Saturday, December 28, 2019

Education Is A Major Aspect Of An American Childhood

Education is a major aspect of an American childhood. Students are first introduced to the education system at the age of five and are typically required to continue education until eighteen. After high school graduation we are granted the choice to continue our education at a university or a vocational school, or dive in full force in the workforce. Education aids students to determine how they will define success in their life. Though the hierarchy of the education system does not want to admit it, but today’s education does not give each an equal opportunity for each student to succeed. I believe the purpose of education should be to provide content that is applicable to the real world because, this would create a more enlightened community as well as allowing equal opportunity to all students. When people think of the word â€Å"education† most people associate it with school, because of our daily routine of going to school. Because of we are in constant presence with education, we tend to forget what the definition of education is. To me education involves processes of teaching so knowledge is gained from the learning. However, I believe education also involves the process of enlightening. We not only learn from teachers or instructors, but also from our experiences. We become enlightened from experiencing new things. Students should have equal educational opportunities; this means that every person should have an equal chance to become educated. Personal factors should notShow MoreRelatedChildhood Obesity : A Developing Problem1197 Words   |  5 Pagesthree American children and teens are either overweight or obese; almost triple the rate previously in 1963. Child obesity has expeditiously become one of the most genuine health challenges of the 21st century (â⠂¬Å"10 Surprising Facts About Childhood Obesity†). Physical inactivity, race, junk food in schools, the mass media, and the child’s parents flaws are all factors that have resulted in the prevalence of childhood obesity today. It is important for people to recognize the causes of childhood obesityRead More Religion and Its Effects on Children Essay1657 Words   |  7 Pagesministries. If religion is a major part of a child’s life, it will shape who a child becomes and how the child is raised. Religion directly affects how a child grows up and how they perceive people and situations in their life after their childhood. In order to understand how religion affects a child, it is important to view the various situations through a variety of religious perspectives and approaches. As suggested by Don Browning, in Children and Childhood in American Religions, â€Å"A careful investigationRead MoreObesity has Taken Over Our Children881 Words   |  3 PagesChildhood Obesity has taken over the lives of American children in the United States. Presently, 23 million children and teens in the United States are obese (CDC 2014). This epidemic affects children of all ages and mostly minority children at a see mingly unstoppable rate. For instance, 18 percent of American children age 6 to 11 and teens ages 12 to 19 are obese (Spradlin 2012). When examining ethnicity, Caucasian American children 28.2 percent is far lower percentage when compared to that of theRead MoreEssay about Gardner and Zigler1004 Words   |  5 PagesMarch 02, 2013 GARDNER AND ZIGLER Gardner and Zigler 2 Howard Gardner and Edward Zigler are two influential psychologists who have altered the profession of psychology as well as provided new direction in such areas as early childhood development, education and even politics. Each, through their personal and professional paths, helped to establish a new foundation on which psychology stands today. Howard Gardner did not believe that psychology was going to be his profession. He consideredRead MoreThe Finnish Theory Of Learning959 Words   |  4 PagesThe Finnish Model will work well in reforming the U. S. because it provides equal education and opportunity to everybody. In the country of Finland, â€Å"there were no high-tech, interactive white boards in her [Kim’s] classroom†¦no police officer in the hallway† (p. 83). This suggests that these students do not need fancy equipment or armed protection to be the smartest kids in the world. In addition, the Finnish yearn for everyone to be successful despite their circums tances at home, and one way theyRead MoreThe Effects of Nature and Nurture in Middle Childhood1215 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Effects of Nature and Nurture in Middle Childhood† Middle Childhood is the name given for the age division from 6 to 11 years of a child’s life. They are also known as the â€Å"school years.† During this time a child’s health, education, and emotional well being are all undergoing changes. Though not as drastic as the changes they will soon face in adolescence, they are steady, and the impact that nature and nurture will have on these aspects reach far and wide across the many developmentsRead More Causes of Childhood Obesity Essay1271 Words   |  6 Pageschildren ages 6-11 (Axmaker, 1). This obvious epidemic has raised great concern in the medical community because widespread childhood obesity has increased the prevalence of the once rare juvenile diabetes and pediatric hypertension (Bastin, 45). This concern has prompted intense investigation of the causes of childhood studies, aside from socioeconomic status, three major causes have been shown: diet, genetics or biological factors, and lifestyle. Because fat must have a source from which to increaseRead MoreHiring A Gender Wage Disparity Through The United States Awareness Bake Sale993 Words   |  4 Pagespiece of paper attached to it listing statistics and facts of wage disparity. As our bake sale went on for a few minutes we saw that no one showed our table any interest except for one guy, but he was an African-American Studies major and he said that he was currently studying the racial aspects of wage disparity. It was not until we advertised that we were giving away free cookies and were accepting donations, that our table received attention from the library goers. About an hour later, we were outRead MoreCauses of Childhood Obesity Essay1291 Words   |  6 PagesCauses of Childhood Obesity Works Cited Axmaker, Larry. Childhood Obesity Should be Taken Seriously. Online Posting 24 November 2004. Accessed 9 April 2005. 1-4. Bastin, Sandra. Perils of Childhood Obesity. American Academy of Pediatrics Quarterly. Volume 31 (11/2001): 44-49. Retrieved Medline 9 April 2005. 1-5. Buffington, Cynthia. Causes of Childhood Obesity. Beyond Change: Information Regarding Obesity and Obesity Surgery. Volume 17 (12/2003): 12-17. Retrieved AcademicRead MoreThe Importance Of Childhood Reading1681 Words   |  7 Pages On the Importance of Childhood Reading Misheel Bayartsengel University of California, Los Angeles EC 1B Professor Jessica Tapia December 9, 2015 On the Importance of Childhood Reading Reading – the ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has existed for approximately 4000 to 5000 years and is inarguably one of the most fundamental and wonderful technique humans have ever developed. However, despite much effort and funding dedicating to wide literacy development, even

Friday, December 20, 2019

Sex in the Media Essay - 1283 Words

Sexuality in the media has been a widely discussed topic amongst people for many years. Sexuality isnt portrayed only on television, but in magazines, advertisements, and movies. Is sexuality in media really necessary? Does sex actually help advertising? How do people respond to this? These questions are all important when deciding what is appropriate and what isnt. People in todays society are largely focused on sexuality. Sexuality is what is hip now and its popularity is getting bigger and bigger, but does it push the envelope in certain advertisements? A lot of people think so. A lot of people believe that sex in advertising is inappropriate and has very bad taste. The images are very influential to people especially†¦show more content†¦The use of healthy, fit men in advertising may indeed attract their attention and create desire, but their willingness to engage in intercourse is rarely aroused strictly because of a mans body. For a woman, sexual desire is a complex mixture of factors, most of which are extremely difficult to inject into an ad in the time and space available. A mans appearance plays a role by showing strength and health, but her instinctive concern is the long run. She must see that he is capable of other important things that would come along down the road. A woman wants a man who can father their children, help keep financial support along with sexuality, love, and devotion. Many of these factors are also learned in culture and society. Money, power, prestige, and health are factors that culture defines as extremely valuable. The woman learns their importance and adds them to her criteria for male sexual desirability. To sell to a woman, advertising relies on the modern idea of how men and women relate which is romance. Below is another Calvin Klein ad, which is selling their perfume. Notice that there is both a man and women, young and attractive standing in a romantic position about to kiss. Romance fits into the womans view of relationships since its major element of attraction. The process, in which men appeal to women and how they select mates, is howShow MoreRelatedSex, Sex And The Media, By Victor Strasburger863 Words   |  4 Pagesrelationship should appear. Media often portrays intercourse as something to be taken lightly and that negative consequences are a rare occurrence. What is the effect of the misrepresentation of sex in the media on teenage sexuality? Christina Grant (2003) provides a careful evaluation of this question in â€Å"Teens, Sex and the Media: Is there a Connection?† leaning slightly towards the argument that sex in the media has a negative impact on adolescents. In â€Å"Teenage Sex and the Media,† Victor Strasburger (2012)Read More Sex in the Media Essay1952 Words   |  8 Pages Sex plays a major role in todays society. From television, radio, music, and advertisements, to video games, the Internet, art and pictures, all forms of media use sex to help sell their products. With the public being exposed to so many different types of media, the overuse of sex is common. Is sex a useful tool, or a ploy to get the attention of the public? Before discussing sex in the media, one must understand why it has come to be that people use sex as a gimmick. The writingRead More Sex in the Media Essay3039 Words   |  13 PagesSex in the Media One of the most important resources of a business is its advertisement team. Due to the fact that people can and will buy your product only if they know about it. This is the reason that marketing and advertisement have the biggest budgets in a business. This is the reason that places such as Amazon.com spend up to four million dollars on advertisement a year, according to Dream-Biz.com written by Burke Hedges. There is a saying that goes Sex-sellsRead MoreSex and Violence in Media2268 Words   |  10 PagesSex and Violence in Media In todays society, sex and violence is practically in every movie you see. Most box office hits are filled with a variety of violence, like the Matrix or a variety of sexual content, like American Pie. The violence and sex content in these movies make it appealing to viewers, especially young audiences. But, the effects of watching these movies could be damaging, especially if the child is not being supervised while watching these movies. Sigmund Freud had his views onRead More Sex Violence in the Media Essay1329 Words   |  6 PagesSex Violence in the Media On February 1, 2004, millions of Americans sat down around their television sets with their family and friends to watch the biggest sports event of the year: Super Bowl XXXVIII. Inside the Reliant Stadium of Houston, Texas, the New England Patriots beat the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in one of the closest games in recent history; but this year it wasn’t the football game or even the commercials that had people talking. It was an incident that occurred during the halftimeRead MoreSex and Media around the World813 Words   |  3 PagesSociety has deemed â€Å"sex† the most popular and searched for word on the internet today. Anytime anyone turns on the television or listens to the radio we hear sexual explicate lyrics or see sexual visuals in some form or another. This common, explicit and casual treatment of sex and sexuality in our society is doing more harm than good. Maintaining the biblical standards of sexuality, the love shared between a husband and a wife, is becomi ng a dying institution of lust versus love. Sex and human sexualityRead More Media Advertising and Sex Essay1210 Words   |  5 Pagesthat â€Å"sex sells.† So, many advertisers will use beautiful women and men in their advertisements to try to market a product. The hope is that â€Å"sex will sell,† and people will go out and buy what the ads are selling. There are many advertisements and commercials that use this approach. Prime examples of this are the advertisements for Orbit Gum and A Diamond is Forever. Also, the commercials for Levi jeans use sex to promote the sale of their brand. As a way to explain how and why the media usesRead MoreUnrealistic Portrayal of Sex in Media1364 Words   |  5 Pages movies, music, magazines, and the Internet constantly portray sex unrealistically. The media advertises sex, but rarely promotes healthy sexual behavior (sex, sexuality..). Due to the lack of parental guidance, adolescents turn to the media to teach them about sex. Adolescents take their image very seriously and will do anything to be popular and cool- even if it means subjecting themselves to the views and standards that the media has set. On average, adolescents spend twelve hours per week watchingRead MoreEssay about Sex in the Media1710 Words   |  7 PagesMedia Essay Advanced Composition No Means No I dont believe in rape. No means no. Wait, if no meant no, all men would die a virgin. No means work on the neck, the nipples and come back in five minutes. Im not saying a father should give this version of the birds and bees to his son. Listen shes gonna block your hands four or five times at least. I didnt raise you to be a quitter out there now did I. She wouldnt dress like that if she didnt want to get fingered. Comedian, Daniel Tosh expressedRead MoreSex, Young Adults, and The Media Essay616 Words   |  3 PagesThe media plays a very big role in the lives of young adults today. Whether it is watching Access Hollywood, checking Perez Hilton’s blog religiously or watching fictitious TV shows and movies every night. All of the media in today’s society must add up to some influence on the teens of America. The media today mostly has lust and sex selling us products on television commercials or provocative ads in magazines, or the media just entertains us for hours on end. The media rarely has a positive influence

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

System Planning - Analysis and Design

Question: Discuss about the System Planning, Analysis and Design. Answer: Introduction: Having analyzed your business, we have found out that there is a lack of a proper system to incorporate all the activities. As a result, there is no efficient progress tracking. There needs to be a system that records all activities and can generate information of concern such as financial statements of the business conducted. Another problem is too much paperwork involved. As such financial accountability, problems arise from lack of efficient accounting software and a professional to do it. Notably, there is only a small business accounting package that caters for tax issues. The system accounting software will generate the desired data including generation of financial statements of the business that will improve accountability. There is also no feedback address channel. We purpose to improve the services by providing a tracking system to respond to the above inefficiencies. But first, we will gather all the requirements needed before doing the design of the new system. The system will track class sessions, capture all enrollments and student details, record teachers payments and any other functionality proposed in the requirements document. I would like to find an answer to the following questions: - Do you want a web based system or a standalone application? How many users are supposed to operate the system at any one time? What report formats do you want the system to produce, that is, word, pdf or excel? What sort of manipulation will the data be subjected to? Is data cleaning necessary? Attached, kindly find the POOC matrix. Let us know when we can begin the work. Regards. Problems, OPPORTUNITIES, objectives and CONSTRAINTS matrix Project: Activities tracking system Project Manager: Created by: Last Updated by: Date Created: 03/11/2016 Date Last Updated: CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT OBJECTIVES Problem or Opportunity Causes and Effects System Objective System Constraint It takes too long to calculate every activitys income Cause(s) Records are entered and maintained manually Effect(s) It takes long to generate daily/weekly or monthly revenue reports. Reduce time needed to calculate every activitys revenue generated Unknown It is difficult to know to know which activity of the business is most profitable. Cause(s) Calculation of income is tedious and inaccurate. Effect(s) The revenue report is usually inaccurate (contains large margins of errors) Accountability issues System that is efficient in performing profit and loss analytics Unknown It takes too long to serve customers as they form long queues when making payments. Cause(s) There is only one computer to serve them. Effect(s) Frustrates customers who vow not to come again. Customers seek services elsewhere. Reduce amount of time to serve clients Unknown Records sometimes are misplaced/ are lost Cause(s) Manual record keeping Disorganized records Effect(s) Missing financial records leading to audit issues Ability to store all records in computers and also provide back ups Unknown Inability to track class sessions, student enrollment and teachers pay Cause(s) Lack of a robust system Effect(s) It is difficult to determine total no. of students enrolled and salaries paid per year, Tracking all activities in the business Unknown References Brown, D. (2007). Problem Analysis Techniques. Melbourne, Australia. Dennis, A., Wixom, H. B., Roth, R. M. (2007). System Analysis and Design. Iowa: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Common Application essay free essay sample

Common Application Personal Essay Prompt – Topic of your choice If a molecule is soluble only if it is more attracted to water than to itself, then what about Narcissus? Forty minutes into chemistry class and all I could think about was the immortalized character from Greek mythology who wasted away into a flower while staring at his own reflection. Was he more attracted to the water or to himself? Was it his beauty that he found irresistible? Or did he fall in love with the water for its power of reflection? Do we really love other people or do we just love who we become around them, the way they reflect us? We see our finest selves reflected in the eyes of those we love. We will never know whether Narcissus was in love with himself or with the water. What we do know is that he was seduced, absorbed like a soluble molecule. It is crazy how a little piece of plastic is translated to so much more than you could ever imagine.Once I got my license, I believed that it transformed me to an adult. For one my parents made me pay for gas. I know it sounds like my parents are bad people, but if you look at the big picture, it shows you how to maintain a budget, to work for something, and to teach you responsibility. When you really think about it, it helps you in a big way. Getting my license also gave me something to take care of and to maintain which is my car. Since I live in a spread out and mountainous community having my license has made it conceivable to get a job. My parents have also given me a lot more trust which I must follow if I want to be able to drive anywhere to be with my friends. That has made me more of an adult than anything. I know what you’re thinking, an immature teenager who will probably get in a crash soon. Let me tell you that when I get something this special, I try not to abuse its power so I can live life how I want it to be lived. I am now 17, having my license for over a year now, and I have passed the probability of getting into any crash. After learning a lot from very little time, I plan on keeping the high responsibility of being able to possess a driver’s license at the youngest age possible. Not only does a driver’s license give you responsibility when driving; now I look at many details in life with much more care. For example, decisions that are made with doing the right thing in situations all the way to doing what you truly want to do. Life builds on itself, there a many paths to take and you may veer of the course you want to be on, but it only takes a few decisions to get you back where you want to be.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Gun Control Are Guns Really The Problem free essay sample

Gun control is a very controversial topic, but banning every gun will not stop all the shootings that occur. Gun control can go in either direction of the debate. There is something that needs to be done to try to reduce as many shootings as possible, whether it is background checks for every gun purchase or required classes after buying a firearm. Banning every weapon, though that is classified as an â€Å"assault† rifle or has a magazine that carries more than ten rounds is not fair to gun lovers who have never done anything wrong in their lives. If you think a gun with that much firepower needs to be banned, then you should also ban cars with extreme horsepower because why would a person need that much horsepower? Guns do not kill people.At the Columbine shooting, a school resource officer heard the gunshots, saw the shooters on the school’s patio, and shot back at the shooters, saving the lives of the wounded individuals at that location (Kopel A. We will write a custom essay sample on Gun Control: Are Guns Really The Problem? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 13). In all of these shootings, if the â€Å"armed defenders† would have not had concealed weapon permits, many more people would have been slaughtered and then you would have heard CNN, FOX news, and MSN glorifying over and bringing so much attention to what they call â€Å"a terrible tragedy.†Extended magazines are another thing pro-gun control activists want to get rid of. Josh Richman from the article â€Å"Large Capacity Magazines: Second Amendment Right or Gun-Violence† noted that: â€Å"gun owner Kevin Silver, a 47-year-old tech executive from San Jose, admits ‘10 rounds is satisfactory for me in recreational, hunting and defense situations,’ but he said a 10-round nationwide limit on magazines wouldn’t do much to reduce gun crime or lower the body count at mass shootings. Besides, ‘if something like the L. A. riots broke out in my neighborhood, I would definitely want to have access to a few 30-round clips to protect my family and neighbors.’†

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Emphasizes The Role Of Transition Children And Young People Essay Essay Example

Emphasizes The Role Of Transition Children And Young People Essay Essay Example Emphasizes The Role Of Transition Children And Young People Essay Essay Emphasizes The Role Of Transition Children And Young People Essay Essay and increasing the duties of the kid. It is besides normal that immature kids of defeat frequently. it is a necessary measure for its development. will larn through experience ; experience and mistake. This means that they need to see the feeling frustrated when something does non work for them, in order to travel to the following phase. When you feel frustrated for a little kid, and they frequently behave severely with actions such as shouting, hitting or seize with teething. parents need to be careful When you reply to such behaviour, and given the menace or countenances are non helpful and will merely do the state of affairs worse. [ 20 ] Child Main articles: kids and early childhood, childhood and immature adolescence Younger kids became more independent, which is get downing to construct friendly relationships. They are able to ground and can do their ain determinations given conjectural state of affairss. Young kids demand changeless attending, but you will larn how to cover with ennui and be able to play independently. They besides enjoyed assisting and experiencing utile and able. May aid parents and their kids by promoting societal interaction and patterning appropriate societal behaviours. A big portion of larning in the early old ages comes from take parting in activities and prep. Parents who watch their kids at drama or solidarity with them in child-driven drama have the chance to glimpse the universe of their kids, and larn to pass on more efficaciously with their kids and are given another puting to supply gentle, fostering counsel. [ 21 ] parents besides know their kids s wellness, hygiene, and eating wonts through instruction and by illustration. It is expected that the parents to do determinations about their kids s instruction. Rearing methods in this country much different at this phase with some parents strongly to go involved in the activities of the organisation and set up early acquisition plans. Choose other parents to let the kid with the development of the organisation s activities are few. Children Begin to larn duty, and the effects of their actions, with the aid of parents. Some parents provide a little allowance which increases with age to assist learn kids the value of money and how to be responsible with it. Parents who are consistent and just with their subject, who communicate openly and supply accounts for their kids, and those who do non pretermit the demands of kids in some manner frequently find they have fewer jobs with their kids when they fall due. [ Edit ] teens Chief article: Adolescence During adolescence kids are get downing to organize their individuality and testing and development of personal and professional functions that assume they will as grownups. Therefore it is of import that parents should handle them like immature grownups. Although the teens look to their equals and grownups outside the household for counsel and theoretical accounts for how to act, and parents are still influential in the development. A adolescent miss who thinks bad of him or herself, non confident, stopped around with packs, deficiency of positive values, follow the crowd, do non make good in surveies, and loss of involvement in school, he has a few friends, lacks supervising at place or is non close to adults major such as parents are vulnerable to peer force per unit area. Parents frequently feel stray and entirely in rearing striplings, [ 22 ] , but they should do attempts still have to be cognizant of the activities of her teens, and supply counsel and way, and audience. Can be adolescence period of high hazard for kids, where they found new freedoms can take to determinations that dramatically open up or shut the life chances. Parental issues at this phase of rearing include covering with adolescents Rebel , who did non cognize freedom while they were smaller. In order to forestall all this, it is of import to construct a relationship of trust with them. This can be achieved through planning and disbursement leisure activities together, and maintaining your promises, do non peck him or her about their old errors and seeking to listen and speak to them, no affair how busy you are. When constructing a relationship of trust, they are more likely to near you for aid when faced with negative equal force per unit area. Besides, in an effort to construct a strong foundation to assist your kid to defy negative equal force per unit area, it is of import to construct self-esteem: Praise coerce your kid instead than concentrating on failings ( and will do them exp erience good and grow confident of themselves, so he / she does non experience the demand to acquire blessing from the equals ) , we acknowledge the attempts of your kid, do non merely concentrate on the terminal consequence ( when you notice that acknowledge his / her attempts, and he / she will maintain seeking ) and, eventually, non to O.K. the behaviour, non the kid, or they will turn to their equals to accept and comfort. [ Edit ] people Rearing normally does non stop when the kid reaches 18. And may necessitate to back up the kid s life beyond the adolescent old ages and go on into maturity subsequently East. Rearing can be a womb-to-tomb procedure. [ Edit ] Help [ Edit ] attention Research shows that 70 % of parents put their kids in some kind of kid attention, which makes kid care a cardinal component in raising kids. Because person else will be involved in the instruction of your kid is of import to take a installation that suits your demands and matches the values aˆâ€ ¹aˆâ€ ¹and ends for your kid. Site, and find the cost and are all really of import in the choice of the kid attention installation. National Association for the Education of Young Children ( NAEYC ) identifies ten points to do certain your kid good early kid attention centres: 1. The kids spend most of their clip playing and working with stuffs or other kids. They do non roll aimlessly, and is non expected to sit softly for long periods of clip. 2. Children at assorted activities throughout the twenty-four hours. Find a assortment of edifice blocks and other building stuffs, props for make-believe drama, image books, pigments and other art stuffs, and games such as table games, fiting, pegboards, and mystifiers. Children must non all making the same thing at the same clip. 3. Teachers work with single kids and little groups, and the whole group at different times during the twenty-four hours. They do non pass all their clip with the whole group. 4. Classroom is decorated with kids s graphics original, and compose their ain with originative spelling, and kids s narratives dictated by instructors. 5. Children learn the alphabet and Numberss in the context of their mundane experiences. The natural universe of workss and animate beings and meaningful activities such as cookery, with the audience, or a bite service as a footing for larning activities. 6. Children work on undertakings and have long periods of clip ( at least one hr ) to play and geographic expedition. Worksheets are used small if at all. 7. Childs have the chance to play outside every twenty-four hours. Is neer sacrificed to play out-of-doorss more clip instruction. 8. Reading books for kids of instructors separately or in little groups throughout the twenty-four hours, non merely at group narrative clip. 9. The course of study is adapted for those who are before every bit good as those who need excess aid. We recognize that instructors different background for kids and expertness agencies that they do non larn the same things at the same clip and in the same manner. 10. Children and their parents look frontward to school. Parents experience safe about directing their kids to the plan. Children are happy to go to, they do non shout on a regular basis or complain of experiencing sick. Besides inquire if the plan is adopted by the NAEYC. NAEYC approved plans to finish a thorough reappraisal of the self-study and external to turn out it is consistent with the criterions of excellence in instruction in early childhood.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Critically evaluate the pedagogical approach(es) evident in the video Essay

Critically evaluate the pedagogical approach(es) evident in the video and suggest additional strategies which could be employed - Essay Example Therefore, a tactic affective for one student may not be useful for another. The video shows a school which has diversity in terms of its students. The students belonged to different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. As the children are in their early years, so if they are treated properly, the element of diversity would serve as a plus point for the school environment. At the same time, if the concept of discrimination is developed at this sensitive stage, the children will hardly learn to respect others throughout their life. Therefore, showing respect towards teachers, parents and the students themselves is an effective tool for training children to live peacefully in an environment. There should be a balance and equality in terms of parameters of respect and honor. If some of the students are given undue favors, it will create intimidating environment for others. While training children in early years to show respect to others, it is very important to train them about how to commu nicate with others. Most of the children have natural hesitation while interacting with a new face other than their family. This hesitation should be removed by making them comfortable in speaking, moving and expressing their feelings. Sometimes, teachers and parents put great focus on making children learn the manners. It is helpful but it can cause the child to become uncomfortable with natural instincts and desires of his age. Therefore, while teaching manners to young children it is very important to understand the needs of their age and let them do what they want to do freely. Do not embarrass them by quoting examples of their activities which you think are stupid. Try to persuade them to follow a certain rule, rather than imposing it. In that case, children become revengeful in future and find a desire to break every rule that tries to mold them. There are certain general issues of students like lack of confidence, hesitation, and reluctance to communicate and to ask questions . Such issues require general solutions applied in specific way. This means that teacher needs to provide this solution individually in addition to creating an environment supporting such solutions. Parents should also observe the special needs of their children and notify about these needs in the school. As it is said that ‘nip the evil in the bud’, so is the case with children; the earlier their issues are resolved, the better they can perform. Proper planning and discussions about the behavior of individual students are helpful both for student and the teacher. For a student, it is useful as he/she would get help in a proper and timely manner. For teacher it is useful as it would indicate that how much the situation has improved. The issue with the planning is that if the teacher becomes too obsessed with the plans, then the results can be reversed. Human beings are the most complex creatures in the world so sometimes you learn by doing. Once you have made a plan, tr y it with the child and see if you both are comfortable with the tactic or nor. If anyone is uncomfortable, do not hesitate in making modifications in your plan. Studies have shown that over formal approaches to teaching young children are counterproductive (Nabuco and Sylva, 1996) and can hinder young children’

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Cultural Activity Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Cultural Activity Report - Essay Example In fulfillment of the requirements of this course, on 15th/03/2014, I took my time and attended a live concert at the City Auditorium. This was a spectacular event organized by the National Jazz Promoters which features the renowned Jazz Band of America. As a student, I had to attend this show in order to have a first-hand encounter with this high school-students-dominated band. It was indeed a great experience because it exposed me to lots of entertainment that I had never enjoyed before. With the National Jazz Promoters at the helm of the concert, everything went as planned. I was very excited and anxious to come across great figures like David Alex Lacy, Joel Gardella, Aaron Mutchler, Josh Achiron and Max who have made a name in the music industry. Even before the beginning of the event, my attention was captured by the theatre. For sure, the event was organized in a very spacious theatre equipped with modern facilities including chairs, stage, auditorium and laser lights. Meaning, all the fans that had thronged the venue would be easily accommodated without any problem. Besides, there were still enough spaces in which everyone would get to dance and enjoy the sweet melodious songs played by these artists. I was impressed by the manner in which these artists entertained us. Each of them seemed to have been adequately prepared for their respective roles which they played excellently. Meaning, the conductor, vocalists, singers, dancers and the instrumentalists were quite articulate in their performance. Everything was properly coordinated to help in producing sweet sounding rhythms that could be enjoyed by everyone. As a matter of fact, I was particularly delighted by the performances of Phillip Ahn who played the saxophone; Nathaniel McKay who played a trumpet; guitarist Josh Achiron and the pianist Max Holm. Their participating in the concert was so entertaining. A part from these instrumentalists, the singers also displayed a

Sunday, November 17, 2019

MANAGING AN EARLY YEARS SETTING Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

MANAGING AN EARLY YEARS SETTING - Assignment Example roles and responsibilities of the early years’ practitioners are identified and discussed in relation to the leadership and management theory (Bullock & Brownhill 2011.p.201-207). The government, educators, teachers, parents, and other education practitioners in the field of early education and care have over the past years been faced with the question of realization of quality formal education in the early years setting. Therefore, in consideration of these necessity factors, this study has been organized in the context of evaluating two early years setting education scenarios in reference to the leadership and management theory. This is through the search for the understanding of the roles and responsibilities that various practitioners play in relation to the same. The two scenarios are the support for a child who has a significant medical condition and the support for a child who has additional educational needs (Jones & Pound 2008). The successful critique and evaluation of the leadership and management concepts in relation to the early years setting involved the conducting of a wide-ranging research from detailing sources such as electronic databases, government legislations, search engines like Google Scholar and ERIC. In the recent past, there has been an increasing concern for embracing leadership in the management of schools and attainment of the set goals and visions for a particular institution. For effective practice in the early years setting of early education and care, it is important for the practitioners to recognise the link that exists between effective management, development of leadership in early education centers and the success of children in such centers (Jones & Pound 2008). By equipping practitioners in early education sector with requisite knowledge and skills that can be used to lead and manage quality practice in the early education years setting will enable them to develop the capacities of children under their care successfully;

Friday, November 15, 2019

Evolution of Smart Homes

Evolution of Smart Homes I. Introduction Smart homes, the next gigantic leap in the field of home automation, have become an emerging research field in last few decades. Research on smart homes has been gradually moving towards application of ubiquitous computing, tackling issues on device heterogeneity and interoperability. A smart home adjusts its function to the inhabitants need according to the information it collects from inhabitants, the computation system and the context [1]. By 2050, approximately 20% of the world population will be at least 60 years old [2]. This age group is more likely to suffer from long-term chronic diseases and will face difficulties in living independently. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 650 million people live with disabilities around the world [3].The most common causes of disability include chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer; injuries due to road traffic crashes, conflicts, falls, landmines, mental impairments, birth defects, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. It is not possible and logical to support all these patients in the medical center or nursing homes for an uncertain period of time. The solution is to accommodate health care services and assistive technologies in their home environment which is the main objective of smart homes. Sensors, multimedia devices and physiological equipments are core components to perceive information from home environment Infrared (IR) sensors, pressure sensors, magnetic contacts, passive and active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are used to track inhabitant location detection. Electrocardiogram (ECG), photoplethysmograph(PPG), ,temperature, spirometry, galvanic skin response, colorimetry and pulse measurement equipments are used to get physiological information from the patient. Camera and microphones provide audiovisual response from home user. Inhabitant can access the system through display panel. Power line communication protocols are widely used for the connectivity of home appliances. Public telecommunication network with voice and text messaging service is involved to provide telecare facility from remote location. Videoconferencing is used as an interactive communication media between caregiver and the client. TCP/IP protocols of Ethernet network provide data connectivity for local and remote sites and locations. Ethernet protocols are also used to connect health-monitoring equipments and to provide data repository service. Algorithms from machine learning, data compression, statistics and artificial intelligent are employed to predict user behavior, detect activities of daily life (ADL) and location. C4.5 algorithm from machine learning is utilized to build spatiotemporal context of user. C4.5 algorithm is developed by Quinlan in 1993 which classify the data to construct a decision tree according to data attributes [47].Active LeZi from data compression algorithms is used to predict inhabitants next behavior. Active LeZi by Gopalratnam et al..in 2007 builds a decision tree utilizing similar methodology of LZ78 data compression algorithm and predict next event using Prediction by Partial Matching (PPM) algorithm[22].Statistical predictive algorithms like Bayesian filtering, dynamic Bayesian network algorithms classify the information and recognize ADL of home client[34][41][44]. Different flavors of AI algorithms extended for smart home data processing. Markov model, Hidden Markov model, Artificial Neur al Network can detect the living pattern of user and can also predict the user [7][13][14][38]. Fuzzy Logic is used for home appliance control [36]. Smart home is mainly dedicated to provide health care, safety, security and monitoring service for patient and elderly. The house is equipped with sensors, cameras to track people and can trigger an alarm to a remote heath care service provider in the case of emergency. Sophisticated physiological devices monitor heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, ECG record and the patient is being observed from a distance location. Telecommunication service is used for communicating with service provider, relatives or neighbor and as a redundant acknowledgement method from the patient. For home comfort system, lighting, heating, doors, windows and home appliances are automatically controlled by ambient intelligence of smart home. Smart home also has significant contribution towards energy conservation by integration of energy meter with smart home [4]. Home automation is the initial state of smart home where electronic technologies are used to provide an easy access to household devices. Rapid development of sensor technology accelerated the growth of smart home that involved more data processing. Improvement of information and communication technology make possible to develop easy and cost effective methods for data repository and exchange. Smart home is a growing concept, efficient and lower cost solutions for general people are the main idea to promote it. II. Smart Home defination Smart home is an extension of modern electronic, information and communication technologies. The main objective of smart home research is to provide smartness to a dwelling facility for comfort, healthcare, security and energy conservation. Remote monitoring system is a common component of health smart home where telecommunication and web technologies are used to provide quick and proper medication to the patient from specialized assistance centre. The first formal definition of smart home was published by Intertek in 2003, which was involved to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) smart-homes project in UK [5]. According to Intertek a smart home is a dwelling incorporating a communications network that connects the key electrical appliances and services, and allows them to be remotely controlled, monitored or accessed. A home needs three things to make it smart: Internal network wire, cable, wireless Intelligent control gateway to manage the systems Home automation products within the homes and links to services and systems outside the home III. Review of Smart Homes Smart homes projects are being conducted for last several decades and they convey different ideas, functions and utilities. It is growing to different brunches of specialization focusing the interest of the researchers and user requirements and expectations. This article is a study of the evolution of smart home according to time. Adaptive Control of Home Environment (ACHE) system is developed by Mozer in 1998 in USA. ACHE monitors user device usage pattern utilizing different types of sensors and builds an adaptive inferential engine for neural network to control temperature, heating and lighting. ACHE can control three main components of a home while trying to maximize user comfort and conserve energy [7].ACHE is one of the early smart home projects which is able to partially automate home environment via controlling lighting, temperature and heating components. CarerNet is an architectural model of integrated and intelligent telecare system proposed by Williams et al. in 1998. Its core components are sensor set, a sensor bus, intelligent monitoring system and a control unit. ECG, photoplethysmograph, spirometry, temperature, galvanic skin response, colorimetry, and pulse measurement tools used to collect physiological data. The communication network within the clients local environment is an integration of HomeLAN and Body Area Network (BAN) which is responsible to carry real-time data, event data, command and control data. It has a distributed intelligence system in the form of smart sensors, smart therapy units, body-hub, Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) and Clients Healthcare Record (CHR). Home emergency alarm system, community health information and ambulatory monitoring service can be provided by the system. [8]. CarerNet is an abstract model of health smart home and interconnecting components. No prototype of the model has been developed . Only a hypothetical case study is of an individual who had undergone brain surgery after suffering from a subarachnoid is discussed. Barnes et al. in 1998 have evaluated life style monitoring data of elderly using infrastructure of British Telecom and Anchor Trust in England. The system detects inhabitants movement using IR sensors and magnetic contacts on the entrance of the doors. To measure temperature it uses a temperature sensor in the main living area. An alarm activation system is developed which detects abnormal behavior and communicates to remote telecare control center, the clients and their carers[9]. The researchers presented a lower cost solution for smart telecare. The limitation of the system is it can identify only abnormal sleeping duration, unexpected inactivity, uncomfortable home temperature and fridge usage disorder. Moreover, it uses a special new telecom protocol named No Ring Calling which demands modifying existing telecom protocols. TERVA is a health monitoring system developed in Finland by Korhonen et al.(1998). TERVA processes physiological information like blood pressure, heart beat rate, body temperature, body weight to draw graphical representation of wellness condition of the subject[10].Research goal of the TERVA system is to develop a real time visual monitoring system but it is unable to provide long-term trend of certain physiological information. It cannot detect physiological problems and no assistive service is deployed to provide health care. The intelligent home (IHome) project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has developed an intelligent environment (Lesser et al.1999) IHome is a simulated environment designed with Multi Agent Survivability Simulator (MASS) and a Java Agent Framework (JAF) as tools to evaluate agent behavior and their coordination. The focus of the project is to model agent interactions and task interactions so that the agent can evaluate the tradeoff between robustness and efficiency [11].IHome is a simulation only solution, the project never build a practical smart home to evaluate their model. The Aware Home Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a smart home, which equipped with monitoring facilities to study human behavior (Kidd et al. 1999). To build a model of user behavior pattern, it uses smart floor to sense footsteps. Hidden Markov models, simple feature-vector averaging and neural network algorithms are applied on these data to create and evaluate behavioral model [12]. The aim of the project is to study user behavior, which is the primary stage of smart home research. The project never developed home intelligence which is a big shortfall of the research. The EasyLiving project at Microsoft Research based on intelligent environment to track multiple residents using distributed image-processing system (Krumm et al. 2000). The system can identify residents through active badge system. Measurements are used to define geometric relationship between the people, devices, places and things [13][14].The system is workable in single room only and can track upto three peoples simultaneously. SELF (Sensorized Environment for LiFe), is an intelligent environment, which enables a person to maintain his or her health through self-communication (Nishida et al. 2000). SELF observes the persons behavior with distributed sensors invisibly embedded in the daily environment, extracts physiological parameters from it, analyzes the parameters, and accumulates the results. The accumulated results are used for reporting useful information to maintain the persons health. The researchers constructed a model room for SELF consisted of a bed with pressure sensor array, a ceiling lighting dome with a microphone and a washstand with display[15].SELF describes a self-assessment system of human health but measuring only respiratory system and sleeping disorder, which is not sufficient to monitor health condition. The ENABLE project was set up in 2001 to measure the impact of assistive technology on the patient suffering from mild or moderate dementia (Adlam et al. 2004). The researcher installed two devices (cooker and night light) in the apartment of several patients in different locations to evaluate the efficiency of the system [16]. The research scope is limited to only two household devices but to assist this type of patient the whole house must possess some kind of intelligence. Health Integrated Smart Home Information System (HIS) is an experimental platform for home based monitoring (Virone.et al. 2002). IR sensors are used to track inhabitant activities and the information is transmitted via Controller Area Network (CAN) to a local computer. The system generates alerts according to some predefine zones [17]. The research is only limited to single inhabitant monitoring. In 2002, GuillÃÆ' ©n et al. developed a system composed of two parts: home station (HS) and caregiver medical center (CMC) connected via integrated service digital network (ISDN) backbone. The home station is equipped with vital signs recording module to monitor physiological data like blood pressure, temperature, ECG, pulse oximetry. Caregiver medical center is like a call center designed specially with patient monitoring software. An interactive communication system between home and caregiver center is developed using videoconferencing technology [18]. Figure 1 shows functional modules of multimedia smart home. The system requires high Internet bandwidth for videoconferencing, which needs expensive equipments and high maintenance cost. Functional module of multimedia platform [18] At University of Tokyo, Noguchi et al (2002) designed an intelligent room to support daily life of the inhabitant. The system has three main components: data collection, data processing and integration of processed data. The system learns current state of environment from sensors attached to bed, floor, table and switches. A summarization algorithm is used to track any changes in the system. The algorithm segments the collected sensory data at the points where sensor outputs changes drastically (i.e. pressure data appears suddenly or switch sensors are changed). It labels the segment with the room state. It joins a state of each segment to quantize the accumulated data and ties up the changed situation. The algorithm also tries to eliminate and reduces situations that changes slightly [19].The proposed summarization algorithm can detect user activities which is tested for single room only. No home automation method discussed utilizing the algorithm. MavHome (Managing an Adaptive Versatile Home) first introduced by Das et al. in 2002 at the University of Texas, Arlington [20]. Figure 2 describes MavHome architecture in brief. MavHome use multi disciplinary technologies: artificial intelligent, multimedia technology, mobile computing and robotics. It is divided into four abstract layers: physical, communication, information and decision. X10 protocol is used to control and monitor more than sixty X10 devices plugged into the home electric wiring system [21]. Active LeZi algorithm is developed that makes a decision tree based on kth order Markov model and predict next action calculating probability of all actions applying prediction by partial matching method [22]. Although MovHome utilize algorithms to make accurate prediction and decision, it only predicts the behavior of single inhabitant [23]. concrete architecture of MavHome[21] The Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Successful aging (RERC-Tech-Aging) at the University of Florida introduced House of Matilda (Helel et al. 2003, 2005)[24].The home is inhabited by a dummy called Mutilda. The main aim of this research is to perceive user location using ultrasound technology. After two years, in 2005 they designed the second generation of this home named GatorTech'[25]. GatorTech is actually integration of smart device with sensors and actuators to optimize the comfort and safety of older peoples. The system is not user friendly because it requires wearable device for user tracking. In 2004, Mihailidis et al. developed a computer vision system in pervasive healthcare systems. The vision system consists of three agents: sensing, planning and prompting. Statistics and physics based methods of segmenting skin color in digital images are used for face and hand tracing [26]. Only hand and face tracing is not sufficient to make an efficient smart home system, the system should include body tracking and hand gesture reorganization. Multimedia Laboratories, NTT DoCoMo Inc. in Japan, has developed a system for modeling and recognizing personal behavior utilizing sensors and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag (Isoda et al. 2004)[27]. C4.5 algorithm is used to construct decision tree from the data obtained from the sensors and RFID tags. The users behavioral context at any given moment is obtained by matching the most recently detected states with previously defined task models. The system is an effective way for acquiring users spatiotemporal context but no intelligent system is developed for home appliances control. Andoh et al. in 2004 developed a networked non-invasive health monitoring system analyzing breath rate, heart rate, snoring and body movement. Researchers adopted Ethernet network for breath monitoring system implementation. The system can estimate sleep stages analyzing data using the algorithm developed for the purpose [28]. The system cannot summarize long term observation of patients sleeping disorder. In 2005, Masuda et al. have developed a health monitoring arrangement using existing telecommunication system for home visit rehabilitation therapists. Researchers used an air filled mat to measure heartbeat and respiratory condition. When the patient lies on the air mat, his heartbeat and respiratory movement cause significant change in air pressure inside the mat, which is measured by pressure sensor and analyzed by appropriate filtering process [29]. The interesting part of the project is the usage of an air bag as monitoring equipment but its limitation is, it can only measure heart rate and respiratory condition. In 2005, Ma et al emphasized on context awareness to provide automatic services in smart home. They used case-based reasoning (CBR) to provide more appropriate services. CBR technique relies on previous interactions and experiences to find solutions for current problems. The system can adopt any manual adjustment done by modifying case data [30].This is the initial state of the project where few scenarios like AC, TV, lamp interaction is evaluated. Their future plan is to add more contexts and enrich the features of case tables. The House_n group at MIT designed PlaceLab a new living laboratory for the study of ubiquitous technologies in home environment (Intille et al. 2005). PlaceLab deployed with numerous wire, light, pressure, temperature water, gas, current sensors with video and audio devices to create vast amount of real life data from single volunteers as well as couples [31].The goal of the project is to study human behavior, influence of technology on the people and how technology can be used to simplify user interaction with home appliances. Their main contribution is an open online database of smart home sensor events and a well featured analyzing software [48].Researchers never implemented the study to build an autonomous intelligent home. Yamazaki (2006) constructed Ubiquitous Home, a real-life test bed, for home context-aware service. It is a housing test facility for the creation of useful new home services by linking devices, sensors, and appliances across data networks. Active and passive RFID tags located above the ceiling and at the entrance of the door are used to detect and recognize inhabitants. Pressure sensors are used to track user movement and furniture. The system is occupied with plasma panels, liquid crystal display and microphone for better interaction with the users. A network robot is employed to perform certain home services. Researchers concluded that the goal of smart home is not to design an automated home but to develop an environment using interface technologies between human and the system [32].Although, the researchers installed enough sensors and interfacing devices , the system is only sensible to few task automations like TV program selection, cooking recipe display and forgotten property service. Ha et al. (2006) presents a sensor-based indoor location-aware system that can identify residents location. Researchers used an array of Pyroelectric Infrared (PIR) sensor and proposed a framework of smart home location aware system. An algorithm is developed to process the information collected from PIR sensors for inhabitant location detection. Their next step is to design an algorithm to determine location and trajectory of multiple residents simultaneously [33]. The project in dedicated to user location detection system which is an essential part of smart home. No system is developed to provide intelligence to the house employing user location. In 2007, Rahal et al. at DOMUS laboratory, Universit ´e de Sherbrooke, Canada, utilized Bayesian Filtering methods to determine location of the inhabitants. Bayes filters are efficiently used to estimate a persons location using a set of fixed sensors. In this method, the last known position and the last sensor event are both used to estimate a new location. The algorithm based on Bayesian filtering shows a mean localization accuracy of 85% [34].This project also deals with user location detection algorithm, no home automation is developed using the processed information. De Silva et al. (2007) have implemented an audiovisual retrieval and summarization system utilizing multimedia technology for human behavior tracking. Using a large number of cameras a hierarchical clustering of audio and video handover used to create personalized video clips. An adaptive algorithm is used for complete and compact summary of the video retrieved. Basic audio analysis methods are applied for accurate audio segmentation and source localization. An interface allowed users to incorporate their knowledge into the search process and obtain more accurate results for their queries [35].The system can track people, extract key frame, localize sound source, detect lighting change but cannot distinguished different people. At Tampere University of Technology, Vainio et al.(2008) developed a proactive fuzzy home-control system. An adaptive algorithm applied to evaluate the test on obtained results. The goal of the research is to help elderly people live independently at home. Developed system can recognize routines and also recognize deviations from routines. The system can provide information to caregivers about living rhythm, sleeping disorders, and medicine taking of inhabitant [36]. But the system works sensibly only for lighting control. In 2008, Swaminathan et al. proposed an object reorganization system using visual image localization and registration. Appliances are first registered in the image processing system. According to the voice command of the user, appropriate object is selected using an environmental map [27].It is actually a home automaton project using speech reorganization to receive user command and commands are executed to the objects which already known to the system. Growing Self-Organizing Maps (GSOM) used a self-adaptive neural network to detect and recognize activities of daily life addressed by Zheng et al in 2008 [38] [39]. The GSOM follows the basic principle of the Kohonen self-organizing map with a special focus on adaptive architecture. The learning process of the GSOM is started by generating an initial network composed by four neurons on a 2-dimensional grid, followed by iteratively presenting training data samples. The system is tested in single room apartment for about two weeks where it can recognized user pattern of 22 distinct activities. Like other Self Adaptive Neural Networks (SANN), the system is depends on several learning parameters to be determined in advance such as initial learning rate and the size of the initial neighborhood. Other machine learning method must be utilized in parallel to determine optimum parameter for best performance. In 2008, Perumal et al. from Institute of Advanced Technology of University Putra Malaysia (UPM) have presented a design and implemented Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) based residential engagement for smart home systems appliances control [40]. An appliance control module based on SOAP and web services developed to solve the interoperation of various home appliances in smart home systems. Fifteen feedback based control channels implemented with residential management system through Web Services. If the residential management system experiences server downtime, the home appliances can still be controlled using alternate control mechanism with GSM network via SMS Module locally and remotely. This system offers a complete, bi-directional real-time control and monitoring of smart home systems. No security mechanism is used to protect the web server from unauthorized access. Virone et al. present a dozens of statistical behavioral patterns obtained from an activity monitoring pilot study. The pilot study examined home activity rhythms of 22 residents in an assisted living environment with four case studies. Established behavioral patterns have been captured using custom software based on a statistical predictive algorithm that models circadian activity rhythms (CARs) and their deviations (Virone et al. 2008). The system cannot differentiate multiple inhabitants [41]. Yoo et al. examined web-based implementation possibility of a central repository to integrate the biosignal data arrives from various types of devices in a remote smart home. Medical waveform description Format Encoding Rule (MFER) standard is followed for communicating and storing the biosignal data in ubiquitous home health monitoring system. The web-based technology allowed ubiquitous access to the data from remote location. The paper presents a common data format for all types of sensor (Yoo et al. 2008)[42].Figure 3 describes functional architecture of web based data retrieval system. Information security, which is a burning issue for any web based system is not considered in this research. A web-based architecture for transferring the measured biosignal data from the u-House to the remote central repository. A snow-flake data model is designed by Zhang et al. in 2008 to represent the activities data in smart homes [43]. Sensor data are stored in the homeML structure. A new algorithm is proposed on the prediction of class labels for variable person and activities of daily life (ADL) indicating who is doing what, given the observed episode and time information. Accuracy is calculated as the proportion of the number of correctly predicted class over the total number of episodes in the evaluation dataset. The learning output in the form of a joint probability distribution is also assessed by the distance to the true underlying probability distribution, using the Euclidean metric. The smaller the distance is, the closer the learned model to the true situation. The algorithm is based on probabilistic distribution and able to predict ADL of more than one inhabitant. The result given is based on simulated data and the example shows only one task identification (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"making drink activi ties). In 2008, Park et al. proposed a method for recognizing ADL at multiple levels of details by combining multi-view computer vision and RFID based direct sensor [44]. A hierarchical recognition scheme is proposed by building a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) that encompasses both coarse-level and fine-level ADL recognition. Their methodology combines the two tracking technology. The system requires wearable RFID tag which is not comfortable for users. Rashidi et al. developed CASAS at Washington State University in 2008. CASAS is an adaptive smart home that utilizes machine-learning techniques to discover patterns in user behaviour and to automatically mimic these patterns. The goal is to keep the resident in control of the automation. Users can provide feedback on proposed automation activities, modify the automation policies, and introduce new requests. In addition, CASAS can discover changes in residents behaviour patterns automatically. Frequent and Periodic Activity Miner (FPAM) algorithm mines this data to discover frequent and periodic activity patterns. These activity patterns are modelled by their Hierarchal Activity Model (HAM), which utilizes the underlying temporal and structural regularities of activities to achieve a satisfactory automation policy. User can provide feedback on proposed automation activities, modify the automation policies, and introduce new requests [45].To make a system more interactive smart home s hould be equipped with voice reorganization facilities which is absent in this system. Raad et al. developed a cost-effective user-friendly telemedicine system to serve the elderly and disabled people. An architecture of telemedicine support in smart home that consists of web and telecom interface is considered in their research (Raad et al. 2008)[46]. This system also suffers from information security issues. PRIMA (Perception, recognition and integration for interactive environments) research group of the LIG laboratory at the INRIA Grenoble research center in France has defined a model for contextual learning in smart homes (2009). The authors developed a 3D smart environment consisting cameras, a microphone array and headset microphones for situation modeling. It relies on 3D video tracking and role detection process regarding activities of the person. Roles are learned by support vector machines (SVM). It is also capable to learn speed of the inhabitant and distance to the interacting object. Proposed system can identify situations like introduction, presentation, aperitif, game and siesta. Its error rate is very high [49]. Kim et al. developed a pyroelectric infrared (PIR) sensor based indoor location aware system (PILAS) in 2009.The system uses an array of PIR sensors attached with the ceiling and detects inhabitants location by combining overlapped detected areas. PIR sensors construct a virtual map of resident location transition. To improved accuracy, they applied Bayesian classifier using a multivariate Gaussian probability density function to determine the location of an inhabitant. PILAS is unable to detect multiple residents [50]. Wang et al. have developed a smart home monitoring and controlling system(2009). The system can be controlled from remote locations through an embedded controller. They have developed different GUI for mobile devices and PCs. Each device has a unique address. A new command format to control the devices is introduced. It is a complex system and not compatible to previous smart homes architectures [51]. Yongping et al. have developed an embedded web server to control equipments using Zigbee protocol (2009). For this purpose they used S3C2410 microprocessor which was programmed with Linux 2.6 kernel. To provider online access a small web server (only 60 Kbytes) named Boa is installed. An interface had also been designed to communicate with Zigbee module (MC13192).The system do possess any type of intelligence [52]. Hussain el al. have developed inhabitant identification system using wireless sensor network (WSN) and RFID sensors (2009). The system can identify user location by the intensity of the Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of WSN. A person is recognized by attached a RFID tag. The combined reading of RSSI signal and RFID receiver can successfully identify specific location of a resident in the home. The system is limited to single person tracking [53]. At Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan, Chen et al.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

German Government Protection of Kurdish Women :: essays research papers

Tearing Down the New Berlin Wall Throughout modern times, Islam has received the blame for other Sects practices and ideas. In the article â€Å"When Rapists Walk Free,† Mukhtaran Bibi received a raping because of a village dispute. Because Bibi lives in Pakistan, Nicholas Kristoff, the article’s author, was led to believe that Hatun’s village was Muslim although in the second sentence of the article, He clearly writes that she lives in the Punjab area of Pakistan. The Punjab region hosts a number of religions aside from Islam. So, by reading the sentence that Bibi received, I clearly know that her village is not Muslim, because nowhere in Islam it says to gang rape a girl because of a village dispute. â€Å"The New Berlin Wall,† by Peter Schneider, does the same mistake in confusing another religion with Islam. Hatun Surucu was murdered by her 3 brothers because she started to live like a German. Because this happened in Turkey, the author assumed they were Muslim. Although in the first sentence of the second paragraph, Schneider informed the reader that Surucu’s family was Kurdish. Kurdism is a far branch of Islam that practices many different actions than Muslims and is not to be confused with Islam. So, in response to the prompt, I believe that no, the German government should not interfere with the status of women in their Muslim communities, but they should act out and address the status of women in Germany’s Kurdish communities. The reasons why I believe Germany should address the status of Kurdish women is because the German Kurds are now living in a different nation than their own and if they cant adjust, they should get penalized for it. Also, the government should push nationwide freedom and if Germany doesn’t feel that the Kurdish women in their country are getting the liberty they deserve, it is their duty as a nation to change that. When an immigrant comes into a country and decides to keep his past culture with him, fighting and deaths are the end result as shown with the Hatun Surucu case. Her brothers kept their Kurdish practices of honor deaths and ended up killing their sister. An example ritual is â€Å"Generally choosing the youngest to carry out such murders.† If the Surucu family adapted their Kurdish traditions and accepted Hatun as becoming German, she might not have been brutally murdered. Also, the reason the Surucus immigrated was to find a better life.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Lady Macbeth is evil Essay

In my opinion, Lady Macbeth is portrayed by Shakespeare as an evil character, as she shows great ambition, she values power and wealth over human life, and she demonstrates cruelty throughout the play. Firstly, Lady Macbeth’s evil character is demonstrated by the reckless ambition she shows. ‘That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it!’ she states. This shows that Lady Macbeth is willing to do anything to accomplish her evil ambitions, even if it means that she has to ignore human compassion which includes her gender, as she wishes the spirits to â€Å"unsex her†, to make her less like a women and more like a man. In that period of time, women were below men in society. Being able to have such thoughts as a woman under those circumstances at that time proves that Lady Macbeth is evil and her mind is filled with the lust for high ambition. Therefore, Lady Macbeth’s evilness drives out Macbe th’s ambition to become king and murder Duncan. Additionally, the way that Lady Macbeth values power over human life also shows her evil personality, when she says, ‘Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out’. This tells us that she would rather kill her own newborn baby by bashing his brains out, than break her own promise. Women were meant to show a soft, feminine nature in society at that time, however uses such vivid imageries, showing how hungry she is for power, and how cruel and evil she is as a female human being. This quote also tells Macbeth that he is weak and less of a man if he is unable to follow through with their plan, when she would be willing to kill her own blood, which shows the sheer force of her character that leads to Macbeth follow what she says. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth’s evilness is also demonstrated by her inhumanity, as she says, ’Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.’ This shows that Lady Macbeth is only afraid of getting caught, but not guilty about what she has done, in addition she wants to make it seem even worse by smearing the grooms with blood and p assing the blame to innocent people. In this quote Lady Macbeth is scolding her husband for showing humanity and feeling frightened after performing a murder, which is a feeling that all normal people would have, as she finds this a cowardly behaviour, and this shows  her cold-hearted and evil nature. In conclusion, Lady Macbeth personality is expressed through her large ambition, the way that she desires power, and her cold-bloodedness. Therefore, one thinks that Lady Macbeth is evil.

Friday, November 8, 2019

How Many Nanometers in a Meter

How Many Nanometers in a Meter SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you’re interested in studying a field such as biology or computer engineering, knowing how to convert nanometers to meters (or nm to m) will be a vital skillto have. In this guide, we'll go over exactly what a nanometer is and what it measures. We’ll then give you three methods you can use for converting nm to m. Finally, we’ll provide you with a chart that shows various conversions from nanometers to millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, and more. What Is a Nanometer? A Meter? Nanometers and meters are both units of measurement that are used to measure length. A meter (m) is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units, or what is typically known as the metric system. One meter is equivalent to approximately 3.28 feet in the Imperial system, which is used in the United States and a smattering of other countries. A nanometer (nm) is equal to one-billionth of a meter.Theprefix "nano" literally means one-billionth. Written out, one nanometer looks like 0.000000001 m (that’s nine zeros!). It can be a little long to write out fully, though, so another option is to use exponents. A calculator will most likely show you1e-9for one-billionth, meaning1 * 10-9. So if you’d rather write out one-billionth using exponents, you could do 1 * 10-9, or even just 10-9. To help you understand the relationship between nm and m, let’s look at an analogy provided by the National Nanotechnology Initiative: "If the diameter of a marble [were] one nanometer, then [the] diameter of the Earth would be about one meter." That’s a gigantic difference and goes to show just how much bigger one meter is compared to one nanometer! What Are Nanometers Used to Measure? One nanometer is so small, it’s invisible to the human eye.Nanometers are generally used to measure microscopic things, both man-made and natural, such as molecules, atoms, and the tiny components used in computer processors. Your fingernails grow about 1 nm each second. That’s around 86,400 nm each day- but that’s still such a small length that you wouldn’t even notice it! Still not understanding just how small a nanometer really is? Imagine a ruler. You probably have a decent grasp of how big a centimeter is. Remember that 10 millimeters fit into one centimeter, so millimeters are already pretty small. Now listen to this: there are one MILLION nanometers in just one millimeter! The following chart will give you a better idea of how many nanometers there are in various things you can (and cannot!) see with the naked eye in the world around you: Specimen Length in Nanometers Dust mite 200,000 nm Sheet of paper (thickness) 100,000 nm Human hair (thickness) 80,000-100,000 nm Red blood cell 7,000-8,000 nm Bacterium 2,500 nm Nanoparticle (diameter) 4 nm Human DNA (diameter) 2.5 nm Atom 0.1-0.2 nm 3 Methods for Converting Nanometers to Meters There are a few ways you can convert nm to m. We go over each of these below. Method 1: Set Up a Conversion Equation The first conversion method is to set up an equation. Recall that 1 m is equivalent to 1,000,000,000 nm. To use this nm-to-m method, you’ll want to write this as a fraction: $${1 \m}/{1,000,000,000 \nm}$$ Let’s say you were given a measurement of 12,358 nm. To convert this to meters, all you need to do is multiply the measurement in nm by the conversion factor (the fraction above). Here is what this would look like written out: $$12,358 \nm=12,358{1/1,000,000,000}$$ $$12,358 \nm=0.000012358 \m$$ If you wanted to convert a measurement from m to nm, simply flip the conversion factor upside down so that it looks like this: $${1,000,000,000 \nm}/{1 \m}$$ Because the denominator is 1, this fraction is the same as 1,000,000,000. Therefore, you canjust multiply your measurement in m by 1,000,000,000 to get its conversion in nm. Method 2: Move the Decimal Another method you can use for converting nm to m is moving the decimal over.Nanometers and meters are based on units of 10 (like the whole of the metric system), so converting between units is really about moving the decimal. Because 1,000,000,000 nm equals 1 m, converting from nanometers to metersconsists of simply moving the decimal point to the left nine places. Let’s look at an example. Say you have a dust mite that is205,449.13 nm in length. To convert this measurement to meters, all you have to do is move the decimal point to the left nine places: By doing this, you should get the following: $205,449.13 \nm=0.00020544913 \m$ If you have a whole number, such as 682 nm, the decimal point will be after the last number (think of it like 682.0 nm), so you’ll start from there before moving it to the left nine places to get your conversion, which in this case would be 0.000000682 m. Method 3: Use an Online Conversion Tool The final nm-to-m conversion method you can use is an online conversion tool. Many websites offer free conversion tools you can use to quickly and accurately convert a certain measurement from nanometers to meters. All you need to do is input the measurement in nm and you’ll be given the conversion in m instantly. Available conversion tools we recommend using include The Calculator Site, which offers a helpful reference chart, and FormulaConversion.com, which lets you see the conversions right as you add, subtract, and/or change numbers. You can use any online nm-to-m conversion calculator, just as long as it’s accurate. If you’re not sure whether the answer the tool gives you is correct or not, try one of the two methods above to double-check your answer. Can you figure out how many nm are in 20 km? How Many Nanometers Are in a Meter?In a Kilometer? It's definitely helpful toknow how to convert nm to m, but what about converting nanometers to centimeters? To micrometers? To kilometers? The following chart gives a brief overview of various conversions, all the way from nm to km: Measurement Conversion in Nanometers 1 kilometer (km) 1,000,000,000,000 nm(one trillion) 1 hectometer (hm) 100,000,000,000 nm(one hundred billion) 1 decameter/dekameter (dam/dkm) 10,000,000,000 nm(ten billion) 1 meter (m) 1,000,000,000 nm(one billion) 1 decimeter (dm) 100,000,000 nm(one hundred million) 1 centimeter (cm) 10,000,000 nm(ten million) 1 millimeter (mm) 1,000,000 nm(one million) 1 micrometer (ÃŽ ¼m/um) 1,000 nm(one thousand) 1 nanometer (nm) 1 nm What’s Next? Trying to study for SAT Math? Then take a look at our expert guide to the SAT Math section and learn how you can get a perfect score on it. Curious about how Celsius converts to Fahrenheit? Our in-depth guide walks you through the #1 trick to know so that you can quickly convert between these temperature units. How do you convert decimals to fractions? And what about cups to quarts? Read our guides to learn all the tips and tricks out there!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

AIDS and YOU (May 1987) Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers

AIDS and YOU (May 1987) Essays - Free Essays, Term Papers AIDS and YOU (May 1987) By Martin H. Goodman MD (this essay is in the public domain) Introduction: AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is at present a sentence of slow but inevitable death. I've already lost one friend to AIDS. I may soon lose others. My own sexual behavior and that of many of my friends has been profoundly altered by it. In my part of the country, one man in 10 may already be carrying the AIDS virus. While the figures may currently be less in much of the rest of the country, this is changing rapidly. There currently is neither a cure, nor even an effective treatment, and no vaccine either. But there are things that have been PROVEN immensely effective in slowing the spread of this hideously lethal disease. In this essay I hope to present this information. History and Overview: AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Defficiency Disease. It is caused by a virus. The disease originated somewhere in Africa about 20 years ago. There it first appeared as a mysterious ailment afflicting primarily heterosexuals of both sexes. It probably was spread especially fast by primarily female prostitutes there. AIDS has already become a crisis of STAGGERING proportions in parts of Africa. In Zaire, it is estimated that over twenty percent of the adults currently carry the virus. That figure is increasing. And what occurred there will, if no cure is found, most likely occur here among heterosexual folks. AIDS was first seen as a disease of gay males in this country. This was a result of the fact that gay males in this culture in the days before AIDS had an average of 200 to 400 new sexual contacts per year. This figure was much higher than common practice among heterosexual (straight) men or women. In addition, it turned out that rectal sex was a particularly effective way to transmit the disease, and rectal sex is a common practice among gay males. For these reasons, the disease spread in the gay male population of this country immensely more quickly than in other populations. It became to be thought of as a "gay disease". Because the disease is spread primarily by exposure of ones blood to infected blood or semen, I.V. drug addicts who shared needles also soon were identified as an affected group. As the AIDS epidemic began to affect increasingly large fractions of those two populations (gay males and IV drug abusers), many of the rest of this society looked on smugly, for both populations tended to be despised by the "mainstream" of society here. But AIDS is also spread by heterosexual sex. In addition, it is spread by blood transfusions. New born babies can acquire the disease from infected mothers during pregnancy. Gradually more and more "mainstream" folks got the disease. Most recently, a member of congress died of the disease. Finally, even the national news media began to join in the task of educating the public to the notion that AIDS can affect everyone. Basic medical research began to provide a few bits of information, and some help. The virus causing the disease was isolated and identified. The AIDS virus turned out to be a very unusual sort of virus. Its genetic material was not DNA, but RNA. When it infected human cells, it had its RNA direct the synthesis of viral DNA. While RNA viruses are not that uncommon, very few RNA viruses reproduce by setting up the flow of information from RNA to DNA. Such reverse or "retro" flow of information does not occur at all in any DNA virus or any other living things. Hence, the virus was said to belong to the rare group of virues called "Retro Viruses". Research provided the means to test donated blood for the presence of the antibodies to the virus, astronomically reducing the chance of ones getting AIDS from a blood transfusion. This was one of the first real breakthroughs. The same discoveries that allowed us to make our blood bank blood supply far safer also allowed us to be able to tell (in most cases) whether one has been exposed to the AIDS virus using a

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Primary lung cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Primary lung cancer - Essay Example It is vastly important to distinguish between SCLC and NSCLC through their histology as the treatment differs ("Types of," 2009). Although, SCLC grows and spreads quickly to other areas of the lung, it is also more responsive to treatment. SCLC accounts for 20 % of all lung cancers ("Types of," 2009). Exposure to radon, asbestos and uranium increases the risk of SCLC along with cigarette smoke. Small cell lung cancer is divided into two stages; namely, limited and extensive. Limited stage accounts for the presence of cancer in lymph nodes and in between the tissues present in one lung. While in the latter stage, cancer has spread to other organs of the body. The symptoms increase as the cancer advances: from coughing to swelling of hands and face, fatigue and even paralysis. Diagnosis is done through CT scan, chest x-ray, sputum cytology, bronchoscopy, etc. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy play a major role in combating SCLC whereas; surgery plays little or no role. This is because in about 70% of the patients, the tumor has already spread to other organs ("Small-Cell," 2009). Moreover, the survival time is about two years in the extensive stage. Though, there are cases where early diagnosis of SCLC has benefitted from surgical removal of the tumor. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has many different types based on their histology; which makes up about 75% of all lung cancers.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Literature Review - How Sustainability Strategies can be measured A

- How Sustainability Strategies can be measured A of GRI and RepRisk - Literature review Example on what companies across the globe can do to attain sustainability and the important role that sustainability plays for them in their daily corporate management tasks. This review therefore looks into the definition of sustainability as well as the strategies that come with sustainability practices. Lastly, there is a focus on sustainability and trust and why it is important that stakeholders have sufficient trust in companies. Two major theoretical approaches to the definition of sustainability were identified in the extant literature. The first of these had to do with the view of sustainability from the perspective of efficiency, where companies are expected to show maximum expectation in their approach to social, economic and environmental utilisation of resources (Adams and Geoffrey, 2008). Those who argue for efficiency have generally debated that companies should be able to take the minimal level of social, economic and environmental resources and turn this into a viable end product that benefits an ordinary person in the community (Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami, 2009). This means that such theorists believe that where there is the excessive use of resource, this can result in waste. There is a second school of thought that focuses on sufficiency perspective, arguing that sustainability should be a framework of how well a company can measure what is sufficient for its need in the production of so cial, economic and environmental outcomes (Sparkes and Cowton, 2013). This means that the issue of quantity should only be factor when resources used are seen to be resulting in waste. Both definitions admonish sustainability to be a three-tier concept having components of economic, social and environmental outcomes. The first school of thought would however be noted to have failed to appreciate the fact that quantity is always relative to an expected outcome (Szejnwald, de Jong and Levy, 2009). In this end, the second school of thought on sufficiency is adopted

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Raw's paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Raw's - Term Paper Example Your idea is conventional; furthermore, it is in your best interest that the largest numbers of customers share the benefits. Indeed, corporations are widely revered for their success in the business world. The first major advantage of this model is limited liability of the stakeholders of the business (McQuaig & Billie 751). In case the business is declared, bankrupt or is engaged in a very expensive lawsuit the stakeholders are only entitled to pay amounts equivalent to their holding in the company. This assures the stakeholders that the debt will not exceed their personal property as experienced in sole proprietorships and partnerships. If the credits owed are not payable, there will be liquidation of the assets. This limits any personal obligation of the company’s stakeholders on the debt of the entity. This can guarantee the stakeholders a soft landing despite the unfavorable conditions since their personal property is intact. Secondly, a corporation is a distinct legal person illustrating that it has its jurisdiction. This means that the firm will possess its own property, engage in contracts, acquire, and terminate its possessions. This is beneficial, as the property of the firm will not be attached to individuals. However, the company will utilize this independently to satisfy the objectives of the firm. In legal proceedings, it is the company that is indicated and not the owners or employees of the firm (McQuaig & Billie 751). The business can pursue its operations when the executives are relieved of their positions. In sole proprietorship, the business is not separate from the owner; therefore, the proprietor determines the dissemination of resources in the organization. A contract is not detachable from a sole proprietor since his signature certifies the deal and he is obligated to fulfill the requirements. Since he is not eligible for the same exception as a corporation,

Monday, October 28, 2019

International Business Climate Essay Example for Free

International Business Climate Essay 1.0 Introduction Business climate refers to the economic environment in general which depicts how businesses and business activities are supported by the government as well as the lending institutions. Business climate is also a reflection of the attitude of the labor unions toward inflation rates, taxation rates, employers and other issues which affect business activities   in a given region or country. Switzerland ranks the most attractive country in terms of having the most conducive international business climate which has attracted tremendous investments and highly skilled labor from all over the globe. The country enjoys a safe and stable working environment and most small and medium enterprises are located in the Greater Geneva Berne area (GGBa) which has an excellent international business track record (ggba-switzerland.ch, n.d). Switzerland experienced one of the weakest economies in the Western Europe in the 1990s during which the annual GDP growth averaged 0% between the years 1991 and 1997. A gradual economic growth was witnessed in the beginning of late 1997 and it reached a peak in 2000 with a GDP of 3%. Between 2001 and 2003, the economic growth slowed down but began to grow at 2.5% per annum since the year 2004 until the latest global economic crises which have had a great impact on its economic growth (state.gov, 2010). Being at the heart of Europe, Switzerland is a hub for the crucial communication systems which are indispensable in the industrial Europe. Therefore, the expansive modern and reliable infrastructure encompassing the country facilitates an extremely high number of international and local business activities. The good international business climate of the country has been influenced by several factors which entails economic, cultural, legal, and political issues. It is therefore the obj ective of this paper to discuss these issues with reference to Switzerland as a country. 2.0 Economic Climate Trade is the backbone of Switzerland’s prospering economy which has made its per capita income be among the highest globally. International climate highly favors the export markets upon which the country depends for generating enormous income while at the same time facilitating the imports of raw materials which are essential for the expansion of the range of goods and services available in the economy. Economic climate is also made better by the liberal trade and investment policies which has attracted many investors in addition to the well defined commercial law and well developed legal system. Switzerland is a member of several international economic organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and The World Bank (state.gov, 2010). Important sectors of the economy include tourism, engineering, banking and insurance which have a heavy influence in the economic policies of the country. The existing trading companies enjoy unique expertise from Far East, Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe. The highly developed tourism industry gives the country’s market the   opportunity to trade in services and equipment related to tourism. The export industry provides the economy with about half of the country’s corporate earnings with the largest trading partner being the European Union. The trade and economic barriers between Switzerland and the EU are minimal hence facilitating more business activities. The U.S   is a major export destination of products from Switzerland and also a major source of imports of raw materials for the country. U.S is the second-largest importer of Swiss goods after Germany and also is the largest foreign investor in Switzerland (state.gov, 2010). 3.0 Legal Climate The business regulatory system in Switzerland is highly transparent and regulations affecting the activities of both local and international investors are applied with no discrimination. Previously, cartels were common in the economy whereby companies in various industrial and service sectors through industrial and trade associations organized themselves into vertical and horizontal cartels. The new law governing the formation of cartels ensures that such cartels do no harm to the society and the economy. The adoption of this law which includes the authority to stop anti-competitive behavior without prior warning has facilitated an extra GDP growth of 0.5-0.8% per annum following the reduction of harmful cartels (Dimireva, 2010). The legal system governing international and local business activities has propagated an efficient capital markets and   portfolio investment. One of the largest markets for foreign borrowers is the Swiss franc dominated foreign bond market and generally there are no restrictions on the sale or purchase of   foreign equities and currencies. Forward transactions between Swiss nationals and foreigners can be carried out at the prevailing market rates. The liberal market of Switzerland is protected from being misused as a platform for criminal activity and money laundering by regulations which serve to adjust particular aspects of portfolio investment. A good example is the signing of OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1997 which started operating in 2000 (Dimireva, 2010). The effective legal and policy framework of Switzerland has excelled in combating corruption which if unchecked can adversely impact the international business climate. Following implementatation of laws deterring corruption, for instance the U.S firms which have invested in Switzerland have not issued any complaints about cases of corruption. There are highl y effective investigative and enforcement mechanisms which deals with any domestic corruption and this has attracted more international investors who have developed confidence in the Swiss economy. 4.0 Political Climate The Swiss political system is highly stable and effective since both the county and state government bodies possess high levels opf control. The system has been structured in such a way that all the rural and urban areas of the country have access to government officials for requests or essential information. A referendum which requires a popular one million signatures is enough to give people the power to demand certain changes concerning business practice, the established law or the environment. One of the main contributors to the country’s political stability is the stability existing within different institutions.The Swiss National Bank for instance is a highly steadfast finanacial institution which has strengthened and stabilised the Swiss Franc. Political stability is further stabilised by the fact that Switzerland   is a representative democracy in which the major governing body is the Federal Council made up of seven persons. The government is considered to be trustw orthy and honest by the populace (mkeever.com, n.d). 5.0 Cultural Climate International business climate in Switzerland is greatly influenced by the etiquette and cultural expectations in the Swiss professional environment. In order to develop productive working relationships and successful business strategies, it is a preriquisite to understand and respect the various aspects of Swiss culture. The country offers Communicaid’s Doing Business cultural awareness courses to enhance the creation of fruitful business relationships between foreign business professionals and the Swiss clients partners and colleagues (Guliyev, 2007). Such courses are essential in ensuring competitive advantage which offers foreign business people with the ideal opportunity to comfortably do business in the country. In addition, there are a wide range of cultural and leisure activioties which has further facilitated the progress of the country in doing intyernational business. The ideal cultural climate has prompted a large number of   sports lovers, business travellers an d nature enthusiasist to visit the country all year round which has elevated international business relations a notch higher. 6.0 Conclusion The creation of an enabling international business climate is a collective task of various institutions and aspects of the society. These aspects must comprehensively address cultural, political, economic, and legal situations of the particular country which is willing to create a conducive business environment. Switzerland is a good example of a country in the heart of Europe which has embarked in creating such an environment which consequently has attracted huge investments. The creation of   an excellent international business climate may not be as challenging as sustaining it and therefore firm political, legal, cultural and economic strategies are indispensable in achieving it.