Languages in Cyberspace Essay

Governments have encourage industrial farming and non-organic meat production to improve the crop yield and revenues. However, studies have shown the side effects and health hazards of industrial farming and meat processing. A distinct cultivation of a health-conscious culture became apparent as time goes by which resulted to an increase in sales of organic vegetables and meat in the world. Hence, the sales and marketing of organic products is influenced by the culture or trend that exist in the market. Muslims are known for faithfully abiding with their religious beliefs and practices. When it comes in meat, Muslims only consume meat from slaughtered animals through the Halal way. Three times more blood is pumped out of Halal-slaughtered animals than those butchered in non-Halal way. Hence, lesser toxins are consumed by Muslims since most toxins are stored in the blood. With the introduction of organic aspect, an animal is not pumped with antibiotics and hormones or additives that would increase the toxicity its blood. Hence, Muslims are drawn to organic meat because of its inclination towards their religious belief in meat intake thereby creating an outward effect to the sales and marketing of organic meat. Language is a way of communication of thoughts, messages and feelings. In the global market, one barrier that must crossed by companies to reach out to their market is language. Without the right tools and strategies to cross this barrier, marketing a product will be difficult. A Firm must find a way to communicate and introduce a product in a language known by its market, otherwise, awareness and recognition of the product will not be achieved. This does not apply in the organic meat industry alone but to all industries and businesses. Marketing have evolved with technology through the years and e-commerce was introduced and adopted by most businesses. The worldwide web has a broader scope and the interaction with the customer is direct. In marketing organic meat products, e-commerce is the best way to reach out to its customers directly. It is also the cheapest way to market and promote a product. Longcloud should develop its website in languages other than English to cross the communication barrier that language created. If Longcloud develops a website with different languages, the scope of its accessibility and comprehension will be broader and more comprehensive. It will open the gates for the development of new markets in different countries. Moreover, with this strategic undertaking, the company will be globally competitive and accessible. The power of information technology can promote and increase the sales and distribution of organic meat worldwide. In choosing the languages to translate and include in the website, there are several aspects to consider and these are the opportunities, scope and target market definition. The company’s website must be available in Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French and Spanish languages. Most Muslims speak Arabic and it was clearly identified that Muslims are one Longcloud’s target markets and about 150 million people speak this language. Chinese, specifically, Mandarin language should also be available to reach 1365 million people who have developed a fondness for organic meat products. Moreover, the growth of the organic meat industry in French-speaking countries like France, Canada, North Africa and Switzerland should also be considered. 23% of the current Internet users are from Europe which include some of these countries. Although only 2% can be accounted for the Spanish-speaking Internet users, a considerable target market was defined and identified in the Latin America. There several threats and disadvantages that must also be considered in making the website available in different languages like the uneven percentages of the target market with Internet access. However, with the growth of technology, many countries have relied in the use of Internet and it has become a household need. Moreover, although some people are accustomed to using English for conducting business, it must also be noted that, English literacy only accounts for about 50% share globally. Software complexities must also be considered, however, software upgrades and development are done continuously to address these problems.

Reading Strategies Essay

Reading is an essential skill in human life. People are trained to learn how to read at very early age and they read with many purposes such as reading for pleasure or reading to earn experience or simply to know what is happening around them. In academic setting, reading is assumed to be the central means for learning new information and gaining access to alternative explanations. Reading also provides people with the foundation for synthesis and critical evaluation skill. In addition, reading is the primary means for independent learning, whether the goal is performing better on academic tasks, learning more about subject matter, or improving language abilities (Grabe and Stoller, as cited in Celce-Murcia, 2001). However, according to Dr. Kathleen King (Reading Strategies, n. d. ) for students at college, reading is a new experience although they have been reading for more than 12 years at school or for pleasure. In addition, academic reading is not easy; therefore, it is extremely difficult for academic students to achieve complex goals without reading strategies. Supporting to this idea, (Hawkins, 1991, cited in Celce-Murcia) also said that â€Å"Of all the skills that the child must acquire in school, reading is the most complex and difficult†. Therefore, English Second Language students are surely unavoidable to face some problems. Firstly, learners may be good at understanding separate words or even each sentence, but fail to understand the relationships between the sentences and the meaning of the text as a whole. Next, they do not have necessary knowledge about what they read. And the most important problem is that they lack necessary reading strategies. English Second Language students need to learn reading strategies because their comprehension breaks down easily. They need different ways to approach reading to help facilitate the reading process and provide them with a better sense of what they are reading (Reading strategies for ESL Students, n. d. ). Reading strategies are the most effective means to help them deal with obstacles in reading and become a better reader. Furthermore, with practice, the strategies lead to skills that become automatic and quick over time (McNamara and Danielle, 2009). But for students at the college, reading is not simply to do the task and reading passage is often longer than it is at high school meanwhile not all of them know the reading strategies and how to use them effectively. So, teaching reading strategies for students becomes necessary. That is the reason why the researcher choose â€Å"reading strategies for academic students† as a topic to do the research with the hope of improving the effect of their reading. CHAPTER II: LITERATURE II. 1. Definition of Strategies Brown (2001) defined strategies as specific methods to solve a problem or task, as modes of activity to reach a particular end or intentional designs to control or manipulate certain information. He stated that strategies differentiate within an individual and that a person can use a variety of strategies to achieve his or her goal. Oxford (as cited in Oxford, 2003, p. 8) defined strategies as follows: â€Å"The word â€Å"strategies† comes from the ancient Greek word strategia, which means steps or actions taken for the purpose of winning a war. The warlike meaning of strategia, has fortunately fallen away but the control and directedness remains in the version of the word. † He believed that whether a strategy is helpful or not depends on the specific context in which it is appropriately used. In order to use a strategy effectively, learners have to consider three important conditions: whether the strategy relates well to the second language task at hand, whether the strategy fits the particular students’ learning style preferences to one degree or another, or whether the students employ the strategy and link it with other strategies well. II. 2. Distinction between Strategies and Skills Strategies can be defined as conscious actions that learners take to achieve desired goals or objectives, while a skill is a strategy that has become automatic. As learners consciously learn and practice specific reading strategies, the strategies move from conscious to unconscious; from strategy to skill (Nunan, 2003). Strategic reading is defined as the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading (Nunan, 2003). Strategic reading means not only knowing what strategy to use, but knowing how to use and integrate a range of strategies (Anderson, 1991). II. 3. Difference Strategic Readers from Poor Readers (Reading Strategies, n. d. ) |1. Before Reading, Strategic Readers †¦ |Poor Readers †¦ | |? Build up their own background knowledge about reading and the |? Start reading without thinking about the process of reading or the| |topic |topic. | |? Set purposes for reading. |? Do not know why they are reading but merely view the task as | |? Determine methods for reading, according to their purposes. |â€Å"ground to cover†. | |2. During Reading, Strategic Readers †¦ |Poor Readers †¦ | |? Give their complete attention to the reading task. |? Do not eliminate distractions from reading. | |? Check their own understanding constantly. |? Do not know whether they understand. | |? Monitor their reading comprehension and do it so often that it |? Do not recognize when comprehension has broken down. | |becomes automatic. |? Seldom use fix-up strategies to improve comprehension. | |? Stop to use a fix-up strategy when they do not understand. |? Skip or ignore meanings of unfamiliar but crucial words. | |? Use semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues to construct |? Do not integrate text with prior knowledge. | |meanings of unfamiliar words. |? Read without reflecting on meaning or text organization | |? Synthesize during reading. | | |? Ask questions. | | |? Talk to themselves during reading. | | |3. After Reading, Strategic Readers †¦ |Poor Readers †¦ | |? Decide if they have achieved their goals for reading. |? Do not know what they have read. | |? Evaluate their understanding of what was read. |? Do not follow reading with comprehension self-check. | |? Summarize the major ideas. |? Rely exclusively on the author’s words. | |? Seek additional information from outside sources. |? Do not go beyond a surface examination of the text. | |? Distinguish between relevant and irrelevant ideas. |? Apply no conscious strategies to help them remember. | |? Paraphrase the text what they have learned. | | |? Reflect on and personalize the text. | | |? Critically examine the text. | | |? Integrate new understandings and prior knowledge. | | |? Use study strategies to retain new knowledge. | | II. 4. Some Methods for Teaching Reading Strategies Reading Strategies (n.d. ) separates reading lesson into three stages and has some ideas about activities for each stage. II. 4. 1. Before Reading activities should emphasize methods of merging reader, text, and content –enabling students to set appropriate reading purposes, recall related prior knowledge, preview and predict what the text will be about, and select reading methods to suit their purposes and the text. Included in these considerations may be readers’ decisions to expand their background knowledge through related discussion, exploration of key concepts, or related reading. II. 4. 2. During Reading: activities should enable students to monitor their comprehension through a variety of strategies and experience and acquire diverse fix-up strategies to improve their understanding where necessary. II. 4. 3. After Reading: activities should teach students to review their understanding of text, relate new ideas to their background knowledge, revisit the text to clarify and extend meanings, make responsible interpretations and criticisms of ideas from the text, revise their thinking, apply the information to other texts and disciplines, and remember crucial learning for future application. II. 5. Some Techniques for Teaching Reading Strategies Reading Strategies (n. d. ) also gives some techniques to teach reading strategies II. 5. 1. Some Techniques for Teaching Before-Reading Strategies Before reading, strategic readers: * Preview the text by looking at the title, the pictures, and the print in order to evoke relevant thoughts and memories. * Build background by activating appropriate prior knowledge through self –questioning about what they already know about the topic (or story), the vocabulary, and the form in which the topic (or story) is presented. * Set purposes for reading by asking questions about what they want to learn during the reading process. II. 5. 2. Some Techniques for Teaching During-Reading Strategies During reading, strategic readers: * Check understanding of the text by paraphrasing the author’s words. * Monitor comprehension and use fix-up strategies: use the cueing systems to figure out unknown words and imaging, imagining, inferencing, and predicting. * Integrate new concepts with existing knowledge: continually revise purpose for reading. II. 5. 3. Some Techniques for Teaching After-Reading Strategies. After reading, strategic readers: * Summarize what they have read by retelling the plot of the story or the main idea of the text. * Interpret and evaluate the ideas contained in the text. * Make applications of the ideas in the text to unique situations, extending the ideas to broader perspectives. * Use study strategies for note taking, locating, and remembering to improve content – area learning. II. 6. Kinds of Strategy Before students begin their next reading assignment, identify their purpose for reading. According to the reader’s different purposes, he or she will choose the appropriate reading style. Therefore, there are a variety of strategies. II. 6. 1. Study Reading The Study Reading is used when the readers intend to read difficult material at a high level of comprehension. This reading style says that because of the material at a high level of comprehension the readers should read the material more than once and sometimes reading the material aloud also improves their comprehension. (Becoming a Flexible Reader, n. d. ) II. 6. 2. Skimming When the reader’s purpose is to quickly obtain a general idea about the reading material, he or she is suggested to use skimming style. This strategy is extremely useful if the readers want to read a large amount of material in a short amount of time by two ways: identify the main ideas and ignore the details. (Becoming a Flexible Reader, n. d. ) II. 6. 3. Scanning Contrastively, the scanning style is used when their purpose is to quickly locate a specific piece of information within reading material. To scan, the readers mostly focus on a list of names, words, numbers, short statements, and sometimes even in a paragraph. (Becoming a Flexible Reader, n. d. ) II. 6. 4. SQRW. According to A Strategies for Reading Textbooks (n. d. ), it divides strategies into four-steps, called SQRW. Each letter stands for one step in the strategy. Using SQRW will help readers to understand what they read and to prepare a written record of what they learned. The written record will be valuable when readers have to participate in a class discussion and again when they study for a test. Read to learn what to do for each step in SQRW. ( Survey This strategy brings to mind what the readers already know about the topic of a chapter and prepares them for learning more. The readers do survey by reading the title, introduction, headings, and the summary or conclusion or they will examine all visuals such as pictures, tables, maps, and/or graphs and read the caption. By survey, the readers quickly learn what the chapter is about. ( Question Questions give the readers a purpose for reading and help them stay focused on the reading assignment. To form questions, the readers base on a heading and use the words who, what, when, where, why, or how. When a heading contains more than one idea, form a question for each idea. Do not form questions for the Introduction, Summary, or Conclusion. ( Read Read the information that follows each heading to find the answer to each question readers formed. They may change a question or turn it into several questions to be answered. Readers need to stay focused and flexible so they can gather as much information as they need to answer each question. ( Write Write each question and its answer in your notebook. Reread each of your written answers to be sure each answer is legible and contains all the important information needed to answer the question. CHAPTER III: APPLICATION III. 1. For Students Here are some suggestions for students to apply before, during and after-reading in order to become strategic readers. There are two things that students need to prepare before they read. First of all, it is the reading environment. Students had better to choose a quiet place which is far away from making noise. They would be distract by it and cannot concentrate well on what they read. Moreover, a place gives them an attitude to be ready to read. Besides the place, readers also pay attention to have small things as pen or paper in hand. These things help them take note immediately what they read on the text when the ideas come out in the mind before they quickly disappear. Before reading, firstly it is necessary for English Second Language students to set a goal for reading. This activity will keep them focus on what they read and prevent them from wandering around the text. Secondly, they should activate prior knowledge. It means that students brainstorm what they already know about the topic. Combination between prior knowledge and new text help them understand more about the topic. Last but not least, according to their purposes, they choose suitable methods for reading. Appropriate strategies help them read and achieve their goals quickly. While reading is the stage which students apply all their known strategies to read quickly but effectively. For example, strategic readers do not read the text from the beginning to the end; instead they skim it quickly to have an overview or to get main ideas about what they are going to read. It means that those students would read the introduction or every first line of each paragraph before going to read the whole passage. Next, when students read in detail, they should underline the information which they feel interested in and take notes or  highlight for easy to review important points later. In addition, it is important for students to remember to use what their background knowledge and their brainstorming about the text in before reading and see whether the old information fits the text, whether their prediction is correct or need changing. Moreover, if they have any difficulties with reading the text, slow down their reading speed and reread the information with more care. In case, it is too difficult to understand, highlight it for going back later, then skip it and move forward. Finally, college students are often required to read a lot with difficult vocabulary, so they should break down the assignment into many small sections, for example, ten pages for each reading times and manage to finish reading these sections instead of the whole. This strategy gives students more concentrated on what they read and prevents them from getting frustrated and disappointed. It is not simply to finish the reading task, learners should go beyond. And after reading is a stage for them to do so. First of all, students need to draw a conclusion. They turn back and think about what predictions they made before and during reading by reviewing the text. Also, they had better look back to consider how the information read related to their background knowledge and decide whether they achieve their goal. Secondly, students should take notes what they have read by writing a summary. This summary contains the main ideas, the important information or simply just a list of ideas getting from the reading. This activity is very helpful for the readers to maintain new knowledge for later use. Lastly, this stage also gives students a chance to discuss what they do not understand about the text. Students will mark anything that makes them confused and bring it to class and talk with their friends in order to clarify it. III. 2. For the Reading Teachers It takes a long time for students to become strategic readers and reading teachers play an important role in helping their students read quickly but effectively. Therefore, teachers are suggested to take these considerations. First of all, teachers themselves need to have a full awareness of great benefits which strategies could bring to their students, then the introduction of strategies, their practice, and their uses should be part of  every reading lesson because a strategy can be only applied well when teachers frequently explain, model it carefully, then give them enough opportunities to practice. However, for any approach to strategy development, teachers should remember to introduce only a few strategies at a time until students feel confident to use the strategies. And in each reading lesson, separate application of each strategy does not give a lot of help, so teachers should encourage students to combine some strategies together to get the best results. Moreover, teachers should be well-prepared the lesson beforehand. The aim of this preparation is to figure out which strategies are used in the lesson, then the teachers will carefully prepare suitable activities for each stage of a reading lesson. For example, in before-reading stage, teachers give activities such as True/ False Prediction, Brainstorming to help students have some general ideas about what they are going to read. For while-reading stage, teachers use Answer the Questions, Choose the Main Ideas to check their comprehension. For after-reading stage, the activities could be Summary, Discussion or Retelling what they have read. Additionally, when reading process takes place, reading teachers monitor the students’ expertise and independent application of the strategies. If there are many students feeling unsure about using the strategies, teachers stop their work, reintroduce and give them more practice. Finally after every reading times, teachers ask students to record their ability in applying strategies to assess their own growth. CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION During teaching process, most of reading teachers give more time and emphasis on testing reading comprehension than teaching readers how to comprehend. Therefore, this small research has been done to offer an overview of different strategies to reading and application for practice. All of strategies can be brought into play in an efficient way in the teaching and acquiring reading skill. Simultaneously, it helps both teachers and students recognize the significant advantages of mastering reading strategies. With careful discussion about most of strategies used in three main reading stages: before, during and after reading, hopefully this research is a source of reference for reading teachers and students. REFERENCES A Strategies for Reading Textbooks, (n. d. ). Retrieved December 3rd, 2010 from http://www. how-to-study. com/study-skills/en/studying/40/a-strategy-for-reading-textbooks/ Anderson, N. J. (1991). Individual Differences in Strategy Use in Second Language Reading and Testing. Modern Language Journal, 75: 460-472. Becoming a Flexible Reader, (n. d. ). Retrieved December 3rd, 2010 from http://www. how-to-study. com/study-skills/en/studying/33/becoming-a-flexible-reader/ Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles- An interactive approach to language pedagogy. (2nd ed. ). NY: Longman, pp 384-387. Dr. Kathleen King, (n. d. ). Reading Strategies, Lecture from University. Retrieved December 14th, 2010 from http://www. isu. edu/~kingkath/readstrt. html Grabe, W. , Stoller, F. L. (2001). Reading for Academic Purpose: Guidelines for the ESL/ EFL Teacher, In Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed. ), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. (3rd ed). Boston: Heinle, pp. 187-204. Hawkins, B. , (2001). Teaching Children to Read in a Second Language. In Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed. ), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. (2rd ed). Boston: Heinle. McNamara, Danielle S. (2009). The importance of teaching reading strategies, The Perspectives on Language and Literacy. Retrieved December 14th, 2010 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_7694/is_200904/ai_n32423755 Nunan, D. (Ed. ) (2003). Practical English Language Teaching. Singapore: McGraw Hill. Oxford, R. L. (2003). Language Learning Styles and Strategies. Retrieved February 28, 2008, from web. ntpu. edu. tw/~language/workshop/read2. pdf Reading Strategies, (n. d. ). Retrieved December 10th, 2010 from http://98. 130. 215. 11/articles/6%20Strategic%20Reading. pdf.

Career Development Theories for Women

Career Development Theories for Women Women’s career development is different from men’s for at least two reasons. Gender stereotypes can affect women to underestimate career possibilities, and childrearing responsibilities of motherhood can complicate her a woman’s balance of career and homemaking roles. Coogan and Chen (2007) think that Gottfredson’s theory of self-creation, circumscription, and compromise, and the social cognitive career theory, and Super’s life-span and life-space theories can be used to understand women’s psychological path of career decision making. Counselors can apply principles of these theories to assist career development of women (192-193). Gottfredson’s theoretical models (1981, 2002, 2005, as cited by Sharf, 2010) explain how childhood gender role beliefs involve individuals’ career choices. Children form self-concept through early childhood to adolescence. As early as lower years of elementary school, children think about their socia l selves and discard occupations that are incompatible with their sex roles. By the years of secondary school, these children also put value on social appraisals, and reject jobs which unfit their own social classes and family expectations. By the adolescence years, in consequence, they seek jobs within their gender roles, social classes, and family expectations (, 199-206). For example, an elementary school girl eliminates truck driver as a career option because this job does not match her gender role. Later, this girl also eliminates factory worker because this job does not match her family background. In consequence, she chooses nurse because this job matches her gender role, social class, and family approval (Sharf, 2010, 199-206). Social cognitive career theory also explains how gender stereotypes influence women’s career developments. Social cognitive career theory is was originated in by Bandura’s 1986 social cognitive theory(as cited by Sharf, 2010) and the cor e concept is self-efficacy, which is self-belief of abilities and capacities to accomplish something (specific page number needed here). (Don’t put all the rest of the dates as those are just each year after the first year Bandura updated or revised his publications.) Cultural and gender role expectations within one’s contextual, as well as immediate environment, such as availability of role models, counselors or financial support etc., affects his/her level of self-efficacy and career goal setting (as cited in Sharf, 2010, 393-398). As this is more of a 2nd hand citation, you need to clearly show it as such. And, 393 to 398 is too great a page spread. You need a more specific page number(s). Women with low self-efficacy for the world of work are known as to seek traditionally female dominated jobs, and limit possibilities of job satisfactions and earn high salary (Coogan and Hackett & Betz, 1981, as cited by Sharf, 2010) emphasizes importance of immediate environment . Counselors can influence women clients to enhance their level of self-efficacy on the field of nontraditional female occupations, and subjects of math and science by teaching them that fears of these areas are only socialized gender stereotypes (401). Encouragement is influential for shaping one’s self-efficacy and career goal setting. Whitmarsh, et al. (2007) compared two groups of women. One group was consisted from professors, physicians, and attorneys. These occupations are traditionally dominated by men but getting explored by women. Another group is consisted from social workers and teachers. These occupations are traditionally dominated by women. Women with preceding group said that they received strong encouragements from not only their family members, but also educators and counselors to pursuit these careers, while women with the other group said that they received messages from family members that these careers are suitable for women (230, 233).

The Life and Story of Joan Baez Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Life and Story of Joan Baez - Essay Example Born in 1941 in the New York suburbs, Baez had quite a normal childhood (Baez 19), although due to the Mexican background she did face the discrimination and slurring at times based on racial differences. Yet she never responded in any negative way and worked on developing tolerance trying to live purposeful life. Her father was a physicist and was associated with United Nations agency on different fronts. The traces of singing and music started showing up in her teen days. Guitar was her best friend since the early times, and those early days can be traced back to performances at local clubs which set the foundations for bright prosperous future as a world-famous singer in times to come ahead. â€Å"Honey Love† (Retuya, n.p.) was one of the early performances of her school times. This was the first of many good performances that would follow up and eventually make her a standard hit singer in times to come. Her discography is quite rich and has never been interrupted for too long since 1960s going on with paced intervals. The 60s decade saw turbulent times on the United States of America political scene. With Vietnam War, Missile Crisis, Korean War, and endless internal and external unrest that had a direct effect on human rights, made an impact on her mind and, hence, made her think of using her strength in her field to convey ideas she was passionate about. Her songs’ contents soon took a turn for social events. The next few years saw a thick diversion to the anti-war movement, social rights, justice and equality. All this was conveyed through the strongest tool she possessed – her music. Her forte also stretched to the rights of women in mainstream as she advocated their equal participation and protested against exploitation in any way. At times she had to go through the challenges; a glimpse of it was seen when she was arrested for violating the law and refusing to pay the taxes in response to the Vietnam War, since she saw it as serio us violation of human rights by the United States on a global scale. Her autobiography that was released in the end of 60s shed light on her struggle, her critical and humane eye for the human sufferings and the imperialist pursuits of the government of her country and other superpowers worldwide. The autobiography was entitled â€Å"Day Break† and was the diary of a strong woman who dreamed of justice for everyone in spite of race, gender and nationality. To her best ability and input she established an Amnesty International branch in part of the country where she could manage and develop it. The efforts were not just limited to staying at one place and promoting the purpose of the foundation. She travelled far and wide and through her music and philanthropic pursuit spread the word and successfully conveyed the message of peace and harmony. Even in the 70s her music depicted the message of peace loud and clear. â€Å"Diamond and Rust†, one of her best known songs tha t was released in 1975, had the same tone and purpose to it.

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation Research Paper

Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corporation - Research Paper Example Currently, Apple and Microsoft are world’s leading companies in the computer industry. Microsoft is headed by Bill Gates whereas Apple’s CEO is Steve Jobs. Many people believe that the competition between these two companies is actually the competition between these two charismatic leaders; Bill Gates and Steven Jobs. Microsoft succeeded in monopolising the operating system market in the world with the help of their renowned Windows based operating system. On the other hand Apple tried to conquer the global consumer electronics market with the help of diversified products. Apple faced many ups and downs in their history since its introduction. It faced stiff challenges in the 1990’s; however it was able to bounce back with the help of innovation and change management principles implemented in the organization during the latter periods of 1990’s and the at the beginning of the twenty-first century. On the other hand, Microsoft has not faced many challenges during their last 35 years of history. However, at present, Microsoft is facing several challenges from companies like Apple, Google etc. This paper compares the performances of Apple and Microsoft since their introduction. The first thing we all know is that during 1995-97, Apple lost control of the business market. IT managers needed something Apple wasn't able to supply: a capable back office system with authentication and management tools. Apple appeared to be ambivalent about this loss of the business market, and a series of poor CEOs failed to understand the evolution of business requirements and failed to bring clarity to Apple's vision (Martellaro, 2006) The battle for dominance between Apple and Microsoft was intensified in 1990’s. Apple introduced their Macintosh OS in response to Microsoft’s Windows in the 90’s. However, Apple failed to capture the market whereas Microsoft did succeed in monopolising the operating system market. Apple’s failure in providing the necessary solutions to the IT managers, opened many opportunities to Microsoft which they accepted with both hands. A series of windows based products like Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista etc entered the market which helped Microsoft to monopolize the operating system market. Microsoft did everything possible to sustain their monopoly in the operating system market. They have introduced many application software which are compatible only with the Windows operating system. For example, the MS Office package including software like MS word, MS excel, MS power point, MS access etc are compatible only with Windows operating system. Majority of the global computer users were badly in need of this application software and Microsoft was able to maintain their supremacy with the help of these software packages. Another business strategy successfully implemented by Microsoft was their meaningful collaboration with Microsoft chip manufacturers and other business associates. For example, Microsoft established business collaboration with Intel, one of the prominent microprocessor manufacture

Management - Employee Participation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Management - Employee Participation - Essay Example Importance of Employees’ Participation One of the most important forms of employees’ participation is teamwork. According to Hodson and Sullivan (2012, p. 421), work groups have been instrumental in increasing an organization’s production for many years. Work groups consist of individuals with shared goals, who try to accomplish their goals through the development of efficient and effective organizational structure. Every work group should consist of approximately eight to ten workers who are assigned the same task. In most successful organizations, managers use employees’ teams to improve the quality of working life through the reduction of work intensity and pressure. When employees work in groups, their tasks and responsibilities, cease to feel like chores. This is because they complete tasks early; furthermore, work flows because the workers help each other (Hodson & Sullivan 2012, p. 421). The workers feel valued in high performing teams; thus, increa sing their commitment to the firm. Such teams are more productive making them contribute to the increase in the overall production of an organization (Wheelan 2010). As a means of forming the winning teams, the leaders in organizations should introduce training sessions where workers learn how to work effectively in teams. In some firms, teams are given names and the team members wear T-shirts that have their team names printed on them (Wheelan 2010). In addition, group work as a means of employees’ participation helps in increasing the performances of organizations because they promote proper use of resources. Teamwork enables the corporate leaders to allocate resources appropriately, which include the workers and other material things. Proper allocation of resources increases the performances of businesses since it helps in reducing the organization expenses through wastage. Teamwork increases the innovativeness of workers in a firm since members are always free to share th eir ideas enabling them to study new things from other affiliates. The teams also house many individuals from different backgrounds who have different ideas. The new ideas that will upgrade the team production are shared through the interaction of the members from different backgrounds. The implementation of some of the new ideas in the firm increases the production of the whole organization (Adair 2010). Moreover, teamwork makes the problem-solving process to become faster. Adair (2010) indicates that the various ideas presented by the team members enable the production of creative solutions. During problem solving, team members should be allowed to brainstorm since it helps in uncovering many answers. Teamwork increases corporate performance by upgrading the quality of work. It increases employees’ commitment because in teams, members feel like they are part of it. This enables them to own a project. Even if a task is hard, team members will always encourage each other to p roduce quality work compared to when managers dictate the work. Furthermore, teamwork develops synergy because of joint forces; thus, increasing business production (Adair 2010). Suggestion Schemes Suggestion scheme is a form of workers participation, which gives employees chances to present their ideas. Some organizations have suggestion boxes where employees put their written suggestions. To

Research Experience for High School Students Dissertation

Research Experience for High School Students - Dissertation Example This essay stresses that given the absence of specific and clear-cut formal policies and frameworks from the government on research experience for high school students, the quest to inject high school learning with research experience has largely remained in the hands of private initiatives. This means that the introduction and maintenance of research experience in high school learning has mostly been a preserve of efforts applied by individual high schools and their stakeholders. Conversely, there are other organizations or agencies such as the National Science Foundation which sustain Research Experience for High School Students (REHSS) programs with logistics and finances and help further the goals of REHSS. This paper makes a conclusion that the research faculty member aiding and guiding the student has to come from the institution sustaining the research. For instance, Vanderbilt University enjoys the widest notoriety for sustaining these independent research projects. This means that most of the research faculty members who mentor high school students undertaking independent research projects are employees of Vanderbilt University. All students who participate in REHSS are to attend weekly breakout sessions in groups and are to be led by a group of Vanderbilt University postdoctoral and graduate student researches. In respect to the foregoing, it is important to note that institutions of learning which provide REHSS services have the prerogatives to set the requirements for enrolment. Roberts and Wassersug (2009) contends that in most cases, the student candidates must be: sixteen years of

The Deep Context of Melancholy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Deep Context of Melancholy - Essay Example Melancholia is differentiated with other feelings that somehow relates to its state and divulged with its causations and effects. Three remarkable works that relates the state of melancholia, sharing similar frameworks are Sigmund Freud’s â€Å"Mourning and Melancholia†, Julia Kristeva’s â€Å"On the Melancholic Imaginary† and Dorothea Lansky’s â€Å"When it is a Black life†. Sigmund Freud, in his article â€Å"Mourning and Melancholia†, throws some light on the nature of melancholia by comparing it with mourning. His work is a psychological approach into apprehending the deeper context of the two interrelated human phenomenon. Mourning and melancholia are both human emotions that exhibit similar outward symptoms. However, the causation and the long term effects of these human tendencies differ in the deeper level. While the human experience of mourning and melancholia portrays similar outward symptoms, they are different with diverse directions of consequences. He points out that the fruits, features and the underlying causes of the two conditions are more or less the same. Some common features include painful dejection, cessation of interest in the outside world, loss of the ability to love, and inability to perform activities. However, while the lowering of the self-regarding feelings is a feature of melancholia, it is not present in mourning (F reud 243). Furthermore, while the condition of mourning includes the patient’s consciousness of losing someone, the state of melancholia is withdrawn from the object-loss concept (Freud 244). Therefore, in melancholia, it is difficult to understand what is absorbing the patient while the reason is apparent in mourning.

Macroeconomic Environment of Business - Limitations of the Use of Fisc Case Study - 1

Macroeconomic Environment of Business - Limitations of the Use of Fiscal Policies - Case Study Example There was a continuous rise in the staple food prices resulting in runaway inflation close to 6%. The European central bank raised the interest rates and increase in the unemployment rate at the end of 2008 due to the outbreak of the housing bubble all contributed in resulting the recession. The US GDP showed its slowdown in 2008 (Suffolk County Council, 2008, pp.3-4) and fell further in 2009, the first time since the 1950s. There was a decline in capital investment since the last quarter of 2006 and the pace of residential investment dropped down in the first part of 2009. The US domestic demand is a record breaker dropping down to 2.6% per quarter. Unemployment also started to rise and matched with that of the early 1980s. Fiscal stimulus played an important role in nullifying recessionary spiral. However, the impact seems to be much less for economies with higher amounts of public debt. In order to support the aggregate demand, the need of the time is aggressive monetary policies. Economists who follow Keynes argues that an expansionary fiscal policy act as an incentive to increase aggregate demand. Even such a step may not be fruitful because steady economic growth depends on the health of the economy. Restoring the confidence of the financial sector is the key to move out from such a situation (International Monetary Fund, 2009, pp. 111-112). The need is to analyse the effects of discretionary policies on the severity of recessions. Expansionary fiscal policy acts to increase demand either directly through an increase in government expenditure or indirectly through a reduction in tax which will stimulate the private consumption to take effect. There may be a few limitations of using fiscal policy in order to increase aggregate demand. The time factor is to be taken into account. The government needs time to change its fiscal plans and once implemented the new plan will take time to increase the aggregate demand. Again increasing aggregate demand may be the factor in causing crowding out which means that if the government tries to increase its expenditure then it may lead to falling in private sector spending.  Ã‚  

Current event of a business subject in the US Essay

Current event of a business subject in the US - Essay Example It makes reference to the Ingenuity that is necessary for every job assignment, from a garbage collector to a transport engineer, a tennis player to a fashion model. All these can be summed up in two words, â€Å"Work Ethics†. Without work ethics, the heavy monetary budget and incentives on education is of no use. The unpleasant news is that instilling a sound work ethic in the current social breed of youthful generation is tremendously hard to accomplish. Work ethics has no standard definition, but it can be viewed as a set of characteristics and attitudes that an individual employee allots to the grandness and virtue of work. Some attributes of solid work ethics include promptness, diligence, reliability, ambitiousness, dutifulness, honesty, sobriety and other traits generally considered acceptable insofar as good workmanship is concerned. Lack of these attributes in a worker is made manifest through laziness, shoddy performance of tasks and waste of time in endeavors that are not job related. To make matters worse, there is no clear legal framework for the enforcement of work ethics since it is never a part and parcel of the job description. This explains why public job creation debates ignore this argument entirely. A strong work ethic mostly results from the manner in which a person is brought up and strengthened by early and appropriate training. This is for the most part uncharacteristic of the rush to cut down unemployment in today’s world.   At a tender age, a child must be instructed on the importance of doing assignments and completing it on time, and that laziness of any form is unacceptable and inappropriate. This calls for strong family nurturing which instills in an individual a strong sense of responsibility. Policies adopted by colleges are not of much help when it comes to instilling appropriate work ethics. There is an approach to increase college revenue by maximizing enrolment, and consequently the standards are becoming

Why Is Credentialing Important Essay Example for Free

Why Is Credentialing Important Essay Physicians in general often undergo credentialing by the medical institutions and managed care organizations they want to work for and be affiliated with. Such organizations include hospitals, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and preferred provider organizations (PPOs) which are responsible in providing quality services to their subscribers (Sobelman, 2001). According to Freed et al (2006, p. 913) â€Å"credentialing is a systematic approach to the collection, review, and verification of a practitioners professional qualification†. A practitioners qualification can be assessed based on his or her professional license, certification, educational background and preparation, clinical experience and professional activity and practices (Jones, nd). Credentialing therefore is important in evaluating and assessing the competence of medical practitioners. It is important to both the physicians and medical institutions because credentialing serves as the basis of maintaining quality health care and patient safety (Norcal, 1999, p. 1). Basically, credentialing is a necessity for almost every healthcare providers particularly the physicians for they are directly responsible for the patients treatment outcomes. Credentialing is an ongoing process (Rozovsky et al, 1994) that involves review and verification of the physicians current professional license, current, education, training, hospital privileges and levels of liability insurance as well as review of the physicians office if applicable to determine the quality of service the physician provide to his own clients (Sobelman, 2001). It is an ongoing and continuous process because of the need to ensure that the training and practices of the physicians are aligned with the changing needs of the patients. The processes involved in credentialing are necessary particularly the validation of certificates, training and current hospital privileges as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration and Controlled Drug Substance Certificates because these are very important in avoiding any possible risk and professional liabilities in which the managed care organizations can be held liable. Certificates in particular assured the public that the physician has successfully completed an accredited educational programs, examinations and evaluations, and provide assurance that the physician possess the skills, expertise, knowledge and experience required in practicing his profession (Hillemeier, 2004) When the physicians capability, scope of practice and specializations are known, risks and liabilities are avoided and managed. From this, it can be viewed that managed care organizations conduct credentialing of physicians as part of their risk management activities. Defining, risk management, â€Å" it is a planned and systematic process of reducing and/or eliminating the probability that losses will occur† (Yale New Haven Hospital, n. d). It is very common that when patients has complaints regarding the quality of care given to them, the hospital or HMO lose patients or subscribers that could have provided them better profitability. Complaints from patients and subscribers also pose threat as it can decrease the level of trust patients and the public have for the organization. Thus, managed care organizations see to it that the physicians who will work for them have undergone credentialing which must be designed to aid organizations in choosing competent physicians that has the capability of providing quality care for their patients. Organizations are aware that competent physicians are an important asset to the organization. On the part of the physicians themselves, credentialing broadens the scope of their practice. The more the credentials a physician holds, the more clinical activities he will be authorized to perform. Therefore credentialing is a process that benefits both the organization and the physicians as well as the public. Because of credentialing, physicians and organizations have aimed to improve the competence and quality of healthcare services they offer and provide. Credentialing raises the standards of healthcare organizations. References: Freed, G. , Singer, D. , Lakhani, I. , et al (2006) Use of Board Certification and Recertification of Pediatricians in Health Plan Credentialing Policies, The Journal of American Medical Association, 295:913-918 Hillemeier A, (2004). Recertification now requires a secure examination. Journal of Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. ,38:376-377 Jones, Dolores, Reimbursement, Privileging, and Credentialing for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, Retrieved online on February 24, 2007 www.medscape.com/

Is it appropriate to describe Virgil Aeneid Essay Example for Free

Is it appropriate to describe Virgil Aeneid Essay The Aeneid as written by Virgil is the great epic of one man who followed his destiny. He was both aided and hindered in his travels by the gods who watched his movements with great interest. But Aeneas was a hero, he understood what he was fated to do, what destiny needed fulfilling and despite great set backs, of war and loss, Aeneas forges on to complete his task of founding Rome. The Aeneid is in certain respects a poem of tragedy, of what must be lost to regain anything more and in the first books of the poem this loss is focused on. The destruction of Troy, the ruin of a city and of the honorable men within, a city that held against the sons of Atreus for ten years but finally was brought down. Aeneas personal losses in his wife and father, necessary though the former may have been, to allow Aeneas to begin a new family line, it was a painful loss. The death of a parent is not to be taken lightly and Aeneas is distraught over his fathers passing, but regardless of this all he pushes onwards, showing a sense of duty, reaching forever outwards to the goal of Rome, nudged on by the gods who champion him. His piety is unquestionable and proven again and again, this obligation to the gods, his family, and his city. Book four is the episode that encounters Dido, Queen of Carthage, who has suffered tragedy in her own forms, my husband was murdered and our home broken up by my brothers murderous act. Dido whose city and person offer Aeneas what he so longs for. He has craved settlement, to be still in a city he can make his own, to find peace. There seems little other reason for Aeneas to linger in Carthage save that therein he finds a much-needed calm to prepare himself. An audience waits also for Aeneas to gather himself together and set sail, as the gods do, but there is a steady calm in the everyday life of Carthage that is as lethargic and enjoyable to an audience as to Aeneas. The introduction of a romance is a way for Virgil to return Aeneas to the reality of a man and not yet a great hero who is still swayed by temptation. This episode in Carthage exposes a greater view of Aeneas, he is shown as a man but also his understanding of his mission his made obvious and his devotion to his destiny overrides his demands as a man and he is able to remove himself from the comfortable life in Carthage, true commitment to the task set out before him. Book four follows Dido and Aeneas as they experience this relationship and the hiatus in Aeneas plans. They are encouraged from many sides, Didos sister suggests, With the Trojans as our comrades in arms, what heights of glory will not we Carthaginians soar to! , and Juno, growing aware of the love Dido harbors for Aeneas goes to Venus and together they too conspire to bring the two together. How Dido and Aeneas later perceive their connection comes into question as to whether Aeneas was justified in his leaving but also in the tragedy of the story. They were brought together in a cave and Dido began to see her relations with Aeneas as a marriage, though he was not of the same mind. He seems to feel little by the way of obligation towards her, theirs was a political connection, one that allows him power over Carthage and fame throughout Africa. She perceives their bond as a permanent one, the beauteous Dido deigns to have her name linked with his. Perhaps it is in this self deception that lies tragedy, a woman who refuses to see what has been laid before her, to understand the prophecies recited to her by Aeneas that prove he must push on to Italy and that she does not lie in this destiny. By not acknowledging this information she leads herself to her own demise. Virgil had a good understanding of the need for great passion in his poem, the scenes with Nisus and Euryalus are paid long attention by the poet, he draws out their pain as well as their joy for the audience, using the tragic death of the characters to swing the emotions of an audience to and fro, to give a rest between the search of a hero for his destiny and show a level of more personal pain and feeling. The culture Virgil wrote from respect emotion and was enthralled by it, with other great authors producing love poetry, Propertius, Ovid, All his works fully shared the romantic ethos of his culture. (S. Farron. ) Virgil joined the ranks of these poets with The Aeneid, the romantic and destructive love characters possess fascinated Virgil and these episodes appeal to audiences, the culture and Virgil himself. Enabling the poet to include in his poem a contemporary understanding of romance and to allow his audience to exercise a need for cathartic explosion of emotion, swinging between great joy and great hurt. The emotions of Dido and Aeneas in book four are felt by the audience as well as their positions and backgrounds are known to the audience. There is an understanding between Virgil and his spectators, that he will tell a good tale and bring to an audience all emotions and display to them a range of characters. He constructs a situation for Aeneas to display his dedication, simultaneously forming a set of circumstances that make way for tragedy, for drama in the early parts of the poem. Virgil has been required in his epic to draw out Aeneas journey so that he may grow into a hero who was great enough to found Rome, along this journey he must be tested by grief and prove his capabilities as a leader. The first few books of the Aeneid have covered the excitement of war and constant movement, Aeneas cannot linger too long, and audience would weary of him and Virgil thus generates a commotion, the death of Dido, a tragedy that has been formed for these purposes. The nature of tragedy is called into question with the Dido-Aeneas affair. What troubles brought Aeneas to Dido, what caused him to leave, the culture of the ancient Romans, the misunderstanding of the characters, what each has encountered in their lives previous to their meeting and what their parting does to each of them. These subjects all lead to the end of the affair between Dido and Aeneas and to later conflicts but therein lies the tragedy and whether this particular chapter in the Aeneid qualifies as a tragedy. For tragedy has many formats but doubtless the end is the cruel and undeserved death of a character who perhaps merited more from a life, a poet or an audience. The nature of tragedy, as laid out by the Greek tragedies, is one that was used by Virgil. He understood Aristotle in his suggestion that tragedy consists of two emotions, By means of pity and fear effecting a catharsis of such emotions. Virgil builds for the listener the emotions of Dido, her lament takes precedence through thee final pages of the book and fear for her, her own fear, and great pity is created in the audience. These elements of the story aid the idea of tragedy in the book, tragedy that is a disastrous event ending in loss and distress. The Greek plays by Euripides and Aeschylus lay down an example of what tragedy is, what was perceived by the ancient peoples as terrible loss, and these ideas carried through into the Roman era. Tragedy cannot be easily defined, whether a situation is or is not a tragedy by definition cannot be determined through by examination but through emotion, what is felt by the audience, the characters who surround the tragic character. It is difficult to say what is tragic as there are no clear divisions in the understanding of the genre and emotions except what is experienced by the audience. Tragedy is a mood, that lights on an audience hearing of a characters unfortunate fate, though it does not belong to the listener is felt by him regardless. Upon reading the incident between Dido and her lover there is great shock left in the mind of the audience, how can Aeneas have allowed this, how can Dido who was so staid have done this to herself? It is the shock that remains as the an audience encounters the following books, not quite able to get Dido out of mind as Aeneas carries on with his journey that suggests tragedy, it lingers around the poem and in an understanding of Aeneas, for his character and behavior played such a role herein. There are in the Greek plays elements that define a tragedy. The emotions of a tragic play include pity, compassion between characters, grief, pain-at a destructive incident occurring to one who does not deserve it, fear, anger, stress, confusion. A list of emotions that are laid before an audience experienced by both audience and characters, but not positive emotions, deep felt sorrow, but passionately felt. If the Greek tragedies help characterize tragedy and all of its meaning better then Dido and her position in book four can indeed be classified as a tragedy, a short one in regards to a play but heartrending nonetheless. With regards to the physical structure and meaning of tragedy, the odes and chorus that occur in the template plays of the Attic Greeks. These do not exist in this book; it was not designed to mimic a tragedy in its forms but in its emotions. Virgil chose to focus on Dido and play for his audience a scene of great pain, not long and drawn out but a scene of sorrow slotted in between so many others but more poignant and personal to an audience, the loss of love being accessible in the minds of a romantic culture. The tragedy of the piece remains without the traditional structure. Death has a key role in tragedy, most tragedies contain death, if not of the protagonist then of the supporting characters. Oedipus is the focus of his own horror story but it is his wife/mother Jocasta who dies first though the tragedy lies more in Oedipus fate than hers, in the Orestia the deaths of Agamemnon and later Clytemnestra are as much tragedy as the dismal lives of their children. This suggests that perhaps it is not the death or the deceased that is tragic but the misery in the lives of those who live. This would note then that the gory death of Dido is not quite tragedy, for she most likely mourned by those close to her but not by Aeneas. The tragedy of this character is not in those around her but in the life she lived that was not always easy and a death that was public, without glory, and a terribly sad end for a queen, a life cut short that could have been lived longer and successfully. There are to tragedy many pieces, from the structure to the emotions; the same lies in the Aeneid book four. It is the story of the end of a good woman who loved deeply a man out of her reach, fated to greater things than her. Virgil drew from the Greeks before him and fashioned a poem into tragedy drawing on the emotional pieces of conventional tragedy to enhance his own tragic heroine. Her ending is terribly tragic due to the futility of her passing. She was a young woman, a queen, who would have found suitors elsewhere. She was a victim of the gods whim, her own fate and Aeneas, but she was to die at her own will, for whatever reasons, be they Virgils literary desires, the whim of a god or fate. Book four becomes tragic because it finishes with death. Any love that does not happen for any reason is a tragedy. Tragedy is defined by the audience who witness the events, to me, book four of the Aeneid is tragic for its loss of hope and a life. Bibliography Brasher, W. R. The Gorgons Head University of Georgia 1977 Farron, S. Virgils Aeneid a Poem of Grief and Love E. J. Brill 1993 Frye, P. Romance and Tragedy University of Nebraska Press 1908 Kitto, H. D. F. Greek Tragedy Routledge 1939 Monti, R. The Dido Episode and the Aeneid E. J. Brill 1981 Stanford, W. B. Greek Tragedy and the Emotions Routledge 1983 Valency, M. Tragedy New Amsterdam, 1991 Virgil, C. Day Lewis Translation The Aeneid Oxford University Press 1952.

Intelligent Agents Characteristics

Intelligent Agents Characteristics Report on Intelligent Agents Methodology The research for this report was done using the various books from the library, Internet sites and computer magazines. Introduction The uses of intelligent agents within the home and in businesses have increased dramatically over the years. Intelligent agents are a part of a program that carries out a task unsupervised and applies some degree of intelligence to the task. New and improved intelligent agents are constantly being designed and produced to carry out numerous repetitive and predictable tasks. One definition of an intelligent agent, as described by states â€Å"an intelligent agent perceives its environment via sensors and acts rationally upon that environment with its effectors. Hence, an intelligent agent gets percepts one at a time and maps this percept into actions† In his book, Essentials of Management Information Systems, Kenneth Laudon describes an intelligent agent as being â€Å"software programs that work in the background to carry out specific, repetitive and predictable tasks for an individual user business or software application†. The design and production of an intelligent agent has to take into consideration numerous factors. This report takes a look at these considerations and factors and provides and insight into how intelligent agents are influencing businesses and society as a whole. Findings Agent Characteristics Intelligent agents have four main characteristics: â€Å"An agent is a computer software system whose characteristics are situatedness, autonomy, adapitvity and sociability.† Situatedness When an Agent receives some form of sensory input from its environment, it then performs some actions that change its environment in some way. Autonomy This agent characteristic means that an agent is able to act without direct intervention from humans or other agents. This type of agent has almost complete control over it own actions and internal state. Adapitvity This agent characteristic means that it is capable of reacting flexibly to changes within its environment. It is able to accept goal directed initiatives when appropriate and is also capable of learning from its own experiences, environment and interaction with others. Sociability This type of characteristic means that the agent is capable of interacting in a peer-to-peer manner with other agents or humans. Design Considerations One of the most important aspects of intelligent agents is the design of the actual agent. The agent needs to be able to fulfil the tasks that are required from it, i.e. to achieve its goals. There are four main aspects that need to be taken into consideration when designing an intelligent agent. Percepts This is the information that the agent receives Actions This is what the agent needs to do or can do to achieve its objectives. Goals This is the factor that the agent is trying to achieve Environment The final aspect is the environment in which the agent will be working in. The environment in which the agent performs is probably the most important aspect that needs to be considered as this affects the outcome of the percepts, actions and goals. Different Approaches to Agent Design From the agent characteristics and design considerations come four different approaches to intelligent agent design. Simple Reflex Agents Simple reflex agents are the most basic form of intelligent agent. They are simple minded, direct connections between percepts and actions. Reflex Agents with Internal State Reflex agents with internal state are similar to the Simple reflex agents except they remember the state of the environment as contained in earlier percepts. As the agents sensors do not provide a detailed account of the environment at each input, a perception of the environment is captured over a period of time that provided further information to the agent and enables it to provide better results. Goal Based Agents For a goal based agent, the agent must know more than the current state of the environment, they must know the full requirements of the goal that they are required to perform. The goal based agent combines the information of the goal with possible actions that will achieve that goal. This may cause the agent to take longer sequences of possible actions before deciding on the right course of action and whether the goal has been achieved. Goal Based agents also take the future into consideration. 3.4 Utility Based Agents Utility-based agents are the ultimate form of intelligent agent and are an extension of the goal-based agent. Utility agents consider degrees of utility and try to maximise their own potential. Utility functions allow the agent to identify conflicting or alternative goals and decisions. The likelihood of success and importance of the goal can also be compared and evaluated by the utility agent; the agent would then execute appropriate action to ensure the best option was selected. Distinction between Environments Accessible Vs Inaccessible This environment is concerned with whether the agent is able to see the exact state of the environment. If the agents sensors are able to provide it with complete access to the state of the environment needed to choose an action, then the environment is accessible otherwise it is inaccessible. Deterministic Vs Nondeterministic In a deterministic environment, the use of the same actions will produce the same outcome every time the process or situation is repeated. But in a Nondeterministic environment the final outcome of the process or situation will be different every time. Episodic Vs Nonepisodic In an episodic environment, subsequent episodes do not depend on the actions that occurred in previous episodes, agents in this type of environment dont need to plan ahead. Agents in Nonepisodic environments do tend to depend on previous actions that occurred in previous episodes and do tend to have to plan ahead. 4.4 Static Vs Dynamic A static environment is an environment that doesnt change and the time taken for an agent to process an action doesnt matter, as the environment will remain the same. A dynamic environment changes continuously and an intelligent agent has to be able to process actions quickly before the environment changes. Discrete Vs Continuous In a discrete environment the number of distinct percepts and actions that an agent will receive is limited to a set amount, but in a continuous environment the percepts and actions are unlimited. Intelligent agents that are in an accessible or deterministic environment do not need to deal with uncertainty. Inaccessible, Nondeterministic, Nonepisodic, Dynamic, and Continuous environments are the most challenging, as these are unpredictable environments, the other environments are more stable and less volatile. The use of Intelligent Agents in Businesses The use of intelligent agents has increased dramatically over the past 5 year, though the majority of people wouldnt think twice about the process that they do that make their lives easier. During the1990s, A.D.Little, a management consultant, estimated that by the year 2000, 15 to 20 percent of all computer applications would contain intelligent agents. Though this figure has increased a substantial amount with the development of new technologies. The use of intelligent can agents can be seen in every industry sector within the UK and all over the world. The most common and widely used agents are found within two main areas. The first is within office type environments in which computers are used and the second is on the World Wide Web. In the first issue, computer software is the main reason for agents being used so widely: Operating systems use agents to add email and dial up networking account, do group management, add/remove programs and devices and monitor licences. Spreadsheet agents offer suggestions for improvement and can also tutor novice users. Software development agents assist in routine activities such as data filtering. The second and area and probably the largest is the Internet. The internet uses a variety of different types of agents to help the user find what they are looking for. They include: Search engines improve your information retrieval on the Internet Web mastering Agents these agents make it easy to manage a web site Web Agents These agents improve the users browsing experience. Monitoring Agents These agents monitor web sites or specific themes you are interested in. Shopbots These agents allow you to compare prices on Internet. Virtual Assistants these include virtual pets and desktop assistants. Intelligent agents can be seen in a wide variety of situations, the table in point 5.1 provides more examples of what agents are capable of. Though agents are making life easier, it is also reducing the amount of employees needed to do the job. An example of this would be a car-manufacturing factory. During the 1980s thousands of people were employed to make the vehicles but since the introduction of machinery that contains an intelligent agent to do the repetitive work, numerous people were made redundant and the positions in which 4 5 people did the job has been reduced to one or two men and the machine. An intelligent agent is something that perceives and acts in an environments. An ideal agent is one that always takes the action that is expected to maximise its performance. There are a variety of basic agent program designs. The designs vary in efficiency, compactness and flexibility. The appropriate design of the agent program depends on the percepts, actions, goals and environment. Some environments are more demanding than others. Reflex agents respond immediately to percepts, goal based agents act so that they can achieve their goals and utility-based agents try to maximise their own ‘happiness. The use of intelligence agents has increased beyond the expectations of experts within the management and information technology fields. The use of intelligent agents are being seen in a wide cross section of businesses whether it be in machinery and equipment or within the software programs that they have in their computers and networks. The most widely used forms of intelligent agents are found on the Internet, they are mainly used within search engines. Recommendations Intelligent agents are the basis of artificial intelligence; there are considerable ongoing researches into the field, with many exciting possibilities. â€Å"Agents are here to stay, not least because of their diversity, their wide range of applications and the broad spectrum of companies investing in them. As we move further and further into the information age, any information-based organisation which does not invest in agent technology may be committing commercial hara-kiri.† Bibliography Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig 1995,Artificial intelligence: A modern Approach, Prentice Hall www-cdr.Stanford.edu/nextlink/expert.html [Accessed 13 October 2002] Intelligent Agents on the internet: fact, Fiction and Forecast, Oren Etzioni and Daniel S. Weld www.computer.org/intelligent/ex1995/x4044abs.htm [Accessed 16th October 2002] www.hermans.org/agents/index.html [Accessed 16th October 2002] Intelligent agents likely to cut jobs, alter offices, Kile Martz www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/1998/08/03focus5.html [Accessed 16th October 2002] http://www.agentland.com/ http://sbm-connect.tees.ac.uk/ebuscon/Presentations%20(PPP%20%20PDF)%20Files/Chapter%2011%20Intelligent%20Systems%20in%20Business.pdf [Accessed 13th October 2002] Turban, McLean and Wetherbe, 1996, First Edition, Information technology for managers Improving Quality and Productivity Laudon K. Essentials of Management Information Systems, 2002, Fifth Edition, Prentice Hall

Videogames Dont Have a Negative Effect on Kids Essay example -- Argum

Videogames Don't Have a Negative Effect on Kids There are many things that today’s society worries about; television, role models, etc. The biggest ones are those that affect the children. One that many people overlook is video games, a national past time in almost every home. It is clear that they can cause changes in children, but are the changes good or bad? Do video games have a negative effect on kids? Personally, I felt there was nothing wrong with video games. I play them for fourteen hours or more a week, and I’ve been doing â€Å"fine† in life. I made it to a fine college, I learned unique words when I was young, and I even won prizes in some video game contests. I still have that Star Fox t-shirt even to today. Still, I wanted more than just my input before coming to a conclusion. There are hundreds of ways to get information, and the internet is not a reliable one, yet I still rummaged through it. At first, I merely found commentaries and opinions from people that were quite biased. In fact, most of them were trying to get me to buy what they were talking about, whether it was a new game or even a phone. However, after a few hours, I struck gold. Studies have been done on video games before, but unless the children are in a controlled environment from birth, it is nearly impossible to find how video games truly affect people. Many of the independent researchers produced the same results that while placing an action game the child’s testosterone levels rose, along with heartbeat and breathing patterns. The same pattern is found in a person when involved in a fight, usually with adrenaline running through them, or when a person is doing an intense workout at the gym. This research can be taken in many ways, ... ...s rummaging and questioning, I feel that there is no definite answer to this question, but rather only opinions due to personal experiences. There are simply too many variables and not enough research to make a clear judgment. And what is my view on the matter? I feel that videogames do not have a negative effect on kids as long as the parents are there to help guide them through. While there are clearly some bad things they can pick up from playing a videogame, there are also many good things to be taught as well. Works Cited Croal, N’Gai. â€Å"This is serious fun.† Newsweek 4 October 2004: 61. Kellerman, Jonathan. â€Å"Violence Doesn’t Begin in the Theater† Wall Street Journal 9 Jun. 1999: pg. 1 Paul Gee, James. â€Å"Turning Games into Learning Machines.† Game Developer 10.9 (2003): 56. â€Å"Videogames are bad for you.† Electronic Gaming Monthly September 2003: 68.

Use Of The Diary Form Narrative in The Novel Dracula :: Dracula Essays

Use Of The Diary Form Narrative in The Novel Dracula Bram Stoker, being the creative and intellectual writer himself, wrote the novel Dracula in the diary form of narrative. This was a good choice of how to write the novel since it was very beneficial to the plot of Dracula. Examples of how the diary form is beneficial to Dracula is seen in his writing and book. One of the greatest benefits of the diary narrative is that the reader is allowed see, and feel the emotional hearts and souls of the emotional characters. This is great because when a character is not feeling too great and is trying hide something, the reader knows this, and therefore the reader knows everything that is happening; nothing is being hidden from the reader. An example of this happening is when Mina is at the insane asylum and is worried sick about something happening to Jonathan Harker. Mina hides all that she feels when Jonathan Harker is near her. All that Mina is feeling is written by herself, and what, how she is feeling is ready for a reader to examine because they are able to see her diary. If Mina's diary was not open to the reader, or if Someone was telling of what he or she saw, the observation could be false and the reader would lose valuable information that would be valuable to the whole plot of the book. Some things that can be noticed about the diary form is that different views of the same thing can be expressed by many different people; all in first person view. Then, along with that, there are extensive and very detailed descriptions about a thing, or person that is being described. In the novel, this is seen as Jonathan Harker is traveling and he describes almost everything, he does, eat, sees, etc. Another use of the diary form is that Bram Stoker can have people "talk to themselves." So if the person who is writing in his or her diary, that person can make notes to him/herself writing "I must ask the Count about this." So by "talking to him/her own self" in this manner, he is writing it down and they do not in any way make it so that they seem strange in front of public.

Computer Communications: Bus Network :: essays research papers

Computer Communications: Bus Network Bus Network, in computer science, a topology (configuration) for a local area network in which all nodes are connected to a main communications line (bus). On a bus network, each node monitors activity on the line. Messages are detected by all nodes but are accepted only by the node(s) to which they are addressed. Because a bus network relies on a common data â€Å"highway,† a malfunctioning node simply ceases to communicate; it doesn't disrupt operation as it might on a ring network, in which messages are passed from one node to the next. To avoid collisions that occur when two or more nodes try to use the line at the same time, bus networks commonly rely on collision detection or Token Passing to regulate traffic.Star NetworkStar Network, in computer science, a local area network in which each device (node) is connected to a central computer in a star-shaped configuration (topology); commonly, a network consisting of a central computer (the hub) surrounded by terminals. In a star network, messages pass directly from a node to the central computer, which handles any further routing (as to another node) that might be necessary. A star network is reliable in the sense that a node can fail without affecting any other node on the network. Its weakness, however, is that failure of the central computer results in a shutdown of the entire network. And because each node is individually wired to the hub, cabling costs can be high.Ring networkRing Network, in computer science, a local area network in which devices (nodes) are connected in a closed loop, or ring. Messages in a ring network pass in one direction, from node to node. As a message travels around the ring, each node examines the destination address attached to the message. If the address is the same as the address assigned to the node, the node accepts the message; otherwise, it regenerates the signal and passes the message along to the next node in the circle. Such regeneration allows a ring network to cover larger distances than star and bus networks. It can also be designed to bypass any malfunctioning or failed node. Because of the closed loop, however, new nodes can be difficult to add. A ring network is diagrammed below.Asynchrous Transfer ModeATM is a new networking technology standard for high-speed, high-capacity voice, data, text andvideo transmission that will soon transform the way businesses and all types of organizationscommunicate. It will enable the management of information, integration of systems andcommunications between individuals in ways that, to some extent, haven't even been conceived yet.

Ordinary People

Ordinary people 1. What is dialectic? Dialectic is like treat people with  borderline personality disorder. It explains relational life as full of pus-pull tensions resulting from the desire for polar opposites. Autonomy and Connection It desire to be independent or dependence while simultaneously wanting to feel connection with the partner EX: Beth and Calvin have the connection dialectic when they decide to go on a vacation together. Conrad has autonomy dialectic after he argued with his mom down stair and went to his room, he want to be alone.Novelty and Predictability They manifest in our simultaneous desires for excitement or stability in our relationship,—- Novelty is excitement, new. Predictability is stable, same routine. EX: in the film, Conrad has Novelty dialectic when he met his friend, Jen. The mother, Beth, has Predictability dialectic because she always keeps thinking about Buck’s dead was not happened; she always thought nothing was happened. Public an d Private It is the tension between how much of a friendship is demonstrated in public and private.EX: in the movie, when Conrad when to the restaurant with Jen, he has the public dialectic, he is openness at the beginning at the restaurant. But when Jeannie’s friends came in the restaurant, Conrad changed his dialectic into Private and does not like to talk at all. 2. System theory Wholeness: a principle that states that we can not understand a system by simply picking it apart. An undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting Interdependence: dependence  between  two  or  more  people,  groups,  or  thingsEX: Conrad’s dependence between his parents, friends. Hierarchy: the organization of people at different ranks in an administrative body * In the film, it does not show any rank in the family, every one look like in the same rank. Boundaries or Openness: a line determining the limits of an area, creating a boundary around each s eparate system. EX: in the movie, Conrad tell Dr. Berger how he feel about his family and his sadness. Calibration or feedback: the process of system setting their parameters, checking on themselves and self-correcting. Conrad quit his swimming team because he can not handle his stress while swimming. Equifinality: the ability to achieve the same goals by variety of means. 3. Mark knapp’s model of relationship. a). Conrad and Jeannie Pratts’ relationship in the Initiating Stage, they notice each other when they just meet in school. They are also in Experimenting Stage, Conrad called her and want to date her, she accepted it. This mean they understand what they want. b) Ordinary People Family cooperation is one of the most important things that keep the family running smooth and keeping the family happy. In the novel Ordinary People written by Judith Guest, she showed that a family cannot function properly without communications and caring of each other. Lack of these things would usually results in family separation. In the novel’s case, it didn’t turn out to be a disaster but it turn out to be another happy thing for this family. At some point of the novel, the relationship between Beth and Calvin began to fall apart because of their different personalities. This situation happen after Conrad committed suicide. This problem seems to hinder Beth because she doesn’t want to be reminded of the incident and Calvin always wants to talk about this problem. Whenever Calvin asks Beth to talk about their problems, Beth always asks Calvin to forget about it. Beth is a person who always wants things turn out the way she wanted and if things doesn’t turn out the way she wanted she will get mad. On the other hand, Calvin is a person that tries to do his best for his kids because he doesn’t have a father when he was little and the most he could do is ask Conrad â€Å"how are your day? † Conrad is Beth and Calvin’s son. They had another son but he got killed accidently on a boat. Conrad thinks Beth hates him because he committed suicide. In the book, Beth and Conrad rarely talks and their mother and son relationship doesn’t seem to exist. When Conrad once tried to tell Beth about his swimming meets, Beth just slammed the door and this made Conrad feels sad. Conrad and Calvin’s relationship wasn’t in terms of son and father wasn’t that bad. At least Calvin cares about Conrad more than Beth does. I have a problem similar to Conrad where whenever I want to tell something to my parents, they listen but they don’t understand the things that I’m talking about then when I ask for their opinions they always say do whatever things that you think its right. The reason that I tell my parents something is because I don’t understand what do to and they seem to not care and want me to figure out my self. Then I ask my parents individually, I talked to my father first, he seems interested enough to listen to what I was talking about then when I was done and ask him for his opinion he started to tell me about his childhood and that he always have to make decisions on his own without anyone’s help. After that I talked to my mother, she is a careful person and she seems to know what do to on everything. I told her my problem and she listened carefully then when I was done talking and ask her for opinions, she gave me her opinions and advices to my problem. It seems to me that not everyone in the family will know what to do but there always will be at least one person that tries to help you like Calvin helps Conrad and my mother helps me. Communication is the key in family. When family communicate, they don’t hide things, they let people know what they feel and how someone could help them. It also makes the family closer. If people don’t communicate, they can’t get things over like Beth does.

Four Frames of Organization Essay

Apollo 13: Scene 3 ( Mattingly – exposure to measles) and Scene 6 (Houston, we have a problem). What happens when an organizational structure changes – is it always a negative or can positive things occur? Do you see evidence of emerging leaders in Scene 6? Were they who you anticipated?Label this M1P2 and post no later than Monday. â€Å"Major initiative to redesign structure and processes has often proved neither durable nor beneficial. Moving from designing a structure to putting all parts in place and satisfying every interested party is difficult and hazardous.† (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 72) Change in Organizational Structure can be very challenging in process. Consume both time and resources yet no guarantee of success could cause resistant in some group of employee. Employee’s resistant causes a dominoes effect making change much harder. However if there is an obvious serious problem, nonetheless change will have to happen no matter. .In scene 3 – Mattlingly exposure to measles. Change happened rapidly only within 72 hours before the mission. Change are always more positive than a negative. But how to overcome change is difficult. When change happened, the good is.. Could make more money, work smarter, cutting cost, and reduce workload†¦more efficient. Reduce stress of employee in the long run†¦ If decided change is going to happen, it will happen.. but it is harder and take longer when people resist. In this case everyone at the command room and in the vessel, both accept the change. The change move better. Ken also except. Freak out, expected something bad will happened. Not comfortable to work well together. Did I see the leader emerge? Is it who you expect? No not really, when they pull ken in to help†¦ I think it was more like Jack that was had more detail and better calculation. He was the one who alert Lovell that we need †¦ Organization is confusing, eventhough majorily agree what is best decision, in the end it could turn out to be bad, but if the decision to change is made, then stick with it†¦ †¦

Film Music: Gabriel Oboe (From the movie “Mission”) Essay

Theme –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Student will watch a video clip from the movie â€Å"Mission† How do musical media impact on the scene of the movie? What is the message the composer tries to give in the scene of â€Å"Gabriel Oboe†? Objective Information What are the four traditional instrument families (Brass, Woodwinds, Strings, and Percussions)? Please name the instruments in each traditional family. How does each instrument family phonate? Listening to â€Å"Peter and the wolf†- How does this particular instrument represent each character in the story? Skills Identify by sound and classify the instrument families used in the scene of the movie? Write a short poem or a short story and choose an instrument then improvise a short musical piece that connects the poem or short story. Essay Question (40-points) 1.)   Please answer the following question after watching the scene of â€Å"Gabriel Oboe† in the movie. How does the music have the power to communicate with people and changing people’s minds? And what are the messages the composer try to give from his musical media in the scene? (Minimum 150 words) Short Answer Question/Listening Section ( 8 points- each) 2.) What are the four traditional instrument families? (2 points x 4 ) —————-,   ——————, ——————-, —————— . 2.)   What instrument family did the composer use in the beginning of the â€Å"Gabriel Oboe’s scene† (Before the solo oboe)? __________________. Multiple Choice (4-points) 4.) Which instrument is not included in the woodwinds family?____. Oboe Clarinet Violin Flute Matching (20-points each) 5.) Match correct instrument into the each traditional instrument family String __ A. Cymbals Woodwinds __ B. Trumpet Brass __ C.   Oboe Percussion __ D.   Cello 6.) Match the correct instrument to each character in â€Å"Peter and the wolf†. Grandfather__ A. Flute Duck __ B. Clarinet Bird__ C.   Oboe Cat __ D.   Bassoon

Communication Studies Essay

This blog is for students of the Community College of St Vincent & the Grenadines who are to be entered for CAPE Communication Studies examination in May 2008. The blog contains information about the course syllabus, administration and assignments as well as the course content. Wednesday, March 05, 2008 The expository presentation for CAPE Communication Studies Internal Assessmblies The presentation has two distinct parts * A FACTUAL presentation on an aspect of your portfolio theme * A presentation about your research including an evaluation of two sources of information used to prepare your factual presentation. It will have all the following 6 elements present 1. An introduction (statement of topic) In the introduction you will give a brief explanation of topic/ theme and a preview (with a thesis statement) of what you are going to cover. For example. â€Å"My theme is Returning Migrants to St Vincent. Returning migrants or returnees are a group within the population of St Vincent who have spent a significant time away from the island and have then returned to permanently settle again. Returning migrants often are retired from their previous occupation which they pursued in a more developed country such as the United States, Canada or Great Britain or they have been working in another Caribbean state. According to statistics from the Customs Department given to me by Mrs B Chalres in an interview 4361 people claimed the concession for returning residents in 2005. Returning migrants experience 5 phases of adjuststment when returning which can be termed as â€Å"culture shock†.† Theme ; Returning Migrants to St Vincent. a group within the population of St Vincent a significant time away from the island returned to permanently settle retired from their previous occupation (the United States, Canada or Great Britain) OR working in another Caribbean state. Customs Department (Mrs B Charles) â€Å"4361 people claimed the concession for returning residents in 2005†. Returning migrants experience 5 phases of adjustmentwhen returning which can be termed as â€Å"culture shock†. 2. A rationale In the rationale you need to explain why you picked the theme and it can form part of the introduction. In the rationale you should mention any personal interests, current academic links and future career plans which influenced your decision to choose the theme For example I chose the theme returning migrants to St Vincent and specifically to focus on culture shock because I am a wife of a returning migrant. I have a BSc honours in Sociology and the concept of culture shock is part of socio-cultural studies carried out by Kavelo Oberg 1958. In the future I will be submitting my Masters thesis on this specific issue. 3. Discussion of issues The discussion of issues is the factual presentation about the theme and its narrowed focus based on the thesis statement. It should have a distinct organisational pattern and you should aim for one of the expository structures such as cause and effect, process analysis, analysis by division, classification etc (See Writing in English) It should also be referenced and include any research findings. You will also need to give a conclusion to your factual presentation as a sort of sub conclusion don’t wait until the end Here is an example of a possible outline for my example presentation (not all of it). It uses the organisational pattern of process analysis Remember you cannot read from a script! Culture shock 5 phases Honeymoon, rejection/ regression, conformist, assimilation, reverse culture shock Honeymoon Centre for Overseas Travel â€Å"the tourist phase† Questionnaire (300 returning migrants) 78% not feel â€Å"tourist† 82% â€Å"elated† Rejection Oberg – frustration etc Questionnaire 50% wanted to return after 3 months, Reasons, poor service, backward attitude, nothing to do, boring Interview Dr Sheridan Mental health presentations tend to be in 1st 4 months of return. 4. Challenges of research You need to discuss what difficulties you faced in preparing your factual presentation. If you did not have any difficulties then just explain why. For example (in note form) Questionnaires – time consuming, identifying sample, Other sources – no central data on returnees, newspaper articles useful Academic research not on St Vincent 5. Evaluation of two sources For this aspect of the presentation you need to discuss your research. The two sources need not necessarily be given as a reference in the presentation but they should be relevant. You should try to select two different types of data source e.g. a newpaper article and an interview. You may want to very briefly summarise all your sources before evaluating two for reliability and validity. Please see other parts of the blog for information on reliablity and validity. For example (in note form) Secondary sources: academic text books and journals, local and international newspapers and magazines, web sites: international public organisations e.g. Peace Corps general sites e.g. Wikipedia Primary sources interviews of experts in St Vincent questionnaire of returning migrants. Questionnaire of returning migrants Reliable: primary data source, research method suited to collecting data for social research Valid: Problem with sample size as total population of RMs unknown Problem with generalisation as differences between UK, US and other RMs more research needed. Overall reliable and reasonably valid The Experience of Return Migration: A Caribbean Perspective, Joan Phillips and Reliable Denis Conway, Ashgate Press, London 2005 Author expert Phd Social Anthrop. Specialised Caribbean writer – Canada Publisher: reputable, specialst academic main interest Social research Valid Recently published Problem no reference to St Vincent Overall general but very reliable and valid source 6. Conclusion The conclusion should be slightly different to the internal summary conclusion in your discussion of issues. At this stage you can express a personal view or put forward a possible solution. For example (in note form) Returning migrants YES culture shock 3 ways Honeymoon Rejection Conformist NO assimilation Solutions Programme – promote overseas, keep in touch, Information – government FINALLLY See my other post about the reseach using the internet for idea. Make sure that you are aware of the requirements for acceptable notes during the exam and be familiar with the marks scheme – it is not only content that is marked but also presentation skills.