Economic Implications on Social Media Essay

The developments in the information technology sector have led to facilitation in information sharing across the globe in what has been referred to as social media. The internet has brought many changes in the way individuals across the world interact. Through the use of social media, individuals are able to exchange photographs, videos, post their thoughts on blogs and take part in discussions that takes lace online. Social media allows the people, organizations, companies and governments to be able to reach large numbers of people with a lot of ease. This paper shall give an overview of how the social media has impacted on the economic domain of development in the society by analyzing both the positive and the negative impacts. Social Media: Social media refers to the various internet based and mobile services which allows the user to take part in online exchanges, contributing user-created content and being able to join the online community. It also refers to the tools and technologies that enable an online interaction, networking, sharing and collaboration. There are various services internet services that are usually associated with social media which includes blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, social network sites, status updates services, virtual word content and media sharing site (Dewing, 2010). Blogs is a short form of ‘web log’ which can be described as an online journal in which pages are put on view in an overturned chronological order. The blogs can be hosted for free on various websites including WordPress and Blogger among others. Wikis on the other hand refers to collective websites in which anyone participating can modify the pages or create their new pages using a Web browser. A good example of a wiki is the Wikipedia which is a free online encyclopedia that utilizes the wiki technology. Social bookmarking sites are those sites which allow the users to share and organize links to websites for instance the Delicious, Digg, and Reddit. Social network sites are the web-based services which enables the individuals to build a public or semi-public profile in a delimited system. The individuals are also able to articulate a list of other users whom they share connection thus being able to navigate through and view their list of connections and those of others in the system. Such sites include Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live Spaces amongst others (Dewing, 2010). Status-update services are also referred to as micro-blogging services are more like social network sites but they allow individuals to share short updates and also be able to view updates from others. A good example is the twitter services. Virtual world content on the other hand offers a game-like virtual environment for the users to interact. A good example of this would be the imaginary world that is created in Second Life whereby users can create avatars to interact with each other. Avatars are the virtual representations of the users. Media–sharing sites are those which enable the users to post videos or photographs for instance the You Tube and Flickr. It must be noted that some of these categories do overlap for instance twitter can be regarded as both a social network site as well as a stats update service (Dewing, 2010). Social media is capable of affecting the manner in which individuals interact online. Social media is known to open up new ways for cooperation and dialogue in today’s world. Most of the content posted in social media may remain there permanently at least by default. The content may also be accessible, replicable, and searchable. Social media can therefore be used anywhere, and at any moment provided that there is internet connectivity in the area. Such factors are responsible for shaping of the dynamics of the social media. The fact that the players in the social media are usually invisible raises various questions regarding the framework, correctness and unambiguousness regarding the communication. The identity and motives of those who post contents in the social media are not always clear (Dewing, 2010). Evolution of Social Media: The internet became popular in the last two decades and web sites which allowed individuals to create and upload content started appearing with the first network site said to have appeared in 1997 for the first time. The first social network site to be launched was called ‘SixDegrees. com’ and it was followed soon by many others at the turn of the millennium. In 2002, there was an upsurge in the number of social network sites with some surging to popularity only to fade in a little while such as the Friendstar. However, others were able to develop niche communities for instance MySpace appealed to adolescent music enthusiasts (Dewing, 2010). Towards the end of the first decade of the second millennium, social media was widely accepted, for instance; by the year 2009, Facebook made the announcement that its users were well over 350 million worldwide (Dewing, 2010). There are a number of factors that have led to a surge in the social media participation which include technological factors, social factors and economic factors. Technological factors include things such as readily available broadband, improvement in software tools, and the development of more powerful computer and mobile services. Social factors on the other hand include the rapid uptake of social media by the young generation while the economic factors include the growth in commercial interests in the social media sites and affordability of computers and related software (Dewing, 2010). Impacts of Social Media: Since the widespread usage of social media is a recent phenomenon, social and economic implications can only be barely understood. Some quarters hold the belief that social media is causing isolation amongst the people whereas others believe that social media has broaden democratic participation. According to a research conducted by statistics Canada; We should expect neither a dysfunctional society of loners nor a blissful society of happy net-workers. Rather, we are facing a society that is differently cohesive from the one we have known. There do not appear to be any significant differences in the number of social ties or in the amount of social interaction between Internet users and non-users. Instead, the Internet is providing ways of fostering participation with community members and enhancing relationships, including through social media (Dewing, 2010, para 10). Social media has also had economic impacts in regard to the manner in which what is contained in the social media is created and consumed. This can be summed up to the growth in the information and communication sector of the economy. In most economies, growth in this sector of the economy has been tremendous even surpassing the overall economic growth. Many business firms and organizations have also incorporated social media in their marketing strategies (Dewing, 2010). Socio-economic Impacts: The socioeconomic theory appears to be spearheading the deflationary cycle more than the financial or the political economics. Previously, the Keynesian and libertarian theories were believed to be the key players in the deflationary cycle. According to the socio-economic theories, it is claimed that in order for us to get out of the deflationary cycle, there is need to view it as both a sociological and fiscal problem. The solution is therefore to be found in the ground-breaking technology which promises huge profits to be used in investment so as to commence the next boom cycle, and snap the society out of the predicament created by the economic downturn. Social media could play a role in mitigating the damages that arise from the deflationary cycle. It could also be instrumental in the construction of the next opportunities for technological innovations (Fischer, 2009). Understanding the objective economic potential is very crucial and dependant on the revolution of the social media. Social media is known to utilize technology in enhancing the people’s ability to interact with others. Social media is to be found in interaction, connection, trust and relations that are driven by technology. In regard to business, this implies establishment of trust and channels of communication which supports and enables collaboration and building of engaged teams through the removal of barriers and frustrations that were created by conventional structures. Social media particularly in regard to collaboration has the potential to unlock the hidden knowledge in organizations when required. It also lowers the cost of software via open source cooperation, easing the finding of appropriate information, and making organizations to be more responsive. These are however cultural changes that occurs gradually. Nevertheless, the promise for change is there even though it might take much longer time. However, the technological investment that is required to bring about these changes is quite cheaply available (Fischer, 2009). With social media, change is bound to happen. Social media has the prospects of creating more effective organizations via the collaboration, â€Å"providing a greater variety of information services at low cost through mashups and open source, and a lower cost to product and service messaging, when the product and service has great appeal†(Fischer, 2009, para 7). Similarly, social media has detrimental impacts on the established industries. The conventional advertising media has become decreasingly effective due to the increasing numbers of the individuals who are networked and therefore attentive to one another. It is imperative to observe that; Friend of a friend referrals, rating sites or consumer oriented websites will become the norm and rely on their objectivity to maintain trust with their followers, therefore are not as subject to trying to manipulate their audience based on the promise of big advertising revenue (Fischer, 2009, para 8). There is no doubt that manipulation is part of the social media practice though the ability for any individual to broadcast and gain audience to the large network in the social media indicates that it is not an easy task and it is destined to be the exception and not the norm in the long run (Fischer, 2009). The distribution of retail products may also come to the forefront due to the social media influence. Due to the fact that e-commerce has been enhanced in the recent past owing to a revolution in the social media, some social observations have been made in regard to marketing trends for instance, there has been a relation drawn between the trends on how particular products are moved in the market. Such observations may be observed as ‘individuals who bought product X also bought product Y’. Large business organizations may also offer lower prices and utilize the social media to achieve the personal touch, a domain previously associated with small business organizations. This has been geared towards the ‘commodization’ of products that are produced on a large scale and the futuristic markets with the chances of realizing massive profits. The markets of the future are said to be niche markets that would require subject matter expertise and customization (Fischer, 2009). The gains of the social media in economic venture may be offset by the unsettling role associated with it in the conventional industries. In the past, any technological changes would result in obvious and simple routes to massive increases in the production and demand. However, with the social media, increase in productivity and demand over a short time is not palpable due to the fact that it requires cultural changes together with the technological transformations. Eventually, as the cultural changes are realized over time, massive increases in the production may be realized; however, in the short term social media can not be used to provide an obvious path for investment capable of leading to gains in effectiveness and productivity (Fischer, 2009). There is this argument that tightly knit society has the capability to survive economic stress better compared to a loosely knit society. Social media ensures that the world is woven in complex interactions and also offers individuals with something to do when they are not involved in an economic activity. This is motivated by what can be referred to as ‘reputation economics’ which is designed to motivate individuals to engage in activities such as creating open source software, report on events, and many more information services that would have required individuals to pay for before the advent of the internet. This allows for rich content and growth of valuable products to be carried out devoid of investment and yet with returns for instance a â€Å"business entity that hosts their websites on Linux servers or uses open office to create and manage documents† (Fischer, 2009, para 9). To add on the long term effectiveness of the social media which include the creation of complex systems like an operating system at relatively low cost; it could also enable the development of new innovations presenting a clear path that shall increase production and demand. The deflationary cycle that is predicted by the socio-economic theories could only be shortened if only we are able to find out the kind of innovation required and be able to bring it more quickly (Fischer, 2009). Social media is said to provide revenue to both the users and platforms. It has to be noted that social media better known as social computing is a driver for competitiveness. The effects of social computing may be seen on the industry itself for instance, the development in the social media or the information and communication technology sector. It can also be observed in other industries that uses the social computing. There is evidence that â€Å"more targeted marketing and user research which are reliant on user profiles and content interest are opening new channels to markets† (Pascu, 2008, para 11). There are emergent employment possibilities vial social networks and new opportunities to utilize user innovations in developing the products or as an intermediate between organizations and consumers (Pascu, 2008). The impact of social media can not be wished away as insignificant. This is because, faced with the modern reality where social media provides a platform for the consumers, competitors and the market place to discuss products, services and employees. All this is carried out online â€Å"whether it’s a protest group on Facebook (â€Å"United Airlines Sucks! â€Å"), a persistent hashtag on Twitter (#attfail) or just a meme that travels from blogger to Blogger† (Taylor, 2009, para 5). At this juncture, it does not matter as to whether it is of importance to probe into the social networks. What is of importance is whether one is paying attention to the social media where the message has gone to. This means that the customer to the company products is the one to define the brand in the market. This is quite challenging as it means that those organizations with acceptable products are bound to be reap benefits even with minimum branding and marketing strategies whereas those companies that are considered bad by the customers are destined to suffer from a bad reputation even when they spent more money to advertise themselves and try to position themselves as market leaders (Taylor, 2009). It is therefore important for organizations to take time and monitor what is going on in the social media. There are various services at the disposal of whoever would like to monitor the social media which include the individual services such as ‘Search. twitter. com’ and more complicated ones such as ‘Filtrbox’ and ‘Radian 6’. For successful business undertaking, there is need for organizations to embrace the social media which provides an avenue to engage with the customers. Interaction on the social media with the customers is crucial and thus joining these sites for creating new bully pulpits for the organization’s marketing and sales messages without proper interaction with the customers is not commendable (Taylor, 2009). The organizations can not be isolated from the social media as they create a powerful impression with the capability of having a lasting impact that may prove to be hard to change. Accompany with a bad reputation might score poorly even with spirited advertisement due to evaluations that are obtained from the social media. It is therefore important to address the problems that are affecting the organizations one by one rather than spending huge sums of money in advertising the products (Chong, 2010). Conclusion: Social media has been a new discovery in the information and communication sector and that its impacts on the economic development are worthy noting. The economic impacts of social media are two fold and may bring positive results or negative results to a business organization. With social media, the consumers of the company products are able to talk about the products, services and competitors and definitely such discussions are to impact on the business entity either for better or for worse. Social media can therefore have far reaching repercussions on the business organizations in terms of profitability. Reference: Chong, S. , (2010). Nothing Can save Negative Buzz on Twitter. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. penn-olson. com/2010/07/02/nothing-can-save-negative-buzz-on-twitter/. Dewing, M. , (2010). Social Media: 1. An Introduction. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www2. parl. gc. ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2010-03-e. htm. Fischer, K. , (2009). Exploring the economic impact of social media. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. web20blog. org/2009/03/24/exploring-the-economic-impact-of-social-media/. Pascu, C. , (2008). ERoSC-The Socio-economic Impact of Emerging Social Computing Applications. Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://docs. google. com/viewer? a=v&q=cache:dHneLXVRkYgJ:www. foresight-network. eu/index. php%3Foption%3Dcom_docman%26task%3Ddoc_view%26gid%3D352+Economic+Implications+on+Social+Media&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShixNJSG5ddAxmDsp3_H0NmsZ-LetSdSeKnGykkb0y_4ruRrW-EstMaeGHfs16v1u66MJlBbpW-WIgVRxtCabedvJWeojTeW4mfj7Z70xD-y31hAWGz7VhQwakzAylysKUUV0NN&sig=AHIEtbRbStc-eBG_GjfGNgsEL-OmZ0oP8g Taylor, D. , (2009). What’s the impact of social media on business growth? Retrieved on 26th July 2010 from; http://www. intuitive. com/blog/impact_of_social_media_twitter_facebook_business_growth. html

Leadership Styles and Characteristics Essay

Discuss two styles of leadership and five characteristics of an effective leader. A leader is one who has the knowledge understanding, confidence and communication skills to lead or drive their followers to a particular goal. Everyone cannot be a leader; followers are needed to get things done. An autocratic leader is one who makes all the decisions regarding his/her followers; its either their way or no way. People that are new to the company in which this leadership resides may need this style in order to become effective are their job, as this type of leadership is very detailed in the things they want done. In the event this leader needs to make a very important and swift decision, they do not sit and listen to everyone’s opinion like a democratic leader; this leader has to rely on their own capabilities as an effective leader. In situations that are stressful and there is a deadline that has to be met most people would rather an autocratic leader, so that they can focus on the work rather than deal with complex situations. On the other hand the people that follow this leader may rebel or become irritable towards the leader; this can then cause strikes and maybe even acts of violence. People in general like to have a voice or be heard regarding an issue involving them; once you take that away a negative impact may occur. An autocratic leadership may have a lack of creativity as there is only one person making the decisions. This type of leadership can be used effectively when the leader is the most knowledgeable than the other group members. A laissez-fare leader is a little more laid back than the autocratic leader as this style of leadership gives full power to the staff to make decisions and rely on their own abilities. The followers of this style usually are able to handle the company themselves as they are experienced and equipped to do so. This leader has no choice but to trust his/her staff since the leader may not be easy to contact. Sometimes the leader is needed and cannot be found, this can send confusion and paranoia throughout the company; this usually happens because the leader doesn’t know their responsibilities so they allow the staff to cover for them. Some people cannot disciple themselves enough to set their own deadlines for completion of necessary projects, this can cause a decline in productivity for the group. An effective leader must be able to set a good example for their followers. Certain leaders, like that of a president or leader of a country are constantly watched so a positive example must always be apparent. By showing endurance in certain situations, whether it be mental or physical, you can inspire others to do the same. Leaders should always have a pleasing personality. No one wants to follow someone who is negative about every situation, so a good personality should always shine through. This personality should appeal to both male and female followers. Telling your followers how much of a good job their doing can increase productivity and prove positive for the group. A good communicator is not only good at speaking but they should be good at listening; which is another characteristic of an effective leader. To be able to not only understand what your followers are saying but to have the ability to paraphrase in short terms can also be effective. A good leader is in tune with their followers. They are involved in every aspect of the project from the beginning to end; they have no problem rolling up their sleeves and getting dirty but still have the ability to set themselves apart from the pack and be an effective leader. Leaders should be intelligent, skilled and qualified for their position. If you have less qualifications than your followers this could pose a problem if they were to find out. When you look up to someone usually they have more knowledge or a strong educational background with experience to back it up.

Role of the American Government in Creating the Conditions for the Term Paper

Role of the American Government in Creating the Conditions for the Emergence of the Financial Crisis - Term Paper Example This paper discusses how the US government’s requirements for the banking system to provide affordable housing led to a global economic crisis. The greatest mortgage crisis scandal is possibly that it directly resulted from intentional loosening of underwriting standards. This was with the objective of ending discrimination, despite warnings that it could culminate into extensive defaults. Loans were at the core of the financial crisis, which were made with practically non-existing underwriting standards. There was no asset or income verification, no down payment and there was little consideration of the applicants’ ability to repay Relaxed underwriting standards implied that there would be a considerable reduction or removal of assets, income, savings and credit history as well as the overall repayment capability from the equation. This is in addition to permitting products that avoided the criteria for basic good lending practices. Banks did not come up with the idea of loosening underwriting standards. The regulators, at ‘progressive’ political forces and community groups’ behest, loosened them. This encouraged lenders to offer products and underwrite loans impartially, irrespective of the borrower’s repayment capability and financial soundness Due to globalization and currency integration such as dollarization, goods and services, stock and financial markets, trade and housing have close inter-connection globally, resulting into greater global interdependence. As one of the world’s largest economies, any slowdown in the economy of the United States will inexorably spread to other countries. This is exactly what happened leading to the rapid spread of a severe financial crisis around the world.

Alternative Energy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alternative Energy - Research Paper Example There are various alternate energy incentives that the United States Federal Government can offer. It should focus more on promoting renewable energy and for that, there are various incentives that it can offer. The government needs to promote new technology and offer incentives to investors who deploy that technology. Secondly, it should offer opportunities such as tax exemptions for businesses that make use of wind or solar power energy. There is a new law that was recently passed which propagated tax exemptions for homeowners who made energy-efficient improvements in their current homes. The law is under Residential Energy Property Credit (Section 1121) (IRS)This alternative energy incentive was subjected to improvements at home such as adding insulation, constructing energy-efficient exteriors and having energy efficient heating and cool systems at home. The government during Bush’s tenure had chalked out a plan to convert all taxis to hybrids by 2012. Various incentives w ere offered to back this motive by the government. Ethanol producers were given 50 cents per gallon credit. (Renewable energy is a job creator, 2011) Solar technology as the name implies uses sun’s energy to generate heat, light, and electricity. There are various types of solar collectors which are used to trap the sun’s energy. Passive solar buildings designs are built to trap the sun’s heat; photovoltaic cells are designed to trap sunlight and to convert it into electricity directly. It is a renewable form of energy. On the plus side, this is an abundant source of energy, is renewable and clean.

Argument final paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Argument final - Research Paper Example ilable medical remedies, and so many patients suffering from these diseases are made to endure severe and chronic pain, vomiting, difficulty in breathing, and other similar discomforts. They are often also made to endure such symptoms for days and even months before they eventually die. In the interim, they often reach the point of wanting to end their suffering and pain by ending their life. Lacking the strength and the means to end it, these patients turn to their physicians to assist them in ending their life. But legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is a dangerous step which is very much against the basic principles of the medical practice. With such a premise, this paper shall discuss and support the thesis that physician-assisted suicide should not be made legal. An important consideration in the assisted suicide discussion is the fact that committing it is against the basic principle of non-maleficence or of not doing any harm to one’s patient. The Hippocratic Oath which serves as the basic ethical mandate of the medical practice expressly prohibits physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia (Finlay, 2005). This oath declares that a physician should not â€Å"administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will [the physician] suggest such a course† (as cited by Demy and Stewart, 1998, p. 249). In the time of Hippocrates, assisted suicide and euthanasia were very much against the principles of medicine. In the current context however, assisted suicide and euthanasia are ideas which are new and different from the concepts of medicine and care (Walker, 2001). Those who support physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia also have different ideas on what it is to be a physician and what the moral boundaries of the practice a re. â€Å"It is also telling that the current public interest in PAS comes at a time when the palliative powers of American medicine are greater than they have ever been in the past† (Walker, 2001, p. 27). All in all,

Zara case company analysis report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Zara case company analysis report - Essay Example It further looks at the PR of the company and the major crises that have been facing the company over the years. A comprehensive analysis of the company’s strategy is done to establish the root of the company’s success. Lastly, the paper gives suggestions on how the company can improve its operations in the global scene.Zara is the leading brand of Spanish Fashion Group Inditex and a well- established Fashion Company in the global scene (Zara, 2012). The company was established in 1975 in La Coruna and since then, its growth has been sterling. It had opened branches in major fashion cities including Paris and New York by the year 1990. It was because of their tremendous reputation that Zara Home was opened in the year 2003. In 2007, Zara established their first online shop that specialises in the sale of home products (Inditex, 2012). At the moment, the company operates 1830 stores in different parts of the world. According to recent financial statements, it contributes to more than 64% of Inditex’s revenue (Inditex, 2011). The company distinguishes itself as fast fashion trademark and offers high fashion clothing to reach the public at affordable prices. Zara’s success has been impressive over the years and this paper analyses its external environment, value chain, leadership, strategies and challenges facing the brand name. External Environment Analysis The fashion industry is ever changing due to contribution of companies like Topshop, HandM and Zara (London Business School, 2008). Consequently, factors affecting the clothing industry will influence trends in the high fashion world. In the clothing industry, customers’ preferences vary according to their ages and body types (Keane and te Velde, 2008). Furthermore, the demand for clothing is affected by population size and patterns. For example, an increase in the proportion of pregnant women and birth rate will increase demand for maternity and baby clothes (Suttle, 2011:45 ). It is important to note that demographic trends are the driving force in the fashion industry. The PESTLE analysis will be used to study the macro- environment and the Porter five forces model to evaluate the micro- environment. PESTEL analysis The fashion industry is characterised by high levels of competition among the top fashion brand names and frequent changes in the customers’ tastes and preferences. PESTEL analysis is used to identify factors that affect the demand of goods produced with regards to the external environment. Political Aspects In terms of the political framework in the clothing industry, workers’ rights and employment regulations are mandatory in the creation of a legal environment in the manufacturing

Interpreting Research Questions Using MANOVA Essay

Interpreting Research Questions Using MANOVA - Essay Example The article reports multiple dependent and independent variables in the subject study. The set of independent variables consists of the types of care services as offered by the care facilities that were involved in the research. These include substance abuse care services: â€Å"assessment, referral for detoxification, intensive outpatient treatment, toxicology, 12- step groups, individual and group counseling, linkage to methadone maintenance, relapse prevention and recreation† (Bennett and O’Brien, 2007, p. 399, 400). Domestic violence factors include â€Å"24-hour crisis, shelter, case management, psycho education, advocacy or protection orders, transportation, children’s program, and individual, group, or mother child counseling† (Bennett and O’Brien, 2007, p. 400). Dependent variables consist of three factors, â€Å"women’s experience of battering,† â€Å"domestic violence self efficacy,† and the number of days in which the participants abused drugs (Bennett and O’Brien, 2007, p. 400). The journal uses different levels of measurement to represent the research’s data. While it applies nominal level of measurement for the independent variables, ordinal level is applied for the three categories of dependent variables. In a nominal level of measurement, numbers are assigned to items for mere identification purposes while such numbers hold preference values in ordinal level of measurement (Melnyk and Overholt, 2010). The research analyzes five variables, two independent variables, and three dependent variables. Even though the article does not explicitly offer a research question, it answers the question, ‘what are the effects of coordinated services for drug abusing women who are victims of intimate partner violence?’ The results that show reduced levels of substance abuse and higher efficiency among the women support this (Bennett and O’Brien, 2007). The second article explores

Marketting Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Marketting - Case Study Example Finally I will portray the financial projection for 3 years and along with that few control measures will be recommended. The case argues that nowadays people from all the sectors of the industry are taking huge interests in the field of behavior and attitude. Especially industries such as health, psychology, politics, communication, human development, management, medical and even in the field of biological science have high importance of behavior and attitudes. The case also portrays the conception of behavior and attitude as the resemblance of chicken and egg paradox. Human Behavior Academy (HBA) is basically a non-profit organization based on providing training to the candidates regarding knowledge, skills, and attitude. These skills in turn help the candidates to deal with diversified behaviors and attitudes of people. The company is headquartered at Manchester, United Kingdom and has branches in countries like Singapore, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. The company provides trainings in order to build up professionalism amongst the practitioners. The success factor of the organization lies in its continuous process of research and development. This facilitates the organization to offer the candidates with latest information and trends in the area of behavior and attitude. The intentions of the company are highly reflecting through their mission and vision statement. According to the vision statement the company, it epitomizes that in order to develop a healthy and unbiased society it is necessary to have sturdy mental health, predominantly to understand the thoughts of people in the context of the behavior and attitudes. While the mission statement of the company typifies of generating responsiveness towards the significance and implications of attitude and behavior, as these are the rudiments of mental health. Apart from that the company also has the

The Progression Of Language Development Essay Example for Free

The Progression Of Language Development Essay Infants begin life with no other language than their cries and grunts. As their language mechanism matures, they make more and more sounds. Even before they can use these sounds as language, they begin to comprehend the meanings of words that they hear. They also can communicate their wants and needs with gestures and cries (Papalia et al. , 2002, p. 355).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At about one year, the first word appears. The first word is used as a sentence. Later, the vocabulary increases rapidly. Nouns come first; then verbs; then adjectives and adverbs; with pronouns appearing last (Papalia et al., 2002, p. 356).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Language ability depends on maturation, but also on other factors. Those children who talk earliest will, on the average, alter prove to be the most intelligent. Girls tend to talk a little earlier than boys. Single children also tend to talk earlier than twins. Those with a more stimulating home environment make more rapid progress in language development than those with a poorer environment (Papalia et al., 2002, p. 357).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   My niece was introduced to two languages from the very start when she was barely three months old. Her parents decided that they introduce her to her ancestral language which is basically French. Although very difficult at first since they will be speaking to her in two languages, they became used to the idea later on. However, they noticed that acquisition of vocabulary is slower compared to unilingual babies or children. This was starting to be evident when the child turned nine months to one-year old when the baby starts to mimic whatever her parents would say to her and starts to speak her desires. Today she is already almost three years old and has been alternately speaking English and French. Though her vocabulary gets mixed many times, she can easily switch to any of the two languages whenever she prefers to; though again given her maturity level, she still is limited with facility for words. From my observation, it is quite true that though a child may be limited with the speed at which he/she can speak words or language compared to the unilingual child, the bilingual tends to have a higher degree of proficiency later on. Studies show that acquiring another language (especially quite similar to the learned ones) will be greater a possibility if the child has been taught with two or more languages as a child (Papalia et al., 2002, p. 357). Reference: Papalia, Diane E., Sally W. Olds, Ruth Duskin Feldman. 2002. Human Development, Eighth   ed. McGraw-Hill.

Investigating the effect of different liquid densities on the time taken to release 25 ml of alcohols Essay Example for Free

Investigating the effect of different liquid densities on the time taken to release 25 ml of alcohols Essay * Research question: * Does the change in liquid densities at the same temperature affect the time taken to release 25 ml of the alcohol from a 50 ml burette? * Variables: * Independent variable: The liquid density / g ml-1. * Dependent variable: The time taken to release 25 ml of the alcohol from a burette / s. * Controlled variables: * The volume of alcohol in a burette / ml. * The temperature of the alcohols / oC. * The absence of unnecessary substances or ions. * The same burette for the entire experiment. * Prediction: * The time taken to release 25 ml of the alcohol from a 50 ml burette is, stated by F. Weinberg (1984) [1], dependent on flow velocity and in particular are very sensitive to small changes in the density difference between the two liquids. * My prediction is, the higher the liquid density is, the more time taken for 25 ml of the alcohol to be released from the burette. The time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol increases in order: Methanol, Ethanol, Propan-1-ol, Butan-1-ol and Octan-1-ol. * Method: * Apparatus: * 50 ml burette (Uncertainty: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.500 ml). * Retort stand. * 125 ml ethanol C2H5OH 95.0%. * 125 ml methanol CH3OH 99.5%. * 125 ml propan-1-ol CH3(CH2)2OH 98%. * 125 ml butan-1-ol CH3(CH2)3OH 99%. * 125 ml octan-1-ol CH3(CH2)7OH 94%. * Thermometer (Uncertainty: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0500 oC). * 5 x funnels. * 50 ml conical flask. * Casio stop watch (Uncertainty: à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 seconds). * Distilled water. * Risk assessment: * The procedure uses poisonous alcohols. Notably, suggested by Department of Chemistry Imperial College London (2006) [2], less than 2 teaspoons (2 ml) of methanol can cause blindness, and 2 table spoons (30 ml) can cause death. This toxicity is mainly due to it being converted in the body to formic acid and formaldehyde, which first attack the cells in the retina, then the other vital organs. Plus, propan-1-ol is used as a common solvent and cleaning agent in chemistry laboratories. Also, because it evaporates rapidly, IPA is widely used in astringents to cool the skin and constrict surface blood vessels. * Goggles and lab coat are therefore needed to be worn throughout the experiment. * Procedures: 1. Close the tap and run some distilled water into the top of the burette, then swish the burette up and down to let the water clean all the inside of the burette. Open the tap, let the water drain out. 2. Attach the burette to the retort stand and take care that the burette is upright and stable. 3. Close the tap and use the funnel to put 25 ml of ethanol into the burette. 4. Remove the funnel, make sure that there is no air bubble inside the burette. Measure the temperature of ethanol by the thermometer. 5. Put the conical flask under the burette, adjust the height of the burette so that the tip of the burette is just above the lip of the conical flask. 6. Open the tap and immediately start the stop watch. 7. Stop the watch when 25 ml of ethanol is fully released from the burette. 8. Continue to open the tap and collect the remained ethanol in the burette. 9. Repeat step 1 to 8 four more times. 10. Then change ethanol with methanol, propan-1-ol, butan-1-ol and octan-1-ol. Experiment step 1 9 with each alcohol. * Range and repetitions of experiment: * There are 5 different ranges (The lowest value: 0.789 g ml-1 the highest value: 0.826 g ml-1, Please refer to Data Collection and Processing - Processed data). * The initial procedure is repeated 5 times and thus 25 results are recorded. * Control of variables: * The volume of each alcohol sample remains constant for every test at 25 ml. Different volumes of the alcohol sample may cause inaccuracies in terms of measuring the time taken to release. For instance, larger volume of the same alcohol sample certainly takes longer time to be released. * The temperature of each alcohol sample need to remain constant for every test at 20 oC (293 K). The analysis, written by Weirauch, D. A., Jr. (1998, December) [3], of the high-temperature spreading kinetics for liquids affecting density shows that they can be modified with a constant shift factor. Therefore, higher temperature of the same alcohol sample may reduce the time taken for the alcohol to be released. * The burettes and funnels are rinsed carefully with distilled water prior to the experiment to ensure that inside the burettes do not contain any unnecessary substances/ions. If present, they may react with the alcohols to form products which have different liquid density, as opposed to original liquid densities of the alcohols at 20 oC (293 K). * The same burette is used for every measurement. This is because burettes from the same manufacturer cannot be guaranteed to have the same radius of the tips (possessing relatively small values). The use of different burettes can result differences in the time taken for the alcohol to be released. DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING * Raw data table: Alcohols Dependent independent variables Ethanol Methanol Propan-1-ol Butan-1-ol Octan-1-ol Liquid density / g ml-1 at 20 oC (293 K) [4] 0.789 0.791 0.804 0.810 0.826 1st repetition: Time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette / seconds à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 39.0 43.0 67.0 82.0 112 2nd repetition: Time taken / seconds à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 41.0 44.0 69.0 81.0 115 3rd repetition: Time taken / seconds à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 38.0 46.0 70.0 83.0 111 4th repetition: Time taken / seconds à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 39.0 42.0 71.0 80.0 114 5th repetition: Time taken / seconds à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 40.0 45.0 70.0 79.0 110. Table 2.1 shows the collected raw data table. * Processed data: * Calculating the mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette: * Mean time taken / s = (1st + 2nd + 3rd + 4th + 5th trial data) à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 5. Alcohols Dependent independent variables Ethanol Methanol Propan-1-ol Butan-1-ol Octan-1-ol Liquid density / g ml-1 at 20 oC (293K). 0.789 0.791 0.804 0.810 0.826 The mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette / à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 0.0100 seconds 39.4 44.0 69.4 81.0 112 Table 2.2 shows the processed mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette. * Presentation of processed data: Graph 2.1 shows the relationship between the liquid density and the mean time taken to release 25 ml of each alcohol from a burette. * Treatment of uncertainties: * I try to read off carefully volume of the burette from the bottom of the meniscus with my eye level at the meniscus in order to make sure that the volume of each alcohol sample used is only 25 ml. CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION * Graph analysis: * According to the presented graph of the mean time taken to release 25 ml of different alcohols, there is a very strong positive correlation between the liquid density and the mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette as a very good line of best fit can be observed. (Please refer to Data Collection and Processing - Presentation of processed data - Image 2.1). * Conclusion: * The results demonstrate that, the higher the liquid density is, the longer time taken for 25 ml of the alcohol to be released from the burette. * The conclusion totally agrees with my hypothesis. * Evaluation of procedures: * Strengths: * Safety in the laboratory is highly maintained (by wearing goggles, lab coat and being careful with glass apparatus to avoid any poisonous alcohols that may splash). * Standard ranges and repetitions are met, a very strong positive correlation between the liquid density and the mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette is observed. * Quantitative investigation, with repeats strongly supporting each other, successfully proves that the expectations based on scientific knowledge are totally correct. * Weaknesses: * Several inevitable uncertainties occur throughout the whole experiment which may account for inaccuracies in the collected data. * The concentrations of the alcohols vary from 94.0 % to 99.5 %. The differences in concentration of each alcohol affect the reliability of the data, since 25 ml of pure alcohols (or 5 alcohols with the same concentration) may take different time to be released from the burette. * Although there is a very strong positive correlation between the liquid density and the mean time taken to release 25 ml of alcohol from a burette, the independent variables (liquid density) do not increase constantly due to the limited number of available alcohols (Please refer to Data Collection and Processing - Presentation of processed data - Image 2.1). * The entire procedures, although are simple, take a long time to finish because of the 50 ml burette need to take at least 3 times to add 5 alcohol samples (5 repetitions for each alcohol), 25 ml each. Overall there are 15 times to add 25 alcohol samples since I decide to investigate 5 different alcohols. The more time I need to add more alcohols into the burette, the more likely inaccuracies to occur. * Improving the investigation: * The procedures can be partially replaced by computer data logging suggested by Laurence Rogers (1995) [5] to prevent uncertainties from human errors when stopping the watch. The experiment can be programmed to collect the data (Time taken for 25 ml of the alcohol to be released from the burette) automatically. * More alcohols with liquid densities within the ranges (The lowest value: 0.789 g ml-1 the highest value: 0.826 g ml-1) can be tested to fill the 2 gaps between methanol and propan-1-ol, butan-1-ol and octan-1-ol in the presented graph. For instance, penta-1-ol has the liquid density of 0.815 g ml-1 at 20 oC (293 K) [6]. * Pure alcohols should be bought in the same concentration to ensure the reliability of the collected data. Otherwise, diluting the alcohols to the same concentration can be less expensive, yet time consuming. * A larger burette, for instance, with measuring volume of 75 ml (only 2 times to add 5 alcohol samples, 25 ml each) will reduce the times need to pour more alcohols into the burette to 10. Not only this change in equipment may save time of experimenting, but also minimise the uncertainties. Bibliography [1] Weinberg, F. (1984, December). Fluid flow from a low to a higher density liquid. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B, 15(4), 681. Abstract retrieved March 8, 2009, from Springer Link. Web site: http://www.springerlink.com/content/n84726w432072592/ [2] Department of Chemistry. (2006, August 25). Biological effects of Methanol and Larger Alcohols. In Ethanol. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from Imperial College London. Web site: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/mim/environmental/html/ethanol_text.htm [3] Weirauch, D. A., Jr. (1998, December). Predicting the spreading kinetics of high-temperature liquids on solid surfaces (Vol. 12). Alcoa Technical Center. Retrieved March 8, 2009. doi:10.1557/JMR.1998.0478 [4] Process Calculator. (2009). SG. In Liquid Density. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from Radix Business Models Pvt Ltd. Web site: http://www.processcalculator.com/Liquid_Density.aspx [5] Rogers, L. (1995, May). Sensors and The Data-Logger. In Hardware and software. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from School of Education, University of Leicester Web site: http://www.le.ac.uk/se/lto/logging/test1.html [6] Process Calculator. (2009). SG. In Liquid Density. Retrieved March 8, 2009, from Radix Business Models Pvt Ltd. Web site: http://www.processcalculator.com/Liquid_Density.aspx