Monday, September 30, 2019

Carmina Burana

A work that many have, at least heard a piece, of is Carmina Burana. Carl Orff composed this piece of music in 1936. A German, he was one of few composers that continued work during the Anti-Semitic rule of the country. Orff based his work off of a collection of poems found at the monastery of Benedikbeuren that dates back to the Twelfth Century! Carmina Burana is a set of twenty-five pieces that concern many of things going in everyone’s life today.Drinking, gambling, love, sex, fate, and fortune are just a few of the topics Orff composed of. 1 In this concert report I will go through the pieces that stood out the most to me. As mentioned, the most famous piece of this work is the opening sequence, â€Å"O Fortuna†. This glamorous piece begins with the full orchestra and chorus playing a loud, brave tone that quickly drops off into, what I hear as a loud whisper, sung by the entire chorus. Orff doesn’t let the listener take a break by coming back with same loud tone that the piece began with.Percussion instruments can be vividly heard throughout this opening piece, seemingly above the rest of the instruments. Early in this work, Orff establishes his theme of a â€Å"Wheel of Fortune†. 2 With the boldness of the opening sounds I feel that Orff is setting the tone for the whole work. Although the work is sung entirely in Latin, the translation of the first movement may surprise most people. The opening words â€Å"O Fortune† gives the listener an idea what the piece is about. As the piece goes, Orff describes fortune as oppressing and poor, in what I believe he was feeling at the time.The last words of this movement, in translation â€Å" everyone weep with me â€Å" were the biggest surprise to me because the orchestra ends the piece in carnival like melody. The second movement of Orff’s work is titled â€Å"Fortune plango vulneraâ€Å". This is personally my favorite piece of the work because of the hit or miss har mony. Different instruments take turns using the high-low rhythms, along with the chorus. The male voice is prominent at the beginning but soon after you can hear the voice of the full orchestra. Before reading the text n translation, this piece gave the idea of a rabbit jumping through to pasture or meadow to a novice listener like myself. This piece picks up from the last movement still pertaining to fortune. In the latter part of this piece Orff actually wrote in his overall theme by mentioning â€Å"the wheel of Fortune turns†. The fourth movement, â€Å"Omnia sol temperat† is sung in a completely different way. It begins with a male soloist singing, accompanied softly by violins. The way Orff chose to display this movement shows that there is no defined rhythm he is following.The soloist singing in a profound masculine voice sets the tone for this movement. The next movement discussed stands out as being one of the longest works of the cantata. â€Å"In taberna q uando sumus† opens with stringed instruments followed by percussion, and then a variety of other instruments join with the chorus. â€Å"When we are in the tavern†, the title sets this piece up for what I think would have a been a popular movement when it originated. Orff tells of drinking and gambling at the tavern, then goes on to list thirty names such as â€Å"the rich man† and â€Å"the poor man† that all drink.This stood out to me because I didn’t see this coming at all! It is also my least my favorite piece of the work. With the setting what it is, I didn’t particularly like the minor tone heard on and off in this movement. Orff could have been trying to relay a message by this of the tavern as a sometimes dark, bad place. The last movement of the cantata, â€Å"O Fortuna† begins just as the piece began with the same instruments and harmony. The last movement mirrors the first in a way that makes the listener understand the true tone of this work.I compliment Orff for doing this because I feel it is necessary. With a piece as strong and bold as this, I would think most composers would have chose to do this. After going back and re-listening to the first and last piece, there is no difference to my ear. The last movement does not lack any of the strength of the first movement; it’s a repeat that is well deserved. This theme has been used in many American movies, but sadly it is seldom recognized. Carl Orff made his mark in music history with Carmina Burana, namely the first and last movements â€Å"O Fortuna†.There are many more movements in this piece that all have uniqueness and glamour. Even though I am not the most avid Carl Orff fan, this piece surprised me with every movement. The overall performance of this piece was outstanding, with all the different melodies and tones, the use of full orchestra to solo vocalist, and an excellent job of conducting by Jeffery Thomas, I can see how this piece gained as much fame as it did. 1 â€Å" The Enjoyment of Music† Eleventh Edition, Kristine Forney and Joseph Machlis 2 http://classicalmusic. about. com/od/20thcenturymusic/a/carmina_burana. htm

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Health tourism,a boon or a curse Essay

Health Tourism (Also known as Medical tourism) refers to the act of traveling to a foreign country in order to receive medical care. Varying reports based on the US alone put the number of American patients seeking healthcare abroad between 500,000 to 750,000 in 2007. This is a steady increase from 2006 in which medical experts believed as many as 200,000 to 1/2 a million Americans traveled out of the country for medical procedures. These figures indicate a significant growth in the industry, currently a $20 billion market, which can reach $100 billion by 2012. Governments in places such as India and Malaysia (as well as some others) are already getting involved and investing in this growing industry. The main reasons that people travel to receive medical treatment are: Certain medical services are not available in their country of residence. Their health insurance does not cover the full cost of a procedure. Wait lines are too long. Quality of care is better in a different country. Costs are lower in a different country. (even when factoring in the travel arrangements) Medical tourism is a growing sector in India. India’s medical tourism sector is expected to experience an annual growth rate of 30%, making it a $2 billion industry by 2015.[1][2] As medical treatment costs in the developed world balloon – with the United States leading the way – more and more Westerners are finding the prospect of international travel for medical care increasingly appealing. An estimated 150,000 of these travel to India for low-priced healthcare procedures every year.[3] Advantages for medical treatment in India include reduced costs, the availability of latest medical technologies,[4] and a growing compliance on international quality standards, as well as the fact that foreigners are less likely to face a language barrier in India. The Indian government is taking steps to address infrastructure issues that hinder the country’s growth in medical tourism. The government has removed visa restrictions on tourist visas that required a two-month gap between consecutive visits for people from Gulf countries which is likely to boost medical tourism.[5] A visa-on-arrival scheme for tourists from select countries has been instituted which allows foreign nationals to stay in India for 30 days for medical reasons.[6] In Noida, which is fast emerging as a hotspot for medical tourism, a number of hospitals have hired language translators to make patients from Balkan and African countries feel more comfortable while at the same time helping in the facilitation of their  treatment.[7] Confederation of Indian Industry reported that 150,000 medical tourists came to India in 2005, based on feedback from the organization’s member hospitals. The number grew to 200,000 by 2008. A separate study by ASSOCHAM reported that the year 2011 saw 850,000 medical tourists in India and projected that by 2015 this number would rise to 3,200,000.[8] Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain.[9][10] The most popular treatments sought in India by medical tourists are alternative medicine, bone-marrow transplant, cardiac bypass, eye surgery and hip replacement,dental treatment. India is known in particular for heart surgery, hip resurfacing and for dental treatments at cheap prices. Lower treatment cost does not necessarily mean lower healthcare standards. There are 18 JCI accredited hospitals in India.[11] However, for a patient traveling to India, it is important to find the optimal Doctor-Hospital combination. After the patient has been treated, the patient has the option of either recuperating in the hospital or at a paid accommodation nearby. Many hospitals also give the option of continuing the treatment through telemedicine. The city of Chennai has been termed India’s health capital. Multi- and super-specialty hospitals across the city bring in an estimated 150 international patients every day. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad arriving in the country and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. Factors behind the tourists inflow in the city include low costs, little to no waiting period, and facilities offered at the specialty hospitals in the city. The city has an estimated 12,500 hospital beds, of which only half is used by the city’s population with the rest being shared by patients from other states of the country and foreigners. Dental clinics have attracted dental care tourism to Chennai[17] India’s annual earnings through Medical Tourism is all set to double to 8000 Crore Rupees [2000 million US dollars] by year 2012 according to a recent study. The main reasons the study claims why medical tourism would flourish in India include much more lower medical costs for various surgical procedures such as bone narrow transparent, coronary bye-pass surgery, knee transplant and liver transplant as compared to western countries and even many of the Asian countries. Very good medical infrastructure not only in large Metros but also in tertiary  towns is another reason for medical tourists favouring India.Availability of highly qualified medical professionals and nurses gives them the confidence to do such major procedures here. The disadvantages are: It make health sector highly commercial and the common man in the country will be hard pressed for medical care; 2) All the resources of health sector will be thrown open for the international tourist so much so that even the so called middle class will be able to ill afford the medical care. 3) Patients from overseas, if they come in droves, may bring in new types of diseases and the risks of infection. 4) In the name of medical tourism, many people who want to enjoy themselves in this country, with the ostensible intention for treatment in this country, may turn the hospitals into merry making resorts and convert the hotels into hospitals.Tourism has its own benefits as well as demerits.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Critical incident management operations based on an actual disaster Research Paper

Critical incident management operations based on an actual disaster event - Research Paper Example A disaster is an accidental and devastating event that occurs suddenly, causing adverse social and economic impacts in the population or environment it occurs. The effects may include physical injury, deaths, loss and damage on property, emotional and physical hardship, and obliteration of physical infrastructure as well as failure of operational and administrative systems. Before and during a disaster, emergency responders have to intervene to save lives, property and minimize the adverse effects caused by the disaster. However, the uncertainty or infrequency of disasters poses very great challenge for these responders to ascertain the effectiveness of their response strategies (Donahue & o’Keefe, 2007). Consequently, responders usually use various methods and experiences to enhance the manner they respond to similar disasters in the future. This paper will examine aspects of planning, response, recovery as well as mitigation during disasters and the manner the country can improve its response capabilities. The Three Mile high nuclear accident and Hurricane Agnes in the 1979 prompted President Carter and the Congress to establish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as well as the Emergency Management Council (EMC). This aimed at consolidating the responsibilities for disaster preparedness performed by the different federal agencies to one single agency (Mener, 2007). This came out of the belief that it was going to eliminate the communication and the fragmentation difficulties seen during the earlier disasters. With this order from the executive, all federal agencies that had responsibilities and capabilities of providing response during disasters to co-operate with FEMA. It also provided FEMA with the task of ensuring co-ordination in disaster preparedness and aid operations. Nevertheless, the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Analyzing ad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analyzing ad - Essay Example An advertisement is effective if it has passed on the linguistic message, denoted image and connotation image to the viewer. (Thesis) Here an advertisement printed in 2010 by Monsanto is analyzed for its linguistic message, denoted image and connoted image. The advertisement is of a middle aged African American who is standing with a field and harvester in his background. The advertisement has some texts too. The linguistic message , connoted image and denoted image can be thus further analyzed as follows; The text on the advertisement has some deep messages. The text projected on image directly gives a connotation to the image. There are two texts written on the image. One placed on the farmer’s shoulder and says, â€Å"America’s farmers grow America.† This gives out a connoted message that has been developed non-verbally. The phrase accentuates the farmer for his work and uses agricultural terms. The placement of the text also depicts conciseness. This connotation signifies the consciousness of the farmer. The other â€Å"Thanks a Million. Make that 11 million. Thanks to advanced farming practices, America’s farmers reduced their CO2 emissions 11 million tons in one year. That’s the same amount produced by 1 million SUVs. Few industries have shown such respect for the environment.†Now a new connotation is implied where the farmer is symbol of environmentally sound practices. He is also a symbol of industry. However the ad also gives out a co nnoted image. The connoted message in the advertisement is explicit in nature. According to (Chan) â€Å"Conversely, the connoted message is the culturally-laden text with its appeal to the writing and rhetoric of the photograph†. This ad shows a middle aged African American man standing in forefront with a field as the background. The man is looking to the distance with his head up and has an expression of thoughtfulness on his face. Over his shoulder a piece of machinery which is a harvester is

Thursday, September 26, 2019

No line sources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

No line sources - Essay Example God showed his blessings to humanity by choosing Abraham since the divine nature bestowed on him finally resulted in a huge clan, fastened by the twelve sons of Jacob, who considered the God of Abraham as their supporter and guardian. Jacob’s son hawked their young sibling, Joseph to dealers, who in turn hawked him as a slave in the Egyptian land. This was God’s work and plan since there came a time where there was famine in the land of Canaan and all the family was forced to go to Egypt to buy food. Unfortunately, Joseph rescued his family by providing them with food. This was a pure indicator of Good’s mercies to bless humanity. God promised Abraham that he will give him a son at his old age. The promises were finally fulfilled when he gave out his son at the old age. The son was Isaac and through his lineage, the world has turned to be a place of blessings. Through Abraham, God has made the world to turn to Him once more, despite the rejection and ignorance of mankind (Genesis 12:5-10). From the story of exodus, when God delivered his people from the land of suffering and misery to the Promised Land, it was an indicator that God was working to bless all humanity through the promises. This was also one of the promises that God gave to Abraham that He will give his people land to dwell in. this was a sign of blessings. The covenant also that God made to Moses, for example giving His people Ten Commandments to guide them through their life to avoid evils. The purification of his people on Mount Sinai was a significant indicator of God’s effort to bless his people (Exodus 5:3-12). God also showed blessing to the humanity through King David. David let known himself in the battle with the philistines at this period. When Saul and his son died, David was in position to assume leadership. He created an administrative center in Jerusalem that overextended from the boundary of Egypt

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Compare the NIMBYism Between China Three Gorges Dam and India Delhi Essay

Compare the NIMBYism Between China Three Gorges Dam and India Delhi Dam. (Research Project) - Essay Example While the authoritarian government in China hardly allows people to give own opinions, people in India have the power to complain and provide personal opinions. Due to this difference, transnational movements have great influence over the Indian people than the Chinese people. India enjoys these privileges because the country endures a democratic regime. The other key factor discussed in the paper that also creates the difference is the history of each dam project. The Indian project is much older and has resulted to more damages as compared to the Chinese dam project. People in India would more likely to perceive future disasters than the Chinese people making their case more complicated. This implies that political structure is the most important as analyzed in the paper. Dr. Yat-Sen first proposed Chinese Three Gorges dam project with the main objective being to control the flooding of Yangtze River and generation of electricity. However, according to a public opinion survey by Chetham, the local population felt that the extra energy generated by the project would not benefit them as the project was aimed at producing energy not intended to the local consumers. The dam spans River Yangtze by the Sandouping town. The dam is the largest power station in the world with respect to its installation capacity of 22,500 MW. The Three Gorges Dam became fully functional in early July 2012, but the dam itself was completed in the year 2006. At this time, the main turbines within the underground plant started production of hydroelectric power. Every main turbine is known to yield a power capacity of up to 700MW. In total, the project has 32 main turbines, which together with other smaller generators, 22,500MW of electric power is generated. On the other hand, the Delhi Dam project started with an embankment dam specifically on River Maquoketa. It was situated about two and half

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Globalisation , the World Economy and MNE's mini essay - 2

Globalisation , the World Economy and MNE's mini - Essay Example ges the expansion into the foreign markets, the following options have to be analyzed closely and critically: doing more, growth and expansion, increasing acquisitions and going global. Following the extensive research and the number of case studies done in RIM, this essay aims at understanding the effects with RIM decides to do more. Research and development play great role in ensuring that the needs of consumers are met in terms of consumer tastes, preferences, technological changes, and market trends as well as maintaining healthy competitions. RIM like any other organization has to have a team that carries out research to know what is new and to develop new enhancement to meet the requirements. RIM had already gained the success in its recruitment strategies, such as the local drive and the nationwide campus recruitment drives (Smith, 2005; Pg. 184). It majorly relies on professional networks and personal initiatives of employees who keep an ear on the ground in the name of finding new talents. Another option is to expand corporate programs to the many universities and colleges by maintaining frequent and intense graduate recruitment drives. RIM is a global renowned organization and it can use this advantage to form a scouting group that would move across all the continental markets recruiting the best talents. Canada being one of the most attractive countries to live in terms of standards of living and good economy among other benefits could attract the emerging developers from the RIM markets (Cavusgil, Knight, and Riesenberger, 2008; Pg. 122). Alternatively, RIM has posted many of its available job opportunities online in order to source for potential employees. The applications were received for positions advertised; this provided an opportunity to choose the best talents from over 800 applicants worldwide. RIM also has creative websites that do structured recruitment. The Research in Motion Company is still controlling everything at Waterloo (the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Assignment 8 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

8 - Assignment Example It is a practice that helps organizations achieve their desires for products and services in a manner that realizes the value for their capital on the entire foundation in terms of creating remunerations to the organization, society and the economy at large while minimizing damage to the surroundings. It helps in creating markets for proper expertise and revolutionary solution. Sustainable procurement tries to attain the suitable balance between the three main components of development which includes ecological, communal and commercial factors (Abrams 45). A good number of businesses are turning to social responsibility by linking the similarities among the products and the services they offer and the problems that are occurring every day in their societies. For example, organizations providing health services may crop up with methods of offering medical support to the individuals who undercover with life assurance amenities. United Health Group is one of the key groups in the health assurance sector and services dominion operating to advance the spread of its influence by working hard to improve access to the medical concern for unmerited group of people, senior and low-income families and individuals (Thompson et al., 100-107 ). It is enthusiastically working together with stakeholders, supply agents, clients, non-governmental organizations and government agencies in an effort to unearth ways to today’s vast healthcare scheme crisis. The organization is also concerned with sharing its quantifiable facts with healthcare provid ers to assist in the improvement of the quality of supply chain so as to make sure Dell’s Guiding Principles and Procedures concerning social responsibility are in place (Amato, Sybil Henderson, and Sue 20). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2009 published its guiding principles for social responsibility (Amato, Sybil Henderson, and Sue 34-45). They are of one’s free will to use and do not include

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The Hygiene Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Hygiene Hypothesis - Essay Example Accordingly, it is important to note that the immune system develops from repeated attempts to keep off disease from the low level of pathogens found in a normal environment; as such, when the germs invade the body in life threatening amounts, the immune system successfully wards them off. The need for this exposure in developed nations some decades back saw to larger families than today. This is because parents believed that the elder child would expose the younger one(s) to pathogens, hence harden their immunity (Ascherio &Munge, 2007). It has also been observed that children who are taken to baby care institutions are less susceptible to allergies and immune diseases. The research has indicated that, children who had earlier been exposed to measles or hepatitis A are also quite resistant to allergies. Autoimmune diseases are those that the body should be able to naturally protect itself from, as per the hygiene hypothesis. Such include acute lymphoblastic leukemia affecting young people in the developed world. This is a region where young children are less likely to be exposed, and thereby develop the needed immunity. Unconfirmed evidence also links the hypothesis indirectly to autism, suggesting that an immune disease causes it (Lang, et al. 2010). However, extensive research shows that the hypothesis is of more significance to allergies than to immune diseases (Christensen, 2010). Some of the common allergens, i.e. substances that cause allergic attacks, include pollen, dust, hay, household chemicals, synthetic material, pet fur, some foods and some food preservatives. When these come into contact with the body of the allergic person, his/ her system activates the white blood cells in response to the foreign negative stimulus. (These cells normally help us to fight disease-causing microorganisms). Once released,

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Exchange Shopping Centre Essay Example for Free

Exchange Shopping Centre Essay Running Bare is an active gear store for women. It first opened its first concept store in Putney in July of 2004. It gained reputation as the leading women’s activewear, footwear and swimwear specialist and store in the next few years. This led to the expansion of the store to include the opening of branches in Temple Fortune North London and Tunbridge Wells and the most recent, Australia. With a mission to provide quality sportswear and accessories for women on the lookout for excellent performance gears and wears with a fashion sense. The working philosophy of Running Bare hails from the confidence, success-driven and positive energy that women on the go possess. With an excellent inventory of sports shoe brands such as Asics, Running Bare also uniquely offers technical advice and foot assessment in their stores. Running bare products are expertly designed to augment balance, vitality and strength to the women who war them, giving the much needed support for the type of activities they perform, allowing them to excel. Since women are at the heart of Running Bare, its driving goal is to preserve sophistication and style in each of their product yet providing an exquisite partner for every active woman out there. Running Bare products range from tops, pants/bottoms, fliptops, footwear, accessories, swimwear, trainers and a line of beauty products. Products are also categorized according to activities such as running, fitness, yoga and pilates, swimwear, courts ports and netball. Running Bare stores are located at The Exchange Shopping Centre? High Street Putney,? London SW15 1TW? with contact number, 0208 788 8875 and ? Email:[emailprotected] co. uk? They open from ? 9am 6pm Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday? 9am 7pm Thursday? 11am 5pm – Sunday. To get to this store, you can board the following? BUS ROUTES? 74, 14, 22, 265, 85, 93, 37, 430, 424, 39, 337, 220. The Running Bare Temple Fortune is located at? 7 Hallswelle Parade,? Finchley Road? London NW11 0DL. You can contact them at tel. 0208 458 9375? and Email:[emailprotected] uk. They open from 9. 30am 5. 30pm Monday to Saturday? CLOSED Sunday. If you are taking the tube, you can disembark at Golders Green and then 15min walk or take buses 102 (towards Edmonton), 82 or 460 (towards North Finchley) Runningbare Tunbridge Wells? is located at 201 Royal Victoria Place Royal Tunbridge Wells TN1 2SS. Their contact number is 01892 617 338 and email: [emailprotected] co. uk. They open from 9am 6pm Monday to Saturday and 9am 8pm – Thursday and 10. 30am 4. 30pm – Sunday.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management

Impact of Audit Quality of Real Earnings Management Abstract This study aims to evaluate the influence of audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure), political connection, and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. Purposive sampling was conducted and 83 manufacturing companies registered in Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 were acquired as the samples. For testing the hypotheses, panel data regression random effect model was used. The results showed that auditor size and institutional ownership had positive influence toward real earnings management, while audit tenure and political connections did not influence real earnings management. The control variable testing showed that   leverage and loss had negative influence toward real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive effect towards real earnings management. These result have implication for the investors to pay attention to operating cash flow average, because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company audito rs were from the big-4 auditors. Keywords: real earnings management, audit quality, auditor size, audit tenure, political connections, institutional ownership.. INTRODUCTION Managers can apply accrual earnings management and real earnings management to achieve the desired profit (Fisher and Rosenzwig, 1995; Roychowdhury, 2006). The real earnings management is impose bigger long-term costs, because it has negative consequences toward future cash flow which reduce firm value (Roychowdhury, 2006; Cohen et al., 2008; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). Graham et al., (2005) and Cohen et al., (2007) clarify that the reasons why a company using real earnings management is to avoid auditors and regulators detection. The real earnings management is more difficult to detect because it is almost similar to a companys operational activity (Kim et al, 2010). Becker et al. (1998); Johnson et al.( 2002); Balsam et al.,(2003); Chen et al. (2011), and Inaam et al. (2012)   showed that audit quality (auditor size and auditor tenure) reduce accrual earnings management. Therefore, companies that want to conduct earnings management will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011). Auditor size positively affect real earnings management (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012). Meanwhile, Nihlati and Meiranto (2014) showed that the auditors size negatively impact real earnings management. Chi et al. (2010) found that auditor tenure had positive influence toward real earnings management. While Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) found that auditor tenure did not affect real earnings management. Inaam et al., (2012) conducted a research about the influence of audit quality toward the real earnings management in Tunisia and suggested that the future research can include political connection and institutional ownership as independent variables. Pollitically connected companies have bad reporting quality (Chaney et al., 2010). Meanwhile, Batta et al. (2014) found that political connection positively affect the reporting quality. The phenomena of pollitically connected companies in Indonesia is state-owned enterprises became disorganized after were interfered by political parties (Muqoddas, 2012). Indonesian Corruption Watch data showed that there were 48 legislators who were entrepreneurs that were exposed for corruption case (Gabrillin, 2014). Shleifer Vishny (1986); Bathala et al. (1994); Velury Jenkins (2006); Mehrani et al. (2016) showed that institutional ownership reduce accrual earnings management. The institutional investors monitoring toward managerial process and accounting information accuracy are stronger. For avoiding detection by the institutional investors, companies will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. The aim of this research is to evaluate the influence of audit quality, political connection and institutional ownership toward real earnings management. This study contributes in adding political connection and institutional ownerships as independent variables, as suggested by Inaam et al. (2012). Up to now, studies about real earnings management in Indonesia are rarely conducted and, if any, they have not correlated political connection and institutional ownerships toward the real earnings management study yet, so this study will fill in that gap. As the structure of this paper, literature review and hypotheses development will be discussed on the next part. The research method will be discussed in the third section. This is followed by result and discussion and the final section concludes the study. LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management Earnings management can be applied through accrual and real activities (Roychowdhury, 2006; Zang, 2007; Cohen and Zarowin, 2010). The methods of real earnings managements are sale manipulation, overproduction, and reducing discretionary expenses (Roychowdhury, 2006). DeAngelo (1981), Becker et al. (1998) and Krisnan (2003) found that big size auditors   have better audit quality   than small auditors.   The Big-4 auditors is considered to be more competent than the non Big-4 auditors if seen from their education, training, and experience (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Big-4 auditors competency will ease the earnings management detection. Therefore, companies tend to choose real earnings management, so it will be more difficult to be identified. Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Chi et al. (2011), Inaam et al. (2012) found out that auditor size positively influences real earnings manag ement. H1: Auditor size has positive influence toward real earnings management. Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management Auditor tenure is the number of years of an auditor being assigned by a company (Myers et al., 2003). The longer engagement duration, the higher auditors knowledge about that company, so it ease in detecting earnings management (Giri, 2010). The company will shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management so that it will not be detected easily. The real earnings management tends to be out of the auditors supervision (Chi et al., 2011) and it will be hard to detect because it is almost the same as companys daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010). Cohen and Zarowin (2010) and Chi et al. (2011) found that auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. H2: Auditor tenure has positive influence toward real earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management A company can be called politically connected if the biggest shareholder (has minimum 10% of voting rights) or top officers serves as the parliamenterian, minister, or has close relation with a politician or political party (Faccio, 2006). A company which has political connection will get the benefit such as capital allocation (Fisman, 2001; Goldman et al.,2010), better business opportunities (Fisman, 2001), and bailouts from the government (Faccio et al., 2006). If a company is not able to maintain its reputation and profit, It will loose special previlege from political connection (Braam et al., 2015). For increasing their performance, the companies tend to perform real earnings management. Earnings management detection would lead decreasing in companys reputation, increasing in political cost and the companys external interventions (Watss and Zimerman, 1990; Faccio, 2006; Ramanna and Roychowdhury, 2010; Kothari, 2012). For avoiding that detection, the company will shift the accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Chaney et al.,   (2011) found out that politically connected companies tend to conduct earnings management. H3: Political connection has positive influence toward real earnings management. Institutional Ownership and Real Earnings Management Institutional investors generally have a big number of shares, so they carry out strict monitoring to the companies performance and   companies information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). Bushee (1998) and Potter (1992) found out that institutional investors were too focus on the short-term performance, so they force the managers to achieve that short-term profit. For improving their performance and for avoiding the detection from institutional investors , the managers will prefer real earnings management than accrual earnings management. H4: Institutional ownership has positive influence toward real earnings management. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Samples and Source of Data This study used the manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2010-2014 periods. The criteria for purposive sampling method are the companies published annual report sequentially during that periods and the annual reports were finished on the December 31st. There were 83 companies were selected as the samples, so there were 415 firm year observations. The annual reports acquired from the Indonesia Stock Exchange website. The political connection data were acquired from (1) annual report and tracing down the Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners biography from the sites in Google, (2) the Indonesian Republic National Portalwebsite (indonesia.go.id), the Indonesian Republic House of Representative website (www.dpr.go.id), and Tokoh Indonesia Indonesian Leaders (www.tokohindonesia.com). Variables Real Earnings Management (Dependent Variable) Abnormal Cash flow from operation will be used as proxy of real earnings management. When the companies apply real earnings management, the average of   CFO will be negative (Roychowdhury, 2006; Chi et al., 2011., Inaam et al., 2012 and Ratmono, 2010). CFOt= operating cash flow of company i in year t At-1= the total asset of company i in t-1 year St= the total sales of company i during year t ÃŽÂ µt= abnormal cash flow from operation (regression residual, real earnings management proxies, REM) Independent Variables Political connection, auditor size, auditor tenure and institutional ownership are the independent variables. Table 1: Independent Variables Measurement Independent Variables Measurement Political Connection ( Political connection variable will be measured by calculating the number of Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners, both the chiefs and the members who are also the House of Representative members, ministers or vice ministers, or related to prominent politicians and political party members (Braam et al., 2015) Auditor size (AUDSIZE) A Dummy variable, 1 if the firm was audited by a Big 4 auditor, 0 otherwise (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012.,Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014). Auditor Tenure (TENURE) The number of engagement years or auditing period assigned in which the auditors from the same Public Accountant Firm conduct audit engagement to the auditee during 2010-2014 periods (Chi et al., 2011; Inaam et al., 2012) Institutional Ownership (INSTOWN) The percentage of shares owned by the institutional investors (Velury Jenkins, 2006; Mehrani et al., 2016; Wiranata and Nugrahanti.,2013) Control Variables Leverage, company loss and cash ratio were used as control variables in this study. Leverage/ LEV (the total debt/ the total asset) positively influence the REM (Herusetya and Pujiletari, 2013). The loss of the company is measured using a dummy variable, 1 if company has net loss and 0 otherwise (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). One of the reasons why a company applies real earnings management is to cover up the company loss (Roychowdhury, 2006). Cash ratio (CCE) is the ratio of the cash and cash equivalents toward the total asset (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). The higher CCE ratio, the faster companys cash flow, so it will ease the manager in utilizing the available cash to have earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Regression Model Panel data regression analysis was chosen to perform the hypotheses testing because this study used data combination of time series and data cross section (Winarno, 2015). Hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4 and control variable in this study will be tested using empirical model as follows: RESULT AND DISCUSSION Descriptive Statistics Table 2 below showed descriptive statistics used in this study. Table 2 Descriptive Statistics (Pooled Sample, n= 415) Variable Mean Maximum Minimum Std .Deviation REM -0.006352 0.659900 -1.217470 0.188328 POLCN 0.245783 2 0 0.468655 AUDSIZE (dummy variable) 1 0 0.485552 TENURE 2.554217 5 1 1.381844 INSTOWN(%) 70.4841 100 0 19.61332 LEV 0.470906 4.189190 0.000265 0.321157 LOSS (dummy variable) 1 0 0.339475 CASH 0.102345 0.500295 0.000078 0.122287 From 415 firm years, 157 companies (37.8%) used the big-4 auditors and 258 companies (62.2%) used the Non-Big 4 auditors. Besides, there were 55 companies (13.3%) reported a loss. Real Earnings Management (REM) Testing Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was conducted to confirm whether REM are validly applied in the sample companies.   The result of this test are presented in appendix 1. If the average abnormal CFO was negative, the companies were assumed to apply REM in operating cash flow (Oktorina Hutagaol,2008). The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Testing result showed that the mean of abnormal CFO was -0.006352 and its significance value was 0.046, so it was confirmed that those companies applied REM through operating cash flow. Panel data Model Testing Chow Test and Hausman Test for determining the appropriate estimation method were presented in appendix 2. Based on the Chow Test and Hausman Test results, the estimation method applied in this study was panel data regression using random effect model. Hypotheses Testing The results of hypotheses testing using panel data regression random effect model within 5% alpha level were presented in Table 3. Table 3 Hypotheses Testing Results Variable Expected sign Coefficient Probability Conclusion Intercept -0.077146 0.0997 AUDSIZE + 0.084373 0.0031*** H1 accepted TENURE + -0.008594 0.0968 H2 rejected POLCN + 0.001902 0.9380 H3 rejected INSTOWN + 0.001100 0.0372** H4 accepted LEV + -0.075769 0.0071*** LOSS + -0.067431 0.0083*** CASH + 0.268174 0.0043*** Dependent variable        Real earnings management (REM) R-squared                           0.119266 Adjusted R-squared 0.104118 F-statistic                           7.873503 Prob(F-statistic)              0.000000 **significant on alpha 5% ***significant on alpha 1% Auditor Size and Real Earnings Management The H1 testing shows that auditor size positively influence REM. This result is in line with Chi et al. (2010), Cohen and Zarowin (2010), Inaam et al. (2012), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). The big-4 auditors are assumed to have better skills compared to non big-4 auditors, regarding from their educational backgrounds, trainings, and experiences (Amijaya and Prastiwi, 2013), their independencies (Zou and Elder, 2003) and their good reputation (Christiani and Nugrahanti, 2014).   The big-4skills will ease the auditors in detecting the accrual earnings management. Hence, companies will cover up the earnings management from the   auditors and prefer to apply real earnings management. Real earnings management is harder to be identified than accrual earnings management since it is almost the same as the companies daily operational activity (Kim et al., 2010, Graham et al., 2005; Gunny, 2010; Badertscher, 2011). Auditor tenure and Real Earnings Management The H2 testing result shows that auditor tenure did not had an effect toward REM. This result consistent with Inaam et al.(2012), Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013), Nihlati and Meiranto (2014). Gul et al. (2009) categorized the audit placement period into three categories, the short term (2-3 years), medium term (4-8 years), and long term (9 years).   Table 2 show that auditor tenure average is 2.5 years, and the short auditor tenure had not been able to influence real earnings management. By limiting auditor tenure, there will be a gap between the auditor and the company. In order to verify a company, auditors had to identify in advance the companies characteristics and managements, and it usually took quite a long time (Kono and Yuyetta, 2013). Amijaya and Prastiwi (2013) stated that why audit tenure did not have any influence toward earnings management was the auditors incapability in identifying earnings management. Political Connection and Real Earnings Management Based on Table 3, it can be seen that political connection did not had an effect toward REM. This result is in contrast with Braam et al. (2015). Political connection did not had an effect toward real earnings management because the numbers of political connections in the samples was few, which was 27.71% (23 out of 83 companies). There were only one person in board of directors and board of commissioners that were involved in political connection, so political connections did not influence real earnings management. Institutional Ownerships and Real Earnings Management The H4 testing result indicates that institutional ownerships positively influence REM. The institutional ownerships mean was 70.48%. Institutional investors who had a big number of shares will strictly monitor companys performance and companys information quality (Velury and Jenkins, 2006; Pound, 1988; Shleifer and Vishny, 1986). The strict monitoring made the companies that want to apply earnings management shift from accrual earnings management to real earnings management. Institutional investors were too focus on short term performance, so they urged the managers to fulfill that short term profit (Bushee,1998; Potter, 1992). For increasing their performance and for avoiding institutional investors detection, the managers would prefer real earnings management to accrual earnings management. Leverage, Company Loss, Cash Ratio and Real Earnings Management The testing results of control variables show that leverage negatively influenced REM. If a company has high levels of debts, it has to pay principal and high debt interest. The obligatory of those payments limit managers in using cash flow, including for real earnings management (Zamri et al.,2013).The company loss negatively influences REM. This finding is in line with Herusetya and Pujilestari (2013) and Roychowdhury (2006). When the company reported positive earnings, the company was assumed that they were covering up the loss through REM. If the company reported negative earnings, the company would be assumed that they did not apply REM, and the company was considered to not cover up the loss (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). Cash ratio positively influence REM. The higher cash ratio, the better companys liquidity, so it would ease the managers in utilizing the provided cash for real earnings management (Herusetya and Pujilestari, 2013). CONCLUSION Although a study about audit quality and real earnings management has been conducted before, this study contributes in adding new independent variables, which are political connection and institutional ownerships. The testing results show that the auditor size and institutional ownerships can increase real earnings management. Meanwhile, audit tenure and political connection do not influence real earnings management. The testing toward control variables showed that leverage and company loss negatively influence real earnings management, while cash ratio had positive influence. The applied implication of these result is the investors need to see the operating cash flow average , because there is still a possibility of real earnings management, although the company auditors were from the big-4 auditors. The limitation of this study was a few number data of political connection although depth investigation had been carried out by looking at the name of legislative members/ ministers and vice ministers/ kinships to members of political parties. For the future study, the political connection criteria can be added by including the Indonesia National Forces retirees or ministry officials (for example the secretary general, directorate general, staff member of ministry, assistance of ministry). The future study may also add corporate governance mechanism as independent variables, such as managerial ownerships, auditing committee, and independent board of commissioners. REFERENCES Amijaya, M, D., Prastiwi, A., 2013. The impact of audit quality towards earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 2 (3), 1-13. Ahsen, H., 2011. Audit firm industry specialization and audit outcomes: insights from academic literature. Research in Accounting Regulation 23 (1), 114-129. Badertscher, B.A., 2011. Overvaluation and choice of alternative earnings management  mechanisms. The Accounting Review 86 (5), 1491-1518. Balsam, S., Krishnan, J., Young, J., 2003. Auditor industry specialization and earnings quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory 22 (2), 71-97. Bathala, C. T., Moon, K. P.,   Rao, R.P., 1994. Managerial ownership, debt policy, and impact of institutional holdings: an agency perspective. Financial Management 23 (3), 38-50. Batta, G., Heredia, R., Weidenmier, M., 2014. Political connections and accounting quality under high expropriation risk. European Accounting Review 23 ( 4), 485-517. Becker, C., DeFond,M., Jiambalvo, J., Subramanyam, K.R., 1998. The effect of audit quality on earnings management. Contemporary Accounting Research 15 (1), 1-24. Braam, G., Monomita N., Weitzel, U., Lodh, S., 2015. Accrual-based and real earnings management and political connection. International Journal of Accounting 50 (2), 111-141. Challen, A. E., Siregar, S. V., 2011. The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management and Firm Value, Working paper. Chaney, P.K., Faccio, M., and Parsley, D., 2010. The Quality of Accounting Information In Politically Connected Firms. http://paperas.ssrn.com, accessed 10.11.2016. Chen, H., Chen, J.Z., Lobo,G., Wang,Y., 2011. Effects of audit quality on earnings management and cost of equity capital: evidence from China. Contemporary Accounting Research 28 (3), 892-925 Chi, W., Ling L.L., Pevzner, M., 2011. Is enhanced audit quality associated with greater real earnings management? Accounting Horizon 25 (2), 315-335. Christiani, I., Nugrahanti, Y. W., 2014. The effect of audit quality towards real earnings management. Accounting and Finance Journal 16 (1), 52-62. Cohen, D., Dey, A., Lys, T.Z., 2008. Real and accrual based earnings management in the pre- and post sarbanes-oxley periods. The Accounting Review 83 (3), 757-787 Cohen, D., Zarowin, P., 2010. Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings. Journal of Accounting and Economics 50 (1), 2-19. DeAngelo, L. E., 1981. Auditor size and audit quality. Journal of Accounting and Economics 3, 183-199. Faccio, M., 2006. Politically connected firms. American Economic Review 96 (1), 369-386. Fischer, M., Rosenzweig, K., 1995. Attitudes of students and accounting practitioners concerning the ethical acceptability of earnings management. Journal of Business Ethics 14 (6), 433-450. Fisman, R., 2001. Estimating the value of political connections. The American Economic Review 91 (4), 1095-1102. Gabrillin,A., 2014. Indonesia corruption watch: 48 legislators were exposed for corruption case. www.kompas.com accessed 10.12.2016 Graham, J., Harvey, Rajgopal, 2005. The economic implications of corporate financial reporting. Journal of Accounting and Economics 4 (1), 3-73. Giri, F. E., 2010. The effect of auditor tenure and auditor reputation towards audit quality. Proceding National Conference Symposium XIII, 1-26. Goldman, E., Rocholl, J., So, J., 2010. Political connection and the allocation of procurement contracts. Review of Finance 17, 1617-1648. Gul, F. A., Fung, S. Y. K., Jaggi, B., 2009. Earnings quality: some evidence on the role of auditor tenure and auditorss industry expertise. Journal of Accounting and Economics 47, 265-287. Gunny, K., 2010. The relation between earnings management using real activities manipulation and future performance: evidence from meeting earnings benchmarks. Contemporary Accounting Research 27(3), 855-888. Herusetya, A., Pujilestari, R., 2013. The impact of audit quality toward real earnings management- revenue recognition strategy. Accounting and Finance Journal 15 (2), 75-85. Inaam, Z., Khmoussi, H., Fatma, Z., 2012. Audit quality and earnings management in the tunisian Context. International Journal of Accounting and Financial Reporting 2(2), 17-33. Jensen, M.C., Meckling, W.H., 1976. Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency cost and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics3 (4), 305-360. Johnson, V., Khurana, A., Reynolds, K., 2002. Audit-firm tenure and the quality of financial reports. Contemporary Accounting Research 19 (4), 637-660. Kim, B. H., Ling, L., Pevzner, M., 2010. Debt covenant slack and real earnings management. Working Paper. Kono, F.D.P., Yuyeta, E.N., 2013. The impact of fre cash flow, auditor size, auditor specialization, auditor tenure and auditor indepency toward earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 2 (3), 2337-3806. Kothari, S.P., Mizik, N., Roychowdhury, S., 2012. Managing for the moment: the role of  real activity versus accruals earnings management in SEO valuation. Working paper. Krishnan, G., 2003. Audit quality and the pricing of discretionary accruals. Auditing: A Journal of Practice Theory 22(1), 109-126. Mehrani, S., Moradi,M., Eskandar, H., 2016. Institutional ownership type and earnings quality: evidence from iran. Emerging Markets Finance Trade 53, 54-73. Muqoddas, B., 2012. State-owned enterprises in Indonesia became disorganized after were interfered by people from political parties. Tempo.co accessed 10.12..16. Myers, J., Myers, L., Omer,T., 2003. Exploring the term of the auditor-client relationship and the quality of earnings. The Accounting Review 78 (3), 779-799. Nihlati, H., Meiranto, W., 2014. The effect of audit quality towards earnings management. Diponegoro Journal of Accounting 3 (3), 1-10. Oktorina, M., Hutagaol, Y., 2008. Operating cash flow analysis for detecting real earnings management and this impact toward market performance. Proceding National Accounting Symposium XI, 1-28. Pound, J., 1988. Proxy contests and the efficiency of shareholder oversight. Journal of Financial Economics 20, 237-265. Ramanna,K., Roychowdhury, S., 2010. Elections and discretionary accruals: evidence from 2004. Journal of Accounting Research 48 (2), 445-475. Ratmono, D., 2010. Acrual and Real Earnings Management: can qualified auditor d

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Goethes Faust - Mocking Religion :: Faust Essays

Faust:   Mocking Religion  Ã‚  Ã‚      The play Faust by Goethe is subtitled a tragedy. There's nothing in the play like Romeo and Juliet. So why would it be subtitled a tragedy? Well I don't know who or why they call it a tragedy, but I know why I would call it a tragedy. Some things in the play are very tragic: for example the mocking of religion (lines 290-295) the pregnancy of the girl, the loss of faith (line 388) the intelligent Faust losing hope (line 381) and though we didn't read this, the fact that Faust goes to Heaven after all he died (the very end of the play)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout this play religion is constantly mocked. The Devil and God are pretty buddy buddy. I mean they make bets, they have casual conversation (lines 275-302) They are just kind of friends. I am not the most religious person, but I know that the Devil and God are not friends. They do not talk, make bets, or hang out together. An obvious mocking right there. Also it seems that the powerful Devil is not powerful at all. He is repeatedly outsmarted by a mere mortal (line 2715) and has many limitation. If you grow up going to church and being taught religion you are under the impression that the Devil is so powerful, always tempting us mortals and finally buying our souls. God and the Devil are made fun of by showing how much little power they have. God over the Devil and the devil over mortals. The girl, Grethen, getting pregnant is a tragedy for the simple fact that she and Faust are in love and would probably be in love for ever and ever had it not been for the Devil. Faust loves this girl and would love to be with her forever, but the Devil says that Faust can sleep with any girl without staying with her. So the Devil convinces Faust to tarnish this innocent girl. He sleeps with her getting her pregnant and thus sending her to jail (it is a crime back then for a woman to get pregnant without being married) Faust knows that the women he loves is in jail, possibly forever and he wants to help, but the Devil convinces him otherwise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Faust's loss of faith is another issue in this play that I feel was a tragedy.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Crisis in Darfur, Sudan Essay -- Racism Genocide History Essays

The Crisis in Darfur, Sudan Genocide, the attempt to destroy a people because of their presumed race or ethnicity, remains alive and well. The definition of genocide as given in the Webster's Dictionary is 'The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.' This definition depicts the situation in 1994 of Rwanda, a small and poor central African country. What makes this crisis particularly shocking is the structural character of the violence: villages have been torched, and civilians have been deliberately targeted by bombing, summary executions, massacres and systematic rape as part of a strategy of fear instigated by the Sudanese military and the so-called Janjaweed, armed and supported by the government of Sudan. The crisis in Darfur has therefore demanded both a humanitarian and a political response. The political response has consisted of increased pressure on the Sudanese government to disarm the Janjaweed, ensure security and allow aid agencies into Darfur to provide humanitarian aid. Humanitarian needs include food, shelter, water, health, sanitation and nutrition. But more than that, the structural violence against civilians means that there is an urgent need for protection, as systematic abuse, rape and displacement continue unabated. As international pressure on the Sudanese government led to improved access conditions during 2004, the humanitarian presence in Darfur increased significantly. By December 2004...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

How Community Service Changed My Future Essay -- Community Service Ess

"We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are there always for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you." - Jeff Warner I am the fourth child out of my seven siblings, the middle child. Growing up, I pestered my older sibling as my younger ones do to me now, but I never truly understood how blessed I was to grow up in such a big family. My older sisters were my role models and still are, I see what they go through as adults in this world and decide whether that’s the path I want to take or not. I am also a big sister to three younger siblings, and although I did not see that they look up to me until recently, I know that they do and I strive not to make many mistakes that they may follow. Looking up to someone and admiring them does not always mean that you want to be like them, but that you watch their actions and mentally note them, as if they are a manual on what to do and what not to do. Never in a million years did I think I would touch someone’s life outside of my family, but the last semester of my senior ...

The Scope Of Computing And Information Technology Developments Education Essay

Calculating and information engineering is a really dynamic, invariably germinating country with advanced applications emerging on a day-to-day footing. Some like the World Wide Web have led to rapid planetary acceptance and cardinal alterations in the manner people do concern and carry on their lives. These developments are frequently represented, peculiarly in the popular media, as the consequence of great penetrations or flashes of inspiration. The fact that these penetrations by and large occur to people who have spent considerable clip in painstaking systematic survey and probe is less by and large appreciated. It is hence of import that pupils shiping on a calling as computer science and IT professionals are given a clear apprehension of these developments in their socio-economic, historical and ethical context along with a house foundation in the cardinal professional accomplishments that will assist them lend efficaciously to its hereafter development. This unit aims to suppl y anchoring in cardinal professional based accomplishments such as the comprehension, analysis, rating, and recording of information, information determined decision-making, and the design of appraising probes in the context of some of the most exciting current developments in calculating and IT. The importance of professionalism, honestness, unity, equity, due attention, and attending to item is emphasised throughout. Purposes of the Unit The purpose of this unit is to present pupils of the range and scope of calculating and information engineering developments and give them an apprehension of the basic rules, cognition, tools and techniques necessary for the development of professional self-managed pattern in calculating and information engineering and to supply the support and counsel that will enable them to aquire assurance in planning and pull offing their work both separately and jointly as portion of a group. The accent of the unit will be on understanding calculating and information engineering as a professional subject with the regard of, and duties to, the general populace, relevant governments and the profession. Equally good as developing apprehension of personal and group direction skills the unit will supply experience in their application by presenting pupils to the rudimentss of systematic probes, informations aggregation, analysis, rating and presentation. Specifically, the unit aims to: aˆ? provide pupils with a wide cognition of the range of the field and its current developments and their socio-economic, historical and ethical context ; aˆ? give pupils a general grasp of the value of criterions and experience in interpretation, using and measuring conformity to peculiar criterions ; aˆ? familiarise pupils with techniques for efficaciously pull offing squad and group based work ; aˆ? aid pupils get liberty in pull offing their ain acquisition and supply experience in techniques of personal clip direction ; aˆ? introduce the basic constructs of systematic probe and job resolution ; aˆ? assist pupils in understanding computer science and information engineering within its socio-economic, historical and ethical context. aˆ? explain the importance of academic unity and how to guarantee that their ain work avoids charges of misconduct Learning Results Knowledge and Understanding Having successfully completed the unit, pupils will be able to show cognition and apprehension of: Socio-economic, historical and ethical context of calculating and information engineering ; The design, analysis and rating of systematic probes ; Academic and professional unity. Intellectual Skills Having completed this unit, pupils will be able to: Evaluate paperss in footings of their intent, construction and manner ; Pose appraising inquiries and invent just agencies for proving them ; Assess the veracity of information in a assortment of signifiers ; Set particular, mensurable, accomplishable, relevant and clip related marks separately and in groups ; Practical Skills Having completed this unit, pupils will be able to: Develop certification in conformity with a given house manner. Present informations and statistics to efficaciously convey information ; Interpret the degree of assurance informations provide for a hypothesis ; Movable Skills Having completed this unit, pupils will be able to: Demonstrate organizational and clip direction accomplishments ; Work with others to accomplish common ends Efficaciously present fresh thoughts to an audience of their equals ; Take effectual notes from spoken and written presentations ; Keep a portfolio that efficaciously records indispensable information related to their survey and pattern. Appraisal of the Unit Weekly Lecture Reflections and semester 1 accomplishments activities ( 36 Markss ) Students will enter their contemplations from the CCP lectures throughout the semester utilizing the templet provided. This will be looked at on a regular basis by the coach. Students will be expected to grounds completion of specific tutorial activities from the CCP and other units in their portfolio. Brooding Commentary ( 12 Markss ) . Students will be expected to reflect on their strengths and failings and place their short/medium/long term ends and how they have been able to accomplish them, to day of the month. Marks will be awarded for the critical rating of their advancement and personal development for semester 1. Integrated appraisal ( 15 Markss ) this constituent will be assessed as portion of the incorporate appraisal in hebdomads 13, 14 & A ; 15. Personal Development Plan ( 12 Markss ) . The pupil will get down a personal development program at the start of the unit, and the coach will discourse it sporadically throughout the unit with the pupil. It will be assessed sporadically throughout the two semesters. Group Report and Presentation in little groups ( 25 Markss ) . Students will be formed into groups and carry on an probe into a given subject and compose a formal study, every bit good as give a presentation on the subject that they have investigated utilizing techniques introduced in the unit. Feedback Feedback will usually be given to pupils 15 working yearss after the entry of an assignment. Introduction to Analyzing the Unit of measurement Overview of the Main Content Finding relevant beginnings of information in the library and on the cyberspace Analysis and rating of papers architectures and manners Comprehending, analyzing and measuring documental beginnings of information Effective note taking and journal maintaining Techniques for personal planning and clip direction Group work direction techniques – consensus edifice, goal-setting, guaranting committedness and conformity covering with struggle Asking appraising inquiries and finding a just trial Planing questionnaires and interviews Analysis of questionnaire informations Effective presentation of informations and information Academic unity, house manner, mentioning and referencing of beginnings Overview of Types of Classes There will be a one hr talk followed by a two hr tutorial in semester one and two hr tutorials in semester two with some one hr talks. Lectures will chiefly concentrate on presenting pupils to some of the broader issues in calculating and information engineering and will besides move as a ‘laboratory ‘ in which pupils can experiment with developing effectual note taking accomplishments. Tutorial clip will be divided between working on single and group undertakings, exercisings and whole category activities and one-to-one support Sessionss with the coach. Students will be encouraged to develop a personal development program and single support Sessionss will be organised around these programs. Importance of Student Self-Managed Learning Time The unit introduces a figure of techniques and accomplishments based exercisings that need to be practised on a regular footing for the pupil to be able develop competency and go skilled practicians. It is of import that pupils pattern these techniques in all their acquisition throughout the hebdomad. The personal development planning and one-to-one support Sessionss with there coach will assist pupils be after and pull off their clip efficaciously. Employability Professional behavior is cardinal to gaining the regard of employers and co-workers and the basic accomplishments and good wonts developed in this unit are extremely regarded by employers. In peculiar, being able to pull off their ain clip and work efficaciously in groups and squads is often cited by employers as an of import differentiator when choosing staff. Bing able to show competency in these countries therefore clearly improves a pupil ‘s opportunities of gaining and retaining good employment chances. The Programme of Teaching, Learning and AssessmentWeek Get downingSemester Week NumberLectureAppraisal Points27 Sep 2010 1Introduction to the unitProfessionalismSemester 1 Begins04 Oct 2010 2 Library Information Skills 11 Oct 2010 3 Personal Development Planning 18 Oct 2010 4 Can my electric refrigerator talk to my rinsing machine? 25 Oct 2010 5 Identifying your accomplishmentsPDP reappraisal by coachs01 Nov 2010 6 Learning Manners 08 Nov 2010 7 Note-taking & A ; analyzing 15 Nov 2010 8 Assuring Academic & A ; Professional Integrity 22 Nov 2010 9 Critical ReviewPDP reappraisal by coachs29 Nov 2010 10 Effective Writing 06 Dec 2010 11 CV Preparation 13 Dec 2010 12 CommunicationReflection & A ; Activities20 Dec 2010 27 Dec 2010 03 Jan 2011Christmas holiday10 Jan 2011 13 Integrative Assignment 17 Jan 2011 14 Integrative Assignment 24 Jan 2011 15 Integrative AssignmentSemester 1 terminals31 Jan 2011 1 Integrative AssignmentSemester 2 Begins07 Feb 2011 2 Assuring Academic & A ; Professional IntegrityGroup Work hand-out14 Feb 2011 3 Report WritingPDP reappraisal by coachs21 Feb 2011 4 Making the most of your clip at University 28 Feb 2011 5 Importance of p/time and impermanent work 07 Mar 2011 6 Puting it all together ( using for occupations ) 14 Mar 2011 7 Placements 21 Mar 2011 8 28 Mar 2011 9PDP reappraisal by coachs04 Apr 2011 10 11 Apr 2011 18 Apr 2011 25 Apr 2011Easter Vacation02 May 2011 11 Bank Holiday Monday 09 May 2011 12Group Work Presentations16 May 2011 13PDP Hand-in23 May 2011 14 Semester 2 tests, hebdomad 1 30 May 2011 Recess Week 06 June 2011 15 Semester 2 tests, hebdomad 2 REMEMBER – Your coach on this unit is besides your personal coach for the first and 2nd old ages of your class.Hand OutHand InMarksTimeDescriptionS1W1 S1W12 36 % 16 hours Study Skills appraisal and activities S1W1 S1W12 12 % 4 Contemplation on personal development to day of the month S1W13 S1W14/15 15 % TBD Integrative appraisal component S2W2 S2W12 25 % 8 hours Group work probe and presentation. S1W1 S2W13 12 % 4 hours Personal Development Plan ( PDP )The tutorial activities that should be included are:Information Searching Skills – completed undertakings with replies History of Calculating article and feedback ( Fintan Culwin ) Mail Merge ( photocopy of pronounced assignment and feedback from BAD unit. Students non making the unit should make the undertaking and subject the work as portion of the portfolio ) Short-term/medium-term/long-term targets/goals Weekly contemplation on all the talks, utilizing the given templet. Integrated Assignment In hebdomads 13 – 15 you will set about an integrative assignment. The bulk of the work for this will be group-based, and will measure larning in: Computer and Communications Architecture, Commercial Information Systems Development, Quantitative Analysis/Methods and Computing Culture and Practice units. Additionally there will be an single component in hebdomad 12 necessitating you to take one of a figure of occupations and fix an application. The stuff in the booklet will be of aid in all parts of the assignment but peculiarly with the occupation application. The assignment is deserving 60 % in entire for all four units ( 15 % for each unit ) . Contemplation and PDP Students should be able to show they have successfully planned their personal development. The pupils should supply a comprehensive list of strengths, failings, chances and menaces in a broad scope of relevant countries and be able to utilize their experiences whilst set abouting the first twelvemonth to successfully be after their personal development. There should be grounds of periodic reappraisal of their PDP and indicant of their advancement. 0 – 3 Minimal attempt – small grounds that PDP is understood, with limited efforts at placing their ain personal development 3 – 6 Some grounds that PDP is understood, with limited efforts at placing their ain personal development. 6 – 9 Clear grounds of comprehension of PDP, presented in a clear and systematic manner. Some work that goes beyond what has been introduced in the unit. 9 – 12 Excellent grounds of comprehension of PDP. Planned for their initial and/or go oning personal development and reviewed their pattern and evidenced from a assortment of beginnings. Student Evaluation By and large the pupils found the unit utile for fixing for them for theirstudies at university and besides for work. Learning Resources Core Materials Tony Buzan The Buzan Study Skills Handbook. BBC Active, 2006 S. Cottrell The Study Skills Handbook. Third Edition. Palgrave, 2008. L. Lee Davis Developing Work and Study Skills, First edition, Thomson Learning, 2007. G. Fairbairn & A ; C Winch Reading, Writing and Reasoning, Second edition OUP, 1996. A. Britton & A ; A Cousins Study Skills: A usher for womb-to-tomb scholars The Distant Learning Centre, London South Bank University, 1998 N Stanton Mastering Communication Palgrave Macmillan, 1996 Cameron, Sheila Skills Business pupil ‘s enchiridion: Learning accomplishments for survey and employments. 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2005 McMillan, K & A ; Weyers, J The Smarter Student, First Edition, Prentice Hall, 2006 Jay, Ros & A ; Jay, Anthony Effective Presentation, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2004

Monday, September 16, 2019

Linguistics and Language Essay

What will be covered in this class? †¢ How do we produce and recognize speech? †¢ How do we perceive words, letters, and sentences? †¢ How do we learn and recall information from texts? †¢ How can we improve texts to make them easier to understand? †¢ How does the brain function to process language? †¢ What are the causes and effects of reading disabilities? †¢ Is there language in other species? Central themes in psycholinguistics 1) What knowledge of language is needed for us to use language? Tacit (implicit) knowledge vs. Explicit knowledge  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ tacit: knowledge of how to perform something, but not aware of full rules †¢ explicit: knowledge of the processes of mechanisms in performing that thing 2) What cognitive processes are involved in the ordinary use of language? How do we understand a lecture, read a book, hold a conversation? Cognitive processes: perception, memory, thinking, learning Some definitions of basic components of language: Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences Syntax: The grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence or phrase Phonology: The sound pattern of language Pragmatics: How language is used in a social context  Examples from psycholinguistics Parsing garden path sentences The novice accepted the deal before he had a chance to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. 1) The defendant examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable 2). The evidence examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable The process of parsing is the process of making decisions The effect of prior knowledge on comprehension The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run this may not seem important, but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. At first the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another facet of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one never can tell. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually they will be used once more, and the whole cycle will then have to be repeated. However, that is part of life. Bransford & Johnson, 1973 Recall: No context: 2. 8 idea units out of a maximum of 18 Context afterwards: 2. 7 idea units Context before: 5. 8 idea units Child language development How many words do you know? Hint: Dictionary has about: 450,000 entries Test high school graduates: How many words do they know? About 45,000 english words About 60,000 including names and foreign words. The average six year old knows about 13,000 words. Learning about 10 words per day since age 1. (One every 90 minutes) How much do we have to teach children to learn language? Do you have to teach a child to walk? Is it the same way of learning a language? My teacher holded the baby rabbits and we patted them I eated my dinner A brief history of psycholinguistics Wilhem Wundt (early 1900s) Interest in mental processes of language production †¢ Sentence as the primary unit of language †¢ Speech production is the transformation of complete thought processes into sequentially organized speech segments. Behaviorism (1920s-1950s) †¢ Rejected the focus on mental processes †¢ Measurement based on objective behavior (primarily in lab animals) †¢ How does experience (reward and punishment) shape behavior? B. F. Skinner: Children learn language through shaping (correction of speech errors) Associative chain theory: A sentence consists of a chain of associations between individual words in the sentence What’s wrong with the behaviorist approach? Noam Chomsky (1950s – present) 1) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously 2) Furiously sleep ideas green colorless. 3) George picked up the baby. 4) George picked the baby up. Almost every sentence uttered is a new combination of words The Poverty of stimulus argument: There is not enough information in the language samples given to children to account for the richnes and complexity of children’s language The pattern of development is not based on parental speech but on innate language knowledge Linguistic Diversity vs. Linguistic Universals Linguistic diversity There appears to be a lot of diversity among languages Even within languages there is diversity When are two languages different? We speak the same language if we can understand each other  Exceptions: Norwegian and Swedish Cantonese and Mandarin Dialects within languages: The myth of pure language How/why do languages change? Why does there seem to be a â€Å"correct† English? Members of the dominant (most powerful) sub-culture tend to speak one dialect and may punish those who do not Linguistic Chauvinism Belief that one’s own language/dialect is the best of all possible languages Black English Vernacular (BEV) Study by William Labov Interviewed African-American street youth You know, like some people say if you’re good an’ sh*t, your spirit goin’ t’heaven . . . ‘n if you bad, your spirit goin’ to hell. Well, bullsh*t! Your spirit goin’ to hell anyway, good or bad. [Why? ] Why? I’ll tell you why. ‘Cause, you see, doesn’ nobody really know that it’s a God, y’know, ‘cause I mean I have seen black gods, white gods, all color gods, and don’t nobody know it’s really a God. An’ when they be sayin’ if you good, you goin’ t’heaven, tha’s bullsh*t, ‘cause you ain’t goin’ to no heaven, ‘cause it ain’t no heaven for you to go to. †¢ Place holders: â€Å"There† vs. â€Å"It† in the copula †¢ Copula: â€Å"Is†, â€Å"Was† optional †¢ Negatives: â€Å"You ain’t goin’ to no heaven†. BEV just as linguistically complex as Standard American English We don’t see/understand the complexity in other languages Moral: All languages seem to permit as wide range of expressions as others Linguistic Universals What is in common with all languages? Sentences are built from words based on the same physiological processes †¢ All languages have words †¢ All humans have ways of making sounds. †¢ Languages tend to use a small set of phonemic sounds †¢ Phoneme: The minimal unit of sound that contributes to meaning How many phonemes in a language? †¢ English: 40 phonemes †¢ Range: Polynesian 11 to Khoisan 141. Discreteness Messages in human language (e. g. speech sounds) are made up of units of which there is a discrete (limited) number Arbitrariness The relationship between meaningful elements in language and their denotation is independent of any physical resemblance between the two. Words do not have to look or sound like what they describe Openness †¢ New linguistic messages are created freely and easily †¢ Languages are not constrained in a way so that there are a limited number of messages that can be created. †¢ Linguistic Productivity: The ability to understand and create an unlimited number of sentences. The question studied by psycholinguists is â€Å"how to characterize and account for the creativity to construct and create an infinite number of sentences given the limited capabilities of the human brain† Duality of Patterning Language involves relating two different kinds of patterns or forms of representation †¢ A phonological system †¢ A semantic system These two systems use very different types of codes, although there is a phonological representation for each item in the semantic system Phrase structure Information on how a sentence is grouped into phrases. The quiet boy ate the red apple A set of Phrase Structure rules: PS 1 S (sentence) ————-> NP + VP PS 2 NP (noun phrase)————-> det + (adj) + N PS 3 VP (verb phrase) ————-> V +NP PS 4 N (noun) ————-> boy, dog, man, book PS 5 V (verb) ————-> ate, broke, kissed PS 6 adj (adjective ————-> quiet, red, happy, wormy PS 7 det (determiner) ————-> a, the We use â€Å"lexical-insertion rules† to put words into the structure. Phrase-structure rules provide a good account of phrase-structure ambiguity. They are broiling hens Morphology Morphology is the component of grammar that builds words out of units of meaning (morphemes) A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language How many morphemes? bird firetruck undereducated unmicrowaveability Insights from American Sign Language (ASL) Unlike speech, signs are expressed in visual or spatial form Do a lot of the same grammatical concepts hold? Arbitrariness ASL possesses iconicity signs can represent objects or actions to which they refer. However, the degree of iconicity has declined over the years Duality of Patterning signs are composed of smaller elements that are meaningless Example: 3 parameters †¢ 19 values of hand configuration. †¢ 12 values of place of articulation †¢ 24 values of movements Meaningless patterns can be combined in various ways to from ASL signs. What about â€Å"openness† and â€Å"discreteness† within ASL? Transformational Grammar (Chomsky 1950s) Language: an infinite set of well-formed sentences Grammar: A finite set of rules that generates sentences in the language How do we know that a grammar is a good theory of language? Three criteria: Observational Adequacy: A grammar is observationally adequate if it generates all acceptable sequences and no unacceptable sequences. Descriptive adequacy: A grammar must also explain how a sentence relates to other sentences that are similar & opposite in meaning. The ball was caught by John John caught the ball The ball was not caught by John Explanatory adequacy It is possible for multiple grammars to attain observational and descriptive adequacy. Which is the correct/best one? Children learning language are presented with many samples of language and must determine the grammar from these samples. There must be some innate language constraints that help children determine the correct grammar. There exist Linguistic Universals that are common to all languages. The fact that there are similarities in languages is based on the fact that languages are determined by the nature of the mental structures and processes which characterize human beings A Grammar must explain the role of linguistic universals in language acquisition Deep and Surface structure Deep structure: The structure of the sentence that conveys the meaning of the sentence. Surface Structure: The superficial arrangement of constituents Deep structure ambiguity: A single surface structure that is based on two different deep structures Flying planes can be dangerous. Phrase structure rules would not be able to account for the differences in meaning Sentences can have similar phrase structure, although their underlying structure is different: John is easy to please John is eager to please Sentences can different surface structure, but similar deep structure Arlene played the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Transformational Grammar A two part process to derive a sentence 1) Use Phrase-structure rules to generate the underlying tree structure (deep structure) 2) Apply a sequence of transformational rules to the deep  structure to generate the surface structure of the sentence Transformations occur by adding, deleting or moving constituents John phoned up the woman John phoned the woman up Phrase structure approach: Two different rules VP –> V + (particle) + NP VP –> V + NP + (particle) Each sentence is derived separately, using different phrase structure rules. Transformational grammar approach: One rule V + particle + NP –> V + NP + particle John phoned up the interesting woman John phoned the interesting woman up John phoned up the woman with the curly hair John phoned the woman with the curly hair up. Restrictions on transformations The particle-movement transformation can not be applied to pronouns John called them up *John called up them Example 2: Passive transformation NP1 + V + NP2 –> NP2 + be + V + en + by + NP1 Arlene played the tuba The tuba was played by Arlene Psychological Reality of Transformational Grammar If using language is a process of converting the deep structure to the surface structure, then the number of transformation rules applied should affect how long it takes to process a sentence. However, experiments do not consistently show that this holds true Current theories of grammar Lexical-Function Grammar  Made up of three components: a constituent structure, a functional structure, and lexical entries Constituent Structure: Similar to phrase structure Functional Structure: All the information needed for semantic interpretation John told Mary to leave Bill Predicate tell (subj, obj, V-comp) Tense Past Subj John Obj Mary V-comp predicate leave subj Mary obj Bill Lexical Entries Lexical entries contain information about: †¢ the forms of the word †¢ the kinds of sentences into which they fit, †¢ arguments and semantic roles Mary kissed John John was kissed by Mary Entry for â€Å"kiss† includes underlying semantic structure  kiss: (agent, patient). Forms of the word kiss: agent = subject: patient = object (be) kiss: agent=object: patient = subject Major significance of LFG Most of the explanation of how we process language is based on the lexicon (where we store information about words) . Government-Binding Theory or Universal Grammar Chomsky’s view of innate grammatical mechanisms. In GB theory, grammar is modular. Grammar due to interaction of several independent subsystems, or modules. Each module is fairly simple and performs part of the task But all modules interact in order to constrain the rules made by the other modules in the grammar. Implications We all inherit a universal grammar that can be set to different parameter values. These parameter values correspond to different languages. As we get experience with a language, we acquire these parameter values, and thus the language upon which it is based. Research methods in Psycholinguistics How do we observe, collect information on phenomena related to psycholinguistics? Naturalistic Observation Observing information in a non-experimental setting Slips of the tongue Phonological switching: Crushing blow –> Blushing crow semantic replacements: blond eyes for blond hair. Language Acquisition The use of language over time Data from naturalistic observation Rich, but hard to analyze Controlled experiments Goal: test an empirical hypothesis Hypothesis: A chapter will be easier to understand if each section starts with a summary of what will be said. Independent Variable: Variable that is manipulated to test the hypothesis. Dependent Variable: Variable representing the behavior we want to measure Control Variables: Other variables we need to control in order to see the effect of the independent variable Subjects: Who is going to participate in the experiment? Analysis: How do we know if there are differences bewteen the two chapters? The Human Information Processing System What psychological mechanisms are involved in using language? The Sensory store Processes incoming information from the environment †¢ Individual sensory stores for each sense †¢ Information retained for a short duration The visual sensory store Experiments by Sperling (1960) X M R K C N J P V F L B The partial report technique Auditory sensory store Experiment by Darwin, Turvey & Crowder (1972) 3 digits or letters auditorally presented to each ear and center at the same time. What is the use of the sensory store? It maintains information long enough so that we can do additional processing to it. Working memory or short term memory (STM) STM used to describe the fact that it holds information for a short time, while working memory refers to the processing capacity. STM works as a temporary holding place for intermediate decisions. Limited in size. Chunking Working memory: there is a limited amount of processing capacity that you can use as you perform a problem Long term memory Knowledge of how to do things, things we have learned, grammar rules, personal memories. All knowledge that is not active. Information that becomes active is retrieved from LTM and put in STM. Anything we learn is first processed in STM and some of it is put into LTM Episodic vs. Semantic Memory distinction Semantic memory †¢ Organized knowledge of words, concepts, symbols and objects. motor skills, general knowledge, spatial knowledge , social skills. †¢ All information is organized semantically, but not tagged based on when it was learned. Episodic memory †¢ Holds traces of events specific time and place. †¢ Memory of personal experiences. Interaction between semantic and episodic memory. What does the organization of the information processing system have to do with language processing? Pattern Recognition Parsing/understanding sentences in working memory This is a long sentence and yet somehow you can keep it all in working memory The organization of Long Term Memory That cat plays really cool jazz Serial vs. Parallel Processing Serial processing: One process working at a time Parallel Processing: Multiple processes working at a time In a serial model of language processing, individual modules would work one at a time to process the information. A parallel model would say that the processes happen at the same time. Parallel models as neurally inspired models of cognitive processes Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up processing Cognitive processing occurs at levels Bottom-up processing is done in such a way that all processing occurs starting from the lowest level processes and proceeds onto the higher level processes Higher level processes do not influence any of the processing done at the lower levels Top down processing: Information at the higher levels influences processing at the lower levels. Advantages and disadvantages of Top-Down processing Automatic vs. Controlled processes We have a limited amount of processes that we can do at a time. Controlled processing: Processes that require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. Automatic processing: Processes that do not require a substantial amount of cognitive processing. The role of practice in automatic processing The Stroop effect Putting it all together: Cognitive processes in action The novice accepted the deal before he had a chance to check his finances, which put him in a state of conflict when he realized he had a straight flush. The Internal Lexicon How are words stored? What are they made up of? How are word related to each other? How do we use them? Internal lexicon The representation of words in long term memory Lexical Access: How do we activate the meanings of words? Aspects of Meaning Reference: The relationship between words and things in the world Things in the world are referents of a word My dog has fleas My dog is from Mars But not all reference can be mapped to concrete things Abstract words: Love, Justice, Equality Non existent objects: Unicorn, Martians Meaning is not restricted to the real world, but also imaginary worlds Sense: The relationship of a word with other words in the language Student at NMSU vs. Undergraduate at NMSU Synonymy (same meaning) Car Automobile Antonymy (opposite meaning) Happy Sad Incompatibility (do the words contradict each other? ) John is happy vs. John is sad Hyponymy (are they part of the same class? ) A dog is an animal, Bowser is a dog, Denotation vs. Connotation Denotation: The objective meaning of the word Connotation: The aspect of the meaning beyond its explicit meaning Bachelor Spinster Hungry Starving The Mental Representation of Meaning The representation of the meaning of a word is based on the semantic features of that word. We acquire the meaning of a word by learning its semantic features Children make semantic mistakes Verbs of possession. We understand more than the meaning, we have knowledge of the relations between these words sold vs. paid give vs. receive lose vs. find Prototypes: Some members of a category are better instances of the category than others Apple vs. pomegranate What makes a prototype? More central semantic features What type of dog is a prototypical dog What are the features of it? We are faster at retrieving prototypes of a category than other members of the category Semantic Networks. Words can be represented as an interconnected network of sense relations †¢ Each word is a particular node †¢ Connections among nodes represent semantic relationships Mental models: A model/understanding of how the world works and how pieces of textual information fits in with it. John is sitting in a chair. That chair is on a table. The table is blue and round. John has red hair. The structure of the Internal Lexicon How do these pieces of semantic information relate to each other? Semantic verification task An A is a B An apple is a fruit A robin is a bird A robin is an animal A dog has teeth  A fish has gills A fish has feathers An apple has teeth NMSU is in New Mexico Harvard is in California Use time on verification tasks to map out the structure of the lexicon. Models of the Lexicon Collins and Quillian Hierarchical Network model Lexical entries stored in a hierarchy, with features attached to the lexical entries Representation permits cognitive economy Testing the model Sentence Verification time Robins eat worms 1310 msecs Robins have feathers 1380 msecs Robins have skin 1470 msecs A category size effect: Subjects do an intersection search Problems with Collins and Quillian model . 1) Effect may be due to frequency of association 2) Assumption that all lexical entries at the same level are equal The Typicality Effect Which is a more typical bird? Ostrich or Robin. A whale is a fish vs. A horse is a fish Major conclusions of the model: 1) If a fact about a concept is frequently encountered, it will be stored with that concept even if it could be inferred from a more distant concept. 2) The more frequently encountered a fact about a concept is, the more strongly that fact will be associated with the concept. And the more strongly associated with a concept facts are, the more rapidly they are verified. 3) Verifying facts that are not directly stored with a concept but that must be inferred takes a relatively long time. Spreading Activation Models (Collins & Loftus) †¢ Words represented in lexicon as a network of relationships †¢ Organization is a web of interconnected nodes in which connections can represent: categorical relations degree of association typicality Retrieval of information †¢ Spreading activation †¢ Limited amount of activation to spread †¢ Verification times depend on closeness of two concepts in a network Context effect in spreading activation models Present either: Murder is a crime or Libel is a crime Then get verification time for Robbery is a crime Subjects faster when they see Murder than Libel. Why? Advantages of Collins and Loftus model †¢ Recognizes diversity of information in a semantic network †¢ Captures complexity of our semantic representation †¢ Consistent with results from priming studies Lexical Access What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Meyer & Schvaneveldt (1971) Lexical Decision Task Prime Target Time Nurse Butter 940 msecs Bread Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation. Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects study and memorize The doctor hated the book Task: â€Å"Was this word from the sentence you memorized? † Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical access? Lexical Decision Task: gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle. Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies: Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip off the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks: Prime Target Time Nurse Butter 940 msecs Bread Butter 855 msecs Evidence for associative spreading activation Ratcliff and McKoon (1981) Subjects study and memorize The doctor hated the book Task: â€Å"Was this word from the sentence you memorized? † Prime Target Time None Book 667 msecs Doctor Book 624 msecs Word Frequency Does word frequency play a role in lexical access? Lexical Decision Task: gambastya, revery, voitle, chard, wefe, cratily, decoy, puldow, raflot, oriole, vuluble, booble, chalt, awry, signet, trave, crock, cryptic, ewe, himpola mulvow, governor, bless, tuglety, gare, relief, ruftily, history, pindle, develop, gardot, norve, busy, effort, garvola, match,sard, pleasant, coin, maisle. Lexical Decision is dependent on word frequency Eyemovement studies: Subjects spend about 80 msecs longer fixating on low-frequency words than high-frequency words Morphological Structure So we strip off the prefixes and suffixes of a word for lexical access? Decision = Decide + ion Lexical Decision Tasks: Presented subjects with a sequence of words to study Examined the probability of recognizing words over 14 days Performance systematically decays over time Negatively accelerated decay. Bahrick (1984) Student’s retention of spanish-english vocabulary items from 0 to 50 years Power law of decay Review on the internal lexicon Aspects of meaning: Reference and Sense Denotation and Connotation What is the mental representation of meaning? Models of the Lexicon Hierarchical Network Model Spreading Activation Model What factors are involved in retrieving information from the lexicon? Semantic Priming Word Frequency Morphological Structure Lexical Ambiguity Retention of lexical items.