Second Language Acquisition Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Second Language Acquisition - Case Study Example Contemporary attitudes towards English learning in Cyprus is divided into two - the early Cypriots who were educated during the reign of British rule acknowledged English as a tool to enhance their culture, knowledge and relationships with other countries, and those who in this era consider English to access resources around the world. The new generation of English learners hold a more positive attitude toward second language acquisition (SLA) and consider it as a tool to 'globalisation'. Cypriot learners of new generation are positive to grasp English language (EL) concepts while at the same time many teachers have noticed that they have fear of public speaking, however once they get over their fears; they will enjoy engaging in public debates since learners are well aware of the skills they are developing in context of SLA. SLA research suggests that a majority of English non-native speakers in Greek Cyprus are teaching English depending upon their Cypriot language backgrounds, level of education and training, teaching methods, aspirations and career prospects, and the status of English in Cyprus. Many linguists believe that an ideal teacher of English language is a native speaker, since native speakers of a language have a better command of fluent, idiomatically correct language forms, are more knowledgeable about the cultural connotations of a language, and are the intermediaries of the acceptability of any given samples of the language. Such a native speaker fallacy pointed out a number of weaknesses and contradictions when the features attributed to native speakers of a language, and it was discovered that native language features can be instilled through teacher training. The general nature of our research will highlight various communicative language teaching methods in context with SLA but would not be limited to what linguistic researchers view SLA as the process of combining the structural components into their preexisting mental structures. In fact it would be better to say that our research would seek means beyond traditional approaches learning SLA. The specific goals of research would follow a perspective varying from finding the most convenient theory of facilitating the integration of new systemic knowledge to discovering an ideal learner based linguistic system with the help of problem identification. Throughout each chapter we would be discussing various learning methods of SLA in context to the new changes and what made the initial learning methods to be criticised. Chapter 1 highlights the significance of grammar and translation while highlighting on further advancement of methods discussed in previous chapter. Chapter 2 would proceed the learning methods while at the same time mentioning theories of language acquisition in the light of its pros and cons. Chapter 3 discusses the significance of silence language learning techniques while chapter 4 discusses how new methods of language acquisition to teachers have brought challenges to the preexisting teaching methods. Learning or teaching a second language allows the learner to build a more comprehensive model of second language learning and this is done by creating a set of principles that are easily applied in the environment of classroom interaction practices. However in the case of Cypriot learners, it would be wrong to say that Greek Cypriot language would be helpful in communicating, it would not provide the learners with a new

The Long Road Ahead Essay Example for Free

The Long Road Ahead Essay Good afternoon , I am James Brady. Born and raised in Akron,Ohio for the past 25 years. I am currently attending The University of Akron for my Bachelors in the science of nursing. My life has taken many different roads when it comes to career choices. I graduated from Garfield high school in 2006 where I took the vocation of Heating Cooling and Air Conditioning. After highschool I attended Mount Union where I played offensive guard for the football team. While attending Mount Union i was enrolled in the Police Academy, but unfortunate event happened. I took a cheap shot to the knee during a football game and was unable to continue playing. Along with losing my ability to play football, I also lost my first career choice. I decided to come back home to Akron and have my knee fixed. After knee surgery and rehab I got a job working at Goodyear as a chemical operator. Being 19 years old making good money i believed i was living my definition of the Dream. That dream of mine ended abruptly two years later when Goodyear had big layoffs. Being stuck without a job and a mortage payment, I began to reasse my life at this point. While sitting at the Drs office for a check up on my knee I started a conversation with a paramedic about possibly pursueing a career as a medic. The paramedic politely pushed me into becoming a nurse explaining to me all the different types of oppurtunitys there are in the nursing field. After a lot of conteplating, I decided to attend Akron School of Practical Nursing. ASPN was a 9 month accelerated LPN program , where I graduated with Honors and the class president. Shortly after school I got a job working at the Medina County Juvenile Detention Center as a nurse. Recieving my LPN license was just a stepping stone in my career path of becoming a BSN. After graduating from LPN school I started at the University of Akron where I was able to skip the waiting list and get right into the nursing program without a wait due to already having my nursing licenses as an LPN. So after the long road i have traveled since high school i am currently here today working at juvenile detention center, going to school full time and raising my son.

Disposal Issues And Solutions Of Electronic Waste Environmental Sciences Essay

Disposal Issues And Solutions Of Electronic Waste Environmental Sciences Essay Electronic waste E-waste is the result of obsolete electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. E-waste isneeds to be distinct from other forms of industrial waste chemically and physically; it contains both valuable and hazardous materials and causes harm to environment and human health whenwithout the use of special handling and recycling method are not used (Robinson 2009, p.184). Rapid changes in technology, poor coordination between new software and existing hardware, and the expenseiveness offor reusinge or recycling result in a large amount of e-waste annually. These electrical obsoletes are either landfilled, or exported from rich countries to poor countries (Robinson 2009, p.184). Since at least 2002, cases of unmanaged disassembly and recycling e-waste in developing countries have been reported (Gibson 2006, p.323).This will lead to not only detrimental effect on workers in e-waste receiver countries but environmental contamination, and may adversely impact human health risk. Thus, issues stemming from e-waste are considered as a global transactional issue amongst producers, consumers in rich countries and e-waste receiver countries in poor countries., These which may require international policies or supports by governments and organisations. Design for the environment in products (Amos, Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322), e-waste take-back (Xu 2008, pp.1-3) or other municipal and organisational policies have addressed the issues as environmentally friendly approaches. This will enable consumers to reduce, reuse and recycle more greater and perhaps will perhaps lead to more environmentally friendly operating procedures. The purpose of this report is to describe issues of e-waste, analysis of the problems, some approaches for producers and e-waste receivers in order to deal with the issues along with organisations and government policies. 2. Growth of e-waste asand a global transactional issue 2.1. The growth of e-waste Technological advents in the electronics industry and the short life-cycle ofin products have been generating enormous amount of electronic wastes (e-waste). Consumers accept the benefit of technological innovations and a. A gGrowing volume of waste electronic equipments are generated as consumers continue to upgrade and replace obsolete, broken devices everyin a few years. The total global e-waste production iswas estimated to be 20-25 million tonnes per year, with most e-waste being produced in Europe, the United States and Australia (Robinson 2009, p.183). According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, over 100 million computers, monitors, and televisions are becoming obsolete each year. Most estimate say that 20 million computers and televisions become obsolete annually, and less than 6 % are being recycled (Gibson 2006, p.322). As a result, the total global production of e-waste has continued to increase considerably, and most e-waste is currently landfilled or exported to dev eloping countries for recycling. Rapid technological evolution in electronic products and competitive electronic marketplaces means more consumers in rich countries are generating large amount of waste equipments, much of which is still operational. Robinson (2009, p.185) states that the total number of computers and other potential possible e-waste devices is potently correlated with the country ¿Ã‚ ½fs GDP, and consequently, he predicts Eastern Europe, Latin America and China will become major e-waste producers in the next 10 years. The concern over e-waste is not only the amount produced but also the toxic footprint involved in the course of the disposal disassembly and destruction of the equipments. Unlike other waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as washing machines and refrigerators, e-waste contains potential environmental contaminants (Robinson 2009, p.185). Clearly, it is necessary to take effective actions to address the exponential e-waste production and the concentration of environmental contaminants associated with e-waste, taking into account recycle and reuse. 2.2. E-waste producers and consumers ¿Ã‚ ½f dilemma The shorter lifespan ofin electronic products means that consumers continue to purchase or replace a product within a few years, and the design of a product is often incompatible between new software and existing hardware. A replacement frequency of computers or cell phones is 2-3 year in 2005, which was dropped from 4-6 years in 1997 (Cairns 2005, p.238; Robinson 2009, p.185). Cairns (2005, p.237) argues that current product design features and changes in technology and wireless services often cause users to necessitate frequent replacements of operational electronics equipment. Many software or hardware companies usually set an end-of-support policy in their products so that it will encourage their potential customers to migrate old version of their products to new ones, which makes it difficult for customer to keep old ones. Therefore, consumers are pressured into replacing their products regardless of their inclinations. According to Huang (2009, pp.115-116), the development process of information systems which have been used for decades, is divided into five stages; planning or investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance. Many of the current electronics have a lack of the concept of sustainability in each stage. For example, the battery of some MP3 players or mobile phones requires intricate disassembly. It is often cheaper to consider the purchase of a new one instead of sending it to a customer support for the replacement. This will in turn lead to create the customers ¿Ã‚ ½f dilemma to use out-dated electronic items. It is essential for producers to listen to customers ¿Ã‚ ½f voices and design their products to meetting the demands including a sustainable life-cycle. This will enable customers with enough information, less costly for reuse and recycle, and technical support to encourage and facilitate product upgrades and repairs. ? 3. Impacts of e-waste 3.1. E-waste receiver countries Most electronic equipment that fulfils its lifespan by product strategies or faults is discarded without being recycled or reused. However, substantial quantity of the obsolete electronics is exported to developing countries, especially to China, after India, Pakistan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Nigeria and Ghana for recycling or disposal (Puckett el al. 2005, cited in Robinson 2009, p.187; Cairns 2005, p.241). It is reported that some 70% of all exported e-waste is delivered to China (Liu et al. 2006, cited in Robinson 2009, p187). Although some exported electronic devices might be used for some time, most of them will be disassembled and landfilled due to inability to cope with the increasing e-waste globally. In e-waste receiver countries, operations for the disassembly may be primitive and landfills may be poorly managed. The process of mechanical separation of component contains smelter, reclamation and burn, and can be automated or carried out by hand burn (Cairns 2005, p.241; Robinson 2009, p.187). Since an electronic device consists of many components and most products are hardly considered the disassembly process in their designs, the workers in the receiver countries may work in their own way without enough information for the dismantlement processes. These processes may contain an environmental hazardous. 3.2. Environmental issue Many e-waste contaminants may be involved in the process of the dismantlement without the use of special handling or tools. Most developing nations have more relaxed environmental regulations, especially in China, India, and Pakistan (Ruth 2009, p.75). The loose regulations for the e-waste dismantlement can lead to insurmountable environmental problems within the e-waste receiver countries. For example, villagers and workers who engage in the de-assembling process use environmentally unfriendly techniques including the open-air burning and wastewater discharge at the factories (Robinson 2009, p.188). A result of the dumping, burning hazardous chemicals and the wastewater disposal of e-waste will cause a variety of environmental problems such as water, air and soil contaminations. E-waste that contains some base materials or valuable components may be environmentally important, while these devices may contain high concentrations of flame retardants and heavy metals (Cairns 2005, p.241). The e-waste contaminants bring an adverse effect on an aquatic ecosystem. Many studies discover the fact that higher rate of hazardous elements in the livers or creatures such as waterfowl is found in the downstream areas from e-waste recycling factories and towns (Robinson 2009, p.188). Combustion of e-waste by melting plastic or burning invaluable metals has resulted in concentrations of toxic percentage in aerial samples from areas near the e-waste recycling workshops (Robinson 2009, p.188). Soils are also contaminated in e-waste sites where acid leaching was used to recover valuable metals (Gibson 2006, p.323; Robinson 2009, p.188). Uncontrolled burning, disassembly and disposal processes of e-waste in the receiver countries can have a horrific deterioration on ecosystem such as groundwater contamination, air pollution, or even water pollution not only within the e-waste disassembly areas but other areas and neighbouring countries. 3.3. Human health A lack of adequate facilities for recycling with primitive techniques may involve significant risk to the workers as well. The workers in most villages currently use unsafe primitive techniques without goggles, masks or gloves, which have adverse effects on the workers (Robinson 2009, p.188). The primary route of exposure to a toxic chemical is spread into the air via dust, and contaminated dust is found in human breast milk (Dealthe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.321). Consequently, it is difficult to minimise the expanding damage caused by e-waste. The flux of electronic products that generates in rich countries and exported to poor countries may contain many serious transactional issues in some cases. Foods or products imported from the e-waste receiver countries, where are environmentally deteriorated may also threaten human health. For instance, children ¿Ã‚ ½fs toys, imported from China, are reported to have elevated rates of toxic elements (Chen et al. 2009, cited in Robinson 2009, p.189). The content of detrimental substance is collected in the ground and surface-waters, agricultural soils, rice, egg, fish and eventually humans (Robinson 2009, p.189). Hence, the contaminant implicated in e-waste is not only the issue within the e-waste receiver countries but ultimately to humans in other countries. 4. E-waste solutions 4.1. Organisation and government policies Problem of most electronic products currently is a lack of the concept for reuse and recycle in their products. Producers should focus on creating reusable products and provide a rule of e-waste take-back at the obsoleteness. There are several ongoing projects to create environmentally-friendly electronic products and recycle policies in several States in the US, Canada and EU countries. These challenges encourage product makers to design for remanufacturing in order to minimise disposal of harmful components of electrical equipment, share design information, and protect against negative health and environmental impacts along with organisations and governments policies. 4.2. Deposit fees for recycling and guidelines It is important to raise capital in order to introduce and continue with the recycling approaches. However, the cost of electronic products generally does not include extra fees for e-waste collectors and recyclers (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.327). In California, consumers pay fees when they purchase a certain type of electronic devices so that the budgets will be used for managing these devices (Gibson 2006, p.324). Similarly, a Statewide Computer Recycling Pilot Program in Maryland requires computer manufactures to submit fee for the state recycling (Gibson 2006, p.328). In addition to the recycling fee, it is necessary to be implemented guidelines and legislation in order to manage or define hazardous substances in electronics. Several states in the U.S. , Canada and EU countries set disposal guidelines or regulations, and have banned the sale of certain electronic devices that contain specific hazardous materials (Gibson 2006, p.324; Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.329). 4.3. Design for Environment For producers, it is also crucial to review the design of their products more environmentally-friendly to create recyclable and reusable products. To do so, it will be necessary to determine guidelines or policies in order to standardise the implementations. The International Standards Organisation has standardised the implementation of design for environment and instruct producers to create a roadmap of product design in order to minimise environmental issues (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322). Huang (2009, p.116-119) proposes Sustainable Systems Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) that on each stage of product developments; Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation, Maintenance and Disposal, producers should consider sustainability for the products. With regard to new products, these policies and regulations will protect against negative health and environmental impacts. For existing waste, for instance, the EU WEEE Directive requires for producers to be assigned financial responsibi lity based on their current market share (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.326). These will reduce a product ¿Ã‚ ½fs hazardous footprint. 4.4. Producer Take-Back Programmes Another approach for producers is e-waste take-back programmes. Products are taken back to the producers or take-back disassembly centres to disassemble safely (Xu 2008, p.1). Since electronic devices are made intricately, it must be difficult and unhealthy for the workers to break down the parts in e-waste receiver countries where there is little knowledge of disassembly. Instead of e-waste being exported to developing countries, it would be environmentally effective to take-back the e-waste within the producer countries. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for each electronic will be easier to track the process of e-waste take-back when they are obsolete (Xu 2008, p.1). If the products still can be used then they can be transported to second-hand makers for sale while there is no value (Xu 2008, p.2). Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple have already introduced their own take-back programmes in Canada (Deathe, MacDonald Amos 2008, p.322). RFID also provides excessive range of information on their products. 5. Conclusions ?

Multiple Access Relay Network :: Technology, Network

We consider a multiple access relay network where each source transmit channel coded packets, relay decode the transmitted packet, generate network coded parity symbol, and retransmit it. We assume the relay has multiple antennas, so relay to destination link is MIMO channel. We consider two MIMO transmission mode at the relay, spatial multiplexing (SM) and beamforming as transmit diversity (TD), and assume that the relay use different network coding scheme depending on the MIMO transmission mode. In other words, we consider a network with three types of linear combination; channel coding at the source, network coding at the relay, and mixing over the air with MIMO channel. The main objective of the paper is to propose a transmission mode selection scheme at the relay which optimize these three linear combinations concurrently. There are numerous work that optimize either the network coding, MIMO transmission mode, or data rate over multiple access relay channel. Network coding techniques for single antenna relay network has been addressed in [1] - [4]. Authors in [1] investigated the cooperative diversity gain offered by the network coding. Authors in [2] proposed a network coding scheme based on low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes that accounts for the lossy nature of wireless networks and showed that a significant coding/diversity gain can be achieved. Author in [3] investigated the tradeoff between reliability and rate as a function of node density and SNR, and showed how the energy and node density can be traded in achieving a given reliability-rate pair in single antenna case. Authors in [4] analyzed an network coded cooperation which adaptively match networks-on-graphs to the well-known class of codeson- graphs such as LDPC codes. This approach enables realtime adaptation of network codes to variant link states and changing network topologies. Network coding for multiple antennas have been studied for special network geometry in [5], [6]. Authors in [5] proposed a cross-layer design employing multiple antenna techniques and network coding called MIMO two-way relay for one dimensional mesh network and authors in [6] investigated the performance of MIMO network coding in bi-directional relay network. Adaptive relay protocol has been proposed for a network with single antenna relays in [7] - [9] and for a network with multiple antennas using amplify and forward protocol in [10], [11]. Authors in [11] proposed an adaptive antenna selection scheme at both the relay and the source for half-duplex MIMO amplify and forward relay protocol. Rate optimization for relay network has been addressed in [12], [13]. Authors in [12] proposed throughput optimal control policy for a parallel relay network with decode and forward protocol. Authors in [13] analyzed the performance of variable-rate two phase collaborative diversity protocols and optimized the transmission rate based on the node location.

On Distance Learning Essay

Distance education represents a way of teaching with geographically dispersed individuals and groups. Moore related that as early as 1978, regular mail service was used to aid distance education, but the advent of the internet brought new and exceptional dimensions to the world of distance education (10). It offered access to geographically and physically separated individuals to courses and instruction in a more interactive manner through increased education, interactivity among participants, and incorporation of collaborative pedagogical models. But even with the increasing number of courses and degrees delivered entirely online, and the number of supporters this type of education has gained, many still express opposition to it as against the traditional classroom education. Former college teacher James Barszcz’s is one well-known critic of distance education. He strongly asserts in his essay that distance learning cannot fulfill the true purpose of education. The diffusion of the Internet worldwide has literally changed the traditional structure of the school, and, as it can be noticed from the previous examples, it is doing in many different ways that are more and more interesting. It must not be forgotten, of course, that parents keep on worrying about the fact their children’s opinions are circulating all over the world and that this could mean danger and repression for them. These anxieties, however, cannot erase the advantages coming from the introduction of this new technology into the educational are, most importantly, of bringing education to everyone. But what is the true purpose of education, really? In its most basic sense, I strongly believe that the essence of education is to instill in an individual the capability to make out at the world for oneself, to generate one’s own choices, to declare what is black or what is white. In whatever manner this education may come from, it is still learning and discovering about new things that help shape a person into what he is. Distance learning has brought a remarkable means of delivering this education to students in rural or remote areas, so that they make take advantage of continuing learning and give them the ability to schedule learning at times convenient to them. Not only that, a great number of distance education programs cater to the requirements of a lot of diverse people of all ages, sexes, occupations, learning backgrounds and health conditions. Granted that personal contact which is very important in effective education is missing with this kind of education, but as is the situation with all new technologies, there are negative and positive aspects to distance learning. Many instructors, as well as students of distance education miss this. Distance learning can admittedly be lonely sometimes. There is always a price to pay, whether it be big or small. Although this is the case, steps could be done to assuage this drawback. Encouraging students to share something about themselves is one activity that can at least give all participants the feeling that they know something about their colleague and the professor. Additionally, many courses are well supported and, for students who are unable to attend residential events, there are usually opportunities for students to participate in online discussion groups, clubs and societies. It would be noteworthy to point out that for distance learning to be effective, a conducive learning environment needs to be created and maintained. Considerable thought and effort should go into the criteria required for setting-up learning centers and how these criteria would be put into practice and monitored. If this would be followed, distance education, with an extensive record of providing learning to out-of-the-way and distant learners, will become the effective, mainstream method of education and training that advocates claim it to be. In a world where continuous learning is a must, distance education has paved the way for everyone to have access to the educational system without having to physically go to school. Discipline is needed, of course, but it is one value that even traditional schooling teaches students to have. In the end, distance education can only provide a win-win situation for everyone involved in it.

My Opinion on the Current War essays

My Opinion on the Current War essays I appreciate what the men did for our country way back when, but those wars you spoke of weren't fought over nothing.If the leader of a world power were to publically annouce that you were Evil and must be destroyed and then began destroying countries that too were Evil, wouldn't you want to protect yourself, taking any measures in which to do so? We aren't protecting the rights of humans by attacking them simply because we are scared, we are taking away their rights. Just because those people don't live in America doesn't mean they don't have the right to feel safe and secure in their own homes and their own land? When Afganistan was invaded, they weren't going after a country, they were going after a terrorist group. It's different when you're waging a war against an entire country as a whole. Furthermore, It's obvious that America is going to start this war and drag the rest of the United Nations into the situation and then they are going to feel the full effect of retaliation from "the Evil" countries, while America remains out of harms reach. Maybe I'm just being paranoid but it's rather ironic that these listed-evil countries are also the most prominent oil producing countries. If this does turn out to be about money and oil, what little worldly respect America has, will be destroyed. I do believe that "Our walls need to be guarded" but I don't believe that Other mens walls deserve to be attacked simply because they have been labled. These people have been seen as a threat for centuries, and yet they have never acted against us. I don't think they're stupid enough to act against us, but they too are as proud as Americans are. They aren't going to let themselves be attcked and their lives taken away from them, and we don't have the moral right to make such threats. We have destroyed no countries so far, only helped free one of a regime that oppressed it while raping the land and people for all they're worth. ...