Tort Coursework Resit Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tort Coursework Resit - Case Study Example Derek excused them. The Court of Appeal the choices and explanations behind the equivalent were maintained. The court didn't upset the discoveries of truth as the equivalent were conceded. The significance of the choice lies in the court's announcement of standard might be expressed as the coastguards were under no enforceable private law obligation of care to react to a crisis call and under no obligation of care. In spite of the fact that the issue is communicated in this general way, the particular right being referred to in these interests, is whether an activity for penetrate of legitimate obligation to fare thee well while performing obligations by coastguard can be brought against the Secretary who is liable for Coastguard. law with regards to what is the obligation to fare thee well. Educator Sir Percy Winfield (1933) (1) characterized a tort as 'the penetrate of an obligation fundamentally fixed by the law, where the obligation is one towards people for the most part and its break is redressible by an activity for harms.' This essentially suggests to prevail in an activity the offended party must demonstrate that Without such legitimate obligation carelessness has no lawful outcome. In Brett M.R. in Heaven v. Pender (2) it was built up that in specific situations, one man may owe an obligation to another, despite the fact that there is no privity of agreement between them. Dicta of Brett M.R. in Heaven v. Pender as considered in 1932 by Lord Atkins J. in Donoghue v. Stevenson (3) set out a significant guideline of deciding an obligation. He held that The obligation for carelessness, whet... Dicta of Brett M.R. in Heaven v. Pender as considered in 1932 by Lord Atkins J. in Donoghue v. Stevenson (3) set out a significant rule of deciding an obligation. He held that The risk for carelessness, regardless of whether you style it such or treat it as in different frameworks as a types of culpa, is no uncertainty dependent on an overall population supposition of good bad behavior for which the guilty party must compensation. Be that as it may, acts or exclusions which any ethical code would blame can't in a pragmatic world be dealt with in order to give an option to each individual harmed by them to request help. Along these lines rules of law emerge which limit the scope of complainants and the degree of their cure. The standard that you are to adore your neighbor becomes in law, you should not harm your neighbor; and the legal counselor's inquiry, Who is my neighbor gets a limited answer. You should take sensible consideration to maintain a strategic distance from acts or oversights which you can sensibly predict would probably harm your neighbor. Who, at that point, in law is my neighbor The appropriate response appears 1. Winfield on Tort, eighth Ed. (1967) 2. (1883) 11 Q.B.D. 509; see additionally, Thomas v. Quartermaine, (1887) Q.B.D.685, Le Leiver v. Gould (1893) 1 Q.B. 491; Mogul Steamship Co. v. Mcgregor, Gow and Co.Ltd. (1889) 28 ABD 598; Mcrone v. Riding (1938) 1 E.R. 157; Heley v. London Electricity Board (1965) A.C. 778; Phillips v. William Whitely (1938) 1 A.E.R. 566 3. [1932] A.C. 562 to be - people who are so intently and legitimately influenced by my demonstration that I should sensibly to have them in thought as being so influenced when I am guiding my brain to the demonstrations or oversights which are brought being referred to. This appears to me to be the regulation of Heaven v. Pender (11

Study case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Study case - Essay Example A definitive goal of this preparation is to improve representative satisfaction. At the point when this is done, representative worker, representative manager, and representative client relations are almost certain to be upgraded. In this way, hierarchical execution is set to get a positive effect from the preparation procedure. Associations don't principally rely upon satisfaction mentors to tackle the basic genuine work issues. In this regard, joy preparing is better named as a reciprocal factor in tending to genuine work issues instead of being a preoccupation in that procedure. This can be dictated by the way in which an association utilizes joy preparing. At the end of the day, joy preparing ought not pardon inability to take care of genuine work issues. A bliss mentor is reasonable for a subordinate if the subordinate’s negative life and work angles are seen to adversely influence the subordinate’s by and large life and work execution. The director is in a superior situation to survey and assess his/her subordinate’s execution comparative with joy or misery. The ethicality of this issue relies upon the methodology taken to get the subordinate into the training

The Case of the Disappearing Admissions Officers

The Case of the Disappearing Admissions Officers How long has it been since I last blogged? So long that it took me 9 tries to remember my blogging username/password. So then, where have I (and Ben and Nance) been? Reading applications. Lots and lots of applications. Its been hard to find time for much else (like blogging and email), though Ive been sure to take some downtime for Heroes, Veronica Mars, James Bond and Borat. It looks like our early application numbers for this year will be up more than 10% versus last year. I know this will be a very challenging year in which to select a class. Nevertheless, Im really enjoying this years applications; I know that we have a lot of great people to chose from. To answer an FAQ, our goal is to release decisions online on Saturday, December 9th at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time. We will also send out decisions via postal mail around the same time. We wont be able to confirm 100% until were a bit farther along in the process, but well let you know if anything changes. Meanwhile, theres been lots of other exciting news, including the production of the first 1,000 of the $100 laptops (currently coming in at closer to $150). One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit humanitarian project to put technology into the hands of millions of the worlds poorest children. This ambitious and inspirational project is headed up by Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab. You can read more in thousands of articles across the web, including one at Technology Review. More updates soon

Evolution Lab Essay - 594 Words

Associate Level Material Appendix O EvolutionLab Report |Ful | | |Date | | Use this document to report your findings from the EvolutionLab Exploration Experiment. The lab report consists of three sections: Data, Exploration, and Lab Summary. Data: copy any data, graphs, charts, or notes that you have saved in your EvolutionLab online notebook into this section. Exploration: Answer the questions. The questions in the Exploration section are the same questions in your EvolutionLab instructions. Lab Summary: Write a 100- to 200-word summary. Data To copy your data from your online†¦show more content†¦If there was no participation on a small island the Finch would become extinct. Which of the parameters is most important in determining whether a population goes extinct? Variance is most important What are at least two different sets of conditions that may lead to extinction? Small Island, no precipitation Small Island, No variance Summarize the steps you took to complete the experiment you designed. I set the parameters on precipitation to 0, and the island size to .3km. I then ran the experiment for 300 years. Summarize the result of the experiment you designed. The Finch was extinct by 2033. The beak size stayed the same until extinction. Lab Summary Address the following points in a 100-to 200-word summary: Summarize the general principles and purpose of the lab. This lab is designed to help understand how precipitation, variance, and area have a role in the evolution of a species, in this case, Finches. It also explains the different types of selection. Explain how this lab helped you better understand the topics and concepts addressed this week. This lab really helped explain the concept of evolution. Not only did it cover population grown/ decrease but it also covered the changes that animals go through to adapt to their ever changing environments. Describe what you found challenging about this lab. I did not really find anything challenging about thisShow MoreRelatedEssay on Evolution Lab751 Words   |  4 Pagesgroup Caminalcules species in your taxonomic classification (chart)? What does this suggest about classification based on strictly of similarity versus evolutionary relationship? The phylogenetic tree was more of an evolutionary tree. It showed the evolution of the organisms and their ancestors or traits that they branched off of. The chart however just simply organizes and separates the organisms in similarity. The tree did not change the chart, the chart see similarities with structures between theRead MoreEssay about Bio 101 Evolution Lab900 Words   |  4 PagesEvolution Lab BIO/101 Pooja Thakur 7-23-12 Evolution Resulting From Natural Selection INTRODUCTION The Evolution Lab simulates environmental situations to determine effects on evolution over periods of time. 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The topics in this course include cell biology, genetics, molecular biology, evolution, ph ysiology, and ecology. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: †¢ University policies: You must be logged into the studentRead MoreChanges Over A Period Of Time.we1109 Words   |  5 Pages Evolution= Something that changes over a period of time.We can see this more in animals. Fitness= Being physically fit and healthy. For example if gorillas can hit their chest the hardest are the ones that choose their mates first. Natural Selection= Where an organism has to adapt to an environment. They will have to learn to survive and camouflage and who ever survives first has better chances for offspring. Variation= is a change in difference and conditions. Pressure= An organism thatRead MoreGenetic Changes Within The Populations : The Consequences Of Selection1115 Words   |  5 PagesLab Report 1 Genetic Changes in Populations: The Consequences of Selection General Biology II Lab Junyao Li Introduction In this lab, we explore the reason genetic changes happened within a population. We use bean-bag model to simulate allele and genotype frequencies for three generations of deer mice under three different selective regimes. Then, we use the Hardy-Weinberg Principle to assess the selection and evolution experienced by deer mice. The Hardy-Weinberg Principle is one of the most

Feminism, Gender Roles Madame Bovary, By Gustave Flaubert

INTRO TO CONCEPT OF FEMINISM, GENDER ROLES Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, was one of the most significant novels during the period of the French Revolution. This work of art was one of the most provoking of its time due to its unromantic nature, which was very eccentric compared to his contemporaries. Instead of centering this literary work on romanticism, Flaubert depicted adultery and literary theories such as feminism. These aspects of literature were not common in France, and were taboo at the time. Flaubert constructed this work to represent his perception of the French society through the characters in Madame Bovary. Flaubert allows the reader to observe the routines and the psychology of the characters in correlation to the setting of the novel. Madame Bovary gives the realistic view of the French way of life for a woman at this time with a feministic approach. However, although Flaubert depicts feministic theory in Madame Bovary, one can research more historical facts about feminism in France during time frame th at the work was published. The origination of French feminism begins with the French Revolution. Prewar, French were null of political rights and were considered passive citizens; they had to depend on men to make decisions for them. Women were expected to play their traditional roles: the wife, mother and housekeeper. However, during the French Revolution women gained several important responsibilities, and played critical roles of patriotism.Show MoreRelatedCritical Theory2567 Words   |  11 PagesChoose 2 theories from Semester 1 and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the theories’ application. In this essay two theories will be examined in regards to their advantages and disadvantages, when applied. For this, Feminism and Post-Colonialism will be used, as both theories unite in their aim to deconstruct the dominant ideologies and stereotypes in a patriarchal and imperialistic ‘white European male ’ dominated society, thus overthrowing centuries of colonization, subordinationRead MoreCritical Theory2551 Words   |  11 PagesChoose 2 theories from Semester 1 and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the theories’ application. In this essay two theories will be examined in regards to their advantages and disadvantages, when applied. For this, Feminism and Post-Colonialism will be used, as both theories unite in their aim to deconstruct the dominant ideologies and stereotypes in a patriarchal and imperialistic ‘white European male ’ dominated society, thus overthrowing centuries of colonization, subordination

Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events Free Essays

Introduction We often defined climate as a long term weather pattern for a particular region. Climate is part of the ecosystem where wildlife adapts with it over long period of time. Changes in climate may lead to extinction of species and other catastrophes. We will write a custom essay sample on Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to Charlie Moore, CNN producer of â€Å"Planet in Peril†, rate of extinction due to human pressure is pronounced. It is estimated that three species are lost per hour.1We are going to investigate the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events we have experienced in recent decades. Besides, adaptation and mitigation strategies at local, national and international levels to reduce rate of climate change and at the same time reduce its impacts to vulnerable group would be discussed as well. Human activities such as deforestation, extensive burning of fossil fuels, over farming to support food demand, agriculture and others have cause a drastic rise in greenhouse gasses including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Accumulation of these greenhouse gasses brings unwanted greenhouse effect which will lead to global warming, melting of glaciers and rising of sea levels. From statistic2, burning of fossil fuels for the purposes of transport, heat, manufacture and light has emitted more than 30 billion tonnes of CO2 annually and this has caused a significant increase in global surface and ocean temperature. Rising of temperature may have negative effects on human health, food availability and ecosystems. Food and water availability would be uncertain due to variable rainfall patterns as crop yields are depending on availability of rainfall. Besides, climate change would cause climate sensitive diseases such as dengue fever, respiratory tract diseases, diarrhoeal diseas e to be worsen especially in third world countries where shortage of health facilities and health professions are often observed. 3As World Wildlife Fund 4suggested, climate change would also impose irreversible changes on ecosystem and animals. More species extinction would be expected due to the disability of animals and plants to adapt with new habitats. The Fourth Assessment Report5 from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that since 1750 human activities have attributed to the warming of mother Earth. Scientists believed that human induced climate change would increase the likelihood of extreme weather events. More floods, drought, heat waves would be expected due to uncontrolled human activities. As what we have been experiencing in recent decades, climate has been changing in the last century. We are now on the trend towards warmer temperature and more frequent extreme weather events.6 Figure 1 shows the Changes in average surface temperature both in central England and globally, compared with the 1961-1990 baseline. (Taken from Summary report on the change in average surface temperature produced by Department of Energy and Climate Change2) The following case studies tell us how vulnerable is UK to climate change and how we are going to adapt with it. Water scarcity has become an issue in some parts of UK especially south west area due to longer, drier and hotter summers brought by continuing warming. Drought would be more frequent. Population in south west area particularly at higher risk as their water bills are higher than anywhere else in UK and water poverty is already an issue there. Other socio economic factors such as fast growing tourism sector, planned development and expanding population have worsened this scenario. One is described as water poor when he spends 3% of his income on water bill. This phenomenon is likely to worsen with bills predicted to raise by 5%a year for some consumers.7In this scenario; water companies such as South West Water Company are the leaders that play significant role. Challenges for leader would be to maintain water affordability and at the same time improving water efficiency. There is no doubt that the primary root to alleviate water poverty is to slow down climate change by reducing emis sion of greenhouse gasses drastically. However, it may take a long time before we can see the obvious effect in this issue. In order to adapt climate change, a new pricing system, Rising Block Tariff (RBT) 8 has been introduced in south west region. People would be charged depends on amount they used. Three different prices are introduced depends on their consumptions. RBTs have three blocks: Essential use-Cheap water for daily use (drinking, washing and cleaning) Standard block-Standard priced water as a safety net for households exceeding â€Å"Essential use† Premium Block-Expensive water for household consuming more than they need In short, the more a person use, the higher they would be charged. This system sounds reasonably practical as people would tend to save water if they are charging on their consumptions. South West Water claimed that the â€Å"essential use† block will be 27% cheaper than standard use. Customers who use water efficiently would be able to save up to ?60 annually for a large family.9 However, it is argued that this system is unfair especially to households that are not able to reduce their water consumption due to household size, medical needs and ability to invest on water-efficient devices. This â€Å"differential water charging† approach may create affordability problem in vulnerable households especially those have low incomes.10 In order to protect vulnerable group from this adaptation strategy, South West Water Company has set up support schemes.8,10,11 WaterCare scheme provides advice, repair and practical help to improve water efficiency for households in debt whereas Watersure scheme is a capped charged to help qualifying households in paying water bills. WaterSure and WaterCare support schemes are only available to qualifying households. Not all vulnerable groups can benefit from these schemes. Low income single household and unmetered customers are ineligible for the support schemes which mean water poverty continue to become an issue in these groups of people. Water companies may help those unqualified but having hard time in paying water debt group by allowing them to pay water debt by instalments and provide free installation of water meter so that they can limit their water usage.12 Another solution to water poverty problem in south east England is to build water reservoirs. Water companies such as Southern Water, South East Water, Portsmouth Water and Mid Kent Water would develop new resources by building four new water reservoirs by 2020 to maintain adequate water supply. It is more cost effective as compared to building pipeline transferring water from North of England or from Wales.13 Reservoir plays an important role in supplying water for home, industry and agricultural use. Building of new reservoirs may solve the immediate water shortage problem but it has its drawbacks as well. It needs long time to plan and build. Other than that, the building of new reservoirs may create other environmental, social and economic problems such as deforestation for dam construction, emission of greenhouse gasses during construction, relocation of dwellers and others. Therefore, a lots of geographical, social, economic and environmental factors need to be taken into cons ideration before building new reservoirs. Heat wave is another popular extreme weather event. According to research, global warming has increased the likelihood of heat wave by four to six times.19 Severe heat wave and drought cases were reported in several Europe countries in the summer of 2003. This extreme weather event has caused enormous detrimental effects in Europe with more than 30,000 premature deaths occurred. 8The heat wave that raised average temperature by 20-30% spreads from northern Spain to Czech Republic and from Germany to Italy. UK reported that there are more than 2045 casualties during the month of August in 2003 using a method from National Institute of Health and Medical Research.14 Elderly are more sensitive to heat stress due to their disadvantages in ages, physical and mental health. Other than causing deaths of vulnerable elderly people, heat wave causes advance ripening and maturity of fruits and over consumption of water.14 This in turn creates problems of soil water depletion and lower crop yields. In this case, Department of Health is the leading party. They launched an annual national Heatwave Plan for a risk posed by high temperature in UK.8 This plan is to support vulnerable group during emergencies. Heatwave Plan incorporates the nature of the threat and respective obligations of health and social care services. One of the challenges in this adaptation strategy is the identification of heat vulnerable group. Local decision makers may have hard time to define heat vulnerability and identify all vulnerable groups due to limited tools and resources. This limitation may reduce the effectiveness of planned response. Department of Health use physiological and health related factors to measure people’s heat vulnerability which is insufficient as research suggested. Factors such as social networking, social support, knowledge and awareness on heat stress as well as financial ability may have to take into consideration when determine whether a person is heat vulnerable. Anot her potential challenge is service provider tends to overlook on certain groups of people as they are likely to omit those social processes when defining heat vulnerability. Besides, another weakness of this plan is limited engagement of service providers. This is because Department of Health’s Heatwave Plan focuses only on health sector and emergency response planning. A large variety of agencies may have no way to get involved. As Stern Report suggested, climate change is going to cost us more when we are living with it compared to preventing it; a long term and more comprehensive preventative strategy involving multiple sectors, governmental, non-governmental organisations should be proposed. In order to protect those vulnerable from heat stress, campaigns and talks can be held to encourage participation of community and voluntary sectors. For effective implementation of Heatwave plan, health care providers and frontline staffs should be informed on the nature of plan and the expected service from them.15 Sufficient training should be conducted so that health care providers are able to deliver support to vulnerable group completely. Other than that, up-to-date database containing list of vulnerable groups should also be provided so that they can appropriate care can be provided.15 Besides, preventative skills and knowledge should be taught to family members of vulnerable group to avoid outbreak of heat re lated morbidity and mortality. Last but not least is financial aid. Vast amount of funding needed in order to carry the plan at national level, benefiting a wider community. Other than heat wave that hit Europe in 2003, widespread floods in UK have shown how vulnerable UK is to the climate change. In year 2000, floods in England and Wales have caused 10,000 houses been flooded, paralysis of rail services and power supplies.16 Flood damage costs up to one billion pounds every year. A new research has suggested that climate change attributes to the increased risk of flood occurs in England and Wales during October and November 2000.16Coastal communities are more likely to suffer from the impact of climate change due to their geographical position and other factors such as migration of youth, high proportions of retirees and benefit claimants, transitory populations, physical isolation.17 Climate change in coastal region would cause more frequent and intense flooding, storms and rising of sea level which will then leads to severe coastal erosion. Besides, extreme weather events including flooding and heat wave would cause more severe effects in coastal regi on due to their prior disadvantages such as poor housing and higher ratio of elderly. Flooding, erosion and storms would affect the agricultural sector, public transport and other public infrastructure. Challenge for this scenario is the spending cut on flood defences. 18Scientists have proved that climate change do increase the risk of flooding which means more funding and investments are needed to reduce flood risk of vulnerable group. A fall of 8% in spending on flood defences over the next four years, compared with the previous four years would make local authorities and communities that have already lacked of support and funding to tackle flooding issue. Poor public awareness on wider impacts of climate change and incorrect perception of climate change are challenges to this issue as well. It would be hard to protect vulnerable group if they themselves do not have knowledge on the danger of climate change and how climate change is going to affect their health, lifestyle, economic source and society. Besides, adaptation activities are not always in the priority list as some of the coastal local authorities had more concerning issues. Immediate adaptation actions should be taken to protect vulnerable communities. Local authorities have to incorporate adaptation in their land management policy and activities.17 This is to avoid any further exposure of vulnerable region to climate change. Good communication and right message should be conveyed to local communities to raise their awareness so that appropriate actions could be taken.17 Furthermore, computer modelling is used to monitor effect of climate change on weather pattern. Climateprediction.net was introduced to predict Earth’s climate up to 2100 and to test the accuracy of climate models. 19However, the computer system is time consuming and it totally depends on the time devoted by volunteers. It needs up to one billion hours processing time which cost 120 million pounds if it is not running on voluntary basis. It would be costly to run the project if there is no enough volunteers. Climate change is not a new idea. People have increased awareness on this issue in recent decades especially those experienced it.17 However, how well a person knows about the climate change and its impacts to our society, economy and ecosystemIt is true that Earth weather pattern is always changing but human activities have speed up the rate of change and leads to several extreme weather events such as drought, flood, heat waves and tropical storm. Scientist has estimated that there would be a rise of 6 degree Celsius at the end of this century if accumulation of excess greenhouse gasses is left unattended. Small temperature rise of 2 degree Celsius means more severe storms, floods and droughts, acidic seas, disrupted food chains and many more negative impacts on ecosystem. 20 In conclusion, climate change and extreme weather events are not an individual issue. They are linked to each other and the primary root to eliminate extreme weather events is to work on climate change by reducing our carbon footprint. It is a global issue where cooperation from all parties is demanded. We have to adopt adaptation and mitigation strategies in our daily life if we are going to maintain the global temperature rise below 2 degree Celsius. The saying â€Å"Roman wasn’t built in one day† comes into play here. Time and commitment are needed in order to achieve our goal. Remember, together, we can make the changes! References 1. Moore,C., 16 March 2007. Umm, are those spider fangs in your legAnderson Cooper Blog 360 °.Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/archives/2007_03_11_ac360_archive.html [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 2. Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2011. What is Climate ChangeLondon: Department of Energy and Climate Change. Available from: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/change_energy/what_is_cc/what_is_cc.aspx [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 3.World Health Organisation,2010.Climate change and Health.Geneva:World Health Organisation.Available from:http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/index.html [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 4.World Wildlife Fund,UK,2010.The Impacts of Climate Change on Nature.United Kingdom:World Widlife Fund.Available from: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/impacts/ [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 5.Oreskes,N.,2005.The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.Science,306,1686.Available from: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/306/5702/1686.full.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 6. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2003.Has the climate changed alreadyCambridge: Union of Concerned Scientists.Available from: http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/has-the-climate-changed.html [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 7.Doward,J.,2011. ‘Water poverty’ to rise in the UK as scarcity pushes up bills.The Guardian.Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/20/water-poverty-uk-scarcity-bills [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 8.Benzie, M., Burningham,K.,Harvey,A.,Hodgson,N.,Siddiqi,A.,2011. Vulnerability to heatwaves and drought: adaptation to climate change,York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Available from: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/vulnerability-heatwaves-and-drought-adaptation-climate-change [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 9.South West Water,2009.Water tariff trial,prices and investment for 2009/10.Devon:South West Water.Available from: http://www.southwestwater.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6903 [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 10.Stott, J., 4th March 2011.Unintended Consequences – understanding the impact of policy responses to climate change.Joseph Rowntree Foundation blog.Available from: http://www.jrf.org.uk/blog/2011/03/unintended-consequences-policy-responses-climate-change [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 11.Auriga Services Limited,2011.Help for water and energy customers.(1st ed.)Sutton Coldfield: Auriga Services Limited.Available from: http://www.i-m-a.org.uk/pdfs/help_for_water_and_energy_customers_booklet.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 12.National Health Services Choices,2010.Personal and household finance.London:Department of Health.Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/finance/Pages/Utilitybills.aspx [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 13. Environment Agency,2006.Do we need large-scale water transfer for south east England?Rotterham: Environment Agency. Available from:http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/grid_1464452.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 14.United Nations Environment Programme,2004.Impacts of Summer 2003 Heat Wave in Europe. Environment Alert Bulletin. Available from: http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/download/ew_heat_wave.en.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 15. Abrahamson,V.,Raine,R.,2009. Health and social care responses to the Department of Health Heatwave Plan.Journal of Public Health,31(4),478-489.Available from: http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/4/478.full.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 16.Aina,T.,Allen,M.R., Hilberts,A.G.J., Lohmann,D.,Pall, P., Nozawa,T., Stone,D.A.,Stott,P.A., 2011.Anthropogenic greenhouse gas contribution to flood risk in England and Wales in autumn 2000.Nature, 470,382-386.Available from: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v470/n7334/full/nature09762.html [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 17.Fernandez-Bilbao,A., Knight,J., Smith,D., Scott Wilson,J.A., Zsamboky,M.,2011. Impacts of climate change on disadvantaged UK coastal communities.York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available from: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/impacts-climate-change-disadvantaged-uk-coastal-communities [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 18.Carrington, D., 2010.UK flood defence cuts leave 5m vulnerable homes ‘at risk’.The Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/22/uk-flood-defence-cuts-risk [Accessed 21 April 2011] 19.Carrington, D., 2011.Climate Change doubled likelihood of devastating UK floods of 2000. The Guardian. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/16/climate-change-risk-uk-floods [Accessed 21 April 2011]. 20.World Wildlife Fund UK,2010.Global Warming?Climate change?What’s it all about?.United Kingdom:World Wildlife Fund.Available from: http://www.wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/tackling_climate_change/climate_change_explained/ [Accessed 21 April 2011]. How to cite Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events, Essay examples

Standards for Providing Quality Palliative Car †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Standards for Providing Quality Palliative Car. Answer: The palliative care is a domain of health care, which is concerned about providing special health care services to aged people, who are terminally ill, as well as their families regarding the strategies to cope with loss and grief for the patients health condition (Alliance World Health Organization, 2014). There are several factors contributing to the holistic well being of the terminally ill patient, which are considered in the palliative care planning for the patients. In this assignment, the key focus is the terminally ill patient William, who lives in local council. William has been identified with colorectal cancer. His illness has been progressed significantly through one year, which has now spread to his liver. His doctors have conveyed that he may not have an entire year to live further. Thus, he is now worried about his terminal stage of life, as he has many things to do, but confused what are his priorities. He is also worried about his further illness, which he would hav e to encounter, prior his death. He is now seeking help from the palliative care health care professionals regarding his further journey prior his death. Upon a thorough analysis of Williams current condition, the available resources for William and therapeutic plans for him would be demonstrated here. Needs Assessment of the patients The assessment of Williams needs would be done with the help of Palliative care Needs assessment tool (Schenker et al., 2014). Physical symptoms The physical symptoms of William revealed that his cancer has been progressed to liver, as his previous treatment has not worked well. As his illness progressed further, the nurse reported that he is in a bit pain and having problems with appetite, whereas William also reported that the liquid morphin for combating with his pain makes him drowsy. However, no other symptoms like sleep problem or fatigue were reported by William. Activities of daily living William is no longer active in his social performance. However, the daily activities of William are not in a proper form, as he needs assistance. He has claimed that the time near when he would need full assistance and would not be able to take decision for him. Psychological The patient has significant distress for his upcoming future, as it is significantly tough to wait for death. From his initial discussion with doctor, it has been revealed that he is significantly worried about his family after his terminal stage. Cancer is a chronic disorder with fatal consequences, which is prone to introduce significant psychological impact upon the patient (Australia, 2015). William is also undergoing this stage and he is much psychologically distress about further progress in his illness and the difficulties he is going to experience prior his death. These are introducing stress in his life. Medication and treatment He is having some problems with medication and treatment. It has been revealed from the case study that his initial treatment for the colorectal cancer and metastasis of the cancerous cells throughout his other body parts, were not successful; which is evident by his relapse of malignancy in liver. Moreover, his doctors have conveyed that no more chemotherapy would be useful for him. On the other hand it is evident that William is unable is having appetite problem, a bit of pain and drowsiness; the last one is the complications from his liquid morphine, which he want to change immediately. Spiritual William is significantly feeling hopeless, as he knows that he has only few months to live. He is concerned about his wifes survival after his death and seeks assistance from spiritual resource or services, as he agreed with his physician when he approached to provide references regarding palliative care services in the local community (Zimmermann et al., 2014). Financial/legal No such financial concerns related to his health complications have been mentioned by William. However, no conversation with the doctors has been found regarding the available financial schemes for terminally ill patients like William. There is a conflict identified within William and his family regarding his further stay at hospital or hospice facilities. He revealed that he would like to stay at his home, but his kids are working and stay away; thus he does not want to be a burden for them, while staying at home (Saleem et al., 2013). His physician as well as nurse provided assurance to provide adequate support, so that he can stay at his home, while not bothering his children much. The social worker conveyed them the legal procedures that he has to undergo for the time, when he would no longer be able to take decision for himself. Health beliefs, social and cultural William and his family have shown adequate cooperation with the health care service providers, making the health care provision easy for them. William and his wife has been shown to be strong enough to combat with the difficult situation at his terminal stage, although seeking advice from the health care team to guide them throughout his difficult phase. Action plan (Services and resources in the community to address Williams needs) William has been shown to be concerned about his resident, when he will be unable to stay at home without assistance. He is confused whether he would stay at hospital or a hospice. Although he wish to stay at his home, but he does not want to bother his family for his terminally ill condition. Thus, based on his condition, the following services and resources are provided for his help. Service/Resource Rationale Hammond care, New South Wales They provide holistic care and emotional support to both the patient and patients family. They also have hospice services, which can significantly help William to combat with his terminal stage of life. They also provide palliative care education, both at residential aged care as well as at-home care settings (Hammond.com.au, 2017). Palliative care Australia Palliative care Australia would provide a diverse range of help for the patients with terminally illness. As William has been conveyed that he has few months to live and no other treatments would help him, the services from this facility would help him to cope with and continue to live, while dealing with his illness well (palliativecare.org.au, 2017). William and his family can know more about the services and benefits from the online websites. They would provide support services to Williams wife, which is one of the key concerns of William. Dial-an-angle in-home nursing They provide skilled staff nurses as well as personal health care assistances, who would be able to take care of Williams at either his home or in a residential care. These staffs are efficient enough to help the patients all daily living activities, while providing enough emotional and spiritual support for living (Dialanangel.com, 2017). Australian Association of Social workers They provide social services for the terminally ill patients to make their lives better, instead of being isolated from the society. In addition, they also provide guidelines for legal and financial procedures (Aasw.asn.au, 2017). Cancer care Western NSW Inc. They also provide residential care, in-patient care, support services and hospice support, to help terminally ill cancer patients, from where William would get enough support and guidelines to make his life better (Ccwest.org.au, 2017). As William is mostly concerned about his end-of-life stage, the most of the resources in Williams action plan has been focused upon palliative care, which is the most prioritized need for William. Dial-an-angle and Hammond care, NSW would provide the most appropriate care to William, according to his needs; as these two services would provide holistic support to both of the patient and his family. References Aasw.asn.au (2017).Palliative Care - AASW - Australian Association of Social Workers. [online] Aasw.asn.au. Available at: https://www.aasw.asn.au/new-south-wales/groups/palliative-care [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017]. Alliance, W. P. C., World Health Organization. (2014). Global atlas of palliative care at the end of life.London: Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance. Australia, P. C. (2015). Standards for providing quality palliative care for all Australians. Australia: Deakin West, ACT: Palliative Care; 2005. Ccwest.org.au (2017).Cancer Care Western NSW Inc. [online] Ccwest.org.au. Available at: https://www.ccwest.org.au/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017]. Dialanangel.com (2017).In-Home Nursing, Live-In Companions, Disability Care, Aged Care, Respite. [online] Dialanangel.com. Available at: https://www.dialanangel.com/care/home-nursing [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017]. Hammond.com.au (2017).Palliative Care services. [online] Hammond.com.au. Available at: https://www.hammond.com.au/services/palliative-care [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017]. palliativecare.org.au (2017).I'm a Patient - Palliative Care. [online] Palliative Care. Available at: https://palliativecare.org.au/im-a-patient/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017]. References Saleem, T. Z., Higginson, I. J., Chaudhuri, K. R., Martin, A., Burman, R., Leigh, P. N. (2013). Symptom prevalence, severity and palliative care needs assessment using the Palliative Outcome Scale: A cross-sectional study of patients with Parkinsons disease and related neurological conditions.Palliative Medicine,27(8), 722-731. Schenker, Y., Park, S. Y., Maciasz, R., Arnold, R. M. (2014). Do patients with advanced cancer and unmet palliative care needs have an interest in receiving palliative care services?.Journal of palliative medicine,17(6), 667-672. Zimmermann, C., Swami, N., Krzyzanowska, M., Hannon, B., Leighl, N., Oza, A., ... Donner, A. (2014). Early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.The Lancet,383(9930), 1721-1730.

Puma Marketink Mix Essay Sample free essay sample

The constitution of cougar took topographic point in 1948 by Rudolf Dassler and it became a published company in 1986. Puma’s head-quarters are in Germany. They distribute their merchandises in more than 120 states. employs more than 9000 people and generates gross of 2. 5 million dollars. The present CEO and Chairman of PUMA is Jochen Zertz. Puma has construct a strong. planetary indorsement porofolio. 1 that has become the hottest squad and star ensembles in the industry. In 1999. Puma demonstrated its eldritch ability to place athlets before their premier. such as when tenis participant Serena Williams signed with PUMA. she was non even eligible for WTA rankings. but here aggressive manner and competitory nature prevailed. Serena Williams won the U. S. Open and publically thanked PUMA for their support during here trophy credence address after she defeated Martina Hingis in the Women’s individual finals. Torronto Raptor’s. Vince Carter was named 1999 Rookie of the Year have oning PUMA gym shoes. We will write a custom essay sample on Puma Marketink Mix Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Puma is working on a company-wide for a â€Å"paperless-culture† . wereby all internal communicating is conducted via e-mail as of 2001. They are besides video conferincing installations to pass on between it’s design and development centres ( Germany. USA and Hong Kong ) . to speed up the merchandise creative activity procedure and cut down clip devouring travel. Merchandise:PUMA is the chief manufacturer of partisan drive places. race suits and football places. They are premier manufacturers in both Formula 1 and NASCAR and they are in partnership with Ferrari and BMW. it hase a wyde scope of footware. athletic wear. athleticss goods and manner accoutrements for adult male and adult females. The merchandises fulfill wants and desires based on image. non needs. Customers seek the merchandise and service benefits of the image of Puma. they adopt a alone stigmatization scheme. due to the fact that they sell such a broad assortment of different merchandises and trade names. As antecedently stated. Pumas doesn’t have its ain line of merchandises as such. but they do seek to guarantee that the merchandise lines that they stock are of a high criterion of quality. By high quality. it doesn’t needfully intend that the merchandise will last the needed clip period and supply a satisfactory service for the consumer. It besides means that t he merchandises that they stock are non your ordinary merchandises that rivals sell. but that each merchandise has a higher criterion or offers alone characteristics. Monetary value: Puma’s pricing is design to be competitivete with the other manner shoe retail merchants. The pricing is based on the footing of a premium section as mark clients. Topographic point: The market for big section shop such as Puma is chiefly concentrated in big shopping centres. high streets and online. they don’t sell a Pumas trade name as a merchandise. so much as an chance to utilize their services to obtain high quality merchandises. which consumers need at low-cost monetary values in a really comfy shopping ambiance. Promotion: When consumers hear the words Pumas. they associate words such as quality. comfort and handiness. This proves that Pumas is successfully advancing their overall selling scheme. They aim their advertisement at a preponderantly middle-upper category consumer group and this reflects in their selling runs. This image is besides boosted by their shop layouts and presentation. every bit good as their echt concern to stock quality merchandises.

An Archaeological Primer on Craft Specialization

An Archaeological Primer on Craft Specialization Craft specialization is what archaeologists call the assignment of specific tasks to specific people or subsets of people in a community. An agricultural community might have had specialists who made pots or knapped flints or tended crops or stayed in touch with the gods or conducted burial ceremonies. Craft specialization allows a community to get large projects completed-wars fought, pyramids built and yet still get the day-to-day operations of the community done as well. How Does Craft Specialization Develop? Archaeologists generally believe that hunter-gatherer societies were/are primarily egalitarian, in that most everyone did most everything. A recent study on modern hunter-gatherers suggests that even though a select portion of the community group goes out to do the hunting for the whole (i.e., what you would imagine would be hunting specialists)  when they return, they pass the knowledge ​on to the next generations, so everyone in the community understands how to hunt. Makes sense: should something happen to the hunters, unless the hunting process is understood by everyone, the community starves. In this way, knowledge is shared by everyone in the community and no one is indispensable. As a society grows in population and complexity, however, at some point certain kinds of tasks became overly time-consuming, and, theoretically anyway, someone who is particularly skilled at a task gets selected to do that task for his or her family group, clan, or community. For example, someone who is good at making spearpoints or pots is selected, in some process unknown to us, to dedicate their time to the production of these items. Why is Craft Specialization a Keystone to Complexity? Craft specialization is also part of the process that archaeologists believe may kickstart societal complexity. First, someone who spends their time making pots may not be able to spend time producing food for her family. Everybody needs pots, and at the same time the potter must eat; perhaps a system of barter becomes necessary to make it possible for the craft specialist to continue.Secondly, specialized information must be passed on in some way, and generally protected. Specialized information requires an educational process of some kind, whether the process is simple apprenticeships or more formal schools.Finally, since not everyone does exactly the same work or has the same lifeways, ranking or class systems might develop out of such a situation. Specialists may become of higher rank or lower rank to the rest of the population; specialists may even become society leaders. Identifying Craft Specialization Archaeologically Archaeologically, evidence of craft specialists is suggested by patterning: by the presence of different concentrations of certain types of artifacts in certain sections of communities. For example, in a given community, the archaeological ruins of the residence or workshop of a shell tool specialist might contain most of the broken and worked shell fragments found in the whole village. Other houses in the village might have only one or two complete shell tools. Identification of the work of craft specialists is sometimes suggested by archaeologists from a perceived similarity in a certain class of artifacts. Therefore, if ceramic vessels found in a community are pretty much the same size, with the same or similar decorations or design details, that may be evidence that they were all made by the same small number of individuals-craft specialists. Craft specialization is thus a precursor to mass production. Some Recent Examples of Craft Specialization Cathy Costins research using examinations of design elements to identify how craft specialization worked among Inka groups in 15th and 16th century AD Peru [Costin, Cathy L. and Melissa B. Hagstrum 1995 Standardization, labor investment, skill, and the organization of ceramic production in late prehispanic highland Peru. American Antiquity 60(4):619-639.]Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth of Indiana University continue experimental replication of craft technology at the Stone Age Institute.Kazuo Aoyama discusses the Aguateca site in Guatemala, where an abrupt attack of the Classic Maya center preserved evidence of specialized bone or shell working. Sources Aoyama, Kazuo. 2000.  Ancient Maya State, Urbanism, Exchange, and Craft Specialization: Chipped Stone Evidence from the Copan Valley and the LA Entrada Region, Honduras. Siglo del Hombre Press, Mexico City.Aoyama, Kazuo.  Craft Specialization and Elite Domestic Activities: Microwear Analysis of Lithic Artifacts from Aguateca, Guatemala. Online report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.Arnold, Jeanne E. 1992 Complex hunter-gatherer-fishers of prehistoric California: Chiefs, specialists, and maritime adaptations of the Channel Islands.  American Antiquity  57(1):60-84.Bayman, James M. 1996 Shell ornament consumption in a classic Hohokam platform mound community center.  Journal of Field Archaeology  23(4):403-420.Becker, M. J. 1973 Archaeological evidence for occupational specialization among Classic Maya at Tikal, Guatemala.  American Antiquity  38:396-406.Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. and Timothy K. Earle (eds). 1987  Specializatio n, Exchange, and Complex Societies.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Camillo, Carlos. 1997. . L P D PressCostin, Cathy L. 1991 Craft Specialization: Issues in Defining, Documenting, and Explaining the Organization of Production. In  Archaeological Method and Theory  volume 1. Michael B. Schiffer, ed. Pp. 1-56. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Costin, Cathy L. and Melissa B. Hagstrum 1995 Standardization, labor investment, skill, and the organization of ceramic production in late prehispanic highland Peru.  American Antiquity  60(4):619-639.Ehrenreich, Robert M. 1991 Metalworking in Iron Age Britain: Hierarchy or heterarchy?  MASCA: Metals in Society: Theory beyond analysis. 8(2), 69-80.Evans, Robert K. 1978 Early craft specialization: an example from the Balkan Chalcolithic. In Charles L. Redman and et al., eds. Pp. 113-129. New York: Academic Press.Feinman, Gary M. and Linda M. Nicholas 1995 Household craft specialization and shell ornament manufacture in Ejutla, Mexico.  Expedition  37(2):14-25.Feinman, Gary M., Linda M. Nicholas, a nd Scott L. Fedick 1991 Shell working in prehispanic Ejutla, Oaxaca (Mexico): Findings from an exploratory field season.  Mexicon13(4):69-77.   Feinman, Gary M., Linda M. Nicholas, and William D. Middleton 1993 Craft activities at the prehispanic Ejutla site, Oaxaca, Mexico.  Mexicon15(2):33-41.  Hagstrum, Melissa 2001 Household Production in Chaco Canyon Society.  American Antiquity  66(1):47-55.Harry, Karen G. 2005 Ceramic Specialization and Agricultural Marginality: Do Ethnographic Models Explain the Development of Specialized Pottery Production in the Prehistoric American Southwest?  American Antiquity  70(2):295-320.Hirth, Kenn. 2006. Obsidian Craft Production in Ancient Central Mexico: Archaeological Research at Xochicalco. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Kenoyer, J. M. 1991 The Indus Valley tradition of Pakistan and Western India.  Journal of World Prehistory  5(4):331-385.Masucci, Maria A. 1995 Marine shell bead production and the role of domestic craft activities in the conomy of the Guangala phase, southwest Ecuador.  Latin American Antiquity  6(1):70-84.Muller, Jon 1984 Mississippian s pecialization and salt.  American Antiquity  49(3):489-507. Schortman, Edward M. and Patricia A. Urban 2004 Modeling the roles of craft production in ancient political economies.  Journal of Archaeological Research  12(2):185-226Shafer, Harry J. and Thomas R. Hester. 1986 Maya stone-tool craft specialization and production at Colha, Belize: reply To Mallory.  American Antiquity  51:158-166.Spence, Michael W. 1984 Craft production and polity in early Teotihuacan. In  Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica. Kenneth G. Hirth, ed. Pp. 87-110. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Tosi, Maurizio. 1984 The notion of craft specialization and its representation in the archaeological record of early states in the Turanian Basin. In  Marxist perspectives in archaeology. Matthew Spriggs, ed. Pp. 22-52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Vaughn, Kevin J., Christina A. Conlee, Hector Neff, and Katharina Schreiber 2006 Ceramic production in ancient Nasca: provenance analysis of pottery from the Early Nasca and Tiza cultures through IN AA.  Journal of Archaeological Science  33:681-689. Vehik, Susan C. 1990 Late Prehistoric Plains Trade and Economic Specialization.  Plains Anthropologist  35(128):125-145.Wailes, Bernard (editor). 1996. Craft Specialization and Social Evolution: In Memory of V. Gordon Childe. University Museum Symposium Series, Volume 6 University Museum Monograph - UMM 93. University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - University of Pennsylvania.Wright, Henry T. 1969. The Administration of Rural Production in an Early Mesopotamian Town. 69. Ann Arbor, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Anthropological Papers.Yerkes, Richard W. 1989 Mississippian craft specialization in the American Bottom.  Southeastern Archaeology  8:93-106.Yerkes, Richard W. 1987 Prehistoric Life on the Mississippi Floodplain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Kingston, Maxine Hong, ed. Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Kihei, Essay

Kingston, Maxine Hong, ed. Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Kihei, Hawaii Koa Books, 2006 - Essay Example Along with the things the also carry terror, love, dignity with a poise, grief and longing. When Lt.Cross was singled out from group of Army men, O'Brien presents in detail about the inner feelings and thoughts and stress that Lt.Cross carries the lives of his men along with his things. The Story is a reflection to the thoughts of the readers about the War of Vietnam and also about the soldiers who are fighting in the war. O'Brien was shot thrice and got wounded and so he was discharged from the duty of fighting. He was ordered to serve the supplies to the men of Battalion from the company. With the transfer he was teared from the map of Vietnam. The story revolves around Bobby Jorgenson. He was in the place of Rat in the team of Army on whom O'Brien developed lot of anger. O'Brien had given importance to what soldiers do at night. He hated a lot to roam about night and delivered the pans of hatred and yearnings about Jorgenson. According to him the nights are totally different from the day as spending nights in the Army formed this opinion. The old company was so different in the night with him and all this urged to take revenge on Jogerson.

Complex Computer Systems Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Complex Computer Systems - Research Paper Example Most computer systems that are considered successful demonstrate a positive direct effect on the perceived eases of use. Therefore, some computer systems are never fully accepted by their intended users, and are underutilized (Hasan, 2007). Also, very few IT systems have been categorized as truly successful. There are numerous factors and processes that make IT projects complex (The British ComputerSociety, 2006). Understanding and proper management of these projects is important to comprehend why such projects fail. It also helps to understand how proper management of complexity can increase success for computer systems. Technology is an important source of complexity of computer systems, but the key source of complexity is the scope of the project, as set by management (The British Computer Society, 2006). Among the success or failure factors are social, economic and technical factors. These factors influence whether the complex computer system project succeeds or fails in its obje ctives. There must be technical and social strategies designed to detect and manage external and internal influences to ensure success of any complex computer system. ... esign and production of prepayment gas meters, introduced to the United Kingdom energy market to make work easier for energy suppliers and domestic clients (The British Computer Society, 2006). Central service installed on server database and application server. These have interfaces and tier supplier infrastructure The Smart Meter System has several components. First, the Smart Meter’s Central System has a web interface and Oracle database (TheBritishComputerSociety, 2006). The web interface and Oracle database have been built on a Distributed Computing Infrastructure. Integration of these components with the central system allows for online payment. The payment is identified by the payment agent. A Short Message (SMS) is processed by the SMS provider system. Also, every Smart Meter System has an Apache web server, which is used to deliver user interfaces. The Oracle 9i database component of the system is was used to produce the database, while the Tomcat servlet container is driven by Java and the STRUTS framework (TheBritishComputerSociety, 2006). This uses Java Server Pages and cascading style sheets for presentation layer. The Prepayment Metering Infrastructure Provider application allows suppliers to interact with their meters in real time (The British Computer Society, 2006). The Smart Meter System is a complex computer system because it allows domestic clients and domestic energy provision customers to make prepayments for their gas, using their mobile phones. The Smart Meter System is also complex because it is can be used by both vendors and end user clients. Therefore, the system accepts top ups in terms of monetary values by customers via their mobile phones (The British Computer Society, 2006). Consequently, plans were put in place to sell the Smart

Investigation of Tunisian Geography Teachers

Investigation of Tunisian Geography Teachers Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate some Tunisian geography teachers/researchers reading of research articles (RA) in English in their field, in particular their use of metadiscourse and the factors that might affect this use. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods addressed the purposes of this study. Two major reasons have motivated the choice of this topic: theoretical and contextual. Theoretical Justifications Of The Study A good number of studies have highlighted the facilitative role that metadiscourse plays in reading comprehension (e.g. Camiciottoli, 2003). Metadiscourse is defined, in the present study, as â€Å"self-reflective linguistic material referring to the evolving text and to the writer and to the imagined reader of that text (Hyland and Tse, 2004, p. 156). In defining reading comprehension, I adopted the componential interactive approach (e.g. Grabe, 2008). According to this approach, readers are active participants who actively take knowledge, connect it to previously assimilated knowledge and make it theirs by constructing their own interpretation. They develop, modify and even reflect on all or some of the ideas displayed in the text. Research has shown that second language (SL) and foreign language (FL) reading comprehension process is highly complex (Grabe, 2008; Koda, 2007; Sheng, 2000). Indeed, a wide range of variables intervene in the process: linguistic, metalinguistic, cognitive, metacognitive, social and psychological (Koda, 2005; Pressley, 2006; Rapp et al., 2007). Researchers reported the difficulty to clearly understand the exact degree of the contribution of each variable to the final product. All aspects of the reader variables interact with one another and interact with textual and contextual factors (e.g. Dhieb-Henia, 2003). Different models have been proposed in the literature in order to take account of these factors (the Top-down approach, the Bottom-up approach, the Interactive approach) (Grabe, 2008). Also, there has been a debate among SL reading researchers about whether SL reading is a language problem or a reading problem (Alderson, 1984, Bernhardt and Kamil, 1995; Grabe, 1991; Khaldieh, 2001). Some researchers contended that some SL linguistic knowledge threshold was necessary in order to get first language (L1) reading knowledge to engage and first language reading strategies to transfer (Cummins (1979) threshold level of language proficiency and Clarkes (1978) linguistic ceiling). Others argued that reading difficulties in a SL can be caused by a deficient reading ability in general, or can be caused by a failing transfer of L1 reading ability to an FL (the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, or alternatively called the common underlying principle (Bernhardt Kamil, 1995). Reading in English for Academic purposes (EAP) is still a more complex process (Flowerdew and Peacock, 2001). EAP is concerned with the English required for specific academic purpose such as studying at universities and colleges, doing research or publishing papers. Based on the literature, the present study views EAP reading as the ability to read an EAP discourse as the product of a particular disciplinary culture (e.g., Swales, 2004). Daoud (1991, p. 6), for instance, recommended that non-native readers (of EAP) should acquire â€Å"those abilities which would allow them to recognize the existence of certain types of implicit presuppositional rhetorical information, abilities that the experienced native reader possesses. Studies in Contrastive Rhetoric (CR) have demonstrated that texts are shaped by their cultural origins even if they participate in international discourses such as those of the science disciplines (Burgess, 2002; Connor, 2004; Kaplan, 1966, 1987). Mauranen (1993) asserted that â€Å"science, or more widely, academic research, does not exist outside writing, and so we cannot represent it, or realize it, without being influenced by the variation in the writing cultures that carry it† (p. 4). This suggests that the belief that scientific academic discourses merely transmit natural facts is debatable. Hyland (2005) argued that discourses are never neutral but always engaged in that they realize the interests, the positions, the perspectives and the values of those who enact them (p. 4). The RA, for instance, is a discourse written by a particular writer belonging to a particular scientific discourse community in the purpose of engaging an audience and persuading them of his/her findings (Adel, 2006; Hyland, 2005; Martin, 2004). Webber (1994) explained â€Å"scientists are writers who fight for their ideas to be accepted, recognized, and to be competitive and get their work published† (p. 257). The tendency of scientific writers to choose a particular range of rhetorical devices, might reveal their attempts to establish interpersonal relations, to interact with their audience and to express personal attitudes about the content of their texts and about their audience( s). Metadiscourse is the linguistic system that enables writers to achieve these goals (Adel, 2006; Hyland, 2004; 2005; Martin, 2004). It represents some internal stylistic map whereby an external reality is created and conveyed. Metadiscourse also helps to perceive discourse as a social action between two parties, author(s) and audience, researchers and scientific communities; in other words, writers and readers are viewed as social agents and texts as a social enterprise in which writers do not only want their messages to be understood (an illocutionary effect), but also to be accepted (a perlocutionary effect) (Hyland, 2005). Hyland (2001, p. 550) argues â€Å"a central aspect of the writer-reader dialogue involves careful interpersonal negotiations in which writers seek to balance claims for the significance, originality, and truth of their work against the convictions of their readers†. The readers ability to construct the writer-intended meaning, via metadiscourse, is one ma jor key to a successful comprehension. This idea of interaction was grounded in Hallidays (1985) metafunctional theory of language. Halliday (1985) argued that language is a system of meanings and maintains that the writer needs to operate at three levels: the ideational, the textual and the interpersonal. On the ideational plane, the writer supplies information about the subject of the text and expands propositional content, on the interactive plane, he/she does not add propositional material, but helps readers organize, classify, interpret, evaluate, and react to such material. Many researchers have attempted to investigate the contributions of metadiscourse to language teaching. However, most of the literature on metadiscourse has focused on the writing skill. The immense part of these studies has compared writers use of metadiscourse across cultures and disciplines (Dahl, 2004; Hyland TLe, 2004; Ifantidou, 2005; Lee, 2002; Perez Macia, 2002; Steffensen Cheng, 1996). Only a few studies have examined the role that this crucial part of discourse plays in reading comprehension skill. There is still an opaque picture of the correlation between the recognition of metadiscourse markers and reading comprehension performance. Indeed, a good number of the studies conducted with native readers of English has yielded inconclusive results (e.g., Crismore and Vande Kopple, 1997; OKeefe, 1988). While some researchers demonstrated the positive role of metadiscourse (e.g. Vande Kopple, 2002), other researchers concluded that metadiscourse did not have larger effects in their studies (e.g., Crismore, 1989). Research on the interaction between SL reading and metadiscourse seems to be still in its infancy. The little research carried out has demonstrated the complexity of the entreprise (Camiciottoli, 2003; Daoud, 1991; Dhieb-Henia, 2003; Mustapha and Premalatha, 2001). In fact, research has shown that many factors could intervene in the reading process and hamper EAP readers from using metadiscourse, namely language proficiency, prior disciplinary knowledge and metacognitive strategies (e.g., Camiciottoli, 2003; Daoud, 1991; Dhieb-Henia, 2003). Language proficiency refers to the ability to understand technical and semi-technical language used by a particular academic discourse community. Metacognition is the awareness readers have of their own mental processes and the subsequent ability to monitor, regulate, and direct themselves to a desired end. Prior knowledge includes knowledge of the rhetorical conventions of the genre and the subject discipline. It has been also interesting to note that no study has investigated SL experts use of metadiscourse when reading materials in their fields. Local Justifications Of The Study Reading RAs is a prerequisite for doing research, updating ones knowledge and ultimately publishing RAs. Publication is not optional or a matter of personal choice in Tunisia. The last reform of postgraduate studies has given prior importance to the number of published RAs (Labbassi, 2000). Therefore, researchers who would like to become visible in the international scientific community, have to read and write RAs in English, the international Lingua Frinca in the age of electronic communication. In fact, in Tunisia there are few specialised local journals. Labassi (2008, p. 4120 aptly put â€Å"reading and writing English have become unavoidable conditions for joining academic communities in almost all disciplines†. The Tunisian geographical society seems to be eager to integrate into the international geographic community. Indeed, the Tunisian Geographers Association, in collaboration with the International Geographical Union (IGU), managed to organise the 31st International Geographical Congress (IGC) in the country in 2008. Tunisia was the first Arab and African country to host the biggest appointment for geographers all over the world. Adding to that, there is a clear political intention to enhance English status in Tunisia. English is gaining ground over French, which has been until recently the principal language of modernity, as well as the dominant economic language. (Champagne, 2007; Labassi, 2009a, b; Tossa, 1995). The Tunisian government is aiming at creating an English-speaking workforce to enhance the prospects for successful integration into the global economy. Under the New Maitrise reform of 1998, English was introduced in the curriculum of all undergraduate students from all disciplines (Labassi, 2009 a). What is ironical, however, is that â€Å"potential researchers and professionals who have to read a literature, which is up to 90% in some disciplines in English, are not offered courses in English† (Labassi, 2009 a, p. 249). However, while the literature abounds with arguments for and against the role that metadiscourse plays in reading comprehension, little research has been conducted to assess the reading practices of the Tunisian geography society.Therefore, the present research aims to fill in this gap and gain more insight into the reading practices of some Tunisian university teachers/researchers of geography; in particular it aims to assess the extent they use metadiscourse to facilitate their comprehension of RAs in English in their field and to find out about the variables that may hinder this use. Research Objectives The main aims of the present research are three-fold: (1) to determine to what extent Tunisian geography faculty researchers use metadiscourse markers when reading research articles in English in their fields, (2) to assess whether this use facilitates their comprehension of research articles in English in their fields, (3) to find to what extent this use is related to the participants proficiency in English, to text familiarity (defined in the present study in terms of both content and formal knowledge) and to their use of metacognitive reading strategies. Research Questions The present study addresses the following questions: 1. To what extent do Tunisian geography faculty researchers use metadiscourse markers when reading research articles in English in their fields? 2. To what extent does this use relate to their comprehension of research articles in English in their fields? 3. To what extent do their proficiency in English, discipline-related knowledge (content and genre) and metacognitive reading strategies contribute to their use of metadiscourse markers and comprehension of research articles in English in their fields? Significance Of The Study This study explored the use of metadiscourse by some Tunisian geography faculty when reading research articles in English in their disciplines. Theoretically, findings from the study can help clarify the role metadiscourse plays in SL reading comprehension. The research into metadiscourse markers is useful in itself. It helps us have an insight into how writers interact with their readers to establish a reader-friendly atmosphere and to persuade them of their findings. Such information can add to our understanding of factors contributing to language pedagogy, in particular to the teaching of reading comprehension skill. At the practical level, information from this study can be useful for making decisions about organizing training sessions to university teachers/researchers to introduce them to the rhetorical conventions of academic genres, namely the research article and to the rhetorical importance of metadiscourse. They should be made aware of the facilitative role of metadiscourse markers when reading academic materials in English. Metadiscourse markers should be taught explicitly in EAP reading comprehension classes as a means to enhance the researchers reading comprehension ability. Thesis Organisation This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter describes the background of the research and the context in which the research was conducted. The second chapter comprises two sections: the first is a review of research into the nature of foreign language reading. The second section provides a descriptive account of what metadiscourse is, then explores the studies conducted on the effects of metadiscourse, reviews a few taxonomies on metadiscourse and ends with a description of the taxonomy to be adopted in the present study. Research questions are presented after the discussions of these reviews. Chapter three concerns the methodological decisions taken for this research. It describes how the participants were selected, how the material and instruments were piloted, and which materials and instruments were finally used. It provides as well an account of how the main study was conducted and how the data were analysed. Chapter four reports the findings of the present study. Cha pter five discusses the key findings from this study and highlights their implications for the area of EAP. The contributions and limitations of this research and suggestions for future research are presented in chapter six. Literature Review The previous chapter introduced the context for this research. This chapter clarifies the two central variables underlying the present study, namely EAP reading comprehension and metadiscourse use. It can be divided into three parts. In the first part, I will focus on the reading variable. Since foreign language reading modeling has been strongly influenced by first language reading theories, I will first discuss four different approaches to reading in a first language, I will then explain how they have been adopted in and adapted for a foreign language reading context. Next, I will elaborate on theoretical concepts particular to reading in English for academic purposes (being the focus of the present study) and I will draw attention to studies that investigated the interaction between reading in English for Academic purposes and language proficiency, background knowledge and reading strategies. This part aims at underscoring the complexity of the EAP reading process and the need to account for the many factors intervening in it. In the second part, I will introduce the second variable of the present study, metadiscouse. I will first try to define the concept and then provide an overview of its main assumptions and classifications to highlight the confusion surrounding the term and emphasize its benefits to EAP readers, and last I will detail Hylands (2005) taxonomy, the theoretical framework within which the present study is conducted. In the last part I will review some empirical studies that have investigated the interaction between metadiscourse and EAP reading. This part will also draw attention to the scarcity of research in this area. Reading Comprehension Understanding the processes involved in reading comprehension is a prerequisite to select reliable and valid research instruments. Alderson (2000) stated â€Å"if we are not able to define what we mean by the ‘ability to read, it will be difficult to devise means of assessing such abilities† (p. 49). Likewise, Hogan (2004, p. 1) maintained The real question we are asking when we look at assessing reading is: What distinguishes a good reader from a poor reader? Implicit in this question is an even more fundamental question: What are we doing when we read?† Assessment is an attempt to answer the first question, but if we cannot at least try to answer the second, we do not know what we are assessing, and any measure or description of reading proficiency we suggest is meaningless. Thus, in what follows I will first attempt to define the construct of reading comprehension, and then present a number of models that provide a framework for organizing and explaining the nature of reading comprehension. I will give due prominence, however, to the issues specific to reading in EAP dwelling upon the complex cognitive processes that EAP readers go through when they read. I will try to show how certain variables such as linguistic proficiency, background knowledge and reading strategies interact with reading comprehension process. Definition Of The Construct Of Reading Comprehension Reading comprehension has often been a subject of controversy among teachers and scholars. Kintsch (1998, p. 2) stated â€Å"the terms understanding and comprehension are not scientific terms but are commonsense expressions. As with other such expressions, their meaning is fuzzy and imprecise†. In defining the construct of reading comprehension, I adopted Kintschs (1998) theory of human text comprehension, as it is a â€Å"widely-recognized† theory of text comprehension and as it has â€Å"consistently defined the research agenda for the field of text comprehension† (Grabe, 2008, p. 3). The concepts of ‘Comprehension and ‘Understanding are used interchangeably in the present study as â€Å"a matter of linguistic variation† following Kintsch. ‘Comprehension is to be understood in relation to ‘perception and ‘problem solving. Both ‘perception and ‘understanding involve unconscious and automatic processes. They â€Å"can each be described as a process of constraint satisfaction† (p. 3). They differ, however, in that ‘understanding should result in an action, be it â€Å"an overt action in the environment or a mental event† (p. 3). Kintsch (1998, p. 2) stated â€Å"understand is used when the relationship between some object and its context is at issue or when action is required†. As for the ‘problem solving process, it is more complex and involves more demand on cognitive resources. It is an action readers resort to when they fail to understand something. Kintsch (1998) maintained â€Å" perception and understanding are the processes people normally use; when an impasse develops in perception or understanding, they resort to problem solving as a repair process† (p. 3). Reading is the process in which the reader sequentially deals with letters, words and sentences. It was defined by Sheng (2000, p. 2) as â€Å"the process of recognition, interpretation, and perception of written or printed material†. Comprehension, on the other hand, involves the ability of the reader to grasp and interpret the meaning of written material, and to reason about cognitive processes that lead to understanding. In other words, it not only covers cognitive understanding of the materials at both surface and deep structure levels, but also the readers reactions to the content. Sheng (2000, p. 2) maintained â€Å"it is a more complex psychological process and includes in addition to linguistic factors (phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic elements), cognitive and emotional factors†. In sum, the process of reading deals with language forms while the process of comprehension, the end product, deals with language content. The term ‘reading comprehension can, in some respects, be considered a complex construct, as highlighted by numerous reading researchers (Carrell, 1988; Grabe, 1991; Kintsch, 1998; de Beaugrande, 1981). According to Brumfit (1980), reading comprehension is a complex activity covering â€Å"a combination of perceptual, linguistic and cognitive abilities† (p. 3). It is a constructive thinking process which â€Å"involves application, analysis, evaluation and imagination† (Taylor, 1984, p.391). Grabe (2008) attributed the complexity of the reading comprehension process to the multiple purposes of reading and the complex cognitive processes involved. In the present study, reading is viewed as a process of communication between a writer and a reader and this communication will be incomplete unless it is affected by the readers evaluation and appreciation. In fact, both the reader and the writer contribute to the reading process. Despite the uniqueness of second language reading processes (Geva and Wang, 2001; Koda, 2007), second language reading has drawn extensively on first language reading research. Different models have been adopted and adapted based on a variety of L1 reading theories. Below is a review of these theories. Reading Theories In A First Language A reading model provides an imagined representation of the reading process. It provides ways to represent a theory and explain what reading involves and how reading works based on available evidence. Goldman, et al., (2007) explained â€Å"the term model refers specifically to a representation of the psychological processes that comprise a component or set of components involved in human text comprehension† (p. 27). According to Samuels (1994), a good theoretical model has three characteristics: it summarizes a considerable amount of information discovered in the past; it helps explain and make more understandable what is happening in the present, and it allows one to make predictions about the future (p. 816). Researchers, however, are somehow cautious about the comprehensibility of the model because of its inability to account for all the available evidence that exists. Dhieb-Henia (2002) warned that the models are not always backed up by sufficient empirical evidence to val idate (them) (p. 18). In the same fashion, Grabe (2008) argued â€Å"to assert that a model must be an accurate synthesis, () is problematic†. Thus, these researchers recommend that we consider these models as a possible representation of the reading process, rather than absolute models. They nonetheless stress the key role that these models play in â€Å"synthesizing information and establishing central claims† (Grabe, 2008, p. 84). Reviewing the literature, four major approaches have been proposed in an attempt to understand the reading process. The major distinction between the approaches is the emphasis given to text-based variables such as vocabulary, syntax, and grammatical structure and reader-based variables such as the readers background knowledge, cognitive development, strategy use, interest, and purpose (Lally, 1998). The following sections review these approaches and discuss them with reference to the specific context of the present study. The Bottom-Up Approach The concept of decoding is central to what is usually called the bottom-up approach to reading. The term bottom-up originated in perception psychology, where it is used to signify the processing of external stimuli (Mulder, 1996). In reading research, the term is not always used in a consistent manner and has drifted away from the original meaning it had in perception psychology. Nevertheless, the term always focuses on what are called lower order processes, i.e. decoding ability and word recognition ability (Mulder, 1996). These abilities are believed to form the key to proficient reading. In other words, the reader perceives every letter, organizes the perceived letters into words, and then organizes the words into phrases, clauses and sentences. Meaning, at any level, (e.g. word or phrase), is accessed only once processing at previous (e.g. lower) levels has been completed (Carrell, 1988). The argument is that bottom-up processing requires a literal or fundamental understanding of the language. Carrell (1993, p. 2) maintained Reading (is) viewed primarily as a decoding process of reconstructing the authors intended meaning via recognizing the printed letters and words, and building up a meaning for a text from the smallest textual units at the bottom (letters and words) to larger and larger units at the top (phrases, clauses, intersentential linkages. Advocates of this theory argue that successful reading comprehension of a text relies heavily on an efficient application of bottom-up processes. The best known representative of this type of approach is Goughs (1972) model. The model is summarised by Urquhart and Weir as follows: T]he reader begins with letters, which are recognized by a SCANNER. The information thus gained is passed to a DECODER, which converts the string of letters into a string of systematic phonemes. This string is then passed to a LIBRARIAN, where with the help of the LEXICON, it is recognized as a word. The reader then fixates on the next word, and proceeds in the same way until all the words in a sentence have been processed, at which point they proceed to a component called MERLIN, in which syntactic and semantic rules operate to assign a meaning to the sentence. The final stage is that of the Vocal System, where the reader utters orally what has first been accessed through print. (Urquhart Weir, 1998: 40) The decoding approach, however, has been viewed by many as inadequate. According to Eskey (1973), the approach underestimates the contribution of the reader. The reader, according to this approach, does not read the text through a self-determined, predefined perspective or goal, but rather lets the text itself (and therefore its author) determine the reading process (Urquhart Weir, 1998). The approach fails to recognize that readers utilize their expectations about the text based on their knowledge of language and how it works. Similarly, Carrell (1984) stated that this view assumes a rather passive view of reading. Grabe (2008) stated â€Å"we know that such an extreme view of reading is not accurate, and no current model of reading depicts reading as a pure bottom-up process† (p. 89). Criticism of the bottom-up theory has given impetus to the Top- down theory. The Top-Down Approach Whereas the bottom-up approach gives incoming information a central place in the reading process, the top-down approach focuses on the knowledge a reader already possesses. It stresses what are called higher order cognitive processes. The top-down theory posits a non-linear view of the reading process, i.e. from higher levels of processing, and proceeds to use the lower levels selectively. It assumes that readers interrogate the text rather than process it completely. They get meaning by comparing their expectations to a sample of information from the text. The proponents of this theory argue that readers experience and background knowledge is essential for understanding a text. Grabe (2008) explained â€Å"top-down models assume that the reader actively controls the comprehension process, directed by reader goals, expectations, and strategic processing† (p. 89). Carrell (1993, p. 4) stated In the top-down view of second language reading, not only is the reader an active participant in the reading process, but everything in the readers prior experience or background knowledge plays a significant role in the process. In this view, not only is the readers prior linguistic knowledge (â€Å"linguistic† schemata) and level of proficiency in the second language important, but the readers prior background knowledge of the content area of the text (â€Å"content† schemata) as well as of the rhetorical structure of the text (â€Å"formal† schemata) are also important. According to this view, the readers background knowledge may compensate for certain syntactic and lexical deficiencies. Readers start with their background knowledge (whole text) and make predictions about the text, and then verify their predictions by using text data (words) in the text (Urquhart Cyril, 1998). Clarke and Silberstein (1977, p.136-137) stated that â€Å"more information is contributed by the reader than by the print on the page, that is, readers understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation†. The most frequently cited representative of this approach is Goodmans (1976) top-down model. He defined reading as a process of verifying hypotheses — hypotheses that are based on knowledge which the reader possesses. His model, also called the guessing game theory, is summarised by Bossers as follows: According to Goodman, the reading process consisted of sampling and selecting cues, on the basis of which an interpretation is predicted or guessed, which is subsequently tested against the semantic context, and then confirmed or rejected as the reader processes further language, and so on. These stages of the process were called features of the reading process or effective strategies or effective reading behaviour alternatively. (Bossers,1992:10). A very influential theory that is usually discussed in relation to the top-down perspective is that of schema theory. The prior knowledge gained through experiences, stored in ones mind and activated when readers encounter new information is referred to in the literature as schemata (Carrell, 1980; Widdowson, 1983). Schema Theory Schema theory, which comes from cognitive psychology, owes much to the work of Bartlett (Rumelhart, 1981) and Piaget (Orasanu and Penny, 1986). Schemata, the plural form of schema, also called ‘building blocks of cognition (Rumelhart, 1981, p. 3), refer to â€Å"abstract knowledge structure (s) stored in memory† (Garner, 1987, p. 4). They are defined as the mental framework that helps the learner organize knowledge, direct perception and attention, and guide recall (Bruming, 1995), as cognitive constructs which allow for the organization of information in long-term memory (Widdowson,1983) and as the underlying connections that allow new experience and information to be aligned with previous knowledge ( McCarthy ,1991). Within the framework of schema theory, reading comprehension is no longer a linear, text-driven process, but is the process of the interpretation of new information, and the assimilation and accommodation of this information into memory structures or schemata (Anderson Pearson, 1984). Schemata are not static entities, however, but are continually constructed and reconstructed through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. In other words, a comprehension of a text involves activation of relevant schemata, which are initiated as a result of ‘bottom-up observation, and proceeds through a constant process of testing the activated schemata, evaluating their suitability, and refining or discarding them (Rumelhart, (1984, pp. 3, 6). Rumelhart (1981, p. 4) stated â€Å"according to schema theories, all knowledge is packed into units †¦ (which) are the schemata. Embedded in these packets of knowledge, in addition to the knowledge itself, is information about how this Investigation of Tunisian Geography Teachers Investigation of Tunisian Geography Teachers Introduction The purpose of this study was to investigate some Tunisian geography teachers/researchers reading of research articles (RA) in English in their field, in particular their use of metadiscourse and the factors that might affect this use. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods addressed the purposes of this study. Two major reasons have motivated the choice of this topic: theoretical and contextual. Theoretical Justifications Of The Study A good number of studies have highlighted the facilitative role that metadiscourse plays in reading comprehension (e.g. Camiciottoli, 2003). Metadiscourse is defined, in the present study, as â€Å"self-reflective linguistic material referring to the evolving text and to the writer and to the imagined reader of that text (Hyland and Tse, 2004, p. 156). In defining reading comprehension, I adopted the componential interactive approach (e.g. Grabe, 2008). According to this approach, readers are active participants who actively take knowledge, connect it to previously assimilated knowledge and make it theirs by constructing their own interpretation. They develop, modify and even reflect on all or some of the ideas displayed in the text. Research has shown that second language (SL) and foreign language (FL) reading comprehension process is highly complex (Grabe, 2008; Koda, 2007; Sheng, 2000). Indeed, a wide range of variables intervene in the process: linguistic, metalinguistic, cognitive, metacognitive, social and psychological (Koda, 2005; Pressley, 2006; Rapp et al., 2007). Researchers reported the difficulty to clearly understand the exact degree of the contribution of each variable to the final product. All aspects of the reader variables interact with one another and interact with textual and contextual factors (e.g. Dhieb-Henia, 2003). Different models have been proposed in the literature in order to take account of these factors (the Top-down approach, the Bottom-up approach, the Interactive approach) (Grabe, 2008). Also, there has been a debate among SL reading researchers about whether SL reading is a language problem or a reading problem (Alderson, 1984, Bernhardt and Kamil, 1995; Grabe, 1991; Khaldieh, 2001). Some researchers contended that some SL linguistic knowledge threshold was necessary in order to get first language (L1) reading knowledge to engage and first language reading strategies to transfer (Cummins (1979) threshold level of language proficiency and Clarkes (1978) linguistic ceiling). Others argued that reading difficulties in a SL can be caused by a deficient reading ability in general, or can be caused by a failing transfer of L1 reading ability to an FL (the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, or alternatively called the common underlying principle (Bernhardt Kamil, 1995). Reading in English for Academic purposes (EAP) is still a more complex process (Flowerdew and Peacock, 2001). EAP is concerned with the English required for specific academic purpose such as studying at universities and colleges, doing research or publishing papers. Based on the literature, the present study views EAP reading as the ability to read an EAP discourse as the product of a particular disciplinary culture (e.g., Swales, 2004). Daoud (1991, p. 6), for instance, recommended that non-native readers (of EAP) should acquire â€Å"those abilities which would allow them to recognize the existence of certain types of implicit presuppositional rhetorical information, abilities that the experienced native reader possesses. Studies in Contrastive Rhetoric (CR) have demonstrated that texts are shaped by their cultural origins even if they participate in international discourses such as those of the science disciplines (Burgess, 2002; Connor, 2004; Kaplan, 1966, 1987). Mauranen (1993) asserted that â€Å"science, or more widely, academic research, does not exist outside writing, and so we cannot represent it, or realize it, without being influenced by the variation in the writing cultures that carry it† (p. 4). This suggests that the belief that scientific academic discourses merely transmit natural facts is debatable. Hyland (2005) argued that discourses are never neutral but always engaged in that they realize the interests, the positions, the perspectives and the values of those who enact them (p. 4). The RA, for instance, is a discourse written by a particular writer belonging to a particular scientific discourse community in the purpose of engaging an audience and persuading them of his/her findings (Adel, 2006; Hyland, 2005; Martin, 2004). Webber (1994) explained â€Å"scientists are writers who fight for their ideas to be accepted, recognized, and to be competitive and get their work published† (p. 257). The tendency of scientific writers to choose a particular range of rhetorical devices, might reveal their attempts to establish interpersonal relations, to interact with their audience and to express personal attitudes about the content of their texts and about their audience( s). Metadiscourse is the linguistic system that enables writers to achieve these goals (Adel, 2006; Hyland, 2004; 2005; Martin, 2004). It represents some internal stylistic map whereby an external reality is created and conveyed. Metadiscourse also helps to perceive discourse as a social action between two parties, author(s) and audience, researchers and scientific communities; in other words, writers and readers are viewed as social agents and texts as a social enterprise in which writers do not only want their messages to be understood (an illocutionary effect), but also to be accepted (a perlocutionary effect) (Hyland, 2005). Hyland (2001, p. 550) argues â€Å"a central aspect of the writer-reader dialogue involves careful interpersonal negotiations in which writers seek to balance claims for the significance, originality, and truth of their work against the convictions of their readers†. The readers ability to construct the writer-intended meaning, via metadiscourse, is one ma jor key to a successful comprehension. This idea of interaction was grounded in Hallidays (1985) metafunctional theory of language. Halliday (1985) argued that language is a system of meanings and maintains that the writer needs to operate at three levels: the ideational, the textual and the interpersonal. On the ideational plane, the writer supplies information about the subject of the text and expands propositional content, on the interactive plane, he/she does not add propositional material, but helps readers organize, classify, interpret, evaluate, and react to such material. Many researchers have attempted to investigate the contributions of metadiscourse to language teaching. However, most of the literature on metadiscourse has focused on the writing skill. The immense part of these studies has compared writers use of metadiscourse across cultures and disciplines (Dahl, 2004; Hyland TLe, 2004; Ifantidou, 2005; Lee, 2002; Perez Macia, 2002; Steffensen Cheng, 1996). Only a few studies have examined the role that this crucial part of discourse plays in reading comprehension skill. There is still an opaque picture of the correlation between the recognition of metadiscourse markers and reading comprehension performance. Indeed, a good number of the studies conducted with native readers of English has yielded inconclusive results (e.g., Crismore and Vande Kopple, 1997; OKeefe, 1988). While some researchers demonstrated the positive role of metadiscourse (e.g. Vande Kopple, 2002), other researchers concluded that metadiscourse did not have larger effects in their studies (e.g., Crismore, 1989). Research on the interaction between SL reading and metadiscourse seems to be still in its infancy. The little research carried out has demonstrated the complexity of the entreprise (Camiciottoli, 2003; Daoud, 1991; Dhieb-Henia, 2003; Mustapha and Premalatha, 2001). In fact, research has shown that many factors could intervene in the reading process and hamper EAP readers from using metadiscourse, namely language proficiency, prior disciplinary knowledge and metacognitive strategies (e.g., Camiciottoli, 2003; Daoud, 1991; Dhieb-Henia, 2003). Language proficiency refers to the ability to understand technical and semi-technical language used by a particular academic discourse community. Metacognition is the awareness readers have of their own mental processes and the subsequent ability to monitor, regulate, and direct themselves to a desired end. Prior knowledge includes knowledge of the rhetorical conventions of the genre and the subject discipline. It has been also interesting to note that no study has investigated SL experts use of metadiscourse when reading materials in their fields. Local Justifications Of The Study Reading RAs is a prerequisite for doing research, updating ones knowledge and ultimately publishing RAs. Publication is not optional or a matter of personal choice in Tunisia. The last reform of postgraduate studies has given prior importance to the number of published RAs (Labbassi, 2000). Therefore, researchers who would like to become visible in the international scientific community, have to read and write RAs in English, the international Lingua Frinca in the age of electronic communication. In fact, in Tunisia there are few specialised local journals. Labassi (2008, p. 4120 aptly put â€Å"reading and writing English have become unavoidable conditions for joining academic communities in almost all disciplines†. The Tunisian geographical society seems to be eager to integrate into the international geographic community. Indeed, the Tunisian Geographers Association, in collaboration with the International Geographical Union (IGU), managed to organise the 31st International Geographical Congress (IGC) in the country in 2008. Tunisia was the first Arab and African country to host the biggest appointment for geographers all over the world. Adding to that, there is a clear political intention to enhance English status in Tunisia. English is gaining ground over French, which has been until recently the principal language of modernity, as well as the dominant economic language. (Champagne, 2007; Labassi, 2009a, b; Tossa, 1995). The Tunisian government is aiming at creating an English-speaking workforce to enhance the prospects for successful integration into the global economy. Under the New Maitrise reform of 1998, English was introduced in the curriculum of all undergraduate students from all disciplines (Labassi, 2009 a). What is ironical, however, is that â€Å"potential researchers and professionals who have to read a literature, which is up to 90% in some disciplines in English, are not offered courses in English† (Labassi, 2009 a, p. 249). However, while the literature abounds with arguments for and against the role that metadiscourse plays in reading comprehension, little research has been conducted to assess the reading practices of the Tunisian geography society.Therefore, the present research aims to fill in this gap and gain more insight into the reading practices of some Tunisian university teachers/researchers of geography; in particular it aims to assess the extent they use metadiscourse to facilitate their comprehension of RAs in English in their field and to find out about the variables that may hinder this use. Research Objectives The main aims of the present research are three-fold: (1) to determine to what extent Tunisian geography faculty researchers use metadiscourse markers when reading research articles in English in their fields, (2) to assess whether this use facilitates their comprehension of research articles in English in their fields, (3) to find to what extent this use is related to the participants proficiency in English, to text familiarity (defined in the present study in terms of both content and formal knowledge) and to their use of metacognitive reading strategies. Research Questions The present study addresses the following questions: 1. To what extent do Tunisian geography faculty researchers use metadiscourse markers when reading research articles in English in their fields? 2. To what extent does this use relate to their comprehension of research articles in English in their fields? 3. To what extent do their proficiency in English, discipline-related knowledge (content and genre) and metacognitive reading strategies contribute to their use of metadiscourse markers and comprehension of research articles in English in their fields? Significance Of The Study This study explored the use of metadiscourse by some Tunisian geography faculty when reading research articles in English in their disciplines. Theoretically, findings from the study can help clarify the role metadiscourse plays in SL reading comprehension. The research into metadiscourse markers is useful in itself. It helps us have an insight into how writers interact with their readers to establish a reader-friendly atmosphere and to persuade them of their findings. Such information can add to our understanding of factors contributing to language pedagogy, in particular to the teaching of reading comprehension skill. At the practical level, information from this study can be useful for making decisions about organizing training sessions to university teachers/researchers to introduce them to the rhetorical conventions of academic genres, namely the research article and to the rhetorical importance of metadiscourse. They should be made aware of the facilitative role of metadiscourse markers when reading academic materials in English. Metadiscourse markers should be taught explicitly in EAP reading comprehension classes as a means to enhance the researchers reading comprehension ability. Thesis Organisation This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter describes the background of the research and the context in which the research was conducted. The second chapter comprises two sections: the first is a review of research into the nature of foreign language reading. The second section provides a descriptive account of what metadiscourse is, then explores the studies conducted on the effects of metadiscourse, reviews a few taxonomies on metadiscourse and ends with a description of the taxonomy to be adopted in the present study. Research questions are presented after the discussions of these reviews. Chapter three concerns the methodological decisions taken for this research. It describes how the participants were selected, how the material and instruments were piloted, and which materials and instruments were finally used. It provides as well an account of how the main study was conducted and how the data were analysed. Chapter four reports the findings of the present study. Cha pter five discusses the key findings from this study and highlights their implications for the area of EAP. The contributions and limitations of this research and suggestions for future research are presented in chapter six. Literature Review The previous chapter introduced the context for this research. This chapter clarifies the two central variables underlying the present study, namely EAP reading comprehension and metadiscourse use. It can be divided into three parts. In the first part, I will focus on the reading variable. Since foreign language reading modeling has been strongly influenced by first language reading theories, I will first discuss four different approaches to reading in a first language, I will then explain how they have been adopted in and adapted for a foreign language reading context. Next, I will elaborate on theoretical concepts particular to reading in English for academic purposes (being the focus of the present study) and I will draw attention to studies that investigated the interaction between reading in English for Academic purposes and language proficiency, background knowledge and reading strategies. This part aims at underscoring the complexity of the EAP reading process and the need to account for the many factors intervening in it. In the second part, I will introduce the second variable of the present study, metadiscouse. I will first try to define the concept and then provide an overview of its main assumptions and classifications to highlight the confusion surrounding the term and emphasize its benefits to EAP readers, and last I will detail Hylands (2005) taxonomy, the theoretical framework within which the present study is conducted. In the last part I will review some empirical studies that have investigated the interaction between metadiscourse and EAP reading. This part will also draw attention to the scarcity of research in this area. Reading Comprehension Understanding the processes involved in reading comprehension is a prerequisite to select reliable and valid research instruments. Alderson (2000) stated â€Å"if we are not able to define what we mean by the ‘ability to read, it will be difficult to devise means of assessing such abilities† (p. 49). Likewise, Hogan (2004, p. 1) maintained The real question we are asking when we look at assessing reading is: What distinguishes a good reader from a poor reader? Implicit in this question is an even more fundamental question: What are we doing when we read?† Assessment is an attempt to answer the first question, but if we cannot at least try to answer the second, we do not know what we are assessing, and any measure or description of reading proficiency we suggest is meaningless. Thus, in what follows I will first attempt to define the construct of reading comprehension, and then present a number of models that provide a framework for organizing and explaining the nature of reading comprehension. I will give due prominence, however, to the issues specific to reading in EAP dwelling upon the complex cognitive processes that EAP readers go through when they read. I will try to show how certain variables such as linguistic proficiency, background knowledge and reading strategies interact with reading comprehension process. Definition Of The Construct Of Reading Comprehension Reading comprehension has often been a subject of controversy among teachers and scholars. Kintsch (1998, p. 2) stated â€Å"the terms understanding and comprehension are not scientific terms but are commonsense expressions. As with other such expressions, their meaning is fuzzy and imprecise†. In defining the construct of reading comprehension, I adopted Kintschs (1998) theory of human text comprehension, as it is a â€Å"widely-recognized† theory of text comprehension and as it has â€Å"consistently defined the research agenda for the field of text comprehension† (Grabe, 2008, p. 3). The concepts of ‘Comprehension and ‘Understanding are used interchangeably in the present study as â€Å"a matter of linguistic variation† following Kintsch. ‘Comprehension is to be understood in relation to ‘perception and ‘problem solving. Both ‘perception and ‘understanding involve unconscious and automatic processes. They â€Å"can each be described as a process of constraint satisfaction† (p. 3). They differ, however, in that ‘understanding should result in an action, be it â€Å"an overt action in the environment or a mental event† (p. 3). Kintsch (1998, p. 2) stated â€Å"understand is used when the relationship between some object and its context is at issue or when action is required†. As for the ‘problem solving process, it is more complex and involves more demand on cognitive resources. It is an action readers resort to when they fail to understand something. Kintsch (1998) maintained â€Å" perception and understanding are the processes people normally use; when an impasse develops in perception or understanding, they resort to problem solving as a repair process† (p. 3). Reading is the process in which the reader sequentially deals with letters, words and sentences. It was defined by Sheng (2000, p. 2) as â€Å"the process of recognition, interpretation, and perception of written or printed material†. Comprehension, on the other hand, involves the ability of the reader to grasp and interpret the meaning of written material, and to reason about cognitive processes that lead to understanding. In other words, it not only covers cognitive understanding of the materials at both surface and deep structure levels, but also the readers reactions to the content. Sheng (2000, p. 2) maintained â€Å"it is a more complex psychological process and includes in addition to linguistic factors (phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic elements), cognitive and emotional factors†. In sum, the process of reading deals with language forms while the process of comprehension, the end product, deals with language content. The term ‘reading comprehension can, in some respects, be considered a complex construct, as highlighted by numerous reading researchers (Carrell, 1988; Grabe, 1991; Kintsch, 1998; de Beaugrande, 1981). According to Brumfit (1980), reading comprehension is a complex activity covering â€Å"a combination of perceptual, linguistic and cognitive abilities† (p. 3). It is a constructive thinking process which â€Å"involves application, analysis, evaluation and imagination† (Taylor, 1984, p.391). Grabe (2008) attributed the complexity of the reading comprehension process to the multiple purposes of reading and the complex cognitive processes involved. In the present study, reading is viewed as a process of communication between a writer and a reader and this communication will be incomplete unless it is affected by the readers evaluation and appreciation. In fact, both the reader and the writer contribute to the reading process. Despite the uniqueness of second language reading processes (Geva and Wang, 2001; Koda, 2007), second language reading has drawn extensively on first language reading research. Different models have been adopted and adapted based on a variety of L1 reading theories. Below is a review of these theories. Reading Theories In A First Language A reading model provides an imagined representation of the reading process. It provides ways to represent a theory and explain what reading involves and how reading works based on available evidence. Goldman, et al., (2007) explained â€Å"the term model refers specifically to a representation of the psychological processes that comprise a component or set of components involved in human text comprehension† (p. 27). According to Samuels (1994), a good theoretical model has three characteristics: it summarizes a considerable amount of information discovered in the past; it helps explain and make more understandable what is happening in the present, and it allows one to make predictions about the future (p. 816). Researchers, however, are somehow cautious about the comprehensibility of the model because of its inability to account for all the available evidence that exists. Dhieb-Henia (2002) warned that the models are not always backed up by sufficient empirical evidence to val idate (them) (p. 18). In the same fashion, Grabe (2008) argued â€Å"to assert that a model must be an accurate synthesis, () is problematic†. Thus, these researchers recommend that we consider these models as a possible representation of the reading process, rather than absolute models. They nonetheless stress the key role that these models play in â€Å"synthesizing information and establishing central claims† (Grabe, 2008, p. 84). Reviewing the literature, four major approaches have been proposed in an attempt to understand the reading process. The major distinction between the approaches is the emphasis given to text-based variables such as vocabulary, syntax, and grammatical structure and reader-based variables such as the readers background knowledge, cognitive development, strategy use, interest, and purpose (Lally, 1998). The following sections review these approaches and discuss them with reference to the specific context of the present study. The Bottom-Up Approach The concept of decoding is central to what is usually called the bottom-up approach to reading. The term bottom-up originated in perception psychology, where it is used to signify the processing of external stimuli (Mulder, 1996). In reading research, the term is not always used in a consistent manner and has drifted away from the original meaning it had in perception psychology. Nevertheless, the term always focuses on what are called lower order processes, i.e. decoding ability and word recognition ability (Mulder, 1996). These abilities are believed to form the key to proficient reading. In other words, the reader perceives every letter, organizes the perceived letters into words, and then organizes the words into phrases, clauses and sentences. Meaning, at any level, (e.g. word or phrase), is accessed only once processing at previous (e.g. lower) levels has been completed (Carrell, 1988). The argument is that bottom-up processing requires a literal or fundamental understanding of the language. Carrell (1993, p. 2) maintained Reading (is) viewed primarily as a decoding process of reconstructing the authors intended meaning via recognizing the printed letters and words, and building up a meaning for a text from the smallest textual units at the bottom (letters and words) to larger and larger units at the top (phrases, clauses, intersentential linkages. Advocates of this theory argue that successful reading comprehension of a text relies heavily on an efficient application of bottom-up processes. The best known representative of this type of approach is Goughs (1972) model. The model is summarised by Urquhart and Weir as follows: T]he reader begins with letters, which are recognized by a SCANNER. The information thus gained is passed to a DECODER, which converts the string of letters into a string of systematic phonemes. This string is then passed to a LIBRARIAN, where with the help of the LEXICON, it is recognized as a word. The reader then fixates on the next word, and proceeds in the same way until all the words in a sentence have been processed, at which point they proceed to a component called MERLIN, in which syntactic and semantic rules operate to assign a meaning to the sentence. The final stage is that of the Vocal System, where the reader utters orally what has first been accessed through print. (Urquhart Weir, 1998: 40) The decoding approach, however, has been viewed by many as inadequate. According to Eskey (1973), the approach underestimates the contribution of the reader. The reader, according to this approach, does not read the text through a self-determined, predefined perspective or goal, but rather lets the text itself (and therefore its author) determine the reading process (Urquhart Weir, 1998). The approach fails to recognize that readers utilize their expectations about the text based on their knowledge of language and how it works. Similarly, Carrell (1984) stated that this view assumes a rather passive view of reading. Grabe (2008) stated â€Å"we know that such an extreme view of reading is not accurate, and no current model of reading depicts reading as a pure bottom-up process† (p. 89). Criticism of the bottom-up theory has given impetus to the Top- down theory. The Top-Down Approach Whereas the bottom-up approach gives incoming information a central place in the reading process, the top-down approach focuses on the knowledge a reader already possesses. It stresses what are called higher order cognitive processes. The top-down theory posits a non-linear view of the reading process, i.e. from higher levels of processing, and proceeds to use the lower levels selectively. It assumes that readers interrogate the text rather than process it completely. They get meaning by comparing their expectations to a sample of information from the text. The proponents of this theory argue that readers experience and background knowledge is essential for understanding a text. Grabe (2008) explained â€Å"top-down models assume that the reader actively controls the comprehension process, directed by reader goals, expectations, and strategic processing† (p. 89). Carrell (1993, p. 4) stated In the top-down view of second language reading, not only is the reader an active participant in the reading process, but everything in the readers prior experience or background knowledge plays a significant role in the process. In this view, not only is the readers prior linguistic knowledge (â€Å"linguistic† schemata) and level of proficiency in the second language important, but the readers prior background knowledge of the content area of the text (â€Å"content† schemata) as well as of the rhetorical structure of the text (â€Å"formal† schemata) are also important. According to this view, the readers background knowledge may compensate for certain syntactic and lexical deficiencies. Readers start with their background knowledge (whole text) and make predictions about the text, and then verify their predictions by using text data (words) in the text (Urquhart Cyril, 1998). Clarke and Silberstein (1977, p.136-137) stated that â€Å"more information is contributed by the reader than by the print on the page, that is, readers understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation†. The most frequently cited representative of this approach is Goodmans (1976) top-down model. He defined reading as a process of verifying hypotheses — hypotheses that are based on knowledge which the reader possesses. His model, also called the guessing game theory, is summarised by Bossers as follows: According to Goodman, the reading process consisted of sampling and selecting cues, on the basis of which an interpretation is predicted or guessed, which is subsequently tested against the semantic context, and then confirmed or rejected as the reader processes further language, and so on. These stages of the process were called features of the reading process or effective strategies or effective reading behaviour alternatively. (Bossers,1992:10). A very influential theory that is usually discussed in relation to the top-down perspective is that of schema theory. The prior knowledge gained through experiences, stored in ones mind and activated when readers encounter new information is referred to in the literature as schemata (Carrell, 1980; Widdowson, 1983). Schema Theory Schema theory, which comes from cognitive psychology, owes much to the work of Bartlett (Rumelhart, 1981) and Piaget (Orasanu and Penny, 1986). Schemata, the plural form of schema, also called ‘building blocks of cognition (Rumelhart, 1981, p. 3), refer to â€Å"abstract knowledge structure (s) stored in memory† (Garner, 1987, p. 4). They are defined as the mental framework that helps the learner organize knowledge, direct perception and attention, and guide recall (Bruming, 1995), as cognitive constructs which allow for the organization of information in long-term memory (Widdowson,1983) and as the underlying connections that allow new experience and information to be aligned with previous knowledge ( McCarthy ,1991). Within the framework of schema theory, reading comprehension is no longer a linear, text-driven process, but is the process of the interpretation of new information, and the assimilation and accommodation of this information into memory structures or schemata (Anderson Pearson, 1984). Schemata are not static entities, however, but are continually constructed and reconstructed through the processes of assimilation and accommodation. In other words, a comprehension of a text involves activation of relevant schemata, which are initiated as a result of ‘bottom-up observation, and proceeds through a constant process of testing the activated schemata, evaluating their suitability, and refining or discarding them (Rumelhart, (1984, pp. 3, 6). Rumelhart (1981, p. 4) stated â€Å"according to schema theories, all knowledge is packed into units †¦ (which) are the schemata. Embedded in these packets of knowledge, in addition to the knowledge itself, is information about how this