Aipotu II Lab Report free essay sample

Newman Fermentation is the chemical process converting sugar to gases and occurs in yeast and bacteria. In the experiment we conducted, we used sucrose and yeast and measured the fermentation carbon dioxide formation. The factors affecting fermentation that we tested in this experiment were temperature and the effect of a disinfectant. We measured the fermentation carbon dioxide formation by using a ruler and measuring the amount of bubbles in the tube that were formed. To conduct this experiment, we used 5 grams of sugar and 2 grams of yeast, but only used half of each for both experiments, so 2. grams of sugar and 1 gram of yeast for testing the effect of temperature and 2. 5 grams of sugar and 1 gram of yeast for testing the effect of a disinfectant. We then mixed each beaker with 50 mL of water and stirred to fully dissolve the sugar and yeast. Then we used a 10 cc syringe and filled it up and put it in the fermentation tube and then added an additional 5 ccs of the sugar/yeast solution to the tube. We will write a custom essay sample on Aipotu II Lab Report or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We then sealed the tube with a piece of parafllm and placed it into a water temperature of 10 degrees Celsius and recorded the time that we put them in. We then repeated that procedure but each ime putting the tubes into 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 degrees Celsius water. After 5- minute intervals, up to 20 minutes, we measured the amount of carbon dioxide formed in the fermentation tubes by using a ruler and measuring the amount of millimeters of carbon dioxide was produced. To test the variable of how a disinfectant affected the amount of fermentation, we repeated that procedure except instead of putting each fermentation tube into a certain temperature of water, we used the same temperature of water but each tube had a different amount of bleach in it. We put O drops of bleach in the first one and increased by 2 drops of bleach very tube, ending up with 10 drops in the sixth fermentation tube. We monitored the amount of fermentation, again with a ruler, every 5 minutes but only up to 15 minutes. What we found in this experiment was that fermentation occurred the most at about 50 degrees Celsius. There was 72 mm of carbon dioxide that we had measured at 50 degrees Celsius. We found that as the temperature got warmer, there was more fermentation until we hit 60 degrees Celsius and that dropped to 60 mm of fermentation. When we shared our results with other groups, they also said that fermentation occurred the most at 50 and 60 degrees Celsius for them. When we experimented with the effect of the disinfectant, we mostly found that bleach kills the fermentation ability. We did conduct two trials of the experiment and found a dramatic difference, but my group and I think that we found what was the factor that affected that. In the first trial, we found the most fermentation with no bleach in the fermentation tube and the least fermentation with 8 drops in the tube, which we thought would happen in the tube with 10 drops. There was 74 mm of carbon dioxide in the tube with no bleach in it and the 1 mm of carbon dioxide in the tube with 10 mm ot carbon dioxide. During our second trial, our results were so much ditterent than the first. Again we found the most fermentation with no bleach and the least amount of fermentation in each tube with 2, 4, 6, and 8 drops of bleach and then 2 mm of fermentation in the tube with 10 drops. The reason that we believe the results were so much different was the height of the water level. We all noticed after we conducted the experiment and realized the measurements were a lot different that the water was much lower than the first experiment that we conducted and that lead us to think thats why the results were so different.

Development Theories Essay Example

Development Theories Essay Example Development Theories Essay Development Theories Essay Development Theories Name: Course: Institution: Instructor: Date: Development Theories Behaviorist and psychosocial theories are among the famous human development theories. Each of these theories conceptualizes child and adolescence development in different ways. Behaviorist theory views child and adolescent development as a factor determined by experience and practices through reinforcement of the desired behavior. Psychosocial theory on the other hand purports that development occurs in a series of different stages of life, describing the influence of experience throughout the lifespan of a man. The two theories tend to have a similarity in terms of basing development in terms of experiences (Keenan, 2002). However, the experiences differ, where behaviorist focuses on reinforced behaviors while psychosocial focuses on ego identity. Behaviorist Theory Behaviorist theory suggests that development occurs through interaction within the environment. The theory utilized classical and operant conditioning as the main aspects of development. Classical conditioning is based on the assumption that development occurs through an association of environmental and natural stimuli. Operant conditioning on the other hand is about rewards and punishment to reinforce specific behaviors. This theory suggests that development occurs through such interaction where a teacher can reward good behaviors and punish bad behavior (Peet Hartwick, 2009). This happens the same way even for children at adolescent. Reinforcement and continuous practice until desired behavior is achieved is the main idea of behaviorist theory. Its strength is the use of behavior that can be reinforced, making it easier for experiments within a laboratory. Its biggest limitation is that it does not consider development through other methods such as observation. It argues that behavior is only developed through such reinforcement and response to stimuli. It does not consider other behavior development methods such as observation. Children do learn through observation as well. Psychosocial Theory Psychosocial theory is of the view that development of human beings is based on a series of stages. Its major element is ego identity, suggesting that self-consciousness or self-awareness develops through interaction with the environment at different stages of life. The first stage is usually the trust vs. mistrust that happens at birth to one year. At this stage, the infant develops trust through the care provided by the caregivers. The child is dependent and feels safe if he/she is able to develop trust. If caregivers are not good, the child does not develop full trust and does not feel safe. The second stage occurs during early childhood. It is about autonomy vs. shame where children develop personal control. At this stage, learning to control body function creates a feeling of independence and control. Initiative vs. guilt is the next stage of preschool children where they ascertain their control around them through directing things such as play. At this stage, the children feel their capability in matters such as leadership (Keenan, 2002). The fourth stage, industry vs. inferiority occurs from age of 5 to 11. At this stage, children develop a sense of pride through their accomplishments. Through encouragement, children are able to develop feelings of competence and confidence in their skills. At the fifth stage, identity vs. confusion, children are at their adolescent. At this stage, children explore more on their accomplishments to know themselves better (Peet Hartwick, 2009). Through encouragement on their cause of finding about self, people emerge with a great sense of identity and sure of themselves in life. Its strength is that the eight stages hold for long across different ages, explaining development from stage to stage. One of the limitations of the psychosocial theory is its failure to recognize different cultural backgrounds that could affect such development. For instance, some children could be trained in using the potty earlier while others might be trained later. Additionally, in some places, girls will get married at young ages, forcing them to be at another stage than the one meant for their age (Peet Hartwick, 2009). Thus, with such differences, the theory could not be applicable the same way to all people. A similarity with the behaviorist theory occurs in terms of using the experiences around one’s environment. The other similarity is that they are applicable for all generations including mature people. The difference is that behaviorist theory is not divided into stages as the psychosocial theory. References Keenan, T. (2002). An Introduction to Child Development. New York, N.Y: SAGE Peet, R., Hartwick, E. (2009). Theories of Development, Second Edition: Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives. New York, N.Y: Guilford Pres

President truman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

President truman - Essay Example He had assumed office at a time when the WWII had ended and the country’s priority had shifted from the war to domestic challenges which were multifold and needed to be addressed at the earliest. Truman’s Fair deal reforms basically addressed the 4 main areas of concern. According to Truman, the reforms program ‘symbolizes for me my assumption of the office of President in my own right’ (whitehouse.com). It became known as the Fair Deal. The foremost was the unemployment. The America had recently come out with the long depression and even though its economy was growing by leaps and bound, labor situation was still grim and with war veterans coming back as heroes, the unemployment situation urgently needed to be addressed. Truman’s FDR enacted Employment Act in 1946 that was designed to provide full employment through creation of job opportunities and at the same time increased the minimum wages significantly to improve the living standard of the average Americans. Truman also introduced Housing Act that helped to remove slums and promoted affordable housing through low income houses, making special provision for war veterans. He also lengthened the rent control till 1951 to help those who were living in rented premises. Truman was the only president who really went out of his way to implement his welfare policies and introduce reforms, irrespective of the opposition in Congress thus earning the displeasure of many of his own colleagues. He had increased the social security provisions for the elderly and created committees and council of economic experts that would study and suggest measures to stabilize and improve overall economic conditions. Another very important area that Truman focused on was agriculture and farmers. Like President Roosevelt, Truman was also very concerned about the deteriorating conditions of farmers. His FDR1 made provisions for farmers and ensured standard

A story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A story - Essay Example They always treat me in a way, as if I still belong to the diaper class. After all that, some answers began screwing up, I heard a tone at the back of my ears, â€Å"come on honey, relax, everything will be okay, I believe it will not end up in a fight but this time, your mother especially, will be the first to understand that you are now big enough to be made for choices and followed around so that no mistakes are made. Take it easy because such days are over, do you not just get it? You are an adult by this time in twenty.† Supper was approaching, and the words gave me more than enough strength. This is all what I needed. â€Å"Honey, honey,† all this time was in my room pretending to do some homework when I heard my nanny voice calling, â€Å"it is supper time, food is ready and we all waiting for you in the dining, come over men.† I stayed up and grabbed a chair, after some minutes of prayer, some force came in me, and â€Å"this is probably the perfect chance to begin your conviction, because everyone will be spending some precious time with their food.† â€Å"Okay, mum, da†¦dad,† I then went mute. â€Å"Yes, they were ready to hear from me. Speak out dear.† It was so sweet to hear both of my parents eager to what I would say. These gave me some courage; I cleared my throat, and both parents stared at each other, and the words flowed through my mouth. â€Å"Was hoping you as my parents would allow me go on a trip, this time all by myself, mum, dad.† The immediate response I was given was a heavy stare, from my dad, he seem shocked, and, on the other hand, my mum was uttering words to me of which my mind went blank, and I managed to grab a few. â€Å"Tell us this is not happening? What has come over you? You very well know how the world is, full of vices, and you tell us you need permission to do some travelling alone? How the hell are we supposed to make

Managerial Decisions in Economic Terms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managerial Decisions in Economic Terms - Essay Example The project makes suitable assumptions, like, the present value of discounting, the number of miles that car intends to run and the charge involved in travelling the extra miles over and above the stipulated miles allowed in the lease contract. Finally, a comparison is made between the present values of the two alternatives. It discusses three situations. It finds the present value of the car purchase, present value of the car purchase using a loan and the present value of the lease along with purchasing option. The project seeks to find the best and the most cost effective alternative from the above three cases. This project tries to find out the basis of applying managerial decisions under different circumstances. In this case, decision has to be taken between the two alternatives of buying a car or leasing it. The best possible way is to compare the costs involved in both cases. The aim of the project is to find out the most cost effective method of transaction by calculating the present value of the discounted cash flow. Firstly, it discusses the advantages and disadvantages of leasing and owning a car and the costs involved in both cases. This project aims to help managers in making decisions between a lease and a purchase. An analysis is conducted under three given situations before a conclusion is drawn. It is not a simple method and involves a host of other factors like the number of miles that the buyer intends to travel, and the rates of interest prevailing at that time. The managerial decision of whether to lease or buy a car is of primary concern in this project. The project will act as the mouthpiece for a public school system which is to decide whether it would economical to lease a car or to buy it. Both have got their respective benefits and costs. The motive of the project is to detect which would be the most cost effective method. In order to come to a final decision, a comparison of costs needs to be done which will take into

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices Introduction In chapter 2, HPM has been used to model the relationships between characteristics of property and neighbourhood. However, HPM treats the whole housing market as a single homogenous market and assumes a stationary process, i.e the parameter estimates are assumed to apply equally over space. This presumes the influences of various factors on house prices in one location are the same as those in another location so that space, place and location do no matter (Foster refer). However, as shown in Chapter 2, the residuals derived using HPM are correlated. Additionally, Chapter 3 shows that when MLM approach is employed to account for spatial heterogeneity, the effects of those various factors in fact vary across neighbourhoods at different scales and there are great price differentials between neighbourhoods. The global approach, such as HPM, masks those local deviations from this average relationship. Disadvantages of MLM Although MLM approach takes into account spatial heterogeneity by specifying the spatial units as levels in the model, there are some weakness of this approach. Firstly, there is no agreement on the definition of neighbourhoods (Kearns and Parkinson 2001: 2103), so the specification of the macro level units (i.e. neighbourhoods) is fairly arbitrary. In the past, census boundaries (†¦),administrative boundaries (†¦.), or school catchment areas (goodman) have all been used to delimitate the whole house market into smaller submarkets, or local neighbourhood areas. Some researchers combined a series of dataset, such as travel-to-work, immigration and house price information and constructed a so-called housing market areas (HMAs)(†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) . HMAs neither match the census boundaries, or the administrative boundaries, but instead, they represents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. . The existence of spatial dependency in geographical data means that the observations that are most spatially dependent in the locations that are close to each other should constitute a neighbourhood. A predefined hierarchy of spatial units based on administrate or census boundaries may not necessarily appropriate. Secondly, MLM[1] treats space and assumes that same spatial process applies within the neighbourhoods and discontinues at the boundaries of the neighbourhoods. (†¦). Additionally, the highest level of spatial units (for example, MSOAs in our analysis) are assumed to be spatially dependent. This assumption is unrealistic because the â€Å"effect† of a neighbourhood is more likely change gradually from one neighbourhood to its adjacent ones rather than completely stops, the so-called â€Å"spill-over† effects. Therefore, there might be presence of spatial dependency between MSOAs that MLM is unable to capture. In contract, GWR (Brunsdon et al, 1996†¦..) relaxes the assumptions of the effects of various variables being constant over space (Dark, 2004,Mitchell, 2005andShi etal., 2006) and treats space as continuous. It calibrates locally a spatially varying coefficient regression model for each location of the study area by weighting the attributes of it neighbouring locations based on distance-decay functions (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.). The attributes of neighbours of a fitted location are all considered so the spatial dependency and heterogeneity can be taken into account in this approach (Paez 2005). This chapter therefore introduced this type of modelling technique to explore the spatial variations that may exist in the relationships between house price and its predictors. Purpose and Structure of the Chapter The aim of this chapter is to identify whether the relationships of house prices and a range of characteristics of houses and neighbourhood attributes) are relatively stable, or they vary substantially over space? If there are spatial variations, how does the relationships vary within and between neighbourhoods and how does this variation differ from the results derived from MLM approach? In addition, how good is the GWR approach in terms of its predictive capability, compared with MLM.? In the next section, a brief description of this technique is introduced. Section 3 follows with a review of previous applications of GWR is presented. The proposed study in relation to the empirical implementation of the technique then follows in section 4. The final section summarise the comparison between GWR and MLM the results and discusses the appropriateness of both techniques. 4.2 Brief Description on GWR Models What is GWR? GWR technique is fully descried by Fotheringham etal., 2002[2] and just a brief description of the approach is presented here. GWR is a spatial analysis technique that takes into account spatial autocorrelations among the observations in surrounding locations by allowing for spatial nonstationarity in the linear regression coefficients for each location. In GWR literature, the â€Å"location† can be a point or an aggregated area. describe local geographical variations in the relationships between a response variable and its explanatory variables by a set of local estimates for all the predictors for each geographical location (Fotheringham et al. 2002). A set of estimates and standard errors for each local coefficients are produced by focusing each location in the study region and weighted matrix of its nearby observation. The basic GWR equation can be written as: (4.1) Where denotes the coordinates of the th point in a two-dimensional study area; is the dependent variable at point , is the estimated intercept at point , ( represents the estimated coefficient for variable at point , is the independent variable of the th parameter at location , and is the error term for the local model at point . The estimation of ( is derived using weighted least squares (WLS) regressions (Moore and Myers, 2010; Fotheringham et al., 2002) by weighting the observations near location in accordance with their distance to that fit point. It is given by: where is a diagonal matrix denoting the geographical weighting of the observations around the fit point . Weighting The weighting is based on the distance between the regression location and its nearest neighbours, defined as bandwidth. The points in closer proximity to location is given more weight and therefore has more influence on the estimation of than the observations that are further away to location . A number of weighting schemes are available, but they tend to be Gaussian or â€Å"Gaussian-like† function, which is the types of dependency generally found in spatial processes (Forthemham). Two Commonly used distance-decay functions in GWR are Gaussian and Bi-square function (Fotheringham et al. 2002), which are expressed as below: Gaussian Bi-square Where is the th element of the diagonal of the matrix of the geographical weights , is the bandwidth, a threshold distance that any observations beyond this distance will not be used for calibrating the local model, and represents the distance between observation and focus point . When and coincide, the weighting equals to 1. Source: Gollini et al (2014) GW model: an R Package for Exploring Spatial Heterogeneity using Geographically Weighted Models Both functions are continuous up until the bandwidth, but the weights of Bi-square function decrease faster than that of Gaussian function and eventually become zero at the boundary of the bandwidth, while the weights of Gaussian function do not become zero. Both of the weighting functions will be tried in the planned research. Bandwidth Bandwidths can be specified either as fixed or adaptive (in terms of physical distance). The physical distance for adaptive bandwidth is changeable according to the spatial density so as to capture a fixed nearest neighbours for each local model: a shorter distance for areas where observations are dense and longer distance when data are sparse. The benefit of using adaptive bandwidth is that it can ensure sufficient local information be utilised for areas where observations are spatially scares and reduce the estimate variance for local coefficient and still reveal subtle local variations where observations are dense (Fotheringham et al. 2002). Therefore, adaptive bandwidth will be used in the planned research as the density of house price data vary geographically. The size of bandwidth affects gradient of the kernel and thus the rate of decay function. A small bandwidth have fewer observations included in the local model and rapid decay whereas a large bandwidth will have more observations in the local model and a smoother weighting scheme. The size of the bandwidth is important as if the bandwidth is too small, although the model would fits better for the local observations, but at the same time local noise may also be fitted thus the local estimates will have large variances. Conversely, if the bandwidth is too large, although the variances will become smaller, but the estimates of local coefficients are based on a much larger area and result in biased estimates which masks the true local relationships, especially if the relationships vary dramatically over small areas. This is the so-called bias-variance trade-off (Fotheringham et al., 2002)[3]. The effective number can be used to reflect bias-variance trade-off in GWR, which is a measure o f the number of observations that have been used effectively for calibrating the local model. Bias-Variance Trade-Off To find the best bias-variance trade-off, an appropriate weighting function and optimal bandwidth need to be selected. It has been argued that the selection of bandwidth selection is far more important than the weighting scheme as the weighting all decreases as distances increase by all weighting functions but the size of bandwidth decides the degree of decay (Fortherham†¦). The optimization process is generally exploratory and can be very compute-intensive process as it requires all the local regressions fitted at each step[4]. It can be achieved by either cross-validation method or use corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc) (Fotheringham et al. (2002). Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) is a commonly used cross-validation method in GWR, where for each local model, it is validated by using all the cases except for one observation and the model is tested on that single observation. The bandwidth which produce the smallest root mean square prediction errors for all the dependent variables of all the local models is deemed as the optimal bandwidth. AICc is an indicator of goodness-of-fit and can be used to compare competing models while taking into account the complexity of a model. A lower AIC score indicate a better fit of a model. As a rule of thumb, a decrease of 3 in AIC of two competing model score indicates an improvement in the model fit for the model with lower AIC (Fotheringham et al 2002; Zhang etal., 2011). It is common though to get different optimal bandwidth from the two methods as the criteria for optimal is different for AICc and for CV[5] and the AIC value is not based on prediction of the dependant variable (†¦[6]..). In addition, AIC score can be corrected for small sample size, while classical CV method tend to produce under-smoothed result for small sample size[7]. One thing is note is that AIC should be avoided when the sample size is large as it requires the creation of an n by n matrix [8]so the optimization can be very slow[9]. Both method will be tried out in the planned research. Why Use GWR and when? As mentioned earlier, when there is spatial dependency between variables and spatial non-stationarity, GWR can be used to disaggregate global relations to local levels to obtain a better understanding of spatial data in more details. As every local model is fitted to local observations, it fits better to data than a global model and residuals are generally lower and less spatially dependent. The outputs, the estimates of local coefficient are specific to each location. In Chapter 2, Moran’s I has been used and indicate that there is statistical significant spatial autocorrelation within both house prices and the residuals of HPM results. This means that the global fitted coefficient value of HPM does not represent detailed location variations adequately and GWR should be used in this instance to taken into account the spatial dependency and examine the heterogeneity in housing market. A review of GWR approach in house price estimation This section reviews the application of GWR technique with a focus on residential real estate, as well as the comparisons of GWR with a range of other methodologies. The section will conclude with the identification of the research gap and thus the contribution of the current chapter. Application in Real Estate Valuation GWR has been applied to a number of field, including land use (Geniaux et al. 2011†¦.), environment (Harris et al. 2010a), health (Comber et al. 2011, Helbich et al. 2012b, Yang and Matthews 2012; [10]) and crime studies (Leitner and Helbich 2011), economics ([11]), regional studies ([12]) and residential real estate studies (Kestens et al. 2006; Bitter et al. 2007†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦). In terms of the application to real estate, GWR has been used to investigate the effects of the locations and surrounding neighbourhood characteristics, such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦,the effects of accessibility, such as the new bus transitway in†¦..((Mulley, 2013), infrastructure availability in †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(Cellmer, 2012), and the effects of open space amenities (Nilsson, 2014). GWR has also been used to identify housing sub-markets (Borst Mccluskey, 2007; Crespo Grà ªt-Regamey, 2013; Helbich, Brunauer, Hagenauer, Leitner, 2013). GWR compared with other modelling techniques GWR has also been compared with a few valuation tools in real estate, such as multiple regression analysis (MRA), simultaneous autoregressive model (SAR), Artificial neural networks (ANN), spatial expansion method (SEM) and Spatial lag model (e.g., Brunsdon et al., 1999[13]; LeSage 1999[14]; (Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba, 2006; Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, Nijkamp, 2013; McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton, 2013; Yu, Wei, Wu, 2007). More specifically Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba (2006) demonstrated in their study that GWR was superior to spatial expansion method ( define briefly †¦.)in terms of predictive accuracy and explanatory power when applied to examine the marginal price of key housing attributes in the Tucson, Arizona housing market. McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton (2013) also showed that GWR outperform MRA, ANN and SAR in term of predictive accuracy, transparency, and cost-effectiveness and offered when applied to 2,694 residual properties in for real estate price estimation. In a case study of spatial heterogeneity in Austria, Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, et al. (2013) extended GWR to a mixed-GWR(MGWR), which allows some coefficient to be stationary while others to be non-stationary. This approach is more flexible and parsimonious than standard GWR (Wei and Qi, 2012). Both MGWR and GWR has smaller prediction errors in comparison with a global approach, such as OLS, SAR and spatial t wo stage least square procedure (S2SLS)[15]. There are other extensions of GWR. To deal with cross-sectional time series data, GTWR (Huang, Wu, Barry, 2010) was developed to integrate both temporal and spatial information in the weighting matrices to capture spatial and temporal dependency and heterogeneity[16] . GTWR is able to model spatial and temporal nonstationarity simultaneously and therefore offers a better goodness-of-fit. LeSage (2003) incorporate a Bayesian treatment into GWR in order to improve the estimates of GWR parameters. Contextualized Geographically Weighted Regression (CGWR) was developed by adding contextual variables into standard GWR. The research applied this approach to model spatial heterogeneity in the land parcel prices of Beijing in China and demonstrated that the incorporation of contextual information improved the model fit. However, multicollinearity between explanatory variables may result in unstable results in GWR models and cause more problem for GWR than in a global regression model (Lloyd 2007). Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised when analysing the spatial patterns of local coefficients derived from GWR (Wheeler Tiefelsdorf, 2005). A range of diagnostic tools was proposed and usage of PCA to identify the most influential predictors or integrating ridge regression into the GWR framework (D. C. Wheeler, 2007) can help stabilize GWR regression coefficients. There is only limited comparison of GWR with MLM, or random coefficient model (RCM). These two approaches are very different in terms of its underlying assumptions of the spatial process and yielded completely different results in the study of long-term illness in the UK (Brunsdon, Aitkin, Fotheringham, Charlton, 1999). There has no published research that compares GWR with MLM in terms of their capability to model spatial heterogeneity of house price data and their predictive accuracy. In addition, although GWR can be applied at any geographic scale of measurement, in practice however, may applications and previous research applied it to an coarsely aggregated scale due to the availability of data or keep anonymized information. Unlike previous studies, we have geo-code the â€Å"location† of each house based on its unit postcode location, which only contains typically around 15 residential addresses[17]. We hope to offer further insight into the geographical variation of the relationships at this detailed level, which previously might be disguised in previous research when the level of analysis was carried out at a much coarser scale. Planned Research Standard GWR is applied to the same dataset in chapter two and three, the house price data of the Greater Bristol area. Two extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, will be explored with the former to capture the temporal dependency and heterogeneity and the later to incorporate contextual information into the model. In GWR and CGWR, the whole dataset will be split into yearly data to avoid the potential temporal autocorrelation within the data. There is no need of doing so in GTWR, as the time of sale has been taken into account in the model. Individual house characteristics are all categorical variables as described in Chapter 2 and will be modelled first and then neighbourhood variables will be added in the subsequent models. The planned procedures and a few methodological issues are addressed as follows. Firstly, before carrying out actual modelling of GWR, whether there is significant spatial autocorrelation within the data, which can be between the response variables and its lagged values or between the explanatory variables and their lagged value. Two most commonly used weighting function, Gaussian and Bi-squares functions will be used, although it has been shown that the selection of the weighting function does not have as much an effect on the results as the selection of bandwidth (Fotheringham, Brunsdon, and Charlton 1998). If it is the case, just one weighting function will be used in the subsequent yearly models and the focus will be one the optimization of bandwidth. An adaptive bandwidth is proposed, as there is a good mixture of rural/urban of housing stock in Greater Bristol and the density of the house sales varies dramatically over space. Both CV and AIC will be used to obtain optimal bandw idth and measure model fit as it was shown in the past that the two methods resulted in different optimal bandwidth and regression coefficients ([18]). Once a weighting function and bandwidth has been selected, the weighting matrix can are defined and used to estimate the coefficient for every location based on equation (4.1) and calibrating local GWR. The standardised residuals and the parameters, and their estimated standard errors will be mapped to investigate whether they vary spatially[19]. This will also be compared with the map of the shrinkage estimates of the neighbourhoods (OAs, LSOAs and MSOAs) derived by MLM in previous chapters. It is expected that the mapped patterns of MLM coefficient exhibit more â€Å"noise† than that of GWR, since GWR is essentially a spatially smoothing calibration. All of the model caliberation will be conducted in R, using GWmodel package as this software is free and the process can be easily replicated. Lastly, the predictive accuracy of GWR will be measured and compare with MLM. R squared is used for goodness of fit of the model and it measures the proportion of variation in the data that is explained by the model. Adjusted Rsquared takes into account the complexity of the model in terms of the number of variable that are specified in the model. It is expected that extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, may provide better model fit and more accurate predictions based on their previous applications. In the past, there has been criticism that GWR cannot produce confidence intervals (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) and the significance of the estimates for parameters cannot be tested. However, Monte Carlo significance tests have been used to test whether there is significant variability (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) so this test is also planned to test if the spatial variation of the coefficients are statistically significant. â€Å"Wild bootstrap† approach as suggested by by H ¨ardle (1990) and McMillen (2004) can also be used to produce a weighted average of the variance of the separate parameter estimates. Conclusion GWR generally give much better fits to the data and the residuals are less autocorrelated. Its advantages over MLM is that it no longer treats space as discrete, which more likely resemble the spatial process in reality, and it models both spatial dependency and heterogeneity. In addition, it is essentially a non-parametric approach that does not requiring any assumptions with respect to the predictors, which can be categorical or the underlying distributions of the predictors can be highly skewed. There is no need to specify a functional form to produce the estimates of spatially varying parameters (Brunsdon et al 1998). The underlining concept of â€Å"letting the data speak for themselves† make it a good exploratory tool [20] for spatial analysis. This concept is very much similar to another modelling technique, ANN, except that in ANN, there is no implication of nearer locations have more influences on the estimates of local coefficients than locations that are further awa y as in GWR. This although unlikely in reality, but it might happen. How does GWR compared with ANN will be discussed in the next chapter. Link GWR and ANN: a set of estimates of spatially varying parameters WITHOUT specifying a functional form – â€Å"let the data speak for themselves† (Chris et al 1998) [1] the parameter estimates are assumed to be randomly distributed with either a finite (Wedel and Kamakura 2000) or a continuous mixture distribution (Aitkin 1996). [2] And Legendre, 1993 [3] Check: Bias-variance trade-off: MLM (Goldstein 1987) and Ridge Regeression (Hoerl and Kennard 1970a, 1970b) [4] check reference Schabenberger and Gotway (2005 316-317) statistical methods for spatial data analysis Waller and Gotway (2004, p434) – applied spatial statistics and Lloyd (2007 pp 79-86): local models for spatial analysis [5] http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/body.cfm?tocVisable=1ID=-1TopicName=Interpreting GWR results [6] Housing Sub-markets and Hedonic Price Analysis: A Bayesian Approach by David C. Wheeler1*, Antonio Pà ¡ez2* , Lance A. Waller1 and Jamie Spinney3 Chapter 4 [7] Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science edited by Karen Kemp (p183) [8] (gwr.sel {spgwr}) [9] NOTE AIC be applied in non-Gaussian GWR( Local Models for Spatial Analysis, Second Edition By Christopher D. Lloyd) [10] Modelling spatially varying impacts of socioeconomic predictors on mortality outcomes, J Geograph Syst (2003) 5:161–184, DOI: 10.1007/s10109-003-0099-7, proposed for modelling spatially varying, predictor effects on a disease or mortality count outcome The methodology is illustrated by suicide mortality in 32 London Boroughs over the period 1979–1993, in terms of area deprivation and a measure of social fragmentation disease mapping methods [11] SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY AND THE WAGE CURVE REVISITED*Simonetta Longhi, ISER, Peter Nijkamp [12] The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach Mark D. Partridgey Dan 5. Rickman, Kamar AU, and M, Rose Olfertte.st for geographic heterogeneity in ihe growth parameters ami compare iliem to global regression estimates. The results indicate significant heterogeneity in the regression coejjkients across the country, most notably for amenities and college graduate shares. V.sing GWR also exposes .signiftimt local variations that are masked by global estimates [13] A Comparison of Random-Coefficient modelling and Modeling and Geographically Weighted Regression for Spatial Non-Stationary Regression Problems, Geographical and Environmental Modeling, 3 (1), 47–62 [1

Sleeping Disorders and the I-Function :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Sleeping Disorders and the I-Function As we all know, sleep is an important part of our lives. Without the proper amounts and type of sleep, fatigue and other problems can arise. Generally, we can clearly distinguish between a sleeping person and a person that is awake. With sleeping disorders, the distinction between an awake person and a sleeping person becomes more intriguing. What is the difference, how does it relate to the I-function and consciousness? Each sleeping disorder has its own unique answer to this question. It is essential to understand sleep to fully appreciate it. However, many aspects of it remain a mystery. We do have some degree of understanding of sleep. Within our sleep cycle a type of unusual sleep occurs, REM sleep. During this cycle the periods of REM sleep are interspersed with slow wave sleep in alternation. Each period of REM sleep (there are usually 4 or 5 periods a night) lasts for approximately 5 to 30 minutes. During these periods a sleep paradox occurs. An enormous amount of brain activ ity takes place; this is sometimes even more activity then when awake. This clearly indicates that sleep is not simply to rest our mind and not to think. So, during this period our brains are extremely active, yet there is usually no input or output. During this period, along with the random eye movement (REM), there is a complete loss of muscle tone. Essentially, at this point, the motor system is paralyzed (normally the body inhibits any movement). The autonomic nervous system also alters its behavior. The regulation of body temperature is lost and the blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rates shows increased variability. REM sleep can be detected by measuring the electrical activity of the brain with an electroencephalogram. At this point, the EEG will show the same pattern of activity as when the brain is awake. It is fascinating that at this point, REM sleep, where dreaming is frequent, the body shuts itself down. If, as suggested in class, the I-function is active at this stage, it is interesting that all body movement is inhibited. During other stages in which there are synchronized EEGs, and the I-function is not supposed to be present, the body does not inhibit all motor activity. This seems to imply that when the I-function is present it will control the body as it sees fit. One of the more ubiquitous parasomnias is sleep talking or somniloquy.

Brazil Allows Police to Buy High Caliber Guns Essay

The Brazilian military will now allow police and firefighters to buy powerful .45 caliber guns for personal use, raising fears over how the weapons will be used and where they might end up.Prior to the ruling, only federal police were permitted to buy .45 caliber weapons, while other police agencies carried less lethal .40 or .38 weapons. The new regulations open the way for civil, military, and transport police to purchase .45 handguns. The military command, which regulates gun sales in Brazil, said it changed the regulations in response to petitioning from state security forces. The move has already sparked controversy among some sectors. â€Å"They are giving weapons to the police that they don’t know how to use. This is putting the safety of the police and the population at risk,† a representative from violence prevention NGO Sou da Paz told O Globo. InSight Crime Analysis The decision to grant various police agencies access to more powerful weaponry is likely to prove controversial. Trust in the Brazilian police is low, amid widespread accusations of corruption, criminality and extrajudicial killings. Firefighters, who are allowed to carry weapons as part of the job, have also come under suspicion, with accusations that many form part of urban paramilitary groups while off-duty. The easing of the regulations could be linked to the ongoing conflict between criminal gang the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Sao Paulo police, which claimed the lives of at least 100 officers in 2012. The risk that rather than giving police another means to protect themselves, the increased availability of .45 weapons could only further fuel the conflict. Given past cases of Brazilian police selling weapons to criminal groups, there is a significant risk that these guns could fall into the hands of the gangs that are behind anti-police violence in much of the country. The high-power weapons could also end up being used by the vigilante militias that control many of Brazil’s favelas. Corrupt factions of the police and firefighting force are known to be members and collaborators of these militias.

Common Numbering Systems Used in Genealogy

Common Numbering Systems Used in Genealogy Have you ever been elated at the discovery of a compiled family history for your ancestors, only to find yourself confused by all of the numbers and what they mean? Family lineages presented in text, rather than in graphical format, require an organizational system to allow the user to easily follow lines down through descendants or back toward the original ancestors. These standard numbering systems are used to show relationships between generations in a family tree. In other words, who is connected to whom. When numbering your genealogy, it is best to adopt a well-established system that is easily interpreted. Even if youre using a genealogy software program to compile your family history, it is still important to understand the differences and formats of the most widely-used numbering systems. If you plan to publish your family history, genealogical quarterlies, magazines and other publications may require a specific format. Or a friend may send you a pedigree chart which uses one of these numbering systems. It isnt necessarily important to learn the ins and outs of every numbering system, but it helps to have at least a general understanding. Common Genealogical Numbering Systems While genealogy numbering systems vary in their organization, they all have in common the practice of identifying individuals and their relationships through a specific numbering sequence. Most numbering systems are used to display descendants of a given ancestor, while one, the ahnentafel, is used to display the ancestors of an individual. Ahnentafel - From a German word meaning ancestor table, an ahnentafel is an ancestor based numbering system. Good for presenting a lot of information in a compact format, and the most popular numbering system for ascending genealogies. Register Numbering System - Based on the numbering system used by the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the register system is one of several options for numbering descendant reports. NGSQ Numbering System - Sometimes referred to as the Modified Register System from which it was adapted and modernized, this popular descendant numbering system is used in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and in many other family history publications. Henry Numbering System - Yet another descendant numbering system, the Henry System is named after Reginald Buchanan Henry, who used it in his Genealogies of the Families of the Presidents. published in 1935. This system is less often used than the Register and NGSQ systems, and is not accepted for certification projects or by most genealogical publications.

Play Projects Compnay Essays

Play Projects Compnay Essays Play Projects Compnay Essay Play Projects Compnay Essay Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction. 2 2.0 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) 2 2.1 Strengths. 2 2.2 Weaknesses. 2 2.3 Opportunities. 3 2.4 Threats. 3 3.0 The Porter’s Five Forces Model 3 3.1 Competition from Potential Companies. 4 3.2 Competition from Established Companies. 4 3.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers. 4 3.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers. 5 4.0 Competitors. 5 5.0 Social Responsibility. 6 6.0 Key Factors to Success. 6 7.0 Conclusion. 6 List of References: 8 Play Projects Company 1.0 Introduction Play Projects is event management company that manage lifestyle and corporate events, entertainment management and marketing support. Main customers young people with social life. Use social media, as it know that this is one of the most effective ways. It uses both the virtual and the real world to ensure creates events that are important to the market. It knows view of its threats and weaknesses. It know opportunities and strengths that it faces, and it working towards using them to the most to ensure that it gains a competitive advantage in the market. The paper show strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the company faces, since this is the main setting up and strategic tool of the company. It will highlight the competitors that the company faces, the value of social responsibilities, and key factors to the success of the business. 2.0 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)2.1 Strengths SWOT analysis is seeing the business environment to know best alternative for the company’s direction (Ferrell Hartline 2010, pp.128). The strengths of company refer to the resources that a company can use to its advantage. An organization should use of opportunities that are available to make them goals (Stephenson Thurman 2007, pp. 37). One of the main strengths of the company is that it has created many things different places. Event management is only need a person to be able to handle many activities since some of the events are seasonal. The fact that the company take care both business and social affairs means that new opportunities are always arising. This has enabled it to create more networks in the industry. The new opportunities created mean more business for the company. Another strength that the company has is flexibility. The company is flexible enough handle any opportunities that arise. Another major strength that the company has is that management values al l the employees. There is created a feeling of ownership. They feel comfortable handle any roles that may be present. The company’s decision to utilize the social media fully is meaning that it has expanded its connections. Social media such as Facebook is good since they make one to create many connections. 2.2 Weaknesses Weaknesses are limitations is prevent the company from reaching its objectives. Weaknesses reduce the company’s competitiveness in the market (Stephenson Thurman 2007, pp. 37). One of the major weaknesses of company is the lack of full time employees. This has not good productivity and performance. Employees not work good because of the many tasks they perform. They have many work and the results is poor. Another weakness is that the company does not have a fixed working place. Working virtually is person has to have access to the internet. The fact that the company does not have a fixed working place might explain why there are no full time employees. Another weakness is that it does not have main of long-term income. Many of the projects, which the company do are seasonal. This means that once a season ends, the company is left with no source of income if there are no forthcoming opportunities. Some of the people employed in the company might find this risky since they are not guaranteed any income. The company is see ways of earning an income, which does not depend on seasons. It needs to identify investment opportunities, which will guarantee returns at the end. This will make worker to stay in the job for longer since it will guarantee their financial security. 2.3 Opportunities Opportunities is situations, which the company can capitalize and use to their advantage. Opportunities assist the organization make more profit and enhance their performance (Stephenson Thurman 2007, pp. 37). Some of the opportunities, which the company identified, are like increase in number of social media sites. The company use sites like this to ensure that it connects with more people. The company uses the many available social sites to market its products. The more people learn of company, the higher the chances that the company will get more followers. This will in turn give the company the chance to sell its services to more clients. Another opportunity is more in the number of companies, which are wanting their services. This is an opportunity for the business to expand its clientele. More businesses are choosing to hire an events management company rather than relying on individual suppliers who might not meet all their expectations. They wanting hire the companies since they will offer them all the services they need, and they have specialized to undertake most of the tasks. 2.4 Threats Threats is things that could arise to bring trouble to the business (Stephenson Thurman 2007, pp. 37). One of the threats is of the event management industry not being always same. This is mainly caused by the instability in the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry in the country is affected by many factors such as people’s financial situation. When the economy is not good, people will choose to pay for their necessities but not use the money for unnecessary expenses such as entertainment. This will in turn mean that businesses dealing with organizing party and club events will suffer since they will not have a lot of business. The crisis within the Euro zone is also a major threat to the company. The Euro zone crisis will affect the number of businesses opening up in Singapore. Some of the company are already experiencing hard times. If the crisis is go on, it will decrease the number of company’s customers, and this will be detrimental to the survival a nd prosperity of the company. Another thing not good facing the company is the increase in the number of lifestyle/nightspots in Singapore. This is a significant threat to the company, as it is increasing the competition. The company is therefore have to share the number of events available with the other competitors. 3.0 The Porter’s Five Forces Model The Porter’s Five Forces make company to know the power the competition. The five forces include the â€Å"risk of entry by potential competitors, the intensity of rivalry among established companies within an industry, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, and the closeness of substitutes to an industry’s products (Hill and Jones 2009, pp. 42).† The presence of this forces makes it difficult to increase prices of goods and services. Changes in these forces can create either opportunities or threats to a company. Companies can decide the thing of power of some of these forces. For instance, established companies can make it more difficult for a new company to enter into the market, therefore make lower the strength of the competition (Hill and Jones 2009, pp. 43). 3.1 Competition from Potential Companies Plays Projects has a competitive edge over the other companies in that it has already seen the market for a longer period before venturing, and it has incorporated the use of technology. However, the company see many competition from companies that are fighting to enter into the lucrative business. Singapore is more and more the center of choice for many international corporate and entertainment functions, as it attracts both businesses and international tourists. There is a more demand for event management organizations. Their services are like organizing events such as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, performing art events, and leisure and lifestyle events. The requirements of setting up and running such a business is many like before the company becomes fully functional. Companies have to obtain various licenses and get authorization from different departments before they can begin to operate. This does not seem to be not taking the efforts well of potential entr ants into the industry (Guide Me Singapore). They are also expected to pay fees so that they can obtain the licenses. This is not a major hindrance since companies usually make more money from organizing the events, than they do getting licenses. The benefits is more costs, and many people with an interest in organizing and managing events are encouraged because of this. 3.2 Competition from Established Companies There is many of competition among the established companies because there are many companies offering such services. Singapore is not having many of large population, and the events management companies have to share the few clients amongst themselves. However, although there are many event management companies in the country, only few of them deal with organizing club entertainment. This is of good thing for the company since it creates an opportunity for the company. The company has already started doing this by creating special theme nights such as the â€Å"Butter Cookies† which is not of the women and others such as â€Å"Detention†, where customers get the chance to win gifts. It also offers reduced prices for the fans on its Facebook page (Play Projects, 2011). The cost of being of belong in the market depends on the type of event that the company specialized in organizing. Some events require a lot of investment such as example of the equipment used. For instan ce, companies, which deal with organizing occasions such as weddings often, have to invest a lot of equipment. This is not the case with companies, such as Play Projects, which deal with organizing entertainment functions. Although they don’t buy in equipment, they incur relatively low costs when leaving the market compared to other event management companies. 3.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers The company is having of free services for women and it caters for men by offering reduced prices on drinks. The customers seem to have the upper hand since they are like having advantage the most in this. The company seems to be more concerned about establishing a loyal customer base before establishing itself. This is mainly useful in a place where there are many night entertainment spots, and the population is not exceedingly high. Price sensitivity and the number of competitors that are in a market are crucial factors to consider when a company aims at retaining the bargaining power of buyers. By offering free things, it is creating competition within the industry. It will therefore become more power than the competitors will since the customers will look for a place where they can get cheaper services. Such services create difference needed between competitors in order for a company to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. 3.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers It is clear that the company’s main specialty and strength lies making nightlife events. The company relies on suppliers such as music deejays and artists to keep going. The deejays and celebrities make sure that customers is entertained throughout. Judging by the number of revelers who attend these events, the company seems to know what the customers want, and it supplies the best entertainment in the market. The company is endorsed by popular groups and individual artists such as the â€Å"Butter Factory† and â€Å"Cing Swan†. One of the good things of this type of industry is the flexibility it offers. Companies do not have to rely on one supplier for entertainment. The company has the things of deciding who will make happy the revelers. They therefore choose the most popular artists in the country or region, and this keeps the customers entertained. Play Project is a unique company as it uses Facebook for its own communication and for marketing purposes. 4.0 Competitors The Play Projects Company is see competitors in the market. The market is not pay, and competitors can enter and leave as they please. Its main competitors are Original Media Pte Ltd, Events Architects Pte Ltd, and the Events Artery Pte Ltd and more other company. In this industry, a company has to make sure they give best service, at a cheaper price or just like with other competitors in the industry. Although they seem to have seemingly created a competitive edge by using the virtual and the real world, this method is last not for long since other companies are also establishing themselves in a similar manner. The competition within the industry is so fierce, that competitors not want do whatever it takes to ensure that they remain the event organization of choice. Different institutions of higher learning are offering event management courses, which are geared towards equipping people with the necessary knowledge to ensure that they are in a better position to organize events. Competitors should be seen as an good thing not like threat to the company. Competitors enable the company to create new and innovative products, and to improve its service delivery. This gives the company a competitive advantage and improves the market development. Having the market has is make the company to differentiate its products. New companies can learn from the established companies, in that they can not have doing the same mistakes (SEO Consult, 2009). Competitors help to legitimize and make use of technology. This is evident in the case of Play Projects. Play Projects is not the first events company to organize events through the social media. The company has however, helped to establish this as one of the major ways of event organizing. By bring together the virtual and the real world, the company has enabled other established and upcoming companies to realize that there is no limit to the channels that have for use in event management (Porter 1998, pp. 210). 5.0 Social Responsibility The main thing of social responsibility is make sure that the internal and external stakeholders have higher standards of living, while at the same time maintaining the profitability of the business (Hopkins 2007, pp. 9). Businesses have do thing in a way that they cater for needs of all the stakeholders involved. This includes the employees, suppliers, customers, the community, and the environment. Some companies use in social responsibility issues as a way of enhancing their reputation. Businesses realize that they cannot remain profitable for long if they continue operating in areas where there is poor development. They therefore involve in development projects, especially in their areas of operation, to ensure that they benefit and remain profitable. The community forms many ideas of companies that engage in social responsibilities. Companies build their credibility, transparency, trust and reliability when they engage in socially responsible activities. They develop a relationship with the community, and this benefits them in the end. Many people want to be known with responsible organizations. Organizations make good employees come when they engage in socially responsible activities. This also helps them to retain their current employees. Although social responsibility in organizations benefits the companies and the communities in different ways, it has often been seen not well as a public relations ploy by the organizations with goal of make more profits (Hopkins 2007, pp. 128) 6.0 Key Factors to Success One of the most big factors to success in any business is communication. When people communicate with each other, they are able to make clear important thing, and this leads to better performance. Effective communication enables people to solve their problems and make not worry, thus enhancing productivity. It also enables people to build relationships with each other, and this enables them to work together more good than before (Rud 2009, pp. 60). Plays Projects have utilized communication effectively, and this has been enabled by the use of social media sites. This has in turn make them have to know what their customers want, and they are able to measure their reaction to past events. Another important factor to success is innovation. Innovation bring more only add value to the customer, but it also ensures that there is a balance between the product quality and cost (Chittithaworn et al., 2011, pp. 184). Plays Projects have use a main approach to their innovativeness. They have included technological ideas to create relevant social initiatives, and have managed to attract many people to their business because of this. Innovation does involve to development of difficult technology only, but it also ensures that the technology that has been developed can be used by people freely. Another key factor is the use of social networks. This has enabled the company make less of costs and risks associated with the business. It has also opened up avenues for the company to source ideas from diverse sources, such as the input offered by the company’s followers on Facebook. Another factor that has make sure that achieve of success in the company is the ability of the c ompany to offer differentiated products that cater for the needs of the clients (Cooper 1999, pp. 5). 7.0 Conclusion Play Projects is a relatively new company that has been able to attract many customers and clients since it began its operations. This is big thing considering that the event management industry in Singapore has many established competitors. The company is aware of the impending competition it faces from new entrants in the market. Although the company has several strengths, it has a clear idea of its weaknesses, and it has a realistic view concerning the threats facing the industry. It is quick to take make sure on its opportunities and this has made it more profitable. By using SWOT and the Porter’s Five Forces Model, the company continues to identify the strengths and the opportunities created by its competitors. The two strategic tools will enable it to survive and thrive in the competitive market.

How people do things that are not suppost to do Essay

How people do things that are not suppost to do - Essay Example Not only does the apparently unmotivated take on motive; perversely, we become visitors to a prison rather than readers of a philosophical discourse:† â€Å"The speaker denies his madness by calling himself a victim of the principle he has outlined. Yet his language hovers between calculation and illogic. The narrator explains "why I am here . . . wearing these fetters" by reference to a cause that is only a perverse absence of cause. From the standpoint of realistic representation, the perverse narrator betrays his deviance through linguistic peculiarities. â€Å" â€Å"†¦he assumes an understanding of what he has not yet explained. Both fictional speakers break accepted conventions by employing the definite article, where "the idea" and "the murder" have not been previously explicated. If we read these narrators as mimetic characters, their linguistic deviations may be signs of defective mental processes.† â€Å"A rhetorical moment takes the place of all ghosts, when "the imp of the perverse" drives the speaker to confess. "The rabble" would understand his behavior as a symptom of madness, but his perversity turns out to be a reflex inherent in words.† â€Å"The narrator is a man in crisis. His drinking has pushed him to the point where he is capable of violence, even against a wife who, although patient and long-suffering, is incapable of helping her husband. The two cats in this story remind him of better days, before the narrator’s alcoholism produced in his personality â€Å"a radical alteration for the worst† (598). But his substance abuse has provided him with at least one insight. He has learned that â€Å"the spirit of PERVERSENESS,† the self’s â€Å"unfathomable longing to vex itself—to offer violence to its own nature,† is a fundamental aspect of â€Å"the character of Man†Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"The narrator’s alcoholism, his propensity for violent behavior, his acute isolation, and

Critical Anaysis of The Stranger by Albert Camus Essay

Critical Anaysis of The Stranger by Albert Camus - Essay Example The sun is the motif of the novel, where it affects the personality of Meursault and his reaction to his setting and conditions in life. The sun represents the existentialist philosophy of Meursault, where the natural absurdity of the setting and its plot are designed to illustrate that detachment is a natural response to the meaninglessness of human existence. The sun stands for the existentialist philosophy of Meursault, a philosophy that Camus himself believes in. Christian argues that Camus believes in an existentialist philosophy of â€Å"the Absurd† (92). He stresses that for Camus, the world and man per se are not absurd, and instead, the relationship of man with his environment is absurd (92). He maintains that people demand things from a world that cannot fulfill them, and so to exist with true hope for the fulfillment of dreams is â€Å"absurd† (92). Meursault lives life like a sun, where to exist is to accept whatever happens without any attachment to them. H e has an extremely disconnected attitude towards his mother’s death, for instance. He says at the beginning of the novel: â€Å"MOTHER died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure† (Camus 4). He does not care for details when it comes to death. He values his mother enough to attend her funeral, but he does it out of duty, as a son. He does not even peek into his mother’s coffin, which people in the funeral find troubling. Strangers cry for her, while her own son does not even shed a tear. In addition, Meursault is not overly concerned of the prospect of dying himself. Death is not something that can stir him from his realization that nothing in life is worth pouring his passion over. His existence has come from nothing and will end up as nothing and that is the way life is. The sun heats up the setting and melts away any possible meaning in human action and agenda. The sun is a natural element of life’s natural cycle. The blackness of the fune ral of Meursault’s mother is distinguished because of the sun. Meursault, nevertheless, finds no meaning in these rituals and beliefs about the dead. The black colors of the hearse and horse and the noxious scents of the environment only serve to dull Meursault’s senses. In short, the funeral makes him want to sleep it away. Blackness means nothing, while sleeping is something that is more directly experienced. Furthermore, the sun also increases the temperature enough to make people live without concern for their actions. Meursault tumbles in his life in a state of coma and existence, because he always feels hot and uncomfortable. He wants to hurry up the funeral, because he feels the physical discomfort of standing under the sun. The Marengo landscape is illustrated as â€Å"something inhuman, discouraging† (Camus 11). Camus indicates that Meursault cannot be completely blamed for his absurdist approach to life, because his environment is disconcerting too. Vo n Dehsen calls it the â€Å"unreasonable silence of the world† to people who want to find meaning in life (39). Meursault realizes that his boss dislikes the fact that he will have several days off. His boss is only after making more money from his employees and is not truly concerned for him to attend his mother’s funeral and go over his grief. The society is not concerned of meaningful human existence too. Meursault’s relationships are important events in his life, as the plot reveals, but he