Non-transportation Uses of Oil Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Non-transportation Uses of Oil - Research Paper Example though oil presents with various dangers, when used appropriately it can bring about benefits which cannot be gained through other products and non-transportation activities. Oil is defined as â€Å"any of a large class of substances typically unctuous, viscous, combustible, liquid at ordinary temperatures, and soluble in ether or alcohol but not in water: used for anointing, perfuming, lubricating, illuminating, heating, etc.†1. This definition is very broad and encompassing, therefore it does not only include oil used for fuel and for transport, but it also includes other kinds of oil of varying viscosity, utilization, and application. There are two main types of oil, namely, organic and mineral oils. Organic oils are produced by plants and animals through their natural metabolism. Lipid is the term used to define the fatty acids and other substances from oils produced by living things with oil being the general mixture of the various chemicals2. These oils have chemicals, as well as other lipids, proteins, and alkaloids3. These lipids can be identified based on how they are made, as well as their chemical make-up and their water solubility in r elation to oils. These lipids may be high in carbon and hydrogen and may be lacking in oxygen as compared to other compounds and substances4. They may also be nonpolar molecules, and may also include polar and nonpolar qualities, especially in the case of phospholipids and steroids5. Mineral oils on the other hand, include crude oil or petroleum oil, including its more refined elements known as petrochemicals6. Crude oil comes from fossilized organisms including algae and zooplankton which, after undergoing geochemical processes, turn into oil. They are mineral oils because they generally do not have organic beginnings and are instead derived from rocks, sands, and underground traps7. Some distillates of crude oil are also classified as mineral oils. Organic oils have many uses. Most of these oils are not

Plotinus and His Theory of Beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Plotinus and His Theory of Beauty - Essay Example It is everything and nothing, everything and nowhere. The One is the source of all beings and, as the Good, the goal of all aspirations, human and non-human." (Bussanich, 1996, p. 38). According to Plotinus, everything that exists in the world flows out of the One and it is the One which emanates the divine Intellect. In turn, the Intellect originates the Soul, which incorporates the world soul, the human and other souls, and it is the Soul which produces the nature and matter in the universe. To Plotinus, one of the most striking features of the One is that it remains ever-complete and undiminished, in spite of the emanation and the idea of emanation of the One indicates that reality is structured in a hierarchical order, stretching from the uplifting source down to corporeal matter. Plotinus' theory of beauty can be realized in relation to his overall metaphysical psychology. As Binita Mehta maintains, the perception of beauty, according to Plotinus, dumbfounds the soul and fills i t with love. ... It is a phenomenological fact that an experience of rapturous delight that beauty evokes creates an appetite in us for further similar experiences For Plotinus, even a purely sensuous beauty can serve as a starting point of the quest for higher beauty." (Mehta). According to Plotinus, even the beauty in the material world should be realized as the reflection of the intelligible beauty. Therefore, there is an essential power for beauty as the apprehension of sensible beauty can very well propel the soul to realize the source of this lower form of beauty in the intelligible realm. In other words, beauty in every form and element can lead one to the ultimate source of beauty which is the source of everything in the world. Essentially, a reflective analysis of the theory of beauty according to Plotinus confirms that beauty is closely connected to the Divine or the One who is the ultimate source of all beings, and the concept of beauty has a great role in the ascent of the Soul to the One or the Divine. The notion of beauty has an essential role in the metaphysics of Plotinus who develops his theory of beauty in the I.6 and V.8 of his book the Enneads and a reflective analysis of these sections of the book can greatly offer the basics of notion of beauty according to the author. In the I.6 section of the book, Plotinus maintains that "Beauty addresses itself chiefly to sight, but there is a beauty for hearing too, as in certain combinations of words and all kinds of music, for melodies and cadences are beautiful; and minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to higher order are aware of beauty in the conduct of life, in actions, in character, in the pursuit of the intellect; and there is beauty of the virtues. What loftier beauty there may be, yet, our

Risk Assessment of Sangrafix Video Design Company

Risk Assessment of Sangrafix Video Design Company Introduction SanGrafix is a technologically oriented company that uses cutting edge technologies in designing of mobile and PC platform games with market orientation. Due to the demanding nature of the gaming industry, the company has decided to perform a risk assessment to ensure they consistently continue to meet the customer demands without interruptions in service delivery. Securing of their network assets is aimed at ensuring they remain competitive in their productions. Aim of the security policy The risk assessment process can sometimes be a simple process i.e. noting a threat in a password written down on a note or some unlocked door to the sensitive data centers or rooms and seeking to address it. However, in some cases, risk assessment can be a complex task that may require a group of security assessment members and months to fully do the assessment depending on the complexity of the company and the sensitivity of the network assets to be protected (Davenport, 2013). A large environment may include multiple locations, complex network, diverse activities, a wide range of activities and resources that have to be evaluated. In risk assessment, you dont need to apply complex networking methodologies as the mainly you have to learn how to apply knowledge methodically to produce accurate and useful data. Approaching a risk assessment task without a predefined strategy could lead to wasting of resources, repetition of steps, low results or in a worst case missing the critical information. The executive management of SanGrafix Company is tasked with the responsibility of assessing all risks of injury and health issues that may result from the use of the companys resources to both the employees and customers of their goods and services. Satisfying this ensures that the company meets the government legal requirements and providing appropriate precaution measures to reduce these effects (Harrington, 2014). Risk assessment is a detailed analysis of the diverse factors that may present risks in the business environment. Health issues and accidents present adverse effects to the business as they can result in endangering of lives or damage to business products and other outputs. This can subsequently lead to legal suits and increased insurance costs. Risk assessment serves to address these issues and make a safer working environment for all the employees and customers. The most important factor in this type of assessment is the determination of the hazards present in working places and determining their significance i.e. electricity in the working environment is a huge hazard to the employees but if properly protected the risk it presents to the employees becomes insignificant. There are five steps involved in risk assessment of the workplace environment; Taking a tour of the workplace and to get a better understanding of all the processes involved in the workplace and identifying possible potential dangers. Talking to the other employees can help provide insights through opinions on how accidents have occurred in the past. Deciding on the affected parties as a result of a given potential hazard and to what extent is the risk harmful. The reviewing team should analyze who is particularly at risk i.e. new employees, trainees and expectant mothers. In addition to this the public in form of customers who are not familiar with the general layout of the company is at risk of being affected. The risk assessment team should evaluate on the existence of enough measures to counter these hazards i.e. through the use of precaution signs. For each risk established what are the preventive and protective measures put in place by the management to ensure risk is reduced. The assessment takes into consideration the legal requirements on health and safety of the law. Besides this, the assessment team should find additional measures that can be implemented to support the existing measures i.e. protective clothing and guard rails for hazardous places (Harrington, 2014). Recording of the findings of the assessment team indicating all the hazards reviewed and the recommendations to the management on how to deal with them. The findings should also evaluate the affected victims and what hazards are yet to be handled whose significance is reasonably low. The final step is for the reviewing of the findings and implementations of the recommendations given by the assessment teams. The team should also address the future handling of new machinery or work procedure implementations that might present threats allowing for a risk-free working environment. Risk Assessment Methodology As we have already established there are different approaches through which a team can carry out a risk assessment process. However, all these approaches have to ensure they have; Identified the potential threats/ hazards Identifying of the underlying risk Reviewing of the existing control measures Evaluation of the risks Implementation of additional control measures Recording of the assessment findings Monitoring and review Informing of the responsible bodies The identification of available hazards can be achieved through observations, interviewing the employees or through firsthand experience by working there. Additional data can be gathered through consultation of data sheets (COSHH), workplace inspections, hazard crib sheets, instruction manuals and accidents/ health issues data. The main focus should be on the hazards that are significantly harmful. In SanGrafix, the machine operators, members of the office staff, the public and maintenance personnel are at risk of general work hazards. Special attention should be dedicated to disabled staff as they are at the highest risk, lone workers, inexperienced workers and temporal staff. The assessment team should analyze the adequacy of the current control procedures and further create a ranking system to determine the residual risk (Hallikas, 2010). Evaluate the risk The significance of a risk is measured by the likelihood and the severity of its impact. Here is a ranking system for the risks in order of significance Highly likely Unlikely Possible Probable Certain There should also be a harm or impact severity ranking system Trivial injuries i.e. scratches Minor injuries i.e. cuts Major injuries ( an injury that could require a week to heal i.e. fracture) Major injuries i.e. amputations Death These two rankings will be used to give the residual ranking of the risk as Low, medium or high. If the risk is low then it can be skipped as it presents a negligible threat. Medium and high-level risks have to be mitigated to ensure that the potential risk is reduced to acceptable levels. SUNGRAFIX PROCESSES ASSOCIATED RISKS TARGETS OF THE RISK RISKS EVALUATION CONTROL MEASURES Game design treatment -quick review of the target audience and provision of unique features Reviewing of this risks is time and human resource intensive which translates to costs Risks of the idea getting stolen. Users Company management The idea being stolen could most likely affect the companys operations as it operates in a competitive industry. Circulate your design treatment to the largest possible number of users for testing and collect some feedback. If the result is positive then advances to the creation of demos can work out. Game preliminary design- discussing the games content, behavior, and rules in a qualitative way given theÂÂ   current situation. Missing of critical processes Production department The quality assessment of the product can reveal shortcoming that could result in additional costs The design phase is very important to the product and cannot be reduced as this could present adverse effects. Preliminary design roughly takes 5 to 10 weeks for the designer, and an additional 10 to 30 hours for the other people involved in brainstorming. Final design- the previous document re-write of products features . Whether we plan well or follow the best practices some designs will just fail. Thats the nature of business Design department Failing to capture the product features could affect the marketing strategies but rigorous counter checking can resolve the issue soÂÂ   impact is unlikely to happen Knowing in advance the parts that are disposable allows for the team to be able to deliver in time. Besides, the risky parts that are cut can be scheduled for later, so that if it needs to be taken out, so that the teams time and effort wont have been wasted. The product specification- details how the implementation of features adopted in the final design will be done. overtime, extra costs, in the last months of production and Delay of final delivery. . Design department These is probable if the team doesnt follow their schedule efforts should be dedicated to ensuring the product specification is as realistic as possible and thorough The graphic bible- determines the look and feel of the games props, maps, characters, etc. The appearance of the game should be in line with the predefined vision. Design department User acceptance of the games is highly dependent on the graphical feel hence should be prioritized. Testing of the prototype to get user feedback and implementation of the user feedbacks into the designs. The interactive screenplay Lack of User -involvement Design department Users expect an interactive game although its unlikely to happen it has major impacts on user acceptance Provide for a way through which users can interact with the system i.e. with dialogs and implementation of the storyline into the product. Distribution Failure of delivery or poor handling of products Supply department These can result in major impacts in declined user satisfaction Working on improving service delivery as it directly impacts the user satisfaction. Sales Lower supply than the production rate Marketing sales departments ensuring the customer gets their services to ensure they satisfy demand as gaming industry is a perishable service. convincing potential customers to purchase your products and services. Billing and Collections Losses Accounts The company has to gain a monetary value to be a business. Lack of a billing system could result in bankruptcy customers are required to pay for their goods or services Accounts Receivable managing of records on earnings Poor record keeping accounts This can lead to lack of accountability There should be a system to monitor records and generate reports Purchasing- acquiring the necessary inputs required to support production. Low production quality Low production Purchases Low-quality products will certainly push customers away Enhance production process to create quality products that can satisfy demand Accounts Payable- Poor accountability Accounts evaluating the expenditure of the company There should be a system to monitor records and generate reports Finance- Poor accountability accounts managing organizations monetary resources There should be a system to monitor records and generate reports Marketing- establishing willing buyers and establishing their needs and requirements. Research-. Small market share marketing This directly impacts the sales of the products and services analyzing market for new value sources in the business Product Development- Lower product recognition and acceptance levels Management marketing This affects the product acceptance levels Creating new strategies to promote products and services. Legal- seeking of legal advice and protecting against legal suits. Legal suits Public relations These can have adverse events that could have major impacts on the company image The company should look to settle outside the court as this could tarnish the companys reputation Human Resource Personnel- finding, recruiting, and compensating affected people. Under-staffing or overstaffing Logistics Understaffing or overstaffing may have certainly cause the company losses Without these data the human resource department cannot make the required plans to support its service delivery hence good planning should be done in advance Implementation of new control measures cases where the risks are not well controlled it is advisable to use new control procedures to ensure they reduce the chance of accidents happening, severity of the accident or both. The following hierarchy of controls helps in deciding what new controls are required Elimination: is it possible to get rid of the risk or the process causing the threats altogether? Substitution: can the current process be exchanged for an alternative that is less severe and risky? Physical controls: separation or isolation of the hazardous regions or processes. Eliminating contact with the hazards is effective through controlling accessibility to such regions Administrative controls: designing of the rule regarding contacts with hazards to creating safe systems procedures of working. Instructions, informing, training and supervision: informing people of the present hazards and training them how to deal with the hazards. Personal protective equipment: proper dressing can go a long way in reducing the impact or severity of the hazards. However, this should be used as additional counter measures and not as the primary and only control measure. Control measures should be easy to implement and practical, able to reduce risks, acceptable by the employees and easy to follow. Since the organization is continuously growing and uses new technologies every day, there should be re-ranking of the risks after implementing of new control measures so as to determine the new residual risk (Hallikas, 2010). Recording the assessment findings The assessments records are of paramount importance as they are usually required by inspectors. There should be records of all the risk assessments done and the implemented changes. Monitoring and reviewing The implemented control measures should be effective in performing the expected controls. Regular reviewing of the control measures should be based on new staff or changes in processes and acquiring of new machines. Informing the relevant stakeholders Its a legal responsibility of the organization to relay the findings of the assessment to all the relevant stakeholders who might be affected by its implementations. The workforce should also be notified of the new changes in control measures and the appropriate emergency procedures that have been developed. Conclusion The consequences of not delivering critical services and products are severe especially in a competitive industry in which SanGrafix operates. Preparation of the organization to potential threats helps reduce the risks and potential impacts of the disasters. Risk assessment allows for moderation of risks and continued delivery of services despite any disruptions (Nigro et al., 2011). Identification and analyzing of business processes has to be anchored to products, customers, orders, suppliers or a combination of all these. Caution should be exercised in the use of input -process- output model as the thinking framework guiding business processes. Customers to a huge extent are not concerned of the internal functioning of the organization resulting in service delivery or the transformational processes in production. In fact this is part of the bigger streams of activity that involve the unending loop between customers and their suppliers. Defining of the business process is an iterative and vexing process and is a result of committed hard work on continuous improvement (Harrington, 2014). References Davenport, Thomas H., (2013). Process Innovation: Reengineering Work through Information Technology.Harvard Business Press: Cambridge. Hallikas, J., Virolainen, V. M., Tuominen, M. (2010). Risk analysis and assessment in network environments: A dyadic case study. International journal of production economics, 78(1), 45-55. Harrington, H. James, (2014). Business Process Improvement. McGraw-Hill: New York. Nigro, G. L., Abbate, L. (2011). Risk assessment and profit sharing in business networks. International Journal of Production Economics, 131(1), 234-241.

Human Gender and Mathematics Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive papers

Human Gender and Mathematics Is there a difference in the mathematical ability between men and women? Historians have no precise method of quantifying or comparing their individual accomplishments (Olsen). Not only in mathematics, but also in many other career areas in the past, women were looked upon as inferior to their male counterparts. Women were not encouraged to pursue a career in mathematics. Historically, women were seen working around the home, cleaning the house, taking care of the children, and cooking the food. Even if they did pursue a career in mathematics, their research was sometimes viewed as questionable. I will defend the fact that, "Women have the same capabilities of achieving in mathematics than men do." However, you probably have heard of more male mathematicians than female mathematicians because historically, the male is labeled to be smarter in the subject of mathematics. In many cases this is not true. Women were viewed upon as equal in mathematical ability when they began making amaz ing discoveries in mathematics, began to stick up for their rights, and began to be accepted by their male counterparts as equal. An unknown author once wrote, "To understand the development of mathematics, we must have a picture of the men who made the science"(Olsen). Like many other statements about male mathematicians, you rarely find any trace of their female counterparts. Jean Dumee, a French astronomer, stated that women are not incapable of study, if they wish to make the effort, because between the brain of a woman and that of a man there is no difference (Olsen). Women mathematicians have been around for centuries and have had amazing contributions to the field of mathematics. Women like Hypatia, Sophie Germa... ...athematics and science. If the above statement holds true, women were considered inferior to men in these areas because they weren’t schooled at a higher level. In today’s world, women are schooled at the same level as men are, which leads them to participate and excel in these fields. Lastly, female mathematicians have the same capabilities of male mathematicians because they made amazing and important discoveries in mathematics, have stuck up for their gender rights, and most important of all, were accepted by their male counterparts as equal. Works Cited Page [1] Olsen, Lynn. Women in Mathematics. New York: The MIT Press, 1974 [2] Scott, Agnes. "Biographies of Women Mathematicians." 28 Feb. 1999. Agnes Scott College. <http:/www.agnesscott.edu/Iriddle/women/women.htm> [3] Walkerdine, Valerie. Counting Girls Out. Bristol, PA: Falmer Press, 1974

Climax and Anticlimax

1. The meaning of climax and anticlimax The Greek word climax means â€Å"ladder†; the Latin gradatio means â€Å"ascent, climbing up†. In climax we deal with strings of synonyms or at least semantically related words belonging to the same thematic group. [4, p. 155] According to Efimov L. P. , climax (or Gradation) – is the figure of unequality, which consists in arranging the utterance so that each subsequent component of it increases significance, importance or emotional tension of narration. [1, p. 69] Galperin I. R. iews climax as an arrangement of sentences (or of the homogeneous parts of one sentence) which secures a gradual increase in significance, importance, or emotional tension in the utterance, as in: â€Å"It was a lovely city, a beautiful city, a fair city, a veritable gem of a city. † or in: â€Å"Ne barrier wall, ne river deep and wide, Ne horrid crags, nor mountains dark and tall Rise like the rocks that part Hispania's land from Gaul. à ¢â‚¬  (Byron) Gradual increase in emotional evaluation in the first illustration and in significance in the second is realized by the distribution of the corresponding lexical items.Each successive unit is perceived as stronger than the preceding one. Of course, there are no objective linguistic criteria to estimate the degree of importance or significance of each constituent. It is only the formal homogeneity of these component parts and the test of synonymy in the words ‘lovely', ‘beautiful', ‘fair,' ‘veritable gem, in the first example and the relative inaccessibility of the barriers ‘wall', ‘river', ‘crags', ‘mountains' together with the epithets ‘deep and wide† ‘horrid', ‘dark and tall' that make us feel the increase in importance of each. 1, p. 220] 2. Different types of climax A gradual increase in significance may be maintained in three ways: logical, emotional and quantitative. Logical climax is based on the relative importance of the component parts looked at from the point of view of the concepts embodied in them. This relative importance may be evaluated both objectively and subjectively, the author's attitude towards the objects or phenomena in question being disclosed. Thus, the following paragraph from Dickens's â€Å"Christmas Carol† shows the relative importance in the uthor's mind of the things and phenomena described: â€Å"Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me? ‘ No beggars imgjored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked Jiim what it -was o'clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs appeared to know him, and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails, as though they said, ‘No eye at all is better tha n an evil eye, dark master! † The order of the statements shows what the author considers the culmination of the climax. The passage by Dickens should be considered â€Å"subjective†, because there is no general recognition of the relative significance of the statements in the paragraph. The climax in the lines from Byron's â€Å"Ne barrier†¦ † may be considered â€Å"objective† because such things as ‘wall', ‘river', ‘crags', ‘mountains' are objectively ranked according to their accessibility. Emotional climax is based on the relative emotional tension produced by words with emotive meaning, as in the first example with the words ‘lovely', ‘beautiful', ‘fair'.Of course, emotional climax based on synonymous strings of words with emotive meaning will inevitably cause certain semantic differences in these words — such is the linguistic nature of stylistic synonyms—, but emotive meaning will be the prevailing one. Emotional climax is mainly found in sentences, more rarely in longer syntactical units. This is natural. Emotional charge cannot hold long. As becomes obvious from the analysis of the above examples of climatic order, the arrangement of the component parts calls for parallel construction which, being a kind of syntactical repetition, is frequently accompanied by lexical repetition.Here is another example of emotional climax built on this pattern: â€Å"He was pleased when the child began to adventure across the floors on hand and knees; he was gratified, when she managed the trick of balancing herself on two legs; he was delighted when she first said ‘ta-ta'; and he was rejoiced when she recognized him and smiled at him. † (Alan Paton) Finally, we come to quantitative climax. This is an evident increase in the volume of the corresponding concepts, as in: â€Å"They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they inspected innumerabl e kitchens. (Maugham) Here the climax is achieved by simple numerical increase. [1, p. 220] 3. The indispensable constituents of climax What then are the indispensable constituents of climax? They are: a)the distributional constituent: close proximity of the component parts arranged in increasing order of importance or significance; b)the syntactical pattern: parallel constructions with possible lexical repetition; c)the connotative constituent: the explanatory context which helps the reader to grasp the gradation, as no. .. ver once in all his life, nobody ever, nobody, No beggars (Dickens); deep and wide, horrid, dark and tall (Byron); veritable (gem of a city). Climax, like many other stylistic devices, is a means by which the author discloses his world outlook, his evaluation of objective facts and phenomena. The concrete stylistic function of this device is to show the relative importance of things as seen by the author (especially in emotional climax), or to impress upon the r eader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison, or to depict phenomena dynamically. 3. What is Anticlimax?According to Efimov, anticlimax (or Bathos) – is a stylistic device which consists in arranging the utterance so that each subsequent component of it decreases significance, importance or emotional tension of narration: If John’s eyes fill with tears, you may have no doubt: he has been eating raw onions. [2, p. 70] Kukharenko V. A. views anticlimax as an unexpected turn of the thought which defeats expectations of the reader (listener) and ends in complete semantic reversal of the emphasized idea. [3, p. 93] The device thus called is characterized by some authors as â€Å"back gradation†.As its very name shows, it is the opposite to climax, but this assumption is not quite correct. It would serve no purpose whatever making the second element weaker than the first, the third still weaker, and so on. A real anticlimax is a sudden decept ion of the recepient: it consists in adding one weaker element to one or several strong ones, mentioned before. The recepient is disaappointed in his expectations: he predicted a stronger element to follow; instead, some insignificant idea follows the significant one (ones). Needless to say, anticlimax is employed with a humorous aim.For example, in It’s abloody lie and not quite true, we see the absurdity of mixing up an offensive statement with a polite remark. [4, p. 156] The ideas expressed may be arranged in ascending order of significance, or they may be poetical or elevated, but the final one, which the reader expects to be the culminating one, as in climax, is trifling or farcical. There is a sudden drop from the lofty or serious to the ridiculous. A typical example is Aesop's fable â€Å"The Mountain in Labour†. â€Å"In days of yore, a mighty rumbling was heard in a Mountain.It was said to be in labour, and multitudes flocked together, from far and near, to see what it would produce. After long expectation and many wise conjectures from the bystanders – out popped, a Mouse! † Here we have deliberate anticlimax, which is a recognized form of humour. Anti- climax is frequently used by humorists like Mark Twain and Jerome K. Jerome. In â€Å"Three Men in a Boat†, for example, a poetical passage is invariably followed by ludicrous scene. For example, the author expands on the beauties of the sunset on the river and concludes: But we didn't sail into the world of golden sunset: we went slap into that old punt where the gentlemen were fishing. † Another example is: â€Å"This war-like speech, received with many a cheer, Had filled them with desire of fame, and beer! ‘ (Byron) [1, p. 221] 4. Conclusions There are some types of semantically complicated parallelism. They are presente by climax and anticlimax. Climax, like many other stylistic devices, is a means by which the author discloses his world, outlook, his evaluation of objective facts and phenomena.The concrete stylistic function of this device is to show the relative importance of things as seen by the author (especially in emotional climax), or to impress upon the reader the significance of the things described by suggested comparison, or to depict phenomena dynamically. Climax which increases emotional tension of the utterance may be called emotional. Emotional gradation is created by synonymic words with emotive meanings: nice – handsome – beautiful – marvellous – gorgeous; Climax revealing the quantity of objects may be called quantitative: There were dozens of planets, hundreds of meteorites, innumerable number of stars.There is a device which is called anticlimax. The ideas expressed may be arranged in ascending order of significance, or they may be poetical or elevated, but the final one, which the reader expects to be the culminating one, as in climax, is trifling or farcical. There is a sudde n drop from the lofty or serious to the ridiculous. For example: The fire burnt John's house down and he lost his cell phone. Yesterday I had good sleep but I have to meet my uncle today. References 1. ?. ?. / ?. . . – ?. : , 1981 2. ?. ?. , ?. ?.  « ?  ». - . – : , 2004. – ?. 69-71 3. ?. ?. ? : . – .  «  », 2000 – 160 ?. 4. ?. ?. : - ? . . . / ?. ?. . – 2-? . , . – ?. :  «  »;  «  », 2003. – 221, [3] ?. ( . ).

Apes Chapter 3 Questions

Chapter 3 Reading Questions: 1. Core Case Study: â€Å"Have you thanked your insects today? †- Explain why insects are significant. Many of the earth’s plant species depend upon insects to pollinate them. Carnivorous insects, such as the praying mantis, control the ‘pest’ insect population. 2. What percentage of the species on this planet consists of insects? Animals? Plants? 53% are insects; 20% are other animals; 18% are plants. 3. Give three examples of how we benefit from microbes.Soil bacteria convert nitrogen gas into usable forms for plants; they decompose wastes into nutrients we use; they help produce various foods such as bread, cheese, wine, beer, and tofu. 4. What percentage of the biomass on this planet accounts for microbes? 90% of earth’s living mass. 5. Define the four spheres of the earth. The atmosphere is the thin membrane of air around the planet. The troposphere is the air layer about 11 miles above sea level. The stratosphere li es above the troposphere between 11-30 miles; it filters out the sun’s harmful radiation.The hydrosphere consists of earth’s water, found in liquid water, ice, and water vapor. The lithosphere is the crust and upper mantle of the earth’s soil. It contains nonrenewable fossil fuels, minerals, and soil, and renewable soil chemicals needed for plant life. The biosphere includes most of the hydrosphere, parts of the lower atmosphere and upper lithosphere. All parts of the biosphere are interconnected. 6. Describe the three interconnected factors that life depends on. The flow of high-quality energy; the cycling of matter or nutrients; gravity. 7.Describe what happens to all of the solar radiation that reaches the earth. Solar energy flowing through the biosphere warms the atmosphere, evaporates and recycles water, generates winds, and supports photosynthetic life. 8. Is the greenhouse effect a positive or negative issue for life on earth? Explain why. It is a positi ve effect because without it, the earth would be too cold to support most forms of life. 9. Explain the following terms: abiotic, biotic, range of tolerance. Abiotic consists of non-living components such as water, air, nutrients, and solar energy.Biotic consists of biological components such as producers, consumers, and decomposers. Each population in an ecosystem has a range of tolerance to variations in its physical and chemical environment. 10. Explain how limiting factors can control population size. Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimum range of tolerance. 11. What factors usually limit terrestrial populations? On land, precipitation and soil nutrients are often limiting factors. 2. What factors usually limit aquatic populations? In water, temperature, sunlight, nutrient availability, dissolved oxygen content, and salinity are limiting factors. 13. What is the overall chemi cal reaction for photosynthesis? 6CO2 + 6H2O (+ light energy) C6H12O6 + 6O2. 14. What is the overall chemical reaction for respiration? C6H12O6 + 6O2 —> 6CO2 + 6H2O + 36 ATP 15. Why are decomposers so significant to an ecosystem? They recycle the nutrients that make life possible throughout the ecosystem. 16.Why is biodiversity one of our most important renewable resources? Biodiversity provides us with natural resources, natural services, pleasure, and keeps the balance of the food web. 17. Describe 4 key components of biodiversity. Functional diversity includes the biological and chemical processes such as energy flow and matter recycling needed for the survival of species, communities, and ecosystems. Ecological diversity includes the variety of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems found in an area or on the earth.Species diversity includes the number of species present in different habitats. Genetic diversity includes the variety of genetic material within a species or popu lation. 18. What are the five major causes of species decline? Habitat destruction and degradation, invasive species, pollution, and human population growth. 19. Summarize two approaches to sustaining biodiversity. The ecosystem approach protects populations of species in their natural habitat by preserving sufficient areas of habitats in different biomes and aquatic systems.The species approach protects species from premature extinction by indentifying endangered species and protecting their critical habitats. 20. What trophic level do decomposers consume from? Decomposers process detritus from all trophic levels. 21. What form of energy is transferred from one organism to another? Stored energy in the tissues of the organism. 22. Why would the earth be able to support more people if we ate at a lower trophic level? The energy intake would be higher because there is less loss of energy. 23.Why are there rarely more than 4 or 5 trophic levels within an ecosystem? Because the food we b would not be able to sustain that great of an energy loss in successively higher levels. 24. What is the significance of net primary productivity? NPP measures how fast producers can provide the food needed by other organisms in an ecosystem. 25. What might happen to us and to other consumer species as the human population grows over the next 40-50 years and per capita consumption of resources such as food, timber, and grassland rises sharply?What are the three ways to prevent this from happening? We will end up pushing other species to extinction and reduce the biodiversity in earth. To prevent this, we can prevent population growth, find renewable energy sources, and consume food locally and at a lower trophic level. 26. Consider the diagram on page 67 (figure 3-22). Explain why desertification is so significant of an issue and relate that to the significance of net primary productivity. Dry land ecosystems are already such fragile ecosystems, and many of these delicate ecosyste ms have the most net productivity. 7. Describe the four types of soil horizons. The surface litter layer (O horizon) is the top layer and consists of freshly fallen undecomposed or partially decomposed leaves, twigs, crop wastes, animals waste, fungi, and other organic material. It is normally brown or black. The topsoil layer (A horizon) is a porous mixture of the partially decomposed bodies of dead plants and animals, called the humus and inorganic materials such as clay, silt, and sand. The B and C horizons (subsoil and parent material) contain most of a soils inorganic material and lies on bedrock. 8. How does color relate to the quality of the topsoil? The color of the topsoil suggests how useful a soil is for growing crops. Dark brown or black soil is rich in organic matter and nitrogen. Gray, bright yellow or red topsoils are the opposite. 29. What are the significant properties of soil? Soil texture: particle size of components. 30. How do humans impact the hydrological cycl e? We alter the water cycle by withdrawing large amounts freshwater, clearing vegetation, and eroding soils, polluting surface and underground water, and contributing to climate change. 1. Be able to diagram the entire Carbon cycle. See below 32. What is the significance of burning fossil fuels on the C cycle? Adds more carbon to the air. 33. How are Carbon and Nitrogen used by living organisms? Carbon and nitrogen make up organisms and are used in respiration by them. 34. What two natural processes convert nitrogen gas in the air to a usable form? Nitrogen fixation, Nitrification. 35. How is the C & N Cycle affected by humans? We add large amounts of nitric oxide in the air and we add fertilizers to the water and soils.

Biography of Matthew Henson

Biography of Matthew Henson In 1908 explorer Robert Peary set out to reach the North Pole. His mission began with 24 men, 19 sledges and 133 dogs. By April of the following year, Peary had four men, 40 dogs and his most trusted and loyal team member- Matthew Henson. As the team trudged through the Arctic, Peary said, â€Å"Henson must go all the way. I can’t make it there without him.† On April 6, 1909, Peary and Henson became the first men in history to reach the North Pole. Achievements   Credited with being the first African-American to reach the North Pole with Peary explorer in 1909.Published A Black Explorer at the North Pole in 1912.Appointed to the US Customs House in recognition of Henson’s Arctic travels by former President William Howard Taft.Recipient of the Joint Medal of Honor by US Congress in 1944.Admitted to the Explorer’s Club, a professional organization dedicated to honoring the work of men and women conducting field research.Interred in Arlington National Cemetery in 1987  by former President Ronald Reagan.Commemorated with a US Postage Stamp in 1986 for his work as an explorer. Early Life Henson was born Matthew Alexander Henson in Charles County, Md. On August 8, 1866. His parents worked as sharecroppers. Following the death of his mother in 1870, Henson’s father moved the family to Washington D.C. By Henson’s tenth birthday, his father also died, leaving him and his siblings as orphans. At the age of eleven, Henson ran away from home and within a year he was working on a ship as a cabin boy. While working on the ship, Henson became the mentee of Captain Childs, who taught him not only to read and write but also navigation skills. Henson returned to Washington D.C. after Childs’ death and worked with a furrier. While working with the furrier, Henson met Peary who would enlist Henson’s services as a valet during travel expeditions. Life As an Explorer   Peary and Henson embarked on an expedition of Greenland in 1891. During this time period, Henson became interested in learning about Eskimo culture. Henson and Peary spent two years in Greenland, learning the language and various survival skills that Eskimos used. For the next several years Henson would accompany Peary on several expeditions to Greenland to collect meteorites which were sold to the American Museum of Natural History. The proceeds of Peary and Henson’s findings in Greenland would fund expeditions as they tried to reach the North Pole. In 1902, the team attempted to reach the North Pole only to have several Eskimo members die from starvation. But by 1906 with the financial support of former President Theodore Roosevelt, Peary and Henson were able to purchase a vessel that could cut through ice. Although the vessel was able to sail within 170 miles of the North Pole, melted ice blocked the sea path in the direction of the North Pole. Two years later, the team took another chance at reaching the North Pole. By this time, Henson was able to train other team members on sled handling and other survival skills learned from Eskimos. For a year, Henson stayed with Peary as other team members gave up.   And on April 6, 1909, Henson, Peary, four Eskimos and 40 dogs reached the North Pole. Later Years Although reaching the North Pole was a great feat for all team member, Peary received credit for the expedition. Henson’s  was almost forgotten because he was an African-American. For the next thirty years, Henson worked in the US Customs office as a clerk. In 1912 Henson published his memoir Black Explorer at the North Pole. Later in life, Henson was acknowledged for his work as an explorer- he was granted membership to the elite Explorer’s Club in New York. In 1947 the Chicago Geographic Society awarded Henson with a gold medal. That same year, Henson collaborated with Bradley Robinson to write his biography Dark Companion. Personal Life Henson married Eva Flint in April of 1891. However, Henson’s constant travels caused the couple to divorce six years later. In 1906 Henson married Lucy Ross and their union lasted until his death in 1955. Although the couple never had children, Henson had many sexual relationships with Eskimo  women. From one of these relationships, Henson bore a son named Anauakaq around 1906. In 1987, Anauakaq met the descendants of Peary. Their reunion is well documented in the book, North Pole Legacy: Black, White, and Eskimo. Death Henson died on March 5, 1955, in New York City. His body was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Thirteen years later, his wife Lucy also died and she was buried with Henson. In 1987 Ronald Reagan honored the life and work of Henson by having his body re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Compound Terms That Start with Half

Compound Terms That Start with Half Compound Terms That Start with â€Å"Half† Compound Terms That Start with â€Å"Half† By Mark Nichol By now, you have observed that compounds of two words can be closed, like paperback, hyphenated, like light-year, or open, like â€Å"ice cream.† This inconsistency (sometimes persisting, sometimes differing as the prevailing style changes) is one of the maddening vagaries of the English language, but the puzzlement intensifies when the style differs even among compounds beginning with the same word. Take compounds that start with half, for instance. The variability exists regardless of which part of speech the compound represents. Consider these sample nouns: In field sports such as football and soccer, one of the positions is halfback. But a brother or sister related to one by only one parent is a half brother or a half sister, and when the moon is half full, it is called a half-moon. Further inconsistency prevails, for example, in classes of similar terms: A fifty-cent piece is a half-dollar, but several other numismatic terms beginning with half â€Å"half crown,† â€Å"half dime,† and â€Å"half eagle† are open. (These are all discontinued values of currency, but the discrepancy persists.) Adjectives incorporating the word half also vary in style: Something that is lacking in effort is halfhearted the adverbial and noun forms, halfheartedly and halfheartedness, are also closed while something incomplete or lacking in some quality is half-baked. (I know of no adjectives beginning with half that are open compounds.) The compound verbs beginning with half that I found listed in one dictionary are consistently hyphenated, but there are only three: half-mast, half-sole, and half-volley. Adverbs are rare, too, but they follow the style of the adjectival forms. The form for a given compound may differ depending on part of speech or on meaning: For example, a book cover consisting of two distinct materials is half-bound, but the style is called half binding, and â€Å"half hour† is open, but half-hourly, as an adjective or adverb, is hyphenated. Meanwhile, the term for the intermission of a competition, whether used as a noun or an adjective, is halftime (â€Å"I walked around the stadium to stretch my legs during halftime†; â€Å"The halftime show seemed interminable†), but in the adjectival or adverbial sense of working half of the normal workweek, it is styled half-time. I could use another hyphenated compound beginning with half to describe my feelings about this imperfect system, but I’ll just say that the inconsistent nature of terms that belong in this broad category requires that I often do what I recommend you do whenever you plan to use one: Look it up. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive AtYay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other AcclamationsI wish I were...

Argumentative Essay Example Should High School Be Mandatory

Argumentative Essay Example Should High School Be Mandatory High school students are facing the whole new world of education. Is it worth getting? When you’re in high school, it’s challenging enough to plan for the next week, let alone the next 10, 15, 25 years. But if a high school student had the foresight to look ahead that far in the future, and even further down the road, they would undoubtedly see the importance of having a high school education. Rather than leaving it up to the near-sighted adolescent to decide, a law should be enacted mandating that all American residents and citizens complete a high school education. After all, it’s free to the public (or paid for with taxes) kindergarten to the 12th grade. And it’s probable that most people who drop out before graduating from high school tend to lead lives of struggle, financial hardship, and criminal troubles, too. HIGH SCHOOL YEARS ARE THE MOST MEMORABLE ONES To begin with, a high school diploma should be the standard in America, because a solid high school education lays a solid foundation for the rest of a person’s life. In high school, as well as the years leading up to high school, a student learns the basics, of course – reading, writing, and arithmetic – but also how to do many other skills that will serve them well as working adults. The school prepares a person to be a responsible, resourceful adult. In school, whether a student realizes it at the time, they are developing quite valuable skills and learning important information. When a person finishes high school, they can do just about anything an adult person needs to do to survive and live a good life – read road maps and plan a trip; understand contracts and agreements, as well as read directions on how to assemble something; balance a checkbook, research how to solve a problem. A high school education is imperative for everyone looking to survive adulthood. Ultimately life is disease, death and oblivion. Its still better than high school. Dan Savage Secondly, a high school education provides a person with the knowledge and fundamental skills needed to get a job as an adult; therefore, it should be made mandatory. To survive in America as an adult, one needs a decent-paying job – and to get a job that pays even the minimum wage, a person generally needs a high school diploma. Take, for example, a gas-station attendant. They work with money most of the day, so they must have a strong foundation in math – a skill taught in school from the very beginning, up until the more-advanced math courses in high school, such as algebra and statistics. Even gas-station attendants are generally required to have some basic knowledge of technology to work the money machines. Nowadays, students begin working on computers from a very early age, in elementary school, and they’re taught more advanced computing skills in high school. Also, attendants each day must communicate information to customers and supervisors alike. Communi cation skills are created and developed through one’s schooling, through writing papers, engaging in discussions, reading, researching and conversing. Without a high school education, a person lacks the necessary skills to be successful as an adult. Thirdly,  a high school education should be mandatory for all Americans for another important reason: the entire point of education is to establish the intellectual foundations needed to be self-educated. In other words, when a person graduates from high school, they possess the intellectual and  informational resourcefulness one needs to teach him or herself just about anything. Naturally, there are tons of people with just a high school education who have gone on to become very successful individuals in just about various fields and industries. Due to their educational foundation, however, they are self-learners capable of mastering any task and challenge they face as adults. FRATERNITY VIOLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION To conclude, there should be a law that makes a high school education mandatory for all Americans; that is, a person should be penalized for not finishing high school and getting their diploma. A lack of education hinders an individual, which hurts the economy in the long run – which in turn hinders a country from moving forward and flourishing. It gets left behind. One may go as far to argue how Americans should be legally required to have some sort of post-high school education – whether a college degree or at the very least some sort of specialty education, an apprenticeship, if one prefers the less-academic route. Either way, a high school education is necessary for anyone required to work for a living. It’s imperative for success.

Managing people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing people - Essay Example Managers must establish an environment in which people can accomplish group goals with the least amount of time, money, materials, and personal dissatisfaction or in which they can achieve as much as possible of a desired goal with available resources (Lippitt, Peter, & Jack 1985). Increasingly important organizational changes occur whenever there is a need. For instance, when an organization revolutionizes its overall approach for success by inserting or removing important parts or needs to modify the core of its operations. It also takes place when an organization develops through different life cycles and for organizations to evolve, they frequently go through significant transformations at various stages in their development. There are numerous approaches in bringing change-some of the changes are planned, other can be structured and precise, while others may be more natural, unfolding and implied. Some perspectives work from the future to the present, others might start from the present to the future. Bringing change is one of the major issues faced by managers. In order to bring massive change, a manager has to renew his or her vast organization (Recardo 2000). Organization renewal frequently starts with an adjustment in the firm’s strategy, mission, and vision alongside strategic change. Strategic changes consistently sets off effects throughout the organization. Firstly, there can be cultural alterations in which the employees have to accept new corporate values-new philosophies of what employees’ vision as what they should or should not do. Moving quickly, accepting technology, and keeping lines of communication open are a few of the novel values the management needs employees to agree to. In case of expansion, the management has to start structural modification as well which is rearranging company’s departmental structure, harmonization, duration of control, reporting relationships, duties, and decision-making measures, as

Film Review - The Young and Restless in China Movie

Film - The Young and Restless in China - Movie Review Example The film touches on social issues that form the basis of this study aiming at reviewing the social issues represented in the film. Cultural beliefs and the need for personal independence is one of the social issues depicted in the film, Young and the Restless in China. Changes in the economic conditions in China from Maoism and socialism that advocated the respect of the Communist Party, serve people, and the country. However, these conditions resulted in the dissolution resulting in changes at a very fast rate affecting the young Chinese. Miranda Hong finds herself at crossroads between living in the reformed country and the guidelines from her parents from the Maoist period. She is forced to apply for college outside Beijing owing to the oppressive environment at her home since her parents were very strict. She is tone between following cultural guidelines on how to live her life, meet her husband’s demands, and be herself in the face of changes in the economic system. The other change evident in the social and cultural condition of China is the cutthroat competition of businesses resulting in widespre ad corruption by government officials for success. There is a large contrast between the situation and the Maoist system that existed before as explained through the life of Ben Wu in the course of his setting up his business and the need for trust and knowing people to be successful in China. Divorce and changing the belief system represent the culture changes in China since they were no divorce in earlier times but through the lives of Lu Dong. The other cultural changes in China are related to family and the need for education of the girl child that is slowly catching up. Marriage for a girl child was the norm with responsibilities including caring for the in-laws and field labour. However, through Yang Haiyan a number of changes including working away from her family and earning money to assist herself and not married her by her parents. Wei Zhanyan

SOP 347 & MRT 16 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SOP 347 & MRT 16 - Essay Example uding employees, contractors, consultants, etc.; Section four includes the general policy; Section five includes detailed definitions of covered accounts and red flags; Section six includes response to red flags; Section seven includes updates to program; and Section eight includes program administration (FTC, 2009; Jones, 2008). Procedures have been laid out to back up the policies with methods for implementing each policy. Methods would clearly indicate the steps to be followed and tools to be used. This includes tools such as forms or documents that should be used while executing a specific policy. Roles and responsibilities have been assigned for various activities within the policies. Employee training is important in the execution of the program. Competencies that need to be developed for policies have been identified, and areas where employees need training have been identified. Methods for review and auditing the program have been included, and mechanism for correcting any gaps has been included. FTC. (2009, November 1). A How to Guide for Business. Fighting Frauds with the Red Flags Rule. Federal Trade Commission, Retrieved from . Jones, Josh. (2008, Setember 17). Model identity theft policy. Retrieved from http://www.mtas.tennessee.edu/KnowledgeBase.nsf/0dc5bcf28eace789852574590055ba0a/2ebf57dd17941195852574c700473c4a?OpenDocument Tellabs is a telecom company with a wide range of products and services in a range of markets. The investor relations web page provides a variety of investor related information. A comparison of peer group websites has been illustrated in table 1. Peers include 3com Corporation; Arris Group; Polycom; and Mastec Incorporated. A variety of information has been presented on the page. This includes events and presentations; news releases; stock quotes and links for annual reports; contact; email alerts; SEC filings; corporate governance; financial

Personal statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 8

Personal Statement Example It was this act of witnessing people around me falling into financial troubles leading to depravation of their happiness that I knew I should head towards a direction that would bring smiles back on their faces and improve the entire trade by ensuring fair and realistic mechanisms are in place. I followed my dream and landed in Durham University where I am currently in my third year of study, pursuing a BSc course in Accounting and Finance, and the experience has been eye opening. I have already learned to adapt to new situations since the setting was very different from my familiar Chinese background and I have learned to appreciate and value the differences in all cultures. The current situation is very promising and I can envision my self achieving what my young ambitious self was aiming to achieve since I have aligned all available choices to finance-preferred, both academically and practically. Experience is undoubtedly the best teacher that is why I ensure that each and every holiday since the summer of 2012 I have found my way back home to partake in my internships at my father’s financial company located in Shenzhen, Mainland China. I have worked in both the trading and investment advisory departments where I have always had the privilege to meet senior executives of the leading and most competitive institutions in China. This interaction has broadened my mind in terms of ideologies as we share our thoughts and views increasing my knowledge and logical thinking capabilities to avoid trouble before it brews and to seek financial facts in each situation. Generally, I have attained valuable field experiences such as valid trading techniques including how to perceive the variation of specific markets or stocks. I have so far grasped the full knowledge of trading large amounts of property without affecting share prices

Analyse and critique the research and methodological choices in three Essay

Analyse and critique the research and methodological choices in three academic marketing articles on the specific theory in mark - Essay Example In the article â€Å"Towards a New Model of ‘Customer Compliance’ Service Provision,† Kasabov and Warlow (2010) used secondary sources to determine the similarities and differences between customer-centric business models and the â€Å"customer-compliance business model† (CCBM) in service industries. In an earlier article, â€Å"Automated Marketing and E-Marketing Practices of ‘Customer Compliance’ Providers,† Kasabov and Warlow (2009) examined the concepts and processes of customer compliance providers. Dellande and Nyer (2007) empirically tested the effect of public commitment on role compliance in â€Å"Using Public Commitment to Gain Customer Compliance.† This essay critically evaluates the research designs and methodology strategies of these articles. Critical Evaluation of Methodologies Based on the data collection and analysis processes of Kasabov and Warlow (2010), they conducted a qualitative research, where they used exi sting studies on their topic to form their conclusions and to conduct their conceptual analysis. This research design is effective for their research because it considers the development of the service management literature on compliance models, and it helps determine research gaps. The constructionist approach that they employed explores the growth and much needed direction for the research on compliance models (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008: 80). The weaknesses of their research design are poor validity and reliability in generating conclusions and sampling research issues. They cannot generalise their findings too because of lack of empirical information that can provide tested results on compliance models. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) did not present their research design anymore, such as what systematic reviews normally do, but they did try to adopt numerous studies on customer compliance. Their sampling includes studies conducted from the 1990s to the 2000s, with more studies on the 1990s. This range of references shows extensive consideration to the development of the literature, but more recent articles and studies are necessary to ensure the relevance of their findings. Without further details on their research design, however, it is hard to replicate their methods and to come up with the same conclusions, which reduced the article’s reliability (Wilson, 2010: 116). A careful analysis of the arguments and use of sources is needed to explore the reliability and validity of their claims and conclusions. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) collected information about the CCBM through reviewing related literature. They have enhanced the validity of their research by including the doubts surrounding service provision and complaint management. They avoided the straw man fallacy, which happens when they only respond to weak arguments to their own claims. In order to critically evaluate their article, their main findings must be discussed. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) argued that CCBM cannot apply the same values and norms used in traditional service provisions and complaints management literature. Furthermore, they complained that current studies have not fully explored the importance and extensive applications of CCBM. They asserted that service management scholars often focused on outcomes and disregarded the importance of CCBM’s novel processes. In doing so, these studies were not able to wholly

GW Restaurant Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

GW Restaurant Project - Essay Example Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist. There are now many other PM tools available, for project design, analysis, control, and decision-making, such as Microsoft Project 2002. The ultimate goal of the project is successful establishment of the new restaurant named GW Restaurant. The project is important for expansion of George Wright's empire. Team has become an increasingly important part of business success. Efficient people management can lead the project to good result, while inefficient one often becomes the main reason for project failure. Therefore a great responsibility is incumbent on project manager. The project manager has sole responsibility and authority for project and contract direction and control, however he or she may delegate single or multiple responsibilities. A Project Management Plan is commonly used to document key management parameters in a central location and is updated throughout the project focusing on recognition of changes in program planning and management of those changes. (WBDG Project Management Committee 2005) As Gray and Larson write, projects must have a defined endpoint - this is contrary to the ongoing duties and responsibilities of traditional jobs. (Gray, C.F. and Larson, E.W. 2000, p.2) Duration of the GW Restaurant Project is 52 days; it starts 1st October 2005 and finishes 9th December 2005. All project participants are working without overtime. I think that absence of overtime produces more effective and qualitative work of personnel. Also if something goes wrong, it would be possible to make the team work on weekend and in that way to keep time limits. The time schedule for the project is built based on the Work Breakdown Structure. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used to provide a... As the report declar the ultimate goal of the project is successful establishment of the new restaurant named GW Restaurant. The project is important for expansion of George Wright’s empire. Team has become an increasingly important part of business success. Efficient people management can lead the project to good result, while inefficient one often becomes the main reason for project failure. Therefore a great responsibility is incumbent on project manager. The project manager has sole responsibility and authority for project and contract direction and control, however he or she may delegate single or multiple responsibilities. According to the report findings a Project Management Plan is commonly used to document key management parameters in a central location and is updated throughout the project focusing on recognition of changes in program planning and management of those changes. The time schedule for the project is built based on the Work Breakdown Structure. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is used to provide a framework for breaking the GW Restaurant Project into Stages and Activities and then organizing them in a logical way. The critical path is a sequence of activities through a project network from start to finish, the sum of whose durations determines the overall project duration.

Analyse and critique the research and methodological choices in three Essay

Analyse and critique the research and methodological choices in three academic marketing articles on the specific theory in mark - Essay Example In the article â€Å"Towards a New Model of ‘Customer Compliance’ Service Provision,† Kasabov and Warlow (2010) used secondary sources to determine the similarities and differences between customer-centric business models and the â€Å"customer-compliance business model† (CCBM) in service industries. In an earlier article, â€Å"Automated Marketing and E-Marketing Practices of ‘Customer Compliance’ Providers,† Kasabov and Warlow (2009) examined the concepts and processes of customer compliance providers. Dellande and Nyer (2007) empirically tested the effect of public commitment on role compliance in â€Å"Using Public Commitment to Gain Customer Compliance.† This essay critically evaluates the research designs and methodology strategies of these articles. Critical Evaluation of Methodologies Based on the data collection and analysis processes of Kasabov and Warlow (2010), they conducted a qualitative research, where they used exi sting studies on their topic to form their conclusions and to conduct their conceptual analysis. This research design is effective for their research because it considers the development of the service management literature on compliance models, and it helps determine research gaps. The constructionist approach that they employed explores the growth and much needed direction for the research on compliance models (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008: 80). The weaknesses of their research design are poor validity and reliability in generating conclusions and sampling research issues. They cannot generalise their findings too because of lack of empirical information that can provide tested results on compliance models. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) did not present their research design anymore, such as what systematic reviews normally do, but they did try to adopt numerous studies on customer compliance. Their sampling includes studies conducted from the 1990s to the 2000s, with more studies on the 1990s. This range of references shows extensive consideration to the development of the literature, but more recent articles and studies are necessary to ensure the relevance of their findings. Without further details on their research design, however, it is hard to replicate their methods and to come up with the same conclusions, which reduced the article’s reliability (Wilson, 2010: 116). A careful analysis of the arguments and use of sources is needed to explore the reliability and validity of their claims and conclusions. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) collected information about the CCBM through reviewing related literature. They have enhanced the validity of their research by including the doubts surrounding service provision and complaint management. They avoided the straw man fallacy, which happens when they only respond to weak arguments to their own claims. In order to critically evaluate their article, their main findings must be discussed. Kasabov and Warlow (2010) argued that CCBM cannot apply the same values and norms used in traditional service provisions and complaints management literature. Furthermore, they complained that current studies have not fully explored the importance and extensive applications of CCBM. They asserted that service management scholars often focused on outcomes and disregarded the importance of CCBM’s novel processes. In doing so, these studies were not able to wholly

Globalisation and Religion Essay Example for Free

Globalisation and Religion Essay Secularisation theory has argued that modernisation has undermined religion. The importance of science and technology on economic development and rational worldview on which they depend on are seen as destroying the belief in supernatural. However religion can contribute to development, but most recently sociologists have examined what role religion may play in development in today’s globalising world. This can be seen in India. Globalisation has brought rapid economic growth and has seen India become a more important player in the world political stage. It has brought prosperity to some, notably the Indian middle class. Nanda shows that 85% of India is Hindu and this is where globalisation has taken place. Globalisation has created a huge and prosperous, scientifically educated middle class working in IT, pharmaceuticals, etc. These are who secularisation theorists say will be the first to abandon religion. However Nanda sees a vast majority of this class continue to believe in the supernatural. A study of developing societies in 2007 shows that Indians are more religious and only 5% claim their religion has declined in the past five years. It also found that urban areas are more religious that rural areas. Nanda goes as far to say that it is becoming fashionable to be seen as religious. She examines what motivates this. Nanda rejects poverty and existential insecurity as a reason for their belief because they are not poor. She also rejects the idea that their religiosity is a defence mechanism to modernisation and westernisation. She argues that their religiosity is to do with their ambivalence to their new found wealth. This has helped to see the relationship between globalisation and religion, as Nanda points out that globalisation has increased the religiosity in India. She also examines the role of Hinduism in legitimating a triumphalist version of Indian nationalism. From a survey it found that 93% of Indians believe they have a superior culture to others. Nanda notes that the Indians’ success in the global market have attributed to Hindu values. These are constantly promoted by media and politicians. Ultra nationalism, worshiping Hindu gods and India itself has become a civil religion. In recent years the East Asia tiger economies such as Korea and Singapore are now becoming industrialised. Also China has become a major global power. Sociologists argue that this success is because of religion acting similar to Calvinism. Redding sees their post Confucian values as encouraging, similar to the protestant work ethic. Similarly Berger argues that Pentecostalism in Latin America acts as a functional equivalent to Weber’s protestant ethic. He says that they embrace the work ethic and lifestyle of Calvinists aspect of life which in result its members continue to prosper. However Berger underlines Weber’s point that religious ideas alone are not enough to produce economic development. He says that natural resources are also needed. For example while Protestantism has grown in northern Brazil, the religion lacks resources and remains backwards. By contrast, the south, which is developing rapidly, has both a work ethic derived from Pentecostalism and the necessary resources. Christianity has also become globalised. Lehmann says that it has done this by accompanying globalisations, imposed my indigenous population and in the past 100 years it has spread because of its popular following. The symbols and imagery from local cultures attributes to their success. They attack cults and perform exorcism, and accept and validate beliefs. This has contributed to the relationship between globalisation and religion as it shows that religion has helped countries to develop and using the idea of protestant ethic in Latin America gives a valid explanation as to why they have grown. A further link between globalisation and religion is explained through fundamentalism. Fundamentalism has a response to globalisation and related trends. Giddens’ describes fundamentalists as traditionalists. He sees that this is a relatively new term and sees its growth, as a production of and reaction to globalisation. He claims that it has undermined traditional norms and values. They say that religion offers certainty to a now uncertain world due to the choice which people have. A contrasting view to this however is Beckford. He criticises fundamentalists for ignoring other important developments, including how globalisations also affects non fundamentalist religions such as Catholicism. Giddens’ groups all types of fundamentalism together, ignoring any differences between them. Jeff Haynes argues that we should not focus narrowly on the idea that Islamic fundamentalism is a reaction against globalisation. For example in the Middle East, conflicts caused by the failure of local elites to deliver on their promises to improve the standard of living are often the fuel that drives fundamentalism. This evidence argues that globalisation has undermined traditional religious beliefs. Religion has also created a cultural defence whereby religion serves to unite communities against external threat. In this situation religion has a special significance for its followers because it symbolises the group or societies collective identity. There are two examples of this from the late 20th century and those are Poland and Iran. It has created war and terror such as the war in Iraq. Therefore the effect of globalisation on religion is a ‘clash of civilisations.’ Huntingtons’ view is that religious defences are creating a new set of hostile ‘us and them’ situation as there is an increase in competition against cavitations for economic and military power. An example of this is the 9/11. Although there are some critics such as Jackson who believe it is a western ideology that stereotypes nations. Also Armstrong argues hostility towards the west does not stem from fundamentalist Islam but to western foreign policy in the Middle East. This shows that’s due to globalisation is has increased religiosity but has created friction between countries. This has had a negative effect in the world. Overall globalisation has brought rapid economic growth and has seen India become a more important player on the world political stage. It has also increased Indians religiosity which is shown in Nandas’ argument which she also says this relationship is because of the optimism about the opportunities globalisations will bring and the result of the ambivalence to their new found wealth. But also like Huntington says, both religion and globalisation has created a ‘clash of civilisations’ and created both war and terror. In conclusion this relationship between globalisations in religion is good as it has helped countries such as India in the economy and has increased their religiosity. However it could also be argued that it has created friction between religions and in result has had a negative impact on the world.

The Impact Of The Digital Age

The Impact Of The Digital Age Digital age is same thing as modernism and modernism can simply be defined as an overall socially progressive trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings creates, improve and reshape their environment with the aid of practical, experimental and scientific knowledge or technology. In modernism, there are some certain impacts on social, economic and political life of the societies today, because it has touched all these areas. When we talked of the impact of digital age or modernism on the society, we will be focusing on the changes we have on the social aspects of the world in general, that is, how the society is socially on progress. In the economic life of the societies, we will be focusing on the technologies that changed how people lived, where they lived and how they thought, why there is a rapid change in the production of goods, and also the means of moving those goods from place to another in todays society. In political life, we have the changes in politics, the r ise of working class, and the reason why many are poor and lived in bad conditions while the fewer enjoyed the profits. Industrial revolution is one of the impacts of modernism in the economic life of the societies today because the use of new technologies and inventions of machines helps towards increasing production of goods and services and also delivering those goods to the appropriate place when needed. Today mechanized production and modern economic growth continue to spread to some new areas. As at that period, workers move from their working environment to another in order to search for a perfect industry with requirement that will make work easier and saves time because as at that period before industrial revolution took place, working at the industry is something different because things and requirement arent the way they are because the means to carrying out the work is not there but by man power. It was claimed that the factory systems developed during that period were responsible for the modern cities nowadays, because the system was new, and the workers had not experienced such, and thus everyone has an opportunity to go to somewhere in search of greener posture of the world, and much of some human beings have not yet knew or had about the changes. Economic generate a great distribution of funds extracted from resources, which then led to a progressive shift in legislation. After the second and third reform acts, income inequality was reduced by progressive and successive acts of legislation which gave a free public. Education had also strengthened the legal standing of the trade unions that aided the aged, the sick ones, and the unemployed individuals without abridging their political rights and replaced regressive with progressive taxes on income, land, and inherited wealth. Selling of goods and services like in British, east India companies were opportune by the government; larger ships were built because of enlightenment following an increased in the aspects of production. George Bernard Showed up once again and said the market solution ended up in the best social solution. For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth. In impact of digital age on the social life of the society today is connected with ones position in the society, his social class and also his social background, nowadays, there are so many changes in the social aspect of our lives. A very good example of this is festival, changes in tradition and also in the mood of dressing, all this became possible because of the impact of digital age we have today. If we look around us today, its hard to find a person that has not added anything new to his traditional attires , what I mean here is, for instance, for the Hausas and also the Fulanis, there were not know for wearing jeans and tops, but now it has become a common thing based on socialization. Before, many do not believe in going to school especially the Fulanis, they only believe in rearing cattles while the women among them are to stay at home, but now, everyone wants to be in school, illiteracy is darkness, people dont believe in staying at home doing nothing anymore, for at least even when they lack the opportunity or dont have the means of going school or seeking for job opportunity, they will prepare engaging themselves in a small business just for them to earn something for a living. There are so many changes due to the impact digital age on the social life of our societies today. Social philosophers of the 1700s supported the idea of individual human rights, respects, freedoms has dissolved the old ways of supreme wealth of Royalty and everyone else peasants exponential population growth properties kept on getting sub-grouped, couldnt keep doing that many people moved to towns, people in cities need jobs, and need to buy things instead of making it themselves. Lack of work result to poverty and unavailability of food, so there were few to work, and much waiting to have one. Work made the opportunity to move ahead. The impact of digital age on the political life of the societies today is connected with the state, government or public affairs. Today, there are a lot of changes in politics, in government, we have the arms of government where it consist of the legislative, judiciary and the executive arms of government and every arm of government listed here has its own responsibility to carry on and also certain years that each president in Nigeria had to spent in office, all this is because of the impact of digital age we have today. Let go deep into the impact of digital age on political life of the society, another considerable impact to look on is during the election period, today, people do come out of their houses to vote for the beloved candidate, individuals were given the right to vote for whom they wish to be their leader and at any period, a well educated individual with the necessary requirement that will qualified him to stand as a candidate during an election can do so. Politicians clued into those dynamics and spoke of growth in that system could get votes. In politics, we considered the working class, people can now vote and be voted for, and thats the people that engage themselves in politics would probably be the candidate in an election. Today, as a result of the impact on digital age we have on the political life of the society today, you can write an article, letter or even through computers that are all over that will enabled you go online, search for one of your leaders and have a mutual conversation with him/her about the political problems that rises all the time, the issue of corruption among the leaders, misused of the public funds etc and the best way to tackle all this problems .People could get things that were previously not available to common people, and standard of living could go up. In conclusion, digital age had so much impact on the social, economic and political life of the societies today because it has brought so much changes in our daily aspects of life and also helps us to improve and reshape our environment with the aid of practical, experimental and scientific knowledge or technology.

George Orwells 1984 :: essays research papers

1984, George Orwell Winston is the unfortunate victim of a totalitarian society gone haywire. In Oceania 1984, the Party has complete control over every aspect of its citizens’ lives. Telescreens that monitor their movements are found in every house and apartment. If a member of the Thought Police catches you so much as gritting your teeth during one of Big Brother’s speeches, it’s off to the Missionary of Love to be interrogated about your partaking in a conspiracy against the Party. It’s a time of unknowing chaos where war is peace, ignorance is strength, and freedom is slavery. The Party avoids revolt by using an interesting technique--not giving its citizens a reason to revolt. If the Party promises, for example, that there will be no reduction of chocolate rations and there does happen to be a reduction, they simply go back and change their original statement. This meaning they rewrite any newspaper articles, etc. that give evidence that they said there would be a reduction, and destroy all of the old copies. In this way, the Party’s predictions are always true. So our good old friend Winston is sitting in his office one day when he starts to have--gasp!--negative thoughts about the Party and its leader, Big Brother. He buys a diary, a crime considered worthy of death by the Party, and begins to record these thoughts daily. By chance, Winston happens to meet a fellow Party-hater, Julia. They believe that the Brotherhood (an organization against the Party) exists and that their co-worker O’Brien is involved with it. They meet with O’Brien and confirm that yes, indeed, he is involved with the Brotherhood. O’Brien gives them a copy of “The Book'; written by the Brotherhood’s leader Emanuel Goldstein about his political ideas. Julia and Winston are secure in their involvement with the Brotherhood and

Free Essays - All Quiet on the Western Front :: All Quiet on the Western Front Essays

about men, but of German soldiers and their hardships during World War I and how their attitudes changed throughout the war. â€Å"We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war†(p.88). This novel portrays the overwhelming effects and power war has to deteriorate the human spirit, scar physically, and scar mentally.   You start out leaving you’re home and family proud and ready to fight for you country, to toward the end of the war, you become tired and scarred both physically and mentally beyond description. At the beginning of the novel nationalist feelings are present through pride of Paul and the rest of the boys. However at the end of the war many come to the realization of how pointless and horrific war really is.    All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel that greatly helps in the understanding the effects war.   The novel best shows the attitudes of the soldiers before the war and during the war. Before the war there are high morals and growing nationalist feelings. During the war however, the soldiers discover the trauma of war. They discover that it is a waste of time and their hopes and dreams of their life fly further and further away. The remains of Paul Baumer's company had moved behind the German front lines for a short rest at the beginning of the novel. After Behm became Paul's first dead schoolmate, Paul viewed the older generation bitterly, particularly Kantorek, the teacher who convinced Paul and his classmates to join the military. â€Å" While they taught that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing, we already that death-throes are stronger.... And we saw that there was nothing of their world left.   We were all at once terribly alone; and alone we must see it t hrough.†(P. 13) Paul felt completely betrayed.   â€Å" We will make ourselves comfortable and sleep, and eat as much as we can stuff into our bellies, and drink and smoke so that hours are not wasted. Life is short.† (P 139) Views of death and becoming more comfortable with their destiny in the war became more apparent throughout the novel.   Paul loses faith in the war in each and every passing day.   Ã‚  Throughout the novel it was evident that the war scarred the soldiers permanently mentally.   Everyone was scared to go to war when it started. Young recruits were first sent because the veterans knew they were going to come back dead.

Phonetics as a Branch of Linguistics

GLOSSARY Academic style – also scientific style, a style of speech used in lectures, scientific discussions, conferences, etc Accent – 1) type of pronunciation, that is the way sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation are used in the given language community. 2) see stress. Accommodation – modifications of consonants under the influence of the neighbouring vowels and vice versa. Acoustic Phonetics – science which deals with the physical property of sounds.Affricates – noise consonants produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released and the air stream escapes from the mouth with some friction. Allophones – variants of a phoneme, usually occur in different positions in the word, cannot contrast with each other and are not used to differentiate the meaning. Alveolar – sounds produced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth (alveolar) ridge. American English – the national variant of the English language spoke n in the USA.Amplitude – the distance to which the air particles are displaced from their position of rest by the application of some external force. Apical – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue. Applied Phonetics – a branch of phonetics used for practical purposes in speech therapy and logopedia. Articulatory Phonetics – also Physiological Phonetics, a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of speech sounds as regards their production by the human speech organs. Ascending head – a type of head in which syllables form an ascending sequence.Assimilation – The modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in the speech chain. Auditory Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the way our auditory mechanism works to process speech information, also Perceptual Phonetics. Back vowels – vowels formed with the tongue in the back part of the mouth. Back-advanced vowels – vowels formed with the tongue in the back-advanced position in the mouth. Back-lingual – see velar. BBC English – the accent used on BBC radio and TV channels, is considered a standard English spoken in Great Britain, also Received Pronunciation.Bilabial – sounds produced when both lips are active. Bilingualism – the command of 2 different languages by a person. British English – the national variant of the English language spoken in Great Britain. Broad transcription – also phonemic transcription, provides special symbols for all the phonemes of a language. Broad variations – a subclass of the vertical positions of the tongue which in this case is placed slightly lower in the mouth cavity. Cacuminal – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue curled back.Central vowels – sounds articulated when the front part of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate. Checked vowels – short stressed vowels fol lowed by strong voiceless consonants. Checkness – a vowel property which depends on the character of articulatory transition from a vowel to a consonant Close vowels – sounds articulated when the tongue is raised high towards the hard palate. Closed syllable – a syllable which ends in a consonant. Coda – one or more phonemes that follow the syllabic phoneme.Communicative centre – a word or a group of words which conveys the most important point of communication in the sentence or the utterance. Commutation test – the procedure of substituting a sound for another sound in the same phonetic environment with the aim of establishing the phonemic system of a language Comparative Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which studies the correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages Consonant – a sound made with air stream that meets an obstruction in the mouth or nasal cavities.Conversational style – also convers ational style, a style of speech used in everyday communication. Declamatory style – a style of speech used in stage speech, recitations, etc. Delimitation – segmentation of speech into phrases and intonation groups. Dental – sounds produced with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth Descending head – a type of head in which syllables form an descending sequence Descriptive Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of one language only in its static form, synchronically.Devoicing – a process that results in a voiced consonant being pronounced as voiceless. Dialect – a variety of language which differs from others in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Diglossia – a phenomenon when an individual may speak RP in one situation a native local accent in other situations. Dynamic stress – force accent based mainly on the expiratory effect. Diphthong – a vowel which consists of tw o elements, strong (a nucleus) and weak – (a glide).Diphthongoid – a vowel articulated when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak, in this case the articulated vowel is not pure, but it still consists of one element. Direct methods – methods of phonetic investigation which consist in observing the movements and positions of one's own or other people's organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in analysing one's own kinaesthetic sensations during the articulation of speech sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions. Discourse – a larger context in which sentences occur.Dorsal – sounds produced when the blade of the tongue is active. Duration – the quantity of time during which the same vibratory motion, the same patterns of vibration are maintained. Elision – complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, often observed in spoken English. Enclitic – unstressed wo rds or syllables which refer to the preceding stressed word or syllable. Estuary English – a variety of modified regional speech, a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. Estuary English speakers place themselves â€Å"between Cockney and the Queen†.Experimental Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which deals with research work carried out with the help of different technical devices for measurements and for instrumental analysis Extra-linguistic factors – non-linguistic factors, such as the purpose of utterance, participants and setting or scene of speaking, which result in phonostylistic varieties. Familiar style – see conversational style. Forelingual – sounds articulated with the front part of the tongue Fortis consonants – voiceless consonants pronounced with strong muscular tension and strong expiratory effect.Free variants – variants of a single phoneme which occur in a langua ge but the speakers are inconsistent in the way they use them, as for example in the case of the Russian words â€Å"/ †. Free vowel – a weak vowel followed by a weak (lenis) voiced consonant or by no consonant at all. Frequency – a number of vibrations per second. Fricative – constrictive noise consonants articulated when the air escapes with friction through the narrowing formed by speech organs. Front vowels – vowels in the production of which the body of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity and the front of the tongue is raised.Front-retracted vowels – vowels produced with the body of the tongue in the front but retracted position in the mouth cavity. Functional Phonetics – see phonology. General American – the national standard of the English language spoken in the USA. General Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies all the sound-producing possibilities of the human speech apparatus and the wa ys they are used for purposes of human communication by means of language. Glide – the second weak element of English diphthongs. Glottal – sounds articulated in the glottis.Glottal stop – a sound heard when the glottis opens suddenly and produces an explosion resembling a short cough. Glottis – the opening between the vocal cords, through which the air passes. Hard palate – the roof of the mouth. Head – part of the intonation group, contains stressed syllables preceding the nucleus with the intervening unstressed syllables. Hesitation pause – silent or filled pause mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain time to think over what to say next. Historical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of a language in its historical development, diachronically.Idiolect – individual speech of members of the same language community Informational style – a style of speech used by radio and telev ision announcers conveying information or in various official situations. Instrumental methods – methods of phonetic investigation based upon registering or computing machines and technical devices Intensity – a property of a sound produced by the amplitude of vibrations. Interdental – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth. International Phonetic Alphabet – a set of symbols adopted by theInternational Phonetic Association as a universal system for the transcription of speech sounds. Intonation – pitch (or melody) variations used to convey meaning. See also prosody Intonation group – an actualized syntagm. Intonation pattern – pitch movements together with loudness and the tempo of speech extending over an intonation group. Intonation style – a complex of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social situation and serves a definite aim of communication. Intonogramme – the pi cture of the sound wave of a syllable, word or an utterance received with the help of intonograph.Intonograph – a technical device which gives pictures of sound waves of syllables, words and utterances. Kinetic – relating to motion. Labial – sounds articulated by the lips. Labiodental – sounds articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth Laryngoscope – a special device which helps to observe the vocal cords, epiglottis and the glottis. Larynx – part of the vocal tract containing the vocal cords. Lateral – sounds produced when the sides of the tongue are active. Lateral plosion – sudden release of air which escapes along the sides of the tongue.Lax – historically short vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech organs is weak. Lenis consonants – voiced consonants pronounced with weak muscular tension. Lip rounding – a position of the lips when their corners are broug ht toward one another so that the mouth opening is reduced. Loudness – the intensity of sound is produced by the amplitude of vibrations. Manner of articulation – one of the principles of consonant classifications which is connected with the type of obstruction to the air stream.Maximum onsets principle – Medio-lingual – sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate Minimal pair – a pair of words or morphemes which are differentiated by one sound only in the same position. Modifications of sounds – positional and combinatory changes of sounds in connected speech. Monophthong – a vowel articulated when the tongue position is stable, in this case the articulated vowel is pure, it consists of one element. Mouth cavity – the cavity between the teeth and the pharynx. Narrow transcription also phonetic transcription, provides special symbols for all the allophones of the same phoneme Narrow variatio ns – a subclass of the vertical positions of the tongue which in this case is raised slightly higher in the mouth cavity Nasal consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is lowered and the air stream goes out through the nose. Nasal Cavity – the cavity inside the nose which is separated from the mouth cavity with the soft palate and the uvula. Nasal plosion – sudden release of air by lowering the soft palate so that the air escapes through the nose.National variants – the language of a nation, the standard of its form, the language of its nation’s literature. Neutral vowel – a mid central vowel, also schwa. Neutralisation – the loss of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of vowels in unstressed positions. Noise consonants – consonants in the production of which noise prevails over voice, the air stream passes through a narrowing and produces audible friction (compare with sonorants). Normative Phonetic s – see Practical Phonetics. Notation – another term for transcription.Nuclear tone – a significant change of pitch direction on the last strongly accented syllable in an intonation pattern. In general nuclear tones may be falling, rising and level or a combination of these movements. Nucleus – 1) the last strongly accented syllable in an intonation pattern; 2) the most prominent part of a diphthong; 3) the centre of a syllable, usually a vowel. Obstructer mechanism – a group of speech organs which form obstructions during articulation of consonants, it includes tongue, lips, hard and soft palate and teeth.Occlusive – sounds produced when a complete obstruction to the air stream is formed. Onset – sounds that precede the nucleus of a syllable. Open syllable – a syllable which ends in a vowel. Open vowels – vowels produced when the tongue is in the low part of the mouth cavity. Opposition – see phonetic oppositions . Oral consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is raised and the air stream goes out through the mouth. Organs of speech – the human organs which together with biological functions take part in sound production.Palatal – sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate. Palatalisation – softening of consonants due to the raised position of the middle part of the tongue towards the hard palate. Palato-alveolar – sounds made with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part of the tongue raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation (two foci). Paralinguistics – a branch of linguistics which is concerned with non-verbal means of communication. Perceptual Phonetics – see Auditory Phonetics.Pharynx – the part of the throat which connects the larynx to the upper part of the vocal tract. Phonation – voicing, the vibration of the vocal cords. Phone – a sound realised in speech and which bears some individual, stylistic and social characteristics of the speaker. Phoneme – the smallest further indivisible language unit that exists in the speech of all the members of a given language community as such speech sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word of the same language or one grammatical form of a word from another grammatical form of the same word.Phonemic transcription – see broad transcription. Phonetic mistakes – pronunciation mistakes made when an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme. Phonetic oppositions – comparison of sounds, words and morphemes in order to single out their minimal distinctive features. Phonetic transcription – see narrow transcription. Phonetics – a branch of linguistics which is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized. Phonetics analyses the nature of thes e sounds, their combinations and their functions in relation to the meaning.Phonological analysis – analysis whose aim is to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic/non-phonemic and to find the inventory of the phonemes of this or that language Phonological mistakes – pronunciation mistakes made when an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme; in this case the meaning of the word is affected. Phonology – also Functional Phonetics, a branch of phonetics that is concerned with the social functions of different phonetic phenomena.Phonosemantics – a branch of psycholinguistics that studies the relations between the sound structure of a word and its meaning. Phonostylistics – a branch of phonetics that studies the way phonetic means of the language function in various oral realizations of the language. Phonotactics – the study of the possible phoneme combinations of a language. Physiological Phonet ics – see Articulatory Phonetics. Pitch – the auditory characteristic of a sound, it corresponds to the fundamental frequency (the rate of vibrations of the vocal cords). Pitch level – a particular height of pitch.Pitch range – the interval between two pitch levels or two differently pitched syllables or parts of a syllable. Place of articulation – the place in the vocal tract where the air stream is obstructed. Plosives – consonants produced when the air stream is completely stopped for a short time, also stops. Post-alveolar – sounds articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge Power mechanism – a group of speech organs which supplies energy for sound production, it includes lungs, diaphragm, windpipe, bronchi.Practical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which teaches how to pronounce sounds correctly and what intonation to use to convey this or that meaning or emotion. It is called Normative Phonetics because teaches the â€Å"norm† of English pronunciation. Pragmalinguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies what linguistic means and ways of influence on a hearer to choose in order to bring about certain effects in the process of communication. Pragmaphonetics – a branch of Pragmalinguistics whose domain is to analyse the functioning and speech effects of the sound system of a language.Pre-head – the unstressed syllables which precede the first stressed syllable of the head. Primary stress – the strongest stress compared with the other stresses in a word. Principal allophone – allophones which do not undergo any significant changes in the chain of speech. Proclitic – unstressed words or syllables which refer to the following stressed word or syllable Prosody – a complex unity formed by significant variations of pitch, tempo, loudness and timbre. Psycholinguistics – a branch of ling uistics which covers an extremely broad rea, from acoustic phonetics to language pathology, and includes such problems as acquisition of language by children, memory, attention, speech perception, second-language acquisition and so on. Publicistic style – a style of speech used in public discussions on political, judicial or economic topics, sermons, parliamentary debates Qualitative – connected with the spectral characteristics of a sound. Quantitative – referring to the length of a sound. Received Pronunciation (RP) – the national standard of the English language spoken in Great Britain. Reduced vowel – a weakened vowel.Reduction – weakening (either qualitative or quantitative) of vowels in unstressed positions. Resonator mechanism – a group of speech organs which can change their shape and volume, thus forming the spectral component of the sound, it includes nasal and mouth cavities. Rhyme Rhythm – recurrence of stressed syl lables at more or less equal intervals of time in speech. Rhythmic group – a speech segment which contains a stressed syllable and a number of unstressed ones. The most frequent type of an English rhythmic group includes 2-4 syllables, one of which is stressed.Rounded – a sound articulated with added lip rounding. Schwa – see neutral vowel. Scientific style – see academic style. Secondary allophones – allophones which undergo some predictable changes in different phonetic context. Secondary stress – a less strong stress than the primary one, usually precedes the primary stress in a word. Segmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics which is concerned with individual sounds (â€Å"segments† of speech) Segmentation – division of speech into phrases and intonation groups. Semantic centre – see communicative centre.Sentence stress – the greater degree of prominence given to certain words in an utterance. Socio linguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies the way the language interacts with society. Soft palate – the back, soft part of the hard palate. Sonorants – consonants in the production of which noise prevails over voice, the air stream passes through a narrowing and produces audible friction (compare with sonorants). Sonority – a degree of loudness relative to that of other sounds with the same length, stress and pitch.Special Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of the phonetic structure of one language only. Spectrogram – a picture of the spectrum of sounds, their frequency, intensity and time. Spectrograph – a device which carries out the spectral analysis of speech. Stops – see plosives Stress – a greater degree of prominence which is caused by loudness, pitch, the length of a syllable and the vowel quality. Stress-timed languages – in these languages stressed syllables ten d to occur at relatively regular intervals irrespectively of the number of unstressed syllables separating them.Strong vowel – the full form of a vowel in the stressed position. Stylistic modifications – sound changes which happen under the influence of extra-linguistics factors. Subsidiary allophone – see secondary allophone. Suprasegmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics whose domain is larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts Syllable – a sound sequence, consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this centre there will be greater obstruction to airflow and less loud sound.Syllable-timed languages – in these languages all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at regular time-intervals and the time between stressed syllables will be shorter or longer depending on the number of unstressed syllables separating th em. Syntagm – a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complete. Tail – any syllables between the nucleus and the end of the utterance. Tamber – the same as timbre. Tempo – the rate of the utterance and pausation. Tense – historically long vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech organs is great.Terminal tone – the nucleus and the tail of the utterance. Tertiary stress – a less strong stress than the primary one, usually follows the primary stress in a word. Theoretical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language. It discusses the problems of phonetics in academic terms and gives a scientific approach to the phonetic theory. Timbre – voice quality. Tone languages – the meaning of words in these languages depends on the variations of voice pitch in relation to neighbouring syllables.Tongue – the most movable and flexible speech organ. Transcription – the system of symbols to represent speech in written form. Unstressed – bearing no stress. Utterance – a spoken sentence or a phrase. Uvula – the end of the soft palate. Velar – consonants produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate Vibrator mechanism – a group of speech organs which vibrate while the air passes through, thus producing voice, it includes larynx, vocal cords, glottis. Vocal cords – two soft folds in the larynx which can be brought together and apart, thus producing voice.Voice quality – timbre. Voiced consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate. Voiceless consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate. Vowel – a sound in the production of which no obstructions are made. Weak form – the unstressed form of a sound or a word. Windpipe – trachea or air passage. Word stress – a greater degree of prominence on one of the syllables in a word. I. PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS. BRANCHES OF PHONETICS. METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 1. 1 IntroductionKnowledge of the structure of sound system and its articulatory and acoustic characteristics is very important in teaching and learning foreign languages. The teacher has to know the starting point from which to begin teaching; he must be able to point out the differences between the pupil’s mother tongue and the language to be learnt. He should be able to choose adequate training exercises. That’s why it is vital to know, at least, the basic principles of this science. The term â€Å"phonetics† comes from the Greek words meaning â€Å"sound or matters pertaining to voice†. What does phonetics study?It is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized (that is the oral aspect of speech communication). However phon etics takes the content level into consideration too. Only meaningful sound sequences are regarded as speech and phonetics is concerned only with such sounds which are carriers of organized information of a language. Phonetics analyses the nature of these sounds, their combinations and their functions in relation to the meaning. No kind of linguistic study can be carried out without constant consideration of the material on the expression level.Consequently, phonetics is important in the study of a language. An understanding of it is a basis for any adequate understanding of the structure or functioning of a language. It follows from this that phonetics is a basic branch – many would say the most fundamental branch of linguistics, because it gives a language a definite form. The vocabulary and grammar of a language can function only when the language has a phonetic form. So grammar and vocabulary depend on phonetics, they cannot exist outside of phonetics, because all lexical and grammar phenomena are expressed phonetically.Neither linguistic theory nor linguistic description can do without phonetics and is complete without it. Phonetics, being a branch of linguistics, occupies a peculiar position. On the one hand it serves as a means of expressing grammatical and lexical phenomena. On the other hand it has laws of its own which are independent of grammar and vocabulary. Besides it is closely connected with a number of other sciences, such as physics, biology, physiology, psychology etc. The more phonetics develops the more various branches of science become involved in the field of phonetic investigation.Phonetics is not a new science. It was known to the ancient Greeks and to the ancient Hindus. The scientists of that time were concerned with speech sounds only. It may be said that the orthography of all written languages which use alphabets developed in the course of a very detailed phonetic analysis. Nevertheless, phonetics as an independent science began to develop only in the 19th century, before that it used to be a part of grammar. There has been considerable progress and growth in the 20th century. New concepts, methods of investigation, new theories and schools have been developed.Not only has the sphere of investigation in phonetics become wider, but several new branches of phonetics have also arisen. So our further point will be made on the branches and divisions of phonetics. 1. 2 Branches and Divisions of Phonetics Everyone who starts learning a foreign language first of all is introduced into practical or normative phonetics. It studies the material form of phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning. It teaches how to pronounce sounds correctly and what intonation to use to convey this or that meaning or emotion. It is called normative because we are to teach the â€Å"norm† of English pronunciation.Theoretical phonetics is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language. It discusses t he problems of phonetics in academic terms and gives a scientific approach to the phonetic theory. Other two important branches of phonetics are special and general phonetics. Special phonetics may be subdivided into descriptive and historical. Special descriptive phonetics is concerned with the study of the phonetic structure of one language only in its static form, synchronically and the domain of special historical phonetics is the phonetic structure of a language in its historical development, diachronically.Historical phonetics is part of the history of a language. Its aim is to trace and establish the successive changes in the phonetic system of a given language at different stages of its historical development. It is very important for the study of the modern phonetic system because without a historical approach it is impossible to understand how this modern phonetic system has developed and what further changes it is likely to undergo.General phonetics studies all the sound- producing possibilities of the human speech apparatus and the ways they are used for purposes of human communication by means of language, it finds out what types of speech sounds exist in various languages of the world, how they are produced and what role they play in forming and expressing thoughts; it also determines the nature, types and role of other phonetic means, such as word stress and intonation.General phonetics is based on the material which the special phonetics of a great number of languages provides; it also uses data of other sciences: physics, biology, psychology, speech pathology, etc. So it makes a number of general conclusions concerning the complex nature of speech sounds, analyses phonetic phenomena from different points of view and formulates phonetic theories. On the one hand general phonetics is based on the data of special phonetics; on the other hand it provides valuable theoretical material which enables us to understand and to interpret correctly differe nt phonetic phenomena of concrete languages.Another important division is into phonology and phonetics. According to the conception of the Prague Linguistic School phonetics and phonology are two independent branches of science, phonetics is a biological science which is concerned with the physical and physiological characteristics of speech sounds, and phonology is a linguistic science which is concerned with the social functions of different phonetic phenomena. Another term for this branch is functional phonetics. The father of Phonology is Prince Nicholas Trubetskoi.His work â€Å"Fundementals of Phonology† separates phonetics and phonology, saying that they are not related and that phonetics is not part of linguistics, but a biological science that deals only with the physiological aspect of speech sounds. Nevertheless it doesn't seem logical to separate function from phonetic forms, thus excluding phonetics from the linguistic sciences. So nowadays most phoneticians cons ider both phonetics and phonology part of linguistics. Phonetics itself is subdivided into 3 sub branches, each dealing with special aspects of sounds, their production by a speaker and perception by a listener.Phonetic processing starts on a neurophonetic level, in the brain of a speaker, where the formation of the concept takes place. The human brain controls the behaviour of the articulatory (or speech) organs and makes them move in a particular way. The branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of speech sounds as regards their production by the human speech organs is called articulatory (physiological) phonetics. In other words it deals with the way human organs join to produce sounds.Articulatory basis of a language is a set of articulation tendencies characteristic for a particular language community, so articulatory gesturing is culturally specific and not universal. Different articulations produce different acoustic effects, or different speech sounds. Consequen tly, speech sounds have a second aspect, a physical or, more exactly, an acoustic one, which constitutes the domain of acoustic phonetics. Acoustic phonetics involves knowledge of physics as it deals with the physical property of sounds. Any sound is a pressure disturbance transmitted through an elastic medium.When articulatory gesturing starts it causes disturbance (a sound wave) in the medium, which is transmitted from one particle of the medium to another and is reproduced as a sound wave travels from the source to the listener. Perceptual or auditory phonetics is concerned with the way our auditory mechanism works to process speech information. There is a boundary line between reception (which doesn't involve understanding) and perception (which involves decoding and understanding). Phonetic perception is a product of sensation and interpretation of speech elements which take place in a human brain.Phonetics is also divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which i s concerned with individual sounds (â€Å"segments† of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics whose domain is larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts. There are a number of other divisions of phonetics. We may speak about comparative phonetics whose aims are to study the correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages and find out the correspondences between speech sounds and intonation structures.Its data are extremely useful in teaching and learning a foreign language as they show differences and similarities of the phonetic systems of two or more languages and predict possible difficulties for the learners. It should be mentioned that the most difficult phonetic phenomena are those absent in the mother tongue. For example, the sounds [? -? ] cause a lot of difficulties for the Russian students of English, as there are no sounds with similar articulations in the Russian language.On the other hand the most stable and persistent p ronunciation mistakes are made in those phenomena which are similar in the two languages but not exactly the same. For example, falling intonation. In English it goes to the very bottom of the voice, while in Russian it is not so steep and it does not reach the same low note as in English. The data of applied phonetics are essential for practical purposes in speech therapy and logopedia. It helps to correct speech defects and to teach deaf-mutes (or people who do not speak as a result of an accident or some disease) to speak.Experimental phonetics deals with research work which is carried out with the help of different technical devices, machines for measurements and for instrumental analysis. Phonetics as a whole and all of its branches have not come into being all at once: they developed gradually, and their development was closely connected with and determined by the development of other branches of linguistics and other sciences. 1. 3. Phonetics and Social Sciences So our furthe r point should be made in connection with the relationship between phonetics and social sciences. Language is not an isolated phenomenon; it is a part of society.No branch of linguistics can be studied without taking into consideration at least the study of other aspects of society. In the past two decades we have seen the development of quite distinct interdisciplinary subjects, such as sociolinguistics (and sociophonetics correspondingly), psycholinguistics, mathematical linguistics and others. As their titles suggest, they are studied from two points of view and thus require knowledge of both. Sociophonetics studies the ways in which pronunciation functions in society. It is interested in the ways in which phonetic structures vary in response to different social functions.Society here is used in its broadest sense, it includes such phenomena as nationality, regional and social groups, age, gender, different situations of speaking – talking to equals, superiors, on the â₠¬Å"job†, when we are trying to persuade, inform, agree and so on. The aim of sociophonetics is to correlate phonetic variations with situational factors. It’s obvious that these data are vital for language learners who are to observe social norms and to accommodate to different situations they find themselves in. One more example of interdisciplinary overlap is the relation of linguistics to psychology.Psycholinguistics covers an extremely broad area, from acoustic phonetics to language pathology, and includes such problems as acquisition of language by children, memory, attention, speech perception, second-language acquisition and so on. Phonosemantics studies the relations between the sound structure of a word and its meaning. There is some data proving that the sounds that constitute a word have their own â€Å"inner† meaning, which causes certain associations in the listener’s mind. For example, close vowels produce the effect of â€Å"smallness†, and voiceless consonants sound more â€Å"unpleasant† and â€Å"rude† than their voiced counterparts, etc.Some sounds are associated with certain colours. These data may be helpful in teaching, for example, â€Å"tying† together the sound structure of a word and its meaning, thus facilitating the process of memorising new words. Scientists have always been interested how children acquire their own language without being taught. They hope that these data might be useful in teaching grown-up people a foreign language, too. Pragmalinguistics is a comparatively new science, which studies what linguistic means and ways of influence on a hearer to choose in order to bring about certain effects in the process of communication.Correspondently the domain of pragmaphonetics is to analyse the functioning and speech effects of the sound system of a language. Phonetics is closely connected with a number of other sciences such as physics (or rather acoustics), mathematics, biology, physiology and others. The more phonetics develops the more various branches of science become involved in the field of phonetic investigation. Phonetics has become important in a number of technological fields connected with communication.Phoneticians work alongside the communication engineers in devising and perfecting machines that can understand, that is respond to human speech, or machines for reading aloud the printed page and vice versa, converting speech directly into printed words on paper. Although scientists are still dissatisfied with the quality of synthesized speech, these data are applied in security systems, answering machines and for other technical purposes. 1. 4. Methods of Phonetic Investigation Methods applied in investigating the sound matter of the language have changed greatly with the development of technology and computer science.From the beginning of phonetics the phonetician has relied mainly on what he could feel of his own speech and on what h e could hear both of his own and the informant’s speech. Such methods are called direct and consist in observing the movements and positions of one's own or other people's organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in analysing one's own kinaesthetic sensations (muscle tense) during the articulation of speech sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions.Investigation by means of this method can be effective only if the persons employing it have been specially trained and have acquired considerable skills in associating the qualities of the perceived sound with the nature of the articulations producing it. Instrumental methods were introduced into phonetics in the last century to supplement the impressions deriving from the human senses. These methods are based upon registering or computing machines and technical devices, such as spectrograph, intonograph, x-ray photography and cinematography, laryngoscope and some others.The intr oduction of machines for measurements and for instrumental analysis into phonetics has resulted in their use for detailed study of many of the phenomena which are present in the sound wave or in the articulatory process at any given moment. These techniques can be very useful both for discovering in detail how English speakers produce their speech sounds, and for demonstrating to learners of English their pronunciation. Computers can provide additional pronunciation training, displaying useful information on the screen and being a powerful visual aid for effective phonetic practice.One more advantage of the modern experimental study of speech is the enormous amount of varied spoken speech data stored on computers. It facilitates the process of looking for cross-language differences and similarities. The data obtained from instrumental analysis supplement and verify those obtained by means of direct observation, thus making the research results more detailed and precise. II. THE ARTI CULATORY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS 2. 1. The Anatomo-mechanical Aspect of Sound Production Speech is impossible without the speech mechanism.So now our attention will be focused on the articulatory aspect of speech sounds. Speech sounds are acoustic effects of the articulatory movements and positions of the human speech organs. The immediate source of speech sounds is the human speech mechanism developed and perfected in the process of the historical development of man. The organs of speech are the object of linguistic investigation mainly from the point of view of the functions they perform in speech production. So before analysing the linguistic function of phonetic units we need to know how the speech mechanism acts in producing oral speech.According to their main sound-producing functions the speech organs can be roughly divided into the following four groups: the power mechanism (lungs, diaphragm, windpipe, bronchi), the vibrator mechanism (larynx, vocal cords , glottis), the resonator mechanism (nasal and mouth cavities) and the obstructer mechanism (tongue, lips, hard and soft palate, teeth). From the lungs through the wind-pipe the air-stream passes to the larynx, containing the vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords, through which the air passes, is called the glottis. The linguistic function of the vocal cords onsists in providing the source of energy necessary for speech production. When the vocal cords are kept wide apart (i. e. the glottis is open) the air passes between the cords and the result is non-phonic breath. Then the vocal cords may be drawn together tightly, so that air cannot pass between them. The sudden opening of the glottis produces an explosion resembling a short cough; this sound is called the glottal stop. It often occurs in English when it reinforces or even replaces the sounds [p], [t], [k] or even when it precedes the energetic articulation of vowel sounds.The most important role of the vocal cords i s their participation in the production of voice. The effect of voice is achieved when the vocal cords are brought loosely together, creating an obstacle to the air stream; when the air pressure becomes very strong the air forces its way between the vocal cords thus making the, vibrate. When, as is usual, these vibrations are regular, they produce vocal tone, or voice, whose pitch depends on the frequency of vibrations. We are able to vary the speed of vibration of our vocal cords and thus to change the pitch.Conscious variations of pitch are responsible for intonation. We are also able to modify the size of the puff of the air which escapes at each vibration, thus changing the amplitude of the vibration, which corresponds to the loudness of the sound heard by a listener. The air-stream, having passed through the vocal cords, is now subject to further modification, according to the shape of the pharynx, mouth and nasal cavities. The direction in which the air-stream will follow from the pharynx depends on the position of the soft palate.When it is lowered, the pharynx opens into the nasal cavity. When it is risen, the air-stream comes to the mouth cavity. As in the mouth cavity a lot of movable speech organs are situated it can easily change its shape, thus forming the majority of speech sounds. The movable (or active) speech organs, situated in the mouth cavity are: the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the lips and the lower jaw. Of all the movable organs within the mouth cavity the tongue is the most flexible and active.For convenience, the surface of the tongue or divided into several parts: the most flexible part of the tongue, which normally lies opposite the teeth ridge, is called the blade, the tip of the tongue being its extreme point. The part of the tongue next to the blade is called the front of the tongue. Then come the back and the root of the tongue. The tongue being the most active speech organ in the mouth cavity, the main principles of the majority of articulatory classifications of vowels are based on the movements and positions of the tongue. 2. 2. The system of English VowelsThe movements of the body of the tongue provide a convenient articulatory basis for classifying vowels according to two principles: 1) horizontal and 2) vertical movements of the tongue. According to the horizontal movement five classes of English vowels are distinguished. They are: 1) front [i:], [e], [e? ], [ ], [? ] 2) front-retracted [? ], [ ] 3) central [? ], [? :], [? ], [ ], [a? ], [a? ] 4) back [? ], [? :], [u:], [a:], [ ] 5) back-advanced [? ], [ ] Not all phoneticians single out the classes of front-retracted and back-advanced vowels. So both [i:] and [? vowels are classed as front, and both [u:] and [? ] – as back. The point is that the vowels in these two pairs differ in quality which is partially due to the raised part of the tongue. So in this case a more detailed classification seems to be a more precise one, since it adequately reflects the articulatory distinctions actually present in the language. Now let's view another articulatory characteristic of vowels, which is based on the vertical movement of the tongue. The way phoneticians of different schools approach this aspect is also slightly different.Some scholars distinguish three classes of vowels: high (or close), mid and low (or open) vowels. But to mark all significant changes in vowel quality it is not enough to single out these three groups of vowels. For instance, both English vowels [i:] and [? ] belong to the group of close vowels, but when the vowel [? ] is articulated the front of the tongue is not so high in the mouth as it is in the case of the vowel [i:]. Russian phoneticians made the classification more detailed distinguishing two subclasses in each class: broad and narrow variations of the 3 vertical positions of the tongue.Thus the following 6 groups of vowels are distinguished: 1) close a) narrow [i:], [u:] b) broad [? ], [? ], [ ], [ ] 2) mid a) narrow [e], [? :], [? ], [e? ], [ ] b) broad [? ], [? ] 3) open a) narrow [ ], [? :], [ ] b) broad [? ], [a? ], [a? ], [? ], [a:]. In addition to the above-mentioned principle of the classification of vowels phoneticians suggest five other criteria: 1) stability of articulation 2) lip position 3) character of the vowel end 4) length 5) tenseness The stability of articulation specifies the actual position of the articulating organ in the process of the articulation.There are two possible variants: a) the tongue position is stable, in this case the articulated vowel is pure, it consists of one element and is called a monophthong; and b) the tongue position changes, in this case a vowel consists of two elements, the first one is strong, it is a nucleus, the second element is very weak – it is a glide. There exists a third variety, when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak, in this case the articulated vowel is not pure, but it still consists of one element, such vowels are called diphthongoids.So according to this principle the English vowels are subdivided into: a) monophthongs [? ], [? ], [e], [? :], [? ], [? ], [? :], [? ], [? ], [a:] b) diphthongs [ ], [ ], [e? ], [ ], [ ], [a? ], [a? ], [ ] c) diphthongoids [i:], [u:] Some phoneticians, however, do not share this way of thinking and do not distinguish diphthongoids. But for the learners of English it is important to know this differentiation as it is useful for teaching purposes. Besides in modern English the tendency for diphthongization is becoming gradually stronger. Another feature of English vowels is lip rounding.Traditionally three lip positions are distinguished: spread, neutral and rounded. In English lip rounding is not relevant phonologically (it means that no two words can be distinguished on its basis). Our next point should be made about another characteristic of English vowels. It's checkness. The quality of all English monophthongs in the stressed pos ition is strongly affected by the following consonant. If a stressed vowel is followed by a strong (fortis) voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called checked.If a vowel is followed by a weak (lenis) voiced consonant or by no consonant at all the end of it is weak. In this case the vowel is called free. Now it should be useful to consider another articulatory characteristic of English vowels, that is their length or quantity. The English monophthongs are traditionally divided into short [? ], [e], [? ], [? ], [? ], [? ], [? ] and long ones [i:], [a:], [? :], [? :], [u:]. It should be noted that vowel length or quantity has for a long time been the point of disagreement among phoneticians. The problem is whether variations in quantity are meaningful (relevant) or not.Let's look at the pairs of words: [b? d – bi:d], [s? t – si:t]. Are they distinguished from one another by the opposition of different lengt h (that's the approach of D. Jones, an outstanding British phonetician) or is the difference in quality (or in other words the position of the active organ of speech) decisive here? Most Russian phoneticians are in favour of the second conception. They state that a feature can be systemic if it does not depend on the context. As to the length of English vowels, it varies and depends on a lot of factors, the first being phonetic context.The shortest are vowels followed by voiceless consonants and the longest are in free position. For example in â€Å"meat† [i:] is half as long as the [i:] in â€Å"me†, but may approximately have the same duration as the [? ] in â€Å"mid†. But still these words â€Å"mid† and â€Å"meat† are perceived as different words because the vowels are different in quality. So no matter what time is required for the articulation of these vowels, the main distinctive feature is quality, not quantity. As for tenseness we shall only mention that special instrumental analysis shows that historically long vowels are tense, and historically short ones are lax.To sum it up we may conclude that among all the articulatory features of English vowels only two are relevant: the stability of articulation and tongue position. 2. 3. The System of English Consonants Before passing on to the classification of English consonants the difference between consonants and vowels should be considered. Acoustically consonants are noises, not musical tones like vowels. From the articulatory point of view the difference is due to the work of speech organs. In case of consonants various obstructions are made. As to the classification of English consonants there are few ways of seeing the situation.One of them is the classification according to the type of obstacle. On this ground two large classes of consonants are distinguished: 1) occlusive, which are produced when a complete obstruction is formed: [t, d, p, b, k, g], [m, n, ? ]; 2) constrictive, which are produced when an incomplete obstruction is formed: [s, z, f, v, O, ? , ? , ? , h], [w, r, l, j]. Each of the 2 classes is subdivided into noise consonants (these are those in the production of which noise prevails over tone) and sonorants (in the production of which tone component prevails).Noise occlusive consonants are called stops because the air stream is completely stopped at some point of articulation and then released with an explosion, that is why they are also called plosives: [t, d, p, b, k, g]. Constrictive noise consonants are called fricatives, because the air escapes through the narrowing with friction: [s, z, f, v, O, ? , ? , ? , h]. Occlusive-constrictive consonants or affricates are noise consonants produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released and the air stream escapes from the mouth with some friction. There are only two affricates in English: [? ,? . Other phoneticians suggest that the first and basic principle of clas sification should be the degree of noise. So consonants are divided first into noise consonants and sonorants and then each group is divided into smaller groups. Another very important principle is the place of articulation. According to this principle English consonants are classed into labial, lingual and glottal. I. Labial consonants in their turn are subdivided into a) bilabial (produced when both lips are active) [w, m, p, b]; b) labio-dental (articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth) [f, v]. II.Among the class of lingual consonants three subclasses are distinguished: a) forelingual; b) medio-lingual; c) back-lingual. Forelingual consonants are also of three kinds: 1) apical (articulated with the tip of the tongue) [t, d, s, z, O, ? , ? , ? , ? , ? , n, l]. 2) dorsal (produced when the blade of the tongue is active). There are no dorsal consonants in English. In Russian these are the sounds [?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?]. 3) cacuminal (articulated with the t ip of the tongue curled back). There is only one cacuminal consonant in English – [r]. According to the place of obstruction forelingual consonants may be: – interdental, rticulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth: [O, ? ]; – dental, produced with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth: the Russian [?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?]; – alveolar, produced with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth ridge: [t, d, s, z, n, l]; – post-alveolar, articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge: [r]; – palato-alveolar, made with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part of the tongue raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation (two foci): [? ? , ? , ? ]. b) mediolingual consonants are produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate, so they are always palatal: [j]. c) backlingual consonants are also called velar, because they are produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate: [k, g, ? ]. III. The glottal consonant [h] is articulated in the glottis. There are no glottal consonants in Russian. One more articulatory characteristic which should be mentioned is the position of the soft palate.According to this principle consonants may be oral and nasal. There are only three nasal consonants in English, which require the lowered position of the soft palate: [m, n, ]. The rest of the consonants are oral because in their production the soft palate is raised and the air escapes through the mouth. Our next point will be made in connection with another sound property, that is voice-voiceless characteristic. When the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate we hear voice and the consonants are voiced: [b, d, g, v, z, ? , ? , ? . When the vocal cords are apart and do not vibrate we hear only noise and the consonants are voiceless: [p, t, k, f, s, O, ? , ? ]. It should be noted that the difference between such pairs as [p, b], [t, d] and so on is based not only on the absence or presence of the voice component, as voiced consonants are not fully voiced in all word positions, in word final position, for example, they are partially devoiced. There's also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak or lenis and all voiceless consonants are strong or fortis.Summing it up, it should be mentioned that the most important articulatory features, which could serve as a criterion for grouping consonants into functionally similar classes, are: type of obstruction; place of articulation and the active organ of speech; force of articulation. The rest of the characteristics are considered to be irrelevant, as they are of no importance from the phonological point of view, but they provide necessary and useful information for teaching purposes. It is for this reason that they are normally included into the classification. III.THE ACOUSTIC AND AUDITORY ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS The auditory aspect of any sound is inseparable from its acoustic aspect and acoustic phonetics is closely connected with auditory phonetics and both may, therefore, be considered together. Objectively sound is a physical phenomenon, a kind of moving energy generated by some vibrating body. Subjectively sound is our perception of the vibrations of the air next to our ear-drum. People can perceive not all vibrations of the air but only when they occur at the rate of sixteen to twenty thousand times per second.Sounds may be periodical and non-periodical. If the vibrations of a physical body (vocal cords in our case) are rhythmical, the sound waves are periodical. The auditory impression of such periodical waves is a musical tone or a speech tone. If the wave is non-periodical, it is perceived as noise. Sound has a number of physical properties which all exist and manifest themselves simultaneously. They can be singled out from the others o nly for purposes of analysis. The first of these properties is frequency which is a number of vibrations per second.Our perception of the frequency is the pitch of the sound. The greater the frequency, the higher the pitch and vice versa. The frequency depends on certain physical properties of the vibrator, such as its mass, length and tension. The greater the mass of the vibrator, the slower its vibrations and the lower the pitch. The longer the vibrator, the slower the vibrations and the lower the frequency and the pitch. Here the difference between men and women and adults and children voices lies. Men's and adults' voices are lower than women's and children's are, because their vocal cords are thicker and longer.Tension depends on the elasticity of the vocal cords. The vocal cords of elderly people are not as elastic as the vocal cords of younger people, children especially, so their voices sound rather low. As the tension increases – the frequency increases and the pitch rises. The second physical property of sound is intensity, changes in which are perceived as variations in the loudness of sound. The intensity of sound is produced by the amplitude of vibrations (that is by the distance to which the air particles are displaced from their position of rest by the application of some external force).Intensity is measured in decibels. The intensity and frequency of sound are closely interdependent. The same amount of energy will produce either greater amplitude with a lower frequency or a higher frequency with smaller amplitude. Therefore if you increase the frequency without increasing the amount of energy you will shorten the amplitude and therefore reduce the intensity, that is produce a less loud sound. People are able to produce vowel sounds of various qualities or timbres. This is achieved through the action of the resonator mechanism.So the production and differentiation of vowels is based on the acoustic phenomenon that is called resonance. So unds coming from different resonators travel different lengths (distances) or have different carrying power. The distance is proportional to the volume of the resonator and the size of its orifice. Any sound has a certain duration or length. In other words it can exist and move only in time. The duration or length of a sound is the quantity of time during which the same vibratory motion, the same patterns of vibration are maintained. For this reason, the duration of a sound is often referred to as is quantity.The duration is measured in millisecond. We perceive the variations in duration as tempo or speed of utterance. In speech there are not definite boundaries between different speech sounds. So it’s very difficult to measure the length of separate sounds. In addition it should be mentioned that along with various articulatory classifications of speech sounds, there exist acoustic descriptions and classifications. The chief drawback of articulatory classifications is that t hey don’t describe and define all shades of typologically identical speech sounds, especially vowels.Besides, one and the same speech sound can be pronounced by different people with slightly different positions and movements of their speech organs. Acoustic classifications seem to overcome these difficulties as they are more detailed and accurate. The first acoustic classification was based on spectrographic analysis. It was worked out by Roman Jakobson, C. G. M. Fant and M. Halle. However, acoustic classification, though more precise, are not practically applied in teaching. The acoustic features of speech sounds can not be seen directly or felt.But there are some other fields of the application of acoustic phonetics: speech synthesis, health service, security systems, etc. IV. THE FUNCTIONAL ASPECT OF SPEECH SOUNDS 4. 1 Phoneme and Allophones Phoneticians not only describe and classify the material form of phonetic units. They are also interested in the way in which sound phenomena function in a particular language and what part they play in communication. The branch of phonetics that studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structures, word accent and prosodic features is called phonology.Unlike phonetics itself, whose domain is articulatory and acoustic features, phono