Factors influencing participation in sport Essay

Some people have very different views on training and the factors that affect them to participate in sport. They have very different attitudes to training. I’m doing climate affecting participation. Some people may want to go out in the rain and train as they may find this enjoyable, but a lot of other people may dislike the cold and wet weather and stay indoors to participate in sport or just sit about. Also the majority of people would rather be outside, but in the warmth, with the sun shining. The country’s climate is a big factor that affects the participation and type of sport that they do, this also affects their attitudes towards training, for example, people in Australia will play more outdoor sports such as windsurfing and skateboarding as their climate is ideal for this type of exercise. Kenya has produced a lot of world class athletes, this is due to their climate, hot and dry all year. This encourages people to train a lot more and also outdoors. Kenya are world class at long distance running as are morocco, this is mostly due to when they train, and what type of weather they train in. If the weather is hot all the time, athletes will train on a regular basis, but if the weather is cold and wet, the athletes will not be motivated enough to go out and train, they will either train indoors or simply just sit around and watch tv or play boardgames. This is the scene in Northern Ireland, and Sweden etc as these countries have unpredictable weather and climates so no one knows what type of day it is going to be. When the weather changes this can change most athletes’ attitude to training. The heat outside motivates athletes to train outdoors. Fumes from traffic and factories, over a long period of time will start to affect the community in which people live in, this will, in actual fact, bring you bad health. The fumes will bring harm to your lungs and make breathing difficult. This means your fitness level will suffer. The environment also affects your performance in a sport event; for example, on a hot day you can overheat which makes you weak and dizzy. And think what a windy day can do to a tennis match, all these factors affect the performance and attitudes towards the training and participation in sport. At high altitudes air is thinner than at sea level, so you must breath harder in order to get the right amount of oxygen to your lungs. To perform well in a sport at high altitude you must first need time to adapt to the climate and the type of environment you are playing the sport in. All types of weather affect the way in which we think about sport. Hot, cold, dry, wet.

King of the castle tension

â€Å"I'm the King of the Castle†: Literature Coursework Investigate the ways in which Susan Hill uses language to create tension and a sense of foreboding in â€Å"I'm the King of the Castle† Susan Hill implements several writing techniques to create tension in the novel. Tension in this sense simply means mental strain or excitement in the readers. One of the techniques used is shown when she uses a third-person narration to narrate the story. This narrator is omniscient and implies that he/ she is not one of the characters in the novel, and yet at the same time knows everything that is running through the characters' minds.Hill uses this technique to bring the readers on a journey of moving freely in time and space to allow them to know what any character is doing or thinking at any one point of time. This is only possible because the narrator is not a character in the novel and is allowed to be anywhere, anytime. Susan Hill uses many different techniques to put a po int across, the most important being her use of imagery. However her writing also has many other qualities such as good structure and her ability to think like her characters.In addition she manages to build up tension and uses different ways of emphasising words or phrases. All of hese factors contribute to her unique evocative style and add to her reputation of being a very talented writer. In chapter eleven, she describes vividly how Kingshaw feels sick with fright when Hooper locks him in the shed. â€Å"He retched, and then began to vomit, all over the sacks, the sick coming down his nose and choking him. It tasted bitter. He bent forwards, holding his stomach. When it finished he wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt.He was shivering again. † This passage is an example of her excellent use of imagery. She conjures up a picture of the scene as well as expressing Kingshaw's fears and senses in an evocative style y using a scene that we can all relate to and understan d. An example of Susan Hill's good structure is at the very beginning of the novel, when Hooper and Kingshaw first meet, Hooper sends Kingshaw a note saying ‘l didn't want you to come here'. This sets up the story line from the beginning, leading us to expect events to come.Then at the very end of the novel before Kingshaw commits suicide, Hopper sends him a final note saying ‘ Something will happen to you Kingshaw'. She shows the ability to be able to think like a child, which adds to the overall affect of the book because the main character is Kingshaw who is a child. This process of her thoughts gives us a wider understanding of Kingshaw's character and his One of them is her use of childish language and grammar. â€Å"Now, he thought, I know what Hooper is really like. He's a baby. And stupid. And a bully. Notice in this particular phrase that she uses childish words like baby, stupid and bully. The use of short abrupt sentences emphasise the words and adds to the c hildish theme, because it is grammatically incorrect to start a sentence with a conjunction, which is what a child may do). Another form of her childish thinking is how she shows an understanding of hildren's fears and their reactions. An example of this is Kingshaw's fear of moths. † ‘There are a lot of moths,' Hooper said softly, ‘ there always are, in woods. Pretty big ones, as well. ‘ Kingshaw's stomach clenched.In his nostrils, he could smell the mustiness of the Red Room. † This passage shows how Hooper taunts Kingshaw with his fear (childishly). She shows Kingshaw's reaction to his fear by saying his stomach clenched. She then continues with his memory of the Red Room, where he had been scared by the death moths, using her evocative style to describe how he associates moths with the musty mell of the Red Room. She uses the example of moths throughout the book, along with Kingshaw's other fears such as birds. To keep the reader alert Susan Hill te nded to change from one scene to another very abruptly.A Classic example is in chapter sixteen, when every one was in the Breakfast room on the day of Mrs. Helena Kingshaw and Mr. Hooper's wedding announcement. Suddenly the scene changes to them being in a muddy field. This can be quite confusing for the reader but it does keep them alert. It was also in this scene where Susan Hill showed her ability to build up tension. This was done by Kingshaw expressing his fears about something that we do not know about, and Mrs. Helena Kingshaw talking about how he was scared by this thing when he was little.As the passage continues the writer gives us a clue that the unknown fear is of a certain place and finally (after a page of writing) she tells us that the place in question is a circus. Susan Hill uses many different techniques to build up an atmosphere. In my opinion the most effective atmosphere that she created was in chapters twelve and thirteen, when Hooper falls off the castle wall. When Kingshaw reaches the top of the castle (without Hooper) he feels a sense of ower. He shouts out understand how Kingshaw really does feel King, she repeats the phrase ‘l am the King' thrice.He felt so powerful that he thought he could kill Hooper. When Kingshaw is in a rage with Hopper, telling him to come down, he swears at him, this shocks the reader, as he is only a child. When Hooper is falling off the castle wall Kingshaw commands ‘TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THE WALL, HOOPER. ‘ The use of capital letter creates the effect that what he is saying is important. When Hooper falls and is carried off on a stretcher, thunder rumbles in the back ground which gives the ironic ffect that it is not going to be a good thing for Kingshaw.Kingshaw is then made to get down from the castle, which can be classed as an example of his life. Every time he reaches the top he is always forced to go back down which is, once again, ironic. The whole book gives an immense sense of tensi on to the reader. The atmosphere is one of suspense and danger. The overall use of abrupt, simple dialogue accentuates the feeling of incoming peril. Susan Hill writes the novel in a way which causes the reader to constantly be alert, and to expect the sinister and foreboding to occur. Arsalan Abdullah

What SAT IIs Should You Take if You Plan to Study Business?

When you’re in high school, you normally take the PSAT, the SAT, and perhaps the ACT as well. That’s enough testing to get you into college right? Alas, not always. If you’re an prospective business student, you may be expected to take additional SAT II tests, as is true for many other majors. Which ones should you take if you plan to study business? Read on to find out. SAT IIs (also known as SAT Subject Tests), are a supplementary component of your college applications. The College Board administers these hour-long, subject-specific tests in a variety of academic disciplines, from Physics to World History. Selective colleges sometimes require SAT II scores to get a better sense of applicants’ strengths. If a student is homeschooled, it’s even more likely that a college will require SAT IIs.    For the most part, students get to choose which SAT IIs they wish to take. However, some colleges may require or recommend the number of SAT Subject Tests the student should take, or the subjects themselves. These sort of restrictions definitely exist if you are applying to some of the top colleges as a prospective Business major. Before you look at any of our advice below, make sure that you verify the admissions requirements for the schools on your college list to see if there are any SAT II tests that you must take. For example, many universities require that prospective business students take the Math II test because they want to ensure that you’ve achieved proficiency in certain mathematical concepts that are necessary to the major. Lately, many colleges have been moving away from requiring SAT Subject Test scores to simply recommending them. While this means that you may not technically need to take SAT Subject Tests to apply to that university, you should take their recommendation to heart. If you think you can study adequately and do well on the tests they suggest, you should definitely do it; it could be a helpful addition to your application. Here are some examples of schools that require or recommend their applicants to submit SAT Subject Tests: If your college recommends SAT Subject Tests and you’re a prospective business major, the first exam you should sign up for is the Math II. Almost always, colleges will want to see that their business majors have mastered mathematical concepts up to pre-calculus. The Math II subject test fulfills that requirement. Math I is not recommended, especially if you’re applying to a more selective school, as the concepts tested on Math I are not as advanced. Strong math skills are necessary for business majors, particularly in their finance and accounting coursework. Thus, it is beneficial to study for this test and master these skills now as you will use them again and again in business school.   Our students see an average increase of 250 points on their SAT scores. Most colleges who want SAT Subject Tests usually ask for two scores. The Math II test is a necessary first exam, but what about the second exam? Is there a specific test that colleges think is necessary for prospective business majors? Well, there are two types of exams that you ought to consider taking if you’re thinking of pursuing a business major: As a general rule, we at do not recommend you take a language exam for your SAT Subject Tests, especially if the language you choose is your native language. However, there is one exception to this rule, and that’s if you’re planning on pursuing a degree in International Business or a trade. Otherwise, steer clear of those. Want to learn more about SAT II tests? See these previous blog posts: Want to find out what tests you need to take to boost your admissions profile? We’ll help diagnose your profile and build you a roadmap through our Mentorship Program . Through our Mentorship Program, you will be matched with a successful college student who is on a similar path when it comes to their academic, career, and college goals. This mentor will meet with you and your parents to provide helpful advice on all topics from college admissions to career goals, and they’ll make sure that you are poised to succeed throughout high school.  Ã‚  

Avatar Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Avatar - Assignment Example Likewise, folk tales are most conducive to short moral or humorous tales. But for epic battles and profound victories, the format of the legend is the most similar. Avatar’s celebration of heroism makes it equal to the tradition of legendary tales. And there is plenty of elements and events in the film that support claims of its legendary status. For instance, in legions of renown, we usually have a forthright protagonist confronted by an evil villain whom he successfully quells. This is exactly how the story of Avatar unfolds. Here the morally upright is Jake and his sympathizers irrespective of whether they assume a human or Na’vi physical form. The chief antagonist is played by Quaritch, whose obsession with acquisition of material wealth makes him lose his humanity. This sets up a legendary battle between the twines of morality and decadence. As is always the case in traditions of legend, it is the morally righteous who emerge victorious. At the center of legendary stories are one heroic figure that epitomizes moral virtue and human values. Jake is that heroic figure in Avatar. Despite being born human and being equipped to think like human, through his avatar he is able to empathize with a biologically distant race. Though he is not a Na’vi in substance, he merges into one with them in spirit. His successful integration into Na’vi society is indeed the stuff legends are made of. Ironically, this improbable transition was made possible by Jake’s deep sense of humanity. His sense of righteousness allows him to put considerations of justice and fairness above material gratifications. In stories of legend, valor is a recurrent feature. There is plenty of that in display in the film. Jake’s courage is exemplary, for he puts his life on the line several times so as to save his adopted race. Avatar is also congruent with the format of the legend due to its mythical quality. The heroism and

Communication in Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Communication in Management - Case Study Example In my opinion there are three vital non-verbal categories which if applied properly will fully complete all the functions of the non-verbal communication and will not hinder the verbal one - eye contact, paralanguage and adornment. Modern business culture values eye contact, because it maintains the balance of the interpersonal relation between the seniors and the workers. Looking away might be read as avoiding the importance of the message conveyed. Thus, keeping eye contact with the employees when talking is of crucial importance. Scheflen (1972) explains that paralanguage involves non-lexical vocal communication. Paralanguage uses the broadest emotional nuances, consequently, if applied properly can replace excessive gestures or facial expressions. This category includes inflection, tone, pitch (high, low), pauses (hesitant, organized, meaningful), pacing (rapid, measured, slow) (Scheflen 1972). Paralanguage is a powerful tool, because it plays with associations and on unconscious level. Knapp and Hall (2002) note that adornment - clothes, make-up, accessories are also important communication tools, which besides appearance transmit emotional and psychological signs. Managers need to be extra careful when choosing adornments, because they play a powerfully suggestive action. Moreover, the room where the meetings are held has the capacity to affect the interaction. The amount of light, the color of the walls, the seat arrangement, the temperature and smells have to the correctly applied by the manager who is trying to make his point and his ideas to be understood and followed. 2. Discuss in detail the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective listening. The most common mistake made in management is not listening. Active listening is the other term used to identify undivided attention and empathic attitude. Rock (2007) outlines four basic rules that active listening involves: Seek to understand before you seek to be understood; Be non judgmental; Give your undivided attention to the speaker; Use silence effectively. All these require a high emotional intelligence, because they operate on mental, emotional and subconscious levels. When we try to understand rather than to be understood, this strains our listening abilities. Furthermore, through collecting the information while listening takes place, we process the details first we our intelligence and then exchange it emotionally to see what we have understood. Empathic listening proves that emotional intelligence is necessary to accomplish this. An example of being non judgmental is when we are acquainting with a new person. We avoid addressing arguable issues, until we learn the disposition or judgment criteria of the individual about the problem. This empathic behavior is excellent indicator for the emotional intelligence involved is active listening and communication techniques. The undivided attention is also dependent on the emotional intelligence, because the listener intentionally directs his senses towards the speaker. The listener can al so consciously send messages to the speaker to demonstrate that he is actively listening through body language, applauses or asking questions. The final concept for

Human Resources Problems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human Resources Problems - Assignment Example Based on your text and supplemental readings, what are some of the potential problems associated with employee self-service? After sharing some problems facing self-service, how would you address those problems? What is your professional opinion related to management self-service, where managers have access to more employee information through HRIS systems?In a self-service system like ESS, many errors remain covered for a long time which negatively interferes with the quality process. Though employee satisfaction is increased by use of ESS, many ESS software used by companies have many disadvantages like costs associated with its maintenance, functionality issues, and poor performance. These problems can be rectified by using an ESS software which is specifically designed to meet an organization’s needs.5-Does the web present problems for employee self-service applications? Find an article on this subject and provide a summary of the article, including the web address.Many we b self-service pitfalls have been reported. The web creates problems for ESS applications because every bit of employees’ interaction with employers is automated. Technology is always better and lack of HR automation will seriously affect many organizations in terms of time of costs. Automation of HR functions has relieved the HR professionals from much of the burden because much of the tasks assigned to them by managers and employees can be now handled by themselves by use of ESS and manager self-service.

Case Study - A Question of Contamination Assignment

Case Study - A Question of Contamination - Assignment Example re to this, if he is a person that values integrity, he should ensure that the selfish preferences of the prominent individuals should not surpass the well-being of the society. He should be accountable to the public by solving the conflict, because keeping silent would mean the government is unresponsive to its people. Additionally, being a public representative requires him to be accountable to the community in terms of what he knows and says (Box, 2013, pp.111-112). Blowing the whistle in this case would mean advocating for the public good, hence not being part of the corrupt individuals. This can be done by holding those involved in the deal responsible for the loss suffered by the community. Since the issue is a public affair, and it affects the whole community, it would be morally wrong to conceal the issue. Continued use of the chemical leads to the loss of economic resources that could be used to improve the economic position of the entire nation, and rapid steps need to be taken to save the nation. According to Lee, Neeley, and Stewart (2011) Erickson should formulate a plan of ending the crisis caused by the dangerous fertilizer. This would include reporting the incident to the respective regulatory body for the product to be banned from the market. He should also formulate a response plan to the public that should help them learn the importance of discontinuing the product in their farms. These strategies would curb further loss of animals, leading to the betterment of society. On the evidence, he now has of the possible environmental dangers of the fertilizer, should he inform the public? If so, should he leak the information to the press or identify himself as the source? What would be the likely consequences of each action? Informing the public about the danger of the fertilizer would help the community to save their herds. They would stop using the fertilizers, thus promoting their interest, and that of the nation, as great savings on survival of

Did the international discontinuities that resulted from the treaties Term Paper

Did the international discontinuities that resulted from the treaties ending World War I led to World War II - Term Paper Example Later, they were joined by Bulgaria. There is no a single agreed date on which the war ended. However, many historians point to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles as the beginning of the end of the state of war, even though actual fighting had stopped several months earlier. It was after the treaty was signed that many soldiers that were serving abroad began to return to their countries. Besides the Treaty of Versailles, the ratification of several other peace treaties led to the end of the First World War. The Paris Peace Conference initiated and imposed these treaties (Trachtenberg, 2000). This paper answers the question posed in the title above in the affirmative. In order to justify this position, the Treaty of Versailles and four other treaties will be examined, and an attempt made to illustrate how they led to the Second World War. These other four treaties are the Treaties of Saint-Germain, Trianon, SÃ ¨vres and Lausanne. As the Treaty of Versailles was the most important of them all, more space will be devoted to it. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on the 28th day of June in 1919, precisely five years after Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria was assassinated. Their assassination in Sarajevo had triggered World War I on the 28th day of June in 1914. The Treaty of Versailles brought to an end the state of war that had persisted between Germany and the Allied Powers (Trachtenberg, 2000). Separate treaties dealt with the other Central Powers that were allied to Germany. The armistice ratified on the 11th day of November had ended the actual fighting. However, it took another six months of active negotiations at the Peace Conference of Paris to finalize the treaty. The Secretariat of the League of Nations incorporated the treaty on October 21, 1919 and printed it in the League of Nations Treaty Series. The Treaty of Versailles had many provisions. However, the single most important and most controversial

Can GPS (Global Positioning Systems) Guided Earthworks Construction Dissertation

Can GPS (Global Positioning Systems) Guided Earthworks Construction Reduce Or Eliminate Golf Course Shaper Costs - Dissertation Example This project declares that the GPS tracking system available to the public are easily decrypted, thus revealing the message. Encryption is the key protection that GPS uses. The signals are encrypted using various coding methods before transmission and is encrypted via decryption tools once it reached the receiving node. Interception can happen while the signal is transferred from the sender to the receiver, and none of the two nodes will have the slightest idea that the readings are faulty. This paper makes a conclusion that GPS automatically uses UTC time update to synchronize its time reading, as discrepancies with time intervals, even to its littlest differentials, would cause faulty readings. GPS satellites are monitored constantly within 789-second duration. Calculations of the location are computed using at least three satellite points. â€Å"Common-view is the use of specially arranged, simultaneous view measurements, that maximize satellite elevation angles between pairs of stations (USNO GPS Time Transfer, n.d).† almost 50 laboratories participate in synchronizing the time transfer. It is notable that strict compliance to the time measure is rigorously observed. Through the use of the GPS, the time that it takes for an entire golf course to be finished can be decreased significantly. This is due to the fact that using GPS needs lesser time to complete the shape of the golf course than using actual golf shapers.

Classroom Management Essay Example for Free

Classroom Management Essay Classroom rules and procedures shape the learning experience, allowing students to understand what is expected of them and foster a positive learning environment within the classroom. Rules are necessary within the classroom and society in general. The classroom is often times one of the first experiences that students have to teach them about life and expectations as members of society. For this topic, two in classroom activities and the behavioral expectations for these will be examined: the use of learning centers and cooperative learning groups. We will also consider two out of classroom activities and the behavioral expectations associated with these: field trips and assemblies. Finally, we will discuss evaluation methods that can be put in place to determine the level of understanding of behavioral expectations for these situations. For the first in-class activity, learning centers, we will first take into consideration the size of the group. Learning centers are most commonly small group activities consisting of three to four students. Learning centers should be areas in which students can complete simple tasks that support and reinforce material that is being taught in the classroom. Say, for example a class is learning about plant life. The teacher lectures on the topic and has a whole class activity that is to be completed by the end of the week. Learning centers can reinforce this topic across a wide variety of subjects. There could be a writing center in which students are given a topic such as the stages of plant growth. A math center which might include counting seeds or other plant related material and a science center that could outline the stages of plant growth would reinforce material covered in large group instruction. There could be a computer learning center where there might be a matching game, where students match stages of a plant’s life cycle with vocabulary words. Throughout all of these activities, rules of behavior would be of utmost importance. Small group activities such as these learning centers usually have minimal teacher supervision. Here is a situation in which behavioral expectations are crucial. Rules such as stay in your assigned area, complete the assigned task and assist peers in your station would be critical for students to understand. Cooperative learning groups are the second topic that will be covered. This is similar to learning centers in that students would need to assist their peers within the group, stay in their assigned groups and complete the task assigned. However, another important rule might be to complete your individual task assigned. In cooperative learning groups, many times a large topic or task is broken down into individual jobs and these are assigned to each student who researches a particular topic and comes back to the group to inform them of their findings. The first out of class activity we will look at is field trips. Field trips are an exciting part of the learning experience, often times bringing to life what has been taught in the classroom. This is an experience that mandates students understanding specific rules of behavior. First and foremost, is the rule to stay with your group. Students need to understand the importance of staying close to your teacher/other authorized school adult so that they return safely. Another rule would be to behave appropriately as the environment calls. For example, a student would behave very differently visiting a library vs. visiting an arcade. Discussion on the location that the field trip takes place would be crucial. How one should dress, what noise level is appropriate and other topics would need to be explained to students. The next out of class activity is assemblies. An assembly is an activity that requires multiple classrooms and hence, differing age levels of a school to come together. This can be a situation that is ripe for negative behavior. There are many purposes for assemblies including special appearances of community members or other recognized individuals, or award ceremonies or special recognitions. Since most assemblies include the whole school, they tend to include large numbers of people and are often quite noisy. Rules that students would need to know include keeping a moderate noise level, walking in an orderly and appropriate fashion and keeping an eye on the teacher to know when to enter and exit an area. During the assembly ceremony, rules that need to be outlined include being attentive to the speaker and participating, if appropriate. The question arises of how we can accurately gauge a student’s understanding of behavioral expectations. The old adage of practice makes perfect would be appropriate here. For situations such as assemblies or field trips, a teacher could utilize practice sessions, coaching students on appropriate behavior in those situations, even having a mock assembly or similar activity to gauge how well students understand their responsibilities in that environment. The teacher could provide tips and tricks for the students to attend to such as always keep your eye on the speaker, which shows respect for the person giving the presentation. A more tangible method might be a multiple choice test given to the class. Depending on the age level of students, scenarios could be written asking students to circle the appropriate behaviors and cross out inappropriate behaviors. Rules and procedures are a vitally important lesson taught in classrooms. They are usually the building blocks of kids becoming productive members of society.

Partitioning Methods to Improve Obsolescence Forecasting

Partitioning Methods to Improve Obsolescence Forecasting Amol Kulkarni Abstract Clustering is an unsupervised classification of observations or data items into groups or clusters. The problem of clustering has been addressed by many researchers in various disciplines, which serves to reflect its usefulness as one of the steps in exploratory data analysis. This paper presents an overview of partitioning methods, with a goal of providing useful advice and references to identifying the optimal number of cluster and provide a basic introduction to cluster validation techniques. The aim of clustering methods carried out in this paper is to present useful information which would aid in forecasting obsolescence. INRODUCTION There have been more inventions recorded in the past thirty years than all the rest of recorded humanity, and this pace hastens every month. As a result, the product life cycle has been decreasing rapidly, and the life cycle of products no longer fit together with the life cycle of their components. This issue is termed as obsolescence, wherein a component can no longer be obtained from its original manufacturer. Obsolescence can be broadly categorized into Planned and Unplanned obsolescence. Planned obsolescence can be considered as a business strategy, in which the obsolescence of a product is built into it from its conception. As Philip Kotler termed it Much so-called planned obsolescence is the working of the competitive and technological forces in a free society-forces that lead to ever-improving goods and services. On the other hand, unplanned obsolescence causes more harm to a burgeoning industry than good. This issue is more prevalent in the electronics industry; the procurem ent life-cycles for electronic components are significantly shorter than the manufacturing and support life-cycle. Therefore, it is highly important to implement and operate an active management of obsolescence to mitigate and avoid extreme costs [1]. One such product that has been plagued by threat of obsolescence is the digital camera. Ever-since the invention of smartphones there has been a huge dip in the digital camera sales, as can be seen from Figure 1. The decreasing price, the exponential rate at which the pixels and the resolution of the smart-phones improved can be termed as few of the factors that cannibalized the digital camera market. Figure 1 Worldwide Sales of Digital Cameras (2011-2016) [2] and Worldwide sale of cellphones on the right (2007-2016) [3] CLUSTERING Humans naturally use clustering to understand the world around them. The ability to group sets of objects based on similarities are fundamental to learning. Researchers have sought to capture these natural learning methods mathematically and this has birthed the clustering research. To help us solve problems at-least approximately as our brain, mathematically precise notation of clustering is important [4]. Clustering is a useful technique to explore natural groupings within multivariate data for a structure of natural groupings, also for feature extraction and summarizing. Clustering is also useful in identifying outliers, forming hypotheses concerning relationships. Clustering can be thought of as partitioning a given space into K groups i.e., à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Å": à °Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬ ¹ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ {1, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, K}. One method of carrying out this partitioning is to optimize some internal clustering criteria such as the distance between each observation within a c luster etc. While clustering plays an important role in data analysis and serves as a preprocessing step for a multitude of learning task, our primary interest lies in the ability of clusters to gain more information from the data to improve prediction accuracy. As clustering, can be thought of separating classes, it should help in classification task. The aim of clustering is to find useful groups of objects, usefulness being defined by the goals of the data analysis. Most clustering algorithms require us to know the number of clusters beforehand. However, there is no intuitive way of identifying the optimal number of clusters. Identifying optimal clustering is dependent on the methods used for measuring similarities, and the parameters used for partitioning, in general identifying the optimal number of clusters. Determining number of clusters is often an ad hoc decision based on prior knowledge, assumptions, and practical experience is very subjective. This paper performs k-means and k-medoids clustering to gain information from the data structure that could play an important role in predicting obsolescence. It also tries to address the issue of assessing cluster tendency, which is a first and foremost step while carrying out unsupervised machine learning process. Optimization of internal and external clustering criteria will be carried out to identify the optimal number of cluster. Cluster Validation will be carried out to identify the most suitable clustering algorithm. DATA CLEANING Missing value in a dataset is a common occurrence in real world problems. It is important to know how to handle missing data to reduce bias and to produce powerful models. Sometimes ignoring the missing data, biases the answers and potentially leads to incorrect conclusion. Rubin in [7] differentiated between three types of missing values in the dataset: Missing completely at random (MCAR): when cases with missing values can be thought of as a random sample of all the cases; MCAR occurs rarely in practice. Missing at random (MAR): when conditioned on all the data we have, any remaining missing value is completely random; that is, it does not depend on some missing variables. So, missing values can be modelled using the observed data. Then, we can use specialized missing data analysis methods on the available data to correct for the effects of missing values. Missing not at random (MNAR): when data is neither MCAR nor MAR. This is difficult to handle because it will require strong assumptions about the patterns of missing data. While in practice the use of complete case methods which drops the observations containing missing values is quite common, this method has the disadvantage that it is inefficient and potentially leads to bias. Initial approach was to visually explore each individual variable with the help of VIM. However, upon learning the limitations of filling in missing values through exploratory data analysis, this approach was abandoned in favor of multiple imputations. Joint Modelling (JM) and Fully Conditional Specification (FCS) are the two emerging general methods in imputing multivariate data. If multivariate distribution of the missing data is a reasonable assumption, then Joint Modelling which imputes data based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques would be the best method. FCS specifies the multivariate imputation model on a variable-by-variable basis by a set of conditional densities, one for each incomplete variable. Starting from an initial imputation, FCS draws imputations by iterating over the conditional densities. A low number of iterations is often sufficient. FCS is attractive as an alternative to JM in cases where no suitable multivariate distribution can be found [8]. The Multiple imputations approach involves filling in missing values multiple times, creating multiple complete datasets. Because multiple imputations involve creating multiple predictions for each missing value, the analysis of data imputed multiple times take into account the uncertainty in the imputations and yield accurate standard errors. Multiple imputation techniques have been utilized to impute missing values in the dataset, primarily because it preserves the relation in the data and it also preserves uncertainty about these relations. This method is by no means perfect, it has its own complexities. The only complexity was having variables of different types (binary, unordered and continuous), thereby making the application of models, which assumed multivariate normal distribution- theoretically inappropriate. There are several complexities that surface listed in [8]. In order to address this issue It is convenient to specify imputation model separately for each column in th e data. This is called as chained equations wherein the specification occurs at a variable level, which is well understood by the user. The first task is to identify the variables to be included in the imputation process. This generally includes all the variables that will be used in the subsequent analysis irrespective of the presence of missing data, as well as variables that may be predictive of the missing data. There are three specific issues that often come up when selecting variables: (1) creating an imputation model that is more general than the analysis model, (2) imputing variables at the item level vs. the summary level, and (3) imputing variables that reflect raw scores vs. standardized scores. To help make a decision on these aspects, the distribution of the variables may help guide the decision. For example, if the raw scores of a continuous measure are more normally distributed than the corresponding standardized scores then using the raw scores in the imputation model, will likely better meet the assumptions of the linear regressions being used in the imputation process. The following image shows the missing values in the data-frame containing the information regarding digital camera. Figure 2 Missing Variables We can see that Effective Pixels has missing values for all its observations. After cross verifying it with the source website, the web scrapper was rewriting to correctly capture this variable from the website. The date variable was converted from a numeric to a date and this enabled the identification of errors in the observation for USB in the dataset. Two cameras that were released in 1994 1995 were shown to have USB 2.0, after searching online, it was found out that USB 2.0 was released in the year 2005 and USB 1.0 was released in the year 1996. As, most of the cameras before 1997 used PC-serial port a new level was introduced to the USB variable to indicate this. DATA DESCRIPTION The dataset containing the specification of the digital cameras was acquired using rvest -package [5] in R from the url provided in [6]. The structure of the data set is as shown in Appendix A. The data-frame contains 2199 observation and 55 variables. Appendix B contains the descriptive statistics of the quantitative variables in the data-frame. Figure 4 The Distribution of Body-Type in the dataset Observation: Most of the compact, Large SLR and ultracompact cameras are discontinued. Figure 5 Plot showing the status of Digital Cameras from 1994-2017 Observation: Most of the cameras released before 2007 have been discontinued however, we can see that few cameras announced between the period of 1996-2006 are still in production. Fewer new cameras have been announced after the year 2012, this can be evidenced due to the decreasing number of camera sales presented in Figure 5. Figure 6 Distribution of different Cameras (1994-2017) Observation: Between the period of 1996 2012 the digital camera market was dominated by the compact cameras. After 2012, fewer new compact cameras have been announced or are still in production. Same can be said about the fate of ultracompact cameras. In the year 2017, only SLR style mirrorless cameras have been announced, signaling the death of point and shoot cameras. Figure 7 Plot showing the Change in the Total Resolution and Effective Pixels of Digital Camera over the Years Observation: Total resolution has seen an improvement over the years. The presence of outliers can be seen in the top-left corner of the plot. Although the effective pixel is around 10, the total resolution is far higher than any of the cameras announced between the period 1996-2001. These could be the cameras that are still in production as evidenced from Figure 7. ASSESSING CLUSTER TENDENCY A primary issue with unsupervised machine learning is the fact if carried out blindly, clustering methods will divide the data into clusters, because that is what they are supposed to do. Therefore, before choosing a clustering approach, it is important to decide whether the dataset contains meaningful clusters. If the data does contain meaningful clusters, then the number of clusters is also an issue that needs to be looked at. This process is called assessing clustering tendency (feasibility of cluster analysis). To carry out a feasibility study of cluster analysis Hopkins statistic will be used to assess the clustering tendency of the dataset. Hopkins statistic assess the clustering tendency based on the probability that a given data follows a uniform distribution (tests for spatial randomness). If the value of the statistic is close to zero this implies that the data does not follow uniform distribution and thus we can reject the null hypothesis. Hopkins statistic is calculated using the following formula: Where xi is the distance between two neighboring points in a given, dataset and yi represents the distance between two neighboring points of a simulated dataset following uniform distribution. If the value of H is 0.5, this implies that and are close to one another and thus the given data follows a uniform distribution. The next step in the unsupervised learning method is to identify the optimal number of clusters. The Hopkins statistic for the digital camera dataset was found to be 0.00715041. Since Hopkins statistic was quite low, we can conclude that the dataset is highly clusterable. A visual assessment of the clustering tendency was also carried out and the result can be seen in Figure 8. Figure 8 Dissimilarity Matrix of the dataset DETERMINING OPTIMAL NUMBER OF CLUSTERS One simple solution to identify the optimal number of cluster is to perform hierarchical clustering and determine the number of clusters based on the dendogram generated. However, we will utilize the following methods to identify the optimal number of clusters: An optimization criterion such as within sum of squares or Average Silhouette width Comparing evidence against null hypothesis. (Gap Statistic) SUM OF SQUARES The basic idea behind partitioning methods like k-means clustering algorithms, is to define clusters such that the total within cluster sum of squares is minimized. Where Ck is the kth cluster and W(Ck) is the variation within the cluster. Our aim is to minimize the total within cluster sum of squares as it measures the compactness of the clusters. In this approach, we generally perform clustering method, by varying the number of clusters (k). For each k we compute the total within sum of squares. We then plot the total within sum of squares against the k-value, the location of bend or knee in the plot is considered as an appropriate value of the cluster. AVERAGE SILHOUETTE WIDTH Average silhouette is a measure of the quality of clustering, in that it determines the how well an object lies within its cluster. The metric can range from -1 to 1, where higher values are better. Average silhouette method computes the average silhouette of observations for different number of clusters. The optimal number of clusters is the one that maximizes the average silhouette over a range of possible values for different number of clusters [9]. Average silhouette functions similar to within sum of squares method. We carry out the clustering algorithm by varying the number of clusters, then we calculate average silhouette of observation for each cluster. We then plot the average silhouette against different number of clusters. The location with the highest value of average silhouette width is considered as the optimum number of cluster. GAP STATISTIC This method compares the total within sum of squares for different number of cluster with their expected values while assuming that the data follows a distribution with no obvious clustering. The reference dataset is generated using Monte Carlo simulations of the sampling process. For each variable (xi) in the dataset we compute its range [min(xi), max(xj)] and generate n values uniformly from the range min to max. The total within cluster variation for both the observed data and the reference data is computed for different number of clusters. The gap statistic for a given number of cluster is defined as follows: denotes the expectation under a sample of size n from the reference distribution. is defined via bootstrapping and computing the average . The gap statistic measures the deviation of the observed Wk value from its expected value under the null hypothesis. The estimate of the optimal number of clusters will be a value that maximizes Gapn(k). This implies that the clustering structure is far away from the uniform distribution of points. The standard deviation (sdk) of is also computed in order to define the standard error sk as follows: Finally, we choose the smallest value of the number of cluster such that the gap statistic is within one standard deviation of the gap at k+1 Gap(k)à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥Gap(k+1) sk+1 The above method and its explanation are borrowed from [10]. DATA PRE-PROCESSING The issue with K-means clustering is that it cannot handle categorical variables. As the K-means algorithm defines a cost function that computes Euclidean distance between two numeric values. However, it is not possible to define such distance between categorical values. Hence, the need to treat categorical data as numeric. While it is not improper to deal with variables in this manner, however categorical variables lose their meaning once they are treated as numeric. To be able to perform clustering efficiently, Gower distance will be used for clustering. The concept of Gower distance is that for each variable a distance metric that works well for that particular type of variable is used. It is scaled between 0 and 1 and then a linear combination of weights is calculated to create the final distance matrix. PARTITIONING METHODS K-MEANS K-means clustering is the simplest and the most commonly used partitioning method for splitting a dataset into a set of k clusters. In this method, we first choose K initial centroids. Each point is then assigned to the closest centroid, and each collection of points is assigned to a centroid in the cluster. The centroid of each cluster is updated based on the additional points assigned to the cluster. We repeat his until the centroids find a steady state. Figure 9 Plot Showing total sum of square and Average Silhouette width for different number of clusters We can see from Figure 9, that the optimal number of clusters suggested by the optimization criteria is 3 clusters using WSS method and 2 clusters using Average Silhouette width method. Considering the dependent variable is factor with two levels, having two clusters does make sense. The disadvantage of optimization criterion to identify the optimal clusters is that, it is sometimes ambiguous. A more sophisticated method is the gap statistic method. Figure 10 Gap Statistic for different number of clusters From Figure 10, we can see that the Gap statistic is high for 2 clusters. Hence, we carry out k-means clustering with 2 clusters on a majority basis. Figure 11 Visualizing K-means Clustering Method The data separates into two relatively distinct clusters, with the red category in the left region, while the region on the right contains the blue category. There is a limited overlap at the interface between the classes. To visualize K-means it is necessary to bring the number of dimensions down to two. The graph produced by fviz_cluster: Factoextra Ver: 1.0 [11] is not a selection of any two dimensions. The plot shows the projection of the entire data onto the first two principle components. These are the dimensions which show the most variation in the data. The 52.8% indicates that the first principle component accounts for 52.8% variation in the data, whereas the second principle component accounts for 23.9% variation in the data. Together both the dimensions account for 76.7% of the variation. The polygon in red and blue represent the cluster means. PARTITIONING AROUND MEDOIDS K means clustering is highly sensitive to outliers, this would affect the assignment of observations to their respective clusters. Partitioning around medoids also known as K-medoids clustering are much more robust compared to k-means. K-medoids is based on the search of medoids among the observation of the dataset. These medoids represent the structure of the data. Much like K-means, after finding the medoids for each of the K- clusters, each observation is assigned to the nearest medoid. The aim is to find K-medoids such that it minimizes the sum of dissimilarities of the observations within the cluster. Figure 12 Plot Showing total sum of square and Average Silhouette width for different number of clusters We can see from Figure 12, that the optimal number of clusters suggested by the optimization criteria is 3 clusters using WSS method and 2 clusters using Average Silhouette width method. Considering the dependent variable is factor with two levels, having two clusters does make sense. The disadvantage of optimization criterion to identify the optimal clusters is that, it is sometimes ambiguous. A more sophisticated method is the gap statistic method. Figure 13 Gap Statistic for different number of clusters From Figure 13, we can see that the Gap statistic is high for 2 clusters. Hence, we carry out partitioning around medoids clustering with 2 clusters on a majority basis. Figure 14 Plot visualizing PAM clustering method The data separates into two relatively distinct clusters, with the red category in the lower region, while the upper region contains the blue category. There is a limited overlap at the interface between the classes. fviz_cluster: Factoextra Ver: 1.0 [11] transforms the initial set of variables into a new set of variables through principal component analysis. This dimensionality reduction algorithm operates on the 72 variables and outputs the two new variables that represent the projection of the original dataset. CLUSTER VALIDATION The next step in cluster analysis is to find the goodness of fit and to avoid finding patterns in noise and to compare clustering algorithms, cluster validation is carried out. The following cluster validation measures to compare K-means and PAM clustering will be used: Connectivity: Indicates the extent to which the observations are placed in the same cluster as their nearest neighbors in the data space. It has a value ranging from 0 to à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ and should be minimized Dunn: It is the ratio of shortest distance between two clusters to the largest intra-cluster distance. It has a value ranging from 0 to à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¾ and should be maximized. Average Silhouette width The results of internal validation measures are presented in the table below. K-means for two cluster has performed better for each statistic. Figure 15 Plot Comparing Connectivity and Dunn Index for K-means and PAM for different number of clusters      Ã‚   Figure 16 Plot Comparing Average Silhouette width of K-means and PAM Clustering Algorithm Validation Measures Number of Clusters 2 3 4 5 6 kmeans Connectivity 139.9575 292.5563 406.5429 514.3913 605.5373 Dunn 0.0661 0.0246 0.0223 0.0244 0.0291 Silhouette 0.4369 0.3174 0.2814 0.2679 0.2447 pam Connectivity 156.1004 333.754 474.4298 520.3913 635.3687 Dunn 0.0275 0.0397 0.022 0.028 0.0246 Silhouette 0.4271 0.3035 0.2757 0.2661 0.2325 Table 1 Presenting the values of different validation measures for K-means and PAM Validation Measures Score Method Clusters Connectivity 139.9575 kmeans 2 Dunn 0.0661 kmeans 2 Silhouette 0.4369 kmeans 2 Table 2 Optimal Scores for the Validation Measures CONCLUSION In this research work, partitioning methods like K-means and Partitioning around medoids were developed. The performances of these two approaches have been observed on the basis of their Connectivity, Dunn index and Average Silhouette width. The results indicate that K-means clustering algorithm with K = 2 performs better than partitioning around medoids with two clusters. The findings of this paper will be very useful to predict obsolescence with higher accuracy. FUTURE WORK Advanced clustering algorithms such as Model based clustering and Density based clustering can be carried out to find the multivariate data structure as most of the variables are categorical. [1] Bjoern Bartels, Ulrich Ermel, Peter Sandborn and Michael G. Pecht (2012). Strategies to the Prediction, Mitigation and Management of Product Obsolescence. [2] Source Figure 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/269927/sales-of-analog-and-digital-cameras-worldwide-since-2002/ [3] Source, Figure 1: https://www.statista.com/statistics/263437/global-smartphone-sales-to-end-users-since-2007/ [4] S. Still, and W. Bialek, How many Clusters? An Information Theoretic Perspective, Neural Computation, 2004. [5] Wickham, Hadley, rvest: Easily Harvest (Scrape) Web Pages. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/rvest/rvest.pdf, Ver. 0.3.2 [6] https://www.dpreview.com [7] Rubin, D.B., Inference and missing data. Biometrika, 1976. [8] Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations Stef van Buuren, Karin Groothuis . [9] Learning the k in k-means Greg Hamerly, Charles Elkan [10] Robert Tibshirani, Guenther Walther and Trevor Hast

Pure Luck :: English Literature Essays

Pure Luck During a warm and lucid evening in September my life would change forever. Something like this does not just happen to anyone; fate decides who deserves such a wake up call. That seemed to be the last night I expected a scene so horrifying to happen because the vibe of the whole evening was uplifting. Everything seemed perfect since everyone happened to be in that happy-go-lucky mentality. We did not expect the events that were to follow later that evening. I heard the restlessness in his voice. â€Å"You got a light?† Steve questioned with eagerness. He was not the only one with the anxious tone to his voice. I hooked him up with that so needed light to calm his nerves a little. We were on an excursion to one of the greatest places in the world: New York. Steve, Dennis, and I had planned this journey for several weeks now. Our anticipation grew immensely. The outing was to a club in New Rochelle which would be a new experience for all of us. Riding in the car seemed ominous. â€Å"Na man, you gotta take the exit for the George Washington Bridge,† I nearly screamed at Steve when he almost took the wrong exit, which would have put us in a position we absolutely did not want to be. â€Å"Alright, DICK† he sarcastically replied. After what seemed like an eternity we hit the right exit and it put us down the road from the club. We arrived, jumping furiously out of the car and hauling ass to the line at the front of the club. At the club there were many DJ’s and live acts that I looked forward to catching. Fortunately I got to see most of them. The experience was quite a relief after that car ride. The inside of the club appeared amazingly pleasing to the eye. The surroundings were the most comfortable of leather couches and a balcony over the main floor that was humongous. More than two hundred people occupied the balcony alone: drinking, talking, and staring awestruck at the sights, which included a thirteen foot tall glass case housing two six foot long iguanas and two sixteen-foot long Burmese pythons. After a few hours the party ended and patrons dispersed including my friends and I. Once outside, the masses gathered around handing out flyers that would most likely end up with a new home on the sidewalk.

The Reflection of Victorian Britain in Literature Essay -- The Tell Ta

The Reflection of Victorian Britain in Literature Queen Victoria reigned in Britain between 1937-1901. During this time in British history a large degree of change occurred. The writers of the time often reflected these substantial changes in their literature focusing on the interests of society. I have studied a variety of literature from the Victorian period and have chosen to write about three particular pieces; 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens (a short story), the novel 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley and another short story called 'The Tell Tale Heart' by Edgar Allen Poe. At the point when these stories were written, there were a wide range of issues touching society. However, for the benefit of this essay I am only going to focus on three of these; the role of God, the increasing advances in science and technology, the supernatural and insanity. The point which I am going to focus on first is about the role God played in many people's lives and how this is reflected in the literature of the Victorian period. In 'Frankenstein' Mary Shelley's point of view about the advances occurring in the progress of medicine and technology can be seen. She also explains the dangerous issues connected with man trying to copy the role of God. The central characters in 'Frankenstein' are Dr Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. Dr Frankenstein tells the story. At the beginning of 'Frankenstein', Dr Frankenstein becomes over confident with new advantageous technology. He intends to make the 'perfect human' in order to save lives and becomes somewhat obsessed with this idea. He surgically attaches many different body parts together from deceased people. He believes from his previous research tha... ... raved- I swore!' His sudden change in behaviour is what convinces the reader and the police, the murderer is mad. 'I admit the deed! - tear up the planks! - here, here! - It is the beating of his hideous heart!' The murderer admits he committed the murder. In conclusion it is clear that the literature I have studied, 'The Signalman', 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'Frankenstein' all directly reflect the interests of Victorian Britain. The curiosities in the role of God, the increasing developments in science and technology, the supernatural and insanity were all reflected in these books, as was the work of Psychoanalysts like Sigmund Freud. There was better transport than ever before and psychiatrists found out how the mind worked and were then capable of looking inside it. The literature had to reflect the interests of the time in order to be successful.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

Prejudice has caused the pain and suffering of others for many centuries. Some examples of this include the Holocaust and slavery in the United States. In to Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee racism was the cause of much agony to the blacks of a segregated South. Along with blacks, other groups of people are judged unfairly just because of their difference from others. The prejudice and bigotry of society causes the victimization of people with differences. Some who are discriminated against are those who are born differently than the majority. One person that is treated unfairly is Calpurnia, as you can see when Aunt Alexandra tried to get Atticus to fire Calpurnia, because in her eyes, Calpurnia wasn't a good enough female role model (p.136). This is a prejudice action, because Calpurnia is as good as a role model as Aunt Alexandra, if not better. Aunt Alexandra is a bigot and doesn't see the character of Calpurnia, just the color of her skin. Another person who is treated like an inferior is Scout by her teacher, because she knew how to read. "She discovered that I was literate and looked at me with more than faint distaste. (p.17)." Scout is treated like it is her fault that she knows more than the average child did. She learned earlier than others so she gets punished unjustly. Tom Robinson is also one who is discriminated by a biased community. Tom is found guilty by the jury in his case against the Ewells (p.211). The guilty verdict is a direct result of a racist...

Curriculum Implication

This section firstly examines curriculum as a mediator of dominance and hegemony, exploring ideological issues in the selection and structuring of knowledge and in pedagogic practice. Secondly we focus on the issue of representation of subaltern groups, culture and ideologies. The concept of curriculum is used here to designate the experiences pupils have under the guidance of the school. Most issues in this area are predicated upon the assumption that appropriate school experiences can indeed make a significant difference to learning and lives of SC/ST children. Content of curriculum and internal operations are thus key issues that need to be addressed. Also very important are related areas of pedagogic methods, assessment and evaluation. In India, curriculum and the content of education have been central to the processes of reproduction of caste, class, cultural and patriarchal domination-subordination. In post independence educational policy, modification of content supposedly aimed at indigenization resulted in Brahmanisation as a key defining feature of the curriculum. Brahmanisation has been evident in the emphasis on (1) ‘pure’ language, (2) literature and other â€Å"knowledge† of society, history, polity, religion and culture that is produced by higher castes which reflects Brahmanical world view and experiences and Brahmanical perspectives on Indian society, history and culture, and (3) high caste, cultural and religious symbols, linguistic and social competencies, modes of life and behaviour. Furthermore, the overarching stress has been on eulogizing mental as against manual labour. The heavily gendered nature of school curricular content was evident in that women’s specialised knowledge and skills systems found no place in it or in the general curricular discourse. Rather they were used for devaluation and stereotyping of the female sex in curriculum. Curriculum is thus urban elite male-centric and bereft of the country’s rich cultural diversity. There has been a corresponding devaluation of â€Å"lesser† dialects, cultures, traditions, and folklore of dalits and adivasis as also of peasantry. The second defining feature of the curriculum on the other hand, was its ‘colonial’ character which privileged western modernization. The ideology however was adopted in truncated, superficial ways – the emphasis being on the incorporation of knowledge of Western science and technology, viz. that of the â€Å"hard Western sciences†, the English language and Western styles of life. The pursuance of liberal, democratic socialist values even though enshrined in the Indian constitution was largely notional in the curriculum. Curricular structure and culture of the colonial model has remained unchanged. The defining features of the structure are: full time attendance of age specific groups in teacher supervised classrooms for the study of graded curricula. Full day schools, compulsory attendance, unconducively long time–span of classes and vacations, served as deterrents, being ill suited to educating SC/ST children, especially in the initial years when access was just being opened up and availed. Poor and SC/ST households depended on children for domestic work or other productive work whether or not to supplement household earnings. Today, things have changed substantially and large numbers of parents are prepared to forego children’s labour and send them to school. However school organisation and curricula have not been sensitive as yet to fundamentally different economic situations, life aims and social circumstances of children belonging to poorer strata households or communities in the shaping of the school structure. Culturally, school norms of attendance, discipline, homework, tests and exams, and cognitively ethnocentric demands of concentration on nd memorisation of the content of the text by `rote’, all prove problematic for SC/ST children. Furthermore, the curriculum itself as a tool of cultural dominance and hegemony has an alienating and intimidating impact. Curriculum and the Scheduled Castes: For the Scheduled Castes who have sought education as a mechanism to transform as well as enter â€Å"mainstream† (read dominant) society, the central questions are of representation of their knowledge and culture and the critiquing of dominant knowledge and value systems of their lived reality and of social relationships based on dominance/subordination and exclusion. Dominant forms of inequality and hierarchy are made invisible in the discourse on common nationhood and common and equal citizenship, which the school curriculum propagates. But for the Scheduled Castes the heart of the matter is structural oppression, not cultural difference. Thus understandings of oppressive aspects of our traditional and contemporary structures, the historical construction of groups and communities are made invisible by the curriculum and not subjects of key curricular importance. Krishna Kumar’s studies have focussed attention on how the dominant groups’ ideas about education and the educated get reflected in the curriculum. Following the curriculum, Indian texts uphold symbols of the traditional, male dominated feudal society and its obsolete cultural values and norms. However, that the value content of education is out of tune with the reality of the changing, dynamic India is a matter of choice – a choice consciously or unconsciously made by those selecting textbook material from the available body of literature and by those creating it. Worthwhile knowledge is that which is linked to the values and lifestyles of dominant groups. Ilaiah has vividly described how knowledge and language are rooted in and structured around productive processes of lower castes and around socio-cultural surroundings of their habitat. This knowledge and skill based vocabulary, which is very highly developed, finds no place in the school curriculum. Nor do stories, music and songs, values, skills, knowledge, traditions, cultural and religious practices. Contemporary dalit literature is similarly disregarded. Lives, values and norms of upper caste Hindus which are strange and alienating for the lower castes, continue to be dominantly present. To quote from Ilaiah, â€Å"right from early school Upto College, our Telugu textbooks were packed with these Hindu stories. Kalidasa was as alien to us as the name of Shakespeare. The language of textbooks was not the one that our communities spoke. Even the basic words were different. Textbook Telugu was Brahmin Telugu, whereas we were used to a production-based communicative Telugu. It is not merely a difference of dialect; there is a difference in the very language itself†. The dominance of epistemology and content of the politically powerful intellectual classes makes curricular knowledge ideologically loaded. While Gandhi, Tagore and Krishnamurti – all from the high castes – have received national attention as indigenous educational philosophers, education has not incorporated the anti-caste-patriarchy and anti-hegemonic discourses of Phule, Ambedkar, Periyar or Iyotheedas. Curriculum does not reflect upon the historical significance of caste, gender and tribe, nor of the challenges posed to it by dalit epistemology, knowledge and protest. This should have been done through literature and social science curricula. Phule saw education as a potent weapon in the struggle for revolutionary social transformation. For him, the purpose and content of education were radically different from both Brahmanical and colonial models of education. His ideal was an education that would bring an awareness among lower castes of oppressive social relations and their hegemonic moral and belief systems that pervaded their consciousness†¦. an education that would instill western secular values, encourage critical thought and bring about mental emancipation. It would fulfil practical needs but would be broad based enough to inspire a social and cultural revolution from below. During the course of the long struggle of dalit liberation, Ambedkar developed an ideology that incorporated a critique and reinterpretation of India’s cultural heritage, a rich philosophy drawn from a wide range of social thought and an action programme which lay an equal stress on social and cultural revolution as it did on the economic and political one. Like Phule, he defined the purpose of education in terms of mental awakening and reation of a social and moral conscience. Education was also a means of overcoming inferior status and state of mind, of wresting power from the powerful. Thus, the Ambedkarian agenda for education included: (a) creation of capacities for rational and critical thinking, (b) socialization into a new humanistic culture and ideology, (c) development of capacities and qualities necessary for entry and leadership in modern avenues of work and politics, and (d) inculcation of self-respect and aspirations to respectable lifestyles in which demeaning traditional practices would have no place. Clearly Phule-Ambedkarian ideology went way beyond narrow modernization and technocratic impulses. It gave pre-eminence to ideology and values, Western in origin but critically adapted towards emancipation of India’s downtrodden. Ilaiah, in fact, argues that these values are equally indigenous, constitutive of lived-in realities of dalit bahujans. Dalit and non-Brahman leaders drew on western philosophical traditions to build an ideology and praxis of revolutionary transformation of the Hindu social order. It aimed at establishing a socialist social order underpinned by a new morality, based on values of liberty, equality, fraternity and rationality. School curriculum in India failed to reflect these expressions of new moral order. It does not need any great study to show that the national or state school curricula or teacher education curricula were never guided by these radical visions. The Scheduled Castes and their issues and problems have remained peripheral to the curriculum and their representation if at all has been weak and distorted. Curriculum and the Scheduled Tribes: Like the SC, curriculum does not acknowledge cultural rights of the Scheduled Tribes who are denied their own culture and history. School curriculum fails to take account of tribal cultures as autonomous knowledge systems with their own epistemology, transmission, innovation and power. Kundu gives the example of children being set to write essays on the circus, or being trained to write letters through mock missives to the police asking them to take action on disturbance by loudspeakers during exams. While adivasi children may know a great deal about animals, they are unlikely to have ever seen a circus; where the police are usually feared as oppressors and electricity is erratic, if at all available, enlisting police support in keeping noise decibels down is a most unlikely situation Not only are the knowledge and linguistic and /or cognitive abilities that Scheduled Tribe children possess ignored – e. g. the capacity to compose and sing spontaneously, to think in riddles and metaphors and their intimate knowledge of their environment – but schooling also actively encourages a sense of inferiority about Scheduled Tribe cultures. Like the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes rarely feature in textbooks, and when they do, it is usually in positions servile to upper caste characters; or as ‘strange’ and ‘backward’ exotica. The ‘cultural discontinuity’ between school and home draws attention to the rigidity of school organization and the emphasis on discipline and punishment in contrast with socialization practices and the lives of children, as reasons for non-attendance. Sujatha cites the case of community schools in Andhra where there was closer interaction with parents, weekly holiday was in tune with the local weekly bazaar, and school holidays coincided with tribal festivals. The school was observed to show positive results. The Language Question: Despite several policy documents and a constitutional provision (350A) recognizing that linguistic minorities should be educated in their mother tongue at primary level, there is practically no education in Scheduled Tribe languages. This includes even those like Santhali, Bhili, Gondi or Oraon which are spoken by over a million people. Although states in India were organized on linguistic grounds, political powerlessness of Scheduled Tribes prevented the formation of states based on tribal languages. They are confined to minority status within large states and are compelled to learn the state language in school. Primary teachers are predominantly from non-ST communities. And despite the pedagogic significance of initial instruction in the mother tongue, teachers do not bother to learn the tribal language even after several years of posting. The general picture at primary level is often one of mutual incomprehension between ST students and their non-ST teachers. Several studies have pointed to the significance of the language question at the primary levels. Quite apart from the pedagogic problems this creates – such as destroying the child’s self esteem, and reducing the possibilities of successful learning in later years, the denigration of Scheduled Tribe languages amounts to denigration of Scheduled Tribe worldviews and knowledge. The education system with its insistence on a common language as a means of achieving a common nationhood has been instrumental in the destruction of tribal language, culture and identity. Even outside the school, educated youth often speak to each other in the language of the school, perhaps to mark themselves off from their ‘uneducated peers’. Several languages, especially those spoken by small numbers, are dying out. Loss of a language means the loss of a certain way of knowing the world. Experiences of schooling of tribal children in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have revealed the displacement of Bundelkhandi, Gondi and Warli by Sanskritised Hindi, Telugu and Marathi respectively. Depending on levels of cultural absorption and adaptation however, several Scheduled Tribes may not look to schools to teach in their home language. Indeed, for many Scheduled Tribe parents, the main advantage of schooling is that it gives access to the new languages, new occupations and a new life and enables interaction with the non-tribal world. But wherever Scheduled Tribes have been politically mobilised to celebrate Scheduled Tribe identity, they have been more clear and open in their demand for education in indigenous languages. The Alienating Impact of School Regimen: The school regimen of timing, discipline, hierarchy is especially alien to tribal children socialized in a world where individuality is respected from early on, and where parent-child interactions are relatively egalitarian. Kundu points out those testing procedures too are based on urban middle class values – the competitiveness and system of rewards that examinations represent is often culturally anomalous to Scheduled Tribe children who are brought up in an atmosphere of sharing. Furthermore, learning among ST children is usually intimately connected to the work process – children learn the names and medicinal uses of many plants and trees while accompanying their parents on foraging trips in the forest. When children are away at school, especially when they are sent to residential schools, they lose connection with this world of labour and their capacity to learn from it. Several studies have attested the alienating effects of language, school structure and ethos. Implications of Recent Hindu Cultural Nationalist Influences on Curriculum In the recent past a serious concern has been the ‘Hinduisation’ of the curriculum, its adverse implications for all children but most particularly to religious minorities and SC/ST. A deliberate policy move towards Hinduisation of the school which occurred at the behest of neo-right national government’s policy meant its specific framing within Vedic values and thought. However, even prior to that when there was no overt intent of curriculum or text to be grounded in dominant religious culture, the fact that most educational action teachers are Hindu made curriculum Hinduised. It influenced the manner in which annual days or other school events are celebrated. Breaking a coconut and lighting incense at the base of the flag pole on Republic or Independence Day is common practice. Additionally, distinctive Scheduled Tribe names are changed to standard Hindu names.

Tropical Hut

WORKING CAPITAL Working capital is a measure of liquidity of a business. It equals current assets minus current liabilities. It is a measure of both a company's efficiency and its short-term financial health. The Company’s working capital during 2011 and 2010 are -P61,608,166. 00 and -P48,921,660. 00 indicating that the Company’s current liabilities are more than its current assets. It tells that the company is expected to suffer from liquidity crunch in near future and that the business may not be able to pay off its current liabilities when due. Status: Weakness of the Company) LIQUIDITY RATIOS| | | | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Current Ratio| 1| Weakness| 0. 83:1| 0. 85:1| Quick Ratio| 1| Weakness| 0. 37:1| 0. 39:1| Liquidity ratios measure a firm’s ability to meet maturing short-term obligations. Current ratio measures the extent to which a firm can meet its short-term obligations. During 2010, the Company’s current ratio is 0. 85:1 which indicates that the Company’s current assets were not enough to pay its short-term obligations. During 2011, the Company’s current ratio decreases to 0. 3:1 which indicates that its ability to pay its short-term obligations became worse (see Note 1 for computation). Quick ratio measures the extent to which a firm can meet its short-term obligations without relying upon the sales of its inventories. During 2010, the Company’s quick (or acid-test) ratio is 0. 39:1 which shows that its current assets less its inventory is not enough to meet its short-term obligations. During 2011, the Company’s quick ratio decreases to 0. 37:1 which shows that its ability to meet its short-term obligations became worse (see Note 1 for computation).Therefore, Tropical Hut Food Market, Inc as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 is not liquid. LEVERAGE RATIOS| | | | | Notes| Status| Ave of 2011;2010| Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio| 2| Strength| 0. 56| Debt-to-Equity Ratio| 2| Weakness| 1. 29| Long- Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio| 2| Strength| 0. 0007| Times-Interest-Earned Ratio| 2| Weakness| -19. 36| Leverage ratios measure the extent to which a firm has been financed by debt. Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio is the percentage of total funds that are provided by creditors. The average Debt-to-Total-Assets Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is 56% (or 0. 6:1) which indicates that the Company is capable to meet outside obligations in full out of its own assets (see Note 2 for computation). Debt-to-Equity Ratio is the percentage of total funds provided by the creditors versus by owners. The average Debt-to-Equity Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is 129% (1. 29:1). This means that for every peso of the company owned by the shareholders, the company owed 1. 29 to creditors. This high debt-to-equity ratio indicates that the Company was not able to generate enough cash  to satisfy its  debt  obligations (see Note 2 for computation).Long-Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio is the balance between debt and equity in a firm’s long-term capital structure. It expresses the degree of protection provided by the owners for the long-term creditors. The average Long-Term Debt-to-Equity Ratio during 2011 and 2010 is . 07% (or 0. 0007:1) which indicates that the Company’s degree of leverage is low (see Note 2 for computation). Times-Interest-Earned Ratio is the extent to which earnings can decline without the firm becoming unable to meet its annual interest costs. The Company’s Times-Interest-Earned Ratio is -19. 6 due to consecutive years of net loss which indicates that the Company was not able to meet its annual interest costs. ACTIVITY RATIOS| | | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Inventory Turnover| 3| Weakness| 8. 08 | 9. 38| Fixed Assets Turnover| 3| Strength| 10. 88| 10. 19| Total Asset Turnover| 3| Weakness| 3. 06| 3. 32| Accounts Receivable Turnover| 3| Strength| 77. 43| 64. 01| Average Collection Period| 3| Strength| 4. 71| 5. 70| Activity ratios measure how effectively a firm is using its resources. Inventory turnover ratio is used to measure the inventory management efficiency of a business.The Inventory ratio for the year 2011 and 2010 are 8. 08 and 9. 38, respectively. The decreased in the Inventory Turnover ratio indicates that the company is inefficient on controlling their inventory levels (see Note 3 for computation). The fixed-asset turnover ratio measures a company's ability to generate net sales from fixed-asset investments. The Ratios are 10. 88 and 10. 19 for the year 2011 and 2010. The increase in the turnover ratio indicates that the company can generate more sales with its fewer assets which tell that the company is good because it is using its assets efficiently (see Note 3 for computation).The total asset turnover ratio measures the ability of a company to use its assets to efficiently generate sales. The ratios are 3. 06 and 3. 32 for the year 2011 and 2010. The decrease in the turnover ratio indicates that the company is not growi ng in its capacity (see Note 3 for computation). Accounts receivable turnover measures the efficiency of a business in collecting its credit sales. The Accounts Receivable Turnover for the year 2011 and 2010 are 77. 43 and 64. 01, respectively.Increase in the accounts receivable turnover indicates improvement in the process of cash collection on credit sales of the company (see Note 3 for computation). Average collection period measures the average number of days that accounts receivable are outstanding. The Average collection period for 2011 and 2010 are 4. 71 and 5. 70, respectively. The decreasing number of collection days indicates that the accounts receivable of the company is liquid and is being converted to cash quickly compared to the previous year. PROFITABILITY RATIOS| | | | Notes| Status| 2011| 2010| Gross Profit Margin (GPM)| 4| Strength| 30. 4%| 28. 44%| Operating Profit Margin (OPM)| 4| Weakness| -2. 90%| -2. 21%| Net Profit Margin (NPM)| 4| Weakness| -2. 48%| -1. 75%| Return on Total Assets (ROA)| 4| Weakness| -7. 59%| -5. 80%| Return on Shareholders' Equity (ROE)| 4| Weakness| -18. 56%| -12. 52%| Earnings Per Share 4 Weakness -19. 68% -15. 28% Profitability Ratio measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. Gross Profit Margin is the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit.During 2011 and 2010 the GPM’s are 30. 24% and 28. 44% respectively which indicates that the company has a reasonable profit margin but it cannot cover up all of its expenses resulting to a net loss (see Note 4 for computation). Operating profit margin is the profitability without concern for taxes and interest. The 2011 and 2010 OPM’s are -2. 90% and -2. 21% respectively. Thus, indicating that the company has poor cost control and/or that sales are insufficient to cover up COS and expenses (see Note 4 for computation). Net profit margin is the profitability after tax a nd interest.The 2011 and 2010 NPM’s are -2. 48% and -1. 75% respectively. This shows that the sales of the company is decreasing with a poor management of expenses (see Note 4 for computation). Return on total assets an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. The 2011 and 2010 ROA’s are  -7. 59% and -5. 80% respectively. Thus management is inefficient in using its assets to generate earnings (see Note 4 for computation). Return on Shareholder’s Equity measures a corporation's profitability by revealing how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested.During 2011 and 2010 the ROE’s are -18. 56% and -12. 52% respectively. Thus, indicating that the company is not generating profit by the investment of the shareholders but instead incurring a loss. Earnings Per Share is the earnings per each outstanding share. The 2011 and 2010 EPS are -19. 68% and -15. 28% respectively. Since EPS in considered as one of the factors that an investor considers, it implies that issuance of shares will not generate more money thus, less attractive (see Note 4 for computation). GROWTH RATIOS | Notes| Status| Ratio| |Growth Ratio on Sales| 5| Weakness| -13. 13%| Growth Ratio on Net Income| 5| Weakness| * -20. 06%| Growth Ratio on EPS| 5| Strength| 22. 26%| Growth Ratio on Dividends Per Share| 5| Weakness| -3. 502%| Growth ratio indicates the amount by which a variable increases over a given period of time as a percentage of its previous value. The growth ratios for Sales, Net income, Earnings Per Share, Dividends per Share are -13. 13%, -20. 06%, 22. 26% and -3. 502% respectively. Growth Rates are one of the factors that investors consider in order to extend their resources to generate future cash flows.It indicates that the company’s sales, earnings have not grown that would make its firm value less attractive. Also, it evaluates that the company was not performing good enough in order to generate sales, earnings and returns, hence, occurring losses as resulted. Based on the computation of Growth Ratio on EPS, though it has been reported through financial statements that the sales and income have weaken, still it indicates that the earnings through issuance of shares increases over time. (see Note 5 for computation).

Human Natures Tragic Flaw Essay

Do you believe there is a beast within man that tempts us to do wrong and commit sin? Or is it just human nature to be sinful? In the bible, book of Genesis, it shows how God created Adam and Eve. These two beings had everything one could possibly imagine, food, water, shelter, and the protection of our heavenly father. Their only rule in The Garden Of Eden was to not eat from the forbidden fruit tree in the center of the garden, but Adam and Eve were flawed and soon fell into temptation from the serpent, and ate the fruit. They went against God’s only command and made the human species sinners. In the novel, The Lord Of The Flies, a plane crashes on an uninhabited island leaving numerous boys stranded. These boys had to learn to survive without adults to make their food and provide shelter for them. At first they all agree to a chief, Ralph, and are willing to work together to build shelters, but as the novel reaches its climax, they turn savage which soon leads to the death of three boys. The author â€Å"William Golding† portrays that it is not human nature within ourselves that makes us act out, but when times are rough, violence and sin leads us away from the path of righteousness. Symbolism is used throughout the novel to show that things put in this world tempt us to act out. The biggest illustration of symbolism in The Lord Of The Flies is in relation to â€Å"the beast†. The Beast was introduced on the very first day on the island. A little boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark on his face educated everybody of a so called Beast, which he had apparently seen on the previous night. At the time, this was overlooked by the older boys as something in his imagination. As the story advances it becomes evident that the older boys begin to believe in this Beast. One evening Simon was spotted when returning from one of his nature walks, and Jack persuaded the others that he was the Beast. Each boy began pouncing on Simon, stabbing and beating him to death. This shows that a small thing, such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, can cause fear and tempt us to do wrong, and in this case commit murder. Another example that holds much symbolic value throughout the story is the usage of the word â€Å"scar. † When the plane crashes on the lush island, it disrupts the balance and harmony of nature untouched by man’s influence. The twisted wreckage of the plane creates an imperfection in the peacefulness of nature, and leaves the beach a â€Å"scar† of what it used to be, stunning and unharmed by man’s vicious impulse. An object which also attains much symbolic relevance as the story unfolds is the conch shell. Delicate, fragile, and white, the conch is what brings the boys together on the first day at the beach. It is used throughout the story as an object of high importance and tradition, as it calls meetings together and determines who has the right to speak, depending on who is holding it at the time. It can be seen as a representation of law and order amongst the boys, as it unites them and prevents chaos from arising. As the book progresses, however, characters like Jack and his hunters put less and less importance in the sensibility and order in the concept of the conch, and finally disregard it altogether as chaos erupts over the island. This symbolizes the struggle of civilization and savagery, as Jack’s hatred of Piggy and Ralph grows and he and his boys resort to primal urges like hunting and killing. It is shown throughout the novel that although it is man’s natural instinct to cause destruction, it is not human nature to sin. We are tempted into sin by those around us, and even our own mind sets. â€Å"William Golding† beautifully portrays that it is not human nature within ourselves that makes us act out, but when times are rough, violence and sin leads us away from the path of righteousness.

Cultural Differences Between France and Middle-East (Maghreb)

Western European culture (France) Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and in the world. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia. After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the absolute monarchy was abolished and France became a constitutional monarchy. Through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, France established fundamental rights for French citizens and all men without exception. The Declaration affirms â€Å"the natural and imprescriptible rights of man† to â€Å"liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression†. Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed. Government The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. Demographics With an estimated population of 65. 8  million people (as of 1 Jan. 2011), France is the 20th most populous country in the world. In 2004, a total of 140,033 people immigrated to France. Of them, 90,250 were from Africa and 13,710 from Europe. In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey. It is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958.. While official data on the size of the country's ethnic minorities is not available, it has been estimated that between three million and six million people are of North African ancestry while an estimated 2.   million people are of Black African ancestry. It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received. Between 1921 and 1935 about 1. 1  million net immigrants came to France. Religion Roman Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practiced today as it once was. According to a Ja nuary 2007 poll by the Catholic World News – 51% identified s being Catholics, 31% identified as being agnostics or atheists 10% identified as being from other religions or being without opinion, 4% identified as Muslim, 3% identified as Protestant, 1% identified as Buddhist, 1% identified as Jewish. So we could see that France is one of the most multinational and multicultural countries in Europe. The main motivation for the law seems to be Sarkozy’s desire to do something to improve his dismal approval ratings. By appearing tough on Muslims he, perhaps, can counter the growing appeal of the right. His military adventures in Libya also seem calculated to that end. Obviously enough, this reason hardly justifies the law. Middle Eastern culture (Maghreb from Arabic – ‘West’) Actually in our case we will talk mostly about the region of Northwest Africa called Maghreb (also Maghrib). It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Because of Sahara desert contact between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa is limited. That’s why the biggest influence was coming from Middle Eastern cultures. The Arabs reached Maghreb in 7th century and brought their own religion Islam and Arabic language. After the 19th century, areas of the Maghreb were colonized by France, Spain and later Italy. In 1950th and beginning of 1960th all five countries became independent with their own government and low which is similar to French system board. Today more than two and a half million Maghrebi immigrants live in France, especially from Algeria and Morocco. In addition, there are 3 million French of Maghrebi origin (in 1999) (with at least one grand-parent from Algeria, Morocco or Tunisia) Family is extremely important in Asian cultures with much importance being placed on the elderly members of the family. The elderly are much revered in Asian society and it needs to be said that we don't show the same respect to the elderly in Western culture. Approximately 5 -10% of the adult population in North Africa is illiterate. In the majority of Asian countries the social infrastructure is set in a class system and it really is the poor versus the wealthy with little opportunity to rise above poverty line certain Asian countries the name given to you at birth depicts where you are placed as a person in the scheme of things. Money tends to bypass he general populace in regards to support systems, such as improving hospitals, availability of fresh water, and implementing crisis agencies or whatever is required to enable people to seek shelter in times of need. All these things are high on the list of priorities and available in most Western cultures. We also take advantage of the fact that due to the rate of cheap labor in Asian countries it is more economical for Western businesses to manufactu re goods offshore, so their profit margins are increased. Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are all republican democracies, meaning they are governed by elected legislative bodies. Both Algeria and Egypt have bicameral legislatures while Tunisia is unicameral. Libya is a unique government in the region for two reasons. First, in theory, it is a socialist democracy in which people govern themselves through local political councils. Second, though these councils do exist and function, in reality the nation is governed by a military dictatorship which hasn’t changed since it took over in 1969 when cornel Muammar Quadhafi took power in a military coup. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with bicameral parlament.