Research an anilyze an article that pertains my research proposa

Research an anilyze an that pertains my research proposa - Article Example The purpose was to answer questions about humor. These questions were: â€Å"How effective is humor in the foreign language classroom?†, â€Å"How are concepts of humor in the different cultural contexts learned by foreign language students?†, â€Å"What role do theories of humor play when studying the use of humor in the world language classroom?† (p. 400). The purpose of this article was to give information about the use of humor in the classroom and to answer these questions. The authors studied the research in â€Å"education, linguistics, and psychology† (p. 400) to answer the questions. Although the hypothesis was not written as a hypothesis, it was clear that the authors assumed that the use of humor in the classroom would be beneficial to both students and teachers. They also thought that some forms of humor could be easily identified and therefore they could create a profile of humor that could be used in any classroom. This was a directional hypothesis because the authors could use humor in the classroom in any way they wanted to see what would be the most effective. The authors clearly stated that research has not been done on the effects of humor in the classroom so they relied on journal articles about humor in general. They took articles from â€Å"education, linguistics, and psychology† (p. 400) in order to give them a broader idea of how humor would work in a foreign language classroom. They also went into classrooms and observed how humor was being used and the response that the teacher received from the students. The subjects involved were students and teachers in whole world classrooms. The authors relied heavily on their observations and the body of research that was already presented. The authors did not state how they arrived at the subjects. The authors set out to find ways to use humor in the foreign language classroom that would benefit all teachers

Finance Concepts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Finance Concepts - Assignment Example If the estimated life of this project is 5 years and the Required Rate of Return is 10%, then we can also calculate the NPV of this project. If the NPV is also a positive value then we can safely estimate that this project will carry a good return, and the initial investment would be covered in 5 years. (Shim & Siegel, 2000). 2. Whenever one wants to finance a business, he can go for either debt or equity financing. Debt Financing carries lots of advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage of this form of financing is that you do not lose the ownership of your company. The lender also does not have any sort of share in the future business profits. Moreover, the interest on debt is deductible on the tax’s returns, hence reducing the actual cost of loan to the company. Finally, in the case of debt financing the company is not entitled to send their annual reports to various stakeholders. However there is always another side of a coin. Debt Financing carries the disadvantag e of at being repaid at some point in time. The interest cost can be very risky for a company, especially at the times of financial crisis. Other than that the collateral the company pledges against the loan can put extra pressure on the owner of a small venture. There is a reason why companies choose to invest in stock rather than bonds. The investment in bonds carries lower returns than stocks. Even though it is less risky, the return on stocks can be much more appealing. Investors can, in certain situations lose money on bonds, if they sell a bond when the price is lower from when they purchased it. The higher inflation rates over the investment return on bonds will hurt the purchasing power of the money the investors have (Petch, n.d.). 3. In the field of finance there is an important concept of risk-return trade-off. There is a general idea that prevails, the higher the risk the greater the return would be for an investment. The balance of the risk-return trade-offs, is hence a key factor in designing a proper financial and investment plan. Let us take an example of investment in stocks. In the case of a speculative stock because of its high risk, as an investor, you will expect a higher return. The same is the case with the working capital management. If you keep a lower inventory, there is a risk of running out of stock and hence you expect a larger return out of it (Shim & Siegel, 2000). 4. In finance, a Beta measures how volatile any security is to the market average. In layman terms, it measures the return of a security in a certain time period in relation to the overall market. Let us take an example, if a company has a beta of 2.0 in due time, this would mean that if the stock market would increase by 10%, our company’s stock will increase twice fold i.e. by 20% and vice versa. If the company has a 0 beta that means it is not affected by the market. A 0.5 beta would mean the company’s stock is half as volatile as the market, while a 1 beta would show that the company is as volatile as the market (Shim & Siegel, 2000). 5. When a risk occurs due to non-probabilistic events and not by pure chance, it is classified as

Services Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Services Marketing - Essay Example Services industries primarily provide intangible products to customers by offering services. Retail, transports, food services etc are the example of services industries (Pezzullo, 1998, p.194). The marketing activities in services sectors are known as services marketing. Marketing is one of the major activities in business organisations and its importance and necessity have been multiplied with increasing completion and market size. There are certain differences between marketing activities of manufacturing industries and services industries. For example, in services marketing there are 7 Ps instead of 4 Ps which include product, price, promotion, place, people and physical evidences (Jobber and Fahy, 2008, p.177). Therefore, managing the marketing activities in service business is difficult as management has to consider many aspects at the same time. This paper will attempt to assess an organisation engaged in services business using various management models and tools for offering a set of conceivable and effective recommendations. In this respect, at first, a brief description of the company will provided to understand its nature of business and other aspects. In order to analyse the company’s business environments management analytical tools will used. Finally, based on the research findings, conclusion and recommendations will be made. 2. Brief Description of EasyJet Airline-211 EasyJet is a UK based airline company and it is one of the leading airline services providers in entire Europe. This airline company aims to become a low cost airline service provider in Europe. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, a Greek business started an airline business with two leased aircraft and he named this airline ‘EasyJet’. The growing importance of airlines services and EasyJet’s efficient performances, made this airline as a one of the market leaders. By the end of 2009, EasyJet became pan airline that operated with â€Å"over 400 routes with over 175 a ircraft in 27 countries† (EasyJet Plc-a, n.d.). Its efficient business and services strategies have led to increase the popularity of the company, and during 2009, nearly 50% of its total passengers were recorded as non-UK people. The business model of EasyJet includes five major values that have enhanced its business activities and these values are safety, teamwork, pioneering, passionate and integrity. Its present headquarter is in Luton, England and it has â€Å"over 7,300 people including 1,900 pilots and 4,300 cabin crew† (EasyJet Plc-b, n.d.). In order to manage its sustainability issues, it has also included its responsibilities towards society, corporate, environments and community. Due to efficient managements and growing market size, the financial position of the company has become stronger in UK airline industry. 3. Swot Analysis In order to access a company’s internal & external position and external opportunities and strengths, SWOT is one of the mos t widely used tools. SWOT analysis is very helpful in providing a summary concept of various internal and external factors which are very important for strategic managements and decision making process. Carlock and Ward has been able to identify the importance of SWOT analysis and in this respect they have commented that â€Å"the SWOT analysis helps to capture data in order to qualitatively plot the firm on the

House prices in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

House prices in the UK - Essay Example In today’s world, it is everyone’s wish to own a house; indeed, this is not an impossible mission when funds are available. Citizens are normally differentiated by the amount of money they hold, their salary, and investments or savings they make. That is why real estate owners construct houses of different quality and different sizes, with an aim to cater for every citizen of a country. With the constructors work done, it is up to the owners to decide on house prices, depending on the quality, location, and prestige among other factors. Most people opt for cheaper houses or flats and give up their dream of a mansions or bungalows, depending on their income and financial capability. In most cases, a rise in inflation usually leads to an increase in the mortgages rates and high interest rates associated with the mortgage. In the United Kingdom, high prices of houses may render some citizens to failure of affording to purchase a house. In addition, high house prices have c aused shortage of workers in London and the South East, as most people are unable to afford such high prices. Therefore, the high level of unemployment is another factor that has led to low demand for house purchase (Newnes, 2011).According to Williams and Pannell (2006 pp 352), â€Å"housing is not an ordinary commodity and does not behave in an ordinary way since it is a long–term asset, requires heavy machinery, it is geographically fixed, and involves legal procedures.† The authors further argue that, it is not obvious that houses built are always affordable. According to Braham (2002 pp 328), a wide division of house classes in the UK has occurred due to changes in the building of houses in relation to design, location and the size.. This leads to only a few numbers of people being able to buy private homes. He also states, â€Å"The in-equality in housing has led to in-equality in house gain.† Theorists however argue that, when housing has a similarity wit h factors like health and education such that they shape one’s life, housing stands out in determining the level of consumption since the owner occupation has to consider wealth, to occupy a certain house. When inflation is high, energy and transport prices increase, leading to a rise in bank rates and definitely on mortgages interest rates. According to right move website (N.d) in the United Kingdom, houses vary in prices between different regions due to the different class of people living there, and the types of houses that are available. For instance, the following property in MK6 region, differ from those of MK7 region. a flat cost ? 95,689 has had only forty five purchases, while a semi- detached costs 135,446 had sixty one purchases , Detached houses costs ?262, 759 and had only fifty two purchases and Terraced that costs ?122,765 had a pleasant number of buyers who were one hundred and thirty six. Below are two tables that illustrate how some house prices vary in diff erent regions. Table: MK6 region property House type flats Semi- detached Detached Terraced Number of sales 45 61 52 136 Price paid ?95,689 ?135,446 ?262,759 ?122,765 For MK7 region, a flat costs ?119,598 and the purchases made are 49, while a semi- detached property goes for ?115,900 and has approximately 86 purchases. A detached property costs ?290, 618 and has a total purchase of 124 and finally, a terraced property costs ?126,351, with only 83 purchases. If we compare these same properties but from different regions, we can agree that house, prices differ in different regions of the United Kingdom. Table 2: MK 7 region House type flats Semi- detached Detached Terraced house Number of sales 49 86 124 83 Price paid ?119,598 ? 115,900 ? 290, 618 ?126,351 Source:

Shakespeare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Shakespeare - Essay Example Shakespeare moved to London in around 1590 and by 1592, his plays and ability as a playwright were already being recognized and handsomely rewarded all over London. During this period of 1590s, his plays became famous all over London and this made his wealthy through investments and purchases. The wealthy and lavish life of London made most of his work contain issues of social class and its effects on society in general and hence this marked the theme for almost all his literary works (Bradbrook, 2005). The contents of the literature and art in Europe gave a reflection of different issues in society. This is true for example in the literary works of Karl Marx which discussed political and economic ideologies through his books and other works and gave a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the moment and what could be done about it. Other art works like paintings also gave reflection of the different events in the different eras. This was also true for plays like those by Shakespeare which gave an understanding of the society’s division through social status and even the religious issues happening in the society during those times (Arendt, 2007). Through these various art and literature which gave a reflection of Europe, people are able to understand and deduce what was happening and even the cause of such

Text Linguistics Essay Example for Free

Text Linguistics Essay Module I. Classificationally meaningful characteristics of the text as an integral and independent object of investigation. Lecture 6. Conceptual variability of linguistic interpretations of the text essence and status and their reflections in the models of the text descriptions. Problem for discussion Evolution of the text description approaches. Models of the text descriptions. Grounds for the chosen models and schemes of the text descriptions as a scientific object. It has already been mentioned that despite the fact that there are many publications devoted to problems of text linguistics. There does not exist an adequate definition of the text that would find satisfaction with all researchers. The difficulties that arise when trying to work out an universally acceptable definition of the text can be explained by the fact that scholars study the text in its various aspects : grammatical, stylistic, semantic, functional and so on. The text can be studied as a product ( text grammar) or as a process (theory of text). The text-as-a-product approach is focused on the text on the text cohesion, coherence, topical organization, illocutionary structure and communicative functions; the text-as-a-process perspective studies the text production, reception and interpretation. Text can be understood as an instance of (spoken or written) language use ( an act of parole) , a relatively self-contained unit of communication. As a â€Å"communicative occurrence† it meets seven criteria of textuality (the constitutive principles of textual communication): cohesion, coherence, intentioanality, acceptability, informativity, situationality, and intertextuality and three regulative principles of textual communication: efficiency, effectiveness and approapriateness.(cf. de Beaugrande and Dressler 1981, Maljaer 1991) 1. Regular Principles of Textual Communiction. The principle of efficiency requires that a text should be used with a minimum effort hence the use of plain ( stereotyped and unimaginative)  language. Which, however booring and unimpressive, is easy to produce and comprehend. In contrast, effectiveness presumes leaving a strong impression and the creation of favourable conditions for attaining a communicative goal; this presupposes the use of creative ( original, imaginative) language which, however effective, may lead to communicative breakdown. The principle of appropriateness attempts to balance off the two above mentioned principles by seeking an accord between the text setting and standards of textuality. Common text features. Some common text features found in books are Table of Contents, Glossary, Index, Bold Words, Headings and Titles, Maps, Diagrams, Illustrations and Charts. Why is Understanding Text Features an important reading strategy? Text Features help us to identify the big ideas and topics that the author is focusing on. Visual text features such as maps and charts help to support the information the author presents in the text. How do we use text features to help us understand what we are reading? Before reading, preview the kinds of text features throughout the book. Think about what the big ideas the author wants you to remember. Make sure to read captions Functional Classification  The functional classification identifies illocutionary text types according to the type of the dominating illocutionary act (see 10.2): representative or assertive type (e.g. research reports, public notices, administrative texts, weather forecasts, diaries, CVs, lectures), directive type (e.g. commands, orders, invitations, instructions, directions, giving advice), expressive type (e.g. apologies, thank-you notes, greeting, condolences, compliments, toasts, congratulations), commissive type ( e.g. promises , pledges, swears, offers, vows, contracts, bets), declarative or performative type (e.g. , nominations, appointments, dismissals, accussations: I find you guilty as charged, marriage ceremonies, testaments, certificates). Texts viewed from this perspective satisfy diverse communicative needs of the society members. Situational Classification  The situational classification sorts out texts according to the sphere of activity (e.g., private, official or public, such as a private letter, a  letter addressed to an institution) and form of communication (dialogical and monological, spoken and written texts). Strategic Classification  The strategic classification deals primarily with the topic and the ways of its expansion 9 the term slohove postupy is used in Slovak stylistics to denote macrocompositional principles, cf. Mistrik 1997): narrative, descriptive, and argumentative.

Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening

Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening Cystic fibrosis is a common autosomal recessive genetic disorder1. This means that to have cystic fibrosis, a person must have inherited a defective gene from each of his or her parents2. This gene is located on chromosome seven2. Absence or mutation in this particular gene results in worse performance or absence of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator2. This is most commonly found in Europe, North America, and Australia1. This gene manages anion transport and mucociliary clearance in the airways1. With the failure of this function, the results are mucus retention and chronic infection in the lungs1. Nowadays, modern technology provides aid for patients with their diseases and gives them a longer and more active life. Newborn screening for cystic fibrosis is a modern technological advance which is designed to detect early signs of cystic fibrosis. Several methods under the name of the Newborn Screening are used to detect whether a newborn has cystic fibrosis or not1. These methods include immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) testing combined with DNA mutation analysis and the sweat chloride test1. IRT stands for Immunoreactive Trypsinogen Test. The procedure of this test is a chemical reaction. Trypsinogen is made from the pancreas, and it normally transmits to the intestines where it is activated to a form of an enzyme called trypsin. In a patient who has cystic fibrosis, the thick mucus covers the pancreatic ducts1. Therefore, trypsinogen wont reach the intestines, and the amount of trypsinogen goes up. This test runs with a blood sample, and if the results come out with a normal level of trypsinogen, then this test is reliable, but if there is a high level of trypsinogen, then more tests need to be run to find out whether the patient has cystic fibrosis or not. A sweat chloride test is the amount of chloride in patients sweat. In a patient that has Cystic Fibrosis, the sweat chloride test will result in significantly higher levels of chloride in sweat than a person that does not have cystic fibrosis due to the restricted movement of chloride. The gene mutation test is a DNA sequencing test to locate a defective gene in the chromosome. There are many different types of mutations that can cause a deficiency in the production of the CFTR protein. More than 2000 CFTR variants have been discovered1. About 15% of the identified gene variants are not associated with CF1. CFTR mutations can be classified into six classes according to their effects on protein function1. Classification is helpful because it relates to the molecular and cellular processes in gene translation and protein processing and has some useful clinical relations1. Class I, II, and III mutations are associated with no residual CFTR function and patients with these mutations on average have a severe phenotype, whereas individuals with class IV, V, and VI mutations have some residual function of CFTR protein and have a mild lung phenotype and pancreatic deficiency1. Today, different laboratories use a wide variety of panels depending on the patients need, like t he twenty-three panel or panel of seventy. The following is an example of a molecular CF test. Lab Corporation of America published a procedure for a Cystic Fibrosis molecular diagnostic3; The coding sequence of CFTR is amplified by polymerase chain reaction and each PCR product (amplicon) then sequenced bi-directionally, using Sanger sequencing methodology. CFTR Chr7(q31,2) Nucleotide Change Amino Acid Change Consequencing Zygosity Relation to Cystic Fibrosis c.1327G>T p.Asp443Tyr missense mutation homozygous recessive, associated 1. Prof J Stuart Elbom, Cystic Fibrosis, Lancet, 19-25 November 2016, Volume 388, Issue 10059, page 2519-2531 2. The Clinical and Functional Translation of CFTR(CFTR2) at Copyright 2011 US CF Foundation, John Hopkins University The Hospital for Sick Children; available at https://cftr2.org. 3. Corporation of America Published Documents   2014   available @ http://oneworld.labcorp.com/Billing/TestMaster/Resource Center/Sample Reports/C-4/Cystic Fibrosis (CF) CFTR 252763.pdf