A Critical Approach to Rap Music

People have used music to tell stories and share ideas for ages, making it an influential means of communication (Delaney, 2007). Rap music in particular came on the scenes in the late twentieth century in New York and continues to be a popular form of expression into the 21st century (Blanchard, 1999). However, many remain divided on whether rap music should have a place in society. Some claim rap is harmful and promoting of violent lifestyles (Richardson & Scott, 2002). Others, however, believe rap is useful in education and counseling settings for promoting discussion about life choices (Silvera, 2015). These conflicting opinions will be examined in depth in this thesis leading into a more specific look at these viewpoints in the context of critical theory. Many critical theorists reject rap music, seeing it as demeaning and harmful while others have praised it for being a way to undermine society’s mistaken perceptions on sex and personhood (Mendoza, 2016). Research concludes that rap music has both positive and negative effects on society, making it important to understand both sides

How Pay and Benefits Change as Job Level Rises: Data from the National Compensation Survey

[Excerpt] The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Compensation Survey (NCS) is the key source of data on the pay and benefits of workers in the United States. The NCS uses data on employer costs for a variety of compensation components to produce the Employer Cost Index (ECI) and Employer Cost of Employee Compensation (ECEC) on a quarterly basis. The ECI provides an index of changes in the employer’s cost of wages and compensation from the prior quarter and prior year. The ECEC provides estimates of wages and salaries as well as average cost of benefits per hour worked, shown in dollars and cents. On an annual basis, the NCS produces information on the availability of a suite of benefits, including health, retirement, insurance, and leave as part of the Employee Benefits Survey (EBS). This Beyond the Numbers article examines pay and benefits by job level to provide additional context to the nature of compensation among private sector workers in the United States

E-Reader Ownership Doubles in Six Months

Presents survey findings about trends in ownership of e-book readers such as Kindles or Nooks and tablet computers such as iPads or Motorola Xooms, compared with other devices and by gender, parental status, race/ethnicity, age, education, and income

The Effect of Obesity on State Health Care Expenditures: An Empirical Analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of obesity rates on per capita state health care expenditures. A two-stage least square regression model is used. In the first stage of the estimation, factors influencing obesity rates are determined. The determinants of obesity rates are outlined throughout the research process. In the second stage, the impact of obesity rates on per capita health expenditures across states is evaluated. The empirical results indicate that obesity rates do indeed have a direct effect on state health care expenditures. After reviewing the project’s results, various solutions are proposed as possible methods to slow and perhaps reverse growing obesity rates with the objective of reducing health care expenditures. The solutions offered may possibly decrease the prevalence of obesity across the nation and in turn lower per capita health care spending

Implications of Autosegmental Analysis in the Exploration of Prosodic Phonology in Mandarin Chinese

Autosegmental Phonology (Goldsmith, 1979) is a theoretical framework for understanding the phonological effects of suprasegmentals such as tone, stress, etc. Using data taken from an experiment in which Mandarin Chinese tone sandhi (the acknowledged rules governing specific tone shifts across segments) is explored, a number of phonologists, specifically Kenstowicz (2003), have shown that the relationship between the segment and the tone is autonomous. In the experiment, non-sense words with a potential tone sandhi rule are presented to the Mandarin speakers. The speakers automatically apply the tone sandhi rule which is then analyzed using an autosegmental framework. The speakers consciously separate the tones from the non-sense words and apply tone sandhi rules; the application of the tone sandhi rule is independent of semantic meaning. This research is expanded to include the exploration of loanword phonology (the phonological changes that occur when a tonal language borrows non-tonal language words) to further understand the autonomous relationship between tones and segments. As can be seen in the following example, the English word Disney: di2-si1-ni2 (numbers account for the differing tones), certain tones are distributed to loanwords

The State of Online Video

Presents survey findings on trends in viewing, downloading, or uploading videos on the Internet by age, gender, education, income, broadband access, and other factors. Explores types of videos watched and experiences in sharing videos online