Friday, November 29, 2019

For Example in French and Its Synonyms

'For Example' in French and Its Synonyms We say for example when we want to illustrate, expand upon, or explain something, and so do the French, who say par example.  Same construction, same meaning. Par exemple is also one of those everyday expressions thats just as common in French as it is in English. In fact, its one of the ​most common phrases in the French language, along with such famous expressions as  bon appà ©tit,  dà ©j vu, and  je taime. Here are a couple of examples of how to use par exemple: Il est important de faire du sport. On peut, par exemple, faire du tai chi.It’s important to practice a sport. You can, for example, practice tai chi. On pourrait proposer ce garà §on, par exemple, a toutes les filles.We could suggest this boy, for example, to all the girls. Par Exemple Without a Verb Note that when using par exemple, we often omit part of the sentence, which is implied. Il est important de faire du sport : du tai chi, par exemple.It’s important to practice a sport: tai chi, for example. The repetitive words â€Å"one can practice† are implied after the colon in the above English language example. Synonyms of Par Exemple There are two approximate  synonyms for par exemple in French but nothing as direct as the English for instance. As French instructors will tell you, French is poor in vocabulary, rich in syntax. So instead of par exemple, you could say: Ansi, meaning literally  thus  or thereforeThis word is quite old-fashioned and not used as much as par exemple.Il aime les fruits. Ainsi, il mange une banane tous les jours.He likes fruits. Thus, he eats a banana every day.Comme, meaning literally such asTu peux manger quelque chose de là ©ger. Comme un fruit.You can eat something light. Such as (or Like) a piece of fruit. Meaning of the French Expression Ça Par Exemple Ça par example  is an interjection that expresses surprise and sometimes disapproval, but not always. The expression is  a bit old-fashioned, though, and it’s not so common these days. Instead, a French speaker today would probably prefer a more literal expression like, Je ne peux pas le croire, or â€Å"I can’t believe it.† Finalement, aprà ¨s t’avoir fait la cour pendant des mois, il t’a posà © un lapin! Ça par exemple!Finally, after courting you for months, he stood you up! I can’t believe it! Mistakes to Avoid When Using Par Exemple The word exemple in French is written with an e in the middle, not the  a  we use in the English word â€Å"example.† Also, the for is not translated as pour (literally for) but as par (literally by). So the  French expression literally translates to by example, and many French speakers  make the mistake of saying by   (instead of for) when they try to say for example in English.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Arguments Against Horse Racing

Arguments Against Horse Racing Death and injuries are not uncommon occurrences in horse racing, and some animal welfare advocates argue that the sport can be humane if certain changes are made. To animal rights activists, the issue is not the cruelty and danger; its about whether we have a right to use horses for entertainment. The Horse Racing Industry Horse racing is not just a sport, but also an industry and unlike most other sports arenas, horse racetracks, with few exceptions, are directly supported by legal gambling. The form of gambling at horse racetracks is called parimutuel betting, which is explained as: The entire money bet on the event goes into a large pool. The holders of winning tickets divide the total amount of money bet on the race (the pool), after deductions for tax and racetrack expenses. The money take out is similar to the rake taken out by the pot in a poker game played in the card room. However unlike the small rake in poker, in the parimutuel pool this â€Å"rake† can amount to 15 – 25 percent of the total prize pool. In various U.S. states, bills have been considered and sometimes passed either allowing racetracks to have other forms of gambling or protecting racetracks from competition from casinos. As gambling has become more accessible in recent years through new casinos and online gambling websites, racetracks are losing customers. According to a 2010 article in the Star-Ledger in New Jersey: This year, the Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park will lose upwards of $20 million as fans and bettors have migrated to tracks in New York and Pennsylvania with slot machines and other casino games. Pressure from Atlantic City casinos have prevented the racino model from taking hold here, and the tracks have suffered. Daily attendance at the Meadowlands routinely hit 16,500 in its first year. Last year, the average daily crowd was below 3,000. To counter these losses, racetracks have been lobbying to be allowed to have slot machines or even full-blown casinos. In some cases, the slot machines are owned and operated by the government, with a cut going to the racetrack. One might wonder why a government body would be concerned about supporting racetracks instead of allowing them to perish like other outdated industries. Each racetrack is a multi-million dollar economy, supporting hundreds of jobs including everyone from breeders, jockeys, veterinarians, farmers who grow hay and feed, and blacksmiths who do the horseshoeing. The financial forces behind racetracks are the reason they continue to exist, despite concerns about animal cruelty, gambling addictions, and gambling morality. Animal Rights and Horse Racing The animal rights position is that animals have a right to be free of human use and exploitation, regardless of how well the animals are treated. Breeding, selling, buying and training horses or any animal violates that right. Cruelty, slaughter and accidental deaths and injuries are additional reasons to oppose horse racing. As an animal rights organization, PETA recognizes that certain precautions can reduce deaths and injuries, but categorically opposes horse racing. Animal Welfare and Horse Racing The animal welfare position is that there is nothing wrong with horse racing per se, but more should be done to protect the horses. The Humane Society of the United States does not oppose all horse racing but opposes certain cruel or dangerous practices. Cruel and Dangerous Horse Racing Practices According to PETA, One study on injuries at racetracks concluded that one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing a race, while another estimated that 3 thoroughbreds die every day in North America because of catastrophic injuries during races. Pushing a horse to his physical limits and forcing him to run around a racetrack is enough to cause accidents and injuries, but other practices make the sport particularly cruel and dangerous. Horses are sometimes raced when they are under three years old and their bones are not strong enough, leading to fractures that can lead to euthanasia. Horses are also drugged to help them compete with injuries, or given prohibited performance-enhancing drugs. Jockeys often whip the horses as they approach the finish line for an extra burst of speed. Racetracks made of hard, packed dirt are more dangerous than those with grass. Perhaps the worst abuse is one that is hidden from the public: horse slaughter. As a 2004 article in the Orlando Sentinel explains: To some, horses are a pet; to others, a living piece of farm equipment. To the horse-racing industry, though, the thoroughbred is a lottery ticket. The racing industry breeds thousands of losing tickets while looking for its next champion. Just as farmers cannot afford to care for spent egg-laying hens when they get old, racehorse owners are not in the business of feeding and keeping losing horses. Even winning horses are not spared from the slaughterhouse: Decorated racers like Ferdinand, a Kentucky Derby winner, and Exceller, who won more than $1 million in purse money, were retired to stud. But after they failed to produce champion offspring, they were slaughtered. While there are rescue groups and sanctuaries for retired racehorses, there are not enough. Horse breeders argue that horse slaughter is a necessary evil, but it wouldnt be necessary if the breeders stopped breeding. From an animal rights perspective, money, jobs, and tradition are powerful forces keeping the horse racing industry alive, but they cannot justify the exploitation and suffering of the horses. And while animal advocates make the ethical arguments against horse racing, this dying sport may pass away on its own.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Health and safety management plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Health and safety management plan - Essay Example Site supervisors will ensure the assessments are available to those who may come into contact with them. If no assessment exists, then one must be obtained using the SYPOL form in line with the company standards. The company will contract only licensed asbestos handlers to carry out checks before beginning work where notifiable asbestos is suspected, besides providing them with relevant information, including appropriate Asbestos survey reports. An electrical duty holder will be appointed to design, install, use and maintain electrical systems and equipment in line with company standards. He will be identified on notice boards, distribution boards and sub- stations. The contract project manager will appoint a fire co-ordinator to carry out a fire risk assessment, ensure adequate emergency preparedness and put in place a fire safety plan. Moreover, he will review emergency measures regularly and report deficiencies to the contract manager for action. Site Health and Safety rules shall be included in the site start up pack and developed for the project by the contract manager in conjunction with the SHE advisers. Rules will be posted on site notice boards and explained at induction. The site plan will take into consideration Interfaces between site activities, visitors and the public to ensure that site operations do not endanger visitors and the public. Such consideration will apply to others such as the customer’s personnel who may need access to or through the site. All lifting operations using cranes will be planned and authorised in accordance with company processes, standards and guidance. Where applicable the contract manager will appoint a competent appointed person for cranes and a crane supervisor. Manual handling risk assessments must be carried out prior to manually lifting a load. Methods of assessing the risks of manual handling and consideration to alternative methods will be considered where practical. The contract

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Debate on Health Care Management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Debate on Health Care Management - Term Paper Example The paper is subdivided in sections including the introduction, the main body, the conclusion and eventually recommendation. The introduction introduces the subject matter to be handled in the discussion. The body analyzes various health care scenarios and their implications on the current problems affecting the industry. The conclusion captures the main points discussed in the body and the recommendations highlights the changes to be made on the industry to make it better. Introduction Everybody in the society aspires to receive the best medical care whenever she or he needs. This is not achievable to everyone because access to quality healthcare comes at a cost. On the other hand, the world is continuously changing but the healthcare system used by majority of Americans was created in the 1940s. During that time, Americans did not change their jobs frequently, as is the case today. In addition, the number of retirees was low, which meant that the retiree benefits were not costly to the employer. This has changed and coupled with increasing life expectancy, employers are finding it hard to offer retiree benefits. The cost of provision of quality healthcare has been escalating over the years, which means that most people cannot afford it. Enacting of changes such as leading health lives will result in trimming the costs involved in the provision of these services (Shortell & Kaluzny, 2006). Scenario 1: Business as Usual The fluctuations between the government intervention and the market fixes on health care policies affect the efforts at cost containment in the health industry. The government through its health care policies has increased the population of the organized health care plans, increasing the competition in the health care industry. The government has facilitated this through eliminating certain laws, which banned selective contracting. The managed care systems supported by the United States government imposes prices for purchasing the services and t he cost the providers get paid (Fuchs, 1988). Multiple payments, health delivery and insurance schemes as well as the health care being financed by both the public and the government have led to high health costs in the country. This system of health care system is expensive because the government cannot effectively manage the total health expenditure, affecting service utilization and heath care availability (Fuchs, 1988). The health care providers in the industry strive to maximize the reimbursement of the government for the services delivered to the managed care organizations. In contrast, the government seeks to contain the cost increases in the industry; thus, there exists counteractive forces among the players negatively influencing the efforts to contain costs. The cost containment has remained a primary challenge in the country (Major Characteristics of U.S. Health Care Delivery, n.d). The health care market responded to the government interventions, which increased competit ion in the industry by initiating price discounts on the health care services that they offered to their clients. The rising cases of obesity besides the swift expansion of the providers make health care spending to rise. The gains made in managing the chronic diseases through developments and innovations in technology and

Monday, November 18, 2019

Exam 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Exam 3 - Essay Example The population has risen exponentially and the economy has revolved into an industrial country. The political system has been changed into a democratic system that is governed by the people. However, the post Mao era has been characterized with some of the Mao era leadership tactics. In the West, the universal view is that, in spite of the drastic economic changes, China’s communist regime has remained unchanged. This essay is a discussion of the political changes and continuities in the post Mao era as compared to the Mao era. In the 1980s, the political atmosphere became repressive and divided. There was an occasional relief after the Mao regime, but there was a return of the frigid Mao regime repression. The government was divided on political liberalization with some favouring political tolerance and others favouring repression to keep order and stability. In 1986, student unrest became imminent in China. They were advocating for improvement of living conditions, racial tensions, party state corruption, and the economic unfairness (Schoppa, 396). Party nepotism had spread over the campuses. They opposed the socialist government under the leadership of Fang Lizhi, a scientist. Police were sent to disrupt the movement of students camped around the city hall. Lizhi was expelled from the party and other liberal intellectuals were asked to resign. The mere opposition of the party led to their expulsion. This indicates the lack of democracy in the post Mao regime. The regime utilized the Mao era tactics to r ule. Therefore, this was a continuation of the Mao regime in China. Currently, the post Mao era has been characterized by dissident resistance movements. The movements are collective, organized, evocative and public. The resistance in the Mao era was different, since it was individual and non-public. The movements have led to an increase in pressure to the government, and thus leading to the release of most of the

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Health Hand Hygiene

Health Hand Hygiene The compliance of health care workers (HCWs) with hand hygiene and disinfection quality practices is considered one of HHUMC principle objectives because of its direct impact on healthcare provision . Hand washing is the single most effective measure of preventing healthcare associated infections. The Infection Control committee runs an ongoing hand hygiene campaign to raise compliance rates. The main elements of which are: Promotion of alcohol hand disinfectants which have been shown to significantly improve compliance.: Alcohol-based hand disinfection dispensers were installed in all hospital departments Staff training : the infection control committee conducts routine and scheduled training on hand hygiene and the importance of alcohol disinfectant use for all hospital staff Hand washing Message: the infection control team encouraged the placement of hand hygiene posters in all hospital hallways and departments.The graphic reminders are an effective measure in reaching a large number of the hospital population which includes staff and hospital visitors and promoting the messag about the importance of good hand hygiene practices and techniques. Observational Audit: The Infection Control team carried an observational audit of targeted staff that have direct patient contact in all hospital departments during the period January 2007 to November 2007. The IC/OHS committee provided an annual schedule for the departments to be visited and audited. The audit entails monitoring the practice of all Health-care workers (HCWs) against the requirement that hands must be decontaminated before and after every contact with patients or invasive devices, prior to any aseptic procedure and after handling body fluids or contaminated materials. These contacts are described as hand hygiene opportunities. Compliance can be defined as either washing hands with liquid soap and water or rubbing with an alcohol disinfectant, in accordance with a hand hygiene opportunity. Compliance = Hand hygiene carried out x 100 Opportunity for hand hygiene (O) In quarter I of 2007 the compliance rate was 73%. During the quarter II, compliance decreased to 71% and in the quarter III and IV the compliance rate were 72.2 % 70 % respectively. The hospital-wide annual compliance average rate was 71.5 % which is an improvement from the 69% compliance rate of 2006 and a continued improment since compliance was measured in 2005. It is also above the hospital goal for the first time. The annual score for each department is shown in the figure below. The HHUMC Infection Control Department set a QI score of 70% or more to be achieved in 2007 in order to continuously improve compliance. The pie chart below represents the hospital department scores divided into the percentage of hospital departments that have achieved the score. The departments that received the lowest scores are the departments that will be closely monitored and already received extra attention in order to improve their compliance with the hand washing policy. Most of the hospital departments reached their goal. Interventions such as staff training, promotion of alcohol hand disinfectants, putting posters and monitoring staff performance played a significant step in improving hand washing compliance in the hospital. During the observations, barriers to hand hygiene were identified, e.g. no paper towels, alcohol disinfectants in dispensers. Some of the observations also gave concern about staff not decontaminating their hands following removal of gloves. Findings were identified and transmitted to the nursing director, department managers, and staff on duty after the audits. Future plans for hand hygiene campaign The infection control department plans to continue its activities to further promote and train the the hospital staff in the use of alcohol hand disinfectants. The observational audits will be repeated at least twice each year. Additional engagement with the nursing departments that have scored the lowest in the recent audit has already begun and the root causes for the lack of compliance with the hand hygiene recommendations will be analysed. The causes that are associated with lower compliance are related to the infrastructure and ease of available sites for hand disinfection as well as the promotion of the â€Å"hand hygiene culture†.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Hesse Biber- Am I Thin Enough Yet? The Cult of Thinness and the Commercialization of Identity :: essays research papers

The Cult of Thinness   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many modern women subject themselves to an intense day-to-day involvement in the pursuit of thinness demands. These demands resemble those behaviors commonly associated with cult hood. Three main â€Å"tools† are used in order to achieve this goal or ideal. The Cult of Thinness invests in thinness through primary rituals. The rituals are followed through by the obsession of a particular â€Å"ideal† body. There are also extremities or positions of higher authority with extreme involvement in cults, much like the level of devotion in The Cult of Thinness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Daily actions of checking and critiquing can be performed in many ways. Body monitoring offers an array of resources. Constantly weighing one’s self is a way of achieving quantitative precision. Being able to pinpoint an exact gain or loss is a necessity in this cycle. To be able to have an ideal weight and to accurately compare yourself leaves no room for misinterpretation. Counting Calories helps maintain discipline to be sure not to exceed the limit. If one eats certain â€Å"restricted† food, it is seen to be sinful or as breaking the rules. This restriction of food intake is in a highly disciplined way. This is part of a larger process of dieting and exercising which is used in an obsessive manner to obtain the â€Å"perfect† body. These diet rituals can go as far as to fast for days at a time. Another â€Å"tool† of monitoring is food watching, monitoring the intake of â€Å"good† and â€Å"bad† foods. Nutritionally healthy foods are considered good. Anything else, from sweets to foods with fat, are considered bad foods.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other rituals are performed through comparisons. By evaluating and examining old pictures and using them as motivation. Having a constant reminder of previous slimness can push a person to regain what might be an unrealistic goal. Mirrors provide a selective image to the viewer. You only see what you want to. This is particularly important, as most members to this Cult of Thinness have low self esteem. A mirror can be used to scrutinize and dissect physical flaws. â€Å"’A mirror reflects the virtual image of an object placed in front of it.’† This provides an analogy for how society fosters women’s obsession with their weight and body image. These rituals can serve as a reminder to ones self that one is not meeting the standards, guilt and self penance are results.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a cult, there is an object or ideal to â€Å"worship.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Client Centered Therapy

Jessica Jeffers It is inevitable that in psychotherapy there are numerous theories. Theories arise out of scholarly investigations of ideas on human behavior. Human behavior is an extraordinarily interesting subject and therefore produces a plethora of ideas from a variety of theorists. These theorists are influenced by their education, culture, and time period. One of the most influential, empathetically understanding, theorists is Carl Rogers. His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and contributed his theory to many theories that followed him.I want to explore Client/Person Centered Therapy. This is a type of therapy that was pioneered by Carl Rogers. This therapy is different because as the name suggests it solely focuses on the client. ‘In focusing on the client, the client’s feelings are deeply explored. The assumption is however, that the client was never able to have their feelings heard by the people surrounding t hem. Person Centered Therapy would allow the client to then be able to express their feelings openly.According to Strupp (1971), â€Å"psychotherapeutic relationship is in principle indistinguishable from any good human relationship in which a person feels fully accepted, respected, and prized† (p. 39). Thus, there must be a therapeutic alliance between therapist and client. This therapeutic alliance should creative an environment for the client in which the client feels the therapist is judgment-free. I find that Roger's theory to be interesting and seemingly affective. It makes sense that a change in a clients negative relationship patterns would allow freedom for the client to express themselves emotionally.According to Strupp (1971), â€Å"The client, therefore, is not a patient who is sick and who is in need of treatment, but he is a person whose earlier experiences in life have made him defensive, severed him from free and open communication with his peers, and prevent ed him from realizing his potential as a fully functioning person†(p. 39). Thus, the client would have to be categorized with the assumption that he has experienced in his past â€Å"severed free and open communication with his peers†. This would mean that a client with clear and reciprocated communication with her loved ones would not find se in Client Centered Therapy. According to Truscott (2010), â€Å"our efforts to feel good about ourselves we tend to try to incorporate others' expectations? thereby denying our true selves and adopting instead a conditional self? resulting in feelings of disorganization and emotional pain. If, on the other hand, we experience genuineness, nonjudgmental caring, and empathy in our relationships with others, then we can achieve our potential as persons† (p. 70-71). Thus, a client with emotional support can manage his feelings easier then someone without any emotional support.This still leaves the client with emotional support with the expectation that she should not have any difficulty with expressing her emotions. It is apparent that Rogers main goal was to create an environment for the client in which he will eventually be able to independently understand and express his feelings. Truscott (2010) reported according to the â€Å"person-centered, humanistic worldview† that, When we are fully functioning we are then able to make healthy decisions and set goals for ourselves that are congruent with our personal possibilities.The therapist, therefore, does not set goals for the client of solving or managing problems. Rather, clients who are able to become more fully functioning will decide for themselves how best to cope with problems and participate in a satisfying life. (p. 71) This independence that Roger's wanted to invoke in his clients has functionality. A person who was not able to function independently will be able to do so, which in turn can have powerful effects. The question is however, w ithout therapeutic goals the lines of recovery seem to be infinite.Thus, if a client is not moving toward a tangible goal, then she is not moving forward. As an argument to that, I would contend that the client would move forward because they would progress in their ability to recognize their emotional turmoil’s. Rogers may not have worked with his clients to produce and obtain goals, but he did have a ultimate goal in his therapeutic work. According to Rogers, â€Å"They [clients] are then able to accept themselves as they are and to commit themselves to becoming more like they can and want to be† (as cited in Truscott, 2010, p. 2). The client is in turn aided by the therapist in becoming as authentic as possible. Thus this authenticity would provide the client with the ability to be true to themselves and their feelings. I find this to be useful in allowing the client to process their internal feelings, externally. According to Truscott (2010), â€Å"Therapists must be willing and able to listen without prejudice, judgment, or agenda if the client is to have any chance of feeling truly understood and accepted.Positive feelings, negative feelings, and silence must be acceptable to the therapist† (p. 73). This is interesting because it requires that the therapists become void of any judgments. To me this seems like a difficult task to accomplish because of the nature of judgments. Understandably so, the therapist would automatically make judgments of the client, as a natural inclination even with the best intentions against judgments. So, what kind of a therapist must one be to establish a patient centered therapy?According to Truscott (2010), â€Å"Because person-centered therapy is, at its heart, a highly collaborative approach, three qualities of the therapist must be evident in relationship with the client† (p. 73). Truscott (2005) reports that these qualities are: genuineness, unconditional positive regard and emphatic understa nding. Truscott (2005) explains, â€Å"Genuineness requires a significant depth of self- knowledge. It is only a fully functioning person who can be totally genuine† (p. 73). To add (1971) contends, â€Å"†¦ he most basic ingredient of therapeutic success, is characterized by the therapist's openness to another person's experience and a keen awareness of himself and the client's experience† (p. 41). , the therapist must be very aware of himself in order to be present on behalf of the client. Truscott (2005) also explains unconditional positive regard â€Å"It means that the client feels understood in a nonjudgmental way† (p. 74). Thus, if the therapist is completely judgment free, the client is more likely to express themselves without a fear of being ridiculed for their thoughts.Lastly Truscott (2010) explains empathetic understanding, This means that the therapist senses accurately the feelings and personal meanings that the client is experiencing and com municates this understanding to the client. The following two things are important about this: (a) that the empathy be accurate and (b) that the empathy be made known to the client. (p. 74) It is important to understand that empathy is important in all therapeutic relationships. It is a core value a therapist must hold in order to create a proper alliance with the client.It is especially important with the client centered therapy, because empathy is a core concept in the client centered therapy. Rogers’s theoretical approach functioned well for the goals of the client finally being able to discover key themes about themselves. Accordingly Raskin, Rogers ;ump; Witty (2011) contend that â€Å"The common thread is the need to understand the client's relationship to the problem, illness, or self destructive behavior; to collaborate with the client in self-healing and growth†¦ † (p. 172).Thus, the therapist must combine with the client to put in a joint effort in the h ealing process. This collaboration seems most efficient because it does not allow for a false belief that the therapist will solve all of the client's problems. Instead, it should permit the client to feel that she has support to dive into emotions she might have been afraid to do so before entering client centered therapy. It is interesting to note according to Raskin et al. ( 2011), â€Å"Our basic practice [client centered therapy] remains true to the core conditions no matter who our client may be.We also assert that our ability to form an initial therapeutic relationship depends on our own openness to and appreciation of respect for all kinds of difference† (p. 183). I believe that the cultural diversity that CCT maintains is important in a multiplicity open therapeutic environment. The implications for a non discriminatory form of therapy are that it can be used across populations. This allows for broader use of this theory and the chances for positive outcomes is incre ased because the availability.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Barrack Obama’s Speeches

ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 254-261, May 2010  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10. 4304/jltr. 1. 3. 254-261 A Critical Discourse Analysis of Barack Obama? s Speeches Junling Wang School of Foreign Languages, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China Email: [email  protected] com Abstract—The Critical Discourse Analysis is often applied to analyze political discourse including the public speech, in which the speaker wins favorite response from the audience.This paper, based on Critical Discourse Analysis theory and Systematic Functional Linguistics, analyzes Barack Obama’s presidential speeches mainly from the point of transitivity and modality, in which we can learn the language how to serve the ideology and power. Moreover, we can have a better understanding of the political purpose of these speeches. Index Terms— Critical Discourse Analysis, transitivity, modalit y I. INTRODUCTION Crit ical linguistic is also called Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA).It first originated in Britain in 1980s when the work Language and Control was published. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse a nalytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context. With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social equality (Van Dijk, 1985).Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (often M. A. K. Halliday), an Australian linguist, developed an internationally influential grammar model-the Systemic Functional Grammar (also called Systemic Functional Linguistics). It is the main foundation of Critical Discourse Analysis as well as other theories in pragmatics. The object of CDA is public speech, such as advertisement, newspaper, politic al propagandas, official documents, laws and regulations and so on. Its aim is to explore the relationships among language ,ideology and power.In the past twenty years, Critical Discourse Analysis developed quickly in aboard and had achieved great achievements. A large number of scholars have made contribution in the fields of critical analysis of political discourse. However, Critical Discourse Analysis is, comparatively speaking, a kind of new study in China. Only a few researchers work in this field. Since 90s of the last century, some articles about the basic theories and principles of Critical Discourse Analysis have just appeared in linguistic journals.Chen Zhongzhu, a professor in Beijing University, was the first person who introduced Critical Discourse Analysis to China. He made a review of critical linguistics and introduced its philosophical and theoretical foundations to Chinese linguists. Xin Bin is another prominent and productive scholar of Critical Discourse Analysis in China. From 1996 to 2 002, he published many articles to further the study of Critical Discourse Analysis, in which he discussed the birth, development and methods of critical linguistics (Xu Xiaoxia, 2008).Since more and more Chinese-foreign academic exchanges in the 21st century, the development of Critical Discourse Analysis has come to a new stage. We can see more and more articles about Critical Discourse Analysis appeared in academic journals. We know that every four years, hundreds of thousands of Americans will welcome the glory moment of electing a new president. They will canvass for their favorite candidates willingly. And every candidate will apply his or her rich language expressions, impassioned speeches and wholehearted attitudes to try to win more votes.The stud y of presidential addresses has not only attracted the interests of political scientists and historians, but also attained the attention of linguists. This year, Barack Obama, the first African -American president in American hi story, captured the world? s attention. In this thesis, the author will apply Halliday? s Systemic Functional Grammar, in terms of the three meta -functions: ideational function,interpersonal function and textual function, to find out the formal features of Barack Obama? s speeches.Its aim is to explore the relationships among language ,ideology and power and to find out how to use the power of speeches to persuade the public to accept and support his policies. II. THEORETICAL BASES M. A. K. Halliday? s Systemic Functional Grammar is usually considered the main foundation of Critical Discourse Analysis as well as other theories in pragmatics. Systemic Functional Grammar has two components: SYSTEMIC GRAMMAR and FUNCTIONAL GTAMMAR.  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH 55 They are two inseparable parts for an integral framework of linguistic theory. â€Å"Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language as a system network, or meanin g potential. And this network consists of subsystems from which language users make choices. Functional grammar aims to reveal that language is a means of social interaction, based on the position that language system and the forms that make it up are inescapably determined by the uses or functions which they serve† (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988: 307).Halliday thinks the procedure of stylistic analysis can be divided into three logically ordered phrases: Analysis, Interpretation and Evaluation. The limitless practical functions can be generalized into a set of highly coded and abstract functions—meta-functions, which are inherent in every language. His idea of meta -function includes the ideational function, the interpersonal function and the textual function. A. Ideational Function The first function Halliday points out is the ideational functi on. What is ideational function?It is through this function that the speaker or writer embodies in language his experience of the phenom ena of the real world; and this includes his experience of the internal world of his own consciousness: his reactions, cognitions, and perceptions, and also his linguistic acts of speaking and understanding (Halliday, 1971: 332) In other words, this function is to convey new information, to communicate a content that is unknown to the hearer. It reflects the events and experience in both objective and subjective worlds. The ideational function mainly consists of â€Å"transitivity† and â€Å"voice†.Hu Zhuanglin, a Chinese linguist, point out: â€Å"This function not only specifies the available options in meaning but also determines the nature of their structural realizations† (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988: 312). For Example, Kitty flies a kite can be analyzed as: the Actor is Kitty, the process is Material and the Goal is a kite. The Actor, Process, Goal, and their subcategories reflect our understanding of phenomena that come within our experience. The ideational functi on is mainly represented by the transitivity system in grammar.In this system,the meaningful grammatical unit is clause,which expresses what? s happening,what? s being done,what? s felt and what the state is and so on (Cheng Yumin, 2007). The transitivity system includes six processes: material proces s,mental process,relational process,behavioral process, verbal process and existential process. Material processes are those in which something is done. These processes are expressed by an action verb (e. g. eat, go, give), an Actor (logical subject) and the Goal of the action (logical direct object, usually a noun or a pronoun). Hu Zhuanglin,1988) e. g. Marry is eating a banana. Mental processes express such mental phenomena as â€Å"perception† (see, look), â€Å"reaction† (like, please) and â€Å"cognition† (know, believe, convince). A mental process involves two participants, Senser and Phenomenon. (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988) e. g. Tom likes chocolate. Relational proc esses can be classified into two types: Attributive and Identifying. The former expresses what attributes a certain object has, or what type it belongs to, for example, The temperature is high. The latter expresses the identical properties of two entities.For example, Lily is a girl; The girl is Lily. (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988) Verbal processes are those of exchanging information. Commonly used verbs are say, tell, talk, praise, boast, describe, etc. In these processes the main participants are Sayer, Receiver and Verbiage. Behavioral processes refer to physiological and psychological behavior such as breathing, coughing, smiling, laughing, crying, staring, and dreaming, etc. Generally there is only one participant—Behaver, which is often a human. This kind of processes is much like the mental process.Behavioral process may sometimes be hardly distinguished from a material process that has only one participant. This depends on whether the activity concerned is physiological or psyc hological. When Behavioral process has two participants, we may take it as material process, for example, His father beat the disobedient boy. (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988) Existential processes represent that something exists or happens. In every existential process, there is an Existent. For Example, There is a girl in the garden. Does ghost exist on earth? Here comes a bus. B. Interpersonal FunctionIn the second place, language serves as interpersonal function. As Halliday observed, The speaker is using language as the means of his own intrusion into the speech event: the expression of his comments, attitudes and evaluations, and also of the relationship that he sets up between himself and the listener —in particular, the communication role that he adopts of informing, questioning, greeting, persuading, and the like. (Halliday, 1971:333) Hu Zhuanglin (1988:313) points out: â€Å"The interpersonal function embodies all uses of language to express social and personal relations.This includes the various ways the speaker enters a speech situation and performs a speech act. † Modality and Mood are often used to express the interpersonal function. Mood shows what role the speaker selects in the speech situation and what role he assigns to the addressee. If the speaker selects the imperative mood, he assumes the role of one giving commands and puts the addressee in the role of one expected to obey orders. For exampl e, Pass  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER 256 JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH me the book. (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988)Modality refers to the intermediate ranges between the extreme positive and the extreme negative. It is one of the most important systems in social communication. On the one hand, it can objectively express the spe aker? s judgment toward the topic. On the other hand, it can show the social role relationship, scale of formality and power relationship. In English, except modal verbs, modal adverbs, adjectives, there are also personal p ronouns, notional verbs, tense, direct and indirect speeches to express the modalization. C. Textual Function The third role of language is called textual function.Halliday described, â€Å"Language makes links between itself and the situation; and discourse becomes possible because the speaker or writer can produce a text and the listener or reader can recognize one† (Halliday, 1971:334). According to Hu Zhanglin, The textual function refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences. Although two sentences may have exactly the same ideational and interpersonal functions, they may be different in terms of textual coherence. Hu Zhuanglin, 1988: 315) The textual function fulfils the requirement that language should be operationally relevant, having texture in a real context of situation that distinguishes a living passage from a mere entry in a grammar book or a dictionary. It provides the remaining strands of meaning potential to be woven into the fabric of linguistic structure. Information can be clearly expressed in a discourse. It can also be implicated between the lines. Therefore, all discourses are unities of explicit and implicit message. (Halliday, 1971)Because language serves as a generalized ideational function, we are able to use it for all the specific purposes and types of context which involve the communication of experience. Because it serves a generalized interpersonal function, we are able to use it for the specific forms of personal expression and social interaction. And a prerequisite to its effective operation under both these headings what we have referred to as the textual function, whereby language becomes text, is related to itself and to its contexts of use.Without the textual component of meaning, we should be unable to make any use of language at all (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988). III. IN TRODUCTION OF SAMPLE SPEECHES A. The Introduction of Barack Obama Barack Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, becomes the first African -American president of the United States. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii and has lived in many places, including Indonesia. His mother was from Kansas and his father from Kenya. Obama attended Columbia University in New York and earned a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts.He and his wife, Michelle Obama, who also worked as a lawyer and later for the University of Chicago, have two young daughters, Sasha and Malia. Serving in the Senate since 2004, Obama introduced bipartisan legislation which allows Americans to learn online how their tax dollars are spent. He also serves on the Veterans? Affairs Committee, which helps oversee the care of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. So his approval rate on the internet is high. The most supporters of Obama are young people, African-American, poor citizens and the peop le who want to change.Facing with the economic crisis, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama gave hi s campaign slogan â€Å"change has come† and hoped to rebuilt the confidence and believe of Americans. In last August, Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady, and became the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. And during the following months in 2008, he defeated McCain, the Republican Party? s presidential candidate, and won the all three television debates held in Oxford (Mississippi), Nashville (Tennessee) and Hempstead (New York).And finally he relying on 333 electoral votes won the final success and became the 44th American president and the first African-American president in American history. Barack Obama has written two books: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006) and Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995). B. Speeches for Analysis Sample Speech 1. Obama? s Victory Speech On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama gave a victory speech in Grant Park of Chicago to appreciate his supporters and celebrated the success of elections.About 400,000 Americans got here and witnessed the happy moment. Sample Speech 2. Obama? s Inaugural Address On January 20, 2009, the new American president Barack Obama gave his inaugural address before the Capital Rotunda in Washington. According to the official reports, population of the attendance reached about 2 ,000,000. IV. DETAIL STUDY ON SAMPLE SPEECHES From table 1, we can have a general view of the two speeches. We can see the total words of sample 1 are 2057,  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHERJOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH 257 including 110 sentences. The average length of words is 4. 247 and sentence mean length is 18. 7. Sample 2 is as the same, the total words are 2396, with an average length of 4. 458. And the number of sentence is 112 with an average length of 21. 39. So here, we can find that the two sample speech es mainly use simple words and short sentences. The language is easy and colloquial. The audience of the speeches is usually various, including the rich, the poor, the black, the white and so on.In order to shorten the distance between the president and the audience, we can find Obama used a lot of spoken English. Moreover, the subject of the two speeches is extensive, which isn? t on account of one or two concrete issue. That is because the presidential speeches usually reflect the political platforms of the candidate, so the field is large, such as American history, present crisis, global issues and so on. TABLE 1 STATISTIC OF SAMPLE SPEECHES Statistical Item Statistic Words (Tokens) Words (Types) Tokens/Types Word Classification SentencesParagraphs Characters Sentence Mean Length Word Mean Length Sample 1 2057 690 2. 981 1687_114_†¦ 110 63 8736 18. 700 4. 247 Sample 2 2396 894 2. 680 1969_123_†¦ 112 35 10681 21. 393 4. 458 A. Transitivity Analysis The ideational functio n is represented in text by transitivity. It is a basic semantic system, which construes the world of experience into a manageable set of process types. Halliday divides these processes into six types: material process , mental process,relational process,behavioral process, verbal process and existential process. TABLE 2OVERVIEW OF PROCESS TYPES (PENG PINGPING, 2007) Core meaning Participants „doing? , „happening? Actor, Goal „sensing? Sensor, phenomenon „being? „saying? Sayer, Receiver, Verbiage „behaving? Behaver „existing? Existent Process types Material Mental Relational Verbal Behavioral Existential Sample Speech 1 NO. Total Number 212 % 2 NO. Material Processes 123 TABLE 3 TRANSITIVITY IN THE SAMPLE SPEECHES Metal Relational Behavioral Processes Processes Processes 18 48 8 Verbal Processes 12 Existential processes 3 58 227 % 8 23 4 6 1 141 14 52 6 10 4 62 6 23 2 4 2From table 2 and 3, we can see that material processes are used most in the speeches with a percentage of 58% and 62%. Relational process ranks the second and then is followed by mental process. So here, the author will mainly analyze the first three ones. 1 Material process Material process is a process of â€Å"doing†. The process is usually indicated by a verb expressing an action, either concrete or abstract. There are usually two participants in the process: Actor and Goal. Actor is comparable to the Subject and Goal is comparable to the Object and both of them are usually realized by noun phrases.When the participants both exist, the clause can be either in active voice or in passive voice.  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER 258 JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH ACTOT I We/Americans/each of us/all /our TABLE 4 TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE SPEECHES (MATERIAL PROCESS) PROCESS GOAL receive, congratulate, make, need, thank call, partner, voice, help achieve, start, get, face, share, seek, refuse, choose, money, the challenges, values, chan ge, choice, vital reject, carry, understand, use, build, meet, restore, rust, hope, journey, gift, greatness, energy, roads transform, taste, consume, send, volunteer, support, and bridge, reality, science, schools and colleges, new threats, the bitter swill, new way, world? s resource , message, From the above table (Table 4), we can see the Actors of the two sample speeches are I and we /Americans/each of us/all. Material process, as a process of doing, is a good choice in the address to demonstrate what the government has achieved, what they are doing and what they will do in different aspects of affairs, home or abroad .And it can also arouse the American people? s confidence toward the president and his government and to get their support in policies or measures in the following four years. For example, We (Actor) will begin to responsibly leave (Material Process) Iraq (Goal) to its people, and forge (Material Process) a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan (Goal). With old friends and former foes, we (Actor) will work tirelessly to lessen (Material Process) the nuclear threat (Goal), and roll back (Material Process) the specter of a warming planet (Goal).We (Actor) will not apologize(Material Process) for our way of life (Goal), nor will we (Actor) waver in its defense (Goal) , and for those who (Actor) seek to advance (Material Process) their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents (Goal), we (Actor) say(Material Process) to you (Goal) now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken (Material Process); you (Actor) cannot outlast(Material Process) us, and we (Actor) will defeat(Material Process) you (Goal). 2 Relational process Relational process is a process of being.It can be divided into two modes: attributive relation and identifying relation. The first means what properties an object possesses or what category it can be put into. And the other means that an entity and another is uniform. It is used widely in describing people and objects . Look at the following table: TABLE 5 Attributive The dream of our founders is alive. Our challenges may be new. Identifying America is a friend of each nation. A friend of each nation is America. America is a place where all things are possible. A place where all things are possible is America.Relational process, as a process of being, is appropriate to explain the complex relationships between some abstract items because it sounds definite. As a result, the process accounts for a large proportion in these addresses to elaborate the relationship between traditional ideals and their beliefs. Such an elaboration can reach the President? s aim of making the reasoning naturally and unconsciously accepted and making the required sacrifice in the speech willingly taken by the audience. (Cheng Yumin, 2007) 3 Mental process Mental process is a process of feeling, thinking and seeing.Actor is not the real subject of doing, but the feeling. It represents inner experience, such as â€Å"per ception†, â€Å"reaction† and â€Å"cognition†. We call the two participants are Senser and phenomenon. For example, (1) In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we (Senser) understand (Mental Process) that greatness is never a given. (2) As we (Senser) consider (Mental Process) the road that unfolds before us, we (Senser) remember (Mental Process) with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. 3) And we (Senser) know (Mental Process) the government can't solve every problem. From above examples, we can see that mental process, as a process of sensing, appeals to the audience? s inner heart to connect the political beliefs, ambitions with their expectation, hope in a c lear and emphasized way. In this way, the audience? s emotion of promotion and willingness to devotion is aroused and strengthened. Halliday declared that material, relational and mental processes are three primary ones in langua ge use since the three add up to about 90%.As an inaugural address for a newly elected American President, it must fulfill the traditionally and ritually required functions: to state facts of the domestic or worldwide situations or problems objectively and the relevant policies forcefully, to conduct reasoning related to the relationship between traditional beliefs such as freedom, democracy, justice, equality, principles, union, happiness and American dreams and citizens? participation, responsibilities, sacrifice and the needed reforms in economy, Medicare, or other fields. (Cheng Yumin, 2007) For example, 1) There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their c hild’s college education. (2) Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence t hat the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our plan et. The above two sentence are examples of showing the fact that the situation in American is not good. The economic  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH 59 crisis leaded many people lost their jobs. It is hard for them to pay the housing fee, tuitions Medicare and other heavy pays. (3) There’s new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair. (4) So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other. These two examples reveal that the government hopes the Americans can join together and rebuild their confidence and believes to defeat all the bad things.B. Modality Analysis Modality refers to a speaker? s attitudes towards or opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence. It also extends to their attitude towards the situation or event described by a sentence. 1 Modal verbs Positive Negative TABLE 6 MODAL VERBS (ZHANG GUOLING, 2006) Low politeness Median politeness Can, may, could, might, dare Will, would, should, shall Needn? t, doesn? t/didn? t , +need to, Won? t, wouldn? t, have to shouldn? t, isn? t/wasn? t to High politeness Must, ought to, need, has/had to Mustn? t, oughtn? t to, can? couldn? t, mayn? t, mightn? t, hasn? t/hadn? t to TABLE 7 MODALITY ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE SPEECHES (MODAL VERBS) Total Number Low politeness Median politeness No. % No. % 2057 23 1. 12 23 1. 12 2396 29 1. 12 28 1. 12 Sample Speeches 1 2 High politeness No. % 3 0. 15 9 0. 38 According to the statistics, it is obvious that modal verbs are used to convey the addresser? s attitudes and judgment, with an average of 0. 8% in the whole speeches. The high percentage of the use of modal verbs is appropriate to the speaking since the addresses are delivered in spoken form.Compared wit h other verbs, modal verbs are more easily identified and understood and then accepted because at the time of listening to the speeches, there is no time for the audience to reflect. For Example, (1) †¦because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference. (2) The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. (3) And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices.I need your help. And I will be your president, too. (4) We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do. 2 Tense Tense is the time of a clause.Halliday (1994) points out that primary t ense means past, present or future at the moment of speaking; it is the time relative to â€Å"now†. Sample Speeches 1 NO. Total Numbers 110 % 2 NO. % TABLE 8 TENSE OF SENTENCES Present Simple Perfect 72 8 Simple Past Simple Future 21 10 65. 5 112 7. 2 19. 1 9. 1 71 13 12 14 63. 4 11. 6 10. 7 12. 5 On the basis of the statistics of tenses, we can see that the tense of simple present is most frequently used in the speeches, the average percentage being 64. 45%. Simple past ranks second with an average percentage of 14. 9% and is followed by simple future with an average percentage of 10. %. The use of present perfect is slightly less than simple future and ranks the fourth. It is natural that simple present tense ranks wi th top priority since the addresses are to present the domestic and world wide situations ranging from political, economic and cultural fields at present. The use  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER 260 JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH of the tense facilitates the creation of a close relationship between the president and his audience and the easy identification and acceptation of the validity of the assertions contained in the speaking.Simple future tense is primarily used to show the planned or expected things in the future. The tense helps the president to lay out his or his government? s following reforms or steps taken in his term to foster the buildup of the country and the corresponding change or results of these measures in the futu re. In this way, the government? s objectives are shown and at the same time, the audience? s confidence is built by the prospect of the beauty and prosperity of the future life. It will be a natural result that the American pe ople will follow the government? direction and guidance in the next four years and thus the addresses? goal of seeking support is achieved. Simple past and present perfect tenses are used to refer to the actions or things in the past. Their function lies in that the newly elected presidents usually state the achievements in the founding of the country or in the last term or recall the positive or negative experiences in the past as basis or incentive of his following actions. By this means, his respect for the past is displayed and it can also make his plans reasoning and fully grounded. Cheng Yumin, 2007) 3 Personal Pronouns TABLE 9 PERSONAL PRONOUNS Personal Pronoun First person I (me) We (us) Second person You (you) Third person He (him) She (her) It (it) They (them) Possecive pronoun My (mine) Our(ours) Your(yours) His (his) Her(hers) Its (its) Their (theirs) Obama? s victory speech 35 60 20 4 8 14 8 Obama? s victory speech 12 26 6 1 6 0 11 Sample Speeches Obama? s Inaugural Address 3 85 14 1 0 0 4 Obama? s Inaugural Address 2 69 3 0 0 0 0 From table 9, we can find out that the first person is used most.For example, the use of the first person pronoun â€Å"we† is to shorten the distance between the speaker and the audience, regardless of their disparity in age, social status and professions etc. it may include both the speaker and the listener into the same arena, and thus make the audience feel close to the speaker and his points. C. Textual Analysis The textual function refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any stretch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random list of sentences.Here, we take Sample 2 as an example. Obama? s inaugural address is the first time for him to give a formal speech as a president and also an optimal time to show himself a qualified president. As a result, to fulfill the aim of convincing the American people and the whole world that he and his team a re capable of leadership, with vigor and with vision, he must illustrate the planned policies, both domestic and foreign, in a formal, convincing and forceful way. It often contains the following information: (Cheng Yumin, 2007) 1) Salutation ) The expression of gratitude and honor 3) A review of the American history and achievement in the past 4) An analysis of the contemporary situation, at home and in the world 5) A displaying and explanation of domestic policies and/or foreign policies of the new government 6) Hopes for the beautiful and prosperous future of the country 7) Resort to God for help and blessing The whole text is coherent, organized, accurate and logical. So it can help to persuade the public to accept and support his policies. Meanwhile, we can find the strong religious content in his speech.Look at the following examples: (1) †¦the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. (2) This i s the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. (3)†¦with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations. (4) Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH 261 We know most Western people are godly Christian.These prayers, direct and indirect speeches from Bible and the Christian stories can all help the speaker to win the sympathy and supporting of audience. They make the speech full of charisma. V. CONCLUSION On the basis of the above discussion, we may come to the conclusion. According to Halliday? s Systemic Functional Grammar, we can summarize the features of Barack Obama? s speeches as follow. First, he used more simple words and short sentences instead of difficult ones. His language is easy and colloquial. Thus, it can ea sily shorten the distance between him and the audience .Second, from transitivity analysis, we can see material process, a process of doing, has been used most in his speeches. From this process, Obama showed us what the government has achieved, what they are doing and what they will do. And also we can see t hat with applying transitivity, his speeches are trying to arouse the American people? s confidence toward the president and his government in the following four years. Third, modality refers to a speaker? s attitudes towards or opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence.Through the analysis of modality, we can find that Obama made his audience more easily to understand and accept his political speeches by means of modal verbs, tense and first person pronouns. He used simple present tense to present the domestic and world wide situations ranging from political, economic and cultural fields at present. And then depending on simple future tense, he laid out his following reforms and steps taken in his term. In this way, the government? s ob jectives are shown and at the same time, the audience? s confidence is built.Moreover, by using first person pronouns and religious belief , he successfully shortened the distance between him and the audience. So it can help him persuade the public to accept and support his policies. Critical Discourse Analysis can explore the relationships among language, ideology and power. It provides a new idea and method to analyze public addresses. So it is worth for us to pay more attention. REFERENCES Halliday, M. A. K. ( 1979). Linguistic function and literary style: an inquiry into the language of William Golding? s The Inheritors.In Linguistic Studies of Text and Discourse. ed. Jonathan J. Webster. 88-125. Peking: Peking University Press. [2] Van Dijk, (1985). A Handbook of Discourse Analysis London Academic Press Limited. Volumn 4. [3] Cheng Yumin. (2007). An Analysis of Style Features of Inaugural Speec hes Given by American Presidents Based on the Functional Theory of Han Lide. From the thesis of a master. Tai Yuan science University. [4] Dai Weihua, Gao Jun. (2002). A Critical Discourse Analysis: Theory Comment and Examples Analysis. Foreign Language Issue 6. P 85-88. [5] Hu Zhuanglin. (1988).A Course of Linguistics. Peking: Peking University Press. [6] Lin Wei,Yang Yuchen. (2007). English Discourse Analysis. Shanghai:Fu Dan University Press. [7] Luo Li. (2007). A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Political Speech. Science and Education Collection P193-194? [8] Wei Fang. (2005). Language Feature Analysis and Translation Method of Political Speeches. Journal of Peking Printing College Volumn13, issue 4. P75-78. [9] Xiong Li. (2004). A Study of Kennedy? s Writing Style from Words of His Inaugural Speech. Journal of Southwest National University, Issue 6.P 407-410. [10] Xu Xiaoxia. (2008). A Critical Discourse Analysis of Sino-American Political News Report. From the thesis of a mast er. Shan Dong Normal University. [1] Junling Wang was born in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, China in 1963. She received her M. A degree in English language and literature from Foreign Languages Department of Northwest Normal University in Lanzhou, China in 1989. Now she is an associate professor in Northwest Normal University. Her research interests include English teaching and translation practice.  © 2010 ACADEMY PUBLISHER

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

U.S. Economic Warfare during World War II Essay Example

U.S. Economic Warfare during World War II Essay Example U.S. Economic Warfare during World War II Essay U.S. Economic Warfare during World War II Essay The United States has been considered as one of the powerhouse country in the world. Its booming economy and strong leadership have been the epitome of economic and political success. But the U.S. was not always at the top of the heap. In the early 1900s, during the start of World War I, the U. S. economy was largely dependent on overseas trading but when the war broke out; it dramatically halted economic trading because they were no longer able to sell goods to other countries particularly to Britain and Germany (Hardgrove n.p). War had become an inevitable part of the history of the United States. They have engaged in several battles and confrontations with other nations and even with their fellow Americans as well. So far, the U.S. had participated in numerous wars dating back to the civil war to the present Iraq war.However, it was in the First and Second World Wars that the U.S. had a major participation that resulted in the restoration of peace and order across the globe. Also, it was during this period that the U.S. economy both experienced economic escalation and at the same time fiscal recession. It became an   unfavorable situation towards the end of the 1930s when WWI facilitated the manifestation of the Great Depression in the U.S. that resulted to an economy with a huge â€Å"disparity between U.S. productive capacity and the ability of Americans to consume† (Kauffman n.p). On the other hand, it became favorable at the time of the involvement of the Americans in World War II that triggered the elimination of unemployment and beginning of the build up of the warfare mass production that molded   the U.S. economy   to become a potent and robust economy.In the early 20th century, prior to the war, the U.S. was already under recession. For almost 11 years, the economy demonstrated little progress to get out of the fiscal slump. Every incident of recovery was immediately countered with series of economic downfalls that led U.S. to become st agnant. To mitigate the effects of the recession, the government initiated several reforms in the form of the New Deal which had two versions drafted by the administration of President Roosevelt (Vatter 7). Unfortunately, this program was not able to carry out its purpose of reducing the looming unemployment rate. At this time, there were about 8 million Americans who did not have any work to provide for themselves and their families (Schultz n.p). Being an optimist and sugarcoating the situation were the only doable actions left for the government to do in order to mask the reality. The fall of the stock market, depreciation of the value of the stocks and termination of enterprises were just some of the incidents that drained the finances and purchasing power of the   average American (â€Å"The Depression in the United States†). But there came a point when the economy slightly recovered from the economic turmoil. From 1938 to 1940, the U.S. fiscal Depression streak was mo mentarily downgraded into a recessionary status. However, this only caused a more widespread demand for the government to initiate more aggressive economic measures. Economic recovery according to Vatter, â€Å"required much more massive doses of Keynesian medicine (injections of big G) than had ever been applied by the civilian New Deal in order to finally bring full employment.† (11)Generally, the Great Depression was a period filled with all-time high taxes which paralyzed the trading and exporting to neighboring nations that badly hurt the industrial and capital realm of the U.S. economy (Kauffman n.p). But towards the outbreak of the Second World War around the early 1940’s, government spending for the impending war in Europe and Asia gradually alleviated the effects of the collapse of the economy. From the commencement of the war until its culmination, the U.S. economy had taken advantage of the many fiscal opportunities that transformed the depressed economy int o a booming economy (Vatter 9).The wartime economy had brought dramatic changes in the lives of many Americans. First, full time employment was made available thus raising the â€Å"overall standard of living.† Second, labor union membership expanded from 10 million before the start of the war to 15 million members in total when the war ended, thus making labor union movements more powerful. Third, agricultural profits soared but the quantity of farmers declined because most of them opted to work in city factories. Lastly, the investements made during wartime seemed to have proven the assumptions of Keynesian economics (Modern American Poetry ). U.S involvement in the war â€Å"brought into operation Keynesian deficit spending of sufficient magnitude to end twelve years of mass unemployment† (Vatter 14). More so,The stimulating effect of World War II on the US economy is frequently cited as the spark that brought and end to the Great Depression, but it was not just a s park. Defense spending was the difference between the depressed 1930s and the booming 1940s. (Hooks 2)In effect, the economic boost combined with the World War II participation of the U.S. have altered the American society. Government officials were so overwhelmed by the their involvement in the war that they have neglected to launch economic and social reforms needed in order to sustain their fiscal growth. As a result, longer working days were prompted to increase the industrial production. Also, to lessen the possibility of having labor scarcity, the federal government â€Å"ignored laws regulating the employment of children and women.† As a result, the number of school dropouts skyrocketed and about 1 million of them comprised the labor workforce of the entire country. As the government continued to focus on wartime spending, the living condition of most Americans started to decline because of the cutbacks made on the implementation of social reforms. Poverty began to be a concern amidst high wages. It had been   â€Å"reported that 20 million Americans were on the border of subsistence and starvation and 25% of all employed Americans earned less than 64 cents an hour, while skilled workers often earned $7 or $8 an hour† (â€Å"The Depression in the United States†).Regardless of the social reform setbacks, civilian employment opportunities remained high as the war progressed. There was a dramatic surge in employment rate in the private and military industry while unemployment fell â€Å"from over 8 million to about 1 million, even as the civilian labor force held constant at about 56 million† (Vatter 17). This indicated that the economy of the United States has completely recovered from its recessionary state 5 years ago. Government spending on the warfare had clearly paid off resulting to a historical increase in mass production that produced large amounts of national profits as well as individual disposable incomes and at th e same time have upgraded the labor conditions.The victory of the Allied forces brought peace and order throughout the world. Howecer, in the US, it was a different story. Many believed that since the war was over, production will be lessened since there will be no more need for generating war equipment. But this was just one of the few side effects of the war. However, in the larger scale, â€Å"the war had not only decisively ended the Great Depression, but it created the conditions for productive postwar cooperation between the federal government, private enterprise, and organized labor, the parties whose tripartite collaboration helped engender continued economic growth after the war† (Tassava n.p).Since the U.S. became an economic powerhouse, American government officials decided to be of help to countries devastated by the war to indirectly show to the world that they are in control of the global economic activities.   They gave financial aid to Europe amounting to â €Å"13 billion through the Economic Recovery Program (ERP) or the Marshall Plan from 1947 to 1951.†Ã‚   Japan also received $1.8 billion in 1945. The Americans linked the economic restoration of West Germany, Great Britain, France and Japan with their own import and export needs to further their economic goals (Tassava n.p).As Alan Milward, an economic historian, had said;â€Å"the United States emerged in 1945 in an incomparably stronger position economically than in 1941 By 1945 the foundations of the United States economic domination over the next quarter of a century had been secured† This may have been the most influential consequence of the Second World War for the post-war world.† (qtd. in Tassava â€Å"The American Economy during World War II†)After the Second World War, the United States emerged as the worlds largest, and strongest, economy. U.S. citizens were assured that their economy will never go back to its depression days. Their fruits of la bor have produced the â€Å"the largest peacetime trade surplus in American history and the gross national product grew to a record $482.7 billion by the end of the 1950s† (â€Å"United States Economy†).World War II saved the United States from further economic turmoil. Without it, mass production would have not materialized thus the supply of millions of employment to many Americans would have not at all been possible. It can be surmised that this historical event was a blessing in disguise for the U.S. It served as the catalyst that forever configured the U.S. economic system and the American society. If it there have not been a war, the need to mass produce would not have materialized and that the U.S. could have remained inactive and unproductive for a long time leaving their potentials and resources unexplored.   More so, most Americans benefited and enjoyed the advantages of having a thriving economy. As a result, the U.S. became the center for wealth and devel opment and their way of living have become an international standard that other nations adhere and aspire to achieve. Clearly, the economic warfare of the 1940s have greatly affected the U.S. position as the leading country in the world.Hardgrove, Kristen. â€Å"United States Involvement in WWI.† 12 November 2007. 26 May 2008 socyberty.com/History/United-States-Involvement-in-WWI. 57905.Hooks, Gregory. Forging the Military-Industrial Complex: World War II’s Battle of the Potomac. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991.Kauffman, Kristina. â€Å"Modern American Economic History†. 26 May 2008 http://members.aol.com/kmkauffman/EconRead.htm.Schultz, Stanley. â€Å"American History 102.† 1999. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. 26 May 2008 http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture21.html.Tassava, Christopher. â€Å"The American Economy during World War II.† EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. 26 May 2008 htt p://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/tassava.WWII.â€Å"The Depression in the United States.† Modern American Poetry.   26 May 2008 english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/overview.htm.â€Å"United States Economy.† 2007. Encyclopedia of the Nations. 26 May 2008 nationsencyclopedia.com/Americas/United-States-ECONOMY.html.Vatter, Herald G. The US Economy in World War II. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Dynamics, Fluids & Energy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dynamics, Fluids & Energy - Assignment Example Source: Prado Miguel, 2009, Renewable Energy sources Energy Energy is needed in all spheres of a life to accelerate growth. The traditional concept of generating energy from fossil fuels that could drive certain machinery is giving way to a more holistic approach where other sources like wind, solar, tidal waves and biomass are also being considered as alternate forms of energy. (Prado Miguel, 2009) Sustainability The reason why man is looking out for other forms of energy is because it has been estimated with the present rate of consumption; fossil fuels will be unavailable in the near future. Hence the idea is to develop or harness an energy source that is always being replenished by nature. This ensures that all the fossil fuel that is available at present is not completely used up and assures that the future generations have also access to this energy source. This forms the basic premise of a sustainable energy. (Prado Miguel, 2009) Renewability Renewability is used to describe t hose energy sources which are abundant in nature and are replenished naturally. The consumption of these energy sources has minimal impact on the environment. Using these energy sources also leads to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions produced by consuming fossil fuels. This has a direct impact on reducing the rate of global warming and forms the most innovative solutions in containing the temperature rise in earth’s environment. (Prado Miguel, 2009) Alternate forms of Sustainable Renewable Energy 1. Solar Energy Since energy from the sun is available abundantly, expertise lies in harnessing this energy effectively. The primary factors involve capturing and converting this solar energy for efficient storage. It is estimated that about 1000 Watts/ square metre fall on the earth’s surface on an average since this is dependent on environmental conditions (National Seminar on Alternative Energy Sources, 2005, p.5) and the climate. A photovoltaic cell (PV) is ideally use d to tap into this light energy and convert it into electrical energy. This is a simple process in which the captured sunlight releases electrons on striking the silicon material. The electrons thus displaced create a hole with a positive charge. (Lewis Nathan and Nocera Daniel, 2006, p. 6801)The released electrons are then made to travel back to these holes via an external circuit thereby generating current. Solar cells can be arranged in series or in parallel to obtain the required voltage and current. Source: National Seminar on Alternative Energy Sources, 2005, VSAT Equipments powered by Solar 2. Wind Energy Wind energy is another form of energy that is available abundantly but requires the right kind of harnessing to be used efficiently. Solar power is indirectly responsible for the generation of wind energy. This is because land surface absorbs solar energy at different rates and hence the air above this land or water mass is heated at different rates. Source: Edelstein, 2003, Windmills in series This unequal heating causes a pressure gradient during which the hot lighter air rises up while the cool denser air flows in to take its place. (Edelstein, et al, 2003, p.2) This gradient thus creates a rapid movement of air which is called wind. A device that could be used to slow down this wind velocity can convert part of the kinetic energy into electrical energy. Wind speed, area of cross section swept by rotor and its efficiency in conversion, Generator properties and the

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy - Research Paper Example As time passed, the causes and mechanisms of human disease started to become understood. It is true that many new diseases have emerged which may have been nonexistent in previous times. This may be due to the formation of different reservoirs for the spread of disease associated with modernization which has brought the world together and hence has paved ways for the spread of disease from one region to another. The rearing of animals has also been considered to be associated strongly with the spread of diseases. Cows and chickens have been linked with outbreak of diseases which include smallpox and measles in the fifteenth and sixteenth century (Sheldon 2003). Thus, with advancement in technology, the patterns of human disease have been understood. It is believed that changing patterns of human living have led to increase in the number of diseases. Major epidemics of diseases broke out in the world that could not be treated owing to lack of development in the field of medicine. This included the millions of fatalities that resulted due to plague in the first half of the twentieth century. Mutations in genes are also associated with many medical conditions and pathologies. The research in the field of genetics has assisted in assessing these conditions (Robbins et al 2005, Levinson 2008). The human body functions on the basis of many organ systems. The integration of these systems is essential for the proper functioning of the human body. The immune system forms an important system of the human body which assists the individual to fight against invading organisms and to overcome the process of disease. The immune system functions either via the direct action of the white blood cells against the invading organisms or by the formation of antibodies against the pathogens that invade the human body. The skin is the outermost barrier and stops the pathogens from entering the body and it is hence referred to as the â€Å"first line of defense.† The human body functions via two forms of immunity which include the innate immunity and the acquired immunity. The innate immunity is the immunity that every individual possesses which include the skin and the white blood cells. This form of immunity is not specific against particular pathogens and is the trigger of the body against any foreign substance. The acquired immunity is the specific immunity which results particularly after the human being comes in contact with infective organisms. The acquired immunity is enhanced via the vaccines (Guyton et al 2000; Levinson 2008). The lymphatic system of the human body is the system which is directed towards the immunity. It includes the spleen, thymus as well as the bone marrow. The lymphatic system is directed towards the formation of the cells of the immune system as well as the delivery of these cells to the different organs of the human body. It assists in maintaining a healthy immunity of the individual against invasion (Guyton et al 2000). A w ide range of pathological conditions affect the human body. Disorders of the musculoskeletal system of the human body constitute an important set of conditions as they serve to hamper the normal living of an individual owing to their effect on the muscles of the human body. Muscular dystrophies are a set of conditions that affect the muscles of the human body. A dystrophy is basically a condition in which the normal fibers of the muscle become replaced by the fibrofatty tissue. This leads to a loss of functioning and hence the muscles of the