Education Review

Liting Wang Professor Feindert ENGWR 48007 April 2018 Critique of â€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System† The article â€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System† by Rhoda Kalema, a well-known author and title holder of ‘Uganda's Forum for Women in Democracy as a transformative leader 1996†², looks at some pressing issues that the education system of Uganda currently faces. There have been no proper mechanisms to foresee high-quality education offered in the country. She explains that the experience of educated people shows their fear towards the future to come of the present day education around the world. If people do not have good education, they will not have a bright future. As a result, a country like Uganda might fall backwards and will be left very weak. It will affect the country's improvement in many ways. She suggests that, the education administration should start focusing on this situation. In addition, both learners and teachers face challenges that make it impossible for the education system to be ranked anywhere in the world. The government is aware of these challenges but offers no solution. Through critique, the key issues facing the primary, secondary, and vocational education in Uganda are examined. The opinion that is currently viable to revive this whole situation is an overall reviewing of the education system from the tradition one to a modern one that will suit the needs of the students and benefit them to fight in equal terms with the rest of the students, if not in the world but Africa. One of the most interesting factors with the education system is one that dates back more than four decades ago when fresh graduate teachers had the aim of literally igniting the classrooms. Shortly when they dive into the adventure towards greatness, these graduates understand that the procedure has been pre-decided and what is required of them is to stick within classroom limits of the syllabus. The objective here is to cover the syllabus, and any idea of presenting new substance is disapproved. There is no space for learning the information's purpose, an instructor in class is to educate and how well one educates is obvious through students' execution in exams. Those who have different thoughts of possibly to energize the students, and familiarize them with new ideas and thoughts, influence them to think, and long to know more, are left to swallow their skills and watch as the students follow the old road of the low-quality education. Guardians and parents expect more from schools. They have high expectations that school will change their kids. Occasionally, they even observe the instructor as a wonderful professional of sorts, after all an educator could influence a child to learn. A typical presumption is that tutoring will shape the children and the instructor will be the one individual to guarantee this happens. In any case, things are not as basic and practical as they appear, and teachers face challenges explaining to parents that with this old education system, they should not expect much from their children. What the government has failed to understand is that Education is a public entity, which has a good aim of providing quality training with a specific end goal to reduce variations (instruction as an equalizer). Framework change should address parts of value and correspondence and additionally the more extensive quality objective. The change procedure must be incorporated, problematic, and transformative for there to be substantial outcomes for all students. An intricate procedure must be acknowledged through community-oriented associations amongst government and other key players like guardians, current society, and the private area. Sometimes individuals expect too much from old system framework models to deliver present day 21st-century skilled students. Uganda, like the rest of Africa, has a considerably young populace that forms an important part of the human resource. The youth forms the vital group that is thought to take Africa to the next African Rebellion urged by education and training. Based on the problems that the Ugandan education system is facing, the following are some of the ways that can help redeem the learners from surging into the problematic conditions just like their predecessors. The author's argument is presented in an organized and visually cluttered manner. The author presents his points with illustrations cited well from the article. The author points out the most exciting factors with the education system. â€Å"Everyone in the country and even those outside who have ever experienced a balanced education about 25-30 years ago are in pain over what is happening in the education sphere†. As evident from the article, shortly when they dive into the adventure towards greatness, these graduates understand that the procedure has been pre-decided and what is required of them is to stick within classroom limits of the syllabus. The objective here is to cover the syllabus, and any idea of presenting new substance is disapproved. Another factor that makes the article organised is the avoidance of placing unnecessary quote in the article. Instead the author options to explain to bring out the main points. For instance, in order to better understand the problems that face the education system because of government failure†¦ â€Å"I would like to reflect on several aspects that I have observed, which will bring doom to our education sector, unless a review is done immediately and aggressively†, the author puts the points down as illustrated below without filling the essay with unnecessary quotes. The author has concrete evidence that he uses to make logical appeals and the strength of this posting is rooted in the author's ability to bring out points to illustrate the failures that are evident to every reader of the article. Anything that contributes to meeting the huge needs of the education systems in Africa is a positive thing, such programs or projects are driven by people who want to serve the general good of the country in the area that, as a reminder, is the top priority of all priorities. The impression that one's gets is that there is a desire to be involved in proposing the beginnings of a solution, a standard foundation for teaching that will integrate specific local features and at the same time train future citizens of an interconnected and culturally very mixed world. A change of school learning system will reflect this concept, and it is an interesting one. In conclusion, the author has managed to create a list of reasons that would help the government and relevant stakeholders argue their case mostly for naught. The important thing is that there are on-going discussion and dialogue, and adjustments constantly being made to ensure the consistency at country level and then ideally, at the level of each regional African community, of an educational offering that necessarily has to be diversified. This is also one of the recommendations from the summary of the debate that we must have high-level, national education authorities, which must be separate and independent from the governments. They should also be tasked with the responsibility of managing the fundamental choices affecting education systems in the long term, to set a course that is not changed every time there is a change in government. Work CitedKalema, Rhoda. â€Å"There is Need to Review Our Education System.† Africa News Service, 1 Apr. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A196876335/OVIC?u=sacr73031;sid=OVIC;xid=d 3a28488. Accessed 3 Apr. 2018.

Images in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

An image is a representation of something that is portrayed to make the reader visualize a different impression in its place. Images can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt. There are many images used in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Simply put, fire is a major image that has multiple meanings in the novel. The object that gives the title to the novel is also one of the most important image. The pigs head/Lord of the Flies is full of relevance towards the book . Finally, the image of the conch is quite important. These images have crucial meanings that are necessary to the plot of the novel. Fire is something that is normally used for cooking and as a light, however in the novel its main purpose is as a signal fire to attract the attention of any passing ships so the boys can be rescued. The Fire is the boys connection with civilization, as long as it is burning there is a hope that they would be rescued. The fire, or lack of fire, is first major tension between Ralph and Jack. The fire is let out when all the hunters go off with Jack to spear a pig. Meanwhile, Ralph watches a ship go by the island without stopping because there is no smoke visible. You let the fire out† (73) was all that Ralph had to say to Jack to tell him that he blew a chance to get rescued and that only way they will ever get saved is if there is a fire burning on the island. Ironically, it is a fire that solves both problems started by Jack letting the signal fire die. â€Å"Smoke was seeping through the branches in white and yellow wisps†. (216) The smoke was from the fire started by Jack to flush Ralph out of the thicket he was hiding in so he could kill Ralph and put his head on the stick sharpened at both ends. Ralph managed to evade Jack's trap and run into the forest while the fire continued to grow in size. The hunters entered the forest and forced Ralph back to the beach where he runs into the only adult in the novel. â€Å" We saw your smoke†(223) said the navy officer who is saying that the fire is the reason that they found the boys. When asked who is the boss, Ralph confidently says â€Å" I am† (224) officially ending the feud between him and Jack. Without fire the boys would not have been rescued and Ralph would have never gotten any of his previous power back. The pigs head was left as an offering to the beast by Jack and the savages. It is described as â€Å" †¦. grinning amusedly†¦ † (151) with â€Å" †¦ white teeth and dim eyes†¦ † (152). The pigs head is most likely the most important image in the novel. When Simon has his one way conversation with the Lord of the Flies, it took the place of the pigs head and it implemented two important things. â€Å" I'm part of you †¦ why things are what they are†¦ † (158). When the Lord of the Flies says this, he is telling Simon that the beast is inside of everyone and it is the evil in their hearts that is making them savages. The pigs head also tells Simon as â€Å" a schoolmaster† (158) that he is going to have some â€Å"fun† with Simon. This simply foreshadows Simon death in the next chapter. The Lord of the Flies represents the beast and all the evil in the boys stranded on the island. Found on the beach near the start of the novel, the conch shell is an image that represents many concepts. The conch represents structure and democracy. â€Å"We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They'll come when they hear it. (12) When the conch is blown it allows the boys to come together in a civilized manner to decide what they should do. â€Å" Then I'll give him the conch †¦ he can hold it when he's speaking† (31). This idea by Ralph created a way to govern meetings in a democratic way where everyone could speak their mind. Throughout the novel the conch slowly begins to lose its power over the group of boys as they become more like savages. Once Jack starts breaking the rules, chaos starts to occur as the boys disregard the conch. This shows that without the boys giving the conch power, structure and discipline will soon be no more. Eventually, when the boys split into different tribes, the conch has no importance because most of the boys have now become savages. â€Å"†¦ the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist† (200). When Roger pushed the rock down the hill to murder Piggy, the conch was in his hands. When it blew apart it signified the end of democratic power ever coming back to the island and represented when government does not always work. Without the conch, structure might not have been established and instead of being civil the boys might have turned into savages very early in their stay on the island. In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the images are necessary to the plot of the novel. Without fire, the pigs head, and the conch; the boys might have not got rescued. Jack and Ralph may have not had the same bad blood between them. They may have not been as evil or savage-like, and possibly they may have turned into savages very soon after their plane crashed. Think of all the different endings possible if some of these key images were changed.

To what extent can Marketing Mix be successfully Standardised Essay

To what extent can Marketing Mix be successfully Standardised - Essay Example More importantly than the basics of the marketing mix for an organization is the ability to use innovative tools and concepts that will help a business brand identity to stand out from others. The ability to use creativity is one that has to balance with the foundational principles of a marketing mix to build an effective campaign. The marketing mix began to be incorporated into businesses at the beginning of the industrial revolution, specifically to reach different types of customers and the needs that were a part of this. As the marketing mix developed, it was able to create a specific appeal to business brand products and services. More importantly, it was able to help customers recognize the different brands that were used through the use of communication of the product and different levels of implementation for an advertising campaign. To do this effectively, marketers began to use a basic structure that was able to define exactly what a consumer was looking for in terms of advertising. The company, competitors, collaborators, customers and context are the five elements that are often considered with marketing and provide a stronger basis for creating value. From the different elements, marketers are able to create a stronger set of tactics and opportunities for the correct type of advertising and market ing (Chernev, 8, 2007). From the basic concept of the marketing mix, are several marketers that have developed the specific elements that are used to ensure that communication is provided through a set of formulas. The different levels of implementation that are used are divided specifically by the main and foundational principles that create a specific marketing plan. The most standardized option that is used for those that are using the marketing mix is known as the 4 Ps. The first â€Å"p† stands for

Corporate Compliance Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corporate Compliance Plan - Essay Example The three manufacturing units of Riordan based at Albany, Georgia; Pontiac, Michigan; and Hangzhou, China; hereafter collectively referred to as ‘Manufacturers’ shall strive to uphold the best standards of quality. The headquarters and research establishment, hereafter referred to as ‘Management’ and located at San Jose, California is entrusted with the management of the company. The company’s sales & marketing as also any disputes concerning finance & accounting shall hereby be associated with the management only. Any dispute, controversy or claim arising as a result of interpretation, breach or termination of contract as well as claims shall be applicable to the management in case of arbitration. All legal disputes are subject to legal jurisdiction of the courts of San Jose, California, USA. All disputes related to the effectiveness and efficiency of the manufacturing operations, inventory, and product quality shall be arbitrated against the manufac turers only. Riordan aims to evolve into an industry leader in the ix sigma strategy and aims to enhance the quality of its products over existing ISO 9000 benchmarks, thereby focusing its energies and resources towards evolving and maintaining its lead as an industry leader in polymer materials. The R&D, as part of its continued efforts aims to provide customers with the cheapest products of the best quality in addition to identifying emerging trends in the industry. As part of ongoing efforts to identify risks and mitigate them, Riordan’s board of directors must work hand in hand with the senior management as well as key people in every department namely Sales & Marketing, Finance & Accounting, Human Resources, Operations and Information Technology. The top management is to be guided by a suitable action plan that outlines mechanisms to tackle all identified risks. Managers within every department and other employees must evaluate their performance within this framework

Facts about Scotland Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Facts about Scotland - Research Paper Example This essay analyzes that Scotland has produced several famous personalities, which are related to the creative writing. A few among the well-known names in the literature include James Kelman, AL Kennedy, Janice Galloway, Liz Lochhead, Alisdair Gray, Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin, Andrew O'Hagan and many others. Most of the business outsource processing jobs have gone to the country as it has around 60,000 employees in almost 300 call centers that cater to businesses of companies like Dell, Direct Line, among others. The oil and gas industry of Scotland supports nearly hundred thousand jobs, spread around 40 countries worldwide, as there are around 2000 service and supply companies related to this trade, internationally. In a report by Financial Times FDI magazine, Scotland was named as the â€Å"UK region of future-2006/7†, while it was listed on the top in human resources, IT and telecom.The country is ranked as a fifth largest financial center for Europe. Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland, headquartered here, has operations worldwide, as they have the reputation of efficient performance, internationally.The aerospace industry in Scotland has almost 10% share of the UK’s aerospace industry, as per the Scottish Survey Report. The aerospace industry in Scotland had a turnover of Pound Sterling 2.1 billion; while Prestwick has a reputation of being the excellent center for maintenance, repairs, and overhaul, as it caters to companies like GE, Goodrich, to name a few.

Business Strategy of Ryan Air Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Strategy of Ryan Air - Case Study Example An Irish airline – it has its headquarters in Dublin and its biggest operational base is London Stansted Airport in UK. Ryanair has profited immensely due to the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997and has undergone rapid growth to become on of the leading names in the industry. But its rapid expansion has been characterized by the numerous controversies and complaints about its functioning. In October 2006, Ryanair was voted the world's most disliked airline in a survey by the TripAdvisor website, and in November 2006, it was revealed as the subject of more complaints than any other airline in the EU. (Irish Examiner, 2006-11-28) But this aside, it has evolved into one of the most profitable low-cost airlines in the world. EasyJet, Monarch Airlines, Centralwings, Air Berlin etc. are the main low-cost competitors for Ryan Air. BUSINESS STRATEGY Business strategy or the long-term business plan is typically characterized by major resource issues or their allocations in an organization. there are two main categories of strategies that are usually followed by the companies ---- the Generic (general) strategies, and Competitive strategies. Some of the generic strategies are: a. Growth or the expansion of the company by purchasing new assets or developing new products. b. Globalization – Going international that is -- moving operations into more countries – becoming multinational companies. c. Retrenchment --- This is typically characterized by focusing on the core business by cutting down on ancillary plans. And some examples of Competitive strategies are : a. Lowering the prices. This is useful if the company is the market leader and can benefit from the advantages of producing large volumes of output such that the lower costs can be covered by more output. And the competitors are unable to match the lowered prices. b. Differentiation - that is position the company as providing something different from the other rivals. For e.g. The aviation industry. It is divided into two main segments --The low cost airlines such as Ryanair who offer low prices and fly on short routes without providing any special services and the high priced airlines such as British Airways that concentrate on differentiation. They offer better services to passengers such as more legroom, in flight entertainment, and more individualized attention. (Grassley, 2002) CURRENT STRATEGY OF RYANAIRAs per the official website of Ryanair, its main objective or mission is to become the Europe's leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline through continued improvements and expanded offerings of its low-fares service. (Ryanair Website). They are looking to increase their customer base by increasing their cost-effectiveness and operational efficiencies. The key elements of Ryanair's strategy are: Low Fares, Good Customer service, Frequent flights, Low operating costs, Internet advantage, Safety and Quality maintenance, Enhanced ancillary services. Basically, Ryanair is trying to achieve economies of scale by trying to increase its number of flights and keeping its planes in the air as frequently as possible in a 24 hour period. Its competitive advantage lies in its ability to keep low fares and provide frequent flights for point-to-point short distance routes. Ryanair sells seats on a one-way basis, thereby eliminating the minimum stay

European law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

European law - Assignment Example 12). Facts Roberto Grenades has dual citizenship, namely Spanish and American. As per the Nationality Act of the UK, a person can have dual citizenship, but nationality will be decided on the basis of his place of habitual residence. Roberto Grenades spent most of his time in New York. However, he and his gay partner Quang Phuc, had shifted to Madrid from the US, four years ago. Their registered civil partnership had been recognized under Spanish law. In 2010, Roberto obtained work in London, as a helper in a Buddhist temple. However, the UK Government suspected that the organisation behind this temple was being funded by a terrorist organisation. Hence, they asked Roberto to leave the UK, as he was not an EU citizen and as he had links with terrorist organisations. In addition, Quang was also asked by the UK Government to leave the nation, as he would not be considered a family member of Roberto. Moreover, he had been convicted previously for the possession of illegal drugs. Issues Whether Roberto can claim the rights of permanent residence under the provisions of EU law. Whether Quang can claim family residential rights against the UK government. Rule of Law Continuous legal residence for five years in the host EU nation is sufficient entitlement for permitting a person to reside in that nation on a permanent basis. This right is derived directly from the EU law (European Commission , 2010). Citizens of the European Union (EU) are strictly those who are nationals of the Member States of the EU. This status can be achieved by a national of a third country, only by procuring the nationality of a Member State (Handoll, 2003, p. 12). Entry or residence could be refused to a family member on grounds of public policy, internal security or public health (Europa, 2011). Analysis Council Directive 2003/86/EC of 22nd September 2003, states that the spouse of the sponsor and the minor children of the couple are eligible for family reunification. Minor children, in this context, refers to children whose age is less than the legal age of majority in the concerned Member State. Moreover, one of the members of the couple is eligible for family reunification, if that person has custody and the children, including adopted children, are dependent on that person (Europa, 2011). Furthermore, a Member State can authorise, under certain circumstances, the family reunification of first degree ascendants in the direct line, unmarried children who are not minors, and unmarried partners. The concerned individual could be required to have accommodation that satisfied the general health and safety norms, sickness insurance, and stable resources that are sufficient to maintain that person and the members of that individual’s family. In addition, that person may be required to comply with the integration measures enjoined by the national law. Moreover, it may be necessary for that person to have been living in that Member State for some specific period of tim e up to a maximum of 2 years, prior to unification with the family members. Entry or residence could be refused to a family member on grounds of public policy, internal security or public health (Europa, 2011). In our problem, Roberto had been ordered by the UK government to leave the nation due to the suspicion that he had ties with terrorist organisations. He cannot plead for long term residency rights in the EU Member States, because he has moved to EU

Is digital marketing a force for good or evil Use academic references Essay - 2

Is digital marketing a force for good or evil Use academic references and practical examples to critically address this question - Essay Example Many firms have sought to improve their performance and reach their long term objectives with the aid of new technologies that have since been developed. Marketing sector has not been left out as many managers have been observed to be moving towards marketing strategies that integrate latest technological methods and systems that can largely help reach out to the targeted customers. Brand promotion is one of the areas that have embraced digital approach in marketing and a lot of questions ranging from ethical concerns, micro environmental issues to cooperation. A debate has ensued amongst various players in the socio-economic sector arguing whether digital marketing is good or evil based on the three aforementioned dimensions. This essay aims at critically weighing up both the positive and the negative attributes of digital marketing in order to conclusively take a stand whether it is good or evil. Thesis statement: digital marketing is both good and evil depending on how it is carri ed out. According to Evans and McKee (2010: 35), digital marketing is an element of electronic commerce or e-trading that utilises electronic devices to engage those they target. It is a marketing method that is supported by technology and cushioned by media. Internet is a major player in digital marketing and emails, websites, as well as social media, are used in reaching out to the target customers so they may be allured into purchasing the company’s products. Moreover, digital marketing encircles other electronic platforms that do not use internet such as the television, radio among others to promote businesses. In the recent times, the emergence and broadcasted influence of both social and electronic media have had a substantial Effect in the lives of the society members. People have turned from the analogue ways such as letter writing, poster adverts and other unsophisticated traditional

History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty Research Paper

History of the Catholic Church on the Death Penalty - Research Paper Example It is obvious that many within the Catholic church are against the death penalty. But the church as of today has not taken any official stance. History of the Catholic Church on the death penalty Introduction From the beginning there has been a battle within the Catholic Church on whether the Church should support the use of capital punishment or not. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it seems clear that the church's response should be to support the use of capital punishment, as long as it is done justly and all efforts are made to guarantee that an innocent man or woman is not put to death. Recently, popes and some of the bishops in the United States, have started to campaign against the use of the death penalty. It seems clear that these individuals are not denying the compatibility of capital punishment with Catholic teaching, but instead have just begun to argue against its use for a variety of personal reasons. This paper looks at the history of the Catholic Church on th e death penalty and notes how it has changed over time. Early History The first real testimony against the use of the death penalty can be found in the Montanist works of Tertullian. Tertullian writing sometime between 197 and 207 composed ‘De Idololatria’. In this, Tertullian states in chapter seventeen that even if the servant of God appeals to the power of the state, he should not pronounce capital sentences. Following up on Tertullian, Lactantius writing about 305 to 323, wrote Divinae Institutiones. In this Lactantius states that when God prohibited murder, this also refers to the men who administer the death penalty (Bockle & Pohier 46). Lantantius's position was clear: a man could not even charge or be charged with a capital offense. After Tertullian and Lantantius others began to write on the subject. Felix in his work ‘Octavius V’, written around 225, states that it is wrong for the church to assist in the killing of man, or even to listen to an ac count of it. In the Canons of Hippolytus II, 16, Hippolytus in a more ancient Egyptian tradition states that whoever holds the power of the sword, and the judge who proceeds over capital cases, should renounce their office or be excluded from the catechism (Bockle & Pohier 47). In the same vein, The Council of Elvira in 305 ordered that all the duumvirate magistrates should not enter a church during their years of office, even though they were not required to pronounce capital sentences (Bockle & Pohier 47). The church had a problem here as to how it could support the right of the state to execute the hardened criminal, but deny to those who enforce the law the rights and privileges of the church. Ambrose, a former imperial officer, saw this and in or about the year 385 wrote to the Magistrate Studius about just this issue. In this letter Ambrose stated that ‘Romans 13’ recognizes the state's power to take life, but he also goes on to say that we should imitate Christ i n his forgiveness of the adulteress. In Ambrose's mind he could not find a solution to the church's dilemma. Augustine was to follow Ambrose in his writings in his ‘De Libero Arbitrio’. In this Augustine stated that the death penalty is a commandment of God. However Augustine was to go on to say in the ‘

Distance education Essay Example for Free

Distance education Essay Distance education dates back to at least as early as 1728 when an advertisement in the Boston Gazette promoted Caleb Phillips, Teacher of the new method of Short Hand, who sought students who wanted to learn through weekly mailed lessons. Similarly, Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great Britain via correspondence in the 1840s. Distance education has a long history, but its popularity and use has grown exponentially as more advanced technology has become available. By 2008, online learning programs were available in the United States in 44 states at the K-12 level. Definition Education where teachers and students are separated in both place and time. They communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time or through other online ways. Advantages Distance Education does not require commuting, saving money otherwise spent on travel back and forth to school. Convenience and flexibility. You complete classes at your convenience. Accessibility. Live and study from anywhere while pursuing education of your choice. Online classes address accessibility issues that some people with limited mobility encounter. Self-paced learning. Individualized Instruction. Vast resources readily available through the internet which are relatively inexpensive. Potential. The opportunities for distance education have exploded with the increased use of the internet. Many degrees are available through distance learning including high school, college and post graduate programs. Cost. Distance education is considerably cheaper than attending a traditional college. Key players in Distance Education Students Faculty Facilitators Support staff Administrators Interaction and Technology in Distance Education Interaction is an important component of any learning experience. One of the most important factors relating to distance learning is the element of interaction as its much different of an environment in a traditional classroom than what occurs in distance learning. Learner Content LearnerInstructor LearnerLearner LearnerTechnology Synchronous vs Asynchronous Interaction In distance Education most interaction done Asynchronously; interaction between them is delayed. One good example is a teacher may deliver the video instruction via email and the learner may respond in a later time. Synchronous interaction like in traditional classes where learners and instructors interact real time: you talk I immediately respond. This could be achieved in distance learning as when computer conferences are held at pre-established times via chat technologies. Distance Education Technologies The various technologies used in distance learning can be roughly divided into four categories, However many of these technologies could overlap into more than one category. Print Technology The original form of Distance Education was correspondence courses, in which print material was mailed to students and returned to the teachers through the postal system. The University of London was the first university to offer distance learning degrees through correspondence, establishing its External Programme in 1858. This program is now known as the University of London International Programmes and includes Postgraduate, Undergraduate and Diploma degrees created by colleges such as the London School of Economics, Royal Holloway and Goldsmiths. In the United States William Rainey Harper, first president of the University of Chicago developed the concept of extended education, whereby the research university had satellite colleges of education in the wider community. In 1892 he also encouraged the concept of correspondence school courses to further promote education, an idea that was put into practice by Columbia University Computer Technology Computer based technology includes email, online collaborations and web-based education as a means of delivering distance learning. The widespread use of computers and the internet have made distance learning easier and faster, and today virtual schools and virtual universities deliver full curricula online. In 1996 Jones International University was launched and claims to be the first fully online university accredited by a regional accrediting association in the US. Video Technology Video techniques often used for distance learning include videotapes, satellites, television cables, and computers offer opportunities for behavior modeling, demonstrations and instruction of abstract concept. Audio technology Offer cost effective ways to enhance distance learning courses. It can be as simple as a telephone with voicemail or it can be as complex as an audio conference with microphones and speakers. The very rapid spread of radio in the United States in the 1930s led to proposals to use it for distance education. By 1938, at least 200 city school systems, 25 state boards of education, and many colleges and universities broadcast educational programs for the public schools. One line of thought was to use radio as a master teacher. Experts in given fields broadcast lessons for pupils within the many schoolrooms of the public school system, asking questions, suggesting readings, making assignments, and conducting tests. This mechanizes education and leaves the local teacher only the tasks of preparing for the broadcast and keeping order in the classroom. Research and Distance Education The University of the Philippines Open University (U. P. O. U.) is a public distance learning institution and research university that provides quality higher and continuing education to Filipinos through the distance education system. Melinda dela Pena-Bandalaria (2007) in her article on Impact of ICT’s on open and distance learning in a Developing Country setting: The Philippine Experience, pointed out the distance education in the Philippines has undergone four general stages or generations. It also includes how quality of education is ensured in a technology-driven system of teaching and learning.

Data Multimedia Images

Data Multimedia Images Chapter I Introduction 1.1 What is meant by Multimedia Data? A number of data types can be characterized as multimedia data types. These data types are normally the essentials for the building blocks of core multimedia environments, platforms and integrating tools. The basic types can be described as text, images, audio, video and graphic objects. Following is a detailed explanation for the same. Text Text can be stored in a variety of different forms. In addition to American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) based files, text is usually stored in spreadsheets, annotations, processor files, databases and common multimedia objects. The task of text storage is becoming more and more complex due to the easy availability and abundance of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and text fonts, permitting unique effects such as text color, text shade etc. Images Digitalized images are nothing but a string of pixels that signify an area in the user’s graphical exhibit. There is an immense variation in the quality and dimension of storage for motionless images. For motionless (still) images, the space overhead varies with respect to complexity, size, resolution and compression format used to store any given image. The frequently used and accepted image formats (file extensions) consist of bmp, jpeg, tiff and png. Audio Audio, being another frequently used data type is relatively space intensive. A minute of sound takes up to 3 Megabytes (MB) of space. Numerous methods can be deployed to compress an audio into suitable formats. Video Another data type which consumes majority of space is categorized as the digitalized video data type. Videos are normally stored as a series of frames, the capacity of which depends on its resolution. A solo video frame can take up to 1 MB of space. Continuous transfer rate is needed to get a reasonable video playback with its proper transmission, compression, and decompression. Graphic Objects This data type consists of unique data structures that can define 2D and 3D shapes which further helps in defining multimedia objects. Today one can use different formats for image applications and video-editing applications. To list few examples Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) are graphic objects 1.2 How is Multimedia Data Different? Theoretically multimedia data should be considered like any regular data based on the data types for instance numbers, dates and characters. Though, there are a few challenges that arise from multimedia as described in [2]: Multimedia data is usually captured with various unreliable capturing techniques such as image processing. These multimedia processing techniques require capabilities for handling these various available methods of capturing content, this includes both automated and manual methods. In multimedia database, the queries created by the user rarely come back with textual answer. To a certain extent, the answer to user query is a compound multimedia presentation that the user can glance through at one’s leisure. The size of the multimedia data being large not only affects the storage, retrieval but also the transmission of data. Time to retrieve information may be vital while accessing video and audio databases, for example Video on Demand. Automatic feature extraction and Indexing: User explicitly submits the attribute values of objects inserted into the database in contrast to advanced tools with conservative databases, such as image processing and pattern recognition tools for images to extract the various features and content of multimedia objects. Special data structures for storage and indexing are needed due to the large size of data. 1.3 Basic Approaches for Data Retrieval Data management is being implemented since long. Many approaches have also been invented for the same to manage and inquire various types of data in the computer systems. The commonly used approaches for data management comprise of conventional database system, information retrieval system, content based retrieval system and graph/ tree pattern matching. The details for the same are as follows: Conventional database system It is the most extensively used approach to manage as well as investigate structured data. Data in a database system must match to some predefined structures and limitations (schema’s). The user should specify the data objects to be retrieved and the tables from which data has to be extracted. The user also has to predicate on which the retrieval of data will be based to formulate a database query. SQL, a query language has a restricted syntax and vocabulary that can be used for such databases. Information retrieval (IR) system This system is prominently used to search enormous text collections; where in the content of the data (text) is illustrated with the help of an indexer using keywords or a textual summary. The query demands are expressed in terms of keywords or natural language. For instance, searching for an image or video, the user is required to describe using words and also need means to store large amount of metadata in textual form. Content based retrieval (CBR) system This approach facilitates in the retrieval of multimedia objects from an enormous collection. The retrieval is based on various features such as color, texture and shape which can be extracted automatically from the objects. Though keyword can be considered a feature for textual data, conventional retrieval of information has a higher performance as compared to content-based retrieval. This is due to the fact that keyword has the demonstrated ability to characterize semantics while no other features have revealed convincing semantic describing capability. A key disadvantage of this particular approach is its lack of accuracy. Graph or tree pattern matching This particular approach seeks the retrieval of object sub-graphs from an object graph as per several designated patterns. Chapter II Data Structures for Multimedia Storage Many modern database applications deal with large amounts of multidimensional data. Multimedia content-based retrieval is one of the examples. Access Methods are essential in order to deal with multidimensional data efficiently. They are used to access selective data from a big collection. 2.1 Importance of Access Methods Efficient spatial selection support is the key purpose of access methods. These include range queries or nearest neighbour queries of spatial objects. The significance of these access methods and how they take into account both clustering techniques and spatial indexing is described by Peter Van Oosterom [3]. In the absence of a spatial index, every object in the database needs to be checked if it meets the selection criteria. Clustering is required to group the objects that are often requested together. Or else, many different disk pages will have to be fetched, resulting in a very slow response. For spatial selection, clustering implies storing objects that are not only close in reality but also close in computer memory instead of being scattered all over the whole memory. In conventional database systems sorting the data is the basis for efficient searching. Higher dimensional data cannot be sorted in an obvious manner, as it is possible for text strings, numbers, or dates. Principally, computer memory is one-dimensional. However, spatial data is 2D, 3D or even higher and must be organized someway in the memory. An intuitive solution to organize the data is using a regular grid just as on a paper map. Each grid cell has a unique name e.g. ’A1’, ’C2’, or ’E5’. The cells are stored in some order in the memory and can each contain a fixed number of object references. In a grid cell, a reference is stored to an object whenever the object overlaps the cell. However, this will not be very efficient due to the irregular data distribution of spatial data because of which many cells will be empty while many others will be overfull. Therefore, more advanced techniques have been developed. 2.2 kd Trees A kd-tree or a k-dimensional tree is a space-partitioning data structure used for organizing points in a k-dimensional space. kd-trees are a useful for several applications such as searches involving a multidimensional search key like range searches and nearest neighbour searches. Kd-trees are a special case of Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) trees. A kd-tree only uses splitting planes that are perpendicular to one of the coordinate axes. This is different from BSP trees, in which arbitrary splitting planes can be used. In addition to this, every node of a kd-tree, from the root to the leaves, stores a point. Whereas in BSP trees, leaves are typically the only nodes that contain points. As a consequence, each splitting plane must go through one of the points in the kd-tree. [4] 2.2.1 Addition of elements to kd trees A new point is added to a kd tree in the same way as one adds an element to any other tree. At first, traverse the tree, starting from the root and moving to either the left or the right child depending on whether the point to be inserted is on the left or right side of the splitting plane. Once you get to a leaf node, add the new point as either the left or right child of the leaf node, again depending on which side of the node’s splitting plane contains the new point. 2.2.2 Deleting from kd trees Deletion is similar as in Binary Search Tree (BST) but slightly harder. Step1 find node to be deleted. Step2 two cases must be handled: (a) No children replace pointer to node by NULL (b) Has children replace node by minimum node in right subtree. If no right subtree exists then first move left subtree to become right subtree. [1] 2.3 Quad-trees Each node of a quad-tree is associated with a rectangular region of space. The top node is associated with the entire target space. Each non-leaf node divides its region into four equal sized quadrants, likewise, each such node has four child nodes corresponding to the four quadrants and so on. Leaf nodes have between zero and some fixed maximum number of points. 2.3.1 Simple definition of node structure of a point quad-tree qtnodetype = record INFO: infotype; XVAL: real; YVAL: real; NW, SW, NE, SE: *qtnodetype end Here, INFO is some additional information regarding that point . XVAL, YVAL are coordinates of that point. NW, SW, NE, SE are pointers to regions obtained by dividing given region. [1] 2.3.2 Common uses of Quad-trees Image Representation Spatial Indexing Efficient collision detection in two dimensions Storing sparse data, such as formatting information for a spreadsheet or for some matrix calculations. 2.3.3 Representing Image Using Quad-tree: [7] Let us suppose we divide the picture area into 4 sections. Those 4 sections are then further divided into 4 subsections. We continue this process, repeatedly dividing a square region by 4. We must impose a limit to the levels of division otherwise we could go on dividing the picture forever. Generally, this limit is imposed due to storage considerations or to limit processing time or due to the resolution of the output device. A pixel is the smallest subsection of the quad tree. To summarize, a square or quadrant in the picture is either : entirely one color composed of 4 smaller sub-squares To represent a picture using a quad tree, each leaf must represent a uniform area of the picture. If the picture is black and white, we only need one bit to represent the colour in each leaf; for example, 0 could mean black and 1 could mean white. Now consider the following image : The definition of a picture is a two dimensional array, where the elements of the array are colored points. Figure 2.3: First three levels of quad-tree Figure 2.4: Given Image This is how the above image could be stored in quad-tree. Figure 2.5: 88 pixel picture represented in a quad-tree Figure 2.6: The quad tree of the above example picture. The quadrants are shown in counterclockwise order from the top-right quadrant. The root is the top node. (The 2nd and 3rd quadrants are not shown.) 2.3.4 Advantages of Quad-trees: They can be manipulated and accessed much quicker than other models. Erasing an image takes only one step. All that is required is to set the root node to neutral. Zooming to a particular quadrant in the tree is also a one step operation. To reduce the complexity of the image, it suffices to remove the final level of nodes. Accessing particular regions of the image is a very fast operation. This is useful for updating certain regions of an image, perhaps for an environment with multiple windows. The main disadvantage is that it takes up a lot of space. 2.4 R-trees R-trees are N-dimensional extension of Binary trees, but are used for spatial access methods i.e., for indexing multi-dimensional information. They are supported in many modern database systems, along with variants like R+ -trees and R*-trees. The data structure splits space with hierarchically nested, and possibly overlapping, minimum bounding rectangles.[4] A rectangular bounding box is associated with each tree node. [5]   Bounding box of a leaf node is a minimum sized rectangle that contains all  the rectangles/polygons associated with the leaf node. Bounding box associated with a non-leaf node contains the bounding box associated with all its children. Bounding box of a node serves as its key in its parent node (if any) Bounding boxes of children of a node are allowed to overlap. 2.4.1 Structure of an R-tree node rtnodetype = record Rec1, .Reck : rectangle P1, .Pk : âˆâ€"rtnodetype end A polygon is stored in one node, and the bounding box of the node must contain the polygon. Since a polygon is stored only once, the storage efficiency of R-trees is better than that of k-d trees or quad-trees. The insertion and deletion algorithms use the bounding boxes from the nodes to ensure that close by elements are placed in the same leaf node. Each entry within a leaf node stores two-pieces of information; a way of identifying the actual data element and the bounding box of the data element. 2.4.2 Inserting a node 1. Find a leaf to store it, and add it to the leaf. To find leaf, follow a child (if any) whose bounding box contains bounding box of data item, else child whose overlap with data item bounding box is maximum 2. Handle overflows by splits. We may need to divide entries of an overfull node into two sets such that the bounding boxes have minimum total area. 2.4.3 Deleting a node 1. Find the leaf and delete object; determine new MBR. 2. If the node is too empty: Delete the node recursively at its parent Insert all entries of the deleted node into the R-tree 2.4.4 Searching R-trees Similarly, for searching algorithms, bounding boxes are used to decide whether or not to search inside a child node. Here we need to find minimal bounding rectangle. In this way, most of the nodes in the tree are never touched during a search. If the node is a leaf node, output the data items whose keys intersect the given query point/region Else, for each child of the current node whose bounding box overlaps the query point/region, recursively search the child. 2.5 Comparison of Different Data Structures [1] k-d trees are very easy to implement. However, in general a k-d tree consisting k nodes may have a height k causing complexity of both insertion and search in k-d trees to be high. In practice, path lengths (root to leaf) in k-d trees tend to be longer than those in point quad-trees because these trees are binary. R-trees have a large number of rectangles potentially stored in each node. They are appropriate for disk access by reducing the height of the tree, thus leading to fewer disk access. The disadvantage of R-trees is that the bounding rectangle associated with different nodes may overlap. Thus when searching an R-tree, instead of following one path (as in case of quad-tree), we might follow multiple path down the tree. This difference grows even more acute when range search and neighbour searches are considered. In case of point quad-trees, while performing search/insertion each case requires comparisons on two coordinates. Deletion in point quad-trees is difficult because finding a candidate replacement node for the node being deleted is not easy. Chapter III Metadata Metadata is data about data. Any data that is used to describe the content, condition, quality and other aspects of data for humans or machines to locate, access and understand the data is known as Metadata. Metadata helps the users to get an overview of the data. 3.1 Need of Metadata The main functions of metadata can be listed as follows: [8] Description To describe and identify data sources. These descriptions help create catalogs, index, etc., thereby improving access to them. Querying Formulation of queries. Administration To provide information to help manage and administrate a data source, such as when and how it was created, and who can legally access it. Preservation To facilitate data archival and preservation like data refreshing and migration, etc. Technical To indicate how a system functions or metadata behaves, such as data formats, compression ratios, scaling routines, encryption key, and security, etc. Use To indicate the level and type of use of data sources like multiversion, user tracking, etc. 3.2 Metadata in the Life Cycle of Multimedia Objects A multimedia object undergoes a life cycle consisting of production, organization, searching, utilization, preservation, and disposition. Metadata passes through similar stages as an integral part of these multimedia objects [8]: Creation Objects of different media types are created often generating data of how they were produced (e.g., the EXIF files produced by digital cameras) and stored in an information retrieval system. Associated metadata is generated accordingly for administrating and describing the objects. Organization Multimedia objects may be composed of several components. Metadata is created to specify how these compound objects are put together. Searching and retrieval Created and stored multimedia objects are subject to search and retrieval by users. Metadata provides aids through catalog and index to enable efficient query formulation and resource localization. Utilization Retrieved multimedia objects can be further utilized, reproduced, and modified. Metadata related to digital rights management and version control, etc. may be created. Preservation and disposition Multimedia objects may undergo modification, refreshing, and migration to ensure their availability. Objects that are out-of-date or corrupted may be discarded. Such preservation and disposition activities can be documented by the associated metadata. 3.3 Classification of Metadata Metadata directly affects the way in which objects of different media types are used. Classifying metadata can facilitate the handling of different media types in a multimedia information retrieval system. Based on its (in)dependence on media contents, metadata can be classified into two kinds, namely content independent and content-dependent metadata [8]: Content-independent metadata provides information which is derived independently from the content of the original data. Examples of content independent metadata are date of creation and location of a text document, type-of-camera used to record a video fragment, and so on. These metadata are called descriptive data. Content-dependent metadata depends on the content of the original data. A special case of content-dependent metadata is content-dependent descriptive metadata , which cannot be extracted automatically from the content but is created manually: annotation is a well-known example. In contrast, content-dependent non-descriptive metadata is based directly on the contents of data. 3.4 Image metadata Some of the image files containing metadata include Exchangeable image file format (EXIF) and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). Having metadata about images embedded in TIFF or EXIF files is one way of acquiring additional data about an image. Image metadata are attained through tags. Tagging pictures with subjects, related emotions, and other descriptive phrases helps Internet users find pictures easily rather than having to search through entire image collections. A prime example of an image tagging service is Flickr, where users upload images and then describe the contents. Other patrons of the site can then search for those tags. Flickr uses a folksonomy: a free-text keyword system in which the community defines the vocabulary through use rather than through a controlled vocabulary. Digital photography is increasingly making use of metadata tags. Photographers shooting Camera RAW file formats can use applications such as Adobe Bridge or Apple Computers Aperture to work with camera metadata for post-processing. Users can also tag photos for organization purposes using Adobes Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) language, for example. [4] 3.5 Document metadata Most programs that create documents, including Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and other Microsoft Office products, save metadata with the document files. These metadata can contain the name of the person who created the file, the name of the person who last edited the file, how many times the file has been printed, and even how many revisions have been made on the file. Other saved material, such as document comments are also referred to as metadata. Document Metadata is particularly important in legal environments where litigation can request this sensitive information which can include many elements of private detrimental data. This data has been linked to multiple lawsuits that have got corporations into legal complications. [4] 3.6 Digital library metadata There are three variants of metadata that are commonly used to describe objects in a digital library: descriptive Information describing the intellectual content of the object, such as cataloguing records, finding aids or similar schemes. It is typically used for bibliographic purposes and for search and retrieval. structural Information that ties each object to others to make up logical units e.g., information that relates individual images of pages from a book to the others that make up the book. administrative Information used to manage the object or control access to it. This may include information on how it was scanned, its storage format, copyright and licensing information, and information necessary for the long-term preservation of the digital objects. [4] Chapter IV Text Databases Basic text comprises of alphanumeric characters. Optical character recognition (OCR) practices are deployed to translate analog text to digital text. The most common digital representation of characters is the ASCII code. For this, seven bits are required (eight bits might be used, where in the eighth bit is reserved for a special purpose) for each character. Storage space for a text document that is required is equivalent to the number of characters. For instance, a 15 page text document consisting of about 4000 characters generally consumes 60 kilobytes. Now days, structured text documents have become extremely popular. They comprise titles, chapters, sections, paragraphs, and so forth. A title can be presented to the user in a different format than a paragraph or a sentence. Different standards are used to encode structured information such as HTML and XML (hyper text markup language and extensible markup language) There are different approaches like Huffman and Arithmetic Coding, which can be used for text compression, but as the storage requirements are not too high, these approaches are not as important for text as they are for multimedia data. [10] 4.1 Text Documents A text document consists of identification and is considered to be a list of words. Likewise, a book is considered to be a document, and so is a paper in the events of a conference or a Web page. The key identification used for a book may be an ISBN number or the title of the paper together with the ISBN number of the conference event or a URL for a Web page. Retrieval of text documents does not normally entail the presentation of the entire document, as it consumes a large amount of space as well as time. Instead, the system presents the identifications of the chosen documents mainly along with a brief description and/or rankings of the document. 4.2 Indexing Indexing refers to the derivation of metadata from their documents and storage in an index. In a way, the index describes the content of the documents. The content can be described by terms like social or political for text documents. Also, the system utilizes the index to determine the output during retrieval. The index can be filled up in two ways, manually as well as automatically. Assigned terms can be added to documents as a kind of annotation by professional users such as librarians. These terms can be selected often from a prescribed set of terms, the catalog. A catalog describes a certain scientific field and is composed by specialists. One of the main advantages of this technique is that the professional users are aware of the acceptable terms that can be used in query formulation. A major drawback of this technique is the amount of work that has to be performed for the manual indexing process. Document content description can also be facilitated automatically resulting in what are termed as derived terms. One of the many steps required for this can be a step in which words in English text are identified by an algorithm and then put to lower case. Basic tools are used in other steps such as stop word removal and stemming. Stop words are words in the document which have a little meaning and most of the times include words like the and it. These stop words are erased from the document. Words are conflated to their stem in the document through stemming. As an example, the stemmer can conflate the words computer, compute and computation to the stem comput. 4.3 Query Formulation Query formulation refers to the method of representing the information need. The resultant formal representation of information is the query. In a wider perspective, query formulation denotes the comprehensive interactive dialogue between the system and the user, leading to both a suitable query and also a better understanding by the user of the information need. It also denotes the query formulation when there are no previously retrieved documents to direct the search, thus, the formulation of the preliminary query. It is essential to differentiate between the expert searcher and the relaxed end user. The expert searcher is aware of the document collection and the assigned terms. He/ she will use Boolean operators to create the query and will be able to adequately rephrase the same as per the output of the system. In case the result is too small, the expert searcher must expand the query, and in case if the result is too large, he/she must be able to make the query more restrictive. The communication of the need for information to the system in natural language interests the end user. Such a statement of the need for information is termed as a request. Automatic query formulation comprises of receiving the request and generating a preliminary query by the application of algorithms that were also used for the derivation of terms. In general, the query consists of a list of query terms. This list is accepted by the system and it composes a result set. The system can formulate a successive query based on this relevant feedback. 4.4 Matching The matching algorithm is mainly the most important part of an information retrieval system. This algorithm makes a comparison of the query against the document representations in the index. In the exact matching algorithm, a Boolean query, which is formulated by an expert searcher, defines precisely the set of documents that satisfy the query. The system generates a yes or a no decision for each document. In the case of an inexact matching algorithm, the system delivers a ranked list of documents. Users can traverse this document list to search for the information they need. Ranked retrieval puts the documents that are relevant in the top of the ranked list, thus, saving the time the user has to invest on reading those documents. Simple but effective ranking algorithms make use of the frequency allocation of terms over documents. Ranking algorithms that are based on statistical approaches, halve the time the user has to spend on reading those documents. Chapter V Image Databases Digital images can be defined as an electronic snapshot scanned from documents or taken of a scene, for example printed texts, photographs, manuscripts, and various artworks. Digital image is modeled and mapped as a grid of dots, pixels or commonly known picture elements. A tonal value is allocated to each of these pixels, which can be black, white, and shades of gray or color. Pixel itself is symbolized in binary code of zeros and ones. Computer stores these binary digits or bits corresponding to each pixel in a sequence and are later reduced to mathematical representation by compressing them. After compression these bits are interpreted and read to generate an analog output by the computer for display or printing purposes. Figure 5.1: As shown in this bitonal image, each pixel is assigned a tonal value, in this example 0 for black and 1 for white. To further describe the grayscale of a pixel one needs to say that one byte is of eight bits. For a color pixel one needs three colors of one bye each, these colors are red, green and blue. So, for a rectangular screen one can compute the amount of data required for the image using the formula: A = xyb Where A is the number of bytes needed, x is the number of pixels per horizontal line, y is the number of horizontal lines, and b is the number of bytes per pixel. Using this formulae for a screen with value of x being 800, y being 600, and for b being 3; A=xyb thus A = 1.44 Mbyte. Compression is required for this significant amount of data. Image compression is based on exploiting redundancy in images and properties of the human perception. Pixels in specific areas appear to be similar; this concept of similarity is called Spatial Redundancy. Human’s views of images are tolerant r

Language :: essays research papers

Language is an abstract concept which is acquired early in life by the vast majority of children through an intricate process. There are many different theories concerning the acquisition of language that have been considered, and these are constantly being refined, along with the technology which enables researchers to further investigate the process. Bilingualism has also been a complex area of interest which has elicited various theoretical viewpoints. There are various aspects which are true to every language. These include: phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. The phonology of a language includes a set of phonemes: the different sounds, and the rules governing the combination of these sounds which can be found within the language. The semantics involved in a language deals with the meanings of the sentences, words, and grammatical markers (morphemes) in the language. The syntax concerns the rules about organizing the morphemes into sentences, and pragmatics are the communication skills involved in the use of the language (Shaffer, 1999, p.352-353). These are merely the basics required for language acquisition. Knowledge of the nature of communication, in addition to the fashion in which the language is acquired are also integral. The acquisition of a language has instigated a controversy regarding the process through which it is acquired. The empiricist perspective, inspired by B. F. Skinner in 1957, states that children learn language by imitating caregivers who model and reinforce their speech (Shaffer, 1999, p.355). Also during the 1950's, Noam Chomsky hypothesized that languages are too complex to be learned by imitation (Shaffer, 1999, p.356 & Brownlee, 1998, p.48). Therefore, humans are born with a "language acquisition device" (Shaffer, 1999, p.356 & Brownlee, 1998, p.53) and a "universal grammar" (Brownlee, 1998, p.48) which predisposes them to the ability to learn languages and apply the grammatical rules to the languages which they hear. The large interest in the area of language has been elicited as a result of the intricacy of the acquisition process of a language, and the fact that all children appear to have the ability to acquire and understand such an abstract concept. The study of language, as the study of any subject, is an ongoing process, as illustrated by various researchers over the years. These studies have evolved form mere theoretical statements about language to involved studies which have caused the previous hypotheses to be rejected. This is largely due to the evolution of related technology which has facilitated research in the area.

IMPAIRMENT NEURAL DEVELOPMENTS AND SYMPTOMS OF AUTISM DISORDER Essay

Autism spectrum disorders are a common neural developmental brain condition (Cheng et al., 2010). It does not have unifying neurobiological or pathological etiology (Geschwind& Levitt, 2007) .It characterized by impaired social interaction and communication skills and restricted repetitive behavior (Johnson & Myers, 2007). Medical condition such as mental retardation, chromosomal anomalies and seizures are often appear with autism (Casanova, 2007). During first 3 years of childhood, these major symptoms are revealed (Casanova, 2007). Autism is one of three recognized condition and the other two know as Asperger’s syndrome (Levy, Mandell, & Schultz, 2009). There are also secondary symptoms that may not be shown in individual with autism disorder such as lower IQ performance and sensory sensitivity (Alexander et al., 2006). It occurs due to altered recognition and connection of brain nerve cell and their synapses (Levy et al., 2009). Other factor contribute to the occurrence of autism are genetics or environmental factors or both (Rodier, 2004). In 1960s, it was estimated to occur in five in every 10,000 child worldwide but this number is increased recently to be 72 in every 10,000 child since the 1990s due to the change in diagnostic practice and media attention (Newschaffer et al, 2007). The reason of increasing this disorder in recent year is still unknown (Comi, Zimmerman, Frye, Law, & Peeden, 1999). This essay will discuss the causes of Autism spectrum disorders, brain structure changes that involved in this condition and thus the major and secondary symptoms occurrence in relating to these structure impaired development in the brain. Autism appears between embryo development and the first 3 years of child development and c... ... Schendel, D., & Windham, G. C. (2007).The Epidemiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Annu. Rev. Public Health, 28, 21.1–21. Geschwind D. H., & Levitt, P. (2007), Autism spectrum disorders: developmental disconnection syndromes. Neurobiology 17,103–11. Johnson, C. P., & Myers, S. M. (2007). Identification and Evaluation of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders. PEDIATRICS, 120, 1183-1215. Levy, S. E., Mandell, D. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2009). Autism. The Lancet, 374(9701), 1627 – 1638. Lam, K. S. L., & Aman, M. G. (2007). The Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised: Independent Validation in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, 37, 855–866. Rodier, P. M. (2000). The Early Origins of Autism. Scientific American, 56-63. Rodier, P. M. (2004). Environmental Causes of Central Nervous System Maldevelopment. PEDIATRICS, 113, 1076-1083.

Comparing Maturation in Sons and Lovers, Out Of The Shelter and The Rac

Comparing Maturation in Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence, Out Of The Shelter by David Lodge and The Rachel Papers  by Martin Amis  Ã‚   Each of these three novels Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence, Out Of The Shelter by David Lodge and The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis, examine the transition between childhood and adulthood of the three main characters in each of the texts. Each author represents this transition by showing how all the characters deal with significant stages or events in their lives. The problems which they encounter lead to the maturation of each character which finally leads to the process of growing up taking place. Although each book is set in a different era, where social conventions are very different, many of the problems which each of the characters face remain the same. Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence is set in a working class, coal-mining community in pre-war England. It is against this setting that Paul Morel grows up. For Paul, the process of growing up means how his relationships with various groups of people and individuals develop and how he himself sees these relationships. The mostsignif icant relationships Paul has are those with his parents, the opposite sex and the outside world. Paul's childhood is similar to other children in that area of Nottingham in the 1930s. His father spends most evenings drinking, squandering most of the family's income. Paul resents his father for making his mother suffer because of this and never questions the fact that it is his mother who drives Mr Morel to drink. Paul is the second of four children and has an unusually close relationship with his mother which intensifies after the death of his elder brother, William. This relationship that Paul has with his mother pre... ...urney which is made by the main character takes place over a relatavely short period of time. The way in which adolescents' rites of passage are represented in all three of my novels conforms to the idea that "The subject is the development of the protagonist's mind and character, as he passes from childhood through varied experiences - and usually through spiritual crisis - into maturity and the recognition of his identity and role in the world." Works Cited Amis, Martin. The Rachel Papers. New York: Vintage International, 1992. Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1996 Lodge, David. Out of the Shelter. New York: 1985. Powell, Neil. "What Life Is: The Novels of Martin Amis." PN Review, June 1981: 42-45. Spilka, Mark. The Love Ethic of D.H. Lawrence. (1955): 244. Rpt. In TCLC. Ed. Dennis Poupard. Vol. 16. Detroit: Gale, 1985.

Women in Combat Rough Draft

Auriel Payan April 7, 2013 English 2010 Rough Draft Women fighting in combat is a topic that has stirred a lot of controversy in the last few months. This comes about from the uplifting of the ban that did not let women fight in combat. Though the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, created a corps for women in every branch of military, it was also the beginning of when women would not be included in combat. (Mackenzie 1,) Whenever the topic of war comes to mind, the one’s usually pictured in war are men. People tend to forget that men are not the only ones involved in war or the military. In January 1994, a memorandum from then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin rescinded the â€Å"risk rule† barring women from any positions that could expose them to direct combat, hostile fire, or capture; the rule was replaced by the â€Å"direct ground combat assignment rule,† which more narrowly tailored the restriction to frontline combat positions. † ( Mackenzie, 1) This would completely change the way women in the military would be. Though not as big in number, women still do have a significant role in the military today. They can join the Military but they can have no part in combat.This limits the kinds of jobs that women can have. Woman in the United States want to feel equal to the man and the stigma that war is a â€Å"man’s thing â€Å" has created a lot of controversy, especially in the society that we live in now. Women in our society are breaking away from the boundaries set from the past generations. Women are now taking and seeking roles that were once considered only for men. Just like in our society, women are trying to advance in the military. Advancing in the military, not only has to be being able to fight in combat, but also reaching some of the highest military rankings.The leap for women being able to fight in combat came this past January, when the United State’s Department of Defense, uplifted the ban on women being able to fight in combat. A woman representing her country by joining the military is something that not only takes great sacrifice, but courage as well, and they deserve the utmost respect. If a woman is willing to risk her life for the sake of her country, just like the men, should be allowed to partake in combat. War is much physical as it is mental. Opponents argue that women are physically not capable to succeed out in the battlefield.If a soldier is not physically capable to perform, they could possibly endanger themselves or their fellow soldiers. Soldiers out on the battle field carry various items like electronic equipment, weapons, ammunition, heavy body armor, and enough water, weighing anywhere between fifty to hundred pounds. There is no denying that women on average do have forty to fifty percent less upper-body strength compared to men, but it is not one hundred percent certain that certain women are not fully capable. The statistic that women a re a lot weaker in their upperbody comes up a lot, but it is stretched from the truth. The physical fitness argument, which tends to focus on differences between average male and female bodies, is also undermined by the fact that women who join the military tend to be more fit than the average American. Additional training and conditioning further decrease the gap between female and male service members, and evidence indicates that women usually benefit substantially from fitness-training programs. † (Mackenzie, 1) To join the military there is this mental and physical toughness that one has to have or has to overcome by the time that they are about to be deployed.Yes, there is some women that are not physically capable to perform in the military, but at the same time, there are many men as well. Needless to say, there is a certain kind of person that is needed when joining the military. This goes beyond male and female. Character has a lot more to do with the success of an in dividual than the sex does. Regardless of this, the opposition still argues that women are still not physically capable and this could seriously put people in jeopardy.Here in the United States, opponents of allowing women fight in combat, strongly believe that women are not physically capable, but in other Countries this has been disproven. â€Å"In the 1970s, the Canadian military conducted trials that tested women's physical, psychological, and social capacity for combat roles. The results informed the final decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to remove Canada's female combat exclusion. After similar tests, Denmark also lifted its combat ban in the late 1980s. (Mackenzie, 1) If other countries have dismantled this theory that women are not physically capable, why has the United State’s not followed? Qualifications for being able to fight on the battle field should be tested on whether or not the individual is physically and mentally fit, the sex of the individu al should not be the determining factor for why they cannot be out in combat. The United States has had a rich history of patriotism. Citizens, for the most part, are proud of the nation that they live in. When one looks outside for the fourth of July, all one sees is red, white and blue.A lot of Americans have a great sense of pride in the nation that they live in. Most Americans have a sense of recognition for the sacrifices that some people have made in order to make this a very prosperous country. Among those that Americans feel that deserve the recognition are ones that serve in the military. There is the upmost respect and pride that comes along when an American sees a soldier that is fighting for their country. According to Pew Research Center for the People and Press, â€Å"Two-thirds (66%) support allowing women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, while just 26% are opposed. More than half of Americans are in support of the uplift of this ban. As an American, one has the god given right to choose if they want to defend their country. Upon deciding this, a lot of courage and pride has to come for one to say that they want to join the military. Though women only make up fifteen percent of the United State’s military, or roughly two hundred and fifteen thousand women currently serving, they still deserve the same amount of respect given to the men. Women joining the military are aware of the disadvantages that they are going to face just because of the simple fact that they are women.They realize at a very early start that war for men and war for women are two distinct things. It is a given that women are much more susceptible to negative aspects of war like sexual assault and sexual harassment. The fifteen percent of women that make up the military have chosen to overlook these negativities and have chosen to join the military regardless. These women are aware of the risks and dangerous and still have chosen to join the military. The courage, dedication and willingness of women in the military alone, should be the reason for why they should be allowed to fight in combat.The debate on women fighting in combat has a similar history to the debate on the policy â€Å"Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. † In 1950, President Truman signed the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This policy sets up discharge rules for homosexual members or anyone seen acting out in homosexual ways (Cristina Rivero, 1). This was the beginning of disallowing openly gays from joining the military. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, it was made clear from his staff that â€Å" Homosexuality is incompatible with military service. Those that were believed to act in homosexual ways or were gay were discharged because of the fear that homosexuals would disrupt the order of the military. According to the supporters of this ban, the disruption was going to be so great, that the military as a whole was in jeopa rdy. Many people felt, that this â€Å"would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability. † (Wiki, 1) In essence, military officials were scared that soldiers would end up betraying or not performing to their peak if there were an openly gay member in their unit.This would all change In 1993 when President Clinton, ordered that a bill be passed that military members would not be asked their sexual orientation. This would become to be known as â€Å"Don’t Ask, Don’t tell. † In simple terms, if one was gay and was in the military, one could not openly express themselves as being gay. This stirred a lot of controversy because people believed that one should be able to express their sexual orientation without repo caution or fear of being discriminated against. Even though in 2003, President Clinton would want the â€Å"Don’t ask, don’t tel l† policy removed, it would not come about until years later.In 2011, don’t ask, don’t tell would come to an end. As the end of don’t ask, don’t tell came, a lot of military officials came out. Several high ranking military officials decided it was the appropriate time to finally come out. For years, the fear that openly gay members would be detrimental to the military kept many military men and women from being open about their sexuality. There was such a great fear when in reality there was minimal or even no consequences from openly gay members serving in the military. This is much like the debate on women fighting in combat today.Women have been serving in the military for decades. Hundreds of women have been hurt and even killed while proudly serving their country. With the proper training, any military member should be able to perform at their peak. If someone is not physically, mentally ready to be out on the battlefield, one should not be ou t there. There have been gay members in the military that have had the proper training leading to successful military careers. The fact of their sexual orientation did not limit or hurt them while serving in the military. Like men, women have been serving their country with honor and pride for decades.But unlike men, the women in the military do not tend to receive as much recognition for their service to their country. Women may only make up fifteen percent of the military, but they have been excluded from twenty percent of the jobs in the military. â€Å"According to the Department of Defense, ending the ban will open up 237,000 positions to women. † (Hallman, 1) With the uplift of this ban, more opportunities will be opened for women not only in the types of jobs that they can have, but the rankings that they could possibly reach. Sexual assaults in the military towards women tend to go unreported.By allowing women to reach higher-rankings, there could be the possibility t hat sexual assaults go down or more likely to go reported. â€Å"Recent surveys of female veterans found that close to a third were victims of rape or assault while they were serving, which is double the rate in the civilian population. † (Hallman, 1) More often than not, sexual assaults go unreported in the military. By having women as higher-ranking officials, the sexual assault epidemic in the military may start being addressed properly. The proper steps in reporting sexual assaults may take place.There is always this fear that there will be severe repo cautions if women come forward. Women may feel a lot more comfortable reporting sexual assault to a women high-ranking official. Allowing women to fight in combat will be a positive movement that may even get rid or limit the negative aspect of the military. During war, soldiers encounter a variety of difficult tasks, mishaps and dangerous situations. All of these things are inevitable and are a part of war. Soldiers are pu t through situations that are not only physically but also mentally exhausting. Because of this a lot of soldiers develop PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. † (Mayo Clinic) From 2009, post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses have increased in women from fifteen percent up to twenty-two percent. Men have increased from nine percent to fourteen percent in the diagnosis of PTSD. (Anderson, 1) This alone raises a lot of questions whether women are mentally stable enough to be on the front lines.Though it is true that women are being diagnosed at a much higher rate than men, there are probably a lot of men that are not willing to come forward and admit that they have post-traumatic stress disorder. Men in general tend to not want to come forward because of t he fear that they will be looked as less of a man or less honorable. Women on the other hand are much more likely than men to come forward and because of this, the statistic may not be as accurate and be swayed. Women are traditionally viewed as these caring, emotional, and even soft individuals when compared to men.But realistically, in the military all of these characteristics of traditional women are dropped. It takes a certain kind of individual, man or woman, to join the military. The women that do decide to join the military are not like the traditional women. These women are tough, rigid individuals that are not much different to their male counterparts. The military lifestyle is a lot different than the civilian lifestyle. Yes it is true that women officially may not be allowed to fight on the frontlines, but that does not mean that women are not exposed to the same dangers as the men who are.USA Today States, â€Å"since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 292,0 00 women have served in those combat zones out of a total of almost 2. 5 million, Pentagon records show. In both wars, 152 women have died from combat or noncombat causes, records show, and 958 have been wounded in action. † Much like the men, some women that have served for their country have died. This just goes to show that even though women typically aren’t in the battlefield, the risk of them dying is significant. The military should be black and white not male or female.A lot of people are calling the uplifting of women fighting in combat an â€Å"experiment†. Is it really an experiment or just an official document that allows women to fight in combat? Women in the military are exposed to the same dangers as much as the men are. With the uplifting of this ban, men and women will now receive the same training essential for the front lines. Both men and women should receive this training in order to guarantee that both will be successful. If a soldier is not prepared mentally or physically, they should not be allowed to fight in combat.There should be rigorous testing on each individual soldier determining if they are combat ready. The sex of the soldier should not be the deciding factor whether or not someone is combat ready. There are plenty of men that are physically and mentally ready, but there is also plenty of women as well. Women are becoming more equal in our society vastly due to the fact that they are fully capable of doing any task that men can perform. Citations Mackenzie, M. H. (2012). Let Women Fight. Foreign Affairs, 91(6), 32-42. Tom V. B. and Jim M, (2013, January 23).USA Today http://www. usatoday. com/story/news/nation/2013/01/23/panetta-women-combat-pentagon/1859221/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Don't_ask,_don't_tell Mackenzie, M. H. (2013,January 23) http://www. foreignaffairs. com/articles/138200/megan-h-mackenzie/let-women-fight Hallman, L. (2013, March 6) End of Combat Ban Will Give Women Recognition They Dese rvehttp://www. foreignaffairs. com/articles/138200/megan-h-mackenzie/let-women-fight Pew Research (2013, January 29) http://www. people-press. org/2013/01/29/broad-support-for-combat-roles-for-women/1/

Lab Report of Food Chem Essay

As a part of our food chemistry and biochemistry assignment, we were told by our lecturer to do research on a certain food products based on articles we can find on magazines and newspapers. Then we were to criticize certain articles comparing with articles found on the internet. I chose yoghurt. It is widely known as a healthy product and a substitute for many products such as heavy cream or coconut milk. It is a dairy product where we can obtain it from the cow’s milk. The milk will undergo bacterial fermentation to become yoghurt. Dairy yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. ulgaricus and Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus bacteria. In addition, other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are also sometimes added during or after culturing yogurt. Yogurt is nutritionally rich in protein, calcium, riboflavin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. It has nutritional benefits beyond those of milk. Lactose-intolerant individuals can sometimes tolerate yogurt better than other dairy products, because the lactose in the milk is converted to glucose and galactose, and partially fermented to lactic acid, by the bacterial culture. Yogurt containing live cultures has been found effective in a randomized trial at preventing antibiotic-associated diarrhoea. Yogurt contains varying amounts of fat. There is non-fat (0% fat), low-fat (usually 2% fat) and plain or whole milk yogurt (4% fat). A study published in the International Journal of Obesity (11 January 2005) also found that the consumption of low-fat yogurt can promote weight loss, especially due to the calcium in the yogurt. But there are scientists who are arguing that yoghurt is not a healthy food after all. It also does cause certain diseases which can be avoided if we ake yoghurt in a lower level. We will see more about yoghurt in this paper. Discussion Supporting points All of the articles I found about yoghurts only talked about the benefits of yoghurt. it says that it is a very good substitute for cream, coconut milk and even ice cream, since it contains lactobacillus which is good for our digestive and immune system. It is rich in potassium, calcium, protein and B vitamins. It is also lower in cholesterol. An advantage of yogurt is that it is a probiotic, which means that it contains â€Å"friendly† bacteria that help clean your intestines from â€Å"bad† bacteria. As a result of eating yogurt, you can have a healthy balance of intestinal micro flora to promote optimal ability to absorb nutrients. You can eat yogurt to provide your intestines with friendly bacteria like lactobacillus acidophilus, which are killed when you take antibiotics, according to the National Centre for Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Yoghurt also prevents colon cancer. It lowers blood pressure and cholesterol level. It strengthens the immune system by preventing constipation and bloating. It reduces inflammation. It also improves mineral absorption. It prevents harmful bacteria. It promotes healthy bacteria and enzyme. Calcium with can be obtained from yoghurt also steadies your appetite and helps reduce mood swings and tension. Ice cream can be swapped to frozen yoghurt. Just freeze your regular yoghurt and add some mixed berries to add taste. Criticizing points Eating more calories than you burn makes you fat. That said, if you don’t want to count calories, and you eat yogurt a lot, stick with low fat or non-fat. If you like fruit yogurt, just buy a big container of Plain and add fresh fruit to it. You’ll save a lot of calories and get more fibre, which helps you to maintain a healthy weight. Yogurt can be a staple in a healthy diet, providing you with a good source of calcium, protein, vitamin D and potassium. Picking any yogurt brand and eating it in excess, however, can contribute to problems such as weight gain, high cholesterol and heart disease. The many yogurt brands in your supermarket fall across the nutrition spectrum, from heart-healthy to fatty, sugar-filled products little better for you than candy. Read yogurt labels carefully to choose the healthiest type. The majority of big name yogurt brands that you find at the grocery store are actually bad for you. Why? Because they’re loaded with sugar and the milk that they use most likely comes from cows that have been pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones. Seriously, you may as well be eating candy with a steroid chaser. Even the so-called â€Å"natural† yogurts or those marked with the ever popular â€Å"organic† label. Conclusion Reading all types of articles may cause us to be confused with our choices. Any type of food, when eaten in a certain amount is safe for us. Yoghurt even though is natural food. It is very fattening. As it says in the articles, 0% fat may contain other hidden fat such as from sugar. So 0% is not 0% fat after all. Yoghurt may be high in vitamin b12 and calcium, but we must know that that is not our only source of calcium. So we should not eat the total amount of our requirement only from yoghurt. We can substitute other food products for yoghurt for a healthier choice. I personally think that yoghurt is a very healthy food and we should take it in a limited amount. We should also go for plain yoghurt and not the flavoured yoghurt as it may contain hidden sugar, saturated fat and other preservatives.

Analysis of John Keats’ “On the Sonnet” Essay

In John Keats’ â€Å"On the Sonnet,† he urges fellow poets to not let their poetic genius, their â€Å"Muse† die, because it is confined to the parameters of then-current Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms. While he follows neither form, (thus requiring further analysis to determine the logic of his poem), his use of symbolism makes his message more than clear. He starts the poem with an allusion to Andromeda, â€Å"who, according to Greek myth, was chained to a rock so that she would be devoured by a sea monster† (Norton 799). He uses this image to represent the fate of poetry, if it follows the unsatisfactory form of either Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnets. This image is portrayed in the first three lines, â€Å"If by dull rhymes our English must be chained, /And like Andromeda, the sonnet sweet /Fettered, in spite of pain and loveliness,† which can be translated as â€Å"If our poetry must be confined by the current sonnet forms, and face the fate of Andromeda, despite our careful attention†¦[then†¦].† The second clause of the thought introduced in lines one through three, the implied â€Å"then,† is found in lines four through nine. Keats writes, â€Å"Let us find, if we must be constrained, /Sandals more interwoven and complete /To fit the naked foot of Poesy: /Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress /Of every chord, and see what may be gained /By ear industrious, and attention meet.† According to the footnote provided in Norton, Poesy refers to a need voiced in a letter, in which Keats wrote out this poem and then discussed his â€Å"impatience with the traditional Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms: ‘I have been endeavoring to discover a better sonnet stanza than we have.'† The word â€Å"lyre† can mean â€Å"harp,† but can also be a symbol for â€Å"lyric poetry,† and â€Å"chord† can mean â€Å"a string of a musical instrument, such as a harp,† but can also refer to poetry, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. With this in mind, lines four through nine can be interpreted to mean, â€Å"[if we must be chained like this], then let’s find intricately woven sandals, (symbolic of new, undiscovered sonnet forms; Keats’ â€Å"need†), to fulfill my need: let’s inspect the harp (symbolic of lyric poetry), and listen to every chord (continuing the metaphor of the  harp, chords are symbolic of lines within lyric poetry), and let’s see what we can accomplish through careful listening and attention.† Finally, in the last five lines of the sonnet, Keats directly addresses his fellow poets as â€Å"misers,† which has a double meaning. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, â€Å"misers† means â€Å"poets,† but it also means â€Å"miserable people.† This intentional word pun expresses Keats’ view that poets are currently miserable, because of the inadequacy of the current sonnet forms. In lines ten through fourteen, he writes, â€Å"Misers of sound and syllable, no less /Than Midas of his coinage, let us be /Jealous of dead leaves in the bay-wreath crown; /So, if we may not let the Muse be free, /She will be bound with garlands of her own.† Midas was a king who had the power to turn everything that he touched into gold. According to Norton, â€Å"jealous† meant â€Å"suspiciously watchful.† Also, in reference to â€Å"the bay-wreath crown,† according to the sixth footnote, â€Å"The bay tree was sacred to Apollo, god of poetry, and bay wreaths came to symbolize true poetic achievement. The withering of the bay tree is sometimes considered an omen of death.† Keats continued the thought, implying that when the leaves of the bay-wreath crown, which represents â€Å"true poetic achievement,† begin to die, they are a warning of death to that very piece of poetry. Finally â€Å"Muse† refers to a poet’s inspiration, which may be killed once it is â€Å"bound† by the dying leaves (garland) of the bay-wreath crown,† which is accomplished by not using one’s Muse to its fullest creative potential. These lines can thus be translated as â€Å"Fellow miserable/ frustrated poets, let’s be ‘suspiciously watchful’ of omens of death to our poetry; if we do not let our inspiration run free, it will die too.† John Keats, obviously disillusioned by the available forms through which to write poetry, expresses his dissatisfaction in his sonnet, â€Å"On the Sonnet.† Because he uses an ambiguous, unidentifiable sonnet form, instead of the Shakespearean or the Petrarchan sonnet forms, the integrity of his argument is not undermined. In this way, not only does he express his hatred for the current sonnet forms, but refuses to use them as he communicates this frustration in his own sonnet.