Described by Dickens Essay Example for Free

Described by Dickens Essay The extended metaphor at the end of the first chapter depicts the children as vessels or jars, to be filled to the top with facts until they are full. The metaphor portrays the children as inanimate objects, which shows the reader the arrogance of Gradgrind:  Vessels then and there arranged in order ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.  Dickens describes them as if they are empty and know nothing. Therefore they have to learn facts whether they like it or not. The short sentences and repetition in the sentences of the opening of the second chapter aids the description of Gradgrind as it shows the reader there is no manipulating this man and what you see is what you get. He will never change his mind.  The extended metaphor, a kind of cannonaway shows the reader Gradgrinds idea of how children should be properly educated. He believes that imaginations are to be stormed away and children should mature through facts. He is described like a cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts this shows the harshness of his character and the machine-like qualities he holds. Sissy Jupe is described by Dickens as dark-eyed and dark-haired her skin is tanned as Sissy has grown up with the circus she has an interesting background and a creative imagination; she is not just filled with facts. The colour of her eyes and hair reflects her traveller background. Whereas, Bitzer is described by Dickens as light-eyed and light-haired. His skin seems to be white, in contrast to Sissys tanned complexion. This description shows the harshness of the Victorian education system, on his appearance. The audience has no sympathy for the coldness of his character even though he is seen as a model pupil from a model school by Gradgrind, who has forced out any imagination Bitzer had and filled him with facts. His description of a horse compared to Sissys attempt shows the reader the machine-like almost robotic manner in which he is able to reel off facts: Quadruped. Graminivorous.  His character is the opposite of Sissy. Gradgrind refers to her as a number, yet to Bitzer by name, as Sissy has only been at the school for a short time, but is referred to as Girl number twenty as she is new to the school her education is not as Gradgrind would like it to be, this in turn alienates her.  During the fifth chapter, we meet the characters Sissy and Bitzer again as their chase come to a halt when they bump into Gradgrind. After explaining why she was running, Gradgrind comments, as he cannot understand why Sissy should be run after: Run after? repeated Mr Gradgrind. Who would run after you?'  Gradgrind does not know Sissy, and sees her as an outcast. He does not see why she should be run after, and cannot understand why someone would want her. His question is answered when Bitzer enters in the next paragraph. He is described as the colourless boy. This creates lack of empathy in the reader towards Bitzer and how he has been manipulated by Gradgrind and the school. As Bitzer is running after Sissy, although described as without fancy (colourless), he still is a child as he was pulling faces to scare Sissy. Once escorted by Sissy to her home, we see Sissys fears of Gradgrind through the way she talks to him. She also seems embarrassed by the state of her home:  This is it, sir, and if you wouldnt mind, sir this is the house.  Sissys politeness to Gradgrind, as well as showing a well-mannered child also show how nervous she is around him, and the fear she has of him. Sissy is frightened of Gradgrind as she sees that as she is from a poor lifestyle, because of the shabbiness of her home, she will not be allowed to continue her studies, as those with a proper education will do better in the future. The audience empathises with Sissy because of this. In conclusion, Gradgrind has a stern manner and is very controlling of his pupils and his children because he is a very hard character he is a man of realities. Bitzer is a machine-like character; his white face reflects the coldness of his life with only facts in it. This contrasts to Sissys character, which is imaginative, because she lacks the proper formal education Bitzer has received. Hard Times is based on, and shows, Dickenss view of rejection, to the callous determination of Victorian greed. The audience empathises with Sissy the most as her character seems to be lost and the most fragile. The audience do not empathise with Gradgrind because of his stern and cold nature, which, as Bitzer becomes a model student, causes the audience to empathise with neither of the two characters.

Effect of culture in business Essay Example for Free

Effect of culture in business Essay 1. A growing number of Americans work for foreign-owned firms in the United States. Do you think that these American employees are being influenced by the foreign owners approach to management and the culture of the country of the owner? Because of globalization, businesses are open to do business in new markets and improving profits. Also because of globalization, companies are faced with different cultures, religion and norms. For a company to do business in another country, a manager needs to understand the differences associated with the host country. Globalization is defined as this interdependency of transportation, distribution, communication, and economic networks across international borders (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske, 2012, p 57). Each firm has their own organizational culture. According to Hellriegel, Slocum and Woodman (2001), organizational culture represents a complex pattern of beliefs, expectations, values and behaviors shared by organizational members. The knowledge of the culture in which an employee is working is crucial. In a dynamic and fast changing environment the inter and intra organizational behavior changes the productivity and growth trends (Chaturvedi, 2002). Because of the organizational culture most foreign-owned firms will tend to impose that culture on their employees. Just like U.S. companies settling abroad, foreign-owned companies will face some difficulties operating in a country with different culture. Based on Hofstedes research, which studies how values in the workplace are influenced by culture, four dimensions have been identified as explaining: Uncertainty avoidance: degree to which people are comfortable with ambiguous situations and with the inability to predict future events with accuracy (Gibson et al., 2012, p 69). Masculinity-Femininity: A culture that has a high masculinity orientation tends to emphasize on dominance, assertiveness, and interdependence. A culture with tendency of femininity orientation will emphasize more on interdependence, compassion, and emotional openness. Individualism-Collectivism: Tendency of a cultures norms and values to emphasize on satisfying individual needs or group needs (Gibson et al., 2012, p 69). Power distance: Degree to which members of a society accept differences in power and status among themselves (Gibson et al., 2012, p 69) Because each culture fits differently in the four dimensions, a foreign-owned firm will keep its own culture as it will be easier to deal with than having different organizational cultures in each country it operates. Americans who work for those companies are indeed influenced by their approach of management. 2. Assume that you want to develop your global skills so that you can pursue international assignments with your company. Identify five skills that you would want to develop and describe how you would go about improving these skills. Globalization is defined as this interdependency of transportation, distribution, communication, and economic networks across international borders (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske, 2012, p 57). Managers are more and more in contact with different cultures. According to HRMagazine (2012), business skills, clture and customs skills, geographic, political and economic skills need to be developed. Based on Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske (2012), the five main skills are: Global strategic skills: knowing how the economy (i.e. global financial markets), politics (i.e. foreign affairs, international law) are good ways for managers to know how to conduct business in another country. Team-building skills: Companies require more and more that their employees know how to work as part of a team. Team-building is a way to have more done more efficiently. A manager should know how to delegate work and know what each team members can or cannot do. Organization skills: It is important to know how employees react to certain management approach. McGregors motivational theory X and Y provides management approaches that can apply to motivate employees. Communication skills: Communication is essential when working abroad. It is imperative that a manager or employee be able to communicate with peers and superiors effectively. Transfer of knowledge skills: Learning about a practice, technique, or approach in one country that can be transferred elsewhere is a skill that managers can apply on a regular basis (Gibson et al., 2012, p 62). 3. Describe the attitudes a manager would need to be successful and effective in managing in India, China, and Saudi Arabia. A manager would need to have the same basic skills in order to a successful and effective manager in India, China, and Saudi Arabia. According to Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske Strong technical skills Good language skills Strong desire to work overseas Knowledge of the culture Well-adjusted family situation Spouse support Behavioral flexibility Adaptability Good relational ability Stress management skills According Goodall and Warner (2007), a manager who wants to work in China would need to be: Open-minded to the culture shock. Desire to learn the language and culture. Good communication skills. Strong organizational commitment: Think not what your company can do for you, but what you can do for your company (Goodall et al., 2007, p 13). In China, it is hard to retain employees due to the competition of labor. China does not have enough skilled labors and is experiencing tremendous growth economically. To be an effective manager, one should be able to retain employees and adapt to the culture in order to not lose such precious asset. According to Bhuian, Al-shammari, Jefri (2001), a manager needs have a strong organizational commitment, strong desire to work with foreign assignment, and especially good communication skills in order to work in Saudi Arabia. Trainings should be available to the expatriate manager. Gibson et al. identified three steps: Predeparture, which helps the manager prepare for the culture shock. Overseas Assignments, which is to help the manager ease into the culture. Having a mentor or a guide to introduce him or her to the culture. Repatriation, which is helping the manager adjusting back to his own culture when returning from assignment. References Assess-and improve-your global skills. (2012). _HRMagazine, 57_(8), 79. Retrieved from http://www.shrm. org/countryguides Bhuian, S. N., Al-shammari, E. S. and Jefri, O. A. (2001), Work-related attitudes and job characteristics of expatriates in Saudi Arabia. Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev, 43: 21-32. doi: 10.1002/1520-6874(200101/02)43:13.0.CO;2-B Chaturvedi, A. (2002). Organizational behavior. _Finance India, 16_(4), 1482-1484. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/224360708?accountid=6579 Gibson, J.G., Ivancevich, J.M., Donnelly, J.H., Konopaske, R. (2012). _Organizations: Behavior, structure, processes_ (14th ed.)_._ New York: McGraw-Hill. Goodall, K.L.N., Warner, M. (2007). Expatriate managers in China: The influence of Chinese culture on cross-cultural management. _Journal of General Management._ Retrieved from: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/research/working_papers/2007/wp0701.pdf Hellriegel, Don, Slocum, John W. Woodman, Richard W.; Organizational Behavior, South-Western Thomson Learney, 2001, pp 671.

A Survey on Ranking in Information Retrieval System

A Survey on Ranking in Information Retrieval System Shikha Gupta Abstract Available information is expanding day by day and this availability makes access and proper organization to the archives critical for efficient use of information. People generally rely on information retrieval (IR) system to get the desired result. In such a case, it is the duty of the service provider to provide relevant, proper and quality information to the user against the query submitted to the IR System, which is a challenge for them. With time, many old techniques have been modified, and many new techniques are developing to do effective retrieval over large collections. This paper is concerned with the analysis and comparison of various available page ranking algorithms based on the various parameters to find out their advantages and limitations in ranking the pages. Based on this analysis of different page ranking algorithms, a comparative study has been done to find out their relative strengths and limitations. This paper also tries to find out the further scope of researc h in page ranking algorithm. Keywords Information Retrieval (IR) System, Ranking, Page Rank, HITS, WPR, WLR, Distance Rank, Time Rank, Query Dependent, Context. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Information Retrieval System Information retrieval systems are defined as some collection of components and processes which takes input in the form of a query from the user to the system, then compares it with the information which has been collected by the system, and then produce an output, which is some set of texts or information objects considered to be related to the query. It is the activity of obtaining the information resources which are relevant to an information need(query) from a collection of information resources. Data structure used by an IR system is Inverted index which is an index of {term, doc IDs} entries. IR system consists of three main components: firstly the user in the system; then the knowledge resource on which the user has an access and with which s/he interacts; and, a person(s) and/or device(s) that supports and mediates the interaction of the user with the knowledge resource (the intermediary). User FeedbackUser Query RankedExecutable DocumentsQuery Fig: IR architecture In an IR System the processes which are to be considered as important are: Representation of the user’s information problem which is in the form of texts in the knowledge resource: e.g. indexing; Comparison of representation of texts and information problem: e.g. retrieval techniques; Interaction between the user and an intermediary: e.g. human-computer interaction or reference interview; and, sometimes, Judgment of appropriateness of the text to information problem submitted by the user: e.g. relevance judgments; and Modification of the representation of an information problem: e.g. query reformulation or relevance feedback. 1.2 Ranking Ranking is a process of arranging the resulted documents in the order of their relevancy. An information retrieval process begins when the user enters aqueryinto a system. Queries can be defined as formal statements ofinformation needs, for example the search strings in web search engines. In information retrieval not only a single object uniquely identifies a query in the collection, rather, several objects may match the query, but, with different degrees ofrelevancy. Most of the IR systems compute a numeric score for each object in the database to determine how well each of them matches the query, and then it rank the objects according to this calculated value. After ranking, objects having top ranks are shown to the user. The user can then iterate the process by refining the query, if required. Use of ranking To improve search quality. To do effective retrieval over large collections. Granting relevant, efficient, fast and quality information against the user query. 2. RELATED WORK In this paper, a review of previous work on ranking is given. In the field of ranking, many algorithms and techniques have already been proposed but they all seem to be less efficient in efficiently granting the rank. The various algorithms are defined below. . Page Rank Algorithm Page Rank Algorithm is one of the most common ranking algorithms. It is alink analysisalgorithm which provides a way of measuring the importance of pages. Its working is based on the number and quality of links to a page to make a rough estimate of the importance of the page. It is based on the assumption that more important pages are will receive more links from other pages. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given elementEis referred to as thePageRank of Eand is denoted by PR (E). HITS Algorithm Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search(HITS; also known ashubs and authorities) is alink analysisalgorithmthat rates pages. In links and out links of the web pages are processed to rank them. A good hub represents a page that pointes to many other pages, and a good authority represents a page that was linked by many different hubs. The scheme therefore assigns two scores for each page: its authority, which estimates the value of the content of the page, and its hub value, which estimates the value of its links to other pages. HITS algorithm has the limitation of assigning high rank value to some popular pages that are not highly relevant to the given query. Hubs Authorities Fig: Hubs and Authorities Weighted Page Rank Algorithm Weighted Page Rank algorithm (WPR) is an extension to the standard Page Rank algorithm. The importance of both in-links and out-links of the pages are taken into account. Rank scores are distributed based on the popularity of the pages. Number of in-links and out-links are observed to determine the popularity of a page. This algorithm performs better than the conventional Page Rank algorithm in terms of returning a large number of relevant pages to the given query. Weighted Links Rank Algorithm Weighted links rank (WLRank) algorithm is a variant of Page Rank algorithm. Different page attributes are considered to give more weight to some links, for improving the precision of the answers. Various page attributes which are considered for assigning the weight are: tag in which the link is contained, length of the anchor text and relative position in the page. The use of anchor text is the best attribute of this algorithm. Distance Rank Algorithm It is an intelligent ranking algorithm based on learning. In this algorithm, the distance between pages is calculated. The distance is deà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ned as the number of ‘‘average clicks’’ between two pages. It considers distance between pages as a punishment and therefore aims at minimizing this distance so that a page with less distance will get a higher rank. The Advantage of this algorithm is that it can find pages with high quality and more quickly with the use of distance based solution. Also, the complexity of Distance Rank is low. The Limitation of this algorithm is that it requires a large calculation to calculate the distance vector. Time Rank Algorithm This algorithm utilizes the time factor to increase the accuracy of the web page ranking. In this the rank score is improved by using the visit time of the page. The visit time of the page is measured after applying original and improved methods of web page rank algorithm to know about the degree of importance to the users. Time factor is used in this algorithm to increase the accuracy of the page ranking. It is a combination of content and link structure. It provides satisfactory and more relevant results. Query Dependent Ranking Algorithm This algorithm is used to point out a large variety of queries. The similarities between the queries are measured. The ranking of documents in search is conducted by using different models based on different properties of queries. The ranking model in this algorithm is the combination of various models of the similar training queries. Categorization by context This approach proposes a ranking scheme in which ranking is done on the basis of context of the document rather than on the terms basis. Its task is to extract contextual information about documents by analyzing the structure of documents that refer to them. It uses context to describe collections. It is used to overcome the disadvantages of term based approach. 3. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE A large number of algorithms are present today which can be used for ranking the pages in Informational Retrieval System. There will always be a scope of better ranking of pages as each algorithm has its associated advantages and disadvantages. In term based approach, there are problems of Synonymy (means multiple words having the same meaning) and Polysemy (means that a word has multiple meanings). On the other hand, in context based approach, the problem is that the pages which refer to a document must contain enough hints about its content so that they are sufficient to classify the document. According to the requirements of the user, the IR system should use an appropriate algorithm. Use of an efficient algorithm will provide speedy response, and, accurate and relevant results. REFERENCES [1] Wenpu Xing and Ali Ghorbani, â€Å"Weighted PageRank Algorithm†, In proceedings of the 2rd Annual Conference on Communication Networks Services Research, PP. 305-314, 2004. [2] Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Emilio Davis ,Web page ranking using link attributes , In proceedings of the 13th international World Wide Web conference on Alternate track papers posters, PP.328-329, 2004. [3] H Jiang et al., TIMERANK: A Method of Improving Ranking Scores by Visited Time, In proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Machine Learning and Cybernetics, Kunming, 12-15 July 2008. [4] Jon Kleinberg, â€Å"Authoritative Sources in a Hyperlinked Environment†, In Proceedings of the ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, 1998. [5] Ali Mohammad Zareh Bidoki and Nasser Yazdani, â€Å"DistanceRank: An Intelligent Ranking Algorithm for Web Pages†, Information Processing and Management, 2007. [6] Dilip Kumar Sharma and A. K. Sharma,â€Å" A Comparative Analysis of Web Page Ranking Algorithms†, in International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering, 2010. [7] Giuseppe Attardi and Antonio Gullà ¬, â€Å"Automatic Web Page Categorization by Link and Context Analysis†, [8] Parul Gupta and Dr. A.K.Sharma, â€Å"Context based Indexing in Search Engines using Ontology†, 2010 International Journal of Computer Applications. [9] Abdelkrim Bouramoul, Mohamed-Khireddine Kholladi1 and Bich-Lien Doan, , â€Å" USING CONTEXT TO IMPROVE THE EVALUATION OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS† International Journal of Database Management Systems, May 2011. [10] Xiubo Geng, Tie-Yan Liu, Tao Qin, â€Å"Query Dependent Ranking Using K-Nearest Neighbor†, SIGIR’08, July 20–24, 2008, Singapore

Cattells Big Five Factors Essay -- science

Cattell's Big Five Factors Cattell’s Big Five Factors of Personality, Behavioral Genetics, and Evolutionary Personality Theory. Current Research Raymond Cattell (1905-present) designed the â€Å"Big five Factors of Personality†, in which five classifications are revealed. Big Five factors: #1 extraversion vs. introversion, #2 agreeableness vs. antagonism, #3 conscientiousness vs. undirected ness, #4 neuroticism vs. emotional stability, and #5 openness to experience vs. not open to experience. Han’s Eysenck’s and Sir Francis Galton behavior genetics research and Arnold Buss’ three concerns for evolutionary personality theory coinsided with each other. The Big five represents a catalog of traits that some personality psychologists suggest capture the essence of individual differences in personality. Raymond Cattell used Allport and Odbert’s 4500 trait-descriptives in which he extracted 35 traits. After others continued to analyze these factors and found congruence with the ratings, that eventually became the Big five Factors of Personality. In order to fully understand the origin of these factors an outline for factor analysis must be explained. Factor analysis studies where conducted and the results where used in an analysis technique generally done with computers to determine meaningful relationships and patterns in behavioral data. Beginning with a large number of behavioral variables, the computer finds relationships or natural connections where variables are maximally correlated with one another and minimally correlated with other variables, and then it groups the data accordingly. After this process has been repeated many times a pattern of relationships or certain factors that capture the essence of all the data appears (Pervin & John 1999). The same process used to determine the Big Five Personality factors; copious amounts of different researchers that have done numerous tests and they all agree that the â€Å"Big five Factors† are the only consistently reliable factors that have been found. Big Five factors include: #1 extraversion vs. introversion, #2 agreeableness vs. antagonism, #3 conscientiousness vs. undirected ness, #4 neuroticism vs. emotional stability, and #5 openness to experience vs. not open to experience, these breakdown into understandable terms. #1 Extraversion implies an energetic approach to the social and material wo... ...between human nature and individual characteristics? He also acknowledged three criteria from evolutionary biology for determining a characteristic as a part of human nature. These are: it must be universal. Must be â€Å"innate, unconditioned, and relatively difficult to modify† (p.1139). And lastly it must have an adaptive function (Lindsey and Campbell p. 352,1998). In conclusion, all of these theories have laid the groundwork for mapping complex human behavior. It is still unclear when and how much of our personalities/traits come from genetics and how much is influenced by outside factors. Many believe you must learn of your past in order to succeed in the future, but understanding how we became what we are today is of equal importance. With the advances in technology, DNA/Genetics who knows what answers the future will hold for us. References Hall, C., Lindzey, G., Campbell, J. (1998). Theories of Personality (4th ed.) (pp.343-356) John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Pervin, L. & John, O. (Eds) (1999). Handbook of Personality: theory and research. New York: Gilford. Potkay, C. & Allen, B (1986). Personality: Theory, research, and applications. California: Brooks/Cole.

Internet Telesurgery Saves Lives :: Technology Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Internet Telesurgery Saves Lives People view the Internet generally in two ways either in a positive light or a negative view. What adds fuel to how people feel about the Internet is what they hear about the Internet from the media. Whether they read it in a newspaper, magazine, or hear it on television the media effects how people feel about certain things and this includes their feelings on the Internet. The Internet gets positive coverage from the media whenever it makes life easier or better, by making things more convenient. One positive advancement with Internet technology is the development of telesurgery over recent years. Telesurgery is a way to perform surgical operations without having the doctor in direct contact with the patient during surgery. This is made possible by giving the doctor control of robotic operating tools. The doctor can perform the surgery from almost any distance while the patient receives the surgery from remote control robotic operating instruments. What enables the doctor to control the surgery is a powerful Internet link to connect the doctor to operating tools, monitors, and to communication with other expert doctors. While the patient undergoes the surgery they are not left alone with the robotic instruments they have direct human assistance at the scene of the operation. The surgical assistant is needed to monitor any problems that doctors may miss due to slight delays in Lopez 2 the Internet link. While telesurgery can be used to perform most operations, some common surgeries that telesurgery has been used for are gall bladder removal, appendectomies, and gynecological procedures. This technology has an endless amount of benefits. A patient can receive the operation they need at their local hospitals from the most qualified surgeon in that field of medicine. The ability to operate on people without the doctor being present will enable the medical field to reach farther than it ever has before. With the right link to the telesurgery equipment the Internet is one step closer to having, no boundaries. Surgery can now be performed where doctors may not have the training to perform certain operations. For instance in underdeveloped countries, where the medical standards have not reached the capabilities of industrialized nations. Telesurgery will benefit those who are injured while fighting on the battlefield and are in need of major medical attention. The doctor can provide the injured soldier with the help they need from a safe location without the worry of injury to them self.

Snow Falling On Cedars :: essays research papers

Snow Falling On Cedars Vs. Stranger In The Kingdom When I first read Howard Frank Mosher’s novel Stranger In The Kingdom I was astonished that something like that took place in Vermont. I have always been under the misconception that racism isn’t extremely prevalent in our local culture today. Once again my white American’s views were challenged when I read Snow Falling On Cedars, by David Guterson. The two books seem to me to be exactly the same story, only they occur about forty years apart from each other. The book are so synonymous with each other, that most of the characters are comparable. As the story of David Guterson’s book unfolds, we find ourselves looking through the eyes of a man that has lived on the island for most of his life. His name is Ishmael Chambers. Ishmael seems to be a perceptive child, and soon gets to know one of the island’s many Japanese girls, named Hatsue. As fate would have it, they fall in love with each other in Shakespeare-like-fashion. The problem of them coming from two different races of people forces them to be secretive about their relationship. When Hatsue is forced to move away because of WWII regulations, she ends her relationship with Ishmael, sending him into a life filled with jealousy and grief. Howard Frank Mosher paints the same portrait for us, only in a more commonly know setting. A black man and his son are cognizant of their color when they are forced to live in a town of solely white people. As the murder trial unfolds, we find out that the man’s son also has been having a relationship such as the one Ishmael and Hatsue had. He had been having "relations" with a white mail-order bride that had just arrived in town. They kept this secret because of the obvious problems it would have caused with the bigoted townspeople. In both stories, a love between two different people has evolved. Similar to each story the only reason the two young people were separated was due solely on the race and social standing. (The similarity to Romeo and Juliet here is amazing. I am beginning to think that all modern love stories are based on that play; West Side Story.) I believe that stories such as these will continue to happen indefinitely in the future. Ever since Columbus first set foot on the New World, racism and prejudice has been an issue.

Life Span Perspectives Paper

In order to truly understand the life span perspectives we must first define developmental psychology, which is a field that falls under the topic of psychology that is centered on describing how individuals change and grow throughout the stages of their life. This field has also been noted to be one of the more popular fields to be studied. We, as humans, must first grasp the concept that before there can be an outcome there has to be a process or a beginning. We can always trace anything that exists back to a beginning, for people this beginning is birth and the developmental processes that follow are individual pieces of the life processes. Charles Darwin had a longing to understand just what evolution was and exactly how it worked; from this desire he drew the study of lifespan development. Adolescence and norms were first introduced to those in the field of science by way of a G. Stanley Hall publication (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Within this book these scholarly individuals could read about the first observational studies of children. Within this paper you will find the definition of lifespan development, a description of the many characteristics of the lifespan perspective, and the identifying factors of the human developmental domains and periods. Lifespan Development We recognize that within the lifespan there had to be a beginning; we know this because of the work of Charles Darwin. Darwin began the inner workings of human developmental studies and those early evolutionists who shared his opinions were soon to join in his studies. Darwin’s goal was to prove his theory of evolution; it was his belief that his best chance of proving his theory was to engage in intense studies of human development (Boyd & Bee, 2006). According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a lifespan is the average amount of time that an organism, material, or object can be expected to survive or last. If we look for further detail and look for the definition of development, we find that development based on biology is the process of organic growth in an individual organism, we also see that this an be defined as a biological occurrence of events in which an organism changes gradually from a simple to a more complex level (Collins English Dictionary, 2003). When we combine these two individual words we end up with a term that defines the individual changes associated with life progresses that can be tracked in correspondence to the individual’s age. People will change many times over throughout their lifetime; these developme ntal periods are the prenatal period, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In order for one to experience growth developmental change must occur. Life span development will occur over and over, again and again throughout the individual’s life time. Although there are positives and negatives in the developmental process, developmental research and advances will continue to occur throughout an individual’s entire life cycle. Characteristics of the Lifespan Perspective All individuals develop on their own schedule and at their own pace, depending on many internal and external factors. Due to improved nutrition and health and medical knowledge a sharp rise in the average life expectancy has recently been observed. The characteristics of the lifespan perspective are lifelong, multidirectional, plasticity, contextual, multidisciplinary, and multidimensional. One’s development continues throughout their lifespan, there is no certain age that appears to be heavier in this area than others. Continued growth paired with decline affects development which can be said to attribute to the multidirectional portion of the lifespan. Many will seem to focus on the plasticity of the human lifespan, one can see this in the example of a child who has been malnourished, this child may suffer from a diminished intellect but given proper nutrition over an extended period of time the child will, indeed, regain much f the lost function and should eventually catch up to the average for his age. There are many outside forces that have a great effect on human development, these forces can be biological, historical, social, and cultural (Berk, 2007). Lifespan Domain Human Development domains all work together and are affected by one another. The categories of the domains of development are social, physical, and cognitive (Boyd & Bee, 2006). The social domain encases the changes that one may find necessary in order to adapt to a new social environment, or situation, this might include developing and maintaining relationships, and improvement upon general social skills. The physical domain can be defined as the way the humans change their physical appearance. A good example of a physical change is when a child enters puberty, and again as the child becomes elderly. Within this domain it is seen that as the physical appearance changes so will the views that the individual possesses in life. Human Development Periods Psychoanalytic, cognitive, and learning are the three theories that have been shown to produce the most information on human development (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Within these theories we can find information that best explains how one transitions from one moment within their life and essentially evolves to the next level. In discussing human development we must recognize the age old debate of nature versus nurture. Within this theory we must ask which, if either, is truly the strongest influence? Does the environment or genetics play the biggest part in this factor? Conclusion There are many answers that are yet to be discovered in the field of psychology in spite of the fact that there have already been so many discoveries. In the beginning there was Darwin and his theory of evolution†¦.. we do not yet know where the end may take us.