FDI

However, these institutions may also bring with them relaxed codes of ethical conduct that serve to exploit the neediness of developing nations, rather than to provide he critical support necessary for countrywide economic and social development. When a multinational invests in a host country, the scale of the investment (given the size of the firms) is likely to be significant. Advantages The possible benefits of a multinational investing in a country may include: HARD – Train the labor skills, other company start losing skilled workers. Improving the balance of payments – inward investment will usually help a country's balance of payments situation. The investment itself will be a direct flow of capital into the country and the investment is also likely to result in import substitution and export promotion.Export promotion comes due to the multinational using their production facility as a basis for exporting, while import substitution means that products previously i mported may now be bought domestically. Providing employment – FDA will usually result in employment benefits for the host country as most employees will be locally recruited. These benefits may be relatively greater given that governments will usually try to attract firms to areas where there is relatively high unemployment or a good labor supply. Source of tax revenue – profits of litigation's will be subject to local taxes in most cases, which will provide a valuable source Of revenue for the domestic government.Technology transfer – multinationals will bring with them technology and production methods that are probably new to the host country and a lot can therefore be learnt from these techniques. Workers will be trained to use the new technology and production techniques and domestic firms will see the benefits of the new technology. This process is known as technology transfer. Increasing choice – if the multinational manufactures for domestic mark ets as ell as for export, then the local population will gain form a wider choice of goods and services and at a price possibly lower than imported substitutes. National reputation – the presence of one multinational may improve the reputation of the host country and other large corporations may follow suite and locate as well.Disadvantages The possible disadvantages of a multinational investing in a country may include: Environmental impact – multinationals will want to produce in ways that are as efficient and as cheap as possible and this may not always be the best environmental practice. They will often lobby governments hard to try to ensure that they can benefit from regulations being as lax as possible and given their economic importance to the host country, this lobbying will often be quite effective. Access to natural resources – multinationals will sometimes invest in countries just to get access to a plentiful supply of raw materials and host nations are often more concerned about the short-term economic benefits than the long-term costs to their country in terms of the depletion of natural resources.

The Sound of Writing

I was staring at empty space. I tried to look for the fixed contours on the paper and the silhouette of the pen I was holding. I tried but to no avail. My mind was swimming in an endless array of uneasiness. I was not certain whether I was dreaming or already awake. This was hard, I told myself. I felt a drop of sweat trickling down my cheek. Thomas Edison once said that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. If he was right then I was on the right track. But doubt was slowly lurking and creeping around me. Was it really this hard to be inspired to write? I just comforted myself by constantly saying what Jean Anouilh once said, that inspiration was a farce that poets had invented to give themselves importance.When I was starting to become a writer, I was not even aware that I was trying to be one. Grade school for me was seventy percent playing and thirty percent dreaming. And my dreams during that time were all about winning an Academy Award or being named as one of the sexiest people in the world. Becoming the next president was also in my mind. But the thought of being a writer was like imagining myself eating salad with an alien in a crater of a moon in one of the planets in the Andromeda galaxy; it never crossed my mind.In a nutshell, when I tried to analyze how I was as a writer in grade school, all I could say was that I was a courageously idiotic writer. An idiot, but brave nonetheless. This was largely due to the fact that everything I had written at that time was not even close to being brilliant or great. All the words I wrote were simply inspired by having the guts to just do it. If there was a paper too difficult to do and a word too hard to define, all I did was to write and write because I believed that everything would be just fine.I was stupid enough to go forth while all hell broke loose and still smiled at the end of the day. I was guided by my own foolish belief I was brave simply because I would not back awa y. This was writing for me in grade school. Writing for me back then was not about being witty or being brilliant. Writing was all about just stroking my pen without regret and without regard for the outcome. However, in a sense, everyone who attempted to write had some ounce of courage. I felt that I was a better writer than the other students not because I wrote well but rather, I wrote braver. And I was braver longer than most. As Ronald Reagan once mentioned, heroes were not braver than anyone else. They were just braver five minutes longer.As I made the transition from grade school to high school, I started to become idealistic. I began having these grand notions of changing the world and eradicating poverty. I was dreaming of winning the Nobel Peace Prize or be named the next Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. This time, I was absolutely clear in becoming a writer. Writing for me during high school was all about greatness. I felt the need to write to impress. I wanted to be witty and brilliant. I wanted everybody to be mesmerized in reading every single word I wrote. When I tried to look back during those days, even when I wrote poorly, I blindly presented my written work of art full of hubris and unafraid. I often compared writing to boxing.As Muhammad Ali would say, to be a great champion, a person had to believe that he was the best. If he was not, he should pretend that he was. This was me in high school. I was the writer who was so full of himself. If a teacher or a classmate did not like what I wrote, I simply told myself that these people did not understand the high level of writing I was doing. I understood myself to be a brilliant and confident writer. In reality, compared to who I was as a writer in grade school, only one thing had changed. If I was a brave and idiotic back then, I was not confident but just cocky in high school. And to my realization, I was still stupid for thinking of how great I was.When I stepped into college, a ren ewed vigour was awakened within me. Maybe I got too tired of being cocky and stupid that I started seeing a new side of me I never saw I had. This time I believed I had transcended from being the good and the better man to the being best man. I was no longer the idiot and stupid writer. I was filled with excitement. I was now the fool. Somehow, the words and lines I were using suddenly all sounded a bit poetic and romantic. I often pondered if I was to be the next William Shakespeare.This time, I was inspired by the others that had gone before me. I wanted to sway the hearts and minds of people with my writing. I wanted to invoke their deepest darkest secrets through my words. I wanted to encapsulate each soul with a stroke of my pen. I longed to see their tears and hear their laughs by my artistry in poetry. I would be that whom which T. S. Eliot described as the genuine poet who could communicate his words before it was understood. And to my shock, I did see their tears and heard their laughs because of what I had written. I saw my professors crying in pain because they could not even bear one more word of my work. I heard laughs not because I was funny, but because my work was hilarious. Despite this, I still continued and persevered. As one of my favourite authors, Richard Bach, would say, a professional writer was an amateur who did not quit.Everything was a bit different after that. Somehow, until to this very day, I would still be idiotic, stupid and foolish. But this time around, I was a wise fool at the least. I had been quoting Edison, Anouilh, Ali, Reagan and Eliot just to name a few thinking that by using their words, I would be a good writer; I would sound better. But I soon realized that writing was about finding my voice.I needed to find my own words. Writing was about knowing and understanding who I was. Thus, I resolved to search for the right words, the right imagery, the right tone and the right sound. However, I always asked myself if there were indeed such things. Then, it hit me. I was so concerned with the way I was writing that I forgot to find my purpose for it. Why did I want to become a writer? The answer was simple. It was because in writing, I offered who I was and not what I had. That sounded right, I told myself. It sounded just about right.

What makes art art

Art is any form of self-expression. Art is something that is created that entertains, inspires, educates or makes a person feel something good, bad or unexplainable. Art is whatever the artist does or makes in which they deem to be art whether it is of value or not. There is a wide variety of art, some that people wouldn't imagine as art, but a true artist sees art in every creation. Art is everywhere and in everything I see. Art is not Just a painting, poem, drawing or a ballet. When I think of art I think of something somebody does to release their feelings.Different people express art in various ways. For example, someone who writes a love letter because they are unable to express their feelings through touch or emotion. Is this art? Watching Michael Jordan drive down the court and slam the ball. He was recognized for his unique ways for a reason. So, is this art? Making music, any type of music whether it is appealing to your ears or not. Is this art? All of these things are art to me. Art does not have to be beautiful or make you feel good to be defined as art; it is an expression of emotion.We are all artists in my eyes because we are all able to feel and create. All of life is art to me. When I think about art, its creator and the meaning of the creation I think the content is more Important then the context. I don't necessarily need to understand when and why it was created to form my opinion on whether or not I enjoy it. I like to find my own meaning and form my own opinion without knowing the background of the art. After I form my opinion I do like to research and find the artists meaning to see If I understood their expression without having it outlined.As an example I would like to reference Edward Sinkhole's piece, History as a Planter. Before doing any research on this piece I noticed the feet which I thought represented history and movement, the sign notating war I thought about struggle, and the plant, which I was perplexed until I did a little research. The plant Is a wondering Jew. So I was partially correct. From what I found out doing some light research, this piece of art Is symbolic of the way the artist views the history of the Jewish struggles.Art Is everywhere you look and such a huge part of our everyday, ring to explain a true definition Is almost Impossible or overwhelming. There Is Intentional art and accidental art. There are famous artists and artists as us. Take a look around you, everything you see Is art, and everything you see Is designed by someone. Yes, machines make things for us, but someone designed that piece or even designed that machine used to make that piece. Now, take another look around you. What Isn't art? Of the creation I think the content is more important then the context.I don't research and find the artists meaning to see if I understood their expression without trudge, and the plant, which I was perplexed until I did a little research. The plant is research, this piece of art is symbo lic of the way the artist views the history of the Jewish struggles. Art is everywhere you look and such a huge part of our everyday, trying to explain a true definition is almost impossible or overwhelming. There is intentional art and accidental art. There are famous artists and artists as us. Take a look around you, everything you see is art, and everything you see is designed by you.

Service organization analysis services marketing plan on a service Essay

Service organization analysis services marketing plan on a service company - Essay Example The bank is one of the largest in the country and has presence in more than 50 countries. The department chosen in this case is the bank's internet banking services. The bank has a well established department for this and gives comprehensive information in its web pages. The characteristics of services marketing with reference to this department is given in the paper. Relevant marketing theories with reference to services marketing is also given. An overview of the internet banking service of the bank is also given. This is followed by the internet banking industry in the country. Major competitors of the bank are also provided. The internet usage and habits of the public are also included. The bank is in a good position regarding this since the usage and penetration of the internet is one of the highest in the world. The bank's biggest challenge would be to convert the users to be more active in internet banking. One important aspect, namely service recovery is also discussed. It se ems that ANZ Bank is keenly aware of this factor and has chalked out well laid out plans for customer service and satisfaction. The organization selected for the service market analysis is ANZ Bank. ANZ bank (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited) is an Australia based major banking and financial institution. It renders services of home loans, car loans and business loans to its customers. Internet banking and phone banking is its peculiar features. Credit cards and savings accounts are also offered by it to the customers. It carried out insurance services also. Main strategy of ANZ Bank is offering a range of products suiting with different needs of customers in a better convenient way. Savings and investment accounts of ANZ carry competitive interest rates. ANZ online saver helps customers to manage their own accounts through online. (ANZ, 2008). ANZ bank is recognized as a major international banking and financial services group in Australia and New Zealand and included in the 50 list of top 50 banks in the world. It started its working in 1830s by opening office in Melbourne. (ANZ: History, 2008). Business Strategies of ANZ Bank: For sustaining in the highly competitive banking industry in Australia, the ANZ Bank has accepted good corporate governance and transparency as the fundamentals of its business. For guiding the business decision making on the right way the bank has insisted on specific codes of conduct ensuring company value. The Board of Directors is mutually responsible for the corporate governance and directing the financial performance. It has company policy of concrete honest and ethical behavior of the organizational members. ANZ is a member of the Code of Banking Practice, which specify standards of good banking practice. (ANZ: Corporate Governance). Characteristics of service marketing: Marketing can be of products, services or both. In the case of services, there are some characteristics that make it different from product marketing. They are referred to as the IHIP characteristics namely intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability. (Lovelock, 2004, p.3). Services are intangible and unlike a product, a person cannot see or touch them. Heterogeneity means that the same service given to different customers will different from each other. The service experience of customers on a particular service will be

Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Analysis - Essay Example Therefore, his attitude towards death and afterlife was perceived as rather odd and unusual, but the line of development arranged by Socrates for his arguments supporting the idea of death seems rather plausible and – together with the metaphysical theory of forms elaborated by Plato – underlies many ideas of Christianity formed later. Juxtaposition of Socratic and Christian doctrines is possible at least due to the concept of the immortal soul and fleeting nature of earthly life inside the material body. At the end of the dialogue, just before he died, Socrates asked his friend Crito to make an offering – a cock - to Asclepius, and this last request has been interpreted in many ways; yet, the most common understanding on this expression is that death is perceived as a relief and cure for all miseries and maladies of life. As a thesis, I would state that his view of life and death (death being a state free of all earthly concerns) is rather reasonable to certain extent, as Socrates manages to support it with the insight to the ideas of objective reality, reason and immortality of the soul. As the search for truth in the course of dispute and discussion is a hallmark of Socrates’ philosophy, no wonder that he prefers to lead his companions to understanding of the truth giving them points for consideration and constantly asking questions (as if he wasn’t sure and wanted his point of view to be confirmed and approved by his friends). In this dialogue, we see the philosopher gradually unfolding his ideas of death and afterlife in front of his companions and supporting his statements with examples. As the fear of death becomes the main issue of concern, Socrates states that a person should perceive his/her death gladly and have no fear of it. Whereas at the first sight, this idea seems rather puzzling, it makes sense as soon as the concept of immortal soul is applied. Providing a fellow philosopher as an example, Socrates proves that a thinker

Bans on Texting While Driving Dont Work Assignment

Bans on Texting While Driving Dont Work - Assignment Example Since only four states out of the many states that have already imposed texting-while-driving banning laws have been subjected to the survey, the statement that such laws are ineffective is not really conclusive. However, it is not too far-fetched to presume that texting-while-driving banning laws are really hard to implement. The offensive act takes place inside a vehicle in these cases and chances are law enforcement authorities would actually have a difficult time spying who is and who is not using his or her cell phone while driving. Nonetheless, it has been established that texting while driving is a road hazard that can jeopardize the health and safety of people on the road. Thus, despite the difficulty of implementing such a law, the government should continue with zealously enforcing it. At the same time, a more effective and relentless campaign against the dangerous habit must be conducted in all media. AdelaVoice, a venture-funded company located in Massachusetts, is announcing the launching of StartTalking, a software solution that promises to solve the hazard of texting while driving. Once installed on an Android mobile phone, StartTalking can be made useful when a person needs to use his phones but has to keep his hands and eyes on other things – like when he or she is driving. StartTalking runs quietly in the background ready to execute the voice commands of the user which can be initiated by uttering certain â€Å"prompts† like the words ‘computer’ and ‘operator.’

The effectiveness of coaching Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The effectiveness of coaching - Research Paper Example cooperative of all team-players need to learn how they can best benefit their team, and for that, there are coaches: A fatherly figure, a mentor, a team-motivator and an inspirational leader, all combined into one, all at the source of the integrity and unity of a team. Great coaches have been known to drive mediocre teams to blinding success and successful teams to record-breaking levels of it. But how do they manage to achieve this, and how important exactly is a coach for the team? This question is answered through the examples of some of the greatest coaches of our time. Consider for example, Vincent Thomas Lombardi, or Vince Lombardi as he is better known, who is best known for being coach to the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s. When Lombardi first stepped on to coach the team in 1958, the team was going through one of its worst spells in history. Lombardi found a dispirited, disheartened team who had almost no support from the angry Green Bay and community and who owing to its abysmal state was in dire financial conditions as well. When Lombardi accepted to coach the team, he taught the team the first lesson that any coach primarily teaches his team – that it was not the statistics that determined the success of a team, nor the players that ensured it; rather it was the abilities of the players, developed through training and perseverance, and the mind-frame behind those abilities that drove a team to victory or success. Through punishingly exhaustive training sessions and incredibly motivating coaching, Lombardi was able to drive the te am to a success point not achieved by perhaps any rookie coach in history. Lombardi made it a point to incorporate a religious aspect into his coaching, earning him the title of The Pope. After the Packers lost the first Championship game under Lombardis coaching, which was to be his first and only championship loss as coach for the team, Lombardi motivated his team and told them that it would indeed be the last of

Business system analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business system analysis - Essay Example ructure is created to visually demonstrate the clients what their needs can seem similar to when they are applied into a completed system (Sommerville, 2009). Evolutionary prototyping method is a software development lifecycle model in which software prototype developed for illustration and requirements explanation. There are four main phases in Evolutionary prototyping model: (SoftDevTeam) Evolutionary Prototyping is also recognized as breadboard prototyping. Evolutionary Prototyping is moderately dissimilar from Throwaway Prototyping. The major objective to utilize Evolutionary Prototyping is to develop an extremely strong prototype in a prearranged way and continuously process it. The cause intended for this is that the Evolutionary prototype, at what time developed, shapes the compassion of the novel system, as well as the developments and additional requirements will be developed (Hanna Kulas, 2009). A class diagram graphically demonstrates classes and subclasses in a system(Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat). A class diagram is a diagram that demonstrates the associations as well as source code dependability amongst classes in the UML or Unified Modeling Language (Ambler, 2009). A class outlines the techniques and variables in an object that is a precise body in a plan or the component of code instead of that entity. The Class diagrams are practical in the entire shapes of OOP or object-oriented programming. The idea is a number of years mature on the other hand have been advanced like object-oriented programming modeling paradigms have developed (Searchsoa, 2009). Below is an example of Class diagram: A use case is a task that an actor who interacts with an information system can carry out(Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat). A Use case is intended to elucidate a series of events that offer something of quantifiable worth to an actor as well as is drawn like a horizontal ellipse (Ambler, UML 2 Use Case Diagrams, 2009). In software engineering, the utilization of a

Business Ethical Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Business Ethical Issues - Assignment Example However, this massive network of suppliers also posed certain problems. IKEA hogged the limelight, albeit for wrong reasons, when a Swedish television documentary revealed that the company’s rug suppliers based in South Asian countries employed children at their looms (factories). Many children worked as bonded labor to pay off their parent’s debt. Estimates revealed that close to 2, 00,000 children were employed in the carpet industry in India. In 1995, IKEA was apprised by a German documentary maker that a film had been made which provided evidence of deployment of child labor at Rangan Exports, one of IKEA’s biggest suppliers in India. Unlike the Swedish television documentary which talked of prevalence of child labor in the industry, the German documentary pointed the finger directly at IKEA and its Indian supplier. India was not a signatory to Convention 138 adopted by International Labor Organization (ILO). Countries that ratified the convention were committed to abolition of child labor. Bonded labor was prohibited in India under the provisions of Pledging of Labor Act, 1933. The government machinery was however weak and the prevalence of child labor was widespread in the country. The Indian government had also enacted the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1976 but gained little success in eradicating the problem of child labor. The Indian government treated unbounded child labor as a socio-economic phenomenon. Many regarded children working along with their parents as a source of income for the family.

Public Relation(Marketing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Relation(Marketing) - Essay Example The ever diminishing turn-out in elections for the European Parliament - it fell in all but three member-states during the recent Euro elections - is just one eloquent expression of popular disaffection and indifference towards the EU" (Clegg, 2003, p.5). The focus of the present essay is the perception of British citizens of 50 of European Union and related institutions. The nationwide EU research, conducted in summer 2006, comprised 1,347 persons of British citizenship, 45% of whom were people over 50 (Eurobarometer 65). As the report holds, the British are known for their typical answers 'I don't care' and 'I don't know', but citizens over 50 have specific position. For instance, when asked about their opinion concerning the EU membership, 50 per cent of respondents answered 'It is a good idea', 16 per cent found it unacceptable, whereas there were 34 per cent, who were just unaware of current political issues. As for seniors, the huge percentage of people over 50 (30 per cent) view EU membership as problem and don't support it, and only 23 per cent found the idea sound and reasonable. Still, there are 47% of indifferent (or poorly-informed) citizens, the majority of who are aged over 65 and who are currently not able of following all news broadcasts. Nevertheless, the survey suggests that the situation has improved comparing to 46-per-cent unawareness in summer 2005 (Eurobarometer 63). On the other hand, the related dynamics among seniors is slower - whereas in 2005, the percentage of indifferent or unaware citizens aged over 50 was 49%, the recent research shows only 2-per cent decrease. This fact is clear and explainable: the survey was participated by various age groups and social classes - from students to businesspeople, and the natural increase of education level is exactly what the investigation has measured. On the other hand, citizens over 50 are less motivated in terms of political inquiries, so they are likely to remain either uninformed or uninterested. The exact percentage of uninformed citizens is 12 per cent: "What is also encouraging to note is that only 125 of the UK poll say that they know nothing at all about the European Union compared with 18 per cent a year ago. There is a welcome decline in the negative aspect of the UK data. A year ago, 28% of UK citizens said they never looked for information on the EU. It has now reduced slightly, but significantly, to 23%" (Eurobarometer 65, p.3). On the other hand, White et al highlights that this positive step forward is being done by the population under 45, whereas the development of consciousness in citizens over 50 has been in state of stagnation for five years. For instance, only 8 per cent of British seniors made attempts to find more extensive information about the EU (White, 2006), and their number has enjoyed only 1,5 per cent increase over the last year. Earlier research (Lafferty, 2004) introduces certain target audience for cognitive influence, and categorized the UK population by age and gender. Female students from 23 to 28 turned out the most perceptive and sensitive in terms of recent information campaigns, run by the EU. People over 50 are considered neither influential (i.e. they are not able and not motivated to persuade their surroundings) not sensitive to new information. Lafferty indicates that the typical profile of a UK citizen over 50 is following: a person interested in domestic news and concerned about governmental

The Effects of the African Slave Trade Term Paper

The Effects of the African Slave Trade - Term Paper Example The slave trade did not start with the intention of selling human beings. Rather, it was a product of a vicious cycle that spiraled into its final form of trading humans. It was not certain if the Arab slave trade was the precursor to the West slave trade. Initially, the Arabs had the slave trade only as a supplement to their more lucrative commerce in Africa with Sudanese gold and other rare and exotic woods. The Arab slave trade however was not geared towards a full scale buying and selling of humans but rather only as a means to satisfy their domestic needs. The Europeans (later the Americans) found the slave trade to be profitable followed suit and made a full scale business out of it whose numbers of the slaves traded accounted to millions (historians dispute the actual numbers but they agreed that it accounted to millions). The slave trading was intensified especially when the plantations on the islands off the coast of Africa (Sao Tome, Principe, Cap Verde) were successfully e stablished. Also, when the New World (America) embarked on its plantation and mines of gold, copper, cocoa, sugar, corn, tobacco and coffee, the slave trade became a convenient source of forced labor. Suffice to say that the international trade during the 15th to 19th century was driven by the slave trade. The commodities that were traded were not only grown and attended by slaves, but the slaves themselves were also part of the commodities that were traded internationally. These centuries of trade slave, ten centuries of slave trade from the Muslim countries that spanned between ninth to ninenteenth century, four centuries of slave trade from Western countries that eclipsed the ten centuries of trade of the Muslim countries, had a widespread implication among the African countries. African countries bled from the forced raid and stripping of its human resource whose trade passed through all her possible routes from the Sahara, through the Red Sea, from the Indian Ocean ports and ac ross the Atlantic (Bokolo). â€Å"The figures, even where hotly disputed, make your head spin. Four million slaves exported via the Red Sea, another four million through the Swahili ports of the Indian Ocean, perhaps as many as nine million along the trans-Saharan caravan route, and eleven to twenty million (depending on the author) across the Atlantic Ocean† (Bokolo). The most obvious effect of slave trade among these African countries is non-development. The African countries being robbed of its able bodied human resource were not able to embark on the development of its agriculture which was a pre requisite towards industrialization (people has to eat first before they can industrialize). Instead, its human resource and best able bodied men and women were used to till the lands of their European and American counterparts and also manned the factories and mines that became the engine of growth in the Western world. While Europe and America prospered, the African source of l abor languished in poverty. The underdevelopment of African countries even lingered until today even if the slave trade already ended more than a century past. The slave trade was so prevalent that the magnitude and depth of the damage brought by the trade that literally stripped these African

Human Resources and Organizational Behavior for Health Care Leadership in Health Care Management Essay Example for Free

Human Resources and Organizational Behavior for Health Care Leadership in Health Care Management Essay There are people that need a strong leader in order to thrive in their job. There are also people that dont need a strong leader because they have the drive to be successful but may need a push every now and then. When it comes to an organization and the dynamics of it, managers be charismatic because of dealing with so many different personalities in the group. Being a charismatic leader requires self-confidence and trust in his/her subordinates. Showing trust in huge as it instills confidence in that employee and tells them they dont have to look over their shoulders. They can do their jobs freely which can lead to more production in the organization. Conflicts are a natural part of human interaction and its inevitable. Part of being a good leader is having effective conflict management skills. When conflicts arise, managers must know how to manage them so that bigger problems dont grow. There are so many aspects of being a manager and leading. Employees in the organization depend on good leadership and if that need is not met, it can lead to workplace disfunction. Keywords: Charismatic, Conflict, Leadership, Dynamics, Management When the management job is talked about, leadership often comes to mind. It takes a strong minded, organized, and determined individual to do this job. Over seeing a number of different employees can at times not be the easiest job. Leaders must be willing to accept and meet challenges that come for the betterment of patient healthcare. Not everyone can lead a group of people in an organization. It takes the type of person that has people skills as well as the knowledge of his/her job to lead effectively. Leading Creatively Usually when healthcare leaders have a question they take a rational approach until the right or wrong answer has made it up the chain of command. This approach can be effective in some cases but in healthcare thing are always changing. A regular leader loves to avoid mistakes which all mistakes are not avoidable. Someone who is creative loves to learn from mistakes as it can give them more ideas to choose from. Today, the healthcare environment is even more complex as reform and market forces transform the way healthcare is delivered and managed. Belief systems, values and attitudes are shifting. Creative thinking and agile, adaptive leadership will be required to make hospitals, health systems and networks sustainable as the healthcare delivery landscape transforms (http://www. ccl. org/leadership/landing/healthcare/index. aspx). As a leader in healthcare, managers must show their employees that they are willing to be innovative and let their ego go as group collaboration becomes the norm. By modeling this, the employees will be more willing to work together for the good of the organization and the patients. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has developed a model that health systems can use to adapt and thrive in uncertain times by creating direction, alignment and commitment. There are six essential organizational capabilities that are a prerequisite for success: Collaborative Patient Care Teams- The team will extend to include clinicians outside the hospital environment which will place a much greater emphasis on higher-order collaboration skills. Resource Stewardship- Requires individual ownership and accountability for the decisions that will ultimately allow the system to thrive and manage its resources judiciously. Talent Transformation- Leaders will need to hire and develop talented individuals who can see the next wave of plausible solutions and innovations and lead transformational change. Boundary Spanning- Leaders draw on networks and relationships as they work systemwide to meet the mission of healthcare. Capacity for Complexity, Innovation and Change- Effective leaders move populations from old established processes to new models of effectiveness and understand the underlying emotional impact of change and how it varies by individual. Employee Engagement and Well-being- Employees are most productive and committed to their organization when they are engaged emotionally, mentally and physically. (http://www. ccl. org/leadership/landing/healthcare/index. aspx). These organizational methods are the essential keys for managers to not only lead their workplace to the way of the future but also helping to lead other organizations. The collaboration aspect is key as it will require everyone to be cohesive and understanding. Power and Influence Power is a defined as having behavioral or fate control over the behavior of another. It exists only when there is an unequal relationship between two people and where one of the two is dependent upon the other (Borkowski, 2011). Power can be a trap for some managers which can lead to abusing it. When employees see and experience this happening they pull away and lose respect for that manager. This can be the downfall of an organization as it can cause employees to lose motivation, commitment, and creativity. There are five bases of social power: reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. An individual is not limited to just one source of power. Reward power is the ability to give rewards, something that holds value to another individual. Coercive power is the ability to punish either by administering a punishment or by withholding something that an individual needs or wants. Legitimate power is given to an individual on the basis of a given role or position. Referent power stems from Ps affective regard for, or identification with, O. The greater the attraction, the greater the identification. Expert power exists when P awards power to O on the basis of Ps perception of Os knowledge within a given area (Borkowski, 2011). In class discussion the general consensus was managers that had the trust and respect of their employees, had the most power. A manager is an expert of the knowledge he/she has over a subordinate. When managers use that expert power in the right way, which is to teach his/her subordinates, they will feel that the manager is wanting them to expand their knowledge for their success as well as the organization. This in turn continues to build trust and deep respect for the manager. As an educator, this is modeled for us by our administration. Our superintendent and principal have both been teachers in the classroom but have since moved into the roles that they have now so they are the experts when it comes to some of the issues that come up. They attend countless meetings of changes that may happen either with our district or state so that then they can inform us. Once we have a good grasp of what is going to take place we can then inform our students. The expert power that our administration had has been passed to the teaching staff so that then we can pass that knowledge to the students. Decision Making Decision making is an everyday part of our lives whether we realize what type of decision we make or not. Sometimes we make decisions rationally and sometimes intuitively. The fact is, we want to make the right decision but that is not always going to be the case because we can never see what the outcome of that decision will be and we have to live with that. As in any decision model we use, there are pros and cons of each. In the rational decision making model it brings logic and order to decision making. This approach also can help ensure discipline and consistency. Here are the sequence of steps used to rationally develop a solution: Identifying a problem or opportunity, gathering information, analyzing the situation, developing options, evaluating options, selecting a preferred alternative, and acting on the decision. A strength of this model is that it provides structure and discipline to the decision making process. A weakness of this model is the time that is needed to go through this process (http://www. the-happy-manager. com/articles/rational-decision-making-model/). Another decision making model that is used often is intuition. Intuition can make you a much more effective decision maker, especially when you deal with non-standard situations or in expedient decision making. However there are points that need to be considered for instance, when you need to use intuition, can it be effective, and how this decision model ranks versus rational analysis (http://www. time-management-guide. com/intuition-decision-making. html). In class discussion, classmates used a few different models most notably the two mentioned above. There were a few that used both or weighed heavily on just one. I was one that used both rational and intuitive. There are times in coaching when I use the rational approach to make a decision concerning practice. For example, if I need to set up teams that are equal in talent as opposed to starting five and bench, I have to think about who matches up better with who, or what drills are going to be the most beneficial and productive on a given day. My intuitive approach is used during game situations. For example, when to utilize timeouts, when to substitute players, what play to run, or when to switch defenses. Either way, decisions ometimes dont work out the way you envision but you learn to live with it and move on. Conflict-Conflict Management Another aspect of being a leader in management is conflict and conflict management. Some situations are easier to handle than others but a manager that has effective conflict management skills can diffuse a bad situation before it gets worse. Interpersonal conflict is a natural outcome of human interaction that involves two or more individuals who believe that their attitudes, behaviors, or preferred goals are in opposition (Borkowski, 2011). This type of conflict is probably one the most common in the workplace simply because there are personal characteristics and issues, interactional difficulties and perspective and perceptive differences. As a result of the diversity of todays workplace, an extensive range of differences exists between personal and cultures. When dealing with groups of people, many interpersonal conflicts involve role confusion. If a person doesnt understand their expectations it can intensify the conflict leading to unhealthy relationships. As a result, reactions such as aggression and hostility can take place. There are many strategies we can use in conflict situations whether we use some more often than others or not. Its important that the strategy we do use is appropriate for that particular situation even if its not the strategy we habitually use (Williams, n. d. ). Some strategies we can use for conflict management are; Forcing, Accommodating, Avoiding, Compromising, and Collaborating. When forcing, the manager is using formal authority or other power that he/she possesses to satisfy their concerns without regard to the concerns of the party they are in conflict with. Accommodating is allowing the other party to satisfy their concerns while neglecting your own. Avoiding is not paying attention to the conflict and not taking any action to resolve it. Compromising or attempting to resolve a conflict by identifying a solution that is partially satisfactory to both parties, but completely satisfactory to neither. Lastly, there is collaborating or cooperating with the other party to understand their concerns and expressing your own concerns in an effort to find a mutually and completely satisfactory solution (Williams, n. . ). When leading an organization, understanding how conflict arises is helpful for anticipating situations that may become conflictual. This was something that was talked about in our class discussion. Another idea that was mentioned was that seeing all sides of a situation makes a good manager because it helps the employees develop trust. A situation that stands out to me is looking up from speaking with another student and witnessi ng a student get hit with a ball by another student. We will call the student that got hit (A) and the student that threw the ball (B). Obviously student (A) was not happy about getting hit so the first thing he does is run to confront student (B). Some pushing was done by both and then I intervened. Not seeing student (B) throw the ball just the outcome, I calmed them both down and I asked student (B) why he hit student (A) with the ball. He said he was trying to throw it to someone else but that student (A) stepped in at the wrong time and got hit so it was a just an accident. After student (A) heard the story he understood and apologized for pushing student (B) and student (B) also apologized. The strategy I used was collaborating as we all came to an understanding to what happened. Conclusion Not everyone can lead a group of people in an organization. It takes the type of person that has people skills as well as the knowledge of his/her job to lead effectively. Managers are pulled in so many different directions and they must be able to adapt. Being a leader in an organization is not easy, however being a leader period is not easy. A manager must be aware of what is happening in their organization to lead effectively. Not everyone has the same expectations but part of being a charismatic leader is showing that trust and confidence in his/her employees shows them that even though you are the manager, you trust what they are bringing something positive to the organization. Managers relationship with his/her employees is important as the day to day operations depend on the behaviors of everyone. The relationship connectedness between subordinates and managers is key to productivity in the workplace.

House of Power Westminster

House of Power Westminster Parliament at Westminster remains the most powerful institution in UK politics.’ To  what extent do you consider this to be true? This essay I am going to defend that Westminster is not the most powerful institution and in fact, its dependant on the composition of the house of Commons for it is just an instrument to enact the wish of the political party in power. In this essay I am going to relate Westminster having the main role when controlling institution as a way to determine real power. In the first part of the essay I will establish relationship between the Executive powers, and how the structure of the secondary election of the Prime minister affects the power of Westminster. In the second part of the essay I will discuss the transposition of the European Union (EU) laws and how this reduces the reach of the legislative power in the United Kingdom legislative power in certain matters. Legislative power is defined as the ability, skill, capability or authorization to carry out a specific legislative action,. Note that the uncodified constitutional configuration allows high regulation capacity because Westminster law become Constitutional Law. This kind of constitutional order permits an evolution in the same time of social thinking evolution, and adapt the social changes, such as changes from censatarian masculine suffrage (1831), and ultimately to universal suffrage(1970), or if the most recent devolution of powers to the nations inside the UK at the ends of 1997-98, all this crucial changes by the willingness Westminster. UK constitutional practice is the product of an historical experience with laws, customs and conventions being added to and subtracted from it over time as circumstances dictate (Politics and power in the UK, 2005, p.19) In addition it has also the ability, to reverse the changes and return to the absolute realm structure, although hardly on the political culture of citizenship possible, if It has the society will. This complete freedom to regulate could be the only point that could lead us to the conclusion of the supremacy of the legislative power. While the capabilities or the legitimation of the legislative power are vested in Westminster, this is who lays down rules as an institution, is not who has the power. It is the instrument of the law enactment. UK’s unified parliamentary government facilitates the fusion of the executive (the government) and the legislature (parliament).UK politics are primarily conducted between the executive and the legislative branches,[], the UK model of democracy facilitates executive dominance over the legislature (but provided the executive has a parliamentary majority)(Politics and power in the UK, 2005, p. 15) The electoral system is the first point to considerate, is how the Westminster it is compose, the electoral system is characteristic of Majoritarian Democratic System, Single Member Plurality System (SMPS). This system brings an over representative of the big parties, and event in theory brings a territorial representationally, in our days of a mass media politics it just make easier to concentrate in one party all the electoral power. The actual Executive power it is a coalition of Two political parties, that situation it is an exceptional, the UK’s fi rst peacetime coalition government since 1931 is a considerable departure from the UK norm (Politics and power in the UK, 2005, p.33),situation occurred just 3 times the last century. Normally Labour party or the Conservative party won at least 326 SMP, number enough elected members to elect the leader of the political party as the Prime Minister. To prove the over representably we just need to see the last election, especially between labour party with 29% of votes have 258 SMP and Liberal Party with only 23%, only 6 points less, 57 SMP. And moreover Liberal party has lost 5 SMP even they wont 1% more votes (BBC Electoral results). In the UK politics the election of the executive power it is make through the secondary election, elected by the elected members of the house of Common, and elect the head of the majoritarian party, or the majoritarian coalition, the Prime Minister. That circumstance make that the theory of separation of power (The Spirit of the Laws ,Montesquieu 1748) that define liberals democracies have become weaker. It has became weaker because the theoretical check and balance it becomes an illusion in the political life. The UK executive is empowered as a powerful government, even when it takes the unusual form of a two party coalition, thanks to the disproportional of the single member plurality system and the three party plus others system it now encourages. This executive, armed with a Commons majority, is therefore able, with parliamentary permission, to alter the constitution as it chooses and in ways electors tolerate.(Politics and power in the UK, 2005,p.36) The legislative power when there are a majoritarian party, with more than 326 SMP, have the Executive, and both follows the same agenda, or more exactly Westminster follow the directives of Whitehall and his agenda. And that party have two of the three powers the political party become the most powerful institution in United Kingdom. Moreover if we considerate the policy of the stick and carrot (Politics and power in the UK, 2005, p.26), punishing dissidence members through the party or reward him/her with honours and government jobs. The Executive control of elected members of his party and the fact of the Prime Minister is his political Party leader too, then he have two ways to influence and force the loyalty of his partners. But, as I said, the party its the most powerful power, and sometimes its the political party in govern who force the executive, or the prime minister, to do some decision. For example we can see the govern of Tony Blair. He join the country in the Iraqs War, this situation with the time made loses to Labour party most of his electoral support, this fact force to resign the Prime Minister in favour of Gordon Brown in the summer of 2007, after bad results on local elections of 4th of May.(BBC T. Blair Time line) This replacement was the way to change the strategy and the perceptions of the electorate of the Labour Party, and recover the confidence lost during the last years of Blairs Government and the Iraqs war. Also Gordon Brown PM has to manage the international Crisis, and in the election of 2010 Labour party lost the majority in Westminster. From another point of view of Westminster action is the result of the previous relation between the political parties, fact that easily we can see when there are an executives in coalition of political parties, as Whitehall have now with the Conservatives and Liberal parties in power, this coalition forge a defined political agenda before the election of David Cameron, and this agenda with the support of the parties is passing through it of the parliament. This circumstance exemplify more the role of validate the previous agrees of the political parties. As I said before Westminster is theoretically entitled to regulate freely. But from the UK integration to the European Economic Community in 1973, which was later constituted as the European Union that. EU as a multi-state structure regulates certain matters of regulations (Politics and power in the UK, 2005 , p.68-69), in the case of second-rank ordering directly applicable to United Kingdom law, as based on the legal basis of the development of a treaty approved and ratified by the parliament itself. The European Communities Act 1972 (ECA) allows EC specified instruments to become part of UK law without the need for separate enactment of each and every EC instrument. Section 2(1) of the ECA gives the statutory authority for Treaty provisions and directly applicable secondary legislation (e.g. regulations) automatically to have legal effect in UK domestic law without further enactment .(p. 89 Comparative Study on transposition of Ec Law, June 2007) Despite this habilitation by way of treaties is in practice a normative power loss, an alien subjugation on regulatory and legal system, and in consequence broke the theory freely of Westminster generated by the uncodificate constitution. The negotiation the regulations depending upon the matter is carried to treat the ministers, depending on their portfolio at the European Council of Ministers meetings. Or the importance of the subject by the own prime minister to European Councils. Furthermore, together with the agreements and later to assessments among ministries, and also departments transpose the European legislation generated by the European institutions, which rests in the hands of ministers or cabinet, except in cases of assuming of obligations in cases affecting rights previously acquired by the public or the state, in this case the rule will require a complement of Westminster United Kingdom the vast majority of EC legislation is enacted by Statutory Instrument under Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. This Section confers authority on ministers, Government departments or Her Majesty in Council to make, with certain exceptions, subordinate legislation for the purpose of implementing any Community obligation of the United Kingdom. Subordinate legislation made under this section can repeal or amend existing legislation if this is incompatible with EC law.(p. 11 Comparative Study on transposition of Ec Law, June 2007) Given that treaties with was Lisbon Treaty (2007), or even was the Maastricht Treaty (1992) form United kingdom de facto is constitutional encoded country, and a country that explores the progressive tendency of continental integration and harmonization. In conclusion Westminster have no limitations to legislate whatever thinks the society need, but how works the relation between legislative and executive make that the legislative production follows the directives of Prime Minister and the executive. This situations are accentuate by the concentration of power of majoritarian democratic system, because the representation is concentrate by SSMP as a way to become over-represented the Conservative Party and Labour Party, and this political parties control executive and legislative branches. Since 1973, and progressively more, the EU have increased the power and control over the states, specially in matter of agriculture and economics, but since the Lisbon Treaty and the failed European Constitution, the tendency is harmonization of all states in the union. For another hand, UE is the union of states, and the legislation is make by executives, and transposed by executives, reducing also the power of Legislative Power. With the arguments submitted can be concluded that the theoretical power of Westminster significantly lower than really have, even have capacity havent iniciatve. . Bibliography BATTA, D.(2007) COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE TRANSPOSITION OF EC LAW IN THE MEMBER STATES,EU Policy Department Citizens Rights and Constitutional Affairs,June(2007) BBC(2010)BBC News, [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6625869.stm [Accessed 13th may 2014]. BBC(2010)Electoral Results, [online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ [Accessed 13th may 2014]. Hefferman, R. and Guibernau, M.(2005)Politics and Power in the UK, 3rd ed, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Montesquieu, C.(n.d.)The Spirit of the Laws, France: n.d. 1/6

Limitations Of Text Based Image Retrieval Psychology Essay

Limitations Of Text Based Image Retrieval Psychology Essay Sometimes a relevant image might be left out owed to the absence of specific keywords. While often there might be no relevant text surrounding the images or videos, but they are relevant. In fact, there might exist images or videos where the surrounding text has nothing to do with them. In these cases, these returned results might be irrelevant and have nothing in common with the required images and videos. The other approach uses the annotation of the images and vides and is often a manual task. The text-based technique first annotates with text, and then uses text-based retrieval techniques to perform image and video retrieval. Annotation of images and videos lets the user to annotate the image with the text (metadata) that is considered relevant. The text can be time, event, location, participants or whatever the user finds relevant. 2.6.1.1. Limitations of Text based Image Retrieval: Nevertheless, there exist two major difficulties, especially when the volume of image collections is large with hundreds of thousands samples. One is the huge amount of human labor required in manual image/video annotation and is very time-consuming. Textual based retrieval cannot append the perceptual significant visual features like color, shape, texture [Bimbo. 1999]. The other difficulty comes from the rich content in the images and the subjectivity of human perception which is more essential. The annotation of the image and videos completely depends on the annotation interpretation [Enser et al 1993] i.e. different people may perceive the same image differently as shown in the figure 3 . The perception subjectivity and annotation impreciseness may cause unrecoverable mismatches in later retrieval processes. And to retrieve the required data the user constructs a query consisting of the keywords that describes the desired image and video. Although the text based retrieval system has gained benefits of traditionally successful information retrieval algorithms and techniques. Figure 3: Multiple interpretation of same images Park like Tree, Sky, Horse, People, Ridding, Sunny Day, Outdoor Critics of text-based approach dispute that for accurate image annotation it must be automated. The automatic annotation is limited due to its deficiency of extracting semantic information from the images and videos. Only automatic annotation of images and videos in integration with pure text-based image retrieval will be inadequate. The available metadata is mostly restricted to the technical information surrounding the image or video, such as time, resolution of the image or video and name of the image or video. The users may find it difficult to use text to perform a query for some portion of the content of an image or video. Text-based retrieval techniques are absolutely limited to search the metadata that is tagged to the image or video. If the text queried is not annotated with the same tag as attached with the image or video, the data is not returned. This means that if a particular piece of the image or video is interesting this must be explicit included in the metadata. If the desired object is not a main part of the image or video, sometimes it may happen that is not described in the metadata and hence cannot be a retrieve as a result from a query describing such portions of the image or video. One of the disadvantages of text-based image retrieval is that a word can have different meanings. This problem is best illustrated with an example, searching for the images or videos of jaguar or Apple. The system cant differentiate either the user is looking for the jaguar car or jaguar animal as shown in the figure 4. The two concepts have the same name but contain an entirely different semantic idea. The retrieval systems dont have reliable ways to separate the concepts. These problems are present even in systems with automatic synonym lists or thesaurus capabilities [Schank et al. 2004]. There exist several text-based image retrieval services today, Google is a large player. Google is the largest player but still faces the same problem. Figure 4: Same name different Semantics Attempts have been made to make the tags attached to the image or videos more flexible by attaching vast number of descriptive words. The thesaurus based annotation or knowledge based annotation has gained much of the researchers attention [Tring et al. 2000]. Recent development in video retrieval has focused on models that combine several modalities for joint indexing and retrieval. Consideration to the demands, researchers concluded that visual features play a crucial role in the effective retrieval of digital data. This initiates to the development of the content based image and video retrieval [Venters et al. 2000]. 2.6.2. Content based Image Retrieval: The need to manage these images and locate target images in response to user queries has become a significant problem. One way to solve this problem would be describing the image by keywords. The keyword based approach has a bottleneck of manually annotating and classifying the images and videos, which is impractical for the overwhelm corpuses. The human perception subjectivity problem may affect the performance of the retrieval system. Current commercial image and video search engines retrieve the data mainly based on their keyword annotations or by other data attach with it, such as the file-name and surrounding text. This relinquishes the actual image and video more or less ignored and has been following limitations. First, the manual annotation of images requires significant effort and thus may not be practical for large image collections. Second, as the complexity of the images increases, capturing image content by text alone becomes increasingly more difficult. In seeking to overcome these limitations, content-based retrieval (CBR) was proposed in the early 1990s [Baeza-Yates et al. 1999]. Content-based means that the technology makes direct use of content of the image and video rather than relying on human annotation of metadata with keywords. Content-based retrieval (CBR) research endeavors to devise a retrieval system that exploits digital content in the retrieval process in a manner that is eventually independent of manual work. CBR is an umbrella term for content-based multimedia retrieval (CBMR), content based visual information retrieval (CBVIR), content-based image retrieval (CBIR), content-based video retrieval (CBVR) and content-based audio retrieval (CBAR). CBR may also be termed as multimedia information retrieval (MIR). Content based retrieval extract the feature of the image or video themselves and use it for retrieval rather than the user generated meat data. CBR uses the primitive features of the image and video like the color, shape, texture, motion etc. [Sharmin et al. 2002]. Content based system index the images and videos automatically by using different techniques for their visual contents. For the computer, a video is merely a group of frames with a temporal feature, where each frame is basically an image. The computer take each image as a combination of pixels characterize by the low-level color, shape and texture. CBR represents these features in the form of vectors called the descriptors of the image or video. CBR extract these primitive features by using automated techniques and then further use it for searching and retrieval. Thus, these low-level visual features extraction from images and videos has initiated to the many research in the CBR [Veltkamp et al 2000]. A typical CBIR system should be able to interpret the content of the images in a query and a collection, compare the similarity between them, and rank the images in the collection according to their degree of relevance to the users query [Tamura at al. 1984]. The figure 5 shows the typical content based retrieval system. Retrieval deals with the problem of finding the relevant data from the collection of images or videos according to the user request. The user request may be in the form of the textual data or in the form of query by example. Its relatively easy to extract the low level features from the images and videos in the query as well as in the collection and then compare it. Figure 5: Typical Architecture of Content Based Retrieval The paramount objective of CBR is efficiency during image and video search and retrieval, thereby reducing the need for human intervention. Computer can retrieve the images and videos by using CBR techniques from the large corpus without the human assumption. These low level extracted features then represent the image or video and these features are used later on for performing the similarity comparison between the other images or videos in the corpus. These extracted features serve like a signature for images and videos. Images and videos are compared by using different similarity comparison techniques. They are compared by calculating the dissimilarity of its characteristic components to other image or video descriptors. CBR approach shows substantial results with the queries like show me the images or videos of the red color, Show me the image with blue color is above the green color etc. The available automated CBR techniques deal such a type of queries elegantly but flunk to cope with the high level semantic queries like Show me the images or videos of the people in the park, people on the beach, car on the road etc. Such type of queries cannot be tackled successfully by the CBR systems. These queries require more sophisticated techniques to extract the actual semantics abstracted inside it. Related work in CBR from the perspective of images can be found from the overview studies of [Rui et al. 1999], [Smeulders et al. 2000], [Vasconcelos et al. 2001], [Eakins 2002], [Kherfi et al. 2004], [Datta et al. 2005] , [Chen et al. 2004], [Dunckley 2003], [Santini. 2001] [ Santini et al.2001], [Lew et al. 2001], and [Bimbo et al. 1999]. CBIR has received considerable research interest in the last decade [Vasconcelos et al. 2001] and has evolved and matured into a distinct research field. The CBIR mainly comprises of two main steps feature extraction and the similarity measurement. These key technical components of the CBIR system will be introduced in the following sections. 2.6.2.1. Feature Extraction: Images are described by visual words just like text is defined by textual words In fact, an image or a video frame is merely a rectangular grid of colored pixels for a computer. And to a computer an image doesnt mean anything, unless it is told how to interpret it. Image and video descriptors are intended for the motive of image or video retrieval. Descriptors seek to apprehend the image or video characteristics in such a way that it is facile for the retrieval system to identify how similar two images or videos are according to the users interest. CBR system index images or videos by using the low-level features of the image and videos itself, such as colour [Pass et al. 1998, Smith et al. 1996a, Swain et al. 1991], texture [Manjunath et al.1996, Sheikholeslami et al. 1994, Smith et al. 1996b], shape [Safar. M et al. 2000, Shahabi et al. 1999, Tao et al. 1999] , and structure features [Pickering et al. 2003, Howarth et al. 2005]. The color, shape and texture are the principal features of the images. The visual contents of images and videos are then symbolized a s a feature vector of floating numbers. For example, the colour, texture and shape features extracted from an image form an N-dimensional feature vector, and can be written as Where is a vector of its own, and is the colour, is texture and n3 is the shape. While for the video there is an additional vector, where is the motion. In the following section, we introduce the visual features to give an impression of how images and video framesncan be converted into a representation that the retrieval system can work with. 2.6.2.1.1. Color: A very common way to see at images is by analyzing the colors they contain. Colour is the most prominent visual feature in CBIR since it is well correlated with human visual perceptions of objects in an image. A digital colour image is represented as an array of pixels, where each pixel contains three or four tuples of colour components represented in a numerical form. The abstract mathematical representation of colours that computers are able to use is known as the colour model. The similarity between the images and the videos is calculated by using the color histogram value. The histogram depicts the specific values of the pixels inside the image or video frame. The current color based retrieval techniques divides the image into regions by using color proportion. The color based technique doesnt depend on the size and orientation of an image. Since 1980s various color based retrieval algorithms have been proposed [Smith et al. 1996 c]. A most basic form of color retrieval involves specifying color values that can be further used for retrieval. Indeed, Googles image and Picasa 3.0, can also provide the facility to the user to search the images that contain homogenous color composition. The most common representation of color information is in the form of color histogram and color moment. Color anglogram [Zhou X.S. et al. 2002], correlogram [Huang J. et al 1997], color co-occurrence matrix (CCM) [Shim S. et al. 2003] are some of the other feature representations for color. Figure 6: Color based image interpretation 2.6.2.1.1.1. Color Spaces: There are many color spaces designed for different systems and standards, but most of them can be converted by a simple transformation. i. RGB (Red-Green-Blue): Digital images are normally represented in RGB color space; it is the most commonly use color space in computers. It is a device dependent color space, which used in CRT monitors. ii. CMY (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow), CMYK (CMY-Black): It is a subtractive color space for printing, it models the effect of color ink on white paper. Black component is use for enhancing the effect of black color. iii. HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) or HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value): It was used to model the properties of human perception. It is an additive color model. However it is inconvenient to calculate color distance due to its discontinuity of hue at 360. iv. YIQ, YCbCr, YUV: Used in television broadcast standards. Y is the luminance component for backward compatibility to monochrome signal and other components are for chrominance. It is also used in some image compression standards (e.g. JPEG) that process luminance and chrominance separately. Figure 7: The additive colour model HSV 2.6.2.1.1.2. Color Models: A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color components. When this model is associated with a precise description of how the components are to be interpreted (viewing conditions, etc.), the resulting set of colors is called color space  [1]  . A color model is a formularized system for composing different of colors from a set of primary colors. There are two types of color models, subtractive and additive. An additive color model uses light emitted directly from a source. The additive color model typically uses primary color i.e. red, green and blue light to produce the other colors. Combination of any two of these additive primary colors in equal amounts produces the additive secondary colors or primary subtractive model colors i.e. cyan, magenta, and yellow. Integration of all these three colors RGB in equal intensities constitute white as shown in the Figurea8 a. Figure 8 (a): RGB: Additive Color for light-emitting computer monitors. Each colored light add to the previous colored lights. A subtractive color model illustrates the blending of paints, dyes,   and natural colorants to produce a full series of colors, each generated by subtracting (absorbing) some wavelengths of light and reflecting the others. Colors observed in subtractive models are the due to reflected light. Different wavelength lights constitute different colors. The CMYK model (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-blacK) model is the subtractive model. The combination of any two of these primary subtractive model color i.e.(Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) results in the primary additive model or secondary subtractive model color i.e. red, blue, green and the convergence of it constitute black color as shown in the figure 8 b. Figure 8 (b): CMYK: Subtractive colors for Printer. Each color added to the first color blocks the reflection of color, thus subtracts color. For some of the concepts the color scheme helps in achieving suitable results like forest, sky, tree, grass, sea etc. The color descriptor will help in retrieving the accurate results. But for the categories like the car, house, street etc. Color descriptors cant play a vital role. The color descriptor will fail in a situation of the same car with different colors as shown in the figure 9. For the retrieval based on the color two most frequently used representative are color histogram and color moment. These representatives are represented in the section below. Figure 9: Same Car with different color composition a. Color Histogram: A histogram provides a summary of the distribution of a set of data. A color histogram provides a comprehensive overview of the image or video frame in terms of color. A colour histogram for a coloured image describes the different intensity value distributions for colours found in the image. The histogram intent to define the number of times each color appears in an image/video frame. Statistically, it utilizes a property that images having similar contents should have a similar color distribution. One simple approach is to count the number of pixels of each color and plot into a histogram. The histogram h of an image I is represented as: H(I)= Where pi is the percentage of i-th color in the color space, N is the number of colors in the color space. To enable scaling invariant property, the histogram sum is normalized to 1. The percentage is proportional to the number of pixels in the image. Figure 10: Shows the Color Histogram Mostly commercial CBR systems like Query-By-Image-Content uses color histogram as one of the feature for the retrieval. Colors are normally grouped in bins, so that every occurrence of a color contributes to the overall score of the bin it belongs to. The bin explains the intensities of different primary color i.e. quantity of red, blue or green for a particular pixel. It doesnt define individual color of the pixels. Histograms are usually normalized, so that images of different sizes can be fairly compared. The colour histogram is the most commonly and effectively used colour feature in CBIR [Swain et al. 1991, Faloutsos et al. 1994, Stricker et al. 1995, Deselaers et al. 2008, Chakravarti et al. 2009 and Smeulders et al. 2000]. Retrieving an images based on the colors technique is widely used because it does not depend on image size or orientation. The most common method to create a colour histogram is by splitting the range of the RGB intensity values into equal-sized bins. For example, a 24-bit RGB colour space contains 224 possible (RGB) values. Since this gives us approximately 16.8 million bins, it will be too large to be dealt with efficiently. Therefore, we need to quantize the feature space to a smaller number in order to reduce memory size and processing time; as examples [Stricker et al. 1995, Swain et al. 1991] have proposed techniques for colour space quantization. After having defined the bins, the numbers of pixels from the image that fall into each bin are counted. A colour histogram can be used to define the different distributions of RGB intensity values for a whole image, known as a global colour histogram, and for specific regions of an image, known as a local colour histogram. For a local colour histogram, the image is divided into several regions and a colour histogram is created for each region. A histogram refinement strategy has been proposed by Pass for comparing the images [Pass et al.1996]. Histogram refinement splits the pixels in a given bucket into several classes, based upon some local property. Within a given bucket, only pixels in the same class are compared. They describe a split histogram called a color coherence vector (CCV), which partitions each histogram bucket based on spatial coherence. [Han et al. 2002] proposed a new color histogram representation, called fuzzy color histogram (FCH), by considering the color similarity of each pixels color associated to all the histogram bins through fuzzy-set membership function. This approach is proves very fast and is further exploited in the application of image indexing and retrieval. The paradigm of the color histogram works on the assumption that all the images or videos frames with the similar color composition are similar [Jain et al. 1995]. It will retrieve all the data whose color composition is similar to the given query. This will be true in some cases. Color composition cant be the identity of the image or object inside the image. Color Moment: Color moment approach was proposed by [Stricker et al. 1995]. It is a very compact representation of color feature. The mathematical meaning of this approach is that any color distribution can be characterized by its moments. Moreover, most of the information is concentrated on the low-order moments, only the first moment, second and third central moments (mean, variance and skewness) were extracted as the color feature representation. Color similarity can be measured by Weighted Euclidean distance. Due to the ease and sound performance of color histogram technique it is widely used in color based retrieval systems. Color is the human visual perceptual property. Human discriminate an images or objects initially on the basis of colors. Color can be extracted from the digital data easily and automated and effective functions are available for calculating the similarity between the query and the data corpus. Color feature are effectively used for indexing and searching of color images in corpus. The existing CBIR techniques can typically be categorized on the basis of the feature it used for the retrieval i.e. color, shape, texture or combination of them. Color is an extensively utilized visual attribute that plays a vital role in retrieving the similar images [Low et al. 1998]. It has been observed that even though color plays a crucial role in image retrieval, when combined with other visual attributes it would yield much better results [Hsu et al. 1995]. This is because, two images with entirely similar color compositions, may have different color composition and sometimes two images have same color composition but they are not similar as shown in the figure. Hence something that looks similar is not semantically similar. The color composition of both the images in figure 11 is same but they depict the entirely different semantic idea. By analyzing both the images using the color based retrieval techniques both the images are similar

Proclaim Your Freedom of Speech †Burn a Flag! -- Argumentative Persua

Proclaim Your Freedom of Speech – Burn a Flag!      Ã‚  Ã‚   "This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours" (quoted in Smith 87). This statement by Woodrow Wilson summarizes the debate over a proposed amendment to outlaw burning of the American flag. Is this symbol of our nation too powerful to be defiled in our collective mind, or is its manifestation of values the reason for us to outlaw its desecration? We see many constitutional and non-constitutional reasons both for and against passing the amendment; an analysis of the Constitution is vital to forming a valid opinion on this issue.    In the past, the Supreme Court has ruled that burning the flag is a form of free speech which may not be limited by the government. One of the earliest decisions on this issue was in Street v. New York (1969). After hearing about the murder of civil rights leader James Meredith, Sidney Street, a decorated veteran of World War II, burned a flag he had been displaying at his home (Cohen 185), telling bystanders that "if they let that happen to Meredith, we don't need an American flag" (Cohen 185). He was arrested, tried before a jury, and convicted under the state's statute prohibiting both the desecration of the flag and publicly speaking contemptuous words about it. Street's attorney appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled the sentence unconstitutional. The Court's opinion was based mainly upon Mr. Street's words; it stated that his declarations were a form of protest which is protected by the First Amendment and that he did not provoke retaliation fro... ...mocracy. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.    4. "H.J.RES.5." Online. Thomas . October 29, 2000.    5. "H.J.RES.33." Online. Thomas . October 29, 2000.    6. O'Brien, Tim. "The Great Divide: Flag Burning Decision Split the Court." ABC News OnLine. 1999. October 11, 2000.    7. "S.931." Online. Thomas . October 29, 2000.    8. Smith, Whitney. The Flag Book of the United States. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1970.    9. U.S. Supreme Court. "Street v. New York." 21 April 1969. FindLaw. Online. . October 29, 2000.    10. Webb, Sandi. "A Grand Old Flag? Does the U.S. really need to Prohibit Flag Burning?" Online. September 1995. Libertarian Party News . September 30, 2000.    11. Williams, Armstrong. "The Flag Burning Amendment." New York Amsterdam News: 8.28. October 1999. EbscoHost . October 29, 2000.

Brett Farve :: essays research papers

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Meeting this evening as a group Green Bay Packer and NFL fans we recall many unforgettable moments in Packer history. From big hits to miraculous passes, we will have in the back of our minds forever. Every Sunday we are glued to the television watching the Packers. Win or lose our fans have always been there to support the team. It is a privilege to have with us a man who thrilled many spectators. Win or lose he was always there to boost the fans and players moral, Brett Favre. Brett Favre grew up idolizing a pair of Southern quarterbacks, the Saints' Archie Manning and the Cowboys' Staubach. He grew up in Kiln, Mississippi and went to high school in there. His high school, Hancock North Central, honored him this past May by re-naming the field, 'Brett Favre Field,' and unveiling a life-sized statue of the quarterback at the stadium's entrance. The school previously had retired his jersey, Number 10, in 1993. He stayed in the south to go to college where he went to Southern Miss. He became the starter at Southern Miss in his third game of his freshman season. Favre majored in special education. He led his Southern Mississippi team to 29 victories, including two bowl victories, during his four varsity seasons, 1987-90, and climaxed his collegiate career by earning a MVP award in the East-West Shrine game featuring the nation's best seniors. Favre set school records for passing yards (8,193), pass attempts (1,234), completions (656), completion percentage (53 .2), touchdowns (55), and with only 35 interceptions. His production included five 300-yard passing games and five 3-TD performances, while his 7,695 regular-season passing yards ranked him among the top 30 of all-time NCAA passers. His 1.57 interception ratio in 1988 was the lowest among the 50 top-ranked passers in the nation, and his 2.9 interception rate for his four-year career also ranks as one of the best in NCAA history. Also he was the MVP of the All-American Bowl at the conclusion of his senior year. All those records and stats and that was only in college!!! With the thirty-third pick in the 1991 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons choose Brett Favre. A little less than a year later, Atlanta traded Favre to Green Bay for a first round draft choice. Now in his 13th season in the NFL. Behind Favre, Green Bay has had nine playoff appearances including five division titles.

Discuss your opinion of the recovered memory

Psychologists believe that it is common to consciously repress unpleasant experiences although the unconscious repression of traumatic experiences such as sexual abuse or rape is a defense mechanism that usually backfires (Carroll, 2005). Loftus (1998) wrote an article on â€Å"The Price of Bad Memories† that leaves a room for doubt for people who are contemplating on seeking treatment and those who are already being treated by a psychiatrist.It is difficult for those who are emotionally and psychologically helpless to determine the best possible treatment when their main concern is to seek assistance from mental health professionals who are in the best position to help them gain a better quality of life. In many cases, patients who are subjected to hypnosis, guided imagery, influence of drugs and other methods during therapy sessions to uncover unpleasant memories of childhood sexual abuse, rape, satanic ritual abuse and cult activities are also isolated from their families, friends, and the outside world (United States v.Peterson et al. (n. d. ). Hence, implanting false memories into the minds of patients is not only alarming but also unethical and a serious criminal offense. The case of Patricia Burgus and other patients who were diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is a wake-up call to the medical profession. The neglect on the part of the psychiatrist and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center with regards to documenting and safeguarding the tape records of the patient’s therapy sessions may earn a questionable mark on the reputation of the professionals and health centers.Questions with regards to the safekeeping of patients’ records may arise. The mix-up of tapes is an indication that tape recordings are not properly labeled with the patient’s name, date of therapy session and the name of the mental health professional who conducted the therapy. There were also failures on the part of the mental health provi ders to keep a hard copy of patient’s therapy, treatment and progress. From the cases that were filed, it is apparent that administrators of the hospitals or medical centers do not impose strict policies in terms of securing patients’ records.The conspiracy among the psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and medical centers leads us to a thought provoking situation. As one would seek an answer to the question regarding the hidden motives of several mental health professionals who risk their professions and be subjected to malpractice suits by unjustly collecting insurance payments as a result of exaggerating diagnoses and overstating the need for expensive treatments remains doubtful. Psychiatrists maintain patients who seek their treatment and advice on a regular basis.Hence, deriving income at the risk of their profession and reputation is not a motivating factor. The question of benefiting from insurance payments is unbelievable to some extent although ther apy for the treatment of multiple personality disorders may take a long period of time. From the standpoint of a reader who is neither a health professional nor a patient, one may not discount the possibility that these mental health professionals may be subjecting their patients to an experiment in order to test the effectiveness of their technique.However, there is no evidence to prove this accusation. With the multitude of lawsuits filed against the mental health professionals and medical centers regarding claims of corroborated repressed memories, there will be more patients and families who may take advantage of the situation. False accusations regarding misdiagnosis and improper treatment may also grow in numbers as the victims gain awareness of the monetary settlement that may be derived from the litigation.The American Psychological Association (1996) claimed that most people who were sexually abused as children have memories of all or part of what happened to them although they may not fully understand or disclose it. Amidst the controversy on recovered memory, people who are victims of substance and sexual abuse, depression, personal adjustment and problems of relationship should not hesitate to consult their mental health providers. As a precautionary measure, it is important to choose competent professionals and get a referral from the state psychological association in the local community.

Merck and River Blindness

Onchocerciasis, k presentlyn as river blindness, is caused by leechlike worms that live in the sm all told(a) ghastly flies that breed in and close to fast-moving rivers in modernizeing countries in the middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The illness, if untreated causes extreme pique and eventually, blindness. In 1978, the World Health plaque estimated that over 300,000 mickle were blind because of the disease and a nonher 18 million were septic. At the quantify, there was no safe bring around (Trevino, & Nelson, 2011).In 1978, Merck, take time off test invermectin (a bloodsucker cleaning medicate for animals), set that invermectin killed a parasite similar to the one that caused river blindness. The business for Merck was that river blindness generally only affects populate in genuinely poor beas and there was very little chance to recoup their pecuniary coronation by selling the medicate.The honest dilemma represented by this piazza is accente d on what course of doing Merck should take. Does Merck beautify precious resources (both sequence and money) into testing and developing a drug that ordain non increase their mesh? Or should Merck invest the resources knowing that their work, while non profitable, has the potency to save millions of lives and end the crucifixion of tens of millions more than?On the Merck website, I found this listed first among their Values Our shop is preserving and meliorate human life. We also work to purify animal health. All of our actions must(prenominal) be measured by our achiever in achieving these goals. We value, above all, our ability to serve everyone who buns r to each one from the appropriate use of our products and services, thereby providing lasting consumer satisfaction (Our values, 2008). Corporate success (profit) vs. Corporate philosophy, while it is easy to rag about ethics and charity, the river blindness scenario was a great test of Mercks collective cha racter.Section 2 StakeholdersAfter submiting the case in our textbook and going out to read about this river blindness issue, I digest changed my opinion on who the plump forholders be in this situation (comp bed to what I wrote in the weekly watchwords). The stakeholders, in my opinion atomic number 181)Merck shargonholders and investors 2)Merck employees 3)Merck counseling 4) mint affected by (or potentially be by) river blindness This list is non a ranking of stakeholder importance as that is rattling a subjective measure ground on your view of the situation.Merck sh atomic number 18holders and investors may or may non sh atomic number 18 the troupes stack first vision. For this group, the electric shock must be looked at in light of how the development of a drug (that will most likely be devoted away for free) affects the return on their enthronisation. We cook to remember that not all investors atomic number 18 rich jillionaires like warren Buffet, some are average, working severalise folks who rely on their investment income to sustain them survive. People invest in Merck because they expect a certain commonsensible return on their investments and Merck has a responsibleness to act in the best refer of their shareholders. If Merck decides to spend time and money on a philanthropic endeavor, how does the investment of time and manpower affect their otherwise drug trials?Merck employees are stakeholders because their livelihood depends on Merck take in enough profits to overlay paid them. A few years past I would not maintain viewed employees in this light still the more I learn about the company/employee dynamic, I begin to understand that employees, whether or not they shoot some financial come to in the company (other than salary), flummox a vested interest in the success of the company. same(p) the shareholders, employees make a choice to invest in a company. In their case, it is an investment of time and their inv estment is tied to original growth. Merck must make determinations that do not recklessly jeopardize the future of their employees.Merck focuss stake in this is similar to that of the employees. The difference is that not only are they invested headmasterly the management team has been given stewardship over the Merck brand and embodied identity. They must make the closes that set the companys path so that the brand is financially successful while be honest to the incorporate vision that was discussed earlier.Last, but sure as shooting not least, we shoot to the plenty who are affected by the river blindness disease. These nation bemuse voice in what Merck favors to do but at the same time they are the reason that Merck is in business in the first place. As of 2006, estimates are that 37 million are infected with, and up to 100 million people are at risk of contracting, river blindness (Hearney, 2007). For a company like Merck that claims to be more concerned with peopl e than profits, these people are definitely stakeholders in Mercks finale to move forward with invermectin trials.Section 3 Analysis Based on honorable TheoriesCultural relativism means that any finis is make up (or wrong) depending on whose face you are pickings at the moment. Because the United States doesnt have a single, ethical baseline that guides our actions, each(prenominal) individual view holds equal plundert over and there is no absolute properly or wrong. For this case, Merck could decide to cut the question on invermectin, order its scientists to not discuss the issue, and sit back while millions of people suffer through a horrible existence without a sulfur thought. People who oppose Mercks decision would have no standing to assure any intimacy about the decision because it is the office decision for the business culture in which Merck operates.For the injury masses, this decision could be viewed as something equivalent to the Nazi decision to kill millio ns of Jews but based on the cultural relativistic school of thought, their view would not be any more important or morally superior than Mercks. disunite of the problem with this theory is that we are force to intromit barbaric actions as acceptable (burning people at the stake, cannibalism, beheading, honor killings,stoning, etc.) because it is accepted by another culture. I find it dry that there would have been a huge public outcry (from the very people who support cultural relativism) if Merck had dogged to dispel testing and not develop the drug. In general, these liberal and enlightened folks are only tolerant of the cultures and people with whom they agree.The teleological greet to this dilemma would require an examen of the issue and a breakdown of all the possible consequences of the various options presented.StakeholderDevelop HarmsDevelop BenefitsDont develop HarmsDont develop Benefits Merck ShareholdersCosts of development causes delays in other projects. Los t revenues cause line of business price to drop. People on mend incomes lose dividend money and are forced to live in poverty.Positive public reply to charitable act. More investments, higher business line prices.NoneFocus resources on other drug lines could go forth in higher profits, increasing stock prices. Investors make more money and their shopworn of living increases.Merck EmployeesCompany loses money, loss of profits forces layoffs.Chance to supply to a worthwhile cause. Work on invermectin could lead to breakthroughs in other drugs.Loss of paying attention for Merck leadership. Perception that values are overshadowed by financial considerations.Focus on more moneymaking(a) products, increasing profits and salaries/ gains. Merck ManagementLoss of time/resources forces delays in other projects/products. Delays cause stock to drop.Loss of job.Public effrontery spikes, stock price goes up. Influx of bullion allows us to expand other projects.Public authorisation crash es. Backlash forces investors to pull out. Jobs lost repayable to loss of capital. Focus on more lucrative products, increasing profits and salaries/benefits. People affected by river blindnessPossible fatal side effects (similar to other drugs).Cure for disease increases shopworn of living.Continued suffering from disease.None.Using the chart above, we would look at how the benefits and termss balance out to maximize the benefit for society. Obviously, using this method, we can see that the benefits of inveterate the seek and development of this drug has the potential to save millions of lives while the potential harmsare restricted to the loss of some profits and the possible delay of some other drugs. This approach isnt about function or wrong as coherent as the maximum societal benefit is reached, the actions taken to get to that point are not part of the equation.The deontological approach removes the harm/benefit comparison and focuses on the concern and obligation of Merck to do the right thing once they discovered that there was a possible cure for this disease. Mercks corporate values statements show that this is the approach they choose to take in their daily operations. meshwork are not the prime motivator, helping people is what they are all about. In this case, Merck decided to continue the research and help the people no matter of the consequences involved. accord to the Merck website, since 1987, Merck has donated more than 2.5 billion tablets of MECTIZAN (ivermectin) in more than 30 countries worldwide. According to some deontological approaches, certain moral principles are binding, regardless of the consequences. Mercks stance now matches up with what George W. Merck said in 1950, We estimate neer to forget that medicine is for people. It is not for profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have remembered that, the larger they have been.As someone who follows the deontological approach myself, I can appreciate how difficult it can be to remain committed to this principle. Merck is a business and as such it doesnt exist to give money away. I have argued that the people who invest in Merck have a huge stake in what the company does but part of the investment process is doing due coating and research to make sure you are comfortable with how a company operates.Merck devotes an built-in section of their website to Corporate Responsibility and they have detailed information on the initiatives they support. Part of the culture at Merck is one of handsome back to the community and helping others so for Merck, the decision to develop invermectin was an easy one. Having a strong moral and ethical footing makes it easy to make the right decision when faced with easy decisions that fall into the ethical gray area.The virtue ethics approach would looks at the motivations and engrossedions ofthe decision maker as opposed to the results of his or h er actions. In this case, if Merck had decided not to pursue the research and the chief executive officer stood up and explained that the reason was because they had an obligation to their shareholders to focus on developing products that would be profitable, he would have been right due to the professional expectations of his office. CEOs are hypothetical to make companies profitable, period.As long as Merck was operational legally, the moral questions about the results of the decision are not relevant to the virtue ethics approach. If the board announced that Merck, based on their stated corporate values, was going to continue to expend time and resources on a cure for river blindness even though it wasnt a profitable project, their motivation for action would be guided by Mercks established values and the scent out of corporate responsibility that is important to them. neither position would be wrong regardless of the outcomes because both courses of action were guided by the best intentions of their leadership.Section 4 Conclusion and RecommendationsIn this case, I feel that Merck made the proper decision based on their core corporate values and the deontological approach to ethical decision-making. piece I might have at rest(p) a different direction if I was making decisions for Merck, it is obvious from all my research that this curriculum is helping millions of people each year. I was wrong about the river blindness issue in my original discussion post, this isnt just about philanthropy or looking good for the public, this program (and the many other like it) wager by Merck is all about being true to their core values.Even when they could not get financial backing for this project, they did what they felt was right regardless of the cost. The success of the river blindness running led Merck to begin providing ivermectin to treat lymphatic filariasis (Elephantitis) in Africa (Voelker, 1998). I am not so nave as to opine that Merck isnt reaping some benefits from these programs but some(prenominal) small reward they are acquiring is well deserved when measured against the lives they have touched.There are no recommendations I could make for Merck in the way they handle these situations. Mercks actions are consistent with their stated policiesand they have managed to thrive while ensuring that the original intent of their founders (people before profits) is not lost in the rush to be commercially successful.