Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Hector J. Roman Walden University Academic Integrity and Plagiarism This paper contains the policies and expectations of the normal behavior as a student at Walden University. These are guidelines to follow not only as an online learner bur as a person. Also, will explain the prohibitions and consequences of committing plagiarism. â€Å"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. â€Å"(Albert Einstein). Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Integrity is moral behavior. When we were kids, our fathers started to teach us to talk, walk, express ourselves and how to behave.To be respectful to other people, follow the rules and always trying to do the right thing was and is a top priority. Those words and actions still have a meaning. In an academic environment, those rules apply as well. Doing wrong was and always has been punishable and, for a student pursuing a doctoral degree can be devastating. Nontraditional education like online learning or distance education can put any student in a compromising position and for that, Walden University puts a lot of emphasis on academic integrity.In the Oxford American College Dictionary, a meaning of the word integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. To acknowledge this belief is a first step that can lead to success and Walden University Student’s Handbook reassures students its importance. To be respectful and honest are fundamental ideals. Integrity should be important for all students and faculty, as well. Having integrity will help in the development of a character. In an online learning environment, even absorbing those values and ideals, can put a student in a difficult situation unconsciously or by accident.Not knowing cannot prevent you from falling short and this matter can and will lead to plagiarism. Plagiarism is copying or stealing someone else’s work and makes it your own. Walden University ’s Handbook explains it as the use of intellectual material produced by another person without acknowledging its source. Matthews and Mathews (2008) explain plagiarism as the act of taking words or ideas that someone else has written and trying to present them as one’s own. Another term to look out in that same direction is self-plagiarism.Self-plagiarism is rewriting you own work. Self-plagiarism is presented in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association as a practice of presenting one’s own previously published work as though it were new. In other is stealing intellectual property. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to acknowledge the source. When doing online research you can find a great amount of articles, websites, or electronics books about the same topic. The tendency is to think that the instructor or teacher cannot or could not find the source. That is not true.Technological resources like Turnitin or Walden Writing Centerâ€℠¢s Grammarly can give you the tools needed to prevent plagiarism and not fail. These applications are used to search any suspicious expressions. Student’s Handbook recommended to contact a faculty mentor, course instructor, or academic advisor. In other words, academic integrity and plagiarism goes hand in hand. To be aware and apply these aspects is another step that can lead you to a successful academic and working career. Also, will show you as a genuine person creative enough to contribute with quality ideas.Those same ideas will be used as a reference in the future. As a prospective author, you will want to be recognized and your thoughts used as reference, as well. References Matthews, J. , and Matthews, R. (2008). Sccessful Scientific Writing : A Step-by-step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences Success eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Oxford American College Dictionary. (2002). Copyright  © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) Wal den University Students’s Handbook retrieved from www. waldenu. edu

Poverty Is World’s Biggest Problem

Poverty is the most serious problem facing the world, according to a major worldwide poll out Sunday which put the issue well ahead of climate change, terrorism and war. Overall, 71 per cent of people named extreme poverty as the biggest global issue, compared to 64pc who cited the environment or pollution and 63pc the rising cost of food and energy. Terrorism, human rights and the spread of disease were singled out by 59pc, climate change and the state of the world economy by 58pc and war by 57pc. Even if the global recession has kept economic problems top of people’s minds this year, extreme poverty is clearly viewed as the world’s most serious global problem,† said Sam Mountford, research director for GlobeScan, which conducted the poll for the BBC World Service. â€Å"But with many other global problems seen as very serious, this represents a daunting agenda for institutions like the UN and G20 to address. † Results varied between nations. People in India and Pakistan rated terrorism as their top concern and it was also in the top three in Britain, Indonesia and Spain, which have suffered major attacks in recent years. Japan was the only country to view climate change as the most serious issue, while China ranked it second and the US ninth. More than 25,000 people in 23 countries were interviewed face-to-face, online or over the telephone for the poll, which was conducted between June and October last year.

Optimizing Pilot Planning and Training for Continental Airlines

Optimizing Pilot Planning and Training for Continental Airlines Summary Continental Airlines is the fifth largest airline based on passenger volume in United States. It provides over 1,100 daily flight services to five continents. Effective manpower planning is a key component for the success of Continental Airlines. It is essential for Airline Company to adjust its need for pilots constantly in different position in response to new market opportunities, changing passenger demand, acquisition and retirement of aircraft and training resources and evolving economic conditions.Therefore, the company collected information from several separate database systems and built the training plans by using spreadsheet. However, this development method was time consuming and complicated and the database used was not capable for training plan as it was used for more 10 years. In order for solving the complicated, large-scale pilot planning and training program and increasing the competitive advanta ge in air transportation market, Continental Airlines replaced the old database system and spreadsheets by the Crew Resource-Solver integrated decision-support system.It includes four main modules to handle staffing, vacation, planning and training. The staff-administration module and vacation-administration module maintain crew records including all current and past assignments, absences and training while the planning-optimization module and training optimization module provides information of pilot-planning and training functions (Yu, Pachon, Thengvall, Chandler and Wilson 2004). Generally, Continental Airlines uses system bid award to determine the needs of staff changing to different positions and handle the pilots’ requests to change positions.It mainly uses seniority-based rules for decision making. In an average system bid award, 15 to 20 percent of the airline’s pilots receive new positions. As long with system bid award, the Crew Resource-Solver system can bu ild the training program that establishes the timing of training, advancements, releases, and new pilot hires. The Crew Resource-Solver system includes two phase to solve the pilot training problem. The pilot-transitioning phase determines the timing of pilot transitions by using limited information about training capacities to restrict the number of pilots assigned to training.The training-class-scheduling phase produces the detailed training schedule taking as input the solution from the pilot transitioning phase. As a result, the training program contains a set of detailed training schedules including all training events for each student and each training resource. The training program must satisfy all the constraints set by Continental Airlines such as pilots training will not be assigned during their vacations and other scheduled absences. Planners are able to use system to customize the training plans by changing the objectives and options (Verbeek 1991).Analysis The main obje ctives of the Crew Resource-Solver system are: 1. The improvement of the efficiency of the training programs 2. The forecast of future airline pilots’ needs 3. The maximization of the cost savings There are a number of advantages in using the Crew-Resource Solver system. First, the system improves the airline’s processes by enhancing information sharing within the organization and by simplifying system maintenance. Second, the system enhances data integrity by eliminating duplicate data storage and automating processes.Third, the system saves time compared to the old manual approach as it can produce a complete, optimized training plan that includes both the pilot transitions and the training class schedules within an hour (Yu et al 2004). Moreover, the system increases the flexibility of the training program as it is able to customize by adjusting objectives and setting options. The Crew-Resource Solver system provides an optimal set of components that can satisfy all training program requirements. However, there are several limitations to the Crew-Resource Solver system.First, the training program constraint is based on the traditional training plan which highlights the inherent weakness of any optimization model as it relies upon sound data for accurate outputs (Sarker 2008, p. 5). Second, the potential sources of savings vary depending on different system bids. It is the fact that a bid will have no cost components associated with those activities when it is no required on new hires and pilot releases. Third, even using the system, there is a trade-off between block-hour shortages and other costs on the training plans.Therefore, when block-hour shortages cost increases, the training cost will decrease, vice versa. It is unable to decrease both block-hour shortages cost and training costs together. Finally, the final decision of the training program is not automated and requires management to select the best option for each training program. R esult The Crew Resource-Solver system is an important investment of Continental Airlines to upgrade the management of manpower-planning needs by resource optimization and operation and financial performance improvement.Based on the evidence given in the article, the Crew-Resource Solver integrated decision-support system is a successful program for Continental Airlines to achieve its above objectives. First, there are three ways for the cost savings. Training classes’ schedules become more efficiently and the number of pilots sending to training decrease. Second, there is reduction in pay-protection costs as promoting pilots in new positions in seniority order.Third, it reduces payroll costs because the system can provide the optimized training plans which can use exiting pilots more efficiently and reduce the chances to hire new pilots. In fact, many recommendations derived from the Crew Resource-Solver integrated decision-support system have already been applied and have he lped Continental Airlines to save approximately $10 million each year. Second, the integrated system have focused process improvement and improved data integrity, and it is easier to maintain than the numerous legacy systems and spreadsheet application it replaced (Yu et al 2004).References Sarker, R & Newton, C 2008, Optimization Modelling: A Practical Approach, CRC Press, Florida. Verbeek, P. (1991) Decision support systems – An Application in strategic manpower planning of airline pilots. Eur. J. Oper. Res. (55)3, 368-381 Yu, G. , Pachon, J. , Thengvall, B. , Chandler, D. & Wilson, A. (2004) Optimizing Pilot Planning and Training for Continental Airlines. Interfaces, Vol. 34, No. 4, July-August, p. 253-264

Developing an interactive secure website Research Paper

Developing an interactive secure website - Research Paper Example The extensive growth and use of the internet over the years have created and led to websites and web applications facing more threats and vulnerabilities each day. This has thus demonstrates the importance and emphasis developers and website administrators have put on web security. Web security does not only entail securing the web application only but also securing the web server and the web users as well. This article aims at explicating the various forms of threats, attacks and vulnerabilities that web applications, servers and users face.It will also show various methods of howto prevent, minimize and deal with security loopholes that attackers exploit. The importance of ensuring security of websites, web servers and the users cannot be underestimated (Braithwaite, 2002). Discussion There are various vulnerabilities that web applications and websites face. These threats range from security loopholes that are created during development, at the servers and at the user interfaces. T his discussion will mostly focus on the security of website application developed using PHP language and are SQL database driven. PHP functions Security Developing website applications using PHP is relatively easy since its syntax and semantics can easily and quickly be grasped. The buck though doesn’t stop here. It has the capability of performing diverse functions when its seamlessly and flawlessly working with HTML. The fact that it is open source and also works well with other open source tools and languages such as the MySQL database ad the Apache Server makes the most preferred web development languages for developers and very much targeted by hackers and malicious web users. Many developers, especially beginners ignore or forget the aspect of security (Shaw, 2001). It is worth noting here that even advanced developers sometimes write code that is vulnerable to attacks.PHP can work even if there are security loopholes in the coding. These loopholes are not hard to locat e in PHP and are what malicious web users look for. Although PHP offers some great features that can be used to minimize security vulnerabilities, it’s up to the developer to be able to utilize them (Braithwaite, 2002). Securing PHP applications entails limiting coding errors as much as possible. Common types of PHP security loopholes are: Error Reporting This is a PHP tool that allows diagnosis of errors and quick and easier fixing. It is also potential security vulnerability when no properly used such as when errors are publicly visible to users on-screen. It reveals a lot of information such as security loopholes in the code. Display_errors should be turned off or be appended a ‘0’ value so that errors cannot be viewed on-screen by users. If the Display_error is turned on or appended the ‘1’ value, errors will be displayed onscreen to users thus posing as a security threat that hackers can exploit. You can however opt to report errors by enabling log_errors. This is done by turning on log_errors and showing the location of the log using error_log. Register_Globals Writing PHP applications is made convenient and simpler by the use of Register_Globals. This although poses a great threat in terms of security. Register_Globals should therefore be always turned off. If turned on, users who are neither authenticated nor verified can inject variables in the application thus gaining administrative access to the application. A good example is where a user may append the value ‘?admin =1’ at the end of a page url and gain access to the sites administrative areas that might require a secure password. e.g. if(isset($_POST[‘pwd’]) && $_POST[‘pwd’] == â€Å"wxyz†) { $admin = TRUE; } If Register_Global is turned off, this kind of forced access cannot occur. Therefore, it is advisable to consider using predefined PHP variables such as $_POST, $_ENV, $_COOKIE, $_SERVER or $_GET to ensure tight se curity. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Hackers use this method to collect website’

Journal Entry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Journal Entry - Essay Example This is an area where approximately five hundred Arapahoe and Cheyenne people encamped. The attack, which took place at down caught these communities by surprise and in an odd moment where most of the men were out hunting. However, the retaliation of the Cheyanne for this attack only furthered the aggression from the side of U.S troops. Unfortunately, since this was not an organized battle field but rather an attack, the casualties were the weak in the society and not the fighters. The attack claimed the lives of about a hundred and fifty Cheyennese and Arapahos. The majority were children, women and elderly people – who were not in a position to defend themselves. The most disturbing thing in this attack is that the Cheyenne chiefs, Black Kettle and White Antelope had attempted to establish a peace treaty. For this reason, they flew an American flag as an indication of friendliness. The attack and the atrocities that followed including mutilation of the dead bod ies by the Colorado troops was an illegitimate military operation. What angers me most in this event is that such atrocities could take place while the American flag and a white flag symbolizing peace were flying high. In addition, there were no charges against Chivington and his companions despite reliable eyewitness accounts from

Psychology of Language - The Differences between Boys and Girls in Essay

Psychology of Language - The Differences between Boys and Girls in Language Development - Essay Example Their natural born, biological attributes may more important to their acquisition of language than the way they are nurtured. Chomsky believes that children have an innate ability to learn language and that this ability only needs to be triggered by verbal input from their environment. (Chomsky, 1972) Two other prevalent theories on language development in children are Piaget’s idea of cognitive constructivism and Vygotsky’s concept of social constructivism and language. Piaget suggests that language is simply one of the ways children represent the world with which they are familiar. It reflects but does not contribute to the development of thinking. Piaget believed that cognitive development precedes the development of language. (1955) Vygotsky believed that language impacts such that language is a form of social communication that gradually promotes both language itself and cognition. (1978, 1985) In general, these theories recognize that children are co-constructors in their world and that their development of language is a part of their holistic development that emerges from their cognitive, social and emotional interactions. We are now well aware that male and female brains are different. Anatomical and chemical differences begin early in development due to genetic and hormonal events and continue throughout life, but understanding these differences is difficult. We recognize the importance of considering sex differences when designing and interpreting studies, but our understanding of the differences is so unclear that interpreting the results is full of pitfalls. (Becker, J. B. et al. 2005) This is equally as true in studies of gender differences in language acquisition as elsewhere. Although much of the work on gender differences in language acquisition is speculative, some information is known. We realize that there are differences between

Money laundering and economic effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Money laundering and economic effects - Essay Example A case in point is the example of the measures put in place by the Basel Committee on Regulation and Supervisory. In this case, therefore, it becomes extremely easy for banks to have a clear check on their dealings with its counterparts and come up with appropriate solutions in cases where they detect secreted dealings. Secondly, it would be of use to regulate the manner in which organizations run their activities, so as to normalize efficiency. If the management is alert and constantly report on any forms of suspicious dealings, the entire organization will be better placed to deal with the implications of the money laundering. This will be applicable in the case of fraud such as in the instances of procurement, accounts, employment qualifications, investments amongst others. If this is applied in all organizations, a lot of money that would have landed in the hands of a few people will be saved from losses, or landing in the hands of the wrong people. The management must always be alert in the quest to make timely recognition on the crimes that might be related to crimes in the organizations and make appropriate decisions that focus on the minimizing chances of adverse effects on the economy. On another point of view, it is vital that all organizations are up to date with the novel technologies that are taking place in the globe today (Gup, 2007). This is related to putting in place rules and regulations that will change the tactics that will lead to adjusting to modern forms of money laundering. Consequently, organizations will be in a better position to adjust to the changing needs of the business related environment (Hinterseer, 2002). This is appropriate in the case of organized crimes that relate to money laundering in the society. With up to date technologies, organized crimes will be detected early enough; thus, prevent an occurrence of a crime that would be lead to terrorist activities in the globe. Conclusively, money

Lifespan development of a lower class Indian Essay

Lifespan development of a lower class Indian - Essay Example I vowed him that I won't use his name or identity in my report. He was happy to talk with me for an academic study. The man, I interviewed is a 36 year old Indian. His place is in Kerala, the Southern tip of India. He is married with one child. He is a science graduate and working in a private firm in one f the cities in Kerala. He spoke gently and soberly. His sound was smooth but masculine. His dressing pattern is quite impressive. The most visible attraction was the focus of his observations and comments. He spoke to me about his lifespan development continuously. He was some times aggressive and some times disappointed. The man was born in a farmer family in nearby rural area. His father was peasant. He did his education in a primary school in his native village and then shifted to the nearby town for higher education. So he believed that he has mix of rural and urban culture. During our interaction he talked to me about history, politics, social movements, economic situation and landscaping of his village, state and the country. He was quite sure that these things had a direct bearing on his moulding. So he told me about the political landscaping of his native place. Kerala was a highly caste based area in India. There were upper castes and lower castes. Untouchability was predominant in that society for centuries. Besides during the British colonial period, this area was under rule of Great Britain. The Travancore Kingdom was the local rulers of his area. There are also other royal groups. During King's era, people here had great obsession with Royal family. When British came, local King surrendered his power to them. He was belonged to a lower caste called Ezhavas. They were considered as touchables by the upper class and denied of educational, political and social rights. His father and mother were agricultural workers. When India got independence, Travancore prince decided to maintain his Kingdom as a stand alone country. But it was that time; the Communist movement got a considerable support in this area. Communist party had lot of influence among the agricultural workers and lower class people. His father and mother were also become part o f the movement. There was a strong rebellion against Travancore prince and hundred of people shot dead by the King's police. But by then Indian Government forcibly merged Travancore into Indian Union. After some years Kerala was created as a state of India. By that time communist movement had become a strong force in the area. In the consequent election to the state assembly, communist party was elected to rule the state. I t was the first democratically elected communist government in the world. The man, I am interviewing was naturally born to a communist family back ground and highly influenced by it. In his childhood itself, he was involved in many struggles organised by communist parties. As a member of Ezhava family, the man was also influenced by a spiritual leader, Sree Narayana Guru(Teacher). This leader was considered as the spiritual father of Ezhava community. His ideas were universe. Though he was considered as a Sanyasi (one who given up physical possessions), he was also revolutionist, who talked about industry, socialism and reform of mind. He had asked his followers to strengthen life through education and prosperity through industry. This two schools of thoughts (communism and

Australia Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Australia - Term Paper Example Due to its location, the country experiences mild winter, making the winter and summer temperatures to be almost the same (Oliver, 2005). This kind of weather is what most people find enjoyable, as the cool ocean breeze that do sweep across the land compliments it. Nevertheless, there are quite a number of beautiful landscapes such as the grassland of Queensland and mountain ranges located near Proserpine. Sydney is also famous for the Handa Opera, a masterful monumental practice held during summer that is unique to this part of the world only. The opera is a combination of various activities that include fine dining and champagne, with a stunning view of sunset from the harbor and lots of entertainment under the beautiful night sky (â€Å"Handa Opera,† 2015). The fete is characterized by a fantastic music projection through concealed speakers with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra sheltered below the stage. The country has a good number of beautiful sites that any visitor should strive to visit. A good example is the Grampians National Park. Located within Victoria at the official end of the Great Ocean Road, the park is home to marvelous indigenous rock art and angled sandstone ridges. The Fraser Island is another place that one should never fail to visit when in Australia. Being the largest island in the world, Fraser Island is gifted with lovely beaches, unique flora and fauna that are dominant in the surrounding rainforests, among others (â€Å"Work and travel Australia,† (2015). This country is definitely a favorite tourism destination that is worth marking in a travel diary. From the elegant Handa Opera to the beautiful sandy beaches of Fraser Island, Australia has more to offer that an individual will find

Technical Marketing in Engineering Research Paper

Technical Marketing in Engineering - Research Paper Example An attractive field that makes a combination of science and engineering expertise with people’s skills is that of a sales engineer. A sales engineer is a person who is professionally trained to market and sell highly technical products and services. With the field of technical marketing in place, there is high demand for sales engineers with the description of abnormal increases in employment as stated by the U.S. Department of Labor. From the lists provided for the recent graduates for a position of technical marketing by several companies. Before every detail is put down, there is a question to deal with. What particular work do specialized advertisers perform? It is a good question to get everything started. Technical marketers sell products in that the product’s installation and optimal use needs great handle from experts. In addition, they give information about the firm’s products, help the future and probable customers with their technical problems. Make design plans for the proposed machinery layouts, give an estimation on the cost savings, give recommendations on the improved materials and machinery and lastly make suggestions on the training schedules provided for the employees (Nitto, 324). In answering these questions, this report gives an analytical review of information acquired from certain professionals as well as from literature. The following analysis gives an examination in the field’s employment outlook, the required and available skills and personal qualities, the career benefits, and the disadvantages and certain entry options. Regardless of the way that promoting and deals are utilized reciprocally, the specialized showcasing is included with more deal lives up to expectations.  

The Great War career of Field Marshal Douglas Haig Essay Example for Free

The Great War career of Field Marshal Douglas Haig Essay Considered assessment of the Great War career of Field Marshal Douglas Haig. Douglas Haig was appointed as commander of the BEFs 1st Army Corps at the outbreak of World War One in 1914 with Sir John French as Commander in Chief of the British Army. By the end of 1915 it became apparent that Sir John French was ill-suited to the role and Douglas Haig replaced him as Commander-in-Chief. Haig became one of the most controversial figures in military history with tag-lines such as the butcher of the Somme and an incompetent leader being the most associated with him. His tough and decisive leadership style with apparent little compassion to the huge amounts of British deaths during World War One made him one of the most debated person in history with varying views of his leadership style. It is widely believed that Haig was unwilling to accept new ideas but stick to his traditional, military experience with reluctance to hear new ideas and recommendations. Major Desmond Morton who served as one of Haigs adjutants said He (Haig) hated being told any new information, however irrefutable, which militated against his preconceived ideas or beliefs. This reliable source that gives an insight to the leadership of Haig goes on to say that John Charteris was being a sycophant to Haig and although he was anincredibly bad head of intelligence, Haig favoured him because he was conservative of the truth and always concealed bad news, or put it in an agreeable light. This is backed up by General Sir James Marshall-Cornwall who said that One of the faults of Haigs nature was that he trusted too completely some of his immediate subordinates. This is supported by the History Learning Site who says that Haig had little time for new military ideas and was steeped in the ways that he knew-conventional tactics. His history as a cavalry commander enforces this quote of Haig sticking to what he knew best and an inability to listen to new ideas or react to a changing situation-essential characteristics of a cavalry commander. Further criticism to Haigs inability to listen to new ideas is given by Liddell Hart when he states that Haig failed in his poor receptivity of ideas. However, some people hold the view that Haig and the other generals in The Great War were receptive to new ideas and did change tactics. The BBC History site says that it is not true, as some think, that British Generals and troops simply stared uncomprehendingly at the barbed wire and trenches, in reality, the Western Front was a hotbed of innovation as the British and their allies and enemies experimented with new approaches. Whilst not directly talking about Haig, this does imply that although Haig may not have been the most experimental leader, despite this view it did not impact on the experimenting of new ideas that took place within the Army. Mike Hone would agree with this evaluation of Haig when he wrote the fact is that British tactics developed considerably during the war. The disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme resulted in huge amounts of analysis and blame put on the event with mixed interpretations. With 19,240 soldiers being killed on the first day alone it was one of the most costly battles in the history of warfare. The planning and conducting of the battle of Somme by Field Marshal Haig has also been subjected to criticism and evaluation. As Commander in Chief of the British Army, Haig is responsible for the welfare and safety of all British Soldiers and this has primarily led to the vast criticism of Haig regardless of Haigs direct actions. A Battle of the Somme timeline compiled by gommecourt.co.uk says that on the 23rd January 1916 whilst preparing for the preliminary attacks on a 20,000 yard front on the Somme to commence on 20th April, General Joseph Jaques Cesaire Joffre, Commander in Chief of the French Army suggested to Haig wearing down attacks prior to the main joint offensive starting on 20th April and the other in May. However, the source goes on to say that Haig rejects the plan. Whilst this may not be an extremely surprising quote it does present a worrying situation. Dennis Wheatley who served during the Great War wrote that He (Haig) had a rooted dislike of the French and was not even a second rate general. It presents an extremely worrying possibility that Haigs personal feelings and attitudes could have led to poor decisions and the loss of many innocent lives. The rejection of the French plan is also a further example of both his decisive leadership and his inability to listen to advice and recommendations. This also shows that Haigs planning of attacks are of an extremely dictatorial nature with a strong sense that his traditions of leadership should be withheld regardless of any interventions. Later on in this timeline, Haig replies to Joffre again on 10th April 1916 to again reject another of his ideas and on the same day, Haig received a revised plan from Rawlinson suggesting a long artillery perpetration rather than Haigs preferred hurricane bombardment. Communication during Haigs planning of the Battle of the Somme has also been under scrutiny after GHQ writes to Rawlinson that it was not clear whether his attack or that of the Second Army at Messines would start first . Both communications and Haigs decisions were disputed during the timeline of events, creating a picture of a dictatorial, private ruler who wanted to plan the British attacks by himself, using traditional methods and without any assistance, information or ideas. PW Turner and RH Haigh wrote that the planning of the Somme campaign was ham-fisted and clumsy. The fault for the failure of most of the strategic planning must fall on Haig. They hold the view that the failure in planning for the Somme was not due to communications or incorrect decisions but of national and personal pride and that Haig and his generals must have some spectacular victory to prove how right they were. The historians conclude that Haig promised victory and failed. This account holds the view that Haig was fulfilling his role of winning the war. He was a traditional leader in the sense that he was given an order (to win the war) and he was to complete that task at whatever cost. Martin Gilbert gave a somewhat more favourable view to the plan that Haig drew up. Gilbert believed that Haig made a logical plan to wear out the enemy and exhaust his reserves and then prepare for a decisive attack made with the objective of piercing the enemy lines. Gilbert the goes on to explain how Haig elaborated and made it extremely clear that it was to be a decisive account similar to his leadership. Haigs plan went on to describe that once the Germans had been worn down and used up their reserves-but not until then-a mass of troops would be thrown in at some points where the Enemy has show himself to be weak with the definite objective to break through and win victory . Gilberts view of Haigs planning is of an optimistic plan by Haig with clear and logical objectives. Norman Stone agrees with Gilbert that Haigs plan was logical but points out that Haigs information and intelligence from the Somme was flawed. Stone explains how Haig still imagined that the German line could be breached and cavalry could pour through the gap, but it could have been poured more effectively elsewhere. Stone simply explains that the solidification of the German line in 1914 along ridges allowed their guns a greater advantage and gave them the benefit of earth less likely to turn into mud. Stone concludes that the most Haig could do would be to take those ridges. Although the Brittish war industry was rapidly expanding to capabilities able to make thousands of guns and millions of shells able to launch a bombardment Haig did not trust his mens capacity, and Hereford relied on crushing bombardment. Stone points out that he believed this was probably the error in the planning of the Somme. After the catastrophic first day of the battle, questions were being asked about why to continue with the battle, why should Haig risk another 20,000 British lives? Martin Gilbert says that the Germans knew that the British would not give up. It was part of the British spirit and would not honour the 20,000 already killed to simply give up. It also didnt comply with Haigs determination to fulfil his task of winning the war. Questions regarding the planning of the battle also arose- why was the wire not cut? Why were the Germans still alive after such heavy bombardment? Was it an British failure of a German success and who should ultimately be blamed for the deaths of so many innocent soldiers? Some people like Desmond Morton believe that figures such as John Carteris who was head of intelligence was incredibly bad and sycophant nature of his relationship with Haig led to incorrect predictions that formed Haigs plans. The overestimated results of the British bombardment by British generals is extremely clear by Martin Gilberts description of what British soldiers had to carry and what they were expecting. They carried a rifle with fixed bayonet, between 170 and 220 rounds of small arms, two grenades, a waterproof cape(although it was a beautiful summers day), two sandbags, a steel helmet, two gas helmets, a pair of google against tear gas, a first aid field dressing and iodine, waterproof groundsheet, filled water bottle, haversack, mess tin, towel, shaving kit, extra socks, message book, uneaten rations, extra cheese, one preserved and one iron ration. In addition 40% would carry shovels and 10% would carry picks and one battalion was given a tin of grey paint each. This resulted in about sixty-six pounds of equipment. Historian General Edmonds wrote the weight of this equipment made it difficult t get out of a trench, impossible to move much quicker than a slow walk or to rise and lie down quickly Historian Peter Liddle agrees with this conclusion adding thousands of men offering so bulky and slow-moving a target would crumple to the ground quickly enough but would not rise at all, never mind quickly In addition to this, a planned stun tactic was used to explode mines in front of German trenches two minutes before the assault but this resulted in craters being formed allowing the Germans to occupy these craters, install machine guns and deliver devastating fire upon the British Army. The overestimation of the success of the bombardment by Haig resulted in the false expectations of British soldiers to be able to simply walk across no-mans land and create the beginning of the end of the Great War. This is evident in Martin Gilberts long list of issued equipment-40% of men carried a shovel obviously for digging trenches, 2 sandbags each to protect their trenches, rations and groundsheets to be able to stop overnight during their long advance. If the British generals had correctly estimated the effects if the bombardment, British soldiers would not have gone over the top and 20,000 lives could have been spared. Personally, I believe the initial failure of the battle of the Somme was down to the leadership and intelligence of the British generals. Soldiers trusted them for the correct information that would lead to the overall success of the battle-in reality false predictions led to the slaughter of thousands of innocent lives. Haigs continuation of the battle led to the monumental and historical introduction of the tank and the eventual victory over the Germans. The planning of the offence in Passchendaele was viewed by Stone to have made sense that Haig wanted to advance in Flanders. Stone explains that the German position was strong with height, the Messines ridge and could fire at Ypres from the side. It also allowed the British to deal with the submarine base at Zeebrugge. Stone believed that the British army was very strong with millions of shells and considerable experience with the kind of bombardment that might loosen the defence. The problem of the water table at Passchendaele resulted in near certain considerable amounts of mud whenever it rained or was churned up by shell. Although eventual success occurred following the explosion of the Messines ridge on 7th June the initial success lured the generals into disaster Disaster arose when Haig threw away the advantage. Stone says that there was an extraordinary interval before the next British attack.during which the German defences were strengthened and allowed the Germans to install pill boxes in which heavy machine-guns were placed. Therefore, it becomes clear that the initial planning of Passchendaele was extensive and proved a huge success but the resulting actions from Haig led to a catastrophic German rebound as a direct consequence of the leadership of Haig. The 21st March 1918 saw a large German bombardment starting at 4:40 am and lasted until 9:40 pm. It resulted in a million shells being fired and a British retreat over the old Somme battlefield to the French town of Amiens. Later in the year when German reserves were disrupted, Norman Stone describes how Rawlinson, Monash and Currie had to persuade Haig to not persist with the attack beyond a few days. J Rickard wrote that during the planning of the Battle of Amiens, Haig had directed General Rawlinson, to prepare for an attack on the salient. He goes on to explain that Rawlinson developed a plan fro a tank battle. Rawlinson had a multi-national army with American, Australian, Canadian and British divisions. Interestingly, Haig was also given control of the French First Army. However, Haig launched a second attack further nothing, using the Third Army. The purpose of this attack known as the battle of Bapaume, was to force the Germans back to the line of the somme. This attack began n 21 August.the British advance forced the Germans to retreat to the Somme. The battle of Amiens gives an example of times when Haigs leadership proved to be successful. Although Haig used the same methods of leadership as he did at the Somme and Passchendaele, the decisive, stubborn approach was needed here to drive the Germans back at a time when the German defence was at its weakest, the perfect cond itions for the leadership of Haig. The National Archives describe how the final German assault which started in the Spring of 1918 very nearly succeeded. The final German assault, which culminated in the Spring of 1918, very nearly succeeded. American forces were vital in holding the line but it was the British who took the lions share of territory and prisoners, no doubt in part thanks to Haigs still inspiring leadership. However, questions have now been asked as to whether Haig nearly settled for a compromise with the Germans. Nick Allen wrote for the Daily Telegraph thatHaig didnt realise how weak German forces were towards the end and wanted to settle for a compromise, according to Dr J P Harris, senior lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Dr Harris said: He wanted to offer the Germans very, very, easy ceasefire terms in late 1918.That could have left Germany with its armed forces, including its artillery, and its territorial gains in Eastern Europe intact. The end of World War One on 11th November 1818 was a result of many factors that all came together. The arrival of fresh troops from America in the summer of 1918 gave the allied forces a very large advantage. History on the Net explains how The German commander Erich Ludendorff (right) was a brilliant military commander and had won decisive victories over Russia in 1917 that led to the Russian withdrawal from the war.In 1918 he announced that if Germany was to win the war then the allies had to be defeated on the Western Front before the arrival of American troops. The British Naval Blockade led to food shortages in Germany and subsequent protests on the streets of Berlin. October 1918 saw the resignation of German commander Ludendorff and a naval mutiny. Kaiser Wilhelm II then abdicated on November 8th 1918 and an armistice was signed on November 11th 1918. The controversial leadership of Field Marshal Haig throughout the Great War is subject to so many different views and opinions by different historians, making an informed assessment on his leadership is extremely challenging. However, I do believe that the infamous catastrophic first day of the Somme was down to poor intelligence, predictions and overestimation. Men were sent to their deaths in appalling conditions whilst I do not think that Haig was solely to blame, I do believe that his distinct leadership style was not suited to the planning of the Somme and as commander in chief he does have overall responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of all men in the Army. However, his leadership style fitted the circumstances of the final year of the great war. 1918 saw circumstances requiring decisive, quick and dictatorial actions at a time when German defences were weak and rapid advancements needed to be made. Haig played an incredibly important role in the final year which ultimately led to allied victory along with the help of the fresh American soldiers. In Conclusion, I believe that Field Marshal Haig had an incredibly unique leadership style that only fitted the final phases of the war. The inability to listen to new ideas and dictatorial style during the Battles of Somme and Passchendaele I believe led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent soldiers. Poor intelligence also contributed to the immense disaster of the first day of the Somme. Whilst Haig has a duty to take responsibility forthe deaths of British soldiers I certainly believe that a number of factors contribute to both the successes and failures of the Great War and no single person or factor can take overall responsibility.

A Taste of Honey Shelagh Delaney Essay Example for Free

A Taste of Honey Shelagh Delaney Essay In A Taste of Honey Shelagh Delaney presents Jo as a young woman looking for security and love. Compare the relationships she has with Helen, her boyfriend and Geoff. To what extent does she find security and love with each? Shelagh Delaney the writer of the play A Taste of Honey was born on November 25th 1939 in Salford, England. It was in school when she saw her first play, an amateur performance of Shakespeares Othello. She was only twelve at the time, and the play made a great impression on her. When she was seventeen, she began writing A Taste of Honey as a novel but later realised that it would be better as a play so it was first performed in 1958, accepted by Joan Littlewood, a famous director of the Political Theatre who strongly believed that plays should be about ordinary people. A Taste of Honey is mainly about a young working class girl who refuses to conform to her dreary surroundings and way of life. When the play was introduced, it was rare to find any of the situations portrayed in any other plays as the circumstances of each of the characters in the play were polemic and unaccepted by a neglectful society. Keeping up the appearances was an important factor in life, and at the time public disgrace was a horrendous situation to be involved in., so it almost became a day to day struggle to keep others satisfied with a suitable personal image that no one had the right to question. People were often very prejudiced about things like origin and race, sexual inclination, promiscuity and sex before marriage. To be involved in any of those things was a serious act for concern from the family and members of the community. At the time people were very religious and strict with regards to homosexuality, promiscuity and sex before marriage, in households from the 20th century, there was rarely a laid back mentality when these situations happened in the conventional life of an ordinary person. It was very common for a youngster to be involved in any of the above, as the senior members relied on their traditional customs and philosophies and took a lot of care in their every move. Ironically this play doesnt seem very concerned with all the issues that emerge from that society, and makes it a much more rebellious and interesting play to watch. However interesting it was, not everyone agreed with the content of the play, as some reviewers confessed that this was the first play they had seen with a coloured person and a homosexual man. Jo is a 15-year old girl who seems to have been unfortunate in life due to the circumstances that we see her in at the start of the play. By the way of life she leads, we learn that she is not happy or satisfied with herself or with her only relative, her mother. She displays inappropriate behaviour for a teenager of her time, I dont owe you a thing. By saying this we learn that she has little respect for Helen and is very distant from her, she also sounds angry and frustrated because she knows she deserves much more and also because Helen has not been a proper mother to her in any way. Something else, which we are able to see from Jos lifestyle, is that she is frequently exposed by her mother, to different men coming in and out of Helens life. The best example is Peter, a close friend of Helens. This is evidently an unsuitable environment for a teenage girl, and clearly shows that Helen is not very concerned about the image she is creating in Jos mind. We can conclude that Helen is not only being a terrible example for daughter Jo, but also is offering no security in the sense of stable relationships that can benefit Jo in a good way. Helen doesnt stand firm in front of Jo and by inviting men into her house, she is loosing all sense of respect for herself and most importantly, for her daughter. Its almost like Helen and Jo are friends who take boyfriends in for intimate relationships. At the start of the play we learn that Helen has a strong drinking problem, drink, drink, drink, thats all youre fit for. You make me sick. Jo is directly affected by it, as she has to co-exist with this habit in Helens life. We know that she clearly dislikes it and mentions how her mother isnt good for anything else apart from drinking. This can represent the way Jo feels, since the time she started to realise her mothers neglectful treat you make me sick, Jos frustration has become so great that she has started to hate her mother for being such a bad parent. By mentioning thats all youre fit for Jo tells us that Helen has been a total failure in every aspect of motherhood and wasnt able to demonstrate even the smallest sign of care and affection for daughter Jo. Perhaps Helen thought that alcohol could help ease the pain of not being able to be a good parent and offer love and security to Jo. But once again we see that Helen makes the wrong choice and maybe unconsciously might not realise how much this is also affecting Jo. This drinking problem is once again an appalling example that Helen is transmitting to Jo, as she might think its acceptable to drink in order to ease the pain and attempt to sort out problems under a more relaxed but less rational approach. Some readers may think that at the point of Helens response to Jos comments about drinking, she is completely under the dominion of alcohol, and responds in a cynical way, Dont just stand there shivering; have some of this if youre so cold. My reaction to this answer was of utter amazement as I am unable to believe the extent of Helens brutality and stupidity. She has just been told by Jo how much she dislikes the habit and still persists on acting irresponsibly and offering an intoxicating drink to her underage daughter. She should have been a little more considerate and thought of a more reasonable solution to Jos request. This once again leads us to believe that Helen is offering Jo no security, or protection in any way. Unexpectedly Jo enquires about her father just as her mother is getting ready to marry peter. As she is not pleased with what her mother responds, she declares her as a liar You liar look at me. This response was obviously generated from the way Helen answered Jos question, which evidently wasnt tactful or sensitive. Until this point we learn that Jo is unaware of who her father is, and this sort of conversation appears to be a serious issue between mother and daughter. Jo seems to feel resentment towards her mother, by the way she says you liar. By hiding this important piece of information to Jo, I believe that Helen has disrespected her daughter in various aspects. Jo as being the product of an intimate relationship between Helen and the man in question is in her full right to demand respect and to know who her progenitor was. This reveals quite a lot about Helens personality, as she demonstrates cowardice at the single thought of facing her daughter and telling her the truth about her origin. When Jo says look at me, it becomes clear to us, that she has to prove or disprove her mothers honesty with a single glance at her eyes. Jo is not entirely sure of this answer and proves to us that she does not trust her mother in her honesty and actions. Helen and Jo keep an uncharacteristic relationship; because its not one of mother and daughter love neither a friendly one. They just dont seem to be able to understand each other as such and therefore have lost all mutual respect and affection, simply because Helen is far too selfish to give up her way of life to ultimately benefit her daughter and herself. Its like theyve swapped roles, Helen being the daughter and Jo being the mother, one more responsible and conscious than the other. Jo acts like an adult in many ways, as she shows a clear disapproval upon her surroundings and her mothers drinking habits, she certainly feels uncomfortable at the men coming in and out of Helens life. Youve emptied more bottles down your throat in the last few weeks than I would have thought possible. If you dont watch it, youll end up an old down-out boozer knocking back the meths Jo is warning Helen that if she isnt careful with her habits, she will be alcoholic and drinking illicit beverages meths. Jo sounds like shes disturbed by her mothers future and has a precautious tone in her voice that makes her sound like a worried mother or wife. At the start of the play, when we meet Helen and Jo, their relationship seems very weak, and doesnt seem to get any better as the play proceeds; because of this I can predict that as they dont dedicate sufficient time and effort to form stronger bonds they will not be able to progress and comprehend their individual needs and circumstances. Anyway, its your life, ruin it your own way Helen makes this very strong remark that suggests a very careless thought with regards to Jos future. She uses a common tactic that allows her to show a dignified attitude, by offering Jo sufficient freedom to ruin her future and hold her responsible for her actions, consequently saving herself from her daughters blame and pain of failing. This shows how careless she is at offering support in Jos plans ambitions and dreams. In a way this is a very sad thing to do, because not only does Jo lack financial stability, but also love and emotional security. On the other hand Jo is conscious of her mothers intentions with regards to a good life for her. Ruining my life. After all, youve had plenty of practice this blame on Helens performance as mother is quite serious and is good at describing their relationship in general. This allegation is also good to prove the fact that Helen has offered no security or love to Jo. However making matters worse Helen accepts this accusation and unconsciously hurts Jo to a deeper extent saying yes, give praise where praise is due, I always say pessimistically she responds with no hint of shame at what she has created in Jo, because of her neglectful behaviour. I dont think that during the play their relationship gets to evolve in a positive or a negative way; however Helen may start to look at Jo as a woman rather than a girl due to the consequence of her relationship with boy and her pregnancy. In act 1 scene 2 Helen leaves her daughter Jo to go and get married to Peter, which in some way helps Jos emotional state, as it is supposedly the end of a most hated cohabitation, and the start of a new independent life. I believe that this action taken by Helen was by far the best thing she has done to benefit Jo, perhaps unconsciously but for the benefit of both sides. Helen has been a bad mother because she has never been able to offer Jo pure and unconditional love, instead she has made Jos existence imperfect and complicated without a reasonable purpose. I am not trying to justify un-motherly conduct, but she probably was never prepared to facet he responsibilities of a parent. It was completely inappropriate form Helen to allow men and alcohol form a barrier between herself and daughter Jo. Nearer to the conclusion of the play Helen returns to Jo, not to rectify her mistakes but only to make matters worse for poor Jo and her baby, I feel that she came back in a mood of pity and not love for a future single mother. However she may see herself reflected on Jo, and may feel is her duty to come to aid her. I feel great sympathy for Jo at the end of the play, because it seems to me that her life is a cycle that repeats itself over and over again. She is lonely even though she is due to have a baby and has her mother with her. Sadly Helen is still an alcoholic, and is penniless just as Jo is, which will unmistakeably make the baby suffer because of the circumstances. I also feel that since Jo and Helen have avoided resolving their differences and issues, their relationship will carry on deteriorating to a greater extent, until they will not be able to interact any longer as a team or family. Boy holds a fairly important role in the play, as Shelagh Delaney may have used him in order to represent a race and a whole group of people at the time. He is a twenty year old sailor that manages to infiltrate Jos heart and lighten up her life to a certain extent, for a short period of time. The reason why Shelagh Delaney doe not provide boy with a name, is because he ends up leaving her and breaking all his made promises, of returning and marrying her. His role in the play is of a young adult who meets Jo and eventually becomes her boyfriend. He also becomes the father of her baby, even though he is not aware of this. The relationship boy has with Jo is completely different to the ones she experiences with all the other characters, this one is of love and mutual understanding. I love youbecause you are daft. I believe that the most important factor with regards to Jos feelings and other characters is that perhaps it is the first time she falls in love with someone, and is answered back in the same way. Even though buy offers love to Jo, he certainly doesnt offer much security. This is because he enjoys having fun wherever he goes and is not able to make a promise and keep it. youre the first girl who Ive met who really doesnt care this quote shows that he is someone whos had many relationships in the past, analyses different behaviours, and therefore has gained experience in the subject. I reckon that Shelagh Delaney wants to make the audience judgemental towards boy because of the way his relationship ends with Jo, and leaving to never come back. In my opinion boy only used Jo to sleep with and never really felt anything special for her, this truly shows the type f person he is. The audience may find that he is genuine and honest about his feelings but then turns out to be insincere and false, however what really damages his image to a higher extent is how he took advantage of Jos naivety and innocence. Geoff is another important character in the play, as Shelagh Delaney may have chosen him to represent the fears, hopes and dreams of a secluded group of people, who were judged by their sexual inclination. He is false a person who provides Jo with a strong friendship and some security that perhaps she took for granted. Geoff is someone who lacks self-confidence and is in desperate search for acceptance security and companionship, he wants Jo to look at him as a man with defects and expects from her as much as she receives from him. They have a peculiar relationship as Jo refers to him as a big sister or a womanly figure in the house, you are just like an old woman really. You just unfold your bed, kiss me goodnight and sing me to sleep. This kind of remark may have resulted embarrassing for him as he is a male and much older than Jo. Shelagh Delaney is very effective at revealing Geoff qualities, by telling us the large amounts of efforts he puts into Jos house and the way that he takes care of her, someones got to look after you. You cant look after yourself. You would not expect this type of behaviour from a stranger and man in a male dominating society. Another good way the reader can see the qualities in Geoff is by comparing him to Helen, who is the total opposite of her and has taken better care of Jo in a short period of time than she has. From analysing Jos and Geoff relationship we can learn that during the time they spend living together they have both been happy and able to co-exist with each other, which is something Helen and Jo were never able to achieve. However there was always this barrier between Jo and Geoff, generated by their different attitudes towards life and other issues that revolved around their respective characters. While Geoff was optimistic, Jo was fairly negative and resembled Helens personality to some extent. This factor never really allowed them to enjoy their relationship and their time together to the maximum. I think it would be best if you left this place Geoff I dont think its doing you any good being here with me all the time this tells us that Jo is being honest with him and knows about his need to experience a womans desire to prove whether his inclination towards a men is real. To some degree Jo is a little bit arrogant as she declares that she can be self-sufficient and doesnt need from Geoff to carry on living a normal life. Nobody asked you to stay here. You moved in on me, remember? If you dont like it you can get out, cant get Geoff is a maternal figure to Jo as he is making a great effort to help her out with the preparation for the coming of the baby; something Helen would be more appropriate at doing. I thought you changed. Motherhood is supposed to come natural to women he explain this which such patience and care that almost sounds like he has passed through motherhood himself. This maternal figure is very rare and distinctive in the play as he is the only in the play who offers this sort of care and guidance, despite him being a man. Geoff is nothing like Helen simply because they do not share any qualities or even defects. The only way in which he may resemble Helens behaviour is at the end of his role, when he decides to leave Jo and not rebel against Helens prejudices and power to throw him out of Jos and the babys life. just as Helen did, he ends up deserting Jo, and not thinking of the possible emotional crisis she may start to go through. At the end of the play Jo is left standing by herself lonely without anyones help and support to hep undergo the conceiving of her baby, and the rest of her life she may still have to live. The mood is quite bleak, grim and dull at this point most of the relationships between the characters have broken up. Helen has been thrown out of Peters house and longer is she able to enjoy financial stability or Peters company as a husband. I believe none of the relationships in the play were really meant to work just as much as Geoff and Jo would have never been able to coexist considering their different circumstances. Shelagh Delaney may have chosen the title A Taste of Honey because in a way all of the characters in the play find a hint of happiness for a short while, and then just as it came it quickly diminishes and becomes difficult once again. I believe that Shelagh Delaney was correct in choosing this title for the play because it is indeed a sequence of events that resemble the ups and downs in life and the way one can taste something good but then its taken away. Its never really a constant patch of happiness throughout, but a constant struggle to keep going as much as possible.

The History Of Shamanism Theology Religion Essay

The History Of Shamanism Theology Religion Essay Shamanism is a huge factor in most traditional religions, some of which include the Africans, Native Americans, many parts of Asia, as well as other cultures. Although the definition of a shaman differs from one region to the next, the general dictionary definition of a shaman is A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events. The term shaman originated in the Mongol and Turkish area and is translated literally as one who knows which connects to their knowledge of the ways to manipulate spirits and magic. With Shamanism being involved in so many different cultures, its difficult to give it just one definition, so in this paper I will go through a few of the cultures and explain their specific definition of shamanism and the different aspects involved in African traditional religions. African Shamanism There are many different aspects to African shamanism. The main definition of shamanism in Africa has a good connotation and usually involves manipulation of spirits or earthly substances to heal, direct, or do beneficial work for others. Some of the specific names of these shamans are rainmakers or heaven herders, herbalists or medicine men, and diviners. Not all people use their sources for good works, and when a shaman begins using his or her techniques for evil doings, they then acquire the name of witch or sorcerer. Such is the case in most other cultures as well. There are two distinctive traditional religions in Africa-Zulu and Yoruba. They have many similarities as well as differences. The Zulu stick mostly to the hills because of their geographical location, and in turn consider hills to have spiritual significance. Because hills have such special meaning, the Zulu build their towns, or kraals, on the hillsides in a circular formation with the gates facing east (do to significance of the sun), the herd in the center of the kraal, and the headman, known as the umnumzane, is on the west side of the kraal. The umnumzane has a lot of influence on the tribe. He holds the political, social and religious leader roles over the whole tribe, and is often a diviner. The headman of each Zulu kraal is the chief official of the village and also that person most directly responsible for the performance of the ritual acts expected of all Zulu, especially those that address the ancestors.  [1]  Besides solving disputes or making decisions within his kraal, one of the umnumzanes main roles is contact with the ancestors. He will perform all the rituals and such things to please the ancestors for everyone within his kraal. The ancestors play a huge part in Zulu beliefs and so the role of the umnumzane is very important. The people want to keep the ancestors happy so that they will continue to have good fortune in their lives. According to most African traditional religions, the ancestors do not cause misfortune, but other people do. The authority system is quite similar in the Yoruba tribes. Their political, social and religious leader is one and the same, but rather than having a settlement on a hillside where the rituals involve all of the community under one leader, the religious obligations are put on the head of the family, or the olori ebi, and that person does the communication with the ancestors, and keeps them happy and such. Each family has its own shrine. The community still gets together as a whole to perform religious ceremonies, but it is more focused on the family. Divination is used to determine solutions to problems, to depict reasons of misfortune, or even to predict the future. In the Zulu culture, diviners must be called by means of a dream or vision that is followed by aches, pains, or other bodily dysfunctions. Anyone can become a diviner, although typically women occupy the position. Once called, the person will need to be trained by an experienced diviner. The Yoruba are a bit different with their diviner. They have a priestly cast, and one part of the caste called the Orunmila specifically use divination practices to contact one particular god for answers. Like the Zulu though, the one that will become a diviner will go through extensive training from an experienced diviner. Diviners in both circumstances have many means of doing their work. They can use elements such as water, fire, bones, sticks, etc. to find their answers, and with these objects, they have created means of interpreting the signs from each. In some circumstances, the diviners will allow themselves to be in a trance that allows them to communicate with the spirits, or even be possessed by the spirits in order to find the answers for their clients, but typically the diviners are the ones manipulating the spirits and getting their knowledge rather than being used by the spirits. Once people have determined what their problem is from the diviner, they then go to a herbalist for a remedy. Herbalists could easily be translated to doctors and serve the same role in both the Zulu and Yoruba. They were trained to know well which herbs or remedies worked for the different circumstances. Part of the traditional religions is that spirits live in many of the nature elements, and so herbalists used this theology in their works as well. They would use certain plants or locations because of the spiritual elements involved, and would manipulate the spirits in such a way to cure their client. Whereas most diviners are women, most herbalists are men. Knowledge of medicine is usually handed down from father to son.  [2]  Along with the passed on knowledge, herbalists were always open to new information. This includes realistic information, as well as spiritual insights. Another form of spirit manipulation in the Zulu is the izinyanga ezulu, or heaven herders. Heaven herders are always men, and have to be called in some way by the Sky God. Their job is to control where storms and such go. They are said to be disciples of the Sky God, as well as a medium between the people and the Sky God. With cattle and agriculture being a huge part of the Zulu culture, it makes sense that the sky is handled as cattle are, and that the weather needs to be controlled for the sake of those who own raise crops to feed the people. The Yoruba hold no such position, although they do also worship a similar god with their priestly cast. They (diviners) are not the only supernaturally inspired helpers people turn to for advice. Many consuld mediums who communicate with spirits while in a trance. Some may be possessed only once or twice in their lifetime, but others claim to be in regular contact with one or more familiars that they can identify by name.  [3]  The Yoruba called these people elegun. Among the Zulu, only the diviner could do such, but the with the Yoruba, anyone could be used as a medium; they did not need to be a diviner. The Yoruba also have people that are called the egungun. The egungun are masked dancers that perform for the ancestors. They have special masks that are connected spiritually to the ancestors and are said to have great power. Only men are allowed to be egungun, with the exception of one woman, who is the director or dresser. One has to earn the title of egungun by going through a certain process. While most of those positions are very open to the public and or the good of the community, some people misuse their abilities. Such people are called witches or sorcerers. Since the peoples believe that the spirits do not cause any harm, all bad things are supposedly a result from witches and sorcerers. According to the Zulu, someone could be a witch without realizing it. Their very presence would bring misfortune to those around them. In most cases though, in both the Zulu and the Yoruba, the witches are shaman that use their talents for evil. They twist the system from using their powers mischievously. They work secretively, and usually only at nights. Although trying to differentiate between witches and sorcerers is difficult, there are a few small means of differing them. Sorcerers tend to work alone where as witches will gather together at night and work as a team. Another supposed trait of sorcerers is the ability to shape-shift. There one story of sorcerer luring a woman to fall in love with him. He offered to marry her, and on their trip back to his village the stopped for the night. During the night he transformed into a lion in order to eat her. Luckily for her, her brother did not trust the man and followed them, and proceeded to protect his sister from being eaten. Other stories tell of sorcerers taking on the form of an owl for means of escaping their house silently and unknowingly. Another supposed trait of sorcerers is their ability to use the undead. They can kill a person using their black magic, and then use the persons dead body for their own use. Witches are most often depicted as using voodoo, charms and curses. Voodoo involves acquiring a part of someone, such as a hair, nail, or something of the sort, and it is added to a certain object that the witch makes. The part of the person connects them to the witches object, and the witch is able to toy with the person in this way. Charms could be an object that has been chanted over and charged with magic. A charm could be a piece of paper with a chant written on it that could be worn, or a charm could simply be a chant itself used in moments of needed protection or other. Most often, people would get charms to protect themselves from witches curses. The last main thing that witches use is curses. Curses, hexes, spells, or whatever you may call them, have been a worry of average people for longer than history can tell. Often it is a chant said with emotion over a person to bring misfortune on them. They can be spoken in an unknown language, which is said to have more impact on th e target. Native American Shamanism Native American shamanism is similar in a lot of ways, as well as different in a lot of ways. Shamans are viewed in a good way, where their work is for the better of the community. Each nation had spiritual leaders and healers each one had different beliefs of what practices were done. The Lakota believed that their spiritual leaders were in constant communication with Wakan Tanka or The Great Spirit. Their role was to seek spiritual enlightenment and secure the tribes good graces with the spirit world. They were healers of the mind and body.  [4]  They have healers-which is the same idea as herbalists-diviners, and mediators, as well as witchcraft. Native Americans have strong ties with animals though. To the Native Americans, the medicine men are not so much magical in their works, but they are knowledgeable people who have a greater understanding and like to think. Their natural abilities make them suitable to be medicine men. Medicine men more frequently appeared in tribes that were able to be open and exchange thoughts and knowledge with other tribes. Most often fathers would pass down knowledge to their sons and so the title stayed within the family that way. The Native American divination practices differed from that of the Africans. They often used stars, and things of nature to determine the answers that were sought. Sometimes they would use a pipe, and the answers would come through their opened mind from the smoke. They still used divination in the same way as the Africans, so use the spirits to find answers for their clients. Witchcraft, although not the technical title, in the Native American tribes had a much different feel though. Rather than voodoo and curses, the Native American bad shamans worked with charms and animals. The charms again were certain made objects that had been charged with power, and were used to protect the person from evil and misfortune. The Native Americans had an interesting relationship with animals. A power animal protects you physically and provides you with emotional support, wisdom, and vital energy. Some people think a power animal is a spirit being that stays with you because it cares for you and enjoys being able to experience life in a physical body. Others think a power animal is a symbol for ones subconscious wisdom. Almost everybody has a power animal; some have several. (Perhaps you had an invisible animal friend as a child or have always been fascinated with a particular kind of animal. This animal may be your power animal.) A person may in the course of life lose contact with the power animal, thereby losing the animals protection, wisdom, and energy. If you lose contact with your power animal, you may feel dispirited, you may become sick easily, or you may be accident-prone. The shamanic healing technique of power animal retrieval can restore a persons connection to a power animal. A person can also journey to find his or her own power animal.  [5]  With this emphasis on animals, often the bad shamans could be connected shape-shifters that caused issues. The main evil in Native American beliefs was evil spirits. With a belief in the ancestor spirits and animism, the Native Americans had to always keep all the spirits happy, and misfortune was often cause by spirits, thus the need for protective charms and shared power of animal spirits. Conclusion Despite having minimal contact between these 2 cultures, it is surprising that they share such similar roles. On the other hand, this shows the nature of humans over all with paranoia of spirits and bad luck, as well as the respect for ancestors. Shamanism is a big part of both cultures, and has many different aspects to it.

Sewage Systems, Oil Spills, and Oil Fires in Iraq Essay -- Iraq Baghda

Baghdad, Iraq is located on the continent of Asia at a latitude of thirty-three degrees north and longitude of forty-four degrees east near the doldrums. The air in Iraq is typically warm and dry because it is located where air diverges between the Hadley and Ferrel cells. The climate in Iraq consists of hot and long summers that last from May to October. During the summer, temperatures regularly exceed one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. There is no rainfall and the humidity is low. The temperature begins to cool down in October. December, January, and February are the coldest months. There are occasional frosts during these months. There is also rainfall. Winters in Iraq are customarily cool and moist in comparison to the warm, dry summers.1 The rain that occurs in the winter is unpredictable and cannot be depended upon to irrigate crops. The main natural disaster in the area is flooding. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flood unpredictably at harvest time, or ri ght before the harvest time.2 This flooding ensures a continually unstable environment with fertile areas near the rivers and sub-desert areas away from the rivers. The flooding and receding rivers have changed the position of the gulf shoreline along with the fluctuation in sea level. 4 The Tigris and Euphrates rivers have a lot to do with the well being of the region in which Iraq is located. Today the Tigris River is severely polluted. Raw sewage runs throughout this river. The fertile marshlands that once existed have either been destroyed or have dried up due to human interaction. The air in Iraq is polluted due to oil fires resulting from broken oil wells. Iraq, which was famous for its state of the art medical care is now in disarray. The po... ...ulf War. London, U.K.: Greenpeace, 1991. Committee of Officials. Kingdom of Iraq: An Introduction to the Past and Present. Baltimore, MD, USA: The Lord Baltimore Press, 1964. Green, Matthew. â€Å"Languid Tigris Waters Mask Iraq ’s Pollution Menace.† Planet Ark. 13 July 2004. 10 November 2004. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/25984/story.htm. Helms, Christine Moss. Iraq: Eastern Flank of the Arab World. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute, 1984. Pollack, Susan. Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden That Never Was. New York: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1999. Recknagel, Charles. â€Å" Iraq Wetlands Disappearing.† Green Nature. 15 June 2001. 10 November 2004. http://www.greennature.com/article498.html. The Iraq Water Project. The Iraq Water Project. 1999. 10 November 2004. http://www.iraqwaterproject.com/intro.htm.

the hiding place :: essays research papers

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom is the story about the life of a woman in Holland during the German Nazi invasion and holocaust. Miss. Ten Boom tells about her childhood, helping people escape through the anti-Nazi underground, her arrest and imprisonment, and her release. As a child Miss. Ten Boom grew up in their family's watch shop with her mother, father, sisters, Nollie and Betsie, brother, Willem, and aunts, Tante Jan, Tante Anna, and Tante Bep. Her close-knit family was a very important part of her life. They worked together to keep up the house and the shop. People would always be at their house to visit, needing a place to stay, or just to hear Father read the Bible. Through her brother she met Karel, with whom she fell in love. He was a schooled man, very intelligent and cunning. Though he also had a love for Corrie, he would never court her, let alone marry her. His family arranged his marriage with a woman that had a large dowry. The rejection hurt Corrie at that young age but was soon forgotten and placed behind her. Her family was always known for helping people less fortunate. In a person's time of need, her mother always took food and a warm smile to help. Whenever a child was homeless, they could always go to the Beje for shelter. It was not a surprise, then, when Corrie and the rest of her family got involved with the anti-Nazi underground. She had been noticing that everything in her little town was changing. There were police stationed everywhere and a curfew was being set. The Germans were beginning to take control. Corrie had found out from her brother, Willem, that there were Jewish people needing a place to stay. The family decided to open the Beje to take people in, mostly until they found them a new home. Corrie found a man inside the German government to get food ration cards so they the people could eat. She also found most of the people places to stay. There were a few people that the borders would not take in, for many different reasons. Those people had the Beje as a home. There was always a threat of the German officers making a surprise inspection of their home, so the heads of the underground installed a secret room in their house.

Obstacles Toward Development :: essays research papers fc

Obstacles Toward Development In this every day changing world, many of us are living in a comfortable home, have enough food to eat, well clothed, healthy, and financially independent. All these are provided to us because we are living in a well-developed country. Others in the third world nation are not so lucky. They may have no shelter, limited food supply, and unemployed. This is because their country is not well developed like ours. Problems that stop these countries from developing are 1. Low levels of living, comprising low incomes, high inequality, poor health and inadequate education. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Low levels of productivity. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  High rates of population growth and Dependency Burdens. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  High levels of Unemployment and Underemployment. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Significant dependence on agricultural production and primary product exports. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dominance, dependence, and vulnerability in international relations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Low levels of living is one of the major obstacles toward development. Low levels of living is comprised of low incomes, high inequality, poor health and inadequate education. The gross national product (GNP) is the most commonly used measure of the overall level of economic activity. The gross domestic product (GDP) measures the total value for final use of output produced by an economy, by both residents and nonresidents. Thus GNP comprises GDP plus the differences between the income residents receive from abroad for factor services (labor and capital) fewer payments made to nonresidents who contribute to the domestic economy. Many Third World countries have a low level of per capital income, in addition there is a slower GNP growth compare to the developed nations. Secondly, many people in third world countries are unhealthy and constantly battle with disease while trying to stay alive. The infant mortality rate is very high compared to the developed countries. One reason that leads to this is that they do not have the access to safe drinking water and health service. Clean drinking water is one of the major factors necessary to avoid illness. Water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, and a wide array of serious or fatal diarrheal diseases are responsible for more than 35% of the deaths of young children Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Most of these diseases and resulting deaths can be eliminated with safe water supplies. In addition, health service is very limited in the least developed countries. It is limited in the number of doctors and beds provided for the patients. Also, all the hospitals and medical facilities are located in the urban areas. People who are not living in the urban areas will have trouble getting to hospital and use the medical facilities provide. Thirdly, many people who live in the third

Calculus

This is a take-home exam. You may consult different sources of information including but not limited to class notes, homework and/or textbook. You may also collaborate with your classmates but you must write your own solutions. It is fairly obvious when a student is Just copying the work from an external source; if I deem a solution has just been copied I may give you a warning for Academic Dishonesty (ADD for short).Solutions to some of these problems are available elsewhere, if you happen to come cross one of them you should make your best effort to understand it, then write your own using your ideas and understanding of the topics. Question: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Points: 25 20 200 Score: Please do not answer the questions in the limited space provided; use scratch paper and attach it to this cover page. Name: Signature: Page 1 of 6 Please go on to the next page†¦ Questions (10 puts) 1. I. Use Roller's theorem to prove that f x ex. root . 013 xx 2 has at most one real Hint: If has two roots (say a and b) then FAA Feb. O. What does Roller's theorem say in this situation? (1 5 puts) it. Let f be continuous on a, and differentiable on a, b . Show that there exists c a, b such that the tangent at c, FCC is parallel to the secant through a, FAA and b, Feb. . In other words, show that FAA Equation (1) is known as the Mean Value Theorem formula. Hint: Apply Roller's theorem on a, to the function G x Feb. FAA Feb. Keep in mind that a, FAA , b and Feb. are constants. 2.True or false. (5 puts) I. Iffy O, f is neither concave up nor concave down around x a. I. It. If is continuous on a, b and c iii. If f is continuous but not necessarily differentiable on O, then the absolute maximum and the absolute minimum off exist. V. If f is differentiable on a, b then it is also continuous on a, b and the absolute maximum and absolute minimum exist. V. If x a corresponds to an inflection point off , then f ii a around x a. A, b is a local maximizes then fix O. O and f ii x changes sign 3.Henry is pulling on a rope that passes through a pulley on a MM t pole and is attached to a wagon. Assume that the rope is attached to a loop on the wagon 2 Ft off the ground. Let x be the distance between the loop and the pole (see figure 1). (10 puts) I. Find a formula for the speed of the wagon in terms of x and the rate at which Henry lulls the rope. We say that x a is a root (or is a zero) off x , if FAA O. We say thatch is a local maximizes if f c is a local maximum. Page 2 of 6 Henry Figure 1: Henry pulling the wagon from problem 3. 10 puts) it. Find the speed of the wagon when it is 12 Ft from the pole, assuming that Henry pulls the rope at a rate of 1. 5 Ft sec. (25 puts) 4. Olav Adagio -a former student of mine- was asked to sketch the graph of a function. Unfortunately Olav often forgets things. Luckily for you, he wrote down some statements. Regarding the function f x , he wrote: * It is only defined on , and it is continuous. * It is strictly positive, e xcept at x 2 and x O where its value is zero. *f 2 2, f 3 1, and f 4 1. 1 when x O.Regarding if x , he wrote: XSL * On the interval (-2, 1) it exists only at those points where g x is well defined. Moreover, it is positive when g is positive; negative when g is negative; and zero when g is zero. * On the interval (1,2) it is identically equal to zero. * On the interval (2,4) it is negative. Lastly, regarding f ii x , he wrote: * On (-2, 1) it exists whenever h x signs on this interval. Is well defined. They also have opposite On (2,4) it changes sign from negative to positive at x 3. Help Olav sketch the graph off .Make sure to clearly identify the local and global extreme as well as the inflection points. 5. A piece of wire 24 CM long is given to you. You can choose to either cut it into two pieces or leave it the way it is. If you decide to cut it, one piece must be bent into the Page 3 of 6 shape of a square, while the remaining one must be bent into the shape of a circle. If you decide not to cut it, you can bend it into either shape. (5 puts) I. Denoting by x the length of the piece of the wire that will be bent into the shape of circle, obtain an expression for the area enclosed by the wire.Make sure that the formula works regardless of whether or not the wire is bent into one or two pieces. (20 puts) it. Find the maximum area that can be enclosed by the wire. Explain how this area can be obtained by specifying the dimensions (ii. , length of sides and/or radius) of the objects to be constructed. The following facts might come in handy: If a square has perimeter.

Financial Management Essay

The required rate of return is rs = 10. 1%, and the constant growth rate is g = 4. 0%. What is the current stock price? a. $23. 11b. $23. 70c. $24. 31d. $24. 93e. $25. 57e 8- Ratio analysis involves analyzing financial statements in order to appraise a firm’s financial position and strength. | | | a. | True| b. | FalseA| 9- Profitability ratios show the combined effects of liquidity, asset management, and debt management on operating results. | | | a. | True| b. | False| A 10 – One problem with ratio analysis is that relationships can be manipulated. For example, if our current ratio is greater than 1. , then borrowing on a short-term basis and using the funds to build up our cash account would cause the current ratio to increase. | | | a. | True| b. | False| B| | 11 – Arshadi Corp. ‘s sales last year were $52,000, and its total assets were $22,000. What was its total assets turnover ratio? | | | a. | 2. 03| b. | 2. 13| c. | 2. 25| d. | 2. 36| e. | 2. 48| D 12 – Rappaport Corp. ‘s sales last year were $320,000, and its net income after taxes was $23,000. What was its profit margin on sales? c| | | a. | 6. 49%| b. | 6. 83%| c. | 7. 19%| d. | 7. 55%| e. | 7. 92%| 3 – The first, and most critical, step in constructing a set of forecasted financial statements is the sales forecast. a. Trueb. Falsea| 14- According to the Capital Asset Pricing Model, investors are primarily concerned with portfolio risk, not the risks of individual stocks held in isolation. Thus, the relevant risk of a stock is the stock’s contribution to the riskiness of a well-diversified portfolio. a. True b. False a 18 – Diversification will normally reduce the riskiness of a portfolio of stocks. a. True b. False 19- If the returns of two firms are negatively correlated, then one of them must have a negative beta. . True b. False a 20 – Which of the following statements best describes what you should expect if you randomly select stocks and add them to your portfolio? a. Adding more such stocks will reduce the portfolio’s unsystematic, or diversifiable, risk. b. Adding more such stocks will increase the portfolio’s expected rate of return. c. Adding more such stocks will reduce the portfolio’s beta coefficient and thus its systematic risk. d. Adding more such stocks will have no effect on the portfolio’s risk. e. Adding more such stocks will reduce the portfolio’s market risk but not its unsystematic risk. A

The Investigation of the Controlled and the Automatic Processes Employing the Stroop Effect Experiment.

The investigation of the controlled and the automatic processes employing the Stroop effect experiment. Abstract The interference between the controlled and the automatic processes was observed in the Stroop effect type experiment using two different conditions. The original Stroop effect experiment concluded that the participants will find it more difficult to complete the reading task of the words related to colour meaning in comparison to the reading task of non-colour related words. The result of Stroop experiment supported the notion that control and automatic processes can obstruct each other in certain tasks.In the current experiment, the two conditions in reading task were modified to make them look more visually similar. The result indicated that despite of visual similarities, the automatic processes interfered with control processes due to the colour related properties of the words in Stroop condition. Introduction The large quantity of information we come across in our ev eryday life is staggering. It is very hard to understand how much of this information is taken in and how much of the information just pass by. It is up to cognitive processes to decide how much and to what extent the information is accepted for further processing.This selection process has been identified as attention. All of the above is indicating that our brain is not capable to process all the information available to us therefore attentional processes are required. Various theories were devised to clarify and explain the process of selection, such as a limited – capacity theory of Kahneman or bottleneck theory of attention by Broadbent (as cited in Edgar, 2007) However how much of this process are we aware of? Can we influence how much of the information is taken in or is it our subconscious which is in control?The attentional processes are divided between conscious – control processes and subconscious – automatic processes. Even though both processes oper ate in very different ways, they both can work simultaneously and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The control process is conscious, therefore easy to control, however it is using a large amount of the processing resources. Based on the experiments conducted by Schneider and Shiffrin (as cited in Edgar, 2007), it is assumed that automatic processed are not using up attentional resources as no conscious awareness is employed.The most famous experiment demonstrating the interference between the control and automatic processes was carried out by Stroop (1935). In the original Stroop experiment the participants were presented with a list of words printed in different coloured ink. In the first list, the words were names of colour printed in ink which never matched with the name of the colour – Stroop condition. Second list was containing a colour-neutral words. The participants were asked to read the name of the colour of the ink instead of the word itself. The findi ng was that in the colour-neutral words, the participants completed the task without difficulties.However, in the Stroop condition the participants found it more difficult as they were trying to prevent responding with the name of the colour rather than the colour of the ink. (as cited in Edgar, 2007) The experiment above is demonstrating one of the disadvantages of the automatic processes. Even though the automatic processes are not using up our precious attentional resources, they can interfere with the control processes as we are not able to just turn them off. To test this theory further a present experiment was created using both the Stroop condition model and the control condition.However, the Stroop condition was modified to include the colour-related words rather than the names of the colour. The words used were such as blood or carrot with strong relation to the certain colour. The words were printed in the colour ink not matching with the colour related to the word. Even t hough the control condition contained the non-related colour words, the words were visually very similar to the words in Stroop condition. The research hypothesis was that as in Stroop condition the participants will find it more difficult to read colour-related words. This is one-tailed hypothesis.The null hypothesis was that there wouldn’t be any difference in time taken to complete reading task of each list. Method Section Design The design employed in the experiment is a within-participants design. The independent variable was a reading task of the colour of the words printed on the list provided. The independent variable had two conditions, the Stroop condition and control condition. The Stroop condition contained the colour-related words printed in incompatible colour ink with the word and the control condition contained non-colour related words printed in various colour inks.The word list in the Stroop condition had 5 words repeatedly printed in incompatible ink with t he word. The words in the control list were matched to the word list in Stroop condition to contain the exact same number of letters of each matched word. The word order and well as the colour order was matched exactly in the both lists. The dependent variable was the time measure to complete the reading task of each list. The measurement was complete in seconds by the researcher using a stopwatch and it was recorded to the nearest second. The participants were given the task individually in order to limit any confounding variables.Participants The twenty participants joined in this experiment were current students at the Open University and their friends and family members. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 69 and there were 12 females and 8 male participants. Materials The two visual stimuli were presented to each participant on A4 sheet paper in colour containing 30 words divided into two columns of 15 words. A stimuli for the Stroop condition contained 5 colours-rela ted words printed in incompatible ink with the word. The six colours used were red, yellow, green, orange, purple and blue.The words used in the Stroop condition were blood, lemon, grass, carrot, plum, sky. A stimuli for the control condition contained exact same number of word and same colours were used. The words matched with the Stroop condition. The words used have the exact same number of letters, they stared with the same first letters and they visually resembled the words in the Stroop condition. The words used in the control condition were blame, ledge, grade, carrer, plan, sty. Each word was repeated 6 times on each sheet. Both lists are included in Appendix 1.The standard instruction (included in Appendix 2) printed on A4 paper were read to the participants. The consent form (included in Appendix 3) was supplied to participants to sign. The data were recorded to the nearest second and logged on the response sheet. A stopwatch was employed to record reading time accurately. Procedure Each participant was approached and asked if they will be willing to take part in a cognitive psychology experiment with a focus on controlled and automatic processing of information. All participants were explained a basic of the experiment and asked to sign a consent form.All participants were tested individually. The age and sex of the participants were recorded prior to the start of the experiment. The full instructions were read to the participants and it was made sure that it was clear before proceeding. (Appendix 2: Instructions) All participants received the same instruction. Both lists were presented as A4 print out in coloured ink. Both lists were presented separately to the participants, only few seconds before asking the participant to read the colour of the words aloud. The first list to read was the Stroop condition list followed by a control condition list.With every other participants the order of the presentation of the list was switched around. Full expe riment took approximately minutes with each participant. The reading of each condition was recorded separately using an accurate stopwatch. The results were recorded on the response sheet. After the experiment the participants were informed about the hypothesis of experiment and explained the differences between the both conditions. Result The research hypothesis in this experiment was that participants will take longer to complete the Stroop condition.The time to read through the full list of each condition individually was recorded to the nearest second. As Table 1 is indicated, the mean response time of Stroop condition is 2. 65 seconds slower than the mean response in the control condition. The paired sample t-test was carried out using these data obtaining following result. The difference between these conditions is statically significant (t(19)=3. 933, p=0. 002, d=0. 44) Based on the information above the null hypothesis was rejected and the experimental hypothesis accepted. T able 1Mean and standard deviation of response time in secondsConditionMean response time (In seconds)Standard deviation Experiment (Stroop) condition23. 606. 533 Control condition 20. 955. 520 Discussion The result of the experiment above proved that despite of using colour-related words, rather than the name of the colour as per original Stroop experiment, the findings were similar. The participants found it more difficult to read the colour-related words printed in colour which didn’t match the visual perception of the certain word. The participants tried to avoid reading the colour of the word associated with particular word therefore this reading task took longer.Even though, the neutral words looked visual similar, and they were recorded in exact same colour order, the participants completed this reading task more quickly due to the lack of the meaning of the words and no relation to the specific colour. Therefore, in the control condition, only automatic processes were activated and there was no interference with the control processes and as a result the participants found this task easier. The control and automatic processes can interfere with each other doing certain tasks. Specifically, the automatic process of reading was interfering with controlled process of naming the colour of the ink.Nevertheless, the current experiment was conducted with only twenty participants. There is a possibility that if the experiment was conducted with much bigger sample the results may not be as conclusive. Especially , as further experiments indicated, the automatic processes can be influenced by individual strategies. To imply this notion to the Stroop experiment, it has been found that just by focusing on the first letter of each word, the automatic processes – the Stroop effect can be reduced. (as cited in Edgar, 2007) This would imply that automatic processes are not completely free and unconscious as previously suggested.In addition, the automatic a nd controlled processes are not completely fixed. For example, reading was controlled process before it was learned and became control process. This observation suggests that the relationship between the controlled and automatic processes is on continuum and can evolve with time. Gopher (1993) proposes that attentional skill can be learned to a certain extent depending on the situation or internal motivation. (as cited in Edgar, 2007) In conclusion, the result of the experiment is supporting the notion that the control processes can interfere with the automatic processes when trying to complete certain tasks.However, further experiments in this specific field would have to be conducted to determine the full extent of automatic responses and their relation to the control processes. References Edgard, G. (2007) Perception and attention, In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds. ), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed. , pp. 3-50). Milton Keynes: The Open University Appendices: Appendix 1: Word lists containing experimental and control condition (not included) Appendix 2: Instructions (not included) Appendix 3: Consent Form (not included) Appendix 4: Raw data Appendix 5: SPSS print-out of t-test