Important Decision of My Life free essay sample

Important Decision of My Life The hardest decision for me was to decide come to this country United States, to live with my dad and other relatives. Just the fact that I will not have my mom next to me is a sentimental problem that I have. Leave my mom, my grandmother, my sister and my country was the hardest part in the decision that I took. At the beginning the notice that my dad want to live with me in another country was happy because that was one of the most important thing that I want since I was a child but then, when I start thinking that I will be missing the most important women’s in my life the sad part came true, also that I will be missing my culture and friends make me sad too. In March 18, 2008 I was leaving Cuba, a new life was waiting for me. We will write a custom essay sample on Important Decision of My Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Over there were a turn of 360 degrees came in my life.A new life with my dad was expecting for me. I have to learn a new language, a new life style and new things about this country. My dad helps me with the culture and the new life, but about the new language, I had to learn by myself. That was a challenge for me, but at the same time was excited because I am that kind of person who likes to challenge life. When I started in high school they send me first to an International School to learn English, over there I make new friends.In the International School they teach me the basics things in English but the hard things I had to learn it by myself, it was a goal that I still have. Learn English is a goal that I already complete; the new goal is to improve my English and make it better. Adapting to this new life was another step in my decision. I had to learn new manners, which, I did it. Adapt to a new weather was another thing that I have to deal with, because in my country we just have two seasons, almost one which is summer.Interact with my dad was other step because when we life at Cuba we seem each other and I spend time with him, always two months (vacations), but I never had an experience living with him so I had to adapt to his life style. In conclusion I think that moving to this country was a big step in my life. Also was a help to make better my future and learn that people have to make big decisions in life so you can grow up.

Case Study for Organization Behaviour Essays

Case Study for Organization Behaviour Essays Case Study for Organization Behaviour Essay Case Study for Organization Behaviour Essay Title of module: Organisational Behaviour Name of the assignment: Final Exam Organizational Behavior Final Exam 1. Summary of the problem as per the case study CEO is resigning due to a brain tumor and the firm needs an interim CEO to run the firm until they find a suitable replacement. As I am the CEO I, What will I do immediately? How I will communicate with my current department and the rest of the company? What will be my key focus? Why? How will I accomplish your goal? 2. Introduction In light of the key aspects (leadership, management, structure and culture) and using the assessment tools I have to make a plan for what I should do as a CEO. 3. Problem analysis: To be in such position with no prior warning means that we need immediate work to understand the current situation, run the current business successfully and then to build the new strategy. a) Immediate Action: I have to create a crisis management team of vice presidents and directors to know exactly what was in the former CEO hands and to manage the current business. ) Next : I have to make an assessment for the current situation and review the strategy to improve it or to change it. And since the structure follows the strategy I have to build my own strategy and implement it effectively. 4. Plan of building and assessment of the new strategy: The plan will be to build and implement a High Level Balanced Score card on nine major steps: a) Assessment: Develop plan, strategic elements and change management. b) Strategy: customer value strategic themes and results. ) Objectives: Strategy Action Components. d) Strategy map: Cause Effect Links. e) Performance measures: Performance Measures Targets. f) Initiatives: Strategic Projects. g) Automation: Performance reporting and Knowledge sharing. h) Cascade: Alignment through Unit Individual Scorecards. i) Evaluation: Strategy Results Revised Strategies Company profile and overview: KEO was founded in 1964, KEO delivers world-class professional  design and management services. KEO offers award winning architectural design, progressive infrastructure engineering and highly ranked project and construction management known for quality and professionalism. KEO is proud of its 44 years of continuous success in providing professional consulting services in planning, design, engineering, and project and construction management. Over the past decade, KEO has expanded from a mid-sized practice to one of the fastest growing leaders in the Arabian Gulf and North African construction markets. KEO is a privately owned, multi-disciplinary firm and is currently ranked by Engineering News-Record (ENR) as a Top 200 International Design Firm (KEO-#77), and a Top 20 International PM/CM firm (KEO-#10). Most recently KEO Achieved the Top 100 Architectural Practices in World Architecture Survey 2008 conducted and published by UK based, Building Design Magazine, KEO Ranked in the following categories: * # 3 in the Middle East Region. * # 5 in the list of Number of Creative Staff. * # 6 in the Landscape Market Sector. * # 39 in the Worlds 100 Largest Architectural Practices KEO has over 1,700 employees with strategically located offices in Abu Dhabi, Al Gharbia, Al Ain, Ajman, Sharjah, Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon, and the Washington DC. KEO is opening new offices in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Tunisia, Bulgaria, Iran, Egypt, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan Purpose: To provide reliable and innovative total project solutions or selective professional services to our client’s from our multi-disciplinary capabilities to uniquely fit a project requirement and meeting their project and business objective achieving the highest quality level. Super ordinate goals (vision): KEO strives to be recognized globally and regionally as one of the finest project consultancy firms contributing to client success wherever we work by adopting the following: * Improve the rank to be in top 20 International Design Firms. * To be in the top 5 International PM/CM firms. * To be # 1 in Middle East. * To be # 1 in the list of Number of Creative Staff. * To be # 3rd in the Landscape Market Sector. * To be in top 10 World’s 100 Largest Architectural Practices. Strategy: * Reliable delivery of project as professional collaboration in the international market to lead to very successful project results. Pulling together the best expertise into a project team, whether in design or management. * Joint Venture relationships and, Alliance relationships through our network of associates for project delivery. * Facing creatively the project challenges. * Honesty in our services and professional integrity. * Multi-national staff delivers projects of all sizes for clients worldwide. * Combining the right mix of people, technology and expertise. * To enable clients to achieve the optimal return on investment by reducing and controlling costs, and delivering projects on time with the highest quality. Flexibility of work teams that can integrate into a larger team in partnering and sub-consulting roles. * Concentrating on following the highest quality standards in design, documentation and project management. KEO structure: KEO is matrix organization with organic organization chart model. Deputy President Director IT services Worldwide HR Administration Director Finance MIS Director Asst Director IT Services Deputy Director HRD Admin Financial Controller President Senior Vice President VP Marketing corporate Director PR corporate Branding Washington DC office CEO Lebanon office PM/CM Services Kuwait, Kuwait Based Clients, Worldwide. Infrastructure Engineering Services Master Planning, Sustainability Urban Design, Development Management services Abu Dhabi, Worldwide Architectural, Building Eng, Landscape Interior Design services PM/CM Services Qatar, Abu Dhabi Dubai, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Worldwide Managing Director KEO-Infrastructure Vice President KEO-PM CM Corporate Vice President KEO-PM CM International Vice President KEO-Design Managing Director KEO-Strategy, Planning Urban Development Current Structure Style: Since the company is private and a family owned business, the top management always concentrates on the perspective of collegiality and team-orientation giving all the employees the sense of one family. Staff: KEO employed a Multi-national staff in different specializations, combining them into a mix of high skilled people and expertise. KEO maintained high quality criteria for selecting the employees. After reviewing the 7S to understand the organization I will try to begin the plan for building and implementing the High Level Score Card. a) Assessment: 1. At the beginning I will try to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and areas of opportunity for the organization. This provides a road map for both short-term and long-term action (SWOT analysis). I| INTERNAL| | Strength| Weakness| | * Diversity. * Excellent reputation. * High skilled employees. * Spreading and strategic locations. * Multinational team. * Staff ability to change. * Private company. | * Bad communication. * Lack of motivation. * No clear career advancement path. * Cultural differences. * Private company. | EXTERNAL| Opportunities * Extended customer’s plans. Promising markets in Saudi Arabia Libya. * vacant by an ineffective competitor| S-O strategies * More training on quality. * Marketing efforts relying on the reputation and diversity. | W-O strategies * Improve the communication process by training and more efficient system. | | Threats * Highly completive market. * Current recession. * Price wars with competitors * New competitors. * Changing technologies. | S-T strategies * Reducing expenses. * Relying on customer confidence and our track record to keep our position in market. Trying to keep customer’s level of confidence by high quality and accurate time schedules. * Training on new technologies. | W-T strategies * Motivation and reward system to keep the skilled staff. * Open employment for senior management positions internally and give the employees the opportunity to apply for it. * Create techniques to use the cultural differences to the benefit of the company. | S-O strategies take advantage of opportunities that are a good fit to the organizations strengths. W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to make use opportunities. S-T strategies identify ways that the organization can use its strengths to reduce its external threats. W-T strategies Build a defensive plan to prevent the organization’s weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats 2. Review the current strategy by using balanced score card for assessment of the current strategy and what it has achieved last year. Perspective| metrics| 2007| 2008| financial| Revenue Operating profit Operating margin Operating cash flow | 1,179. 8m67. 7m5. 7%93. 9m| 1,313. 6 m86. 7m6. 6%80. 9m| customer| Customer satisfaction (1-5) scale. No. of customers. New customers. | 4426| 45614| Internal business process| No. of conflict accidents Implementing the QMSSuccessful tenders. Successful project (on time, on budget, customer satisfied)| 168852%62%20%90%| 148765%64%28%93%| Learning and growth| Employee satisfactionNo. of employeesNo of trained employees. Productivity Index| 65%168810166| 75%14879276| b) Mapping Strategy: Remapping the strategy based on the SWOT analysis and the evaluation above, the understanding established for the organization (purpose, superordinate goals, strategy, style, Structure and the staff). c) Objectives: (see balanced scorecard). ) Strategy map: Cause Effect Links. (See Balanced Score Card) e) Performance measures: Performance Measures Targets. (See Balanced Score Card) f) Initiatives: Strategic Projects. (See Balanced Score Card) ( new Organization Structure) Strategy Map (Simplified)| StrategicObjectives| Performance measures| Initiatives| Decrease costs Increase revenue financial| * Increase revenue * De crease costs| * Revenue * Operating cost| * Develop resources management program. | Improve Brand Image Increase numbers of customers. Increase costumer’s satisfaction. ustomer| * Increase costumer’s satisfaction. * Increase numbers of customers. * Improve Brand Image | * Customer satisfaction (1-5) scale. * No. of customers. * New projects in new markets. | * Increase quality. and show commitment to customer’s goals(create customer locality program) * Expand into Europe and new promising markets. | Increase the Implementing of the QMS Internal Decrease conflict Increase no. of successful tenders Increase the % of successfully submitted projects. process| * Decrease conflict * Increase the Implementing of the QMS * Increase no. f successful tenders * Increase the % of successfully submitted projects. | * No. of conflict accidents * %of Implementing the QMS * No. Successful tenders. * Successful project (on time, on budget, customer satisfied)| * Modify the organizational structure. * Apply the effective and universal techniques of project management. * New marketing campaign. * Develop the communication system. | Learning Optimize workforce Increase workforce skills Increase employees satisfaction and growth| * Increase employee satisfaction. * Optimize workforce * Increase work force skills. * %Employee satisfied * Productivity Index * No of trained employees. | * Rewarding system * Career advancement system * Open application for senior position from inside the organization. * PMP certification program for project managers. | High Level Balanced Score Card: President Financial metrics | | | | Revenue | ? 373. 6m | ? 320. 8m | +16% | Operating profit | ? 30. 2m | ? 27. 0m | +12% | Operating margin | 8. 1% | 8. 4% | -0. 3pp | Share of post-tax JV losses | – | – | – | Work in hand | 39% | 40% | -1. 0pp | Modified structure: CEO Deputy President Senior Vice President Finance MIS Director HR Administration Director Director IT services Worldwide Washing ton DC office Europe office Lebanon, Cairo Libya offices Director PR corporate Branding VP Marketing corporate Financial Controller Deputy Director HRD Admin Asst Director IT Services Vice President KEO-Contract QS Services Vice President KEO-Design Managing Director KEO-Strategy, Planning Urban Development Vice President KEO-PM CM Vice President KEO-PM CM Corporate Managing Director KEO-Infrastructure Branch manager Bahrain Branch manager Oman Branch manager Qatar Branch manager Kuwait Branch manager AD Branch manager KSA Branch manager Dubai New Structure Financial metrics | | | | Revenue | ? 373. 6m | ? 320. 8m | +16% | Operating profit | ? 30. 2m | ? 27. 0m | +12% | Operating margin | 8. 1% | 8. 4% | -0. 3pp | Share of post-tax JV losses | – | – | – | Work in hand | 39% | 40% | -1. 0pp | Changes to structure: Since the structure follows the strategy, we need to modify the structure to serve the strategic goals as following: * Merge KEO-PM CM International KEO-PM CM corporate under one division because there was overlapping and conflict between them also it will help to optimize the workforce. Add Cairo and the Libya offices under the Senior Vice President because the two still growing and have few projects. And they need somebody focus on marketing to lead them until they acquire more projects then it will be placed in the structure the same as other branches. * Build a new division for Contracts and Quality Management Services to focus on quality system in KEO and give services and solutions to the market clients. * Make branch managers to create autonomy for branches, decrease centralization and reduce pressure on headquarters after the growth of branches and increasing of clients. ) Automation: applying performance measurement software to get the right performance information to the right people at the right time. h) Cascade: help the organization to alignment around strategy. By translates high-level strategy into lower-level objectives, measures. i) Evaluation: evaluate the strategy by the effectiveness of achieving the strategic objectives and comparing to target values of the strategic objectives. 5. Bibliography Reading materials used and referred to as resources: * Organizational Behavior(by Stephen P. Robbins) * Do You Have a Well-Designed Organization? by Harvard business review) by Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell. * LEADING O RGANIZATIONAL DESIGN (Darden Business Publishing). * A LEADER’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONS: AN EXPANDED â€Å"7-S† PERSPECTIVE ( Darden Business Publishing). * The Balanced Score Card (NetMBA) netmba. com/accounting/mgmt/balanced-scorecard/ * Balanced Scorecard Examples Success Stories balancedscorecard. org/BSCResources/ExamplesSuccessStories/tabid/57/Default. aspx * Balanced Scorecard Institute balancedscorecard. org/ * Case Studies(Advanced Performance Institute) ap-institute. com/resources_casestudies. asp

Marketing plan continued 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing plan continued 3 - Essay Example This could include adding insurance services and even expanding overseas. The key success factors focuses on services and SISCO has to develop differentiation by offering tailor-made products. Customer retention in the highly volatile market is essential and SISCO should devise packages to retain the customer base. SISCO needs to be cognizant of the fact that at any point of time, should the oil prices crash, the market for all its products could come down drastically. The company has to be prepared for this contingency while devising their ambitious plans. During their operation in the financial and mortgage industry, SISCO has developed its own customer base, thus cultivating its own niche market. An aggressive marketing will however lead to a growth of its customer base, thus making its presence widely known in Jeddah. SISCO’s core business shall be the supply of financial services to both individuals and business owners, who have interests in the mortgage and property development industry. Following a study of the target market, the information acquired will hence help the company to better serve the needs of the customers. Jeddah, the geographic target is situated near the red sea. The total targeted population is a little over 3 million â€Å" A year on year increase of 4.48% (the population growth during this time was 2.83%).†(ameininfo) The kingdom is witnessing a change in demographics of home development. Previously, individuals build at least 98 percent of the homes, whereas developers only handled the remaining 2 percent. The trend is however rapidly changing owing to a drastic rise in both the building materials, and a corresponding increase in development cost. â€Å"Suggesting an increase in nuclear families. Thus, demands for all kinds of household goods - white goods, automobiles, bank loans, furniture - will increase.†.(ameininfo) There is a dire need to supply

My Philosophy of Education (Early Childhood Education) Essay - 1

My Philosophy of Education (Early Childhood Education) - Essay Example A sense of security encourages risk-taking by children, both emotionally and intellectually. The teacher should strive to nurture each child and the group in a manner which is consistent with developmentally appropriate practice. To this end, strict lessons should be minimized and supplemented liberally by child-directed activities and play-oriented roles. Stress can be minimized and children can be explorers of knowledge. With respect to the students, they should learn to teach themselves. They should be allowed to define problems and the means by which such problems are solved. They should be allowed to test new ideas and observe the consequences of different actions. Finally, a strict curriculum should be de-emphasized and students allowed to help choose what and how they will learn. Within limits, curriculum and assessment should be collaborative. I believe this will make students more engaged. The first value that we should teach children, and one not stated explicitly enough in my view, is that every child is capable of learning. Research on meta-cognition, in effect learning how to learn, suggests that students who keep a record of their learning tend to perform well. This can be reinforced in the early childhood context by having students keep a picture diary or journal. They can draw what they have learned and reflect on how much they have learned every week or every month. Another important value is the value of diversity; more particularly, the sincere recognition that other people, whatever their gender, race, or personality, have something important to offer the larger group. This is important because students must learn to succeed in other social settings in the future. This can be taught using play-oriented activities in which a successful resolution depends on the contribution of each member of the group rather than the acts of, say, a single individual. Children should also be taught the value of reflection; more specifically, they should be taught that patience and learning can co-exist. This can be taught by requiring a thinking time before accepting answers or comments. The value of persistence is also of great value. Children should be taught that learning is a cumulative process. This can be taught by having periodic reviews where students demonstrate what they have learned in a child-initiated environment. The teacher participates rather than directs. Students can ask and answer the questions. Finally, students should be taught the value that learning is useful. Too often students are left to wonder why they are doing what they are doing. What is the purpose The teacher should design activities which allow the children to apply what they have learned. The activity may be clever or purely humorous, but the link between concept or theory and use or application should be instilled in the children. My Philosophy of Education As a teacher, I feel that it is my primary obligation to create the safest and most learning-conducive environment possible. Although I do value the mastery of specific learning outcomes, this is not my ultimate goal; rather, I hope to create learning values that the student can apply to develop emotionally, socially and intellectually. I also hope to convey a relevant curriculum for the learner, so that students begin to see the usefulness of

Information Systems Auditing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Information Systems Auditing - Assignment Example ing management controls in computer systems within an IT infrastructure to determine the adequacy of the system controls and ensure compliance (Puja, 2004, p. 5). It is done through collecting and evaluating evidence to determine whether data integrity is maintained and assets are safeguarded. The use computer based information systems has been incorporated into many companies and the ability of these companies to survive entirely depends on well-structured information system audit process that points out shortcomings in the information systems usage. The human resource department of any organization or company contains more sensitive data. Human resource workers specifically the payroll employees should be able to establish the employment status of an active employee, without altering the status, while the personnel employees have the clearance from human resource administration or higher authority to activate new employees and alter their status from active to terminated service. The personnel employees have no permission in handling of timecards for employees. This clearly defined separation of tasks prevents any occurrence of fraudulent incident. In most common cases it has been reported that the payroll employees or the personnel employees process illegal paychecks to terminated employees or ghost workers either as a result of ignorance or fraud motives. Human resource management systems house databases that contain other linked company information that the payroll employees have no reason of seeing. Such information may include; data from performance evaluation, health records, and retirement benefit plan balances, and insurance cover. The central location of human resource data is subject to access monitoring enabling the capture of identity of the person logging or exiting as well as the timestamp. This ensures that company data is accessed by authorized personnel and that entry codes are changed periodically where locking mechanisms with keypads are

Impacts Of Globalization Islamic Architecture Cultural Studies Essay

Impacts Of Globalization Islamic Architecture Cultural Studies Essay The tension between modernity and tradition has influenced all aspects of todays life, especially in the social, cultural and architectural aspects. This dual structure closely reflects the realities that most modern Muslim societies face today. The impact of modernity and globalization cannot be ignored, which has become one of the most controversial issues in contemporary Islamic architecture. In recent years there have been a considerable number of papers and books regarding the dialogue between old and new or modernity and tradition, which emphasize the role of these challenges in our life. Most of the times becoming dissolved by globalization do not let us pause and rethink the architectural styles we are following. What are the reasons that we need to talk about the consequences of globalization? Because it is necessary for a dialogue to be created between new horizons that take shape within a globalized context and local values, especially when we discuss an Islamic country like Iran that has experienced an Islamic revolution by its own people. We should rethink the challenges of contemporary Islamic architecture in order to enhance our knowledge and increase our ability to tackle current problems confronting the cultural and architectural need of the changing Muslim society. On the one hand there is an urgent need to revitalize local identities and characters and on the other there is inevitable need for new building materials and technologies. The architectural character of purpose -built Islamic community centers in non-Muslim countries has been shaped by image of Islamic architecture in the West constructed through the Orientalist discourse, the post-colonial search for identity, and the particularities of postmodern architectural practice. Nowadays we believe that the architecture of the present day is surely the product of past lessons, even if historicism and classicism are in minority. There are subjects we need to consider such as the main approaches and groups in contemporary Islamic architecture and their perspectives regarding globalization and regionalism in contemporary architecture. Since the 1970s and 1980s the economy systems in Middle Eastern countries (as the biggest Muslim societies in the world) like Iran or UAE has been undergoing a process of transformation from international to global. The furiously rapid development of information and telecommunication technologies and infrastructures is bringing advancements such as the worldwide spread of finance and capital markets. Finally the reorganization of these various global functions has caused the transformation of the metropolises that were the historical and traditional centers of international exchanges. Not only did globalization and global approaches become widespread all over the world, but they also became impossible to ignore. Globalization is a word transposed from globalization and localization. The advance of globalization gave rise to simultaneously react to and resist local movements at the various levels of nationalism. This approach showed that globalization and localization are not unilateral processes and cannot be successful without a collaborative approach and always being together. Globalization is driving localization and localization is driving globalization at the same time. Traditional architecture (Islamic architecture, for an instance) was confronted with western architecture; they are getting compared at all the times. Modern architecture enjoys materials of premium and high quality, total advanced technology of the day and the hunger of new designers, architectures and engineers in inventing new things, but traditional architecture would utilize the same traditional technologies and the same outlines and limitations; as a result this battle did not lead to a desire and pleasant state of things and it was western architecture that won the unfair race. International style and modern architecture were the first true examples of the newly-fashioned styles that dominated the scene of contemporary Islamic architecture. This facing with the new ideas cost traditional architecture its coherence, originality and integrity; however it caused many challenges in the later periods such as the usage of modern material that is totally irrelevant to the function of the buildings, such as mosques with facades covered with English orange tiles or using black marble to make a minaret. Analysis At the turn of the twentieth century the roots of international architecture style had already taken shape in steel-framed, concrete faced and multistory commercial buildings. But it was to take another fifty years and some social reforms to change the contemporary Islamic (religious spaces) architectures trends before the spirit of modern Islamic architecture began to find a coherent style that could call its own. 2.1. Contemporary architecture of Islamic countries At the turn of the twentieth century the roots of international architecture style had already taken shape in steel-framed, concrete faced and multistory commercial buildings. But it was to take another fifty years and some social reforms to change the contemporary Islamic (religious spaces) architectures trends before the spirit of modern Islamic architecture began to find a coherent style that could call its own. The middle decades of the twentieth century could be called the ascendancy of international style in Middle East, when no one dared to question the validity of its principles. The powerful waves of globalization have influenced the trends of contemporary Islamic architecture in many ways. It has changed architectural education and training, materials and components, ideas and conceptions, political and economic conditions, social and civic values, and technology and the design process substantially. Taking Iran as an example for modern Muslim society in the Middle East, we can find facts that Islam as a main component of society has a visible effect on architecture and design. The revival of Islamic regional architecture epitomized the revivalist ideas of exponents of the Islamic revolution of Iran that want to dominate Islam as the most determining criterion in all aspect of life, especially in culture, art and architecture. They are looking for a version of traditional architecture that could be implemented in contemporary circumstances. Some radical trend in contemporary Iranian architecture emphasized a backward looking historicism; however this has been among a small minority of architects. Regional movements accuse modern architect of sacrificing traditional values, but on the other hand they accused regional movements of not being diligent in the enhancement of the quality of contemporary Islamic architecture of Middle East. 2.2. Islamic architecture in non-Muslim countries; Mosques and Islamic community centers As we know representation of Islamic architecture in the West go back at least to the eighteenth century, when European travelers and artists came back from the Islamic world with vivid impressions, which they recorded both in writing and paintings. To them, the most fascinating aspects of the mosque were its domes and minarets. Due to restricted access, the images these foreigners conveyed were generally distorted; minarets and columns were ill-proportioned; curvatures of domes were exaggerated; pointed, shallow, and horseshoe arches were used interchangeably, and so on. The diversity of backgrounds, origins, and ethnicities of Muslims in non-Muslim societies and their shared values and experiences with fellow Muslims all over the world are important aspects of identity of Muslims in non-Muslim countries. The daily interaction of Muslims with the issues of immigration, multiculturalism, a loosened relationship between the religion and the government, liberalism, stereotypes and racism has shaped the development of their hybrid identity. These Muslims are striving within this context to develop an Islamic society that is autonomous as well as participatory, one that constantly attempts at adapting to the contradictions of living in non-Muslim countries. This society would nonetheless be vigilant to avoid the hegemony of the dominant culture, and aware of its role in challenging injustices. Efforts to engage this way with society are evidenced by the participation of Muslims in local and national politics, the armed forces, an increased emphasis on education, and a growing economic base supported by Islamic banking institution. Amidst this interaction, Islamic community centers have emerged as clear markers of the distinctly Muslims presence of this population. The very concept of an Islamic community center in a non-Muslim country represents a set of contradictions. It is not just a mosque for performing prayers; rather it concerns the establishment of a religion, in majority society of non- Muslims who have by and large secularized themselves over the last two centuries. The Islamic communities in these countries are seeking to build for their selves a sense of group identity in a social context that glorifies individualism as opposed to communal interaction. They strive to create permanence and stability in a culture that is increasingly based on mobility, transition and change. The community centers and mosques in these countries struggle to maintain to their ties with the ancient past that they are supposed to link to and far away homelands in a seemingly isolated land. The formation of Islamic community centers indicates a search for identity among Muslims that goes beyond the limitations of ethnic bonds. It also serves as a community institution that helps to consolidate their scattered efforts and secure the right to practice their beliefs. Most Islamic community centers and Mosques in non- Muslim countries have been designed by architects who base their knowledge of Islamic architecture on their own image of it, inspired by the increasing number of community buildings throughout the western countries, as well as the substantial literature that has been developed in the West on Islamic architecture. The emerging architecture can be seen as a descendent of the Moorish revival style and the architecture of fantasy inspired by Islamic pavilions in the expositions of the nineteenth century. Just as these styles formed part of a general western trend, so has the architecture of the Islamic community center become the part of a wider architectural movement in the west, where the presence of Muslim communities in increasingly felt, especially in the metropolitan centers of Western Europe and North America. Figure 1 Through their experience in designing Islamic community centers, non- Muslim architects often learn to reconsider some of their myths about Islam, and to change their previous negative images about Muslims. Such experiences not only increase their knowledge of non-Western aesthetic and building traditions, but also expose them to the nature of Islam itself, especially the tenets which are most prominently reflected in the designs for municipal and domestic buildings and mosques. Unfortunately, many of the new Islamic community centers in America are scaled down and impoverished imitations of old monuments The architect of the West Virginia Community Center, William Preston boast that: The South Charleston Center is modeled after a famous Islamic house of worship, the Badshahi Mosque, in Lahore, Pakistan (fig. 1). The Badhsahi Mosque is bigger than the Taj Mahal, and is considered the largest house of worship in the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦In the final product, the building in no way resembles any of these monuments, but this is not seen t disappoint either the architect or the client. Faithful imitation was not the intention; rather it is the capturing of the flavor of the old (fig. 2) Figure 2 The result is often kind of parody, which is presumably found desirable within a community seeking a nostalgic relationship to the past. In this case, the role of the architect is to revive the past and reinterpret its vocabulary in the contemporary architectural language. In the U.S., this is the language of the commercial strip. The resultant combination of architectural revivalism and the strip mall aesthetic more often captures the essence of an exotic Oriental restaurant than the spirit of traditional Islamic architecture. In such buildings the aesthetic features of the mosque- the minaret especially- are appropriated like the sign posts advertising gas stations or fast food restaurants. The distorted expression of many Islamic community centers in the U.S., their vivid colors, and their use of modern industrial materials, contribute to a generally crude aesthetic, one which may be related to the general loss of high skills and craftsmanship, low budgets, and the low level of ar tistic sophistication on the part of both client and architecture. On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that in the quest for self-representation through architecture, the use of format icons such as domes and minarets has become widespread, not just in non-Islamic countries, but also in many Islamic ones, even where those forms did not belong in the past. While this globalized use of iconic references may seem to be a product of the Muslims attempt at representing themselves through an architecture that they see as authentic and reflects the essence of their Islamic culture, it is in fact more closely related to the Western representations of Islamic architecture being perpetuated today by both Muslims and non-Muslim famous architects and scholars around the globe. Conclusion At a glance at the discussion it might be possible to conclude that the interest of contemporary Islamic architecture in Glocalization and moderate attitudes is in a good condition and is going to become the main popular style in Contemporary Islamic architecture, especially among the recent generation of young architects. Global-regionalism is too young to find a coherent style that it could call its own; therefore there are several kinds of approaches that could be categorized in this group. Their buildings are suggested by the spirit of traditional Islamic architecture, as well as the utilization of new technologies and materials. This paradoxical strategy is the main specificity of the new generation of contemporary Islamic architects. Their fidelity to the spirit of their ancestors, as well as their keen interest in new technologies and advanced building materials, formed a new generation that could only be called Glocalized. The architecture of Islamic community centers in non-Muslim countries illustrates issues related to a minority culture attempting, through architectural form, to re-establish continuity and stability, to express identity and to maintain forms of collective memory. The relationship between identity and iconic references should be seen within a broad-based setting, due to the increasing globalization of ideas about contemporary Islamic architecture that are constantly moving back and forth between the West and the Islamic world through architectural writing, competitions and commissions. While Islamic architecture in non-Muslim countries has already contributed to deconstructing the totalizing agendas of identity politics and Orienatalist stereotyping, cycles of representation are difficult to escape. The focus needs to shift to what kind of identity is being expressed, and where the architectural aspects of collective memory of Muslims can be complemented, overlaid, or even replaced by other systems, so as not to miss the potentials of creative representation. This critical understanding may raise issue of shred human values that can help create a dialogue with non- Muslims through architecture. This can be achieved through fragmentation and perhaps domesticity that reduce the authoritative aspects of formality and humanizes the architectural product. Emphasis needs to be directed toward the expression of transparency, rather than obsession with privacy and exclusiveness. List of references Al-Qawasmi, Jamal[2007], Regional Architecture and Identity in the age of Globalization, volume 3, CSAAR, Tunisia Owen, Graham[2009], Architecture, Ethics and Globalization, Routledge, USA Guggenheim, Michael[2010], Reshaping Cities, How global mobility transforms architecture and urban form, Routledge, USA Hillenbrand Robert [2004], Islamic architecture: Form, Function, and Meaning, Columbia University Press, USA Petruccioli Attilio[2002], Understanding Islamic Architecture, Routledge, USA

Trying To Avoid Gay Stereotypes :: Top 10 Gay Stereotypes

My name is Rob Geis, and I’m a male college student who happens to be gay. Now, I’m not an â€Å"oh-my-God!† gay, nor am I an â€Å"honey, that blouse is all wrong† gay, but for some reason that image gets stuck in people’s minds when I tell them that I am gay. In many ways, coming out was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. I‘m free to do whatever I want under the banner of homosexuality: I can wear skimpy, too-tight clothing that doesn’t suit me, put on makeup, act effeminate and cutesy, or cry at the drop of a hat, without society so much as batting an eye. It’s a real pain. The gay stereotype is that we’re all promiscuous, shallow individuals who act extremely feminine and obsess over fashion. The problem is that there are more young gays who don’t fit the stereotype than those who do. In his 2005 Time cover story titled â€Å"The Battle Over Gay Teens,† John Cloud quotes one-time Young Gay America Magazine editor-in-chief Michael Glatze as saying, â€Å"Today so many kids who are gay, they don't like Cher. They aren't part of the whole subculture. †¦I don't think the gay movement understands the extent to which the next generation just wants to be normal kids.† There seems to be a constant pressure to â€Å"act gay† from others in the gay and straight communities. Look at the news media, which constantly focuses on extreme examples like gays marching down the street with pink lip gloss and Prada bags, shouting gay pride. Look at shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy which similarly depict the fluff and flutter of the brightly colored, empty-headed peacock that is the gay male. These portrayals make people expect that sort of behavior from gay men, almost demand it. From other gays, my speech is now open to unwarranted sexual innuendo. I can’t notice a cool pair of sunglasses a guy wears without â€Å"Ooh? So you think he’s cute?† popping up. I wasn’t looking; I just thought the sunglasses were cool†¦ that’s not so unusual, right? It’s the automatic assumption that everything I do is based on my sexuality that’s frustrating. The smallest flick of the wrist speaks volumes about how much of a homosexual I really am. But why cling to the stereotype if you’re gay? Is it so that members of the gay community, who went through their own ordeals and have experienced the same feelings, will recognize you and say, â€Å"You’re like us† and â€Å"Welcome†? Trying To Avoid Gay Stereotypes :: Top 10 Gay Stereotypes My name is Rob Geis, and I’m a male college student who happens to be gay. Now, I’m not an â€Å"oh-my-God!† gay, nor am I an â€Å"honey, that blouse is all wrong† gay, but for some reason that image gets stuck in people’s minds when I tell them that I am gay. In many ways, coming out was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. I‘m free to do whatever I want under the banner of homosexuality: I can wear skimpy, too-tight clothing that doesn’t suit me, put on makeup, act effeminate and cutesy, or cry at the drop of a hat, without society so much as batting an eye. It’s a real pain. The gay stereotype is that we’re all promiscuous, shallow individuals who act extremely feminine and obsess over fashion. The problem is that there are more young gays who don’t fit the stereotype than those who do. In his 2005 Time cover story titled â€Å"The Battle Over Gay Teens,† John Cloud quotes one-time Young Gay America Magazine editor-in-chief Michael Glatze as saying, â€Å"Today so many kids who are gay, they don't like Cher. They aren't part of the whole subculture. †¦I don't think the gay movement understands the extent to which the next generation just wants to be normal kids.† There seems to be a constant pressure to â€Å"act gay† from others in the gay and straight communities. Look at the news media, which constantly focuses on extreme examples like gays marching down the street with pink lip gloss and Prada bags, shouting gay pride. Look at shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy which similarly depict the fluff and flutter of the brightly colored, empty-headed peacock that is the gay male. These portrayals make people expect that sort of behavior from gay men, almost demand it. From other gays, my speech is now open to unwarranted sexual innuendo. I can’t notice a cool pair of sunglasses a guy wears without â€Å"Ooh? So you think he’s cute?† popping up. I wasn’t looking; I just thought the sunglasses were cool†¦ that’s not so unusual, right? It’s the automatic assumption that everything I do is based on my sexuality that’s frustrating. The smallest flick of the wrist speaks volumes about how much of a homosexual I really am. But why cling to the stereotype if you’re gay? Is it so that members of the gay community, who went through their own ordeals and have experienced the same feelings, will recognize you and say, â€Å"You’re like us† and â€Å"Welcome†?

Isds Ch 5

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

Free Essays on Rape

Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. Date rape is not an unusual occurrence that only happens in isolated situations. In fact, some surveys suggest that in 84% of rape cases, the victim knew her attacker, and in 57% of rapes occurred while on dates (Warshaw 11). However, what is even more surprising than these high figures is that most occurrences of date rape go unreported. Several theories exist that try to explain this phenomenon. For example, many women may refuse to believe that their â€Å"friend† raped them. In fact, they could ultimately convince themselves that that horrid night never actually occurred. Moreover, there is embarrassment following the attack in which memory and emotions become mixed up. When alcohol or drugs are involved, the women may have no memory of the attack whatsoever. Even if the victim does remember the attack, they could be left with a sense that they let themselves be taken advantage of. In cases such as this, the victim may blame them self instead of the attacker. Rape is an offense that uses sex and violence that makes sex the weapon in an act of violence. The humiliation involved in either being battered by or hurting someone we care for makes it hard to tell anyone, even those closest to us. People in abusive relationships often work hard at making it seem as if nothing is wrong. They try to convince themselves and others that â€Å"it’s not really that bad,† or that â€Å"it doesn’t happen all the time.† (Hicks 18) Additionally, societal perceptions dictate that a woman should know how to set limits, and that they are responsible for their own actions. Many wom... Free Essays on Rape Free Essays on Rape What is rape? Rape is defined as according to Dictionary.com as the crime of forcing another person to submit sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. In all of the selected readings, one specific rape case was discussed as well as the significant changes that occurred with marriage. Harry Bedlow was a man from New York City who was brought up on rape charges by a woman named Lannah Sawyer in October of 1793. Bedlow met Sawyer on her father’s stoop one summer night and invited her for walk and in those days if you hung with an older man it usually meant you were to have sexual relations with him. As they continued to walk around New York they came across an alley where Bedlow brought Sawyer down to. He invited her into the home of a Mrs. Cary where he allegedly raped her in one of Mrs. Cary’s bedrooms. However, the defense argued against that allegation and said that Sawyer was seduced by Bedlow and that the sex they had was consensual. As a result of the defense’s argument, the jury’s verdict was not guilty in favor of Mr. Bedlow. Marriage had always been very traditional where a man and a woman were set up by each other’s parents and they were to wed when the time was right. However, there was a change in the 1730s when â€Å"selection of your mate was based on personal taste and emotions rather than practical and familiar concerns,† (D’Emilo and Freedman, pg 43). D’Emilo and Freedman then say â€Å"Sons and Daughters not only chose mates with less attention to property and family considerations, but some young people even disregarded parental opinion all together,† (pg 43). Many of these couples also had premarital pregnancy so they would have no other choice but to marry each other without the disapproval of their parents. Even today this still occurs where men and women are choosing who they want to spend the rest of their life with. However, the premarital pregnancy is not common today with couple be... Free Essays on Rape Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. Date rape is not an unusual occurrence that only happens in isolated situations. In fact, some surveys suggest that in 84% of rape cases, the victim knew her attacker, and in 57% of rapes occurred while on dates (Warshaw 11). However, what is even more surprising than these high figures is that most occurrences of date rape go unreported. Several theories exist that try to explain this phenomenon. For example, many women may refuse to believe that their â€Å"friend† raped them. In fact, they could ultimately convince themselves that that horrid night never actually occurred. Moreover, there is embarrassment following the attack in which memory and emotions become mixed up. When alcohol or drugs are involved, the women may have no memory of the attack whatsoever. Even if the victim does remember the attack, they could be left with a sense that they let themselves be taken advantage of. In cases such as this, the victim may blame them self instead of the attacker. Rape is an offense that uses sex and violence that makes sex the weapon in an act of violence. The humiliation involved in either being battered by or hurting someone we care for makes it hard to tell anyone, even those closest to us. People in abusive relationships often work hard at making it seem as if nothing is wrong. They try to convince themselves and others that â€Å"it’s not really that bad,† or that â€Å"it doesn’t happen all the time.† (Hicks 18) Additionally, societal perceptions dictate that a woman should know how to set limits, and that they are responsible for their own actions. Many wom...

Chechnya essays

Chechnya essays The persecution, deportation and general abuse of those who call themselves Chechnyans, has been a heavy burden to bear over the last few centuries. Ethnically and religiously these people from the Caucasus are markedly different from their expansionist Russian neighbors. Centuries of miscommunication and aggressive policies in the heavily Islamic Caucasus have created a deep sense of mistrust and hatred amongst the two neighbors. This chasm that was created over two centuries ago has continuously worsened and has been the driving force in developing crime and terrorism within the Chechen people. The mountainous and harsh geography of Chechnya has been critical in instilling a sense of survival and strength within its people as the Chechens have resided in the region for around 6,000 years. Its central location within the Caucasus Mountains, in between the Black and Caspian Seas, made the area strategically important as it laid within the crossroads of Georgia, Dagestan and the Ottoman Empire in the south and Russia to the north. The rugged terrain and the firm basis in nomadic herding created a strong sense of independence within the Chechens. The location of Chechnya also played a key role as its proximity to the Muslim world allowed for Islam to spread into the area in the eighth century. The warlike culture of the Chechens has also been an important factor in their evolution. Many Chechens would arms themselves with knives constantly as a way to show their clan loyalty and strength. Another critically important aspect in Chechen culture was that of the blood feud, where individuals, families or clans would perpetuate decades old deaths and continue the vicious cycle of violence. The strong sense of clan loyalty also played an important role as the people saw themselves as one group of people but separated by clan loyalties. These rigid and violent cultural norms within the Chechens would combine to form a stron...

AAS 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

AAS 4 - Essay Example These crimes usually take place where there are people of different ethnicity, culture, religion or background living together in a tense and unsocial environment that tends to create differences which, with the passage of time, increase and become more influential and dominating in the society so as to create an everlasting difference that transfers from one generation to another. Vincent Jen Chin was an Asian American who originally belonged to China. He was brutally murdered through assaults in the month of June; year 1982 in the city of Detroit, Michigan’s closed society of Highland Park. Ronald Ebens who was a Chrysler plant supervisor murdered him with assistance from his stepson, Michael Nitz. The assault included baseball bat blows to the head and possessed numerous characteristics falling in the context of hate crimes. The case carries great importance in the context of hate crime as the assassination caused an outrage from the public due to the soft sentencing of both the men in a plea bargain. Later a Federal prosecution was carried out which was an outcome of the public demand through alliance numerous Asian ethnic organizations. This is why the assassination is believed to be the commencement of a movement of pan-ethnic Asian Americans. (Yip) Ethnic issues are increasing in offices and schools where there are brisk socio-economic modifications and such issues are the consequence of uneven work and educational prospects or bias practices in employment of staff. Deterrence of hate crimes and gang movements in schools as well as offices are the duty of school, employers and the police, who must take measures to make plans to take care of such activities and resolve racial

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

American history - Essay Example The temperance movement was a culmination of growing religious and moral sentiments in the North. The main goal of the temperance movement according to Blocker, Tyrrell and Fahey was â€Å"to define and control alcohol consumption† (40). During the colonial era drinking was socially acceptable but in the nineteenth century it was found to be no longer respectable as it viewed as the cause of social evils. Alcoholism was often associated with evils such as domestic violence, poverty, crime, prostitution and poor health and as such needed to be regulated. The aim was not to ban drinking and eliminate the production of alcohol but to moderate its use as it was affecting the economic development. Later in the nineteenth century, the movement advocated for abstinence from drinking alcoholic beverages and this goal was achieved in 1920 when â€Å"manufacture, sale and transport of alcoholic beverages in the US and its possessions† was prohibited nationwide through the eightee nth Amendment to the US constitution (Blocker et al. 42). The first national organization responsible for temperance efforts was the American Temperance Society (ATS) founded in 1826. Women also played a great role in pushing for temperance reforms as they had moral influence. They did this through Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) formed in 1874. Another organization that played crucial role in pushing for legislative agenda was the Anti-Saloon League of America (ASLA). It saw the passing of eighteenth Amendment although it was repealed in 1833. The Educational Reform movement was also prominent during this period. Education was viewed as the cause and solution of many problems in the society hence it was geared to solving current problems of each epoch. Reformers like John Dewey believed that the society could only be reformed through education reforms (Horn 42). According to Berube (99) and Horn (41-55) there were