Literature, Business, and Social Change

Literature offers wide variety of genre depending on the context and expression. It gives fictional and non-fictional attack to its audience that magnifies the society. We use literature to inform the public in whatever objective and intention it may be. According to some literature scholars and professors, literature is the mirror of the society. It gives voice to those who are voiceless, it gives life to the lifeless, and it gives hope to the hopeless. Literature is mostly about the goodness of the society, of the earth.However, because literature is the mirror of the society, some writer attempted to write or describe the flaws of life and weaknesses of humanity to justify both sides of mortal and immortal life. Different kinds of literature vary from different shapes and sizes. All aspects of living are literature – any kind of communication is literature, graffiti is literature, gossip is literature, writing is literature. Therefore, â€Å"almost† everything is par t of literature. Different societal factors used literature to broaden the knowledge of public towards their institution.Other reason is that using literature can be a form of social change. It may not manifest today, there is hope that it will change the future negative situation and strengthen the positive situation of the institutions. Because of the wide variety of literature, different bodies of society used literature and its branches to acknowledge their importance and virtues for the reason that literature brings life to past, present, and future – business culture is one of those. Several books and articles have been written on the intersection between literature and business and/or business ethics.Still, it is one thing to claim that literature can contribute to our understanding of business conduct, but yet another to claim that literature can contribute to the related goal of improving moral conduct in business. (Michaelson, 2005) Past and Present Situation Busine ss through Literature Like any other institutions, the world of business also uses literature to attract customers. The business culture also has its business literature that is used to inform their customers about their products and service. Some of the business literatures are brochures and newsletters.However, questions may be asked about the connection of core literature to the culture of business. Does literature show the history of business? There are different kinds of literature about business like the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, The Pit by Norris Frank, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, and the most familiar literature about business is the Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. The Death of a Salesman is a play in 1949 that described the life of having â€Å"American Dream†. The story of this play substantiates the life of being successful in the world of business along with different conflicts and dilemmas.The main character’s perception towa rds his dream triggers his life to an end. It implies that there is no problem in believing and reaching your goals but you must take the course of problems and pains. In the case of the main character, he takes the course of success in a complex situation that put his life into the grave. This kind of literature in the past show that business will always be business, some win while some lose. However, does this kind of attack in creating a story about business is still necessary in this present times?Many fictional short stories depict business culture and tradition in different aspects. Fables about greed and envy also manifests in the business culture. One example of fable on business is, â€Å"The Dog and The Bone†. A dog held a juicy bone in his jaws as he crossed a bridge over a brook. When he looked down into the water, he saw another dog below with what appeared to be a bigger juicier bone. He jumped into the brook to snatch the bigger bone, letting go his own bone, H e quickly learned of course that the bigger bone was just a reflection, and so he ended up with nothing. (Phillips, n.d. ) This example shows that greed, envy, selfishness, and being self-centered still exist from the past until today. Even if it does not deliberate or used human to describe the situation, it insists that the actions of the dog can be obtained by human in their workplace. However, literature helps us define the changes of business from the past, the present, and the future. It can be seen through the details and collaborations of different stories and essays about business. Past writings about business stated the dream and aim of a person or group of people in the world of business.Present writings show the situation, life, and dilemmas in the workplace. Future writings will soon cover the examples of great businesspersons who monopolized and conquered the business world. One instrumental function of literature is to imitate life, thereby expanding our vision beyond our parochial interests; to see literature merely as a didactic instrument to serve business interests misses the point that literature should expand understanding, our sense of what in addition to business is interesting and valuable.(Michaelson, 359) Business somehow depends on the factor of literature because here is where the culture of business relies – its history, flaws, weaknesses, and strength that might help to overcome the future circumstances. That is why even companies need a story to survive. Genre Specificities in Literature of Business As according to the examples above, genres vary on the context of each scenario or case in the workplace. There are sites like businessballs.com who share their stories, fables, and analogies on business using both human and non-human to be their characters in order to both entertain and acknowledge the potentials and characteristics of the employees as well as the owners when it comes to their career. According to one of the a rticles of New York Times entitled â€Å"The Media Business: Revenge of the Underlings Becomes a Literary Genre†, different forms of literary genres was used in different forms of writings about business.However, the best literary genre that suits the culture of business is realistic fiction as what the play â€Å"The Death of Salesman† implies because through this kind of genre, people can relate to the literary piece and could acquire those lessons to their workplace. Through this, social change within the workplace will be more necessary and trivial for the reason that there are people became dependent towards literature especially during these modern times where a wide variety of literature are available in the market, which brings sociological impact not only to the doer but also to the people around him or her.Literature as a Form of Change in Business Culture In every form of reading, it is the audiences’ responsibility to take action towards what they re ad whether it is for the better of their individuality or not. In business culture, literary pieces played a big role to help business perceive the history, the present and the future of their institution. However, because literature is the mirror of the society and it caters a wide range of genres and context, it should be said that not only good things are shown while negativities of this societal body was hidden.Literature is transparent in everyway; it gives what the public needs to know in order to be informed as one of the purpose of literature. Business literatures are often used to negotiate and close the deals between companies and clients. In this aspect, literature did a great job in participating to the business culture as seeking information and justifications on its products and services. Through this, changes in the business world from its employees up to its owners will manifests in a positive way wherein they could provide much services and accurate details to their customers.Literature and Business Audience When business leaders or even employers and employees read the story of â€Å"The Trench-Digger†, they would realize that despite of circumstances and struggle, a person would do all things just to get a job. Most of the time, we put ourselves in the shoes of other people especially when we are reading a story or watching a movie. When the story ended as what we expect, we will mold ourselves according to the story and will soon act as the main character in order to survive the circumstances that are related to the tale.Through these manifestations, change will occur based on the result of interpretation and observation of the situation of the text. For example, when you read the â€Å"The Trench-Digger†, you will realize that in every work or job, a person should be worth it in a way that he or she must have his or her capabilities from his or her previous jobs. Because experience is one of the most important when finding a job, even a hard task will be done if the person is willing to learn and have an optimistic point of view towards success.As the reader took his of herself to the story, he or she also made a decision for change. Once he or she believed in a certain narrative or writings, it means that he or she is willing to do some actions in his or her workplace. However, it is hard to make a change alone, that is why people who read a story, essay, or anything about change and optimism, they will make their friends or officemates to be enlightened by reading the same text. In this case, change will come from a group of individuals who wanted clarity and sensibility to their workplace.Literature and the Main Purpose of Business We all know that business is a business. It was established to have profit. The main purpose of business is to motivate its people to have income in a way of establishing different strategies and ideas. These issues are already accepted by the society – it cannot be changed. Meanwhile, literature is an implication of transformation. Therefore, these issues of business opposed the essence of literature. We all know that the main purpose of literature is to inform the public about the situation in the society, it also gives data and evidence of history.In this case, literature also implicates negativities and affirmative construction towards the bodies of society. Business’s main purpose was being attacked by literature if it implies teachings that are below the belt like envy, greed, and self-centered perspectives just because they want to earn profit. Literature understands the goal of business as it is but the people or actions behind this body could not be hidden from the mirror of the society. Aside from this, change will be depending on the readers alone because literature held its stand in whatever struggle it may be.Literature, Business, and Social Change Each author has their own perspective on what they write. They also deal wit h the problems of their writings as it conquers the visions of its audience. In the case of business culture, author used ideas that are relevant to the issue that will give information to the public on its essence, importance, as well as its weaknesses. Through this, the desire of the author to change the social environment of the business audience will still depend on its attack and impact to the readers.Authors lay their stand and evidences towards the issues; it is the responsibility of the readers to take the solution as a threat or enlightenment. This paper tells from the beginning up to its end that literature is a way of informing and applying its perspectives to its audience. It brings great social change in business culture because business relies on the ideas and creativity of literature in order to build relationship between the company and its clients. Literature teaches its business audience to deal with the sociological standards of life.It brings sociological impact if the reader will make its life as what the text stated but literature will be senseless if the reader could not do some necessary changes to its workplace because she is afraid to do it or treat literature as insignificant fictional entity of the society. As a whole, literature and business are interrelated factors that mould the society in different level or perspective. We assumed that business is one of the biggest factor to maintain our economic growth, and from this paper, we knew that literature contributed to its evolution and development.In this case, business would be paralyzed in some aspects of expansion without the help of literature. Aside from this, social change in workplace were introduced because of literature as it reveals the situation, cases, and issues of business culture from the past, present, until the future. Therefore, it can be said that business, literature, and social change are interconnected that have certain process of attachment to conduct greater sense of knowledge and responsibility not only in the business culture but also in society as well.References Business Literature. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of Small Business. Retrieved October 18, 2007, from Answers. com Web site: http://www. answers. com/topic/business-literature Chapman, Allan. (1995). Stories and analogies: Illustrations and analogies for motivation, inspiration, learning and training. Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Columbo, R. (n. d. ).The trench-digger story (initiative, self-development, making things happen, career advancement, how to get a job requiring experience when you have none). Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Michaelson, C. (2005). Dealing with Swindlers and Devils: Literature and Business thics. Journal of Business Ethics. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. sprin gerlink. com/content/x1041j786u456g18/ Miller, A. (1976).Death of Salesman. Penguin Paperbacks Philips, J. (n. d. ) The dog and the bone story (be content with what you have, greed and envy seldom pay). Businessballs. com. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://www. businessballs. com/stories. htm#dog_and_the_bone_story Stanley, A. (2002). The Media Business: Revenge of the Underlings Becomes a Literary Genre. New York Times. Retrieved on October 19, 2007 from http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9504E6DF163CF931A25755C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

Rhetorical Analysisi of a Technology

The internet has become the new recreational area of the present and upcoming generations. Discourse communities have evolved greatly over time allowing users to redesign computer mediated communication. Each discourse community is made possible by the use of unique commonplaces where shared values and goals are identified. Active. com facilitates communication among athletes in our nation. Their community emphasizes competition, healthy nutrition and training. Through the use of this discourse community, athletes can take part of a team outside the local environment.In 1998, the Active Network began as an online registration site for tournaments. The company mission is â€Å"to enhance the life of individuals worldwide through technology and marketing solutions that enable and encourage participation† (Dave Alberga). The network now process more than one million transactions of events each year (â€Å"Hystory†). Registration, sales, and donations are processed online w hich allows for paperless transactions, making for a more cost effective and environmentally friendly option.According to journalist S. Marks comment on this discourse community, â€Å"It's among the Web's best tickets to sports and fitness event registration, fitness advice, and more†. In the case of a charity event and fundraisers, members habitually make a decision to participate for the sole cause of serving. This allows members to support a certain event of interest in which they might not be physically participating in, but might offer their support through donations and promotional support through online networking. Members of Active. om may take advantage of numerous tools offered to assist in enhancing athletic performance and improving overall health and fitness. Diet plans are customized for specific fitness and performance goals. There are also various fitness calculators included, ranging from those that calculate Body Mass Index (BMI) to pace rate and maximum he art rate. More in dept nutritional and training support is available through customized programs tailored to an individual’s current status and goals. However, these supplemental services are not free of charge.Training advice, tips and moral support is provided without a fee among the discourse community. The operators of the website provide members with daily advice which may be linked on other discourse community feeds such as Facebook or Twitter. Newsletters are also available via e-mail providing updated information on training trends, athletic event, nutritional and injury prevention tips. There is also advice for other outdoor activities such as camping and fishing which further encourages physical activity and well being.The shared goals of the discourse community: competition, healthy nutrition, and training ultimately form the foundation for overall wellness achieved through physical activity. Online training logs are ideal for logging and tracking fitness and athle tic performance when working towards a goal or seeking overall improvement. The website is fashioned in such manner as to persuade the community to take part in sports and to seek further resources available through subscriptions for sale which are upgraded versions of the free tools offered.Provided that a member desires to have unlimited access to the vast benefits offered by Active. com, it can be acquired at the monthly rate of $9. 99/plus tax. The site is a strong athletic community which uses related advertising as a means to promote the discourse community shared goals and values. The services for sale may be of benefit to novices or athletes who have hit plateau and are seeking expert guidance for reaching their goals, otherwise the free services should suffice member’s needs. The online community unites professional athletes, beginners and fans from different parts of the nation.Users can create their own blogs which provides fans with the ability to keep track of pr ofessionals’ athletes within the community. Others that aspire to become professionals can be discovered by trainers in the same manner. The discourse community endows its members with valuable insight, including updated information, tips, and testimonials by expert coaches, trainers and professional athletes within a specific sport of interest. Members of the community value physical fitness, many of them inspiring to reach and maintain a certain level wellness.Therefore, advice from experienced athletes within the same field of interest is particularly valued within the community. Information shared among members is comprised of tournament instructions, fundraisers and charity events. When users begin a blog page, they often describe and elaborate on their personal experiences, achievements and obstacles encountered during their passionate involvement in a particular sport or activity. Language plays a crucial role in communicating among members when considering the diversi ty in sports lingo and terminology. The lingo used by the members of the discourse community might encourage individuals hat are familiar with the terminology to join and interact with other likeminded individuals. On the other hand, those who are unfamiliar with the sports lingo may be a bit hesitant in joining the discourse community. BMI, fartlek and ratio numeration used to denote training intervals are examples of sports lingo found in this discourse community. However, Active. com does offer various glossaries, articles and newsletters which allow for familiarization of specified terminology. Beginner and â€Å"newbie† selections are available for those just getting started within a particular sport.Members of the discourse community are encouraged to use sports lingo while active members of the site, this facilitates transition from novice to intermediate and so forth. People of the discourse community may browse for a team to join, a sports camp or retreat to register for or simply network with people nationwide with similar athletic interests. Millions of members visit Active. com each year to learn improvement techniques of the sport practiced and explore the website as this offers infinite number of activities available for members (â€Å"Our Communities Connect People with Things they Love to Do†).The benefits of the discourse community includes a facilitated activity calendar for athletic events where athletes are able to record times of previous competitions making their performance trends available for viewing by other community members. Members involved in this discourse community have the ability to create an online identity by creating a profile. Users are allowed to describe their interest on their profiles and write their plans which are referred to as their â€Å"status†. Blogs created by each member have the potential to inspire and motivate the rest of the community to reach and achieve their fitness/athletic goals.T he discourse community shapes the identity of users by allowing them to identify with the context of the web page at the same time the users fit into place in blogs and tournaments of their level of training. By uploading video format and pictures, members may generate a dynamic space allowing communication through a more visual means. Members of the community typically upload pictures of themselves, as well as, pictures of previous competitions in which they participated in. Occasionally, some people will upload pictures of their children participating in sports.The site is welcoming to people of all body types, genders and racial/ethnic groups. Profile pictures of members as posted vary from the very athletic physique to the not so athletic. Fans are capable of following blogs by bookmarking members or creating online friends. The friendship created among users often resembles that of a coworker which post and answer each other’s blogs. If a member is interested on having a closer friendship, private messages can be sent to arrange for chatting or other activities.The users are allowed a display name or real name along with a picture or an avatar character representation. A URL web address is provided which can be accessed by members and nonmembers of the community. The language of the discourse community is to be understood among its like minded members of the community. Common places regarding to the role of each member in the community plays are described on the website. Each member is assigned a level according to points accumulated, mimicking recognition given to professional athletes by assigned nicknames coined by fans and coaches.The lowest level is called â€Å"rookie† with zero starts, and the highest level is called â€Å"we’re not worthy† which has five starts. The starts and points are awarded by initiating posting and by replying helpful answers. The points can be interchanged by prizes to include free training subsc ription from the site. The website operates under appropriate vocabulary etiquette. Comments, posts, and blogs that do not attach to the agreed etiquette behaviors are erased by the operators of the website. The primary commonplace of the discourse community is the logo of the website followed by the common place of each particular group.Due to the wide variety of sports that the website offers, the names of the sports are displayed as a list to avoid confusion among disciplines. The main page of the website displays several pictures and related links to associated articles while the member’s and groups profiles have a plain white background with one or two pictures. People’s reasons for participating in an online community may vary from person to person. Some reasons may include convenience, a broader community network which includes participants of all levels and practicality of services and tools offered online.People functioning under unusual agendas might benefit from the online space as they have the conveniences of simply logging in from any available computer with internet connectivity. This kind of convenience allows for staying current with blog friends, as well as keeping up to par with current community news and online feeds (Uwe Matzat). Members who belong to an athletic team may communicate, plan and schedule an event through this network of communication. This kind of discourse community may also be the perfect motivational tool for a novice of prospective athlete.People of all walks of life may find inspiration and support from this community since it is comprised of a diverse target population. The social status of the target audience is primarily middle class to upper class and the age targeted might vary according to articles, blogs, and groups that member belong to. For example, a mother of a family might find joy reading articles related to getting her children more involved in outdoor activities that involve the whole family , such as camping. In the same manner a teenage boy may find it more appealing to participate in group events such as marathon running.Residential and non-residential training camps are available for children and adult alike. A residential training camp consists of lodging for training session lasting more than one day, whereas non-residential involves a one day session. This unique social form of networking allows for athletes of all levels to come together in sharing advice, anecdotes and experiences related to a common athletic interest. The website ideology shapes people to be better athletes and eat healthy as the affinity group ideology is based on competition, healthy nutrition and training. Enthusiastic and inspirational individuals are found within the numerous communities which promote and support physical activity and wellness through participation in the various existent sports.Works CitedDave Alberga. â€Å"About Active Network†. 2008. Active Network. Accessed Oc tober 15, 2010 from http://mediakit. activenetwork. com/About_Active_Network. htm â€Å"History†. 2010. Active Network. Accessed October 15, 2010 from http://www. activenetwork. com/about/corporate-overview/history. htm Susan J Marks. â€Å"Clicks and misses†. 2002.Bloomer Business Week. Accessed October 16, 2010 from http://www. businessweek. com/technology/content/apr2002/tc20020419_3319. htm â€Å"Our Communities Connect People with Things they Love to Do†. 2010. Active Network. Accessed October 15, 2010 from http://www. activenetwork. com/online-communities. htm Uwe Matzat. â€Å"Reducing problems of sociability in online communities: Integrating online communication with offline interaction†. 2010. American Behavioral Scientist. Accessed October 16, 2010 from http://www. umatzat. net/matzat_ABS. pdf

Julius Caesar Cause and Effect Essay

Kaya Lawrance Mrs. Ham Honors English 2 March 7th, 2012 Julius Caesar Cause and Effect Essay: A Leader's Fateful Decision: Decisions. Decisions are what make the world go round. Without them, time would be frozen, never moving forward. They are the choices people make that determine our future. Some decisions are hard, some are easy. But, no matter what decisions are made, they will always end with the same result: an effect. So, it's important that people go through the decision making process to eventually come to a final choice. Everyone has to make many decisions every day that affect our lives.Julius Caesar also had to make many decisions that had substantial results. But, only one of his decisions stood out from all the others. Only one decision would determine his rue fate. This essay will talk about the causes and effects of Julius Caesar's significant decision to be present at the Senate meeting or not. This determines his tragic fate in a matter of life or death. Caesar had to make the fateful decision of going to the Senate meeting or not. Although almost every sign warns him against going to the meeting, he makes the stubborn decision to go anyways, which eventually leads to his violent, timeless death.This decision has many powerful effects on the people, the conspirators, and Rome. But, it also has many causes or events that led up to it. So, some questions come up: Do the events that led up to Caesar's decision overweigh the effects of his choice? Or vice versa? The main question is: which choice is the better choice? Causes: There are many causes of Caesar's final decision. Many of these causes, though, may be better identified as warnings or signs against his attendance at the Senate meeting. At the beginning of the book, Caesar appears at a race in which he is confronted by a Soothsayer telling him, â€Å"Beware of the Ides of March. (1. 2. 21) He thinks nothing of it and tells the Soothsayer to move on. Caesar remains blind of this warning w hile Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators plot his hematic murder. Dramatic Irony is when the readers know what something that the character does not know. Dramatic Irony applies to this because readers know that the conspirators are plotting to kill Caesar while he is not aware that they are. Another â€Å"warning sign† that he should not go to the Senate meeting occurs on March 15 (Ides of March) right before the meeting.Calphurnia describes how she has had strange and frightful dreams of Caesar's stature pouring our blood while happy citizens of Rome bathe their hands in it. Calphurnia sees this as an omen, and since she does not usually believe in omens, she is frightened by them now and believes this one to be a true omen. A servant also warns Caesar, â€Å"They would not have you to stir forth today. Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, they could not find a heart within the beast. â€Å"(2. 2. 40-42) This is another warning sign for the reason of findin g a fault or difference in a sacrificed animal meant bad luck in his time.Although he ignores the Servant’s news out of his own confident arrogance, he decides to stay because of his wife's unsettling whim. But after Decius appears with plans to escort Caesar to the Senate House, Decius convinces him to go with quick and sly words. â€Å"This dream is all amiss interpreted; It was all a vision fair and fortunate. Your stature spouting blood in many pipes, in which so many smiling Romans bathed, signifies that from you great Rome shall suck reviving blood, and that great men shall press for tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.This by Calphurnia's dream is signified,†(2. 2. 87-94) Decius lies through his teeth to change Caesar's mind. He describes how the people will think he is a coward for not going, and how he would receive the crown if he went. The arrogant Caesar changed his mind in a heartbeat, blinded by his fear of looking foolish. Effects: The effects of C aesar's decision to go to the Senate meeting were great, affecting all of Rome in many ways over a long period of time. Of course the main effect of this is his own death.If he would have only listened to the soothsayers warning, taken Calphurnia's warnings into consideration, listened to the servants message, and had just allowed fear to overpower his over confidence – he would have stayed home and lived. He could then see how blind he had been all along. He would be able to see his true self without the mask of arrogance and complete foolishness. But, fate is inescapable. Even if he had not decided to go to the Senate, he would have met his final resting place – somehow. So, do the events that led up to Caesar's decision overweigh the effects of his choice?Yes, the causes or events that led up to his death are very good reasons why Caesar should not have gone to the Senate meeting. There were many warnings against him going and Calphurnia's dream almost made it so cl ear that he shouldn't go that it was just foolish to go. Caesar knew that it was a bad idea to go and that the effects of going could be bad. He knew something bad was going to happen, yet his own wretched personality destroyed his life. Two lessons can be learned from this event: 1. don’t allow the faults of your own personality affect your better judgment. 2. â€Å"Men at some time are masters of their fates. â€Å"(1. 2. 146)

Modernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Modernity - Essay Example Berman says modern humans â€Å"are moved at once by a will to change †¦ and by a terror of disorientation and disintegration, of life falling apart† (Berman, 1982). Change frightens us even as we long for it. â€Å"To be modern is to live a life of paradox and contradiction. †¦ It is to be both revolutionary and conservative: alive to new possibilities for experience and adventure, frightened by the nihilistic depths to which so many modern adventures lead† (Berman, 1982). In capitalistic society, it is argued that the consumer is the master by reason of making the choice to purchase or not purchase. Berman says this is not really the case. Availability of options only begins the list of restrictions. â€Å"Poor people can't get lawyers in a country that is glutted with them; the HMOs have abolished the autonomy of physicians; college professors are often glorified fundraisers† (Hitchins, 1999). The World Trade Center of New York City is an architectural example of the modern. Berman describes it as â€Å"isolated †¦ it gave off hostility† as compared to the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. â€Å"[The Port Authority’s] idea of safety involved repelling the people. The slab shape †¦ grew out of an aesthetic voiced best by Le Corbusier, who said that in order to have modern planning we have to ‘kill the streets.’ For him the street epitomized disorder and chaos† (Berman, 2002).

Massachusetts Social Services and Information Technology Case Study

Massachusetts Social Services and Information Technology - Case Study Example In addition to his, the state legislature would pass a bond for Information Technology, which the agency targeted. In order to receive it, the agency must submit a justification request for the fund, which included an examination of both the two failed projects. The first failed project had a $20 million budget while the second one, still under development, had a $32 million budget. The state legislature approved the funding, giving the agency an obligation of ensuring this project succeeded. In order to do this, they analyzed the agency’s services, organizational culture and the current challenges that developers may face (Garson, 2006). One such project is the Information systems’ project at the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), which is an agency branch for Health and Human Services. This department deals with complex, unstructured and a large amount of information including tracking recipients of services, welfare benefits applications, scanning fingerpri nts and electronic benefits card issuing. In addition to this, Policies in the federal governments constantly change, at least four times in a year thus affecting any rule that already exists. The agency provides aid to families in different ways including childcare, food stamps, and families with dependent children, emergency aid to children, disabled and the elderly, emergency assistance, supplemental security income, and employment services program. Because of the variety of these services, social workers, as well as clients move from one place to another, meeting different people in order to receive services. The processes are complicated and tiresome. In addition to these, social workers must ensure that benefiters are genuine and deserving of the services by racking their backgrounds and history of benefits. The organizational realized that an effective ay of dealing with these problems would be adopting an Information system, which would facilitate speed and make duties of th e social workers easy. The system would store client information and make tracking them easy. All information systems projects require feasibility studies that examine the possibility of their successes. Failure to carry out these studies or poorly carried out feasibility studies leads to failures of projects. Poor feasibility studies lead to poor planning, documentation, staffing, budgeting, and scheduling. In addition to these, other issues such as organizational and cultural issues, as well as under estimation of scope and complexities are contributing factors to the failure. The planning and management team in the initial project failed to plan for the system. The system developers designed and documented it poorly. In addition to this, system was written in COBOL, which is difficult to understand and document. To ensure success of this project, the agency’s management The state governor appoints a commissioner who heads the agency’s department. At the initial stag es of the project, the commissioner was an employee from the career department from Field and Eligibility operations. A deputy commissioner was also appointed, from the Field and Eligibility Operations. The department has positions for administration and finance, procedure and program management and MIS, policy, who are all appointed from the Field an

Comparative and contrast between The United State Of America and Essay

Comparative and contrast between The United State Of America and Australia - Essay Example This relative isolation allowed both nations to develop largely without constant interference from the established powers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Being left to sort out their own problems has led to an isolationist mindset for many Australians and Americans. It has also given both nations a strong feeling of independence and self-sufficiency. These ideals can be seen glamorized by stereotypes such as John Wayne and Crocodile Dundee in the American and Australian cinema. While these characters are stereotypes, they do give insight into virtues both Australians and Americans value, namely, toughness, resiliency and independence. While geography can influence the character of a group of people, other things such as the history and the development of a national identity can be even greater determinants of character. This is one area where Americans and Australians differ greatly. Both were established as colonies by the United Kingdom. This gave them both their individual versions of the English language complete with accents. But that is where the similarities end. America’s impressive string of global achievements has caused Americans to be a very patriotic people. Symbols of the United States, such as the national flag, are very important and are treated with respect. Americans are very proud of their accomplishments as a nation and expect others to respect America as well . Australia, on the other hand, has less of a national fervor concerning patriotism Australians never moved inland from their coastal cities. Therefore, they view themselves more as individual regions than as a nation. Recent clai ms have been made that Australians are increasingly viewing themselves as patriotic, but in a very different way than Americans exhibit their patriotism. A final similarity and difference between the two nations is their governmental and economic structures. Both Americans and Australians live in free democratic

Planning Commission Meeting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Planning Commission Meeting - Assignment Example The issues at hand included pollution due to poor disposal of wastes, carbon gas emissions due to transportation and use of fossil fuel. Protection of water catchment areas from industrial pollution was also a major concern which prompted the constitution of the commission. The agenda for the meeting was set by Rebecca Devooght as the chairperson of the commission. It appears the issue on environmental sustainability through reducing pollution has been a concern and a point of discussion for the last 10 years or so since it emanated from the late 90’s, though major escalating factors arose in 2007 leading to the formation the commission to look into the green-house gas process (Birch and Wachter, 60). Planning Commission members: The planning commission on environmental sustainability was composed of women and men in a manner to put into consideration gender balance. It had four males and four females. The males were Fred Bauries, Paul Cervenak, Bill Hartwig and Stephen Wooden while the females were Rebecca Devooght, Emily Fleury- vice Chair, Lynsey Clayton and Julie Jones-Fisk During the meeting every member contributed where others raised the contentious questions while the others provided the responses. Suggestions provided were discussed with the opinion of the members well incorporated and therefore it was an all inclusive participation for all the members of the commission. This implies that the findings of the commission are a genuine representation of the views of all members representing the different groups. During the meeting, various aspects of planning were considered in reviewing the possibility of coming up with a practical plan for sustainable environment in the city. Questions came up on the comparison of how the recycling facilities were being applied in other citities. This included practicability and efficiency of using such recycling facilities. The modalities and methods of making the recycling system more practical and applicable w ere explored and finally, it was concluded that it was better to use cans in collecting garbage and the cans should be colored differently to give the users an easy time in identifying which type of garbage should go in each can. This would make the cans easy to use and would provide room for easy recycling of the garbage as the materials will be sorted according to classes and the ability to be recycled or not. The aspect of cost of such a system also came up as to whether it was possible to develop other means which were more efficient in terms of providing energy but at lower cost. The other challenge the commission encountered was in trying to establish who was responsible for what kind of planning among the various interest groups. It was difficult to establish this because the recycling of materials such as furniture and garbage was done at different times of the year by different groups (Birch and Wachter, 152). Even if a recycling center was established, it was difficult to engage a constant and efficient recycling staff who could do this regularly without being underutilized. The students could be disposing their furniture or garbage at a particular time while businessmen and women would tend to dispose garbage on a regular basis. This is an activism commission which is trying to put checks on the city council of management. The issue of environmental sustainability is an issue that

The Power of Advertising in Modern Society Essay

The Power of Advertising in Modern Society - Essay Example The power of advertisements is immediately linked to their use of imagery and their sponsorship of commercial media. While the majority express a dismissive attitude towards advertisements and claim to be unaffected by them, available figures support an alternate reality. Steinberg emphasises this point when highlighting the financial resources which companies set aside for advertisements per season. In 2008, 30-second Super Bowl ads sold for $3 million (para 1). As exorbitant as this figure may sound, every single ad spot was sold and networks were pressured to provide more advertising slots. The reason, as Steinberg explains, is that advertising makes financial sense. The Super Bowl, for example, is viewed by almost 100 million people across the United States, with the implication being that Super Bowl ads give companies the opportunity to deliver their commercial message to 100 million people in just 30 seconds (Steinberg, para 6-8). Within the context of the stated, the $3 million figure is an investment in the popularisation of a brand/product and an attempt to persuade 100 million people to, at least, consider purchase. Accordingly, while most claim that they are unaffected by advertisements, the sums which companies invest in the purchase of prime-time advertisement spots tells a very different story. The power of advertisements does not only derive from their primetime placement but from their use of imagery. ... 185-186). For example, the images which Calvin Klein employs in its jeans ads are not just selected for the purpose of depicting the product but of portraying all that which may potentially be associated with the product. This includes sex appeal, charisma and an aura of success and popularity, among others. The point here is that the power of an advertisement and its ability to attract the attention of consumers is almost entirely dependant upon its use and selection of visuals. The fact that advertisements draw their power from images, rather than words, maximises their appeal and potential for attraction. As may be inferred from Moeller's analysis of the importance of imagery, the power of images lies in that they are open to interpretation and that viewers can, to an extent, impose their on meanings and values upon them (para 5-9). Unlike words where meaning is explicitly state, leaving little for the imposition of subjective interpretations, images provide viewers with the freedom to impose their own meaning and interpretations upon them. The implication here is that visuals can be personalized. Hence, the power of ads does not simply derive from the images which they use but from the fact that viewers have the freedom to impose personal meanings upon these images. Whether or not people choose to openly admit it, ads wield power. The imagery which they use influences our perceptions and their very presence provides us with media content. As Steve Hall explains, the production of media content is very costly and corporations only undertake the expenses involved for the purposes of profiting. Insofar as television content is concerned, whether sporting events or popular serials, advertisements cover the costs and generate the profits

Summarize Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Summarize - Essay Example m 1960 to 1990 fuelled by donors’ emphasis on basic education, there has been little or no response of economic growth to this educational explosion. This in part, is due to the lack of association between growth in schooling and GDP growth as has been noted in several studies. There is a negative and insignificant relationship evident in the comparison drawn between Asia and Africa. Also, a similar study found that there is no relationship between growth in years of schooling and per capital GDP growth. Another study found that disparity in growth across nations have little to do with variations in human capital growth. To mention but three. Although physical capital and human capital growth may have failed to explain variations in growth, some economists assert that physical capital and human capital can explain the large international variations in income. Such was the endeavor of Gregory Mankiw who points out that â€Å"income in the long run in the Solow model is determined by saving in the form of physical capital and by saving in the form of human capital.† To reconcile his position with the nonrelation of growth in output to growth in human capital, Mankiw ties up some loose ends: in the Solow framework (as applied to poor countries) by adding human capital; of the slow growth of poor countries by holding that once capital accumulation and education are controlled for, poor countries did tend to grow fast; and of the lack of capital flow to poor countries by supposing that physical capital as opposed to human capital could move across countries. Easterly identifies three problems with Mankiw’s relationship between secondary enrollement (which he uses as his measure of human capital saving) and income. Firstly, secondary education is not a sufficient measure of educational accumulation so that Mankiw overstated the variation of education in general by a narrowed concentration on it alone. Secondly, to â€Å"assume that capital flow would equalize rates of

Spaghetti western Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Spaghetti western - Research Paper Example In this respect, the term ‘Spaghetti’ initially was meant to downgrade this genre of films, but later on, the films came to be appreciated due to the artistic innovativeness of the producers, despite their lean budgets. Therefore, Spaghetti westerns achieved global recognition due to their unequalled distinctness and uniqueness in style and creativity, as opposed to the traditional American Hollywood style. Most critics point out that Spaghetti Western emerged at the onset of Sergio Leone’s filmmaking style; this style is evidently depicted in Leone’s trilogy of films that have gained global acclamation ever since their release in the ‘60’s up to date. The leading role in this trilogy was played by Clint Eastwood, and the sound track was done by Ennio Morricone; after the massive success of this trilogy Leone, Eastwood and Morricone became household names in the film industry for their exceptional ability at directing, acting and composition re spectively. Leone’s Spaghetti westerns are discernible through a number of ways; firstly, even though they are based on the traditional American western film, Leon’s concept of the west is exaggerated in all its aspects. In other words, Leone portrays west that is wilder and more realistic than the usual one, and this contextual setting provides the overall tone of his films (Scherpschutter & Lindberg). From his films, it is evident that unlike traditional American westerns, the Spaghetti westerns have a strong tone that is characterized with extreme violence and ruthlessness. Spaghetti Westerns exaggerates the American lifestyle and context to highlight the conflicts in the film, a technique that makes them exceptionally forceful, unlike the American westerns. Being so much action oriented, dialogue in the spaghetti westerns is very scarce and obscure as it is accompanied with esoteric sounds tracks. For instance, Morricone’s sound tracks were characterized by unusual sounds such as rapid gunshots, cracking whips and whistles, in addition to the trumpets, the electric guitar and the harp. These unusual sound tracks played a very fundamental role in the spaghetti western film, in that they help to enhance the drama and suspense in the films. Thus, the spaghetti westerns have been likened to the classical opera that hugely relied on the musical element to explicate its storyline. Just like in the opera, the spaghetti westerns rely on the music to illustrate their storylines in detail, in order to make it comprehensible to the viewership. Spaghetti western directors infused aspects of the Italian culture (characterized by brashness and wacky tensions) into their stories; this is embodied in the violence depicted by the Mexican bandits. This Italian cultural aspect is further highlighted through close range camera visuals of the actors’ face reactions and their guns, and together with the bizarre sound tracks;  these aspects help in building up the tensions in the spaghetti western films (â€Å"Spaghetti Westerns and Italian Culture†). Spaghetti western films are also renowned for their atypical hero characters that don’t strike as sympathetic, but instead have tendencies typical to the villain of the story. In other word, the hero is more like the villain, always dirty and untidy, sometimes

I'm Still Human Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

I'm Still Human - Essay Example Racism is a perfect example. Whites have always been marked as superior to the blacks in the United States and the blacks have been negatively stereotyped. Although many efforts have been taken since decades for uniting the human race and sorting out the differences between them, these problems still exist in our society where a particular group of people are sidelined and neglected (Biss 2008). This inferiority is not just assigned to a particular group on the basis of their physical appearance but also owing to their mental skills and capabilities. I can truly relate to this with my life as I have a son who suffers from autism and I have taken care of him for eight years after his condition was identified. My child was diagnosed with autism at the age of four years and though he is in possession of great skills and abilities, he is looked down upon owing to his disease which makes him different from other children. The article, â€Å"Autism: Why Some Children ‘Bloom’ and Overcome Their Disabilities† sheds light upon the positive outcomes that can be obtained in autistic children if early interventions are prescribed in these children. While going through this article, I assessed the importance of the need of optimism and positivity in the life of autistic children. It triggered thoughts in my mind regarding my son and how proper support and interventions can actually make his life better. Autistic children are not received with warmth and love in our society. They are sidelined and are not judged on the basis of their positive traits but are rather judged on the basis of their shortcomings. This makes their progress and development worse (Szalavitz 2012 a). Children suffering from autism are not treated well in our society and this can clearly be assessed by the report of a recent research. The results of the research revealed that young school going children who suffered from autism were bullied five

Knitted fabrics Essay Example for Free

Knitted fabrics Essay Weft-knitting fabric is made from continuous lengths of yarn, which is fed across the width of the fabric by a series of needles. Weft knits can be unravelled and if a stitch is dropped it will run down the length of the fabric, so weft-knitting fabric cannot be cut like woven fabric. This kind of knitting produces soft, comfortable that has variable stretch, depending on the structure. Hand made weft knitting can be make one off designer products, such as jumpers or cushions industrial computer-controlled knitting machines produced around 90 per cent of jersey, rib and jacquard fabrics. Warp-knitting fabrics are made on straight or circular CAD/CAM knitting machines. Each loop of the fabric is fed by its own separate yarn, which is fed into the knitting zone parallel to the fabric selvedge. These loops interlock vertically, along the length of the fabric. Warp knits have some elasticity, do not ladder and cant be unravelled. Although they can be cut like woven fabrics, warp knits have a limited application for clothing being mainly used for swimwear leisure and underwear linings laces ribbons and trimmings they are also used for net curtains furnishing and bed linen. Warp knits are mainly used in industrial end- uses including geotextiles. This is the most used weave construction, which can provide endless design variation though the use of plain, thick, and thin, fancy and coloured yarns plain weave is strong firm, and hardwearing and is used for many types of fabrics and end-uses, i. e. calico, gingham, muslin. calico is plain weave low-cost cotton fabric, made in different weights and widths, suitable for experimental textiles work. A fashion designer will often use calico to make a prototype garment to help in the development of the flat pattern for a new design. Interior designers sometimes used calico foe making low-budget furnishing. Voile is a lightweight plain weave sheer fabric made from cotton, silk, rayon, nylon or worsted. It used for blouses, dresses, childrens wear, and curtains. Ripstop nylon is a high performance plain weave fabric in witch some of the warp and weft are doubled up at intervals in a warp and weft. Twill weave products fabric with diagonal lines witch generally run bottom left to top right on the fabric face. Weaving twills in different directions produces weave variations, such as herringbone or chevron. Twill weave drapes well and is one of the most used weave constructions, making fabrics such as gabardine or denim. Twill is used for a wide range of products such as jackets, suit, trousers and curtains. viyella is a 2/2 twill fabric woven from wool/cotton blend fibres in the warp and weft. Viyella fabrics are 55%wool 45%cotton and can have plain, checked or striped they are used for products such as shirts dresses and childrens wear.

Effect of Substance Abuse on Child Upbringing

Effect of Substance Abuse on Child Upbringing Need for Treatment Women with children According to Miller (2001), the number of substance abuse treatment facilities for mothers with young children is very limited and therefore, implementation of local outpatient programs is very important to meet their specific treatment needs. Substance abuse treatment for single mothers is given a lower importance than the sufficient provision of their children in terms of safety and physical needs (Miller, 2001). Treatment of substance abuse and prevention of lifetime relapse requires various approaches (Miller, 2001). According to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (as cited in Miller, 2001), more than one-third of females who abused drug have undergone major depressive episodes and shown symptoms of mental health problems. Therefore, women who are abusing substance are more likely to experienced mental health problems as well. On the other hand, there is a high possibility that they will end up becoming the victims of domestic violence or experience partner violen ce (Miller, 2001). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (as cited in Miller, 2001) stated that when problems regarding domestic violence failed to be addressed, it will interfere with the effectiveness of treatment and might lead to relapse. Moreover, the high rate of women involving in the legal system is also associated with substance abuse (Miller, 2001). Furthermore, women who are involved in substance abuse lack parenting skills, overreact with harsh discipline or neglecting their children due to their previous experience with same dysfunctional family patterns during their childhood years (Miller, 2001). By looking from the social learning perspective, this means that they are unaware that their children are seeing them as role model and might follow their footsteps in abusing substance. Need for treatment success In order to achieve successful participation in substance abuse treatment, the various needs of patients need to be known. Miller (2001) stated that mother with young children will only be able to focus on her addiction after basic needs such as food, shelter, and water of the family were addressed. Therefore, if any of the needs are affected, it may cause the mother to abandon the ongoing treatment. Besides that, in order for the treatment to be successful, clients must believe or have a positive perception towards the treatment that it will help them alleviate their addiction. Catalano, Ashery, Robertson, and Kumfer (as cited in Miller, 2001), found that including parenting program to clients in substance abuse treatment will significantly decrease the chances of relapse after treatment besides improving preservation because these clients believe that having good parenting skills is important. Miller (2001) pointed out several steps that can ensure a successful treatment program. One of it is to remove attendance barriers by permitting mothers to bring along their children to participate in the treatment program. Besides that, providing child care, training skills for children, and knowledge on substance abuse will make way for the identification of their emotional and behavioural problems. Likewise, providing parenting skills training and support services will help mothers with young children to increase their self-esteem. According to Miller (2001), he stated that funding basis is very important to develop and expand substance abuse treatment program in order to promote and nurture better stability in families by helping mothers to deal with their addiction while at the same time to become a better parent to the children. Amongst child welfare cases in which parents are having substance abuse is concomitant with increasing rates of child re-victimization, higher possibility of out-of-home placement, longer placement in care, and higher rates of child adoption and parental rights termination (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). Therefore, it is important to focus on several needs and factors besides addressing treatment barriers to ensure the success of treatment completion. One of the ways to ensure treatment completion is with the introduction of Family Treatment Drug Courts (FTDC). According to Kaufman and Oliveros (n.d.), several studies on FTDCs found that they are associated with a better substance abuse treatment initiation, lengthier stay in treatment, lesser days in out-of-home placement for children, higher frequency of family reunification, and higher chances of treatment completion. Kaufman and Oliveros (n.d.) continued to state that parents who attended FTDC and have completed the treatment quicker have almost 90 percent chance of reunification and have their children returned. A study found in the work of Kaufman and Oliveros (n.d.) suggested that it is important to work with extended family and natural supports to enhance permanency outcomes for children. Creating cross-system collaborations and placing a substance abuse specialist in child welfare institutions seems to be an effective strategy for increasing intake rates (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). Motivational Interviewing (MI), a person-centered and collaborative form of counselling that stimulates and reinforces motivation for change is an extremely effective approach to improve treatment initiation and completion as well increase treatment entry among substance abuser (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). Furthermore, substance abuse treatment initiation can be enhanced by outreach and engagement strategies (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). Outreach and engagement strategies are also effective at increasing substance abuse treatment completion rates when used with FTDC (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). On the other hand, today, FTDC and the newly developed home-based treatment intervention for substance abuse seem to be the most promising treatment program to improve treatment outcomes (Kaufman Oliveros, n.d.). Home-based substance abuse treatment program has an advantage of dealing with poverty related treatment barriers by bringing the program to those who cannot afford to access other substance abuse treatment programs. Treatment approaches that are delivered must not only emphasize on reducing the symptom but must also increase environmental stability and improve social functioning (Belcher, Briggs, Suarez, Titus, 2012). In order to achieve treatment success, structural resources that assist bonds among providers must be developed or enhanced to nurture more integrated service sectors (Belcher et al., 2012). Treatment services can only be fully integrated after changes are implemented across the whole system rather than within individual treatment programs (Belcher et al., 2012). Berlin (2002) stated four main common concerns that every treatment should have. The first concern is that treatment must be multi-dimensional and comprehensive by identifying numerous domains. Treatment must also include resources or access to services. Next, family therapy must be included to enhance communication among family members besides improving parental and guidance skills. The last concern is that after-care mu st be included in order to prevent relapse from occurring. Pressing Problems Parents who abuse substance are associated with the significant increase risk of child maltreatment and it is frequently under reported by child protective services (Bellettiere, Chuang, Cross, Wells, 2013). Family functioning and the well-being of children are also at risk when parents abuse drugs and alcohol (Bellettiere et al., 2013). Besides that, there is a high possibility that caregivers who abuse substance will engage health risk behaviours and mistreat the children in their care (Bellettiere et al., 2013). On the other hand, the children of parents who abuse alcohol and drugs will probably experience problems in terms of their emotion and behaviour as well as cultivate their own substance abuse in their later stage of adolescence and early adulthood (Bellettiere et al., 2013). A number of costly and alarming social problems can be associated directly to drug dependence. Recent studies estimated that the United States government has to spend around 67 billion dollars annually in crime, low productivity of work, foster care, and other social problems caused by drug dependence (Kleber, Lewis, McLellan, O’Brien, 2000). Volkow and colleagues (as cited in Kleber et al., 2000) found that the dopamine system of individuals who abstain from using cocaine was impaired three months after their last use. Other studies (as cited in Kleber et al., 2000) found that there was sustained variations in the stress response system after former substance users abstain from using opiate or cocaine. The response of encountering an individual or something that is earlier associated with drug use that might create conditioned physiological reactions and craving for the drug can combine to produce the feeling of loss of control (Kleber et al., 2000). The relapse frequencies which were reported to be very high are a clear sign of the negative reinforcement that alcohol and drugs have on people (Berlin, 2002). Alcohol causes more than 150,000 deaths each year and alcohol kills more Americans compared to other drugs other than tobacco which caused 440,000 deaths annually (Wu, 2005). Alcohol consumption has a negative effect on the central nervous system and brain that will cause those who consume alcohol to be aggressive and engage in risk taking behaviours (Wu, 2005). National Institute on Drug Abuse (as cited in Wu, 2005) stated that marijuana might induce impairment of short term memory, attention span, judgment skills, coordination and balance, learning skills, and other cognitive functions. The withdrawal symptoms of marijuana include irritability, restlessness, decreased appetite, insomnia, tremor, chills, and increased body temperature (Fisher Harrison, 2013). Besides that, cocaine will cause someone to have decreased appetite and sleep, increased heart rate, muscle spasms, and convulsions (Wu, 2005). The withdrawal symptoms of cocaine include intense drug craving, irritability, dep ression, anxiety, and lethargy (Fisher Harrison, 2013).

HMMs Pattern Recognition

HMMs Pattern Recognition Assignment 3 of Pattern recognition is on HMMs. It should contain a detailed report on HMMs. The topics covered should include: 1. An introduction to HMM and its uses. 1. Problems of HMM, their explanation and relation to prior, posterior, and evidence. 2. Solution to the problems of HMM and their algorithms. Pattern Recognition Assignment # 3 Name: Muhammad Sohaib Jamal An Introduction to HMM and its Uses A Hidden Markov Model HMM is a stochastic model which has a series of observable variable X which is generated by hidden state Y. In an indirect way HMM consist of hidden states which has output that is comprised of a set of observations. Simple Markov Model models the states are directly observables means the states are directly output while in HMM the states are hidden and different form the observables or output. HMM is very reliable model for probabilistic estimation. HMM have applications in pattern recognitions such as speech recognition, gesture and hand writing recognition, computational Bioinformatics, etc. Suppose we are considering three trails of a coin toss experiment and the person who is observing only know the results of the experiment when another person announces the result who is hidden in a closed room from the person noting the results. The result of this coin experiment can be any set of heads and tails e.g. THT, HHH, THH, TTT, THT etc. The person observing the results can get any sequence of heads and tails, and it is not possible to predict any specific sequence that will occur. The Observation Set is completely unpredictable and random. Lets assume that the third trail of coin toss experiment will produce more Head than the Tails. The resulting sequence will obviously have more number of heads then tails for this particular case. This is called Emission probability denoted by Bj(O). Now we suppose that the chance of flipping the third trail after the first and second trail is approximately zero. Then, the transition from 1st and 2nd trail to 3rd trail will be actually very small and as an outcome yields very little number heads if the person starts flipping the coin from 2nd trail to 3rd trail. This is called Transition probability denoted by aij. Assume that each trail has some probability associated with the previous trail, then the person will start the process of flipping from that particular coin. This is known to be the Initial probability denoted by à Ã¢â€š ¬i. The sequence of number of heads or tails is known to be the observables and the number of trail is said to be the state of the HMM. HMM is composed of: N number of hidden states S1, S2 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦., SN M number of observations O1, O2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, OM The à Ã¢â€š ¬i (Initial state probability) Output Probability or Emission Probability B: P (OM | SN), where OM is observation and SN is the state. Transition probability matrix A = [ aij ]. Transition probabilities aij. Mathematically the model is represented as HMM ÃŽÂ » = {ÃŽÂ  , A, B} Problems of HMM and their explanations HMM has three basic types of problems: The Evaluation problem: Suppose we have an HMM, complete with transition probabilities aij and output probabilities bjk. We need to determine the probability that a particular sequence of observables states OT was generated by that model. The Decoding problem: The transition probabilities, output probabilities and set of observations OT is given and we want to determine the most likely sequence of hidden states ST that led to those observations. The Learning problem: In such problem the number of states and observation are given but we need to find the probabilities aij and bjk. With the given set of training observations, we will determine the probabilities aij and bjk. Relation of HMM to Prior, Posterior and evidence The à Ã¢â€š ¬i (Initial state probability) is analogous to the Prior probability. Because the initial probability is given before the set of experiments take place. This property of initial probability is identical to that of prior probability. Similarly, the output probability or emission probability B: P (OM | SN) is analogous to the posterior probability. The posterior probability is used in forward backward algorithm. In the same manner, evidence is the probability the next state is C given that the current state is state Sj. So the evidence is analogous to the transition probability A. Solution to the problems of HMM and their algorithms From the above mentioned discussion, we know that there are three different of problems in HMM. In this section we will briefly know how these problems are solved Evaluation problem, this type of problem is solved the using Forward-Backward algorithm. Decoding problem, for such type of HMM problem we use the Viterbi algorithm or posterior decoding Training problem, in case of this type of problem we have the Baun-Welch re-estimation algorithm to solve it. Forward-Backward algorithm The forward and backward steps are combined by the Forward-Backward algorithm to estimate the probability of each state for a specific time t, and repeating these steps for each t can result in the sequence having the most likely probability. This algorithm doesnt guarantee that the sequence is valid sequence because it considers every individual step. The forward algorithm has the following three steps: Initialization step Iterations Summation of overall states . Similarly, for backward algorithm we have the same steps like the forward algorithm: Initialization step Iterations Summation of overall states Viterbi algorithm Viterbi algorithm is used to find the most likely hidden states, resulting in a sequence of observed events. The relationship between observations and states can be inferred from the given image. In first step Viterbi algorithm initialize the variable In second step the process is iterated for every step In third step the iteration ends In Fourth step we track the best path Baun-Welch re-estimation algorithm Baun-Welch re-estimation algorithm is used to compute the unknown parameters in hidden Markov model HMM. Baun-Welch re-estimation algorithm can be best described using the following example. Assume we collect eggs from chicken every day. The chicken had lay eggs or not depends upon unknown factors. For simplicity assume that there are only 2 states (S1 and S2) that determine that the chicken had lay eggs. Initially we dont know about the state, transition and probability that the chicken will lay egg given specific state. To find initial probabilities, suppose all the sequences starting with S1 and find the maximum probability and then repeat the same procedure for S2. Repeat these steps until the resulting probabilities converge. Mathematically it can be References Andrew Ng (2013), an online course for Machine learning, Stanford University, Stanford, https://class.coursera.org/ml-004/class. Duda and Hart, Pattern Classification (2001-2002), Wiley, New York. http://en.wikipedia.org http://hcicv.blogspot.com/2012/07/hidden-markov-model-for-dummies.html http://www.mathworks.com/help/stats/hidden-markov-models-hmm.html http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/roger/HiddenMarkovModels/html_dev/viterbi_algorithm/s3_pg3.html

Fire Of Desire, Of The Movie Rudy Essay -- essays research papers

Fire of Desire Nearly everyone who has succeeded in some venture of life has at one point encountered critics and criticism. The events throughout the movie, Rudy, directed by David Anspaugh, are no different. The movie, based on a true story, is an inspiring tale of Daniel "Rudy" Rudiger’s fight against all odds to play football for Notre Dame. Rudy, through the course of his entire life, had been told by everyone that chasing his dream of playing Notre Dame football would only cause him heartache. Despite all hindrances, Rudy, played by Sean Astin, accomplished his dream, and is to this day the last Notre Dame football player to be carried off the field. The reoccurring them in the movie is to be persistent in chasing your dreams and overcome all obstacles and criticism you may encounter along the way. Evident throughout the entire movie is how the desire in Rudy’s heart helped him to overcome any physical abilities he lacked. This is clearly shown through Coach Parseghian’s having said to another player, "If you had only a tenth of the heart of Rudiger, you could have been All-American" (Coach Parseghian). Rudy was not blessed with the physical abilities of other players, but rather with the heart to continually persist in achieving his dream of playing Notre Dame football. Rudy’s heart and desire probably got him farther in the game of football than he would have got had he been more athletically gifted. Also lending sup...

Not All is Cheerless, Dark and Deadly in Shakespeares King Lear Essay

Not All is Cheerless, Dark and Deadly in King Lear      Ã‚  Ã‚   'All's Cheerless, Dark and Deadly' Are Kent's Words a Fair Summary of The Tragedy of King Lear? Samuel Johnson asserted that the blinding of Gloucester was an 'act too horrid to be endured in a dramatic exhibition', and that he was 'too shocked' by the death of Cordelia to read the play again until he was given the task of editing it.1 Nor was Dr Johnson alone in finding himself unable to stomach the violence and apparent injustices that unfold in King Lear. The 18th century certainly found the play 'all cheerless' and preferred Nahum Tate's 1681 watered-down version of Shakespeare's original.    King Lear is a dark play, with the near triumph of the malcontent Edmund, the intense sufferings of Lear and Gloucester, and the seeming lack of justice at the piece's conclusion. Shakespeare locates his tragedy in an extreme and entropic universe that makes his audience uncomfortable, and indeed is supposed to. On its own, the sheer violence of Act III.7 bears witness to Kent's nihilistic utterance at the plays close. However, Lear's universe, as I have just stated, is one of extremes, and not merely negative ones. As A.C. Bradley notes:    There is in the world of King Lear the same abundance of extreme good as of extreme evil. It generates in profusion self-less devotion and unconquerable love.2    The play contains a cluster of characters that are unequivocally good. Kent, for instance, is a paradigm of devotion. In Act I.I he is publicly insulted and humiliated. In spite of Lear's threats, Kent remains determined to serve his master, even braving the storm to be near him. Cordelia too, is traduced and punished by Lear, and yet she is the... ... condemned to short lives - 'nor live so long'. Edgar's closing words are disturbingly equivocal. They allude to the antithesis constantly at work in the play   a mixture of hope and despair. Perhaps the couplet is ultimately nihilistic, and the play as a whole equally so. Redemption remains unattained. However, while I would agree that Kent's words that 'All's cheerless, dark and deadly' may be the overriding message of the tragedy, I do not believe that King Lear can be simply summed up in such a comment. To do such a thing would be to see the drama two-dimensionally   to ignore the world of polarities, of good as well as evil, which Shakespeare creates in which to hold his play.       Works Cited: 1 Johnson as Critic, ed. John Wain, Routledge & Kegan Paul 1973, pp. 216-217 2 A. C. Bradley, Shakespearian Tragedy, Macmillan 1908, pp. 304 -305    Not All is Cheerless, Dark and Deadly in Shakespeare's King Lear Essay Not All is Cheerless, Dark and Deadly in King Lear      Ã‚  Ã‚   'All's Cheerless, Dark and Deadly' Are Kent's Words a Fair Summary of The Tragedy of King Lear? Samuel Johnson asserted that the blinding of Gloucester was an 'act too horrid to be endured in a dramatic exhibition', and that he was 'too shocked' by the death of Cordelia to read the play again until he was given the task of editing it.1 Nor was Dr Johnson alone in finding himself unable to stomach the violence and apparent injustices that unfold in King Lear. The 18th century certainly found the play 'all cheerless' and preferred Nahum Tate's 1681 watered-down version of Shakespeare's original.    King Lear is a dark play, with the near triumph of the malcontent Edmund, the intense sufferings of Lear and Gloucester, and the seeming lack of justice at the piece's conclusion. Shakespeare locates his tragedy in an extreme and entropic universe that makes his audience uncomfortable, and indeed is supposed to. On its own, the sheer violence of Act III.7 bears witness to Kent's nihilistic utterance at the plays close. However, Lear's universe, as I have just stated, is one of extremes, and not merely negative ones. As A.C. Bradley notes:    There is in the world of King Lear the same abundance of extreme good as of extreme evil. It generates in profusion self-less devotion and unconquerable love.2    The play contains a cluster of characters that are unequivocally good. Kent, for instance, is a paradigm of devotion. In Act I.I he is publicly insulted and humiliated. In spite of Lear's threats, Kent remains determined to serve his master, even braving the storm to be near him. Cordelia too, is traduced and punished by Lear, and yet she is the... ... condemned to short lives - 'nor live so long'. Edgar's closing words are disturbingly equivocal. They allude to the antithesis constantly at work in the play   a mixture of hope and despair. Perhaps the couplet is ultimately nihilistic, and the play as a whole equally so. Redemption remains unattained. However, while I would agree that Kent's words that 'All's cheerless, dark and deadly' may be the overriding message of the tragedy, I do not believe that King Lear can be simply summed up in such a comment. To do such a thing would be to see the drama two-dimensionally   to ignore the world of polarities, of good as well as evil, which Shakespeare creates in which to hold his play.       Works Cited: 1 Johnson as Critic, ed. John Wain, Routledge & Kegan Paul 1973, pp. 216-217 2 A. C. Bradley, Shakespearian Tragedy, Macmillan 1908, pp. 304 -305   

Employment Relations Essay

At the most fundamental level, employment relationship involves monetary exchange where there is contract between an employer and employee to obtain the output of employee’s ability to work. (Balnave et al. 2007) This relationship can often result in either dispute or collaboration within an organization. More often than not, the different aspects of the nature of employment relationship tend to likely generate conflicts between the employers and employees. The focus would be on industrial conflict, which from time to time occurs between managers and workers, the classification of conflicts and what are some of the theories which describes the situation of industrial conflicts in Singapore. As defined by Komhauser et al., industrial conflict is ‘the total range of behaviours and attitudes that express opposition and divergent orientations between industrial owners and managers, on the one hand, and working people and their organisations on the other hand’ (1954,13). Singapore is generally noted as a peaceful country with minimal industrial conflicts. This mainly attributed to the presence of strict regulations against overt conflicts as stated in the requirements of ‘restrictions on strikes and lock-outs’ (Attorney General Chambers 2009). The presence of mediation or conciliation channel also assisted in the resolution of concerning issues. Conflicts are seen to be complicated and in Singapore, some causes or outline that are governed by theories of Industrialisation, Institutionalisation, Political, Economic and Social factors. More of these would be looked into further in this essay. Overt and Covert Conflicts Opposing behaviours and attitudes can be classified into 2 categories, namely overt conflict and covert conflict. According to Petzall et al. (2007), overt conflicts are conflicts which are planned and joint by two or more persons, thus observable by the public. Examples of such conflicts include strikes, lockouts, work to rule where employees perform only duties which are indicated in their contracts, political demonstrations and many more. Petzall et al. (2007) also mentioned that covert conflicts are conflicts which are unplanned, concerns individual and hence less observable by the public. Examples would include absenteeism, work sabotage, job-hopping where people change jobs to get better pay or pursue their personal interest as well as low work efficiency. Covert conflict is seen to prevail over overt conflict in terms of the financial losses of a business. In Singapore’s context, it would be considered illegal to have overt conflicts due to the existing strict criminal law stated in Attorney General Chambers (2009) Despite the fact that there were strict laws to adhere to, there are several channels such as Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC), Case Trust, Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) and more, where individuals could approach to resolve certain conflicts they experienced. For example, Sharon (2011) reported on a case of disagreement between SIA and SilkAir pilots and their company over their flight payment. The issue was referred to Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) where the judge proposed that the company could have constant observation of the flight schedule to make sure there is fair payouts distribution. In this scenario, IAC had acted as a conciliator. The reduction of conflict in Singapore is also due to tripartism, wage reform and labour legislation. In tripartism, there is involvement of managers, employees and ‘other systems such as political, social, economic, technological, cultural and legal systems’ (Tan 2007, p.27). These parties would resolve matters in a diplomatic manner. The establishment of National Wage Council (NWC) brings about tripartism where workers’ wages are evaluated and wage reform, where there is flexibility in the wage payouts, was introduced. Tan (2004) mentioned that the benefits were studied and it was found that having flexibility enables organizations to make swift modifications to their cost computation during economic variations so as to be cost competitive. Organisations also could reduce wages during difficult time and give incentive in better times which assisted in allowing workers to stay in their job. The introduction of Employment Act also played a major role in providing regulations on the conditions of work. The use of frames of reference is a necessary and essential tool to better identify a person’s view and actions on employment relations. Fox recognized three frames of reference, namely the unitarist, pluralist and radical frames. (McCourt W.;Eldridge D.,2003) Unitarist The underlying theory of this perspective is that ‘employment relationship is based on mutual cooperation and a harmony of interest between employers and employees’ (Balnave et al. 2007, p.10) In this circumstances, the targets and objectives of the organisation are universal. Management is viewed as the only authority and managers see their power to make independent decisions of their business without being hindered by government, workers or unions. Trade unions are not embraced and are considered as interference to the harmony of the organisation. The presence of industrial conflict is regarded as having poor management or failure to lead effectively. As a result of this perception, the various interests between the management and labour were not recognised. Pluralist In this approach, conflicts are regarded as unavoidable. It recognises that organisations are made up of cluster of individuals with their own goals, interests and direction. (Balnave et al. 2007, p.11) To prevent damage of diverse interest, measures and regulations have to be in place and use, leading to the ‘institutionalisation of conflict’. This ensures that there is equal distribution of power amongst stakeholders. Trade unions are welcome as it permits employees to have a say in what concerns them in their organisation. Singapore can be seen to have more of a pluralist approach from the formation of NTUC which consists of representative of employees. These representatives are given the opportunity to voice and negotiate over the terms and condition of their employment and their opinions are also taken into consideration in the management’s decisions. NTUC branch representatives also involve themselves in collective bargaining where feedback could effectively be gathered on concerning issues. On the other hand, another trade union known as Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) was also set up to represent the employers’ interest. Radical/Marxist It consists of a wider scope as compared to unitarist and pluralist viewpoint. This perception involves society being segmented into different status where there is unfair allocation of power between those who has financial capabilities and those who can only offer their labour. The status difference caused the incompatibility between employers and employees. (Balnave et al. 2007, p.11) Singapore Industrial Relations System Anantaraman (1990) suggested that Singapore’s economy is made up of industrial relations system and production system. Both systems are in reliant of one another as the consequences of the industrial relations system would result in the contribution of the production system. Industrialisation Industrialisation has often been associated with industrial conflict. Ross and Hartman (1960) mentioned that the type of strikes of a particular country is connected to the country’s industrial relation system. This theory maps out four patterns, namely North European (type 1), North European (type 2), Mediterranean/Asian and North American. Singapore could probably be classified under North European (type 1) where the government has been actively engaging its interest in the economy of Singapore. There have been continuous efforts by the government to attract more and more foreign talent. Ramesh (2011) quoted what former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said that, ‘Singapore would not be able to punch above its own weight if it were to depend on talent from its own population’. As technology progresses, the stress placed on workers for major scale and non-stop productions increases the likelihood of industrial conflict. (Woodward 1958) This again could be due to Marxist perspective where workers with lower status could only provide their labour output as they do not have any capital and those who has the capital would maximise these labour’s output for high profits. Institutionalisation Wright Mills (1948) recognised that there are four phases where institutionalisation is related to the pattern of conflict. The first phase is where trade unions are against the negotiation prerogative of businesses and the focus is on individuals. It is unplanned and can be aggressive. The second phase involves businesses restructuring themselves into associations to oppose the rising authority of trade unions. As a result, the bargaining outline became more national and industry based, converting conflicts into a more organised manner. Third phase went on to become an effective mediating stage while the trade unions’ viewpoints are overruled diplomatically in the fourth phase. At the last phase, trade unions developed tactics to advance into institutions, involving the workers to be part of the economy. They also engage themselves in conflict resolution and labour contracts. For the case of Singapore, NTUC has been strengthening ties with other businesses and unions such as National Taxi Association, Cathay Cineplexes Food & Drinks Allied Workers’ Union and Housing and Development Board Staff Union. NTUC has also been participating enthusiastically in collective bargaining assembly. Ciegg (1976) also mentioned that the more thorough the difference of opinion reconciled with collective bargaining, the lesser strikes would occur. According to Wright Mills (1948), trade unions and business associations are formed to counteract each other. This led to the nation’s participation where trade unions becomes engage in politics and in turn affects the government policies. Political Factors Conflict is determined by the sharing of political power distribution. Singapore’s trade union has a unique relationship with the government, People’s Action Party (PAP) as most of the members within PAP used to be part of the union. Halimah Yacob being the Deputy Secretary General of NTUC and a Minister would attend cabinet conference and address worker’s issues. As such, this helped in the reduction of conflicts. It is cited by Korpi and Shalev (1979) that the greater admittance to the government contributes to lesser occurrence of conflict. Economic Factors As indicated by Paldham and Pederson (1982), the changing models of conflicts are due to adjustments of wage present in variety of workers. It is researched by Smith et al. (1978) that there are four factors namely amount of income, labour concentration, organisation size and dominance of women in workforce determine the differences in conflict. Those who earn high income in Singapore vie for better income. There is also a significant increase in women joining the workforce according to statistics produced. (Ministry of Manpower 2011) Social Factors Notwithstanding to economic factors, social factors also play a part in ensuring minimal conflict. Mayo (1933) explained that while worker’s economic needs are met and the social needs are not met, there would be high possibility of conflict and presence of low spirits in the workplace. One aspect of social needs would consist of communication. NTUC promotes its dedication to be one which has open communications in the workplace, free from prejudice regardless of any type of individuals. Conclusion Several theories have been discussed pertaining to the causes of industrial conflict. There are many more theories surrounding the area of industrial conflict and it differs in different countries depending on the industrial systems and the governance present. It would be impossible for a country or any organization not to have any conflicts. However, Singapore can be considered successful in handling overt conflicts as shown through the legislation in place and also a variety of mediation or conciliation bodies such as NTUC, IAC or MOM which are available for different employees or employers to approach. Finally, there has to be active listening and pro-activeness by the government on dealing with the burning issues occurring constantly as time progress so that conflicts can remain manageable. Reference Anantaraman, V. 1900, Singapore Industrial Relations System, Linographic Services Pte Ltd, Singapore Attorney General Chambers, 2009, Illegal Strikes And Lock-outs in Essential Services, Singapore, viewed 18 February 2012, Balnave,N., Brown,J., Maconachie,G. and Stone,R. 2007, Employment relations in Australia, John Wiley and Sons, Milton, Qld Ministry of Manpower. 2011, Singapore Workforce, 2011, MRSD, Singapore, viewed 20 February 2012, Petzall, S, Abbott, K and Timo, N, 2007, Australian industrial relations in an Asian context, 3rd ed, Eruditions Publishing, Cowes Victoria Ramesh, S. 2011, ‘S’pore cannot do without foreign talent: Ex-MM Lee’, 22 July, viewed 18 February 2012, Sharon, S. 2011, ‘IAC rejects pilots’ proposal on flight allowance’, 21 October, viewed 23 February 2012, Tan Soo San 2004, Wage Reform And Tripartism: A Test of Trust at Work, Centre for Governance And Leadership, Singapore, viewed 25 February 2012,

Summary of the Yellow Wallpaper

Summary of â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Gillman In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† Charlotte Gillman tells a story of a woman, her husband, and their three month stay at a beautiful home with hideous yellow wallpaper in the master bedroom. The story begins with the woman’s complaints to her husband John about his choice to use the room with the yellow wallpaper instead of one with roses on the window being denied because he felt it would be good for her â€Å"nervous condition†.The woman thought that there was something strange about the house but John told her that her feelings were mere nonsense and that she should get plenty of rest during their stay to try and help her condition. He told her that she should also stay away from her love of writing while he is away treating his patients because it would be too stressful for her condition. During John’s frequent absences the woman begins to obsess over the yellow wallpaper, even going as f ar as to stare at it all night. The woman began to hallucinate about a lady being trapped within the wallpaper after dark and creeping around the garden by day.Her husband thought she was getting better when all that was occurring was his wife was going crazy trying not to bother him. The woman spoke of a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes staring at you upside down. By the end of the story the woman barricaded herself in the master bedroom, ripping down wallpaper in a desperate attempt to free the lady that creeps in the garden by day and is trapped in the walls at night. The purpose of the story is to show how both men and women should have a purpose in society.

Foster Care Personal Statement

I entered the foster care system at age 4 due to my birth mothers drug problems. I was immediately adopted to a family of 12 before I could even understand the reality of my own life. It hit quick when I was old enough to think for myself. I began to notice how emotionally abusive the adoptive mother was. She played me and my younger blood sister against each other and made sure I knew that I was worth nothing and would never amount to anything. Dealing with such a relationship made my preteen years unbearable, I turned to friends at school and the adoptive father for support and comfort.At age 14 I was place back in the foster system without a clue as to why. After a long, hard confusing year full of interrogations and mixed feelings, the conclusion was stated. I was in foster care because my adoptive father had sexually abused 4 of my siblings, including my younger sister. This was old news to the adoptive mother, which brought light to the reason why she acted the way she did towa rd me. The discovery of this left me feeling angry, sad and betrayed all at the same time. To think that someone I confided in and looked up to for 10 years of my life could do such a thing caused me to lose all trust and hope in people.While most teens transitioning to high school focused their mental energy towards worrying about their next exam and trying to fit in somewhere, mine included more hardships. I was more focused on trying to live comfortably with strangers, and not feeling like a burden to them. A lot of my energy went towards trying to be there for my little sister, someone I’ve never had a chance to build a good relationship with in the first place, in a time where I didn’t want anything to do with relationships.I was focused on things like learning to trust again, accepting the things that have happened in my life, and not shutting everyone out of my life. It was in this time frame that I turned to music for comfort. Music has honestly helped me throu gh the tough times, and has been the most consistent part of my life. I hope to someday make a career out of this passion. Ferris offers a well-rounded degree in music management. I feel it will help me become very accessible in the music industry. With the help of music, iv come through tough times, and I feel that I can succeed. Im driven to succeed. Foster Care Personal Statement I entered the foster care system at age 4 due to my birth mothers drug problems. I was immediately adopted to a family of 12 before I could even understand the reality of my own life. It hit quick when I was old enough to think for myself. I began to notice how emotionally abusive the adoptive mother was. She played me and my younger blood sister against each other and made sure I knew that I was worth nothing and would never amount to anything. Dealing with such a relationship made my preteen years unbearable, I turned to friends at school and the adoptive father for support and comfort.At age 14 I was place back in the foster system without a clue as to why. After a long, hard confusing year full of interrogations and mixed feelings, the conclusion was stated. I was in foster care because my adoptive father had sexually abused 4 of my siblings, including my younger sister. This was old news to the adoptive mother, which brought light to the reason why she acted the way she did towa rd me. The discovery of this left me feeling angry, sad and betrayed all at the same time. To think that someone I confided in and looked up to for 10 years of my life could do such a thing caused me to lose all trust and hope in people.While most teens transitioning to high school focused their mental energy towards worrying about their next exam and trying to fit in somewhere, mine included more hardships. I was more focused on trying to live comfortably with strangers, and not feeling like a burden to them. A lot of my energy went towards trying to be there for my little sister, someone I’ve never had a chance to build a good relationship with in the first place, in a time where I didn’t want anything to do with relationships.I was focused on things like learning to trust again, accepting the things that have happened in my life, and not shutting everyone out of my life. It was in this time frame that I turned to music for comfort. Music has honestly helped me throu gh the tough times, and has been the most consistent part of my life. I hope to someday make a career out of this passion. Ferris offers a well-rounded degree in music management. I feel it will help me become very accessible in the music industry. With the help of music, iv come through tough times, and I feel that I can succeed. Im driven to succeed.