Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Review of Amelie

ReThe fabulous destiny of Amelie Poulain is a French film written and directed by Jean Pierre Jeunette and set in Montmartre. It is a whimsical description of contemporary Parisian life. This romantic comedy met with critical acclaim and was a box-office success. Amelie, aged 23, finds behind a loosen tile of her bathroom an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades earlier.Fascinated by this find, she resolves to track down the now adult man who placed it there and return it to him, making a promise to herself in the process: if she finds him and it makes him happy, she will devote her life to bringing happiness to others. What she could not imagine is that while doing this she would meet a really special person, Nino, played Mathew Kassovitz. What makes this film totally different from the rest of romantic comedies, apart from Amelie’s eccentric attitude to life, is that it is set in an ideal Montmartre where certain colors pre dominate depending on how Amelie feels and.That creates a really special environment, making the spectator get deeply involved in the story. This fast-moving film has so many details that I would dare to say that it is almost impossible to get them all but this way, watched carefully, there’s always something new to find out about it. Not only is this an absolutely gripping film but also so moving that all lovers of romantic stories won’t help being touched by the charming Amelie Poulain.

Springville Herald Case

The first data we analyzed was which errors occurred most frequently. The above Pareto chart serves to separate the â€Å"vital few† errors from the â€Å"trivial many†. The first 7 types of errors (from left to right) account for 78% of the total service errors. Concentration on eliminating those types of errors is a good first step in minimizing customer service errors and boosting revenue. If you can eliminate less than half of the error types you can eliminate more than 2/3 of the total errors. Next we looked for correlations between the data above and which errors were most costly. We again chose Pareto charts to express the relationships between the types of errors and how much they cost the company. The use of Pareto to express the total cost of each error type is valuable to identify which error types are costing the most cumulatively and also offers some correlations. Again we see the first 7 error types (from left to right) make up a large majority of the money spent correcting errors. 79% in fact. We find that 5 error types: Typesetting, Wrong position, Ran in Error, Wrong ad, and Wrong date occur in the â€Å"vital few† data of both frequency and total cost of errors. Further concentration on these 5 error types will not only go a long way in eliminating the frequency of errors, but will also eliminate a large portion of the total cost associated with service errors. Another important finding in this data is that while copy errors occur most frequently (17% of total errors) they are relatively inexpensive to fix (only 6% of the total cost of errors). So eliminating copy errors will go a long way in improving customer service, but will not have the same impact on the cost of fixing service errors. Examining the cost data further we can see which errors are the most expensive to fix on a per error basis. While Pareto was not necessary to express cost per error (cumulative % is not important in this case), it is the easiest type of chart to read with this much data and serves to show (from left to right) which errors are the most expensive to fix per occurrence. These findings reveal that Ran in Errors are the second most expensive type of error per occurrence. That combined with the fact that we already know Ran in Errors account for the highest total cost of errors (20. %) and are the 4th most frequently occurring (9%) tells us that concentrating most heavily on eliminating Ran in Errors would be the most efficient way to simultaneously improve customer service and cut costs. So let’s took a closer look at Ran in Errors. As you can see, Policy Ran in Errors are the most frequently occurring (53% of total) and by far the most expensive (82% of total). Eliminating these e rrors as quickly as possible would be the most efficient way to achieve the goal of improving customer service and cutting costs. Some information that would be useful to examine would be how the errors interact with each other. Do some errors cause others? Even if no error directly causes another it would be useful to know if eliminating errors that occur at the beginning of the publishing time line would prevent others from occurring due to the nature of publishing them. Also, observe the histogram below. As you can see the number of help desk calls per day is concentrated between 40 and 70 per day. It would be useful to know what errors these calls are in regard to. With the average calls per day known, the Herald can also streamline their customer service department to be able to handle this volume efficiently.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Compare and Contrast Between Egypt and China

Clinical Forum The Lexicon and Phonology: Interactions in Language Acquisition Holly L. Storkel1 Michele L. Morrisette Indiana University, Bloomington 24 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002  © American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 0161–1461/02/3301–0024 ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to underscore the importance of the link between lexical and phonological acquisition by considering learning by children beyond the 50-word stage and by applying cognitive models of spoken word processing to development. Lexical and phonological variables that have been shown o influence perception and production across the lifespan are considered relative to their potential role in learning by preschool children. The effect of these lexical and phonological variables on perception, production, and learning are discussed in the context of a two-representation connectionist model of spoken word processi ng. The model appears to offer insights into the complex interaction between the lexicon and phonology and may be useful for clinical diagnosis and treatment of children with language delays. KEY WORDS: language development, lexicon, phonology, neighborhood density, phonotactic probabilityLSHSS To acquire the native language, a child must do two things: Learn the words of the language and extract the relevant phonological characteristics of those words. For the most part, the acquisition of words and sounds has been investigated independently. That is, some lines of investigation concentrate exclusively on how the words of the language are acquired (e. g. , Carey & Bartlett, 1978; Dollaghan, 1985; Heibeck & Markman, 1987; Jusczyk & Aslin, 1995; Rice & Woodsmall, 1988), whereas other lines of research examine how the sounds of the language emerge (e. g. , Dinnsen, Chin, Elbert, &Powell, 1990; Dyson, 1988; Smit, Hand, Freilinger, Bernthal, & Bird, 1990; Stoel-Gammon, 1985). The mutual influence of lexical and phonological development is an area that has received only limited attention. The few descriptive and experimental studies that have addressed this issue, however, provide preliminary evidence for an interaction between lexical and phonological development. Descriptive studies primarily have examined the relationship between the phonological characteristics of babble and first words. Studies of typically developing children have shown that first words are phonologically similar to babble (e. . , Oller, Wieman, Doyle, & Ross, 1976; Stoel-Gammon & Cooper, 1984; Vihman, Ferguson, & Elbert, 1986; Vihman, Macken, Miller, Simmons, & Miller, 1985). For example, the distribution of consonants and the syllable structure of first words are identical to that of babble (Vihman et al. , 1985). This association between lexical and phonological development is observed in children with precocious language development as well as in children with delayed language development (Paul & Jennings, 1992; Stoel-Gammon & Dale, 1988; Thal, Oroz, & McCaw, 1995; Whitehurst, Smith, Fischel, Arnold, & Lonigan, 991). In particular, children who know many words tend to produce a greater variety of sounds and sound combinations, whereas children who know few words tend to produce a limited variety of sounds and sound combinations. There appears to be a potentially robust relationship between the phonological characteristics of first words and babble. This is suggestive of an intimate connection between word learning and productive phonology. In addition to descriptive evidence, experimental studies provide further support for the hypothesis that lexical and phonological development influence one another. For xample, one study of young children with expressive language delay demonstrated that treatment focused on 1 Currently affiliated with the University of Kansas. Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 25 increasing a child’s expressive vocabula ry led to subsequent improvements in phonological diversity (Girolametto, Pearce, & Weitzman, 1997; but see Whitehurst, Fischel et al. , 1991). This finding suggests that the breadth of a child’s lexical knowledge may influence phonological acquisition. An expansion of vocabulary in this case went hand in hand with an expansion of the sound system.In complement, there is experimental evidence that phonological characteristics may influence lexical acquisition. In particular, infants have been shown to produce novel words composed of sounds that are in their phonetic inventory more frequently than other novel words composed of sounds that are out of their phonetic inventory (Leonard, Schwartz, Morris, & Chapman, 1981; Schwartz & Leonard, 1982). Here, the child’s phonetic inventory influenced the acquisition of new words. Taken together, descriptive and experimental evidence suggests that phonological development and word learning utually influence one another, but one l imitation of this work is its emphasis on infants who produce fewer than 50 words (but see Shillcock & Westermann, 1998; Stoel- Gammon, 1998). This is relevant because a rapid increase in rate of word learning has been noted as children cross the 50-word threshold, leading some researchers to posit a fundamental change in the word learning process (Behrend, 1990; Bloom, 1973; Dore, 1978; Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1986; Mervis & Bertrand, 1994). Also at this point, it is hypothesized that children transition from a holistic to an analytic phonological system, which may demarcate a fundamental hange in phonological learning (Ferguson & Farwell, 1975; Vihman, Velleman, & McCune, 1994). The purpose of this paper is to examine this link between lexical and phonological development by considering the acquisition process beyond the 50-word stage and by applying a cognitive model of spoken word perception and production to this issue. In particular, lexical and phonological variables that have bee n shown to influence perception and production across the lifespan will be considered relative to their potential influence on learning by preschool children. Furthermore, a model that has been sed to explain spoken word processing in the fully developed system of adults is used to provide a framework for understanding the interaction between the lexicon and phonology in development. The term spoken word processing refers collectively to the act of perceiving and producing words in spoken language. The paper is organized to first provide background to the lexical variables of word frequency and neighborhood density and the phonological variable of phonotactic probability. A two-representation model of spoken word processing is introduced. This model depicts two types of mental representations, words versus sounds, providing a eans of understanding the interaction between these two different representations. The model is then applied to spoken word processing in the developing system of children and to lexical and phonological learning. Finally, the interaction between the lexicon and phonology will be reconsidered by examining the role of lexical variables in sound learning and phonological variables in word learning by preschool children who have surpassed the 50-word stage. A discussion of the implications of these lexical and phonological variables for clinical diagnosis and treatment will conclude the article. BACKGROUND TO LEXICAL ANDPHONOLOGICAL VARIABLES Two lexical characteristics that have emerged as relevant predictors of spoken word processing are word frequency and neighborhood density. Word frequency is the number of times a word occurs in the language. For example, sit is an infrequent word occurring only 67 times in a written sample of 1 million words. In contrast, these is a frequent word occurring 1,573 times in a written sample of 1 million words (KucUera & Francis, 1967). 2 Turning to neighborhood density, words presumably are organized into similarity neighborhoods in the mental lexicon based on phonological similarity.In particular, it is assumed that a similarity neighborhood includes all of the words differing from a given word by a one phoneme substitution, deletion, or addition (Luce & Pisoni, 1998). For example, neighbors of sit include words such as sip, sat, hit, it, and spit and neighbors of these include words such as those, tease, and ease. The number of neighbors defined in this way is the word’s neighborhood density. In total, sit has 36 neighbors and these has 9 neighbors (Nusbaum, Pisoni, & Davis, 1984). Thus, sit is said to reside in a dense neighborhood because it has many neighbors, whereas these is said to eside in a sparse neighborhood because it has relatively few neighbors. A phonological characteristic that appears influential in spoken word processing is phonotactic probability. One observation that has emerged from studies of language structure is that certain sound patterns are more li kely to occur than others. This likelihood of sound occurrence is termed phonotactic probability. Phonotactic probability generally is determined by counting the words in the language that contain a particular sound or sound pattern as well as the number of times those words occur (see Jusczyk, Luce, & Charles-Luce, 1994; Luce, Goldinger,Auer, & Vitevitch, 2000; Storkel, 2001; Storkel & Rogers, 2000; Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999). To illustrate, the sound pattern of sit is a common sound sequence in English. The individual sounds (/s/, /I/, /t/) frequently occur in their given word positions in many frequent words of the language. For example, word-initial /s/ occurs in the words seat, safe, said, sat, sun, surge, soon, soot, soap, song, sock, south, soil, and size, as well as in many other words of the language. In addition, the adjacent sounds in sit (/sI/, /It/) frequently occur together in many frequent lexical items.The sound combination /sI/ is found in the words sing, sip, si ck, sin, and sill, as well as in other English words. In contrast, the sound pattern of these is a rare sound sequence, having individual sounds (/D/, /i/, /z/) 2Word frequency counts are available from a variety of sources including adult written (e. g. , KucUera & Francis, 1967), adult spoken (e. g. , Brown, 1984), child written (e. g. , Rinsland, 1945), and child spoken (e. g. , Kolson, 1960) databases. 26 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002 and sound combinations (/Di/, /iz/) that occur in relatively few words of the language.In fact, word initial /D/ is found only in the words this, them, then, thus, their, those, that, and their, and the sound combination /Di/ is not contained in any other words of the language. MODEL OF WORD PROCESSING The lexical variables of word frequency and neighborhood density and the phonological variable of phonotactic probability reportedly influence adults’ perception and production. This influence may be accounted for by a tworepresentation model of word processing (e. g. , Gupta & MacWhinney, 1997; Luce et al. , 2000). 3 This model may potentially provide insights into the complex interaction etween the lexicon and phonology in development, but the characteristics of the model and its success in capturing spoken word processing by adults will first be considered. An illustration of this model is given in Figure 1 for the word sit and in Figure 2 for the word these. The two types of representations in the model are lexical and phonological. The lexical representation corresponds to a word as a whole unit. In Figures 1 and 2, the lexical representation for the word sit, /sIt/, and these, /Diz/, is denoted by rectangles. In contrast, the phonological representation corresponds to the individual sounds or sound sequences.In Figures 1 and 2, the phonological representations for the words sit, /s/, /I/, and /t/, and these, /D/, /i/, and /z/, are illustr ated by the open circles. The structure of the lexical representation may influence perception and production by adults. Likewise, the characteristics of the phonological representation may play a role in adult spoken word processing. Interactions between lexical and phonological representations may also occur in adult word recognition and production. Each of these issues will be considered in turn. Lexical Representations This two-representation model is a connectionist model.One feature of a connectionist model is that representations can be activated. That is, hearing or thinking about a word provides external activation to a lexical representation. For a word to be recognized or produced, the activation of its representation must reach a set activation threshold. An activation threshold refers to the amount of activation that must accumulate in order for the representation to become available to consciousness. It is at this point that the listener recognizes the word or that the speaker selects the word to be produced. Representations can differ from one another in their resting threshold. The resting threshold efers to the initial level of activation of a representation before further external activation is accrued either by hearing the word or by thinking of the word. Past experience with the language has been proposed to alter the resting threshold of lexical representations. Specifically, when a lexical representation is frequently activated for recognition or production, the resting threshold supposedly increases. This provides a mechanism for learning the characteristics of the language, namely word frequency. Thus, words that are frequently recognized or produced presumably will have a higher resting threshold than words hat are infrequently recognized or produced. In Figures 1 and 2, resting threshold is depicted by the thickness of the rectangles. Heavier rectangles represent higher resting thresholds; lighter rectangles represent lower resting th resholds. The lexical representation of the frequent word /Diz/ in Figure 2 has a darker rectangle indicating a higher resting threshold than the lexical representation of the infrequent word /sIt/ in Figure 1. The implication of this difference in resting threshold for perception or production 3Note that the two-representation model we describe is a simplified and generic version of those described by Luce et al. 2000 and Gupta & MacWhinney, 1997. The interested reader is referred to the original manuscripts for complete details of the full models. Also, we consider the ability of this model to account for both perception and production, although the original models focus primarily on one aspect of spoken word processing. Figure 1. Illustration of a two-representation connectionist model of word processing for the word sit. Lexical representations are illustrated with rectangles. The thickness of the rectangle indicates the resting threshold as determined by word frequency (e. g. , sit is infrequent).Inhibitory connections between words are indicated by lines terminating in circles. The number of connections between words illustrates neighborhood density (e. g. , the neighborhood of sit is dense). Phonological representations are illustrated with circles. The thickness of the circle indicates the resting threshold based on phonotactic probability (e. g. , /s/, /I/, and /t/ are common). Facilitory connections between sounds are indicated by lines terminating in arrows. The thickness of the connecting line indicates the strength of the relationship based on phonotactic probability (e. g. /sI/ and /It/ are common). Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 27 is that words with higher resting thresholds (i. e. , frequent words) are already more activated at rest than are words with lower resting thresholds (i. e. , infrequent words). As a result, these frequent words should require less external activation than infrequent words to reach the activatio n threshold for recognition or production and, thus, recognition or production should be facilitated. In fact, studies of spoken word recognition and production with adults support this claim. Adults recognize frequent words more rapidly nd more accurately than infrequent words (Landauer & Streeter, 1973; Luce & Pisoni, 1998) and produce frequent words faster and more accurately than infrequent words (Dell, 1990; Dell & Reich, 1981; Huttenlocher & Kubicek, 1983; Oldfield & Wingfield, 1965; Stemberger & MacWhinney, 1986; Vitevitch, 1997). This influence of experience on resting thresholds also allows for the possibility of individual differences across speakers because the exact resting threshold of a given word may vary from speaker to speaker based on a particular speaker’s unique language experience.Another feature of this two-representation connectionist model is that relationships among words are represented by connections. Connections between words are illustrated by lin es in Figures 1 and 2. These connections are important because they allow activation to spread between related words, damping or amplifying the related lexical representation’s activation. In this way, related lexical representations can influence the activation of the target lexical representation. The presence of two antagonistic processes, damping versus amplifying, are important in capturing decrements in performance and improvements in erformance, respectively. Damping activation is depicted in the model by inhibitory connections; amplifying activation is depicted by facilitory connections. An inhibitory connection damps the activation of the connected representation, thereby impeding that representation from reaching the activation threshold for recognition or production. In this case, recognition or production of the word would be slower or less accurate. In contrast, a facilitory connection amplifies the activation of the connected representation, thereby helping that representation reach the activation threshold for recognition or production.In this case, recognition or production of the word would be faster or more accurate. In Figures 1 and 2, inhibitory connections are depicted by lines terminating in filled circles and facilitory connections are depicted by lines terminating in arrows. Neighborhood membership is depicted by inhibitory connections between related lexical representations. For example, the lexical representation /sIt/ in Figure 1 has inhibitory connections to the lexical representations of all of its neighbors, such as /sut/, /pIt/, and /nIt/. Likewise, the lexical representation /Diz/ in Figure 2 has inhibitory onnections to its neighbors, such as /DoUz/, and /tiz/. Note that not all of the neighbors of sit and these are displayed in Figures 1 and 2 due to space limitations. For example, spit is omitted as a neighbor of sit. The strength of these connections are also based on the degree of association between words. Thus, wor ds that are more similar to one another will spread more activation between each other. In Figures 1 and 2, the strength of a connection is depicted by the thickness of the line. Heavier lines indicate stronger associations than lighter lines. Note that connections between lexical representations are all imilar in strength, as indicated by the uniform thickness of the lines. In Figure 1, the lexical representation /sIt/ has equally strong connections to /sut/, /pIt/, and /nIt/, as well as to all of its other neighbors. Similarly, in Figure 2, the lexical representation /Diz/ has equally strong connections to /DoUz/, /tiz/, and all of its neighbors. Thus, all neighbors of a word are considered equally related to the word. The importance of this architecture for perception and production is that the number of neighbors determines the degree of activation damping for the target word. A word like sit, which resides in a dense neighborhood, will eceive inhibition from many more words tha n a word like these, which resides in a sparse neighborhood. This leads to greater damping of activation for sit relative to these. As a result, a word from a dense neighborhood will be impeded in reaching the activation threshold for recognition or production. This claim is once again supported by data Figure 2. Illustration of a two-representation connectionist model of word processing for the word these. Lexical representations are illustrated with rectangles. The thickness of the rectangle indicates the resting threshold as determined by word frequency (e. g. these is frequent). Inhibitory connections between words are indicated by lines terminating in circles. The number of connections between words illustrates neighborhood density (e. g. , the neighborhood of these is sparse). Phonological representations are illustrated with circles. The thickness of the circle indicates the resting threshold based on phonotactic probability (e. g. , /D/, /i/, and /z/ are rare). Facilitory co nnections between sounds are indicated by lines terminating in arrows. The thickness of the connecting line indicates the strength of the relationship based on phonotactic probability (e. . , /Di/ and /iz/ are rare). 28 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002 from studies of word processing in adults. Adults recognize words from dense neighborhoods more slowly and less accurately than they do words from sparse neighborhoods (Luce & Pisoni, 1998; Luce, Pisoni, & Goldinger, 1990). Likewise, word pairs from dense neighborhoods are produced more slowly than are word pairs from sparse neighborhoods (Goldinger & Summers, 1989, but see Vitevitch, 2001a). 4 Phonological Representations The second type of representation in the model is the honological representation. It has been proposed that two aspects of the phonological representation are affected by phonotactic probability—resting threshold and connection strengt h. Considering resting threshold, recall that language experience alters resting threshold. As a result, sounds that are commonly encountered in recognition or production will likely have higher resting thresholds than those that are encountered rarely. In Figure 1, the phonological representation /s/, /I/, and /t/, has dark circles, indicating a higher resting threshold because these sounds commonly occur in the language.In contrast, in Figure 2, the phonological representation /D/, /i/, and /z/,5 has light circles, indicating a lower resting threshold because these sounds rarely occur. This difference in resting threshold indicates that common sounds are more activated at rest than are rare sounds. Consequently, common sounds should reach the activation threshold for recognition or production more rapidly than should rare sounds. Turning to connection strength, each sound has a facilitory connection to sounds that it may co-occur with, and the strength of these connections may be altered by language experience. When sounds are commonly encountered ogether in word processing, it is thought that the connection between the two sounds is strengthened. In this way, the model captures how an adult or child would learn the phonotactic probability of the language through experience. In Figure 1, the phonological representation /s/ has a strong facilitory connection to that of /I/ because these sounds commonly occur together in words of the language. In contrast, in Figure 2, the phonological representation of /I/ has a weak facilitory connection to that of /i/, because these rarely occur together. Because the strength of the facilitory connection determines how much ctivation will spread to the related sound, sound sequences with strong facilitory connections, namely common sound sequences, should reach the activation threshold for recognition or production more rapidly than should sound sequences with weak facilitory connections, namely, rare sound sequences. The i nfluence of phonotactic probability on resting threshold and connection strength leads to the prediction that common sound sequences should be recognized or produced more rapidly than rare sound sequences. Support for this hypothesis is found in studies of spoken word processing by adults. In fact, adults recognize common ound sequences more rapidly than they do rare sound sequences (Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999; Vitevitch, Luce, Charles-Luce, & Kemmerer, 1997). A similar pattern is observed in speech production, where adults are faster to name a word if it is composed of a common sound sequence rather than a rare sound sequence (Levelt & Wheeldon, 1994). Interactions Between Lexical and Phonological Representations Turning to the interaction between lexical and phonological representations, it is important to note that there are facilitory connections between lexical and phonological representations.That is, /sIt/ has facilitory connections to /s/, /I/, and /t/, whereas /Diz/ is co nnected to /D/, /i/, and /z/. The lexical representations of the neighbors of /sIt/ and /Diz/ also have connections to phonological representations, but not all of these connections are shown in Figures 1 and 2 because it becomes difficult to follow the connections when all are presented together. For example, /sut/ should have facilitory connections to /s/ and /t/, but these are not displayed in Figure 1. The implication of these lexicalphonological connections is that once a lexical representation is activated, it will also activate its corresponding honological representation. Activation can also occur in the opposite direction, with a phonological representation activating corresponding lexical representations. These connections between lexical and phonological representations allow for interactions between lexical and phonological processing. One way that the interaction between lexical and phonological representations has been investigated in the fully developed system of adul ts is by considering the unique relationship between neighborhood density, a lexical variable, and phonotactic probability, a phonological variable. Namely, words from dense neighborhoods tend to e composed of common sound sequences, and words from sparse neighborhoods tend to be composed of rare sound sequences (Vitevitch, Luce, Pisoni, & Auer, 1999). The evidence detailed in the previous sections indicated that dense neighborhoods slow spoken word processing, whereas common sound sequences speed word processing. Given the association between neighborhood density and phonotactic probability, the inhibitory effect of neighborhood density and the facilitory effect of phonotactic probability would seem incompatible. If the two factors are associated, how is it that one aids word recognition and production but the ther interferes with it? If one appeals to the variable of neighborhood density, one would predict that processing of a word from a dense neighborhood, such as sit, would be 4In some cases, asymmetries have been noted in the effect of neighborhood density across perception and production. In fact, some models predict that dense neighborhoods should facilitate production (see MacKay, 1987; Vitevitch, 2001a). 5Note that computations of phonotactic probability are based on a 20,000- word dictionary generally consisting of uninflected word forms (see also Jusczyk et al. , 1994; Luce et al. 2000; Storkel, 2001; Storkel & Rogers, 2000; Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999). Therefore, /z/ is considered to occur infrequently in uninflected word forms, although it may occur often as a plural morpheme. The status of lexical representations of inflected words is an open question. Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 29 inhibited relative to a word from a sparse neighborhood, such as these. In contrast, if one appeals to the variable of phonotactic probability, one would predict that processing of a word having a common sound sequence, such as sit, would be facilitated relative to a word having a rare sound equence, such as these. How can processing of sit be both inhibited and facilitated? This paradox may be resolved by appealing to the tworepresentation model. If one type of representation is able to dominate word processing in a given context, this will dictate whether an inhibitory or facilitory effect is observed. The lexical status of the stimulus is predicted to influence the effect of neighborhood density and phonotactic probability on processing. In particular, lexical processing is predicted to dominate language tasks involving real words because real words have a lexical representation.In contrast, phonological processing is predicted to dominate language tasks involving nonwords because nonwords have no lexical representation. This prediction is borne out by evidence from studies of spoken word processing by adults. In fact, recognition of real words from dense neighborhoods is inhibited relative to real words from spar se neighborhoods, supporting the dominance of lexical processing (Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999). In complement, recognition of nonwords composed of common sound sequences is facilitated relative to nonwords composed of rare sound sequences, supporting the dominance f phonological processing (Vitevitch & Luce, 1998, 1999). Because spoken word processing typically involves real words, lexical processing generally should dominate recognition and production (but see Vitevitch, 2001b). APPLICATION TO DEVELOPMENT The two-representation model seems to capture lexical and phonological influences on perception and production successfully in the fully developed system of adults. Can this model be applied to perception and production in the developing system of infants and children? To address this question, evidence of how the lexicon influences spoken word processing in infants and children is reviewed and ompared to the findings from adults. If the findings from the developing system parall el those from the fully developed system, then the two-representation model may easily be extended to the developing system. In contrast, if word processing in the developing system differs from word processing in the fully developed system, then the tworepresentation model may require modification before application to the developing system. This question is important because it bears on the issue of whether the tworepresentation model may offer insights into learning and clinical practice. Studies of the developing language system provide urther insight into the role of word frequency and neighborhood density in spoken word processing. Perception studies with infants have investigated aspects of the spoken input that infants attend to while building the mental lexicon (see Jusczyk, 1997 for review). In one representative study of word frequency, infants were exposed to sets of words that were frequently repeated in stories versus other sets of words that were infrequently repeated (Hohne, Jusczyk, & Rendanz, 1994; Jusczyk & Aslin, 1995). Results indicated that infants preferred listening to the frequently occurring words in the story. This finding suggests that nfants have the ability to attend to specific words in the input. Moreover, the infants in the study were able to differentiate words based on their frequency of occurrence. Word frequency has also been shown to influence young children’s production accuracy of target sounds. Leonard and Ritterman (1971) found that 7-year-old children had better production accuracy of target /s/ sounds in frequent versus infrequent words in the language (but see Moore, Burke, & Adams, 1976). Computational studies of young children have further explored the structure of words in the early lexicon relative to neighborhood density.These studies used receptive and expressive estimates of young children’s lexicons. One important finding was that young children have relatively sparse neighborhoods in compariso n to older children and adults (Charles-Luce & Luce, 1990, 1995; Logan, 1992). That is, a word in a young child’s lexicon would have fewer neighbors than that same word in an older child’s or an adult’s lexicon. Neighborhood density may increase across the lifespan as more phonetically similar words are added to the lexicon (Logan, 1992). This finding led to the hypothesis that young children se global recognition strategies to identify words (Charles- Luce & Luce, 1990, 1995). Because neighborhoods are so sparse, all of the fine-grained phonetic contrasts of language may not be necessary to uniquely disambiguate one word from another. Alternatively, it has been argued that children do rely on fine-grained recognition strategies (Dollaghan, 1994). The basis for this comes from the fact that young children do differentiate between minimally and phonetically similar words of the input. Even a word that has only one neighbor must still require fine-grained coding o n the part of the child for accurate recognition.Although these views about whether children use global or finegrained recognition strategies remain at odds, it is clear that the structure of words in the lexicon appears to be critically linked to the nature of a child’s phonological representations. Taken together, these findings support that a word’s frequency and its neighborhood density play a similar role in fully developed and developing lexicons. In the developing language system, sensitivity to phonotactic probability emerges early, with phonotactic probability influencing perception in a manner similar to adults.In perceptual tasks, 9-month-old infants listen longer to lists of words composed of common sound sequences than to those composed of rare sound sequences (Jusczyk et al. , 1994). Moreover, infants appear to acquire phonotactic probability rapidly in controlled listening conditions (Aslin, Saffran, & Newport, 1998; Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996). Aft er listening to strings of nonsense syllables for a short period of time, 8-month-old infants are able to discriminate syllable sequences that commonly co-occur from those that rarely co-occur. That is, syllables that commonly co-occurred in the speech 0 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002 sample were treated as a whole word; syllables that rarely co-occurred were not treated as a whole word. The evidence indicates that infants may learn the likelihood of occurrence of sound sequences in the ambient language, and then they use this to parse continuous speech into individual words. Sensitivity to phonotactic probability continues into childhood, as shown in metalinguistic, perceptual, and production tasks. In metalinguistic tasks, children and adolescents are able to differentiate sound sequences that re legal in their language from those that are illegal (Messer, 1967; Pertz & Bever, 1975). Children, like adults , seem to have intuitions about phonotactics (e. g. , Vitevitch et al. , 1997). Perceptual and production studies provide evidence that children are also sensitive to the more finegrained distinction of common versus rare sound sequences. Relative to perceptual evidence, children rapidly extract the phonotactic probabilities of continuous strings of nonsense syllables. Like infants, children treat strings of syllables that commonly co-occur as an entire word and strings of yllables that rarely co-occur as a part of a word (Saffran, Newport, Aslin, Tunick, & Barrueco, 1997). In production, children are more accurate at producing sound sequences that are permissible in the ambient language than those that are not (Messer, 1967). Moreover, children are more accurate at repeating common rather than rare sound sequences (Beckman & Edwards, 1999). Likewise, when given a list of nonwords to remember, children recall more nonwords if the list contains common sound sequences than if it conta ins rare sound sequences (Gathercole, Frankish, Pickering, & Peaker, 1999).In childhood, sensitivity to phonotactic probability remains and appears to influence spoken word processing in a manner that parallels the fully developed adult system. The effects of word frequency, neighborhood density, and phonotactic probability on language perception and production in the developing system parallel those in the fully developed system. In terms of lexical variables, across the lifespan, processing of frequent words was facilitated relative to infrequent words, and processing of words from dense neighborhoods was inhibited relative to words from sparse neighborhoods. In terms of phonological variables, cross the lifespan, common sound sequences were recognized and produced more rapidly than were rare sound sequences. Given the similarity between the adult and child findings, it appears that the two-representation model can be applied to perception and production by children. APPLICATION T O LEARNING Because the two-representation model captures perception and production by children, it may also provide insights into learning by children. In the following two sections, insights of the two-representation model for sound change and word learning will be offered and evaluated relative to current findings.The studies reviewed focus on interactions between the lexicon and phonology in preschool and school-age children who have lexicons with many more than 50 words. These investigations provide evidence of whether lexical-phonological interactions continue in development beyond the 50-word stage. Promoting Sound Change When a sound is unknown, the child presumably will have no ambient, or adult-like, phonological representation for the target sound. In some cases, treatment may be needed to promote sound change. The goal of treatment then is to create an ambient phonological representation for the nknown sound, often by presenting the target sound in words and providing fee dback regarding production accuracy. Given the absence of an ambient phonological representation, lexical processing is predicted to dominate sound learning in this treatment context. Thus, lexical representations may influence the success of phonological treatment. In particular, treatment of the sound in frequent words should promote sound change relative to infrequent words. Furthermore, embedding the sound in words from dense neighborhoods should inhibit learning when compared to treatment of the sound in words from sparse neighborhoods.An experimental treatment study by Gierut, Morrisette, and Champion (1999) examined the role of lexical variables in phonological treatment (see also Morrisette & Gierut, in press). Twelve children with functional phonological delays, aged 3;0 (years;months) to 7;4, participated in an alternating treatments design to promote sound change. The characteristics of word frequency and neighborhood density were manipulated experimentally. Experimental conditions included treatment of all possible combinations of frequent/ infrequent words from dense/sparse neighborhoods. Each child was taught two sounds affiliated with the lexical haracteristics of the assigned conditions. For example, a child assigned to the frequent versus infrequent condition was taught one sound in frequent words and another sound in infrequent words. Treated sounds were excluded from the pretreatment inventory and were produced with 0% accuracy. Generalization accuracy in production of the treated sounds to untreated words and contexts was measured as the dependent variable and submitted to statistical analysis. Treatment conditions and corresponding results are shown in Table 1. Results revealed that for the lexical characteristic of ord frequency, phonological treatment using frequent words induced significantly greater generalization learning than did treatment of infrequent words. For neighborhood density, treatment in words from sparse neighborhoods ind uced significantly greater generalization learning than did treatment in words from dense neighborhoods. When the frequency conditions were compared to the density conditions, treatment in both frequent and infrequent words resulted in significantly greater generalization learning than did treatment in words from dense neighborhoods. Further, treatment in frequent and infrequent words resulted in reater or equivalent generalization learning than treatment of words from sparse neighborhoods. Overall, the characteristic of word frequency was most salient in inducing phonological change as compared to neighborhood density. Moreover, in every comparative Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 31 condition, frequent words consistently facilitated sound change, whereas words from dense neighborhoods consistently failed to promote generalization learning. These results were replicated by Morrisette and Gierut (in press) and are consistent with the predictions of the two-repr esentation model.Frequent words in the language consistently emerged as facilitating spoken word processing and learning, whereas words from dense neighborhoods in the language consistently emerged as inhibiting spoken word processing and learning. Moreover, phonological learning by preschool children was influenced by the lexicon, paralleling previous findings from much younger children. Novel Word Learning Applying the two-representation model to novel word learning, a child presumably will have no corresponding lexical representation for a newly encountered word. In the absence of a lexical representation, the two-representation odel predicts that phonological processing will be most influential. Thus, phonological processing is hypothesized to influence the creation of a lexical representation for the novel word. Because phonological processing is facilitated for common over rare sound sequences, children should learn novel words composed of common sound sequences more rapidly t han they should those composed of rare sound sequences. Storkel and Rogers (2000) provided a direct test of this hypothesis that phonotactic probability should influence word learning. Typically developing school-age children from three age groups, age 7, 10, and 11, participated in a onword learning task, where half of the nonwords were composed of common sound sequences and half were composed of rare sound sequences. The target nonwords were associated with unfamiliar objects. Children were exposed to the nonword-object pairs in a lecture format, and referent identification was tested immediately following exposure. The results showed a significant interaction between phonotactic probability and age. The two older groups of children learned more common than rare sound sequences; the youngest group of children showed no difference in learning common versus rare sound sequences.This interaction between phonotactic probability and age was not predicted and was further investigated in a second study (Storkel, 2001). In Storkel (2001), word learning by preschool children was investigated in a multi-trial word learning paradigm. In particular, nonword learning was assessed in several tasks emphasizing either form or referent learning at multiple points in time. Preschool children were exposed to nonwords: Half were composed of common sound sequences and half were composed of rare sound sequences. The nonwords served as names for nonsense objects. The nonword-object pairs were mbedded in a story containing multiple story episodes with learning being assessed after each episode. Results showed that across measures of learning and exposures, preschool children learned more nonwords composed of common rather than rare sound sequences. Across the two studies, younger and older children seemed to learn novel words composed of common sound sequences more rapidly than they did those composed of rare sound sequences, supporting the predictions of the two-representation mod el. As in language perception and production tasks that are dominated by phonological processing, word learning was facilitated for common ound sequences relative to rare. Phonological characteristics appeared to play a role in word learning by preschool and school-age children, complementing previous findings with younger children. Phonology appeared to influence lexical development beyond the 50-word stage. Moreover, various aspects of phonology seem to impact development of the lexicon, including the child’s phonetic inventory and the phonotactic probability of the novel word (Leonard et al. , 1981; Schwartz & Leonard, 1982; Storkel, 2001; Storkel & Rogers, 2000). CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS The finding of a continued interaction between the exicon and phonology in children who have surpassed the 50-word threshold has clinical implications for children with functional phonological delays and children with specific language impairment. Children with functional phonological delays reportedly have a primary delay in the acquisition of phonology. Given the evidence documenting an interaction between the lexicon and phonology, lexical characteristics may play a role in promoting sound change. In contrast, children with specific language impairment appear to exhibit delays in lexical acquisition (e. g. , Dollaghan, 1987; Oetting, Rice, & Swank, 1995; Rice,Buhr, & Nemeth, 1990; Rice & Woodsmall, 1988). Phonological variables may provide insights in the diagnosis and treatment of delays in word learning. Children With Functional Phonological Delays The results of Gierut and colleagues (1999) indicate that lexical variables of target words do appear to influence the Table 1. Experimental results of the Gierut et al. (1999) study. Treatment condition Generalization results Frequent versus infrequent Frequent > infrequent Dense versus sparse Sparse > dense Frequent versus dense Frequent > dense Infrequent versus dense Infrequent > denseFrequent versus sparse Frequent = sparse Infrequent versus sparse Infrequent sparse Note. The symbol â€Å">† indicates â€Å"greater than† (e. g. , treatment of sounds in frequent words resulted in significantly greater generalization learning than infrequent words). The symbol â€Å"? † indicates â€Å"greater than or equivalent† (e. g. , treatment of sounds in infrequent words resulted in greater or equivalent generalization learning than sparse words). The symbol â€Å"=† indicates â€Å"equivalent† (e. g. , treatment of sounds in frequent words resulted in generalization learning that was equivalent to sparse words). 2 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002 process of sound change in treatment for children with functional phonological delays. When children were taught sounds in frequently occurring words, they made significant gains in their production accuracy of the target sound. In contrast, whe n children were taught sounds in words from dense neighborhoods, they failed to learn the treated sound. This suggests that phonological treatment should focus on frequent words in the language and avoid the use of words from dense neighborhoods. These results have direct linical implications for the kinds of words that should be selected for phonological treatment. A sample of treatment words is presented in Table 2. These words were adapted from the Morrisette and Gierut (in press) study and are consistent with procedures for the selection of treatment words in the Gierut et al. (1999) study. In this sample, the target fricative /f/ was taught in the word-initial position of frequent words in the language. Word frequency counts were obtained from KucUera and Francis (1967); neighborhood density values came from a computational database of 20,000 English words (Nusbaum et al. 1984). Frequency counts and density values are more generally available for clinical use through the online Neighborhood Database at http://www. artsci. wustl. edu/ ~msommers. Operational definitions for frequent versus infrequent and dense versus sparse neighborhoods were consistent with previous investigations of word frequency in phonological acquisition (e. g. , Morrisette, 1999). Frequent words were selected based on a word frequency count greater than 100. Thus, all of the words in Table 2 have a word frequency greater than 100. Further, because a word has both a frequency and a density, the words were alanced for neighborhood density. Half of the words came from dense neighborhoods, with 10 or more neighbors, and half of the words came from sparse neighborhoods, with fewer than 10 neighbors. Following from the Gierut et al. (1999) and Morrisette and Gierut (in press) studies, treated words were pictured on a computer screen and elicited through drill activities. Children attended three 1-hour treatment sessions each week and proceeded through two phases of treatment— imitat ion and spontaneous production. During the imitation phase, the child named the treated words following a clinician’s model.Imitation continued until the child achieved 75% production accuracy of the target sound across two consecutive sessions or until seven sessions were completed, whichever came first. During the spontaneous phase, the child named the treated words without a model. This phase continued until the child achieved 90% production accuracy of the target sound across three consecutive sessions or until twelve sessions were completed, whichever came first. Feedback related to the accuracy of the child’s production of the target sound was provided during both phases. Generalization learning for each child was monitored hrough spontaneous picture-naming tasks or probes. These probes were designed to sample the treated sound and other untreated sounds that were excluded from the child’s pretreatment sound inventory in untreated words and across contexts . Probes were administered throughout treatment, immediately following treatment, and at 2 weeks and 2 months posttreatment. Percentages of accuracy were then calculated and plotted as generalization learning curves. Thus, based on results from Gierut et al. (1999), it is predicted that phonological treatment using the frequent words illustrated in Table 2 would result in generalization f /f/ to untreated words and contexts. It should be noted that although half of the frequent words selected were from dense neighborhoods, the consistent variable was word frequency. Treatment programs consisting of words that are all from dense neighborhoods should be avoided. Based on the Gierut et al. (1999) study, treatment in words from dense neighborhoods resulted in minimal or no learning of the treated sound. Children With Specific Language Impairment The results of Storkel (2001) suggest that the phonological characteristics of novel words influence lexical acquisition. Thus, clinically, it may be important to consider honotactic probability in the diagnosis and treatment of delays in lexical acquisition in children with specific language impairment. These children may have difficulty learning phonotactic probability due to either perceptual processing deficits (Ellis Weismer & Hesketh, 1996, 1998) or limited lexical exemplars resulting from delays in language acquisition. Children with specific language impairment may fail to show a learning advantage for common over rare sound sequences. In support of this hypothesis, Storkel reported that increased vocabulary size was correlated with an increased learning advantage for ommon over rare sound sequences in children with ageappropriate lexical development. Delays in word learning and a decreased effect of phonotactic probability may go hand in hand. As a result, it may be necessary to examine the influence of phonotactic probability on word learning in this population. Unfortunately, standardized measures of vocabulary may not be sensitive to the factors that affect word learning because these tests examine the products of learning rather than the process itself. Therefore, clinicians may need to construct tasks that investigate the process of word learning to provide further insights into the factors hat contribute to a particular child’s poor word learning ability. Here, guidance is provided by past experimental Table 2. Sample of frequent treatment words. Word Word frequency Neighborhood density fine 161 28 full 230 15 feed 123 19 far 427 18 family 331 0 field 274 9 final 156 6 forward 115 0 Note. Neighborhood density counts in bold indicate words from dense neighborhoods. Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 33 studies that have employed procedures that may be adapted for clinical use. In particular, the procedures used in Storkel (2001) may be appropriate. This multi-trial word earning paradigm was administered individually in one 30- minute session with a follow-up 10 -minute session to examine retention. Thus, the time commitment is similar to other standardized test protocols. Moreover, Storkel and Rogers (2000) successfully administered their word learning task to groups of students in a classroom. There are several important steps in constructing a measure of word learning: (a) identifying the stimuli to be learned, (b) exposing the child to the stimuli, and (c) measuring learning. Each step will be described in turn. Stimuli. Identification of the stimuli to be learned nvolves choosing nonwords or unknown real words and associating these with referents. In Storkel (2001), nonwords were selected as stimuli so that the phonological characteristics could be controlled. Specifically, all nonwords were composed of early acquired consonants that were articulated correctly by the participating children. This guarded against the influence of misarticulation on word learning (Leonard et al. , 1981; Schwartz & Leonard, 1982). Half of the nonwords were composed of common sound sequences and half were composed of rare sound sequences. Calculation of phonotactic probability is complex and equires access to a database; however, several published studies provide lists of common versus rare nonwords (e. g. , Jusczyk et al. , 1994; Storkel, 2001; Storkel & Rogers, 2000; Vitevitch & Luce, 1999) or words (e. g. , Vitevitch & Luce, 1999). The nonwords used in Storkel are shown in Table 3. The nonwords were paired with object referents to parallel real words. Novel objects were invented or adapted from published children’s stories. Objects were selected in pairs from the same semantic category. Each object from a semantic pair was associated with either a common or a rare sound sequence.In this way, semantic and conceptual factors were similar across the levels of phonotactic probability. A description of the objects is provided in Table 3. Exposure. For exposure, the nonword-object pairs were embedded in a story containing three st ory episodes. Pictures were adapted from children’s stories (Mayer, 1993) to show two main characters interacting with one another and with the nonsense objects. Semantically paired objects were shown in the same picture, with each being associated with a different main character. A story narrative was created to accompany the story pictures. The narrative is shown in the Appendix.Note that the exposure sentences were matched across common and rare sound sequences. For example, in the first episode, the exposure sentence for the common sound sequence /pin/ is â€Å"My favorite is the pin† and for the rare sound sequence /mOId/ is â€Å"My favorite is the mOId. † This matching of sentences was intended to equate syntactic factors across the levels of phonotactic probability. Another feature of the story narrative was that the number of times the nonwords were repeated varied across the episodes. That is, the children heard each nonword one time in Episode 1, but three times in Episodes 2 and 3.Given that children with specific language impairment reportedly need more exposures to learn novel words, it may be necessary to increase the number of repetitions of the nonwords for this clinical population. This could be accomplished by revising the story narrative or by having the child listen to the narrative twice. Measurement. Storkel (2001) measured learning after each story episode. Three measures of learning were obtained: referent identification, form identification, and picture naming. In the referent identification task, a nonword was presented and the child attempted to select he object from a field of three picture choices that included the target, the semantically related referent, and a semantically unrelated referent presented in the story. For the target nonword /pin/, the child saw pictures of both candy machines and a picture of one of the pets. In the form identification task, an object was presented and the child attempted to s elect the nonword from a field of three Table 3. The phonetic transcription of the common and rare sound sequences and their corresponding referents as invented or adapted from published children’s stories. Form characteristics Referent characteristicsCommon Rare Category Item 1 Item 2 w I t n aU b Toys punch toy cork gun (Geisel & Geisel, (Geisel & Geisel, 1958, p. 53) 1958, p. 45) h ? p g i m Horns orange trumpet yellow hand-held downward orientation tuba (Geisel & Geisel, (Geisel & Geisel, 1954, p. 50) 1954, p. 50) p i n m OI d Candy machines red candy + 1 chute blue candy + 2 chutes (invented) (invented) k oU f j eI p Pets green gerbil with antenna purple mouse-bat (DeBrunhoff, 1981, p. 132) (Mayer, 1992, p. 43) 34 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS †¢ Vol. 33 †¢ 24–37 †¢ January 2002 choices. The choices paralleled those of the referent dentification task. For example, the child was shown a picture of one of the candy machines and hea rd three possible names, /pin/, /mOId/, and /koUf/. As each nonword was played, the investigator pointed to one of three squares. The child then pointed to the square associated with his or her answer. In the picture-naming task, an object was presented and the child attempted to produce the nonword. Again, the child might see a picture of one of the candy machines, but this time be asked to produce the nonword associated with the object with no choices or prompting provided by the investigator.Following administration of these procedures, proportion correct can then be computed for common versus rare sound sequences at each test point (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3) for each measure of learning (referent identification, form identification, picture naming). Difference scores can then be computed by subtracting proportion correct for rare sound sequences from proportion correct for common sound sequences. If there is an advantage of common over rare sound sequences, the resulting number will be positive. This would parallel the findings for typically developing children (Storkel, 2001; Storkel & Rogers, 2000).If there is no difference between common and rare sound sequences, then the resulting number will be zero. If there is a disadvantage of common relative to rare sound sequences, the resulting number will be negative. In either of these last two cases, the result would differ from those reported for typically developing children. This would suggest that one contributing factor to the child’s difficulties with word learning may be difficulty using phonological information to support word learning. CONCLUSION The findings reviewed support the hypothesis that the lexicon and phonology seem to continue to influence one nother even after the 50-word threshold has been surpassed. In particular, the relationship in preschool and school-age children appeared to be bidirectional in nature, with the lexicon influencing phonological acquisition and phonology influencing lexical acquisition. The tworepresentation model of word processing held promise in capturing this relationship. Thus, models of spoken word processing may hold potential for understanding the process of language acquisition. From a clinical perspective, this theoretical model may guide the diagnosis and treatment of phonological or lexical delays in children. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis research was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health to Indiana University, Bloomington (DC01694; DC00012; DC04781). We appreciate the insightful comments and discussion provided by Judith A. Gierut, Jessica A. Barlow, and an anonymous reviewer on previous versions of this manuscript. REFERENCES Aslin, R. N. , Saffran, J. R. , & Newport, E. L. (1998). Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 9, 321–324. Beckman, M. E. , & Edwards, J. (1999). Lexical frequency effects on young children’s imitative pr oductions. In M. B.Broe & J. B. Pierrehumbert (Eds. ), Papers in laboratory phonology V (pp. 208–218). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Behrend, D. A. (1990). The development of verb concepts: Children’s use of verbs to label familiar and novel events. Child Development, 61, 681–696. Bloom, L. (1973). One word at a time: The use of single word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton. Brown, G. D. (1984). A frequency count of 190,000 words in the London-Lund corpus of English conversation. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 16, 502–532. Carey, S. , & Bartlett, E. (1978). Acquiring a single new word.Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 15, 17–29. Charles-Luce, J. , & Luce, P. A. (1990). Similarity neighbourhoods of words in young children’s lexicons. Journal of Child Language, 17, 205–215. Charles-Luce, J. , & Luce, P. A. (1995). An examination of similarity neighbourhoods in young childrenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s receptive vocabularies. Journal of Child Language, 22, 727–735. DeBrunhoff, L. (1981). Babar’s anniversary album. New York: Random House. Dell, G. S. (1990). Effects of frequency and vocabulary type on phonological speech errors. Language and Cognitive Processes, 5, 313–349. Dell, G. S. , & Reich, P.A. (1981). Stages in sentence production: An analysis of speech error data. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 611–629. Dinnsen, D. A. , Chin, S. B. , Elbert, M. , & Powell, T. W. (1990). Some constraints on functionally disordered phonologies: Phonetic inventories and phonotactics. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 28–37. Dollaghan, C. A. (1985). Child meets word: â€Å"Fast mapping† in preschool children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 28, 449–454. Dollaghan, C. A. (1987). Fast mapping in normal and languageimpaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 218–222.Dollagha n, C. A. (1994). Children’s phonological neighbourhoods: Half empty or half full? Journal of Child Language, 21, 257–272. Dore, J. (1978). Conditions for the acquisition of speech acts. In I. Markova (Ed. ), The social context of language (pp. 87–111). New York: Wiley. Dyson, A. T. (1988). Phonetic inventories of 2- and 3-year-old children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 53, 89–93. Ellis Weismer, S. , & Hesketh, L. J. (1996). Lexical learning by children with specific language impairment: Effects of linguistic input presented at varying speaking rates. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39, 177–190.Ellis Weismer, S. , & Hesketh, L. J. (1998). The impact of emphatic stress on novel word learning by children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 1444–1458. Storkel †¢ Morrisette: The Lexicon and Phonology 35 Ferguson, C. A. , & Farwell, C. B. (1975). Words and sounds in ear ly language acquisition. Language, 51, 419–439. Gathercole, S. E. , Frankish, C. R. , Pickering, S. J. , & Peaker, S. (1999). Phonotactic influences on short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 25, 84–95. Gierut, J. A. , Morrisette

Monday, July 29, 2019

Strategy Business Planning report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategy Business Planning report - Essay Example The company possesses about 1770 stores that are distributed in about 86 countries; and it produces about 450 million items a year. The company aspires to expand its market command, and improve their marketing communications. They also want to expand their online advertising to allow for the access of a larger market that is beneficial to the organization. To achieve these objectives, Zara requires formulating the most formidable strategies in their business practices. Therefore, the business planning strategies are important for the growth of the Zara stores, and achievement of their objectives. The business planning strategy that this company is employing is very vital to its growth. It ensures that the company utilizes their resources in an optimum manner. Every business organization aims at minimizing costs and maximizing output. Zara Company is able to come up with better investment decisions that are creative and optimal. Therefore, with the strategic planning, they are able to invest in areas that have a high business potential. Planning also assists the future preparations of Zara Company. It projects the future, and devices the way of shaping this future in alignment with the company objectives. This can be achieved through influencing the business environment factors towards the business expectations (Simerson, 2011 pg. 17). The company can, therefore, anticipate the trends that enable it to acquire the benefits of effective decision-making. Strategic planning also gives a competitive advantage to Zara Company over the other competitors in the clothing industry. Si nce the clothing and accessories industry experiences a great dynamism in trade, it is a mandate for Zara Company to be highly competitive. Therefore, strategic planning is a vital venture that potentiates the existence of Zara Company in this environment (Esty & Winston, 2009 pg. 07). Zara Company is experiencing a

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Marketing influences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing influences - Essay Example Color of the commodity is based on an individual’s preference of some specific range of colors. I at one time bought a television set which was manufactured by Samsung and it was painted black. I was attracted to this product due to the fact that I have had an inner belief that products from Samsung are the best in terms of electronic products. Price determines the purchasing power of an individual. Prices of commodities tends to vary depending on their qualities, design, level of competition in the market and quantity of the goods bought (Hoyer, et.al, 2013). If the quality is regarded to be low, the price will tend to be low, stiff competition in the market will guarantee low prices and low number of items to be bought will tend to increase the price and the reverse is true in each of the case. I was influenced by the low price of a glass table that did not have high quality. It did not last for a long time as after a period of two months, it broke down. I then learnt that cheap items are indeed very expensive in the long run. Promotion is a marketing strategy that is used to create awareness of a particular product so that it can gain popularity among them. Products that are under promotion have low prices so as to enable many consumers to have a first-hand experience on the products (Lamb, et.al, 2012). This is aimed at encouraging them to consider using the product in the future period thus developing strong marketing base for the product. I recently bought a mobile phone that was on promotion. The price was low and the quality was good. However, I discovered that it was restricted to only one mobile phone service provider that was doing the promotion. That marks one of the limitations of items bought while they are on promotion. The place in which a commodity is located will influence its marketing abilities. In places that are remote and not easily accessible, commodities will be sold at a high price due to the high cost incurred in

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Curriculum review circle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Curriculum review circle - Research Paper Example The reviews may think they have all the time and end up taking a lot of time in the review process. Another major problem that is still notable with the LaCrescent-Hokah School District Curriculum Improvement Plan is the fact that the various stages at some point seem to overlap one another. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (1999) explained on the need to be able to distinguish the various stages in the review process. However for LaCrescent-Hokah School District, stages five and six seems to be similar. Almost same activities are carried out with the only distinction being the two parts. This makes it not so easy to distinguish which stage the review has reached. This may become difficult to determine the progress of the review. A look at the three programs however shows that there is some similarity in the way they are structured. The initial stages involve the determination of what is there at present. This is the data collection. The information obtained is then analyzed and reviewed to determine what needs to be added onto the curriculum. It’s tested for what is working and what is not with proper revision made on them. Then the proposals are implemented as planned. While this is taking place, issues that may arise are dealt with. What does not work is avoided while any revision necessary are made. Then full implementation is ensured. For the success of any change to be implemented in any organization or sector proper involvement of the stakeholders is absolutely import. The same case applies to the implementation of the Curriculum Review Cycle. The various stakeholders as identified by Office for standards in education (OFSTED), (1995) must all be brought on board the development and implementation process. The teachers whole are the leading implementers in the review process must be all provide with the knowledge,

Friday, July 26, 2019

Public Policy TrendsWK5 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Public Policy TrendsWK5 - Research Paper Example DOT agencies dealing with the given transport system created will hence try to oversee the project so as to ensure transparency (2012). This concept entails project management of projects they have been assigned to work on (DOT, 2012). It is the responsibility of DOT to ensure projects are carried to the later to ensure they meet the satisfaction of the state administrators and county managers since they represent the interests of the people in that given state or county (DOT, 2012). In addition, DOT often works together with state administrators to come up with long term beneficial plans for the given state (DOT, 2012). The planning of a better transport system is a function of DOT and collaborates with state administrators so as to ensure their projects are their success (DOT, 2012). In matters of development that entails transportation, it is up to state administrators to consult with DOT in order to come up with plans that may suit their needs (DOT, 2012). For any planning process to be successful, information about the given state has to be collected and evaluated (DOT, 2012). This can only be possible with the help of county managers or state administrators (DOT, 2012). Since the main function of DOT is to provide quality transport systems to the people, they have to work conjointly with state administrators to ensure the dreams of the people are met (DOT, 2012). It is the state administrators or the county managers that represent the needs of the people, while the DOT carries out instructions regarding development conveyed to it by the state administrators (DOT, 2012). The DOT also advises state administrators on various changes transportation needs to be improved (2012). It is then up to state administrators to initiate policies that advance transportation area (DOT, 2012). For instance, DOT might notice a gap on the basis of a need of building a new road or run way in

Thursday, July 25, 2019

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

European Union Law - Essay Example In its logical form, the treaty seeks to promote free movement of goods to bridge the cross-border gap that exists between different European Union countries. Even regardless of such laws and treaty, some countries have been found to be putting undue restrictions on fellow European Union countries so that there would be a concentration of market in those countries. The strategy used by those who put the restrictions has been to place huge charges on cross border goods to discourage free movement. In response, Articles 23(1) and 25 (9(1) and 12) ECT of the treaty touches on prohibition of charges having an effect equivalent to that of customs duties, which discourages all such charges to the exclusion of a similar domestic product (European Parliament Fact Sheets, 2012). Relevant primary and secondary legislation From CJ Case 8/74, 11 July 1974, it could be seen that with reference to Olio Nuovo, Article 28(30), ECT of the Treaty on the Functioning on the functioning of the European U nion (TFEU) can be applied to its logical conclusion to give him a lot of legal redress to the current situation in which he finds himself. In the first play, there is a primary legislature on the free movement of goods and services within the European Union region (Kuyper, 1993). As a marketer from Greece to Italy, Olio Nuevo is covered by this primary legislation because both countries are within the European Union zone. This is a very strong basis for Nuevo to begin any legal process with an ambition of putting forth legal damages for any losses that he might have recorded. This is because according to the case in which Nuevo finds himself, there is being an unconstitutional attempt of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra-Community trade, which the European Parliament Fact Sheets (2012), states that â€Å"are to be considered as measures having an effect equivalent to quantitative restrictions.† What is more, there are secondary laws such as th ose that specify the kind of products and materials that could cross European Union neighbouring borders. Examples of such European Union laws are those on the forbidding of arms and drugs trade. Since Nuevo did not attempt to trade any of such illegal products, there also is a very strong legal case to be heard should Nuevo decide to pursue the case to its legal conclusion. Exceptions to the Rule As it is literary said, to every rule there are exceptions. The Treaty on the Functioning on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which makes previsions for free movement of trade across European Union members States borders also have its own legal limitation or exceptions as far as the application of the rules are concerned. Under Article 30 (36) of ECT of the treaty, factors such as protection of public health, public morality and public security are all captured as exemptions under which Member States may take personal measures on having effect equivalent to quantitative (Europ ean Parliament Fact Sheets, 2012). This means is that the interest of the consumer always comes first when dealing with the movement of good (Eeckhout and Govaere, 1992). The legal implication here is that the host country where Nuevo wants to start

Nursing Ethics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Nursing Ethics - Term Paper Example The nature of the nursing profession makes social connections practically unavoidable. These social connections also make moral and ethical choices which may affect other people inevitable (Butts and Rich, 2005). The various meaning describes to ethics provided the impetus for the different professions to document and enforce the acceptable norms of practice in their respective spheres. Diversity and geography eventually further necessitated different countries or states to delimit the standard professional practice in more vivid detail. Additionally, the scope of professional practice, like in nursing, is delineated into a legal scope of practice and a scope based on education, training in experience (Small, 2009). In the United States, for example, as cited in Small (2009), the scope of nursing practice may differ from one state to another. This paper will compare nursing ethics as practiced in the states of Florida and California. Nursing Practice in Florida and California and the Nursing Code of Ethics The practice of nursing in the US is defined under the Model Nursing Practice Act of 2004: â€Å"Practice as a registered nurse means the full scope of nursing with or without compensation or personal profit, that incorporates caring for all clients in all settings; is guided by the scope of practice †¦ through nursing standards established or recognized by the board† (as cited in Small 2009, p 21).... The nursing standards include, but is not limited to the following: (1) provision of complete nursing evaluation of the health condition of patients; (2) collaboration with a health care team in the development of coordinated health care plan which is client-focused; (3) strategy development for nursing care coordinated within a client-focused plan of health care which consists of: [a] nursing diagnoses, [b] setting goals within the context of identified health care requirements of patients / clients, [c] identification of applicable nursing interventions; (4) provision of nursing care through the employment of self-directed strategies and nutrition which are requested, ordered or prescribed by authorized health care professionals; (5) execution of health care plans through the designation and assignment of nursing interventions; (6) direct or indirect provision and maintenance of safe and effective nursing care; (7) fostering of a safe and healing environment; (8) providing quality support for patients by recommending / advising practices towards the best interest of the patients / clients; (9) examination of intervention outcomes and efficacy of the health care plan; (10) communication and collaboration with other health care professionals towards health care management and execution of the total health care regimen within and across various health care settings; (11) development and application of significant new information and technologies in nursing care practice; (12) managing, directing and assessing nursing practice; (13) teaching the theory and practice of healthcare; (14) taking part in the formulation of policies, methodology and systems which will support the

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Research in Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Research in Practice - Essay Example This will be done from study of existing literature concerning McDonalds and its Chinese market and outlets. McDonalds is one of the biggest fast food restaurants in the world. The fats food stores giant has been operating in several countries worldwide and in most cases it has outsmarted its competitors to remain the number one fast food shop worldwide. The fast food giant entered the Chinese market in the 1990 and has been operational since then. There has therefore been the need to study and analyze its operation in China market in order to predict the future of the restaurant in China. Articles and journals have been selected for use in this research to help achieve the objectives of the study. McDonalds Corporation is an American world’s largest fast food chain that specializes in serving of hamburger in over a hundred countries globally. The fast food giant has its head quarters in Illinois in the United States of America. The fast food giant was founded by businessman Ray Kroc. McDonalds has three modes of operations in its various countries of operations. The McDonalds restaurants are either operated by the corporation itself, as an affiliate or as a franchise. McDonald’s main products include hamburger, French fries, breakfast items, chicken burger, milkshakes and soft drinks. The fast food restaurant has heavily standardized its menus in its various outlets worldwide .In some scenarios however, the fast food giant has altered its menu or expanded it in order to meet the needs of the local clients especially in the Middle East. McDonalds made an entry into the china market in the year 1990.The fast food group of restaurants had an increasing and promising growth rate in its fast three years of operation. However, in the subsequent years the growth rate of the fast food restaurants was lower compared to the growth rate between the year 1990 and 1993.This was due to a number of factors such as competition, cultural

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Red Bull Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Red Bull - Essay Example Red Bull founded after an Asian locally-brewed tonic in Thailand now markets its eponymous functional energy drink in more than 100 countries. (Wikipedia) Red Bull is a non-alcoholic drink contains the amino acid taurine, B-complex vitamins, caffeine and carbohydrates. Red Bull claims that the body needs more taurine, an amino acid than is produced normally during the physical exertion of the human body. The drink has grown quickly worldwide capturing about 80 percent of the world's energy drink market. Although the company is of Austrian origin, the recipe for the drink Red Bull is said to come from Thailand. (Red Bull Company Profile- Yahoo Finance) The berry-flavored beverage is spiked with additives like taurine and glucuronolactone. And at $2 for an 8.3-ounce can, Red Bull's retail price is at least double what you'd pay for a 12-ounce can of Coke. But it does pack some energy. Red Bull, with 80 milligrams of caffeine, has more than double the dose found in the larger Coke serving, and it has 110 calories per serving versus Coke's 140.The consumption of Red Bull was 1.9 billion cans of in the year 2004, generating just about $2 billion in revenue. In some countries Red Bull commands an 80% market share. In the U.S., where Red Bull enjoys a 47% share of the energy drink market, sales are growing annually at a 40% clip. In the year 2004 it sold 700 million cans in the U.S.; and in 2005 it hoped to sell 1 billion. (Kerry A. Dolan 2005) Customers: Red Bull is popular with college student and nightclubbers, whom the company aggressively targets. But its most public tactic has been to wrap the drink in the sweaty mantle of extreme sports. To that end, Red Bull sponsors its own stunts and competitions in relatively obscure disciplines like street luge, waterfall kayaking, and freeskiing. (Rob Walker 2002) Marketing: Since introducing Red Bull in 1987, Red Bull has invested heavily in building the brand. In 2004 the company spent $600 million, or 30% of revenue, on marketing. (Coca-Cola spends 9%.) But unlike rivals who pay millions of dollars for superstars like Britney Spears, Red Bull relies on cheaper talent: hip youngsters, students and a legion of fringe athletes. Red Bull sponsors some 500 athletes around the world, the type who will surf in Nova Scotia in January or jump out of a plane to "fly" across the English Channel. Every year the company stages dozens of extreme sporting events, like the climbing of iced-down silos in Iowa or kite sailing in Hawaii, as well as cultural events like break-dancing contests and rock music jam sessions. Then there is Hangar-7, an eye-popping structure of glass and steel that the company Red Bull erected next to the airport in Salzburg, Austria. The building serves as a chic eatery for club crawlers and provides shelter for the Flying Bulls, a fleet of 1 5 show planes that appear at air shows around the world. Red Bull has purchased a Formula One racing team, an extravagance that will absorb $100 million a year to keep on the track while generating only $70 million in revenue. All these activities are geared to achieve the objective of expanding Red Bull's presence amid a deluge of new energy drinks being introduced by upstarts and beverage behemoths like Pepsi and Coke. (Kerry A. Dolan

Monday, July 22, 2019

Chapter 1 indians the settlements of america Essay Example for Free

Chapter 1 indians the settlements of america Essay 1. Jamestown was the first colony that gets found. It was there where the first permanent settlement occurs. Jamestown was a poor location for colonization. The men dug wells to obtain water, but the water they found could not drink because it was contaminated. In addition, the ground was wet and had too many mosquitos. The mosquitoes were carriers of diseases and made the settlers sick. After a year, about half of the settlers had died of disease and starvation. The Native American Indians kept the English alive providing them with food. The English were so busy trying to discover gold that they didnt bother trying to grow food. That was when Captain John Smith became leader of the Jamestown colony. He saved the colony by creating a rule, which maintained that anyone who did not work would have no right to eat. This made the colonist planted food, and they were forced to build shelters and fences to protect against any attack. These American Indians or â€Å"Amerinds†, showed them great diversity of character and attainments due to the differences in climate, soil, food, building material, and the activities necessary to preserve life. They taught the settlers how to plant and grow corn, beans, squash, etc. and also helped them to establish good relations with neighboring Indian tribes. On the other hand what the English settlers offered to Native Americans Indians was different. In exchange for food, they offered them weapons, horses, cattle, sheep, vegetables and fruits, hatchets, swords, metal pots, skillets and knives, which would give them the technological advantage over their enemies. They brought not only tools for the conquest of the wilderness, but also the forms of government, the religion, the books, and the languages of the Old World. But besides the different technologies and different lifestyles that they offered to them, the English brought with them different types of diseases, such as smallpox, which was lethal to Amerinds, this produced a lethal epidemic that affected a large portion of the tribe. American Indians had a very different culture from the English people. Despite some successful interaction, questions of ownership and control of land and trust between peoples, caused conflicts arise. Virginia suffers very frequent periods of drought and by that time the colonists did not understand that the natives were ill prepared to feed them during the hard times. In the years after 1612, settlers cleared the land to prepare it for export farms dedicated tobacco, its crucial crop for economic purposes. When the tobacco exhausted farmland, the settlers continuously had to clear more areas to replace them. This small wooded land was that the Indians could use to hunt and supplement their food crops. The more settlers arrived, the more demanding land. The spread of tobacco cultivation altered life for everyone, because its cultivation required abundant land. The tribes tried to fight the invasion of the settlers. The main conflicts occurred with the indigenous slaughter of 1622 and another in 1644, both under the command of the younger brother of the late Chief Powhatan, Chief Opechancanough. Recognizing the danger, the war leader launched coordinated attacks along the James River on March 22, 1622. By the end of the day 347 colonist lay dead, and only a timely warning from two Christian converts saved Jamestown itself from destruction. Europeans had a very mixed picture of the native Indians. On one hand, they believed that the Indians could be soft and generous and also attentive and willing to trade. At first it was a very positive image and the settlers had hoped that they would be welcomed with open arms and friendly hands. They wanted to believe their way to the Garden of Eden. 2. After reading the three sources that tell the story of the Indians and the Settlement of America, I found it more accurate the description number 3 A people and a Nation (2008) that gives us Mary Beth Norton, because I think is a very complete description about the events that occurred with the New World. She begins by describing how other civilizations of America were. She mentions how that residents, of what is now central Mexico began to cultivate food crops, especially corn, squash, beans, avocados, and peppers; while in the Andes Mountains of South America, people began to cultivate potatoes, and it was thanks to the improvement of these techniques of agriculture that could be spread this knowledge through America with the exception of those areas with harsher climates. Thanks to agriculture most of the Americans began to adopt a more sedentary life, without the need to spend so much time hunting and gathering. I believe that it is very appropriate that she mentions these details, since it is important to us as readers have an idea of how other civilizations in the Americas were, in this manner we can understand a little more about the civilization of the Native Americans Indians, because in some way they were very similar to each other. In the same way, in this source the author also makes mention of another significant civilization of America, the Aztecs; they were one of the most important and recognized civilizations of the American continent, they had a style a little different from other civilizations, they tended to be a little more wild, they use to forced their neighbors to pay tribute in textiles, gold, foodstuffs and even in human beings, who were sacrificed to the war god Huitzilopochtli. After the author made mention of these events, she continues her story mentioning the arrival of the English for the first time in 1607 to a region near to Chesapeake Bay called Tsenacomoco. It was a group of 104 men and boys, who established the palisaded settlement called Jamestown. This source tells us the beginning of a radical change to this Nation; the author mentions the number of people, the name of the region in which they arrived, and the date on which this happened; it seems to me that these data are necessary to know for any American person, I think it is important for all of us who live in this continent know this historical fact, and more specifically know what happened in this country. I am convinced that this source is more accurate, because it shows us these and more details, and is more precise describing how was the relationship between the colonists and the Native American Indians. It shows us what was the difference between these two different civilizations, and at the same time expresses us which were their similarities. Both groups held deep religious beliefs, subsisted primarily through agriculture, accepted social and political hierarchy, and observed well-defined gender roles. Despite the coexistence that came to have each other, both groups continued to have their own beliefs and thoughts, which for me in somehow led them to start a war, because the settlers wanted to impose their will on the Indians, and at the same time the Indians wanted to not let this happen, and also they were tired of being their food source and carriers of diseases that the settlers brought.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Advantages of Good Agricultural Practices

Advantages of Good Agricultural Practices SWAGATA SETH Good Agricultural Practices History The U. S in 1998 issued a guidance under which the contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables and how to reduce it was given by Food and Drug Administration was there. (USDA, 2011). In 2002 GAP was established by the agengy which are existed so they donot require any reauthorization. ( National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, 2014) Good agricultural practices have main points of food safety with the points like harvesting, transportation of products and advice the grower to implement the general recommendation of adopted the best management practices( Sudheer Indria, 2007). Good agricultural practices are the practices which are used for the good economic conditions and also social conditions as well as it encompasses environment al issues for the commercialisation and good market value of horticultural and agricultural products also it tries to give good quality food which is healthier, safer, nutritious to the consumers( The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2012). Good agricultural practices also includes non-food products as well as processing foods. These practices make the food more safe from consumption point of view(Anonymous, 2008). Farming practices includes a very large scope of good agricultural practices at different at different levels. In these practices sustainable agriculture methods are also included(TNAU, 2015). Rules and regulations for the good agricultural practices includes a huge number of activities which may include from the product which are in the farm at cultivation stage, then it also includes the fields the polyhouses, type of fertilisers, seeds which is used then irrigation facilities, pesticides, composting, then interculture operations and then harvesting and also the process which are done outside the fields, like the processing of the products or the products may go through a long distributing channel which includes the middleman, producer and various agents, retailers upto the consumer that is the consumption point(Watts, 2012). Objectives Good agricultural practices needs to keep a proper record of the production process or the technologies which is required for processing or for harvesting of each crops for the areas which are very much good or important agricultural based and ecological regions, and to collect and then plan and the execute then the final process of distribution the knowledge in that major regions (ANONYMOUS, 2015). Good agricultural practices is required for the following reasons There may be contamination in the products which may be biological like fungi, bacteria, viruses, attack when the products are in the field or they are brought to home, although washing, cleaning and cooking can kill the pathogen but if consumed raw then harm can occur (Eaton Watson, 2012). Some of the important factors which should be keep in mind for Good agricultural practices. 1. Washing of products :- a)Â  Washing of products are necessary to remove the dust particles, chemicals, soil pathogen, microorganisms with fresh water( Srivastava Kumar, 2009). b) Clean and fresh water is necessary when tanks are used. Paddle conveyor washers and rotary machines are used for washing(Gupta, 2015). 2. Cleaning: cleaning is a practice where the unwanted materials are removed which may be the green, yellow brown, dead insects soggy parts of fruits or other undesirable items either by hand picking or mechanically( Sharma, 2009). 3. Sanitation:-is necessary to prevent the promotion of diseases from one item to another, also chlorine is used of 100-150 ppm to prevent the spread of pathogen( Kitinoja Kader, 2003). 4. Transportation:-highway trailers is oftenly used in transportation of fresh products ( Vigneault, 2015). It is an intregal part of post harvest handling and distribution is done through railway tracks, airplane, trucks. ventilation during the cool time in night and refrigrirated automobiles results in good preservation. ( Peter, 2009) 5. Manures:-By the process of exposing the manure to higher temperature and by aerobic compost method microbial attacks can be minisime. After applying the manure in the field cover it with some plastic cover or grasses or mulches to get rid from physical contamination(Ellis, 2004). 6. Water:- The draining facility and pesticides loss by running off should be checked and soil salinization should be checked. (Anonymous, 2015). By irrigation water contaminations can be there back to the fruits and vegetables and also surface water is more contaminated( Sudheer and Indira, 2007). Drip irrigation Should be restricted and it not only saves water pollution but also good quality of products can be achieved(Singha, 2013). 7. Equipment and Employee hygiene:-employee hygiene is very necessary as because many contaminations may take palce through this so proper handling of crops, hand washing equipments cleaniness, fresh dress, adequate washroom facilities, using soaps etc(Chapman, 2015). 8. Pesticides or herbicides: Some herbicide is having stimulatory effects on the plant pathogens and reduces or promotes the diseases severity. Proper understanding of effectiveness pattern of pesticides and effects with pathogen will give the proper use of pesticides( Devi, 1987). Surveillance and monitoring of pesticides residues should be recorded to keep the products free from contamination(Sudheer Indira, 2009). 9. Post harvest handling:-the things which are required after harvesting the crops like transportation, equipments, cold storage etc packaging materials(Jayachandhran, 2005). Flower life can be increased by adopting new technologies at right time, with proper length and storage technology, pulsing with sugar(Bhattacharjee, 1999). Application of calcium based chemicals increase the post harvest life reducimg the handling losses of crops by minimizing the rate of respiration(Jayachandaran, 2005). Benefits of Using GAP Proper adoption and managing of GAP increases the quality of the products and also raw foods, pr processed foods. this GAP also helps for sustainable agricultural and also the environment(Akkaya, Yalcin, 2015). Hurdels Of GAP There are many hurdles related to GAP like increases in production cost, because of keeping databases for various govt. Schemes which are available and the schemes and procedures which are followed in the farmers. The farmers do not know property about the various measures or step that should be taken as GAP and also about the Technologies( Tilman Kenneth, 2008 ). Conclusion So i have concluded that good agricultural practices are important for the most important thing that is human health followed by the ecocomic value of the products. And all the main factors should be always kept in mind as without this the possibility of contamination of food increases. Bibliography Akkaya, F and Yalcin, R. (2015). Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Its Implementation in Turkey. University of Adonis, Antalya/Turkey. http://www. researchgate. net/profile/Burhan_Ozkan/publication/237651514_Good_Agricultural_Practices_(GAP)_and_Its_Implementation_in_Turkey/links/0046352da96b8c102e000000. pdf, retrieved on May 23. Anonymous. (2015). Good Agricultural Practices. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Good agricultural practice, retrieved on May 26. Bhatacharjee, S. K. (1999). ‘Post harvest management of cut flowers cut foliage and post production management of potted plant’. Journal of ornamental horticulture. Indian society of ornamental horticulture. Vol-15(12) Jan –June 2012, p-116. Chapman, B. (2015). Good Agricultural Practices for Small Diversified Farms Tips and Strategies to Reduce Risk and Pass an Audit. North Carolina State University and the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. http://www. carolinafarmstewards. org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CFSA_GAPS-web. pdf, retrived on May 23. Devi, K. K. (1987). Effect of herbicides on growth of phytopathogeneic fungi in soil. Dept of Botany Plant Pathology, Assam Agricultural University, pp 1-2. Eaton, J. (2007). Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). University of Kentucky cooperative extension services. http://www. uky. edu/Ag/CCD/introsheets/gap. pdf, retrieved on May 24. Ellis. J. (2004). ‘On-farm Food Safety’: Guide to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). Iowa extension university. https://store. extension. iastate. edu/Product/pm1974a-pdf, retrieved on May 22. FAO(2008). Good agricultural practices. http://www. fao. org/prods/gap/, retrived on May 22. Gupta, S. (2015). New development in technologies of fruits. In: food processing and agro based industries. EIRI project consultants and Publishers, Roop Nagar, New Delhi, p 110 Jayachandhran, K. S. (2005). ’Post harvest sprays of different sources of calcium to improve the shelf life of fruits’. Indian journal of horticulture. The horticulture society of india. Vol 62. no. 01. pp 66-70 Kitinoja, L and Kader, A. (2003). Postharvest Horticulture Series No. 8E. Small-Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th Edition). http://ucce. ucdavis. edu/files/datastore/234-1450. pdf, retrieved on May 23. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. (2014). Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices Audit verification programme. http://sustainableagriculture. net/publications/grassrootsguide/food-safety/good-agricultural-practices-and-good-handling-practices-audit-verification-program/, retrived on June 1. Peter, K. V. (2009). Post harvest management of fruits and vegetables. In: Basics of Horticulture. New India Publishing Agengy, Pitam Pura, New Delhi. pp 205 Sharma, A. (2009). Introduction. In :Textbook of food science and technology, International Book distributing co. Lucknow, U. P, pp 5-6 Singha, K. (2013). Evaluation of water requirement and level of fertigation on cabbage(brassica oleracea) green express with or nutitional black film mulch. Dept of Horticulture. Assam Agricultural university, pp 5-6 Sreevastava, R. P and Kumar, S. (2009). Canning and bottling of fruits and vegetables. In: Fruit and vegetables preservation principles and practices, International book Distribution Co, Lucknow, U. P, p 102 Sudheer, K. P and Indira. (2007). Quality of fresh and processed products. In:Post harvest technology of horticultural crops, Pitam Pura, New Delhi-110088, p 250 The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 2012, Columbia Agriculture General. http://www. infoplease. com/encyclopedia/science/good-agricultural-practices. html /, retrived on May 2015. Tilman. D, et al. (2008). Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature international weekly journal of science doi:10. 1038/nature01014, pp 418, 671-677 TNAU Agriportal Publications: Good Agricultural Practices. (2014). http://agritech. tnau. ac. in/gap_gmp_glp/gap_about. html, retrieved on May 25. USDA, (2011). Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices Audit Verification Program. http://www. ams. usda. gov/AMSv1. 0/getfile?dDocName=stelprdc5097151, retrived on June 1. Vigneault, C. (2009). Transportation of fresh horticultural produce. Postharvest Technologies for Horticultural Crops, Vol. 2: : 978-81-308-0356-2, pp 1-24 Watts, C. (2012). Good agricultural practices and gap certification. Good agricultural practices. https://gillingsproject. wordpress. com/good-agricultural-practices-and-gap-certification/, retrieved on May 23.