Thursday, October 31, 2019
Business - Report Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Business - Report Evaluation - Essay Example In fact, prices are so depressed that they are not expected to rise to the pre-2007 levels at least until the next 10 years. Nevertheless, the sector continues to garner the attention of overseas investors, who have contributed to a certain extent in sustaining real estate prices. Initial gains made over the last 2-3 years have been eroded during recent months primarily due to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and a reduction in consumer spending. Consumers are having serious concerns over their employment opportunities, which are having a direct impact on the hotel and leisure industries. Thus, it is necessary that the government take steps to restore consumer and investor confidence in order to stimulate some positive trends in the industry. Without such steps, the UK commercial property sector will become too dependent on external funding and thus react more sharply to events in the market. Thus, it is necessary for the government to understand the crucial role of the commercial property sector and undertake steps to improve its performance over the coming months. Investment Banks The Investment banking sector is important for the economy since it helps governments and corporations raise capital through adequate sources of funding. Yet, the 2008 financial crisis was caused due to the reckless acts of many investment banks and the toxic bets they made in the mortgage markets. Despite the fact that their actions brought many economies on their knees, none of the key individuals have been prosecuted or prevented through effective legislation. The primary issue here is not about the losses caused by the actions of investment bankers, but an understanding of the main reasons, which influence their decisions. The primary issue is with regards to effective management and oversight, which is rare and often inept at monitoring the actions of employees. On an average, bankers put in a 90-hour workweek and do not have any formal appraisal processes in place. Most imp ortantly, their compensation is based predominantly on performance and the profits that they can realize through their activities. This bonus-driven compensation not only creates pressure on employees to resort to high-risk taking, but also incentivizes those that succeed from taking such positions. Individualism and secrecy are other issues, which prevent any effective collaborative teamwork among employees in investment banks. All these issues suggest that there is a serious need to revamp current practices of executive compensation. Excessive bonuses should be done away with and bankers must be encouraged to perform towards long-term objectives rather than strive for short-term performance. Banks can also take note of players such JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, which were able to overcome major losses during the financial crisis due to their emphasis on teamwork, information sharing and an inspiring organizational culture. Public Relations Public Relations (PR) are the set of strat egies and actions that allow an organizational entity to promote it in the eye of the public. While this sounds as an effective medium of promotion and branding, PR can be used to shape public perception through various tricky methods using mediums such as the press to propagate false information. Thus, PR has evolved from a mere communicative mechanism into a comprehensive paradigm that shapes perceptions in the public sphere. While PR is an
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay Example for Free
War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay The American led war on terrorism has brought numerous concerns among human rights activists across the globe. This is because the war has been perceived as a tool for victimizing and discriminating individuals of the Islamic religion and nationality. Such have been closely attributed to the fact that the American nation blames Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups of responsibility in many terror attacks in the world. Due to this reason, members of the Muslim American community are living in constant fear of discrimination, racial profiling and harassment by law enforcement since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers (Elaasar 93). In addition, increased publicity of organized crime group affiliated to the Islamic religion being involved in terrorism has evident discriminative attitude of Muslim Americans by other members of the society. This attitude is worsened by the provisions of the Patriotic Act of 2001 giving the government more power to identify and mitigate terrorism, most of which contradict the constitutional provisions on civil rights in America (Elaasar 93). This has denied Muslim Americans their rights to freedom of movement, privacy and free association. Despite the fact that the American government owes its citizens a duty to security against the disastrous social and economic effects of terrorism, such should not be taken as an excuse for victimizing members of the community simply due to their religion and nationality of origin. This paper identifies and discusses the effects brought by the war on terrorism to members of the Muslim American community. War on terrorism War on terrorism is a concerted effort by nations led by the United States to identify and eliminate members of organized crime groups which are engaged in executing terrorist activities across the globe (Sides and Gross). Although terrorism has for long been a major threat to security in countries particularly the US, the new struggle to combat was triggered by the bloody terrorist attack of the New York-based World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. True from available literature, the war on terrorism involves almost all aspects of sustainable social, security, political, and economic development strategies (Sides and Gross). Such are evident from the American led invasion in both Iraq and Afghanistan which witnessed the overthrowing of leaderships purported to promoting terrorist activities. On the other hand, numerous intelligence efforts have been engaged by respective law enforcement agents across the globe to identify terrorist group cycles and eliminate them. This also serves in enhancing the process of detecting, possible terrorism threats, target, and time of a planed attack to ensure adequate preparedness of the force in preventing and responding to such incidences. In addition, corporation among governments on the fight against terrorism has been on the increase. This has been closely attributed to the fact that terrorism threats are increasingly spreading to unexpected regions. As an emphasis to this claim, numerous attacks have been perpetuated by terrorists groups against their own members. Available information linking terrorist activities to Muslims claim of declaration of western civilization as the number one enemy to the Muslim community by Osama led Al-Qaeda terrorist group. thus, the numerous reported incidences of terrorist attacks in Muslim dominated nations is an indicator of the changing approach of terrorist, thus making every nation potentially vulnerable to terrorist attacks (Sides and Gross). On the other hand, the war on terrorism has taken a new approach as terrorist groups shifts attacks to cyber terrorism. This is one of the mainly purpose of the 2001 Patriotic Act which allows for increased government surveillance over the internet to help identify terror suspects executing crime activities online. The war on terrorism also covers the economic dimensions of the groups across the global society (Maira, and Jamal 12). Just to appreciate is the fact that executing a terrorist attack is highly involving financially. On the other side, available information from intelligence agencies has established that most individuals engaged in implementing terrorist attacks are funded by sponsors of terrorist groups. This has the implication that mitigating free flow of financial support to terrorism group serves an instrumental role in compromising their capacity to threaten security in the security. It is due to this reason why the American government has put in place checks and balances for qualifying the authenticity of transferring huge amount of money to individual (s) across the border. In addition, criminal activities like money laundering are perceived as a potential factor to the success of terrorist groups in the globe. Moreover, reports from the FBI has indicated a close link between organized crime groups in the nation and potential collaboration with terrorist groups to execute terrorists attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 27). This report claims that currently the American nation has an estimated over 31,000 organized crime groups spread across its numerous states. It is due to this reason why the American government is strongly involving its resource on the war on drug cartels and other violent organized crime groups. ? Effects of War on Terrorism on Muslim Americans The war on terrorism has many negative implications on the social and economic sustainability of the Muslim American community members. True to the letter, it is no doubt clear that terrorism activities in the western world are closely associated with members of Islamic religion or nationality of origin (Elaasar 20). This can be evident from historical claims which shown a longstanding conflict between Christianity and its western civilization and the Arabic world civilization. This is further complicated by the fact that all major terrorist attacks which have occurred in the world find claims of perpetuation by Islamic oriented terrorist groups. Muslim Americans have become victims of denied constitutional rights following the intensification of the war on terrorism since late 2001. According to available information, law enforcement agents have been granted legal authority to conduct unwarranted search and seizure on based on reasonable suspicion under the anti-terrorist war platform (Malkin 67). It is worthy noting that due to racial profiling by the law enforcement, most victims of terrorism suspicion are from the Islamic community. This has the indication that the war on terrorism has compromised the ability of the Muslim American community members to enjoy their constitutional rights to privacy and warranted search and seizure (Al-Marayati). In addition, the existing laws on terrorism find much contradiction to the provisions of the due process clause of the constitution. Unlike suspects of other crimes who enjoy their right to a legal counsel as well as speedy trail, victims of terrorism suspicion do not. Anti-terrorism laws allow for the putting terrorists suspects in custody for long period before taking them to court (Pew Research Center 35). In addition, the laws allows for deporting of terrorism suspect without giving them opportunity for a court trail. All these contradictions of the constitutional rights against the defendants of terrorism are inhuman, a factor which significantly affect the Muslim Americans for being the main victims of terrorist suspects in the nation. Another effect of the war on terrorism on Muslim Americans is increased social stigmatization and discrimination in the local community. Terrorism threats remain one of the most feared security threats among citizens of the United States. On the other hand, the population has been overwhelmed by the claim that Muslims are the major perpetuators of these dangerous activities. Due to this perception Muslim Americans find limited appreciation by other members in the social and economic fronts of the community (Pew Research Center 49). Such are no doubt a negation of their constitutional right to equal opportunity in the US. This can also be seen as a source of violence and hatred against this minority group. Some opponents of the war on terrorism claim of its effects in compromising commitment of the Muslim believer to effectively practice their religion. The enforcement of anti-terrorism laws in American has limited the ability of the Muslim Americans to engage in charitable works; a crucial religious requirement in the Islamic faith. According to the laws, transferring large sums of money to other nations by Muslims should involve verification from the law enforcement (Shah). Still, these members find much government resistance to engage in organized group contributions to help fellow Muslims in poor nations. It is worth noting that the threat posed on Muslim Americans by the war on terrorism is to be blamed for the reluctance by some members to fully commit to the faith to avoid harassment. Muslim Americans before/after 9/11 vs. Japanese Americans after WWI The relationship between the western and the Middle East has never been without conflict. However, such were not evidently affecting the social and economic aspects of Muslim American until the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 26). This was due to the perception brought to the local against the Islamic community given the damage that was caused by the attack. On the other hand, the engagement of the government in intensive efforts to combat terrorism across the global is also to be blamed for worsening the lives of Muslim Americans (Menchik, and Payam). It is worthy appreciating that the war on terrorism has so far only identified members of Islamic community as the cause of threat to the community. Indeed, this relationship current problem facing Muslim Americans can be related to that of Japanese Americans during the WWI. According to historical information, Japan was perceived as a major enemy of the United States following their attack of an American submarine in the peril harbor (Arat 67). The information indicates that this attack was the driving force to Americaââ¬â¢s entering into the Second World War. Such enmity is no doubt evident from the later use of atomic bombs against the Japanese nation by the Americans during the WWII. Conclusion It has been established that the war on terrorism has negatively affected the Muslim American community. This is because it has led to the formulation and enforcement of laws which are discriminative to suspected or perceived members of terrorist groups. In addition, these laws have led to racial profiling and encouraged arrest of individual based of the principles of guilty by association. All these contradict the fundamental constitutional and universal human rights of terrorist suspects; most of who are Muslims.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Blooms Taxonomy Cognitive Domain
Blooms Taxonomy Cognitive Domain Blooms taxonomy, created by Benjamin Bloom is an arrangement of learning objectives within the education sector for classifying and categorising levels of intellectual understanding which usually takes place in a classroom setting. Bloom Taxonomy consists of three specific domains known as: the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective. Benjamin Bloom identified a hierarchy of six various levels within the cognitive domain. The cognitive domain comprises of knowledge and the development of intellectual skills which includes the recall or recognition of procedural patterns, concepts, and specific facts which play a major role in to the development of skills and intellectual capabilities. There are six major categories in the cognitive domain which are sub-divided and put in order of sophistication based on the mental process involved, the hierarchy starts from the simplest and ranges up to the most complex. Blooms Taxonomy six level hierarchies derives around the fact that in order for an individual to reach the most difficult and complex of category they must master the simplest of the categorys before the next ones can take place. Below are the six sub-divided categories of the cognitive domain which compromise of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Knowledge is the first and lowest level in the hierarchy of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain. In the cognitive domain knowledge is accumulated by the remembrance of previously learnt material. This will involve instantly bringing up previously learnt material to ones mind. The remembrance of learnt material is considered to be the simplest category in the cognitive domain. Comprehension, the second category in the cognitive domain is defined as the ability to grasp the meaning of material. Comprehension of materials focusses on translating material from one form to another i.e. (words to numbers), by explaining, summarising or interpreting material. Particularly in a Higher educational setting comprehension is the tool which is enables students to further their studies, in order to expand one must grasp the meaning of the material he/she might be studying. These learning outcomes go beyond the simple remembrance of material, and represent the lowest level of understanding. Application in the cognitive domain is defined as the ability to apply and use previously learnt material in new situations. At this stage it is time to apply what you have learnt and understood, and apply it to novel situations or in cases in higher education exams/tests. Learning outcomes in this area require a higher level of understanding than those under comprehension. Analysis the fourth category in the cognitive domain refers to the ability to break down material into its component so that its structure may be understood. This may include the identification of various parts, and recognition of the organisational principles involved. At this level in the cognitive domain learning outcomes here represent a higher intellectual level this is mostly because it requires a higher understanding of both the content and the structural form of the material. Synthesis- at this stage in the cognitive domain we compose a structure or pattern from various elements. I.e. putting parts or segments together to form a complete whole, with high emphasis on creating a new structure. For example in a higher education setting a student might put various methods of revision to perfect or improve the chances of getting the maximum marks in their exam. Evaluation- The final and most complex category in the cognitive domain is evaluation. In this category we look upon the ability to judge the value of material. At this stage judgments are based on a certain criteria. Our Judgments may be based on internal criteria or external criteria. The learning outcome in this category is at its most highest because it contains elements from each category in the cognitive domain. Observing the six categories of the cognitive domain in Blooms Taxonomy has given me great insight of how each of these categories falls within the pathway of a programme of study in higher education. Category one (Knowledge) is not only vital part in a higher education setting, but it applies to almost any situation. Knowledge falls well within the stepping stones in higher education because to complete various tasks in a higher education setting some insight is necessary as to what tasks you may be undertaking. Category two, three and four (Comprehension, Application and Analysis) are also an essential because in order to apply material it has to be first correctly understood. For example in order for one to achieve high marks in his/her exams the syllabus has to be correctly understood before it can be applied actually in an exam. The two final and most complex categories within the cognitive domain do verily apply in a higher educational setting, this is because in life many aspe cts do not go to plan. Evaluation is critical in all tasks we may undertake in higher education. This is because in order to better something an evaluative process should ideally take place this is because at this stage in the cognitive domain you have certain set criteria as to what everything should be based on. So if your tasks do not meet your standard an evaluation process will take place as to what could be done so that this particular task meets your determined criteria. I consider myself to be at the (Application) stage in the cognitive domain, this is mostly because I can easily understand and apply the material. Plagiarism Plagiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone elses work or ideas and passing them off as ones own. There are many forms of plagiarism however the two distinct types of plagiarism are intentional and unintentional. Intentional plagiarism is when an individual understands he/she is fully plagiarising however still proceed to do so. However unintentional plagiarism is deemed as plagiarism, when an individual does not understand they are plagiarising as they may have a poor understanding of what constitutes as plagiarism, and they maybe incorrectly placing citations. There are many acts that one might constitute as plagiarism both intentional and unintentional. Below I will present a list of acts that are considered or are deemed as plagiarism. The first act of intentional plagiarism is where an individual might pay certain essay bank on the internet to complete their assignments for you. This is a serious case of intentional plagiarism; this is because hiring a company do you work. Implies that the work is practically someone elses and you had no intent of actually completing the work yourself so you deliberately plagiarised. Another act of intentional plagiarism is when an individual deliberately copies text or passages from class peers, colleagues or friends without their knowledge or consent. This is deemed to be intentional plagiarism because reproducing a piece of work which is exactly the same as another person is stealing especially without their consent. Plagiarism has been an ever increasing problem, especially due to the quick and easy access to various passages and text over the world within a click of a button. One particular act deemed as intentional plagiarism is when an individual deliberately copies a passage of text and then rearranges the word so it seems as if it his own work. This form of plagiarism is one of the most common and wide spread. One form of unintentional plagiarism is paraphrasing without citing, this is when an individual rearranges the sentence to have the same meaning however they forget to reference it accordingly. Another form of unintentional plagiarism is building on someones thoughts or ideas without correctly inserting a citation There are many various ways one can follow in order to prevent plagiarism both intentional unintentional. In order to prevent unintentional plagiarism one should correctly paraphrase and add citations correctly. Furthermore in order to prevent intentional to avoid unintentional plagiarism print screen the webpage so that even though the webpage may be removed one still has proof that the webpage existed so therefore this will prevent being accused of plagiarism. Harvard Referencing System The Harvard referencing system also known as parenthetical referencing is one form of a citation style. Referencing is a system that allows you to acknowledge your source, i.e. whenever a secondary persons ideas, theories, quotes, facts or any other evidence and information used, references have to be made to acknowledge the fact information has been used. Referencing is also used to give credit to its author and to help readers of your work to find the original source of information or ideas that you have used. Citation is used particularly in higher education and in other forms in an academic setting. Below are two examples of Harvard referencing one example is from a book and the other example is from a website: Example of Harvard Referencing of a website WILLIAMS, R., 2010. Universities and hit by industrial action [online]. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/06/cutsandclosures-middlesexuniversity [accessed 6 May 2010] Example of Harvard Referencing of a book from a single author Stevens (1996, p.2) pointed out that referencing is a skill all students should develop. Harvard Referencing slightly differs from a website to other sources. Below I will explain how the Harvard system works. If you look above at example 1 you will firstly notice the name of the author. The author is the first step in referencing the Harvard way; if the name of the author is not given then the provider of the website should be used as the substitute to the author. The following step is to now add the date, the date is usually found next to the authors name, the date is usually when the author first published his article. Once the name of the author and date has been added you now have to follow by adding the title of the website so in this case the title was Universities and hit by industrial action. If you can see above the title is in italics, the title which is used by the website should be placed in italics. The next step is to now actually add the websites URL address which in this case is http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/06/cutsandclosures-middlesexuni versity. The URL address is the actual location were you obtained the passage or text. Following the URL address, the date you viewed the website has to places in square brackets last. This ideally represents when you viewed the article in case the article is removed or edited along the way.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Stories and a White Man: An Open Letter to My Navaho Students :: Essays Papers
Stories and a White Man: An Open Letter to My Navaho Students Some of your Elders encourage you to leave the university and return to the reservation. They tell you that the university is not for you. I respect your Elders because I understand that they wish the best for you, but I cannot agree with them. Come here. Let's share a place together, here on this page, as real as Second Mesa where the wind makes its own stories and all of us must listen to the language of Crow in order to find our way home. Right now let's share a place where we wait trustingly and where storytellers are never victims because they have their stories to protect them. Let our moment together be a home of stories, and let us agree to live in a world where such a place as this one exists. My Uncle Mace was Native American. I'm not sure what nation he came from, but I understand it was one of those "civilized" tribes because unlike the Apache they did not tell jokes that ended with "White men are stupid." So White men called them "civilized." Uncle Mace told me stories. He would start with, "Now, everything I tell you is true." Then he would tell me something confusing and crazy and wonderful, something about bears or ants or giants. Some of his favorite stories were about a race of great ones who were men but did things men could not do. Anyway, I believed they were true stories, and I have to admit that I probably still do. There's a place in me where Uncle Mace still lives. My great grandfather used to take me along when he went to visit sick animals. He was a homemade veterinarian, and the farmers loved him because they never got around to paying him. His specialty was to cure bloated cattle. He would walk up beside the animal and stick a knife into its belly. Anyway, he always drank whisky as we drove along, and he always made up songs. He had a voice filtered through gravel and tar, but the songs were stories, and I believed them like the stories of my Uncle Mace. One song went something like this: When I was a young man I had long green pants. I wore them all day but they were full of ants. Sometimes at night I would wonder how he was able to get along with his green-ant pants.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Language and the Brain
Language and the brain Many people assume the physical basis of language lies in the lips, the tongue, or the ear. But deaf and mute people can also possess language fully. People who have no capacity to use their vocal cords may still be able to comprehend language and use its written forms. And human sign language, which is based on visible gesture rather than the creation of sound waves, is an infinitely creative system just like spoken forms of language.But the basis of sign language is not in the hand, just as spoken language is not based in the lips or tongue. There are many examples of aphasics who lose both the ability to write as well as to express themselves using sign-language, yet they never lose manual dexterity in other tasks, such as sipping with a straw or tying their shoes. Language is brain stuffââ¬ânot tongue, lip, ear, or hand stuff. The language organ is the mind.More specifically, the language faculty seems to be located in certain areas of theà left hemis pheric cortex in most healthy adults. A special branch of linguistics, New medical imaging techniques such asà PETà andà fMRIà have allowed researchers to generate pictures showing which areas of a living brain are active at a given time. In the past, research was primarily based on observations of loss of ability resulting from damage to thecerebral cortex.Indeed, medical imaging has represented a radical step forward for research on speech processing. Since then, a whole series of relatively large areas of the brain have been found to be involved in speech processing. In more recent research, subcortical regions (those lying below the cerebral cortex such as theà putamenà and theà caudate nucleus) as well as the pre-motor areas (BA 6) have received increased attention.It is now generally assumed that the following structures of the cerebral cortex near theà primary and secondary auditory cortexesà play a fundamental role in speech processing: * Superior temporal gyrusà (STG):à morphosyntacticà processing (anterior section), integration ofà syntacticà andà semanticà information (posterior section) * Inferior frontal gyrusà (IFG,à Brodmann areaà (BA)à 45/47): syntactic processing,à working memory * Inferior frontal gyrusà (IFG,à BA 44): syntactic processing, working memory * Middle temporal gyrusà (MTG):à lexical semanticà processing The left hemisphere is usually dominant in right-handed people, although bilateral activations are not uncommon in the area of syntactic processing. It is now accepted that the right hemisphere plays an important role in the processing of suprasegmental acoustic features likeà prosody. Most areas of speech processing develop in the second year of life in the dominant half (hemisphere) of the brain, which often (though not necessarily) corresponds to the opposite of theà dominant hand. 8 percent of right-handed people are left-hemisphere dominant, and the majority of left-hand ed people as well. What can language disorders tell us about the brain's language areas? Tourette's syndrome, which produces random and involuntary emotive reflex responses, including vocalizations This type of disorder, which often affects language use, is caused by a disfunction in the subcortex. There is no filter which prevents the slightest stimulus from producing a vocal response, sometimes of an inappropriate manner using abusive language or expletives. These words are involuntary and often the affected individual is not even aware of uttering them (like ââ¬Å"umâ⬠in many individuals) and only realizes it when video is played back.This syndrome is not so much a language disorder per se as a disorder of the filters on the adult emotional reflex systemââ¬âa kind of expletive hiccup. True language is housed in the cortex of the left hemisphere, not in the subcortical area that controls involuntary responses. Certain types of brain damage can affect language production without actually eliminating language from the brain. A stroke that damages the muscles of the vocal apparatus may leave the abstract cognitive structure of language intactââ¬âas witnessed by the fact that right hemisphere stroke victims often understand language perfectly well and write it perfectly with their right handââ¬âalthough their speech may be slurred due to lack of muscle control.We have also seen that certain disorders involving the subcortexââ¬âthe seat of involuntary emotional responseââ¬âmay have linguistic side effects, such as in some cases of Tourette's syndrome. But what happens when the areas of the brain which control language are affected directly, and the individual's abstract command of language is affected? We will see that language disorders can shed a great deal of light on the enigma of the human language instinct. SLI. One rare language disorder seems to be inborn rather than the result of damage to a previously normal brain. I have said that children are born with a natural instinct to acquire language, the so-called LAD; however, a tiny minority of babies are born with an apparent defect in this LAD.Certain families appear to have a hereditary language acquisition disorder, labeledà specific language impairment, orà SLI. Children born with this disorder usually have normal intelligence, perhaps even high intelligence, but as children they are never able to acquire language naturally and effortlessly. They are born with their window of opportunity already closed to natural language acquisition. These children grow up without succeeding in acquiring any consistent grammatical patterns. Thus, they never command any language wellââ¬âeven their native language. As children and then as adults, their speech in their native language is a catalog of random grammatical errors, such as:It's a flying birds, they are. These boy eat two cookie.John is work in the factory. These errors are random, not the set patterns o f an alternate dialect:à the next conversation the same SLI-afflicted individual might sayà This boys eats two cookies. These sentences, in fact, were uttered by a British teenager who is at the top of his class in mathematics; he is highly intelligent, just grammar blind. SLI sufferers are incapable of perfecting their skills through being taught, just as some people are incapable of being taught how to draw well or how to see certain colors. This is the best proof we have that the language instinct most children are born with is a skill quite distinct from general intelligence.Because SLI occurs in families and seems to have no environmental cause whatsoever, it is assumed to be caused by some hereditary factorââ¬âprobably a mutant, recessive gene that interferes with or impairs the LAD. The precise gene which causes SLI has yet to be located. Aphasia We know which specific areas of the left hemisphere are involved in the production and processing of particular aspects of language. And we know this primarily from the study of patients who have had damage to certain parts of the left hemispheric cortex. Damage to this area produces a condition calledà aphasia, or speech impairment (also called dysphasia in Britain). The study of language loss in a once normal brain is calledà aphasiology. Aphasia is caused by damage to the language centers of the left hemisphere in the region of theà sylvian fissure.Nearly 98% of aphasia cases can be traced to damage in theà perisylvian areaà of the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. Remember, however, that in the occasional individual language is localized elsewhere; and in children language is not yet fully localized. SUMMARY Let's sum up three important facts about language and brain. First, humans are born with the innate capacity to acquire the extremely complex, creative system of communication that we call language. We are born with aà language instinct, which Chomsky calls the LAD (language a cquisition device). This language aptitude is completely different from inborn reflex responses to stimuli as laughter, sneezing, or crying.The language instinct seems to be a uniquely human genetic endowment:à nearly all children exposed to language naturally acquire language almost as if by magic. Only in rare cases are children born without this magical ability to absorb abstract syntactic patterns from their environment. These children are said to suffer fromà Specific Language Impairment, orà SLI. It is thought that SLI is caused by a mutant gene which disrupts the LAD. The LAD itself, of course, is probably the result of the complex interaction of many genesââ¬ânot just oneââ¬âand the malfunction of some single key gene simply short-circuits the system. For example, a faulty carburetor wire may prevent an engine from running, but the engine is more than a single carburetor wire.Many thousands of genes contribute to the makeup of the human brainââ¬âmore than to any other single aspect of the human body. To isolate the specific set of genes that act as the blueprint for the language organ is something no one has even begun to do. Second, theà natural ability for acquiring language normally diminished rapidly somewhere around the age of puberty. There is aà critical ageà for acquiring fluent native language. This phenomenon seems to be connected with thelateralizationà of language in the left hemisphere of most individualsââ¬âthe hemisphere associated withà monolinear cognitionà (such as abstract reasoning and step-by step physical tasks) and not the right hemisphere, which is associated with 3D spatial acuity, artistic and musical ability.Unlike adults, children seem to be able to employ both hemispheres to acquire language. In other words, one might say that children acquire language three-dimensionally while adults must learn it two dimensionally. Third and finally, in most adultsà the language organ is the perisylvia n area of the left hemispheric cortex. Yesterday we discussed the extensive catalog of evidence that shows language is usually housed in this specific area of the brain. Only the human species uses this area for communication. The signals of animal systems of communication seem to be controlled by the subcortex, the area which in humans controls similar inborn response signals such as laughter, crying, fear, desire, etc.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Globalisation Process Essay
The business world is becoming increasingly global. As a result of this, many companies, such as Costa Coffee and Dyson, have changed their strategies in relation to the markets they target or where they produce. Does the increasingly global nature of business mean that all organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits? Justify your answer with reference to Costa Coffee, Dyson and/or other organisations that you know. Globalisation is the process by which the world is becoming progressively interconnected as a result of significantly increased trade and cultural exchange. It has also increased the production of goods and services. The biggest companies (such as McDonaldââ¬â¢s, Starbuckââ¬â¢s, Costa Coffee, Tesco, Dyson) are no longer national firms, but multinational corporations with subsidiaries in many other countries. The aim of this essay is to justify whether organisations need to change their strategies significantly to achieve higher profits as a result of the increasingly global nature of business. As a result of globalisation, the world has become a smaller place; however this is a potential benefit for companies that are looking to expand because communication, trade and travel are becoming increasingly easy. Many countries, especially the ââ¬ËBRICSââ¬â¢ economies are undergoing industrialisation, giving Western companies the cheaper infrastructure they need to expand. If the business does the market auditing efficiently and they target the right market, with the cheap infrastructure and more potential customers, there are minimal reasons why the business would not achieve higher profits. So having said that, businesses like McDonaldââ¬â¢s are a perfect example that higher profits are a result of changing their strategy to relate more to the market they target. Originating from America, McDonaldââ¬â¢s are currently market leaders in 96% of the markets they do business in; they operate in 119 countries on 6 continents, with over 33,000 restaurants worldwide, employ ing over 1.7 million people. (http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/contact_us/faq.html) They first expanded internationally when they opened in Canada in 1967. The international section of McDonaldââ¬â¢s has become increasingly more important to the companyââ¬â¢s overall success. As of this past year, non-US based restaurants account for over half of the companyââ¬â¢s $40 billion in revenues. Foreign restaurants now account for about 60% of McDonaldââ¬â¢s total profits. Since coffee has become a necessity in a personââ¬â¢s every day routine rather than a luxury, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has recognised this is an opportunity to increase their product portfolio. With the majority of McDonaldââ¬â¢s customers being business men and women, coffee is an increased purchase amongst their sales, therefore they have recently announced they will be opening up a ââ¬Å"McCafeâ⬠in the UK, having already been opened in Australia since 1993, theyââ¬â¢ll be selling a variety of coffeeââ¬â¢s other than your standard black, white, latte and cappuccino. As a consequ ence, for companies like Costa Coffee and Starbuckââ¬â¢s, this means that McDonaldââ¬â¢s will continue to add to the markets they are in and become increasingly intense competitors. So the increase use of necessities globally definitely has an impact on a businesses strategies. McDonaldââ¬â¢s have had to identify a personââ¬â¢s every day need, and cleverly made it as sort of a luxury item because itââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ënewââ¬â¢ it will be new to McDonaldââ¬â¢s. As a result of their new investment, the McCafe generates 15% more revenue than an ordinary McDonaldââ¬â¢s. On the other hand, Globalisation is proven to have had a negative effect for some other businesses such as Tesco. This is a business that has strived to expand internationally, and as a result, they struggled/failed as they couldnââ¬â¢t easily adapt to the market change. Tesco has expanded into many other countries over the years, but as the ââ¬Å"BRICSâ⬠economies are becoming increasingly attractive, an opportunity to venture into these economies seemed to be a ââ¬Ërising starââ¬â¢ for Tesco. Tescoââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ëeye on the prizeââ¬â¢ meant that they took their eyes off what made them successful in the first place- their UK stores. Ultimately, expansion into China, India and Thailand has left what was their ââ¬Ëcash cowââ¬â¢ UK stores to currently become their ââ¬Ëproblem childââ¬â¢. Losing focus on their original investments meant that they ââ¬Å"slipped behind in terms of stores, service and innovation.â⬠http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-177 67565 In addition to their struggles to maintain the success of their UK stores, focus on China, Thailand and India had a massive impact on their competitors such as Asda, Sainsburyââ¬â¢s, Lidl and Aldi. During the time that Tesco focused on the new move, it was an opportunity for its competitors to steal Tescoââ¬â¢s 30% market share ââ¬â Sainsburyââ¬â¢s brought in ââ¬Å"By Sainsburyââ¬â¢sâ⬠and Asda brought in ââ¬Å"Chosen By Youâ⬠. When Tesco realised their mistake and focused their attention on their UK stores, they invested in the ââ¬Å"Big Price Drop Flopâ⬠but the à £500m campaign only damaged their branding image, as customers thought the quality of their products had dropped. It was a clear step by step process for Tesco losing its place in the market. All of this is a result of changing their strategy by expanding overseas into a better economy, and that is a result of Globalisation. Overall, Globalisation has so far cost Tesco to invest in a new economy, invest in strategies to save their place in the market, and has now cost them a à £1bn investment making their UK stores a ââ¬Å"warmer look and feelâ⬠. Itââ¬â¢s safe to say that Gl obalisation has definitely not achieved higher profits for Tesco, only slandered them. Overall, Globalisation has effect on all businesses whether positive or negative, but it does not necessarily make them achieve higher profits due to a changed strategy. In my opinion, itââ¬â¢s not Globalisation itself that makes a business achieve higher profits, itââ¬â¢s how the business takes advantage of the situation, and there are other internal factors involved that make a business achieve increased profits. Tesco could have easily become more successful if they balanced out their investments, keeping the UK stores as a ââ¬Ëcash cowââ¬â¢ while they invested in their ââ¬Ërising starââ¬â¢ in China, and also kept their attention on their main rivals: Asda and Sainsburyââ¬â¢s. Sometimes a business does not need to change its strategy, an investment into the ââ¬ËBRICSââ¬â¢ economies could potentially mean more money is required. Having said that, some businesses already have the infrastructure they need to maintain their businesses over in the UK and it would seem moronic to expand overseas, especially if the business is maintaining profits. Although McDonalds has taken advantage of Globalisation, and used their strategy efficiently to become successful and to be as big as they are now ââ¬â they are one company in a million. They are not proof that just because they managed to successfully adapt to the market, expansion into other countries is not guaranteed success, as proven by Tesco. So no, not all businesses need to change their strategy significantly due to Globalisation, in fact, some businesses donââ¬â¢t need to change their strategy at all.
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