Cambridge University Press, 2005) Old English and Old Norse Contact-induced grammaticalization is part of contact-induced grammatical change,and in the literature of the latter it has been repeatedly pointed out that language contact often brings about loss of grammatical categories. A frequent example given as illustration of this kind of situation involves Old English and Old Norse, whereby Old Norse was brought to the British Isles through the heavy settlement of Danish  Vikings in the Danelaw area during the 9th to 11th centuries. The result of this language contact is reflected in the linguistic system of Middle English, one of the characteristics of which is the absence of grammatical gender. In this particular language contact situation, there seems to have been an additional factor leading to the loss, namely, the genetic closeness andaccordinglythe urge to diminish the functional overload of speakers bilingual in Old English and Old Norse.   Thus a functional overload explanation  seems to be a plausible way to account for what we observe in Middle English, that is, after Old English and Old Norse had come into contact: gender assignment often diverged in Old English and Old Norse, which would have readily led to the elimination of it in order to avoid confusion and to lessen the strain of learning the other contrastive system. (Tania Kuteva and  Bernd Heine, An Integrative Model of Grammaticalization.   Grammatical Replication and Borrowability in Language Contact, ed. by  Bjà ¶rn Wiemer, Bernhard Wlchli, and Bjà ¶rn Hansen. Walter de Gruyter, 2012) Also  See AccommodationBorrowingContact LanguageHistorical LinguisticsKoineizationLanguage ChangeSociolinguistics

Monday, November 4, 2019

Techniques for Providing Fresh Water to Arid Regions Essay

Techniques for Providing Fresh Water to Arid Regions - Essay Example For a pipeline, a network of pipelines will have to be constructed so as to connect various users to the water source. Acquisition of the pipes and the pumps costs a lot of money and the capital costs may force a country to borrow the required resources (World Bank, 1994). Besides, maintenance of the pipelines and checking of water quality should be done constantly, and this again adds to the overall costs which may be extreme in the event the pipeline length is long (Grossman, 2004).Construction of small dams can easily be done with locally available materials and human labour, making it cheaper. According to a study carried out in Kenya, a single sand dam with a capacity of holding 2,000m3 with a life span of 50 years only costs US$ 7,500 (Borst and Haas, 2006). For the large dams, the construction can easily run into billions of dollars considering the scale of the project, materials requires and the machinery and equipment employed not forgetting the technical personnel on the gr ound. IFPRI (1997) observes that the maintenance of dams mainly includes dredging the dams to maintain its depth by scooping the silt deposited on the floor of the dam. This is a capital intensive exercise and it may run into a lot of money. Overall, costs of large dams are so high and can only be funded by large investments in the project probably the government with the help of financial partners.Compared to other methods of provision of water to dry areas, ground water provides the cheaper alternative.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Teenagers and modern social media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Teenagers and modern social media - Essay Example Therefore, teenagers, parents, television producers and social media managers among others can read this article and obtain insightful knowledge. The author ensures to be as persuasive as possible so that the audience can be convinced. Mainly, the author uses facts and a combination of inference and observation to persuade the audience. For instance, the author condemns television stations for airing programmes that show teenagers drinking and using drugs as well as making some celebrity figures famous for partying, instead of focusing on celebrity role models such as Angelina Jolie (2). This is more convincing to the audience because they can relate to it and thus read the hypocrisy of the media in wanting the best for teenagers. The author uses the third person point of view. This brings about the notion that the author is well informed on the role of the media in the lives of teenagers. The author is quite disappointed by the media, especially television, thus holds a negative attitude towards them. For instance, she notes that the media is only interested in making profit and does not care whether it influences teenagers positively or negatively. In this article, the author does not include other people’s views. Additionally, she does not hold opposing views, as she only believes that the media is out to â€Å"destroy† the morals of teenagers and wash away what their parents taught them. The author does not use unfair arguments. However, her argument should have included the role of parents as well as the teenagers themselves in choosing what is morally right. When teenagers decide to watch only insightful programs, they will reduce the negative influence that the media will have on them. The author employs logos in persuading the audience through reason. She reasons out how the media is negatively influencing teenagers and proposes the best ways the media should act. Overall, this article is