Language and memory Essay Example for Free

Language and memory Essay Limitations with the study included the sample range being too small. This means that it is difficult to make generalisations because 20 undergraduate students cannot possibly be representative of the sample population. In order to improve the experiment, a wider sample range could be used, including people from different age groups and ethnic backgrounds. Another limitation was gender bias. The driver in the vignette was male which could have meant that male participants may have been more sympathetic to him when giving an estimation. If a female character had been used, the results may have been different. This could be improved by using two sample groups, both with female characters, but again with either the smashed into condition or bumped into condition. The results of this and previous studies have a number of implications in todays society. Loftus and Palmers work (1974), showed how changing a verb in a sentence, can alter eyewitness recall of a car accident. These findings have major implications for the Legal Justice Systems. In a study by Rattner (1988), a review of 205 cases of wrongful arrest showed that 52% of the cases were associated with mistaken eyewitness testimonies. These results highlighted the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Other studies have demonstrated that witnesses sometimes cannot attribute memory to its appropriate sources, or that they make source attribution errors. When witnesses get information from other witnesses and from the police, then their own recollection is likely to be contaminated (Fisher, 1995). This is yet further evidence suggesting that there should be less dependence on eyewitness testimony, and with the arrival of advanced gene technology, it is now possible to use alternative sources of evidence. References Carlson, N. R., Buskist, W., Martin, G. N. (2000). Psychology The Science of Behaviour, 266-267 Loftus, E. F. and Palmer, J. E. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 13, 585-589. Fisher, R. P., (1995). Interviewing victims and witnesses of crime. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1(4), 732-764.  Nisha Ghei Eyewitness Practical

History and Evolution of Dogs Essay Example for Free

History and Evolution of Dogs Essay Domestic dogs inherited complex behaviors from their wolf ancestors, being pack hunters with complex body language. These sophisticated forms of social cognition and communication may account for their trainability, playfulness, and ability to fit into human households and social situations, and these attributes have given dogs a relationship with humans that has enabled them to become one of the most successful species on the planet today. Although experts largely disagree over the details of dog domestication, it is agreed that human interaction played a significant role in shaping the subspecies. Shortly after domestication, dogs became ubiquitous in human populations, and spread throughout the world. Emigrants from Siberia likely crossed the Bering Strait with dogs in their company, and some experts suggest the use of sled dogs may have been critical to the success of the waves that entered North America roughly 12,000 years ago, although the earliest archaeological evidence of dog-like canids in North America dates from about 9,000 years ago. Dogs were an important part of life for the Athabascan population in North America, and were their only domesticated animal. The divergence date of roughly 15,000 years ago is based in part on archaeological evidence that demonstrates the domestication of dogs occurred more than 15,000 years ago,and some genetic evidence indicates the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary, between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago. But there is a wide range of other, contradictory findings that make this issue controversial. Archaeological evidence suggests the latest dogs could have diverged from wolves was roughly 15,000 years ago, although it is possible they diverged much earlier. In 2008, a team of international scientists released findings from an excavation at Goyet Cave in Belgium declaring a large, toothy canine existed 31,700 years ago and ate a diet of horse, musk ox and reindeer. Prior to this Belgian discovery, the earliest dog fossils were two large skulls from Russia and a mandible from Germany dated from roughly 14,000 years ago. Remains of smaller dogs from Natufian cave deposits in the Middle East, including the earliest burial of a human being with a domestic dog, have been dated to around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. There is a great deal of archaeological evidence for dogs throughout Europe and Asia around this period and through the next two thousand years, with fossils uncovered in Germany, the French Alps, and Iraq, and cave paintings in Turkey The oldest remains of a domesticated dog in the Americas were found in Texas and have been dated to about 9,400 years ago.

Korean Wave in China | An Analysis

Korean Wave in China | An Analysis Korean popular culture has become one of the most beloved pop cultures among Asian fans over the last 10 years. Asia is no longer dominated by American popular culture, and fans now are choosing what they consider to be more Asian. Many have recently come to prefer Korean popular culture, which they perceive to be fresh and trendy, as well as something that contains Asian values and sentiments. More and more people throughout Asia are choosing to watch Korean movies, listen to Korean popular music, follow Korean soap operas, and even travel to Korea to visit sites they have seen in their favorite Korean dramas. The sudden rise in popularity and the dissemination of Korean popular culture throughout Asia is new, unprecedented, and fascinating. This cultural flow in contemporary Asia is called the Korean Wave. Starting point of the Korean Wave in China The term Korean Wave refers to the phenomenon of Korean popular culture, disseminated primarily through the mass media and enjoying a broad popularity outside of Korea. It includes Korean-identified television dramas, movies, internet games, fashions, and popular music. It is unclear exactly when the term Korean Wave started to become popular among Asians, but public media began recognizing Korean popular culture in mainland China in 1997, when the Korean television drama Star Is in My Heart was broadcast in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries. The Chinese broadcasting company Phoenix TV, which broadcasts throughout Asia, showed this drama under its Chinese name, and the broadcast met with broad popular appeal, especially in mainland China. The drama caught peoples attention in part because its main actor, Ahn Jae-Wook, was particularly attractive to Chinese and Taiwanese women. Ahn Jae-Wook, therefore, became a symbol of the Korean wave in China. Following to Star Is in My Heart, Autumn Story, Winter Sonata, What Is the Love and many other drama fascinated people in China. Korea pop music has also taken a huge role of the Korean Wave from the beginning. Young dance music groups, H.O.T and Clone ignited the Korean Wave in China in 1999. Various radio stations in China began to create programs specializing K-pop. Moreover, it is known that the number of fans of H.O.T. was eight million only in China in 2002. Afterwards, at least 50 different Korean pop albums were produced in China, and more than three million albums in total were sold by 2002. Beyond simply consuming the media contents, Chinese teenagers repeated Korean pop songs and imitated Korean actors and singers fashion and hairstyle. In addition, Korean restaurants in China became popular among people who were enjoying Korean pop culture. Through the indirect experience of Korean food in television drama, people became familiar to it and such familiarity made people walk to Korean restaurants. As the effect of the Korean Wave, the national image of Korea was recognized as positive. As a result, Korean products raised their own value as well. Samsung mobile phones and LG air conditioners and microwaves took bigger portions at Chinese market as people demanded more of such products. Started with the drama, Star Is in My Heart, and Korean pop music sung by H.O.T and Clone in China, the Korean Wave outstretched to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and other Asian counties. The Second Round of Korean Wave in Japan Even though people in most Asian countries showed deep interests in Korea pop culture, Japan, which is geographically the nearest neighbor, was not affected by the Korean Wave until Winter Sonata hit Japan. In 2003, the Korean drama, Winter Sonata, was first shown on Japanese television in twenty episodes. It captured 22% of the prime time viewing audience. In 2004 Winter Sonata had its second showing. This time it captured 24% of viewing audience. The key feature of the Japanese response to the Korean drama was that it was not just passively accepted. A demographic of Japanese viewers positively embraced the Korean drama, especially the television drama Winter Sonata and its Korean associations. There are the indicators that with some of the Japanese audience, Winter Sonata was elevated to cult status. For example, in 2003, the DVD of the series sold out within four hours of its release. Lead Korean actors from the series become celebrities in Japan. Indeed, in some newspapers the male leading actor, the Korean Bae Yong Joon, was addressed as Yon Sama, an honorific usually assigned only to royalty in Japan. At last count, Bae Yong Joon has some 50 websites devoted to him. During visits to Japan cast members were mobbed by their fans. Demand by fans for Winter Sonata merchandise has created an industry with an annual turnover in Japan and Korea worth 2.3 billion US dollars. The industry produces memorabilia such as clothing, ac cessories, jewelers, stationery, magazines, books, DVDs and supports fan clubs. Significantly this interest extended beyond the characters of Winter Sonata toward a more general interest in Korea. The tourist industry in Korea was affected by the Korean Wave. In 2004 Japan was the source of nearly half of Koreas 5.6 million overseas visitors, and was its major source of tourists though it is difficult to identify who of these came because of Winter Sonata. In 2006 Korean Air announced special film flights from Japan so that they could visit the Winter Sonata location sites. In 2006 NHK television media and publishers announced an increase of its annual sales of its Korean language textbook to 20,000 copies. Reasons why the Korean Wave became popular in Asia The good quality of cultural media comes to the foremost reason. According to the Chinese local analysis, Korean dramas have outstanding storylines, well designed characters, and sophisticated directing system. Plus, original background music (OST) are excellent as well. Whether Chinese or Taiwanese dramas repeat the obvious storylines making people already bored by watching only the first episode, Korean dramas own various styles and types of story raging widely. Their creativities in developing stories fuel peoples curiosities to see the next episode. Korea actors handsome appearance, stylish fashions and hairstyles, and outstanding acting abilities are said to the best among Asian actors. Improved technology in film producing helps background settings and music to be wonderfully assimilated to each other. Camera walking and well designed composition of pictures improve overall quality of the video. The second reason is that the economic decline of Asia forced television producers to seek out products cheaper than Japanese and Western products. One of these was soap operas, the starting-point of the Korean Wave in Taiwan. The Korean Wave arose mainly because of the media liberalization that swept across Asia in 1990s, when the economic crisis made Asian buyers prefer the cheaper Korean products compared with Japanese and Hong Kong products. The primary producer of K-Pop Entertainment at Gala-TV in Taiwan told that the main reason that GTV began programming Korean soap operas was because of their cheap prices compared to Japanese products, and Korean soap operas were even cheaper than domestic ones. According to her, Korean soap operas were of much better quality then Taiwanese products, but were much cheaper, so GTV dubbed in Mandarin and aired the programs as if they were locally made soap operas. In 1999, GTV began buying old dramas from the Korean Broadcasting System under the considerations that it costs less than the domestic dramas and the quality of the Korean dramas could be guaranteed. GTV was informed that KBS had invested a huge amount of money in production. Indeed, Korea has long invested in dramas, and after 1993 it has encouraged the investment of private capital in the media industry. Therefore, to supplement domestic dramas, GTV introduced Korean dramas of low cost and good quality. Thirdly, Korean movies and TV dramas show virtue and kindness. In Korean movies and TV dramas, people are friendly, and families are harmonious. Juniors respect elders, elders cherish juniors. Lovers love dearly each other, and spouses care for each other. TV dramas of Korea still show the harmonious and pure-hearted feelings. Every one wishes to have a harmonious family and live in a harmonious society. First of all, such heartwarming stories attract wide age groups. It is appropriate for elementary school kids to elder grandma and grandpa to watch altogether. Most western dramas or movies contain suggestive scenes to express passionate love between lovers which made family members to be apart to watch them. However, all family members gather around and can watch Korean dramas or movies which mostly depict pure-hearted loves between friends, families, and lovers. Second of all, pure love between lovers especially attracted Japanese women. Winter Sonata which delivers the story of pure love between main characters evoked Japanese Womens memories of their first love. Since purity in love was already old-fashioned culture in Japan, women who watched Winter Sonata brought out their nostalgic feelings toward pure love. Husband and wife do not talk a lot because Japanese people do not directly reveal their emotions and feelings to others which were regarded as the most secret part of individuals. The actions, that spouses sincerely care for each other, stirred desires of Japanese women to be loved from their love directly and in a gentle way. Lastly, the family value commonly dealt in Korean drama evoked nostalgic feeling toward family among Chinese people. Through the Cultural Revolution and through the national campaign, One family, one child, large families were exterminated in China. Naturally, the older generations miss memories they had in large families. The older generations in China could be vicarious satisfaction as they enjoy Korea drama. Even though Asian countries are bound with the similar cultures and traditions, purity in love and family value were lost in Japanese and Chinese society. Pure-hearted feelings and harmonious aspects of Korean society reflected on drama played the significant role to promote the Korean Wave in two societies. First, cultural industry includes movie, broadcast, music, game, book, and concert at which people directly show their enthusiasm. Second, derivative products are products such as cosmetics, tour, accessories, clothes, mobile phone, home appliance, automobile, and food which are indirectly linked with the cultural contents. Automobile that one Korean star drove in drama or the place where the drama was directed are in this category. Third, ripple effect on national economy is that effect on the other economy as cultural industry and derivative products are exported. For example, if the cultural contents were exported and therefore if the mobile phone meets the great demand, the mobile phone company needs to employ more people to produce the phone. As a result, more jobs are created in domestic market. This is a ripple effect on national economy. Fourth, immeasurable effects is, as it says in its word, it is not measurable by numeric values or by statistics. It is invisible effect suc h as people who are big fan of Korean culture learning Korean language. Korean exports in cultural industry to overseas amount to eleven million dollars in 2007. It shows 11.3% of annual growth from 2005 to 2007. In the case of movie industry, the movie, in which Bae yong-Jun (Yon-sama) acted in 2005, was exported at a high cost to Japan. The success of this movie resulted out exporting 76 million dollars. However, the following year reported the exports of only 25 million dollars which fells 68%. The broadcast industry is especially strong in Japan than any other Asian countries. While the broadcast industries in Japan and China show fairly steady outcome, other Asian countries and non-Asian region suddenly consumed the doubled volume of Korean television dramas in 2006 compared to that of 2005. The game industry, which takes the biggest portion in the cultural industry, gradually increased it exports. Derivative products are not the cultural contents; however, they are closely related to the Korean Wave. The car appeared in drama or the cosmetics which Korea celebrities advertising are included in the realm of derivative products. Therefore, they are second biggest part in calculating the economic effects of the Korean Wave. Korean cosmetic brands such as The Face Shop and Misha rapidly grew in size in the international market and exported three hundred million dollars in 2005 and three hundred fifty million dollars in 2007. Cosmetic brands are sensitive to their models; therefore, companies frequently change the models to the most popular one at the time. Interestingly, Korean cosmetic brands use male Korea celebrities who are at the center of the Korean Wave because, in this way, it is easier for companies to appeal to female Korean fans in overseas. This is the strategies Korea cosmetic companies are using to target the international market. In the case of clothes, clothes industry resulted out the exports of twenty-three million dollars in 2005; however, exporting volume has been gradually decreased to seventeen million dollars in 2007. Decrease in home appliance exports can be explained by the increasing supply of Chinese products with the developing qualities in China mainland. When the exports of clothes, accessories, mobile phone, and home appliances were decreasing, automobile industry stretched its competitiveness in the international market with the grow rate of 12.5%. Koreas developed technology in automobile production and positive image toward Korean automobile brand established such consequence. Abroad fans interest and familiarity to Korean food helped its industry internationally. The number of tourists is increasing from 2005 to 2007 with the growth rate of 3.5%. However, the number of tourists who visited Korea because of the Korea Wave is decreasing with the rate of -13.2%. Winter Sonata sensationally hit Japan in 2003. Thus, the rate of tourists, who came to Korea by the influence of the Korean Wave, in 2005 is comparatively higher than in 2006 and in 2007 as the aftereffect of Winter Sonata. As Japanese tourists who were deeply impressed by Winter Sonata increases after 2003, interesting thing happened in the streets in Korea. The shops near the locations appeared in Korean drama have Japanese explanations on each products. Moreover, the shop assistants in Myung-doing streets tout people in Japanese. They speak Japanese more than Korean to tout Japanese tourists. The decreasing number of tourists due to the Korean Wave does not mean that the Korean Wave has less impact on other cultures. Rather, people, who already visited Korea, would not make a second trip in near future. Therefore, it is quite natural that the number of people visiting Korea due to the Korean Wave gets smaller and smaller, regarding the huge impact of Winter Sonata in 2003. Instead, increasing number of tourists shows the general perception on the image of Korea is improving and it is ultimately the result of the Korean Wave. Therefore, I conclude that the Korean Wave yet fosters the tourism industry in Korea. Riffle Effects on National Economy Through the Korean Wave, Korean international economy was vitalized. Growing demands of Korean cultural contents from abroad have increased supplies, and therefore, Korean cultural industry has grown in a large scale. Numerous companies which create the cultural contents require more labor force as they extend their business. The Korean Wave not only vitalized the Korean economy but also opened the labor market to support industry. Considering the fact that companies, which directly or indirectly related to the Korean Wave, inevitably employ more labors, unimaginable number of people would come into the economic activities, relieving unemployment and boosting the national economy. The Korea Wave started with few dramas and pop songs now controls the whole national economy. Immeasurable effects Korean fans outside of Korea often learn Korean language and eat Korean food. More and more people have interest in Korean culture and favorable impression toward Korea. These sociological phenomena raise the power of Korea very softly everywhere in the world where the Korea cultural syndrome has hit. This is the Soft Power that Korean has. Conclusion The Korean Wave hit China in 1997 for the fist time and now its influence prevails all over Asia. By watching the same drama, by reading the same comic book, and by listing to the same pop songs, people have a strong sense of solidarity. Reflecting on my own experience, Asian teenagers become intimate to each other easily by sharing their cultural interests. In the fact that cultural contents take the large portion on students lives, there is nothing better which connects the students so tightly. They would forget the time flying away when they talk about their own favorite dramas and celebrities. The Korean Wave was directly connected to the domestic economy. Numerous cultural industries have expanded their influence in Asia and related manufacturing industry also has been thrived. The cultural industry established the average exports of 414,387 million Won from 2005 to 2007 and the derivative industry reached to the average exports of 2,204,567 million Won from 2005 to 2007. The whole economic impacts including the ripple effects during the past few years are tremendous in Korean domestic economy. There are several shortages of the Korean Wave that the Korean cultural contents overwhelmingly attract female but only mimic influence to male and that the current Korean Wave is not as sensational as the past few years. The Korean dramas and movies mostly deal with romantic love stories which women love and do not take action or thriller genres which men like. To embrace a broader range of people, Korean production companies need to develop creative and interesting scenarios in various genres. Plus, the economic effects are diminishing in many sectors of industry such as clothes, home appliance, and mobile phone. It is because there are recently no big contents such as Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum which rose fanatical boom about Korean media. The more efforts to create the high quality cultural contents enable to continue the glory of Korean Wave in 2004 and 2005. Asian countries and people have never gathered and shared the same cultural contents before as they do these days. Even though there are worried voices that Asian cultures are losing diversity in arts and culture, I valued more on the Korean Waves positive effects that connecting many countries and people in Asia in a close bound. I hope the unified the cultural market in Asia region would be the chance for cultural industries in each Asian countries to cooperative each other to create more developed cultural contents opening up new visas of the future.

History of the Big Bang Theory Essay -- Historical Science

The strength of the Big Bang theory lies in the evidence for it, not the mechanism used to explain it. Actually, the theory has been revised a great deal since its first proposition and is probably not exactly as you think it is. I'll explain it in the order of historical development. My apologies if this is a bit technical - don't worry if you don't understand it all. The theory was first proposed in the 1930s, based on Edwin Hubble's discovery that distant galaxies are receding. Hubble measured the distances to a large number of galaxies (based on the observed brightness of certain stars within them), and compared these distances with their electromagnetic spectra. As it turned out, more distant galaxies had the features in their spectra (spectral lines) shifted to lower frequencies in a linear manner: that is, more distant galaxies exhibit greater redshifts. The only known mechanism for generating a spectral shift is the Doppler effect, which means that distant galaxies are receding from us. This suggests that in the past, galaxies were much closer to us than they are now: simply extrapolate the motion into the past. As it turns out, if this is performed, it indicates that all galaxies in the observable universe would have been at the same 'location' about 11 billion years ago: that is, all the matter in the universe originated from a single location. This is the (simplified) Big Bang theory. Actually, it's a little more complicated than that: according to general relativity, it's not really that distant galaxies are flying away from us, it's that space itself is expanding, increasing the distance. You can think of the universe as the surface of a balloon, with the balloon constantly expanding. Not everyone believed ... ...e realm of current science. We don't yet have a theory that can handle the conditions present at that time yet. However, from the era of inflation on, high-energy physicists and cosmologists are quite confident of the theory, as crazy as it sounds! In fact, this specific theory makes its own predictions regarding the exact distribution of fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background, which have so far been confirmed, though complete confirmation will have to wait until the MAP and FERMI satellites become operational later in this decade. The bottom line is that historical sciences (in this case, cosmology) can make testable predictions: the existence of background radiation and its properties, the distribution of light isotopes, the presence of galaxy evolution, the age constraint, and so on. The same goes with evolutionary biology, another historical science.

Green Stone :: essays research papers

During the opening years of the seventeenth century, Europe was gripped by Reformation and Counter-Reformation, when Catholics and Protestants persecuted one another with equal fervour. England was ruled by a Protestant regime, and in 1605 a group of oppressed Catholic landowners hatched a plot to kill the king, James I, during the state opening of parliament on 5 November. The plan, conceived by the Midland Catholics Robert Catesby and Thomas Wyntour, was to blow up the Houses of Parliament with dozens of barrels of gunpowder. Known as the Gunpowder Plot, it was thwarted at the last moment when conspirator Guy Fawkes was discovered nervously waiting to light the fuse. When Fawkes was tortured into revealing the names of the other plotters, the small band of conspirators fled to the Wyntour family home at Huddington Court in Worcestershire. Here they spent their last night, fleeing only a few miles the next day before being surrounded by the militia. But this was not the end of the affair. The king's chief minister, Robert Cecil, had given strict instructions that Robert Catesby should be taken alive. The reason being, that he possessed a sacred relic - a green, jade gemstone called the Meonia Stone. Tradition held that it had once been set in King Arthur's sword Excalibur. Historically, it had belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, the last legitimate Catholic heir to the English throne. Following her death in 1587, a legend had developed that the Catholic who would finally secure the English throne would need to possess the sacred stone. Fearing that the Meonia Stone would act as a rallying symbol for the English Catholics, Cecil was determined that it should be destroyed. He was furious, however, to discover that Robert Catesby had been shot dead and the knowledge of the stone's whereabouts had died with him. Despite months of frantic searching and intense interrogation of the surviving conspirators, the stone was never found. Three centuries later, in 1979, Graham Phillip's and fellow researcher Andrew Collins decided to go in search of the lost Meonia Stone. The Green Stone, co-authored by Martin Keatman, is the remarkable true story of this fascinating quest. Following a trail of historical clues, Graham and Andrew finally discovered the identity of the person to whom the stone was given. During their interrogation, the surviving Gunpowder Plotters had stated that Robert Catesby still had the stone with him the night before his death.

The Scaffold of Sin in The Scarlet Letter Essay -- Scarlet Letter essa

The Scaffold of Sin in The Scarlet Letter   Ã‚  Ã‚   "This scaffold constituted a portion of a penal machine . . . . The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron" (Hawthorne 62-63). A scaffold's effect on the novel can be seen through an examination of the first, second, and third scaffold scenes.   These sections mark the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. The novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is constructed around a scaffold, which provides the story with a constant reminder of sin.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first scaffold scene sets the stage for the novel; it establishes who the main characters are, and where they stand in relation to each other in the story.   This scene is where Hester Prynne's sin first appears in the novel.   The "Goodwives" of the congregation discuss Hester's crime of adultery: "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die" (Hawthorne 59).   The scaffold allows Hester Prynne's sin to be publicized and marveled at by the New Englanders.   It is here that the reader becomes aware of Hester being shunned as an outsider, when she is placed on the scaffold: "Knowing well her part, she ascended a flight of wooden steps, and was thus displayed to the surrounding multitude, at about the height of a mans shoulders above the street . . . . The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes" (63-64).   At the same time, the first scaffold scene is the setting for the introduction of Roger Chillingworth, Hester'shusband, and establishes his desire to punish the man who has wronged both hi... ...ficant in its own way. Without the scaffold's presence, the novel, The Scarlet Letter, could not stand.    Works Cited and Consulted Brodhead, Richard H., "New and Old Tales: The Scarlet Letter," Modern Critical Views Nathaniel Hawthorne, New York, Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Dibble, Terry J., Cliff Notes on The Scarlet Letter, Lincoln, Cliff Notes, Inc., 1988. Fogle, Richard Harter, "The Scarlet Letter," Hawthorne's Fiction The Light and The Dark, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1975. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: St. Martins, 1991. Matthiessen, F.O., "The Scarlet Letter," Critics on Hawthorne, Readings in Literary Criticism: 16, Coral Gables, University of Miami Press, 1972. Matthiessen, F.O., Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Scarlet Letter, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Halls Inc., 1968. The Scaffold of Sin in The Scarlet Letter Essay -- Scarlet Letter essa The Scaffold of Sin in The Scarlet Letter   Ã‚  Ã‚   "This scaffold constituted a portion of a penal machine . . . . The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron" (Hawthorne 62-63). A scaffold's effect on the novel can be seen through an examination of the first, second, and third scaffold scenes.   These sections mark the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. The novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is constructed around a scaffold, which provides the story with a constant reminder of sin.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first scaffold scene sets the stage for the novel; it establishes who the main characters are, and where they stand in relation to each other in the story.   This scene is where Hester Prynne's sin first appears in the novel.   The "Goodwives" of the congregation discuss Hester's crime of adultery: "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die" (Hawthorne 59).   The scaffold allows Hester Prynne's sin to be publicized and marveled at by the New Englanders.   It is here that the reader becomes aware of Hester being shunned as an outsider, when she is placed on the scaffold: "Knowing well her part, she ascended a flight of wooden steps, and was thus displayed to the surrounding multitude, at about the height of a mans shoulders above the street . . . . The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes" (63-64).   At the same time, the first scaffold scene is the setting for the introduction of Roger Chillingworth, Hester'shusband, and establishes his desire to punish the man who has wronged both hi... ...ficant in its own way. Without the scaffold's presence, the novel, The Scarlet Letter, could not stand.    Works Cited and Consulted Brodhead, Richard H., "New and Old Tales: The Scarlet Letter," Modern Critical Views Nathaniel Hawthorne, New York, Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Dibble, Terry J., Cliff Notes on The Scarlet Letter, Lincoln, Cliff Notes, Inc., 1988. Fogle, Richard Harter, "The Scarlet Letter," Hawthorne's Fiction The Light and The Dark, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1975. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: St. Martins, 1991. Matthiessen, F.O., "The Scarlet Letter," Critics on Hawthorne, Readings in Literary Criticism: 16, Coral Gables, University of Miami Press, 1972. Matthiessen, F.O., Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Scarlet Letter, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Halls Inc., 1968.

Frequent Shopper Program

Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is a local upscale specialty food store that is committed to providing customers with the finest selection of specialty foods. In addition, KFF would like to reward their customers for their loyalty by incorporating a frequent shopper program. KFF is planning on developing a system that tracks customer purchases and awards loyalty points for redemption. The system will assist KFF in satisfying their most valued customers.Smith Systems Consulting Firm has been contracted for the development of the system. Smith Systems Consulting has been serving clients since 1994 with high value web and business application services. In this proposal, Smith Systems consulting will propose two alternative methods for completing the frequent shopper application. The advantages and disadvantages for each method and how the firm would conduct testing for each development method will be discussed.Regardless of which method is used, most software process models, follow a similar se t of phases and activities. The difference between models is the order and frequency of the phases. The specific parts of the software process are presented below: 1. Inception – Software product is created and defined.2. Planning – Resources, schedule, and cost are determined. 3. Requirements Analysis – Specify what the application must do. 4. Design – Specify the parts and how they fit 5. Implementation – Write the code 6. Testing – Execute the application with input test data 7. Maintenance – Repair defects and add capability (TechTarget, 2014)The first model that will be proposed is the â€Å"waterfall† process. The â€Å"waterfall† process is the oldest software process model and despite its weaknesses, it is still in widespread use today. The waterfall process requires following the phases in a sequential order where the output for one phase is used as the input for the next. The next phase in the process is not st arted until the previous one has been completed, although a small overlap between phases is accepted. Two advantages and disadvantages of using this model relative to the frequent shopper program will be discussed.The first advantage is the practicality of the process. We have been using this process for many years and have a great deal of experience with it. All individuals involved have and understanding of the process and its execution. The second advantage is the process is simple and easy to use. The criteria of each phase are set and completed sequentially. The order of execution is easy for everyone to comprehend. There is no question on what needs to be completed before the next phase can begin.The first disadvantage is that requirements need to be known up front. KFF currently has a broad range of requirements and every detail is not known. As the project progresses, more details may become known; which could cause the project to be stopped and re-imagined. The second disad vantage is that there is no feedback of the system by stakeholders until after the testing phase. KFF has no way of knowing if the program meets their requirements because the â€Å"waterfall† process does not facilitate intermediate versions.The second method that will be proposed is the agile methodology. The agile methodology proposes alternatives to traditional project management. Agile development focuses on keeping code simple, testing often, and delivering functional bits of the application as soon as they are ready (TechTarget, 2014). One goal of agile development is to build upon small-client-approved parts as the project progresses, as opposed to delivering one large application at the end of the project.One advantage to using agile methodology for the frequent shopper application is the ability to respond to changing requirements. KFF may decide to change the requirements of the project, which can easily be handled using the flexibility of the agile methodology. A second advantage is the face-to-face communication and continues input from customer representatives making sure that there is no guesswork (Buzzle, 2013). The result is exactly what the customer has required.The first disadvantage of the agile methodology is the possibility that the project can be taken off track. KFF is not one hundred percent clear on the final outcome that they want; therefore, the project has the potential to get off track because requirements are constantly changing. Another disadvantage is that it is difficult to assess the effort needed to complete this project at the beginning of the software development life cycle. Since KFF is not specific on the requirements for the project, we cannot plan how much time or the amount of resources we will need to complete the project.Regardless of the method that is used for the frequent shopper application, testing is a necessary component of the process. Testing is conducted differently depending on which software model is used. Since the waterfall method follows a sequential approach, the testing is done so also. The flexibility of the agile method also allows flexibility for the testing process.Using the waterfall method testing would begin during the implementation stage. The work would be divided into modules and the coding would begin after receiving the system design documents. The frequent shopper program would be developed into small programs called units. As an example, there would be a program that handles the input from the customer and another program that would track the employee’s reward points. Each unit is developed and then tested for functionality. Unit testing verifies if the units meet the specifications.The units are then integrated into a complete system during the integration phase and tested to see if all units coordinate between each other and the system functions as a whole per the specification (Onestoptesting, 2014). After testing of the frequent shopper program is successful, the software is delivered to the customer. If problems are found after deployment they are solved immediately. This is referred to be maintenance and sometimes that process is virtually never ending.Agile testing focuses on testing being an integral part of software development rather than a separate phase. (â€Å"Agile Testing†, n.d.) Testing from the beginning of the project and continually testing throughout the project lifecycle is the foundation in which agile testing is built. Agile testing is software testing based on the principles of agile software development.The combined team, including the testing team will take responsibility of analyzing the business requirements of the frequent shopper program. Together the team will define a sprint goal. The testing team will then begin work on the test plan that is validated by the entire team and KFF. As the development team starts the implementation, the test team will begin working on the test case design.Wh en the code is ready to test, the test team will do a quick test on the development environment, in order to identify the early stage defects. Developers will fix the defects on a priority basis. This iteration will continue until the end of the code implementation. In addition after approval from KFF, automated test cases will be run on a daily basis. Because of the frequency of testing using the agile method, automated tests are needed.Smith Systems Consulting needs to choose the methodology that works for them and the client. Since each project is unique, there is not a one-size fit all methodology. Two alternative methods for completing this project were presented and Smith Systems Consulting can make a decision on which to choose.