Intonation In The English Language

Intonation In The English Language Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent native. Intonation is the music of a language, and is perhaps the most important element of a good accent. Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives them away as not being native speaker.Therefore, it is necessary to realize that there is more than the correct pronunciation of the vowels and consonants of a language. This is very important and we do stress it in other articles. But it is only one of the three components to an accent, pronunciation, intonation, and linking. In other places we will examine the correct pronunciation of vowels and consonants, and linking, the way that syllables within a word, and the beginning and ending of words come together. Two useful abstractions: To understand how intonational transcription works, you must understand two different kinds of abstractions which the system relies on. The first is a phonetic abstraction, namely that there is something which we can call intonation, a well-defined set of linguistic phenomena all working together to determine the pitch pattern of an utterance. This abstraction is very useful because it is fairly easy to get a good measure of what listeners perceive as the pitch pattern. We can do this by extracting the fundamental frequency of the voiced parts of the utterance, a task which is computationally quite easy. We can then take the fundamental frequency pattern, and analyze it as the result of a set of linguistic categories with a number of specific purposes, and an algorithm which implements the categories as events in the pitch of the utterance. Two points to note here: 1) not all intonational categories have the same function; being an intonational category only means that the category has a specific and categorical effect on the pitch pattern. 2) these categories do not determine all aspects of the pitch pattern; variou s other non-linguistic differences, such as emotional state, degree of involvement in the speech, and individual differences such as ones due to sex, also affect aspects of the pitch pattern. The second is a functional abstraction. These intonational categories can be classified with respect to the two major types of prosodic functions. Prosody can be described as consisting of head mechanisms and edge mechanisms. Head mechanisms are those which act to pick out one piece of an utterance as different than its neighbors, while edge mechanisms indicate which items go with which by marking the edge of a larger grouping. Intonational categories in the English system similarly function either to pick out syllables which are more stressed than their neighbors, or to mark the final edge of a piece of an utterance which is to be interpreted as a group. Edge marking tones boundary tones and phrase tones. The intonational categories which you will likely find most intuitive are the ones which are used to mark edges. One reason for this, I believe, is that the English orthography actually writes some of these differences. For example, consider the following pair of sentences. 1) This is a test sentence. 2) This is a test sentence? If you convert these into speech (by reading them out loud), you will note a very salient difference in the pitch contour at the end. In 1) the pitch falls throughout the last word, often ending with a little bit of creaky voice, while in 2) the pitch rises throughout the last word, perhaps ending higher than anywhere else in the entire sentence. Such differences in pitch pattern reflect discourse-related differences such as is captured by the use of the question mark in 2). At a full stop, our system indicates the possibility of four different contours, the two which appear in likely renditions of 1) and 2), and two more, one which you will likely produce in the non-final members of a slowly rendered list, and one which you might produce when calling someone in for dinner. In the transcription system, you will see these represented in the following way (more or less). The fall in 1) is low throughout, and so is indicated as LL% (two lows with the % indicating the final boundary). The rise in 2) is high throughout, with a very brief rise to a super-high at the end, and so is indicated as HH% (two highs). The so-called list boundary starts low and rises slightly at the end, and so is indicated as LH%. The last one which appears in calling chants is basically high throughout, and differs from the HH% (question marker) in that it does not rise to a super high. Thus, since it is high to start with, it starts with a H, and since it is not as high as the super high at the end, it is relatively low, and so is indicated with a L%. This makes for a neat 4-way distinction as below, given with stereotypical examples of places where you might find them. (Note these are not the only places you will find them!) LL% Terminal fall statements. HH% High plateau with upped high at end covert questions. LH% Low plateau with little rise at end internal to lists. HL% High plateau with no rise to a super-high end of calling chants Head marking tones pitch accents. If you go back and reproduce the items in 1) and 2) again, and this time concentrate on the area aroundtest, you will very likely notice a large difference in pitch pattern in this region in addition to what is going on at the end. The wordtest is a critical portion of the utterance in most prosodic analyses of English, because it is the last item which bears some degree of stress, usually called tonic or sentence stress. I chose this sentence because the words test sentence form a compound, and one of the peculiarities of English compounds is that they are most stressed on the first half. Thus,test is the most stressed syllable in the last content word in the sentence. In stressed locations such as this, English speakers also implement tonal events. Such events are often called pitch accents,, pitch because they involve parts of the pitch pattern, and accents because they are involved in making a particular syllable more prominent. Stressing this syllable makes it stand out from its neighbors. Thus, the tonal events ontest are head-marking events. Here, like the boundary tones just discussed, there are tonal differences associated with different discourse conditions. In 1) you very likely will produce the stressed item with a high pitch somewhere on it, while in 2) you very likely will produce the stressed item with a relatively low pitch. Thus, the difference between vanilla statements and covert questions is not only in the presence of LL% boundary tones in one and in HH% boundary tones in the other, but also in the presence of a H accent in one, but a L accent in the other. Since there is a categorical difference in how you use pitch to stress the tonic item, you need to have a categorical difference between H* and L* accents. (The star here indicates that the tone is associated with the stressed syllable.) In addition to using relatively high and low pitch, there are more complicated rising and falling pitch accents which differ from the simple low and high accents in what they indicate. Our system captures these differences in the local use of pitch in the accent by combining Hs and Ls in various ways to get rises and falls. Thus, in addition to H* which indicates a generally high pitch around the stress and L* which indicates a generally low pitch around the stress, we can also have H+Ls (falling accents), and L+Hs (rising accents). To illustrate the difference between a simple H and a L+H, consider the following two conditions: 3)We will be having you read bunches of utterances for some obscure reason related to why anyone would be interested in linguistics. The first is a test sentence. Its just there for practice. 4)The first is not a real sentence, the first is a test sentence. In producing test sentence in 3), it is likely there will not be an appreciable rise in pitch, while in 4), where it explicitly contrasts with the precedingreal, it is likely that there will be an appreciable rise in pitch from the is a tot est. In fact, it is a general property of contrasting items that they get rendered with a relatively low pitch on the material preceding the stressed item and a sudden rise to a peak on the stressed syllable. If you read over 4) several times, emphasizing the contrast more and more each time, this rising pitch event associated witht est will become more and more apparent.. In 4) the rising accent is seen in the relationship in pitch between the items immediately preceding the stressed syllable and the pitch on the stressed syllable itself. However, there are other examples of rising pitch accents in which the low pitch predominates in the stressed syllable, and the high does not become realized until very late in the syllable or in the following s yllables. Pierrehumbert Hirschberg (1991) discuss fairly clear examples of this accent such as the following: 5) A: Alans such a klutz. B: Hes a good badminton player. Here the intended meaning of the second response is that B is not sure that playing badminton qualifies one as not being a klutz. In the intended rendition there is a low pitch onbad and a rising pitch on the immediately following syllable, and then another fall to a general low ending in LH% phrase tones. Another example they discuss is the following: 6) A: Did you take out the garbage? B: Sort of. A: Sort of!?! Here, the intended rendition of Sort of starts low inso rt and rises, and then falls and rises again at the end. The intended meaning is very much like that in 5), namely, B is not really sure what she did counts as taking out the garbage. As rendition ofsort of in the last line has exactly the same pattern as Bs, a rise throughsort followed by a fall and a rise at the end, though the rises and falls are more exaggerated. Whats important in each of these cases,badminton in 5), and both sort ofs in 6), is that the stressed syllable exhibits a distinctly low pitch and the rise which comes much later than the rise in 4). In order to annotate this difference, Pierrehumbert used the * to indicate which part of the contour is to be associated with the stressed syllable. Thus, the contour in 4) is annotated as a L+H*, since the H part appears on the stressed syllable, and the L part simply comes some time before it. By contrast, the contour in 5) and 6) is annotated as a L*+H, since the L part happens on the stressed syllable, and the H part appears some time thereafter. Pitch Range. : One final aspect of intonational modeling must also be mentioned, that is the notion of pitch range. As I noted above, the tone category sequences do not all by themselves determine the pitch contour for an utterance, but other non-linguistic (non- conventionalized) factors also affect the final realization of pitch. One approach to handling these less conventionalized effects, such as what may be due to emotional involvement, is to allow for modulation of the overall range of the pitch movements. The general approach used in most models is to specify a pitch window, which indicates the range of pitch to be used at any given time. The top of the window is where you find the Hs and the bottom of the window is where you find the Ls. This window can be affected by a number of different factors, which work in different ways. Some factors are global in that they typically affect a large portion of speech. Take, for instance, the effects of emotional involvement. When people get irate, the re is a strong likelihood that the both Hs and Ls will be higher, and that the difference between the Hs and Ls will be bigger. This larger and higher window will often affect entire sentences. You will also likely find such global shifts in window size if you examine how people do narratives which include parentheticals and quotations. Parentheticals often are rendered with a narrower window, while quotes often involve a larger window. Other factors which affect pitch range can be localized to one particular location in the utterance. The most commented upon is the effect of downstep (sometimes called catathesis). Downstep is a very regular lowering and narrowing of the pitch range which happens in the presence of the accents. In Pierrehumberts analysis, any tone which is composed of two tones (the rising L+H and falling H+L accents) also trigger downstep. You can easily imagine this effect in an emphatic rendition of the following sentence. 7)I dont want horses and dogs; I want sheep and cats. If you are contrasting horses with sheep and dogs with cats, you will very likely produce this sentence with L+H accents on all four items (probably L*+H onhorses anddogs, and L+H* onsheep andcat s). If you do so, you will also notice that the second item in each list,dogs andcat s, will both be lower in pitch than the first,horse s, andsheep. This conventionalized lowering is taken to be due to the downstepping effect of the complex rising accents. One can also see this conventionalized downstepping very clearly in phrases with multiple accents rendered in a finger-wagging lecturing style where the clear intent of the style is to indicate that you should know this by now. For example, 8) You just dont seem to get it. Insert tab A into slot B. Repeat it four times. In this situation, the rendition of the last two sentences, which we can assume have been rendered several times before in the extended discourse, will likely not exhibit huge rising or falling accents. Nevertheless, I have heard this sort sentence produced with clear downsteps between each accent. Due to sentences like these, one must conclude that the occurrence of downstep does not necessarily demand the obvious existence of rising or falling accents. In Pierrehumberts analysis, this is due to the H*+L tone category which is locally the same as a plain H*, except that it triggers the lecturing downstep effect. In other systems, such as the ToBI revision, this downstepping is marked with an explicit marker (an exclamation point placed before the affected accent.

Employment Essay

1. Using your adopted business or current place of employment as your primary example, please answer the following question. Do you think that most people are satisfied or dissatisfied with their work? What factors primarily contribute to their satisfaction or dissatisfaction? Using my current place of employment, I am going to say that I think most people are satisfied with their work. The factors that seem most important are that they enjoy the kind of work they’re doing and they do enjoy the coworkers. I think most of the people I work with would say they don’t love their job but they don’t hate it either. Most of the employees have a strong work ethic as far as being employed there many years and absenteeism is not a problem. Attitudes are not the greatest among us all of the time, but that is to be expected. 2. How can a participative management program enhance employee satisfaction at your current place of employment? In this type of program, employees are given a voice in how they do their jobs and in how the business is managed. I think this would help enhance employee satisfaction by making employees feel more committed to goals they have helped create. Morale is boosted when a commitment goes more noticed. I think employees would also feel more satisfaction because they would feel more involved and like they mattered. 3. Describe what you would tell a low-skill worker performing a simple and possible mundane task or job who wants more challenge and enjoyment from work. Using my current place of employment as an example, I would tell that specific employee to voice his/her concerns to management. If they show a sense of confidence in their performance to management, then maybe management will also have confidence allowing the employee to take on a more challenging position or task. I would also suggest to the employee to set goals for him or herself. When goals are met, there is much more satisfaction felt. 4. Some evidence suggests that recent college graduates show high levels of job satisfaction. Levels then drop dramatically as they reach their late twenties, only to increase gradually once they get older. What might account for this pattern? Maybe they are not being challenged enough for them or maybe the job has become too monotonous for them. After some time, maybe enjoyment is lost for the job. After the â€Å"honeymoon stage† of initially getting the job, everything becomes routine, and people start to become unhappy. 5. What motivating factor works the best for you  at your current job? The most important one for me is money. I have a family to support and bills to pay. They are my priorities that I have to take care of or were left without our basic needs and wants. My next most important factor is the friendships I have developed with my coworkers at my job. They are essentially a 2nd family to me. I am closer to some then others and have developed a sense of trust in these friendships.

Marketing Dunkin Donuts Essay

Dunkin Donuts builds long term customer relationships by being consistent with their marketing strategy. They have maintained an everyday value since they opened their doors fifty years ago. They have met their customers’ expectations by not changing recipes. The coffee tastes the same no matter what store you go into. Dunkin Donuts also has a lengthy training class so they can maintain their quality in the kitchen as well as customer service. Dunkin Donuts maintains customer relations by fully meeting the customers’ expectations. When a customer enters a store they know exactly what to expect, no surprises or disappointments. Dunkin Donuts value proposition is value and quality. Dunkin Donuts has always made their products a value. Starbucks has the expensive coffee; Dunkin Donuts has the value coffee. Dunkin Donuts has also maintained their quality as well. They have kept the same ingredients and recipes; everything tastes the same as fifty years ago. By maintain the quality and value the customer knows exactly what to expect when he or she walks through the door. Dunkin Donuts is growing its share of customers. Dunkin Donuts has maintained its coffee and donuts, but has also grown with the times to gain more customers. Dunkin Donuts now offers a variety of coffee drinks such as cappuccinos and iced coffees. The company also sells breakfast sandwiches and cookies too. The coffee is mostly what keeps customers coming back for more, but now there is more of a variety to please everyone.

Essay on Racism - 579 Words

Discrimination - Racism nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Racism, the belief that one race possesses inherent traits that make that particular race superior, or racial prejudice. Discrimination has always been an issue globally, and within our nation. While it was more commonly accepted and practiced decades ago, it is still quite prominent in the hearts of many people worldwide and is demonstrated through their behavior. It was common practice to keep slaves, or people who submit entirely to another’s will, for work, and other duties. Slaveholding was allowed in the United States until 1865, when Amendment XIII was ratified. The date June 19th, 1865 is when the last slaves were said to be freed. Human Rights are basic fundamental rights,†¦show more content†¦Regardless of any actions, any laws, written, spoken, or left unsaid, a mark has been made in the minds of all people, whether their ancestors were enslaved, or slave owners, rich, poor, racist, or civil rights activist, as a result of what has taken place in the past. People still consciously and unconsciously are racist, make race related comments, and stereotype based on nationality, religion, skin color, sexual affiliation, and gender, this is generally not a good thing. As all people are entitled to their own ideas or opinions, that being a civil right, I cannot say that racism is wrong entirely, but when people are being discriminated against, harassed, or having their rights violated, that is wrong. If someone feels the need to be racist, that’s fine, just keep those ideas in your head, or go ahead and use your right to peaceably assemble, wear swastikas, white robes and pointed caps, and talk about how much you don’t like that other guy. Usually everything a person might like or dislike, about someone or something, is connected or related somehow to something they like or dislike about themselves. Maybe the KKK hates blacks because they are afraid of the strength or some African Americans, for fear th ey will be more efficient at a job, and thereby take away their chance as a weaker white person to get it. Sometimes fears are irrational, and I think racism is a good example of an ignorant, or somewhat weak, mentally, physically, orShow MoreRelatedRacism : Racism And Racism1544 Words   |  7 PagesTo understand whether or not racism is learnt, we first have to divulge into the nature of racism. 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Make Hot Ice From Vinegar and Baking Soda

Sodium acetate or hot ice is an amazing chemical you can prepare yourself from baking soda and vinegar. You can cool a solution of sodium acetate below its melting point and then cause the liquid to crystallize. The crystallization is an exothermic process, so the resulting ice is hot. Solidification occurs so quickly you can form sculptures as you pour the hot ice. Fast Facts: Hot Ice Science Experiment MaterialsBaking SodaVinegarConcepts IllustratedSupercoolingCrystallizationExothermic Chemical ReactionsTime RequiredFrom start to finish, this experiment takes about an hour. Once you have the hot ice, you can quickly melt and recrystallize it.LevelBeginner to Intermediate LevelNotesThe chemicals in this experiment are non-toxic. However, because liquids are boiled, adult supervision is recommended. This project is best for middle school and above. Sodium Acetate or Hot Ice Materials 1-liter clear vinegar (weak acetic acid)4 tablespoons baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) Prepare the Sodium Acetate or Hot Ice In a saucepan or large beaker, add baking soda to the vinegar, a little at a time and stirring between additions. The baking soda and vinegar react to form sodium acetate and carbon dioxide gas. If you dont add the baking soda slowly, youll essentially get a baking soda and vinegar volcano, which would overflow your container. Youve made the sodium acetate, but it is too dilute to be very useful, so you need to remove most of the water. Here is the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar to produce the sodium acetate: Na[HCO3]– CH3–COOH → CH3–COO– Na H2O CO2Boil the solution to concentrate the sodium acetate. You could just remove the solution from heat once you have 100-150 ml of solution remaining, but the easiest way to get good results is to simply boil the solution until a crystal skin or film starts to form on the surface. This took me about an hour on the stove over medium heat. If you use lower heat you are less likely to get yellow or brown liquid, but it will take longer. If discoloration occurs, its okay.Once you remove the sodium acetate solution from heat, immediately cover it to prevent any further evaporation. I poured my solution into a separate container and covered it with plastic wrap. You should not have any crystals in your solution. If you do have crystals, stir a very small amount of water or vinegar into the solution, just sufficient to dissolve the crystals.Place the covered container of sodium acetate solution in the refrigerator to chill. Activities Involving Hot Ice The sodium acetate in the solution in the refrigerator is an example of a supercooled liquid. That is, the sodium acetate exists in liquid form below its usual melting point. You can initiate crystallization by adding a small crystal of sodium acetate or possibly even by touching the surface of the sodium acetate solution with a spoon or finger. The crystallization is an example of an exothermic process. Heat is released as the ice forms. To demonstrate supercooling, crystallization, and heat release you could: Drop a crystal into the container of cooled sodium acetate solution. The sodium acetate will crystallize within seconds, working outward from where you added the crystal. The crystal acts as a nucleation site or seed for rapid crystal growth. Although the solution just came out of the refrigerator, if you touch the container you will find it is now warm or hot.Pour the solution onto a shallow dish. If the hot ice does not spontaneously begin crystallization, you can touch it with a crystal of sodium acetate (you can usually scrape a small amount of sodium acetate from the side of the container you used earlier). The crystallization will progress from the dish up toward where you are pouring the liquid. You can construct towers of hot ice. The towers will be warm to the touch.You can re-melt sodium acetate and re-use it for demonstrations. Hot Ice Safety As you would expect, sodium acetate is a safe chemical for use in demonstrations. It is used as a food additive to enhance flavor and is the active chemical in many hot packs. The heat generated by the crystallization of a refrigerated sodium acetate solution should not present a burn hazard.

Research Methods Business Research Special Section

Question: Discuss about the Research Methods for Business Research Special Section. Answer: Problem statement The study is the use of quantitative techniques in forecasting the future sales revenue in the organization. In addition, it is useful in making the business plan of the organization. According to Bryman Bell (2015), the quantitative techniques like SPSS and R have to be implemented to assist the business organization in determining the sales revenue and the future business plan. the quantitative techniques like shall be used in determining the policies of the business enterprise .The problem statement also relates to the operational statement that has been effective in predicting the future performance of the business enterprise. It becomes necessary to analyze the role of the quantitative techniques in executing the financial performance of the business enterprise. Purpose Statement The quantitative techniques shall be assessed from the point of view of the operational policies of the business enterprise. In this regard, past research e documents, journals shall be used to determine the usefulness of the quantitative techniques in the operational policies of the business enterprise. The quantitative techniques like the can be used to assess the performance of each aspects of the business enterprise. In this regard, it can be said that the purpose statement shall be assessed to determine the future operational policies of the business. The purpose statement relates to the global operational policies of the business enterprise. The purpose statement refers to the operational policies of the business policies of the business enterprise and its implications in the global business market. The purpose would result in the implications of the quantitative techniques on the production process of the business organization. The quantitative techniques in the operational policies have to be implemented mainly in the manufacturing sector. In addition, this has been useful in the automobile sector and has been reducing the cost of production. However, the quantitative techniques vary in the case of the manufacturing and the automobile sectors. In implementing these techniques, the financial expenses have been an essential feature in these two sectors. The brand has been essential for the Research Question What are the existing trends of the quantitative techniques implemented in the business organization? How quantitative techniques adopted benefits the business organization in terms of the operational policies? What are the quantitative techniques adopted that would be useful for the business organization? In what kind of business entities quantitative techniques are used in enhancing the b operational policies of the business policies? Sample A sample of 6 middle ranked managers can be used to analyze the efficiency of the organizational policies of the business enterprise. According to Eriksson and Kovalainen. (2015), these would assist an entity to gain the valuable opinions of the employees in regarding the implementation of the quantitative techniques in the operational policies of the business enterprise. Yi Gong (2013) stated that the sample selected would assist the researcher in executing the financial operational policies of the business enterprise, Data collection The data collection procedure shall be composed of the primary and secondary data . The primary data would be gathered through the interview of the six managers in the business organization. As such, it can be said that this would be a valuable source of information to the researcher in meeting the long term goals and the objectives of the entity.. The researcher has taken adequate measures to ensure that the people involved in the research procedure would be protected and their identities would not be disclosed in any manner. Yi Gong (2013) mentioned that this is primary the responsibility of the researcher to ensure that the parties involved in the research procedure would be able to provide their free and fair opinions without any force being applied from the external environment . The secondary data collected would be of assistance to the researcher to gather valuable information relating to the importance of qualitative techniques in the operational process of a business enterp rise. Lahiani, Guesmi (2014) mentioned that a descriptive research design shall be implemented in the organization to give an in-depth analysis of the topic of the research. This would enable the researcher in in determining the quantitative questions and its implications on the business performance. In addition, a deductive research approach has been selected to assist the business entity. Zikmund et al. (2012) stated that the data collected should relate to the research design that would give an in-depth view of the processes of the business organization. The descriptive research design shall have the necessary characteristics that would enable the business entity in adopting a proper approach to the implementation of quantitative techniques in the production process in an organization (Wilson, 2014). Issues of reliability and validity Hamilton Raj(2013) mentioned that the issues of reliability and validity shall be effective in determining the operational and the financial policies of a business enterprise. The qualitative framework shall be established as per the issue of reliability and validity of the operational policies of the business enterprise. As such, the issue of reliability and the validity can be overcome by adhering to the facts relating to the implementing of the operational policies of the business enterprise. According to Eriksson Kovalainen (2015), the quantitative techniques is not based on assumptions, thereby, leading the business organization towards achieving transparency and fairness. The reliability and validity are the essential components that shall allow a business enterprise to achieve further growth. The issue of reliability and the validity if it is successfully overcome that would assist the researcher in meeting the long-term goals and the objectives of the research study. Data Analysis The primary data shall be assessed quantitatively as per the research objectives .In this regard, it can be said that this would assist the researcher in attaining the research goals in an effective manner. The secondary data gathered from past researchers and journals would be a valuable source of information to the researcher in gathering the effectiveness of the quantitative techniques in the business operational policies of the business enterprise. There shall be quantitative questions asked to the researchers, which shall be both open ended and closed ended. These shall help the researcher in evaluating the effect of the quantitative techniques in analyzing the impact of the quantitative techniques on the operational policies of the business enterprise. In gathering the views of the participants in the research process, the researcher shall be able to understand the significance of the quantitative techniques to a business entity, in the context of the global market . Collis Hussey (2013) mentioned that the quantitative techniques relates to the operational policies of the business enterprise. In this regard, it can be said that the quantitative data shall be depicted through the Ms excel and would be shown through graphs and charts. Di Benedetto Kim (2016) stated that the data analysis techniqueshould be effective in determining the advantages of quantitative techniques used in the operational polices of the business enterprise. The analysis of data would assist the researcher in doing a detailed analysis of the goals and the objectives of the research study. The analysis of data shall largely depend on the data gathering process. According to Bryman,, Bell, (2015), the data gathering process would help the researcher in setting up of the research goals and objectives . It is the primary responsibility of the researcher in analyzing the existing trends in the business operational policies in adopting the quantitative techniques in the operational policies of the business enterprise. Limitations Constraints of time and resources are pertinent limitations to the development of the research study. The gathering of resources shall take considerable time and effort which was not possible in a limited time span. Also the research is binded by certain ethical restrictions. Boons Ldeke Freund (2013) mentioned that the research process have to be restricted by the ethical limitations in the research procedure. The researcher has to ensure that the participants are not harmed in any manner and data is not disclosed. In additions, the participants have to be full knowledge of the research process. References Boons, F., Ldeke-Freund, F. (2013). Business models for sustainable innovation: state-of-the-art and steps towards a research agenda. Journal of Cleaner Production, 45, 9-19. Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. Collis, J., Hussey, R. (2013). Business research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Palgrave macmillan. Di Benedetto, C. A., Kim, K. H. (2016). Customer equity and value management of global brands: Bridging theory and practice from financial and marketing perspectives: Introduction to a Journal of Business Research Special Section. Journal of Business Research. Eriksson, P., Kovalainen, A. (2015). Qualitative methods in business research. Sage. Hamilton, J. D., Raj, B. (Eds.). (2013). Advances in Markov-Switching Models: Applications in Business Cycle Research and Finance. Springer Science Business Media. Lahiani, A., Guesmi, K. (2014). Commodity Price Correlation and Time varying Hedge Ratios. Journal of Applied Business Research, 30(4), 1053. Wilson, J. (2014). Essentials of business research: A guide to doing your research project. Sage. Yi, Y., Gong, T. (2013). Customer value co-creation behavior: Scale development and validation. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1279-1284. Zikmund, W., Babin, B., Carr, J., Griffin, M. (2012). Business research methods. Cengage Learning.

Race and Capital Punishment an Example of the Topic Government and Law Essays by

Race and Capital Punishment Introduction Thesis The process of determining recipients of capital punishment in the United State involves sequential stages of decision making by the prosecutor and jury. Despite structural reforms to minimize its potential influence in capital sentencing, race still plays a crucial role in capital punishment. Need essay sample on "Race and Capital Punishment" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed With this background knowledge, this paper will attempt to evaluate the role played by race and economics in crimes and sentencing in the United States capital punishment cases. This will be done through a review of the history of death row and executions. Some cases touching on statistics, financial influences, due process will be reviewed to clearly show the issue of race is prevalent in capital punishment. History Death row. Race is an important factor in determining who is sentenced to die. In 1990 a report from the General accounting office concluded that in 82 percent of the studies reviewed, race of the victim was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty. Those who murdered whites were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who murdered blacks. (Jason et al 2007) The human cost of this racial injustice cannot be measured in figures. The decisions about who lives and who dies are being made along racial lives by a nearly all white group of prosecutors. The death penalty presents a stark symbol of the effects of racial discrimination. In individual cases, this racism is reflected in ethnic slurs hurled at black defendants by the prosecution and even by the defense. It results in black jurors being systematically barred from service and in devoting of more resources to white victims of homicide at the expense of black victims. And it results in a death penalty in which blacks are frequently put to death for murdering whites, but whites are almost never executed for murdering blacks. Such a system of injustice is not just unfair and unconstitutional; it tears at the very principles to which United States struggles to follow. (Jason et al, 2007) Executions Since the resumption of the death penalty in 1976, there have been 1,099 executions in the United States. This was as of October 2007. There were 53 executions in 2006. The largest single execution in United States history was the hanging of 38 Dakota people convicted of murder and rape in the Dakota war of 1862. The second largest mass execution in the United States history was also the execution of 13 African American soldiers for their involvement in the Houston Riot. Notably, both incidents involved ethnic minority defendants and military tribunal judgments in time of war. Nationwide, over half, 55 percent of those executed between 1930 and 1991 were blacks. (Davies et al, 2006) Executions of black Americans occurred at such a high rate compared to other racial categories that in 1972 the Supreme Court temporarily prohibited death penalty sentences when a black defendant successfully argued that the death penalty was applied to black offenders at a much greater rate than others for the same kind of offenses. More differences were discovered in the rate of offenders having their death sentences reduced to life sentences. Some 20 percent of white death row offenders had their sentences reduced to life sentences compared to only 11 percent of blacks between 1914 and 1958 in Pennsylvania. At the end of twentieth century some 40 percent of death row inmates were black. (Davies et al, 2006) Cases Crime, sentencing and race The United States boasts the highest rate of incarceration in the world at the present, with more than two million individuals currently behind bars. Characterized by a rejection of the ideals of rehabilitation and an emphasis on tough on crime policies, the practice of punishment over the past thirty years has taken a radically different turn from earlier periods in history. Blacks in US have long been regarded with suspicion and fear, but unlike progressive trends in other racial attitudes, associations between race and crime have changed little in recent years. Survey respondents consistently rate blacks as more prone to violence than any other American racial or ethnic groups with the stereotype of aggressiveness and violence most frequently endorsed in ratings of African Americans. The stereotype of blacks as criminals is deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of white Americans, irrespective of the perceiver's level of prejudice or personal beliefs. Approximately 70% o f prisoners in the United States are non-whites. (Hurwitz et al 2007) Two structural changes in the United States economy have caused elevations in crime, drug abuse, unwanted motherhood, illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty. The first change is a transition from goods producing industries to service-producing industries. Manufacturing industries have been a major source of employment for blacks in the twentieth century. These industries are particularly sensitive to a stagnant economy and blacks lost a considerable number of jobs during the recession decade of the 1970's. The second structural change is the relocation of manufacturing industries from inner cities to suburbs. In earlier years, the ghetto neighborhood was composed of employed adults. Black working and middle classes brought stability to these neighborhoods. When this industrial restructuring occurred, some low skill jobs vanished and were replaced by high skill jobs, while others were moved to the suburbs. This resulted in the black middle and working classes moving out of the inner ci rcle in order to follow the jobs. Those who remained in these inner cities were left to suffer the lack of jobs. Joblessness and the disappearance of work in inner cities are the main causes of poverty and other negative social situations (crime, low education, single-parent households) for residents in these areas. Blacks in these areas were socially isolated, and this resulted in an increase in crime. (Hurwitz et al, 2007) In the southern jurisdictions, the odds of imprisonment markedly increase among defendants who are racial minorities or have been previously convicted of a felony. It is true that capital sentencing is pervaded by racial influences, and our highest court, the court of last resort for the protection of individual rights, refuses to recognize this or act upon it. The implications are more than serious. Statistics There are different statistics for capital punishment. On executions; in 2007, 42 inmates were executed, 11 fewer than in 206. Of persons executed in 2007, 28 were white and 14 were black. All the 42 inmates executed in 2007 were men. At the end of 2006, 37 states and the federal prison system held 3,228 prisoners under sentence of death, 17 fewer than at the year end 2005. Since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, white inmates have made up more than half of the number under sentence of death. Of these 1,802 were white, 1,352 were black, 28 were American Indian, 35 were Asian and 11 were of unknown race. By 10April 2003, 290 blacks had been put to death and at least a further 10 were scheduled to be killed by the end of July. African Americans are disproportionately represented among people condemned to death in the USA. While they make up 12 per cent of the national population, they account for more than 40 per cent of the country's current death row inmates. One in three of these have been executed since 1977. Financial influence Ndiaye, an investigative reporter to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva recommended the suspension of death penalty after finding that race and economic status influenced the severity of sentencing and said the defendants who could afford a better defense were usually spared. Elected judges often feel compelled to order unwarranted executions in order to appeal to constituents. Most poor people are sentenced because they are too poor too afford a lawyer to represent them. The link between poverty and race should not be overlooked as the issues of racial and ethnic bias cannot be divorced from the issue of poverty. The poor, among whom minority communities are overrepresented, are not provided with adequate legal representation, including ample funds for experts and investigation. There cannot be a lasting solution to the issue of racial and ethnic bias in the capital justice system where many minority defendants have been denied adequate legal representation over the years and instead assigned incompetent lawyers who are under resourced or operating under a conflict of interest. (Jason et al, 2007) Due process Blatant racism is seen and heard too often in courtrooms around the US. In death penalty cases, the use of derogatory slurs aggravate prejudice and allow the jury to judge harshly those they wish to scapegoat for the problem of crime. A few examples illustrate the intensity of this racism. A prosecutor in Alabama gave as his reason for striking several potential jurors the fact that they were affiliated with Alabama State University-a predominantly black institution. This pretext was considered race neutral by the reviewing court. One of you two is gonna hung for this. Since you're the nigger you've been selected. These words were spoken by a Texas police officer to Clarence Bradley who was charged with the murder of a white school girl. Bradley was later exonerated in 1990 after ten years on death row. (Steelewater et al, 2003) Conclusion Public concern has been fuelled by evidence that errors in capital cases occur not only in relation to quilt and innocence, but also in relation to sentencing. In other words people are being sentenced to die for crimes that do not deserve death penalty; a punishment supposedly reserved in the USA for the worst of worst crimes and offenders. We simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment. These were the words of Senator Russ Feingold in 2003. This statement summarizes the state of US legal system I do hope that this paper brings to light these disparities and creates a better understanding. Above all I hope it does challenge our judicial system. References Capital Punishment Statistics. Bureau of Justice Statistics.1. US Department of Justice. 30 Oct. 2007. Carmichael, Jason T., David Jacobs, and Zhenchao Qian. Who Survives on Death Row? An individual and Contextual Analysis. American Journal of Political Science. 72.4 (August 2007) Davies, Paul G., Jennifer L. Eberhardt, and Valerie Purdie-Vaughns. Looking Death worthy.' Psychological Science. New York 17.5(May 2006) Hurwitz, Jon., and Mark Peffy. Persuasion and Resistance: Race and the Death Penalty in America. American Journal of Political Science. 51.4(October 2007) Stelewater, Eliza. Hangman's Knot: Lynching, Legal Execution, and Americas Struggle with the Death Penalty. Boulder, CO: West view Press, July 2003.