Compensation

Compensation is an important motivator when looking to achieve desired organizational results. Money is thought of s a powerful motivator, however that only holds for sometime until the next pay increase is due. Compensation strategies reinforce the organizational culture that you desire, this enables the culture where pay is linked to performance. To ensure this process works, it must be reflected in the strategic business objectives. The objectives must clearly be defined, must be communicated as soon as decision has been reached.By doing this proper, the organization can motivate employees and make them want to perform better. CONTENT An incentive plan is defined as a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. So what are the reasons so many companies would find a need to offer such incentive plans? Some of the top reasons are, for motivation, company morale, company loyalty, increased prod uctivity, increase achievement, reduced absenteeism, reduce company cost, decreased turnover and to create more team work.The organization I am employees with created for both union and non- urn employees an incentive compensation plan. When developing this plan it was to focus on two major points, safety and waste reduction. It was then also decided that a third element would also be counted, improved productivity. In order to receive the incentive there were requirements; you need to be a full time Compensation-Bemires 3 employee, employed for the last three (3) consecutive months and be actively employed at the time of payout, which was quarterly.There are also goals that need to be reached in order to collect the incentive for that portion of the goals. The safety component is that the TRIP (total recordable incident rate) needs to be low. Following the guidelines as noted: Greater than 1. 50 payout was O 01 -? 1. 50 payout is 1% of quarterly wages less than 1. 01 payout is 2% o f quarterly wages As a company this component is important because the safety of the employees is and will always be the most important thing to the company. Their safety should come first not only to Bemires but also to the employees.It was after looking at these aspects that a separate incentive plan needs to be created just for the non-union/salary employees. The SHIP (salaried performance incentive plan) needs to be created for salary personnel of the Bemires Company. It is intended to provide an incentive for employees to perform their jobs at the highest level possible to facilitate achievement of division and Compensation-Bemires 5 the plant goals, contributing to overall profitability.This plan was designed to reward individuals with additional annual cash compensation in recognition of their individual and collective efforts to meet or exceed annual goals. Unlike a merit increase which is an increase to your salary based on demonstrated ability to meet job responsibilities over an extended period Of time, incentive award is based on annual performance, targeting specific areas which may change from year to year. Employees must be regular full time employees, must be active employees t time of distribution.Eligibility does not necessarily entitle a participant to an award and does not constitute an agreement with the company. In making the requirements for this SHIP incentive it will depend on many factors which include, the individual base salary earnings for the eligibility period, normal reward percent, performance rating given by employees superiors, all targets/measurements are meet, and funding scale. The following are the factors to determine each of these. Base salary earnings: amount of pay a participant received throughout the plan year in eligible base earnings excluding all other forms of compensation.Normal award percent: each participant is assigned a normal award percent for his/her position; employees will be notified of this percentage . Normal award: is the base dollar amount of incentive eligible to the participant, it is then impacted up or down by individual performance rating and the results Of the profit and other targets set for the plan year. Individual performance rating (l PR): this will be given by the supervisor and can range from . 500 up to 1 250, the PR should correlate to the overall performance of the Compensation-Bemires 6 employee based on their yearly appraisal.

What affects outcomes for students in education

To find what might impact results for pupils in footings of instruction, we will look at a sample of larning theories to find which learning methods are most effectual, and the challenges it imposes on the instructors to guarantee the best results for their pupils. Basically in a primary school state of affairs, both the instruction methods and the environment of survey greatly affect the result for pupils. Through differentiated direction instructors can maximize the acquisition of each and every one of their pupils. There are a figure of different direction manners and methods that instructors use to teach efficaciously. One method ; ‘Cognitivism ‘ , looks to research brain-based acquisition, and theoretically, human heads in most instances can understand the nexus between a image and text, this ‘understanding procedure ‘ that takes topographic point leads to larning which is unforgettable and more meaningful. Using engineering in instruction is instrumental in helping instructors adhere to the demands of the pupils successfully and force them to their single abilities. This is supported by the multimedia rule which states that â€Å" people learn more deeply from words and images than from words entirely †[ 1 ]( Mayer, 1989 ) .A However, it is non effectual to simply add words to images to carry through multimedia learning.A During an observation at an Australian primary school, the instructors would on a regular basis equilibrate utilizing ocular mentions ( engin eering included ) in coaction with the theory side of information in their lessons. In order to maintain up with the social/economical root towards engineering nowadays it seems that the cardinal end of a instructor is toA instruct including media in add-on to other techniques. Another popular method ‘Constructivism ‘ sees larning as a state of affairs in which the pupil is an actively involved in the building of new thoughts and constructs based on old cognition from their ain experiences. Based on the work of Jean Piaget ‘s theory of cognitive development[ 2 ], Constructivism is considered one of the chief theories of kid development. Developed by psychologist Lev Vygotsky ( 1896-1934 ) in Russia, Vygotsky ‘s Social Development Theory is one of the foundations of constructivism[ 3 ]. This theory concludes that each pupil is non merely a space canvas where the instructor is the exclusive supplier of cognition, but alternatively a pupil able to utilize any pa st experiences or cultural beliefs as a learning tool. Continuous illustrations of constructivism and cognitivism have been observed exercised in the Australian primary school. Inevitably larning manners will differ within each schoolroom nevertheless the three chief types of scholars that have been observed are Ocular, Auditory and Tactile. The best manner for Teachers to near these fluctuations is to learn in a manner that is good to each larning manner. Teachers who accommodate a scope of larning manners in their lessons are more likely to prosecute their pupils into larning. There are legion factors that can act upon a pupils eruditeness in a schoolroom, to state this is to besides reinstate that â€Å" scholars are affected by their: ( 1 ) immediate environment ( sound, light, temperature, and design ) ; ( 2 ) ain emotionalism ( motive, continuity, duty, and need for construction or flexibleness ) ; ( 3 ) sociological demands ( ego, brace, equals, squad, grownup, or varied ) ; and ( 4 ) physical demands ( perceptual strengths, intake, clip, and mobility ) †[ 4 ]This can be seen as rather a challenge for the instructors to maintain in considerati on whilst besides seeking to guarantee the best results for their pupils. Harmonizing to a sample of Australian primary school pupils, things that positively affected their acquisition were the schoolroom environment, the scope of ways that they received information and the ability to work in groups where everyone was at a similar degree. Children will most probably do better educationally if they have positive mentalities about their school ( Kennedy, 1988 ) . Using differentiated direction means utilizing a scope of attacks to heighten larning for all pupils by affecting them in activities in response to specific acquisition demands and dispositions. A important factor for pupil success is to understand that these differences can be addressed and used in a manner that is more good to larning. During the observation at a Primary school the wise man instructor explained how pupils were organised into groups harmonizing to their different ways of larning. An illustration of such was seen when working on reading comprehension ; pupils that had a much more accelerated reading degree were grouped together, whilst another group consisted of pupils that were a spot lower with their reading degrees, and so on. The instructor explained that if the pupils were wholly taught as if they were the same degree it would hold a negative result, but by learning to run into a assortment of degrees this result could be avoided. In general, a schoolroom with d ifferentiated acquisition may look unmanageable and helter-skelter nevertheless in world it is more planned out than it may foremost look. On the impudent side, whilst a instructor can utilize differentiated direction in their schoolroom, it is rather hard without support from the school and its decision makers. Time should be made available in the course of study by decision makers for proper planning to guarantee the best possible consequences in the schoolroom. ( Holloway, 2000 ) In kernel this ‘segregation ‘ is about supplying options and non merely giving the higher degree pupils more work. ( Tomlinson,1996 )[ 5 ].A A A A A This assorted research and observation supports differentiated direction and how it positively affects educational differences and demands of pupils. These instructors had evidently included a assortment of different larning manners of pupils into their lessons, which in this peculiar observation determined that differentiated direction was decidedly the most effectual method to guaranting the best acquisition result for pupils as a whole. All pupils deserve the chance to be booming in their single degrees, particularly when it does supply a positive result for their hereafter.

Btec Level Extended Diploma in Music

Over the past three decades, in the recording studio a widespread of technical changes have occurred. This has changed music on a whole. Factors such as studio production, the role of the producer and the recording engineer have also been altered drastically in music by technology. The Internet, digital formats and industry progressions are known to have caused changes too. Particularly, the computer industry introduced many digital technologies over these decades. At the same time, the music Industry changed as did customer habits. As a result, current production raciest have been shaped by several outside influences that include both technical and business factors, Since the us, the computer, music. And audio Industries have begun to influence one another. Over the past few decades there have been many changes in the Music Industries; many changes which have impacted studio production. Throughout recording history the music industry part has been to make a profit of recorded music. The commercial advertising and distribution of recorded music is definitely the greatest motivating factor driving both the audio and cording industries.This is a result of changes in the sales of recordings lead to changes In the adoption of technology and also to the development of studio production. Major labels control most of the market which is why we have a lot of what we call mainstream music. There are Independent labels, but Major labels basically still control what music Is recorded and distributed. The music industry has come a long way since those dreadful days of the mono recordings. Back then, artists, producers, and engineers didnt have as much of a choice of what equipment that loud use to get their recordings done.With the advancement In technology and new innovations constantly being created in the music industry, the opportunities are endless. If you look up the definition of technology you will see the words industry and commerce, which to me just means growth and development. Technology has and will continue to influence growth and development in the music Industry. With the growth of technology, the technical end of producing and engineering has become somewhat a quicker task. For example, the introduction of yester real time messages synchronized drum machines, sequences and other rhythmic devices.System real time messages are dropped into the data stream as required, and have priority over other messages In order to mainstream synchronization at all times. In other advances in technology has allowed these devices to operate with timing clocks so everything does not have to be done completely be hand anymore. As music production and recording systems become more complex and sophisticated, the need for intuitive, easy to use controls over then came essential if they are to be used effectively.Technology has made music systems become more and more sophisticated, so the tasks involved in the successful control of these systems has become Increasingly complex. Technology has also brought about a new language to go with the systems we use in the industry today. Language, youre only half way there. Technology has not only brought about new systems on which we make music but a whole language to go with it. There is enough terminology that goes with the applications to fill a small dictionary.

Foreign country relating to the world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Foreign country relating to the world - Essay Example India is one of the few countries which escaped from the damages of current global recession. India has achieved this positions through carefully planned economic and foreign policies. They have adopted a diplomatic approach to most of the problems associated with it in the region and never adopted an aggressive approach even when their sovereignty was in jeopardy. Immediately after getting freedom, India has started conscious efforts to make an international body for the non-aligned countries under the leadership Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Former Egyptian President Abdul Nazar and Yugoslav President Tito joined hands with Nehru in the formation of NAM. At the time of cold war both US and USSR tried to gain the support of NAM countries in order to expand their power. Some political analysts believe that India was more aligned towards USSR at the time of cold war, but even then India never given up their commitment towards NAM movement. After the destruction of former Soviet Union, America has started to attract India’s support in international affairs because of India’s growing stature as a world economic power. At present India is maintaining a good relationship with both America and Russia which help them in interfering in international politics effectively. â€Å"The principles of Indias foreign policy have stood the te st of time: a belief in friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of Non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations†.   (Indias Foreign Policy - 50 Years of Achievement) â€Å"Indeed, the Independence of India itself played the role of a catalyst in removing the vestiges of colonialism in other parts of the developing world, particularly in Africa† (Indias Foreign Policy - 50 Years of Achievement) India has

Financial Management Question 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Management Question 1 - Essay Example Taxes by the federal and state have to be paid as required by the law; therefore the lottery has to name the price as 363 million because that's the amount to be won before taxation. The lottery also brings many benefits to the community and the state as a whole such as funding education and therefore people need not to be negative about the price to be won. If the only option available was the annuity payment then Larry could maximize the value of his winning by acquiring a loan from a bank that will be paid within the time limit, Larry would get money that will enable her to invest and an amount that will be payable at an amount of 4,732,962 dollars per year. The interest rate should be the guiding factor in determining the amount to acquire as loan. Winners select the cash option because they are rational and want to maximize the value of their money today, they will opt to have their cash today than for 26 years due to uncertainties about the future, and they also do not want to pay taxes each year for 26 years because this will just reduce the total amount they receive. The winner will want his pay in cash due to the fact that ... options the annuity and the cash option; in any of the options given the amount does not add up to the same amount and therefore the price should not be termed as 363 million. However the lottery in order to attract more people to participate in the lottery they are justified to name the total amount to be won, they should also disclose all the information about the game to the people. Taxes by the federal and state have to be paid as required by the law; therefore the lottery has to name the price as 363 million because that's the amount to be won before taxation. The lottery also brings many benefits to the community and the state as a whole such as funding education and therefore people need not to be negative about the price to be won. 4. if the only option available was an annuity payment plan, what could Larry do to maximize the value of his winning assuming that the risk free rate of interest is 5% If the only option available was the annuity payment then Larry could maximize the value of his winning by acquiring a loan from a bank that will be paid within the time limit, Larry would get money that will enable her to invest and an amount that will be payable at an amount of 4,732,962 dollars per year. The interest rate should be the guiding factor in determining the amount to acquire as loan. 5. Why do most winners select the cash option plan when given the choice Winners select the cash option because they are rational and want to maximize the value of their money today, they will opt to have their cash today than for 26 years due to uncertainties about the future, and they also do not want to pay taxes each year for 26 years because this will just reduce the total amount they receive. The winner will want his pay in cash due to the fact that they want

Coercive Power in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Coercive Power in the Middle East - Essay Example   The authoritarian government remains in power by opposing political discourse and fighting against reformists. The purpose of such government is to remain in power without necessarily meeting the demands of the nation. In countries such as Iran, the president has always developed mechanisms against any internal dissent. For instance, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has used his political power to win the election against the will of the people. His re-election in 2009 was a political manipulation, in spite of the internal dissent raised by the public against his election. This shows the effects of coercive power that authoritarian government uses to suppress the will of the people.   Although Middle East countries have shown efforts to develop the country’s economy, it is clear that they have been inefficient due to misdirected priorities. Since the government gives priority to the welfare of the leaders and those close to leadership, they fail to focus on th e shaping of the nation. Economists have criticized heavy economic spending of most Middle East countries on issues such as security and developing international networks that support their leadership. In Egypt, the government has spent a lot of money on security leading to the bankruptcy of its economy. Egypt spends over $2 billion on security, of which the money is the foreign aid that the government gets for the United States. Iran spends over 30 billion that it earns from its government from oil sales to cover for its security framework.   

Outsourcing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Outsourcing - Research Paper Example Outsourcing has turned out to be a key business aspect, providing many firms with the chance of hiring an outside firm, to help in the completion of their production processes, and a well reduced cost but high productivity rate. The decision to undertake outsourcing is a sign of future increase in profits.A number of factors have become considered before a firm can decide whether outsourcing is the right path for the firm to take. To many organizations the objective of outsourcing is to improve the company’s financial competitiveness, majorly through reduction of costs. The author argues that, companies that specialize in various support functions work cheaper since they benefit from various scale of economies, use the latest technology and expert knowledge. A number of organizations make the decisions outsource mainly since they want to try and focus on their key competencies, and check minimal value in creating in house processes out of these main competencies. Human resourc e outsourcing helps in reducing the overall work load of the present Human Resource staff. According to him, this gives the firm an opportunity to focus on its strategic decision making process, and development of the major competencies. Outsourcing HR processes can provide managers with an opportunity to pay close attention to their main businesses, instead of spending their valuable time on different HR processes, which are constantly turning out to be complex and more advanced. HRO reduces attrition; losing an indispensable employee can cost the management tens if not hundreds of thousands. In The United States alone, the annual cost of an employer turnover is close to $5

Apple i-Pad in 2010 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Apple i-Pad in 2010 - Case Study Example This design advantage also extended into Apple’s image. Apple, Inc. would increasingly cultivate an image that presented itself as the alternative choice to mainstream computer producers. This allowed Apple to become a cultural force resulting in significant market advantage. Another prominent competitive advantage is Apple’s iTunes store. This store implements technology limiting the amount of computers the songs can be played on, further solidifying Apple’s hold on the MP3 market. In terms of the iPhone, Apple’s App Store and inclusion of its unique operating system provide the organization a strong competitive advantage. Are the dynamics in the personal computer industry favorable or problematic for Apple? The dynamics of the personal computer industry present both favorable and problematic situations for Apple. One problematic consideration is that by the late 1990s, â€Å"home and SMB customers started to buy PCs through superstores (Wal-Mart, Costco ), electronics retailers, (Best Buy, Circuit City), and Web-based retailers† (Kim & Yoffie, 2010, p. 4-5). ... How sustainable is Apple’s competitive position in PCs? Apple’s competitive position in PC’s currently is strong, but could experience challenges in future contexts. The Apple Macbook has gained a reputation for quality and contains Apple’s unique operating system. The Macbook has carved out a competitive position through its compatibility with art, design, and music software, making it the industry-computing standard. In addition, the computer has garnered a loyal customer following that views the Apple computer more than simply a product, but also a lifestyle statement. In these regards, Apple’s competitive position in PC’s remains strong. Still, one notes that this industry is highly competitive and with the recent death of company founder and CEO Steve Jobs the future of the organization may experience a position of flux. In addition, increasing competition from generic manufacturers threatens Apple’s position. It’s noted th at, â€Å"White-box† PCs reportedly represented about 30% of the overall market in 2009, and were most frequently sold into the small office and home office markets† (Kim & Yoffie, 2010, p. 5). One considers that with rapid advances in technology, the future could witness these generic manufacturers encroaching on Apple’s claims to quality and art and design efficiency. In these regards, Apple’s ultimate PC sustainability rests on its ability to remain ahead of the curve in both quality and image. How sustainable is Apple’s competitive position in MP3 players? There are a number of considerations in terms of Apple’s competitive advantage in MP3 players. One of the difficulties in future contexts will be

USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan Essay

USA Drug Policy approach on Colombia and Afghanistan - Essay Example The first part of this paper will therefore focus on the US drug policy in Colombia and the second part of this paper will evaluate the US drug policy in Afghanistan. The final part of this paper will provide a comparative analysis of the US drug policy toward the two countries and will offer key findings and explain how these two different policies are designed to achieve the same goal, although influenced by different political considerations. As the paper declares the US Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that Colombia is the source of more than 90 percent of the cocaine that infiltrates the US. Likewise the US identifies Colombia as a significant source of heroin in the US. Liang-Fenton characterizes the US drug policy toward Colombia as one of â€Å"eradication, interdiction and extradition†. Eradication is aimed at the crop and invariably involves â€Å"aerial herbicide†. Interdiction involves interdicting the drugs either in the source country or en route to the US and requires cooperation with the security personnel of the source state. Extradition is motivated by eliminating and/or immobilizing drug traffickers on a state to state cooperation basis. The US response to a Colombian judge’s release from prison of Jorge Ochoa, a â€Å"notorious cocaine capo† in 1987 illustrates the point. The Colombian government’s jurisdiction over the judge was entirely limited. The US re sponded by criticizing and ridiculing Colombia and in addition subjected Colombian travelers and Colombian products to intensive checks by US Customs at entry ports into the US.

The idea and attitudes of the poets Essay Example for Free

The idea and attitudes of the poets Essay All three poems are about outsiders and issues that they find important. Issues that most of us would take for granted if we were not actually in that particular group. The first poem half-caste by John Agard addresses the issue of being half-caste. The poet ridicules the use of the term half-caste. The poet does this in a very light-hearted and fun way. He asks if Picasso is second rate just because he mixed colours in his paintings and he asks if the English weather is classed as half-caste weather because its always overcast in England. Should Tchaikovskys work or music be classed as second rate just because he used both the black and white notes on his piano. The point he is trying to make to the reader is is someone who is called a half-caste only half a person? The point of the poem is to try and get the reader to be a bit more open-minded. He deliberately uses very well known people; geniuses even, as examples to make his point. The poet uses colloquial English and imperatives and starts the poem by using the phrase excuse me. He does this to try and attract attention and to get people to listen. He also uses the phrase explain yuself and wha you mean numerous times throughout the poem (repetition). Again, the idea is to get the reader/listener to think in a more open-minded way, and why we might be using the term half-caste. The poet has very effectively used dialect to make his point that the term half-caste is normally used when there is a afro-Caribbean mixed-race person involved. The poem is written in 5 stanzas of varying lengths. The poet uses short lines throughout the poem and this gives more impact to his point. He uses stanzas because it possibly gives the reader a chance to reflect on what has been said. The poet cleverly lets sentences run on into the next stanza so that when the poem is read it can possibly be read angrily in one stanza but then with the gaps and the sentence running into the next stanza almost pleadingly as he tries to make people understand. However, there are times in the poem especially when referring to the term half-caste which could be read out angrily just to make that point stand out more forcefully. The second poem search for my tongue by Sujata Bhatt, tries to deal with the difficulty immigrants might have speaking two languages. This poem uses both English and Gujarati to make this point. The poet wonders whether she will forget her mother tongue but by the end of the poem is quite sure that she wont. The poem is written in three sections. In the first section the poet expresses her worries about losing her mother tongue. In the second section she explains these ideas in Gujarati whilst in the third section she dreams that although she may feel that she is losing her mother tongue, it was in fact growing stronger within her. By using the phrase I have lost my tongue the poet is cleverly telling us how confused she is and does not know what to say. While dreaming, the poet uses metaphors to describe her tongue. She compares it with a plant when she says it grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer. I feel that the poem should be read sadly when reading about the idea of losing the mother tongue but angrily at the thought of speaking a foreign tongue and happily towards the end of the poem when she dreams about the mother tongue getting stronger in her mind. The third poem Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker is set in a third world country. We assume this because midway through the poem he describes people rushing out from huts to collect water. The poet is trying to emphasise the importance of water to life. The poet compares water with silver and liquid sun using metaphorical language. Both silver and liquid sun reflects valuable items and thereby stipulating the importance of water to life. The poet sees water as a blessing and uses this as a central metaphor. The poem has been written in four stanzas. As it comes across as a more serious poem it gives the reader a moment to reflect on what has just been read. The poet uses short lines to get his point across and give it more impact. He uses short stanzas when describing the lack of water and longer stanzas when there is a plentiful supply of water. The poet uses a simile in his first line of the poem when he begins with the skin cracks like a pod. This gives an image of serious drought conditions. The poet uses words such as rush or fortune and silver crashes deliberately. These words are to do with wealth and fortune. This emphasises the importance of water to the villages. The poet also uses religious imagery. She describes people coming out from their huts to collect water as a congregation. The poem refers to men, women and children in stanza three, but only to the children in stanza four. This is because most people are sympathetic towards children and can give more emotion to the poem. The poem also stresses the different way the adults and the children behave at the sight of water. Whilst the adults are busy collecting water, the children play around the water gleefully. The children are obviously unaware of how serious the situation was without water. The poem can probably be read in a pitiful tone, sympathising with the poor and cheerfully when the pipe bursts and there is water about. All three poems deal with issues important to the minority of this country. Each poet is able to convey their thoughts and feelings very effectively and each one is able to do so using their own methods of writing. Each poem uses various imagery and language to get the point across. Each poem has been effective in getting across their points across and making readers think of how a problem that they perceive as being simple, is actually very important to the people concerned.

Advertising: Positive and Negative Effects

Advertising: Positive and Negative Effects In the material world today, we are inundated with various forms of advertising. There are a group of people think that advertising has a great benefit, while there are people have an opposite opinion. Everything has two sides of opinion, which can be good or bad. Media advertising share the same goal which is to reach as many users as possible and convince them to buy certain products. They all use the same strategy to achieve this, but some are more effective than others. However, there are growing concerns about some companies use unethical methods of advertising that have harmful effects on society. This is almost all companies do to attract their consumer. They advertise only good thing about the product without telling bad things about the product. This is how the advertisement work today. Admittedly, advertising is all around us in our daily lives, from rural to urban, from work to home. It is becoming more popular in this modern world, especially in business industry. As I said before, the purpose of advertising media is to reach as many consumer as possible. At present, many advertising represents wrong information. This is because, most of the advertising media show the quality of product but after buying the product the user is aware that it does not have the characteristics shown in advertising. The important thing is, do they make good advertising to the public. For example chocolate product, Cadbury. Most of the Cadbury chocolate product show that happiness went eat their chocolate. However, do they tell the public that the effect that you will get on your body. That you will get a lot of disease. Such as diabetes, heart attack and cavities. This is how the advertisement work, they only advertise a good things until the consumers will not notice the effect that they will get. The other things that companies do to their advertisement is that their advertising will make the public to spend their money that they should not spend it. Now there are various ways for companies to promote their products and services, from simple brochures to television advertising. For example, when we watch a Youtube video on internet, we will see the advertisement before or middle of the video. Similarly, if we watch the latest movie in cinema, well see a product that is put on film so often. This means that we, as a public who watch a lot of advertisement, will tend to be very influenced by the advertising to buy their product without thinking very well. At this time I cannot said that advertisements are a positive to our lives. This is because most of advertisements are not good to view to all public. I should mention some of the weaknesses come from this point. In fact, the goal of most businesses is to maximize profits, hence on advertising their products often exaggerated to sell the items as much as possible. This can cause people to want something unnecessary or useless. Another problem is the control of advertising aimed at children who have little experience or knowledge, if it does not have adverse effects on future generations. For example an illustration of chocolate advertisements. For example Cadbury product, they use cute costume on their advertising. This will make an encourage children to watch and they will possible to get that chocolate. This chocolate advertisements will encourage children to spend a lot of money to buy a chocolate product. This will effects the health of children. Without the control of their food , they will get a lot of disease when they become older. It is not easy to decide how to regulate advertising. Obviously, the government should limit advertising for dangerous products such as alcohol, tobacco and many more. However, the government does not have the power to control all the type of advertising. This means that people should have to use their logical minds when they go to the shops, and think whether they really need to buy that product or not. Parents are the responsible person to take control their children. They should be the responsible to make sure that their children being protected from too much exposure to advertising. This can mean only explain that it is not actually need to buy a lot of chocolate, or parents can turning off the television to prevent their children exposure to advertising. For example, when children watch a lot of chocolate advertisement, they will likely want to buy that chocolate every time they watch that advertisement. That mean, their parent’s need to control how they exposure with the advertisement. If their parent not doing so, they will have to spent a lot of money to buy a chocolate because their children need it so much. The only thing that companies do for their advertising is to increase their sales and win customers. This means that companies pour a significant amount of money into advertising. Most of the time, its not about the function or quality of the materials themselves but actually promote a good feeling to have that product. This means that the collaboration of the hiring celebrities as the face of their products. They put a famous actor in television commercials to promote their product. For example, Cadbury use Cecil Aldin to appearing on Cadbury advertising. This actor was popular back in 1900 ago. However Snickers use Mr.Bean, the popular comedian in this century to appearing on Snickers advertisement. This will make sales increased significantly since young children, as they like to target users with celebrities. Furthermore, most people buy products that are not useful to them when they watch a commercials because it only reflects their favourite actor or actress even though they do not need it. Advertising is always shown on different types of media, which sometimes annoys some viewers. For example, advertising on television. Typically, each show entertainment on television has several breaks that lasted about five minutes. During these commercials breaks, viewers have to watch a lot of commercials that annoy them and have put on hold to enjoy their favourite shows. The question here is whether those advertising is important to notice or not. Most people put it down to the station he wanted to extend the show with some advertising, but most people see that advertising is on the screen for the benefit of advertisers. Most of people just want watch their favourite show without any kind of interruption of commercial advertising. Moreover, in these cases, the person in front of the small screen, they will not only want heed any advertising flash on the screen, but they also want advertisers will stop making a profit with their promotion on television. On the other hand, there is always the flip side of the coin. To begin with, some of advertisement has positive effect. To confirm this point of view, let put forth some specific logic. For example, by watching advertisements people always remain update on new product. Such as, when Cadbury Company launch new chocolate products, they will put advertisement on television so, the public can know which new chocolate products recently launched. This mean, the Cadbury Company will show all the feature in advertising, as a result the public will know very well about their new chocolate products before purchasing it and save their time. It also means that advertising plays an important role in the growth of the business because the company cannot show off their products without advertising their products. That mean, with advertisement the public will obtain information about new product by advertisement. The conclusion is that, we as civilians cannot escape advertising. However, children also should be encouraged not to pay too much attention to it. The power of advertising maybe over-rated. As we can see, we cannot deny that the final decision is on the hands of consumers. No matter how attractive advertisement is, people will be able to make their own decisions. Generally, in some cases, although advertising has negative impacts on today, it still plays an important role that cannot be replaced. Overall, it brings great benefit to our economy and society. References Bishop, W. (2004). On Writing: A Process Reader. New York: McGraw Hill. Jen, Green. (2012). Advertising. New York Elizabeth Rose, M. (2004). Advertising: A Cultural Economy. London The Rise of AdBlock Reveals A Serious Problem in the Advertising Ecosystem (2014): http://www.mondaynote.com/2014/12/08/the-rise-of-adblock-reveals-a-serious-problem-in-the-advertising-ecosystem/ Definition of Advertising: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/advertising Negative Social Consequences of Advertising: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-social-consequences-advertising-26072.html Negative Impacts of Advertising: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-impacts-advertising-22146.html The Positive Effects of Advertising: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-effects-advertising-24688.html The History of Chocolate: https://www.cadbury.co.uk/the-story#1800-1850 Snickers: https://www.snickers.com/ Cadbury Dairy Milk Share the Happiness (2011): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2LIovSN51Eindex=54list=UU-myE7EniJwmIKBC1FGUMmw

Essay on Fantasies and Realities in Red Badge Of Courage

Fantasies and Realities in The Red Badge Of Courage      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane the main character, Henry Fleming, thought he understood the war between the North and the South.   However, his understanding came â€Å"from his knowledge of fairy tales and mythology†(Gibson 21).   Henry thought that he was like the heroes that he read about in these stories.   He soon learned that real war was very different from his imaginative expectations.   Crane took Henry’s fantasies and contrasted them with the realities of the war to develop this main character into a mature person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Henry spent his early life on a farm in Virginia.   Henry’s perception of the world was shaped almost entirely by the books his mother gave him to read.   After the war started, â€Å"the newspapers carried accounts of great battles, in which the North was victor.   Almost every day the newspapers printed accounts of decisive victory†(Walcutt),   Henry’s mother was reluctant to let her son leave home and go South to do battle against the Confederate Army.   She knew that Henry’s vision of war was not what war is really like.   She tried to get Henry to change his mind about joining the army, but she was unsuccessful because â€Å"tales of ‘the war in his own country’ inevitably began to move him.   They many not be distinctly Homeric, but there seemed to be much glory in them’†(Cody 122).   Henry â€Å"is motivated† by his â€Å"heroic expectations of ‘gre at things’†(Colvert 97) as well as his keen interest and curiosity about what he views as the elements of war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Henry thought that if one did not get a red badge of courage, then he was a coward.   Henry had â€Å"battles† in his mind.   â€Å"Fleming would pass into an absorptive trance in which... ...n, IA:   Perfection Learning Corporation, 1979. Gibson, Donald B. The Red Badge of Courage:   Redefining the Hero.   Boston:   Twayne Publishers, 1988. Lowell, Amay.   Introduction. The Work of Stephen Crane:   â€Å"The Black Riders and Other Lines.†Ã‚   By Stephen Crane.   Vol. VI. 1926. Rpt. in Discovering Authors. Vers 1.0. CD-ROM. Detriot:   Gale, 1992. Magill, Frank N., Magill’s Survey:   American Literature Realism to 1945.   California:   Salem Press, Inc., 1963. Walcutt, Charles C. Stephen Crane:   Naturalist and Impressionist in his American Literary Naturalism, a Divided Stream, University of Minnesota Press. 1956. Rpt. in Discovering Authors. Vers 1.0 CD-ROM.   Detriot:   Gale, 1992. Wolford, Chester L.   â€Å"Stephen Crane.†Ã‚   Critical Survey of Long Fiction.   Ed. Frank N. Magill.   English Language Series.   Vol. 2. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1991.   

The Natural Essay example -- essays research papers

We have been created with a need for heroes. We yearn for them because we are born with the want and desire to believe in someone, to have faith in someone, to trust in someone, and to look up and strive to be like someone. This â€Å"someone† is how Roy Hobbs is portrayed in the movie version of The Natural. Roy in the movie version is utterly heroic. He struggles, after an almost fatal injury in his youth, to try to become the best that the game of baseball has ever seen. He is quietly confident, without an arrogance to him. Iris is his former teenage-love who reappears after Roy makes it into the majors and stands up and inspires him when he is in a slump. Their relationship in the movie appears pure and innocent. Iris reminds Roy of â€Å"home† and all that is good and true in his life. Roy also has a relationship with Memo, who is his manager Pop’s niece. She is a shady character who basically throws herself at Roy after he notices her beauty and wants to get to know her. Their relationship is dark and more sexual than Roy and Iris’ on-screen romance. Roy is respectful to his fans and in return they stand by him faithfully, in good-times and bad. He even goes as far to helping the batboy make a bat resembling Roy’s own bat, Wonderboy. Roy views Pop as a fa ther figure. Even after he is poisoned by Memo and blackmailed by Gus and the Judge, Roy decides to play in his last game to win Pop the pennant he had always wanted. By doing this he risks his life because of his stomach illne...

Pierre Bourdieu Essay -- Sociology, Habitus Stems

As a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu focuses on the role of practice and embodiment in social dynamics of power relations in life, which opposes Western traditions. He conceptualizes the notions of habitus and field, which disclose the construction in human society, which, according to him, should not be understood as applying a set of rules. Echoing Michel Foucault and Michel de Certeau, Bourdieu intents to analyze the interrelationship between social structure and social practice. His arguments are around a reconciliation of both external power generated from social structure and internal power produced by subjective individuality. Bourdieu transforms Max Weber’s notion of domination and social orders into his theory of fields, defining field as a setting in which agents and their social positions are located, a system of social positions that are structured in terms of power relationships. Fields, so to speak, â€Å"provide themselves with agents equipped with the habitus needed to make them work†(1980, 67). Bourdieu thereby claims that society can be seen as the sum of social objective relationships in the conditions of economic production and that it is the social agent should be emphasized in society. Bourdieu, although retaining structuralist concepts of social structures, argues that the reproduction of social structure is not constrained by the logic of social structure. Bourdieu describes habitus as the theory of the mode of the generation of practices. Habitus, according to Bourdieu, which is a â€Å"product of history† structured based on a set of acquired dispositions, is constituted in practice and is always â€Å"oriented towards practical functions†(1980, 52-54). That is, habitus ... ...uses construct practical space that organizes social relations ; Calendars structure practical time that organizes social works. System of classification, as embodiment of social order thereby subsumes subjective experiences and naturalizes â€Å"its own arbitrariness†(1977, 164). Doxa, the state of this naturalization, through censorship and exclusion, preserves a â€Å"universe of that which is taken for granted†(1977, 170) Bourdieu further argues that practices involve â€Å"a logic made to dispense with concepts†(1977, 116) but should not be described as logical processes. It is, instead of abstract logic, but body movements and actual practice should be analyzed with an investigation on the connection between body movements and classificatory system. The â€Å"language of the body†, according to Bourdieu, is more ambiguous to be analyzed than linguistic schemes(1977, 120).

Database Management System and Data

Chapter 11: ReviewQuestion: 1. Explain the main differences between a file processing system and a database system ANS: Some main differences between a database management system and a file processing system are:Both systems contain a collection of data and a set of programs which access that data. A DBMS coordinates both the physical and the logical access to the data, whereas a file-processing system coordinates only the physical access. A DBMS reduces the amount of data duplication by ensuring that a physical piece of data is available to all programs authorized to have access to it, whereas data written by one program in a file-processing system may not be readable by another program.A DBMS is designed to allow flexible access to data (i. e. , queries), whereas a file-processing system is designed to allow pre-determined access to data (i. e. , compiled programs).A DBMS is designed to coordinate multiple users accessing the same data at the same time.A file-processing system is u sually designed to allow one or more programs to access different data files at the same time. In a file-processing system, a file can be accessed by two programs concurrently only if both programs have read-only access to the file.Discussion Topic:2. Suggest three typical business situations where referential integrity avoids data problems. ANS:In an inventory order system, you don't want an order to be deleted if there are inventory order items, or those items will be orphaned. If you are assigning customers to a salesperson, referential integrity would make sure that a customer wasn't assigned to a salesperson that doesn't exist.Payments in an accounting system should only be applied to an account, and if that account number changes, you want entries on that account to be updated as well.Project: 1. Search the Internet to find information about data storage formats. Also do the research on international date formats. Determine whether the date formats used in the United States is the most common format. ANS: According to my research on the Programmers website, I think that we have many different ways to store a program data: plain text which the application has small size of simply structured data, and data are not modified concurrently by multiple users. XML is small size of structured data that are not modified concurrently or frequently. Database which is large structured data or concurrent access is needed. Need for querying and search is a must in the application. Binary data use for streaming objects. Zipping is compression that may be added as another process for any of the above except databases on servers. The international format defined by ISO (ISO 8601) tries to address all these problems by defining a numerical date system as follows: YYYY-MM-DD where * YYYY is the year [all the digits, i. e. 2012] * MM is the month [01 (January) to 12 (December)] * DD is the day [01 to 31] For example, â€Å"3rd of April 2002†, in this international format is written: 2002-04-03 In the United States, dates are traditionally written in the â€Å"month day, year† order. This is the most common format because it used in both traditional numeric date. This date format was commonly used alongside the small endian form in the United Kingdom until the early 20th Century and can be found in both defunct and modern print media such as the London Gazette and The Times, respectively.

Isds Ch 5

Business Intelligence, 2e (Turban/Sharda/Delen/King) Chapter 5 Text and Web Mining 1) DARPA and MITRE teamed up to develop capabilities to automatically filter text-based information sources to generate actionable information in a timely manner. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 190 2) A vast majority of business data is captured and stored in text documents that are structured. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2Page Ref: 192 3) Text mining is important to competitive advantage because knowledge is power, and knowledge is derived from text data sources. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 192 ) The purpose and processes of text mining are different from those of data mining because with text mining the input to the process are data files such as Word documents, PDF files, text excerpts, and XML files. Answer: FALSE Diff: 3Page Ref: 192 5) The benefits of text mining are greatest in areas where very large amounts of textual data are being generated, such as law, academic research, finance, and medicine. Ans wer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 192 6) Unstructured data has a predetermined format. It is usually organized into records as categorical, ordinal, and continuous variables and stored in databases.Answer: FALSE Diff: 2Page Ref: 193 7) Stemming is the process of reducing inflected words to their base or root form. Answer: TRUE Diff: 1Page Ref: 193 8) Stop words, such as a, am, the, and was, are words that are filtered out prior to or after processing of natural language data. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 193 9) The goal of natural language processing (NLP) is syntax-driven text manipulation. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2Page Ref: 196 10) Two advantages associated with the implementation of NLP are word sense disambiguation and syntactic ambiguity. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2Page Ref: 196 1) By applying a learning algorithm to parsed text, researchers from Stanford University's NLP lab have developed methods that can automatically identify the concepts and relationships between those concepts in the tex t. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 197 12) Text mining can be used to increase cross-selling and up-selling by analyzing the unstructured data generated by call centers. Answer: TRUE Diff: 1Page Ref: 200 13) Compared to polygraphs for deception-detection, text-based deception detection has the advantages of being nonintrusive and widely applicable to textual data and transcriptions of voice recordings.Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 201 14) The main purpose of establishing the corpus is to collect all of the documents related to the context being studied. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 207 15) The main categories of knowledge extraction methods are recall, search, and signaling. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2Page Ref: 210 16) Web pages consisting of unstructured textual data coded in HTML and logs of visitors' interactions provide rich data that can easily provide effective and efficient knowledge discovery. Answer: FALSE Diff: 3Page Ref: 217 7) Web crawlers are Web content mining tools that are used to read through the content of a Web site automatically. Answer: FALSE Diff: 1Page Ref: 218 18) Amazon. com leverages Web usage history dynamically and recognizes the user by reading a cookie written by a Web site on the visitor's computer. Answer: TRUE Diff: 1Page Ref: 221 19) The quality of search results is impossible to measure accurately using strictly quantitative measures such as click-through rate, abandonment, and search frequency. Additional quantitative and qualitative measures are required. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2Page Ref: 222 0) Customer experience management applications gather and report direct feedback from site visitors by benchmarking against other sites and offline channels, and by supporting predictive modeling of future visitor behavior. Answer: FALSE Diff: 3Page Ref: 224 21) A vast majority of business data are stored in text documents that are ________. A) mostly quantitative B) virtually unstructured C) semi-structured D) highly structured Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 192 22) Text mining is the semi-automated process of extracting ________ from large amounts of unstructured data sources.A) patterns B) useful information C) knowledge D) all of the above Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 192 23) All of the following are popular application areas of text mining except: A) information extraction B) document summarization C) question answering D) data structuring Answer: D Diff: 2Page Ref: 193 24) Which of the following correctly defines a text mining term? A) Tagging is the number of times a word is found in a specific document. B) A token is an uncategorized block of text in a sentence. C) Rooting is the process of reducing inflected words to their base form.D) A term is a single word or multiword phrase extracted directly from the corpus by means of NLP methods. Answer: D Diff: 3Page Ref: 194 25) ________ is a branch of the field of linguistics and a part of natural language processing that studies the internal structure of words. A) Morphology B) Corpus C) Stemming D) Polysemes Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 194 26) Using ________ as a rich source of knowledge and a strategic weapon, Kodak not only survives but excels in its market segment defined by innovation and constant change. A) visualization B) deception detection C) patent analysis D) semantic cuesAnswer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 194 27) It has been shown that the bag-of-word method may not produce good enough information content for text mining tasks. More advanced techniques such as ________ are needed. A) classification B) natural language processing C) evidence-based processing D) symbolic processing Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 195 28) Why will computers probably not be able to understand natural language the same way and with the same accuracy that humans do? A) A true understanding of meaning requires extensive knowledge of a topic beyond what is in the words, sentences, and paragraphs.B) The natural human language is too specific. C) The part of speech depends only on the definition and not on the context within which it is used. D) All of the above. Answer: A Diff: 3Page Ref: 196 29) At a very high level, the text mining process consists of each of the following tasks except: A) create log frequencies B) establish the corpus C) create the term-document matrix D) extract the knowledge Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 207 30) In ________, the problem is to group an unlabelled collection of objects, such as documents, customer comments, and Web pages into meaningful groups without any prior knowledge.A) search recall B) classification C) clustering D) grouping Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 211 31) The two main approaches to text classification are ________ and ________. A) knowledge engineering; machine learning B) categorization; clustering C) association; trend analysis D) knowledge extraction; association Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 211 32) Commercial software tools include all of the following except: A) GATE B) IBM Intelligent Miner Data Mining Suite C ) SAS Text Miner D) SPSS Text Mining Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 216 33) Why does the Web pose great challenges for effective and efficient knowledge discovery?A) The Web search engines are indexed-based. B) The Web is too dynamic. C) The Web is too specific to a domain. D) The Web infrastructure contains hyperlink information. Answer: B Diff: 2Page Ref: 217 34) A simple keyword-based search engine suffers from several deficiencies, which include all of the following except: A) a topic of any breath can easily contain hundreds or thousands of documents B) many documents that are highly relevant to a topic may not contain the exact keywords defining them C) web mining can identify authoritative Web pages D) many of the search results are marginally or not relevant to the topic Answer: CDiff: 3Page Ref: 217 35) Which of the following is not one of the three main areas of Web mining? A) Web search mining B) Web content mining C) Web structure mining D) Web usage mining Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 218 36) Which of the following refers to developing useful information from the links included in the Web documents? A) Web content mining B) Web subject mining C) Web structure mining D) Web matter mining Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 219 37) A ________ is one or more Web pages that provide a collection of links to authoritative pages, reference sites, or a resource list on a specific topic.A) hub B) hyperlink-induced topic search C) spoke D) community Answer: A Diff: 2Page Ref: 219 38) All of the following are types of data generated through Web page visits except: A) data stored in server access logs, referrer logs, agent logs, and client-side cookies B) user profiles C) hyperlink analysis D) metadata, such as page attributes, content attributes, and usage data Answer: C Diff: 2Page Ref: 220 39) When registered users revisit Amazon. com, they are greeted by name. This task involves recognizing the user by ________. A) pattern discovery B) association C) text miningD) readi ng a cookie Answer: D Diff: 1Page Ref: 221 40) Forward-thinking companies like Ask. com, Scholastic, and St. John Health System are actively using Web mining systems to answer important questions of â€Å"Who? † â€Å"Why? † and â€Å"How? † The benefits of integrating these systems: A) are measured qualitatively in terms of customer satisfaction, but not measured using financial or other quantitative measure. B) can be significant in terms of incremental financial growth and increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction. C) have not yet outweighed the costs of the Web mining systems and analysis.D) can be infinitely measurable. Answer: B Diff: 3Page Ref: 222 41) ________ is the semi-automated process of extracting patterns from large amounts of unstructured data sources. Answer: Text mining Diff: 1Page Ref: 192 42) ________ is the process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable patterns in data stored in structured database s, where the data are organized in records structured by categorical, ordinal, or continuous variables. Answer: Data mining Diff: 1Page Ref: 192 43) ________ is the grouping of similar documents without having a predefined set of categories.Answer: Clustering Diff: 2Page Ref: 193 44) In linguistics, a(n) ________ is a large and structured set of texts prepared for the purpose of conducting knowledge discovery. Answer: corpus Diff: 1Page Ref: 193 45) ________ is the process of reducing inflected words to their base or root form. Answer: Stemming Diff: 1Page Ref: 193 46) ________ words or noise words are words that are filtered out prior to or after processing of natural language data. Answer: Stop Diff: 1Page Ref: 193 47) The term â€Å"stop-words† are used by text mining to ________ commonly used words.Answer: eliminate Diff: 2Page Ref: 193 48) ________ is an important component of text mining and is a subfield of artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. It stud ies the problem of understanding the natural human language. Answer: Natural language processing (NLP) Diff: 1Page Ref: 196 49) ________ analysis is a technique used to detect favorable and unfavorable opinions toward specific products and services using textual data sources, such as customer feedback in Web postings and the detection of unfavorable rumors. Answer: Sentiment Diff: 2Page Ref: 197 0) At a very high level, the first of three consecutive tasks in the text mining process is to establish the ________, which is a list of organized documents. Answer: corpus Diff: 1Page Ref: 207 51) In the text mining process, the output of task two is a flat file called a ________ matrix where the cells are populated with the term frequencies. Answer: term-document Diff: 3Page Ref: 207 52) One of the main approaches to text classification is ________ in which an expert's knowledge is encoded into the system either declaratively or in the form of procedural classification rules.Answer: knowl edge engineering Diff: 2Page Ref: 211 53) A(n) ________ is one or more Web pages that provide a collection of links to authoritative pages. Answer: hub Diff: 1Page Ref: 219 54) ________ mining is the process of extracting useful information from the links embedded in Web documents. Answer: Web structure Diff: 2Page Ref: 219 55) ________ mining is the extraction of useful information from data generated through Web page visits and transactions. Answer: Web usage Diff: 2Page Ref: 220 56) Analysis of the information collected by Web servers can help better understand user behavior.Analysis of this data is called ________ analysis. Answer: clickstream Diff: 2Page Ref: 220 57) ________ applications focus on â€Å"who and how† questions by gathering and reporting direct feedback from site visitors, by benchmarking against other sites and offline channels, and by supporting predictive modeling of future visitor behavior. Answer: Voice of Customer Diff: 2Page Ref: 224 58) Web analyti cs, CEM, and VOC applications form the foundation of the Web site ________ ecosystem that supports the online business' ability to positively influence desired outcomes. Answer: optimization Diff: 2Page Ref: 224 9) The ________ model, which is one where multiple sources of data describing the same population are integrated to increase the depth and richness of the resulting analysis, forms the framework of the Web site optimization ecosystem. Answer: convergent validation Diff: 3Page Ref: 225 60) Fundamental to the optimization process is ________, gathering data and information that can then be transformed into tangible analysis and recommendations for improvement using Web mining tools and techniques. Answer: measurement Diff: 3Page Ref: 225 61) Compare and contrast text mining and data mining.Answer: Text mining is the semi-automated process of extracting patterns (useful information and knowledge) from large amounts of unstructured data sources. Data mining is the process of ide ntifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and understandable patterns in data stored in structured databases, where the data are organized in records structured by categorical, ordinal, or continuous variables. Text mining is the same as data mining in that it has the same purpose and uses the same processes, but with text mining the input to the process is a collection of unstructured data files such as Word documents, PDF files, and so on.Diff: 2Page Ref: 192 62) Why will computers probably not be able to understand natural language the same way and with the same accuracy that humans do? Answer: Natural human language is vague for computers to understand; and a true understanding of meaning requires extensive knowledge of a topic beyond what is in the words, sentences, and paragraphs. Diff: 1Page Ref: 196 63) NLP has successfully been applied to a variety of tasks via computer programs to automatically process natural human language that previously could only be done by humans.Li st three of the most popular of these tasks. Answer: Any three of the following: †¢Information retrieval. The science of searching for relevant documents, finding specific information within them, and generating metadata as to their contents. †¢Information extraction. A type of information retrieval whose goal is to automatically extract structured information from a certain domain, using machine-readable documents. †¢Question answering. The task of automatically answering a question posed in natural language; that is, producing a human-language answer when given a human-language question. Automatic summarization. The creation of a shortened version of a text document by a computer program that contains the most important points of the document. †¢Natural language generation. Systems convert information from computer databases into readable human language. †¢Natural language understanding. Systems convert samples of human language into more formal representa tions that are easier for computer programs to manipulate. †¢Machine translation. The automatic translation of one human language to another. †¢Foreign language reading. A computer program that assists a onnative language speaker to read a foreign language. †¢Foreign language writing. A computer program that assists a nonnative language user in writing in a foreign language. †¢Speech recognition. Converts spoken words to machine-readable input. †¢Text-to-speech. A computer program converts normal language text into human speech. †¢Text proofing. A computer program reads a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. †¢Optical character recognition. The automatic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten, or printed text.Diff: 2Page Ref: 199 64) Describe a marketing application of text mining. Answer: Text mining can be used to increase cross-selling and up-selling by analyzing the unstructured data generated by call cente rs. Text generated by call-center notes as well as transcriptions of voice conversations with customers can be analyzed by text mining algorithms to extract novel, actionable information about customers' perceptions toward a company's products and services. Text mining is valuable for customer relationship management (CRM).Companies can use text mining to analyze unstructured text data, combined with the relevant structured data extracted from organizational databases, to predict customer perceptions and subsequent purchasing behavior. Diff: 2Page Ref: 200 65) What is the primary purpose of text mining within the context of knowledge discovery? Answer: The primary purpose of text mining within the context of knowledge discovery is to process unstructured (textual) data along with structured data, if relevant to the problem, to extract meaningful and actionable patterns for better decision making.Diff: 1Page Ref: 206 66) Diagram and explain the three-step text mining process. Answer: See Figure 5. 5 in the textbook. Diff: 2Page Ref: 207 67) List two options for managing or reducing the dimensionality (size) of the term-document matrix (TDM). Answer: †¢A domain expert goes through the list of terms and eliminates those that do not make much sense for the context of the study. †¢Eliminate terms with very few occurrences in very few documents. †¢Transform the matrix using singular value decomposition. Diff: 3Page Ref: 210 8) What are three of the challenges for effective and efficient knowledge discovery posed by the Web? Answer: The Web is too big for effective data mining. Because of the sheer size of the Web, it is not feasible to set up a data warehouse to replicate, store, and integrate all of the data on the Web, making data collection and integration a challenge. The Web is too complex. The complexity of a Web page is far greater than a page in a traditional text document collection. Web pages lack a unified structure.The Web is too dynamic. The Web is a highly dynamic information source. Not only does the Web grow rapidly, but its content is constantly being updated. The Web is not specific to a domain. The Web serves a broad diversity of communities and connects billions of workstations. Web users have very different backgrounds, interests, and usage purposes. The Web has everything. Only a small portion of the information on the Web is truly relevant or useful to someone or some task. Diff: 2Page Ref: 217 9) Define the three main areas of Web mining and each area's source of information. Answer: Web content mining refers to the extraction of useful information from Web pages. Source: unstructured textual content of the Web pages, usually in HTML format. Web structure mining is the process of extracting useful information from the links embedded in Web documents. Source: the URL links contained in the Web pages. Web usage mining is the extraction of useful information from data generated through Web page visits and tr ansactions.Source: the detailed description of a Web site's visits. Diff: 2Page Ref: 218 70) List three business applications of Web mining. Answer: 1. Determine the lifetime value of clients. 2. Design cross-marketing strategies across products. 3. Evaluate promotional campaigns. 4. Target electronic ads and coupons at user groups based on user access patterns. 5. Predict user behavior based on previously learned rules and users' profiles. 6. Present dynamic information to users based on their interests and profiles. Diff: 2Page Ref: 221

Cultural Immersion Essay

Culture has been characterized as the beliefs, arts, morals, customs and traditions exhibited by a group of individuals within a particular society (Langness 1987). It has long been believed that culture has been associated with one’s ancestry. My trip to Jamaica has made it evident that this entirely is not the case. There are a number of other factors that could cause two groups of individual from the same ethnical background but living in different societies. My paper will be discussing my experiences and realization during my short but meaningful trip to the island of Jamaica. My Cultural Background In order to show that people who come from the same ethnical background do not necessarily have to have the same culture, I will first provide information regarding my own personal background to serve as the basis. Although I am an American living in California, my ethnical descent is African. The roots of my family are embedded in Mississippi. It is for this reason why the food and way of life I have been brought up with resembles those that live in the southern part of the country. In fact, even if I do come from a single parent household, our traditions are very much Southern from the food we eat, the importance we give to our religion and spending time with the family. Day One of My Trip This trip was not just my first time to Jamaica, but my first trip outside of the United States. The moment I had gotten out of the plane, I could say that I was immediately shocked with what greeted me. When I left California for Jamaica, I went through an airport that was air-conditioned and my full of the latest security precaution devices and machines to pass through. I did not see anything of this sort when I arrived in the airport at Jamaica. No high-technology security equipment and no air-conditioner running in the airport. I was greeted by a man named Darwin Mills who was going to drive me to the house of Mr. and Mrs. James, my host family. Mr. Mill’s disposition was as warm as the weather. He was more than happy to drive me first around the Montego Bay area of the island to show me around. Although he was extremely enthusiastic about everything in Jamaica, I could not help but notice how different it was from my hometown in California. It was if I was in another world. For starters, the vehicle used by Mr. Mills to bring me to my destination was right-handed, which was why they were driving in the opposite lane than I would back in California. I also saw people walking on either side of what was supposedly their main highway. When I meant that they were walking on either side of the highway, I am not talking about them walking on sidewalks on either side of the highway. They were literally walking on the side of the highway. What really caught my attention was how underdeveloped the area was. It was not anything like what you would see in tourist brochures and magazines. The streets were filled with pot holes. Houses were small and the fences were poorly made. There were no skyscrapers or large business establishments back home. It made me realize just how fortunate I was living in a sturdy well-built house with a sturdy fence and driving on a well-paved road, despite the horrendous traffic. My first taste of authentic Jamaican cuisine was at lunch time when Mr. Mills brought me to the Rock House Hotel. I was blown away on just how fresh the food was. It tasted deliciously different. After which, I was taken to Rick’s Cafe, which is known more for the daredevils jumping over the cliffs into the wide blue ocean. At the background was a steel drum band playing Reggae music, which is one of the signatures of Jamaica. I was fascinated on how something so simple could be able to develop wonderful, upbeat music. When Mr. Mills dropped me at Mr. and Mrs. James’ house, I nearly jumped at the sight of the dogs that Mr. James keeps loose at the front yard. He apologized for them and explained to me that their dogs were allowed to run loose for their own protection. Although their homes were equipped with two air-conditioners, he explained to me that this is rarely used since electricity is rather expensive in Jamaica. This is the reason why they only use electric fans. As I retired for the night, I kept reminding myself not to immediately judge my life back in California and what I have initially seen in Jamaica so that I would be able to fully understand more about living in Jamaica. Day Two of My Trip The highlight of the second day of my trip was when Mr. and Mrs. James introduced me to Mr. James’ uncle, Charles and his cousin, Brenda. It was through my conversation with them that I begun to slowly learn more about Jamaica. According to them, for a long time, Jamaica had been a colony of England. It only gained its independence in 1962. Majority of the inhabitants of the island were predominantly of African descent, like I was. Although they live far away from Africa, they still hold dearly to their African traditions and customs. Celebrations of the various African festivals are held annually. Despite its booming tourism industry, Jamaica remains to be a third world country. This conversation had answered a lot of my questions when I had first arrived in Jamaica and it had opened my eyes and my mind and developed an understanding and appreciation to the people living in Jamaica. Despite everything surrounding them, they remain to be warm and extremely accommodating to me and more than willing to help me learn as much as I can about Jamaica and Jamaican’s way of life. Day Three of My Trip My last day in Jamaica happened to land on a Sunday. The day started with a day at the beachside which Jamaica has long been known for. But I did not go there to swim, because I do not know how. Instead, I had been taken by Mr. James to the beach to do some shopping. Unlike in California where everything is bought in the local grocery or seafood market, here in Jamaica, it only takes a matter of a few hours for the food to be caught, picked, cleaned, cooked and served. Speaking with meals, my last meal in Jamaica was something similar that one that I would usually have back home. We were served a feast of greens, jerk chicken, rice and peas. Just like back home, Sunday was a time when families get together and enjoy each others’ company over a wonderful spread of home-cooked favorites. Reflection Taking the road less traveled by American tourists in Jamaica, I was able to learn so much about their way of life. Back home, I have been fortunate to have access to a number of amenities and privileges that most Jamaicans would only dream about. Yet, their situation has not diminished their warm and sunny outlook towards life. Despite their limited resources, Jamaicans are able to make the most of what they have and keep a positive outlook. For instance, some African Americans to this day hold a grudge against Caucasian Americans for the prejudice, racism and oppression the older generations have experienced since the time of the slave trade. While Jamaicans had also experienced the same oppressive treatment in the hands of the English, they have placed the oppression behind them and instead celebrate on the fact that they are now free from the oppression. Reference Langness, L. L. (1987). The Study of Culture. Novato, CA: Chandler & Sharp.

The Prevalence of Production Sharing Contracts in Oil and Gas

Abstract IntroductionBackgroundThe nature of the environment in which a business operates determines how it engages other players in the sector. This, therefore, determines the types of contracts that businesses get into. The oil and gas industry relies on contracts to carry out its activities just like other business entities do. The oil and gas industry mainly engages production sharing contracts, driven by the numerous stakeholder interests the sector has.Research TopicThe Prevalence of Production Sharing Contracts in Oil and Gas (Case Study of Sonangol, an Angolan Oil Company)AimThe aim of the study is to establish the prevalence of production sharing contracts in the oil and gas industry, with particular interest in Sonangol, an oil company in Angola.ObjectivesThe objectives of the study are: To determine the nature of the oil and gas business in Africa To determine the types of contracts administered in the oil and gas sector To determine the share of production sharing contracts relative to other types of contracts To establish the reasons for adoption of production sharing contracts at SonangolResearch questionsWhat types of contracts does Sonangol engage Are production sharing contracts prevalent at Sonangol Why does Sonangol adopt production sharing contracts What benefits and challenges do Sonangol get by using production sharing contracts Literature ReviewKey WordsContracts, Production Sharing Contracts, Effects, Prevalence, Economics, International Oil Companies, National Oil Companies, AngolaKey LiteratureBindemann, K., 1999. Production Sharing Agreements: An Economic Analysis This source touches on the economics of production sharing agreements with reference to oil and gas in Angola and the Middle East. Bindemann, K. 2000. The Response of Oil Contracts to Extreme Price Movements. Discussion Paper. Department of Economics (University of Oxford). Fattouh, B. and Darbouche, H., 2010. North African oil and foreign investment in changing market conditions. Energy Policy, 38(2), pp.119-1129.Gaps in literatureMost literature refers to situations in North Africa and the Middle East and not Angola or Sonangol. Most available literature is more than five years old. Chances are that the conditions have changed, rendering them irrelevant to current circumstances This section presents an analysis of existing literature on Oil and Gas in Africa and Angola in particular, while studying the types of contracts that oil and gas companies utilize. This is broken down into subtopics as follows:Oil and gas in AfricaThis section provides a general overview of the oil and gas industry, highlighting the major players: companies, countries, communities, and other stakeholders. History of the oil and gas industry in Africa Challenges in the African oil and gas industryOil and gas in AngolaThis section provides an overview of the Angolan oil and gas industry, highlighting the major players: companies, communities, and other stakeholders. History of the oil and gas industry in Angola Challenges in the Angolan oil and gas industry Merits of oil and gas to the Angolan EconomyContracting in the oil and gas industryTypes of contracts administered in the global oil and gas industry Comparison between contracting in Africa and the Middle EastProduction Sharing Co ntractsIdentify the parties involved Terms and conditions Benefits/demeritsContracting at Sonangol (Types of contracts)Encompasses all types of contractual agreements Sonangol engages Criteria Sonangol uses to select the type of contractual agreements it uses Ratio of contracts based on typeProduction sharing contracts at SonangolThe nature of production sharing contracts at Sonangol Parties involved Responsibility Terms and conditions Research Methodology The study will follow the constructivist approach and rely on the analysis of secondary data that will be obtained both from the private and public domain. Of particular interest will be records from Sonangol and researches published in journals. The research will use catalogues to locate relevant books and indexes to locate appropriate periodicals. In addition, the study will use the Internet to find relevant electronic resources and databases. An analysis of the books, periodicals, and databases would follow to ascertain the authority and quality of information. Data analysis will be quantitative. Findings i.Reasons for the adoption of production sharing contracts at Sonangolii.Advantages of production sharing contracts at Sonangol iii.Disadvantages of production sharing contracts at Sonangol iv.Comparison between production sharing contracts and other types of contracts at SonangolDiscussion Discuss the reasons for the prevalence of production sharing contracts at Sonangol, their merits, demerits, and challenges. Conclusion Summary of the suitability of production sharing contracts at Sonangol. Are they the best for the oil and gas industryShould they be upheld? References List of all works cited in the study Appendices Relevant documents, tables, and graphs

Assignment 7 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

7 - Assignment Example They are therefore in any way not guilty of the accusations against them. Based on the Rowley family understanding of the FAPE, their daughter was entitled freely to have a sign language interpreter attend all her classes to aid in her learning despite the education board proving that she was fine in classes and performed above avarage with the help of the FM hearing aid kit. The accused, the education board, however, did yield to the demands of the Rowley’s because they saw it unnecessary to have the sign language interpreter assist the young girl in her education. The education Board agreed to this decision after conducting several tests to determine whether the pupil required the help of the sign language interpreter. The first reason to my conformance with the decision of the Supreme Court, based on the FAPE requirements is that the acts provide for and I quote, â€Å"we hold that the state has satisfied the FAPE requirements by providing personal instructions with sufficient support services to allow the child to benefit her education from that instruction† (Rowley p. 203-204) this means that the Education acted in the best interest of the FAPE requirements. My second conformance reason is that the Educational board were right to deny the Rowley’s daughter Amy the aid of a sign language interpreter because she was a great lip reader and her prior teachings allowed her to maximize her own capabilities resulting to her impressive above average performance in her kindergarten studies. These results indicated that she was capable of achieving good grades without the assistance of the sign language interpreter. Based on my own understanding and personal judgment, the Supreme Court rulings were correct. To begin with, the fact that the FAPE requires that a child be admitted to a public institution freely and be provided with the necessary tools to aid their education, do not promise availing of the same through thoughts

Security Essentials 4.4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Security Essentials 4.4 - Essay Example Averagely the institution retains a population of two thousand two hundred and ninety convicts. Prior to the admission of any offender to the Indiana Level 1 Prison, proper considerations are made basing on the type of offense committed. The offenses that meet a maximum imprisonment in Indian level 1 prison are capital crimes including murder, robbery with violence and terror among others (Smith, 2014). The second criterion is the length of the sentence. Offenders convicted for ten years and above are eligible for detention in the facility. The institution also admits convicts awaiting capital sentences like hanging, death by shooting or injection. Criminal history is a third criterion for eligibility into India level 1 prison. Offenders with multiple criminal records suffer admission into the facility while fast offenders may be pardoned into minimum prisons. The service offers intake programs to newly admitted offenders. During the intake, each offender is evaluated through interviews, analysis of his medical reports and admission of diagnostic tests. The evaluation process serves the purpose of forming the convict’s facility and program assignment (Smith, 2014). It includes the activities that the convict will engage and appropriate tasks marching his ability and health condition. Indian level 1 prison being a maximum prison keeps the records of the convict’s information. It includes the offender’s credentials, home, place of resident and contacts. The security officers manage the prisoner’s accounts with an aim of rehabilitating the convict appropriately. The facility offers visitation services to the inmate’s relatives and friends. All the visitors are entered into the offenders approved visitors list (Smith, 2014). The visitation day and time varies, convicts at Indian level 1 prison are visited once after every 14 days. The visiting time lasts from two to three hours. Before

Unit 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Unit 5 - Assignment Example A natural monopoly is a monopoly that experiences economies of scale along its intact range of production. Alternatively, a natural monopoly is the type of monopoly that experiences a decreasing average total cost (ATC). In a monopolistic market, marginal revenue is always less than the price of goods. This is because monopolies have a downward slopping demand curve. In fact, at any given price and quantity combinations, a monopolist is required to reduce the prices of his commodities in order to sell an additional unit. This explains why a monopoly is a special market situation. Consequently, monopolies do not exhaust all available market opportunities. Monopoly and perfect competitive markets represents the two extreme in a market environment. In my own opinion, perfect competitive model is better than monopolies. This preference is based on economic aspects and market sustainability. In a perfect competitive market, ultimate efficiency in the production and distribution of goods and services is achieved. Consequently, monopolies lack efficiency in their production and distribution of commodities. In a competitive market, producers and distributors of commodities are obliged to operate efficiently in order to remain relevant (Bade & Michael, 2002). For example in a perfect competition, producers reduce prices of their commodities in order to increase their competitiveness. This in turn reflects on the production process where producers are forced to improve efficiency. On the other hand, monopolies have no immediate threats that would force them to reduce their prices or improve the quality of their products. Thus, monopolistic ma rket lacks efficiency. Lack of efficiency is mainly demonstrated through production and distribution of goods within a market. In an ideal case, a market is supposed to have a natural mechanism that balances the distribution of commodities against the available customers. Perfect competitive markets allow the mobility of

Critical Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Critical Analysis - Essay Example The purpose of writing such a text was basically to open minds and indicate that times have changed and that society has moved forward. What may have been unacceptable to people in the past, may not be criticized today. The prevalence of democracy and freedom of expression allows individuals to make decisions based on their own judgment, without having restrictions placed on social activities, events, or in this case, screening of movies. The writers’ style of writing is highly argumentative, where he presents various points in support of his idea that there should be freedom of media that should not, in any way, be restricted by control boards. The author displays confidence when he argues for his point of view. His style of writing can easily persuade readers into supporting what he has to say about this particular issue The text is written in a tone that is bridging on bringing about a revolution and is trying to broaden the horizons of the readers’ thoughts. This tone gains strength as the text progresses towards the end. For example, in the 14th paragraph, we can see the writer speak about how control boards should extend their control beyond playhouses and theaters, if they really want to suppress an issue that they have deep reservations about. This argument is taken a step further by the author in paragraph 15 where he cautions about being careful when imposing such restrictions on society. In paragraph 16, he also goes on to state how people should not miss out on an opportunity to speak out their views about what they think is right or wrong, because freedom of speech is now a very significant part of the society, and to a greater extent, the world we live in. In order to support his argument, the author has cited the example of â€Å"God and the Naked Nigger†, and the audiences’ favorable response to the play, despite the lack

How children learn the sounds of their language Coursework - 1

How children learn the sounds of their language - Coursework Example From the outset children learn to speak as the result of being part of a social and cultural fabric. Halliday (1980) proposes that we ‘learn language, learn through language and learn about language simultaneously as we use language’. Language cannot be learned in isolation from others. As soon as children are born they enter the world they find themselves to be part of adult conversations. For the most part ‘motherese’ (see vialle, Lysaght & Verenkina 2000, p.74), is an extremely small part of the language children hear. The overwhelming majority of the language forms in the children’s immediate culture and environment is framed in adult conventions without any attempt to simplify. As parents and others care for the daily needs of children they chatter to the child, asking questions (‘who’s a pretty baby? Did you have a big sleep?’), they share family stories (‘Grandma’s coming today and we are going shopping’) and they use language that they neither expect the child to understand or respond to at this stage. Families include children in their language acts as they gather around their new offspring. And all this time there is myriad background talk emanating from radios, televisions, computers and often other siblings. While this language may often seem to be a jumble of noise and sounds, there is always one constant in play: meaning is being developed through social interaction. This is the driving force that will operate throughout the initial years in each child’s language development and beyond (vialle, Lysaght & Verenikina 2000, p.66). Language learning is a mutual process -- Children are not passive passengers in the language that surrounds them. Young children can understand a great deal a long time before they can actually vocalize any recognizable words. As active participants in the everyday interactions of life, gradually children realize that

The Kingdom of Ends Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Kingdom of Ends - Essay Example "In the kingdom of ends everything has either a price or dignity. Whatever has a price can be replaced by something else as its equivalent; on the other hand, whatever is above all price, and therefore admits of no equivalent, has a dignity." (Kant 42) In this statement above, Kant mentions that morality which is attributed as a universal requirement for every person in the society has a price, a price which is placed on virtue or vice. In this sense, morality can have a price if it is inclined to a good thing or a bad thing. The price of a bad thing or a vice is tantamount to a sin according to the laws of God. And the price of a sin is an eternal life in hell with Satan. On the other hand, a good thing or a virtue is rewarded by a promise of a happy after life. This is associated to the life in heaven with God where the price is happiness and joy in an eternal life. Therefore the human person in his nature can choose to do whatever he or she likes. This can be in the form of something that is not considered of ethical standards or one that is justified as being good. However, in the kingdom of ends, the virtuous side is only considered by Kant where the moral nature of man is at play. This moral aspect is the one that provides the creation of a universal law, a law that every one is supposed to be conversant with and obey its directions. In another aspect however, morality is correlated to dignity. Dignity as it is known is the term that means an ethical inclination of a person where he or she accords respect to others and also accorded respect in return. Hence, dignity is something that has no direct price because it is inwardly developed in someone. Due to this inward development of dignity, it does not have an equivalent of it because it is unique in each and every human. Thus moral value of dignity can not be measured in terms of price as it is not visible for one to measure. The level of dignity that is given to somebody is probably the only measure that can be used to determine morality. In this sense, Kant mentions, "For when moral value is being considered, the concern is not with the actions, which are seen, but rather with the inner principles, which are not seen." (Kant 19) Human nature which is exhibited in dignity is correlated to an art in the kingdom of ends. An art or talent is something that is God given. This means that it can not be created by the human being but only by the supernatural being God. Because of this, it can not be tagged a price that can be purchased by anyone. Just like one can not buy another human being, dignity can not be bought. It is something non-tangible. Art can be something that can be fostered in someone through learning and continuous practice. One can involve him or herself in continuous practice that with time perfects this ability in a specific field. Likewise in dignity, it can be practiced so that one can gain a high level of respect from others. However, in the Kingdom of ends, it can only be practiced by obeying and constantly following the universal law. The universal law acts as the

Statement of Purpose Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Of Purpose - Personal Statement Example I am an international student from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a large country and areas of science in the country are in the phase of rapid development. It is for this reason that the government has sponsored thousands of students like me to come to the United States and complete their studies in specific fields of science. I would like to utilize this opportunity to its fullest and complete my PhD for bringing about development in the field of Information Systems in Saudi Arabia. I am currently enrolled in the program of Master of Science in Computer and Information Science at the Gannon University, Erie, PA, USA and the expected date of my graduation is December 2014. This master’s program has motivated me to further continue my studies in the same field and gain expertise through the completion of my PhD. The PhD Program would grant me with an opportunity to polish my skills and gain an advanced understanding of my desired field. I have always had an interest in the field of Information Systems. In the year 2010, I completed my graduation in the field of Information Science from my home country at the Al-Baha University and achieved a GPA of 2.8-4. My graduation motivated me to further achieve higher studies in the field and to gain greater exposure and a better learning environment, I moved to the United States. I enrolled at the ELS Language Center at Cincinnati, OH, USA for one year to get a good grip over English Language so that that I would not face any difficulties during my years of education in the United States. Following this, I started my Master’s Degree in Information Systems at the Gannon University in January 2013. Currently, I have successfully completed 24 credits out of 33 and my GPA is 3.75-4 which is reflective of my hard work and focus for outshining in my field. With time, my interest in the field of Information