A Bag of Oranges Essay

The story â€Å"A Bag of Oranges† by Spiro Athanas tells about a poor family lived in the rotting slum and the boy in this family became a mature person from a childish kid. Because the boy’s father needs to pay his responsibility to his family and the people who he loved, so his rude behavior and act makes his son hate him for a short time. After the boy notice his family’s financial situation, then he realize it’s not easy be an adult to making life run in the society, and you would lose some important things while you are paying responsibility to your family, so he begin understand his father. When the boy know his father hit by a car, all his emotion spew out and make his act like an adult in the end of the story because he take the responsibility from his father. The author wants to tell us the childish boy becomes a mature boy because the boy understands take care of a family need you pay a lot or got misunderstand. He throws all his childish behavio r away and tries to take the responsibility to his family and the people who he loved. Sometimes, it’s not easy to be an adult because you need swallow all tough things with no childish emotion. At the beginning of the story, the boy is a really childish kid because he doesn’t understand anything about life. When his father goes to buy two boxes of strawberries and it’s just thirty cents for two, his father still bargains with the vendor three times. Finally, he gets two boxes of strawberries for 25 cents. Even though he still think the vendor is not good. As the story say, â€Å"The boy watched and listened to this dialogue, intrigued and a little frightened. But the smile on his father’s lips as they walked away reassured him. (p.217)† The boy doesn’t try to understand the conversation’s meaning. He is just confused and gets scare of the dirty words what his father say like many kids will to do that. It shows us that the boy was childish, had no idea about life at first. He can easily forget the conversation because his father’s smile comforted him. In the coffeehouse, his father has some adult conversation with his brother and another guy. Like many child, the boy just sit with his father and listen to them without thinking. As the story point out, â€Å"The boy enjoyed the talk and sometimes felt he was allowed to hear all the secrets of the world, and was only mildly frustrated by the mysteries he could not understand. (p.218)† That means, the boy feel he is an adult when he sitwith his father and listen to their conversation about women and some adult jokes. As it mentions, he can’t understand everything they talked because he doesn’t interested on the topics that they talk.so he is still immaturity at that time because he doesn’t interest on that and has no idea about the meaning of the conversation. But he can understand the conversation like that is only for adult. Let’s move on to the incident of the story, the boy was very childish after the incident happened and his act and thought was really a kid. As the story says, â€Å"He felt the shadow and weight of his father behind him, placid and unashamed. Oh how he hated him and his smug, foreign stupidity! Why did he have to be his father (p.220)?† We can know the boy was really childish after the incident happened. Although his father’s behavior was rude or not good, he is so emotional and doesn’t give hi s father respect. His father grab the orange form a young man who seemed wants to give help. The boy couldn’t judge his father like that way because he doesn’t know these oranges are for their family and they don’t have much money to waste, so it’s important for them and his father must do that. Also he doesn’t even know what the orange use is for. It shows us, the boy feel momentary hated because of his childish. Children usually forget their feelings and thoughts quickly. The boy was so hated his father after the incident, but when they get home, he is back to his father again. As the story mentions, â€Å"It was so easy and natural he could scarcely believe the emotions he experienced moments ago were real. (p.220)† That means, the boy hate his father before they get home and it was just a childish emotion of him. We can see that when they get home and the boy jump to his father and put his arm around his father’s neck and wrapping his legs around his body. Sometimes, children hate their parents in a moment and show all the emotions on their face to express their feeling, even though these acts and emotions come quickly, but leave quickly. All these acts show and prove he is childish. All these things happen on the boy, they are waiting for the right moment to wake up the boy who in a childish dream. A kid won’t always be a kid, someday they will grow up. As the story point out, â€Å"He sipped. It was bitter, the price of being a man. (p.222)† That means, the boy remembered all the things happened on him and his father. He doesn’t understand before, but he does understand now. He feet his father responsibility for his family, and he realize it’s hard to be an adult to figure out everything forlife. He knows if he wants to be an adult, he must pay many things for that just like his father. That’s why he drink black coffee because he want to taste the hardships of being an adult from the black coffee and he want to feel his father’s position from the black coffee. It shows us, the boy is starting to understand adulthood. The biggest point of the story is the boy acts like an adult and take the responsibility of their family from his father, he chases to the young man who picked their orange. As the story say, â€Å"Without breaking stride, the boy leaped onto his back, his small fists flailing wildly. (â€Å"That’s my orange!†) He screamed. (â€Å"Give me my orange!†) (p.225)† That means, the boy understand how to be an adult and he wants to take the responsibility from his father because he wants to do something for his family. At that time, all his emotions spew out but not crying. On the one hand, he feels so sorry and guilty of his fa ther so he acted like an adult to make up for his mistakes. On the other hand, he figure out how to being an adult so he acts like an adult to face the problem by himself and deal with it like a man. It shows us, the boy is act as an adult and changed his childish act. In conclusion, we can tell by this story that being an adult it’s not easy, you need pay the price for being an adult. Sometimes you will lose yourself and got misunderstand, so all you can do is swallow these tough things and hold you ground for your family and the people who you loved. People who are being an adult or ready to be an adult, you should read this story. This story can teach you find yourself and help you realize what the most important thing is for you and how to protect the thing. Sometimes, you have to do what you don’t like to do and you must accept it because live in the adult’s world you have to pay the price for you and something or someone important for you.

Apply Ethics in Practice Essay

This brief synopsis as a human service worker in which I make every effort to help people, groups, and communities to triumph over their issues and struggles. As a human service worker I almost certainly would come across many ethical predicaments that involve susceptible issues such as discrimination, social unfairness, and oppression, poverty, substance abuse and mental health issues. As a human service worker or provider my personal principles may become an ethical difficulty with reference to discrimination of any sort because of my private belief but of course I am conscious of how many ethical standards that can be challenged if I allow my individual view to develop into concern. Nevertheless of course I identify with knowing and should no bet use as an unbiased conclusion unless the circumstances turn out to be dangerous to myself or the client involved. Next, if this circumstance come to pass then I would use the code of moral principles produced by the national association o f human service workers as a most important point addressing ethical predicament which it may cause. On the other hand, I was in a circumstance where a person that I was helping he was very serious and clear in his mind and full detail about who he wanted to work with and talk too. He was discriminating against a co worker because of skin color and race although we were on the job and others was watching him he decided to be rude and very sarcastic for no apparent reason. I wanted to voice my opinion but I didn’t but finally one day I decided to read the code of ethics at work and fill out a report on him with other co workers so that the discrimination could stop. It ended up being better than before the man was disciplined but functioning in the human service department there will be times when you do not agree with your client and your own principles could turn out to be an fair matter. My individual principles possibly will develop into an ethical concern if I meet a family unit where a close  relative is a drug user or a pregnant mother is a smoker. I am a well-built advocate in captivating concern of the happiness of offspring and unborn children in a drug badly treated atmosphere. I do not believe any close relatives ought to abuse drugs more than ever with child, it is not in favor of my ethical importance. I also be inclined to be very guarded when it comes to serving a family where whichever together parents or just one parent is a drug user. I want to make sure that the family be taken care of and will most importantly loving towards the children. Finally in conclusion I consider a situation to may have found myself, as a human service expert or professional, wherever I used private ideas may perhaps develop into an ethical matter and in closing apply ethics in all situations. Reference Dittmer, J. (2013). Ethics Applied. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/ap.ethic

Should Cell Phones Be Banned in the Classroom?

Should high school students work part-time? Why or Why not? In my opinion high school students should work a part-time job because it gives the student an opportunity to contribute to the community. A part-time job will teach students the value of money and give them the skills that they can use in their future. Firstly, a part-time job for students is a good idea because students are greatly needed to participate in today’s society. Getting a job in the community is a great way to participate and get them involved. A part-time job would give the student a sense of ownership and belonging within their community. Also, when the student gets a pay check he or she has to know that they need to budget their money and also create a savings account for future purchases. Having a job will also teach students the value of the dollar. When a student is about to spend his or her money they can stop and question themselves, do I really need this? Finally a part-time job gives students important skills useful for their future. For example, if a student would get a job at the local department store, he or she would learn how to handle money, how to stock shelves, order supplies that are needed and customer service skills. Having a job builds a student’s character and trust worthy values. As we all know, in society word of mouth about one’s character and how responsible they are excels fast within any community. In conclusion, part- time work for a student is a key element in future success. It allows the student to grow and learn as an individual and create strong work ethic. There is nothing more valuable to an employer than an employee that has these skills. In life there is nothing more desirable to an individual, than to have a strong sense of worth, character and the ability to handle and manage money to its fullest potential.

Should the Unemployed be required to do voluntary work Research Paper

Should the Unemployed be required to do voluntary work - Research Paper Example The rise of capitalism has also brought about tremendous hordes of people who are unemployed. For whatever reasons, these people cannot cope or cannot find the jobs they want with the skills they have. The global economy has undergone big changes due to this globalization trend in that the world has become â€Å"flatter† (or more flat), in the words of some economists. The world is now flatter because not only do people compete for jobs with other people within the same country but also vie for jobs with the people of other countries with cheaper cost of labor or some other competitive advantage. This has been shown by the phenomenon of outsourcing whereby jobs are â€Å"exported† to countries in Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world where it makes more economic and financial sense to do so. The earlier method was contracting, then it became sub-contracting, near-shoring, off-shoring and then finally, outsourcing. Business leaders had welcomed this development but to the detriment of organized labor which had seen its union ranks dwindle with the loss of jobs. People opt to moderate their wage demands in view of this outsourcing threat. A consequence of this phenomenon is that millions are now jobless. Capitalist economic theory posits that unemployment will always be present despite all the best efforts of business leaders and politicians because it is nearly impossible to eradicate. In other words, full employment is a pipe dream (a near impossibility) but the collapse of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage market has greatly contributed to swelling the ranks of the unemployed. It destroyed the American middle class and the American Dream because well-paying jobs that had survived the outsourcing phenomenon were likewise wiped out. A prolonged and severe economic downturn made matters worse for most people. The economists have called this the Great Recession (in contrast

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities Research Paper

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities - Research Paper Example The U.S. policy makers had been vigilant in seeking resolutions to address issues on health care disparities in order to uphold justice and respect to the people. This paper presents the general concepts about health care disparities, focusing on the issues concerning ethics raised commonly raised by the people, as well as on the management of these issues that confronts the health care system of the U.S. First, it is important to convey a unanimous thought of the commonly used terms in this study. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (2011), â€Å"health care seeks to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease and to improve the physical and mental well-being of all Americans.† In the 2003 National Healthcare Disparities Report, â€Å"disparity† means â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree†, synonymous with the word inequality, unlikeness, disproportion, and difference. It shall be noted that â€Å"health dispar ities† and â€Å"health care disparities† are two different terms, though both have close association in concept (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2004). ... favorable health conditions that exist among specific population groups, including racial and ethnic minority groups† (American Society of Clinical Oncology 2009). Health care disparities, on the other hand, refers to â€Å"different people’s access to insurance, preventive services, and medical care or lack thereof,† while health status disparities refers to â€Å"the individual differences in disease prevalence, habits, and risks factors between various races and ethnicities† (National Business Group on Health 2011, p. 5). Differences in race are base on the physical (such as skin color, facial features, etc.) and genetic aspects among subgroups while differences in ethnicity consider the subgroups’ cultural, religious, political, and socioeconomic variables (Tobin 2010). The four major ethnic/racial groups frequently noted in literatures are the African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islander, and together with the poor, the mentally retarded, and the immigrants, these groups have experienced unequal burdens in health and health care observed from high morbidity and mortality rates (Baldwin 2003). To delimit the broad scope of disparities in health, this study focuses on health care disparities, per se, more specifically on the issues of ethical concerns. Furthermore, the World Health Organization or WHO (2011) presented the determinants of health that affect the individual or the community’s healthy status and these include: (1) the social and economic environment (income, culture, social status); (2) education; (3) physical environment; (4) social support networks; (5) health services; and (6) the person’s individual characteristics (genetic, gender) and behavior (lifestyle, exercise, eating patterns). Evidence showing the

Womens Rights in the 1930s. A decade of setbacks Research Paper

Womens Rights in the 1930s. A decade of setbacks - Research Paper Example It provides that â€Å"The rights of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex†. Thus began the 1920s on an optimistic note. Women’s suffrage was seen as a new start for equal rights for women and the increase of mainstreaming of women’s voices in policy decisions and strategies. The Great Depression and its impact However, the crash of the stock market in 1929 brought the economy into a tailspin and short-circuited women’s rights’ progress. During The Great Depression of the 1930s employment rates declined and women came to be perceived as the ones to forsake their claim on employment to give way to men. According to the 1930 census almost eleven million women, or 24.3 percent of all women in the country, were gainfully employed. Three out of every ten of these working women were in domestic or personal service Three-quarters of the professional women were school teachers or nurses. Women in the 1930s in fact entered the workforce at a rate twice that of men—primarily because employers were willing to hire them at reduced wages. For the most part women worked long hours for low wages in the 1930s. More than half of all employed women worked for more than fifty hours a week, and more than one-fifth worked for more than fifty-five hours (Cabell Phillips, 1969). So while large numbers of women worked during the Depression, their status actually decreased (Moran, M.1989). The American Federation of Labor was established for organized, skilled, craft workers, and most women still held unskilled factory jobs thus they were excluded from unionization. The American Federation of Labor did not see the need to include women and neither did the majority of the population. Instead of employment and benefits to male and female alike, women were shuttled back into the home, to be protected and sentimentalized over once again. Altered perception In the depression years of the 1930s women were portrayed in the home. Peggy Preston writes in her paper Advertising's Portrayal of Women in the Workplace from the 1930s to the 1950s ,†To reinforce the concern of society to get women out of the workplace, advertisements portrayed women at home, in the kitchen or with the children. Advertisements portraying men, on the other hand, placed men in the workplace. "He is working to improve your model," declares a 1935 Time magazine advertisement which pictures a man working upon an engine for General Motors which has not yet been perfected. In April of 1930† Some women did come to prominence in the 1930s. Frances Perkins was named the first woman cabinet member in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tenure but she herself asserted that married women ought not to shirk their responsibilities to their families by seeking outside employment. Josephine McGowan (1931) commented â€Å"In ten years, we have seen the political potential ities of women voters recognized by farseeing politicians who have rather grudgingly in many instances taken them into the councils of their parties, making them vice-chair of this or that local or state national committee; for the time has not yet arrived when men will voluntarily entrust to women the actual dispensation of party authority or patronage†. Decrease in Status So while large numbers of women worked, eleven million in all (Cabell Phillips, 1969), during the Depression, their status actually decreased. During the 1930s, the percentage of master's degrees and doctorates earned by women dropped significantly. While female university education increased substantially, those who attended college found the formerly high quality comprehensive education

Creative Writing Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Writing - Personal Statement Example They pay fees for us to produce results, and it would make no sense if we they do not full results from us. I do believe that I deserve the A grade. First, I have been an active participant in class activities. The professor always received my assignment on time. He always left a positive remark on every assignment that I submitted to him. From this, I do am partially convinced that an â€Å"A† grade is indeed the most appropriate grade for me. Our professor normally set for us exams from what we had learned in class and given as assignment. Remember the proverb, â€Å"where there is smoke, there is always fire† and â€Å"the presence of clouds is a symbol of rain.† How should one know whether a student is speaking the truth or not? (Nosich 28)Whereas others may argue or ask for the evidence concerning my performance, all I can say is that a performing student always stands out from other students. Professors and tutors rarely need evidence to know how a performing or bright student actually look like or behave. Performance always goes hand in hand with character of a person. However, I do not dispute or refuse any suggestions to hand over my assignment books for evaluation or verification of the truth. Some people say, â€Å"valid evidence is the only convincing way or method to truth claims.† I am ready to bring any evidence in support of my claim. In addition to that, I have always been an active participant of our class activities such as writing of successful projects related to CRTW. I believe activeness in any activity outside the class equips an individual with the necessary skills for the practical application of what he or she learnt at class. Using the above method or principle to evaluation, other students and I will undoubtedly provide a leeway for knowing each student personally. I believe it will be the best and most appropriate method for evaluating us. Interpretation of my performance in the past assignments and their analyses will lead

Biomes and Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biomes and Diversity - Essay Example The plants and animals of the earth are also important because of the recreational pleasure they provide us with. More people in America spend time watching wildlife than they do watching  movies  or sports†. In a way, people would benefit more in practical ways from the preservation of biodiversity. â€Å"At its heart, rewilding is based on living with the monster under the bed, since the big, scary animals that frightened us in childhood, and still do, are the fierce guardians of biodiversity. Without wolves, wolverines, grizzlies, black bears, mountain lions and jaguars, wild populations shift toward the herbivores, who proceed to eat plants into extinction, taking birds, bees, reptiles, amphibians and rodents with them. A tenet of ecology states that the world is green because carnivores eat herbivores. Yet the big carnivores continue to die out because we fear and hunt them and because they need more room than we preserve and connect.†Ã‚   Re-wilding is then done so that biodiversity survives and can expand to make produce more environmentally healthy habitats. If life a healthy habitat and ecosystem could be developed, the re-growth of natural environments for wildlife can help make a cleaner and healthier world to live in as long as human activities that negate biodiversity are lessened as well. Ganly, S. (2007) The Impact of Wildlife Extinction and the Importance of  Biodiversity. Retrieved from

The irrational side of change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The irrational side of change - Essay Example employees, capability building, role modeling by the managers that enable the employees realize the new change of character in their seniors and reinforcement of different mechanisms within the organization. Human nature is usually the major determinant of the level of success in implementing change in an organization. Human nature can hinder the successful implementation of change through the application of the four conditions explained in achieving success. In telling a compelling story, it is likely that not all employees will be impressed it. It is evident that a story that motivates one person will not have the same motivation on another employee. It is important that the employees get to narrate their own change story rather than the leaders being the ones to do so because the employees will be more committed to the result. In role modeling, the executives often believe that they are the core determinants of change in the organization without realizing that they too need to change (Price & Lawson, P. 15, 2003). To realize change it is important that various structures, processes, and systems are reinforced which can be achieved by rewarding the employees on the achievements unexpectedly. This will have a great impact on the organization’s performance because the impression is likely to last in them (Priestland & Hanig, p.113, 2005). Capability building is usually important in implementing change among the employees because what employees feel, belief and think will significantly drive their behavior. Skill building is important in implementing change but the employees should be allowed to practice what they learn and that barriers that hinder employees from practicing new skills should be

HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

HRM - Essay Example Performance ranking is a performance appraisal technique that is utilized to assess worker performance as of most excellent to most horrible. Executive will evaluate a worker to a different worker, somewhat than evaluating each person to a typical capacity (Ngo, 2010). 6. Management by Objectives (MBO) method MBO is a method in which executives / staff sets aims for the worker, occasionally assess the performance, as well as recompense according to the end result. MBO pays concentration on what have to be achieved (objectives) somewhat than how it is to be achieved (techniques) (Ngo, 2010) 9. 360 degree performance appraisal 360 Degree Feedback is a structure or procedure in which workers get secret, anonymous response as of the people who work just about them. This place also includes details associated with appraisal techniques such as 180, 540, 620 (Ngo, 2010) 1. What are main stages in the recruitment and selection process as suggested by the CIPD? The recruitment process engages operation throughout a sequence of stages: (CIPD, 2010) †¢ Describing the responsibility †¢ Getting attention of applications †¢ Administering the application and selection procedure †¢ Formulating the appointment The successful recruitment is essential and critical to the everyday performance of several organizations. Recruitment is not simply done to realize existing requirements. Recruiters should always be aware of and refer to future plans that have implications for organizational resourcing.

Do school vouchers improve the quality of education Research Paper

Do school vouchers improve the quality of education - Research Paper Example . Non-voucher education systems compel guardians who take their children to private schools to double taxation, since they still contribute to public schools funding. Generally, school vouchers are put in place to offset the cost incurred by families who choose to enroll their children to private schools that best fit their needs in a bid to improve their performance and quality of education (Altidor, 2005, p.15). School vouchers were first introduced with the aim of improving the quality of both the elementary and secondary school education with regards to Milton Friedman’s proposition in the 1950s. Parents and guardians seeking to provide high quality education for their children have contributed greatly to renewed interests in school vouchers. School voucher proposals seek to support households that choose to enroll their children in private schools through vouchers from the government to cover private school tuition costs either partly or fully. Arguments in support of the school voucher programs claim that through this program, households with are able to encourage educational systems competition that would go a long way in enhancing the quality of education that is being offered among the competing schools.Arguments in support of the school voucher place emphasis of aspects that suggests that students from low-income households who are enrolled in private schools have a higher probability of achieving higher performance levels on standardized tests unlike those in public schools.

Macbeth Analysis Essay Example for Free

Macbeth Analysis Essay I was just walking with Banquo on a cold and windy day to Forres when we come across three witches. They were very old and they all had long curly beards. One of them had a long crooked old finger and she kept on pointing it at me. The witches started talking to me. They all said hail Macbeth hail to thee. Banquo started talking to them and then the witches all said the same word Hail at the same time. I was getting really interested, so I said carry on talking. I wanted to know what they were trying to tell me. I was telling them to speak but they did not and they just vanished away. They told me that I was going to be king. I was sitting in my room and in comes my wife. I said to my wife that I did not want to kill Duncan anymore. Lady Macbeth started telling me that I was a coward, and then she started rushing into the plans about killing Duncan, but I wasnt even sure I wanted to kill him anymore because Duncan was giving me complements lately. She thought I was drunk earlier because I had been so eager to murder Duncan, and now she thought I was afraid of murdering him. The truth is I was scared. She was telling me all the plans I decided to do it then and what she told me to do is show my grief about the king being dead and act innocent . Lady Macbeth told me that when the bell strikes that is when I murder Duncan. when the bell rang I went to the courtyard to murder Duncan. My wife had already drugged the bodyguards and placed daggers on them to make it look like they have done it. Now it was going to be easy for me to do the murder. I had done the murder, then went back to the party and everything was like had not done anything.

Effectiveness of Psychoeducational Group for Improving EI

Effectiveness of Psychoeducational Group for Improving EI Effectiveness Psychoeducational Female Chapter 1 Introduction Background of Study Based on the view of Johnson and Johnson (2000, as cited in Glading, 2003), a group is form by two or more individuals, who meet in face-to-face interaction, interdependently, with the consciousness that each belongs to the group and for the reason to achieve mutually agreed-on goals. Wilson, Rapin and Haley-Banez (2000), the members of The Association for Specialist in Group Work (ASGW), which is a national division of the American Counselling Association, defines group work as â€Å"a broad professional practice involving the application of knowledge and skill in group facilitation to assist an interdependent collection of people to reach their mutual goals which may be intrapersonal, interpersonal, or work-related. The goals of the group may include the accomplishment of tasks related to work, education, personal development, personal and interpersonal problem solving, or remediation of mental and emotional disorders.† Jacobs, Masson and Harvill (2005) had created seven categories of groups which based upon their different goal: educational group, discussion group, task group, growth group, counselling group, support group and self help group. However, ASGW only focus on four types of group work, which are psychoeducational group, counselling group, psychotherapy group, and task and work group (Wilson, Rapin and Haley-Banez, 2000). This chapter comprises the background of the study and the research problem that arises in investigates the effectiveness of psychoeducational group on improving female adolescents’ emotional intelligence (EI). The research problem enhanced the objective to study on psychoeducational group and EI. Prediction of outcome was stated as hypotheses. Finally, definition of variables, significance and limitation of the study were discussed. Group work is identified as an important modality because it is not only enable the clients to develop feelings of belonging and awareness of others, but also to increase their socialization skills and self-confidence. Besides, work group provide the opportunities for clients to exchange their idea and feedback (Nelson, Mackenthum, Bloesch, Milan, Unrein Hill, 1956; as cited in Posthuma, 2002). Compare with individual counselling, group work is more efficiency because it consists of several clients who meet for common purpose and able to save considerable time and effort. When the group made in a group setting, the commitment to work on specific concerns often has become strength (Jacobs, Masson Harvill, 2005). According to Posthuma (2002), groups have been effective in various helping professions such as short-term psychiatric setting (Bradlee, 1984; McLees, Margo, Waterman, Beeber, 1992; Prazoff, Joyce, Azim, 1986), long-term psychiatric setting (Waldinger, 1990), counselling for special populations (Akos, 2000; Firth, 2000) and with the chronically physically ill (Gonen Soroker, 2000; Levine, 1979). Variety kinds of group work are believed to be helpful to adolescent in making a successful development and growth which related with psychological and social issues (Glading, 2003). During this transition period from childhood to adulthood, adolescent grow up psychically and mature mentally. They struggle with various psychological and social issues such as cope with crisis in identity, extraordinary peer pressures, dramatic physical changes, impending career decision, the desire for independence and self doubt (Wasielewski, Scruggs Scott, 1997; as cited in Glading, 2003). From a group, adolescents have the opportunity to identify their conflicting feeling, realize that they are not unique in their struggles, honestly question those value they decided to adjust, learn to communicate with peers and adults, learn from the modelling provided by the leader, and learn how to accept what others recommend and to give of themselves in return (Corey Corey, 2002). In this study, the psychoeducational group is used by the researcher to promote female adolescents’ emotional intelligence (EI). The term â€Å"Emotional Intelligence† was first introduced by Mayer and Salovey at arose in 1990 (Ciarrochi, Forgas Mayer, 2001). The initial ability definition of EI as â€Å"A type of emotional information processing that includes accurate appraisal of emotion in oneself and others, appropriate expression of emotion, and adaptive regulation of emotion in such a way as to enhance living.† (Mayer, DiPaolo Salovey, 1990; as cited in Ciarrochi, Forgas Mayer, 2001). Daniel Goleman, a science journalist, published the best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence at 1995. His popular book lead to an unusual turn of event as the field of EI become popularized and broadened. Theoretical and research modification in the area were taken place roughly since 1998 until present. At the same time, some new measures of EI have been developed. Problem statement Based on the information from American Psychological Association (APA) (2002), emotional development during adolescence involves establishing a realistic and coherent sense of identity in the context of relating to others and at the same time learning to cope with stress and manage emotion. Adolescents’ Self-concept and self-esteem are the two major concepts that involve in the developing a sense of identity. In the EI perspective, they need to be self-awareness and possess effective relationship skills. Emotional skills are necessary for the adolescents to master in for their stress management and be sensitive and effective in relating to others. The four important skills that identified as part for adolescents’ emotional development are: recognizing and managing emotions, developing empathy, learning to resolve conflict constructively and developing a cooperative spirit. Recently, there are some studies provided some indication of the predictive nature of EI in adolescents. The studies found that the adolescents with high EI score were inversely related to aggression (Rubin, 1999; as cited in Woitaszewski, Scott, Mattew Roeper, 2004) and related to lower admission of smoking and alcohol use (Trinidad Johnson, 2002; as cited in Woitaszewski et al, 2004). Mayer (2001; as cited in Woitaszewski et al, 2004) suggested that emotional intelligence was apparently related to the capacity to organize emotions that can occur in peer relationships. These evidences show that emotional intelligence is related to positive behavioural and social outcomes. Psychoeducational group is a type of group that originally developed for use in educational settings. Recently, young people who join in developmental psychoeducational group out of sense the needs and desire to gain experience and knowledge that will help them better handle their concern such as identity, sexuality, parents, peer relationship, career goals and educational problems (Carty, 1983; as cited in Glading, 2003). There are some examples showed the positive outcome for the adolescent who received in developmental psychoeducational group. Baker, Thomas Munson (1983, as cited in Glading, 2003) showed that cognitive restructuring group enabled the students learn skills related to resolving problematic situation. Besides, the study of Hudson, Doyle Venezia (1991, as cited in Glading, 2003) showed the effectiveness of communication skills group to improve their interpersonal relationship. The study of Jenau Anak Pawan (2007) and Siti Hawa Mohd Yusof (2007) showed that strcutured group enable improved the self-concept of orphans, who age of range from 12 to 17. Thus, in this study, the researcher would like to investigate whether psychoeducational group enable in improving the EI among female adolescents, who ages from 16 to 17 and have low or moderate level of EI score. Objective 1.3.1 General Objective The general objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of psychoeducational group in improving EI among female adolescent. 1.3.2 Specific Objectives To identify the different score of EI between pre-test and post-test for experimental group and control group after psychoeducational group take place. To identify the different score of four elements of EI (perception emotion, managing emotion own emotion, managing others emotion and utilization of emotion) for Schutte-Self Report Inventory (SSRI) between pre-test and post test for experimental group and control group. To assess the validity and reliability of module for treatment for psychoeducational group. Conceptual Framework Emotional Intelligence (Module for Psychoeducational Group) Figure 1.0: Conceptual Framework This study consists of two sample group, which are control group and treatment group. The sample of both group are identified to have low or moderate level of SSRI score. Each group will be given SSRI during post-test, to identify their EI level. For control group, no any intervention is given. For instance, the treatment group will form a psychoeducational group with the used of module which will develop their EI level. After 10 sessions of treatment, both groups will be given SSRI again as post-test. The score between for pre-test and post-test for both groups will be compared. Research Hypotheses Hà Ã‚ ¾1a: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for treatment group after psychoeducational group approach for emotional intelligence. Hà Ã‚ ¾1b: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for control group after psychoeducational group approach for emotional intelligence. Hà Ã‚ ¾2a: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for treatment group after psychoeducational group approach for perception of emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾2b: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for control group after psychoeducational group approach for perception of emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾3a : There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for treatment group after psychoeducational group approach for managing own emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾3b: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for control group after psychoeducational group approach for managing own emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾4a: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for treatment group after psychoeducational group approach for managing others emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾4b: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for control group after psychoeducational group approach for managing others emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾5a: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for treatment group after psychoeducational group approach for utilizing emotion variable. Hà Ã‚ ¾5b: There is no significance difference between score for pre test and post test for control group after psychoeducational group approach for utilizing emotion variable. Significance of Study The study provides the contribution from the view of theoretical aspect and practical aspect. From the theoretical aspect, this study is view as an academic research that study with group work. Besides, the study showed the potential of psychoeducational group as an appropriate group work approach to promote clients’ socioemotional development. This study is an experiment that assesses the effectiveness of psychoeducational group. Thus, the outcomes of the study are able to serve as an evidence of the ability of group work to promote EI. This is the chance to promote the group work approach for the community of Malaysian to gain their trust on the group work’s effectiveness. Besides, this study provides the opportunity for researcher to assess the validity and reliability of the module that had been developed. This is significance and necessary for this study since the validity and reliability of the module able to guarantee its quality and effectiveness. From practical aspect, the study provides the module that had been developed to promote the development of EI for adolescent through group work. The modules are flexible and able to modify according to the needs of the group. For those helping professions who interest to implement the group for developing emotional intelligence, the modules can be the references. The effectiveness of module enables to generate the adolescent who possess with good emotional intelligence. It believed will be leaded them to gain self-awareness, not only able to make perception of their own emotion and managing their own emotion, but also able to guide them have a better interpersonal relationship. Definition Group Conceptual Definition A collection of two or more individuals who meet in face-to-face interaction, interdependently, with the awareness that each belongs to the group and for the purpose of achieving mutually agree-on goals. (Johnson and Johnson, 2000; as cited in Glading, 2003) Operational Definition A team that form by seven members who meet in face-to-face interaction, which lead by the researcher, with the purpose of improving their emotional intelligence. Psychoeducational Group Conceptual Definition A specialist group work with members who are relatively well-functioning individual but who may have lack of information in a certain area, with the specialization deals with importing, discussion and integrating factual information. New information is integrated through the use of planned skill-building exercises (Galding, 2003). Operational Definition A structured group with focus on EI theme and work with female adolescent who are low or moderate levels of EI, with the aim of providing members with increased awareness of their emotional problems in daily life and the tools or skills to better cope with it. Effectiveness Conceptual Definition An outcome which has production of intended result (Hornby, 1997). Operational Definition Creation of positive effect for the group members to help them improves their EI development through psychoeducational group approach. Emotional Intelligence Conceptual Definition The ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth. (Salovey, Peter David Sluyter, 1997; as cited in Wikipedia, 2007) Operational Definition The ability of an individual to percept emotion accurately, master the skill in managing own and others’ emotion, and utilize his emotion for creative thinking, flexible planning, mood redirected attention and motivation. Perception of Emotion Conceptual Definition The ability to recognize one’s own and others’ emotion base on â€Å"situational and expressive cues that have some degree of cultural consensus as to the emotional meaning† (Saarni, 1999; as cited in Ciarrochi, Chan Bajgar, 2000). Operational Definition The ability aware of own and others’ emotion and perceive such verbal and nonverbal emotion accurately. Managing Own Emotion Conceptual Definition The capacity for adaptively coping with aversive or distressing emotions by using self-regulatory strategies that rearrange the passion or duration of such emotional starts (Saarni, 1999; as cited in Ciarrochi, Chan Bajgar, 2000). Operational Definition The ability to manage and coping with own strong positive or negative emotion and restructure such emotion with stability. Managing Others’ Emotion Conceptual Definition The ability to arrange events others take pleasure in, cover negative emotions in order to avoid hurting others’ feelings and make others feel better when they are down (Saarni, 1999; as cited in Ciarrochi, Chan Bajgar, 2000). Operational Definition The ability manipulates and controls others’ emotion for creation of a harmony and joyful atmosphere. Utilization of Emotion Conceptual Definition The ability to used own emotion in the search of life goals and make decision based on feelings over logic (flexible planning), using emotion to facilitate different thinking (creative thinking), Interpreting strong negative emotion in a positive way (mood redirected attention) and pursuing one’s goal with drive, persistence and optimism (Motivating emotion) (Sample, 2007). Operational Definition The ability to use emotion to solve the daily life emotion related problems. Adolescent Conceptual Definiton Individual who ages from range of 11 to 21 and do involved into a transition period from childhood to young adulthood. It is generally a time of self-discovery in which young people aim to define their place in the world (Ariganjoye Daigneault, 2007). Operational Definition Members who ages from range of 16 or 17 and identified have a low or moderate level of EI. They participate in the study as a member for control group or treatment group. Limitation of Study Below are some of the limitations of study that identified by the researcher: The samples of the study are the female adolescent who ages from 16 to 17. The module that developed may not suit with the other population. The researcher unable to control the confidentiality among the sample from treatment group because they stay with the same place with the sample from control group. Perhaps if they break the confidential, some input from the psychoeducational group may receive by the sample from control group indirectly. The sample may answer SSRI without honestly and bias, this will lead to the inconsistency of the validity and reliability of the outcome. Perhaps some of the samples are not ready mentally to participate in the study or be involuntary. They may act with resistance, reluctant or absence for the group meeting, which will influence their improvement of EI development. Since the researcher is a counsellor trainer who still in supervision, perhaps the competency of researcher is limited to handle more crisis issue. Conclusion Overall this chapter is used to provide a general introduction for the study. The background and the problem statement of the study had been discussed. Besides, this chapter state with the objectives and hypotheses of the study. Besides, the important terms for this study had been defined. Finally, this significance and limitation of the study had been discussed. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.0 Introduction This chapter explore the entire concept for this study in details. The key concepts for this study include psychoeducational group, module, emotional intelligence and adolescent. Besides, literature review of previous research that related with these concepts was organized to support the relationship of variable for this study. 2.1 Pscyhoeducational Group Psychoeducational group, sometimes are simply referred to as â€Å"educational group† or â€Å"guidance groups†, is originally developed fro the use in educational setting, specifically public schools (Galdding, 2003). The premised of psychoeducational groups is on the idea that education is treatment not only because of the knowledge acquired in the process but also because of the perception that may be changed as result (Young, 1998; as cited in Gladding). Corey Corey (2002) cited that â€Å"Structured groups focus on a particular theme and are often psychoeducational in nature.† Commonly in a structured group, the members are asked to complete a questionnaire at the beginning group to assess how well they are coping with the part of concern. When the groups terminates, another questionnaire is completed to assess their progress. According to Conyne (1996; as cited in Gladding, 2003), the major goal of pscyhoeducational group work is â€Å"to prevent future development of debilitating dysfunctions while strengthening coping skills and self-esteem.† Thus, it is suited to use in various setting such as schools, hospitals, mental health agencies, social service agencies and universities (Jones Robinson; as cited in Gladding, 2003). In general, it stresses growth through knowledge (ASGW, 2000; as cited in Gladding). Besides, it increases members’ awareness of some life problem and the tools or skills to better cope with it (Corey Corey, 2002). Carrell (2000, as cited in Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006) points out that psychoeducational groups emphasize on support, learning of new skills, and how to help and be helped. The general contents or themes for psychoeducational group includes, but is not limited to, personal, social, vocational and education information (Bates, Johnson Blaker, 1982; as cited in Gladding, 2003). Some current topics for psychoeducational groups for adolescents include: loneliness, self-esteem social skills, career development, career exploration, children of divorce, grief, conflict resolution, bullying prevention, anger management, aggression, relationship skills, communication skills, prevention of depression, family relationship, cognitive coping skills and antisocial behaviour (Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006 ) . These groups usually process in 50 minutes to 2 hours period and work best when they have a regular meeting such as once a week. The appropriate number for sessions is 8 to 10 (Gladding, 2003). To Corey and Corey (2002), the general sessions for psychoeducation group are about 2 hours for 4 to 15 weeks. However, if the group is for children or clients with a short attention span, 30 to 45 minutes session should be appropriated. Furr (2000, as cited in Gladding, 2003) introduced six-step process that essential for designing a psychoeducational group: Stating the purpose Establishing goals Setting objectives Selecting content Designing experiential activities Evaluating The activities or curriculum in these groups usually take in nonthreatening exercises or group discussion forms but it may present in variety forms actually (Bates, Johnson Blaker, 1982; as cited in Gladding, 2003). Certain technological application such as computer-assisted programs, video or audio transmission and computerized simulations take a role in the group to develop the members’ growth through knowledge in indirect way (Bowman Bowman, 1998; as cited in Gladding). According to Shechtman, Bar-EI and Hadar (1997; as cited in Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006), adolescents able to take many advantages through group because they have a chance to relate to each other learn the life skills. Besides, they may practice the behaviours that generalized from the group into real-life situations. From the group, multiple feedbacks are received and through helping each others, their self-esteem may be increased. Psychoeducational groups are commonly utilized in school setting, for prevention purposes for students at risk (Vera Reese, 2000; as cited in Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006). Psychoeducational group approach assist group members in sharing and developing coping skills and behaviours and apply such skills in dealing with new or difficult situation (Dagley, Gazda, Eppiger Stewart, 1994; Hoag Burlingame, 1998; as cited in Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006). Through psychoeducational intervention, adolescents learn the improved way of functioning. They will expose with new cognitive concepts, ideas and exploration of their issues. The adaptive behaviours will be explored, discussed and practices for transfer to school and home. From the healing interaction of the group experience, their self-esteem, efficacy, and emotional satisfaction will be improved (Smead, 2002; as cited in Janice DeLucia-Waack, 2006 ). 2.2 Module Sidek Mohd Noah and Jamaludin Ahmad (2005) defined module as a unit of teaching and learning that discuss with certain topic, in a systematic and subsequent way. It helps the student able to learn alone and master the learning unit in an easy and accurate way. Module can be used in the non-academic setting such as the activities that related with self-growth, adventure and interaction. Thus, module suits to apply for individual or group in academic or non-academic form with the purpose to lead them for change in a positive direction (Rusell, 1974; as cited in Sidek Mohd Noah and Jamaludin Ahmad, 2005). According to Sulaiman Yasin, Saidin The Asma Ahmad (1986, as cited in Sidek Mohd Noah and Jamaludin Ahmad, 2005), the role of module is to assist someone to gain knowledge, awareness and adeptness which will lead to the improvement of management ability to achieve the objective that fixed by an organization. Thus, in this study, the module had been developed and be used in the psychoeducation group to assist the group members to gain knowledge, awareness and practice the skills that related with EI, with the goal of increase their EI level. The modules are important in this study because each module has the specific objective. When the members aware of the objective during the beginning of the session, such situation able to drive them to participate in the activity actively to achieve the goal. Besides, the modules that developed consists with assessment elements which will enable the member to receive and provide feedback that related with their achievement and understanding of the activities that they participated (Shaharom Noordin Yap Kueh Chin, 1991; as cited in Sidek Mohd Noah and Jamaludin Ahmad, 2005). Jamalidin Ahmad (2002, as cited in Sidek Mohd Noah and Jamaludin Ahmad, 2005) categorize module into four types with according to their purpose. They are teaching module, motivation module, training module and academic module. Teaching module is used in school setting, with the purpose to provide guidance for students to study alone. To develop the student motivation, motivation module is used by teacher, facilitator or moderator in variety form such as acitivities, trainings and games. Academic module is prepared by universities or colleges lecturers that complete with lecture notes and is provide to their students. Training module is a module in training form with strive for improve the worker performance in certain organization. The chart below illustrates the process to create a module. Set the objective Needs of research Identify theory, rational, philosophy, concepts, target and time period. Target creation Choose the contents Combine draft of module Assess validity and reliability Complete Draft Module Produced Choose strategics Assess effectiveness Combine draft of module Choose logistic Combine draft of module Quality module Choose Media Reevaluate Complete module and able to be used Note: Phase I, Draft Module Preparation Pahse II, Test and Evaluate Module Figure 2: Model Module Creation Sidek Source: Sidek Mohd Noah Jamaludin Ahmad (2006). Pembinaan Modul: Bagaimana membina Modul Latihan dan Modul Akademik. Serdang: Universiti Putra Malaysia. Sidek Mohd Noah introduced a module that is more comprehensive for module creation at 2001 (Sidek Mohd Noah Jamaluding Ahmad, 2005). This model has two phases. Phases one involves the steps to create draft for module, whereas phase two is a level to test and evaluate the module. The validity and reliability of the modules are assessed in this phase. Only the module with appropriate value of validity and reliability will be used. For in stance, of the value is inappropriate, the module need to modify and rebuilt until the appropriate value of validity and reliability been achieved. 2.3 Emotional Intelligence (EI) Mayer (2001) in his article A Field Guide to Emotional Intelligence proposed a fivefold division of years to explain the overview of the emergence of EI concepts. From 1990 to 1969, the psychological study of intelligence and emotion were separate. During the period of 1970 to 1989, psychologists focus on the study of how emotions and thought influenced each other. At 1990, the term of ‘emotional intelligence’ first introduces by Mayer and Salovey and leads to emerge the EI as a topic to study. When come to 1994 to 1997, the concept of EI was popularized by Goleman and his book Emotional Intelligence become a worldwide best-seller and was widely copied. From 1998 until present, a numbers of refinements of the concept of EI take place and a new measure of the concept of EI had been introduced as well. Now, EI become a popular topic for the scientific research. There are variety definitions for EI. According Mayer (2001), recently two lines of definition had emerged. First line consists of the original approach that defined EI as an intelligence involving emotion. For the second lines, the definition is mixed approaches that blended with other skills and characteristic such as well-being, motivation, and capacities to engage in relationship. Mayer, Caruso and Mayer (1999; as cited in Mayer, 2001) proposed the ability theory and divides EI into four brunches: ability at emotional perception, the ability to use emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotions and managing emotion. For mixed definition, Bar-on (1997; as cited in Mayer, 2001) view EI as noncognitive competencies and categorized as intreapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management and general mood. Goleman (1998; as cited in Mayer, 2001) used the mixed definition as well. He proposed five-part elaboration of EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. The most common mental illness that relate with EI is Alexithymia. For people who suffer with Alexithymia, they suffer with the difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing between feeling and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal. Besides, it is hard for them to describe feeling to others and have a poor fantasy life. They also have a cognitive style that is literal and focuses on the minute details of external events. High alexithymia individuals are identify to have a low EI because they unable to use emotions as information about their internal or external worlds and do not feel good about themselves (Taylor, 2001). Bar-on (2001) proposed four themes to define self-actualization: the ability and drive to set and achieve goals, being committed to and involved with our interests, actualizing our potential and enriching our life. His findings strongly suggest that the EI factors and facilitators such as happiness, optimism, self-regard, independence, problem-solving, social responsibility, assertiveness and emotional self-awareness are best predictors of self-actualization. He mentioned that the person who has high IQ does not guarantee that they will actualize their potential because his study showed that even EI individuals with average or even below-average cognitive capacity are able to actualize their potential in life. Empathy is one of the five domains of EI that proposed by Goleman (1995), which defined as ability recognizing emotions in others and the ability that built on emotional self-awareness and it serve as the fundamental â€Å"people skills†. Empathic accuracy is a measure of the ability to accurately infer the specific content of â€Å"reading† people’s thoughts and feelings (Ickes, 1997; as cited in Flury Ickes, 2001). These aspects are closely related with friendship and dating relationship (Flury Ickes, 2001). Ick

Research into Phonological Mean Length of Utterance (pMLU)

Research into Phonological Mean Length of Utterance (pMLU) Specific language impairment (SLI) is a disorder defined by exclusion. Children with SLI exhibit language difficulties in the absence of other factors, such as hearing loss, mental impairment, physical impairment, emotional disturbance, or environmental deprivation (Bishop, 1992a, 1992b; Lubert, 1981). Children with SLI have difficulty acquiring one or more of the components of language, i.e. form (phonology, morphology, and syntax), content (semantics), and use (pragmatics). The field of phonological acquisition has made extensive efforts to measure its development through normative studies (Templin, 1957; Olmstead, 1971) and articulation tests (Hodsen Paden, 1991). Earlier, the research focus was on correctness of consonants as well as the analysis of segments in general. Recently the whole word complexity has been stressed (Masterson Kamhi, 1992, Ingram, 2002). One such measure is the Phonological mean length of utterance (pMLU). It is a whole word measure for measuring phonologic al proficiency (Ingram,2002). It measures the length of a childs words and the number of correct consonants. The pMLU for a speech sample is calculated by: (1) counting the number of segments (consonants and vowels) in each word as produced by the child; (2) counting the number of consonants produced in each word that the child produced accurately; (3) summing these two numbers; (4) totaling these sums; and (5) dividing this total by the total number of words in the sample. pMLU quantifies development of phonology and focuses on the childrens whole-word productions instead of specific segments. Ingram demonstrates the value of the pMLU measure by applying it wide range of contexts. NEED FOR THE STUDY Although pMLU has been addressed in normal as well as phonological disorders and cochlear implanted children, the same is not focussed on children with SLI. Since PMLU is a whole word measure, problems in phonology and morphosyntax are expected to reduce the score. Hence PMLU can be used to investigate the difficulties if any in phonology and morphosyntax of children with SLI. Hence the present study was planned. AIM OF THE STUDY: To compare the pMLU of children with SLI in comparison with typically developing Kannada speaking children. METHOD: This study followed a case control design. Participants were divided into 2 groups. Clinical group comprised of six individuals (5 males 1 female) with SLI in the age range of 4 to 6 years. The diagnosis of SLI was done on the basis of Leonards exclusionary criteria and the informal assessment of morpho-syntax by the primary investigator. The control group comprised of age matched 30 children out of which 15 were males and 15 females. Exclusion criteria considered were speech, language, hearing and neurological problems. A minimum of 50 spontaneous speech utterances were elicited from each child for a duration of 30 to 40 minutes which was audio recorded using SONY recorder. The childrens utterances were narrow transcribed and pMLU was calculated for each word produced by the child. The sum of each word in all the utterances were totalled and divided by the number of words produced by the child to obtain the pMLU scores. pMLU was calculated for all the children in both the groups. Mann Whitney U test was administered to find out the significant differences between the means of both the groups. RESULTS: The results of the Mann Whitney U Test revealed a statistically significant difference between the means of pMLU scores across the group at p DISCUSSION: pMLU is a whole-word measure for phonological development. The results of the present study revealed that the pMLU scores for the children with SLI were lower in comparison to children with normal language development. This could be attributed to the increased number of incorrect consonants in the speech of clinical group when compared to the control group. The decrease in pMLU scores in the clinical group could also be due to the deficit in the use of morphosyntax as these children were having morphosyntactic errors. This in turn suggests that children with SLI are inferior in the acquisition of segments and in their whole-word phonological proficiency to typically developing children. As this pMLU measure includes the number of segments in a word, pMLU can be used to indicate morphosyntactic abnormalities in children with SLI. This tool can also serve as an aid for monitoring the progress of a child when assessed pre and post therapeutically. CONCLUSION: The present study investigated pMLU in children with SLI in the age range of 4-6 years. The results revealed that children with SLI are inferior in the acquisition of segments including morphemes as well as in their whole-word phonological proficiency than the typically developing children. Hence, pMLU measure could be regarded as a yardstick for phonological and morphosyntactic development in children with SLI. INTRODUCTION: SLI is a disorder defined by exclusion. Children with SLI exhibit language difficulties in the absence of other factors, such as hearing loss, mental impairment, physical impairment, emotional disturbance, or environmental deprivation (Bishop, 1992a, 1992b; Lubert, 1981). Specific language impairment (SLI) has been estimated to affect approximately 7 percent of children (Leonard, 1998; Tomblin et al., 1997) and to persist into adolescence (Aram et al., 1984; Beitchman et al., 1996; Stothard et al., 1998;Johnson et al., 1999). Children with SLI have difficulty acquiring one or more of the components of language, i.e. form (phonology, morphology, and syntax), content (semantics), and use (pragmatics). However, as a group they show disproportionate difficulty with some areas, performing worse than typically developing children matched on vocabulary level or mean length of utterance. Several authors (eg, Leonard et al.,1992; Rice et al., 1995; Rice and Wexler, 1996; Oetting and Horohov, 1997; van der Lely and Ullman, 2001) observe that this is particularly the case in the area of verb morphology and it has also been reported in some areas of syntax, including the comprehension of passive sentences (Bishop, 1979; van der Lely and Harris, 1990; van der Lely, 1996) and formation of wh-questions (Leonard 1995; van der Lely and Battell, 2003). The field of phonological acquisition has made extensive efforts to measure its development through normative studies (Templin, 1957; Olmstead, 1971) and articulation tests (Hodsen Paden, 1991). Earlier studies have focused on correctness of consonants as well as the analysis of segments in general. Recent studies have focused on the whole word complexity (Masterson Kamhi, 1992, Ingram, 2002). One such measure is the Phonological mean length of utterance (PMLU). It is a whole word measure for measuring phonological proficiency (Ingram, 2002). It measures the length of a childs words and the number of correct consonants. The PMLU for a speech sample is calculated by: (1) counting the number of segments (consonants and vowels) in each word as produced by the child; (2) counting the number of consonants produced in each word that the child produced accurately; (3) summing these two numbers; (4) totaling these sums; and (5) dividing this total by the total number of words in the sample. PMLU quantifies development of phonology and focuses on the childrens whole-word productions instead of specific segments. Ingram demonstrates the value of the PMLU measure by applying it in a wide range of contexts. These include a comparison of monolingual children, a comparison across languages, and the diagnosis of impairment or delay. Very few studies have addressed the PMLU in different languages. One such study is by Ingram (2002) who proposed preliminary PMLU stages, reflecting the possible level of development in English speaking children which are as follows. Helin, Makkonen Kunnari (2006) reported that PMLU was much higher in Finnish speaking children than those reported for children acquiring English. Balasubramanium bhat (2009) reported the same in kannada speaking typically developing children. Other studies have focused PMLU on the disordered population. Schauwers, Taelman, Gillis Govierts (2005) reported lower PMLU scores in children with cochlear implant than age matched typically developing peers and they also concluded that the earlier implanted children were more proficient than the later implanted children. Prasad, Hossabetu, Balasubramanium Bhat (2010) studied phonological mean length of utterance in children with phonological disorder and they reported, children with phonological disorder are inferior in the acquisition of segments as well as in their whole-word phonological proficiency than the typically developing children. NEED FOR THE STUDY: Although pMLU has been addressed in normal as well as phonological disorders and cochlear implanted children, the same is not focussed on children with SLI. Since PMLU is a whole word measure, problems in phonology and morphosyntax are expected to reduce the score. Hence PMLU was used to investigate the difficulties if any in phonology and morphosyntax of children with SLI. Hence the present study was attempted in this direction. AIM OF THE STUDY: To compare the pMLU of children with SLI in comparison with typically developing Kannada speaking children. METHOD Participants The study followed a case control design. Participants were divided into 2 groups i-e the control group and clinical group. Clinical group comprised of six individuals (5 males 1female) with specific language impairment in the age range of 3 to 6 years. The control group comprised of age matched 30 children out of which 15 were males and 15 females. The diagnosis of specific language impairment was done on the basis of Leonards exclusionary criteria and the informal assessment of morpho-syntax by the primary investigator. The exclusion criteria for the controls were the history of speech, language, neurological and hearing problems. Procedure In order to assess the phonological mean length of utterance, spontaneous speech utterances were elicited from each child for duration of 30 to 40 minutes. Samples consisted of minimum of 50 utterances. The experimenter served as a conversational partner and introduced the child to age appropriate toys and questions. The samples were obtained in an informal setting within the school premises for the control group and in the therapy premises for the clinical group. Audio recording was done using a portable Sony Recorder in a relatively quiet environment. The words were accepted for analysis according to the rules suggested by Ingram and Ingram which are mentioned in the table mentioned in appendix. The childrens production of utterances was narrow transcribed and PMLU was calculated for each child. For each word, the number of segments (consonants and vowels) as produced by the child was counted and summed with the number of correct consonants in a word. The sum of each word in all th e utterances of a single subject were totaled and divided by the number of words produced by the child to obtain the PMLU scores. Mann Whitney U test was administered to find out the significant differences between the means of both the groups. RESULTS: The results of the Mann Whitney U Test revealed a statistically significant difference between the means of pMLU scores across the group at p Group Statistics DISCUSSION: pMLU is a whole-word measure for phonological development and is used to investigate the difficulties if any in phonology and morphosyntax. The present study compared the pMLU of children with SLI in comparison with typically developing Kannada speaking children. The results of the study revealed that the pMLU scores for the children with SLI were lower in comparison to children with normal language development. This could be attributed to the increased number of incorrect consonants in the speech of clinical group when compared to the control group as these children were neutralizing the sound contrasts and also exhibiting syllable reduction strategies. Whether it is syllable structure reduction or sound contrast neutralization, it reduces the overall pMLU score. As children with SLI are inferior in the acquisition of segments as well as in their whole-word phonological proficiency than the typically developing children, phonological errors are reflected in the pMLU scores. Hence it can be concluded that pMLU reflects on the phonological errors. The results of the present study are in consonance with findings that the developments of phonology in children with SLI are much later in comparison to typically developing children (Balasbramanium Bhat, 2009) and also that children with phonological disorder are inferior in the acquisition of segments as well as in their whole-word phonological proficiency than the typically developing children (Prasad, Hossabetu, Balasubramanium Bhat 2010). Hence, pMLU can be used as an assessment tool for children with SLI as this provides an objective assessment tool in the evaluation process. The decrease in pMLU scores in the clinical group could also be due to the deficit in the use of morphosyntax as these children were having morphosyntactic errors. This in turn suggests that children with SLI are inferior in the acquisition of morphemic segments when compared to typically developing children. As this pMLU measure includes the number of segments in a word, pMLU can be used to indicate morphosyntactic abnormalities in children with SLI. This tool can also serve as an aid for monitoring the progress of a child when assessed pre and post therapeutically. CONCLUSION: The present study investigated pMLU in children with SLI in the age range of 4-6 years. The results revealed that children with SLI are inferior in the acquisition of segments including morphemes as well as in their whole-word phonological proficiency than the typically developing children. Hence, pMLU measure could be regarded as a yardstick for phonological and morphosyntactic development in children with SLI. REFERENCES: Aram, D. M., Ekelman, B. L., Nation, J. E. (1984). Preschoolers with language disorders: 10 years later. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 232-244. Beitchman, J., Wilson, B., Brownlie, E. B., Walters, H., Lancee, W. (1996). Long-term consistency in speech/language profiles: I. Developmental and academic outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 804-817. Bowen, C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders: A practical guide for families and teachers. Melbourne: The Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd. Bishop, D. V. M. (1979). Comprehension in developmental language disorders. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 21, 225-38. Bishop, D. V. M. (1992a). Comprehension problems in children with specific language impairment: Literal and inferential meaning. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 119-129. Helin, K., Makkonen, T., Kunnari, S. (2006). The Phonological mean length of utterance: the methodological challenge from cross linguistic perspectives. Journal of Child Language, 33, 179-190. ÂÂ  Hodson, B., Paden, E. (1991). Targetting Intelligible speech: a phonological approach to remediation. Austin TX: Pro-edition. Ingram, D. (2002). The measurement of whole-word productions. Journal of Child Language, 29, 713-733. Johnson, C. J., Beitchman, J. H., Young, A., Escobar, M., Atkinson, L., Wilson, B., Brownlie, E. B., Douglas, L., Tback, N., Lam, I., Wang, M. (1999). Fourteenyear follow-up of children with and without speech/language impairments: Speech/language stability and outcomes. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 42, 744-760. Lakkanna, S., Venkatesh, K., Bhat, J. (2007). Assessment of language development. Mangalore: Codeword processors. Leonard, L.B., mcgregor, K.K., Allen, G.D. (1992). Grammatical morphology and speechperception in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech and hearingresearch, 35, 1076-1085 Leonard, L. B. 1995 Functional categories in the grammars of children with Specific language impairment, Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 1270-83. Leonard, L. B. (1998). Children with specific language impairment. Cambridge, MA: Bradford. Lubert, N. (1981). Auditory perceptual impairments in children with specific language disorders: A review of the literature. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46, 3-29. ÂÂ  Masterson, J., Kamhi, A. (1992). Linguistic interrelationships in school age children with and without language disorders. Journal of speech and Hearing Research, 35, 64-75. Olmstead, D. (1971). Out of the mouth of babes. The Hague: Mouton. Oetting, J., Horohov, J. (1997). Past tense marking in chldren with and without specific Language impairment. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40, 62-74. Polite, J ., and Leonard, B. (2006). Finite verb morphology and phonological length in the speech of children with specific language impairment. Clinical Linguistics Phonetics, 20, 751-760. Radish, B., Jayashree, S. (2009). Phonological Mean Length of Utterance (Pmlu) in Kannada-Speaking Children. Language in India, 9, 489-502. Rice, M.L., Wexler, K., Cleave, P.L. (1995). Specific language impairment as a period of extended optional infinitive. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38, 850-863. Rice, M. Wexler, K. (1996). A phenotype of specific language impairment. In M. Rice (Ed.), Toward a genetics of language, pp. 215-238. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Stothard, S. E., Snowling, M., Bishop, D. V. M., Chipchase, B. B., Kaplan, C. A. (1998). Language impaired preschoolers: A follow-up into adolescence. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 41, 407-418. ÂÂ  Templin, M. (1957). Certain language skills in children. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota press. Taelman, H., Durieux, G., Gillis, S. (2005). Notes on Ingrams whole-word measures for phonological development. Journal of Child Language, 32, 391-405. Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E., OBrien, M (1997). Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. Journal of Speech Hearing Research, 40(6), 1245-1260. Van der Lely, H. K. J. Harris, M. 1990 Comprehension of reversible sentences in specifically language-impaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 55, 101-17. Van der Lely, H. K. J. 1996 Specifically language impaired and normally developing children: Verbal passive vs adjectival passive sentence interpretation, Lingua, 98, 243-72. Van der lely, H. K. J. Ullman M. T. (2001) Past tense morphology in specifically language impaired and normally developing children. Language and Cognitive Processes, 16: 177-217. Van der Lely, H. K. J. Battell, J. (2003) Wh-movement in childrenWith grammatical SLI: a test of the RDDR hypothesis, Language 79,153-81.

Samuel Seabury :: essays research papers

Born in Groton, Conn., Samuel Seabury was the son of the Reverend Samuel Seabury Sr. His Father was a pioneer of New England Anglicanism who followed the example of Samuel Johnson. Samuel Jr.,broke away from the Congregationalists and pursued Anglican ordination. He graduated from Yale in 1744 and received his B.A in 1748. He married Abigail Mumford and went abroad in 1784 to obtain consecration as an Anglican Priest. On December 23, 1753, Samuel Seabury was ordained a deacon and two days later a priest of the Anglican Church. He was licensed by the church to preach in New Jersey. He preached in various places, but none suited his fancy. A preacher in Westchester was charged with drunkenness and sexual assault, which opened up the preaching position. Samuel filled the position and preached in an uneventful ministry. He also ran a school in Westchester. As the tensions between Britain and the colonies grew stronger, Samuel stayed loyal to the crown. He viewed the American government as very primitive and dependent on the British government. When talk of the First Continental Congress arose, he began to voice his opinion. He tried to stop the election of the delegates by writing various pamphlets. His attempt proved futile and the delegates were elected and met together on that fateful day in Philadelphia when a new nation was envisioned. Now Samuel began to take more courageous steps in preventing the breaking away of the colonies. He wrote â€Å"Westchester Farmer† ,a compilation of five essays reasoning why the colonies should stay with the English. The five essays were Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Congress, The Congress Canvassed, Free Thoughts in the Full Vindication of the Congress, A View of Controversy, The Republican Dissected. Some of the writings were directed towards New Yorkers and local farmers. He beg ged the New York legislature to reject the laws of the â€Å"enthusiastic republicans† and was quoted as saying, †The Congress is in the power of a faction using a mob to carry out its purposes†. The other writings were a rebuttal or defense to Alexander Hamilton’s attack. Hamilton was a student at the time when the pamphlets came out and he wrote The Farmer Refuted, a pamphlet opposing Seabury’s loyalist views. The news spread like wild fire and four of the pamphlets were printed in newspapers across the colonies. Samuel was branded a loyalist right away and this unintentionally made him some enemies.

Natural Forces :: essays research papers

Natural Forces   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A natural force is a power brought on by nature. Natural forces, unlike those of other powers, are uncontrollable. When a hurricane passes along the coast, a bolt of lightning strikes a rooftop, and a volcano erupts, these are all examples of natural forces. Natural forces can have devastating effects on wildlife, humans, and the earth itself. Our effects to resist these occurrences, our only way to cope with such devastating forces of nature are to observe, learn, and prepare ourselves for the worst. I believe that almost everyone has had at least one experience with natural forces. My experience of a tremendous force of nature occurred when my mother and I were in a car and all of a sudden a twister passed through the town.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Towards the end of 1989, my family and I were on vacation in Fort Myers, Florida. We drove from Trenton, New Jersey all the way to Florida where my grandfather lived. It was a long trip to undergo, especially being six years old and knowing that my father never stopped the car. By the time we arrived at Fort Myers, it was a beautiful sunny day. The wind was gusting enough to pull my hair back, and I was admiring the palm trees, coconuts, and lizards near the Gulf of Mexico. The first few days were nice, but little did I know that I would soon be caught in the middle of a twister.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I can clearly remember being in the car on a humid day with a little overcast. We were driving in the car when all of a sudden the wind started to pick up and it started raining a bit. Within five minutes, the weather progressed and there was so much wind blowing around the car that we could no longer hear the radio. I can remember when I saw a stop sign spinning in circles like a “merry-go-round'; with electrical problems. I do not remember how my mother got us home so quickly and where we were because all around us was a thick gray fog. However, all I can recall from that point on was sitting with my head in my lap in the back seat of the car. I never witnessed the true power of nature until this incident.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There was definitely a lesson to be learned from my experience that day in the car.

My First Court Case Viewing-Civil: Small Claims Essay

On the 24th of August 2007, I, with the permission of the prosecution, defence and of course the judge was given the opportunity to quietly observe a civil small claims court case (court 5) at Bromley County Court. This trial had been an ongoing stalemate for a few months; however I luckily was present on the judgement day. Upon arrival the waiting room was busy since there were other more serious court cases going on. The Prosecution, Mr. Austridge, representing himself (accompanied by his wife) was hired by the defence, Ms. Dudley (accompanied by her dad) and a lawyer, Mr. Jones to extend her house however due to a series of poor decisions and errors in workmanship, Dudley terminated the building contract, with her house left incomplete in a state troublesome to herself and her neighbour. Mr. Austridge was prosecuting her on account of his realisation he had been underpaid approximately  £2000. The sequence of events: -Ms. Dudley hired Mr. Austridge to extend her house, consisting of an extension of the kitchen, extension of the porch and a new ensuite bathroom for her bedroom. -Initially Mr Austridge received very inaccurate drawings from Ms Dudley however, he chose to use them anyway and build to her very erroneous specifications. -Mr. Austridge gave Ms Dudley an initial rough estimate of the project which she eventually agreed to after a gradually haggling to a lower value. Furthermore Mr. Austridge didn’t include the duration of the extension due to the fact that the time for this type of extension varies greatly due to the typical British weather and also the number of people there, nevertheless Ms. Dudley hired them and they started on the construction. -After 8 weeks the construction was moving smoothly, with most of the groundwork complete. Dudley showed her satisfaction of the job by occasionally congratulating the builders. A week prior to this Dudley moved to her parent’s house without stating a reason. In fact reason for her leave was that she was allergic to dust but the judge was keen to see whether she brought it to Mr. Austridge’s attention it was unclear for my stay. -2 weeks later Mr. Austridge went on holiday with his family to Cornwall for a 1 week stay; however it was extended by a week due to the fact there was a â€Å"hurricane† making it unsafe to return, Ms. Dudley grudgingly sympathised and didn’t make an issue of it. – Mr. Austridge returns and immediately commits himself to the construction. 2 weeks later Ms. Dudley returned and started complaining that the porch was done wrong, and one of the windows was made of the wrong material. The kitchen was an issue because he made the kitchen in 2 parts one being in the extension and she was upset because in order to make it even he raised the ground. She then again asked for a reduction in price for the errors plus for general saving of money and Austridge agreed and put less plug sockets, bulb sockets for the room. – Due to heavy rain and the incomplete roof gutter (due to the extension) it overflowed into her neighbour’s garden leaving it a mess. – Ms. Dudley terminates the contract, and Austridge requests a meeting with her, she claims that the work took to long and the workmanship was horrendous for the price. – Mr. Austridge takes Dudley to court for inadequate payment in order to pay his team. In my viewing Austridge stated that he reduced the payment in a very lenient way and that he was shocked that Dudley was so abrupt in terminating the contract, despite him stating the construction would have only lasted another week and then later contradicting himself saying it would only take a day. Ms. Dudley strangely left her family in hardship by terminating the contract, she apparently told Austridge about the dust allergy but he denied it immediately. Her dad apparently checked the house everyday and said that he was confident that there was nobody occupying it for large periods of time while she was at her parents. Though not mentioning it to Austridge she said moving was extremely inconvenient and her disabled mother made it a greater ordeal for her. Dudley believes she was the one who should have been compensated and helping her neighbour who had also been adversely affected. Mr. Jones gave me the impression that he was there to stall time as most of his points/contradictions were facts and figures which just hindered the case and Austridge did an excellent job of contradiction Mr. Jones’ which were backed by insufficient evidence meanwhile Mr. Austridge with stacks of paper work to back his points. The judge was forced to recap the events when we went there which she found was futile so she therefore put her foot down and decided to make her decision on the same day. I left before the final decision but I was given the impression it was a very cache 22 situation. Ms. Dudley believing if anything she overpaid and Mr. Austridge thinking he was underpaid. If I was given the opportunity to reach a verdict, from what I deduced, I think that Austridge had a much more powerful, believable case it was clear he was being too much of a nice guy when he reduced the price so willingly and considering Ms. Dudley made the regrettable decision of cancelling the contract, it is still affecting other members of her family and her neighbour, she got the bad end of the stick because of an atrocious decision. Mr. Austridge couldn’t avoid the out of the blue decision and therefore should have been paid for his work.

Marine Iguana

The marine iguana, scientifically known as Amblyrhynchus cristatus, is the only lizard in the world that takes to the sea.   Markedly different in appearance, size, and physical attributes, than its land-living cousin.   As one of the many varieties of iguana that Darwin observed in the Galapagos Islands, the marine iguana demonstrates an evolutionary response to a particular set of environmental challenges and has offered marine and land biologists alike the opportunity to study one of the true cross-over species. The discovery of this iguana variant was part, clearly, of the evidence that led so many scientists to immediately see the logic and accuracy of what Darwin had â€Å"discovered†.  Ã‚   Understanding the marine iguana’s habitat, diet, behavioral patterns, survival techniques, and outlook is the purpose of this examination. It is intended to gain a broad understanding of how the marine iguana lives, breeds, and survives. First discovered by Charles Darwin, aboard the Beagle, while touring the Galapagos Islands,   the marine iguana, or Amblyrhynchus cristatus became one of the most remarkable finds of that journey. The marine iguana is distinguished from other iguanas by â€Å"their short, blunt snouts and slightly laterally compressed tail that efficiently moves this lizard along the surface   or beneath the water,† (Amblyrhynchus cristatus, Marine Iguana – MarineBio.org. Retrieved Monday, April 9, 2007, from http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=165.) The marine iguana is of a similar length to the full-grown land iguanas (reaching two to three feet from nose to tail) and can weigh up to eight pounds.   The color of the marine iguana is quite closely matched to the black volcanic rocks in which it lives.   While there are no natural predators of the marine iguana on land, thus making the evolutionary argument for the coloring of the creature to be necessary for camouflage, there are very specific benefits – primarily being that of heat absorption.   In the water, however, predators abound. The marine iguana, living both on land and in the ocean, and being a cold-blooded creature, requires an adjustment time when going from hot to cold and heat-absorbing coloring, such as the dark black dominant color on the marine iguana helps to reduce that shift in temperatures and helps to return the iguana to normal speed of functioning faster.   The marine iguana, like all reptiles, does not have the ability to thermoregulate which also accounts for the dark coloring as a necessary boost in the absorption of heat from the sun. This ability is absolutely critical to the marine iguana’s pursuit of food.   All reptiles will physically slow down to a near halt the colder they get.   Therefore, in order to prevent an absolute cessation of movement during a dive, the marine iguana must raise its body temperature to combat the nearly 10degree-Celsius loss that comes from an average dive. In fact, heat is a very significant part of the marine iguana’s life. They must warm themselves to dive, but they also must maintain a consistent temperature or risk getting too hot. (Rothman, p1). The marine iguana’s adaptations also include a nasal gland that excretes the excess salt taken in while in the ocean.   All of these factors, and more, contribute to making the marine iguana a most fascinating creature. The habitat of the marine iguana is not just limited to the Galapagos Islands but that is the only place it is naturally found (there are many marine iguana exhibits in zoos.   The Galapagos Islands are generally characterized by a variety of   both high and low and scrub or cling-vegetation.   Each island is unique in its combination of vegetation and animal life.   The marine iguana does not appear on all of the Galapagos islands, but, as has been previously stated, it is only found there which shows that it, as a unique creature, came to be what it is as a result of living in its particular habitat.   Interestingly, there are also variations in average size depending upon which island you find the marine iguana upon. Those found on Isabela and Ferdinandina are the largest and the smallest are found on the island of Genovesa.  Ã‚   How the marine iguana found its way to the Galapagos islands (and the marine iguana is the only iguana species on the islands) is unknown.   But, the prevailing theories center on the idea that the iguanas crossed on a land-bridge that sank long ago, or that they were transported from the mainland of Argentina or elsewhere in South America. Regardless, because of their distance from their origins, their unique environment that other iguanas had not been exposed to, and the relative lack of traditional iguana food (which is, actually, just about anything) but on these islands, the iguanas were either too slow to catch prey, or the natural vegetation was simply not nutritious enough for their needs. So, faced with this, the iguanas adapted to their environment and found that algae, one of the worlds most nutrient-rich foods, was a better and more consistent source of food than any other. There are thousands of insect varieties that other lizard species feed upon on the islands, but for the marine iguana, it is the algae growing on the rocks under the ocean surface that provides their food. Getting the algae does not require a great deal of hunting or foraging.   As algae is exceptionally abundant.   Because of this, the marine iguana has an average dive depth of up to 15 meters (with most only needing to be in the 1.5-5 meter range) and can remain under water for three to five minutes (with a notable few observed dives of up to 30 min), (marinebio.org). The day of the marine iguana is spent doing predictable reptile behavior: sunning to absorb heat in order to have a more successful dive for food, diving for food, and, reproducing.   The reproduction cycle for the marine iguana begins in December and goes through March.   The nesting season follows immediately after breeding, which takes place in the January to April time frame.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Breeding begins when females hit three to five-years of age and when the males are within the 6 to 8 year range. As is the case with only a few reptiles, the male marine iguanas have nothing to do with the guarding of the eggs.   But, the females will do so for up to a week (Rubenstein & Wikelski, â€Å"Seasonal Changes in Food Quality: A proximate cue for reproductive timing in marine iguanas†, 3013).   After that period, they leave the eggs on their own to incubate under two to four feet of sand.  Ã‚   Hatchlings weigh an average of 55 grams and are geared for survival from the moment they emerge from the shell. The challenges to the survival of the marine iguana are many, but they are no more so than those facing every other species of plant and animal on the islands or, indeed, anywhere else in the world.   Pollution, climate change, environmental shifts (such as El Nino), and human encroachment all play a part in determining the long-term survival of the marine iguana.   Fortunately, though, for this species at least there is relatively little industrialization or human colonization of the Galapagos. This results in much lower amounts of land and ecosystem loss.   But, as is the case for any creature that can’t make its own food, the marine iguana’s challenge is to eat enough to survive each day.   As long as ocean pollution does not find a way to kill off the algae, the marine iguana will continue to thrive in the Galapagos. The marine iguana is, indeed, a unique and special animal.   Referred to derogatorily as being â€Å"ugly†, the marine iguana is uniquely suited (adapted) to its environment through a series of evolutionary shifts that took it away from the land iguana to one that can   swim under water, expel salt through a nasal gland, and gets nearly all of its food underwater.   These creatures eat primarily algae found on the rocks and reefs below the ocean surface and, in order to make these dives to get that food, must raise their core temperature to as to have quick reflexes even as their body temperature is going down. Found on many of the Galapagos islands, the marine iguana even shows variations in body size from island to island.   Breeding takes place in the summer months (of the Southern Hemisphere) and nesting follows shortly.   The marine iguana provides a look into the deep biological past (one can see the dinosaurs in the background) for its appearance which is designed to assist with the absorption of heat.   While the marine iguana is not currently under environmental threat, but can be greatly affected by a host of events both locally and globally. References Amblyrhynchus cristatus, Marine Iguana – MarineBio.org. Online. Internet. Avail.   http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=165. Info acc 8 March, 2007. Rothman, Robert. â€Å"Marine Iguana†. RIT.edu. Online. Internet. Avail: http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/MarineIguana.html. Access: 8 March, 2007. Rubenstein, Dustin R. and Wikelksi, Martin. Seasonal changes in food quality: a proximate cue for reproductive timing in marine iguanas. Ecology 84.11 (Nov 2003): p3013.