Dictionaries and Lexicons

Dictionaries and Lexicons Dictionaries and Lexicons Dictionaries and Lexicons By Maeve Maddox Both dictionaries and lexicons are collections of words. Both words derive from Latin and Greek words meaning to speak or to say. dictionary: A book dealing with the individual words of a language (or certain specified classes of them), so as to set forth their orthography, pronunciation, signification, and use, their synonyms, derivation, and history, or at least some of these facts lexicon: A word-book or dictionary; chiefly applied to a dictionary of Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic. The word dictionary entered English before lexicon. Thomas Elyot first used the word in the title of his Latin-English dictionary in 1538. Earlier English writers all the way back to Old English times compiled collections of words, but under different labels. Dictionaries are of two kinds. One kind pairs words in two languages. This was the first kind. The oldest known are Sumerian-Akkadian word lists on cuneiform tablets. In England, the Anglo-Saxon scholar Aelfric (c. 955-1012) compiled a Latin-English vocabulary grouped under topics such as plants and animals. The first English-English dictionary in alphabetical order was compiled in 1604 by Robert Cawdrey, an English school teacher. In 1755 Samuel Johnson completed A Dictionary of the English Language. His was the most extensive and reliable English dictionary until the achievement of the Oxford English Dictionary in the 19th century. Although originally applied to dictionaries of Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, or Arabic, the word lexicon is now used in the sense of vocabulary proper to some sphere of activity or simply as an elegant variation on the word dictionary. Lexicon is the word of choice when it comes to collections of words related to supernatural matters, for example: The Harry Potter Lexicon, and The Twilight Lexicon. Words related to lexicon are lexicographer: A writer or compiler of a dictionary. lexical: pertaining to words lexeme:   A word-like grammatical form intermediate between morpheme and utterance, often identical with a word occurrence; a word in the most abstract sense, as a meaningful form without an assigned grammatical role; an item of vocabulary. lexis: the total word-stock of a language; diction or wording as opposed to other elements of verbal expression such as grammar. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing Lightâ€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†75 Synonyms for â€Å"Hard†

Divorce has different legal and social implications for the Divorce Essay

Divorce has different legal and social implications for the Divorce Arab and Muslim woman. Discuss, giving examples - Essay Example This paper critically discusses the legal and social implications of divorce for the Arab and Muslim woman with particular focus to examples in various Islamic countries. Firstly, there are a number of legal implications related to divorce in the Islamic societies particularly for women. Legally, although matters of marriage and divorce are largely governed by the Sharia law, the rules of Islamic divorce and consequently, its legal implications vary among various Islamic jurisprudence from one Muslim country to another due to different cultural traditions and practices. In most cases, the Islamic laws have always been largely seen to favor men in relation to their female counterparts in nearly all the Arab and Muslim countries. For instance, while Islam allows Muslim husbands to marry immediately after divorce, women are often required to observe a certain period of time (iddah) before they remarry or have any conjugal relations after divorce. An iddah is a period prescribed of about three months before the divorce becomes final. In most cases, the wife must remain in the home during this period to see whether a reconciliatory method of salvaging their marriage is achievable or if she is pregnant (Haddad et al 134). Another important implication of divorce for a woman in the Arab and Islamic world is the potential loss of custody of her children. For example, the legal system used in Tunisia only allows the woman to have the custody of children up to the ages of 7 for boys and 9 for girls after which the husband the custody reverts to the husband. Although the Arabic and Islamic laws do not make divorce acquiescently permissible, these laws perfectly well through its chapter-based hedges the sanctions of the practice with many defences. In the Suratul-Talaq for example, divorce is highlighted with a lot of positivity; this scripture teaches that when you divorce a woman, divorce them at their prescribed periods, and count accurately

Financial structure and macroeconomic stability Research Paper

Financial structure and macroeconomic stability - Research Paper Example However the ability of the policy makers and financial regulators to implement different rules depends upon the control they have upon reducing inflation and output volatility. The transmission of interest rate fluctuations to output levels and prices depends upon a country’s policies regarding banking and management of financial markets. For most policy makers, in majority of the nations, controlling the interest rates in the short run is considered to be most important. Policy development and interest rate changes are however effective only when they lead to an increase the level finance available to firms and individuals who are willing to invest in projects or shift consumption. In many nations it is observed that the banking system is guarded from the impact caused by monetary policies through barriers which are created by the government (Iakova & Wagner, 2001). Monetary policy which gets transmitted to the real economy and thereby impacts the lending policies of the bank requires to be altered as they hinder growth. When the government sheds the assets of the bank, they indirectly create scope for the central banks to bring about stability in output and inflation rates. Therefore establishing a control over the assets possessed by the bank is a suitable way by which it is possible to manage the macro-economic environment. The deposit insurance system is also identified as a crucial factor in the financial regulatory system which affects the economy. The absence or the presence of a deposit regulatory system affects the readiness of bank managers to undertake risks. Subsequently the access available to firms to raise finance through equity and bonds may also get affected. Financial regulators are frequently seen to use bank loans as a tool to implement monetary policies. Therefore if firms are more dependent upon banks, then the efficient implementation of

Finite element method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Finite element method - Essay Example In order to avoid this situation; one must work in SI units (David, 2006). The Finite Element Method refers to a process of approximating a structure while considering that a structural analysis is being conducted, and existence of several potential sources of error. Major sources of errors include: several simplifications in structure model, element order, loads and boundary conditions, numerical, examples of errors from simplified representation, and general warning (David, 2006). Referred as disfeaturing, this simplification process usually involves taking out small details. It works well when stressed on the areas where omitted details are low. It is crucial to consider that sharp radii can increase the stress to a great extent. Ideally, its expected to start with a simple representation of the actual component and analysing if it is working as expected. If it is turning out as expected, more details can be added at every stage. With every repeat analysis, further details are added. In this way, it is possible to gain appreciation of the details that needs to be incorporate (David, 2006). All components have fixed radii at edges. However, a common perception should be ignored that small radii make "sharp" corner. It may not influence an exterior corner, however, for a sharp re-entrant, corner end up in a stress singularity. In stress singularity refinement of the FEA mesh will result in increased stress values with reduction in element size. Stress results are not requires while displacement results may work, however, a rational approximation of the radius should be utilized in the model. In order to avoid this issue, model components can be made with a substance that can identify plastic bend, however, the pressure at the sharp re-entrant will continue to be unlimited. If stressors are not required, induction of a sharp re-entrant will not influence the results and simplification process will lead to simplify model, for instance,

The Indolence of the Filipino Essay Example for Free

The Indolence of the Filipino Essay The word indolence has been greatly misused in the sense of little love for work and lack of energy†¦In the Philippines one’s and another’s faults, the shortcomings of one, the misdeeds of another, are attributed to indolence. And just as in the Middle Ages he who sought the explanation of phenomena outside of infernal influences was persecuted, so in the Philippines worse happens to him who seeks the origin of the trouble outside of accepted beliefs. Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are, witnesses whereto are all the historians of the first years after the discovery of the Islands. All the histories of [the country’s] first years†¦abound in long accounts about the industry and agriculture of the natives; mines, gold-washings, looms, farms, barter, naval construction, raising of poultry and stock, weaving of silk and cotton, distilleries, etc. , are things encountered at every step, and considering the time and the conditions in the islands, prove that there was life, there was activity, there was movement. The Filipinos in spite of the climate, in spite of their few needs (they were less then than now), were not the indolent creatures of our time†¦their ethics and their mode of life were not what is not complacently attributed to them. How is it strange, then, that discouragement may have been infused into the spirit of the inhabitants of the Philippines, when in the midst of so many calamities they did not know whether they would see sprout the seed they were planting, whether their field was going to be their grave or their crop would go to feed their executioner? He who does not act freely is not responsible for his actions; and the Filipino people, not being master of its liberty, is not responsible for either its misfortunes or its woes. We say this, it is true, but, as well as seen later on, we also have a large part in the continuation of such a disorder. Of no little importance were the hindrance and obstacles that from the beginning were thrown in the farmer’s way by the rules, who were influenced by childish fear and saw everywhere signs of conspiracies and uprisings. The natives were not allowed to go to their labors, that is, their farms, without permission of the governor, or of his agents and officers, and even of the priests as Morga says†¦ A modern French traveler who was in the Philippines for a long time says, â€Å"†¦the governor, the foremost official of the district†¦monopolizes all the business and instead of developing on his part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all competition that may trouble him or attempts to participate in his profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without industry, just so the governor is quickly enriched. † All the Filipinos†¦know how many documents, what comings, how many stamped papers, how much patience is needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. One must count upon the good will of this one, on the influence of that one, on a good bribe to another in order that the application be not pigeon-holed†¦And above all, great patience, great knowledge of how to get along, plenty of money, a great deal of politics, many salutations, great influence, plenty of presents and complete resignation! The trade with China†¦was not only prejudicial to Spain but also the life of her colonies; in fact, when the officials and private persons in Manila found an easy method of getting rich they neglected everything. They paid no attention either to cultivating the soil or to fostering industry†¦The pernicious example of the dominators in surrounding themselves with servants and despising manual or corporal labor as a thing unbecoming the nobility and chivalrous pride of the heroes of so many centuries; those lordly airs, which the natives have translated into tila ka castila, and the desire of the dominated to be the equal of the dominators, if not essentially, at east in their manners; all this had naturally to produce aversion to activity and fear or hatred of work. â€Å"Why work? † asked the natives. The curate says that the rich man will not go to heaven. The rich man on earth is liable to all kinds of trouble, to be appointed a cabeza de barangay†¦to be forced banker of the military chief of the town, who to reward him for favors received seizes his laborers and his stock in order to force him to beg money and thus easily pays up. Why be rich? †¦The native, whom they pretend to regard as an imbecile, is not so much so that he does not understand that it is ridiculous to work himself to death to become worse off. A proverb of his says the pig is cooked in its own lard, and as among his bad qualities he has the good one of applying to himself all the criticisms and censures he refers to live miserable and indolent rather than play the part of the wretched beast of burden. Along with gambling, which breeds dislike for steady and difficult toil by its promise of sudden wealth and its appeal to the emotions, with the lotteries, with the prodigality and hospitality of the Filipinos, went also, to swell the train of misfortunes, the religious functions the great number of fiestas, the long masses for the women to spend their mornings and the novenaries to spend their afternoons, and the nights for the processions and rosaries. Remember, that lack of capital and absence of means paralyze all movement, and you will see how the native was perforce (unavoidably) to be indolent for if any money might remain to him from the trials, imposts and exactions, he would have to give it to the curate for bulls, scapularies, candles, novenaries, etc. And if this does not suffice to form an indolent character†¦ recall then that the doctrine of his religion teach him to irrigate his fields in the dry season, not by means of canals but with masses and prayers; to preserve his stock during an epidemic with holy water, exorcisms and benedictions that cost five dollars an animal, to drive away the locusts by a procession with the image of St. Augustine, etc†¦We have noticed that the countries which believe most in miracles are the laziest, just as spoiled children are the most ill-mannered. Whether they believe in miracles to palliate their laziness or they are lazy because they believe in miracles, we cannot say; but the fact is the Filipinos were much less lazy before the word miracle was introduced into their language. With the lack of confidence in the future, that uncertainty of reaping the reward of labor, as in a city stricken with plague, everybody yields to fate, shuts himself in his house or goes about amusing himself in an attempt to spend the few days that remain to him in the least disagreeable way possible. The apathy of the government itself toward everything in commerce and agriculture contributes not a little to foster indolence. There is no encouragement at all for the manufacturer or for the farmer, the government furnishes no aid either when a poor crop comers, when the locusts sweep over the fields, or when cyclone destroys in its passage the wealth of the soil†¦Why should it do so when these same products are burdened with taxes and imposts and have no free entry into the ports of the mother country, nor is their consumption there encouraged? And the principal and most terrible [reason] of all: the education of the native. From his birth until he sinks into his grave, the training of the native is brutalizing, depressive and anti-human†¦There is no doubt that the government, some priests like the Jesuits and some Dominicans like Padre Benavides, have done a great deal by founding colleges, schools of primary instruction, and the like. But this is not enough; their efforts are neutralized. They amount to five or ten years†¦during which the youth comes in contact with books selected by those very priests who boldly proclaim that it is evil for the natives to know Castilian, that the native should not be separated from his carabao, that he should not value any further aspirations, and so on †¦Thus while they attempt to make of the native a kind of animal, yet in exchange they demand of him divine actions†¦Deprive a man, then, of his dignity, and you not only deprive him of his moral strength but you also make useless for those who wish to make use of him. Every creature has its stimulus, its mainspring; man’s is his self-esteem. Take it away from him and he is a corpse, and he who seeks activity in a corpse will encounter only worms. Thus is explained how the natives of the present time are no longer the same as those of the time of the discovery, neither morally nor physically. The ancient writers, like Chirino, Morga, and Colin, take pleasure in describing them a well-featured, with good aptitudes for anything they take up, keen and susceptible and of resolute will, very clean and neat in their persons and clothing, and of good mien and bearing (Morga)†¦ In exchange, the writers of the present time, without being more gallant than Herman Cortez and Salcedo, nor more prudent than Legazpi, nor more manly than Morga, nor more prudent than Colin and Gaspar de San Agustin, our contemporary writers we say find that the native is a creature something more than a monkey but much less than a man, an anthropoid, dull-witted, stupid, timid, dirty, cringing, ill-clothed, indolent, lazy brainless, immoral, etc. tc. To what is this retrogression due? Is it the delectable civilization, the religion of salvation of the friars, called of Jesus Christ by euphemism, that has produced this miracle that has atrophied his brain, paralyzed his heart and made of the man this sort of vicious animal that the writers depict? Alas! The whole misfortune of the present Filipinos consists in that they have become only half-way brutes. The Filipino is convinced that to get happiness it is necessary for him to lay aside his dignity as a rational creature, to attend mass, to believe what is told him, to pay what is demanded of him, to pay and forever to pay; to work, suffer, and be silent, without aspiring anything, without aspiring to know or even to understand Spanish, without separating himself from his carabao, as the priests shamelessly say, without protesting against any injustice, against any arbitrary action, against an assault, against an insult; that is, not to have heart, brain, or spirit; a creature with arms and a purse of gold. . there’s the ideal native! unfortunately, or because the brutalization is not yet complete and because the nature of man is inherent in his being in spite of his condition, the native protests; he still has aspirations, he thinks and strives to rise, and there’s the trouble! Peoples and governments are correlated and complementary: a stupid government would be an a nomaly among righteous people, just as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government, we will say in paraphrase of a popular adage. The very limited training in the home, the tyrannical and sterile education of the rare centers of learning that blind subordination of the youth to one of greater age, influence the mind so that a man may not aspire to excel those who preceded him but must merely be content to go along with a march behind them. Stagnation forcibly results from this, and as he who devotes himself merely to copying divests himself of other qualities suited to his own nature, he naturally becomes sterile; hence decadence. Indolence is a corollary derived from the lack of stimulus and of vitality. That modesty infused into the convictions of everyone, or, to speak more clearly, that insinuated inferiority, a sort of daily and constant depreciation of the mind so that it may not be raised to the regions of life, deadens the energies, paralyzes all tendencies toward advancement, and of the least struggle a man gives up without fighting. If by one of those rare incidents, some wild spirit, that is some active one, excels, instead of his example stimulating, it only causes others to persist in their inaction. There’s one who will work for us; let’s sleep on! † say his relatives and friends. True it is that the spirit of rivalry is sometimes awakened, only that then it awakens with bad humor in the guise of envy, and instead of being a lever for helping, it is an obstacle that produces discouragement. Nurtured by the example of anchorites (monks) of a contemplative and lazy life, the natives spend theirs in giving their gold to the Church in the hope of miracles and other wonderful things. Their will is hypnotized: from childhood they learned to act mechanically, without knowledge of the object, thanks to the exercise imposed upon them from the most tender years of praying for whole hours in an unknown tongue, of venerating things that they do not understand, of accepting beliefs that are not explained to them, to having absurdities imposed upon them, while the protests of reason are repressed. Is it any wonder that with this vicious dressage of intelligence and will the native, should now be a mass of dismal contradictions? That continual struggle between reason and duty, between his organism and his new ideals, that civil war which disturbs the peace of his conscience all his life, has the result of paralyzing all his energies, and aided by the severity of the climate, makes that eternal vacillation, of the doubts in his brain, the origin of his indolent disposition. â€Å"You can’t know more than this or that old man! † â€Å"Don’t aspire to be greater than the curate! † â€Å"You belong to an inferior race! â€Å"You haven’t any energy! † This is what they tell the child and they repeat it so often, it has perforce to become engraved in the mind and thence mould and pervade all his action. The child or youth who tries to be anything else is blamed with vanity and presumption; the curate ridicules him with cruel sarcasm, his relatives look upon him with fear, strangers regard him with great compassion. No forward movement — Get back in the ranks and ke ep in line! With his spirit thus molded the native falls into the most pernicious (wicked; malicious; harmful) of all routines: routine not planned but imposed and forced†¦What he lacks is in the first place liberty to allow expansion to his adventuresome spirit, and good examples, beautiful prospects for the future. It is necessary that his spirit, store up energy, seek high purposes, in order to struggle against obstacles in the midst of unfavorable natural conditions. In order that he may progress it is necessary that a revolutionary spirit, so to speak, should boil in his veins, since progress necessarily requires the present; the victory of new ideas over the ancient and accepted one†¦all the flattering promises of the fairest hopes will not suffice, so long as his spirit is not free, his intelligence is not respected. Convinced by the insinuation of his inferiority, his spirit harassed by his education, if that brutalization of which we spoke above can be called education, in that exchange of usages and sentiments among different nations, the Filipino, to whom remain only his susceptibility and his oetical imagination, allows himself to be guided by his fancy and his self-love†¦ They have dazzled him with tinsel, with strings of colored glass beads, with noisy rattles, shining mirrors and other trinkets, and he has given in return his gold, his conscience, and even his liberty. He changed his religion for the external practices of another cult; the convictions and usages derived from his climate and needs, for other convictions that developed under another sky and another inspiration. His spirit, well-disposed toward everything that looks good to him, was then transformed, at the pleasure of the nation that forced upon him its God and its law, and as the trader with whom he dealt did not bring a cargo of useful implements of iron, hoes to till the fields, but stamped papers, crucifixes, bulls and prayer-books, as he did not have for ideal and prototype the tanned and vigorous laborer, but the aristocratic Lord carried in a luxurious litter, the result was that the imitative people became bookish, devout, prayerful; it acquired ideas of luxury and ostentation, without thereby improving the means of its substance to a corresponding degree.

Motivation and Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention

Motivation and Broadbent’s Filter Model of Attention Foundations in Sport Psychology XingChi Shen Term Paper for the Course Foundations in Sport Psychology Abstract: in this paper, two most impressive topics, the motivation and Broadbent’s filter model of attention respectively, are chosen from various interesting topics as the focus of this essay. First their concepts are analyzed and then their applications in the cheerleading phenomenon are discussed. Cheerleaders can raise spirits, strengthen confidence, and set up the players a motivation and strengthen psychological pressure on the rivals and achieve deterrent effects on the rivals. But on the other hand, cheerleaders can generate some negativeeffects. Therefore, in practice people should appropriately design and organize the activities of the cheerleaders to let the cheerleaders affect the audiences, and strengthen the athletes confidence, and enhance the audiences passions. At last, my personal reflection for this course is addressed. 1. Topics Chosen During the process of studying the course of Foundations in Sport Psychology, we learned many principles of sport psychology, including the concepts of collaboration and competition, the process of the cognitive psychology, the concepts of social loafing, and the motivation of sport (Martin, Carlson, and Buskist, 2000; Weinberg Gould 2011). We also knew the experimental method and biological fundaments of psychology. Although the course emphasizes psychological factors in sport, but the course provides us many general theories of psychology. This course has opened our minds and shown us a colorful world in our inside world, which we never noted before. However, among various interesting topics, two are most impressive for us: the motivation and Broadbent’s filter model for peoples cognitive process. In this paper we will choose these two topics as the focus of this essay and discuss their applications in the sport. 2. Theoretical and Conceptual Principles of Sport Psychology In the first place, motivation is one of the most important concepts in sport psychology because people participating any sport have various motivations. For example, some people play tennis with friends because they mainly want to improve skills and have fun with friends, while other may want to develop fitness by playing tennis. For some professional athletes, their motivation is to achieve a success in their sport career. From this class we learn the interactional view of motivation: motivated behavior is primarily determined by situational factors, but motivated behavior results from the interaction of participant personal factors and situational factors (Martin, Carlson, and Buskist, 2000; Weinberg Gould 2011). Shown in Fig.1, personal factors contain athletes personalities, needs, interests, and goals, while situational factors includes lead-coach style, team win loss record, and facilities attractiveness, etc (Martin, Carlson, and Buskist, 2000; Weinberg Gould 2011). Here si tuational factors also include audience response in the competition. Athletes apparently can be affected by audience response, while cheerleading is a very important method to stimulate the audiences response in matches. Fig.1 interaction of participant personal factors and situational factors In the second place, psychological research shows when people engage in certain activities, their psychological status will be affected by the environment. Consequently, their actions and actions results will be further affected by these factors accordingly. In the field of sports, a lot of practices have shown that athlete’s cheerleaders will impose certain psychological effects, thereby affecting the athletes sport results or performance. Even the American diver Michelle Davison says, â€Å"Everyone is pretty much at the same level physically, [The difference comes down to] who can hold it together mentally. (Using Psychology to Improve Sports Performance 2014). Moreover, Dr. Magulubur published a paper in Olympic scientific congress in 1984 that the impact of psychological factors for the athletes in low, mid-level skills is 20%, bio-mechanical factors account for 80%. For elite athletes these numbers are just the opposite. i.e., psychological factors may account for 80% a nd biological mechanical actors are 20% (Using Psychology to Improve Sports Performance 2014). American track and file athlete Carl Lewis has said 90% of preparation is the pre-match psychological. So the psychological factors play a decisive role in the match. Moreover, many researchers have investigated the influence of the mental factors for the performance of the athletes and injure of athletes in details. For example, they investigated the psychological factors such as the competitive anxiety and coach may lead to injure of the athletes in matches (Junge 2000). Among many explanations about the connection between psychological status and the performance of athletes, we just concern the psychological theory of attention, since in the competition of athletes. The problem of attention is very important for an athlete to achieve success. In basis of Broadbent filters model shown as Fig.2, people have a process to use a message they receive (Broadbent, 1958). First, all messages from outside are input into the sensor store of human, but selectively transferred into our brains, in basis of their physical properties such as color, pitch, and loudness. After going through a bottleneck, the information is transmitted into high level processing and finally into short term memory and then into long term memory. This theory emphasizes that the world comprises of many more sensations than we can handle by the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of humans. To cope with the information, we have to selectively keep to some information. Attention, therefo re, is the result of a limited-capacity information-processing system. Fig.2 Broadbent’s filter model of attention We noted that the cheerleading becomes a very common activities in the match, especially in the NFL (National Football League) and NBA (National Basketball Association) basket ball companions. And even the cheerleading becomes one necessary part of match in the US. We see often them from the TV and newspaper. Therefore, we are interested in what the functions of the cheerleading in the match, and how the applications of the aforementioned principles of sport psychology into the cheerleaders phenomenon. We will explain these details in the next section. 3.Application to Cheerleaders Phenomenon 3.1 The introduction of cheerleader Even though currently most cheerleads team consists of females, the cheerleading began as all-male activity. The first cheerleader team dates back to in 1987, when cheerleaders yelled at the stadium of the Princeton University for their baseball and football athletes. After that, many universities and high schools have established such of cheerleaders and they often play performances in the NFL and NBA matches. Table 1. Top 10 cheerleading organizations in the US (Campo-Flores 2007 ) However, until 1980 in the United States, cheerleading has developed into the athletics competition, gradually developed into International All Star Cheerleading Association (the IASCA) competition (Smith 2007). In 1998, International Cheerleading Union (International Cheerleading Federation), a world cheerleading organization supported by the United States was established as an important turning point in the history of cheerleading. The International Cheerleading Union successfully hosted the first Cheerleading World Championship in 2001. Eight countries (Finland, Germany, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and China Taiwan) around the world participated, and the Japanese team won the championship (Campo-Flores 2007). Newsday, cheerleading itself has developed into an independent sport. Today it is estimated that over 1.5 million participants are active in the all star cheerleading in the US. In addition, about 1000,000 cheerleaders are scattered around the world, including Canada, China, German, Japan, and United Kingdom. To date, more than 60 countries around the world to carry out this campaign (Campo-Flores 2007). Fig.3 the Cheerleader of NFL and NBA Boston Celtics (Cheerleaders of NFL and NBA Boston Celtics 2014) Today modern cheerleaders movement blends many elements of hand gymnastics, dancing, gymnastics, sports skills, coupled with a strong sense of rhythm music. They demonstrate the athletes spirit and collective spirit of solidarity in the competition. In addition to athletes, referees, and spectators, cheerleaders are active in sports venues of the fourth character. At least cheerleading has a function of spectators. But unlike simple spectators, cheerleading has more obvious and deliberate purpose on the athletes. With respect to the athletes themselves, cheerleading is an external factor capable of acting on the inner psychological athletes. In this section we will apply the theory of the motivation and the cognitive psychology in analyzing the cheerleading phenomenon. 3.2 Format of cheerleader According to its organization format, cheerleading can mainly be divided into the following two categories: (1) Simple cheerleaders: They are also known as yelling cheerleaders. They mainly consist of the athletes families, friends and fans. They just yell, clap, or shake hands at the stadium in order to encourage athletes. It is a common way of cheering athletes. For individual athletes or entire team, the cheerleaders can raise spirits, strengthen confidence, and set up the players a motivation that it is not only a win for themselves, they win for more. It allows individuals competitive spirit more adequate and help them access to get out of the ego. Meanwhile, it can strengthen psychological pressure on the rivals and achieve deterrent effects on the rivals. A good cheerleader can even produce artificial home field advantage. Athletes are not in home field, but if the cheerleaders can control the visiting fields audiences, so players can feel they are at home field, thereby enhancing their confidence and strengthen the winning mentality. In fact, friends group and fans group of athlete stars also can organize cheerleaders to support one athlete or group, and generate the psychological offensive for the rivals. (2) Show cheerleader: This cheerleading includes 1-3 minutes long aerobics performance show at opening, midfield transition, or closing. Athletes groups (individual members or groups of members compete with each other) create and improve the environment and atmosphere of the competition. The athletes groups and audience can be affected which let them have feelings of joy and excitement. Often these cheerleaders will show many movements of gymnastics and dances. From a business standpoint, these cheerleaders market has become the mainstream in the current competition matches. Through purposeful selection members, after careful preparation, show cheerleaders can design their movement and adjust the competitive atmosphere of the scene, and inspire athletes to fight attracted the audiences attention. Many cheerleaders we saw from the TV and newspaper belong to this type. However, on the other hand, cheerleading may generate some negativeeffects. In a sport context an attention is a vital aspect of athletic performance. As we mentioned from the Broadbent model, to cope with the messages, we have to selectively attend to some information. However, in the competition, inappropriate cheerleading activities can use loudly yelling, or some special color to distribute the athletes attention and dampen their enthusiasm. Recently, many experts concluded that cheerleaders may hinder the game In games such as gymnastics, aerobics, fraught with difficult moves, such as juggling, tumbling, athletes need to concentrate their attentions, otherwise they will be extremely vulnerable to generate adverse consequences. But sometimes the cheerleaders are hard to realize this point and may generate some negative effects. Therefore, in practice people should appropriately design and organize the activities of the cheerleaders to let the cheerleaders affect the audiences, and strengthen the athletes confidence, and enhance the audiences passions, not to interrupt the athletes concentration. In details, based on the schedule of the match, the type of the competition, and the audiences, cheerleading should choose the music, performance actions, and location of performance. On the other hand, the athletes should strength the psychological training to avoid the interference by the cheerleading and audiences. 4. Personal Reflection In this semester, we first learned many psychological concepts from this course. We took many tests and assignments in the classes. However, only by through writing this essay, we have an opportunity to further understand the concepts that we learned in this course. In the first place, this course gives me many new ideals about the psychology and widens my horizons. I feel the psychological concepts are useful in our life. For example, people have different personality and mood, which can be determined by their inner world, but can be adjusted by the environment. However, when I write this reflection paper, I reviewed many concepts and chose the most important points which I learned in this paper. To write this paper, I search all kinds of knowledge of the sport psychology. For example, I find some topics as the research of the experiment of sport psychology. Even though the result is very interested, it is not fitful for this paper. When we saw the pictures of cheerleaders from internet, we think it is a good topics to connect the sport psychology to our life, since everyone know what is cheerleader and cheerleading has some psychological principles. We thought this topic and finally choose motivation and cognitive psychology in this paper and consider their applications in sport. In the second place, from this course we know how important of psychology in the sport. For instance, I am also a player of badminton and I have my personal experience. I understand how important of the mental status in playing badminton. Moreover, understanding some psychological principles can help me improve our performance in the match. Especially when we continuously lose several points in the competition, we should not blame our partner. On the country, we encourage each other with my team players and make ourselves relaxed. In addition, we can ask for my friends to organize one cheerleader for us and encourage us in the match. That is very useful in practice. Thirdly, I read many papers talking about the connection between the sport injure and the mental issue of athletes. Even this course concentrates on the sport psychology; the principles are still useful for any person. For example, I was very nervous before taking the exam. By from this course, we know that the self-confidence is very important for achieving better performance not only for athletes, but also for students. So this course helps me tread correctly the anxiety and pressure at exams. It helps me understand the mechanism of the anxiety, and teach me how to resolve the anxiety. Therefore, as for this aspect, the course is very useful in practice. In the near future, we would like to apply these principles we learned in this course into practice. References Broadbent, D (1958). Perception and Communication. London: Pergamon Press. Campo-Flores, Arian (2007). A World of Cheer!. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/cheerleading-gains-popularity-worldwide-101645. Cheerleaders of NFL and NBA Boston Celtics (2014), Pics from http://www.spox.com/de/sport/diashows/cheearleader-nba-nfl/cheerleader-nfl-nba,seite=23.html Junge, Astrid (2000), The Influence of Psychological Factors on Sports Injuries, Review of the Literature. Am J Sports Med.2000;28(5 Suppl):S10-5. Martin, G.N. Carlson, N.R. and Buskist, W. (2010) Psychology. Pearson Educational Press: Harlow, Essex. Smith, Jennifer Renà ¨e (February 2007). The All-Star Chronicles, American Cheerleader13(1): 40–42. Schmidt, R. A. and Wrisberg, C.A. (2008). Motor learning and performance: A Situation-Based Learning Approach. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Using Psychology to Improve Sports Performance (2014). Retrieved from www.spicewoodgroup.com/sports_psych.asp. Weinberg, R. S., Gould, D. (2011). Foundations of sport and exercise psychology. (5th Ed.) Word count 2524

The Gun Control Debate Essay -- Gun Control, 2015

"I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it." -- Clint Eastwood Gun control has a history dating back to 1791, when the Second Amendment of the Constitution was ratified. However, more recently, the debate over gun control has escalated into a much more public issue to which many citizens can relate. After all, stories about incidents involving guns appear frequently today in newspapers and on television or the radio. One could say that the debate started with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned ownership of guns by certain groups of people and regulated the sale of guns. Since then, two main groups have gradually appeared: people who oppose strict federal regulations on guns, and people who favor those federal regulations. The Second Amendment to the Constitution states, â€Å"a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.†1 Because the â€Å"militia† is composed of ordinary citizens that may take up arms when the country needs, all Americans should be constitutionally able to own a gun. This is one of the beliefs that proponents of gun ownership, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), hold. They feel that most people—excluding certain groups of people, such as criminals should be able to buy a gun with little trouble and without a waiting period. Also, they think that limiting gun ownership would restrict law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves from criminals and violent crime, and that people need to be able to protect themselves and their families. An article from the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action actually rep... ....S. Constitution Online. 2 "More Guns, Less Crime (Again) in 2007." National Rifle Association of America. 3 "Gun Control." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. WORKS CITED Adams, R. J. "Gun Control." Awesome Library. 2014. Web 30 Apr. 2015. . "Gun Control." Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. Web 30 Apr. 2015. . "More Guns, Less Crime (Again) in 2007." National Rifle Association of America. 23 Sept.2008. Institute for Legislative Action. Web 30 Apr. 2015. . "The United States Constitution." U.S. Constitution Online. Web 30 Apr. 2015. Clint Eastwood Quote http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/gun_control.html#XShIErUHLBztRpl0.99