Australia Essays (1835 words) - Atmospheric Sciences, Earth, Water

Australia Australia The name of Australia comes from the Latin word Australis, which means southern. Since it lies entirely in the southern hemisphere, Australia is most commonly referred to as "down under". Australia, being a country, is also a continent. In land area it's the sixth largest for a country and the smallest continent. Australia is a very dry, thinly populated country. Very few coastal areas receive enough rainfall to support a large population. The largest group of Australian people live in two large cities, Sydney and Melbourne. The vast interior is mainly desert or grassland and there are very few settlements. As a whole, the country has a density of six people per square mile. The down under is famous for vast wide-open spaces, bright sunshine, bikini-clad beauties, enormous numbers of sheep and cattle, and unusual wildlife. Kangaroos, Koalas, platypuses, and wombats are a few of the erotic animals that live here. Australia was originally settled by Great Britain as a prison colony in the late 1700's, so now most Australian people are of British ancestry. The immigrants brought all the customs too, such as driving on the left side of the road and their favorite warm drink, tea. They also speak English as the official language with their own Australian terms. CLIMATE The northern third of the Australian continent lies in the tropics and is warm or hot year round. The rest of the country lies south of the tropics and has warm summers and mild cool winters. The rainfall is seasonal in Australia. In the wet season, heavy downpours and violent storms cause floods. But the droughts that plague the nation are far more serious than any flood. Just about every section of Australia has a drought in the dry season. These droughts cause severe water shortages and cause the need for dramatic conservation laws as well as droughts there is also brush fires. Rivers in Australia are one of its most vital resources. They supply the cities and towns with the much-needed water. They also supply the farms with irrigation water. Though the rivers are dry most of the year, dams and reservoirs keep water during the dry season. Australia can basically be split into 3 parts-the eastern highlands, central lowlands, and the western plateau. The highlands consist mainly of high plateaus and broken-in places by hills, low mountain ridges, and gorges. Grasses or forest cover most of the plateaus, but some have fertile lands for crops. The southern part is most likely the most heavily populated part in all Australia, from Brisbane to Melbourne. In the southern region lie the Australian Alps. The Murray River, Australia's only river that constantly flows from the Alps, is the longest river. Australia's second major region, the central lowlands, is generally a flat area with infrequent rainfall along the north and south coasts and near the eastern highlands. Farmers in the southern region grow wheat but most of the region is to hot or to dry for crops. However the course grass or shrubs that cover the land make it suitable for livestock. The two large towns in the region have fewer than 30,000 people. Australia's third major region, the western plateau, covers the western two thirds of Australia. A vast, dry, treeless plateau extends about 400 miles along the regions southern edge; while the central part is mostly desert. A lot of the desert area consists of swirling sands that often drift into giant dunes. In places the desert gives way to land covered by grass and shrubs. Grazing livestock can then use the land. The north and south has the regions heaviest rainfall. The regions two largest cities are Adelaide and Perth. The Outback The bush, as the Australians call it, refers to the countryside. The term outback refers specifically to the interior of the country, with is mainly open countryside including vast expanses of grazing land. About 13 percent of Australia's people live in these rural areas. Many people live extremely isolated lives on sheep and cattle ranches called stations. Some of the largest stations cover more than 1,000 square miles from the nearest town. The outback has few paved roads so travel by car is difficult or impossible. Floods sometimes close roads for weeks at a time. Most wealthy farm families own a light airplane, which they use to travel to town. Other families get to town only a few times a year making it difficult to maintain necessities. The largest settlements in rural Australia are widely spread towns that have developed to support mining towns. For example, Kalgoorie, a town in western Australia, is the center of Australia's major gold and nickel fields. The

Witte And Stolypin Essay For Wilcock Essays

Witte And Stolypin Essay For Wilcock Essays Witte And Stolypin Essay For Wilcock Essay Witte And Stolypin Essay For Wilcock Essay For example White improved Russians production of raw material during the great spurt and stolidly reformed agriculture through things such as the strip system. Sergei White contributed massively o the industrial and economic expansion in Russia in the 1 8905 but only later on, after the economic trouble of 1901-1902 where 2400 firms closed, and during the great spurt(1892 did he make huge improvements. A major example Of how White improved Russians industrial standing was the completion of the trans-Siberian railway in 1 903 after its 10 year construction. It extended Russians railways from 30,km in 1890 to 60,km in 1 904, and therefore Since the railway stretched across most of Russia, it allowed for resources in areas such as Siberia to be made use of since prior to its instruction there was no way to reach them. This was reflected in the increasing production of coal, iron and oil, which all nearly tripled in-between 1900 and 1910. Communication between the central cities of Russia such as Baku, SST. Petersburg and Moscow increased along with their populations due to people making use of the railway and migrating to the cities. Baku for example grew from 12 thousand people in 1897 to 211 thousand people, and due to it being the centre of oil production, oil output rose from 3. 9 million tones to 9. 7 in 1910. White therefore, through the Trans Siberian railway yester drastically transformed Russians industry. Alongside this he had accomplishments in other areas such as the economy, for example in 1894 he managed to produce 30% of Russians revenue through establishment of the state liquor monopoly. And in 1 887 he put the ruble on the gold standard, which resulted Russians budget doubling and investment increasing. The military was another area which the growth of industry benefited as production of war materials grew significantly. Overall the culmination of all Whites achievements massively transformed Russians industry in a massively costive way, however agriculture in comparison to industry had no major reforms, which can be seen as one of his failures. Whites successor peter Stolidly had a shift in focus compared to Whites who singularly focused on industry. Since Russians heritage and main form of income and output throughout its history was agriculture, he believed it was the more important sector to focus on. Also due to his tsarist ideals he aimed to prevent another revolution so therefore aimed to improve the position of the peasantry. In terms Of agricultural transformations, the expansion Of the areas actually used for farming was a huge step forward. This was achieved through the incentives of cheap land in Siberia with the aid of government loans. These loans were also made more enticing due to the abolishment of the redemption payments on New Years Day 1907 which meant the agricultural workers werent tied down by other loans and payments. These reforms under Stolidly were considerably successful as in 1 906, agricultural production was 45. Million tones but by 1 91 3 it was 61. 7 million tones. The lives of those actually doing the work were also transformed due the peasants being freed from the commune under the law of 9 in November 906 and then financial aid was given in the form of the land bank after its creation on the 1 5th November 1906. Arguably one of Cytolysiss most effec tive reforms was the strip system. Allowing for the equal distribution of land along with a more effective farming method agricultural production rose massively and peasant owning their own land increased from 20% to 50% in between 1905 and 1915. The creation of the kulaks also improved agriculture since the new class of peasants were more hard working and motivated in comparison to their previous ways of being lazy and inefficient. Stolidly and his numerous reforms did undoubtedly transform Russians agriculture and improved upon its position in relation to agriculture before he took charge, however his reforms were cut short by the start of howl and Russians needs changed. However both Stolidly and White had drawback during their time as chief minister to the Tsar. White focused solely on industry without any notable thought to Russians agricultural position, which is reflected in the slow increase in cereal production in-between 1 890 and 1900 of 36 million tones to 56 million tones in comparison to the tripling of industrial production in the same timeshare. Living conditions in the urban areas decreased rapidly during Whites mass arbitration as the crowds that flooded into the towns and cities after the railways completion had nowhere to go since it all occurred to fast for the cities to expand and be able to accommodate the increasing populous. Also in relation to arbitration and industrial growth, everything he achieved, although it was a step forward for the previously backwards Russia, was far behind that of the western world. To support this it can be said that he did not transform industry and actually oaken it by urbanism to much since due to poor conditions, in some cases famine occurred which reduced Russians output as workers were not as effective.

Concept testing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Concept testing - Assignment Example Owl by giving kids the ability to play with creative and educational toys which do not require technological knowledge. The buying unit for this product are parents and gift providers for children ages 4 and up. When compared to school kits and creativity sets, the recommended age range for our toy is ages 4-15. The primary market are adults, even though the children are essential in giving return customers, parents must feel comfortable purchasing our product for their kids The need for better confidence of a person can be addressed with Dr. Owl by promoting educational behavior. Even low forms of instruction can increase a person’s confidence. Dr. Owl helps instruct children to be organized with different compartments of the toy. This will allow a child to want to interact with organization more than with other toys. Dr. Owl will also encourage children to be more studious as all the features of the form are stationary-based, encouraging a child to sit down and write, draw, study and do things that will develop their creative and educational skills. This small push to sit and study with the toy will also provide children with more confidence about their school work. Specific toys such as blocks and construction tool playsets have proven to help children improve their study and organization skills in their home environment. Our toy is a stationary that is owl-shaped in order to represent wisdom. The toy uses aesthetically pleasing colors to attract children and parents (primary market). The attachments and body have a round shape which allow the toy to be safe. The body also acts as a protective covering for the attachments, allowing it to be safely handled by smaller children. All of the pieces of Dr. Owl come together like a Lego piece, they click on to the body. This click in place will occur with a stem and hole much like a Bratzâ„ ¢ doll foot. There is not a current identifiable form of toy like ours. There are

Film Analysis Paper-Sunrise(1927) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Film Analysis Paper-Sunrise(1927) - Essay Example Sunrise successfully utilized mise en scà ¨ne to contrast the fast paced city lifestyle vs. cozy country lifestyle, as well as the different characteristics of the actors, to show that true love is the only way to help the man get out of evil seduction. The settings were a mix of real locations and artificial sets. Either way, they provided a perfect background to the scenes. John Bailey, the movie’s cinematographer, explained that the marsh was a studio set, the train in the first scene was a model made to look large in the foreground, the extras were real people and the projected city was from a matte drawing (Ebert: para 12 & 13). The rest of the settings were real. In most cases, the final product was manipulated with camera tricks, creating an imagery of dreaminess. For example, there were scenes where superimposed, ghost-like images were added. One scene showed the man being surrounded by the image of the woman from the city, but she was not physically present. Another scene showed exciting activities in the city with dancers and musicians providing the promised fun, but these images seemed to merely float in a void. Bailey explains that such images were borne out of creative camera use. The camera men used the advance d trick of that time of masking and exposing, controlling the lens and counting the individual frames where they would apply the trick. The finished product was clean without any hint of roughness. It is impressive that all these were done several decades ago when digital technology was not yet in existence, so talent and creativity played major roles in the genius of film makers then. In the city setting, several long shots were taken to shoot the scenes. This was to capture all the action that goes on in one frame. This strategy saved the time and effort to show how busy everyone was in the city, so viewers can get a feel of the

Developing the Corporate Strategy for Information Security Research Paper

Developing the Corporate Strategy for Information Security - Research Paper Example Example: Implementation of this function in the organization can be done through the utilization of risk assessment tools in order to depict potential risks to information security. Management of the Risk Another vital function of CISO is managing the risks, which are interrelated with the functions of continuous assessment. Based on the results of the assessment, the officer is liable to develop strategies and plans in order to mitigate these threats (Whitman & Mattord, 2010; Homeland Security, 2007). Example: In an organization, this function can be accommodated by determining risk management strategies, having continuous monitoring of the organizational processes. Implementation of Designed Program Another vital function of CISO calls for proper implementation of the designed programs to ensure that the organizational strategies are applied in an ethical and hazard-free manner. This function of the officer is quite vital, as efficiency of the other functions tend to be highly depe nded on its proper execution (Whitman & Mattord, 2010; Homeland Security, 2007). Example: For the effective execution of this function, the CISO would need to utilize management techniques so that successful implementation of the organizational strategies can be assured. b. ... the competency to manage a control plan restricting inappropriate access to information that may hamper organizational interests either directly or indirectly (EC-Council, 2013; Homeland Security, 2007). Physical Security In accordance to this competency, CISO will need to be familiar with the standards, policies and laws associated with physical security. In this regard, it would also be vital for the CISO to determine the importance of such physical assets for any organization. Owing to this understanding, CISO will be able to gain the competency to manage and develop a coherent plan to ensure the overall information security within the organization (EC-Council, 2013; Homeland Security, 2007). Risk Management Mitigation as well as proper treatment of the threats being identified, is among the core competencies of CISO. In this regard, CISO should also need to be aware about the various resources that would be required towards determining proper risk management plan for the potentia l threats. It would be worth mentioning in this regard that successful mitigation of risk is directly dependent on this competency of CISO (EC-Council, 2013; Homeland Security, 2007). 2. The Chief Information Officer (CIO)’s functions within an organization a. Four (4) functions of CIO Manage A major function of a CIO is to determine the risks associated with information security of an organization. This can be done on the basis of facilitated understanding of policies and regulatory norms, related to managing the information. These functions will also include managing the strategic plans as well as programs associated with the information technology practiced within an organization (United States Dept. of Homeland Security, 2011; Homeland Security, 2007). Example: This function of a CIO

The Acoustic Phonetics English Language Essay

The Acoustic Phonetics English Language Essay The chapter Vowels, acoustics events with a relatively open vocal tract deals with the examination of the various acoustic properties that can result when the vocal tract is in relatively open configuration. The chapter discusses primarily the sounds produced when the narrowest point in the vocal tract is not sufficiently constricted for modes of vibration for which the average airflow is not large enough to cause a significant pressure drop at the constriction. This configuration is normally associated with vowel sounds. The author explains formant bandwidths for vowels by describing the vocal tract as a pole or a tube and when this has no branches or cross modes and the source of sound is a volume velocity source at the glottis, the transfer function to the volume velocity at the mouth opening is an all pole function. When the shape of the vocal tract is changed due to the position of the body of the tongue or any other structure the frequency at the glottis also changes. at occasi ons there are acoustic losses in the vocal tract and these are due to various reasons such as vocal tract walls, viscosity, heat conduction and radiation. The author has used a graph to explain the acoustic loss caused by these factors, and it also measures the frequency. The data in the graph was obtained from sweep-tone measurements, in which estimates of the transfer function were made by applying a transducer to the neck surface and measuring the sound pressure radiated from the mouth using a sinusoidal source. The glottis were closed when the measurements were made. From the graph it is under stood that there is a difference in frequency between male and female and radiation casuses the most of acoustic loss. The two figures also show the average values of the bandwidths of the first three formants for several vowel configurations were 54 , 65, 70 Hz respectively, with the first formant band varying from 39 to73 Hz for different vowels. In the high frequency range above about 2 000 Hz , a major contributor to the bandwidth is acoustic loss is radiation but there is also considerable variability in the format bandwidths at these frequencies depending primarily on the size of the mouth opening and the cavity affiliation of first format frequency. High vowels: A number of acoustic, physiological and auditory factors combine to define a category of vowels that are produced with a high tongue body position and a low first formant frequency. The impedance of vacal tract walls contributes to stability of first format, the tongue surface in the lateral direction can be shaped to produce a stable acoustic output (atleast tongued body positions) that is insensitive to the degree of contraction for the muscles controlling tongue height and the auditory responses to sound with a low with a low f1 appears to have distinctive properties. Front back distinction We find a common acoustic consequence of front back displacements of the tongue body independent of tongue height. Forward movement of the tongue body causes an increase of the second formant-frequency to maximum value consistent to the types of constrictions that are possible for the different tongue heights. This maximum value is higher for the high vowels than for the low vowels. For the highest tongue body position, and, to some extent for the intermediate position, the third and fourth formants combine with the second to produce a center of gravity of the higher frequency spectral prominence that is higher than F2. front vowels then are always characterized by a broad minimum or empty space in the spectrum in the mid frequency between F1 and F2. For a back tongued body, on the other hand ,F2 is displaced to value that is maximally low and close to F1 for a proper selection of the tongue body position. In the case of the non low vowels, a value of F2 that is lowest and closest to F1 and can be reached by rounding the lips. An acoustic consequence of an F2 value that is low is low and close to F1 is that the amplitudes of higher frequency peaks in the spectrum are low relative to the amplitudes of F1 and F2 peaks and probably do not play a significant role in determining vowel quality. Electeomyographic data show a sharp distinction in the muscle activity involved in producing front and back vowels. Data reported by Baer et al. show that all back vowels exhibit activity of the stylogloccus muscle, which is oriented to displace the tongue body backward and upward. This muscle is specially active for non low back vowels. Front vowels on the other hand, show no activity of the stylogloccus muscle. A neutral vowel is defined as a vowel produced by a vocal tract configuration that has uniform cross-sectional area along its entire length. Whilst no vowel articulation can actually meet this requirement accurately, the vowel in heard and some productions of schwa can approximate this configuration. For such vowels, and only for such vowels, the vocal tract can be treated mathematically as a single uniform tube closed at one end (the glottis) and open at the other (the lips) for the purposes of calculating the resonances of the vocal tract. The acoustics of vowels are fairly well understood. The different vowel qualities are realized in acoustic analyses of vowels by the relative values of the formants, acoustic resonances of the vocal tract which show up as dark bands on a spectrogram. The vocal tract acts as a resonant cavity, and the position of the jaw, lips, and tongue affect the parameters of the resonant cavity, resulting in different formant values. The acoustics of vowels c an be visualized using spectrograms, which display the acoustic energy at each frequency, and how this changes with time. The first formant, abbreviated F1, corresponds to vowel openness (vowel height). Open vowels have high F1 frequencies while close vowels have low F1 frequencies, as can be seen at right: The [i] and [u] have similar low first formants, whereas [É‘] has a higher formant. The second formant, F2, corresponds to vowel frontness. Back vowels have low F2 frequencies while front vowels have high F2 frequencies. This is very clear at right, where the front vowel [i] has a much higher F2 frequency than the other two vowels. However, in open vowels the high F1 frequency forces a rise in the F2 frequency as well, so an alternative measure of frontness is the difference between the first and second formants. For this reason, some people prefer to plot as F1 vs. F2 F1. (This dimension is usually called backness rather than frontness, but the term backness can be counterintuitive when discussing formants.) In the third edition of his textbook, Peter Ladefoged recommended use of plots of F1 against F2 F1 to represent vowel quality. [4] However, in the fourth edition, he changed to adopt a simple plot of F1 against F2, [5] and this simple plot of F1 against F2 was maintained for the fifth (and final) edition of the book. [6] Katrina Hayward compares the two types of plots and concludes that plotting of F1 against F2 F1 is not very satisfactory because of its effect on the placing of the central vowels, [7] so she also recommends use of a simple plot of F1 against F2. In fact, this kind of plot of F1 against F2 has been used by analysts to show the quality of the vowels in a wide range of languages, including RP British English, [8] [9] the Queens English, [10] American English, [11] Singapore English, [12] Brunei English, [13] North Frisian, [14] Turkish Kabardian, [15] and various indigenous Australian languages. [16]Rounding is generally realized by a complex relationship between F2 and F3 that tends to reinforce vowel backness. One effect of this is that back vowels are most commonly rounded while front vowels are most commonly unrounded; another is that rounded vowels tend to plot to the right of unrounded vowels in vowel charts. That is, there is a reason for plotting vowel pairs the way they are. The usual description of vowels in respect to their phonetic quality requires the linguist to locate them within a so-called vowel space, apparently articulatory in nature, and having three dimensions labeled high-low (or close-open), front-back, and unrounded-rounded. The first two are coordinates of tongue with associated jaw position, while the third specifies the posture of the lips. It is recognized that vowels can vary qualitatively in ways that this three-dimensional space does not account for. So, for example, vowels may differ in degree of nasalization, and they may be rhotacized or r-colored. Moreover, it is recognized that while this vowel space serves important functions within the community of linguists, both the two measures of tongue position and the one for the lips inadequately identify those aspects of vocal tract shapes that are primarily responsible for the distinctive phonetic qualities of vowels (Ladefoged 1971). With all this said, it remains true enough that a lmost any vowel pair of different qualities can be described as occupying different positions with the space. Someone hearing two vowels in sequence and detecting a quality difference will presumably also be able to diagnose the nature of the articulatory shift executed in going from one vowel to the other. Esophageal talkers may have reduced intelligibility due to both time domain and frequency domain variability. The unpredictable nature of esophageal speech can cause problems when automatic procedures are used in applications such as long-distance telephone messages. The current study compared a standard coding algorithm (LPC-10e) with a novel approach to determining voiced periods (vocal tract area functions) in the speech of esophageal talkers. The results of the study showed that the sentences synthesized with the vocal tract area function algorithm were more intelligible than those synthesized with the standard LPC-10e algorithm. Supplemental information, such as vocal tract area functions, may be useful in determining voiced epochs when variability in vocal parameters is high. In the last 40 years, many vocal pedagogy authors have written about the need for appropriate vowel modification. Modification involves shading vowels with respect to the location of vowel formants, so that the sung pitch or one of its harmonics receives an acoustical boost by being near a formant. The goals of such modification include a unified quality throughout the entire range, smoother transitions between registers, enhanced dynamic range and control and improved intelligibility. Elite singers, whether they consciously recognize they are modifying vowels or not, become experts at making subtle changes in vowels as they sing, or they do not have consistent careers. Modification concepts which have been widely accepted are summarized below: Although there is a strong correlation between voice classification and formant frequencies, due to subtle articulation and anatomical differences, formant frequencies are unique to each individual. The amount of modification needed varies with the size of the voice, the weight of the voice, the duration of the note being considered, the dynamic level, and how the note in question is approached. Sensitive singers report that the amount of modification they need may vary daily and also during the day, depending on how much they have warmed up. Vowel formants are frequency bands, not one specific pitch. Precise tuning of each note in a piece is not very practical nor is it acoustically beneficial. During a rapid passage, a singer may not have enough time to adjust for optimal resonance on each vowel on each note; moving on to the next note in the passage smoothly is a greater priority than exact tuning of each tone. Males and females tune differently. In general, males seek to match harmonics above the fundamental to a formant, while females, especially in the upper voice, tend to reinforce the fundamental itself by matching it to the first or lowest formant. Several general rules for modifying vowels exist (as summarized by Titze): (a) formant frequencies lower uniformly by lengthening the vocal tract (either by lowering the larynx or protruding the lips or some combination of both); (b) formant frequencies are lowered uniformly by lip rounding and raised by lip spreading; (c) fronting and arching the tongue lowers the first formant and raises the second formant, while backing and lowering the tongue raises the first formant and lowers the second formant; (d) opening the jaw raises the first formant and lowers the second formant. Vocal fold vibration for voicing is achieved by the combined efforts of muscular tension, tissue elasticity and aerodynamic forces. The vocal folds are initially drawn together by the activities of the various laryngeal adductor muscles. As the folds come together the velocity of air passing through the glottis increases which results in a pressure drop between the medial edges of the folds (Bernoulli effect) causing them to be sucked together. Pressure then builds up below the closed glottis until the folds are forced apart and the cycle repeats (Van den Berg, 1958; 1968). One necessary condition of voicing is that subglottal pressure exceeds supraglottal pressure (the transglottal pressure difference) (Ohala, 1983; Sawashima and Hirose, 1983). The activity of the larynx during phonation causes the airstream flowing out of the lungs to be broken up into a rapid series of puffs due to the opening and closing of the vocal folds . Each burst of compressed air escapes through the glottis at high speed and collides with the column of air inside the vocal tract. This causes an acoustic shock wave which is propagated to the outside. The spectrum of the periodic glottal waveform is a line spectrum comprising harmonics which occur at multiples of the fundamental frequency. According to theoretical calculations (Fant, 1960; Rosenberg 1971), the glottal tone for normal phonation has a spectrum that falls off at about 12dB per octave. Other phonation types, as described by Laver (1980), display different glottal tone characteristics. Vowel sounds are most frequently described with reference to their formant characteristics which provide an indication of the resonance positions and hence the articulatory shape for the vowel production. Early speech perception studies (Delattre, Liberman, Cooper and Gerstman, 1952; Miller, 1953) showed that the frequencies of first three formants were the most important cues to vowel identification. These findings have been supported by several subsequent analyses (Fox, 1985, Kewley-Port and Atal, 1989; Klein, Plomp and Pols, 1970; Rackerd and Verbrugge, 1985; Shepard, 1972; Terbeek, 1977). The first formant has been shown to be associated with the auditory quality of height and the second formant with the auditory impression of the front/back dimension, or, more correctly, degree of constriction and point of maximal constriction . Ladefoged, De Clerk, Lindau and Papà §un (1972) remind us that degree of lip opening, or protrusion, pharyngeal width and larynx height also contribute to modifications of acoustic output. Lindblom and Sundberg (1971) found that all formants were lowered by lip rounding but that for palatal configurations, F3 was particularly affected. Hà ¶gberg (1995) also found that lip area was an important factor in the determination of F3 for the front vowels. When the first two formants are plotted on axes with certain directional and scaling characteristics, the vowel relationships closely resembles the traditional auditory vowel map . Such vowel spaces, with axes F1 and F2, rely on the concept of the vowel target which is the part of the vowel least influenced by its surrounding phonetic context. The vowel target is where the articulators, and therefore the formants, are moving the least and is referred to as the steady-state component of the vowel. The target is considered to be either a point in the time course of the vowel or else a section of time during which the vowel position remains stable. A single point is often used to provide an estimate of the target position, and for most vowels this can be assumed to be approximately mid way though the nucleus . Several authors have noted the problems inherent in the target theory for vowels citing the difficulties often encountered in establishing steady state components by eye or by automatic extraction procedures (Benguerel and McFadden, 1989; Nearey and Assmann, 1986). Van Son and Pols (1990), however, examined five different methods of identifying vowel targets and found that the use of the different methods made little difference to the results of their experiments. The conventional method of depicting the F1/F2 does not adequately represent the multi-dimensional nature of vowel quality. Delattre et al. (1952) showed that the third formant influenced listeners judgements of vowel quality and more recent experiments have determined that the higher formants have a combined influence on vowel perception. The combined upper formant is referred to as F2 prime (F2) (Bladon, 1983; Bladon and Fant, 1978; Carlson, Fant and Ganstrom, 1975; Paliwal, Lindsay and Ainsworth, 1983). Delattre et al. (1952) suggested that the ear averages formants that are close together. Carlson, Ganstrom and Fant (1970) tested this hypothesis for Swedish vowels concluding that all vowels could be effectively synthesised using two formant approximations. Chistovich and colleagues found that formant averaging or integration occurred only if two formants were situated within a critical distance of 3 to 3.5 bark (Chistovich and Lublinskaya, 1979 and Chistovich, Sheikin and Lublins kaya, 1979). More recent studies have examined global spectral features suggesting that the F3 F2 difference is a more accurate way of identifying vowel frontedness. Syrdal and Gopal (1986) have shown that the separation between back and front vowels is more closely linked to the F3 F2 difference than the F2 F1 difference. It is important to recognise, however, that F3 and F4 vary more than F1 and F2 as a result of speaker characteristics whereas they are relatively stable across vowel categories in contrast to F1 and F2 which vary greatly as a result of vowel quality. The higher formants are therefore less effective carriers of phonetic information than the lower formants (Harrington and Cassidy, 1999). Vowels can be described in terms of the centre frequencies of the first three formants at the vowel target (or targets for diphthongs). Vowel duration and other dynamic spectral information contribute to a more complete description but the extent of this contribution remains unclear. Contextual environment as well as suprasegmental factors plays an important role in the ultimate realisation of the vowel phoneme and so such characteristics must be carefully controlled in phonetic research. Physiological differences between speakers also affect vowel characteristics and such effects must be accounted for in phonetic research and minimised if necessary. One method of minimising physiological effects is to use one of the many normalisation procedures available to reduce variance but care must always be taken when manipulating data to ensure that phonetic accuracy is preserved. The question of sex specific articulations remains open as researchers have been unable to adequately model male to female vowel behaviour. Acoustic data provides an accessible means for hypothesising about articulatory behaviour and it is customary, in phonetic discussions of vowel characteristics, to use articulatory labels to refer to auditory and acoustic properties (Ladefoged and Maddieson, 1990). Articulatory discussions provide convenient global labels for describing acoustic effects, however, specific articulatory detail should not be ascribed to acoustic vowel data.

Effect of temperature on rate of reaction :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Effect of temperature on rate of reaction Aim: To find out if the temperature increases the rate of reaction of two chemicals. Prediction: My prediction is that the higher the temperature is the faster the rate of the reaction will be. Equipment: Hot water, thermometer, flask, cold water, stopwatch, tissue paper, paper with ‘X’ marked on it, safety glasses, measuring cylinder, large beaker, sodium thiosulphate, hydrochloric acid. Method: The experiment has to be done five times for the five different temperatures of the sodium thiosulphate. The temperatures are: 20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C and 60 °C To start the experiments fill the flask with 50cm ³ of sodium thiosulphate into the large beaker. Fill the large beaker up with the water of right temperature that is required for the experiment. Put the thermometer into the flask with sodium thiosulphate and check the temperature is right for the experiment. If the water is too cold, in the large beaker pour in some more hot water or if it is too hot pour in some cold water to reach the required temperature for the sodium thiosulphate. Once the sodium thiosulphate is the right temperature, take it out of the water, wipe the bottom of the flask with tissue paper and place it onto the piece of paper with ‘X’ marked on it. Now measure 5cm ³ of hydrochloric acid in the measuring cylinder. Then pour the hydrochloric acid into the sodium thiosulphate, at this moment start timing with the stopwatch and keep timing until you cannot see the ‘X’ mark through the liquid. Make sure you wear safety glasses and handle the acid carefully. Fair Test: To make this investigation fair you have to make sure you use the same concentration of hydrochloric acid for all experiments. You also have to make sure you use the same amount of hydrochloric acid and sodium thiosulphate for all the experiments. Also make sure you time the experiments accurately. Observation: My observation was that when the temperature of the sodium thiosulphate was higher the solution turned cloudy quicker. Results: -------------------------------------------- Temperature ( °C) Time for cross to disappear (minutes) 20 2.49 30 1.