Real Time Road Sign Recognition System

Real Time Road Sign Recognition System Using Artificial Neural Networks For Bengali Textual Information Box An Automated Road Sign Recognition system using Artificial Neural Network for the Textual Information box inscribing in Bengali is presented on the paper. Signs are visual languages that represent some special circumstantial information of environment. Road signs, being among the most important around us primarily for safety reasons, are designed, and manufactured and installed according to tight regulations. The system captures real time images every two seconds and saves them as JPG format files. Firstly some road sign are already stored in the memory. Like: Warning Sign, Prohibition Sign, Obligation Sign and Informative Sign. Car Driver concentration and illiterateness isn’t always focused on what it should be and not always notice the road signs. For these reasons, automation of Bangla Road Sign Recognition system is highly essential. Previously several works are done by Mueller, Piccioli, Novovicova, Yuille, Escalera and others. But those are not in Bengali. Real Time Road Sign Recognition System Using Artificial Neural Networks for Bengali Textual Information Box which is done by Mohammad Osiur Rahman, Fouzia Asharf Mousumi, Edgar Scavino, Aini Hussain, Hassan Basri whose are from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh, Faculty of Engineering, University Kebangsaan Malaysia. For doing this they divide the total Concept in Steps: 1. Image Acquisition: From several video sequences from a moving vehicle for a certain period are consecutive frames recorded within 2 seconds are similar. For this they have used Application Programming Interface functions of VB 6. 0. Every 2-second a frame is collected and stored in JPG format. 2. Preprocessing: Median filter is used to reduce impulsive or salt-and-pepper type noise from captured images and then normalized into 320 X 240 pixels. 3. Text Detection and Extraction: An algorithm was developed for textual information detection and extraction from Bangla Road Signs on the basis of the Sobel Edge Detection technique. Like the following: I. Read input image in . jpg format II. Convert colored image into gray scale image III. Apply 3Ãâ€"3 median filter convolution masks on gray scale image IV. Calculated edges by applying Sobel convolutions mask V. Thicken the calculated edges by dilation VI. Apply vertical Sobel projection filter on dimmed image VII. Create a histogram by computing projection values VIII. Find the threshold value of the image IX. Loop on the possible positive identifications based on the histogram values X. Extract the possible positive identifications based on the histogram values XI. Apply Sobel horizontal edge-emphasis for other possible text area searches XII. Convert detected text region into binary image XIII. Calculate height and width of detected region of text XIV. Crop the image 4. Bangla OCR using MLP: An ANN based approach is used for Bangla OCR of road signs’ text. It has 3 sub modules – Character segmentation, Feature Extraction and Character Recognition by MLP NN. 5. Confirmation of Textual Road Signs and Conversion 6. Speech synthesis The Proposed system works like the following: 1. From video sequences capture a single frame in JPG format in each 2 seconds. 2. Preprocess the captured image each time . Detect the Text and Extract that and then Extracted Text will recognize by Bengali Optical Character Recognition System. 4. Recognized characters of textual information compared with the stored knowledge and then give decision valid or invalid. 5. If Valid then recognize and according to users choice it provide Bengali or it convert to English and provide audio stream. The system processes the images to find out whe ther they contain images of road signs or not. The textual information of the road signs is detected and extracted from the images. The Bengali OCR system takes the textual information as an input to recognize individual Bengali characters. The Bengali OCR is implemented using Multi-layer Perceptron. The output of the Bengali OCR system is compared with the previously enrolled standard Bengali textual road signs. The throughput which comes from the matching process is used as input for the speech synthesizer and finally the system delivers the audio stream to the driver, either in Bengali or in English based on the user settings. After testing this system, the obtained accuracy rate was evaluated at 91. 48%. Our Idea by using Hopfield Associative Memory Our work to done this thesis by using Associative Memory. Which are two types – Hetero Associative Memory & Auto Associative Memory. We will use the Auto-associative / Autocorrelators Memory for our purposes. It’s now most easily recognized by the title of HAM(Hopfield Associative Memory), were introduced as a theoretical notation by Donald Hebb. To do this we need to first generate Matrices (Row or Column Matrix) in the Bipolar Boolean format (-1 and +1) from the Image. Then the matrices need to transpose of each of the matrices and then create the encoding process (The Connection Matrix) by [pic] And then need to Recognized of the stored patterns or feed each of the matrix by [pic] Introducing the Bipolar Function to [pic]. If [pic] >= 0 set the value +1 otherwise set the value -1 for each of the Element of the Matrix of [pic]. Now Recognition of Noisy Patterns by finding the Hamming Distance (HD) with the Given Noisy Pattern N by [pic] Which Hamming Distance of noisy and stored pattern are less the probability of matching to noisy pattern with the stored pattern are most. And then need to Recognized of the Noisy patterns or feed each of the matrix with Encoding Process by [pic] By using Bipolar Function to [pic]. If [pic] > 0 set the value +1 otherwise set the value -1 for each of the Element of the Matrix of [pic]. In this method we need to store all road sign text segmented by each blank will generate Matrices. And by the above method generate correlation matrix. If the Bipolar Noisy Matrix matched with the Transposed Matrix of the stored Image Transpose Matrix, in the case of partial vectors, an Auto-Correlator results in the refinement of the pattern or removal of noise to retrieve the closest matching stored pattern. Our Idea by using WANG et al. ’s Multiple training encoding strategy (WANG MTES): The algorithm of the WANG MTES is like the following: Step-1:Initialize the correlation matrix M to null matrix M ( [0]. Step-2:Compute the M as, For I ( 1 to N M ( M ( [qi * (Transpose Xi’) ( Yi’] [where Xi’ and Yi bipolar patterns] End Step-3:Read input bipolar Pattern A’ Step-4:Compute A_M where A_M ( A’ ( M Step-5:Apply threshold function ( to A_M to get B’ [(=bipolar of Matrices] Step-6:Output B’ which is the associated Pattern Pair. In this method, as like the HOPFIELD ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY we need to store all road sign text segmented by each character will generate Matrices Associated with the equivalent ASCII of Bengali Character Matrix. And by the above method generate correlation matrix of the stored Pattern. Now from the input image text need to generate matrix of called noisy pattern will must in bipolar form. And Feed with the Correlation Matrix. Equation like the following: [pic] qi’s are positive real number called generalized correlation matrix, will be change according to the improving feeding necessity. Figure: Schematic view of Bangla Road Sign Recognition System ———————– Speech Language Choose? Speech synthesis Convert into equivalent English text English Bengali Audio stream Valid Bangla road Sign Recognized Unrecognized Yes Prememorized Knowledge (Bangla Sign Textual info Database) Image (JPG format) Processing Text detection& extraction Matching Bangla OCR using WANG MTES Extracted Text Recognized Characters of Texture Information Single Frame Video Sequences No

Business communications

I will be explaining the legal and ethical Issues that relate to the use of business information. I personally think that legal and ethical issues are usually to do with something that involves people having to abide to a law, in most cases there will be a consequence for not abiding with the law. Most businesses have different information about people working for them, that's when the Data Protection Act 1998 protects the Information held about people being misused.The information usually n the companys database must be: obtained fairly and lawfully, only to be used for the purposes stated during collection, adequate relevant and not excessive in relation to the intended use, accurate and up to date, not kept for longer than necessary, proceed in line with your rights and also protected from transfer to an area outside the European Economic Area unless adequate protection exists for that data in the area. There is also Freedom of Information Act 2000 (that came to effect in 2005) th is Includes Right of access to information held by public authorities.This Is when a person request Information to public authority, the authority has to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and if that is the case, to have that information communicated back to them The Computer Misuse Act 1990 it is a law that does not allow certain activities when using computers, this include: hacking into other people's systems, misusing software or helping a person to gain access to protected files on someone's else's computer.There are also ethical Issues that are dealt with using organisational pollcles and codes of practise such as: use of email, internet and whistle blowing. These go under business ethics meaning moral principles concerning acceptable and unacceptable behaviour by business. Whistle blowing is also one of the ethical issues users can use and relate to. This is when an employee raises a concer n about a business practise either to management within the company or to an outside organisation like the press.Operational Issues In relation to the use of business Information, Including security of Information, backups, health and safety, business continuance plans and costs. Organisations have to store and manage countless pieces of information with some being far more important than others. To make sure that information is managed appropriately, a number of policies and procedures have to be put in place, concerning; security of information, backups, health and safety, organisational pollcles and business continuance plans and cost. ailable as and when they need it, in order to make good business decisions. Information security management deals with maintaining the integrity and availability of organisational information and knowledge. Backups is also one of the operation issues as most businesses have developed programs constantly to try to minimise the risk of losing vital i nformation stored on IT servers. This involves producing backups of information stored on the servers. Some companies back up constantly and some less frequently.Health and safety is also one of operational system and so are business continuance plans and costs. Business continuance plans are the steps that a company puts into place to make sure it is capable of surviving a worst-case scenario. M2 Legal issues are the laws raised by different companies so that users or customers will be aware of them. Ethical issues involve right and wrong or what is considered good, and what is considered evil in a society. Legal and ethical issues for businesses are usually different from business to business.

The 2011 earthquake in Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The 2011 earthquake in Japan - Essay Example The 2011 Earthquake in Japan. Cause of the Earthquake. In March11, 2011, a destructive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale struck Japan. The epicenter of the quake was near the East coast of Honshu, which was at a depth of 24.4 kilometers. According to Aislinn (2011), the movement along the two main plate boundaries caused the earthquake. Honshu Island is situated at the junction of three continental plates, the Pacific, Philippine, and Eurasian Sea plates. Earthquakes are generated by the tectonic plates that build up the surface of earth through bending, snagging, or breaking of these plates as they move past one another. Alexandra notes that thrust faulting caused the March 2011 earthquake; in thrust faulting, rocks positioned in the lower layer of the earth’s crust get pushed above the overlying layers. These faults occurred on or near the interface plate boundary between the North America and Pacific plates (Alexandra, 2011). This occurred near or along the boun dary where the Pacific Plate moves under Japan. The rate of convergence in the Pacific Plate’s border near Japan is much higher than in other zones. The Pacific plate thrusts beneath Japan at the Japan Trench, and plunges to the west underneath Eurasia; these plates are rocky and they creep past each other at a slow rate. The Pacific plate moves at a velocity of 3.2 inches per year westwards towards the North America plate. As the two plates shift past one another, they release seismic pressure and energy which cause earthquakes (Aislinn, 2011). Japan is situated in a place known as the Ring of Fire; this place experiences most active volcanoes. The Pacific Basin, which holds Japan, has oceanic trenches and experiences volcanoes around it. These volcanoes and oceanic trenches contribute to occurrence of earthquakes in Japan. Damages of the Earthquake. Alexandra (2011) notes that earthquakes that occur under the sea floor unleash tsunamis; these tsunamis are more devastating t han the earthquake itself. Violent movement of the earth’s crust displaces enormous quantities of water; these waves are known as tsunamis. Massive fires, generated by the earthquake, were blazing out of control leading to death, injuries, and the destruction of property. The quake left hundreds of people injured, dead or missing; it killed over 9,000 people. Tsunami wave destroyed power lines and swept homes, cars, ships, boats, trains, and massive islands of debris out to the ocean. Over four million buildings in Tokyo and its suburbs had no power after the quake. Reports indicated cases of landslides and collapse of buildings in several locations along the 2,100 kilometer stretch of coastline. Muddy water waves flowed over farmland near Sendai carrying buildings. Burst of gas pipes led to burning of houses and destruction of properties. Runways of the Sendai airport became inundated with trucks, buses, cars, and thick mud. Debris blocked the roads, and the communications s ystems, including the destruction of telephone lines. There was the suspension of train services in Tokyo and northeastern Japan, which serves around ten million people a day. The quake destroyed nuclear facilities located north of Tokyo. The government of Japan estimated the damage of the quake at $309 billion which was much higher compared to damage caused by the Hurricane Katrina in America. Effects of the Earthquak

Management Styles for Human Resource in Corporate Banks Essay

Management Styles for Human Resource in Corporate Banks - Essay Example The paper tells that theorists outline the major forms of management styles as autocracy, democracy, participative, and laissez-faire styles. The essence of management in banks and other businesses is to ensure proper planning and execution of tasks through the human resource towards the acquisition of the set goals and objectives. The acquisition of these variables is possible through proper leadership skills whereby the managers are bound to organizing the programs set to stimulate the workers towards the acquisition of the set businesses’ objectives. Northern Rock Bank operates in the UK market as a multi-billion organization serving over 50 million global clients. On the other hand, the Royal Bank of Scotland operates in the European continent and is seemingly a competitor to Northern Rock Bank since its capital base and clientele group seem to match closely. History depicts that the two banks’ performances endured in crisis since the edge of economic crisis in 2008 to the present. However, findings reveal that the banks are restructuring towards the acquisition of success and maintenance of their positions in the global markets. Arguably, the two banks crises emanated from top managements’ negligence to comprehend employees as important to the organization. Expert evaluations show that the Northern Rock Bank entered a streak of fallacies as financial accounts ascertained flaws. The bank’s top management concentrated on the surety that they had a large capital base thus the threat of failures in performances would not threaten the bank's abundance of operations. On the contrary, the bank’s application of laissez-faire (bureaucratic management style) threatened the abundance and prowess in the UK and global market platforms. The same case was evident in the Royal Bank of Scotland whereby the top management observed the bank’s performances as most crucial compared to the imposition of favorable strategies to ensure cl ose workmanship between the organization and the workers. Employees in the two banks realized the presence of ignorance from the top management and lost morale in operations thus the banks would eventually fall in continuous streaks of failures as the operations dwindled. Arguably, the top management in the two banks failed to ascertain that the banks would face threats from the employees since the tally in each entity ranged between 120,000 to 150,000 in the UK and other global branches. In account for the Royal Bank of Scotland operations, the evidence accrued revealed that the top management failed to support human resource programs since with the notion that such programs were insignificant to the acquisition of the bank’s goals since it was a competitive entity in the global banking industry. Herzberg’s hygiene theory depicts through the theory X and Y approaches that people may perform effectively under negative and positive motivation respectively.

Who should receive experimental treatment (of Ebola) Essay

Who should receive experimental treatment (of Ebola) - Essay Example One such mechanism is the emergency Investigational New Drug (IND) initiative (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The Ebola virus has been principally restricted to underdeveloped nations of the world. Consequently, no vaccine or drug to address it has been produced, despite its presence for nearly four decades. The current outbreak of this disease has been of such gravity that the developed nations have been seriously striving to produce vaccines and drugs to deal with it. The rapidity with which this dread infection is spreading has necessitated an approach that ignores the existing rules governing the delivery of new drugs. The WHO clearly stated that when certain conditions were satisfied, it would not be unethical to provide vaccines and drugs, in the experimental stage to prevent infection (The Economist, 2014, p. 85). The experimental serum ZMapp, developed by the US, was injected to two missionaries of the US, after they had been infected with the Ebola virus in Liberia. These missionaries were subsequently relocated to the US and were undergoing treatment in that nation. In the aftermath of this incident, the WHO conducted a meeting to discuss the ethical issues involved in administering experimental drugs to individuals infected with the Ebola virus (Dionne, 2014). In addition, this drug had also been given to a small number of US health officials who had been infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa. The apparent success of this drug in combating the dread Ebola virus induced the US health officials to ask some of the most advanced biology laboratories to present it with plans for producing it (The Guardian, 2014). As such, the provision of healthcare is biased, and the above evidence demonstrates it adequately. The American missionaries had been given the promising new drug, whereas no attempt was

Social Desirability Bias Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Desirability Bias - Essay Example In this paper, I will be looking at ways in which students show social desirability bias, and how it affects research, so as to help researchers to use methods that avoid this bias Charity work has various benefits to part-time students and most of them might want to be associated with such benefits. For instance, participating in fund raising events such as charity walks or charity runs for a charity organisation help students to get away from their busy schedule and interact with other people. In so doing, they get an opportunity to make new friends and also exercise their bodies (Woodland Trust, 2013). According to Totaljobs.com (2013), quite a good number of students would get involved in charity work to get an experience in their area of study. Most companies these days want new applicant to have a work experience, and with difficulty in getting jobs just after college, students take advantage and get involved into charity work to get experience which can help them when it comes to writing something about work experience in their resume (Totaljobs.com, 2013). A research finding on a particular topic is very important, that is why the accuracy in findings is equally important (Mardsen and Wright, 2010). Looking at the research on charity, a researcher might be having several ideas in their mind as they carry out the research. Intentions like opening up a charity organisation or group in the campus may be affected by the response given to the researcher by the students. When interviewing students face to face, they will be obliged to give information that makes them look good before the researcher thus give information that might lead to wrong conclusions (Groves et al, 2011). For instance, a researcher might ask a student if they would rather study especially when they have exams or attend a charity event might be challenging. To look good, they might say that they would rather attend the charity event then study later. However, the truth might be that they will instead study and pass on attending the event. According to Neeley and Cronley (2004), this gives a biased answer that might affect the conclusions of the researcher. It is evident that charity work is seen as helping tools for college students in achieving their career dreams and social life (Roberts, 2007). To this effect, students who do not participate in any charity activity might even respond to questions and say they are actually involved. A researcher needs to know about these tendencies so as to develop a research method that discourages social desirability bias (Thompson, 2009). One can administer questionnaires that do not require personal information of the respondent. According to Crowther and Lancaster (2008), using questionnaires that offer anonymity of the respondent will prompt students to give honest answers. One can also carry out focused group discussions that will reduce the chances of a student giving inaccurate information. This will ensure that the rese archer comes up with effective conclusions and recommendations. Social desirability bias is a significant factor in determining the amount of time that students give to charity because it can affect the results of the study. Quality and accurate information is crucial for the success of any study and before the onset of a research, researchers usually develop objectives to guide them through

The Approach of Interpretive Anthropology Research Paper

The Approach of Interpretive Anthropology - Research Paper Example It is a viewpoint that was created by Clifford Geertz as a reaction to the traditional objectivize  ethnographic position that dominated anthropology at the time, as well as calls for epistemology and writing methodologies that enable anthropologists to interpret cultures through understanding the manner in which people in a culture interpret themselves and their personal experiences. Geertz proposed that culture is a complicated collection of texts that constitute various meanings, with the meanings being comprehended by the actors and are consequently construed by anthropologists in a manner in which sections of a text are understood by literacy detractors. This is done through integrating into the analysis the contexts of the attendant, which provide the possibility of meaning for all the people involved in the interpreting. Geertz was against the widespread ethnographic practices of observations and instead supported active integration of the anthropologists in an ethnographic context. In this manner, interpretive anthropology considered Malinowski’s claims of disconnected and impartial observation that had been the approach to anthropology up to the sixties and in a remarkable twist returned ethnographic practices to the German epistemological genealogy that had been recognized by Franz Boas. Therefore, in disapproval of the standpoint taken by Malinowski in the way he describes sexual activities among the savages, Geertz suggested Boasian deep involvement in the cultural activity. Even though it is intellectually connected to the anthropology of experience suggested by Victor Turner, cognitive anthropology that was established by Steven Tyler along with symbolic anthropology by David Schneider, interpretive anthropology addressed the intellectual developments outside the context of anthropology that took part in figurations through which local structures if meaning were analyzed anthropologically.

Structures of International Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Structures of International Governance - Essay Example Globalisation is simply spreading of particular philosophies, ideas, technology and governance all over the world. All countries become one unit and they are all governed by the same set of rules. The concept of international governance came in to fight poverty, war among countries, environmental degradation and to set up equal opportunities for everyone in all countries. The call to fight particular deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS and cancer has made many countries to come together to ensure that a cure is established to save lives. One of the major works of international governance is in the protection of the environment and its resources. The pollution rates have become very rampant and they are now posing as a risk to human life thus there has been a great need for all countries to form regulations as to how they are going to prevent further pollution and preserve the environment and resources for the future generation. For this reason many organisations have been set up to see if the countries are implementing some of the rules and regulations of conserving the environment. For instance the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Environmental Organisation (WEO) are organisations set to ensure that the respective countries that sign the treaty to preserve the environment are implementing the changes. Such organisations are entitled in doing research to tell which countries have succeeded in implementing the changes, the shortcomings of the implementations and where the strategies are proving to be difficult. From such researches they are able to see if the implementation is worthwhile or not. Moreover, the organisations can assist countries that have problems in implementing the changes by lending them money to fund the projects by buying the respective machines and educating its general public on environmental issues (Barbara, 2002). When countries come together to set environmental laws, they put the interest of the people first. The

Reaction to Everyday Use Essay Example for Free

Reaction to Everyday Use Essay Everyday Use is a short story written by Alice Walker about a family of three, Mama, the narrator, Maggie her youngest daughter, and Dee, her eldest daughter. Both daughters are completely different, Maggie is a simpler person and Dee is high maintenance. Dee has always the home she was brought up in and everything to do with her childhood. She always wanted more and Mama gave her the best she could. One day, years after Dee has gone off to college, she returns to visit Mama and Maggie’s new home (the other had been burnt down when Dee was still living with them), and she brings along a man, possibly her husband. When Dee returns she has changed her name and has come hoping to retrieve certain family heirlooms. Walker uses different literary tools to tell this story in a way that makes the audience think about what she is trying to tell the audience. Strategy The main literary strategy Walker uses in the writing of Everyday Use are irony and symbolism. Mama and Maggie value the quilts discussed in the story, not as folk art, instead for what they are intended to be used for, a source of warmth. Mama would rather give Maggie the quilts and let her put these quilts to use even though they may end up ruined because she knows that she is the one that will appreciate and love the quilts the most. Dee wants to in a sense save the quilts from the harm that she is sure that her sister, whom she seems to think is intelligently inferior will ruin but she does not understand the true value and worth of these quilts. Dee’s sudden interest in her heritage and want to embrace different objects from her family’s past is obviously seen by her mother as empty. In Mama’s eyes the best way to keep the quilts and the love and care that comes with them in the family is to hand them over to Maggie, even if it means them possibly being damaged or worse yet, destroyed. This is the irony in the story. Many would think that preserving the quilts is the only respectful way of keeping the spirit of their family alive, but instead Mama sees deeper than that, she sees in actuality the best way to keep the spirit of their family alive is to put them to use so that more memories can be connected to them. Using them in daily life is a way to keep the family history and spirit alive, and to even add onto it. Theme The consistent theme of Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† is appreciating the past, and one’s family. This theme was one that I found I could identify with greatly along with certain aspects of the story. The author skillfully tells us the story of two sisters, Dee, and Maggie, to prove her point. Dee comes home with a new contemporary identity tied to her African heritage, which she believes white men and women have tried to take away from her. She now embraces this African heritage and sees it as an important part of her. She scornfully asks Mama (the narrator) to not address her by the name her mother gave her, Dee, but to instead call her Wangero, assumed to be a name from her African herritage: What happened to Dee? I wanted to know. Shes dead, Wangero (Dee) said. I couldnt bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me. Wangero (Dee) assumes and argues with her mother that she has been named \ after a white man or woman. Mama attempts to convince her that her name was not given to her by a white man or woman but that she was named after her grandmother. Dee resists what her mother has told her and insists that if she were to follow the line that it would go back to a white man or woman. Maggie, is unashamed of her past, she actually embraces it. She has always loved the quilts that her mother and aunt made from clothing that her grandmother had pieced. This section of the story is the prime difference between the sisters is revealed: Dee would like to use the quilts as pieces of artwork for her own home because it is something that would be stylish and argues with her mother that Maggie would be backward enough to put them to everyday use. Dee says this as if it were a bad thing to use the quilts as they were intended to be used but Mama believes that the everyday use, is the best way to value the past, to keep the spirit of the family going and not putting the items up for display as if they were in a museum or separating oneself from his or her family. This is something that I can identify with. When I was younger my great-grandmother had always crocheted afghans for each of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My cousins had when we were little looked down at these beautiful afghans and wanted instead store bought blankets. I treasured the afghan that my great grandmother had made me and used it often. When we were older, and she had passed away, my one cousin was going through a phase similar to Dee’s, she was suddenly very interested in our family history, and she now wanted the last afghan that my great grandmother made. She ended up being the one to receive the afghan because I did not feel like fighting over it. I did not want to receive it with a fight because I knew that it would tarnish the meaning for me but I always found it interesting how she changed her mind once became, for lack of a better word, â€Å"cool† to embrace family history and to like handmade items. Active and Responsive Reading While reading Everyday Use one inference that I made was that the story was set in the early 1970s. I made this inference from the way Mamma, the narrator, described Dee in the present day. I thought that the dress, accessories, and hair style Dee was described to have seemed to match up to fashion from the early 1970s. Dee is a vain, hypocritical, and condescending individual, this was my impression from my first reading of the story and after reading it twice more, I found that my impression of Dee did not change from my first reading. Mamma did the best she could for Dee as she grew up. Dee always despised the house they lived in and never saw the house that was built after the fire until she visited. Mamma and their church raised money so that Dee could get a higher education and go off to college. Dee uses her education as a way to look down on her mother and sister. She does not understand why they will not better themselves as she has. In this visit she begins asking her mother for things that she had never wanted before and looked down at. She now wants these items not as reminders of her family but more as pieces of art. Two of these items were quilts made by Grandma Dee. In the past when offered these, she had told her mother that the quilts were â€Å"too old-fashioned, out of style†. Now she thinks that they would make beautiful pieces Alice Walker writes this story I think for every family and every person in a family. In a world where people are consumed with art, fashion, and style, I think she is reminding us that there is more to some items than art, fashion, and style. Many times we think the only way to appreciate something is to frame it or put it up for display and not put it to everyday use in fear of ruining it but Walker uses this story to show us that there is more to appreciating something than just displaying it. Sometimes to best appreciate a piece of ones heritage through an heirloom you should use it for its intended purpose. In conclusion Walker teaches us a lesson about family and keeping the spirit and story of our family alive by not merely displaying our heirlooms but putting them to use. She uses irony to help tell her story and support her theme. Walker chooses a story that people can relate to and learn from.

Movie Review of Maria Full of Grace and De Nadie Essay Example for Free

Movie Review of Maria Full of Grace and De Nadie Essay Maria Full of Grace is a film by Joshua Marston revealing drug trafficking world. The desperation of people sue to poverty is depicted well in this movie Columbian drug lords use mules to transport cocaine to the U. S. Mules are actually humans used to carry drugs to be transported to other countries without being detected. The mechanism is through the ingestion of capsules containing the product and stores it in the mule’s stomach, after which it will be expelled. Many people are attracted to this type of job because the drug lords will try to convince you that the job is easy plus it involves a large amount of money in exchange of your service to them. However, if any of the drug products was lost during the transport, you will have to deal with the brutal consequences and it means exchange of your life or your family’s life as the mules are no more important as any other plastic containers (Berardinelli, 2004, p. n. pag. ). Maria, performed by Catalina Sandino Moreno is a 17-year old young girl who hates her job as a de-thorner in a factory. Her family that includes her mother, grandmother, and unmarried sister however relies on Maria’s salary to survive. Maria then quits her lifeless job and finds out that she is pregnant but her boyfriend refuses to marry her. After this devastating event of her life, she accepted the offer a man gave her to be a mule of the Columbian-New York run. Together with two young girls Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega), and Lucy (Guilied Lopez), Maria thought the job was easy and was blinded by the money she will earn in this type of job. In addition, Lucy grabs the opportunity to go to New York to reunite with her sister. The three girls were not forced to be in this kind of business; they chose their own path because of their greed and need for money. They thought of United States as their only way out of poverty especially Maria as she prepares herself for her unborn unwanted child (Berardinelli, 2004, p. n. pag. ). The dramatization built by Marston in the film is flawless as he developed each character. The story is very moving as it is very realistic because of the increasing poverty in third-world countries. Moreno gives a memorable performance as she flawlessly portrayed Maria as a hopeless, desperate and selfish girl who greed for money (Berardinelli, 2004, p. n. pag. ). De Nadie Another documentary film showing the desperation of people driven by poverty is De Nadie. This film directed by Tim Dirdamal brings us to the world of migrants from South America looking for a way to enter North America. They believe that migration to the United States is the only way to get rid of poverty. However, their search for a route is often illegal and migrates from the Central America who initially has to cross Mexico before going to United States are given less attention (Coupeau, 2006, p. n. pag. ). The process of migration is by a fast moving cargo train crossing the Mexican territory. However, many aspiring migrants die or amputated as they fall and pushed off the fast moving train. This unimaginable risk is taken by those people as a solution to their miserable poor life. Se Maria, a Honduran migrant whose life was changed after seeking help in the hands of a group of Mexican nuns who conducted a fund raising activity using raffle draws. Madres de la Patrona gave food to the immigrants taking risks to enter United States (Coupeau, 2006, p. n. pag. ). . Compare and Contrast Both films are political as they expose the desperation of many people in order to escape poverty. The directors are not biased in their portrayal of poverty and the hopelessness and greed of people for money. Also, the aspiration of many people from all countries to go to United States is because of their belief that when you go to U. S, poverty will go away. What they don’t know is due to global crisis, many people in the U. S are now unemployed and also experiencing financial problems. Both Maria Full of Grace and De Navie showed that people’s principles are easily swayed when money is involved. The natural greed of humans to money made the characters Maria, Blanca and Lucy of Maria Full of Grace and Maria of De Navierisk their lives. They took what they though the one chance that will get them out of their miserable lives. Also, both are very realistic films since it cannot be denied that drug trafficking and illegal immigrations are two of the most known illegitimate money-making businesses. Both films showed that no one is to be blamed other than yourself because it was shown in both movies that no one forced the characters to enter drug trafficking and illegal immigration. Although they are both victims of poverty, they are not innocent victims of drug trafficking and illegal immigration. I find Maria Full of Grace more moving than De Navie since more lives are ruined in drug trafficking than in illegal immigration. Drug trafficking is a more serious problem in that the mules that act as carriers of drugs doesn’t realize that they are tolerating the business that ruins many lives and families. Bibliography Berardinelli, J. (2004). Maria Full of Grace. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://www. reelviews. net/movies/m/maria_full. html Coupeau, D. S. (2006, August 2006). Alterinfos America Latina. Retrieved May 2, 2010, from http://www. alterinfos. org/spip. php? article465

Restorative Justice And Crime Prevention Criminology Essay

Restorative Justice And Crime Prevention Criminology Essay Traditional Justice in the United States has been an eye for an eye standard since this nation declared its independence from England in 1776. While this concept is acceptable, because it adheres to the Law, it does nothing for the offender or victim beyond punishment. (Redlich, 2012) Restorative Justice is the standard of putting the law in the back seat, and bringing the problem of why the offender committed the crime, how the offender can repair his or her injustice, the victim having an input in the criminals restoration and the opportunity to confront the offender, with the community helping the victim and offender overcome the crime by restoring each other to society as responsible forgiving citizens that are productive to society. (Richards, 2009) Traditional Justice is not successful in overcoming crime, and does not correct the injustice or harm done by the offender, nor does it stop the offender from re-offending after the punishment has been completed. Restorative Justice is the best solution for minimizing future crime, and correcting the recidivism associated with traditional justice. Traditional Justice in America has been consistent for more than two centuries, in that our nation has sought to punish wrong doers (criminals) by stiff sentences of incarceration, probation, parole, and fines. The people that are caught up in a criminal offense in the U.S. are sent to prison by the droves. Once they are released from prison, or jail, this is not the end of their circumstance. Often, low class offenders are placed on probation, where they are constantly monitored by a probation officer, and in some cases if the offender has a prison sentence in some states, he or she are placed on Parole. This is determined on an individual basis. Sadly enough, being monitored after prison or jail, the offender is thrown back into society with very little support in his or her financial lively-hood. The ex-offender is released with less than $200.00 in most state ran prison facilities. The offender may have had a home, transportation, a wife or husband, a job and other necessities fo r them to survive at the point where they were sent to jail or prison. When the ex-offender comes back into free society (for the most part), he or she is without any of the necessities to survive as a law-abiding, self-supporting citizen. (Galster, 1985) Criminal Records Now, in 2012, when an offender is convicted or even charged with a crime, a criminal record is established as public information that is used to prejudice, and stigmatize the ex-offender or accused from equal opportunity employment. This record is often used to deny the person of renting a home or apartment, working in certain companies or businesses. (Relyea, 1980) More and more employers seek the criminal record history of job applicants, sometimes even before extending the applicant an offer. Typically, employers will seek such information on employment applications, often asking applicants to indicate in a check box question whether they have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor within a certain time period. Other employers will ask this question and explore a candidates response during a job interview, and most employers will ask applicants to submit to a full criminal background check after a conditional offer of employment is extended. Employers who gather and use crimina l history information need to be mindful of applicable local, state and federal laws regarding criminal background checks (Rosen, 2011). Recidivism Prison sentences are not succeeding in turning the majority of offenders away from crime. Of those prisoners released in 1997, 58 per cent were convicted of another crime within two years. Thirty-six per cent were back inside on another prison sentence. The system struggles particularly to reform younger offenders. 18-20-year-old male prisoners were reconvicted at a rate of 72 per cent over the same period; 47 per cent received another prison sentence (webarchive, 2007). These numbers dont lie. People that are released from incarceration are starting life all over again regardless of their age. When a person is released without support from the community, family, friends, or organizations that help the ex-offender re-establish themselves as law-abiding, self-supporting citizens, in America, the statistics says that most ex-offenders will return to prison or jail. This alone is enough to recognize that the traditional justice system is severely flawed in reducing recidivism or crime. Restorative Justice Restorative justice or reparative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the community, instead of legal principles or punishing the offender. The victims participate in the process, while offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions. This form of justice gives the offender the greatest opportunity to repair the harm theyve done which allows them to apologize to everyone harmed, and other restoration to the offender such as returning stolen money, or participating in community service is part of the rehabilitation. Restorative justice focuses on both the victim and offender by addressing and implementing solutions to their personal needs. The key preventative aspect of restorative justice is that it provides help for the offender in order to avoid future offenses. It is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offense against an individual or community, instead of a crime against the state. In the traditional justice system currently applied in most criminal courts, the offender versus the State or United States is sold to the tax payer under the premise of we the people concept. (Richards, 2009) Restorative justice that nurtures discussion between the victim and offender shows the highest rates of victim satisfaction and offender accountability. Restorative justice is a different way of thinking about responding to crime. Restorative justice politicians and authorities view crime as harm done to people and communities, not just violation of the law. They seek to put things right by addressing the harm to victims, the community and by addressing the causes of crime. There are many different types of restorative justice. (Solgps.alberta.ca 2012) Restorative Justice Models The three most common models are Family group (or community) conferencing, Circles (sentencing circles, healing circles, or peace circles), and Victim-offender conferences where most models involve some form of encounter between the victim and offender. (Solgps.alberta.ca 2012) The principle of restorative justice starts with realizing that crime is injury. Crime hurts individual victims, communities, and offenders which creates an obligation to make things right by everyone. All parties should be a part of the response to the crime, including the victim if he or she wishes, the community, and the offender. The victims perspective is central to deciding how to repair the harm caused by the crime. Accountability for the offender means accepting responsibility and acting to repair the harm done. The community is responsible for the well-being of all its members, including both victim and offender. All human beings have dignity and worth. Restoration in Restorative Justice is repairing the harm and rebuilding relationships in the community. The results are measured by how much repair was accomplished with the offender, victim and community, rather than by how much punishment was inflicted on the offender. The goal of restoring the offender, in the community is key to the success of Restorative Justice. Crime control cannot be achieved without active involvement of the community. When dealing with all offenders, the justice process is respectful of age, abilities, sexual orientation, family status, and diverse cultures and backgrounds. Using the restorative justice model gives full recognition of everyone involved, regardless of racial, ethnic, geographic, religious, economic, or other common prejudices associated in the traditional justice we currently have ensuring that everyone is given equal protection and due process.(ojjdp.gov, 2012) Restorative Justice and Recidivism One of the most important outcome variables for any form of criminal justice intervention is recidivism. The overall mean effect size for the 32 tests that examined the effectiveness of restorative justice programming in reducing offender recidivism was +.07 (SD = .13) with a 95% CI of +.12 to +.02. Although the effect sizes ranged from +.38 to -.23, more than two thirds of the effect sizes were positive (72%). In other words, restorative justice programs, on average, yielded reductions in recidivism compared to non-restorative approaches to criminal behavior. In fact, compared to the comparison and/or control groups who did not participate in a restorative justice program, offenders in the treatment groups were significantly more successful during the follow-up periods, t(31) = 2.88, p Benefits of Restorative Justice A benefit to the community for restorative justice is the opportunity to be interactive with the victims and the offenders beyond the traditional justice system. The community can identify the problems within their surroundings and recognize the problems before crime occurs. Potential offenders can be identified and brought into the system early to rehabilitate them and give them a quality of life experience that hopefully minimizes the community threats of crime. In addition, as our society has recognized the disparate treatment of employment opportunities for ex-offenders, nearly all state laws prohibit employers from considering a job applicants arrest that did not result in a conviction. Moreover, the EEOC takes the position that because the use of arrest records as an absolute bar to employment has a disparate impact on some protected groups; such records alone cannot be used to exclude applicants from employment and has even gone as far as stating that a pre-employment inquiry may violate Title VII. The EEOC has consistently invalidated employment policies containing a blanket exclusion of those individuals with arrest records. Thus, employers should avoid asking job applicants any questions designed to elicit information regarding prior arrests that did not result in convictions and should remove any such questions from employment applications (Rosen, 2012). Benefits of the victim are true concern for their mental, physical, and recovery needs. Traditional court has very little if any concern for the victim outside of using them to testify against the offender to gain a conviction. Restoration of the victim is almost meaningless to the traditional courts. The victim is given the opportunity to reconcile with the offender, and be at peace with themselves and the offender, or they can opt out to retain the eye for an eye belief about justice. By confronting the offender, the victim is able to understand why the offender committed the crime, and he or she is left with acceptance or denial of what has happened. This is true closure. (The term: Closure is often used in a criminal proceeding by the prosecutor or defense attorney which means: A feeling of finality or resolution, especially after a traumatic experience (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/closure, 2012). Without restoring the victim, the offender, and reintegrating the ex-offender after prison with his character being restored and the victim having the opportunity to put to rest the harm the offender caused, with a society that wants to forgive, closure is an illusion for everyone. The benefits of the offender is to allow them the opportunity to explain why the offense was committed, and understand what he or she is expected of from the community and victim. The offender can be restored with the opportunity to make a difference in society and their self. By being confronted in this forum, the offender can be honest within themselves and face the real whole truth and nothing but the truth. Conclusion In this paper, we have learned that Traditional Justice fails to restore the victim, the community, and the offender. Traditional justice cost tax payers extensively with little regard to making amends by the offender to the offended or the citizens the offender was a part of before the crime took place. Identifying criminal conduct, bringing the offender into a court of law, convicting the offender, sending the offender to jail or prison and releasing them back into free society without money, a job, a home, a vehicle, and a chance to work or re-establish a productive life with the traditional justice system is appalling. Certainly, we as a people must refuse to accept crime, but when looking at the benefits of traditional justice versus restorative justice, it is very easy to see that restorative justice is the answer to recidivism, responsibility, justice, and reduction of cost to minimize criminal conduct. By identifying the accused, bringing the offender to the knowledge of the truth about what offense has been committed, confronting the accused with the victim, and allowing society to interact by providing the victim and offender with productive reconciliation is how we as the greatest nation in the world will ever overcome the evil with good. Regardless of whether the offenders criminal conduct was attributed to drugs and alcohol, as more that seventy-percent of all crimes are a result of drugs and alcohol, the offender, victim, and society deserve a solution to crime, not a band-aid that only puts the prisoner in jail or prison, and puts a greater threat on society once he or she is released af ter the sentence under the traditional justice system.

Gay African American on TV Essay -- Social Issues, Gender Roles

Historically, the representation of gay, African-American men on television has fallen short of the mark . We have seen â€Å"sissies, faggots and finger-snapping queens† sashaying across the screen, feminizing and marginalizing African-American men by these racially insensitive and homophobic caricatures. In this paper I examine the characters: Keith Charles of HBO’s Six Feet Under, Omar Little of HBO’s The Wire, Lafayette Reynolds of HBO’s True Blood, and Julien Lowe of FX’s The Shield and how their characters manifest their masculinity. The three characters that appear on HBO shows are portrayed as strong, masculine, openly gay men. Only Lowe, the sole African-American gay man who has appeared on a basic cable hour-long television drama is a closeted gay character. Since the â€Å"out† characters appear on HBO and the closeted character appears on basic cable, is it possible that an audience who can afford to pay for HBO is tolerant of t he representation of masculine gay men while an audience watching on basic cable is not tolerant of that representation? Or is HBO’s marketing campaign, â€Å"It’s not TV, it’s HBO† an experimentation with â€Å"genre, coupled with their strategy of distancing themselves from broadcast television culminating in a distinguishable brand name and a noticeable schism between pay cable and broadcast television† (Jaramillo 60). Or rather, is the HBO audience one that is able to pay for a subscription to HBO, just gazing at these characters? Are these characters just a twist on the â€Å"big black buck† stereotype for a post-modern audience – one comfortable with explorations of masculine, racialized, gay desire? HBO’s marketing certainly attempts to position itself as a step above broadcast TV, airing programming that is de... ...hough he is tall and strong, Julien’s masculinity is policed aggressively and violently by his peers. When the rumor spreads that Julien is gay, his fellow officers, beat and intimidate him. Despite his stature, Julien quietly submits to their threats and intimidation. Quite literally, Julien’s masculinity is â€Å"policed† by his fellow police officers. Much like Patricia Hill Collins’ assertion about controlling images and that representations of black women as mammies and matriarchs work as â€Å"powerful ideological justifications† for â€Å"intersecting oppressions of race, class, gender and sexuality† (p. 69) the same can be applied to the controlling images of black male masculinity, â€Å"the â€Å"faggot and the queen†. Controlling images function to justify various oppressions by distorting reality through reducing the stereotyped subjected black body to a controllable object.

Emerson Defines Beauty in The Poet Essay -- Emerson Poet Essays

Emerson Defines Beauty in The Poet Just what is beauty? We all have our own definition of beauty because everyone has there own distinctive style and attractiveness. Therefore, we must respect why some people find beauty in things while others would not simply because beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder. Now we all are attracted to all sorts of things, but have you ever asked yourself why? Is it simply because it is beautiful or does the meaning go beyond that? I tend to believe the latter is true so lets take love for example. It is the most beautiful thing in the world because you get a sense of being, are likely attracted to the person you are in love with, it stimulates you and you probably feel complete. However, beauty does not always have to be attractive or unique it is what taps into your emotions and causes you to want more and more. Emerson defines beauty in a totally different light. He believes that only a poet can truly capture beauty because only a poet has the vision, words and intelligence to interpret events and put them into a form that is so appealing to the eyes of readers. Emerson does have a point that poets do have a way with words, but what about the average individual? Everyone has their own way of expressing feelings, needs and emotion, and that is the beauty of it all. On the other hand Emerson argues that poets can only truly define beauty and express it with elegant wording. In addition, he believes that everyday events of life are beautiful when he says, "And this hidden truth, that the fountains whence all this river of Time, and its creatures floweth, are intrinsically ideal and beautiful, draws us to the consideration of the nature and functions of the Poet, or the man of Beau... ...eauty because he sees it, understands it and thoughts of it roll off his head and never stop coming. Beauty is and will always stimulate the mind. Ultimately the burden lies in the poets hands to paint a picture which in turn will stimulate the readers imagination, and the reader may even find a deeper meaning if the poet writes a poem so effectively that the reader is left wondering and questioning themselves. Everyone has a different definition of beauty and that is perfectly fine because no two people are the same. Beauty may not always be appealing at first but since a poet has a way with words and thoughts he could probably turn just about anything into a new light and thus seen as beautiful. WORKS CITED Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Poet. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New york: houghton mifflin, 1998. Emerson Defines Beauty in The Poet Essay -- Emerson Poet Essays Emerson Defines Beauty in The Poet Just what is beauty? We all have our own definition of beauty because everyone has there own distinctive style and attractiveness. Therefore, we must respect why some people find beauty in things while others would not simply because beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder. Now we all are attracted to all sorts of things, but have you ever asked yourself why? Is it simply because it is beautiful or does the meaning go beyond that? I tend to believe the latter is true so lets take love for example. It is the most beautiful thing in the world because you get a sense of being, are likely attracted to the person you are in love with, it stimulates you and you probably feel complete. However, beauty does not always have to be attractive or unique it is what taps into your emotions and causes you to want more and more. Emerson defines beauty in a totally different light. He believes that only a poet can truly capture beauty because only a poet has the vision, words and intelligence to interpret events and put them into a form that is so appealing to the eyes of readers. Emerson does have a point that poets do have a way with words, but what about the average individual? Everyone has their own way of expressing feelings, needs and emotion, and that is the beauty of it all. On the other hand Emerson argues that poets can only truly define beauty and express it with elegant wording. In addition, he believes that everyday events of life are beautiful when he says, "And this hidden truth, that the fountains whence all this river of Time, and its creatures floweth, are intrinsically ideal and beautiful, draws us to the consideration of the nature and functions of the Poet, or the man of Beau... ...eauty because he sees it, understands it and thoughts of it roll off his head and never stop coming. Beauty is and will always stimulate the mind. Ultimately the burden lies in the poets hands to paint a picture which in turn will stimulate the readers imagination, and the reader may even find a deeper meaning if the poet writes a poem so effectively that the reader is left wondering and questioning themselves. Everyone has a different definition of beauty and that is perfectly fine because no two people are the same. Beauty may not always be appealing at first but since a poet has a way with words and thoughts he could probably turn just about anything into a new light and thus seen as beautiful. WORKS CITED Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Poet. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New york: houghton mifflin, 1998.

Effective Communication Effective Techniques

Communication Is always Important no matter what type of organization or environment it may be. Feed back and the teams approach can determine how effective and ineffective the organization is. When the team approach technique is used communication is better, there is less barriers between each department, and the speed/quality of work usually is improved (Lombardi & Shoehorning, 2007). Feedback is always good because it allows an employee to get information about what he or she is doing right or wrong so that they can take the time to improve.In he health care field workers are always completing self-assessments, this makes the team approach technique especially good for them because they are able to Improve and then they can get with other health care workers and discuss their Ideas about what Is Important for the organization. Sharing each others Ideas and providing Important Information Is one of the most effective techniques used to run an organization successfully. There are ma ny advantages and disadvantages with a team approach.There are some people that like to work as a team, yet there are others that would rather work alone. One advantage would be getting more than one opinion about what is best for the organization. One disadvantage is competition, some people may want to try and be better than the next person instead of trying to work as a team. Working as a team can sometimes make people very frustrated because they have to rely on others. (Krebs, 2009) Ineffective techniques There are ineffective techniques as well.When working as a team there may be problems that arise, Like feedback from others may not always be taken positively which can cause Issues In the work environment (Krebs, 2009). There are also times when someone may not finish their duties leaving It for someone else to do It for them. It can be hard for some to come to the same agreement and this creates problems In the work environment. Many of the people that I worked with did not want to work as a team they wanted to do everything on their own.We had to show the managers that we were working as a team, but when they were not looking over our shoulder many of the employees did what they wanted to. This makes things very frustrating, there are so many times when someone does not take work as serious as he next person and this creates more of a work load for those that do take their Jobs serious. Ways these techniques are applied It is very important in a healthcare work environment that these techniques are applied.There are so many duties that health care workers have to do, if they take the team approach than the Job can get done without any hassles. Healthcare Jobs can get very stressful at times; it Is always good to have more than one hand doing the Jobs. Communication Is essential because a lot of mistakes can occur with paper work or any miscommunication. These techniques can be applied by developing a am memoir expertise Ana learning now to communicate as a team (Salesman, Idea, Farmer, Vetch, Rosen, & Kid, 2007).

Night Essay: Examples of Night

â€Å"I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name. † (42) Elie Wiesel’s Night is about a young Jewish boy and his experiences through the Holocaust in the 1940’s. Any human being should never experience the hell-like terror that Elie had to go through. He is separated from his mother and his sister and is deported to Auschwitz, one of Hitler’s most depressing concentration camps. Wiesel uses night not only as the title but also as a symbol of time, a world without God, and man’s inhumanity to man. Night is defined as a time of day when the sun is dormant, but for Elie Wiesel, night is eternal.While stuck inside the camp, hope is quickly diminished in Elie’s mind, overtaken by the deep darkness that night brings. This can be clearly seen when Ellie explains his last night in Buna. â€Å"Yet another last night. The last night at home, the last night in the ghetto, the last night in the train, and, now the last night in Buna. How much lo nger were our lives to be dragged out from one ‘last night’ to another? †(79) The question that Elie repeats shows that light in the camp can be seen as sign of hope, but sadly no light shines in the gloomy, depressing place.Elie explains how he encounters a complete darkness, no matter what time of day it is, when he enters Auschwitz. â€Å"Never shall I forget the night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night. †(32) The horrid sights he has to live through in the camp can be seen as the scary, evil, eerie feeling that you get when nightfall arrives, almost like a time of day were there is no presence of God. When forced to evacuate the camp, Elie explains how the darkness swallowed people’s lives as they were marched to death. â€Å"Pitch darkness. Every now and then, an explosion in the night.They had orders to fire on any who could not keep up. †(81) With the sound of gunshots and people dying, night hove red over every single one of them marching for their own lives. The gloomy, dark, fright-filled nighttime can be closely related to the horrid journey of Elie Wiesel in Auschwitz were no light can be seen, even in the daytime. If God could be seen as light, then the loss of faith is his darkness. On page 60, Elie experiences a young boy being hanged as a punishment inside the camp. From witnessing the awful sight it reminds Elie of the harsh reality of the Nazi’s and how they have deteriorated his faith, a vital omponent for staying alive in the camp. Elie then hears a question come from behind him. â€Å"Where is god now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is he? Here he is- He is hanging here on his gallows . . . † (62) Elie felt as though God no longer had his support and that he had lost faith within him. He explains the young, innocent boy dying in front of him as his faith slowly slipping away. Elie began to doubt the support from God. â€Å"I did n ot deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice. †(42) God was no longer meaningful and helpful towards Wiesel’s struggles; he had nothing to turn to when deeply in need.Nighttime can be seen as a time when God is no longer there, when the evil emerges from their dwellings in which they hid from the light in. Auschwitz is an eternal night, where evil doesn’t need to hide because no light is visible. The horror and inhumanity of the Nazi’s left million of innocent people trapped in a place of darkness without the slightest sign of light or hope. This can be seen numerous times throughout the whole book. Disturbing sights that Ellie experienced will remain with him and haunt him forever because of how brutal they are.The Nazi just threw out the dead corpses. They undressed him, the survivors avidly sharing out his clothes, then two ‘gravediggers’ took him, one by the head and one by the feet, and threw him out of the wagon lik e a sack of flour. † The way they just threw around the dead as though they were useless, inanimate objects was something no normal minded person could do. As they made their evacuation, the SS screamed and yelled at the poor people saying things like, â€Å"Faster, you swine, you filthy sons of bitches! †(81) The Nazi’s showed little to no sympathy towards the people that were different from them.They felt superior to all and dehumanized those who weren’t. When finally being released from imprisonment, Ellie wanted to see what he had looked like. â€Å"I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse glazed back at me. †(109) The fact that Ellie had not seen himself since he had entered the ghetto is unreal. He barely recognized his standing ‘corpse’. Dehumanization does extremely awful things to people and the Nazis did a textbook job of doing so. Leaving people suffering under the wrath of the horror an d inhumanity with a result of innocent people dying.Man’s inhumanity to man, a world without God, ad night as a symbol of the time of day, symbolizes night in Ellie Wiesel’s novel. In additions to the time of day, night can be seen as an everlasting darkness Elie has to endure while stuck inside the camp with no sign of light or hope in sight. Elie Wiesel shares his story to educate the world of the harsh reality of dehumanization. Sadly this is still active in our world today. They say that knowledge is power; ignorance is bliss, so hopefully Elie’s story will reach the souls of humanity and potentially keep history from repeating itself in the near future.

The Rodriguez Family Crisis

The Rodriguez Family Crisis The crisis that the Rodriguez family is facing is very serious. They are dealing with a flooding in their area that has caused them to lose their home and their only means of support, which is Mrs. Rodriguez job. The basic needs that need to be addressed is, the Rodriguez family is in need of somewhere to stay and means of getting food, clothing, and necessities that would carry them through this crisis. The first thing I would do is help the Rodriguez family cope with their crisis is, to understand the situations they are facing.After discussing their situations, I would make plans to gather food, clothing, necessities, and shelter for them. I would explain that putting them into a shelter is just until we can find them an apartment/home that is suitable for them and the girls. The second thing I would take with Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez is, getting them set up with Social Services so they could apply for emergency food stamps so they could purchase food and Medicaid to help with any medical expenses for them and the girls.I will also assist in helping with them getting the housing authority to help with finding them an apartment/home and help with paying for their rent expenses. I will explain to them that these resources are here to help people such as them who are in a crisis and in need of emergency help. After helping the Rodriguez family set up with Social Services and the housing authority, and all the paper work gets the approval, I will begin to assist in helping them find an apartment/home that is suitable for them and close to Mr. Rodriguez and the girl’s schools.I will discuss with them that not only must the apartment location be suitable for Mr. Rodriguez and the girl’s; however, it must be suitable for Mrs. Rodriguez to find a job in that area. I will discuss with Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez on how â€Å"The plan should focus on systematic problem solving for the client and be realistic in terms of the clientâ €™s coping ability (James, 2008). In doing the above steps, I feel that this will eliminate the pressure of them having to worry about arranging to get Mr. Rodriguez and the girls into another school and Mrs. Rodriguez not being able to find a job that she is qualify to do.I will explain to them, that this planning is about getting through the short term and getting some semblance of equilibrium and stability restored (James, 2008). The models of intervention, that I would use in helping the Rodriguez family with this crisis is, all the models. First, I would need to define and understand the problems of this crisis in their viewpoint. Because, unless the worker perceives the crisis situation as the client perceives it, all the intervention strategies and procedures the helper might use may miss the mark and be of no value to the client (James, 2008).The second step is to make sure there is safety for the Rodriguez family. The means of safety is to make sure I am not putting the m in harm’s way. I have to think about their daughters when placing them into a shelter. The third step is to give the Rodriguez family support and to inform them that I am here to help them in getting all the support from other resources that apply to their crisis. This means that the workers must be able to accept, in an unconditional and positive way, all their clients, whether the clients can reciprocate, or not (James, 2008).Step four, is where I would examine all the alternatives that could help the Rodriguez family such as family members, social service, or non-profit organizations that deals with families in crisis. I will give them positive things to think about so there will be no added stress on their part. The fifth step is to make plans on how Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez should go about getting immediate help from the other resources. I will make sure the resources are reliable and that Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez could reach the resources immediately because they are in n eed of having help as soon as possible.The six and final step is getting commitment from the Rodriguez family and giving my commitment to them that I am here to help them through this crisis. However, they must understand the plan and they must carry out the plan as stated to ensure them in getting back to normal stability. The three skills I would use to assist me in implementing the models I have selected are, simplicity, efficiency and reliability. With simplicity, I would execute simplicity by explaining as truthful as I can in easy form so the Rodriguez family can understand what they are too expected from me and what I will be expecting from them.Simplicity will be effective in addressing the Rodriguez basic and ongoing needs because they will be focusing on what is most important to help them with getting the help they need. I will use efficiency in helping the Rodriguez get back to the life they had before the flood. With using efficiency, every resource I recommend to the R odriguez will produce the specific outcome we are looking for and there will be no wasted time, because I will be, giving 100% of my time in making sure they are satisfy with the outcome. The reliability skill is the most important skill to me.Been reliable shows the Rodriguez family that I am capable of doing the job they need me to do and that I can function in a crisis situation. Reliability also shows that I have committed myself to making sure all the resources I have provided to them is also reliable. Reliability can be effective in addressing the Rodriguez family basic and ongoing needs because; it helps to avoid unnecessary things that are no helpful in getting them the things they need at this time. References: James, Richard (2008). Crisis Intervention Strategies. Belmont: Schatchgravel Publishing Services

Response to Intervention Essay

â€Å"Of all forms of mental activity, the most difficult to induce even in the minds of the young, who may be presumed not to have lost their flexibility, is the art of handling the same bundle of data as before, but placing them in a new system of relations with one another by giving them a different framework, all of which virtually means putting on a different kind of thinking-cap for the moment. It is easy to teach anybody a new fact†¦but it needs light from heaven above to enable a teacher to break the old framework in which the student is accustomed to seeing. † Arthur Koestler Twenty-first century educational institutions are on a research journey exploring continued models, theories, plans, strategies and so much more to bring resolve to the problems facing our schools. Many schools are facing the ills of low performance and a decline in meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. Plans and studies to improve schools academic performance are on the rise. School leadership and districts continue to explore and search for the perfect research based model that will pull them up and out of the pit of despair to a maximum and successful learning community where students master learning through engaged instructional practices. An alternative to classroom learning experiences evolving on the educational scene is Response to Intervention (RTI). Response to Intervention refers to the many ways created to assist teachers in implementing instruction through new and improved activities that will redirect low performance to successful outcomes. This program was birthed years ago out the policies established from No Child Left Behind. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a researched based model used by school systems all over the country to deter academic and behavioral failure in the educational system. Through the engagement of ‘scientifically based instructional practices’, students embrace the enhanced intervention strategies that allow them to explore educational skills with a confidence that bring successful outcomes. Response to Intervention was created to intercept the struggling performance of student at the risk of academic and/or behavioral failure. Through early detection of specific skills deficiencies, students are identified and immediate assessments are administered. Diagnosis of these deficient skills allows teachers to structure instruction to meet the specific needs of students. Strategic plans are developed to target skills deficiency and an alternative instructional plan is created. The purpose of Response to Intervention is early detection and identification of learning concerns of students and the development of an individualized plan that addresses the appropriate prescription for resolving the students’ academic or behavioral issue. In our twenty-first century learning communities, students are required to participate and are engaged in educational activities that may challenge their ability to grasp the concept in manners conducive to their learning styles. Schools are challenged to examine their methods of instruction to meet the needs of all children making them successful in all areas of academic content. A quality school is a place where students learn to think and apply knowledge to new situations, where students are involved in and excited about their learning, where students make individual gains in process and knowledge, where adults know they care about individual students, where students develop ‘I can’ attitudes and efficacy about learning, and where the type of learning that occurs prepares students for success after school (Gentry, 2006)† In our twenty-first century learning communities, administrative leadership promotes the success of its students by implementing research that is current and best practices. Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standard Two which states: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. (ISLLC 2008: 2). † The application of RTI, promotes an intervention plan focused objectives that are measureable and growth results that are observed through weekly progress monitoring. The RTI model is a valuable asset to the educational community due to the programs â€Å"not specifically a special education eligibility tool, rather it is a data-based decision-making system that can be used for all students within the school. † (Wedl, 2005) The application of the various methods of scientific discoveries that support solutions to many of the educational concerns experienced by our students is imperative to their success and confidence. The following is a plan of action based on the Response to Intervention Model that will promote academic success for students lacking proficiency in their educational experiences. Students will be engaged in daily and weekly activities that will enhance their differentiated instruction. This plan is based on the specific features of the Response to Intervention Model that are crucial to the process of instruction. †¢ Tier Model 1, Problem Solving – during the application of this portion of the Response to Intervention Model, all students are engaged in instruction. Many of the academic needs of the students are met in this level. Approximately one hour and thirty minutes of direct core instruction is implemented. Teachers are engaged in developing base line data from student’s response to instruction. The data from student responses should indicate which students are responding below expected levels of proficiency and those students needing enrichment. †¢ Tier Model 2, Problem Solving – during the application of this portion of the Response to Intervention Model, every student may need the interventions of this Tier. Again, one hour and thirty minutes of direct instruction from the core curriculum instruction. An additional twenty to thirty minutes of intense instruction for targeted skills in a small group within the classroom setting. Daily and weekly progress monitoring is necessary to ensure mastery. †¢ Tier Model 3, Problem Solving – during the application of this portion of the Response to Intervention Model, students that show lack of understanding of implemented instruction and are below the level of proficiency at the Tier 2 instructional interventions level, must continue prescribed interventions. At this level of intervention, again one hour and thirty minutes of direct core instruction, and possibly an additional fifty minutes of intense instruction on targeted skills. Homogenous grouping of students in small unit is desirable. Progress monitoring is required and all the while the teacher is data bank to determine continued instruction, needs assessments, updating base-line data, student mastery, and other evaluative factors. After implementing each Tier 1 three weeks of intense interventions should follow. A new Tier is implemented after completing monitoring activities and evaluating the compiled data. Key to the success of the Response to Intervention Model is the consistent progress monitoring of the students responses to the various daily interventions. Also, due to the constant monitoring, early interception of redirecting the students’ lack of understanding, promotes the regular classroom interventions and deters the need for special education. In many cases, statistics reveal that students experience success and mastery of skills through the varied steps of RTI. According to Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standard Two, administrative leaders are responsible for establishing an atmosphere and organizational culture conducive for successful academic experiences for every child. The educational performances of our students are founded on the instructional effectiveness of a curriculum structured to strategically provide mastery through systematic, rigorous, and objective teaching. Tracking student progress through informed data is imperative to a teacher’s next step in the model. Throughout the intervention students are provided high quality instruction. Response to Intervention provides a prescriptive plan of success through intense engaged learning. The problem solving techniques and data driven instructional strategies, will provide opportunities of success. With targeted small group skills instruction as necessary for the struggling child, the experience of maximum achievement is inevitable.

Abortion Should Not Be Permitted

Many women in this entire world do abortion. There are many reasons why they prefer abortion such as having a fear of raising the child, rape, or not having enough money to support their life and the baby. Some important reasons of why abortion should not be permitted have to do with human morality, religious and values of conscience. First of all, why abortion should not be permitted is because of basic human morality. It is not the unborn babies fault and they have the right to live normally just like any other humans. Where is our humanitarian if we abort the unborn babies? Just because of our own mistakes and our selfishness we took away another one life that is so innocent and vulnerable. Furthermore, the baby doesn’t even know why and how he is here. You don’t need to kill one life in order to live, instead there are many solutions to resolve this problem but an abortion is not the answer. Secondly, why abort should not be permitted is based on religious values. In almost all religions, a women is not allows to do an abortion. My thoughts as a Muslim, we Muslim regard abortion as wrong and forbidden. But, abortion can only be permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s life of real danger in Muslim law. Nevertheless, in what religion you are, women should not do an abortion as the baby have the right to live in this world. Finally, reason of why women should not do an abortion related to her conscience. When women do an abortion, she will never forget what happened and the thoughts of killing a one innocent life will always be with her. The future that could have happened with her baby which will always reminds her that she killed it. Her conscience reminds her of what she has done is terribly wrong. Conclusion is, there are many way rather that choosing an abortion. Killing an innocent unborn baby is like a woman with no heart and lack of human morality. The truth is women need to think the consequences before having a sexual relation. I feel sad for the unborn baby because they deserve to have a normal life just like other kids, to see their mum face and the opportunity to see the world. Women in this world love their baby and I know a mother who had to do an abortion is not really willingly to abort it, in fact they are sad and scared but in order to live their life without bringing the ashamed in their life, they have no choice but to abort it. Abortion Should Not Be Permitted Many women in this entire world do abortion. There are many reasons why they prefer abortion such as having a fear of raising the child, rape, or not having enough money to support their life and the baby. Some important reasons of why abortion should not be permitted have to do with human morality, religious and values of conscience. First of all, why abortion should not be permitted is because of basic human morality. It is not the unborn babies fault and they have the right to live normally just like any other humans. Where is our humanitarian if we abort the unborn babies? Just because of our own mistakes and our selfishness we took away another one life that is so innocent and vulnerable. Furthermore, the baby doesn’t even know why and how he is here. You don’t need to kill one life in order to live, instead there are many solutions to resolve this problem but an abortion is not the answer. Secondly, why abort should not be permitted is based on religious values. In almost all religions, a women is not allows to do an abortion. My thoughts as a Muslim, we Muslim regard abortion as wrong and forbidden. But, abortion can only be permitted if continuing the pregnancy would put the mother’s life of real danger in Muslim law. Nevertheless, in what religion you are, women should not do an abortion as the baby have the right to live in this world. Finally, reason of why women should not do an abortion related to her conscience. When women do an abortion, she will never forget what happened and the thoughts of killing a one innocent life will always be with her. The future that could have happened with her baby which will always reminds her that she killed it. Her conscience reminds her of what she has done is terribly wrong. Conclusion is, there are many way rather that choosing an abortion. Killing an innocent unborn baby is like a woman with no heart and lack of human morality. The truth is women need to think the consequences before having a sexual relation. I feel sad for the unborn baby because they deserve to have a normal life just like other kids, to see their mum face and the opportunity to see the world. Women in this world love their baby and I know a mother who had to do an abortion is not really willingly to abort it, in fact they are sad and scared but in order to live their life without bringing the ashamed in their life, they have no choice but to abort it.

Degree essay assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Degree assignment - Essay Example ISO 9000 is not a product standard, it concerns processes. The efficient and effective management of processes affects whether or not everything has been done to ensure that the product satisfies the customers quality requirements. The term ISO 9000 refers to a set of quality management standards. The ISO 9000 standards, first published in 1987 revised in 1994 and republished in 2000, have been adopted by many organizations all over the world and apply to all types of organizations, large and small, and in many industries. The 2000 version, ISO 9000:2000, placed the concept of process management directly in the Standard, although the essential goal of the standard, of achieving management system effectiveness via process performance metrics, remained the same. It reduced the emphasis on having documented procedures if clear evidence could be presented to show that the process was working well. ISO  9000 currently includes three quality standards: ISO 9000:2000, ISO  9001:2000, and ISO  9004:2000.   ISO 9001:2000 presents requirements, while ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9004:2000 present guidelines. The three standards ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 have been integrated into the new ISO 9001:2000. The entire family of standards should be used in an integrated manner. It is suggested that, beginning with ISO 9000:2000, you adopt ISO 9001:2000 to achieve a first level of performance. The practices described in ISO 9004:2000 may then be implemented to make your quality management system increasingly effective in achieving your own business goals. (ISO, 2005) Hence when an organization claims to be "ISO 9000 compliant", it means they conform to ISO 9001:2000. ISO 9001:2000 is now the only standard in the ISO 9000 family against whose requirements a company’s quality system can be certified by an external agency. The standard classifies product into generic product categories: processed material, hardware, software and services required by the customer. The

Own topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Own topic - Essay Example How the temperature of the solution influences the enzyme activity. It is expected that the enzyme will be destroyed at high temperatures and will work slowly at low temperatures because the enzyme is found in a plant that lives approximately at 10C-30C. The influence of the pH on enzyme activity. Because the plant tissue that the enzyme is found in is not extremely acidic or basic, it is expected that extremes of pH will have a negative effect on enzyme activity. Previously prepared enzyme extract at volumes of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 ml was added to tubes containing 1.0 ml guaicol dye (or 0 ml for control), 2.0 ml H2O2 (or 0 ml for control), and buffer (pH 5) at volumes of 3-5 ml to produce a total volume of 8.0 ml. Spectrophotometer readings at 500 nm were performed at 20 second intervals immediately after mixing the tubes for two minutes and the results were recorded. Mixtures of 4 ml buffer (pH 5) (or 0 ml for control), 2.0 ml H2O2 (or 0 ml for control), 1.0 ml of extract (or 0 ml for control) and 1.0 ml guaicol dye (or 0 ml for control) were combined at a total volume of 8 ml, incubated at 4C, 22C, 32C and 48C and 100C All the solutions were pre-incubated at the appropriate temperatures for 15 minutes to allow them to equilibrate before mixing. Spectrophotometer readings at 500 nm were performed at 20 second intervals immediately after mixing the tubes for two minutes and the results were recorded. To determine the effects of pH mixtures of 4 ml buffer at pH 3, 5, 7 or 9 (or 5 or 0 ml for control), 2.0 ml H2O2 (or 0 ml for control), 1.0 ml of extract (or 0 ml for control) and 1.0 ml guaicol dye (or 0 ml for control) were combined at a total volume of 8 ml. Spectrophotometer readings at 500 nm were performed at 20 second intervals immediately after mixing the tubes for two minutes and the results were recorded To see how inhibitors effect enzyme activity mixtures of 4 ml buffer (pH 5) (or 0 ml

Org behavior 3 leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Org behavior 3 leadership - Essay Example The personal leadership model+300 9 13 3.2. Abilities+400 13 3.3. Personality+400 16 3.4. Values+500 18 3.5. The discussion desired effective theory of leadership+500 20 References 23 Bibliography 24 Introduction This process must include a structured procedure for self-assessment and development of necessary criteria like mission, value, ideals, goals etc. This paper will attempt to present a systematic procedure for encouraging the leadership qualities. In order to meet this objective, this paper is primarily divided into three sections. The first section will deal with the self assessment as it is necessary to identify and analyse the potential of being a successful leader. It is also important for taking necessary actions for the areas of improvements. The second section includes the development of necessary goal, mission, values etc, and these factors are very crucial as it paves the way for nurturing the leadership quality. In fact, this section creates a necessary basis for en couraging leadership quality through proper direction. The third section will present necessary theoretical backgrounds which are essential for shaping leadership qualities. This section will also focus on the development of personal leadership models and development of other leadership traits like personality, values, abilities etc. Finally, the entire discussion will be summed up in the conclusion. 1. Awareness and Insight through Self-Assessment To support the necessity of self-awareness for leadership development, Rothstein and Burke have commented that â€Å"self-awareness provides a basis for introspection, choice, priority setting, change and development† (Rothstein and Burke, 2010, p.5). The following self-assessment exercise have framed on the basis of five major areas that includes leadership potentials, self confidence, leadership skills, communication apprehension and creative personality. 1.1. Your leadership potential In regards to assessment relating to readine ss it is observed that I have scored 6 which in turn signify a moderate to higher readiness. Our supervisors thus tried to explain the aspects of the work to us to help enhance our abilities to be more ready with the task assigned (Leadership, n.d., p.3; Bowerman & Wart, 2011, p.121). The dimensions of participative and stewardship reflect an above average score of three and this shows that our supervisors not only helped work in a participative work environment but also worked as the protector of the resources both human and technological in regards to the organization (Nolan, 1998, p.1). This data shows that our supervisors avoided showing an authoritative position and also were not the blind followers of the works of the subordinates (Waddell, 2006, p.2). 1.2. Your self-confidence In terms of my character I am a hard working and confident individual who desires to be self reliant in achieving the goals set or entrusted upon me by my superiors. This personality trait also helps my superiors to better depend on me for achieving tasks of advanced level. In respect to the assessment made the scores obtained in each of the different parameters reflect a problem in my character where I reflect getting a jerk in respect to the rising of some unexpected event which may be adverse in nature. 1.3. Your team leadership skills This assessment exercise is also very useful in understanding the leadership orientation of the leadership type. The test for this sell-assessment exerci

LUXURY CAR BRANDS MARKETING HIGHLIGHT QUESTIONS Essay

LUXURY CAR BRANDS MARKETING HIGHLIGHT QUESTIONS - Essay Example To make the drive comfortable for the passengers, Kluger comes with Captain Seats and conversation mirror. Multi Zone Climate Control (which controls temperature in different parts of the cabin), Rear seat DVD player with headphones, Integrated Puddle Mirrors, add to the pleasure of travelling in Kluger. The driver of the luxury crossover enjoys the privileges of Multi Information Display while on move (with climate control settings), Steering Wheel Audio Controls, Cruise Control ( to keep within desired speed limits), satellite navigation and smart keyless entry system. Augmented product Ownership of Toyota Kluger comes with augmented features such as 3year/100,000km+ warranty, Personal Vehicle Loan, Novated Lease, Novated Lease Vehicle package, Business Loan (all through Toyota Finance) and Capped Price Service Advantage up to six services. Toyota uses a range strategy to promote Kluger. Toyota is known for its upmarket automobiles, quality and its premiumness. To promote Toyota as a brand, the company concentrate its efforts on creating a single united culture of safety and durability synonym with Toyota. Kluger is an extension of the Toyota culture for the comfort and enjoyment of entire family. Kluger, a crossover vehicle is launched to tap the demand of upper class families who may make occasional pleasure trips within or outside the city. Kluger aims to establish itself as a synonym for luxurious, enjoyable, family transport vehicle. It target Generation X who vote for ease of use of vehicle along with style. Toyota is using its online resources as the main way to market Kluger in Australia; rest of the marketing efforts support this focus. Main reason for promoting Kluger through website is because upmarket Gen X in Australia generally uses web as the primary mode of research while buying high involvement products such as car. Toyota’s website acts as a quasi sales representative of its models that not only imparts vehicle specifications but also helps the prospective buyer in understanding how he can make the best use of Kluger. The website hosts live footage of people who relate their experiences while using Kluger. The website aims at providing a virtual walk through to the prospective buyer of the interior, exterior and experience of travelling in a Kluger along with the assurance of Toyota so that the buyer may have enough confidence on the Kluger to book a test drive (Toyota charges with Cavalry, 2008). Ans. 2 Product mix or the assortment of cars offered by Toyota, Ford and Honda seem to differ based on the target group of each of the above mentioned companies. While Honda has the shortest product line, Ford has the longest with Toyota ranking in between both of them. Honda has divided its product line mainly on the basis of compact and large cars. Its major models marketed in Australia are: Jazz, City, Insight, Civic Si-Type R (in compact segment) and Accord, Euro, Odyssey, CR-V, Legend (in large car segment). It do es not have a subcompact car nor a mid size or full size SUV (CR-V being compact SUV). Honda does not have a sub-compact car or a top end car in Australia. A major reason could be that Honda does not yet have a manufacturing facility in Australia and it imports all its cars to the continent. Hence, it has maintained a short product line in Australia. Honda’