Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Concept of Environmental Ethic in Society

Environmental ethics is a relatively new field, but it already gives rise to numerous debates among philosophers and scientists. The articles that are included in this portfolio are aimed at discussing the ways in which people should think about nature and other species.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concept of Environmental Ethic in Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The authors discuss a variety of approaches to this problem, for example, deontological perspective or utilitarianism. In my view, people have to accept the premise that their survival is dependent on the sustainability of environment. Overall, it seems that in the future, environmental ethics can shape laws, and daily activities of companies or individuals, yet, at its principles have not been fully articulated. One of the issues that are highlighted by the authors is the anthropocentrism of contemporary environmental ethics. In other words , even people who are not indifferent of environmental problems, think about them only because they can have an impact on human life. For instance, people can focus on such issue as water and air pollution, oil spills, or the depletion of natural resources. Yet, very little attention is paid to inherent value of environment. This framework implies that nature has to be fully subordinate to the people. This perspective also suggests that many environmental problems can be overlooked provided that they do not directly affect the activities of people.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, the extinction of many species can be made acceptable because it does not impact people. I agree with scholars who critique this utilitarian interpretation of environmental ethics. The thing is that ecosystem is not a set of independent elements; in most cases, they are closely interc onnected. For instance, the extinction of birds or animals can eventually affect forests and even lead to deforestation of many areas. This is why one should not look at the environment only from utilitarian perspective. The problem is that many people cannot see the inherent value of nature. This question is not only theoretical because it can affect various human activities, for instance, animal activities or the preservation of endangered species. The second question that these reading made think of is how one can make environmental ethics obligatory for organizations and individuals. Certainly, there can be different approaches to environmental ethics. One can take utilitarian or deontological perspectives, but it is always possible to institutionalize the principles of environmental ethics. The problem is that some organizations only claim to care about environment, but these claims are not always backed up by their actions. Besides, many companies are simply forces to follow t he environmental regulations imposed by states. Yet, there is no internal stimulus for them to do it.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Concept of Environmental Ethic in Society specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Secondly, the articles included in the portfolio prompt individuals to reevaluate their views on nature and environmental problems. So, one has to formulate the principles that people should follow. This is why I support the idea of environmental ethics. In view, researchers and thinkers, why try to establish its key principles, can help governments avert many problems. This discussion shows that the key principles of environmental ethics still have to be formulated and turned into norms. Although this field of ethics is relatively new it can organizations and individuals. Overall, the debates over these questions may not be settled in the near future. Yet, the fact that this issue is discussed by intellect uals indicates that people’s attitude toward environment can change in the future. This essay on Concept of Environmental Ethic in Society was written and submitted by user Jadiel K. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Face Recognition Applications for Mobile Video Devices The WritePass Journal

Face Recognition Applications for Mobile Video Devices Abstract Face Recognition Applications for Mobile Video Devices AbstractChapter 1: Introduction1.1 Project Objectives1.2 Introduction to the concepts of Face Recognition1.3 Recognition Techniques1.3.1 Previous Work 1.4 The ORL Database of FacesChapter 2: Initial Research and Development2.1 Synopsis2.2 Compressing the images (Dimensionality Reduction)2.3 Principal Component Analysis2.3.1 IntroductionChapter 4: References and Related Abstract Automatic face detection and recognition has proved to have significant potential as a research and development topic in image and real time video processing. Though complex, demanding and often error prone, a well-built face recognition system has considerable applicability in biometric scanning for airport control or in any field that requires security and surveillance measures. Even more, there is high demand from mobile companies for challenging face recognition and detection applications for devices whose video cameras have enhanced a great deal in recent years. This project is looking to investigate face recognition techniques and classification algorithms such as principal component analysis and nearest-neighbour algorithm, methods for performing face detection using Haar-like filters and implementing such concepts in a fully functional and tested system Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Project Objectives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The aim of this project was to research techniques for performing face recognition and detection by machines, implement and assess the applicability of such a system and test the system. The specific objectives were the following: To understand the basics of face recognition techniques and algorithms such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Nearest Neighbour Algorithm To understand image processing techniques such as resizing, thresholding, greyscale conversion, histogram equalization To develop a real-time face recognition algorithm using PCA To   test the system performance on a database of people such as the ORL database but also in real-tim 1.2 Introduction to the concepts of Face Recognition Over the last decade the face recognition area has become a subject of great interest due to its applicability in many fields such as Computer Vision and Biometrics and it is advancing rapidly in potentially becoming one of the greatest research topics in understanding human behaviour. The act of recognising a face is an extremely simple human act for your average individual so much so that it is not even consciously acknowledged. Take the case of a person watching their favourite show on television: as soon as the protagonist pops up onto the screen their face is instantly recognised and this behavioural act, simple as it may seem at a first glance, is what started computer face recognition research. Only by trying to design a system that has some of the capabilities of a human being, that you actually begin to appreciate this amazing gift. Face Recognition Systems have their uses in many fields such as security human tracking and biometrics in controlled environments (environments in which the system is provided with the right parameters so that it will function correctly such as proper lighting, correct body posture) but also shows commercial potential for mobile devices. Having the capability to recognise human faces on your hand-held device would be a major achievement and would help to integrate such systems into the human world. But what should we focus on if we wish to build a face recognition system? Comparison of static images is a simple thing to implement in a program but recognition is much more than this. When we look at a person’s face the image our brain receives is mostly different at every moment in time: the facial expression, the eye focus, the angle of the head are all different. The word â€Å"mostly† is used intentionally to reflect the fact that the similarities between images are the key to solving the face recognition problem. These similarities are what allows a person to distinguish a person from another but also to tell that a couple of images are of the same person. There is always a pattern between images of a person and finding a way of exploiting this characteristic in a systematic way is paramount to the face recognition topic. The project focuses on investigating eigenfaces for recognition (PCA) and how they might be used to recognise faces. Image processing techniques have been investigated, with the goal of constructing a functional facial recognition system. Moreover, face detection techniques have been researched, which are used to detect and isolate faces contained within an image. The two topics, detection and recognition were implemented separately for improved testability, but were later integrated into a final system that provides real-time detection and recognition of people, using a video camera. 1.3 Recognition Techniques 1.3.1 Previous Work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Previous work in the field of facial recognition has focused on detecting individual features such as eyes, nose, mouth and head outline and defining a model for the relationship between these features [1]. Even though this approach has proven to be inefficient because the relationships between facial features is insufficient to account for the way human recognition works [1]. The first research to attempt to build a semi-automated recognition system was Woody Bledsoe in the 1960’s [3]. His system involved tracing major facial features manually such as eye corner, nose tip, mouth corners etc. He then calculated the normalized difference of these features from a reference point and compared the differences with a set of reference data.   The process was slow as the calculations had to be done manually, so his system was far from automatic. Later on, Goldstein, Harmon Lensk [4] created a system that used 21 of these features in standard classification techniques but it proved to be hard to automate. The first to provide a systematic way of performing face recognition were Turk and Pentland in the 1980’s in their widely known paper â€Å"Eigenfaces for Recognition†[1]. Their technique uses Principal Component Analysis to reduce the dimensionality of a set of components used to describe a face as well as noise contained in the set of pictures. In recent years, 3D face recognition has become a popular research topic for its ability to achieve better recognition accuracy due to not being sensitive to lighting changes, head rotation, make-up and change in facial expression, factors which heavily and negatively affect 2D recognition methods [5].   Drawbacks of such systems include a large amount of necessary memory for storing the faces as 3D meshes and textures. 1.4 The ORL Database of Faces The â€Å"ORL Database of Faces† [6] is a vector of 400 images of 40 individuals which is heavily used in face recognition research. There are 10 different images for each individual and each of them is taken at different times, varying the lighting, facial expressions (open/closed eyes, smiling/not smiling) and facial details (wearing glasses or makeup). The same background is used in all the photos, with the subjects standing in upright, frontal position with a tolerance of about 15-18 degrees for side movement. Figure 1.1: The 40 subjects in the ORL database Each image has a resolution of 92 x 112 pixels and has been cropped and centered.. The format of the image files is pgm (portable grey map) which is a greyscale formatted array that contains a single 16-bit value for each pixel (the brightness information). This format was used because colour is not required in the recognition process and only one value must be stored and processed for each pixel reducing the complexity of the system. Although taken in a methodical manner (same background, approximately the same lighting conditions) and not fully representative of the arbitrary conditions found in a mobile real-time recognition system (changing lighting conditions, photos taken over long periods of time with significant physical changes present, random background), there is plenty of variation present in the sets that was very useful for initial testing of the prototype recognition system. 1.2 Three 10 image sets of three subjects from the database Chapter 2: Initial Research and Development 2.1 Synopsis This chapter will focus on the findings of the initial research of the project which was necessary to gain an understanding of the requirements for building a prototype facial recognition system and testing it. Research began with understanding basic image processing techniques (bicubic interpolation resizing, greyscale conversion, histogram fitting) that are all required for recognition. Later on, my research was focused on the Eigenface approach (PCA or Karhunen-Loeve transformation), classification and thresholding techniques and way of implementing them in Matlab 2.2 Compressing the images (Dimensionality Reduction) The ORL database is small (in terms of number of photos), with every image containing 92 x 112 pixels/values (10,304). Knowing that each value is 2 bytes and that every value is processed multiple times in the PCA algorithm we can appreciate that without any compression performance of the system will be very slow. Compression or dimensionality reduction is clearly needed in order to save space, achieve better performance and get rid of unnecessary information. 2.3 Principal Component Analysis 2.3.1 Introduction Work previous to PCA or Karhunen-Loeve transformation (KLT) used face features(eyes, nose, mouth) as a means of recognising faces since these features seemed intuitive to the way humans recognize faces.    Chapter 4: References and [1]   Turk and Pentland, Eigenfaces for Recognition. [Online]   face-rec.org/algorithms/PCA/jcn.pdf [2] Wikipedia, Facial recognition system [Online]   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_recognition_system [3]   Bledsoe, Man-Machine Facial Recognition, 1966 [4]   Goldstein, Harmon, and Lesk, â€Å"Identification of Human Faces†, 1971 [5]   Wikipedia, 3D Face Recognition [Online] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dimensional_face_recognition [6]   The ORL Database of Faces, University of Cambridge cl.cam.ac.uk/research/dtg/attarchive/facedatabase.html

Thursday, November 21, 2019

The Good Earth by Pearl S Bucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Good Earth by Pearl S Bucks - Essay Example As with the ox, Wang Lung is reduced to a passive role, burying the infant and contemplating, in so far as hes able, his wifes striking drive to live (Baw 16). This is actually one of the more tragic events that occur in this book. After the birth of her latest child in this chapter, when Wang Lung goes into his wifes room to see how she is and how the baby is, O-Lan tells him that the girl child has died, with the simple word "dead"(Baw 24) However, Wang Lung heard the baby cry after it was born, and so he is somewhat suspicious. When he takes the babys body and sees two â€Å"dark, bruised spots" (Baw 24) on the neck of his daughter, he understands that his wife, driven by desperation of the poverty and want that his family were facing, actually killed her own daughter to spare her a life of starvation and slow, grinding death. Wang Lungs response to this is a sign of the depth of his despair (Baw 23). During the period of the devastating drought and famine, the family has to flee to the south in a large city to find work for them to survive. Wang Lung’s uncle, for significantly lesser value, offers to buy his possessions and land. Expect for the house and land, everything else is sold by the family (Baw 17). Wang Lung later found out that O-lan had a bundle that contained many jewels that were very precious. She had come by the jewels when she, together with her husband, happened to be in a house of a rich man. Wang Lung used the jewels to buy more land (Baw 16). Then there came successive prosperity years and Wang Lung became very rich landowner and farmer. He then decided to educate his sons, ware of the disadvantages of his illiteracy. He now had a boy and girl- twins, apart from the daughter and two sons they had before they went south (Baw 18). Much of Wang Lung changed after he got rich- his attitude, his personality as well as his family life. He started having affairs. He was

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Ethical Issues Surrounding Human Resources Management Practices Term Paper

Ethical Issues Surrounding Human Resources Management Practices - Term Paper Example Since this test is designed to access the psychological factors of an employee in his perception of the world and in taking decision, it is surrounded by a lot of ethical issues. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers based on typological theories originated by Carl Gustav Jung which include introspection and anecdote methods which are largely rejected by the modern psychology. As per Jungs type theory the four cognitive functions, thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition, are related to 1 or 2 orientations, extraverted and introverted, for a total of 8 functions. The Myers-Briggs theory is based on these 8 functions. Neither the Myers-Briggs nor the Jungian models offer any experimental proof to support the existence, of such orientation, or the manifestation of these functions. The MBTI differs from other personality measuring methods. As per MBTI personality types and their traits, both are inborn. Traits like skills can be improved while types like introvert or extrovert is supported by the environment. (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) â€Å"The types the MBTI sorts for, known as dichotomies are extraversion / introversion, sensing / intuition, thinking / feeling and judging / perceiving. Participants are given one of 16 four-letter abbreviations, such as ESTJ or INFP, indicating what their preferences are. The term best-fit types refers to the ethical code that facilitators are required to follow. It states that the person taking the indicator is always the best judge of what their preferences are and that the indicator alone should never be used to make this decision† (Psychologist). The MBTI normally consist of around 100 multiple choice questions with two options for each question. The participants have the right whether to answer or skip a particular

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Family Structure and Support Issues in the US and the Egypt Essay

Family Structure and Support Issues in the US and the Egypt - Essay Example As a result, these two societies have different settings for marriage. In Egypt, marriage has remained to be a social contract between two people from the opposite sex without underestimating the place of polygamy (Amos & Howard 2). On the other hand, marriage in the USA can be defined as the union between two parties of the same or either sex. Divorce in Egypt discredits one of their social standings while in the USA one gets viewed like a hero (Abrams 61). Nevertheless, divorce exists in both societies.  American culture got created out of a mixture of people, the majority being Christians, this gets evidenced by the national holidays of the USA and also in the national anthem. Egypt, on the other hand, is formed by a majority of Muslims. Religion governs a people's political, economic, legal and personal lives (Wertenbruch 43). The American culture is thus more of the German culture than it is of the Egyptian culture since Germany got founded on a Christian religion. There are a number of similarities between, German and American cultures. To begin with music, folklore, dressing and literature are all affiliated with each other. Secondly, the two also share values and norms (Lepenies 39). The American value system got founded on investment more than any other country it can be characterized by, efficiency, neatness and cleanliness, volunteer- ship and honesty. Egypt on her side upholds a value system characterized by integrity, transparency, unity, and hard work.... Divorce in Egypt discredits one of their social standing while in the USA one get viewed like a hero (Abrams 61). Nevertheless, divorce exists in both societies. Question 3 American culture got created out of a mixture of people, majority being Christians, this get evidenced by the national holidays of the USA and also in the national anthem. Egypt, on the other hand, is formed by a majority of Muslims. Religion governs a people's political, economic, legal and personal lives (Wertenbruch 43). The American culture is thus more of the German culture than it is of the Egyptian culture since Germany got founded on a Christian religion. There are a number of similarities between, German and American cultures. To begin with music, folklore, dressing and literature are all affiliated to each other. Secondly, the two also share values and norms (Lepenies 39). The American value system got founded on investment more than any other country it can be characterized by, efficiency, neatness and cleanliness, volunteer- ship and honesty. Egypt on her side upholds a value system characterized with integrity, transparency, unity, and hard work. Question 4 A secular society has no state religion. A secular society is heterogeneous and highly individualistic. Statistics show that America has all religions inclusive of atheists. A sacred society on the contrary is one that has a state religion and is primarily homogeneous, perfect examples of sacred societies are Vatican and Madina (Allen 77). During the time of ousting Hussein Mubarak, all people in Egypt participated but due to the extent of religion women live with deprived freedom. For instance, women cannot make decisions for themselves even unto a lifetime spouse in marriage. To expound on the extent of religion in Egypt is the

Friday, November 15, 2019

Social Determinants of Health

Social Determinants of Health Q1. The Social determinants of health is the observed social, economic, mental and environmental health factors that affect the quality of life of society or its people. The basic formation of these factors have been separated and placed into 10 different categories social gradients, stress, early life, social exclusion, work, unemployment, social support, addiction, food and transport (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). One example of a social determinant of health is the social gradient. The social gradient is a socio-political theory that places people on a social ladder and categorises them based on their overall financial, social and hierarchical standing in society (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). The social gradient demonstrates that life expectancy is shorter and affliction of disease is higher if you reside further down the social ladder (Marmot Wilkinson, 2006). The social gradient demonstrates the effect of social standing on people and how it effects quality o f life, therefore making it a Social Determinant of Health. Q2. Causes of the causes is a term used to describe the social determinants of health for each category and how it may impact upon the other categories. For example Marmot and Wilkinson state that it is not an accident that people regularly consume food with high saturated fat and salt content. What causes this to occur is food availability, culture, affordability and culture as well as many other possible external influences (Marmot Wilkinson, 2006). Then if healthy food prices were to escalate, poorer citizens would struggle to purchase healthy food. The poorer citizens then resort to purchasing cheaper and unhealthier food which contain unhealthy amounts of sugar and fats. These sugar and fats then cause obesity, heart problems and many other diseases and illnesses that effect these people of lower socio-economic status (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). This demonstrates that one category caused an effect in another. In Fig. 8. in the book EN: Social determinants of health it shows the mortality rate from coronary heart disease in comparison to fruit and vegetable supply in selected European countries. (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010) This graph demonstrates that a decrease in health food supplies in kg/per person/per year causes an increase in standardised death rates aged 35-74. There is a direct effect of food prices going up as lack of supply, these items would become less affordable as well as vice versa. A good diet and adequate food supply are main areas of health promotion and overall well-being of a person. (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010) These cause and effect issues are the main issues in dealing with health problems as one change could drastically effect the lives of Australian citizens, particularly those who are in a lower socio-economic standings. (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010) Q3. Barbara is a 52 year old unemployed, single mother who has fallen on hard times. She receives inadequate payments from the government via the Newstart allowance scheme, and struggles to pay off her car loan and rent. Barbara has many problems, however the main focus of this question will be on her social support, her ability to cope with the mental and physical stresses of her life and her health issues involving her current unemployment. Barbara describes her social life as being ‘non-existent’ as a result of her financial difficulties and doesn’t normally get to see her friends, now simple socialising events such as grabbing a coffee with her friends is seen as a luxurious expenditure (Thompson Ramsay, 2013). Socialising is an important experience within our lives, without the help and support and friendship of others, maintaining quality of life would be near impossible. Lack of a social life can even lead to physical problems as explained in the book ‘Social Determinants of Health the Solid Facts’ on the graph Fig. 6 (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). The graph shows results gathered of both male and females in America, Where the age-adjusted mortality rates are compared with level of social integration. The graph demonstrates a correlation of when there is a decrease of social integration, it results in an increase of age-adjusted mortality rate (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). This highlights that we are a social species, isolation can be very damaging and could cause a variety of mental anguish and mentals issues such as depression or even physical problems like an increase of disability from chronic diseases (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). As evident in Fig. 6, lack of social integration can cause physical harm to our bodies and is a quintessential in maintaining our physical health (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). Therefore, Barbara’s lack of social behaviour increases her risk of dying slightly, as small as the increase is, these small Health factors can easily pile up and cause large changes in quality of life. Barbara’s stress mainly forms from her recent unemployment and her increasing debt of her car loan, which escalated to be more than the actual car is worth (Thompson Ramsay, 2013). This emotional strain can be observed on Barbara’s face as she received a Coles gift card for 60 dollars from the Spiers Centre employee (Thompson Ramsay, 2013). Barbara becomes emotional and continually thanks the Spiers centre employee for helping her with her current situation, she highlighted that she would for once be able to pay for her own groceries and toiletries instead of resorting to borrowing them. Barbara’s Stress could also can activate the flight or fight response in the body, resulting increase in heart rate and alertness by stored energy from diverging blood to the muscles, this is known as the stress response (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). Turning on this stress response â€Å"diverts energy and resources away from physiological processes important to long -term health maintenance† (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). Therefore, during periods of long durations of continued stress can lead to increase vulnerability of a wide range of conditions and diseases such as â€Å"diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, depression and aggression† (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2010). The major cause of the Barbara’s other two issues stated can be linked back to her unemployment. Due to her lack of income, she has resorted to many desperate attempts to keep herself afloat financially. This includes buying items based on budget instead of necessity. The fact that she lost her job as a result of poor health indicates that she was having health issues even before finance and employment were specific problems in her life (Thompson Ramsay, 2013). Therefore, the current events would only aggravate her situation of stress and social isolation she currently is experiencing. Q4. The basic fundamentals of stress can be outlined by what are the causes of stress in the first place and what can be done to remedy these stress factors? According to the Australian Psychological Society, â€Å"Australians aged 18-25 and 46-55 reported the lowest levels of wellbeing† (The Australian Psychological Society, 2014). Stress is caused by many factors, majority of these factors are the result of financial and family issues which is the leading cause of stress amongst Australian citizens (The Australian Psychological Society, 2014). Similar to all previous surveys conducted, issues involving health concerns are frequently rated as sources of stress to people who experience personal health issues, problems with maintaining their healthy and active lifestyle and also issues where a close person’s health has been compromised (The Australian Psychological Society, 2014). With this information you can easily target particular age groups that are experiencing the se issues more than others, and try to involve not just informative ways of creating prevention and improvement but also with the use of practical techniques. Stresses in life come from expectations we have for ourselves, as well as expectation from others for us. In a radio interview with Terence Cheng a researcher from the University of Melbourne’s Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, studied and identified statistics that proved the existence of a midlife crisis, Ashley Hall a reporter for the ABC asked about his findings into. Terence Cheng’s study shows that after the age of 18 there is a gradual decline in happiness until the age of around 40 to 42 years old (Hall, 2014). The stresses in life occur where many events can cause huge outcomes in the happiness of a person, events such as marriage, losing one’s job, illness and death of a close loved one can cause major swings in the happiness and stress of the person experiencing these life events (Hall, 2014). Alan Oster the National Australia Bank’s chief economist conducted a survey that had similar results from the National Australia Bankâ₠¬â„¢s Quarterly Australian Wellbeing Index. Alan Oster states that â€Å"what weve had is that the lowest tended to be in the 18 to 29 year olds, where I think there was a lot of stress in terms of unemployment† (Hall, 2014). These ages indicate where stress is becoming most of a problem, The Australian Psychological Society and Alan Oster both state that slumps in happiness as well as wellbeing occur around the age of 18 to mid-20s because of unemployment. Australia has an unemployment rate of 6.1% which is 115th in the world (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015; Trading Economics, 2015). We could attribute this to our aging population where there is a total increase of one person every 1 minute and 21 seconds (Australian Bureau of Statistics , 2015). Jobs are drying up as a result of this population increase and therefore my project proposal is to decrease unemployment rates in Australia through funding small and large business, as well as implementing a bonus stimulus for people who have one child or less, in an attempt to slow population growth. The small and large business proposal will be funding small and large businesses for use only allowed on expansion amongst city and urban areas of Australia . This is hoped to create more venues for jobs, allow expansion of companies creating new section for workers, and thus decrease the unemployment rate in Australia.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Ways of Computing the Value of Alternative Projects Essay -- Finance F

Ways of Computing the Value of Alternative Projects When deciding whether to invest in a project an investor first will compare investment or sunk costs to the expected profit and based on this decision will decide what to do. Depending on the specifics of the project calculating of sunk cost and expected profit might be rather different and will play the main role in the decision to invest, wait and invest later or not to invest at all. More detailed consideration of the standard NPV rule: to invest if present value of cash flow is greater than sunk cost will show that some projects cannot be simply estimated using this idea. For the irreversible projects such as building a factory or buying an option NPV method may not be proper because it does not take into consideration the opportunity cost of waiting for new information, and, then investing. In other words, if investor knows that the price of the product producing on the factory will go down or the product will not be sold at all, because of some new competitive product, he will most likely choose not to build it at all. Now, different investment opportunities may be taken into consideration, for example, building the factory in steps or start using the factory for a different use. Let us calculate a value of the project using regular NPV rule and NPV rule that takes into consideration time effect or this opportunity to wait and invest later. These calculation have been done by many researchers, but Pindick and Dixit in their book Investment Under Uncertainty propose very easy way to compare different results. We will just use their idea but with a simpler numbers and show how different ways of computing provide different results. On this simple example we can lear... ...umption of presenting net present value as a geometric Brownian motion is the most important one and has been implemented in the financial field for a while. Empirical works by financial institutions have shown that such assumption lets investors obtain reasonable results and plan the investment in advance. This technology has been also used in reducing risk on the portfolios when hedging. The obtained results can be easily implemented in the options pricing theory and were applied by Pindick and Dixit in the works. With all the assumptions the model shows realistic results and have been used by many financial institutions since 1980s. References 1. Investment Under Uncertainity, Avinash Dixit and Robert Pindick, Princeton University Press, 1994 2. Investment timing, Robert McDonald and Daniel Siegel, The Quarterly Journal of economics, v.111, 1986

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Veronika Decides to Die

YAK generation girls, she had everything she could wish for. She Is young, pretty and beautiful. She is attractive enough that the list of her boyfriends never ended. She has a steady Job and was blessed to have a loving family. She believed herself to be completely normal. Yet, something was lacking and she Is not happy; and one fine day she decides to die. To find out what was the reason behind such decision, you will have to read the novel and on finding the reason I am sure you will moment â€Å"what a silly reason to die. But If you will give a deep thought you also find yourself getting Irritated while going through same stage. She wished to die smoothly without any pain and so she takes an overdose of sleeping pills only to wake up some days later In Wallet, the local mental hospital or asylum. Unfortunate of not meeting her destiny, she started regretting of being alive but soon was happy to hear from doctor that her heart is damaged and she has only few days to live. Those few days took her to the journey of life where she experienced what deadness is.Of course, what else she could learn in asylum. She got a chance to meet three most important characters of her life in asylum and they were the reason where she understood that the every second of existence is a choice that we make between living and dying. The three characters in asylum; Mari suffering from panic disorder because she wanted to leave everything and help victims of war, Gazed a depressed women searching for her first love and Eduardo a schizophrenic son of Ambassador who wanted to fulfill his dreams or likings going against his parents' wish.All three were normal, but they wanted to do something different and were not allowed to do so but had to follow what other normal people were doing. Did Veronica's stay with Gazed, Mari and Eduardo change the fortune of Veronica? Did she change her decision of dying? But doctor said her heart was already damaged. Did some miracle happen? What happen ed to Gazed, Mari and Eduardo? I won't reveal what impact the three characters had on Veronica, you will have to find out on your own; but I am sure this novel will give you elating impact on your life.Most of us don't choose but always learn to follow and are forced to stay In an environment created by our society. Anyone who chooses their own destiny or dares to do something different or challenge the rules created by our society Is counted as MAD. We all have some form of madness Inside us. People who want to do something different should be allowed to follow their dream and should be encouraged, Instead of denominating them. Discouraging them will lead to psychological disorder and they might end up their life in asylum, Just Like Marl, Gazed and Eduardo.Every second In our life is the choice we make between dying and living, so help people to choose living Instead AT along. This book has given a very good definition of madness; it says, â€Å"Anyone who lives in their own worl d is mad, people who are different from other are mad. † All the four characters described in this story are worth reading and it reminds us that every moment in our life is special and precious. Paulo Cello is a storyteller with the power to inspire nations and to change people's lives. This time as well he has not left any point in giving us a moving and uplifting message of life.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Miguel de Cervantes, Influential Spanish Novelist

Miguel de Cervantes, Influential Spanish Novelist No name is more associated with Spanish literature- and perhaps with classic literature in general- than that of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was the author of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, which is sometimes referred to as the first European novel and which has been translated into nearly every major language, making it one of the most widely distributed books after the Bible. Cervantes Contribution to Literature Although few people in the English-speaking world have read Don Quijote in its original Spanish, it nevertheless has had its influence on the English language, giving us expressions such as the pot calling the kettle black, tilting at windmills, a wild-goose chase and the skys the limit. Also, our word quixotic originated from the name of the title character. (Quijote is often spelled as Quixote.) Despite his immense contributions to world literature, Cervantes never became wealthy as a result of his work, and not much is known about the early parts of his life. He was born in 1547 as the son of surgeon Rodrigo de Cervantes in Alcal de Henares, a small town near Madrid; it is believed that his mother, Leonor de Cortinas, was the descendant of Jews who had converted to Christianity. A Brief Biography of Cervantes As a young boy Cervantes moved from town to town as his father sought work; later he would study in Madrid under Juan Là ³pez de Hoyos, a well-known humanist, and in 1570 he went to Rome to study. Ever loyal to Spain, Cervantes joined a Spanish regiment in Naples and received a wound in a battle at Lepanco that permanently injured his left hand. As a result, he picked up the nickname of el manco de Lepanto (the cripple of Lepanco). His battle injury was only the first of Cervantes troubles. He and his brother Rodrigo were on a ship that was captured by pirates in 1575. It wasnt until five years later that Cervantes was released - but only after four unsuccessful escape attempts and after his family and friends raised 500 escudos, an enormous sum of money that would drain the family financially, as ransom. Cervantes first play, Los tratos de Argel (The Treatments of Algiers), was based on his experiences as a captive, as was the later Los baà ±os de Argel (The Baths of Algiers). In 1584 Cervantes married the much younger Catalina de Salazar y Palacios; they had no children, although he had a daughter from an affair with an actress. A few years later, Cervantes left his wife, faced severe financial difficulties, and was jailed at least three times (once as a murder suspect, although there was insufficient evidence to try him). He eventually settled in Madrid in 1606, shortly after the first part of Don Quijote was published. Although publication of the novel didnt make Cervantes rich, it eased his financial burden and gave him recognition and the ability to devote more time to writing. He published the second part of Don Quijote in 1615 and wrote dozens of other plays, short stories, novels, and poems (although many critics have little good to say about his poetry). Cervantes final novel was Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (The Exploits of Persiles and Sigismunda), published three days before his death on April 23, 1616. Coincidentally, Cervantes date of death is the same as William Shakespeares, although in reality Cervantes death came 10 days sooner because Spain and England used different calendars at the time. Quick - name a fictional character from a literary work written about 400 years ago. Since youre reading this page, you probably had little difficulty coming up with Don Quijote, the title character of Miguel de Cervantes famous novel. But how many others could you name? Except for characters developed by William Shakespeare, probably few or none. At least in Western cultures, Cervantes pioneering novel, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, is one of the few that has been popular for so long. It has been translated into nearly every major language, inspired some 40 motion pictures, and added words and phrases to our vocabulary. In the English-speaking world, Quijote is easily the most well-known literary figure who was the product of a non-English-speaking author in the past 500 years. Clearly, Quijotes character has endured, even if few people today read the entire novel except as a part of college coursework. Why? Perhaps it is because there is something in most of us that, like Quijote, cant always distinguish totally between reality and the imagination. Perhaps its because of our idealistic ambitions, and we like seeing someone continuing to strive despite the disappointments of reality. Perhaps its simply because we can laugh at a part of ourselves in the numerous humorous incidents that happen during Quijotes life. A Quick Look at Don Quixote Here is a brief overview of the novel that might give you some idea what to expect if you decide to tackle Cervantes monumental work: Plot Summary The title character, a middle-aged gentleman from the La Mancha region of Spain, becomes enchanted with the idea of chivalry and decides to seek adventure. Eventually, he is accompanied by a sidekick, Sancho Panza. With a dilapidated horse and equipment, together they seek glory, adventure, often in the honor of Dulcinea, Quijotes love. Quijote doesnt always act honorably, however, and neither do many of the other minor characters in the novel. Eventually Quijote is brought down to reality and dies shortly thereafter. Major Characters The title character, Don Quijote, is far from static; indeed, he reinvents himself several times. He often is a victim of his own delusions and undergoes metamorphoses as he gains or loses touch with reality. The sidekick, Sancho Panza, may be the most complex figure in the novel. Not particularly sophisticated, Panza struggles with his attitudes toward Quijote and eventually becomes his most loyal companion despite repeated arguments. Dulcinea is the character that is never seen, for she was born in Quijotes imagination (although modeled after a real person). Novel Structure Quijotes novel, while not the first novel written, nevertheless had little on which it could be modeled. Modern readers may find the episodic novel too long and redundant as well as inconsistent in style. Some of the novels quirks are intentional (in fact, some portions of the latter parts of the book were written in response to public comments on the portion that was published first), while others are products of the times. Reference: Proyecto Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes 1547-1616, Hispanos Famosos. Quick Takeaways Miguel de Cervantes was one of the most influential writers of all times, writing the first major European novel and contributing to both the Spanish and English languages.Although known best for Don Quijote, Cervantes also wrote dozens of other novels, short stories, poems, and plays.The main characters of Don Quijote are the title character; his sidekick, Sancho Panza; and Dulcinea, who lives in Quijotes imagination.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

17th Century Timeline, 1600 Through 1699

17th Century Timeline, 1600 Through 1699 Major changes in the fields of philosophy and science took place  during the 17th century. Prior to the beginning of the 1600s, scientific study  and scientists in the field were not truly recognized. In fact, important figures and pioneers such as the 17th-century physicist  Isaac Newton were initially called natural philosophers because there was no such thing as the word scientist throughout most of the 17th century. But it was during this period that the emergence of newly-invented machines became part of the daily and economic lives of many people. While people studied and relied upon the more or less unproven principles of  medieval alchemy, it was during the 17th century that a transition to the science of chemistry took place. Another important development during this time was the evolution  from astrology to astronomy.   So by the end of the 17th century, the scientific revolution had taken hold and this new field of study had established itself as the leading society-shaping force that encompassed mathematical, mechanical, and  empirical bodies of knowledge. Notable scientists of this  era include the astronomer  Galileo Galilei, philosopher Renà © Descartes, inventor and mathematician  Blaise Pascal,  and  Isaac Newton. Here is a brief  historical list of the greatest technology, science, and invention hits of the 17th century. 1608 German-Dutch spectacle-maker Hans Lippershey invents the first refracting telescope. 1620 Dutch builder Cornelis Drebbel invents the earliest human-powered submarine. 1624 English mathematician William Oughtred invents the  slide rule. 1625 French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys invents a method for blood transfusion. 1629 Italian engineer and architect Giovanni Branca invents a steam turbine. 1636 English astronomer and mathematician W. Gascoigne invents the micrometer. 1642 French mathematician  Blaise Pascal invents the adding machine. 1643 Italian mathematician and physicist Evangelista Torricelli invents the barometer. 1650 Scientist and inventor  Otto von Guericke invents an air pump. 1656 Dutch mathematician and scientist  Christian Huygens  invents a pendulum clock. 1660 Cuckoo clocks were made in Furtwangen, Germany, in the Black Forest region. 1663 Mathematician and astronomer James Gregory invents the first reflecting telescope. 1668 Mathematician and physicist  Isaac Newton  invents a reflecting telescope. 1670 The first reference to a  candy cane  is made. French Benedictine monk Dom Pà ©rignon invents  Champagne. 1671 German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz invents the calculating machine. 1674 Dutch Microbiologist  Anton Van Leeuwenhoek  was the first to see and describe bacteria with a microscope. 1675 Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and  physicist  Christian Huygens  patents the pocket watch. 1676 English architect and  natural philosopher  Robert Hooke  invents the universal joint. 1679 French physicist, mathematician, and inventor Denis Papin ​invents the pressure cooker. 1698 English inventor and engineer  Thomas Savery  invents a steam pump.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Change, School Reform And Curriculum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Change, School Reform And Curriculum - Essay Example I realized that everyone can â€Å"[get] an 'A'† and â€Å"a week later [not] even remember what the course is about† (Chomsky, 2002). And when students who appear to be failing or struggling get bad grades, the question always is: Would they have failed no matter what (in which case, they were in the wrong class or expectations were unrealistic), or did they fail because the material failed to be interesting? Approaches to curriculum design and reform must always take into account students' real, lived experiences and their networks of actual interests and beliefs to be effective. Education has to make itself relevant for students. This is especially true for curriculum reform for special education students in the field of language arts in middle school: Techniques have to be calibrated to their realistic ability levels and actual interests. A philosophy I adopt as a rubric or general organizing principle, culled from the Deweyan literature, is essentially, â€Å"You don't know if you try†. When any student arrives in any classroom, it is almost impossible to predict, even with all the knowledge about their educational background and relevant family and personal background (which is never available to teachers in toto anyways), how they might do and what they might like about the class. Institutions can either choose to err on the side of optimism, knowing in advance they will waste some resources on students not ready for, not interested in or not capable of handling the material; or they can err on the side of pessimism, knowing in advance that they will waste opportunity and potential. The cost of the latter is too high to imagine. Limited curricula that underestimate the abilities of some students, then, should be rejected. One of the most major questions for educational advocates as regards middle school Special Education students is whether and how much they are included in regular class. It is virtually impossible to tell if this po licy should be adopted in general: â€Å"Current legislation supports the concept of including students with disabilities in the general education classroom but leaves many wondering, 'Is this approach working?' Determining the effectiveness of this practice is a task not easily accomplished. The term...is not found in any law and is used inconsistently..Inclusive programs differ greatly from district to district... [A]mount and nature of support provided to the regular classroom teacher differ dramatically from district to district† (Hines, 2001). In general, the primary justification for this reform approach is one of justice. Disability students should be in classes with their able-bodied peers: It's a form of de jure segregation based on ability status if they're not. Legislators have embraced this reform influence whole-heartedly, which is a positive change from prior, less progressive views of students in general and Special Education students in particular. While this is a wonderful principle, and erring on the side of more inclusion and more optimism that they can participate meaningfully in the process given a chance is always good, the fact is that the analogy between racism and disability status is a poor one. Students with learning, mental, physical or educational disabilities have innate, not just social, roadblocks to academic success. Treating them exactly like their able-bodied peers is just as inappropriate as treating black or Latina/o students identically to white students with no

Friday, November 1, 2019

Integrated warehouse and transportation management systems Essay

Integrated warehouse and transportation management systems - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that right from inventory control, receiving of shipment to fulfillment of orders, warehouse management systems (WMS) is necessary. It improves the efficiency and operations of a company’s warehouse. In the modern day, computerized environment warehouse management systems get combined with mobile computers, wireless network and bar-coding equipment to ease the work. Bar-coding helps extend the business to the mobile worker at the same time increasing operational efficiencies. An extensive warehouse management system assists in streamlining multiple functions in the business. The following can be some of the role of information systems in warehouse management. Receiving- The system gets information of the shipment that gets received but not yet at their destined place. Here, it can be important to ensure that low stock levels get staged then put away first. This reduces the effects of inefficient fulfillment processes and out-of-stock s. Put-Away – The information system also helps the storekeeper know the area of inventory in the shelves. Once the area gets known it can be easy to route workers and setting up their picks in the proper order. This helps to minimize travel time and improve on the order numbers that can be picked each day. Picking- The system improves error-proofing and efficiency in the picking process. Here, workers get their picks on an electronic mobile device that directs them to the proper location. The system also allows workers to scan items when picking to verify that they can be of the right quantity.