Factor Language Model Programming

Factor Language Model Programming Language Model Language model helps a speech recognizer figure out how likely a word sequence is, independent of acoustics. There is a linguistic and statistical approach to calculate the probability. The linguistic technique tries to understand the syntactic and semantic structure of a language and derive the probabilities of word sequences using this knowledge. The challenge here is to have proper co occurrence statistics of the unit of recognition. The approach in use evaluates a huge text corpus in a statistical way and word transitions. Current language models make no use of the syntactic properties of natural language but rather use very simple statistics such as word co-occurrences. Recent results show that incorporating syntactic constraints in a statistical language model reduces the word error rate on a conventional dictation task by 10% [M.S.Salam, 2009]. Proposed Language Model The approach proposed here uses factored language model which incorporates the morphological knowledge. Factored language models have recently been proposed for incorporating morphological knowledge in the modeling lexicon. As suffix and compound words are the cause of the growth of the vocabulary, a logical idea is to split the words into shorter units. The language model proposed in this research is based on morphology. A morphological analyser obtains and verifies the internal structure of a given complete word form [Rosenfield, 2000]. Building a morphological analyser for highly inflecting, agglutinative languages is a challenging task. It is very difficult to build a high performance analyser for such languages. The main idea here is to divide a given word form into a stem and single suffix. Morphology plays a much greater role in Telugu. An inflected Telugu word starts with a stem and may have suffix(s) added to the right according to complex rules of saMdhi. This research proposes a new data structure based on Inverted Index and an efficient algorithm for accessing its elements. Few researchers have used tries for efficient retrieval from dictionary, earlier. This research work is different from earlier work in two ways: a) variation to the structure of trie b) the method of identifying and combining inflections. Modified Trie Structure A trie is a tree based data structure for storing strings in order to support fast pattern matching. A trie T represents the strings of set S of n strings with paths from root to the external node of T. Fig 5.1: Original Trie Structure The trie considered here is different from standard trie in two ways: 1) A standard trie does not allow a word to be prefix of another, but the proposed trie structure allows a word to be prefix of another word. The node structure and search algorithm also is given according to this new property. 2) Each word in a standard trie ends at an external node, where as in the modified trie a word may end at either an external node, or the internal node. Irrespective of whether the word ends at internal node or external node, the node stores the index of the associated word in the occurrence list. The node structure is changed such that, each node of the trie is represented by a triplet C,R,Ind>. C represents character stored at that node. R represents whether the concatenation of characters from root till that node forms a meaningful stem word. Its value is 1, if characters from root node to that node form a stem, 0 otherwise. Ind represents index of the occurrence list. Its value depends on the value of R. Its value is -1 (negative 1), if R=0, indicating it is not a valid stem. So no index of occurrence list matches with it. If R=1, its value is index of occurrence list of associated stem. Fig 5.2: Modified Trie Structure Advantages relative to binary search tree: The following are the main advantages of tries overbinary search trees(BSTs): Looking up keys is faster. Looking up a key of lengthmtakes worst caseO(m) time. A BST performs O(log(n)) comparisons of keys, wherenis the number of elements in the tree, because lookups depend on the depth of the tree, which is logarithmic in the number of keys if the tree is balanced. Hence in the worst case, a BST takes O(mlogn) time. Moreover, in the worst case log(n) will approachm. Also, the simple operations tries use during lookup, such as array indexing using a character, are fast on real machines. Tries can require less space when they contain a large number of short strings, because the keys are not stored explicitly and nodes are shared between keys with common initial subsequences. Tries facilitatinglongest-prefix matching, helping to find the key sharing the longest possible prefix of characters all unique. Corpus structure of proposed Language Model The corpus consists of the following modules: Stem word dictionary This accommodates all the stems of the language. Stem word dictionary is implemented as an Inverted Index for better efficiency. The Inverted index will have the following two data structures in it: 1) Occurrence list: It is an array of pairs, 2) Stem trie: consisting of stem words Occurrence list is constructed based on the grammar of the language, where each entry of the list contains the pair (ii) Inflection Dictionary This dictionary contains the list of all possible inflections of the Telugu language. Each entry of Stem word dictionary lists the indexes of this dictionary to indicate which all inflections are possible with that stem. The proposed corpus structure helps in reducing the corpus size drastically. Every stem word may have number of inflections possible. If the inflected words are stored as it is, then corpus size would be m*n, where m is number of stem words and n is number of inflections. Instead of storing all the inflected words, the proposed corpus structure stores stem words and inflections separately, and handles the inflected words through morphology. Hence the corpus size required is for m stem words and n inflections i.e., m+n. Thus there is a great reduction in the corpus size. For a corpus of 1000 stem words and 10 inflections, the required corpus size is 1000+10=1010, which otherwise would have required 1000*10=10000. Fig 5.3 : Corpus structure of proposed Language Model Textual Word Segmentation using Proposed Language Model The proposed language model is used to develop a textual word segmenter. A word segmenter is used to divide the given inflected word into a stem and single inflection. This is required as the corpus stores stems and inflections separately. Input the word segmenter is an Inflected word. Syllabifier takes this word and divides the word into syllables and identifies if the letter is a vowel or a consonant. After applying the rules syllabified form of the input will be obtained. Once the process of syllabification is done, this will be taken up by the analyzer. Analyzer separates the stem and inflection part of the given word. This stem word will be validated by comparing it with the stem words present in stem dictionary. If the stem word is present, then the inflection of the input word will be compared with the inflections present in inflection dictionary of the given stem word. If both the inflections get matched then it will directly displays the output otherwise it takes the appropriate inflection(s) through comparison and then displays. Syllabification is the separation of the words into syllables, where syllables are considered as phonological building blocks of words. It is dividing the word in the way of our pronunciation. The separation is marked by hyphen. In the morphological analyzer, the main objective is to divide the given word into root word and the inflection. For this, we divide the given input word into syllables and we compare the syllables with the root words and inflections to get the root word and appropriate inflection. Fig 5.4: Block diagram of Word Segmentr for text Steps for word segmentation Receiving the inflected word as an input from the user. Syllabify the input Analyze the input and validating the stem word. Identify the appropriate inflection for the given stem word by comparing the inflection of given word with the inflections present in inflection dictionary of the stem word. Displaying the appropriate inflected word. For example, considering the word â€Å"nAnnagariki† (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °-à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¿) meaning â€Å"to father†, the input is given the user in Roman transliteration format. This input is basically divided into lexemes as: Now, the array is processed which gives the type of lexeme by applying the rules of syllabification one by one. Applying Rule 1: â€Å" No two vowels come together in Telugu literature.† The given user input does not have two vowels together. Hence this rule is satisfied by the given user input. The output after applying this rule is same as above. If the rule is not satisfied, an error message is displayed that the given input is incorrect. Now the array is: c – v – c – c – v – c – v – c – v – c – v Applying Rule 2: â€Å" Initial and final consonants in a word go with the first and last vowel respectively.† Telugu literature rarely has the words which end up with a consonant. Mostly all the Telugu words end with a vowel. So this rule does not mean the consonant that ends up with the string, but it means the last consonant in string. The application of this rule2 changes the array as following: c – v – c – c– v – c – v – c – v – c – v cv – c – c – v – c – v – c – v – cv This generated output is further processed by applying the other rules. Applying Rule 3: â€Å" VCV: The C goes with the right vowel.† The string wherever has the form of VCV, then this rule is applied by dividing it as V – CV. In the above rule the consonant is combined with the vowel, but here in this rule the consonant is combined with the right vowel and separated from the left vowel. To the output generated by the application of rule2, this rule is applied and the output will be as: cv – c – c – v – c – v – c – v – cv cv – c – c – v – cv – cv – cv This output is not yet completely syllabified, one more rule is to be applied which finishes the syllabification of the given user input word. Applying Rule 4: â€Å" Two or more Cs between Vs First C goes to the left and the rest to right.† It is the string which is in the form of VCCC*V, then according to this rule it is split as VC – CC*V. In the above output VCCV in the string can be syllabified as VC – CV. Then the output becomes: cv – c – c – v – cv – cv – cv cvc– cv – cv – cv – cv Now this output is converted to the respective consonants and vowels. Thus giving the complete syllabified form of the given user input. nAn – na –cA – ri – ku cvc – cv – cv – cv – cv Hence, for the given user input, â€Å"nAnnagAriki†, the generated syllabified form is, â€Å"nAn – na – gA – ri – ki†. Fig 5.5: Word Segmenter showing an inflected word without change in stem form Fig 5.6: Word Segmenter showing an inflected word with a change in stem form SCIL Speech Corrector for Indian Languages In inflectional language every word consists of one or several morphemes into which the word can be segmented. The approach used here aims at reducing the above mentioned problem of having a very huge corpus for good recognition accuracy. It exploits the characteristic of Telugu language that every word consists of one or several morphemes into which the word can be segmented. SCIL is a procedure To deal with complex word forms applied after recognition Using which misrecognized words are corrected Architecture of SCIL The design of Speech Corrector for Indian Languages, consists of the Syllable Identifier, Phone Sequence Generator, Word Segmenter, and Morpho- Syntactic Analyzer modules. Input speech is decoded by a normal ASR system which gives the identified word as a string. The sequence of phones would be the input to the Word Segmenter module which matches the phonetized input with the root words stored in dictionary module, and generates a possible set of root words. Morpho-Syntactic Analyzer compares the inflection part of the signal with the possible inflections list from the database and gives correct inflection. This will be given to Morph Analyzer to apply morpho-syntactic rules of the language and gives the correct inflected word. Fig 5.7: Block diagram of SCIL i) Syllable Identifier Syllable identifier marks the rough boundaries of the syllables and labels them. At this stage , we get list of syllables separated with hyphen. The user input is syllabified and this would be the input to the next module. E.g. dE-vA-la-yA-ku ii) Phone Sequence Generator As the words in the dictionary are stored at phone level transcription, this module generates the phone sequences from the syllables. E.g. d-E-v-A-l-a-y-A-k-u iii) Word Segmentor This module compares the phonetized input from starting with the root words stored in dictionary module and lists the possible set of root words. The possible root word is dEvAlayamu. iv) Dictionary Dictionary contains stems and inflections separately. It does not store inflected words as it is very difficult, if not impossible, to cover all inflected words of the language. The database consists of 2 dictionaries: Stem Dictionary Inflection Dictionary Stem dictionary contains the stem words of the language, signal information for that stem which includes the duration and location of that utterance and list of indices of inflection dictionary which are possible with that stem word. Inflection Dictionary contains the inflections of the language, signal information for that inflection which includes the duration and location of that utterance. Both the dictionaries are implemented using trie structure in order to reduce the search space. v) Morpho Syntactic Analyzer This module compares the inflection part of the signal with the possible inflections list from the database and gives correct inflection. This will be given to Morph Analyzer to apply morpho-syntactic rules of the language and gives the correct inflected word. Post Recognition Procedure Capture the utterance, an isolated inflected word. Get its syllabified form. Generate phone sequence from the syllabified word. Compare the phone sequences with stem words in the dictionary and identify the stem. Segment the word into stem and inflection. Get the list of possible inflections. Compare the inflection signals possible with that stem one by one and apply morpho-syntactic rules of the language to combine stem and inflection. Display the inflected word. Using the rules the possible set of root words are combined with possible set of inflections and the obtained results are compared with the given user input and the nearest possible root word and inflection are displayed if the given input is correct. If the given input is not correct then the inflection part of the given input word is compared with the inflections of that particular root word and identifies the nearest possible inflection and combines the root word with those identified inflections, applies sandhi rules and displays the output. When there is more than one root word or more than one inflection has minimum edit distance then the model will display all the possible options. User can choose the correct one from that. For example, when the given word is pustakaMdO (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ªÃƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã¢â‚¬ ¹), the inflections tO making it pustakaMtO (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ªÃƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚  à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã¢â‚¬ ¹) meaning ‘with the book’ and lO making it pustakaMlO (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ªÃƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ²Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã¢â‚¬ ¹) meaning ‘in the book’) mis are possible. Present work will list both the words and user is given the option. We are working on improving this by selecting the appropriate word based on the context. SCIL Algorithm W=Utterance.wav Syl[]=SyllableIdentifier(W) Phone[]=phonetizer(Syl[]) Stem=getStem(Syl[]) Infl[]=getInflections(Stem) While (not exactMatch) word=MorphAnalyzer(stem,inflMatch) display word Stop Working of SCIL Once possible root words identified the given word is segmented into two parts, first being the root word and second part inflection. Now the inflection part is compared in the reverse direction for a match in the inflection dictionary. It will consider only the inflections that are mentioned against the possible root words, thus reducing the search space and making the algorithm faster. For example consider â€Å"nAnnagariki† (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °-à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¿) meaning â€Å"to father†, is misrecognized as nAn-na-cA-ri-ku (à  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ °Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ  Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ±Ã‚ ) then SCIL is applied and will correct the recognition error as follows: The output from ASR is nAn-na-cA-ri-ku. The phone sequence generator will generate the phone sequence as n-A-n-n-a-c-A-r-i-k-u. Now, match it with the set of root words stored in dictionary module. This process will identify the possible set of root words from the Stem dictionary as follows: Once possible root words identified the given word is segmented into two parts, first being the root word and second part inflection. Now the inflection part is compared for a match in the inflection dictionary. It will consider only the inflections that are mentioned against the possible root words, thus reducing the search space and making the algorithm faster. Possible set of inflections in inflections dictionary After getting the possible set of root words and possible set of inflections they are combined with the help of SaMdhi formation rules. Here in this example cA-ri-ku is compared with the inflections of the root word nAnna After comparing it identifies gAriki as the nearest possible inflection and combines the root word with the inflection and displays the output as â€Å"nAnnagAriki†. Conclusions Language model proposed in this work results in reduction in corpus size by using factored approach. The search process is fastened by use of trie based structure. A change to standard trie is proposed. A post recognition procedure SCIL, is designed which uses the proposed language model and corrects the words misrecognized at inflections. The approach is tested using 1500 speech samples. These samples consist of 100 distinct words , each word repeated 3 times and recorded by 5 speakers in the age group 18-50. It is implemented as a speaker dependent system. An average model is built from the three utterances of each word for each speaker. Each speaker is given a unique ID, using which average model of that speaker is used for testing.

Death Penalty Essay

1.ABSTRACT: This essay was mainly about death penalty. The information of essay was partially taken from the internet, through discussion among tutor and friends as well as general knowledge from outside sources. The objective of carrying out death penalty is to show that justice for extreme crime still exists. Electrocution, hanging, gas chamber, firing squad and lethal injection are the methods of execution in death penalty. In contrast, death penalty is a necessary evil that serves as deterrent to reduce crime rate, assures safety of the society and extreme criminals deserve retribution for their action. In conclusion, death penalty comes with positive and negative effects throughout a lot of aspects. Whether death penalty is inhuman or a necessary evil, it is an arguable issue in the society. 2.INTRODUCTION: Death penalty is the most contentious penal practice in the modern world and it has always been a controversial issue until today. Death penalty can be defined as a process to kill an individual by the state (Amnesty International 2010). Death penalty as a just punishment should be distinguished rationally to fit the crime. For instance, a person who stole magazine from a bookshop does not deserve death penalty as their punishment. However, a serial killer, who commits homicide repetitively for no tolerable reasons, definitely deserves death penalty. As long as criminals such as serial killers still exist, we will spend our life living in fear. In Malaysia, the death penalty is mandatory for some offenses such as discharging a firearm with the intention of causing death and offences against the person of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and murder (Laws of Malaysia 2006). This issue, death penalty is very important because it is related to one’s lives. Is the death penalty inhumane o r a necessary evil? Some strongly believe that death penalty is against human rights and death penalty costs more than life without parole. However, death penalty serves as a deterrent to help reduce crime rate, assures safety of the society and extreme criminals deserve retribution for their action. 3.BACKGROUND King Hammurabi of Babylon was the first to establish the death penalty codes for 25 different crimes back in the Eighteenth Century B.C. The death penalty was listed in the Fourteenth Century B.C.’s Hittite Code; in the Seventh Century B.C.’s Draconian Code of Athens, which made death the only punishment for all crimes; and in the Fifth Century B.C.’s Roman law of the Twelve Tablets. Crucifixion, drowning, burning alive and impalement are among the ways to perform death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center 2010). The historical background of death penalty is compelling because one’s moral had never been emphasized until today. Nowadays, some countries still carry out death penalty and the objective is to remind and to show their people the consequences of committing extreme crime. In the last decade, a lot of country has abolished the death penalty but more than fifty countries still retain the death penalty practice and law. For example, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, United States and India are among the countries that still practice death penalty until today (Prosecuting Attorney 2010). Key term: 1. Crucifixion – hanging on a cross, a method of capital punishment in ancient times. 2. Impalement – to pierce with a sharp stake or point. 3. Retribution – punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved. 4. Shia – a Muslim who adheres to branch of Islam. 4. COUNTER ARGUMENTS 4.1 FIRST COUNTER ARGUMENT Death penalty is against human rights. If we believe human life is sacred, then the state’s executioner should be barred from carrying out the death penalty. We should respect and try to embrace human dignity. In 1997, the U.N. High Commission for Human rights agreed upon a decision stating that an outlaw of the death penalty contributes to the improvement of human dignity and to the progress of human rights (C. Richard 2011). Countries that understand the death penalty is a human right issue abolished death penalty. For example, the member states of the Council of Europe have added Protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights calling for the outlaw of the death penalty (Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights 1979). The death penalty certainly goes against our most basic human right which is the right to have a life; this is also applied even to those who commit murder. For example, an execution by lethal injection or electrocut ion will take the lives of convicted felons and that clearly violates the human rights. 4. 2 SECOND COUNTER ARGUMENT On top of that, death penalty costs more than life without parole, which is also known as life imprisonment. We should be aware that death penalty is time consuming and expensive. In 1995, the Bomber of Oklahoma City named Timothy McVeigh’s had been executed and his execution costs more than $13 million. Furthermore, since the death penalty was restored in New York in 1995, it costs approximately $23 million for each person condemned to death (BBC Ethics Guide 2011). Suppose a cheaper option is available when we compare the prices of a similar television, we will definitely buy the cheaper one. This is how we should apply when discussing death penalty and life imprisonment. The capital cases in the United States can cost up to millions of dollars from arresting to executing a criminal with death penalty but cases ending with life imprisonment costs only around $500,000 (Jones Elliot 2009). All of this money could have been used to cure poverty around the globe. Therefore, we s hould save hundreds of lives around the world instead of ending one’s life with that amount of money. 5. TRANSITION The arguments claimed by the opponents stated that death penalty violates human rights and a lot of money will be wasted on death penalty is actually undeniable but the death penalty is not killing the criminals, it is a punishment for their extreme action and justice can never be thought in financial terms. Death penalty affects more factors positively than causing negative effect. Death penalty serves as a deterrent to help reduce crime rate, assures safety of the society by eliminating criminals and some criminals deserve retribution for their action are the main factors that should be addressed seriously. death penalty essay crime rates in states with death penalty vs. without essay on death penalty essays on death penalty the death penalty essay 6. ARGUMENTS 6.1. FIRST ARGUMENT Death penalty is a necessary evil that serves as deterrent to reduce crime rate. Everybody fears death, even animals. If extreme criminals are executed by death penalty, all the potential criminals will definitely think twice before committing extreme crime because their own life is at stake. Majority of studies claimed that the existence of death penalty increases the crime rate but some of the studies did not consider other factors that affects crime rate. For example, the major factors that constantly contributing to an increase of crime rate are residential population, individual family issue, climate and economic condition (Annual Crime Report 1998). Moreover, all the matters regarding deterrence has been studied by a Professor of Jurisprudence named Ernest van den Haag from Fordham University. He stated that even though statistical demonstrations are not conclusive, capital punishment deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anyt hing else (Arguments for and Against the Death penalty 2000). Death penalty is 100% effective as deterrent to the criminal being executed; that killer would not be able to commit anymore crimes especially homicide (Stephen K 1985). Suppose life imprisonment is the maximum penalty in a state, nothing can stop those prisoners who are facing life imprisonment to commit more crime especially murder again in prison. â€Å"Assault in prisons in all over US, both against fellow inmates and against staff, have more than doubled in the past decades, according to statistics gathered by Criminal Justice Institute in Middletown, Connecticut†(Van Paul 1998). Death penalty is a necessary evil that should be retained because criminal especially serial killers will learn a lesson which is death penalty is the most suitable punishment of justice for their extreme crime. death penalty research paper against death penalty essay thesis statement about death penalty death penalty essays death penalty paper 6.2. SECOND ARGUMENT Furthermore, safety of the society will not be the main concern once those criminals are executed by death penalty. However, criminals especially murderers can plead for insanity or mental retardation. The courts have accepted a general definition of mental retardation as being significantly sub average in general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the developmental period (Garner Corinne 1990). For example, a drug related brain-damaged killer barely knew his own identity when he raped and murdered a woman and her daughter in front of a 3 year old boy. The insane man then pled for insanity which made him spent his 22 years in jail. We would not know the truth behind the crime scene; he might consume the drugs right after killing because anyone would take risk just to continue living. Next, if he were mentally disabled from the beginning he brings danger towards the society. â€Å"The procedures of identifying mental retardation vary from state to state and some of the procedures used to identify mental retardation have come to be questioned. Some of the prisoners identified as having mental retardation have mislabelled† (Petersilia 1997). This is why death penalty is crucial for those who damage themselves mentally or those who are born with mental problems if they committed extreme crime more than once because it is for the safety of the society. Thus, death penalty is not inhumane because it benefits the mentally disable criminal to prevent them from committing sins without them realizing it. 6.3. THIRD ARGUMENT Last but not least, some criminals deserve retribution for their action. Death penalty is not revenge but simply returning the nature of the extreme crime committed as a punishment. Criminals such as murderers are the ones that keep demonstrating inhumanity. Anti-death penalty supporters believe that death penalty is inhumane and barbarous. Well, so is murder. If murderers do not value the life of their victim then there is no reason their life should be valuable. In addition, murderers neglected their rights as a human when they violate the rights of their victim (Jones Elliot 2009). The rights of the victims are more important than the rights of the criminal. Death penalty will bring closure to the criminal and closure to the ordeal for the victim’s family. The greatest example in history would be Saddam Hussein; He is punished by death penalty because he committed extreme crime against humanity when he murdered 148 Shias in Tigris river city of Dujail in 1982. The society was finally satisfied when he was sentenced to death because it brings closure to the ordeal for the 148 victim’s family (BBC News 2006). Thus, criminals such as Saddam deserve death penalty retribution as a proportionate punishment. 7.CONCLUSION: In this essay, I have listed two effects of death penalty; death penalty is against human rights and death penalty costs more than life without parole. I have also discussed three reasons why death penalty is a necessary evil; death penalty serves as a deterrent to help reduce crime rate, assures safety of the society and extreme criminals deserve retribution for their action. The reality is that our country, Malaysia still practices death penalty today because the government knows what’s best for their people. Government of other country should think carefully and take into considerations all the angle of subject of death penalty. Everything has their effects. Therefore, the governments should come up with wise solutions for the entire question that rises regarding death penalty. A rational solution can make a country unite and more stable in various aspects. opponents of the death penalty argue all but which one of the following? juvenile death penalty pros and cons death penalty essay introduction essay against death penalty death penalty introduction essays on the death penalty

Kinky and the Lost Tooth: A Book Review in Relation to Child Play

A Book Review in Relation to Child Play, Learning and Development Ask any child why they love to read, reread and sometimes even reenact their favorite book or story, and chances are you won’t get a response related to educational value. As expected, children will not see behind the magical characters and imaginary places they encounter with each story they choose to immerse themselves in. According to Whitebread and Jameson (2005, p.64), children are usually engrossed in what they are doing when they are at play. Of course, we adults know much better than that. We know that there is much more to fairy tales and children’s books than just their escapism or entertainment value. Research upon research has proven time and time again that children’s literature plays an important role in a child’s learning and holistic development. This is why authors of children’s books put much thought (and some, much research) into producing reading material that is educational without compromising its entertainment and marketing value. But what happens when the story is written or made up by a child? Does it accomplish more or less than what the average adult-written literature does? The main difference lies in how adults and children perceive stories, especially children’s literature. Children see stories as an extension of their play activities; almost everything is, for them. What exactly goes on when a child engages himself into a story? A very appropriate way to get a â€Å"behind-the-scenes† look at what happens when a child engages into literature is by studying a student-made story and its learning effectiveness. Just the fact that this came from a child all the more changes the dynamics in this research. The story chosen for this paper is Kinky and the Lost Tooth, written by V. Mansaray (2008): Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl called Kinky who lived in a town called Matotoka. One day she was playing with her friends Pikah, Krit and Kemzo, they decided to play a game called Koo-Koo! (hide and seek). As Kinky is running to hide under the Bao Bao tree, she fell down and lost her tooth. Kinky doesn’t realize that a new tooth would grow, she felt very, very sad because she had a party to go to and she cried all day and all night!! Suddenly she heard a loud voice calling her name. â€Å"Kinky, Kinky, K-i-n-k-y†¦ I am the tooth fairy. I am here to help you. Listen carefully. Stretch your hands, close your eyes.† Kinky did exactly what the tooth fairy asked her to do. †Now, can you open your eyes?† said the tooth fairy. When Kinky opened her eyes and looked in her hand she saw that she was holding a pink box. Guess what was inside the little box? When Kinky opened the tiny pink box she found her lost tooth. What do you think she will do with the tooth, now that she has found it? This story is a modern-day fairy tale, obviously because of the reference to the tooth fairy. The voice in the story is very simplistic and direct-to-the-point, making it clear and obvious that the words come from a child’s mouth (although this is a common approach and style that writers of children’s literature usually employ; more like stooping down to a child’s eye level to connect with them while communicating). The lines do not rhyme that much, but the proper names used are catchy & interestingly unique, for a kid (not much unlike Dr. Seuss’ famous characters). In addition, there is an evident pattern in how the proper names are coined; monosyllables repeated twice (Koo-Koo, Bao Bao, and even Kinky). This indicates that the author is of a young age. It is also noticeable that the most repeated word in the entire story is the protagonist’s name, Kinky. If one were to take this literary creation as an extension of the author’s playtime, then it would also be safe to assume that the protagonist could be the author’s actual self-projection. Tina Bruce (2001) has mentioned that in their play, children more often than not use the first hand experiences that they have in life. There weren’t that many descriptive words used to describe the plot settings, the protagonist, the fairy, even Kinky herself. This might imply that the child drew illustrations as he/she wrote this story, or even used his/her illustrations as his/her storyboard itself. Children are much more interested in visual and colorful images rather than in verbal imagery. A very visual book will be needed to pique the students’ interest, and there could be nothing more visual than a child’s active imagination. Considering the voice used, the language level employed, and the way the story flows in logical succession, this story would be best appropriate for children transitioning from the Concrete to the Formal Operational Stages. The question the author leaves for his readers at the end implies that the author is already capable of problem solving and inferencing, which are characteristics of a child around those stages (Piaget, 1954). Reading along the lines of Erik Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development, one can assume that the author/protagonist is at the School Age stage, since the protagonist shows that there is a basic conflict between Industry vs. Inferiority (Erikson, 1959). In this story, Kinky’s main problem was she had to go to a party but she couldn’t because she just lost a tooth. There was the social demand of going to a party (where it is assumed that everybody else is going), but then again missing a tooth (especially if it was a front tooth) would mean she would be somewhat inferior to the other kids. The eventual resolution of her problem, however, is still interestingly abstract; it took the tooth fairy’s magic to give Kinky a happy ending. The tooth fairy is one of the most popular characters children encounter in their young lives; and surprisingly, it can be a social tool in more ways than one. This story says a lot about how a child seems to cope with the stress and social repercussions losing a tooth brings in a child’s life. Kinky’s dilemma could or could not be reflective of the author’s real life struggles; but whatever the case may be, it is still a real issue many children face at this stage. Kinky’s story can be used to teach children of an appropriate age how to cope with their self-identities and with seemingly stressful situations that need their own decision and action. We can further examine Kinky’s story by comparing and contrasting it with a published book (presumably written by an adult). Taking for example Selby Breeler’s 1998 book Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All Over the World, this book takes the focus away from the child and focus more on other children around the world. By depicting how other children around the world cope with losing a tooth, Breeler introduces the child to world geography and being conscious of other nationalities and customs at the same time. Breeler does not take away the magic by refuting the validity of the tooth fairy, but instead affirms the child by showing that some children in other countries also believe in the tooth fairy, or an equivalent entity. The author also assures the child that he/she is not alone in losing his/her tooth, that it’s normal. Breeler ends the story with reassurance, leaving the child reader with hope for renewed confidence: â€Å"Teeth fall out every day, all over the world. What do you do with yours?† Moyles (2005, p.9) discusses that â€Å"play in educational settings should have learning consequences.† In this light, every piece of children’s literature should have some educational merit. Mansaray’s and Breeler’s stories could be used within the class curriculum to stress several learning points, especially those related to reinforcing the child’s self-confidence and social awareness. In that way, these resources can actually be used to support children’s learning and development. The authors may actually consider extending their work into other literature by expanding these stories into series that tackle different issues and conflicts children face from day to day. A good way to implement these resources in the classroom setting is to allow each student read, analyze and interpret these stories in their own ways. Bettelheim (1989) theorizes that when children get to read about the problems, victories and failures experienced by the heroes and heroines of fairy tales (and in this case, children’s books),   they are given the chance to get a greater sense of meaning and purpose, and in effect prepare them for their own conflicts in their own lives. Bandura (1977) reinforces this by his theory on social learning: â€Å"Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.† This just emphasizes the need to lead children of operational age to learn how to analyze situations, identify the conflict/s, and then come to their own conclusions and solutions. Children find it easier to do so when they have a model (in this case, a symbolic one, found in the literary protagonists) they can relate to and follow. Another way one might employ these sample resources is to let the students have a chance to be able to relate or connect their own personal experiences with those of the protagonists’. Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (1969) comes into play here, revealing that if the educator or parent lets the child use a literary protagonist as their own attachment figure, then one can promptly use that attachment to direct or lead the student to the learning point at hand. Children, especially those in the operational stage, need someone with whom they can identify. Johnson’s treatise on the interrelation of child development with learning and literature backs this up in quoting that â€Å"knowledge cannot be given directly from the teacher to the learner, but must be constructed by the learner and reconstructed as new information becomes available† (Ryan & Cooper, quoted in Johnson, 2003). Johnson later on concludes that â€Å"learning is not the result of development; rather, learning is development.† By looking through Bandura’s â€Å"sociocognitive glasses†, so to speak, this interaction between the child and the literary protagonist plays an important role in the child’s intellectual development. This means that what a child learns socially is related to what he/she learns cognitively, and vice versa. What a child learns by interacting with other people adds to his/her own schema and thus increases his/her understanding in some cognitive processes. (Bandura, 1977) Mansaray’s story about Kinky and the lost tooth in itself has little educational merit; but if one would look at it by using sociocognitive theories, then the educator/parent can certainly use such output from the child as clues and tools for further sociocognitive learning. Using a story that uses the child’s own language and vocabulary, and that is based on the child’s own personal conflicts and issues, proves to be a very important tool in child development. Not only does the child get to learn about certain subject matter, but the educator/parent can also use it to teach very important life lessons as well. Bibliography Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall. Beeler, S. (1998) Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions All Over the World. New York, Houghton Mifflin. Bettelheim, B. (1989) The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Vintage Books. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Attachment (Vol. 1). New York, Basic. Bruce, T. 2001, Learning through Play, Babies, Toddlers and the Foundation Years. Hodder and Stoughton. Erikson, E. H. (1959) Identity and the Life Cycle. New York, International Universities Press. Johnson, D.C. (2003) The Role of Child Development and Social Interaction in the Selection of Children's Literature to Promote Literacy Acquisition. Early Childhood Research ; Practice [Internet], Fall, 5 (2). Available from: ;http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/v5n2/johnson.html; [Accessed 9 April 2008] Mansaray, V. (2008) Kinky and the Lost Tooth [written by student]. Piaget, J. (1954) The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York, Basic Books. Whitebread, D. ; Jameson, H. (2005) Play, Storytelling and Creative Writing. In: Moyles, J. ed. The Excellence of Play. England, Open University Press, McGraw-Hill. ; ; ; ; ;

Appellate Jurisdiction in the US Court System

The term â€Å"appellate jurisdiction† refers to the authority of a court to hear appeals to cases decided by lower courts. Courts that have such authority are called â€Å"appellate courts.† The appellate courts have the power to reverse or modify the lower court’s decision. Key Takeaways: Appellate Jurisdiction Appellate jurisdiction is the authority of a court to hear and decide appeals to decisions made by lower courts.In the United States federal court system, cases originally decided in the district courts can be appealed only to the circuit courts of appeals, while decisions of the circuit courts can be appealed only to the U.S. Supreme Court. Decisions of the Supreme Court cannot be further appealed.The right to appeal is not guaranteed by the Constitution. Instead, the appellant must â€Å"show cause† by convincing the appeals court that the trial court had failed to properly apply the laws involved or to follow proper legal procedures.The standards by which an appeals court decides the correctness of a lower court’s decision is base whether the appeal was based on a question of substantive facts of the case or on an incorrect or improper application of the legal process resulting in the denial of due process of law.   While the right to appeal is not bestowed by any law or the Constitution, it is generally considered to be embodied in general tenets of law prescribed by the English Magna Carta of 1215. Under the federal hierarchical dual court system of the United States, the circuit courts have appellate jurisdiction over cases decided by the district courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over the decisions of the circuit courts. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to create courts under the Supreme Court and to determine the number and location of courts with appellate jurisdiction. Currently, the lower federal court system is made up of 12 geographically located regional circuit courts of appeal which have appellate jurisdiction over 94 district trial courts. The 12 appellate courts also have jurisdiction over specialized cases in involving the federal government agencies, and cases dealing with patent law. In the 12 appellate courts, appeals are heard and decided by three-judge panels. Juries are not used in the appeals courts. Typically, cases decided by the 94 district courts can be appealed to a circuit court of appeals and decisions for the circuit courts can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also has â€Å"original jurisdiction† to hear certain types of cases that may be allowed to bypass the often lengthy standard appellate process. From about 25% to 33% of all appeals heard by federal appellate courts involve criminal convictions. The Right to Appeal Must be Proven Unlike other legal rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the right to appeal is not absolute. Instead, the party asking for the appeal called the â€Å"appellant,† must convince the appellate jurisdiction court that the lower court had incorrectly applied a law or failed to follow proper legal procedures during the trial. The process of proving such errors by the lower courts is called â€Å"showing cause.† The appellate jurisdiction courts will not consider an appeal unless cause has been shown. In other words, the right to appeal is not required as part of â€Å"due process of law.† While always applied in practice, the requirement to show cause in order to gain the right to appeal was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1894. In deciding the case of McKane v. Durston, the justices wrote, â€Å"An appeal from a judgment of conviction is not a matter of absolute right, independently of constitutional or statutory provisions allowing such appeal.† The court continued, â€Å"A review by an appellate court of the final judgment in a criminal case, however, grave the offense of which the accused is convicted, was not at common law and is not now a necessary element of due process of law. It is wholly within the discretion of the state to allow or not to allow such a review.† The way in which appeals are dealt with, including determining whether or not the appellant has proven the right to appeal, can vary from state to state. Standards by Which Appeals are Judged The standards by which a court of appeals judges the validity of a lower court’s decision depends on whether the appeal was based on a question of facts presented during the trial or on an incorrect application or interpretation of a law by the lower court. In judging appeals based on facts presented at trial, the court of appeals judges must weigh the facts of the case based on their own firsthand review of the evidence and observation of witness testimony. Unless a clear error in the way the facts of the case were represented to or interpreted by the lower court can be found, the appeals court will generally deny the appeal and allow the decision of the lower court to stand. When reviewing issues of law, the court of appeals may reverse or modify the lower court’s decision if the judges find the lower court wrongly applied or misinterpreted the law or laws involved in the case. The court of appeals may also review â€Å"discretionary† decisions or rulings made by the lower court judge during the trial. For example, the appeals court might find that the trial judge improperly disallowed evidence that should have been seen by the jury or failed to grant a new trial due to circumstances that arose during the trial. Sources and Further Reference â€Å"Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.† Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law SchoolAbout U.S. Federal Courts.† United States Courts