BRAPS Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

BRAPS - Coursework Example Racal telecom was valued at one million seven hundred billion pounds. Racal telecom later detached itself from Racal Electronics in nineteen ninety one and formed what is today known as Vodafone group. Vodafone later bought two thirds of Talk land for around thirty million pounds in nineteen ninety-six. Consumers of Talkland, a one eighty one chain store, overpoweringly utilized Vodafone’s network. Correspondingly, Vodafone purchased a service provider entitled Astec Communications. Vodafone later unraveled its speech mark emblem in a circle and the â€Å"O† symbolizes conversation. Vodafone again agreed to amalgamate its assets in the United States with those of Atlantic Corp and designed Verizon Wireless. This amalgamation was finalized in the year two thousand. The corporate’s affiliates also operate under the label Vodafone. Vodafone Group plc.’s is headquartered in Newbury, United Kingdom. Vodafone being ranked as the most profitable telecommunications company in the world runs networks in over thirty nations and partners with forty other countries. Vodafone is managed by Gerard Kleisterlee who is the Chairman and Vittorio Colao who is the chief executive officer. Vittorio Colao joined the company in 2008. The company deals with telecommunications, which entails providing vocal sound and data services or amenities through mobile phones. The main products promoted by Vodafone include; Vodafone Freedom Packs and Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Mobile USB Modem and Amobee Media Systems, Vodafone at Home and above all Vodafone live. The company has also introduced money transfer services such as M-PESA. Vodafone’s Vision and mission is to lead the business in attending to the concerns of public members with regard to mobile telephones, staff, and wellbeing by representing principal practices and inspiring others to emulate, and, to be the communications forerunner in a technologically advancing world practices and inspiring others

Isolation and Resentment in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay Example for Free

Isolation and Resentment in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, deals with two very distinct individuals: the young-but-foolish Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the â€Å"Monster†. Victor is the main focus of the novel for the beginning chapters, while the rest of the work focuses more on the development and actions of the Monster. The characters of Victor and the Monster are first brought together during the Monster’s creation in Chapter 4 (34). It was Victor’s isolation from both his family and his peers that ultimately lead to his creation of the Monster, and it was the Monster’s feelings of isolation and resentment towards Victor that lead to his violent episodes. While these feelings are evident in both characters’ actions throughout the majority of the novel, it was during the Monster’s statements to Captain Robert Walton towards the end of the story that drives home the fact that the Monster’s actions were products of his repeated rejections when he attempted to be accepted by society and as such are not indicative of his inherent nature. It was these feelings of loneliness and resentment that drove both Victor and the Monster to their actions, and it is safe to assume that some of Shelley’s personal feelings of abandonment and resentment towards her mother bled through into her characters. These feelings are made evident by way of the diction of the characters, both elements of and deviations from the Gothic stereotype, the development of the characters throughout the story and the lack of any definite closure to the text. Shelley’s use of eloquent and elaborate language by the main characters could be construed as ironic, in that such well-spoken characters have sunken into committing the most terrible of sins, namely those of murder and hubris. It is this irony that makes the isolation and resentment that Victor and the Monster feel stand out in the reader’s mind; two characters that are so articulate in their speech are reviled for their differences from the rest of society. The sophisticated diction of the Monster in the final pages of the novel helps to lend a feeling of bitterness and remorse to the text. However, the Monster’s eloquent speech does not sway the Captain, as evidenced in the first line â€Å"I was at first touched†¦indignation was rekindled within me. † (154). This shows that no matter how well-spoken an individual is and how sympathetic that person might be, normal society tends to shun those that are viewed as different, whether these differences are physical or in the way that they communicate. Such eloquence, as evidenced in the Monster’s speech â€Å"Once I falsely hoped to meet†¦thoughts of honor and devotion† (154), is a direct product of how a person was raised; those that are raised in an environment where they are kept isolated, whether by choice or through the influence of society tend to develop such oratory skills as a way of hopefully being accepted by those around them. However, more often than not, such well-defined articulation of one’s thoughts leads to such a person being further isolated from society, and as such feeds feelings of isolation and resentment. It was due to realistic depictions of societal reactions like these that helped to solidify Frankenstein’s place as a Gothic novel. Shelley uses many common elements of the Gothic novel in Frankenstein, and the themes of resentment and isolation can be connected to the characters through these elements. Victor is depicted as a â€Å"weak hero†, whose isolation from the world in the development of his creation leads him from an otherwise successful career as a scientist. It could be inferred that Victor’s resentment towards his creation, whom he subsequently abandons, stems not only from his disgust with himself and what he has created, but also from the opportunities denied to him as a result of his irresponsible pursuit of bestowing life upon that which should remain lifeless. Although Victor knew that creating life through artificial means would be considered taboo by his peers, he decided to proceed with the project regardless, letting his scientific curiosity overtake his rational intellect. After he brought the Monster to life, he was realized the irresponsibility of his actions. During this time, Victor had severe difficulties connecting to other people, and he gradually worked to further distance himself from the rest of society, which lead him into an extremely depressed state (. Although there were points in the novel where Victor was able to experience a very temporary reprieve from his mental torments, in his mind he would never be able to fully experience mental peace until one of them was dead. In contrast to Victor’s rather weak characterization, the Monster could be depicted as the â€Å"hero† of the story, in that even while he is committing murders that should sicken the reader, he is still portrayed as a sympathetic character, whose actions are driven by his feelings of abandonment, betrayal and resentment that Victor engenders in him through his various actions, as well of those of human society in regards to the Monster [i. e. The Monster’s episode with Felix]. It is understandably unclear if any the characters can be definitively labeled as a hero or villain, for even though they both have committed acts worthy of abhorrence and disgust, in a sense, they could be considered to be victims of abuse and neglect as well. Due to this, it can be argued that both Victor and the Monster are accurate representatives of the Gothic hero/villain. A final example of Gothic elements that Shelley incorporates into her novel is that of the heroine in distress, in this case Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a good example of a heroine because she is a strong female character who is independent and dedicated, especially to the Frankenstein family after Victor’s mother dies. However, she breaks the classic Gothic mold of a heroine by the fact that she is a patient woman who almost never takes action for herself, and it is for this reason as well as Victor’s negligence on their wedding night that she ends up being killed by the Monster in the novel. Victor’s neglect towards Elizabeth on their wedding night could be due to his isolation during his developmental years, and as such was not comfortable in being tied down to Elizabeth. Victor appeared to have developed in a fairly normal manner, due to the fact that he had experienced a childhood that would be considered normal for the noble class in that time. This continues to be the case until he takes it upon himself match the power of God and attempt to bestow life. From this point, his experiments and eventual creation become his only obsession, and he can no longer interact with other people, even those that he sees on a daily basis while at the college. Victor is unable to communicate with other in any meaningful way during this time, as his mind is always preoccupied with thoughts regarding the monster he is responsible for giving life to. Based on this behavior, it gives credence to the question if Victor ever matured any further as an individual once he arrived at the college. In contrast, the Monster’s experiences during the period of his mental and emotional development were always abrupt and sometimes violent. This occurred when he realized that he would forever be rejected by the human race, as his physical appearance was so ghastly that all those that came in his presence were immediately stricken with fear as evidenced by Even his creator, Victor, who to the Monster’s understanding should love him even if others refused to, was so terrified of the Monster that he refused to fulfill his romise in making the Monster a companion. It is understandable that from that point on, â€Å"all joy was but a mockery† (116) to the Monster, and he decided that the sole purpose in his life was to destroy any and all the things that brought pleasure or comfort to his creator. These events are similar because they both represent periods in which these characters no longer are able to have significant social interactions with those around them. Dur ing his development, the monster was able to have many of the same experiences as a human would. For example, he was able to feel a wide range of emotions, from pleasure to hate, even pride and remorse; he developed intellectually through both his learning from books and his [unpleasant] interactions with society; he learned [much in the way that a child does] to use his physical senses to tell him about his environment. However, because of his grotesque appearance, he was made to feel that he would never accepted as a member of human society, and many of his interactions with humans gave no reason to dissuade him from such a belief. In Captain Walton’s final letter to his sister (154), he recounts the words that the monster speaks to him over Victor’s dead body. The eruption of angry self-pity the Monster displays brings into question the injustice of how he has been treated and compellingly captures and portrays the feelings of isolation and resentment he has experienced in regards to his interactions with society, providing both Walton and the reader a glimpse into the suffering that has motivated his actions. It was these feelings that lead the Monster to disappear with Victor’s corpse, presumably to avoid contact with any others of mankind until he eventually dies; however, the ending of the text is rather ambiguous, so it is possible that the Monster decided to return to revenge himself upon mankind. At the closure of Frankenstein, Shelley does not provide a well-defined ending. The last line, reading â€Å"He sprung from the cabin-window†¦lost in darkness and distance† (156), leaves the reader responsible for deciding how they believe the story concluded. The ending can be regarded as having been left open because although the story does provide a conclusion [in that it may be assumed that the creature took his own life after departing Walton’s ship], there is not enough concrete evidence provided in the text to prove beyond a doubt that this is indeed what occurred. It is entirely possible that the Monster would be unable to let go of his hatred of Victor, and by extension, mankind due to his isolation. Just because his â€Å"creator† died does not necessarily mean that he could let his emotions go, and it is this possibility that shows just how differently people view things; the reader can make of the ending what they will, but they will never know for sure how Shelley would have ended it otherwise. Through the speech of the characters, the Gothic elements applied in the text, the characters’ developments and the rather obscure ending of Frankenstein, it is evidently clear that Mary Shelley believes that isolation and resentment play key roles in how people relate to others, and how they develop their own behaviors. It is through the medium of her novel that allows her to express these beliefs, and she provides plenty of evidence in her text to back up these beliefs. The feelings of isolation and resentment that Victor and the Monster both felt towards society were key aspects of their personalities, and were the main driving forces behind their various actions made through the course of the text.

Comparing the Stories of Mark and Peter Essay -- Religion, Gospel

The stories of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection in the gospels Mark and Peter differ greatly. Each author has his own plot, descriptive language, audience and characterization of Jesus. What we know about Jesus and how he is portrayed changes between the gospels. For example, the Gospel of Mark uses many Jewish references and makes parallels to the Old Testament which was most likely for the benefit of a Jewish audience. Also, the Jesus in Mark’s gospel is characterized to be more divine, befitting the expectations of the Jewish community. However, The Gospel of Peter seems to entertain both a pagan and Jewish audience, using language that either group could relate to. The Jesus of Peter is oddly portrayed and is more akin to what we would think as superhuman rather than divine. The most obvious differences between the crucifixion and resurrection stories in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Peter lie in their plots. These differences, in effect, change our conceptions of Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark it begins with Jesus before Pilate but in the Gospel of Peter it begins with some kind of council between Pontius Pilate and Herod. In the Gospel of Mark we see Jesus on trial being accused of many things. Pilate asks Jesus â€Å"Are you king of the Jews?† and Jesus replies â€Å"You say so,† and we see a Jesus that is above slander and empty accusations. (Mark 15.2) By saying this, Jesus never admits anything. While he does go along with what they are doing to him; he makes no comment on whether their accusations or rumors about him are true. A position that lets us know Jesus is taking the high road. However, in the Gospel of Peter we do not have the luxury of starting with such a conception, in fact we do not even get to see Jesus u... ...ived. In Mark there are these Jewish undertones that make Jesus out to be a divine and respectable figure that was put through so much during his passion, crucifixion, and resurrection. In Peter, we have a strange view of Jesus. He can be perceived as a human that had extraordinary gifts, and supernatural events simply occurred around him. In Peter there was also even more crazy phenomena not seen in the canonical texts. An example of this phenomenon would be when a floating cross appeared and then proceeded to talk. Both texts present these very different views of Jesus while at the same time propose questions that cannot really be answered definitively. The only thing that is definite is that both Mark and Peter used their plots and languages to really influence how their audiences view Jesus. Jesus was emphasized as more divine in Mark and more human in Peter.

Essay on Voltaire’s Candide: Visualizing Perfection -- Candide essays

Visualizing Perfection in Candide   "All is for the best...in the best of all possible worlds."   To picture greatness, perfection and brilliance all intertwined into one splendid world -- a utopia, infers visualizing absolute beauty, harmony, and a universal tolerance amongst mankind. Would not such "perfection" designate the "best of all possible worlds?" How could we possibly conceive the sinister world portrayed in Candide to be conveyed as "utopia?" Since the best of all possible worlds indicates that "all is for the best" is it not safe to derive at the conclusion that since our world is clearly not "perfect" it is therefore implied that "all" is not for the best? Who determines the "right" from the "wrong," the "beautiful" from the "hideous," the "strong" from the weak?" How does one know if they are right? How does one ever know if they chose "correctly?" How does one allow th emself to be infatuated with an idea as to blindly (correctly or incorrectly) follow it and believe? When do you question yourself? Doubt and "double-guess" yourself? Such correlating topics of an ambiguous solution are sought to be explained in Candide. Voltaire's masterpiece Candide recounts the journey of a young man as he ventures the world and faces reality, deals with it, is guided, transformed, and eventually defined by it. Voltaire's story tells the tale of Candide as his character matures from the naivete of a child to the extensive temperament of a distinguished man. Born and raised in the castle of the Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh, in the land of Westphalia, Germany, Candide is firs... ...n the best of possible worlds; for short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle by the backside for the love of Miss Cunegund, had you not been put into the Inquisition, had you not traveled over America on foot, had you not run the Baron through the body, and had you not lost all your sheep which you brought from the good country of El Dorado, you would not have been here to eat preserved citrons and pistachio nuts." Voltaire therefore exhibits both sides of the spectrum, Pangloss, the unchanging, and Candide the "developed." These adventures broadened the horizons of Candide, and with him, the reader also undergoes many thought provoking dilemmas, cultivating himself in many of the same ways. This tale doesn't flounder all hope of "perfection," but it does present, in laymen's terms the ideas behind Murphy's Law.

Individual delivery of a learning and development session plus 2000 words reflection

our site – CUSTOM ESSAY WRITING –How to engage in a conversation with clients that would lead to sales?Part A: Lesson PlanThe specific group of learnersFor this study the specific group of learners included the sales and marketing attaches attached to sales agent who deals with automobiles.The training needsThe training meets the needs of knowledge how to pitch their sales to the potential customers as it was always difficult to pitch sales to potential automobile customers. Unlike in other markets where there was only one product in the automobile market there were different types of products that met various needs of the customers. Therefore it was necessary to train the new employees how to understand the customers during the initial conversation. It was important to train the trainees how to learn the needs of the customers and meet those needs by helping the customer to select a car that would meet their potential needs. The other need was to create confidence amo ng the trainees to face client and to ask tough questions.The overall aim of the whole learningThe overall aim of the learning was to equip the trainees with the sales knowledge on how to engage a conversation with clients that would lead to sales. The aim was to help the trainees to understand the potential client’s needs without first asking the price and the money that the customer has. The specific aims were to teach how to ask questions that lead to sales and how to keep from discussing price and discuss the value of automobile.Learning outcomesThe learning outcomes are improved understanding of the sales concepts such as asking question and having discussion that make the customer understand the value of the automobiles that he or she is going to purchase.Overall timeline of the session including the content heading and contentTable 1: Session and content SessionContent IntroductionDefine pitching as the ability to convince the client by having appropriate words and information concerning the products. It is convincing the clients that the product has the capacity to meet the customer needs and wants. LecturesTeach clients about asking questions, pitching and asking client questions that will lead to closure of the sale. Role playsOrganise trainees into pairs where one of them acts as a salesman and the other as client Table 2:Mini lesson plan Time durationLearning and development methodTrainer activityLearner participationAids and resources 0-1st minuteIntroductionDefine pitching as the ability to convince the client by having appropriate words and information concerning the products. It is convincing the clients that the product has the capacity to meet the customer needs and wants.Take notesPower point 1-5th minuteLecturesTeach clients about asking questions, pitching and asking client questions that will lead to closure of the sale. Taking notesPower point 6-10th minuteRole play to identify of learningOrganise trainees into pairs where one of them acts as a salesman and the other as clientThe student will act as a salesman while the other students will act as the purchase with a certain budget and is looking for a car model that can fit within that model. Each student will have to act as a salesmen and a client. This will be done by organisation the students in groups of two. The student will act in front of the class.A classroom 11-12th minuteBrainstorm on potential questions to ask clientsAsk students the best type of questions to ask clients provide two questions they would ask a potential customer that would make them know the customer and the need that the customer has.The student to provide tow questions that they would ask potential automobile client.A handout with open ended questions that the sales man should ask clients 13 – 15th minute Question and answersEvaluate students on their ability to ask questions that make the customers to explain their needs. They will also be valued on the basis of the answers and personal obtained from the client such as budget and the car model the client is looking for or the functionalities that the client is looking for in car.Students to fill in a form indicating what roles they have played and the questions they have formulated as well as comment what was interesting and what they have learned about the lesson.A notebook The lesson will considered to be effective based on the students understanding of the sales concepts such as asking questions and having discussion that make the customer understand the value of the automobiles that he or she is going to purchase. Task B: Personal ReflectionIntroductionThis is a reflection on how I planned the lesson and the activities that were undertaken to teach students about executing good auto sales. Various knowledge and theories about theory of learning were employed in this research to ensure that the lesson was effective and it attained the research objectives of making the student understand how to execute good auto sales. The first part is the introductory section. The second part of this reflection reflects on the lesson plan and takes into the consideration the theory that was used in planning the lesson and the learning activities. The third section measured the effectiveness of the lesson. The fourth section reflects on what happened in the practice aspect of the lesson and what has been learnt from this experience.Plan for the lesson and the theory taken into considerationIn planning for this lesson, I was aware of three learning theories which were the behaviourism, cognitivism and constructi vism. The behaviourism holds that teaching should be behaviour oriented and it should make the learners to respond in a particular way through stimuli-response (Salsbury and Melinda, 2008). This means that the teachers should provide stimuli and condition the learners to respond to the stimuli in particular way. This means for instance hearing a door bell rising should lead to the response of opening the door (Fink, 2005). However this theory is mostly applicable in social and in behavioural training such as training soldiers and members of the discipline forces which was not the case for this lesson. Learning is assessed through drills and real life experiences. The other learning theory that could be applied in learning is the cognitive theory. This theory holds that information can be retained in memory through deliberate cognitive activities such as memorising and doing mental exercises. The exercise should be enhanced through internal processing of information. The cognitive learning theory holds that learning is student based and should be examined through individual assessments. The other learning theory that could be used in designing the lesson plan is the constructivism which holds that learning is based on the individual’s interpretation of the information and knowledge. It holds that there is no single way of interpreting and applying knowledge as each person has their own viewpoints and experiences that shape their world view (Mccrea, 2015). Therefore every individual is expected to act differently and to understand the provided knowledge distinctly from the other person. When using this theory the most applicable teaching methods included brainstorming, case studies, simulations or role playing, and problem based learning. In my lesson the constructivism was used to impart knowledge to the students. The theory was preferred because the lesson focused on the sales training which was based on experiences of greatest salesmen. There was no given way of doing sales as different people had done it differently depending with the customers and the types of products and service that they were selling (Serdyukov and Ryan, 2008). Sales was also dependent on the types of customers as each type of customer had varying needs when purchasing an automobile as some wanted automobiles that were luxurious others wanted performance such as speed and acceleration. Other customers wanted low costs automobiles such hence price was the most significant consideration. Others wanted to conserve the environment and wanted vehicles that were environmentally friendly such as the hybrid vehicles. This meant for one to be a great salesmen they had first to understand the individual customer and then apply the knowledge that they have on selling on the individual customer (Salsbury and Melinda, 2008). Therefore constructivist approach was the most appropriate learning approach that could be employed in teaching the learners about good auto sales. When using this theory the learning activities included role playing and simulation activities that included simulating sales scenario and the type of conversations that occur between the potential customers and the salesmen (Salsbury and Melinda, 2008).How the success of the lesson was assessedThe first way of assessing the effectiveness of the lesson was ensuring that the learning objectives were met. The learning objectives for this study were met. The first objective of this lesson was to ensure that the students understood how to ask questions that led to sales. The second objective was to ensure that the students learned how to discuss the value of the automobile rather than the price of the automobiles. The other way that the effectiveness of the lesson was i dentified was through participation of the students in the lesson activities (Zimmerman, 2015). All the students that were involved in the lessons activities retained more knowledge than those who were not involved. For instance one of the ways of ensuring that the students understood the lesson was asking them to participate in role playing where they will act as a salesman and client. Those who managed to ask the open ended questions that made the client to talk about themselves and the need that was to be met by the automobile were considered to have understood the lesson or the content for that learning. Also the students who discussed the value of the car more than the price were considered to have met the objective of the lesson. However, assessing the effectiveness of the lesson was difficult especially because the time allocated for the lesson was not adequate for all the students to participate in the role play. However, it ensured that each individual understood and learne d to apply the selling techniques on their own individuals’ capacity based on the clients’ needs. Activities during the practice and what I got from the practice One of the things that happened during the practice is that the students were excited about the lesson activities. The students wanted to participate in formulating the appropriate questions that they should ask potential automobile clients. The activity was the most interesting part and each student participated in formulating questions that they would ask a potential customers. However some of the students who were not confident did not participate. The other aspect that was interesting to the students was that of role playing. The students played according to social groups which made it interesting. Some of the client were tough and made the lesson exactly like what would happen to a car salesman. However those who were shy did not perform well in the role playing because they asked direct questions that could be answered fast (Skowron, 2010). On assessing the students based on their participants in role playing most of the confident students who were outgoing had better performance than the shy students. In the written test most of the student had better scores indicating that the information was highly retained by the students after the role play and simulation of a sales scenario (Zuiker, et al., 2016). The students were also happy and excited because they were actively involved in the lesson. Based on this experience the most important thing I have learnt is that the students have the capacity to learn on their own with minimal guidance. I noted that to be effective the teacher should incorporate more doing activities in the lesson because they helped the student to apply knowledge in real life situation other than having theoretical knowledge only. However, the time allocated for the lesson was not enough to include more activities in the lesson plan.ConclusionThe reflection has echoed the learning that has been accrued during the preparation of the lesson plans. The exercise has helped me to put into use theories of learning employed in teaching. I have noted that each theory applies in different scenario based on the subject being taught. I have noted that involvement of the student in real life activities through role playing and simulation was effective especially in teaching studies that required application of knowledge in strict life situation like selling to cus tomers who are different and need differing products. References Fink, D. L. (2005) Integrated course design. Manhattan, KS: The IDEA Center. Mccrea, P. (2015) Lean Lesson Planning: A practical approach to doing less and achieving more in the classroom. Brighton: Teacherly. Salsbury, E. and Melinda, S. (2008) Lesson Planning: A Research-Based Model for K-12 Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall. Serdyukov, P. and Ryan, M. (2008) Writing Effective Lesson Plans: The 5-Star Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Skowron, J. (2010) Powerful Lesson Planning: Every Teachers Guide to Effective Instruction. 10th edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Zimmerman, B. (2015) ‘Self-Regulated Learning: Theories, Measures, and Outcomes’, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, pp. 541-546. Zuiker, S., Anderson, K., Jordan, M. and Stewart, O. (2016) ‘Complementary lenses: Using theories of situativity and complexity to understand collaborative learning as systems-level social activity’, Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 9(11), pp. 80-94

Essay about Digital Crime Theories

Essay about Digital Crime Theories Essay about Digital Crime Theories Digital Crime Theories David E. Taylor Strayer University CIS 170 Professor Chad Cox May 24th, 2015 Digital Crime Theories For the past one hundred years, researchers have come up with many theories regarding crime, as well as the reasons individuals commit crime. In the past several years, more and more researchers are trying to apply the same concepts from the theories to digital crime (Taylor, Fritsch

Global Warming and Increase of Global Temperature

Global Warming and Increase of Global Temperature Introduction Global warming refers to the rise in the normal temperature of the earth’s near-surface atmosphere and water bodies ever since the middle of the twentieth century and its predictable continuation. As reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, in the year 2007, the universal surface temperature rose by 0.74 to 0.180C for the duration of the twentieth century.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Global Warming and Increase of Global Temperature specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This was the panel’s fourth assessment report and the study concluded that a better part of this phenomenon referred to as global warming in is as a result of human activity. Climate representation extrapolation concluded in the most up-to-date IPCC report point out that the earth’s surface temperature is to be expected to go up an additional 1.1 to 6.40C during the twenty first century (Noon, 2 012, p 1). Even as some quarters dispute these projections and disagree with existing evidence of global warming as being caused majorly by human activity, the facts are just too compelling. However, human activities are not the sole causes of global warming as there are several other causes including natural factors. With global warming increasing day by day, the increasing advancements in technology have had their share of contribution in the disastrous impacts of global warming. The main cause of this phenomenon is the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere and these bar heat from escaping from the earth’s surface. Thus, a way(s) of reducing the amount of these gases in the atmosphere needs to be worked out. Deforestation is another cause of global warming.This leads to increased radioactive forcing from CO2, methane, ozone chloro-flouro carbons and nitrous oxide (Noon, 2012, p 1). Since 1750, the concentration of CO2 has increase d by 36%, while the level of methane has grown by 148% due to industrial revolution (Atmosphere Changes, 2011). This is when people cut down trees, those trees and other green plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) which is a greenhouse gas. CO2 is produced by the human being and other animals. With fewer trees, it would be difficult for people and animals to breathe since there would be more CO2 in the air, yet human beings and animals do not breathe CO2 but oxygen (O2). However, some studies suggest a slight cooling effect; others suggest a slight warming effect. Increased solar activity and increased greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere while increased solar activity warms the stratosphere but increased greenhouse gases cools the stratosphere (Nicklen, 2012, p 1).Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Occurrences illustrating increase in global temperature Sea levels ge tting higher For the last century, observations show that sea levels moved higher world over. The average figure stood at more or less seventeen centimeters. Observations show that the order at which the level went up in the last decade is shockingly almost two times that of the last century. An example of an area going through this phenomenon is the marshland going under water at Bayou Chitigue, Louisiana. The estimated sea-level rise for this marshland is 1.38 centimeters per year. For a period of four years, straight up buildup averaged 2.07 centimeters annually which means the land’s elevation was corresponding to the increase in sea level (Nicklen, 2012, p 1). Coastal marshlands constitute the most useful ecological units in the world. These lands at the land-ocean periphery offer loads of direct gains to humanity, as well as home for money-making fisheries and wildlife, storm defense, enhanced water quality by way of deposit, nutrient and effluence elimination, leisure, and visually pleasing values. These precious ecological units will be extremely susceptible to the consequences of the fast increase in sea level projected to take place in the course of the next century as an outcome of global warming. The effects of rising sea water levels have had adverse effects on aquatic animals. Many animals are dying due to lack of food and also due to effects of poisonous substances which occur especially from industries. Rise in global temperature Every single one of the three main universal surface temperature reconstructions gives an indication that the planet has become hotter ever since 1880. The largest part of this warming has taken place from the 1970s, with the twenty hottest years taking place from 1981 and with all ten of the hottest years taking place in the last twelve years. The years beginning in 2000 up to date have seen a reduction in solar output with the period 2007 to 2009 a noticeable solar least amount. Despite this, surface heat leve ls keep on rising (Natural resources defense council, 2012, p 1). The effects of increase in universal temperature are evident from the outbreak of a variety of viral ailments like malaria. The causal agents of these illnesses thrive well in environments with elevated temperatures. The outbreaks have especially been experienced in the developing world. As a result, the economies and health of people are affected negatively.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Global Warming and Increase of Global Temperature specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Mortality rates of both children and adults have gone up in the last two decades. Economies suffer because a larger part of the resources are directed at curbing these ailments through vaccinations and efforts to eliminate the causal agents altogether. Other than viral infections, high temperatures pose difficulties to persons with cardiovascular complications. In severe occurrences, persons have lost lives as a result of heatstroke aggravated by elevated temperatures. High temperatures also lead to heat fatigue difficulties and respiratory difficulties as a result of harm to lung tissues which is a danger to persons with asthma. Industrialization leads to increased radioactive forcing from CO2, methane, ozone chloro-flouro carbons and nitrous oxide. Industrial revolution is the main cause of the constantly increasing concentration of CO2 and methane. Particulate and soot are also the reasons of global warming. They are also caused by volcanoes and human made pollutants especially aerosols (Jones, n.d, p 1). Warming oceans The world’s oceans have taken up a great deal of the augmented heat, with the upper seven hundred meters, that is, two thousand three hundred feet, of ocean illustrating increase of 0.3020F ever since 1969. Increasing heat levels have an effect on the physical nature of all oceans. As air temperatures go up, water density decreases and the water parts from a nutrient-filled chilly stratum underneath. This forms the starting point for a sequence effect that affects all oceanic life that depends on these nutrients for continued existence. The most pronounced effects of this warming on oceanic populaces are alterations in natural homes and food provision and shifting ocean alchemy. Single-celled plants, phytoplankton, that thrive at the ocean floor and algae utilize the process of photosynthesis for making food. The process takes away carbon dioxide from the air and changes it into natural carbon and oxygen which provides for virtually all ecological units. Studies show that phytoplankton survives in cooler oceans. In the same way, algae which are a plant on which other oceanic life feeds is declining due to oceanic warming. Thus, the most important nutrients are barred from finding their way upward and are stuck to a small stratum near the floor. The temperatures of the sea surfaces have been shown to rise.Advertis ing Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This poses a great danger to aquatic life as water bodies warm up and result to coral reefs which have adverse effects aquatic life. Many of the coral animals died after being weakened by bleaching, a process linked to the warmer waters. Annual growth cycles have been affected leading to disruption of entire oceanic food chains. Heat-driven organisms like phytoplankton have commenced their annual growth phase earlier in the season as a result warming oceans. Creatures that once traveled to the floor for nourishment are now hitting upon areas devoid of nutrients (Jones, n.d, p 1). Migration patterns that never existed before have been manifested along the east and west coasts. For instance, heat tolerant groups have spread out northward. The effect of this is a new jumble of species in a totally new location, in the end leading to alterations in predatory routines. Those species that will not be able to become accustomed to their new environment will die and become extinct. The chemi cal composition of oceans is another aspect that is being altered due to increasing global temperatures. Higher carbon dioxide levels being emitted into oceanscause a rise in their acidity. With higher acidity levels, phytoplankton is trimmed down. The result is reduced marine plants to absorb greenhouse gases. Elevated acidity levels also impact negatively on other life forms like corals and shellfish. These might become extinct with time if nothing is done to counter global warming.Since the diversity of species is important for human survival, human life will be adversely affected and even human survival will be threatened. Disappearing ice sheets Ice sheets at Greenland and Antarctic are diminishing at high rates. Statistics from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment illustrate how Greenland dropped ice ranging from 150 to 250 Km3 annually from two thousand and two to two thousand and six. Antarctica dropped more or less 152 Km3 of ice in the period from two thou sand and two and two thousand and five. Ice sheets outline the earth’s surface and form the principal freshwater source. Shrinking ice sheets put many humans at risk from floods, rise in sea levels, droughts and deficiency in drinking water.The areas that are majorly threatened include Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and several other small island nations. Ecological units in these areas are being messed up and life that has been thriving there now faces extinction if nothing is done. Animals that won’t thrive in flooded areas such as polar bears face such threats. Extreme weather events Quite a number of excessive climate events have taken place in the last few years and they are as a result of global warming. These include pronounced heat waves and intense precipitation. They are expected to increase if appropriate steps are not taken to curb rise in global temperatures. Their effects are detrimental and lead to loss of lives since they are difficult to predict. Temperature o f large lakes increase and the large lakes worldwide have had their temperatures rise drastically. These temperature rises have contributed to increase in algal blooms in lakes and favor invasive species, increase lake stratification and lower lake levels. These changes have adversely affected the fish populations in major lakes thus hindering fishing industrial activities. Extreme droughts and floods The high temperatures increases evaporation and more prolonged droughts in some areas of the earth. The increased evaporation leads to increase in amounts of rain received in parts of the world. This leads to flooding. In other cases, some areas receive more rainfall at the expense of the areas which experience drought spells. However, this is controlled by wind movements which carry the rain bearing clouds with them leaving their areas of origin with no rain bearing clouds thus such areas experience droughts while the areas of destination receiving enormous amounts of rain thus floods . There is a prediction of more violent swings between floods and droughts which will not support any meaningful agriculture thus famine and food insecurity. This is significant because of the changes in climate patterns which affect rainfall and drought seasons most likely by shortening rainfall periods and lengthening the drought seasons. In ecological systems the earlier timing of spring events and the pole ward and upward shifts in fauna have contributed to global warmingby increasing the recent warming of the earth. If the process of global warming continues, it will change the ecosystems of certain regions. It is expected that most of the ecosystems will be negatively impacted by these rising temperatures and rising levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Global warming is generally expected to cause elimination of plants and animals and reduced multiplicity of the ecosystem. Poor human health The warm temperatures are bound to cause more deaths due to heat waves and more alle rgy attacks as the pollen season grows longer there have been some changes in the ranges of animals that carry disease like mosquitoes. Due to the environmental changes caused by global warming, these disease vectors have mutated over time and have become more difficult to manage. As such they spread more diseases posing a threat to human existence. Effect on animals Garbage disposal points when burnt produce large amounts of greenhouse gases. Garbage which is not burnt is left to rot; during this rotting process methane is produced in enormous amounts (Shahan, 2011, p 1). Since methane of one of the greenhouse gases, global warming is bound to increase. Deforestation is another cause of global warming. This is when people cut down trees, those trees and other green plants absorb carbon dioxideCO2) which is a greenhouse gas. CO2 is produced by the human being and other animals. If the amount of trees and plants is reduced, then less oxygen (O2) produced by the greenery will be relea sed into the air, so people and animals will feel difficult to breathe as increased level of CO2 will be present in the atmosphere. It is the plants which breathe in CO2 and give out O2. How to curb global warming This phenomenon needs to be brought to a stop to avoid further negative effects and make the planet habitable for all forms of life. The first step needs to be reducing, reusing and recycling waste. We need to choose reusable commodities as opposed to non-reusable ones. Production of commodities with least packaging needs to be encouraged. Recycling can be done on paper, plastics, glass and even metal products. This goes a long way in reducing up to an approximated two thousand for hundred pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Humanity needs to use minimal amounts of heat and air conditions in homes, offices and even in transportation means like vehicles. We can begin by insulating our walls and setting up weather stripping about all building openings in a bid to reduce warm up costs by an estimated twenty five percent. Practices like turning down the heat while asleep or off in the course of the day and maintaining heat levels all the times are recommended. Statistics indicate that maintaining thermostats at two degrees lesser in winter and upper during summer is likely to keep at bay more or less two thousand pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Car owners need to drive less and smart. Reduced driving translates to fewer carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Mass transportation systems like trains are effective. Whenever driving, we need to ensure that the vehicle is running resourcefully. Tires need to be appropriately inflated and the entire engine well serviced. Every liter of fuel saved keeps carbon dioxide off our atmosphere in addition to saving on running costs (Anair, 2012, p 1). All of us need to ensure we plant trees and maintain the world’s forest cover to maintain our world green. In the course of photosynthesis, these plants take in carbon dioxide as they release oxygen. With many of them then there will be a good balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Turning off the faucet when brushing teeth is also an effective way combating global warming. This will help reduce the amount of water used thus reduce the pressure on the water supply. Turn off all electrical devices that is, lights, fans television, and computers among others, when they are not in use. This helps in energy conservation thus lessen the pressure on raw materials for energy production. Using energy-efficient appliances to help save about a third of the energy bills with similar savings on greenhouse gas emissions without scarifying features, style or comfort may as well be used as a remedy. Checking for leaks in toilets, faucets pipes, irrigation systems and others could also be a good prevention method. This will help in water conservation to a greater degree. Installation of low flow shower heads and having showers instead of having baths, which will also reduce on the amounts of water used in the bathroom. This is where several people share a vehicle to work or school (McCarthy, 2005, p 1). This is an effective way of saving on fuel by exploring economies of scale. People can also ride a bike instead of driving. This will save on fuel costs while giving one the daily exercise.Mitigation climate change is the reduction of the amount of future climate change. Conclusion We have seen that we are our own enemies and enemies of the earth which our own livelihood depend on. It is our own activities that are degrading the natural resources endowed to us by Mother Nature earth. There is much we can do to mitigate the situation and have a cleaner healthier world. Our own existence is at stake, and the future depends on what we will do from now on. Should nothing be done to correct the situation, we shall cause our own extinction.The general consensus is that global warming is as a result of human activity. T herefore, efforts need to be directed at environmentally safe practices if the planet is to remain habitable for people, other animals and plants. Universal cooperation efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol need to be encouraged and all world states need to back such efforts.The issue with reducing and stopping the menace of global warming is basically about risk and risk management. There are things that must be sacrificed to save the situation; we have to risk the life without some luxuries to save the future. In light of the fore-going, the following would help save the situation. All nations should sign the Kyoto type of protocol as a preventive measure towards global warming (McCarthy, 2005, p 1). Each family should consider establishing small forests and agricultural societies to embrace agro-forestry. This would help in preserving trees and forests which are very significant in preventing global warming as well as other environmental calamities. Families should also minimize the number of electronics in their households to help in preservation of energy would consequently preserve forests as less trees will be cut out. Countries in the tropics may also consider installing solar panels to minimize on the reliance on hydro-electricity and coal fuel. Government owned public transport should also be established to help regulate the number of private vehicles. Planting of more trees in areas which did not previously have plantation cover and in areas where deforestation has occurred, the cut trees should be replaced and more trees should even be planted (Anair, 2012, p 1). Similarly, civic education should be provided to citizens to educate them on the importance of conserving and planting trees. This will enhance CO2 absorption thus reducing amounts of greenhouse gases in terms of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Practice of organic farming where by the organic matter produced as waste from the farms is used as sources of manure and the use of insects and other animals in pest control should be implemented. This eliminates the use of inorganic fertilizers and means of pest control while advocating for alternative ways of promoting agriculture. Since these inorganic materials are not easily bio-degradable, they accumulate in soil causing toxic effects to terrestrial and aquatic life. They also produce Flouro-chloro carbons as byproducts of degradation. Global warming is a very serious environmental issue facing our world today and it is destroying our lives each and every day. As discussed earlier, the most important cause of global warming has been human activity (Natural resources defense council, 2012, p 1). As a result, the most effective way of combating this disastrous impact is by human changing their ways of living by using alternative ways of livelihoods just to avoid causing the effects of global warming. This could be done best by using prevention measures by industrial firms because they are the most contributing factors o f human activity contribution to global warming. This being said, the world can work together to prevent global warming as much as possible by using prevention measures. Reference List Anair, D. (2012). Global warming: science and impacts. Union of concerned scientists: citizens and scientists for environmental solutions. Retrieved from http://ucsusa.org/global_warming/ Atmosphere Changes. (2011). Retrieved from epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentac.html Jones, J. (n.d). What causes global warming: Learn the major human causes of climate change. Retrieved from acoolerclimate.com/what-causes-global-warming-learn-the-major-human-causes-of-climate-change/ McCarthy, M. (2005, February 2). Dramatic changes in west Antarctic ice could produce 16ft rise in sea level. The Independent, 28. Retrieved from independent.co.uk/news/dramatic-change-in-west-antarctic-ice-could-produce-16ft-rise-in-sea-levels-1528290.html Natural resources defense council. (2012). Global warming. Retrieved from nrd c.org/globalwarming/ Nicklen, P. (2012). What is global warming? The Planet Is Heating Up- and Fast Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-overview. Noon, M. (2012, March 15). Big green wants to repeal the industrial revolution. Washington Examiner. Retrieved from http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/03/big-green-wants-repeal-industrial-revolution/364266 Shahan, Z. (2011, October 28). Yes, global warming is real and caused by humans. Retrieved from http://planetsave.com/2011/10/28/yes-global-warming-is-real-and-caused-by-humans/

Macbeth Charachter Essay Essay Example

Macbeth Charachter Essay Essay Example Macbeth Charachter Essay Essay Macbeth Charachter Essay Essay Macbeth Character Essay In Act 1, Macbeth is described by Duncan as â€Å"O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman! † By the end of the play, Malcolm calls him a â€Å"dead butcher†. Trace the changes in Macbeths’ character, analysing the reasons behind them. Macbeth’s ruthless seeking journey for power, urged on by his wife, becomes his tragic flaw which leads to his downfall in all ways. The tragic hero is used by Shakespeare to show how the tragedy lies in the greatness that could so easily have been Macbeth’s. Inevitably, his conversion in character all results in his ambition which causes him to act in such brutal ways. We note how an idealised individual such as Macbeth’s changes into a despised one. We observe Macbeth’s greatness and bravery in combat through the Captain’s account of the battle. Macbeth is described as â€Å"Valour’s minion† who â€Å"carved out his passage till he faced the slave†. One examines the respect enclosed in his companion soldiers who give him the name â€Å"brave Macbeth†. This is followed by a line of reassurance which is â€Å"well he deserves that name†. Macbeth’s honour and excellence in battle is demonstrated in Duncan’s words â€Å"O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman! †. His lack of fear displays his courage and heroism presented in the line â€Å"As cannons over-charged with double-cracks†. Shakespeare uses this to highlight the greatness he once had. We immediately suspect the thought of Duncan’s murder in Macbeth’s mind through the line â€Å"Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear things that sound so fair? . Macbeth’s ambition seems to take control of him as he continuously orders the witches to inform him of the prophecies in the lines â€Å"Stay, you imperfect speakers! Tell me more† and â€Å"Speak, I charge you! †. One can imagine Macbeth’s subsequent actions in the line â€Å"nothing is but what is not† as through it we realise that the only values t hat exists for Macbeth are those which he does not yet have, the Kingship. This continues to demonstrate how his ambition takes full control over him. Macbeth realises that he must act quickly as â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland† is â€Å"a step on which he must fall down, or else o’erleap†, which continues to indicate how his ambition is taking over him and triggers his thought of Duncan’s murder which will soon become a reality. Macbeth recognizes the various reasons of why he should not kill Duncan and is tormented about these doubts, however he resolves to his â€Å"Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other†. However the loyalty shown to King Duncan in previous scenes is forgotten completely and his true colours are really being shown. We can see how Macbeth deceives Banquo by replying: â€Å"i think not of them† when Banquo says he dreamt of the witches. This is linked to the theme of â€Å"appearance vs. reality† as we see the â€Å"false face† Macbeth has put on. Macbeth’s guilty, overwrought brain induces him to see visions before he does the murder. His guilt becomes outwardly visible to his own eyes, which he calls â€Å"a dagger of the mind†. This is a sign of the great turmoil in his mind where this fearless soldier is now tormented by images of blood and fear of the unknown. After Duncan’s murder Macbeth realizes that because of the deed he has just committed he has lost the possibility of ever receiving blessing. He appears to be conscience stricken as he struggles to say â€Å"Amen†. He realises perfectly well the extent of his guilt as we see in the lines â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No† and â€Å"The pluck out mine eyes†. Macbeth’s guilt induces loss of sleep and, since he has lost his peace of mind, his innocence and guilt will torture him. His guilt becomes clearly evident in the line â€Å"Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst† and this shows how he will be scarred and damned for eternity. Macbeth’s mind is tormented by the witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will be kings of Scotland and convinces murderers that Banquo has always been their enemy while forcing them to kill him. This imposes the reprehensive position with which he has become, even worse than the murderers. Macbeth’s guilt and wickedness is also embodied in the ghost of Banquo which appears to torture Macbeth at the banquet he has organised for the succession of the throne. As soon as Macbeth hypocritically mentions Banquo, he sees his ghost however Macbeth attributes his hallucination of the ghost to being a result of him being a beginner in murder. In later murders Macbeth appears to be quite hardened to the horrors of murder. He does feel guilt but this is not enough to keep him from committing further murders as he says that he is â€Å"in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more returning were as tedious as going o’er†. Macbeth derives security from the witches as he typically interprets the apparitions in his favour, rejecting what is unfavourable to him. We remember Hecate’s words: â€Å"security is mortals’ chiefest enemy†. By the end of the play Macbeth becomes completely ruthless and irrational and decides that â€Å"The very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand†. He therefore resolves to attack Macduff’s castle and kill his family. This accentuates Macbeth’s evil even more while showing the degeneration in his character as he murders a defenceless woman and her children. Macbeth no longer has any soul searching as he does not justify himself anymore with soliloquies before doing his deeds. This causes him to become completely ruthless and unscrupulous, making him an outright villain. Although throughout the book Macbeth seems to be influenced by his wife and the witches, it is Macbeth and his will to become king that performs each and every deed. Macbeth could so easily have been a righteous and respectable person however it is his ambition and will that induces him to become a â€Å"hell hound† and a â€Å"dead butcher†. Although Macbeth has become a changed man his only kingly characteristic was his courage to fight until he, the lonely saddened yet ruthless character, died in battle.

Company Introduction, Market Segmentation, and Product Positioning Assignment

Company Introduction, Market Segmentation, and Product Positioning - Assignment Example Additionally, recent financial crisis has also affected company’s revenue trends and has raised concern in management to focus on foreign markets and explore regions which have potential demand for its products. The management of the company is now planning to target a foreign market for its products, where the company can expand its products’ line and generate more revenues. In this regard, the management of the company believe that UAE is the most appropriate target foreign market while considering the nature of company’s business. Mission Statement UW’s mission statement is to â€Å"become a favorite clothing brand of kids both in UK and internationally†. Target Foreign Market for Company’s Product The company has planned to target kids clothing market in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The rationale for doing so is that there has been a phenomenal increase recorded in the demand and consumption of kids clothing. Moreover, kids clothing br ands which have already entered UAE’s market have earned their place in the market. ... Following are the key factors favoring UAE as a target market for UW’s brand: Kids clothing brands market has experienced a growth of 16 % in the United Arab Emirates during the year 2010 (Jones, 2012). According to Liwa Trading, kids clothing brands, who are popular in other parts of the world, are expressing their wish to enter UAE’s market (Jones, 2012). Kids in the UAE have an increasing concern of what they wear and have developed a fashion sense (Jones, 2012). In 2011, there were about $ 1 billion spent by people living in the UAE on children clothing and footwear brands, thus implying how strong demand and consumption is for kids clothing products (Jones, 2012). There is a wide range of prices of clothing available in the UAE’s store, i.e. prices of clothing products are ranged between Dh 250 and Dh 2,500, and as a result UW can set its target price for products relatively easily (Jones, 2012). Potential Audience for a Marketing Plan The potential audience s of a marketing plan can be both internal and external stakeholders of a business. These stakeholders include management, departmental staff, investors, regulatory authorities, analysts, customers and others. The needs of this wide audience for a marketing plan may vary from person to person. It is actually the perceptions they have which in turn shape their needs. People listen what they want to listen, and the same goes for marketing plan. Information contained in a marketing plan may be of high value and interest for management, but at the same time it may be regarded as useless or even unworthy to be looked at by others. Therefore, a perfect marketing plan caters the

Labour relations or employment relations issue in workplace Essay

Labour relations or employment relations issue in workplace - Essay Example . According to Mithra (2009), binding arbitration is a case whereby a party is asked to make an agreement which provides that if they have a dispute with the contracting partner then they opt to be heard by private arbitrator rather than normal litigation through courts. The contracting parties are bound totally by the decision of the arbitrator hence their case can not be appealed in a court of law. The arbitrator is usually a third party and has the authority to make final decision in accordance to prior arrangements of contracting parties. It can not be stated with certainty when formal processes of arbitration were established in the world but it is known that arbitration as method of resolution of disputes is far much older than courts litigation. Arbitration use can be traced far back from ancient civilizations e.g. Greece, Roman and Egypt. The arbitration act of 1697 was the first English law on arbitration, though arbitration was in common use even before the law came to be. Arbitrations before this law was usually never strong this was mainly due to the parties to arbitration terminating the arbitrators authority if the deemed things were not going well with their expectations on the arbitration Arbitration is a resolution of a dispute by a non partisan third party who gives the final word on the settlement which is final to the parties in arbitration. Arbitration is distinct to mediation, determination by experts, alternative dispute resolution and judicial proceedings. In practice some cases of disputes are not able to be subjected to arbitration this is usually depending on the content of the case that involve arbitration. Examples of procedures that can not be subjected to arbitration include; Where the resolution of the dispute does not require the parties to the dispute to enter any form of agreement e.g., court processes that bind all members of the public or institutions or a dispute that involves public interest, this can be

Us history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Us history - Essay Example Slaves were also viewed as non civilized but strong people who were suitable for wars and hard work. These prejudices infected the south-non slaveholders and slaveholders in various ways. Slavery united the slaveholders and non-slaveholders prior to the civil war. Many whites in the south did not own any slaves, so they did not have interest in raising the institution of slavery. The aim of the non-slaveholders was to defend the slave property taken by the slaveholders. Non-slaveholders knew that if they manage to secure the slaves, they would finally be slaveholders, and get helpers in their homes and fields. After emancipation of the slaves, the slaveholders would emigrate because they had resources, and avoid being degraded. Non-slaveholders did not have the resources to escape, so after emancipation they would be terribly degraded. Non-slaveholders and slaveholders were brought together because they had almost the same interest in the slaves. Non-slaveholders supported the peculiar institution knowing that it would degrade them for several reasons. The southerners risked their lives by leaving the United States to form their own state because they believed that all people are not equal, especially the blacks and the whites.. This was because by the late 1850s the southerners felt isolated hence reacted by being defensive of slavery. The non-slaveholders acted according to the advices they received from various leaders. Their church leaders argued that the slavery was sanctioned by the Holy Bible. They were told that if Lincoln became president, everyone would be equal and abolition preachers would consummate the marriage of their daughters to black husbands. Non-slaveholders were also told by their politicians that ending slavery would make them subjects to the civil and political degradation, and social equality with the Negro race. The American antislavery attitudes began in the late 1830s. America

Economics of Organisations TAKE HOME EXAM 1 writer for all 3 questions Essay

Economics of Organisations TAKE HOME EXAM 1 writer for all 3 questions - Essay Example Requirement for decreasing transaction costs causes formation of economic institutions so as to achieve transactions in the framework and via it to reduce transaction costs (Williamson O. 1996). Williamson formulates a clear representation between the 3 dimensions of transactions and the cost-denigrating control structure, with diverse institutional agreements rising with special linking of these variables. Transaction in particular assets can help in earning quasi-rents and these quasi-rents render the motivation for distribution of struggle. Those Agreements which helps in influencing the allocation of the quasi-rent should be decided, supervised, and imposed. All these processes results in transaction costs. If opportunism jeopardises the persistence of the deal itself then amalgamation would be the best solution since it can successfully restrain opportunism. Williamson, Oliver E. ... (Adopted from Dnaiel 2003) Asset Specificity Asset specificity is a rationally understandable perception. It denotes to the level to which an asset can be redeployed to different uses, without surrendering its productive worth (Williamson, 1996). According to John and Weitz (1988, p 24), "Because non-redeployable specific assets make it costly to switch to a new relationship, the market safeguard against opportunism is no longer effective." Consequently, if asset specificity is high, TCE forecasts that the firm has a tendency to use more incorporated channel structures so that transaction costs can be minimised. The normal proposal has benefited some level of back up in existential research. Anderson (1985), John and Weitz (1988), Klein, Frazier, and Roth (1990), and Majumdar and Ramaswamy (1995) all feel that asset specificity is definitely linked to the point of channel integration. But, Aulakh and Kotabe (1997) could not discover a noteworthy outcome for asset specificity on channel combination. Two researchers discovered back up for the potential integration between internal uncertainty and channel integration. Anderson (1985) determines that the complexity of assessing salesperson execution is certainly linked to the utilisation of a company possessed sales force. In reality asset specificity produces a specific form of monopoly which is based on stretched link between economic agents. Considerable quantity of the transactions' unusual investment is an issue for competence. At the same time it links economic agents in such a way so that they have to reckon on each other very powerfully. There are events where the parties enlarge the specificity of the assets affected in the contract so as to protect against ethical danger. For instance

Marijuana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marijuana - Essay Example The latter group has, therefore, joined efforts to advocate for legalization of the drug. This paper seeks to present a rhetoric analysis of two articles on the debate about legalization of Marijuana. While one article advocates for legalization, the other adopts a balanced approach that highlights reasons for and against legalization of the drug. The first article, ‘The top ten Reasons Marijuana Should be Legal’ is authored under a corporate organization known as AlterNet. The author, in a bid to advocate for legalization of the drug, highlights a number of reasons for the opinion. According to Alertnet, even though the drug is currently illegal, its production, trade, and consumption is still high, an indicator that the legislations are ineffective. This presents the opinion that making the drug illegal has not achieved intended objectives of controlling Marijuana’s adverse effects. Alternet, therefore, aims at informing policy-makers and the public about the cu rrent policy’s irrelevance. Contrary to the perceived disadvantages and adverse side effects of the drug, the author identifies potential legal, economic, and social benefits that are associated with legalizing the drug. Marijuana for instance can be used as medicine and is less toxic as compared to some of the legalized drugs. The author argues that it â€Å"is not a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol† (Alternet, 2). Legalizing the drug, according to the author, would also promote the growth of its parent plant as an â€Å"agricultural crop† and further social value as a source of â€Å"bio-fuel to reduce carbon emissions† and help offset national balance of trade deficit by controlling outflow of money through the drug’s importation (Alternet, 1). In this approach, Alternet appeals to the society to change its perception of the drug and to exploit, with an open mind, the potential benefits of the drug in terms of agricultural harvests, income generation, medicinal value and economic benefit of enlarged gross domestic product (Alternet, p. 1, 2). The author begins the article by illustrating the current policy’s inability to meet statutory laws’ objectives that aim at prohibiting production and use of Marijuana, and instead identify the fact that a large proportion of the American population is still locked up in abusing the drug. The author follows this argument with an outlined set of reasons that approve legalization of the commodity, and this identifies his application of logos to persuade the audience that Marijuana should be legalized. This is because the article refutes effectiveness of the current laws that have illegalized the drug and succeeds in pointing out the fact that the legalization will lead to a number of benefits that include solutions to side effects associated with the drug. The writer’s approach informs the audience that legal restriction of the drug does not achieve legislation ’s intentions and is inconsiderate of economic and social concerns that would benefit the society. As a result, the article gives rise to a reconsideration of the current legal position on the drug towards a more realistic set of laws that respect people’s freedom and promote economic benefits of investment in the drug that is not as harmful as other legalized drugs (Alternet, p. 1, 2). The next article, ‘Should marijuana be legalized under any circumstance?’

Economics of Organisations TAKE HOME EXAM 1 writer for all 3 questions Essay

Economics of Organisations TAKE HOME EXAM 1 writer for all 3 questions - Essay Example Requirement for decreasing transaction costs causes formation of economic institutions so as to achieve transactions in the framework and via it to reduce transaction costs (Williamson O. 1996). Williamson formulates a clear representation between the 3 dimensions of transactions and the cost-denigrating control structure, with diverse institutional agreements rising with special linking of these variables. Transaction in particular assets can help in earning quasi-rents and these quasi-rents render the motivation for distribution of struggle. Those Agreements which helps in influencing the allocation of the quasi-rent should be decided, supervised, and imposed. All these processes results in transaction costs. If opportunism jeopardises the persistence of the deal itself then amalgamation would be the best solution since it can successfully restrain opportunism. Williamson, Oliver E. ... (Adopted from Dnaiel 2003) Asset Specificity Asset specificity is a rationally understandable perception. It denotes to the level to which an asset can be redeployed to different uses, without surrendering its productive worth (Williamson, 1996). According to John and Weitz (1988, p 24), "Because non-redeployable specific assets make it costly to switch to a new relationship, the market safeguard against opportunism is no longer effective." Consequently, if asset specificity is high, TCE forecasts that the firm has a tendency to use more incorporated channel structures so that transaction costs can be minimised. The normal proposal has benefited some level of back up in existential research. Anderson (1985), John and Weitz (1988), Klein, Frazier, and Roth (1990), and Majumdar and Ramaswamy (1995) all feel that asset specificity is definitely linked to the point of channel integration. But, Aulakh and Kotabe (1997) could not discover a noteworthy outcome for asset specificity on channel combination. Two researchers discovered back up for the potential integration between internal uncertainty and channel integration. Anderson (1985) determines that the complexity of assessing salesperson execution is certainly linked to the utilisation of a company possessed sales force. In reality asset specificity produces a specific form of monopoly which is based on stretched link between economic agents. Considerable quantity of the transactions' unusual investment is an issue for competence. At the same time it links economic agents in such a way so that they have to reckon on each other very powerfully. There are events where the parties enlarge the specificity of the assets affected in the contract so as to protect against ethical danger. For instance

Second Presidential Debate. Sen. Barack Obama & Sen. John McCain Assignment

Second Presidential Debate. Sen. Barack Obama & Sen. John McCain - Assignment Example The focus of the debate was on domestic and foreign policies, since the questions were based on the economy of the America in relation to the worldwide economic conditions. Each candidate was given two minutes to give his answers to a common question. The most publicized debate that was covered by many television networks was expected to be equally highly charged from the two rivals as was disseminated from the campaigns that were held by the two candidates. However, the debate came out as being sedate, low-voltage and was mostly depicted by the candidates as a tedious forum. It did not auger well with the two candidates, as they did not portray their personal attacks that were prominent in their recent campaigns before the debate. The candidates were unwilling or were simply unable to come out of their talking points straitjackets. Halfway through the debate, the outright winner was the financial wizard Warren Buffet. The two candidates for once came to a consensus when they suggest ed that Buffet would be an effective secretary of the Treasury department in the upcoming administration. Both candidates veered off the much needed answers on domestic and foreign policies, such as more tax reliefs, to which Obama promised to ensure that America provided tax incentives that would ensure fuel-efficient cars are manufactured in the United States, and not imported from Japan. However, not so long after saying that, he remarked that America should portray good habits of spending since they were almost running up trillion-dollar debts that risked to be passed to the new generations. Moreover, on low tax rates, McCain simply answered that they should not raise anybody’s taxes. On the other hand, concerning the foreign policy, both candidates advocated for additional troops in Afghanistan, and Obama yearned for financial assistance to Georgia, Poland, Estonia and to all the countries that were former Soviet satellites. Senator Obama provided the most cohesive answe rs to the questions asked by the moderator. For instance, at the onset of questions, when Allen Shaffer posed the question on the most positive solution that would bail out the American people from the economic meltdown, since the retired as well as the older citizens were on the verge of losing their incomes. Obama positively answered by remarking that the corrupt and unscrupulous executives would be fired and the treasury would demand back the embezzled funds. Furthermore, the middle-class would require a rescue package, meaning there would be tax reliefs for the middle-class. Moreover, homeowners would be given incentives that would help them retain their homes. The citizens, according to Obama, were primarily the people that helped the American government build the roads and bridges through their taxes, and the government in turn should create employment for their people. Ultimately, in the long-term, America would need to fix its health care system as well as its energy system that is continuously burdening most families. On the other hand, McCain answered the same question by claiming that it is the job of the government to fix the problem, though he deviated from giving the core answer that was much expected by the Americans. However, he asserted that in fixing the problem, America needed to have policies that would advocate for energy independence. According to him, America should stop

The Legalization of Prostitution Essay Example for Free

The Legalization of Prostitution Essay Prostitution may undoubtedly be one of the oldest professions in history. From the time of the Romans, to the Aztecs hitherto, ancient civilizations from both the east and the west had the act of prostitution as part of their society. Some of these civilizations have even taken concrete measures to either abolish or accept prostitution within their system. The ancient Greeks, for example, had a form of regulation policy or law for prostitutes. They treated prostitution as a credible profession, they were subject to the paying of taxes and were even requested to wear distinct clothings so as to be easily distinguished and classified as such. The Roman Catholic Church, during the Middle Ages, even allowed (tolerated) prostitution despite its moral nature and moral laws. They argued that by allowing prostitution, greater crimes against the Church – such as sodomy, rape and masturbation – can be prevented. A man of the Church during that time even went as far as declaring that the expulsion of prostitution will only give rise to the lustful nature of human beings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Looking back through history, it is interesting to note that present societies have changed drastically with regards to their view of prostitution. And this shift in logical thinking can either be considered a major advancement in human moral society or a considerable denial to historical and natural norms and/or an open resistance to societal acceptance. As such, where should one stand on this issue? I, for one, greatly supports the latter. Indeed, I believe that prostitution should be accepted and be made legal in every open society. True, that societies at present have achieved a tremendous amount of success pertaining to moral law and human rights. However, societies must also put into consideration the fact that prostitution, as history may suggest, is a part of human nature. In other words, no matter how regarded as a scourge the act of prostitution is and no matter how much condemnation every government or institution may impose upon it, it – the act of prostitution – will always be there. Societies can never prevent the act of prostitution from occurring in the same way that human beings can never prevent the occurrence of bad weather – its just there.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As such, I believe that instead of combating such a natural force – of which, almost always proved to be a negatively implausible act – why not offer acceptance to the norm – of which, is more a positively frugal act    and then provide the necessary safety nets for its entrance?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Indeed, the acceptance (or legalization) of prostitution denotes that proper measures will be taken in addressing the issue, not as a problem, but as a legitimate business. Governments must always understand that disobedience to the law is the result of strict impositions of the law. In other words, in order for governments to obtain the cooperation of these elements (of prostitution), they should should provide these elements with compensation and/or compromise instead of vying for their utter destruction – which is, to some extent, ultimately impossible. Government cooperation on the matter (in other words, legalization) could result into proper regulation of laws and services that will stand as a form protection for both legitimate prostitutes and their respective clients (I am using the word legitimate in order to refer to actual prostitutes that were not either forced or trafficked into the profession and the word respective in order to refer to the actual clients that do pay for the services they received and do not, under any circumstances, commit acts of violence against prostitutes). With the full legalization of prostitution comes a new set of laws that will determine the proper guidelines for the conduct of the profession. By doing so, proper health care, disease regulation, protection laws for mistreated parties (prostitute and the client) and other such programs and policies (as will be protected and advanced by the Rule of Law) will be established in order to administer the ever-growing business. Furthermore, other protections such as anti-trafficking laws, underage/minor laws prohibiting the acts, violence against women and others will be improved or amended so as to accommodate the introduction of the former laws established for the concept of legalized prostitution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Seeing these benefits to possibly come to life, one may still question, whether or not, moral law and human rights will be compromised in the process. The answer, of course, is a resounding yes. However, one must also understand that moral laws and human rights are only a product of the rational of human intellect. This means that moral laws and human rights are not natural or inherent and are only applicable to those persons that testify or practice them. Prostitutes (legitimate) are aware of the fact that what they are doing are a clear violation of moral laws and human rights. Still, they refuse to stop. Why? Because they choose not to uphold these laws and principles. Their rationalization comes from concept of free-will and freedom to exercise ones own body at his or her own discretion. As such, a rational force such as that of morality and humanism can never affect them – simply because they choose not be affected. Truly, awareness, acceptance and professing the laws of morality and humanism are one of the few steps for the credibility and plausibility of the latter principles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like it or not, prostitution is already a part of our society and our lives. We cannot abolish it; we can only either openly accept it or blindly deny it. And ultimate denial of the norm, as history may suggest, can only lead to anarchy. Works Cited: Bovard, James. â€Å"The Legalization of Prostitution.† September 1998 Freedom Daily 20    November 2007 http://www.fff.org/freedom/0998d.asp Poulin, Richard. â€Å"The Legalization of Prostitution and its impact on trafficking in  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   women and children.† February 2005 Sociologue 20 November 2007   Ã‚   http://sisyphe.org/article.php3?id_article=1596 Raymond, Janice. â€Å"10 Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution.† March 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vancouver Rape Relief Womens Shelter 20 November 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/prostitution_legalizing.html

Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition

Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition Smart Music Player Integrating Facial Emotion Recognition and Music Mood Classification 1Shlok Gilda, 2Husain Zafar, 3Chintan Soni, 4Kshitija Waghurdekar Department of Computer Engineering, Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune, India Abstract Songs, as a medium, have always been a popular choice to depict human emotions. Reliable emotion based classification systems can go a long way in facilitating this. However, research in the field of emotion based music classification has not yielded optimal results. In this paper, we present an affective cross-platform music player, EMP, which recommends music based on the real-time mood of the user. EMP provides smart mood based music recommendation by incorporating the capabilities of emotion context reasoning within our adaptive music recommendation system. Our music player contains three modules: Emotion Module, Music Classification Module and Recommendation Module. The Emotion Module takes an image of the user as an input and makes use of deep learning algorithms to identify the mood of the user with an accuracy of 90.23%. The Music Classification Module makes use of audio features to achieve a remarkable result of 97.69% while classifying songs into 4 different mood c lasses. The Recommendation Module suggests songs to the user by mapping the emotion of the user to the mood of the song, taking into consideration the preferences of the user. Keywords-Recommender systems, Emotion recognition, Music information retrieval, Artificial neural networks, Multi-layer neural network. I. Introduction Current research in the field of music psychology has shown that music induces a clear emotional response in its listeners[1]. Musical preferences have been demonstrated to be highly correlated with personality traits and moods. The meter, timber, rhythm and pitch of music are managed in areas of the brain that deal with emotions and mood[2]. Undoubtedly, a users affective response to a music fragment depends on a large set of external factors, such as gender, age[3], culture[4], preferences, emotion and context[5] (e.g. time of day or location). However, these external variables set aside, humans are able to consistently categorize songs as being happy, sad, enthusiastic or relaxed. Current research in emotion based recommender systems focuses on two main aspects, lyrics[6][12] and audio features[7]. Acknowledging the language barrier, we focus on audio feature extraction and analysis in order to map those features to four basic moods. Automatic music classification using some mood categories yields promising results. Expressions are the most ancient and natural way of conveying emotions, moods and feelings. The facial expression would categorize in 4 different emotions, viz. happy, sad, angry and neutral. The main objective of this paper is to design a cost-effective music player which automatically generates a sentiment aware playlist based on the emotional state of the user. The application designed requires less memory and less computational time. The emotion module determines the emotion of the user. Relevant and critical audio information from a song is extracted by the music classification module. The recommendation module combines the results of the emotion module and the music classification module to recommend songs to the user. This system provides significantly better accuracy and performance than existing systems. II. Related Works Various methodologies have been proposed to classify the behaviour and emotional state of the user. Mase et al. focused on using movements of facial muscles[8] while Tian et al.[9] attempted to recognize Actions Units (AU) developed by Ekman and Friesen in 1978[10] using permanent and transient facial features. With evolving methodologies, the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for emotion recognition has become increasingly popular[11]. Music has been classified using lyrical analysis[6][12]. While this tokenized method is relatively easier to implement, on its own, it is not suitable to classify songs accurately. Another obvious concern with this method is the language barrier which restricts classification to a single language. Another method for music mood classification is using acoustic features like tempo, pitch and rhythm to identify the sentiment conveyed by the song. This method involves extracting a set of features and using those feature vectors to find patterns characteristic to a specific mood. III. Emotion Module In this section, we study the usage of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to emotion recognition[13][14]. CNNs are known to simulate the human brain when analyzing visuals; however, given the computational requirements and complexity of a CNN, optimizing a network for efficient computation is necessary. Thus, a CNN is implemented to construct a computational model which successfully classifies emotion in 4 moods, namely, happy, sad, angry and neutral, with an accuracy of 90.23%. A.   Dataset Description The dataset we used for training the model is from a Kaggle Facial Expression Recognition Challenge, FER2013[15]. The data consists of 4848 pixel grayscale images of faces. Each of the faces are organized into one of the 7 emotion classes: angry, disgust, fear, happy, sad, surprise, and neutral. For this research, we have made use of 4 emotions: angry, happy, sad and neutral. There is a total of 26,217 images corresponding to these emotions. The breakdown of the images is as follows: happy with 8989 samples, sad with 6077 samples, neutral with 6198 samples, angry with 4953 samples. B. Model Description A multi-layered convolutional neural network is programmed to evaluate the features of the user image[16][17]. The convolutional neural network contains an input layer, some convolutional layers, ReLU layers, pooling layers, and some dense layers (aka. fully-connected layers), and an output layer. These layers are linearly stacked in sequence. 1) Input Layer: The input layer has fixed and predetermined dimensions. So, for pre-processing the image, we used OpenCV for face detection in the image before feeding the image into the layer. Pre-trained filters from Haar Cascades along with Adaboost are used to quickly find and crop the face. The cropped face is then converted into grayscale and resized to 48-by-48 pixels. This step greatly reduces the dimensions from (3, 48, 48) (RGB) to (1, 48, 48) (grayscale) which can be easily fed into the input layer as a numpy array. 2) Convolutional Layers:A set of unique kernels (or feature detectors), with randomly generated weights, are specified as one of the hyperparameters in the Convolution2D layer. Each feature detector is a (3, 3) receptive field, which slides across the original image and computes a feature map. Convolution generates different feature maps for the same input image. Distinct filters are used to perform operations that represent how pixel values are enhanced, for example, blur and edge detection. Filters are applied successively over the entire image, creating a set of feature maps. In our neural network, each convolutional layer generates 128 feature maps. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) has been used after every convolution operation. After a set of convolutional layers, a popular pooling method, MaxPooling, was used to reduce the dimensionality of each feature map, all the while retaining the critical information. We used (2, 2) windows which consider only the maximum pixel values within the window from the feature map. The pooled pixels form an image with dimensions reduced by 4. Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) has been used after every convolution operation. 3) Dense Layers:The output from the convolutional and pooling layers represent high-level features of the input image. The dense layer uses these features for classifying the input image into various classes. The features are transformed through the layers which are connected with trainable weights. The network is trained by forward propagation of training data and then backward propagation of its errors. Our model uses 2 sequential fully connected layers. The network generalizes well to new images and is able to gradually make adjustments until the errors are minimized. A dropout of 20% was applied in order to prevent overfitting of the training data. This helped us control the models sensitivity to noise during training while maintaining the necessary complexity of the architecture. 4) Output Layer:We used softmax as the activation function at the output layer of the dense layer. Thus, the output is represented as a probability distribution for each emotion class. Models with various combinations of hyper-parameters were trained and evaluated utilizing a 4 GiB DDR3 NVIDIA 840M graphics card using the NVIDIA CUDA ® Deep Neural Network library (cuDNN). This greatly reduced training time and increased efficiency in tuning the model. Ultimately, our network architecture consisted of 9 convolutional layers with one max-pooling after every three convolution layers followed by 2 dense layers, as seen in Figure 1. C. Results The final network was trained on 20973 images and tested on 5244 images. At the end, the model achieved an accuracy of 90.23%. Table 1 displays the confusion matrix for the module. Evidently, the system performs very well in classifying images belonging to the angry category. We also note interesting results under happy and sad category owing to the remarkable differences in Action Units as mentioned by Ekman[11]. The F-measure of this system comes out to be 90.12%. IV. Music Classification Module In this section, we describe the procedure that was used to identify the mapping of each song with its mood. We extracted the acoustic features of the songs using LibROSA[18], aubiopitch[19] and other state-of-the art audio extraction algorithms. Based on these features, we trained an artificial neural network which successfully classifies the songs in 4 classes with an accuracy of 92.05%. The classification process is described in Figure 2. A.Dataset Description The dataset comprises of 390 songs spread across four moods. The distribution of the songs is as follows: class A with 100 songs, class B with 93 songs, class C with 100 songs and class D with 97 songs. The songs were manually labelled and the class labels were verified by 10 paid subjects. Class A comprises of exciting and energetic songs, class B has happy and joyful songs, class C consists of sad and melancholy songs, and class D has calm and relaxed songs. 1) Preprocessing: All the songs were down sampled to a uniform bit-rate of 128 kbps, a mono audio channel and resampled at a sampling frequency of 44100 Hz. We further split each song to obtain clips that contained the most meaningful parts of the song. The feature vectors were then standardized so that it had zero mean and a unit variance. 2) Feature Description: We identified several mood sensitive audio features by reading current works[20] and the results from the 2007 MIREX Audio Mood Classification task[21][22]. The candidate features for the extraction process belonged to different classes: spectral (RMSE, centroid, rolloff, MFCC, kurtosis, etc.), rhythmic (tempo, beat spectrum, etc.), tonal mode and pitch. All these descriptions are standard. All the features were extracted using Python 2.7 and relevant packages[18][19]. After identifying all the features, we used Recursive Feature Elimination (or RFE) to select those features that best contribute to the accuracy of the model. RFE works by recursively removing attributes and building a model on those attributes that remain. It uses the model accuracy to identify which attributes (and combination of attributes) contribute the most to predicting the target attribute. The selected features were pitch, spectral rolloff, mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, tempo, root mean square energy, spectral centroid, beat spectrum, zero-cross rate, short-time Fourier transform and kurtosis of the songs. B. Model Description A multi-layered neural network was trained to evaluate the mood associated with the song. The network contains an input layer, multiple hidden layers and a dense output layer. The input layer has fixed and predetermined dimensions. It takes the 10 feature vectors as input and uses ReLU operation to provide non-linearity to the dataset. This ensured that the model performs well in real-world scenarios as well. The hidden layer is a traditional multi-layer perceptron, which allowed us to make combination of features which led to a better classification accuracy. The output layer used a softmax activation function which produces the output as a probability for each mood class. C. Results We achieved an overall classification accuracy of 97.69% and F1 score of 97.692% after 10-fold cross-validation using our neural network. Table 2 displays the confusion matrix. Undoubtedly, the level of performance of the music classification module is exceptionally high. V. Recommendation Module This module is responsible for generating a playlist of relevant songs for the user. It allows the user to modify the playlist based on her/his preferences and modify the class labels of the songs as well. The working of the recommendation module is explained in Figure 3. A. Mapping and Playlist Generation Classified songs are mapped to the users mood. This mapping is as shown in figure 1. The system was developed after referring to the Russell 2-D Valence-Arousal Model and Geneva Emotion Wheel.After the mapping procedure is complete, a playlist of relevant songs is generated. Similar songs are grouped together while generating the playlist. Similarity between songs was calculated by comparing songs over 50ms intervals, centered on each 10ms time window. After empirical observations, we found that the duration of these intervals is on the order of magnitude of a typical song note. Cosine distance function was used to determine the similarity between audio files. Feature values corresponding to an audio file were compared to the values (for the same features) corresponding to audio files belonging to the same class label. The recommendation engine has a twofold mechanism; it recommends songs based on: 1. Users perceived mood. 2. Users preference. Initially, a playlist of all songs belonging to the particular class is generated. The user can mark a song as favorite depending on her/his choice. A favorite song will be assigned a higher priority value in the playlist. Also, the interpretation of the mood of a song can vary from person to person. Understanding this, the user is allowed to change the class label of the songs according to their taste of music. B. Adaptive Music Player We were able to implement an adaptive music player by the use of a very popular online machine learning algorithm, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD)[23]. If the user wants to change the class of a particular song, SGD is implemented considering the new label for that specific user only. Multiple single-pass algorithms were analyzed for their performance with our system but SGD performed most efficiently considering the real-time nature of the music player. Parameter updates in SGD occur after processing of every training example from the dataset. This approach yields two advantages over the batch gradient descent algorithm. Firstly, time required for calculating the cost and gradient for large datasets is reduced. Secondly, integration of new data or amendment of existing data is easier. The frequent, highly variant updates demand the learning rate ÃŽÂ ± to be smaller as compared to that of batch gradient descent[23]. VI. Conclusion The results obtained above are very promising. The high accuracy of the application and quick response time makes it suitable for most practical purposes. The music classification module in particular, performs significantly well. Remarkably, it achieves high accuracy in the angry category; it also performs specifically well for the happy and calm categories. Thus, EMP reduces user efforts for generating playlists. It efficiently maps the user emotion to the song class with an excellent overall accuracy, thus achieving optimistic results for 4 moods. References [1] Swathi Swaminathan, E. Glenn Schellenberg. Current Emotion Research in Music Psychology, Emotion Review Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 189 ­-197, April 2015 [2] How music changes your mood, Examined Existence. [Online]. Available: http://examinedexistence.com/how-music-changes-your-mood/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017 [3] Kyogu Lee and Minsu Cho. Mood Classification from Musical Audio Using User Group-dependent Models. [4] Daniel Wolff, Tillman Weyde and Andrew MacFarlane. Culture-aware Music Recommendation [5] Mirim Lee, Jun-Dong Cho. Logmusic: Context-Based Social Music Recommendation Service on Mobile Device, Ubicomp 14 Adjunct, September 13-17, 2014, Seattle, WA, USA. [6] D. Gossi and M. H. Gunes, Lyric-based music recommendation, in Studies in Computational Intelligence. Springer Nature, 2016, pp. 301-310. [7] Bo Shao, Dingding Wang, Tao Li, and Mitsunori Ogihara. Music Recommendation Based on Acoustic Features and User Access Patterns, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUDIO, SPEECH, AND LANGUAGE PROCESSING, VOL. 17, NO. 8, NOVEMBER 2009 [8] Mase K. Recognition of facial expression from optical flow. IEICE Transc., E. 74(10):3474-3483, 0ctober 1991. [9] Tian, Ying-li, Kanade, T. and Cohn, J. Recognizing Lower. Face Action Units for Facial Expression Analysis. Proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG00), March, 2000, pp. 484 490. [10] Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V. Facial Action Coding System: A Technique for Measurement of Facial Movement. Consulting Psychologists Press Palo Alto, California, 1978. [11] Gil Levi and Tal Hassner, Emotion Recognition in the Wild via Convolutional Neural Networks and Mapped Binary Patterns [12] E. E. P. Myint and M. Pwint, An approach for mulit-label music mood classification, 2010 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing Systems, Dalian, 2010, pp. V1-290-V1-294. [13] Peter Burkert, Felix Trier, Muhammad Zeshan Afzal, Andreas Dengel and Marcus Liwicki. DeXpression: Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Expression Recognition [14] Ujjwalkarn, An intuitive explanation of Convolutional neural networks, the data science blog, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://ujjwalkarn.me/2016/08/11/intuitive-explanation-convnets/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017. [15] Ian J. Goodfellow et al., Challenges in Representation Learning: A report on three machine learning contests [16] S. Lawrence, C. L. Giles, Ah Chung Tsoi and A. D. Back, Face recognition: a convolutional neural-network approach, in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 98-113, Jan 1997. [17] A. KoÅ‚akowska, A. Landowska, M. Szwoch, W. Szwoch, and M. R. WrÃÅ' obel, Human-Computer Systems Interaction: Back-grounds and Applications 3, ch. Emotion Recognition and Its Applications, pp. 51-62. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2014. [18] Brian McFee, ., Matt McVicar, ., Colin Raffel, ., Dawen Liang, ., Oriol Nieto, ., Eric Battenberg, ., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Adrian Holovaty, . (2015). librosa: 0.4.1 [Data set]. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.32193 [19] The aubio team, Aubio, a library for audio labelling, 2003. [Online]. Available: http://aubio.org/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017. [20] E. E. P. Myint and M. Pwint, An approach for mulit-label music mood classification, 2010 2nd International Conference on Signal Processing Systems, Dalian, 2010, pp. V1-290-V1-294. [21] J. S. Downie. The music information retrieval evaluation exchange  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   (mirex). D-Lib Magazine, 12(12), 2006. [22]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Cyril Laurier, Perfecto Herrera, M Mandel and D Ellis,Audio music mood classification using support vector machine [23] Unsupervised feature learning and deep learning Tutorial, [Online]. Available: http://ufldl.stanford.edu/tutorial/supervised/OptimizationStochasticGradientDescent/. Accessed: Jan. 13, 2017