Saturday, March 28, 2020

Andrew Carnegie Essay Example

Andrew Carnegie Essay Example Andrew Carnegie Essay Andrew Carnegie Essay The rise of capitalist economy was characterised by development and chance. Opportunities. if taken at the opportunity. enabled work forces to entree wealth. Andrew Carnegie is the perfect illustration of an enterpriser and adult male who built the roots of American substructure. He can besides lived the perfect’ American dream. He has a typical rags to riches’ narrative. which makes him a historical icon and an admirable adult male. Carnegie is known to hold built a luck on steel. However. the ways in which he made money could be considered an maltreatment to moralss and moral rights. Toward the terminal of his life. Carnegie decided to utilize his wealth for the greater good of the community and encouraged acquisition. For the above grounds. he can be considered as a robber baron. but I believed that he besides worked for the greater good of human nature. Carnegie was able to take chances to make a huge luck. He came from perfectly nil. but is known as a captain of industry. He monopolised wealth. conveyance and substructure. He was born in Scotland in 1835. His household migrated to America in 1848 when he was 13. As a immature male child. he worked in a cotton mill in Pittsburgh. He did non hold many old ages of schooling nor accompanied university but he became the richest adult male on the planet during the industrial revolution. In this sense. he is the embodiment of the American Dream. One of Carnegie’s expressions ; The foremost adult male gets the oyster. the 2nd gets the shell explains his calling to the full. Carnegie had the ability to place and prehend chances. to anticipate what would go on to industries and to take hazards. He besides stated that ; people who are unable to actuate themselves must be content with averageness no affair how impressive their other talents demo his ambition. Carnegie was non content with platitude. His ability to prehend chances and invest in them helped greatly his calling. He saw possible in cabling and conveyance. While he was working in the railway industry. in 1859. he saw a connexion between steel and substructure. Carnegie grabbed the chance and created a successful steel company. a great illustration of capitalist development. Carnegie’s steel company. Carnegie Steel. which opened near Pittsburgh in the 1870s. is an illustration development during the rise of capitalist economy. Carnegie created employment. The manner he ran his company can be believed to be an maltreatment of work force and human capacities. His workplace was similar to modern twenty-four hours sweatshops. He made work forces work hard. They had long hours. twelve hours per twenty-four hours. six yearss per hebdomad. in highly hapless working conditions. Because steel was in demand at the clip. due to the promotions in steam engines. Carnegie decided to maintain costs low to pull more people. However that meant that he kept his workers’ rewards low every bit good. This resulted in violent labor work stoppage in 1892. Carnegie ever preached for rights of workers and brotherhoods. However his actions did non fit his rhetoric. A major work stoppage at Carnegie Steel was a clang between capitalist economy and workers’ brotherhoods. It was bloody and violent. It lasted five month. During that clip Carnegie went to Scotland and left the company’s general director. Henry Clay Frick in charge. 300 Pinkerton armed guards were posted around the mill and 10 work forces were killed. Carnegie’s merely manner out of this quandary was to sell his mill. He sold it to J. Pier Morgan. for $ 480 million. in 1901. Andrew Carnegie turned his calling from capitalist economy to philanthropy. When Carnegie sold his steel company to Morgan. he became the richest adult male on earth . said Morgan the twenty-four hours he bought the company. In 1889. Carnegie had published an essay. in which he stated that. the rich have a moral duty to administer their money in ways to advance the public assistance and felicity of the common man . He besides said that. the adult male who dies rich therefore dies disgraced . During his life he gave off more than $ 350 1000000s. Carnegie supported instruction and reading. He donated money to 2500 libraries around the universe. The peculiar thing about Carnegie’s altruist calling is that he did non merely desire to assist people ; he wanted to assist others assist themselves. He gave away his money for the betterment of world. For illustration. giving money off to libraries alternatively of people allowed mankind educate themselves. Consequently. instruction became easier to entree for everyone. Carnegie became one of the most celebrated altruists. a complete antonym to the adult male whom exploited people in his mill. Andrew Carnegie was both a robber baron and a altruist. In my sentiment. he worked for the greater good of human nature. He was a adult male who took chances to do his calling. every bit good as giving other chances. Even though he exploited people. and the on the job conditions in his steel mill are an illustration of that. he offered them occupations. and a manner to do money for their households. I agree that in the terminal he helped others to assist themselves . His monolithic contribution of $ 350 1000000s shows his alteration of bosom towards the terminal of his life. As Carnegie. grew up in a hapless societal category. I believe that he wanted to give others similar chances as he strived for. Giving them a opportunity for instruction and free entree to libraries. The 1000000s of dollars that he donated gave others a opportunity to better their lives. I believe that Andrew Carnegie is a adult male to be remembered as one whom sought better world.

Saturday, March 7, 2020

How to Make a Cake for Chocolate Lovers Essay Example

How to Make a Cake for Chocolate Lovers Essay Example How to Make a Cake for Chocolate Lovers Essay How to Make a Cake for Chocolate Lovers Essay Essay Topic: Like Water for Chocolate There are so many different kinds of cakes that my mom makes and this is one of our favorite. She only makes this cake every once in a while. She found it on a site called easy-cake-ideas. com when she wanted to surprise my aunt on her birthday. This cake is truly therapy on a fork. If you have a friend in need of some TLC you couldn’t find a better pick-me-up than this. This cake is good for parties but be careful with hyper kids. It’s definitely only for serious chocoholics like my siblings and step dad. To start, you need to gather the following ingredients: 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped 3 ? sticks of butter 1 cup cocoa powder (Dutch processed) 2 ? cups granulated sugar 8 large eggs 2/3 cup sour cream [pic] 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract [pic] 1 cup all-purpose flour [pic] ? teaspoon salt [pic] 1 ? cups good quality chocolate chips[pic] Here’s what you do: 1. Preheat oven to 325 ° F and prepare cake pans by buttering and flouring the sides (with cocoa powder) and lining bottom of pan with a wax paper 2. Sift the flour and salt together on to a piece of parchment or wax paper. 3. Heat the chopped chocolate and butter, in a microwave safe dish, on high for 1 minute intervals until melted. Stir after each minute. 4. Transfer to your mixer bowl and mix in the cocoa powder and sugar on low speed until well blended. 5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. 6. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix well. 7. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just blended. 8. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand. 9. Pour 1/3 of the batter into one pan and 2/3 into the other and bake. Start checking the pans after 30 minutes and every 10 minutes after that, until a cake tester comes out clean. 10. Cool in pan for 15 minutes then turn out onto rack and cool completely. 11. When its cool, you can set it up in the plate While that is being made you should make your own butter cream frosting. My mom makes the frosting for the cakes and it’s really good†¦ SOMETIMES it even better than the store bought kind(. You will love it! I hope. You can decorate it beautifully by buying a cake decorating bag and with different nozzles to do different shapes. For the frosting you need: 2 pound bag of powdered sugar 1 cup milk or water ? teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon Vanilla 2 sticks butter, cut into ? inch slices 2 ? cups shortening (not butter flavor) The icing is made by following these steps: 1. Using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, mix the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk or water at low speed until smooth and creamy. 2. add butter, one slice at a time, until incorporated 3. add shortening and whip at highest speed 10-12 minutes, until almost doubled in volume

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Sea level rise in the Mediterranean Sea and Mallorca Island Essay

Sea level rise in the Mediterranean Sea and Mallorca Island - Essay Example The answers to these questions can be given in a twofold criteria and include the change in the estuarine geodatum caused as a result of the flow of melt water from the glaciated lands across the globe into the sea. Consequently, thermal expansion of the upper layers of the sea water caused by the decrease in water density due to its warming leading to the rise in the sea levels (Szabados, 2002). The occurrences of these situations within the earth’s geographical landscape usually lead to varied rise in the sea levels in some areas and a fall in certain areas. Another cause for the changes in the level of the seawater is the rising or uplifting of the lands close to the sea. This often causes the decline in sea levels in some regions though to a limited extent. Sea level rise is of recent times has resulted in very great concern to the global community as environmental conservation issues is a global phenomenon and is of global concern. According to the statistics taken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) using the satellite images, the global sea levels have been rising tenderly at an average rate of about 3mm per year from 1993 to 2007 (IPCC, 2007). This report highlights the various effects of the continued rise in sea level within the global context. This report will also look at the changes in the sea level in the Mallorca and the Mediterranean regions of the world, their causes and consequences on the adjacent lands as well as the extent of the influences on the coastal communities around the mentioned areas. Mallorca is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain that has been characterized by a number of notable cases of sea level change. Studies by Jeffrey Dorale shows that the sea level was about one meter above the levels that reached 81000 years ago indicating a positive deviation in the in the level of the sea waters. The rise in the levels as he argues is brought about by the rapid melting of ice aroun d the globe. The ice water consequently finds its way into the sea thereby raising the water levels by about one meter for every fifty years (Jieffrey, 2010). The observable results of this rise in the levels of the Mediterranean Sea are seen as a spillover effect in the communities surrounding the sea. Most of the communities that were once living closer to the sea have retreated by about sixty miles away from the coastline as much of the land has been submerged under the seawaters. Moreover, Barnetti (2005) argues that the formally dry lands adjacent to the Mediterranean regions have now been covered under water thereby continuously diminishing the amount of cultivatable lands in these regions and the consequent migration of people out of these areas (Barnetti, 2005). Geography has evolved as a more organized subject of study that uses different methodological approaches in understanding various observed geographical phenomena. On one hand, physical geography adopts a scientific a nd rational approach while on the other hand human geography relies heavily on descriptive techniques in examining the relationship between complex human factors and their influence on geographical environment. The scientific approach has been adopted widely in the study of physical geography based on observation, precise scientific experience and sound precision and measurements of the geographical phenomena. As such, the Mediterranean region has been experiencing constant shifts in its climatic characteristics contributed mostly by the wide variation in the

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

GoodWill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

GoodWill - Essay Example Life skills training and counseling, elements of GoodWills core services, help to prepare individuals for the demands of the workplace. Many GoodWill agencies also provide assistive technology devices and training to eliminate barriers for people with disabilities such as vision or hearing impairment and paralysis. (Lysecki 2005) The organization serves individuals with physical, mental and emotional disabilities, as well as those with disadvantages such as welfare dependency, illiteracy, homelessness or lack of work experience. In 2000, the agency began implementing a $20 (m) million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide training and support to place welfare-to-work recipients in temporary Census and permanent community jobs. So far, GoodWill has exceeded the goals of the project, serving 15,175 participants and placing 5,180 of these in competitive employment. GoodWill also established national partnerships with Bank of America and CVS/pharmacy to recruit and train individuals for a variety of jobs at these companies. GoodWill placed 77,895 individuals with disabilities and other disadvantages in competitive jobs; they earned $973.4 (m) million in salaries and wages. "We want to make sure that we are helping people develop a lifelong career plan through education and career development opportunities," says Samuel W. Cox, Interim President and CEO of GoodWill Industries International. "We have the flexibility to meet the needs of the individuals while meeting the needs of employers. Our efforts boil down to building lives, families and communities one person and one job at a time." Over 42 (m) million people donated clothing, household goods, computers, cars, and other items to GoodWill, generating $941.1 (m) million in revenues for GoodWill programs. GoodWill sells its donations in 1,869 retail stores across North America and on its Internet auction site, shopGoodWill.com. GoodWills retail stores earn more than 50 percent of

Monday, January 27, 2020

Time Value Analysis And The Attractiveness Of Alternative Investments Finance Essay

Time Value Analysis And The Attractiveness Of Alternative Investments Finance Essay Time value analysis The time value analysis can provide the healthcare manager with the necessary information to make important decisions concerning financial strategies. The calculations of future cash flows at specific times are used to determine the attractiveness of alternative investments. The major limitation of the time value analysis is that a small change in cash flow may result in a distorted assessment of a potential investment. Incremental cash flows should be estimated with great care to consider only those that could change if a project or investment is accepted. The time value analysis of the Pensacola Surgery Centers will explore the companys investment opportunities. The company has $50,000 in cash to invest in marketable securities. The option to invest in a bank certificate of deposit (CD) that return interest after 6 months to five years. The earned interest would be reinvested at its maturity date. The future value of a one year CD that pays 10 percent annual interest will total $55,000 at maturity (Table 1). The future value of a one year CD that pays 5 percent or 15 percent will total $52,500 and 57,500 respectively. The other considerations are the banks procedure of compounding the interest. The BankSouth offers a one year CD at 10 percent interest that is compounded semi-annually. This effective annual rate of 10.25 percent will yield a higher total of $55,125 that the annual CD. The Bank of America offers a 10 percent Certificate of Deposit (CD) $50,0000 Investment 10% Annual Interest 10% Semi-Annual Interest (10.25% effective) 10% Daily Interest (10.52% effective) 1-Year CD $55,000.00 $55,125.00 $55,257.79 5-Year CD $80,525.50 $81,444.73 $82,430.42 Table 1: Certificate of Deposit Summary. CD that compounds daily. This results in a higher yield of $55,258 with an effective annual rate of 10.52 percent. The BankSouth will likely offer a competitive rate on its semi-annual compounding CD of 10.3 percent to yield a total of $55,283. The effective annual rate becomes 10.57 percent. The Pensacola Surgery Centers can place $50,000 cash in a five year CD, and have the potential to significantly increase the earned interest. This will not allow other investments to utilize these funds during this five year period. The five year CD with interest compounded annually yields $80,525. The semi-annual interest CD totals $81,144.73, and the daily interest CD yields $82.430. The surgery clinic has the financial goal of having $200,000 available for the purchase of a patient billing system in five years. If the clinic invested a lump sum in a one year CD with 10 percent annual interest, it would need to deposit $124,184.26 today. Another choice would require the deposit of $100,000 in a five year CD with an annual 15 percent interest to result in the necessary $200,000 in funds. The Pensacola Surgery Center may consider the option of an ordinary annuity to build the funds necessary for the computer application. The ability to make yearly payments to the account rather than an initial lump sum will decrease the amount of cash flow deterred from other investment opportunities. If five annual payments of $32,000 are paid at the end of each year, the present value result is $121,305 with an annual opportunity cost of 10 percent. The increase to $138,543 will result if the interest is compounded semi-annually. The future value of the annuity that pays 10 percent interest annually is $195,363, and decreased to $176,820 if compounded semi-annually. The annual interest necessary to accumulate the necessary $200,000, by making the $32,000 yearly payments, is 11 percent. Alternatively, the annual payment of $32,759.50 with 10 percent interest is needed to reach the $200,000 in funds. If the payments are changed to $16,000 every six months, starting six months from tod ay, the future value would total $254,999 with 10 percent annual interest (Table 2). The future value of the payments with 10 percent interest compounded semi-annually yields $201,246. The $16,000 semi-annual payment schedule will accumulate the necessary funds for the capital expenditure. Annuities $16,000 Semi-Annual Payments Future Value 10 % Annual Interest Future Value 10% Semi-Annual Interest Ordinary Annuity $254,998.79 $201,246.28 Annuity Due $280,498.67 $211,308.59 Table 2: Future Value of Annuities Summary. The annuity due type is when the payments are made at the beginning of the period. This type of annuity will result in the maturity one period past the final payment. The present value of the same five annual $32,000 payments will yield $133,436 with an opportunity cost of 10 percent annually. The utilization of a 10 percent semi-annual interest rate will result in $145,470. The future value of the annuity if 10 percent annual interest is paid yields $214,899, and with 10 percent semi-annually the result is decreased to $185,661. The annual interest rate of 8 percent is needed to accumulate the required $200,000 funds with the yearly $32,000 payments. The reduced yearly payment of $29,781 is needed for an annuity with a 10 percent annual rate. The change of the payments to $16,000 every six months results in $280,499 in an annuity that compounds at 10 percent annually. This is decreased to $211,309 if the 10 percent interest is semi-annual. The annuity due with semi-annual payments r esults in a greater accumulation of funds necessary for the computer billing upgrade. The Pensacola Surgery Centers would like to lease out extra space at one location for the term of five years. This venture will cost an estimated $40,000 in initial renovations. The net present value (NPV) of the estimated lease cash flow totals $58,618 (Table 3). The future value of the five year lease cash flow is expected to total $76,223 when invested at 10 percent annually. The present value of this total yields only $47,329 (difference of $11,289) when compared to the NPV calculated initially. The inconsistency of the time value analysis is due to the incremental changes that may become magnified with end results. The manager must use reasonable judgment when interpreting these calculated results. End of Year Net Cash Flow 1 $12,000 2 $14,000 3 $ 2,000 4 $16,000 5 $20,000 Table 3: Estimated Lease Cash Flow The further analysis of the lease will determine the dollar return on the investment and include the cost of the renovations. The return on investment (ROI) of the lease cash flow and the renovations total $39,390. The percentage rate of return utilizes the internal rate of return (IRR) calculation. The expected rate of return is 16 percent which exceeds the 10 percent opportunity cost by 6 percent. The ROI calculations support the clinics financial investment in the lease agreement. The contingency plan if the clinic is unable to accumulate the $200,000 necessary for the computer improvements will require them to borrow the funds. The loan will require yearly payments of $63,094.16 for four years at 10 percent interest (Table 4). The total interest plus principal paid at the end of the loan is $252,376.64. The business will be able to deduct the yearly interest payments on their income taxes for a total of $52,376.64. $200,000 Loan Year Payment Interest Repayment of Principle 1 $ 63,094.16 $20,000.00 $ 43,094.16 2 $ 63,094.16 $15,690.58 $ 47,403.58 3 $ 63,094.16 $10,950.23 $ 52,143.93 4 $ 63,094.16 $ 5,735.83 $ 57,358.33 Total $252,376.64 $52,376.64 $200,000.00 Table 4: Loan Amortization Schedule The utilization of time value analysis aids in the financial decision making processes of the businesss investment management. The calculations attempt to represent the opportunity cost of these potential investments. The discount rate used to conduct the analysis should reflect the risk associated with the investment and the risk of the organization. Good decisions are based on the understanding of the businesss financial strategies, and the appropriateness of the analysis to these objectives. The post completion review of investment decisions should be conduct to assess the processes and results.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

What Factors affect Britains climate?

Weather is different in every country even city. Climate is the general weather conditions usually found in a particular place. Through climate we can judge the type of fruit or vegetables that grow in a certain area. The Mediterranean climate is good for growing citrus fruits and grapes. Where as the American climate is good for growing bananas and Indian and Pakistani climate is perfect for mangoes. Britain is an island country and is surrounded by sea which gives it a varied climate. We never actually know what the weather will be like, one day it might be sunny the next there might be rain. As we have such a variable climate its hard to predict in general we have warm summers and cool winters our summers our cooler than other countries because we are surrounded by sea but our winters are milder. The main influence on Britain's climate which are important are latitude , altitude ,distance from the sea, ocean currents and the prevailing winds. Latitude: Latitude is the position north or south of the equator measured from 0à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ to 90à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. If you are on the equator then your latitude would be zero. If you are near the north pole your latitude would be nearly ninety degrees north and if you are more to the south pole your latitude would be almost 90 degrees south. The further away from the equator you are the colder it is. Therefore when we compare the UK with a country such as Egypt, Egypt is always hotter because its more nearer to the equator than UK. As you can see on the diagram Egypt is more nearer to the equator than Britain and is therefore more warmer.(the diagram is not accurate jus a rough estimation of where the two countries may be) as one gets above tropic of cancer or Capricorn, the climate becomes milder, with warm summers and cold winters. This is known as temperate climate and this is what the UK climate is referred as. At points furthest away from the equator, the climate is colder and is called polar. Altitude: Altitude is the height above sea level, the higher we go the colder it gets altitude may be measured in units such as metres or miles but is usually measured in feet. When I say the higher you go the colder it gets a mere example is on top of mountain peeks, the peeks are way high up and it is much much much colder there and therefore the air there freezes into ice or snow. In Britain there are a few mountains but we are surrounded more by the sea and therefore the mountains don't have a lot of effect in Britain. Other countries such as Nepal that have a lot of mountain ranges are very cold and I personally think its because of the mountains. The temperature falls by about 1 degrees for ever 100 metres above sea level. Distance form the sea: The sea is cooler than land during summer and warmer in winter because it conducts heat slower than land and cools down slower than land in winter. Land heats up faster than sea because its denser and has a bit of metal in it which is a very good conductor heat. The centre of continents are subject to a large range of temperatures. In the summer, temperatures can be very hot and dry as moisture from the sea evaporates before it reaches the centre of the continent. Distance from the sea has a great effect on Britain as you can see on the map that Britain is surrounded by water an therefore makes our summer cooler and our winters are much milder. Prevailing wind direction: prevailing wind direction means the direction wind comes from. Winds that blow from the sea often bring rain to the coast and dry weather to inland areas. Winds that blow to Britain from warm inland areas such as Africa (a warm hot area) will be warm and dry. Winds that blow to Britain from inland areas such as the Netherlands (cold region) will be cold and dry in winter. Britain's prevailing winds come from a south westerly direction over the Atlantic. The winds are cool in the summer and mild in the winter. Because Britain's wind comes from the south west this means it brings fairly warm air because it comes from near the equator. It also brings water vapour from the ocean(as it comes over the Atlantic ocean)- and that means more rain! Ocean currents: The North Atlantic Current (North Atlantic Drift and the North Atlantic Sea Movement) is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. Ocean currents can have a great effect on tempratures either reduce it or increase it. The main ocean current that affects UK is the gulf stream. The gulf stream is a warm ocean current in the north atlantic flowing from the gulf of mexico. The gulf of mexico has a higher temprature than uk because its more closer to the equator where as uk is more futher away near the north pole. This means that the air coming from the Gulf of Mexico to Britain is also warm. However, the air is also quite moist as it travels over the Atlantic ocean. This is one reason why Britain often has wet weather. Some local factors affecting climate: There are some local factors which don't have a major affect but do in a way affect all climate such as the two following;One place may be warm and dry because it is sheletered by hills whereas another place may unmasked to wind and rain. Also electronic things, cars leting of gas and central heating also give out heat. So therefore the city is made to be more warmer than the countryside. Air mass Some part of the world is hot some is cold. The result is that the air moves around- like the air in a cold building when you turn on the heater or even the cooker in the kitchen. The air moves around the world in huge blocks known as air masses. An air mass can be thousands of km across. It can be warm or cold or any temperature but depending on where it came from. If for example an air mass comes from the north pole and moves over to the UK there will be cold and dry weather if an air mass coming from the equator (a warm dry place) there will be warm weather. Often two different air masses will meet and clash over the UK which causes sudden changes in weather. Many different air masses cross Britain. That's why our weather changes so fast but if an air mass stays very slow or stays in one place the weather stays the same for days. The weather does not change from day to day at the tropics and poles because they have the same type of air mass all year round. Conclusion: In conclusion, although many factors affect Britain some are more imporant than others. Like the direction in which the suns ray hit the earth (equator). How far away a place is from the equator (latitude) the height above sea level (altitude), the distance from the sea, the direction the winds come from and the ocean currents. But all of these are based on one major factor which I didn't mention the SUN. How the sun affects us is affected by the rotation of the earth, latitude and cloud cover. Cloud cover is affected by the wind, another important factor, and the wind is affected by what it has passed over and altitude. Mountains redirect wind or force it up to form clouds if the wind has passed over a warm sea it will warm and wet, and if it has passed over a cold land mass it will be cold and dry. The sea have a huge impact on the land masses. Minor factors such as how built up a place is can have a big impact but in small areas, and lastly the ocean currents also is realted to which sea it came from then where about the sea is(maybe near the equator). So the sun to me is main factor which affects all climste including Britain's but Britains climate is more or less linked with the factor; the distance from the sea which is as I mentioned before is realated to the sun in all ways. Where we live in britain (england) the temprature in winter is not much less than 0à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C and in summer not much higher than 32à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C in the summer. Also the weather her is damp and there may be lots of sudden changes. Rain is fairly well distributed throughout the year, with February to march being the driest period and October to January the wettest. The Lake District is England's wettest region, receiving and average of 130 inches (330 centimetres) of precipitation( different forms of water falling from the sky) each year.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

The Roles of Tonal and Segmental Information in Mandarin Spoken

Assignment 1 – Article Summary In their article, â€Å"the roles of tonal and segmental information in Mandarin spoken word recognition: an eyetracking study†, Malins and Joanisse investigate how suprasegmental features affect on-line auditory word perception. Current speech perception models have fallen short in accounting for suprasegmental features because all have been based on Indo-European languages. In this study, Malins and Joanisse extend the potential of suprasegmental features by examining the role of tone in auditory word recognition.Preliminary studies on which Malins and Joanisse based their study show that features of stress alone could not account for word constraint activation. One of the reasons that stress was a poor candidate for word constraint during lexical priming tasks was that they were situated within polysyllabic structures. Tone features, on the other hand, are situated within monosyllabic structures. Listeners of tonal languages are require d to make distinctions based on these features alone. In addition, these preliminary studies showed that tonal information was processed after segmental information.However, these propositions were brought into question as Liu and Samuel (2007) discovered that most of the preliminary studies in speech perception did not utilize contextual constraints. More recent studies seem to show that tonal features are more effective in constraining word activation when in a sentential context and segmental features more effective in word constraint in a lack of contextual information. Malins and Joanisse set out to examine the role of tonal features in Mandarin word recognition by employing the visual world paradigm.This would allow the use of eye tracking which would measure the on-line auditory processing among four competitor categories – segmental, cohort, rhyme and tonal. The segmental category shared all phonemic features except for tones, the cohort shared all but word final phon emes, the rhyme differed in onset consonant, and the tonal shared only tone. The following was hypothesized: tonal and segmental information would be accessed at very similar points in time and share equal potential for word recognition constraint.Additionally, rhyme competitors would be viewed more than unrelated items and that tonal categories would produce little interference effect with target items. Twenty-four native Mandarin speakers were chosen as participants in this study. The mean age was 28, although seven were excluded from the study due to excessive use of peripheral vision (lack of eye movement data). Experimental stimuli comprised of 27 monosyllabic Mandarin words. The unrelated distractor tones were comprised of phonologically unrelated segments.A picture array was shown on screen for 1. 5s followed by a . 5 second transition at which point the central fixation point appeared. Participants focused on the fixation point while selecting the correct target picture for the spoken utterance. When the auditory stimulus was provided, the time course was measured through observing eye movements. If there were significant interference between tone and segment, then processing times would be increased therefore suggesting comparable roles in constraining word activation.The pictures in the array provided conceptual constraint. This ensured that sub-lexical access was being observed. This visual word picture matching task was used to create an environment that demanded lexical access using conceptual constraint. This method would supplement the hypothesis by leading participants to utilize tonal information. In the tasks, the act of pressing a button demanded lexical access and the four competitor pictures provided the conceptual constraint. There were 280 experimental trials.The experimental setting was kept monolingual as to eliminate the potential for confounding effects of bilingual interference. The results of this study show that the competition be tween target words and competitors was greatest for the segmental and cohort categories. This is crucial because the segmental category diverged from the cohort in tonal information only and the cohort category diverged in segmental information. This supports the hypothesis that both tonal and segmental information show an equal role in word recognition.Furthermore, the time course information for both cohort and segmental categories were similar. This seemed to indicate that segmental and tonal information are both accessed at the same time. There were no data supporting the claim that rhyme competitors would be looked at more than the distractors. This went against the second hypothesis and was likely a result of a discontinuity between rhyming features in Mandarin compared to English. This study could help improve existing models of speech perception by providing a firmer basis for tonal processing in auditory word recognition.This might raise the question of how tonal informatio n should be represented in a speech perception model. Ye and Connine (1999) have proposed the use of ‘tonemes’ since they act as contrastive units that can be categorically perceived like their segmental counterparts. Through summarizing, I have come to a better understanding of how this study would influence the TRACE model. Particularly, how different levels of word representations are shaped by spreading activation — tonemes possibly being the newest.By accounting for suprasegmental features, a speech perception model would be much more robust and functional. One particular thought that has arisen as a result of this study is how tone recognition contrasts between the modalities of speech vs. music. Do they share overlapping neurological locations and functions? Also of interest is whether individuals with amusia (tone deafness) are able to utilize tones as contrastive units in a language? References Liu, S. , & Samuel, A. G. (2007).The role of Mandarin lexica l tones in lexical access under different contextual conditions. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(4), 566–594. Malins, G. M. & Joanisse, M. F. (2010). The roles of tonal and segmental information in Mandarin spoken word recognition: an eyetracking study. Journal of Memory and Language, 62(4), 407-420. Ye, Y. , & Connine, C. M. (1999). Processing spoken Chinese: The role of tone information. Language and Cognitive Processes Special Issue: Processing East Asian Languages, 14(5–6), 609–630.