The Catcher in the Rye Quotes

'The Catcher in the Rye' Quotes J.D. Salinger’s utilization of casual language in The Catcher in the Rye is a piece of the novel’s suffering fame. Be that as it may, the composing style wasn’t picked essentially to make it open; Salinger emulates the examples and cadence of a story being told orally, giving perusers the practically subconscious sense that they’re tuning in to Holden Caulfield as opposed to perusing a book. The outcome is an amazing feeling of the character in spite of his undeniable lack of quality and propensity to lie, and the capacity to pull practically any statement from the novel and discover a lot of importance and imagery. â€Å"‛Up home we wear a cap like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake,’ he said. ‛That’s a deer shooting hat.Like damnation it is.’ I took it off and took a gander at it. I kind of shut one eye, similar to I was training in on it. ‛This is a people shooting hat,’ I said. ‛I shoot individuals in this hat.’† Holden’s red chasing top is ludicrous, and there is a lot of proof that he’s mindful of that reality, mindful that strolling around a urban setting wearing a brilliant red chasing top is bizarre. On a surface level-surface in light of the fact that it’s the conspicuous purpose behind the top that Holden himself admits to-the top represents Holden’s autonomous soul, his assurance to not resemble every other person. This statement shows Holden’s own impression of the cap as a problematic instrument, a layer of defensive covering that permits him to assault the individuals he meets, if just in his psyche. Holden’s skepticism develops consistently all through the novel as individuals he appreciates frustrate him and those he scorns validate his intuitions, and the red chasing top represents his readiness to shoot those individuals, or assault them and affront them. â€Å"The inconvenience was, that sort of garbage is kind of interesting to watch, regardless of whether you don’t need it to be.† As Holden watches the sick people at the lodging, he feels clashed. He confesses to being interested, yet he’s likewise unmistakably objecting. His feeling of vulnerability is a piece of his passionate breakdown Holden doesn’t need to grow up, yet his body is beyond his ability to do anything about, which is unnerving to him. â€Å"The best thing, however, in that historical center was that everything consistently remained right where it was. Nobody’d move ... Nobody’d be extraordinary. The main thing that would be distinctive would be you.† In contrast to the ducks, which upset Holden because of their standard vanishing, he discovers comfort in the exhibition hall he takes Phoebe to, delighting in its static nature. Regardless of to what extent he remains away, the shows and the experience continue as before. This is encouraging to Holden, who is unnerved of progress and who feels entirely ill-equipped to grow up and acknowledge his mortality-and his duty. â€Å"The part that got me was, there was a woman sitting close to me that cried all through the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. Youd have figured she did it since she was sympathetic as heck, however I was sitting right close to her, and she wasnt. She had this little child with her that was exhausted as hellfire and needed to go to the washroom, however she wouldnt take him. She continued instructing him to sit still and observe the rules. She was about as merciful as a goddam wolf.† There are numerous statements about the fakes that Holden meets and his low assessment of them, yet this statement in the story communicates Holden’s genuine issue with it. It’s less that individuals put on an act and claim to be something they’re not, it’s that they care about an inappropriate things. For Holden, what annoys him here is that the lady is getting passionate about the phony individuals on the screen while disregarding her miserable youngster. To Holden, it ought to consistently be the opposite way around. This gets to the center of Holden’s war against time and development. As individuals get more established, he sees them reliably overlooking what he believes is significant for things he thinks about less so. He stresses that by surrendering and growing up he will overlook Allie and begin thinking about phony things like the films. â€Å"I strolled all around the entire damn lake †I damn close to fell in once, in reality †however I didnt see a solitary duck. I thought possibly if there were any near, they may be snoozing or something close to the edge of the water, close to the grass what not. That is the manner by which I about fell in. Yet, I couldnt find any.† Holden’s fixation on death and mortality drives the whole story, as it’s intensely suggested that his passionate difficulties and troubles in school started when his sibling Allie kicked the bucket a couple of years before the story opens. Holden is panicked that nothing keeps going, that everything-including himself-will kick the bucket and vanish like his sibling did. The ducks represent this dread, as they are a component of his previous, an affectionate memory that is out of nowhere gone, leaving no follow. Simultaneously, the ducks are likewise an indication of trust in Holden. They speak to a soothing consistent, in light of the fact that Holden realizes that when the climate heats up again the ducks will return. This includes a swoon note of expectation that is enhanced by the disclosure toward the finish of the novel that Holden is recounting to his story from a position of wellbeing and quiet, inferring that for Holden the ducks have at last returned. â€Å"Anyway, I continue envisioning all these little children playing some game in this huge field of rye what not. A huge number of little children, and nobodys around-no one major, I mean-with the exception of me. What's more, Im remaining on the edge of some insane bluff. What I need to do, I need to get everyone on the off chance that they begin to go over the bluff I mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going I need to come out from some place and catch them. That is all Id do throughout the day. Id simply be the catcher in the rye what not. I know its insane, however that is the main thing Id truly prefer to be. I know its crazy.† This statement not just gives the novel its title, it clarifies Holden’s crucial issue in a delightful, idyllic way. Holden considers development to be intrinsically terrible growing up prompts debasement and phoniness, lastly passing. Everything Holden has seen in his life has disclosed to him that his sibling Allie and his sister Phoebe are immaculate in their youth honesty, yet will get like all of Holden’s loathed classmates, instructors, and different grown-ups in due time. He wishes to stop that entry of time and freeze everybody at an increasingly blameless point in their lives. Urgently, Holden considers himself to be isolated in this undertaking the main individual ready to endeavor this accomplishment, or qualified to do as such. The way that the melody Holden’s mis-got Through the Rye-is in reality about individuals sneaking into the fields to have unlawful sexual experiences makes Holden’s youthfulness self-evident. It’s likewise another case of something Holden accepts to be unadulterated and honest being adulterated and demolished by grown-up sensibilities, regardless of whether he’s not mindful of the reality in the story.

Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH)

Proficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH) Presentation: Quite a bit of present day speculation hypothesis and practice is predicated on the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), the suspicion that business sectors completely and momentarily incorporate all accessible data into showcase costs. Hidden this far reaching thought is the supposition that the market members are flawlessly sound, and consistently act in personal circumstance, settling on ideal choices. These suspicions have been tested. It is hard to tip over the Neo traditional show that has yielded such bits of knowledge as portfolio streamlining, the â€Å"Capital Asset Pricing Model†, the â€Å"Arbitrage Pricing Theory†, the â€Å"Cox Ingersoll-Ross theory† of the term structure of financing costs, and the â€Å"Black-S[choles/Merton choice evaluating model†, which are all predicated on the EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis) somehow. At barely any focuses the EMH condemns the current writing of social fund, which shows the distinction of assessment on brain research financial aspects. The field of brain science has its foundations in exact perception, controlled experimentation, and clinical applications. As indicated by brain research, conduct is the fundamental substance of study, and simply after controlled trial measurements do therapists endeavor to make deductions about the birthplaces of such conduct. Despite what might be expected, business analysts commonly get conduct proverbially from basic standards, for example, anticipated utility boost, making it simpler for us to foresee monetary conduct that are routinely invalidated observationally The greatest dangers to Modern Portfolio hypothesis is the hypothesis of Behavioral Finance. It is an examination of why financial specialists settle on unreasonable choices regarding their cash, ordinary dispersion of expected returns for the most part has all the earmarks of being invalid and furthermore that the speculators bolster upside chances as opposed to drawback dangers. The hypothesis of Behavioral account is inverse to the conventional hypothesis of Finance which manages human feelings, suppositions, conditions, predispositions on aggregate just as individual premise. Conduct money hypothesis is useful in clarifying the past acts of financial specialists and furthermore to decide the eventual fate of speculators. Conduct money is an idea of account which manages funds consolidating discoveries from brain science humanism. It is looked into that social money is commonly founded on singular conduct or on the suggestion for budgetary market results. There are numerous models clarifying social money that clarifies speculators conduct or market inconsistencies where the reasonable models neglect to give sufficient data. We don't anticipate that such an exploration should give a technique to rake in tons of cash from the wasteful monetary market quick. Conduct money has fundamentally risen up out of the speculations of brain science, human science and human sciences the ramifications of these hypotheses seem, by all accounts, to be huge for the effective market theory, that depends on the constructive idea that individuals carry on judiciously, amplify their utility and can costs perception, various inconsistencies (abnormalities) have showed up, which thusly recommend that in the proficient market the standard of reasonable conduct isn't generally right. Along these lines, breaking down other model of human conduct has came up. Further (Gervais, 2001) clarified the idea where he says that People like to identify with the securities exchange as an individual having various states of mind, it very well may be awful tempered or cheerful, it can go overboard one day and present appropriate reparations the following. As we realize that human conduct is capricious and it carries on contrastingly in various circumstances. Of late numerous specialists have proposed the possibility that mental examination of speculators might be useful in understanding the monetary markets better. To do so it is essential to comprehend the social account introducing the idea that Investors are not as balanced as conventional hypothesis has accepted, and predispositions in their dynamic can cumulatively affect resource costs. To numerous specialists conduct money is a transformation, changing how individuals see the business sectors and what impacts costs. The worldview is moving. Individuals are proceeding to stroll over the outskir t from the customary to the conduct camp†. (Gervais, 2001, P.2). On the opposite certain individuals accept that might be its too soon consider it an insurgency. Eugene Fama( Gervais, 2001) contended that Behavioral money has not so much indicated impacts on the world costs, and the models repudiate each other on various purpose of times. He gave little credit to behaviorist clarifications of patterns and anomalies(any event or item that is odd, unordinary, or remarkable) contending that information mining procedures make it conceivable to find designs. Different specialists have likewise scrutinized the possibility that the conduct money models will in general supplant the conventional models of market capacities. The shortcomings around there, clarified by him (Gervais, 2001) are that by and large the market conduct showed is credited to eruption and in some cases to under response. Where People take the conduct that is by all accounts simple for the specific examination paying little mind to the way that whether these predispositions are the consequence of fundamental financial powers or not. Besides, Lack of prepared and master individuals. The field needs more prepared experts both scholarly brain science and conventional account thus the models that are being assembled up are extemporized. David Hirshleifer (Gervais, 2001) centers around the individual conduct affecting resource costs, proposing that social money is in its formative stage and not yet a develop one, theres a ton of contradiction yet gainful one. Hirshleifer concurs that applying conduct money ideas to corporate fund can pay off. In the event that directors are defectively discerning, he says, maybe they are not assessing ventures effectively. They may settle on awful decisions in their capital-structure choices. Hardly any individuals reasonably figure social fund will dislodge effective markets hypothesis. Then again, the possibility that speculators and chiefs are not consistently discerning bodes well to numerous individuals. Customary Finance Empirical Evidence: â€Å"Traditional hypothesis expect that operators are discerning the law of one cost holds† that is an ideal situation. Where the law of â€Å"One price† states that protections with a similar result have same cost, yet in true this law is disregarded when individuals buy protections in a single market for sure fire resale in another, looking for higher benefits due to value differentials known as â€Å"Arbitrageurs†. Also, the specialists soundness clarifies the conduct of financial specialist â€Å"Professional Individual† which is commonly conflicting with the judiciousness or the future expectations. On the off chance that a market accomplishes an ideal situation where specialists are judicious law of one value holds then the market is effective. With the accessibility of measure of data, the type of market changes. It is improbable that market costs contain all private data. The nearness of â€Å"noise traders† (merchants, exchanging arbitrarily not founded on data). Inquires about show that stock returns are regularly capricious dependent on past returns where as future returns are unsurprising somewhat. Barely any models from the past writing clarifies the issue of madness which happens on account of naã ¯ve expansion, conduct affected by encircling, the propensity of financial specialists of submitting deliberate mistakes while assessing open information.(Glaser et al, 2003) Ongoing investigations recommend that people groups' disposition towards the peril of a stock in future the individual translation may clarify the more significant level exchanging volume, which itself is a tremendous subject for knowledge. An issue of observation exist in the speculators that Stocks have a higher hazard balanced returns than bonds. Another issue with the financial specialists is that these speculators either care about the entire stock portfolio or pretty much the estimation of each single security in their portfolio and in this manner overlook the connections. The idea of possession society has been advanced in the ongoing years where individuals can care more for their own lives and be better resident as well on the off chance that they are both proprietor of budgetary resources and property holders. As a specialist proposed that so as to improve the lives of less advantaged in our general public is to show them how to be industrialist, In request to place the proprietorship society in its correct point of view, conduct account is should have been comprehended. The possession society appears to be alluring when individuals seem to make benefits from their speculations. Social account likewise is useful in comprehension supporting government contribution in the contributing choices of people. The disappointment of a great many individuals to spare appropriately for their future is likewise a center issue of social money. (Shiller, 2006) As indicated by (Glaser et al, 2003) there are two methodologies towards Behavioral Finance, where both will in general have same objectives. The objectives will in general clarify watched costs, Market exchanging Volume Last yet not the least is the individual conduct better than conventional fund models. Conviction Based Model: Psychology (Individual Behavior) Incorporates into Model Market costs Transaction Volume. It incorporates discoveries, for example, Overconfidence, Biased Self-Attrition, and Conservatism Representativeness. Inclination Based Model: Rational Friction or from brain research Find clarifications, Market recognizes abnormalities singular conduct. It fuses Prospect Theory, House cash impact different types of mental bookkeeping. Social Finance and Rational discussion: The article by (Heaton and Rosenberg,2004) features the discussion between the levelheaded and social model over testability and prescient achievement. Furthermore, we locate that neither of them really offers both of these mea

The First Snowfall on Campus

The First Snowfall on Campus Some people arent a fan of the winter season because of the cold temperatures. However, winter at Illinois is actually amazing. Just a few days ago we got our first snowfall. It was extremely rewarding and a cool sight to see fellow Illini react to seeing those snowflakes fall from the sky. The best part about snowfall on campus is how pretty the Main Quad looks during it. Oftentimes when students  arent studying finals, they  love to make snowmen on the Quad. I actually love the Main Quad during the winter, especially when its covered in white. It  can serve as a great place for a good ole-fashioned snowball fight, too. Photo courtesy of the Office of Dean of Students.   Another favorite winter activity of mine is drinking hot chocolate. I love stopping by the Illini Union Bookstore and going to the Starbucks there. I always get a hot chocolate with whipped cream to top it off. Then I walk around the Quad and catch up with a friend, which is a nice thing to do during our Finals Week since we have a ton of unstructured free time when we arent studying hard for our tests. I encourage every Illini, future and present, to take advantage of what the Illinois winters have to offer. We are so fortunate to have a campus that experiences all four seasons in a school year, so when the snowflakes start falling, one should not waste that opportunity. Daniel Class of 2018 I’m an Advertising major in the College of Media. I’m from a northwest suburb of Chicago called Buffalo Grove. I chose Illinois because it was the first university in the entire world to offer an Advertising major, which is pretty cool!

Operations Management And Its Significance - 2910 Words

Operations Management in Business Task I Operations Management and Its Significance Operations management is the concept commonly considered and used in today’s competitive business organisations (Slack Chambers, 2010). It includes complex management activities that are involved in organisations’ planning, controlling and other management functions. A few years back, organisations did not realise its significance in the business operations, but now, perception has been changed. Today, companies are more sensible and sensitive towards adopting effective operational management strategies. For instance, businesses are more dependent on the mailing services. Companies’ success is utterly dependent on effective communication. The more†¦show more content†¦The second reason is that, organisations can fulfil or best meet their customers’ needs and demand. Operations management concept can be comprehended as a transformation process. In this process, the input transmutes into output. Operations management is significant as it helps the organisations to ameliorate productivity. It helps in measuring employees or managers’ efficiency. The more managers or employees utilises efficiently scarce resources, the more effectively operations of the organisations can be managed (Krajewski Ritzman, 2010). Ernst and Young is the best example for this; the managers of this company improve their operations by minimising the input cost and boosting output. Operations Function of Furniture Supplier Company There are three-core operations functions of the furniture supplier company. These functions are as follows: The furniture supplier company improves the marketing functions by clearly and concisely communicate organisation’s final product. This company is also involved in the furniture development function. In this, company produces and creates new as well as modified finished products in order to increase and retain customers. The operations function is solely responsible for meeting customer demand for a product via production and delivery of the final product. Furniture Supplier Company performs the same function, which other manufacturing companies perform in order to improve their business operations and to transform or transmute

Blackbeard the Pirate Myths, Truths and Legends

Edward Teach (1680? - 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was a legendary pirate who worked the Caribbean and the coast of Mexico and Eastern North America. He is just as well known today as he was during his heyday some three hundred years ago: he is arguably the most famous pirate ever to set sail. There are many legends, myths and tall tales concerning Blackbeard, the pirate. Are any of them true? 1. Blackbeard Hid Buried Treasure Somewhere Sorry. This legend persists anywhere Blackbeard ever spent significant time, such as North Carolina or New Providence. In reality, pirates rarely (if ever) buried treasure. The myth comes from the classic story Treasure Island, which incidentally features a pirate character named Israel Hands, who was Blackbeards real-life boatswain. Also, much of the loot that Blackbeard took consisted of things like barrels of sugar and cocoa which would be worthless today had he buried them. 2. Blackbeard’s Dead Body Swam Around the Ship Three Times Unlikely. This is another persistent Blackbeard legend. What is known for certain is that Blackbeard died in battle on November 22, 1718, and his head was cut off so that it could be used to get a bounty. Lieutenant Robert Maynard, the man who hunted Blackbeard down, does not report that the body swam around the ship three times after it was thrown into the water, and neither did anyone else who was at the scene. It is interesting to note, however, that Blackbeard sustained no less than five gunshot wounds and twenty sword cuts before finally dropping dead, so who knows? If anyone could swim around the ship three times after death, it would be Blackbeard. 3. Blackbeard Would Light His Hair on Fire Before Battle Sort of. Blackbeard wore his black beard and hair very long, but he never actually lit them on fire. He would put little candles or pieces of a fuse in his hair and light those. They would give off smoke, giving the pirate a fearsome, demonic appearance. In battle, this intimidation worked: his foes were terrified of him. Blackbeards flag was scary, too: it featured a skeleton stabbing a red heart with a spear. 4. Blackbeard Was the Most Successful Pirate Ever Nope. Blackbeard wasnt even the most successful pirate of his generation: that distinction would go to Bartholomew Black Bart Roberts (1682-1722) who captured hundreds of vessels and operated a large fleet of pirate ships. Thats not to say that Blackbeard wasnt successful: he had a very good run from 1717-1718 when he operated the 40-gun Queen Annes Revenge. Blackbeard was certainly greatly feared by sailors and merchantmen. 5. Blackbeard Retired From Piracy and Lived as a Civilian for a While Mostly true. In mid-1718 Blackbeard intentionally ran his ship, the Queen Annes Revenge, into a sandbar, effectively destroying it. He went with some 20 men to see Charles Eden, the Governor of North Carolina and accepted a pardon. For a while, Blackbeard lived there as an average citizen. But it didnt take him long to take up piracy again. This time, he went into cahoots with Eden, sharing the loot in exchange for protection. No one knows if that was Blackbeards plan all along or if he wanted to go straight but simply couldnt resist a return to piracy. 6. Blackbeard Left Behind a Journal of His Crimes This one is not true. Its a common rumor, because of Captain Charles Johnson, who wrote about piracy around the time Blackbeard was alive, who cited from a journal allegedly belonging to the pirate. Other than Johnsons account, there is no evidence of any journal. Lieutenant Maynard and his men did not mention one, and no such book has ever surfaced. Captain Johnson had a flair for the dramatic, and most likely he just made up journal entries when it suited his needs. Sources Cordingly, David. Under the Black Flag New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 1996Defoe, Daniel. A General History of the Pyrates. Edited by Manuel Schonhorn. Mineola: Dover Publications, 1972/1999.Konstam, Angus. The World Atlas of Pirates. Guilford: the Lyons Press, 2009Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Mariner Books, 2008.

The Importance of Being Educated Free Essays

I believe that Early Childhood centres should create a positive environment where children are more stimulated, happy, comfortable and safe from harm. Where learning is more meaningful and children can be extended. I believe that children learn in a holistic way through play. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Educated or any similar topic only for you Order Now They learn by being actively involved. The process of a child’s work is important not just the results. They learn through stages at their own pace. The adults role in children’s learning is to provide scaffolding for the child’s endeavours, supports and connections, that are removed and replaced when and where they are needed. Adults need to provide a developmentally appropriate programme to cater for all children. There is a need to plan for each child based on their own interests, strengths and needs. The curriculum planning should be based on the principles of Te Whaariki and the knowledge that all children are individuals. I feel that there is a need for Early Childhood Educators to work in partnership with parents/caregivers and Whaanau. This is an essential part of providing the best possible opportunities for children to reach their fullest potential. I recognise that parent/caregivers and Whaanau are the major sources for this knowledge. Which is a very valuable resource for teachers. Therefore there must be a good relationship between centre staff and parents to provide a strong connection and consistency among all aspects of the child’s world. I believe that the uniqueness of each child should be valued. To apply the principle of fairness to all practices within the centre and to avoid discrimination as the basis of culture, gender, disability, religion or class. I feel that all children have the right to attend a centre. I am committed to providing an environment in which every child is enriched by the dual cultures of the treaty partners. I recognise that we are becoming a multicultural society and realise the importance of understanding the diversity that this brings to Early Childhood Education. I believe that Te Reo Maori should be actively included into the centres programme. It is important as an Early Childhood Educator to work as a team member, where each member is encouraged to utilise their own individual skills. There needs to be open and honest communication between staff members to create on effective team. It is also necessary for staff to have common goals and work together to achieve them. I feel that the management of children’s behaviour must be fair and consistent. Teachers and adults must model and promote peaceful conflict resolution methods to enable children to learn and deal with conflict in an appropriate way. I also believe that the development of self-esteem by positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour is important to safeguard the rights and emotional development of every child at the centre. I believe that it is necessary for teachers to be involved in a continuing process of professional development to keep in touch with the changes that are constantly effecting the Early Childhood Education field. How to cite The Importance of Being Educated, Essay examples The Importance of Being Educated Free Essays I believe that Early Childhood centres should create a positive environment where children are more stimulated, happy, comfortable and safe from harm. Where learning is more meaningful and children can be extended. I believe that children learn in a holistic way through play. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Being Educated or any similar topic only for you Order Now They learn by being actively involved. The process of a child’s work is important not just the results. They learn through stages at their own pace. The adults role in children’s learning is to provide scaffolding for the child’s endeavours, supports and connections, that are removed and replaced when and where they are needed. Adults need to provide a developmentally appropriate programme to cater for all children. There is a need to plan for each child based on their own interests, strengths and needs. The curriculum planning should be based on the principles of Te Whaariki and the knowledge that all children are individuals. I feel that there is a need for Early Childhood Educators to work in partnership with parents/caregivers and Whaanau. This is an essential part of providing the best possible opportunities for children to reach their fullest potential. I recognise that parent/caregivers and Whaanau are the major sources for this knowledge. Which is a very valuable resource for teachers. Therefore there must be a good relationship between centre staff and parents to provide a strong connection and consistency among all aspects of the child’s world. I believe that the uniqueness of each child should be valued. To apply the principle of fairness to all practices within the centre and to avoid discrimination as the basis of culture, gender, disability, religion or class. I feel that all children have the right to attend a centre. I am committed to providing an environment in which every child is enriched by the dual cultures of the treaty partners. I recognise that we are becoming a multicultural society and realise the importance of understanding the diversity that this brings to Early Childhood Education. I believe that Te Reo Maori should be actively included into the centres programme. It is important as an Early Childhood Educator to work as a team member, where each member is encouraged to utilise their own individual skills. There needs to be open and honest communication between staff members to create on effective team. It is also necessary for staff to have common goals and work together to achieve them. I feel that the management of children’s behaviour must be fair and consistent. Teachers and adults must model and promote peaceful conflict resolution methods to enable children to learn and deal with conflict in an appropriate way. I also believe that the development of self-esteem by positive reinforcement of appropriate behaviour is important to safeguard the rights and emotional development of every child at the centre. I believe that it is necessary for teachers to be involved in a continuing process of professional development to keep in touch with the changes that are constantly effecting the Early Childhood Education field. How to cite The Importance of Being Educated, Papers

A Study on Accounting Software

Question: Discuss about theA Study on Accounting Software. Answer: Introduction: Every business needs to keep a track of its expenses and profits as well as payments. But, since every business is unique their needs within accounting software also differs. Before the new millennium, most small businesses handled their accounts using paper based accounting systems which worked fine. The introduction of Goods and Service Taxes changed the lookout of the businesses that earlier used to keep their accounting through paper only. Most businesses shifted to accounting softwares, and one of the most popular ones online is the Intuit Quickbooks. The software that helps accountants and bookkeepers keep all the transactions managed at one place without having the need to spend extra effort. About the Accounting Package QuickBooks was one of the primary accounting software items available, and numerous organizations still depend on it today. Be that as it may, as of late, bookkeeping/accounting software has started to move to the online circle, keeping in mind the move is a long way from complete (cloud accounting still hasn't got up to speed with the element choice accessible in great privately introduced programs), it's not hard to see which way the wind is blowing(Broughton, 2008). Intuit's QuickBooks is a standout amongst the most well-known accounting software utilized by Australian small entrepreneurs. There are two key variables adding to QuickBooks' prominence as a top small business accounting software in Australia. The first is its cost. You can pay $12/month (deal cost) for QuickBooks' most essential software and a maximum of $21/month (deal cost) for the head variant. The second component is the far reaching level of features that QuickBooks gives. Entrepreneurs crosswise over Australia use QuickBooks to track their business salary, costs, and benefits. They can send a boundless measure of invoices, get to their information online over an extensive variety of portable and desktop stages (PC, Mac, tablet, or cell phone), oversee/pay bills, and make finance installments for nothing. For security, QuickBooks has quite the same security and encryption as leading banks. The above variables are only a couple features that accompany Intuit's QuickBooks(Biafor e, 2012). Development of the Accounting Package Intuit Inc. was established in 1983 as the distributer of Quicken, a MS-DOS monetary administration framework for people. Animate's prosperity prompted a large group of subsequent items, including QuickBooks, which was propelled in 1992 and rapidly turned into the business' top small-business accounting arrangement. Intuit depicts QuickBooks as the foundation of its "small business environment," a business sector that records for a noteworthy offer of the organization's $3.9 billion in yearly incomes. It is effectively the top rated retail software for small-business accounting around the world(Biafore, 2015). The principal program from Intuit, called Quicken, was intended for individual budgetary administration. It was extraordinarily fruitful and prompted the improvement of a comparative system for small organizations. The explanation behind its prevalence among entrepreneurs is on the grounds that it required no formal accounting preparing. In any case, after a few worries from accounting experts about the project's absence of a review trail and not complying with conventional accounting rules, Intuit grew new programs that tended to these worries. The new programs included review trail capacities and also twofold passage accounting capacities and other new features. The Basic and Pro forms of Quicken accounting software bundles were produced in 2000. This was trailed by the improvement of industry particular adaptations in 2003. These programs contemplated the work process procedures and wording utilized as a part of particular ventures. 2002 saw the dispatch of QuickBooks Enterprise S olutions, which was intended for medium-size organizations. Over the accompanying couple of years, new forms of the software QuickBooks were made that could be utilized as a part of various areas of the world(Ullah, 2013). Notwithstanding supporting various stages, Intuit offers distinctive capabilities at various value focuses. QuickBooks for Windows, for instance, is accessible in Pro, Premier, and Enterprise editions. Specific editions are accessible for accounting, contracting, assembling and wholesale, philanthropies, proficient administrations, and retail organizations. Moreover, every item might be obtained on CD or by means of subscription. Subscribers get new features as they are produced, while CD clients don't get the new features until they move up to another arrival of the software(Gardon, 2005). The permit key methodology implies Intuit can redesign clients or permit particular renditions of the software with a straightforward online transaction. It likewise has huge ramifications for SCM. The advantage is that we're continually expanding and refining a solitary codebase for Quickbooks. The engineers don't need to stress such a great amount over keeping up similarity among numerous renditions of the item. The drawback is that a full form takes off numerous, numerous adaptations of the item. It's a gigantic form(Group, 2005). Current Market Size of theAccounting Package Intuit QuickBooks works in the small business market, sized at roughly 29 million businesses in the US, and it has more than 80% piece of the pie with small businesses that utilization monetary administration software. With the objective of helping a greater amount of these small businesses enhance their monetary lives, administration executed profoundly focused on and creative client division and business sector systems. QuickBooks has since quite a while ago distinguished two essential fragments of small businesses: The 400,000 accountants who are serving a large number of small businesses as the key influencers also the five million small businesses as of now utilizing money related administration software. This left 15 million other independently employed people who have the chance to accomplish more business with QuickBooks or turn out to be new clients. These clients are portrayed by an easygoing way to deal with their money related administration, numerous seeing their small business as a leisure activity or low maintenance try. By the process of deliberately dividing its clients, QuickBooks has possessed the capacity to create particular business sector techniques to develop potential in every fragment. Addressing the need of accounting software, Intuit made QuickBooks Online Self-Employed, a simple to-use application that helps clients track pay, download costs and get ready for both quarterly and year-end assesses, all while meeting consistence prerequisites. This application goes past intangibility by adding a touch of gamification to the information passage processfor instance, clients can order costs by swiping left for operational expense and a good fit for individual. At $8/month, it's an economical passage point for clients that may, one day, require the more hearty features of QuickBooks Online(Salmon, 2014). By effectively gathering information and arranging it, QuickBooks Online Self-Employed additionally permits clients to all the more effortlessly bear the cost of an accountant. Boxes of receipts are supplanted with information that is sorted out and effortlessly imparted to an accountant. Presently, QuickBooks ProAdvisors can serve these customers moderately, and it makes another business sector open door for everybody. How about we swing to the ProAdvisor project to perceive how QuickBooks supports referrals(Ullah, 2013). Competitors of theAccounting Package More than a modest bunch of online software items with names like FreshBooks, Xero and Saasu have ended up as eminent QuickBooks contenders by concentrating on ease of use, cost and different components. The genuine inquiry is would they say they are sufficiently distinctive to make it worth your time and push to assess them before settling on a choice or is there truly much contrast between these choices and how they help businesses deal with their books and receipts of their clients. Here are the top contenders. Xero Xero is a finished web-hosted accounting software arrangement which gives QuickBooks Online a keep running for its cash. Like most cloud software, Xero is offered in a SaaS model, which costs $9 to$70/month, contingent upon the features and number of clients you require. Clients likewise like Xero's day in and day out client backing and plenty of mixes with different business software. Some of the numerous features you get with Xero incorporate evaluations, invoicing, creditor liabilities, reporting, inventory administration, cost reports, finance, bank compromise, and time(Broughton, 2008) Saasu Established 15 years prior, Saasu was one of the main cloud-based accounting software administrations around. Saasu is fundamentally intended for the Australian business sector, however it could work for small US organizations who work together in standout state and need extraordinary inventory support. Some of Saasu's best features are its adjustable dashboard and amazing inventory instruments (particularly the "combo thing" highlight). Saasu's inventory features are really the best we've found in any cloud-based accounting software, anyplace. Conclusion In synopsis in the event that you have not switched to electronic or software accounting you ought to genuinely consider doing as such. Intuit Quickbooks is software that can help any small to medium business accounting less demanding than some time recently. Among the best accounting software bundles available, Quickbooks is the best. Among the main softwares, Quickbooks offers the best general bundle. It additionally offers free trial alternatives and it can be effectively downloaded from the intuit website or introduced from the album gave. There are different subscription administrations one can use according to the features they require. Generally speaking, it is accounting software one can use for their small and medium business unquestionably. References Biafore, B., 2012. QuickBooks 2013: The Missing Manual: The Official Intuit Guide to QuickBooks 2013. s.l.:"O'Reilly Media, Inc.". Biafore, B., 2015. Answers found here, s.l.: QuickBooks . Broughton, J., 2008. Wikipedia: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual. s.l.:"O'Reilly Media, Inc.". Gardon, A., 2005. Strategies for Change. JOURNAL for Nonprofit Management, 5(4), pp. 1-58. Group, S., 2005. Learning QuickBooks Step-by-Step - Using QuickBooks Payroll - Version 2005. s.l.:The Sleeter Group. Salmon, A., 2014. Accounting Software, s.l.: Accounting Market Changes. Ullah, H., 2013. Job Development for Today - A Sector Specific Approach. The Canadian Journal of Career Development, 5(1), pp. 1-9.

Torture in Guantanamo Bay free essay sample

Torture in Guantanamo Bay Mohamed al-Kahtani was a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay who endured numerous disgusting and truly horrifying acts of torture. Being seduced by prostitutes and female officers, told to act like a dog and forced to crawl on his hands and feet while barking, and forced to urinate himself are just a few examples of the type of life prisoner’s at Guantanamo Bay are living. They are held in solitary confinement, while all day and night their lights in the rooms are kept on. Each day prisoner’s are tortured. Whether it is psychical or emotional torture, it is occurring all round the camp. Prisoner’s being tied down and forced to listen to extremely loud rock music for and extended period of time is one of the tactics used to break down an individual emotionally, to make sure they are completely cooperative and under the control of the officers. We will write a custom essay sample on Torture in Guantanamo Bay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With all of this going on, with numerous reports of abuse from the Red Cross, the United States Government continues to argue against the fact that it is occurring. Their constant claims of no abuse are eerily similar to The Party in George Orwell’s novel 1984. They tell the public one thing, and they all believe that it is true without question. The use of double-think, as it is called, is not the only thing consistent with the novel In the Guantanamo Bay detention center, torture and psychological warfare are used to break down the will of prisoner’s to put them under complete control of the officers of the camp, which is very similar to the torture described in the novel 1984. In an examination of Guantanamo Bay, the Red Cross found many signs of abuse and torture along with psychological harm done to the prisoner’s. The officials used different types of torture, all of which are extremely dangerous as well as effective. If a detainee is uncooperative, they loose their usual freedoms. They are denied use of the lavatories, and are forced to urinate and defecate themselves. One detainee told the officials the truth about him not being at a meeting with Osama bin Laden, and because his answer was unsatisfactory, he was forced to urinate himself. Prisoners are also shackled to the floor during interrogations and interviews so they cannot pose a threat. There are also numerous incidents reported involving beatings of the detainees. They are beaten if they do not cooperate or if their answers are not what the officials want to hear. Because of the beatings, many detainees confess to crimes they did not even partake in. The ones who cooperate are given a lot more luxury than those who do not. The detainees who are either new or uncooperative wear orange jumpsuits, while the others who do cooperate or given white cotton clothing. The beatings grew less frequent, and became mainly a threat, a horror to which he could be sent back at any moment when his answers were unsatisfactory. His questioners now were not ruffians in black uniforms but Party intellectuals, little rotund men with quick movements and flashing spectacles, who worked on him in relays over periods which lasted — he thought, he could not be sure — ten or twelve hours at a stretch. These other questioners saw to it that he was in constant slight pain, but it was not chiefly pain that they relied on. They slapped his face, wrung his ears, pulled his hair, made him stand on one leg, refused him leave to urinate, shone glaring lights in his face until his eyes ran with water; but the aim of this was simply to humiliate him and destroy his power of arguing and reasoning. Their real weapon was the merciless questioning that went on and on, hour after hour, tripping him up, laying traps for him, twisting everything that he said, convicting him at every step of lies and self-contradiction until he began weeping as much from shame as from nervous fatigue. (Page 264, Part 3, Chapter 2). †We have beaten you, Winston. We have broken you up. You have seen what your body is like. Your mind is in the same state. I do not think there can be much pride left in you. You have been kicked and flogged and insulted, you have screamed with pain, you have rolled on the floor in your own blood and vomit. You have whimpered for mercy, you have betrayed everybody and everything. Can you think of a single degradation that has not happened to you? †(Part 3, Chapter 3). Just like in the novel, the official’s beat and torture the prisoner’s until they just completely give up, and confess to whatever they are told to. Winston is tortured until he can take no more, and confess to acts he had no idea even happened. â€Å"Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside of you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and than we shall fill you with ourselves. A major part of the process of breaking one’s will down is attacking their mental state. Psychological warfare plays a huge part in the torture being done at Guantanamo. The lights are kept on all day and night, confusing the detainees. This can confuse them and allows them to loose track of time very easily. They are also strapped down, and forced to listen to loud rock music while the lights flicker. Ver bal abuse is also used, detainees are told they are worthless, dogs have more social status then them, and their religions are attacked in order to agitate them. Officials prevent revolts and gangs by monitoring them, as well as not allowing them to speak in groups of more than three. Just like the reason for the beatings, the use of this type of torture is to break down the detainees will. Once they are mentally and psychically abused, they have no choice but to accept whatever they are being told. The use of this kind of torture is devastating to the psychical and mental health of the people in the camp. The reason the abuse has been able to continue is because of the confidentiality used, and we now know of the abuse because of interviews and examinations. The only people who know of the true chilling details are the commander of the bay, and the people who work for him. Lawyers who come to visit and talk to the prisoner’s are under strict orders. They cannot repeat or hint at anything they see taking place at Guantanamo, and because of that no one knows what truly occurs. To make matters worse, the U. S. Government claims that there is no abuse being held at the center. Whenever another rumor springs up, they are quick to get out and shoot it down. Talking about what goes on does happen though. The only time it does is when personal involved in the bay are there. In the novel, Orwell says, â€Å"If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say this or that even, it never happened- that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death†- (page 32, book 1, chapter 3). That quote shows how terrifying it is to know that the government can say something never happened, and the public believing everything they say. This privacy and power are what allows the U. S. , as well as The Party, to continue on with what they do without being able to be stopped. Just like in the novel, only the Inner Party members know of the true details of Room 101, as well as the ministries. The only reason we know of what goes on at Guantanamo is because of inspections, and mostly interviews with released detainees from the camp. Most detainees do not speak of what happened, but thankfully a few have. One such person is Mohamed al-Kahtani. He has reported that prostitutes have been brought in to seduce Muslims, as well as female officers. He spoke about the officials bringing in a dog to show how obedient and loyal it is. They told him that he needs to be like the canine, and made him bark to crawl around so he can â€Å"raise his social status†. Another helpful person was Shafiq Rasul, who after three month’s at Guatanamo was charged with the 9/11 planning. They accused him of meeting with Osama bin Laden due to the fact a man standing behind bin Laden resembled him. After telling them the truth that it was not he, the torture began. After months of abuse, he finally gave in and falsely admitted to being at the meeting. We know of all this because of the detainees telling us first hand experience. The only reason we know of what goes on in Room 101 is because of Winston telling us. If it wasn’t for the detainees and Winston, we would not know for sure what takes place in Room 101 and Guatanamo Bay. Although one is a novel and the other is a military camp, they both contain extremely dangerous characteristics. Guantanamo Bay is basically the real life Oceania for people under suspicion of terrorism. The use of torture, psychological attacks, and breaking down a prisoner’s will are all similar to the novel. Even the small details of not being allowed to urinate and keeping the lights on all day are the same as the novel. Not only torture, but the secrecy of the whole operation is exactly the same as 1984. Keeping it within the Bay is the same as the Party keeping it within the Party. The prisoner’s of both Oceania and Guantanamo never know how long they will be kept, or what is going to happen to them. The use of torture is sickening and very much inhumane. But even so, it is one of the most effective ways to get someone to talk. In both Oceania and Guantanamo Bay, torture is used to break down one’s will in order for complete obedience.

Perception of Intelligence by Zullu and Kpelle

Perception of Intelligence by Zullu and Kpelle Abstract Perception of intelligence among different communities varies to a great deal depending on the socio-economic and political factors. The Kpelle people of Liberia had a different perception of intelligence from the Zulus of South Africa. The best way of measuring intelligence in such unique communities is to base the measurements on the local parameters.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Perception of Intelligence by Zullu and Kpelle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Introduction Perception of intelligence varies from one community to the other across the world. While one community may value consultation when making decisions, others cherish creativity or even the ability to process information very fast. The parameters used to measure intelligence in one community may be very different from the parameters used in another community. In this assignment, the researcher seeks to compare how the Zulu people of South Africa and Kpelle people of Liberia perceive intelligence. The researcher will look at their perception towards issues such as domestic violence, initiations, and marriages. Discussion According to Matsumoto (2001), different African communities perceived intelligence differently. This scholar says that the Zulu people of South Africa valued communal work very much. They considered intelligence to be the ability to consult the elders whenever one is making a critical decision. The elders were the think tanks for this society because of their knowledge gathered from years of experience. This community still cherishes the need to consult the elders when making decisions even in the face of the current Westernization in this country. On the other hand, the Kpelle people of Liberia valued creativity in decision-making. Even though they also cherished the relevance to consult, their environment posed many challenges that needed creative ideas. Members of the society who were ab le to come up with creative ideas on how to solve the problems of the society were held in high regards. When their creative ideas helped in solving some of the environmental problems, the society members would consider them heroes. It may not be easy to use a universal test to measure the intelligence between these two communities. As Valsiner (2012) notes, each of these cultural groups defined their measure of intelligence based on the environmental factors. For instance, the Kpelle people of Liberia had different environmental factors from the Zulu people of South Africa.Advertising Looking for research paper on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When using cognitive abilities such as memory, organization, and visualization, the two communities compare very closely. These cognitive factors were particularly important in defense. They had to remember the militaristic of their enemies based on the ex periences and organize themselves when it was evident that the community was under attack, and visualize some of the best strategies that can be used to counter the enemy. As Langley (2012) notes, such strategic approaches to solving problems were not restricted to addressing the threat of an attack. They were also important when addressing other social problems.  One of the cultural practices that were common among the people of Kpelle is the marriage ceremony. In such important stages of life, the society considered intelligence to be the manner in which the couple engaged their elders in their wedding preparations. Although a young man was allowed to look for a life partner of his choice, he would be considered an intelligent young man if he involved his parents and elder members of his community in investigating the background of the preferred bride. This is very different from what was traditionally practiced among the Zulu people of South Africa. Among the Zulu people, the p arents arranged marriages. Intelligence in this case would be the ability to accept the choices made by the elders because it was believed that they could see far into the future (Matsumoto Juang, 2012).  Another area that is worth analyzing is the issue of domestic violence within these two African communities. Among the Zulus of South Africa, men were regarded as the absolute authority in their families. Wife battering was something normal as long as it was not tragic. Such incidents were not considered domestic violence. Every man had the liberty of choosing how to solve his family problems. On the other hand, the Kpelle of Liberia valued the position of women in the society. Although men were superior to women, wife battering or any form of violence was considered a point of weakness on the side of the man perpetrating the violence (Kitayama Cohen, 2007). When measuring intelligence between these two different communities, it will be important to avoid using universal approa ches such as those proposed in the formal education. It will be necessary to base the measurement on the community’s parameters. One should understand why a given community cherished a specific pattern of behavior and not the other. It is through this approach that it will be possible to understand their perception towards intelligence (Smith, 2008). Conclusion Different communities perceived intelligence differently based on their socio-cultural, economic, and political factors. The analysis done above on the two different African communities shows that what one community may consider as an act of intelligence may be considered an act of folly in another community.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Perception of Intelligence by Zullu and Kpelle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When measuring intelligence in each of these cultures, it may be necessary to base the measurement on their own context and pe rception towards life. References Kitayama, S., Cohen, D. (2007). Handbook of cultural psychology. New York: Guilford Press. Langley, T. (2012). Batman and psychology: A dark and stormy knight. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley Sons. Matsumoto, D. (2001). The Handbook of Culture and Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press. Matsumoto, D. R., Juang, L. P. (2012). Culture and psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Smith, M. K. (2008). Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences. Retrieved from http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/ Valsiner, J. (2012). The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Advertising Looking for research paper on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More

Primitivism and Non-Western Art Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Primitivism and Non-Western Art - Assignment Example The essay "Primitivism and Non-Western Art" focuses on the Primitivism style and Non-Western Art. Many people see this act as a reaction to Europe’s classicist way of interpreting the nude female body. Gauguin wanted to revise how the female figure was painted and appreciated, thus, painting the naked Tahitian women in a manner that was new to the Europeans that time. Some say it can be a subversive act on Gauguin’s part, as he was rebelling on the common trends of the European painters. He â€Å"revised† the female nude figure. Instead of focusing on the perfection or the anatomy of the model, or the sense of evil in looking at a naked female figure, Gauguin painted Tahitian women with their natural curves in their natural â€Å"habitat†, evoking feelings of eroticism and admiration, but without the association of sin or evil as dictated by the closed European society. This is one of the merits of the style, as it is sensual but not dismissive of human na ture’s preoccupation to sex. Primitivism does not romanticize sex, but rather romanticizes the idyllic lifestyle in the tropical islands. It celebrates the life in remote islands against colonialism at the same time the simplicity of humanity. It shows that non-Western art is as important as the ones in Europe and as significant too. This is quite influential to artists now, especially those who advocate anti-colonialism as it shows that Western Art may not be always superior. Primitivism is an art movement that does not adhere to Western standards.

Principles of Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Principles of Marketing - Essay Example My learning took place by absolute adherence to the marketing standards and rules which have been mentioned in the course books. I gained much insight from the teachers who were there to make me get acquainted with the norms and routines of marketing, and how these are employed within the practical world (Jobber, 2009). I once resolved a problem by understanding the intricate details related with marketing. I looked up the marketing issue in my course book and consulted with my peers before I decided for my own self the best course of action. I believe this was one of the best solutions that I could have envisaged as it brought about a great deal of hard work and commitment at my end. I reached the conclusion through my marketing insight and the knowledge that I had gained all this while. As far as the mistakes are concerned, I met these as well. However I learned a great deal from these mistakes and built upon my repertoire with hard work and dedication. I did not give up and went t he way which had success written all over it. It helped me ensure that I gained quite a lot within the marketing realms and was able to manifest my truest basis in an easy way.

Development of Cognition and Language

Development of Cognition and Language Michael Leo Glynn Research in the area of the development of cognition and language has a long tradition; yet, until recently it has not been possible to ascertain how infants think as they are not able to communicate verbally. It could be argued that language provides concepts that are used to organise thinking, and this premise suggests that infants are neither able to think, nor possess knowledge before they learn language. However, recent research employing innovative experimental methods, allows inferences into how infants’ minds function before they acquire language. This essay will outline relevant research and highlight some methods used to examine how preverbal infants think and categorise the world before they can talk, and will challenge the view that infants have not developed the ability to conceptualise before language acquisition. It will also examine how both language comprehension and language production develops, and discuss how infants are able to distinguish speech. In doing so, it will acknowledge nativist and empiricist perspectives, whilst considering conflicting views of developmental theorists. Perspectives conflict in the way in which it is assumed cognition develops on a continuum from innate ability to experiential learning. Theories offered by Chomsky (1965) in relation to language-specific mechanisms, for example, are from a nativist viewpoint. In contrast, behaviourists, e.g., Skinner (1954) take an empiricist stance advocating that development is primarily a result of learning (Oates and Grayson, 2004). Piaget (1955) and Vygotsky (1962) hold similar views towards the constructive nature of cognitive development and the role that language plays, agreeing that language is elaborated through complex interactions between an infant and their environment. However, Piaget submits that language is dependent upon fundamental constructs of thought for development, whereas, Vygotsky takes a social constructivist view and sees language as necessary for developing thought; furthermore, that thought and language are two separate functions that merge at around 2-years old (Bancroft and Flynn, 2005). Piaget observed infants talking to themselves, which he termed ‘egocentric speak’ (Oates and Grayson 2004), a symbolic function that enables infants to internally construct verbal thought. Vygotsky, in contrast, viewed this as only the first step, and that social interaction with others using language as a ‘cultural tool’ is crucial for language development (Oates and Grayson, 2004). Research has continued apace since Piaget and Vygotsky’s studies and, whilst their influences remain, there is now compelling evidence that preverbal infants can establish links between experiences, construct categories, group them, and in doing so form concepts much earlier than previously assumed. Based upon Frantz’s (1963) familiarisation/novelty preference method, whereby visual fixation duration for one stimulus over another confirmed that infants can perceptually categorise, Younger and Gotlieb (1998) conducted controlled experiments with infants aged 3, 5, and 7 months. Infants were familiarised with distorted prototype dot patterns ranging from good, intermediate, to poor before being shown a control pair comprising a previously shown non-distorted exemplar and an unfamiliar novel exemplar. With one exception all groups preferred to focus upon the novel prototype, thereby indicating that they had formed a category representation due to the familiarisation of the distorted set of exemplars. Results suggested that infants are able to organise their thinking, and although the greatest ability to preferentiate was present at 7 months, all infants possessed a degree of cognition. Quinn et al. (1993), using pictures rather than patterns, arguably providing more ecological validity, demonstrated that infants are also able to categorise animals: discriminating cats from other species such as birds, dogs and horses and, furthermore, able to discern related species (Eimas and Quinn, 1994). Behl-Chadha’s (1996) experiments revealed that infants aged 3 to 4 months are also capable of forming hierarchical structures similar to adults. A novelty preference method using familiar furniture objects as a ‘class’, at a global level, revealed that infants are able to distinguish between chairs and couches at a basic/intermediate level. Experiments using photographs of mammals found that infants, in common with adults, are also able to form global category representations for wide-ranging classes of stimuli (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Further studies by Younger and Gotlieb (1998) indicate that infants use two processes to store categories, an ‘exemplar memory’ for small numbers of instances where every example is stored, and a ‘prototype abstraction’, for large numbers of instances whereby an average of the examples are stored. Their findings suggest that infants employ two strategies to categorise across global/superordinate, basic/intermediate, and specific/subordinate levels. Object examination experiments sought to identify whether infants construct or deconstruct from basic to global levels of category representations or vice versa, and findings tend to support that the latter occurs easier and earlier (Quinn and Oates, 2004), suggesting that prototype abstraction develops before exemplar memory. Studies by Quinn (1994), using similar methods illustrate that infants are also capable of spatial category representation, e.g., above as opposed to below, and between rather than outside. Sensor modality cues are also an important factor in how infants form category representations and there has been much interest in how infants focus upon specific attributes that provide these cues. Quinn and Eimas (1996b), amongst others, employed methods that systematically varied the attributes of an exemplar shown to infants which revealed that they formed categories based upon the presence of a cue, but were unable to form category representations in its absence (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Rakison and Butterworth (1998) employing a sequential touching procedure, the categorisation of toy objects, with older infants, also reported evidence that specific aspects of an exemplar are a cue that enables differentiation between global categories. Using dynamic point light display methods, Arterberry and Bornstein (2002) found that dynamic movement cues can also be attributed to how infants form category representations, where infants were able to distinguish, by movement, animals from objects. Two competing theories exist as to how categories mature into concepts. In accord with the Piagetian viewpoint, a single-process model suggests that language, amongst other exemplars of information, contribute towards an infant’s cognitive ability to develop category representations: a process described as ‘quantitative enrichment’ (Quinn and Eimas, 2000), e.g., enrichment of category representations by infants learning to name objects with their caregivers (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Mandler (1997) addressed the issue of whether there is a developmental progression from category to concept and theorised that perceptual categorisation, the ‘knowing’ that something exists, occurs before conceptual categorisation, the forming of concepts including ‘thinking’ and ‘understanding’ (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Mandler (1992, 2000) suggests a two-process model arguing that perceptual and image schemas, in parallel, lay the foundation for m ature concepts. Perceptual schemas describe features, whereas image schemas allow for abstract features of how exemplars behave leading to the formation of true concepts. This accords with Paiget’s theory of structures and stages of development being marked by characteristic modes of thought (Bancroft and Flynn, 2005). A similar dual-process theory, Karmiloff-Smith (1986), describes an infant’s developmental process as knowledge moving from being implicit and procedural to explicit. Karmiloff-Smiths ‘representational re-description’ model suggests that practise at procedural level is required for knowledge to be re-described as an ‘object of thought’. Research supports that preverbal infants have learned how to form categories, possess a capacity for complex recognition strategies, and have the basic cognitive building blocks for language to develop. However, it is the point at which language begins to emerge, the nature of the relationship between category learning and identifying word sounds in speech, understanding them, categorising them, and reproducing them that is debatable. Speech production is dependent upon comprehension which requires: identification of a word from a speech stream; remembering the word sound for recall; association with an object or action; repetition; then using the word in an appropriate context (Harris, 2004). This empirical viewpoint suggests language needs to be learnt and is not innate. However, DeCasper and Spence (1996) found that prenatal infants are capable of recognising speech sounds; furthermore, research indicates that 4-week-old infants show a propensity towards their mother’s voic e (Mehler and Dupoux, 1994). Experiments by Mehler et al. (1994) report that younger infants favour the familiar language of their surroundings. Christophe and Morton (1998) language comparison experiments attributed this phenomenon to a preference for prosodic patterns, predicting and finding that 2-month-old infants could distinguish English from Japanese, but given the similarities between English and Dutch could not do so. The ability of infants to exploit prosodic cues to bound words was further investigated by Johnson and Jusczuk (2001), who elaborated that transitional probabilities, the ability to detect and remember syllables, also contributes toward language comprehension. Infants are capable of category learning prior to language acquisition, therefore it seems plausible that category learning must be achieved before language production, and it is at this point that changes in an infant’s developing vocal track support the production of their first words, whilst at the same time learning to categorise words and relate them to objects, e.g., the formulation of a word category for cat and then labelling the category. Vygotsky’s social constructivist viewpoint holds that relating words to objects and actions occurs within a social context. Bruner (1975, 1993) elaborates the view that first words emerge within familiar social contexts; however, he did not proffer the extent to which they grow out of experience. The empirical view supports the notion that the production of words involves repeating the sound of a word as it is experienced and in an appropriate context. Harris et al. (1983) support Vygotsky’s view of embedding language i n socially meaningful activities, and found that infants use words in a similar way to their mothers during social routines; furthermore, that comprehension is enhanced by qualitative enrichment: clarifying actions such as gazing, pointing and touching objects, e.g., a toy cat, as cues for an infant to relate words to objects (Harris, 2004). However, as comprehension of words improves, infants are able to abstract them in other contexts. Hart (1991) attributed this non-reliance on experience to increased vocabulary ability. A vocabulary spurt occurs between 1 to 2 years and appears crucial to understanding the correlation between language development and categorisation. Gopnik and Meltzoff (1987) sought to substantiate a link between categorisation and language domains of development and whether they occurred simultaneously. Longitudinal studies observing infants between the ages of 15 to 20 months reported a significant relationship between the vocabulary spurt and categorisation, but did not find strong links between categorisation and other cognitive measures. Gopnik and Meltzoff (1992) were unable to establish whether the vocabulary spurt causes an improved ability to categorise or whether, indeed, the ability to categorise underpins language development (Harris, 2004). These findings compliment Vygotsky’s theory that language and thought are separate functions, and supports that until the point at which they merge infants only possess a basic comprehension of language which provides the buil ding blocks for higher-level thinking and the realisation of ‘true concepts’ (The Open University, 2006, p. 11). Evidence has identified that infants possess a degree of cognitive ability that allows for a basic understanding of language, albeit a rudimentary recognition of basic prosodic patterns and syllables. Prior to language acquisition infants are capable of forming, storing, and retrieving category representations and recognising cues, at both basic and global levels using exemplar memory and prototype abstraction. Category learning can also be distinguished from other cognitive skills as beneficial to language development and when infants start to use their first words, it is apparent that their ability to categorise visual objects evolves to forming abstract ideas. Moreover, as vocabulary increases the capacity to categorise provides for the transition from knowing to forming true concepts. Prior to contemporary methods of investigation, nativists may not have been able to attribute these capacities to anything but innate ability and recent approaches challenge this view. The capacity to categorise is not dependent upon language acquisition; rather it facilitates the foundation for language development. Notwithstanding that infants possess the physical and cognitive processes requisite for developing language, also essential are social interactions that provide rich social contexts in which they can develop cognition and language. This supports Vygotsky’s premise of language being a cultural tool that features significantly in the development of cognition. References: Arterberry, M. E. and Bornstein, M. H. (2002), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 42. Bancroft, D. and Flynn, E. (2005) ‘Early cognitive development’, in Oates, J., Wood, C. and Grayson, A. (eds), Psychological Development and Early Childhood, Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Behl-Chadha, G. (1996), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 36. Bruner, J. S. (1975), cited in Harris (2004) p. 73. Bruner, J. S. (1993), cited in Harris (2004) p. 73. Christophe, A. and Morton, J. (1998), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Christophe, A. and Morton, J. (1998) ‘Reading A: Is Dutch native English? Linguistic analysis by 2-month-olds’ in Oates and Grayson (2004) pp. 98-105. Chomsky, N. (1965), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 14. DeCasper, A. J. and Spence, M. J. (1996), cited in Harris (2004) p. 66. Eimas, P. D. and Quinn, P. C. (1994), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 34-35. Fantz, R. (1963), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 28. Fantz, R. (1963) ‘Reading A: ‘Pattern vision in newborn infants’ in Slater and Oates, (2005) pp. 124-6. Gopnik, A. and Meltzoff, A. N. (1987), cited in Harris (2004) p. 54-55. Gopnik, A. and Meltzoff, A. N. (1992), cited in Harris (2004) p. 56. Harris, M., Jones, D. and Grant, J. (1983), cited in Harris (2004) p. 74-76. Harris, M. (2004) ‘First words’, in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Hart, B. (1991), cited in Harris (2004) p. 89. Johnson, E. K. and Jusczyk, P. W. (2001), cited in Harris (2004) p. 70-72. Mandler, J. M. (1997), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 27. Mandler, J. M. (1992, 2000), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 44. Mehler, J. and Dupoux, E. (1994), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Mehler, J., Jusczyk, P. W., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Dupoux, E. and Nazzi, T. (1994), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Oates, J., Sheehy, K. and Wood, C. (2005) ‘Theories of development’ in Oates, J., Wood, C. and Grayson, A. (eds), Psychological Development and Early Childhood, Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (2004) ‘Introduction: perspectives on cognitive and language development, in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Piaget, J. (1923/1926), cited in Oates, J., Sheehy, K. and Wood, C. (2005) p. 66. Piaget, J. (1955), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 17. Quinn, P. C. (1994), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 37. Quinn, P.C. and Eimas, P. D. (2000), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 43. Quinn, P.C. and Eimas, P. D. (2004b), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 40. Quinn, P. C. Eimas, P. D. and Rosenkrantz, S. L. (1993), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 34-35. Quinn, P. C. and Oates, J. (2004) ‘Early category representations and concepts’ in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Rakison, D. and Butterworth, G. (1998), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 41. Skinner, B. F. (1953), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 14. The Open University, (2006), ED209 Child Development, Study Guide, Milton Keynes, The Open University Vygotsky, L. S. (1962), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 17. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986), cited in Bancroft and Flynn (2005) p. 72. Younger, B. A. and Gotlieb, S. (1988), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 31-33.

On ‘Mending Wall’ by Robert Frost

From the very title of this poem Robert Frost implies his intention of presenting an everlasting barricade in human relationship, symbolized by the image of a wall. Close analysis reveals a work that functions on many levels. On the surface, ‘Mending Wall' pictures a scene in which the narrator and his neighbor cooperate with one another to mend a cracked wall and then begin a reasoning dispute over the significance/insignificance of having a wall between them. However, as the poem develops, more underlying conflicts are unfolded which cast a different light on the scene before the readers. Frost takes on these issues to explore some of the more complex aspects of human relationship in modern days. The poem opens with a comment of the puzzled narrator about an unknown force that ‘sends the frozen-ground-swell under it/And spills the upper boulders in the sun', producing measurable gaps in the wall. By the use of an unlikely compound noun: ‘frozen-ground-swell', instead of a proper word, such as ‘ice' or ‘icicle', and the failure to relate the cracks as consequences of the former phenomenon the comment is likely to be the voice of a youth as well as a remark to the natural wonder. Then the depiction of gaps caused by hunters disrupts the scene and brings in a preliminary conflict within the narrator's mind; that is, ironically, the narrator approves only of natural cracks in a wall not the man-made ones. He reasons that man-made gaps are forceful, destructive and merely for a personal purpose: ‘To please the yelping dogs'. On the contrary, with the pausing effect of a Caesura as well as end stops and the use of words with long vowel sounds in a line followed closely by short vowel sounds in another: ‘To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, [short vowel sounds; No one has seen them made or heard them made, long vowel sounds] But at spring mending-time we find them there,' the narrator expresses his wonder and admiration to a naturally-cracked wall. This preference foreshadows the narrator's calm but cold reaction on mending a wall at the end of the poem. In line 11, ‘But at spring mending-time we find them there', along with the rebirth of spring emerge gaps in a wall, coordinated reparation as well as a remarkable irony in ‘mending wall', all of which prepare the ground for the central conflict of modern human relationship. Acknowledged of the mending time the narrator and his neighbor gather together in order to fulfill gaps in a wall. At this stage, the two characters are unified as the first person plural ‘we', signifying the sense of unity and cooperation. This is indeed an irony; the narrator and his neighbor become cooperative in order to be separate: ‘[†¦] we meet [†¦] and set the wall between us once again'. In addition, the description of the reparation is ornamented with quick, joyful but thoughtless rhythm, following from repetitive use of enjambment and childlike metaphor: ‘Some [stones] are loaves and [†¦] balls'. Such playful words and rhythm characterize many childlike aspects of the narrator. He is initiative and enthusiastic: ‘I let my neighbor know beyond the hill'; he is imaginative in a childlike way: ‘Some are loaves and some so nearly balls/We have to use a spell to make them balance'. In fact, repairing a wall is a tough work: ‘To each the boulders that have fallen to each. [unstressed ending] †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ We have to use a spell to make them balance: [unstressed ending] â€Å"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!† We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of outdoor game', hinted by such examples as the effect of interrupting uneasiness from continuous unstressed ending and some words, including ‘have to', ‘spell', and ‘rough', that connote hardship. While mending the wall, the narrator is, however, overwhelmed thoughtlessly with joyful physical recreation and sense of collaboration with his neighbor. Even though he has remarked somewhere that the wall is set up again, the narrator seems ironically ignorant to the fact that ‘mending wall' will later disunify his sense of ‘we', the togetherness between himself and his neighbor. Once he realizes it an argument will be unavoidable. At a particular point, ‘One on a side' , Frost allows his narrator a pause for reasoning thoughts by applying a long-vowel sound followed immediately by a Caesura. The pause as well as the subsequent statement: ‘It comes to little more', reports a wondering tone and suggests in some way that the narration is developing his intellectual maturity. He begins his first argument against the significance of ‘mending wall', saying innocently ‘My apple trees will never get across/And eat the cones under his pines'. He fails to argue his neighbor's murmur: â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors†, though. Further on the main conflict of a revolutionary mind versus a conservative one has fully developed, illustrating Frost's concerned awareness of mental gaps in modern relationship. The unified ‘we' has been split perpetually into two independent units: ‘I' the revolutionary and ‘He' the conservative. No longer a pleasant wonder, the ‘spring mending-time' has now become mischievous to the revolutionary mind. The narrator who once eagerly informed his neighbor of the mending-wall time would now prefer a world without borders and a neighborhood without ‘fences'. The narrator, having passed the verge of maturity, bursts out a train of spicy, reasonable arguments made firm and effective by the use of rhetorical questions and enjambment: â€Å"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense.† He views a ‘wall' no longer as a springtime recreation nor a symbol of neighborliness and collaboration. It is a sign of ‘offense', and he ‘wants it down'. Nonetheless, the narrator only ‘puts a notion [about the uselessness of a wall] in his [neighbor's] head' and refuses the use of force, even though he realizes that verbal encouragement may not work. The reason lies in his earlier detestation about the ‘work of hunters'. That is, the narrator regards himself as ‘apple orchard', polychromatic, fruitful trees of knowledge that make man civilized. Consequently, he would not degrade himself into the level of ‘yelping dogs' just to ‘have the rabbit(an intended metaphor for his neighbor) out of hiding'. He would rather have nature –as he could say â€Å"elves†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ take its course in destroying the wall. The central conflict does not come as an overt interaction, and the narrator's treatment towards his neighbor is courteous in a sense. But, it is not on the whole, for his remarks about the neighbor are somewhat cold and contemptuous. The narrator likens his neighbor who dare not ‘go behind his father's saying' to a gloomy, prickling pine tree with its inedible ‘cones'. Then an image of an ‘armed old-stone savage' is deployed to humiliate his incorrigible neighbor. Frost may be pointing out how a modern, revolutionary youth views conservatism in general, which is suggested as a step backward, a retreat into ‘darkness'. However, seeds of satire are also disseminated in the delineation of the rebelling narrator. The Fruit of Knowledge, which is compared to the revolutionary mind, is not only the cause of human intelligence but also that of human banishment from the Garden of Eden. Considering himself as civilized and assuming allegedly that his belief is unarguably correct, the narrator of the ‘Mending Wall' is somehow driven by pride when he ridicules his neighbor as a prehistoric savage. Moreover, such premises as the eating of ‘cones', the wandering of ‘cows' and the uselessness of a ‘wall' have their implication of materialism (Note that they are all materials and involve the gain/loss of benefits). Frost may intend to insert these defaults to make his subversive narrator less reliable and leave space for individual readers to judge according to their own favour. When finishing ‘Mending Wall' it is possible to assert that the poem is a microcosm of our changing world in which ones are gradually separated from the others as a result of ones' own bias, causing interminable gaps in human relationship. Portrayed in ‘Mending Wall' are the narrator, the revolutionary mind, who assumes arrogantly his superiority to others and his neighbor, the conservative mind, who possesses indestructible sense of stubbornness. Frost has implied that the roots of all trouble indeed lie within these two egocentric characters. The wall itself stands as an ironic symbol of integration or reconciliation and does not account for the disintegration between the narrator and his neighbor.

The relationships between the physical environment and economic activities are no longer important

‘Second life' has its own settlements, inhabitants, firms, markets, geography and economies. In January 2007, it even had its own political riot. What is significant about this? Well, its economic activity bears absolutely no relation to the physical environment. It is an entirely virtual world and, admittedly, a computer game – but the point remains. Their currency, the transactions, the profits and the losses may occur in the game's own currency but can be converted into real life US dollars. Also read this  Cheating in a Bottom Line Economy This is 21st century economic activity as the science fiction author's imagined it, and fundamentally, is totally isolated from the physical environment. This could certainly be the shape of things to come, as indications of it can be seen translated onto the non-virtual world. The physical environment is consistently being conquered by human activity – there is little requirement for physically conducive circumstances for an area to be entered into the global capitalist economy. Anecdotally, there is a real snow slope in Dubai – economic activity based around winter sports is happening in the desert. Arguably, humans still cannot conquer wilderness – settlement in Japan is restricted to the coast and the vast majority of mankind live close to coastal areas. Is this, however, more an issue of tradition than one of physical necessity? Certainly, conservative theory would suggest that people draw their identities from tradition, which can have important economic implications. Las Vegas typifies the ‘bright lights' view of the USA – yet having outgrown its aquifer it surely shouldn't exist. Where there are serious economic incentives, the physical environment pales into very little. This has seriously implications in, for example, settlement patterns. Examination of a pre industrial city, such as Potosi, in Bolivia, demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. These cities were centres of power, bringing together the wealthy and politically powerful – both underpinnings of economic activity – with their servants and slaves in one large urban area, thus representing the beginnings of hierarchal economic systems that have been replicated around the world. This was the start of urbanisation, but what dictated the locations of these economic hubs? Read also Recording General Fund Operating Budget and Operating Transactions The physical environment, from which everything was derived and upon which everything relied. These new cities were focused on the exploitation of a raw material such as coal or iron ore; Catal Huyuk in Turkey developed around volcanic glass, becoming one of the first economic centres. As these activities grew the industrial city emerged, bringing people together in a work force and selling the products of their labour in a market system for the first time – it was the physical environment providing the impetus and the raw materials that enabled both extended settlement and trade to occur. The relationship could not have been more important. However, what is the postindustrial city tied to? Very little – location of industry is no longer tied to traditional centres that formed due to the physical environment. ‘Footloose' industries can be observed in the UK and other knowledge based economies. The sunrise strip around the M4 corridor and silicon fen have not developed where they are because of an exceptionally good crop of microchips. They are focused around centres of learning – science parks attached to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or important communication routes that link them into the global economy – the M4, and important links to London. Read also Intro to Public Relations Notes Similarly, it is human economics that has ‘saved' those areas previously dependent on the physical environment. The decline of the mining industry in South Wales had a profound impact on the surrounding areas causing significant depression. This situation is being reversed with subsidies from the European Union; an economic body that rose from a belief in the law of comparative advantage as opposed to the physical environment. The relationship here between the physical environment and economic activity appears somewhat less significant than for pre industrial cities. If post industrial cities no longer rely on the physical environment for their economic activity, but pre industrial and industrial cities derive their location, habitation and economic activity from the physical environment of their surroundings, it could be argued that those nation states who have no undergone industrialisation have a greater reliance on the physical environment. Rio de Janeiro owes much of its grandeur and wealth to the physical environment – many of the municipal buildings were built on the influx of wealth from the extraction of gold in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the area is the biggest extractor of petroleum in Brazil from off shore fields; a position in continues to hold despite the opening of markets due to its resource endowment. Conversely, it can also be the physical environment that dictates a very different course of economic events; resource curse theory suggests that an endowment of a particular resource – such as diamonds in many African nations – can in fact lead to stinted economic activity as the economy develops in an unbalanced manner. The poor economic situation in these states would certainly suggest an important relationship between economic activity and the physical environment that must be understood for a solution to be reached. In a similar vein, some cities have not been able to cope with the move away from a close relationship with the physical environment. ‘Old' industrial cities, such as Sheffield in the UK and Lille in France are characterised by loss of employment in the primary sectors, as mining and other physical environment heavy industries decline. There are often high levels of social deprivation and population loss from the inner city as out migration occurs. This illustrates that the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity is just as relevant today as it was with the initial city forming influences – in this case, the location of the cities, a physical factor, on the periphery of post industrial development has lead to economic depression and social deprivation. Furthermore, the observance of the growth of the postindustrial city from pre industrial times has been focused on the core regions of the UK, the USA and Japan. This conservative view of development theory assumes that all development will undergo similar courses, thus implying that the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity in LEDCs is more important than that in MEDCs. Structuralists, however, will argue that this is not the case. The growth of these ‘core' regions has huge implications for the entire global economy based around human derivatives as opposed to physical factors. The periphery is, in essence, not affected by the physical constraints that some argue are the cause of its poverty. It is the economic actions of ‘core' elements of society that result in the economic situations in LEDCs. Studies that led to this ‘dependency theory' observed the actions of wealthy in Sao Paulo which had huge implications on the favela dwellers and the unskilled labourers of Brazil; this is translated on a global scale – the economic activity that keeps the poorest sections of global society in that position is arguably the result of the actions of the core nations which they have had most to do with in the past. If this is the case, there is little relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. In spite of all this, however, there is an undeniable economic impact when disaster strikes. The dramatic impact of the Asian tsunami is a clear illustration. The movement of the tectonic plates that in turn triggered the tsunami could not have been predicated, although it has been argued that the quick pinpointing techniques could have provided greater notice of the wave. Even if this was the case, what of the impact to the settlements, the farmland and the tourist industry that it destroyed? The economic implications of this were huge – raising the point that no matter how much humans attempt to harness the physical environment in pursuit of economic incentives, what initially allowed the development of the global economy can just as easily destroy it. The impact of natural disaster on economic activity is neither new nor restricted to LEDCs. Although the death count in LEDCS, such as the Kerala Earthquake, is usually higher than in MEDCs, the economic impact in MEDCs can be even more dramatic – the Kobe Earthquake, or the effects of Loma Preta ripping through San Francisco. Here, flights were disrupted when a runway ruptured, and damage to free ways and bridges held up over one million commuters for over a month. The economy that these commuters were a part of may not have derived directly from the physical environment, but the disruption and thus cost caused by the physical environment was huge. Even those natural disasters we have warning of have significant impact. The Stern Report recently emphasised the huge economic cost of climate change to certain regions of the globe, which in an increasingly globalised economy would have resounding effects around the globe. There is strong evidence to the effect that the current warming is human induced, and even speculation that it will be global warming that proves to be Malthus' final resource limit. As global temperatures increase, the Greenland ice sheet will melt. This introduction of fresh water will reduce the salinity of the Gulf Stream as it goes northwards and sinks, powering the global conveyor. If this ocean current is unable to sink, the global conveyor will cease to moderate climatic extremes around the globe. Whilst the UK may have handled this in the past during the Little Ice Age, in an economy dependent on roads, private cars and international travel, the economic disruption would be huge as the climate became colder. Limited snowfall has considerable economic impact today, making its potential impact huge. Economic activity itself, therefore, has reinforced the importance of the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. Furthermore, given the attention paid to climate change by governments, the press, and NGOs alike, the carbon trading business is increasingly significant. Carbon Exchange, a firm that manages both voluntary carbon trading schemes in the US and administers the compulsory cap and trade system in the EU, has seen its share prices rocket to nearly i12 a share in recent months. Here, the impact of economic activity on the physical environment is giving rise to another 'round' of economic activity. Carbon trading is big business and completely inseparable from the physical environment. Is this, rather than a ‘Second Life' virtual existence of economic activity more the shape of things to come? There are other such examples of considerable profits being derived from climate change concerns – effectively; we are reverting to a system whereby economic activity is the direct result of the physical environment. In conclusion, it would appear that the physical environment did much to shape the initial economic developments of core regions, such as the UK, the USA and Japan. It has imparted traditions that persist by way of settlement patterns and economic strengths. If this is the case, a simple division can be made – MEDCs do not rely on the physical environment for economic activity where LEDCs do. However, this ‘model' cannot be held paramount, as it appears not to be the case; structuralist views point out the presence of highly developed and desperate poverty even within the same city as a result of dependency, rather than economic development as a result of the physical environment. In spite of this, there exists an undeniable relationship between the physical environment and economic activity that applies to both LEDCs and MEDCs – the impact of natural disaster. Furthermore, there is increasing economic emphasis surrounding climate change, particularly in MEDCs. Fundamentally, economic activity is an aspect of human activity. Humans are part of the biosphere, and in turn, part of the physical environment. Whilst we may not be as constrained by mountain ranges or climate extremes, as once was the case, it is doubtful there will ever be a situation where the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity is totally irrelevant.