Exploring Inferential Statistics and Their Discontents Assignment

Exploring Inferential Statistics and Their Discontents - Assignment Example Answer: Critical t:  ±2.0687 at DF= 23 Critical t:  ±2.1604 at DF= 13 He is more likely to make Type II error. 6. a) The test is two tailed. b) Ho: u = 58 Ha: u is NOT equal to 58 c) Calculate standard deviation and mean for the sample in the beginning then calculate t-value by using the following formula. t = (Xbar - u)* sqrt n/s n stand for the sample size s stand for the sample standard deviation Xbar stand for the sample mean u = 58 d) t-critical value â€Å"Degrees of freedom† = n - 1 = 14 - 1 = 13 level of significance = alpha = 5% = 0.05 t-critical value = 2.145 e) Ho will be rejected if the computed t value is greater than the critical value f) 95% confidence interval for u can be achieved by applying the subsequent formula. Sample mean +/- t critical value*s/sqrt n 8. a. X^2 obtained = 4.74 b. df of the test = 1 c. x^2 critical value = 3.84 d. This question can be done assuming it is on assessment of a hypothesis and using z test. Jackson (2012) Chapter 8, Pgs. 27 3-275 (even numbered exercises) 2. a. Statistical test: a two-proportion t-interval b. Ho: students listening to music while studying have the similar scores as students not listening to music Ha: students listening to music while studying have the worse scores than students not listening to music c. with Music Without Music Mean 6 7.75 Variance 1.142857143 2.214285714 Observations 8 8 Pearson Correlation equals -0.449013255 Hypothesized Mean Difference is Zero Degree of Freedom = 7 t Stat = -2.262609773 P(T

Long-Range Career Objectives Essay Example for Free

Long-Range Career Objectives Essay Please provide a statement outlining your immediate educational and long-range career objectives in relation to your chosen field. If there is a particular faculty member with whom you wish to study, please give that persons name and explain why you want to study with that person. You may also wish to include other information, such as any undergraduate research experience, internships, or other experiences you may have had to document your preparation for advanced study in your chosen field. My future plan is to achieve the CPA of America and work in a renown accounting firm or in the finance department of companies. I think by learning in your school can give me a better opportunity fulfill my future professional development. What’s more, by learning taxation and accounting for two years in my own country, I developed a personal interest in those fields. I believe America’s outlook and teaching of accounting is very unique and efficient. In order to have a better understanding of this concept I would like to study at your school. Here I want to share my internship experience with you. I was fortunate to be chosen as an intern in the taxation department of Deloitte Touchà © Tohmatsu. My job here is to assist the senior manger to do some search and document revised work. Working here not only gives me a better understanding about my professional knowledge but my future career development. It also gives me a chance to find out how a successful company operates and what makes a qualified staff for that company. The DTT has very comprehensive and effective information sharing and communication system. In which it will make sure every staff member has easy access for use. For instance, I was only an intern there, but I can visit every internet resource and store documents in all the DTT†s firms in China. In addition, I can make a direct conversation to my co-workers, including the partner of the company, immediately if needed. The significance of these systems not only let us do our work efficiently and quickly, but also send messages to all its workers that â€Å" we have confidence on your professional ethics and we are ready to listen to your advises all the time.† The true thing is DTT always regard all its staff members as a part of the company, I think that is why employees are hard working on a daily basis. I think the most important character of a DDT employee is initiative. Compared to waiting for a job assignment , we should be eager for a work opportunity and find something to do when we are not occupied. This internship taught me that I should show my capability and my willingness to my job at the same time. Although I am no longer working in DTT China, I am the one equal member of initiative that seeks further study opportunity in your university. I hope this piece of writing could give you a better understanding of my personality to consider my application.

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Essay -- Essays on The Second Sex

Simone de Beauvoir, in her 1949 text The Second Sex, examines the problems faced by women in Western society. She argues that women are subjugated, oppressed, and made to be inferior to males – simply by virtue of the fact that they are women. She notes that men define their own world, and women are merely meant to live in it. She sees women as unable to change the world like men can, unable to live their lives freely as men can, and, tragically, mostly unaware of their own oppression. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir describes the subjugation of woman, defines a method for her liberation, and recommends strategies for this liberation that still have not been implemented today. De Beauvoir, in attempting to define the subjugation experienced by woman, notes that women lag behind other oppressed groups of her epoch, like Jews and blacks. She argues that women are behind in terms of civil rights mainly because they have not identified that they are indeed being oppressed, despite their lack of social and professional status. De Beauvoir writes that â€Å"the epithet of female has the sound of an insult,† (1) meaning that women experience discrimination and social inequity. Further, she asserts that man is responsible for the construction of a world based upon his values, his norms, and his capabilities. She is unsurprised by the fact that woman has achieved comparatively less – in a male-oriented culture, how could anyone possibly expect woman to accomplish as much as man? This societal commentary transcends legal status. The acquisition of civil rights will not be enough to right the wrongs perpetrated upon woman as a whole, according to de Beauvoir. Liberalism, therefore, is also insufficient to address the problems wom... ...ated socialism as a method of societal structure based on reciprocity, but our current system of capitalism fosters aggression and competition instead. The quest for material possessions and wealth as signs of power and success leads to endless competition. This runs counter to the induction of reciprocity into our society and therefore means that reciprocal relationships, defined by de Beauvoir as requisite to the emancipation of woman, are not the culturally accepted norm. To truly state that de Beauvoir’s vision has been realized, Western society would need to entirely scrap its capitalist system and redefine itself in terms of community, reciprocity, and sharing. This has definitely not happened yet, and until it does the world will continue to be defined on male terms. Works Cited Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex;. New York: Knopf, 1953. Print.

Level 3 Childcare Education Essay

Describe the initiatives which influence the provision of challenging environments for children (5 marks) There are different types of international, national and local initiatives which influence the provision of challenging environments for children. An example of an initiative is the Forest Schools. ‘A Forest School is an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning’ http://www. forestschools. om/what-happens-at-a-forest-school/ Forest schools can influence the provision of a challenging environment, as the teachers can take the children in small groups every week to the local woods to have a better understanding of the outdoor environment and it’s linked to the curriculum. By doing this it enables children to be able to be in a safe environment when exploring and having adventures so they can see what things they can do when they go into the woods next time. It can also help children with problems such as language problems as this allows them to speak about the experience they are having which can then be taken to the classroom and then it could be turned into a story to help the child. When going into the woods it helps to cater the behaviour for the problem children and it also teaches children when they can and can’t mess around. It also focuses on the fundamental aspect of the Forest School innovation educational approach. The Forest School provides ways for meeting learning objectives while developing practical life skills and encouraging child-initiated learning, which is observed and assessed. Lots of young children prefer to be outside than in the classroom environment because they can find it more exciting and they might pay more attention. Word Count- 240

Occupational Safety and Health Essay

What is OSHA? OSHA is an abbreviation for Occupational Safety & Health Administration which is a government agency under the U.S department of Labor that helps employers reduce injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the workplace. (____) OSHA is extremely important to the U.S and its labor force in many different ways than one. OSHA assists in safety on the job in several ways such as encouraging employers and employees to reduce workplace hazards, establishing the rights of employers and employees regarding the improvement of workplace safety and health, and also monitoring job-related illnesses and injuries through a system of reporting and record keeping. With the presence of OSHA businesses are required to follow certain regulations and guidelines that not only protect the employees but also prevent any unethical behavior from employers that may result anywhere from a high turnover rate to law suits. OSHA being this significant to the U.S labor force begins to bring about curiosity of what does the rest of the world practice to assure work-related safety on the job. Through research I have noticed that Canada, one of the United States closes neighbors, uses a system called CCOHS or Canadian Centre for occupational health and Safety. The CCOHS has a vision which states: â€Å"We serve Canadians – and the world – with credible and relevant tools and resources to improve workplace health and safety programs. We encourage you to join us in creating a work world without pain, loss or tragedy. We believe that all Canadians have a fundamental right to a healthy and safe working environment. Through our programs, services, knowledge, commitment, and action, CCOHS will continue its efforts to advance health and safety in the workplace† (____) CCOHS was established in 1978, to promote the total well-being – physical, psychosocial and mental health of working Canadians by providing information, training, education, management systems and solutions that support health, safety and wellness programs. (___) CCOHS is governed by a  tripartite Council representing government, employers and employees to ensure a balanced approach to workplace health and safety issues. CCOHS offers a range of workplace health and safety services to help organizations raise awareness, assess risks, implement prevention programs, and improve health, safety and well-being. Canada’s CCOHS and the United States’ OSHA are quite similar in the respect to fulfilling its obligation to encourage workplace health and safety, and reassure attitudes and procedures that will lead to better-quality worker physical and mental health through an extensive range of products and services. CCOHS provides a selection of public service initiatives at no charge to the user, such as OSH Answers, the person-to-person Inquiry Service, newsletters, and the workscape online discussion board to educate employees of implemented safety procedures and terms of CCOHS. This is Canada’s procedure to educate and encourage a safe, sufficient work environment. This is similar in term of the many programs that OSHA offers for training/education and the medical management program such as for CTD’s. The medical management program, through OSHA, ensures understanding of early identification, evaluation, and treatment of signs and symptoms to prevent their recurrence and to aid in their prevention. (pg. 53) In conclusion, we may come to the understanding that both the U.S and Canada aim to complete the same fundamental purpose within the work force which is safety. Although both systems titles may not be the same, they both have the same emphasis of ensuring and improving health programs concerning employers and employees. Both countries take pride in establishing and enforcing mandatory on the job safety and health standards. From my research I feel safe and now more educated while working within the U.S and if ever I were to move to Canada that comforting feeling would remain present. http://www.toolingu.com/definition-850100-18819-osha.html http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs.html

Redefining moments - Emphasis

Redefining moments Redefining moments Many professionals may need to use creative or lateral thinking in their work, but heres a competition that invites anyone to do just that for individual words. This is the so-called Washington Post Mensa Invitational for which neither organisation seems prepared to claim credit. The challenge: to humorously redefine either a common word, or one that has been subtly changed by a letter or two (or, to put it in popular political phrasing, that has undergone redaction*.) While the competition itself may be something of an urban myth, entries apparently pour into the newspaper yearly. Unsolicited** or not, here are some highlights from the 2009 batch (plus a few of our own, below). Straightforward alternative definitions Coffee n. The person upon whom one coughs. Flabbergasted adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained. Balderdash n. A rapidly receding hairline. Circumvent n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men. Subtly-altered redefined words Giraffiti n. Vandalism spray-painted very, very high. Sarchasm n. The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesnt get it. Decafalon n. The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. Pointless^? Perhaps. But you may never look at another word quite the same way again. If you have any suggestions for, or opinions on, these Semantex ^^ shenanigans, leave them here. *Redaction n. Communist to-do list. **Unsolicited adj. Able to walk past a red light district unchecked. ^Pointless adj. [colloquial Birmingham] Left out of a pub round. ^^Semantex n. The practice of changing the meanings of words with explosive consequences.

Top 8 Best Grad School Scholarships and Fellowships

Top 8 Best Grad School Scholarships and Fellowships Contrary to popular belief, a sky-high GPA is not the only way to obtain grad school scholarships. Every year, hundreds of students are awarded prestigious scholarships and fellowships that will fund their post-graduate studies partially or entirely, and not all of these students earned all A’s every time.   Key Takeaways Prestigious national and international grad school scholarships include Fulbright, Rhodes, Truman, and the Marshall.Awards committees look for well-rounded individuals with clear, concise, and achievable goals.Whether or not you earn an award, the application process can be a useful tool for determining personal and professional goals. While academic merit is important, awards committees look for students that demonstrate leadership capability, participate in extracurricular activities, volunteer, and maintain a strong sense of self. In short, the key to earning one of these scholarships is to be a well-rounded person with a clear and achievable goal.   The following is some information on the most prestigious scholarships and fellowships awarded to students on an annual basis to help you decide which scholarship is best for you.   Fulbright U.S. Student Program Annual Deadline: Early to Mid-October, check website for exact date Launched in 1946 as a way to redirect post-war financial surplus to promote cross-cultural goodwill and understanding, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program now awards an estimated 2,000 grants annually to recent university graduates. Fulbright recipients use grants to pursue international post-graduate goals, including research projects, graduate education, and teaching. Placements are available in more than 140 countries around the world. Though only citizens of the United States may apply for the U.S. Student Program, the Fulbright Program offers opportunities for working professionals and international applicants, as well.   Rhodes Scholarship Annual Deadline: First Wednesday of October The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902, provides full funding for students from the United States to pursue a post-graduate degree at the University of Oxford. As the oldest and arguably most prestigious international scholarship in the world, the competition for a Rhodes is exceptionally high. Applicants must first earn a nomination from their undergraduate university to be considered for the Rhodes. Out of a pool of 800-1,500 exceptional students, only 32 receive the award each year.   Marshall Scholarship Annual Deadline: Early October, check website for exact date The Marshall Scholarship annually provides up to 50 high-achieving students from the United States the opportunity to pursue a post-graduate or doctoral degree at any institution in the United Kingdom. The award includes full funding of tuition, textbook expenses, room and board, research fees, and travel between the U.S. and the U.K. for the duration of the program of study, typically two years. The award can be extended to include a third year under certain circumstances.   Barry Goldwater Scholarship Annual Deadline: Last Friday in January The Barry Goldwater Scholarship provides up to $7,500 to rising undergraduate juniors and seniors studying natural science, mathematics, or engineering who plan to pursue a career in research. Though not a grad school scholarship, many Goldwater recipients go on to receive prestigious academic awards for future studies, as the Goldwater indicates exemplary academic merit. Approximately 300 students receive the award annually. Students must be enrolled as full-time students in an accredited United State institution and hold at least sophomore status in order to be eligible.  Applicants must be citizens of the United States, U.S. nationals, or permanent residents with the intent to become U.S. citizens. Students must be nominated by a Goldwater at their university.   Harry S. Truman Scholarship Annual Deadline: First Tuesday in February Named after the 33rd president of the United States, the Truman Scholarship provides students planning on pursuing careers in public service with $30,000 to be used for graduate studies. The awards committee seeks students with strong leadership skills and a demonstrated background in public service. After completing degree programs, Truman recipients are required to work in public service for three to seven years. To receive a Truman Scholarship, students must first be nominated by faculty representative (or a faculty member willing to serve in this position) at their home university. Universities are only permitted to nominate four students each year, so larger or more academically rigorous universities might old internal competitions for qualifying students. Each year, over 600 students are nominated by their universities, and between 55 and 65 candidates are selected to receive the award. To be eligible, applicants must be United States citizens or nationals.   National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Annual Deadline: Late October or Early November, check website for exact date The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship provides a $34,000 stipend and $12,000 allowance for educational costs per year for up to three years to exceptional students pursuing research-based work in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields. The fellowship is the oldest scholarship program specifically for those pursuing STEM-related graduate degrees. To be eligible, students must be United States citizens, nationals, or permanent residents. The National Science Foundation strongly encourages under represented members of the scientific community, including women, minorities, and people of color, to apply for the fellowship. Awards are given in all research-based STEM fields, including psychology and social sciences, as well as hard sciences.   George J. Mitchell Scholarship Annual Deadline: Late September, check website for exact date The George J. Mitchell Scholarship offers up to 12 United States students the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree at any institution in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. The scholarship includes full tuition, housing costs, and a monthly stipend for the duration of one year. To be eligible, applicants must be United States citizens between 18 and 30 years old, and they must hold a bachelor’s degree before beginning the Mitchell Scholarship program.   Churchill Scholarship Annual Deadline: Mid to Late October, check website for exact date The Churchill Scholarship provides 15 United States students with the opportunity to study for one year at the University of Cambridge’s Churchill College, the only STEM-focused college at Cambridge. The scholarship was established by Winston Churchill to promote scientific inquiry and exchange between the United States and the United Kingdom. Recipients of the award receive approximately $60,000, used to cover all tuition and fees, textbook expenses, accommodation, travel to and from the United States, and visa costs. Recipients are also eligible for an additional research stipend. To be eligible, students must be United States citizens, and they must be senior undergraduate students applying from a participating university. The complete list of participating universities can be found on the Churchill Scholarship website. In 2017, the Churchill Foundation launched the Kanders Churchill Scholarship in an attempt to bridge a growing gap between science and public policy. Citizenship requirements for the Kanders Churchill Scholarship remain the same, but applicants may apply from any university in the United States, so long as they hold a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field. Kanders Churchill Scholarship recipients will attend Churchill College while pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy. Application Tips and Tricks These awards are prestigious and highly sought after for a reason. The application processes can take months or even years to complete from start to finish, and the competition is tough. Here are a few tips to help guide you through the sometimes daunting search for grad school scholarships. Find your focus Don’t waste your time submitting rushed or unfocused applications. Instead, do your research, and determine which grad school scholarship is best for you. Focus your time and effort on making that application stand out. Ask for Help Many universities have started to employ full-time staff specifically to help students with post-graduate scholarship and fellowship applications. Even if your university doesn’t have this kind of staff available, you can search through your department for any professors or alumni that received prestigious awards and ask them for advice or mentorship. Utilize free university resources.  A school writing center can help you focus your ideas, while a resume workshop can help you polish up your list of accomplishments. Use the Process Remember, even if you aren’t chosen as a recipient, the application process for any of these awards can be a fulfilling experience that helps you identify your future goals. Treat it as a tool and get as much out of it as you can.

Schools socio-cultural goals for students

Schools socio-cultural goals for students Preventing moral failure in academic institutions appears highly dependent on the morality and ethics of its leaders and teaching staff. Hashtag: #Scandal School’s Socio-Cultural Goals for Students Scandals normally occur when somebody got involved in an act or event that is morally or legally wrong. However, the impact of scandalous acts is commonly far greater when it involves public figures and educational institutions that are supposed to model good virtues or morally acceptable behavior and attitudes in young people. School-related scandals such as physical abuse of students by a high school teacher, sex between a female teacher and underage boy-students, racism, misused of funds by school officials, and others were violations of ethical guidelines and codes professional conduct that eventually hinders achievement of school’s socio-cultural goals for students. The outbreak of school sex scandals involving female teachers and young students in the media not only triggered public controversy but raised questions and heated debate over the ethics and professional conduct of female teachers. A social researcher, for instance, assumed that although teachers involved in these scandals clearly crossed the line of what constitutes a morally acceptable practice; they are not actually at fault engaging in a male-female sexual relationship. Feminist educators, on the other hand, argues that such relationship will never occur if these female teachers value professionalism and committed to ethical teaching practices. Moreover, aside from being unprofessional, sex between teachers and students upset the learning environment and reduced public confidence in the ability of the academic institution to provide moral education. The Limits of Academic Freedom Trust according to literature is key to successful relationship thus schools with moral and ethical leaders and staff are more successful than others in establishing a moral purpose, building a caring and consistent long-term relationship with the community. Role of Ethical Educators in Preventing Moral Failures Preventing moral failure in academic institutions appears highly dependent on the morality and ethics of its leaders and teaching staff. The reason is that leaders and teachers are individuals students will look up to as an example of decent people. For instance, students will likely trust, respect, and emulate teachers making correct and consistent ethical decisions and judgments. In contrast, since decisions in school are made in absolutes, erroneous ethical decisions and judgments often result to immoral, unethical, and sinful decisions with major consequences. Teachers are humans who from time to time make an error. However, there is absolutely no excuse for making moral mistakes such as a teacher having sex with students, school principal stealing money from school funds, a teacher accepting a bribe, and others. Years ago, Bill Clinton’s presidency was damaged by his immoral actions against Monica Lewinsky and failure of the moral purpose of his political position. Similarly, a male teacher raising test score of a female student for sex is a moral and ethical dilemma destructive of the moral purpose of a school. It is, therefore, important for schools to employ ethical educators who practice what they preach and make moral decisions based on conscience and moral doctrine supporting the socio-cultural goals of schools for students. Moral failures in teachers can be avoided by understanding oneself, reflecting on experiences, moral and ethical values, and developing their own personalized code of ethics. This is because moral failure is often caused by the  competing interest, overload and pressures at work, excessive relationship with students, and error in judgment.

Nursing Essentials Application of a Nursing Skill Essay

Nursing Essentials Application of a Nursing Skill - Essay Example Never for a moment should she let members of her staff forget that they are nursing human beings, not diseases. The patient is an individual, the member of a family and of the community. He may be intelligent or unintelligent, educated or uneducated, American or some other nationality, but he has feelings and emotions which influences his emotions which influences his attitudes and actions. Before working as a staff on a nursing care unit, the nurses generally completed their training in mentoring and nursing. Patients will be grateful to a thoughtful nurse who anticipates his personnel needs and remembers his individual preferences, nevertheless he should be given the opportunity to make further requests and to participate in the planning of his care if he is able and desires to do so. During convalescence or a long chronic illness, the patient needs something to occupy his mind, be its pleasant companions, reading, games handwork, or assisting with the work of the ward. He needs faith in his nurses, their knowledge and dependability of judgment. He needs the sense of security that comes from the feeling that are people are working together-doctor, nurses, maids, porters-and not at cross purposes. He needs the confidence which results from knowing that the entire nursing staff is interested in him, is sympatric and understanding, knows his needs, has plan for his care, and is doing everything in its power to help him regain and maintain his health. The patient who has required an injury or an illness which places permanent limitations on his activity or makes necessary a change in his pattern of living needs help in accepting the restrictions, help in marshalling his resources and finding was to live happily and usefully within the limits of its illness. The good nurse recognizes early any social and emotional factors which contribute to the patient's illness and its prolongation and which inhibit his peace of mind. Since man patients need more help than she is prepared to give, nurse refer them to another individual or agency for assistance when necessary. II. Identification of Skills The responsible for a nurse lies on promoting finest health and for preventing ill health. Nurses occupy a primary role in assessing nursing requirements, considering their medical, emotional and family circumstances, then plan and deliver care in hospitals, outpatient departments and in transit between hospitals. Typical work activities will vary according to the role, but they can include: The Nursing process is often Assessment Diagnosis Planning Implementation EvaluationThe nurse through her close contact with the patients learns of social problems which may need to be referred to a medial social worker. She also is in position to recognize when the services of a public health nurse would be advantageous and is responsible for supplying the agency with sufficient accurate information. Many patients will feel to receive the necessary home care and supervision unless the hospital staff nurse is alert to his needs and his ability to met hem without help. Teaching of the patient about his condition, his care and the ways of

International human resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International human resources - Essay Example patriate managers are given the responsibility of synchronizing different cultures while managing human resource for a multi-national corporation in a foreign country. The culture and business environment of a multi-national corporations vary with regions and countries. ‘International human resource management’ deals with the HRM activities of a multi-national corporation. It assists the expatriate HR managers of multi-national corporations to understand the organizational culture of the MNC and the local culture of that particular country. The functions and responsibilities of domestic human resource management and international human resource management are different in many aspects. The latter requires greater responsibility as it necessitates greater level of coordination, risk, involvement in personal lives of employees. This paper will attempt to analyze the human resource of Ford Motor Company of United States of America (USA). In the next section, the cultural context of USA MNC and the local culture will be discussed and the challenges faced by the expatriate managers will be analyzed. The overall findings will be concluded and some essential recommendations will be provided to overcome those challenges. The core functions of the human resources management are similar irrespective of countries and organizations. However, the difference in cultures poses certain hindrances for the expatriate managers. Differences existing between Asia Pacific, Middle East and USA are difficult to assimilate. The culture of USA is an immigrant one, along with the Native Americans many immigrants from different countries have been residing in USA. Greet Hofstede has identified six dimensions of the cultures that vary from country to country. These dimensions are â€Å"power distance index (PDI), individualism (IDV), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), masculinity (MAS) and long-term orientation (LTO)† (Falkenreck, 2009, p.59). Figure 1 depicts the ‘Greet Hofstede

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 19

Marketing - Essay Example Segmentation refers to the process of dividing the market based on certain variables like geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors. The rationale of market segmentation is the identification of a specific market which a business organization can best serve. This way, it is better positioned to create a product or service which more suitable and appropriate for a specific market as well as complement it with other components of marketing mix such as price, promotion activities, and distribution channels. For example, the number one specialty coffee shop in the world Starbucks has started its business operation eyeing not the whole market for coffee but on a specific market niche—â€Å"affluent, well-educated, white collars between the ages of 25 and 41.† Thus, it has focused on the provision of products which appeals to this market segment, prices them accordingly, and builds stores in urban and metropolitan areas where these people populate. Positioning is the â€Å"act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy the mind a distinctive place in the mind of the target market (Kotler 2002, pp.308).† Positioning is the product of the different techniques employed by marketers which gives it a unique image. The end product of positioning is the unique value proposition which is delivered by the company. Amazon.com has irrefutably established a distinctive image in its market. Unlike any other shops, it takes advantage of technological advancements by being a purely online retailer. Amazon.com traditionally positions itself as a more convenient and less costly distributor of books. However, through its longer and wider selection of product offerings, it is positioning itself as an online retailer of anything that a customer needs. Lastly, differentiation refers to the â€Å"process of adding a set of meaningful and

Italian Renaissance Artists Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Italian Renaissance Artists - Term Paper Example It was a movement and an era of awakening that turned from the darkness and stagnation of the middle ages and laid the basis for Western civilization up to the present. The flowering of art during the Renaissance is what it is most remembered for today. Hence, the paintings and sculptures and their creators can be seen as springboards for discussing some fundamental changes in attitude – especially how art evidences new attitudes toward man, his place in the world, and his relationship to God. (Osmond, 1998, p.18) This essay will talk about Italian artists – the likes of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bellini, etc - who played pivotal roles in this great chapter in European history. During the era of the early Renaissance, evolving modes of representation and choice of content led to a redefinition of painting and sculpture as liberal arts. It can even be said that visual  artists themselves played a role in modifying the perception of their profession and art. In o ther words, artists both helped to shape and to react to an essential change in their status from craftsman to creator. This can be learnt from the broad ranging â€Å"written and visual evidence, including treatises, contracts, letters, financial records, and, perhaps most interesting, the works of art themselves. That many of the most successful early  Renaissance artists  evinced a significant interest in intellectual and social issues is demonstrated in a number of different areas, including changes in artistic training; the involvement of  artists in civic life; their engagement in the study of antiquity and antique art;  artists pursuit of the literary arts, including poetry, autobiography, and theory; and their participation in the paragone debate.† (Rosenberg, 2001, p.937) There was also a shift in the power relationship between patron and artist in favor of the latter, a shift ushered in by the emergence of the social value of artistic renown. The impact of t his phenomenon is best illustrated in the â€Å"difficulties which Isabella d'Este, the Marchioness of Mantua, experienced as she went about negotiating with some of Italy's "best  artists" -- Bellini, Mantegna, Perugino, and Leonardo -- for paintings for her famous studiolo†. (Rosenberg, 2001, p.937) Likewise, artists such as Giovanna Garzoni, Bartolomeo Bimbi, Jacopo Ligozzi, etc â€Å"brought to their subjects not only a masterly technique, but a freshness and originality of style that would have a lasting influence on botanical illustration and the art of naturalistic painting.† (Hirschauer, 2002, p.62) The cartoons made by them are â€Å"full-scale drawings characterized by extended passages of careful modeling and chiaroscuro, became collectible objects valued for their intrinsic aesthetic qualities. Raphael's cartoon (Ambrosiana Gallery, Milan) for the School of Athens is the largest and perhaps best known example of this category of drawing. Because the tran sfer process often led to the destruction of a cartoon, artists introduced another intermediate step, the "substitute cartoon," as a means of preserving workshop model drawings and of keeping the ben finito cartone intact† (Fletcher, 2000, p.347) Towering above the achievements of other artists are the masterly works of Michelangelo,

Body Mass Index Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Body Mass Index - Assignment Example Although it is mainly used for medical diagnosis, it was primarily not intended for that but for classifying sedentary people from the active ones. Body composition on the other hand is a calculation that involves fat percentage as well as bone and muscular variables. Its goal is to calculate the leanness of a body thus two bodies that may look exactly alike may give two different results in fat percentage by up to about 4kgs. Risk of fatal diseases and mortality can definitely be calculated by BMI. Professionals have proven that a BMI of over 85 percent which is considered overweight can and will have health consequences on a patient greatly affecting his or her mortality. However, the BMI is not entirely accurate for someone with heavy bones may be put as overweight. It also gives wrong results for children for its logic is entirely based on weight and not age. It also does not recognize body types and may put physically fit persons as being

Special Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Special Education - Essay Example Again, the paper looks at the modern technologies that are used in the elementary adult education. And lastly, controversial issues surrounding adult education are discussed. ADULT EDUCATION The main purpose of any form of education is to enlighten the learners and to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to overcome many life challenges. And since it is not possible to have knowledge of everything, education therefore is a lifelong process; we spend all our life learning, whether formally or informally (Lindeman, 1926). Education is one, therefore, in terms of its goals and aims. However, education can be classified in terms of the category of learners (age of the learners) who undertake it, and in this classification we have, early childhood education, elementary education, middle School education, High school education, and adult education. This paper deals with adult education, focusing specifically on elementary adult education. It investigates the historical develo pment of adult elementary education and the current legislation that shapes it, the paper goes on to discuss many other pertinent issues on adult education in the contemporary world. ... Adult elementary education has a long history. In formal setting, adult elementary education in Western world was pioneered by Reverend B Morgans, Vicar of Trelach near Monmouth in 1754 (Hudson, J. W., 1851). After realizing that many adults in his congregation could hardly read the scriptures, Rev. Morgans decided to do something for them. He therefore started special classes for the illiterate adults in his congregation. In these classes, the adults were taught elementary reading and writing skills. And to his surprise, as time went on, many more illiterate adults volunteered to join his classes. All the participants benefited greatly from the classes and from then henceforth, the programme of adult education continued in his parish. In 1811, Reverend T. Charles, B.A, established a school in Great Britain at Bala, in Merionethshire. This school was dedicated exclusively for the education of the adults. And just like Morgans school in Wales, some time back, the main intention of sta rting this school was to help the old illiterate members of the congregation to read the bible. Rev. Charles’s enterprise turned out to be a big success for many adults enrolled in his schools from all over Wales. The school became famous in Wales, and many more such Schools were opened in Wales to help many illiterate adults who had desire to read. And by 1813, there were adult schools established as far as in Bristol. These schools were started by the lay people and not the clergy men/women. From 1813- 1818, adult elementary schools spread all over European countries, and by around 1819, adult elementary schools had been established in the USA. Later, during the colonization period, the Europeans established elementary adult

Body Mass Index Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Body Mass Index - Assignment Example Although it is mainly used for medical diagnosis, it was primarily not intended for that but for classifying sedentary people from the active ones. Body composition on the other hand is a calculation that involves fat percentage as well as bone and muscular variables. Its goal is to calculate the leanness of a body thus two bodies that may look exactly alike may give two different results in fat percentage by up to about 4kgs. Risk of fatal diseases and mortality can definitely be calculated by BMI. Professionals have proven that a BMI of over 85 percent which is considered overweight can and will have health consequences on a patient greatly affecting his or her mortality. However, the BMI is not entirely accurate for someone with heavy bones may be put as overweight. It also gives wrong results for children for its logic is entirely based on weight and not age. It also does not recognize body types and may put physically fit persons as being

Can Lebanon have peace if they started a Truth and Reconciliation Essay

Can Lebanon have peace if they started a Truth and Reconciliation Committee like South Africa - Essay Example The Maronite Christian and Muslim communities have fighting for equitable sectarian political power sharing among them. This paper discusses if there can be peace in Lebanon when a Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) is established just like in the case of South Africa. Truly, it is extremely difficult to distinguish victims from the offenders during a civil war. There have been many attempts to bring peace in the Lebanese community but these peace talks ignore the underlying causes of the conflict such as the political, social and confessional cleavages. Arguably, reparative justice can effectively address the assumed disagreement between justice, peace and reconciliation. Reparative justice is built on various elements including, active participation of the offender and victim; exploration of the motives and main causes by the offender and victim; consideration of necessary outcomes for restitution by the offender, victim and the community at large; and reconciliation of the antagonistic groups among others. According to Quinn (11), power sharing and social transformation are very important in the reconciliation process. Arguably, discovering the truth can be done by pardoning main actors thereby creating the feeling of injustice in the society. It can also be done behind the doors so as to avoid disclosure of the witnesses. Even though this process is not inclusive and can be criticized by many people, it is the key to a lasting reconciliation. Special tribunal for Lebanon was established for many reasons including trying those who were suspected of assassinating Lebanese Prime Minister, Hariri and many other people (Moriarty and Eva 147). Notably, traditional tribunal systems would not be effective in Lebanon, as it would promote the existing cleavages instead of conquering them. The Lebanese officials ignored both justice and reconciliation and as a result, justice

Berlin Wall Essay Example for Free

Berlin Wall Essay The Berlin wall caused much strife during its existence. It started with the conflict between the USSR and the Allies and quickly escalated from there. The long years it stood were full of separation and conflict. The story of the Berlin wall is not one easily forgotten. During WWII the Soviet army captured the German city of Berlin. The U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union all occupied a sector of Berlin. The United States, Britain, and France occupied sectors in West German and Berlin while the Soviet Union occupied the East. Because of this, when the Cold War started, East and West Berlin were divided both in opinion and territory. The Soviets were communist and the leaders of West Germany were determined that all of Germany should be communistic. The Soviets tried to force the Western powers to give up their control over their three sectors. After their attempts to convince them to give up their control failed, the Soviet side cut West Berlin, which was isolated in the middle of East Germany, from all land and air travel. West Berlin was frozen and starving, but they refused to give in. The Western Allies started what is commonly known as the Berlin Airlift. Great amounts of food and supplies were dropped by plane. West Berlin was not given up by the Allies. East Germany however, did give up the blockade of West Berlin after a year. They determined that something else must be done. East Berlin lost many people to West Berlin. It was said approximately two and a half million people escaped the communistic East Germany simply by crossing the border from East Berlin into the West. A common method of this escape was by subway. At one station they believed that one out of every three people leaving the station was actually an escaping citizen of East Germany. East Germany was rapidly losing its much needed work force. Walter Ulbricht was the man most blamed for the building of the Berlin Wall. In public, he denied all rumors of even the consideration of cutting off the border routes. The denial of the idea of closing the border was a plan to keep the flow of people escaping from increasing before the wall was built. Ulbricht believed that people would desperately flee as soon as they heard of the plans for the wall. On a Saturday night in 1961, the wall was hastily built. Since it was the weekend, the unsuspecting people were vacationing after their week of long work and did not notice the hidden rolls of barbwire and timber slashed away where the wall was to be built. People whose houses stood where the separation was were no longer allowed to use their Western doors. Many used the windows to escape but others were caught by the East police or lost their lives in the process. By the end of the first couple weeks, the windows and doors were sealed off with bricks. The Berlin was more than a sliver of grey concrete. It was watchtowers, guards, guns, barbed wire, and even mines. As determined as many East Berliners were to cross to freedom, they had to risk so much in the process. For many, the risk led to their deaths. The wall was disapproved of by many of the citizens. Because of the sudden construction, many families were instantly separated. The dangers sometimes outweighed the thought of unification. Wanting to at the very least see their loved ones, platforms were built on the West side of the wall and families would find some comfort in mere glimpses of their loved ones. Another negativity of the wall was the sheer conflict of beliefs. Some who did not share the opinions of Germany were quickly forced in a problematic situation. They couldn’t escape from the strict rules of communism. The wall had clearly put them on the wrong side. Family and beliefs were not the only things the wall separated. Though not physically, the Berlin wall drew a line right through Germany. You were either East German or you were West German. There were no in between grey sections. People had to choose sides or their side was chosen for them. Of course, through all this, France, Britain, and the United States stood beside their West German sectors. Tension of the cold was thick. Many showed what side they were on by simply choosing to support East or West Germany. Those who supported the East were Communistic. Those who supported West Germany were supporters of democracy of freedom. The problems within East Germany became more and more obvious as time went on. The most obvious problem was the existence of the wall itself. Many died from the wall and it wasn’t just the start. The problems of East Germany were from social to economic. At first, it was very possible to make it across the wall. People would break through with trucks, dig tunnels, fight their way across, sneak across during construction, forge papers, and all manner of escape. People didn’t let the risk of death keep them from their freedoms and families. Not everyone was lucky enough to make it across. One example of misfortune was a pair of young men who determined to sneak across a weak part of the wall. The first made it successfully across, but his friend did not. Shot by the guards, the young man lay injured and bleeding at the wall. Still on the East side, people from the West could not retrieve the dying young man. The guards waited for him to bleed out before disposing of his body. His screams and cries for help haunted and outraged the people. Fearing a future uprising, the guards were commanded to move bodies and dying individuals out of sight so the people wouldn’t be quite as disturbed by their deaths. After many made it across the Berlin wall, it was decided to reinforce the wall. This reinforcement crushed many people’s hope of ever crossing and killed many of those that retained their hope. The wall at first had been simply a tall concrete wall with armed watchtowers, searchlights, and barbed wire. The reinforcement included a higher fence with a column of concrete that was seemingly impossible to grip, extra fences, tripwires connected to automatic machine guns, and a seemingly hopeless run to safety. Forged papers at the gates were the most likely means of escape after the reinforcement. In East Germany, the work hours were long, the opportunities were few, the tension was high, and the rules were strict. Music was censored and lives were limited. East Germans created a distinct culture because they had to avoid breaking so many rules. You watched what you said and who you were with. Rules in East Germany were not taken lightly because the people never knew when they were being watched. The neighbors, their best friend, their lover, or even their mother could’ve been one of them; one of the agents for Germany’s secret police, that is. The secret police were called Stasi. Anyone could be suspected of being part of the Stasi, since the Stasi used anyone they could. The Stasi was a huge network of agents who watched over East Germany. They had their eyes on over one-third of the population. The Stasi spied on, arrested, and manipulated countless people. They picked up on plans of escape, wormed their way into possible rebellion for information, and even kept records of their target’s lives in incredible detail. Along with the suspicious activity they stored in the files pertaining to the lives of their targets, they included elaborate plans for their victims. These plans interfered with lives, ruined marriages, kept certain kids from getting into universities, and even destroyed futures. They didn’t stand for any possible uprising. They snuffed out any spark that could lead to anything contradictory to East Germany’s policies. Pollution was a major problem in East Germany. Their pollution was actually so great that it actually caused diseases not seen since Victorian ages. The diseases killed many of the people. People started environmental programs to try and do something about the pollution and stop the tragedy of diseases. A bit of freedom was the beginning of change and the start of hope in East Germany. The rules were loosened on churches across the land. Slowly but surely the church became the centers of protest across the land. People came to meetings with the accepted excuse of praying for the country or involvement at environmental programs at the church. The church quietly became the center of reformists. Because of the hope sprouted by the reformist church meetings, a protest of seventy-thousand people occurred openly in East Germany. The world watched in tense concern. Many feared that East German officials would use the â€Å"China option† where they would simply massacre the protestors like what had recently occurred in China. The world was shocked when there seemed to be no immediate consequences for the massive protest. The opening of the Berlin wall was a great event and actually an accident. After many years of separation and conflict, one man’s misunderstood words caused the great event. While an East German bureaucrat, Gà ¼nter Schabowski, was at a press conference on November 9th, 1989, his uncertain answer to a simple question was misunderstood. The misunderstanding was that travel restrictions were being lifted and effective immediately. People flooded to the gates of the wall demanding access they believed was granted by one man who simply misspoke. These people could not be turned away though what Schabowski had said was far greater than what the authorities had intended to do. For hours, the gates remained closed and the guards were hammered by questions and demands from the eager citizens. The guards tried to get an order from the higher ups, but at the time the whole system of authority was in chaos and disorder. No one seemed to know what to do. Finally, at about 11:30 that night, after countless meetings and useless phone calls, the order went out to open the gates. This order was given by Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jà ¤ger, the senior officer in charge at the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing. When he gave the order, people flooded through the gates and climbed the walls. Harald Jà ¤ger later gave his report of what had occurred that night. It was apparent to all of the guards that something was amiss and that people would soon show up trying to pass through the gates as they watched the press conference. They were all surprised at the words spoken at the press conference but did not understand the enormity of the consequences that were to come. He said, â€Å"All I thought was: Now youve got to find out whether theyre allowed to travel immediately or not.† He called his higher up to ask, but it was apparent that he was just as surprised and simply ordered him not to let anyone through. Harald apparently held countless meetings with his officers all that afternoon. Everyone demanded that he tell them what to do. Fearing the consequences of letting them through and wanting to know if the men would support his decision, he had asked if they should open fire on the people. When the guards objected he knew what he must do. The people were bound to get hurt in a scuffle if he waited too long so he reached his decision. â€Å"†¦ I gave my people the order: Open the barrier!† The destruction of the wall was almost immediate. The world watched in awe as the socialistic experiment on East Germany quickly crumbled as the East and West citizens of Germany united in joy and merriment. The opening of the wall was well received by the West. That very night, they made their way over the wall to join and rejoice with their Eastern brethren. Even the Chancellor of West Germany called the current President of the U.S., George H. W. Bush, and ecstatically relayed the events of the night. They knew Germany would never be the same. Despite all the official government problems with the occasion of the wall falling, the East and West strove to be together again. After forty years of that cursed wall, the people finally had their chance to tear it down. They gladly took that chance. The people of the White House shared the Chancellor’s enthusiasm and encouraged the President to go to Germany. The President refused to take any credit in the happening, â€Å"This is the German moment.† The people of Germany jumped at their chance to seize freedom and unity. They feared they would lose the opportunity as abruptly as it came. Germans wanted freedom to decide their own fate. They wanted the freedom to see their loved ones and choose who they wanted to lead them. They wanted to be a whole nation again. As joyous as the world was at the fall of the wall, many feared what was to come. How would the world take it? What would it lead to? How was the Soviet Union going to handle this? The very symbol of socialism had fallen by the hand of its own people. Was this reunion of sides going to be allowed? Or would there be a violent backlash? Leaders and the world watched anxiously. There were so many consequences that could occur, but everyone simply wondered whether they would be positive or negative. Mikhail Gorbachev was a name well known among the USSR. He was the man who was trying to reform the Soviet Union from the inside. He was trying to make a stronger, greater Soviet Union, but even his supporters in the Soviet began to think he had taken it too far with the opening of the wall. It had never been his intention to open the wall, but it had happened on his watch. Everyone feared that this would somehow end up in violence. A man by the name of Helmut Kohl, the Chancellor of Germany, saw this even at the opportunity to reunite Germany. Many called his idea premature and the very idea made people uneasy. The concept of having a reunified strong Germany struck concern into Germany’s neighbors and nations around the world and Europe. People feared another German attack and the change that could take place. As much as the concept of reunification was feared, it turned out that it was actually out of the European leaders’ hands and in the people’s. The people of Germany started the ball rolling on the reunification of Germany. Within the first day of the fall of the wall, over one million East Germans made their way to West Berlin and within the first week over nine million had done the same. It was almost a large party. The mood was full of celebration. They were even given a welcome gift as they came. People went to shop and to drink and simply enjoy the fact that they were now on the other side of the wall and the gates were open. It became extremely obvious to the East Germans that personal freedom meant that they had the option of doing whatever they desired to do. They could lose their job, try to find a new one, follow their dreams, and they all had to change. The economy of East Germany couldn’t avoid a drastic change. It was unstable, but the Germans determined that they were going to do what they wanted. Though it was roughly known that the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl desired a reunified Germany, he had not officially stated any means of doing so. Upon hearing that others were already beginning to discuss their own plans for East and West Germany, the Chancellor felt that he should hold a speech that stated his views and display his plan for reunification. The plan was supposed to take about five to seven years to complete and had been carefully crafted within his group of trusted advisors. Helmut Kohl had not consulted with his allies before holding his bold speech for the entire world to hear. Had he done so, he believed the speech would have never been made. Thought his speech had been a gamble, it was one that paid off. Because of it, he was personally identified with reunification of Germany. The United States decided to fully support Kohl’s plan for reunification. The only problem now lay in convincing the leaders of France and Britain that a reunified Germany would be beneficial to Europe. While world leaders struggled to decide what was to be done and what Germany was to become, the people of Germany had gathered their own to plan their new land. They continued to daily tear down more and more of the ugly wall that had so long separated them. The people didn’t want a Germany that was simply a larger West Germany, but a completely new Germany that took both the best of the West and the East. The people planned on taking this into their own hands and becoming a form of Democracy. The group who were planning such an event was a group called the Round Table. Among one of the first things they strove for was and open election in East Germany, something that hadn’t been done in over sixty years. Of course, not everything would turn out right. One major cause of concern was when the Round Table had received a report that things were turning violent. An angry mob was reported storming the East German secret police’s, the Stasi’s headquarters. They feared that many were about to be lynched, but to their surprise, the mob simply stormed the headquarters and no violence actually seemed to occur. They now found themselves surrounded by mass amounts of information, years of spying and reports written about them. They had overthrown the Stasi. In March of 1990, East Germany held their first election in over sixty years. Many were torn between voting for the conservative West German runners since they had the money to pull them out of their bad economy and the Democratic candidates of the East that had pulled them out of their situation in the first place. As time when on, many began to realize that the people were pushing for materialism over all other things. The feeling of revolution was quickly dying out as they voted for those they believed would grant them prosperity. It was all too obvious that a new Germany was no longer desired. The East simply wanted to be like the West. The majority of the elected officials were rich conservative Westerners and only a handful of reformists. A major problem with the gradual reunification was the horrid, polluted economical state of East Germany. It dawned on many Westerners that they would have to pay a lot of the price for the East German pollution problems. It was estimated that as the lifelong security of jobs guaranteed by the strict East Germany was destroyed that almost every two out of three jobs were lost by East Germans. They abruptly had to face the reality of joblessness and strive to succeed in other places. Despite the hardships, Germany was indeed being unified. One of the symbols of reunification was when the leaders of France, Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union gathered to watch the removal of checkpoint Charlie, one of the focal points of the Cold War. The Soviets were facing the reality that their East German socialist empire was quickly meeting its end. The last thing blocking German unification was Soviet permission for Germany to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). When this was surprisingly overcome, there was nothing standing in the way. On October 1st, 1990, the four victorious powers formally gave up their rights to Germany. Germany was now free to do as they chose. Less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall on October 3rd, 1990, Germany became one nation. Mikhail Gorbachev was forced to resign and blamed for the fall of the Soviet empire who suffered a great loss when Gorbachev chose to give up Germany. Despite this, he believed he had done the right thing in the end. The leaders involved in the reunification of Germany all seemed to stand by their decisions that it was right to let Germany choose who it was going to be. The Cold War had peacefully ended. The people of East Germany were now free and unified. They were free to enjoy music, free to see their families, free to choose their own jobs, free to say what they wanted, and free from fear of the Stasi. East and West Germany ceased to exist, and though there is still a distinction between the people, they grow more and more unified as time passes on. Parts of the wall still stand, but people now simply see it as a reminder of what had been and a way to urge themselves to look to a greater future.

Gender Inequality in Business

Gender Inequality in Business In todays business world, there has been a lot of change in the number of women participating in the labor force. For the past years, the number of women in the workforce rises dramatically. Unfortunately, women are still being treated lower than men when comparing their wages, and gender inequalities in the workplace have been very considerable. Women continue to earn considerably less than men, even though they are in the same occupations as men. Most of them dont have convincing reason why they are paying less to women; the only reason clarification that can be given for this income gap is discrimination. Gender preconceptions in the workplace are erroneous assumptions and should not be continued because women are just as efficient as men are in doing a task and gender equality is beneficial to workplaces. As a female myself, I genuinely advise women to prepare to address the challenges and prepare to meet a few challenges to their success. In recent decades, women have graduated from college in greater numbers than men. Therefore, it would seem that there are women who are as qualified as men if not more. Women should not be treated as less than men, mainly when they have the same potential and knowledge to do work as the men. According to a 2015 study by Institution For Womens Policy Research showed that, on average, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent. This record seems unfavorable for women when both males and females are doing the same amount of work for the workplace. I personally think that to have women who get paid less than men is illogical, acknowledging the fact that women are earning more degrees. I think the gender discrimination in the workplace is not only leaving women jobless, but also affecting the business that could gain more benefit from educated and passionate women. Gender inequality in the workplace is the main reasons why womens jobs often have lower pay and status. Women are less probably to have higher paying professional, technical, and managerial jobs. Women usually have a much greater representation in secretarial and service positions. They outnumbered men in office jobs in, even though a relatively small percentage of women are in the labor force. For so many reason women are less likely to be promoted to the job with a higher wage, even if they are qualified the same as the men. Part of this inequity is accounted for by the responsibilities that women have at home. Family and home commitments often limit the time, and energy women can devote to work, which makes them appear less committed or competent than men, who can spend more time at their jobs. To start a new job with gender inequality in the workplace could significantly affect womens motivation to achieve their task in a correct way. I advise to women beginning a career in business to develop negotiation skills stand to speak out against the gender discrimination for their benefit and others. As an employee, they should have to understand the law in place to prevent discrimination in the workplace. An example is an equal pay, discrimination based on their gender. Negotiation is a part of daily life whether we are aware of it or not, we all negotiate for the thing we want. For example, people may negotiate to get higher salaries, better service, and for so many different reasons. In most case women afraid to negotiate, because they believe that there will be a social backlash against them. However, negotiation skills help to ensure that all parties are equally advantaged from the inequality that occurs. Always women have to prepare for any negotiation. One of the keys to any negotiation is to do research on the issue in order to develop your strategy. I advise that women should improve their negotiating skills by practicing objectivity. I encourage women to do some research about the job that gets offered before they accept the job. We all know many companies pays less money for women than men for doing the same job. First, research the market and be aware what your skills and knowledge are worth. The more knowledge or information you get from you research will help to you to decide wisely and will also give you the chance to become a better negotiator. The second thing I would like to advise is to speak out loud against the gender discrimination. I believe women are naturally gifted for networking and skilled in building communities. Today, many people use social media for different purposes, and it seems to play a crucial part of peoples lives around the world. I think many women can use the social media to promote the discrimination and business at lower cost with high target impact. In conclusion, gender inequalities in workplaces are rough in contemporary society and are illogical. Numerous studies support that women are capable of doing a task as well as a male can, and even performing better than them. There are so many reasons that show that the issue of gender discrimination in the workplace is significant and negatively impacting. One of the disadvantages working in a place with gender inequality could have a high impact on womens motivation. Second, gender discrimination or inequality in the workplace could affect the effectiveness of the companys corporate. Therefore, to solve gender discrimination in the workplace, everyone has to take responsibility. Womens have to develop their negotiation skill and to speak out loud for their right. Further, Companies should give the opportunities equally to everyone without any isolation.

The True American Hero :: Essays Papers

The True American Hero Heroism demands self-sacrifice, self-discipline, self-confidence and self-respect. Ulysses S. Grant had these qualities in their most complete form. He set out from humble beginnings, and failed. At the age of 38 was a conspicuous failure. Then, like few of us, he succeeded beyond belief. Had he not had tremendous greatness within him, he could never have accomplished what he did. How did such a simple, honest and humble man raise himself in the eyes of his people and the world to the highest position a man or woman can reach - that of a national hero? Grant remained a child at heart throughout his life, and seems never to have realized that he was one. His faith in the goodness of humanity was unbounded, and he was taken advantage of. His simplicity of nature was remarkable, yet this simplicity was the mainspring of his success; certainly it was the first asset of his generalship. While McClellan could see nothing beyond his own operations and Halleck nothing outside of his textbooks, Grant saw things as they were, uncontaminated by his ideas or anyone elses. He saw that the entire problem of winning the civil war was nothing more than an equation between pressure and resistance. The side which pressed the hardest along the lines of least resistance was going to win. His simplicity was the foundation of his modesty and honesty. He could not bear shams, pretensions and humbug. He despised after-dinner speeches and such orations because he felt they were silly; he simply could not deliver them. His orders were always clear, because they were always simple, honest and modest. He could not understand why a man should be dishonest, for to him honesty always seemed the best policy. His modesty taught him self-control, and his sense of duty was exceeded only by his duty towards his country. Self-control leads to self-respect, to dignity without arrogance, to pride without vulgarity, to ambition without selfishness, and Grant possessed all these many virtues to the highest degree. He was not "dignified" in the way that General Lee was, though rough and ready, he was always a gentleman, in the best meaning of the word. He was proud of his soldiers and his work, and ambitious to do his utmost for his country. He had so great a faith in the Union cause that he never for a moment lost hope that in the end it would succeed.

Dementia Gateway Essay

Our learning material is designed to help you to work towards Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) units and will support you to work towards the Diploma in Health and Social Care at level 2 or 3. This document provides you with information about how the feature links to specific QCF units, and offers an activity which you could use to help demonstrate your learning. A general explanation about the QCF can be found at the end. Linking to Health and Social Care Diplomas at Level 2  and 3 The learning in the feature   will help you to understand and prepare for assessment in the following QCF units: Health and Social Care Diploma Level 2 Health and Social Care Diploma Level 3 SCH 021, SCH 022, HSC 026, Dem 201, Dem 202, Dem 205, Dem 308, SSMU 2.1, Dem 204, Dem 210, Dem 312, HSC 2030 SCH 031, SCH 032, HSC 036, Dem 301, Dem 308, Dem 312 Activity to support your learning The activity for can be used to provide evidence for the QCF units SCH 022 4.2 and SCH 032 5.2. To do this, copy the activity and this question into a Word document, then complete and keep a record of your answers in full there. Can you show what you’ve learnt from reading the feature and doing this activity? Answer these questions: The activities above ask you to reflect on your work or your workplace. Can you say how this reflection has improved your knowledge, skills and practice? General Explanation The Qualification and Credit Framework is a flexible, ‘mix and match’ approach to gaining qualifications.  Every unit and qualification has both a credit value and a level. The credit value shows approximately how much time it takes to complete. The level shows how difficult the unit or qualification is. In adult social care there are vocational qualifications/units from level 1 through to level 7. There are three sizes of qualification: Award (1-12 credits) Certificate (13-36 credits) Diploma (above 36 credits) In order to obtain a Level 2 Diploma in Health and Social Care you will need 46 credits for a Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care you will need 58 credits. At both level 2 and level 3 there are mandatory units and optional units; you can also choose to follow specific pathways: Generic qualification Dementia pathway Learning Disability Pathway When you have selected a pathway there are specific units that you need to do. More information about QCF awards can be found at: http://www.skillsforcare.org.uk

Marquis M. Converse

Marquis M. Converse is an entrepreneur, founder of Converse. About Converse Converse origins of the company date back to 1908 when Marquis M. Converse opened the factory in Massachusetts called Converse Rubber Shoe Company. The factory initially produced only rubber soles for all types of footwear since 1915, however, focused on the production of tennis shoes from her and moved smoothly to produce shoes for basketball. And here starts writing legend. Year 1917, the year he saw the light of day Converse All-Star.Unbelievably innovator shoes that brought in, at that time, a relatively young sport – basketball, lots of new features and ideas. , four years later, the company made a brilliant move Converse, employs basketball player Chuck Taylor All-Star who wore as her favorite shoes. In addition, players is becoming a trader company Converse and brand design. On all models Converse – Chuck Taylor All-Stars appears his signature sneakers ever confirms a legend. Connection and Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers in the world became indivisible.Converse as one of the first manufacturers in the world and sneakers Chuck Taylor as a basketball superstar of his time. Present Converse Conversky most famous are forever All-Stars, but the list of models of this brand does not end. Became less popular as basketball shoes from 1986 that bear the name The Weapon. The model also underwent Weapon reissue, the first in 2002, when they came to the ceremony itself Teen Choice Awards Kobe Bryant and the other in 2003 under the name The Loaded Weapon. All models from Converse is produced for years in a wide variety of colors and finishes.Converse was one of the first trainers in the world and certainly will not be the last. At least take care of it, Nike, Converse brand that already own some that Friday. Chuck Taylor All Star – (also known as â€Å"Chucks†, â€Å"Cons†, â€Å"Conies†) are shoes of 20 century that it all began. The original canvas and rubber boots classic Chuck Taylor All Star is the idol of America, which has sold over 750 million pairs in 144 countries Converse Sports Lifestyle – footwear is designed to be worn on the street, in clubs and schools.The different shapes are inspired by the urban youth skate shoes and white leather shoes that are clear leaders in the field of urban fashion. Inextricably linked with the history and heritage of Converse shoes are developed for life outside playground and playing field. Converse One Star – are popular with skateboarding and surfing community as retro, alternative lifestyle that represents originality and individuality.One Star shoes, created in 1970, triggered the era of wearing shoes for all styles of so-called â€Å"India† athletes, individuals whose lifestyle and sport go hand in hand with creativity, imagination and sebevyjadrenim. Converse Performance Basketball – a new class of footwear was designed to play on the playground and in the halls with an emphasis on comfort, protection and style. With the same simple and characteristics as their predecessors have shoes Converse features a new generation of advanced technology, functional design and original style which allows players to peak performance and presentation skills.

Persuasive speech – We are in this room today, as children, to reflect on a sad trut

We are in this room today, as children, to reflect on a sad truth. We have, today, been to several classes. Indeed, this is our weekly routine: school. Many of you dislike school but have you ever considered how lucky you are ? For instance, many children around the world are not as privileged as we are. According to the UNICEF, an estimated 250 million children in the world are in regular employment or as it is commonly referred to, suffer from the worst form of child labour At the moment, at the very same time as you and I are in this classroom, children in Soudan are working in coal mines are crawling in small tunnels which could collapse at any moment, causing death or serious injuries to the young miners. At the moment, girls in India are making bricks in the 40 degrees heat for house and are carrying them on their backs for up to as 10 miles to their destination. Also, at this same moment, children in Thailand are working in factories doing the same repetitive and tedious job all day long while dreaming of having the privilege to be educated. We are here today to fight against the worst form of child labour. Our opposite party might say that the role of children in child labour is essential to a family's economy. Many people in favor of child labour say that without children helping their parents in farms for example, the family will not be able to harvest the food in time resulting in starvation in wintertime and possible death. Those in favour of child labour ask us: as we protest against child labour, do we realize that millions of families would die of starvation ? This is why, those against child labour now fight against the worst forms of child labour. I believe that children should have the right to go to school and be properly educated. Don't you ? I believe that children should have the right to stop working when their work is unnecessary to their family's welfare. Don't you agree ? As one observer says: â€Å"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow , yet we forget that he or she is someone today.† I believe that childhood is one of the most important stage of life. It is a time that is precious, a child should grow up in innocence and should not be working. Someone once said: † All things are difficult before they are easy.† Yes, stopping the worst form of child labour will be difficult at first but with your help, we can make a difference ! I personally believe that a person with hope and courage can change the world ! Martin Luther King said: † All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.†Our work to stop child labour will and can uplift humanity and change the lives of millions of children who work in the most horrific conditions. I believe that, together; we can change the world. But to do so, we will need help. We will need help to free the millions of children who suffer from the worst form of child labour. So join us, today, in the struggle to stop child labour !

Not required Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Not required - Essay Example This cohesion between airline companies results to better perform in relation to customer service as well as the air transport. Although the extent of cohesion varies across alliances, it has been observed that they are more profitable to small airline entities. This essay will look at the three major airline airlines that are recognized on the international platform including Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam. Additionally, the essay looks into Alaska airline that is a key flyer in the US and other international destinations. Finally, the paper looks into the advantages and disadvantages of global airlines. This is the first airline global alliance that is discussed in the paper. First, it is the smallest alliance that currently has thirteen members; however, this number is expected to rise in the coming years. The alliance was established in 1999 by the airline companies that were competing with Sky Team (Weber and Sparks, 2004). Examples of these members include: Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, American Airlines and British Airways. The alliance has 981 destinations and it operates in 151 countries. The yearly capacity is 475 passengers; it has a fleet of 3,283 aircrafts and 14,244 departures on a daily. The top five members elect airlines that have the highest number of flights include TAM, British Airways, Iberaia, US Airways and American Airlines (The Points Guy, 2014). It can be argued the alliance is undeniably the best in redeeming domestic and global cabin topnotch awards. Six carriers have well-established global first rate cabins including Cathay Pacific, British Airways, American, Cathay Pacific, Malysian Airline, Qantas and JAL. This is the second global alliance in the airline industry. Based on the recent statistics, the alliance has nineteen members. This alliance was formed in 2000. It operates in 178 nations across the globe and has 1024

Reflective Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reflective Report - Essay Example After my graduation would like work as an auto dealers to learn additional selling skills. Researching on more luxury brand through reading makes up part of my future goals. With this, I will be acquainted with information regarding the brands background, their strategies and target market. Using this information, I will be in a better position to compete effectively in the market. During the field research, I came up with a budget that was derived from an informed price and product quotations made after sending an email to the Fast Copy Company requesting the same. Consequently, the feed back report served a great deal with regard to influencing the number and types of fliers to be produced. In developing the deliverables identified in my proposal, I considered the need to increase their young listeners. To ensure the success of this project my team together with the Client opted to undertake active work during the class from Monday through Friday between 9:00am and 10:40 am. In addition, Email became an important means used to contact the clients. The development of our deliverables followed the production of three different flyers for Arizona Public Media KUAZ. This included three sets of 300 fliers each with various colors of 20lb and printed on neon paper. Here, each of the three members was responsible over production of a single style flier. Following this project, I learned that while working with client a person needs to get prior knowledge on some issue. These issues include the problem facing the clients at that moment as you are doing business, the aspects of a product or service that a client wants to change, and the specific need that usually is the driving force for the step taken. There are also other lessons that I learned of which I did not expect. This include the use a computer program referred as publisher to make fliers, the use of Email to

Cigar Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Cigar Smoking - Essay Example The first factory cigar in United States was established in 1810 in Connecticut. As the use of cigars gained popularity its manufacturing spread to other parts of the country. By the 1880s and the 1900s, cigars counted for the main form of the tobacco use, of which most of which was grown and distributed locally. By the beginning of the 19th century, of the tobacco used by adults, the amount used in form of cigars was approximately two to seven and a half pound per adult in U.S. (USDA 1997, Burns et al 1997). However during the World War I as the use of cigarettes gained popularity the use of tobacco form cigars declined. The tobacco used in cigars is substantially forming the one used in the manufacture of cigarettes. The form of tobacco used in the cigar filler, wrappers and binder is actually air-cured rather than flue-cured the one used in the cigarettes. Moreover the cigar tobacco is then aged and introduced to a several step fermentation process which allows it to be useable fo r a long period and also determines the aroma and flavor aspects of a particular type of a cigar. The cigars marketed in the use that are considered to be smaller ones usually have straighter bodies, weighing between 1.3 to 2.5 grams, whereas larger ones are usually of lengths 110 to 115 millimeters longer and of the diameter of about 17 millimeters and usually filled with 5 to 17 grams if cigars. On the other hand most brands of the cigarettes contain about one gram of tobacco and usually are of 85mm in length. (Burns, p. 1-20) I believe cigar smoking is bad for following three reasons: 1. Risk of Diseases The form of smoke that comes from both the cigarettes and cigars is the outcome of the incomplete combustion of tobacco, thus it can surely be said the smoke of cigar has the similar hazardous affects as to that of cigarettes, thus it also comprises of the carcinogenic constituents and toxic gases. As just discussed that per piece cigar contains a larger amount of tobacco than the cigarette therefore it takes more time to smoke a whole cigar thus creating more smoke. Moreover, the carbon monoxide burned per unit is more due to the lower porosity of the cigar wrappers. And as the content of cigars is concentrated in nitrate therefore it leads to larger concentrations of ammonia, nitrogen oxides and carcinogenic N-nitrosamines. The tar of the cigar smoke, when introduced to the animals, proved to be more carcinogenic than that of the cigarettes. In additions there is very little evidence from the premium manufacturers of cigars that suggest that cigars lead to less hazardous than cigarettes. It is however clear that if not more cigar smoke is as equally carcinogenic and toxic to that of the cigarettes and the disease risks are highly subjective depending upon the trend of its use and differences in inhalation of smoke and retention and deposition of cigar and cigarette smoke in comparison to differences in frequency of use and composition of smoke. (Davies and Day, p. 363-8) In the cases when the cigar smokers who haven't ever used any other tobacco products are compared to he the individual who haven't used any form of product, by

The Concept of Leadership in the media Assignment - 1

The Concept of Leadership in the media - Assignment Example It further elaborates the benefits of ethic and social responsibility in customer in company operations. The article looks into a new workplace diversity system to assist employers to create fairer and diverse workplace. The article explains further the need to have diversity in workplace in relation to economy and performance of the firm (DuBrin, 2011). Promotion of diversity in workplace makes employees from minority feel secure and become more productive. This type of platform for training on diverse employment assists in improving ability of employees working together and productivity. The article comes from women agenda website that which reports only facts. Article gives a good tool in improving and managing diversity at workplace. Saly, J. (March 05, 2015). Workplace diversity. It makes cents. Women’s Agenda.Web. March 14, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/top-stories/workplace-diversity-it-makes-cents/201503045395#.VQQZf-T4VKo Vanderhorst, D. (March 6, 2015). FPAA summit emphasizes social responsibility. The Packer. Web. March 14, 2015. Retrieved from

To what extent does the Wal-Mart motivation mode inspire employees Essay

To what extent does the Wal-Mart motivation mode inspire employees - Essay Example the development of business in the modern society requires that high consideration be given to motivation, which must be directed to the individuals that are responsible for the business decision making. In order to provide a clear framework for the scholars interested in this area of study, we will need to discuss the major forms of motivations as suggested by earlier researchers and outline clearly how they influence the growth of business. We will also see how they affect the employees in a diverse way. In addition, we will make suggestions of more forms of motivation that are not covered in this area of study. Apart from merely stating the major reasons for the exploration of these forms of motivation, we will identify the major weaknesses that have lead to the limitation of the power of prediction by the previously conducted researches on the same topic. This is rooted from the basic principle of continuity as should be exhibited by research. We therefore offer explicit outcomes for any future research adoption to clear the industry

Algebraic expressions.Elementary and Intermediate Algebra Essay Example for Free

Algebraic expressions.Elementary and Intermediate Algebra Essay Algebraic expressions Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the introduction to Algebra, the first assignment for the first week will involve using real numbers in place of integers to simplify expressions. Everyone needs to take his/her time to grasp the rules and the steps which are followed in algebra as this will form a concrete base for the algebraic expression understanding. One needs to understand the mathematical fundamental elements so as not to incur problems in solving any algebraic problems. For instance, one needs to be clear with the properties of integers as these are the same properties which apply to the real numbers. The first step in dealing with equations is removing the parenthesis. If an equation requires you remove the parenthesis from the equation, distribution becomes a necessity. Like terms should be grouped together when multiplying the integers that are inside the parenthesis to perform any indicated operation (Dugopolski, M.(2012  ), 2, p.67).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The following is how I attempted to handle the assigned equations in the simplest form. In the left side of the page, I have put the mathematic equation, and in the right side there is my explanation of the steps I followed. 2a(a-5)+4(a-5) Equation =2a ²-10a+4a-20 remove the distributive properties from the parenthesis = 2a ² -6a-20 then we get the coefficient. =a ²- 3a 10 then we simplify the expression. In the next equation, 2.  2w-3+3(w-4)-5(w-6) the equation =2w-3+3w-12-5w+30   remove the distributive properties from the parenthesis =2w+3w-5w-3-12+30 then we get the coefficients and. =15 combine them In the third equation, 3. 0.05(0.3m+35n)-0.8(-0.09n-22m) the equation =0.015m+1.75n+0.072n+17.6m remove the distributive property from the parenthesis =0.015m+17.6m+1.75n+0.072n simplify by putting the like terms together and =17.615m+1.822n combine them References Dugopolski, M. (2012  ). Elementary and Intermediate Algebra. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Source document

Algorithm For Segmentation Of Urdu Script English Language Essay

Algorithm For Segmentation Of Urdu Script English Language Essay Segmentation of script plays a vital role in script recognition. It is vital to understand the script that is used in writing a document before developing or using a model to recognize it. Chain codes etc. In ligature model, word model is used at document, page and word level for segmentation. Our algorithm for segmentation of Urdu script used character model and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to enhance work done previously. We have extracted features from images and calculated the maximum likelihood to match characters in inference algorithm with a feature extracted from a text sample. The main features used in the system will be pre-processing, connected component analysis, recognition and segmentation of text up to character level. The algorithm will provide a means to implement an Urdu OCR system on the basis of the character model. Keywords Preprocessing, Segmentation of characters, character model, Optical character recognition (OCR), max and argmax. Introduction We use an OCR system / scanner to get images of text [1]. Into preprocessing image will be converted to noiseless B/W image. 1.1 Segmentation Segmentation is dividing an image into smaller segments or pieces [2]. Segmentation occurs on two levels. At first level both text and graphics are separated for further processing. At second level, segmentation is performed on text to separate paragraphs, words, and characters etc. Segmentation of text can be performed on a document, page, paragraph and character levels [3]. They suggested various segmentation approaches namely [4]. Holistic Method Segmentation based approach Segmentation free approach In holistic method whole word is classified using a dictionary, the features of test input are matched against trained prototypes [5]. The limitation is that the method is not good for larger classes and it can only be used with the other two methods. Segmentation divides a word into smaller segments. The image of the word is broken up into several entities called graphemes [4]. Segmentation depends on human intuition. In segmentation free approach character model can be used to concatenate characters and form words. For instance segmentation free approach can be based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM) that is a stochastic model. 1.2. Urdu Language and Text Segmentation Urdu is a cursive (written with the characters joined) writing language. Urdu language characters are similar in shape and have curves that make it difficult to recognize by a machine. Moreover it has more than one symbol to represent a character. Due to its cursive nature characters / scripts in Urdu language are hard to recognize by a computer program. A very accurate technique is needed to recognize / understand Urdu characters. Urdu characters have four elementary shapes Basic Symbols (38 Symbols) Table 1 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Beginning Symbols (26 Symbols) Table 2 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Mid Symbols (40 Symbols) Table 3 shows the basic symbols / shapes for Urdu Language. Other Symbols This includes symbols for numbers, special symbols like zabar, zair, paish etc. The symbol tables, Table 1, Table 2, Table3 and Table 4, for Urdu language are given below as: Table1. Basic Symbols Table 2. Beginning Symbols Table 3. Mid Symbols Table 4. Other Symbols We used Urdu script Nastaliq for our work. We extracted images for Urdu character set like basic, beginning, mid and other symbols using available Nastaliq font. Literature Review In a structural approach to script identification, stroke geometry has been utilized for script characterization and identification [6]. Individual character images in a document are classified either by applying a prototype classification or by using support vector machine. Ligatures are used for segmentation / recognition of Urdu characters. The ligature is a sequence of characters in a word separated by non-joiner characters like space. Their approach in [1] used ligature model and it is divided into two stages: Line Segmentation Line segmentation deals with the detection of text lines in the image. The image is scanned horizontally from right to left direction, upwards to downwards, in search of a text pixel. Afterwards, it is determined whether this pixel belongs to a primary ligature or a secondary ligature as shown in Fig 1. The freeman chain codes (FCC) of the ligature are compared with already calculated FCC of the secondary ligatures. Character Segmentation The text is skeletonized and a label matrix is constructed which contains the identifiers of all ligatures in the image. The position of individual characters in a word is determined. Segmentation is done using primary ligatures only. Fig 1. (a) Urdu word (b) Seven ligatures (c) Three Primary ligatures (d) Four Secondary ligatures [7]. Limitations of the method are: firstly, they performed segmentation on the basis of primary ligatures only, therefore, it will not differentiate between seen and sheen because it will ignore secondary ligatures i.e. dots. Secondly, dictionary of images stored for training will be huge. Thirdly, there are problems of over segmentation and under segmentation. In [8], they have proposed a ligature and word model for Urdu word segmentation. It was done in three phases: In 1st phase, data is collected. They identified Ligatures and calculated word probabilities using probabilistic measure. From the input set of ligatures, all sequences of words are generated and ranked using the lexicon lookup. In the 2nd phase, top k sequences are selected using a selected beam value for further processing. It uses valid words heuristic for selection process. In the third phase, maximum probable sequence from these k word sequences is selected. Their method used dictionary of ligatures/words, chain codes, and to find best probable sequences they used HMM toolkit HTK to recognize a word / ligature. They have recommended that their work can be further improved by using the character model for Urdu text segmentation [9]. A poor segmentation will lead to poor recognition [10]. They divided image into smaller blocks, check for uniformity, group uniform block using color similarity and identify text in this block [11]. They used edge density based noise detection to segment out text areas in video/ images [12]. Segmentation of an image into text and non-text regions effect performance in OCR development [13]. They proposed line segmentation method using histogram equalization, indicated various problems and text line into ligature using chain codes [14]. They presented bounding box based approach for segmentation of table of contents in Urdu script [15]. They analyzed horizontal and vertical projection profiles for line and character segmentation. Misclassification occurs at character level [16]. They proposed text line extraction using vertical projection, marking all points where pixel values are not found and text line into ligatures using stroke geometry [17]. They proposed identification of partial words (i.e. connected components) in text line and using horizontal / vertical projections to identify words using relative distance matching [18]. They used dictionary for text line and ligature segmentation in online text [19]. Problem Statement Previous work has limitations that it cannot correctly perform segmentation in few cases and there will be misclassification problems. Moreover it can recognize a limited set of connected components or ligatures only. Proposed Segmentation Algorithm We will enhance previous work by proposing an improved algorithm for Urdu script segmentation that will use a character model. For this purpose we have created a set of characters. There are about 114 characters excluding some special characters like zabar, zair, paish etc. We have used characters of fixed size and style in this work. We are using all the variations of each character in a writing style e.g. bay has three shapes a basic, a beginning and mid shapes. Our algorithm uses a character model with Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) for segmentation of Urdu text. To the best of our knowledge, this work has not been done previously. We have offline text i.e., scanned pre-processed B/W Urdu characters and we are using Matlab ver. 7.12 as programming tool. 4.1 Our Method Our method is divided into three broad steps: Step#1 Data Acquisition / Feature Extraction: In the first step, algorithm transforms images of symbols into binary form as a matrix. Then extract features from the images using our feature extraction program and store it into a disk. These features are represented as hidden states: X(i) = { x(0), x(1), . . . , x (k)} where each X (i) represents a feature (in matrix form) for each shape in an Urdu character set; x (k) is a position vector in the matrix X (i). Step#2 Get Observed data: The observed data contain sequences of Urdu characters. In our study we have used a line of Urdu text. After acquiring this filtered image, we have transformed it into binary form. Then extracted features from an image using our feature extraction program. This feature contains several Urdu characters in it. The algorithm will scan it and perform segmentation by calculating maximum probabilities with hidden states and locating observations in feature using HMMs. These observations form observable states: O(i) = { o(0), o(1), . . . , o(k)} where each O(i) represents feature (in matrix form) for each shape in observed states; o(k) is a positional vector in matrix O(i). Step#3 Apply HMMs: We are given: Hidden states: X(i) = { x(1), x(2), . . . , x(k)} where i = 1,2, †¦ , m (for m characters). Observable states: O(i) = { o(1), o(2), . . . , o(k)} where i = 1,2, †¦ , n. Initial Distribution X(0). In a hidden Markov model the state variable x(i) is observable only through its measurements o(i). Now, suppose that a sequence O(i) of emission has been observed. Fig 2 shows transformation of a character and an observed sequence that are captured using MATLAB matrices. (a) (b) Fig 2: (a) A m x n matrix showing Urdu character Alif. (b) Sample observation showing a connected component of two characters bay and alif spelled out ba. Instead of using characters our algorithm extracted features from all the characters to reduce computation complexity. These features will be used as hidden states in HMM i.e. x(i) and are stored on disk for example, features showing character alif and bay, captured using MATLAB, are shown below in fig 3. (a) (b) (c) Fig 3. (a) Feature for character Alif, (b) Feature for character Bay and (c) Feature for sample S(i) taken from word ba i.e. bay-alif. The algorithm extracts feature from line of sample text S(i). In forward algorithm, the feature s(1), †¦ , s(k) is matched against each of the hidden states x(i) by matching rows of x(i) with rows of S(i). The process continues for all characters and stops after calculating probabilities for all the characters i.e. P(X(i)|Z(i)). Afterwards it finds the maximization of probability and in this way it finds observation O(1) from the S(1). The forward algorithm will continue from s(k+1), †¦, s(L) to find observations O(2), †¦ , O(n). If there is more than one probable character, then we can use a so called Viterbi algorithm that will find argmax and will give the optimal probable sequence if we are not near to actual results. The algorithm for the HMMs is as under: Algorithm Segsha (S, L) j=1 while ( j < L ) for i = 1 to n Sample s(j) ~ {w} wi = pr(s(j)|X(i)) end-for O(i) = O(i) U {max( wi )} s(j) = s(j) + 1 end-while Where S is a sample feature of vectors obtained from an observed sequence O(i) i.e., a line of Urdu text; L is the dimension of S (length of S); S(j) is a sample taken from S each time to match against character feature X(i) and probability of matching will give us weights, wi, for each character; max(wi) is maximization of probability that proceeds as follows: Here max(wi) can be calculated by comparing wi ~ w and calculated by using the eq.1 [20]. Result A total of 1200 words were used that include all the characters in our character set. Sample scanned text was taken from Nastaliq font with point size 36. We found that 1176 out of 1200 were completely recognized. Not the whole word but only one or two characters in a word were misclassified. The accuracy of 97% was very encouraging for us and we are looking forward to work further in this area. Conclusion We tested our approach on images of text taken from Nastaliq font scanned at 300 dpi and found that better results can be achieved by using HMM with the character model. These results were checked on a prototype using a set of characters. We have achieved 97% accuracy. Future Work and Enhancements In future we are planning on two things: 1. To eliminate restriction of fixed font size and style. 2. To work with handwritten Urdu text. We will use both of the options using the same method but that is another story.