The Bahai Faith and an Excerpt by Bahaullah Essay

The Bahai Faith and an Excerpt by Bahaullah - Essay Example The Baha'i Faith originated more than 150 years ago and expanded around the world. Affiliates of the Baha'i Faith reside in more than 100,000 sections of the globe and derive from practically every civilization, occupation, nationality, and monetary environment. Baha'i Faith strives to find a unification of vision in seeking a purpose in life through true religion. Such a vision unfolds in the writings of Baha'u'llah. (The Baha'i Faith / The International Web site of the Baha'is of the world). One of his writings, "The Moral Guidance in Ornate Prose", will be analyzed in this paper. Baha'u'llah begins his Moral Guidance piece with similar parallels to the eight Beatitudes taught by Jesus Christ. The Beatitudes are simply written but very profound statements that guide, teach and show values of Jesus' message, similar to Baha'u'llah's Moral Guidance excerpt. "Be generous in prosperity", "worthy of trust of thy neighbor", "treasure to the poor", "an answerer to the cry of the needy", "Be unjust to no man", "show all meekness to all men" (Tradition).These teachings from the beginning of Baha'u'llah's Moral Guidance passage, emphasize that a firm sense of unity between all of us is essential to human progression and that all prejudice - racial, religious, national or economic - is destructive and must be overcome.

Monsanto Issue in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Monsanto Issue in Europe - Essay Example This article will also discuss the global effects of the use of Monsanto products on humans, other organisms, and the environment. It will also give us some of the precautions that users of Monsanto products should consider before consuming the modified foods. The agricultural modified products in Europe banned due to claims of poisoning individuals. Due to the harmful factors associated with GMOs, Europe has involved its funds in fighting against the spread of such variety in its locality. It has only approved two varieties of GMOs to trade in their states. Varieties of corn and potato are licensed for trade (Wesley, Spital, and Lane 2002, p.3). Due to pressure from anti- GMOs, the government renews its contracts with the Monsanto Company every year to ensure that products introduced in the market are legal. The restrictions on trade of modified varieties hence need to remove such restrictions for the need for agricultural produce got sustain the increasing populations. To increase the market knowledge about the existence of these foods, the Monsanto group can make use of new marketing strategies, which are more likely to be efficient when compared to the old methods of advertising. Some of the new methods may involve active participation of the consumer and the government. The use of the social sites like internet pages may help establish a greater connectivity with the constituents in the market and hence increase the trust by the consumers. Other methods may involve giving samples to customers and giving reward to its consumers. Consumers also need to get approval from the authorities showing how efficient the products may be and assuring its natives of secure commodities. The consumer attitude towards this foods results to the need for the government to protect its citizens from harmful products that may endanger their lives.

Word Mapping and Language Development Essay Example for Free

Word Mapping and Language Development Essay This paper aims to discuss word mapping processes during the child development, explore the concepts of Fast and Slow mapping, discuss the application and acquisition of word associations and definitions in the context of word mapping, and conclude by demonstrating that the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words requires slow mapping. ? Fast Mapping For a child being inundated with new vocabulary from moment to moment, clues to any one particular words meaning may be few and far between, yet somehow a child manages to take these limited exposures to new words, derive meaning from them, and maintain representations of them for future use. Carey and Bartlett (1978) have termed this speedy process of inferring relatively correct and complete initial meanings of novel words given a limited number of exposures to the words fast mapping (Behrend, Scofield, Kleinknecht, 2001). It is widely assumed that children must possess an innate mechanism of specialized constraints specific to word learning to account for their precocious abilities to infer novel word meanings (Deak Wagner, 2003, p. 318), and fast mapping is the label applied to this system (Behrend et al. , 2001). Fast mapping was first demonstrated in an experiment done by Carey and Bartlett (1978), in which 14 children, ages three to four years old, were initially presented with a novel color word in a neutral context without first being explicitly taught its meaning, and later tested on their knowledge of the new term. All of the children had begun mapping color words to corresponding colors, and 13 of the 14 children were able to comprehend and generate six to eleven names for corresponding colors. The children were therefore familiar with the property and concept of color, which allowed the researchers to see how learning a new color would restructure the childs existing lexical and conceptual color domains (Carey, 1978, p. 271). Prior to the introduction of the children to the novel color word, each child received a production test in which he was asked to name the color of each of a number of different colored chips including an olive colored one. Most children called the olive color green, while others called it brown, but none of the children referred to the olive chip as olive. Carey and Bartlett (1978) chose to introduce the children to the novel color olive (a color the children were unfamiliar with), but instead of referring to it as olive (a word that some children might be familiar with) they chose to call the olive color chromium. The researchers painted one cup and one tray in the childrens nursery school classroom olive, while an identical cup remained red, and an identical tray remained blue. The researchers asked the childrens teacher to introduce the new color word individually to each child in a normal everyday context, such as preparing for snack time. The teacher avoided explicitly presenting the new color word either by asking the child to Bring me the chromium tray, not the blue one, the chromium one, or to Bring me the chromium cup, not the red one, the chromium one (Carey, 1978, p. 271). The phrase not the blue/red one provided enough information for the child to bring the correct tray or cup. As a result, the child was implicitly provided with lexical, syntactic, and contextual cues adequate to the full mapping (Carey, 1978, p. 272) of chromium, while not being forced to rely on the new color word to provide any additional information necessary for the completion of the task. All except one of the children chose the correct tray/cup upon first exposure to the new word. And even though they did not need to rely on the new word to make the correct choice, the majority of the children attended to the fact that they had just heard a new word, and either repeated it aloud or sought approval for the selection they had just made. One week later the children took part in a second teaching task in which a group of six different colors (including olive) was presented to each child, and the children were each asked to map these different colors to their specific corresponding color words (including chromium). This task had been designed to serve as a comprehension task in determining whether or not the children had learned to correctly map the color name chromium to the olive color. However, since olive was the only color for which the children had not previously demonstrated having a name, and since a control group (with no previous exposure to the olive/chromium mapping) performed the task at the same level as the experimental group, the researchers determined that the task was not truly a comprehension task, but rather another teaching task. The children therefore experienced two teaching tasks prior to being tested. Five weeks after the second teaching task, the children were given a second production test just like the one they received prior to the introducing event. However, unlike the first production test, in which the majority of the children called the olive colored chip either green or brown, eight of the fourteen children now either said that they did not know what color name to use to refer to the chip or began referring to the olive chip using one of the color names that they knew but had not mapped stably to any one particular color. Fast mapping is evident in that after only two brief exposures to the chromium color word/olive color pairing, the child had learned and retained for over a month that olive is not called green; in searching his lexicon for a name to call it, he found another color word with no stable referent which was more highly accessible than the new word chromium. Thus for these eight children at least, the process of restructuring the conceptual and lexical domains had already begun (Carey, 1978, p. 273). The children had demonstrated their ability to infer meaning (as to which color the word chromium referred to) by relying solely on the situation and the context in which they encountered the word. In the previous example the children’s retention would be limited- although not inhibited entirely- if exposed to a great variety of colors that had never been introduced to them before. This assertion illustrates the importance of scope to proper establishment of the context. Studies have found that as the factors increase in number or property, subjects of all ages are more likely to disorient and produce ambiguous definitions (Patson, 2010). Precise, mutually exclusive terms are the most conducive to a clear and complete understanding of a word. A study examined the potentiality of mutual exclusivity by first asking if the part pointed to was the trachea and then further challenging the student by requiring them to specify whether the whole area or one specific part was the trachea. When the subject area is previously known it is normal for children to favor an inclusive definition, i. e. accepting craniofacial instead of accepting cranial and facial as two, separate, specific, mutually-exclusive terminologies (Hansen, 2009). The correction of such errors is atypical to fast mapping, where the concept is simply understood. Fast mapping provides a seemingly quick and efficient way for children to initially acquire correct partial meanings that are specific to the contexts in which new words are heard. However, acquiring a complete definition for any one word generally requires the integration of a number of partial mappings derived from specific encounters with the word in everyday life. Fast mapping is merely the beginning of a longer more gradual elaboration and reorganization process called slow mapping that results in a more complete definition (Carey, 1978; Johnson Anglin, 1995; McGregor, Friedman, Reilly, Newman, 2002). Slow Mapping Slow mapping is a prolonged period during which the child must hold a fragile new representation in lexical memory, distinguish it from many other fragile representations, continue to hypothesize about the meaning of the word, and update the representation as a result of those hypotheses (McGregor et al, 2002, p. 332). The partial meanings of words acquired during fast mapping are retained in memory while meanings derived from new encounters with words provide additional information and allow connections both between and within new and existing knowledge to be created, eliminated, and reworked. Slow mapping is the term applied to this process in which information provided through both old and new encounters with words is slowly integrated and evolves into increasingly accurate and complete definitions. Whereas fast mapping has been experimentally captured (e. g. Carey Bartlett, 1978), and shown to be replicable (Deak Wagner, 2003, p. 318), the protracted timeline and more elusive nature of slow mapping have made it difficult to pinpoint, study, and understand the process. It appears that much speculation surrounds the true nature of slow mapping. Johnson and Anglin (1995) comment this elaboration process is not yet well understood, but it appears that children somehow develop additional meaning relations among the new word and others within the same semantic field and increasingly incorporate contextual restrictions, distributional properties, and syntactic privileges of occurrence (p. 614). Carey (1978) admits, I have gone much further than available data license (p. 292) in summarizing her hypothesis on the nature of slow mapping following a description of her fast mapping study. Deak and Wagner (2003) attempted to access the process of slow mapping in the learning of categorical semantic relations between words by introducing children aged four to seven years old to made-up words with invented meanings and semantic relationships to one another (introduced as an alien language) and later testing their comprehension and production of these new words. Children were taught basic categorical semantic relations of exclusion (no overlap between word referents), inclusion (referents of one label are a subset of the referents of another label), and overlap (the sets of referents of two labels intersect) during two separate play sessions in which each of four labels for newly contrived categories were presented (along with defining information) a minimum of twenty times. The semantic relations were either explicitly expressed or implicitly derived by the children during the play sessions. The older children of the group (six- and seven-year-olds) were able to learn more semantic relations and word definitions than the younger children (four- and five-year-olds), and exclusion was the categorical semantic relation most readily learned in both age groups. The principle finding of the study was that although all of the children were able to learn new categorical semantic relations between words equally well whether the relations were explicitly stated or implicitly derived, the children were not able to fast map these categorical semantic relations as they were able to do with basic word meanings. Whereas children were able to infer relatively correct meanings of the novel words almost immediately, for example, they could correctly point out exemplars, they were unable to fast map categorical semantic relations even when these relations were explicitly stated. Deak and Wagner (2003) conclude, when word learning is measured at a surface level, children show a grasp of new words, but this grasp is weak. It is unlikely to include knowledge of meaning relations, or incorporation into a differentiated semantic network, even after many unambiguous exposures to the new words (p. 323). Thus, it appears that fast mapping describes childrens ability to quickly associate words to referents, but does not capture the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words. Slow mapping is the route through which the incomplete initial word meanings obtained through fast mapping expand to include more information about the meanings of words including semantic relations between words. Penno, Wilkinson, and Moore (2002) have also attempted to access the process of slow mapping, albeit using a different procedure, by presenting children aged five to eight years old with new words through the context of storybook reading. Children were read a storybook once a week for three consecutive weeks in small groups, and were given a multiple-choice vocabulary test both prior to the first reading and after the last reading. The multiple-choice vocabulary test included 15 words present in the storybook that were assumed to be unknown to the children. In addition, following each reading of the storybook, the children were asked to complete a retelling task in which they retold the story they had just heard to the best of their ability to the researcher. After the entire process had been completed for the first storybook, children were read a second storybook following the same procedure. The children received an explanation for each of the fifteen new words (every time one of the words was encountered) during every reading of one of the two storybooks. For the remaining storybook, no explanation was supplied for unknown words. The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of repeated exposure to a story and the additive effects of explanation of the meaning of target words on students vocabulary (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 23). Both repeated exposure and explanation of meaning were indeed significant contributors to vocabulary growth. The process of slow mapping was displayed through the linear improvement in the accuracy of use of the target words across the three retellings of the stories (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 31). After being read a storybook for the first time, the children were able to retell the story in a manner that demonstrated their fast mapping ability in that they were able to provide some indication of a basic understanding of the new words meanings. However, the second and third readings and retellings of a storybook revealed the slow mapping process, as the children used the new words with ever increasing accuracy through each subsequent storybook retelling. Accuracy and depth of word knowledge was measured incrementally through a coding system containing six categories ranging from category zero (indicating no knowledge or use of the target word) to category five (indicating generalized knowledge of the target word) (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 26). For example, the coding system might determine a childs accuracy and depth of word knowledge as progressing from category two (Developing knowledge: the target word is used, but inappropriately) at the first storybook retelling, to category three (Synonym: a synonymous phrase or word is used for the target word) at the second storybook, up to category four (Accurate knowledge: the target word is used accurately and more frequently than a synonym) by the third storybook retelling (Penno et al. , 2002, p. 26). Children also benefited from receiving explanations for unknown words, displaying greater gains in vocabulary when provided with explanations than when not, suggesting that the explanation may have provided useful experience with the meaning of the unknown words. One of the challenges of word mapping research area is finding word knowledge assessment methods that go beyond measures of childrens ability to identify the correct referent of a word or to use a word in an appropriate context. In 2009 the effect of the cultural, linguistic differences between mainstream English and African American English was measured. An equal number of African American English speakers and mainstream (mostly Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American) respondents were given a series of syntactical questions. This result was that native speakers of English who were African American were predisposed to have more difficulty with the grammatical structure of formal English (Johnson, 2009). In addition to the methods described in the previous three studies, childrens word definitions may serve as a source of information on the process of mapping (Hughes, Woodcock, Funnell, 2005; Johnson Anglin, 1995; McGregor et al, 2002). Childrens word definitions have also been found to change with age. These changes may reflect, in part, increased understanding of the words meanings. Another source of information on word mapping may be childrens word associations. Word Definitions Word learning, commencing at around age of one year, progresses at the rate of approximately ten new words every day (Bloom, 2000), or about one per every waking hour (Carey, 1978). Werner and Kaplan (1950) describe the acquisition of the meanings of words as occurring in two ways. One way a child learns a word is by explicit reference either verbal or objective (p. 3), in which a word is verbally defined or an object is directly named for the child. The second way a child learns a word is through implicit or contextual reference (p. 3), in which a word is inferred from the context of a conversation. Up until around two years of age, a child may learn a great many words through explicit reference, as adults will often repeat common phrases and names of objects and provide definitions for unknown words in an effort to teach a child new vocabulary (Carey, 1978; Werner Kaplan, 1950). However, as children grow older, they receive this vocabulary coaching less and less and they must rely primarily on implicit or contextual reference to acquire the majority of vocabulary. Children learn the majority of their words from hearing how others use them in day-to-day life. In doing so, they must rely solely on the linguistic context in which the word occurs and the situation in which it is used (Carey, 1978, p. 265) to derive meaning for new words. Researchers recognize the ability to produce quality word definitions as a metalinguistic skill (Watson, 1985), as individuals must not only consider their knowledge of the to-be-defined word and determine what characteristics should be included in the definition but they should also know how to organize information into conventional definitional form (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997, p. 298). An individuals mastery of the form and content of word definitions is imperative in producing quality definitions (Watson, 1985), and there are a number of well-established trends concerning the development of both. The definitions provided by young (roughly preschool) children tend to be comprised primarily of functional information, e. g. a knife is to cut with (Litowitz, 1977), but they also include (to a lesser degree) perceptual features, e. g. a kitten is furry (Hughes et al. , 2005). Young childrens definitions also tend to include information that is personally relevant, such as I have a friendly rabbit named Hoppy (Watson, 1985) and are often concrete, simple, and context bound (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997). As a child grows older, a transition occurs in the content included in a definition, suggesting a conceptual shift from the individually experienced to the socially shared (Litowitz, 1977, p. 289), and definitions become more abstract, complex, and precise in nature (Skwarchuk Anglin, 1997). However, the accurate acquisition of a definition is dependent on the individual skills of the child and of the clarity of the context in which the new conceptual definition is presented (Nicoladis, 2010). Namely, the listener must recognize the probable intention of the statement through the interpretation of nonverbal cues. This is done through the rapid analysis of the word usage, the verbal tone, the context, and the previous experiences of the listener (de Ruiter, 2010). A child’s inferential attributions to a word are also built upon their personal skills. In the Sally Ann task, the children are asked to conceptualize the thoughts of others and are measured by their success at that task, their ability to concede that the other’s thoughts are not necessarily correct, and to form a hypothetical, mental frame of context through which to examine the probable thoughts and actions which inform that person’s decisions (Jary, 2010). The ability to successful integrate the representational theory of mind tested by the Sally Ann task has been proven to aid in the conceptualization of both grammatical structure and definition (Jary, 2010). Both form and content develop and change over time, but these changes do not necessarily occur simultaneously, and children are generally able to express semantic content more successfully than they are able to use correct Aristotelian definitional form (Johnson Anglin, 1995). Since form and content of childrens definitions change as their knowledge of and experience with words increases it seems logical that studying the elaboration and refinement of word definitions in children over time would allow us to better understand the process of slow mapping (McGregor, 2002). The interpretations of the ambiguities of language, such as the use of the finite â€Å"that† for an infinite pool of possible contexts, are key contributors to the accuracy of slow mapping in the inferred or abstract definition of words (Jary, 2010). In a study designed to capture the slow mapping process of word meaning development, McGregor et al. (2002) offer some evidence that childrens definitions may indeed provide an accurate representation of the semantic knowledge possessed by a child. McGregor et al. have shown that a childs abilities to provide a name for and draw a picture of each of a series of objects correspond reliably with one another and are also consistent with a childs ability to provide definitions for those objects. The study suggests that the three tasks (naming, drawing, and defining) access a common semantic representation and therefore validates the use of the defining task in providing a window into the slow mapping of word meaning. Word Associations Childrens word associations also change as word knowledge changes over time. Consequently, studying childrens word associations may provide an additional opportunity to capture the slow mapping process of word meaning development. Petrey (1977) draws attention to the development of word associations as shifting from episodic (or schematic) to semantic (or taxonomic) as childrens word knowledge grows. She comments, Whereas adults responses are grouped primarily by semantic memory of words internal content, childrens responses display mainly episodic memories of external context (p. 69). For example, if the stimulus word were rabbit, a child is likely to provide an episodic response like carrot, and an adult is more likely to provide a semantic response like squirrel. Petreys research suggested that the shift from episodic to semantic association responses occurs by around third grade. Researchers have also attempted to explain changing word associations as reflecting a syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift. Syntagmatic refers to words being syntactically related, that is, likely to occur together in the same sentence, like a verb response to a noun, whereas paradigmatic refers to words being in the same syntactic class, like a noun response to a noun (Nelson, 1977). This description has proven to be less well supported than the episodic-semantic (or schematic-taxonomic) shift. Another explanation refers to the cultural influences of the child’s caretaker(s). Because as the child ages there is less need and ability to define the abstract concepts, there is an increased reliance on word attribution (de Ruiter, 2010). Bilingual children favor the grammatical structure and the customary usage of their stronger language (Nicoladis, 2010). In Blewitt and Toppinos study, superordinate responses in the word association task became increasingly frequent with age (as is the case in word definition tasks), suggesting that the word association task may indeed be a useful tool to implement in future work aimed at capturing the slow-mapping process. The increasing use of superordinate terms provided both in the word definition task and the word association task suggest that the two tasks may be measuring the common underlying process of elaboration and completion of word meaning over time that is slow mapping. Summary Conventional estimates suggest that by age 17 the vocabulary of an average English-speaking individual comprises more than 60,000 words (Bloom, 2000). In order for this monumental task to be achieved, word learning, commencing at around age of one year, must progress at the rate of approximately ten new words every day (Bloom, 2000), or about one per every waking hour (Carey, 1978). Werner and Kaplan (1950) describe the acquisition of the meanings of words as occurring in two ways. One way a child learns a word is by explicit reference either verbal or objective (p. 3), in which a word is verbally defined or an object is directly named for the child. The second way a child learns a word is through implicit or contextual reference (p.3), in which a word is inferred from the context of a conversation. Up until around two years of age, a child may learn a great many words through explicit reference, as adults will often repeat common phrases and names of objects and provide definitions for unknown words in an effort to teach a child new vocabulary (Carey, 1978; Werner Kaplan, 1950). These two methods for accessing developmental change in childrens word knowledge have both been found to change with increasing age and understanding of words, and appear to provide access to slow mapping in children. In general, knowledge about familiar words is slowly acquired. Children both increase their understanding of the semantic relations among words, and learn about the details of the objects labeled by the words. Children are unable to fast map categorical semantic relations even when these relations were explicitly stated. Conclusively, the process of elaboration through which childrens meanings of words grow to include categorical semantic relations between words requires slow mapping. The ability children possess to infer initial meanings for novel words given a limited number of exposures to the words fast mapping. Fast mapping provides a seemingly quick and efficient way for children to acquire initial meanings of novel words, but the meanings children gain through fast mapping are often incomplete, especially requiring a longer more gradual elaboration and reorganization process called slow mapping in order to become complete definitions. Slow mapping allows the connections both between and within new and existing knowledge to be created, eliminated, and reworked, as increasingly complete and accurate definitions evolve. Slow mapping, a much slower and more elusive process than fast mapping, has not been experimentally captured, and much speculation continues to surround its true nature. Attempts to access slow mapping by researchers have provided some insight into the nature of that process. However, research studies have not accessed childrens word understanding beyond an initial, superficial level. References Behrend, D. A. , Scofield, J. , Kleinknecht, E. E. (2001). Beyond fast mapping: Young childrens extensions of novel words and novel facts. Developmental Psychology, 37, 698-705. Blewitt, P. , Toppino, T. C. (1991). The development of taxonomic structure in lexical memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 51, 296-319. Bloom, P. (2000). How children learn the meanings of words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Carey, S. Bartlett, E. (1978). Acquiring a single new word. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 15, 17-29. Carey, S. (1978). The child as word learner. In M. Halle, J. Bresnan, G. A. Miller (Eds. ), Linguistic theory and psychological reality (pp. 264-297). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. de Ruiter, J. , Noordzij, M. , Newman-Norlund, S., Newman-Norlund, R. , Hagoort, P. , Levinson, S. , et al. (2010). Exploring the cognitive infrastructure of communication. Interaction Studies, 11(1), 51-77. doi:10. 1075/is. 11. 1. 05rui. Deak, G. O. , Wagner, J. H. (2003). Slow mapping in childrens learning of semantic relations. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 25, 318-323. Hansen, M. , Markman, E. (2009). Childrens use of mutual exclusivity to learn labels for parts of objects. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 592-596. doi:10. 1037/a0014838. Hughes, D. , Woodcock, J., Funnell, E. (2005). Conceptions of objects across categories: Childhood patterns resemble those of adults. British Journal of Psychology, 96, 1-19. Jary, M. (2010). Assertion and false-belief attribution. Pragmatics Cognition, 18(1), 17-39. doi:10. 1075/pc. 18. 1. 02jar. Johnson, C. J. , Anglin, J. M. (1995). Qualitative developments in the content and form of childrens definitions. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 612-629. Johnson, V. , de Villiers, J. (2009). Syntactic Frames in Fast Mapping Verbs: Effect of Age, Dialect, and Clinical Status. Journal of Speech, Language Hearing Research, 52(3), 610-622. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. Litowitz, B. (1977). Learning to make definitions. The Journal of Child Language, 4, 289-304. McGregor, K. K. , Friedman, R. M. , Reilly, R. M. , Newman, R. M. (2002). Semantic representation and naming in young children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 332-346. Nelson, K. (1977). The syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift revisited. A review of research and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 93-116. Nicoladis, E. , Rose, A. , Foursha-Stevenson, C. (2010). Thinking for speaking and cross-linguistic transfer in preschool bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingual Education Bilingualism, 13(3), 345-370. doi:10. 1080/13670050903243043. Patson, N. , Warren, T. (2010). Evidence for Distributivity Effects in Comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology / Learning, Memory Cognition, 36(3), 782-789. doi:10. 1037/a0018783. Penno, J. F. , Wilkinson, I. A. G. , Moore, D. W. (2002). Vocabulary acquisition from teacher explanation and repeated listening to stories: Do they overcome the matthew effect? Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 23-33. Petrey, S. (1977). Word associations and the development of lexical memory. Cognition, 5, 57-71. Skwarchuk, S. , Anglin, J. M. (1997). Expression of superordinates in childrens word definitions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 298-308. Watson, R. (1985). Towards a theory of definition. Journal of Child Language, 12, 181-197. Werner, H. , Kaplan, E. (1950). The acquisition of word meanings: A developmental study. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 15(1, Serial No. 51).

Nursing Shortage: Impacts and Strategies

Nursing Shortage: Impacts and Strategies The Nursing Shortage Steven Donahue Introduction According to research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in December of 2013, the United States is at the precipous of a substantial nursing shortage. Their study indicated that the registered nurse (RN) workforce is expected to grow from 2.71 million jobs in 2012 to approximately 3.24 million in 2022, a 19% increase. This considerable growth coupled with an estimated 525,000 nurses retiring within the same time frame, brings the total of nursing openings to just over one-million jobs (1). The shortage is projected to spread across the country, but be most intense in the South and West regions (1, United Stated Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card). Other professions often endure similar reports about workforce shortages, but shortages specifically affecting the nursing profession are persistent and cyclical. The history of nursing shortages can be linked back to the beginning of nursing as a profession and the first nursing diploma schools, founded in 1873. These diploma schools focused on apprenticeship, and gave young women an opportunity for financial independence and solid employment that was previously not accessible. Physicians and hospitals soon realized the young nurses were a cheap source of labor, and further recruited upper and upper-middle class society for possible nursing candidates. â€Å"It may be argued that the first nursing shortage in the U.S. occurred when hospital training schools found the supply from the upper strata of society had evaporated† (3), and the hospitals were required to scramble and recruit nurses with different economic and cultural backgrounds. Nursing shortages were also prevalent between the years of 1932 and 1952, and exacerbated by the World War II which highlighted an increased need for competent nursing care. In 1943, Congress passed legislation to create the Cadet Nurse Corps, which helped provide an influx of proficient nurses during this shortage. It is estimated that students who graduated form the Cadet Corps provided nearly 80% of the care of hospitalized patents during World War II (3). Documented nursing shortages also occurred in the early 1960’s, early 1980’s, and twice in the 1990’s. Cut? The cause of more recent nursing shortages have become more complex and difficult to define. Research by Goldfarb et. al. in 2008 described two standards to to define a nursing shortage. First, a shortage occurs when there is not enough nurses to provide a certain level of quality care. Secondly, a nursing shortage exists when there are not enough nurses to fill open positions. Based on this description, the current situation can be simplified and more easily defined as a nursing shortage. The causes, impacts, and potential solutions for the current nursing shortage will be further explored. Factors Affecting the Nursing Shortage Societal Demographics A major cause for the nursing shortage is be related to the increased damand required to care for the aging baby boomer population. Members of the baby boomer generation were born roughly between 1946 and 1964 and created a demographic bubble. Between the years of 2008 and 2018, the 55-year old plus demographic is expected to grow more rapidly than any other age group, and will account for a larger share of the total population (9). Figure 1 below illustrates the age distribution and median age from 1960 to 2010 in the United States, and highlights the increasing median age associated with the baby boomer generation. This demographic disparity will create a challenge for healthcare providers, and require a proportional increase in the professional nursing workforce to accommodate the rising elderly population(4). Figure 1. Age distribution and median age: 1960 to 2010 (SOURCE) Demographics of Current Nursing Workforce The current nursing workforce demographics nearly mirror the United States demographics as a whole. According to a survey conducted in 2013, 55% of the registered nursing workforce is age 50 or older (1, #6), and only 14.8% of nurses are aged 30 or younger. The current nursing shortage was further complicated by the 2008 economic collapse. The economic collapse had devastating effects on personal finances, with figures showing an average loss of more than 25% of individuals 401K’s for those nearing retirement (aged 56-65) (http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_2-2009_Crisis-Impct.pdf). This forced many older nurses to remain in their current positions, or required part-time nurses to return to full-time employment. Statistics showed that the downturn in the economy lead to an easing in the shortage in many parts of the country (1), but this is only temporary and may intensify the shortage after these nurses decide to retire. Nursing Faculty Shortage There are a variety of reasons for the current nurse faculty shortage. First, the average age of nuring faculty also nearly mirrors the United States demographics as a whole. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nurses (AACN), the average doctorally prepared professor is 56.8 years old, and the average master’s degree nursing faculty is 55.1 years old. (http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-faculty-shortage). As a wave of retirements over the next decade hits academia, the replacements are both scarce and advanced in age. Salary differentials between nursing educators and those with similar credentials in the private sector is making it difficult to retain nursing educators. Data colleted in 2012 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that a Master’s prepared Nurse Practitioner earned a median salary of $92,670 while a Master’s prepared Associate Professor earned $72,590, a differential of approximately $20,000 (BLS website). This monetary difference, along with an increasingly high loan burden associated with attaining a graduate degree makes the private sector more enticing for new graduates with advanced degrees. The faculty shortage has had a significant affect on nursing school admission. The AACN conducted a survey in 2012 and determined that U.S. nursing schools turned away nearly 80,000 qualified undergraduate applicants due to a scarcity in faculty, clinical sites, and classroom space (1,#10). Two-thirds of of respondants indicated that faculty shortages were the number one reason for turning away qualified applicants. Furthermore, approximately 15,000 qualified applicants were turned away from graduate programs for the same reason. The nursing faculty shortage then becomes a two-pronged issue. The nursing shortage requires more nursing students, but a nursing faculty shortage creates limitations on how many students can be prepared for employment, and limits the ability to prepare future nursing educators. Working Conditions Wages The nature of the work, physical fatigue, orthopedic issues,and family strain due to working nights and weekends lead many nurses to leave the hospital setting or the profession altogether. In an era of litigation, nurses must also be cognizant that the individual, and not the system may be held liable in case of patient safety errors. This increased accountability without sufficient decision making authority leads to increased stress on the nursing workforce (4). The nursing profession is challenging and stressful, and many believe that the salary does not reflect the difficulty of the job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, salaries for registered nurses have increased only 4% between 2008 and 2014. While this stagnation may also be indicative of the 2008 economic collapse, the effect of the nursing shortage on wages may not be fully understood until the economy fully recovers. Nursing Shortage Implications The pinnacle concern of the nursing shortage is the effect that it may have on patient loads and quality of care. The growing elderly population coupled with the a shortage of nurses will lead to an increase in patient loads. Numerous studies have indicated that higher patient loads lead to a riskier environment for the patient. A study published in 2011 by Dr. Jack Needleman analyzed the records of 197,961 patients, and found that the mortality rate increased from 1-6% if a facility was understaffed (http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMsa1001025). Another study in 2011 indicated that when the hours per patient day was high (an indicator of proper staffing), the incidents of congestive heart failure, failure to rescue, infections, and prolonged lengths of hospital stays decreased (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21407034). Lastly, a study conducted in 2013 observed the relationship between higher patient loads and readmission rates of pediatric patients. The research showed th at when the ratio was adjusted by just one patient (5:1), the likelihood for readmission rose 11% (http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/22/9/735.full). An increase in readmission rates will further aggravate the problem of patient loads, and has a heavy economic toll. While increased patient loads effect the overall quality of care, they also adversely effect the working conditions of nurses. In a survey conducted in 2005, 75% of respondents believed that the nursing shortage will effect their quality of work and limit the amount of time they can spend with patients. Additionally, 93% of those surveyed believe that the effects of the nursing shortage will cause nurses to leave the profession (1,#11). Another study in 2012 concluded that nurses were likely to attribute staffing insufficiencies as a major factor in job dissatisfaction, stress and burnout. The nursing shortage will ultimately effect patient loads, working conditions, and quality care for the patients in all nursing sectors. If propoer strategies are not developed, the increased stress associated with the shortage may lead to greater turnover in the profession, which only compounds the shortage issue. Strategies to Address the Nursing Shortage Addressing the General Nursing Shortage One way to entice new nurses in to the field has been to make the cost of education more affordable. On the federal level, the Nursing Education Loan Repayement program has been initiated and pays for 60% of a students loans in exchange for a two year commitment to a geographic area determined to have a critical shortage. Many hospitals have reimbursement programs for nurses looking to advance their education in exchange for a future working commitment. While this may entice more new nurses, economists warn that government and other subsidies may interfere with the free market, and may actually depress nursing wages. One possible solution to the free market interference is pay for performance programs. Rather than give subsidies to specific nursing students, pay for performance programs give subsidies to facilities that provide a high quality of care. Since quality care is intinsically tied to nursing performance, this would increase the economic value of nurses, thus improving wages , work environments, and retention (3). In addition to nursing faculty shortages, insufficient clinical sites play a huge role in limiting the student capacity of nursing schools. Increased coordination and strategic partnerships between universities and the private sector can help expand student enrollment. For instance, a joint venture between the Minnesota VA Health Care System and the University of Minnesota in 2013 has helped expand the schools BSN program. In this agreement, the VA committed $5.3 million dollars to expanding clinical placement sites within their facilities and funded additional faculty for the University. By teaming with the University of Minnesota, the VA received enhanced care for their patients. A better work environment can help attract new nurses and limit the amount of nurses who â€Å"burn-out† and leave the profession. Strategies to better the nursing work environment must focus on the emotional and physical stresses of the profession. Research has shown that limiting heavy lifting, decreasing walking, and providing easy access to equipment and information will keep nurses from leaving the profession (From #4 Goodin, 2003) Additionally, â€Å"increasing autonomy, re-allocating work in a more patient centered way, creating systems to recognize achievement in the areas of mentoring nurses, educating patients ans personal growth in practice, creating meaningful internal labor markets, and enhancing supervisor and administrative reports† (Morgan and Lynn, 2009). In order to combat further nursing turnover and burn-out, hospitals and nursing facilities must focus on nurturing an environment that provides these qualities. This is even more important when increas ed nursing turnover costs hospitals millions of dollars per year in recruiting and training new nurses. Further research in 2009 found that organizational constraints and high patient loads adversely affected job satisfaction. Supporters of mandated patient-nurse ratios believe that mandatory ratios will increase positive patient outcomes, increase job satisfaction, and ultimately combat the nursing shortage. Currently, thirteen states have staffing laws for hospitals, but only California has mandated minimum nurse-patient ratios. It should be noted that the American Nurses Association does not necessary support mandated patient-nurse ratios, but rather supports a legislation model which empowers the nurses to create staffing plans specific to each unit, giving the nurses autonomy to make staffing decisions that are best given the fluidity of hospital admissions (http://www.nursingworld.org/mainmenucategories/policy-advocacy/state/legislative-agenda-reports/state-staffingplansratios). Addressing the Nursing Faculty Shortage One major issue plaguing the nursing faculty shortage is the inability to recruit BSN prepared nurses in to the education realm, and has been noticed on both the state and federal level. In January of 2014, Wisonsin announced the â€Å"Nurses for Wisconsin Initiative†, which provided 3.2 million dollars in fellowships and loan forgiveness for nurses who agreed to pursue advanced degrees in nursing education and teach in the state after graduation (1). On the federal level, in December of 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided 45.4 million dollars in funding to provide low interest-loans for nurses pursuing nurse education degrees (Macdonald, 2013 see citation below). In order to attract more nursing educators, the pay discrepancy between the private sector and nursing educators must be addressed. References Budryk, Z. (2013). Is there another way to solve the nursing shortage?. Newton: Questex Media LLC. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1466237287?accountid=3588? Clark, R. C., Allison-Jones, L. (2011). Investing in Human Capital: An academic-service partnership to address the nursing shortage. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(1), 18-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/89382362?accountid=3588? Dolan, Tamara B., RN, M.S.N., O.C.N. (2011). Has the nursing shortage come to an end? ONS Connect, 26(8), 8-12. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/885241529?accountid=3588? Fox, R. L., PhD., Abrahamson, Kathleen, PhD., R.N. (2009). A critical examination of the U.S. nursing shortage: Contributing factors, public policy implications. Nursing Forum, 44(4), 235-44. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/195019237?accountid=3588? Keeping nurses on the job: Retention is part of the answer to the nursing shortage. (2010). AANA Journal, 64(6), 8. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/747116085?accountid3588? MacDonald, I. (2013). The nursing shortage: Myth or reality?. Newton: Questex Media Group LLC. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1467698816?accountid=3588? McNamara, M. (2009). Combating the nursing shortage. American Nurse, 41(2), 14. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/205506517?accountid=3588? Miovski, Natalie, AIA, L.E.E.D.A.P. (2009). Healing the nursing shortage with staff-friendly design. Healthcare Design, 9(8), 66-69. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/195019237?accountid=3588? Schaeffer, R. (2013). The nursing shortage†¦.fact or fiction? Arizona Nurse, 66(2), 3. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1365796219?accountid=3588? Talbert, JeanAnne Johnson, APRN-BC, FNP, MSN, A.O.C.N., D.H.A. (2009). Distance education: One solution to the nursing shortage? Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 13(3), 269-70. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/222754879?accountid=3588? References (cont.) Vioral, Anna N., MSN, M.Ed., R.N., (2011). Filling the gaps: Immersing student nurses in specialty nursing and professional associations. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 42(9), 415-20. doi:10.3928/00220124-20110601-01 Wynn, Stephanie D, DNP, R.N.-B.C., P.M.H.N.P.-B.C. (2013). Addresing the nursing workforce shortage: Veterans as mental health nurses. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing Mental Health Services, 51(12), 3-4. doi:10.3928/02793695-20131029-05

Stereotypes of the Russian Home at the 1851 Great Exhibition in Paris E

Russian House Since the 1851 Great Exhibition, world's fairs have always attempted to celebrate cultural diversity. In pavilions, participating countries promoted their natural resources and industrial products, while celebrating their national identity. However, not all cultures could be accurately portrayed. These exhibits did not prevent negative stereotypes about other people's cultures for persisting. Stereotyping almost became an art form, and was particularly apparent at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, where specific buildings were built to exemplify architectural stereotypes of different countries. As part of an exhibition called L'Histoire de L'Habitation Humaine or History of Human Habitation, which was the creation of architect Charles Garnier. Many of these small structures related to remote and "exotic" locations around the world. One of the countries that received the exotic treatment was Russia, despite this country's political power. Charles Garnier was born in 1825 and studied architecture at the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After he was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1848, he went to study architecture in Italy. In 1860, Garnier won the competition for the new Paris Opera House, which was not completed until 1875 and remains his most important commission. His other works include villas he built in Bordighera, Italy, an Observatory in Nice, the Cercle de la Librairie in Paris, and many very famous works in Monte Carlo, including a casino resort. Charles Garnier was also a self-appointed expert in world cultures and their architecture. Thanks to the fame he had acquired at the Paris Opera House, he was asked by the fair commission to design "foreign" buildings for the World's Fair in 1889. Later in 18... ...built by Garnier in for the World's Fair were a resounding success. Bibliography Chandler,Arthur."Revolution." http://charon.sfsu.edu/PARISEXPOSITIONS/1889EXPO.html World's Fair magazine. 1986 revised 2000. Doumato, Lamia. Charles Garnier, 1825-1898 Vance Bibliographies. Monticello, Ill. 1988. Garnier, Charles, "La Maison Russe," L'Habitation Humaine. Paris, Hachette 1892, 701-710 Jourdain, Frantz. Exposition universelle de 1889. Constructions à ©levà ©es au Champ de Mars par M.. Ch. Garnier... pour servir à   l'histoire de l'habitation humaine. J. W. Bouton, New York. 1892. Mead, Christopher Curtis. Charles Garnier's Paris Opà ©ra : architectural empathy and the renaissance of French classicism. MIT Press. Cambridge Mass. 1991. Vernes, Michel. "La leà §on d'architecture de Monsieur Garnier." Architecture intà ©rieure crà ©Ãƒ ©. 249, August-September1992, 38-45.

Cyberspace and Internet Censorship Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive E

Cyberspace and Internet Censorship "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace [the Internet], the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather" (Barlow 18). The Internet is a vast network of computers, both public and private, which spans the globe. Recently, there has been a movement by governments worldwide, and the United States government in particular, to remove content deemed inappropriate from the Internet. However, numerous factors such as: the abundance of less restrictive alternatives, the impossibility of applying American law and community standards to an international communications medium, the active choice required to access the Internet's resources, the violation of our constitutional rights which it entails, and the fact that it is the parent's and not the government's responsibility to protect children contradict this rash and poorly thought out idea. While censorship is intolerable in all its forms, it is especially odious, inappropriate, and unworkable when applied to the Internet, an international medium of free speech, information, and communication. The Internet began as a link between major universities and government computer centers to facilitate the sharing of information and allow certain universities to utilize the few existing supercomputing centers. With the advent and popularization of the personal computer and the increased use and development of modems, the size and capabilities of the Internet have exploded. The nature of the Internet is such that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to determine its size at a given mo... ...because they may inadvertently happen upon objectionable material. The resources of the Internet deserve the same treatment. Censorship is unnecessary and inappropriate with regards to the Internet. Numerous less-restrictive means of protecting the public, the global nature of the Internet, the active choice required to access the resources of the Internet, the fact that Internet censorship violates the First amendment, and the parental and personal nature of regulating the Internet all contradict the idea of Internet censorship. The Internet has the potential to revolutionize our society and bring us full into the information age. The information superhighway is not centuries or decades away, but just around the corner. Let us attempt to aid the growth of this technology and its respective culture in any way possible, and thus propel ourselves into the future.

Meaning from a Stylistic Point of View Essay

In stylistics meaning assumes prime importance. Because meaning is applied not only to words, word-combinations, sentences but also to the manner of expression. At certain moment meaning was excluded from observation in language science because it was considered an extra-linguistic category. The term â€Å"semantic invariant† was proposed as a substitute for meaning by R. Jakobson. The main problem of meaning which deals with is the interrelation between meaning and concept, meaning and sign, meaning and referent. Contextual meaning is a meaning viewed as a category which is able to acquire meanings imposed on the words by context. In stylistics is important discriminate shades and nuances of meaning, the components of which are called semes. Lexical meaning differs from grammatical meaning. Lexical meaning refers to some concrete concept, phenomenon or thing of the objective reality (real or imaginary). Grammatical meaning refers to relations between words or constructions. It is also called â€Å"structural meaning† Polysemanticism is a linguistic category . We perceive meaning as a representation of a definite concept by means of a word. But we state that the same concept may be expressed by different meanings that belong to the same word. Words have polysemantic meaning (several lexical meanings) . It becomes a crucial issue for stylistic studies to observe the multitude of meaning. And that is not limited in the dictionaries and no matter how rich in meaning a word may be leaves the door open for new shades and nuances and even for independent meanings. Semiotics is the science that deals with the general theory of signs. A sign is a material object (phenomenon, action) appearing in the process of cognition and communication in the capacity of a substitute of another object(s) and used for receiving, storing, recasting and transforming information about the object. The signs are used in a system and that system is called a code. Sign’s conventional, arbitrary character is one of its most important features. The language system follows a certain distinctive features and they are : after been established it circulates for some period of time and it becomes resistant to substitutions. The definition of a word is a unit of language functioning within the sentence by its sounds or graphic form expresses some notion. Words are capable of enriching its semantic structure by acquiring new meanings, or also could losing old meanings. The very nature of the word causes a difficulty to be explained the semantic structure. In stylistics a word has almost no limit for acquiring new meanings, whereas in lexicology is restricted. And here comes the issue well-known contradiction between the scientific (abstract) perception of a phenomenon and the secondary artistic perception of the same phenomenon. Max Born, a physicist, has it somewhat differently : â€Å"The representatives of one group do not want to reject or to sacrifice the idea of the absolute and therefore remain faithful to everything subjective. They create a picture of the world which is not the result of a systemic method, but of the unexplained activity of religious, artistic or poetic expressions of other people. Here reign religious zeal, aspirations to brotherhood, and often fanaticism, intolerance and the suppression of intellect†¦The representatives of opposing group, on the contrary, reject the idea of the absolute. They discover frequently with horror that inner feeling cannot be expressed in comprehensible forms. † Adjectives are more abstract in meaning than nouns. Adverbs are considered to be more abstract than adjectives. Conjunctions and prepositions got higher degree of abstractness. Meanings could be divided into three types: logical, emotive and nominal.