Cultural Influences on Communication in Groups Assignment

Cultural Influences on Communication in Groups - Assignment Example In order to carry out our survey, the first task was to build a comprehensive questionnaire after identifying certain measurable constructs from our literature review. The first conflict arose while deciding upon the statements that we should be including in the questionnaire in order to measure â€Å"conformity.† I had suggested that we include â€Å"I get influenced by the opinions of my friends while shopping.† This was opposed by Mike and Janie but in two opposite ways. Mike felt that nobody would agree to this statement since hardly anyone would compromise while making a purchase for oneself whereas Janie felt that it was a leading question and â€Å"obviously† everyone will answer with a yes in order to appear modest and considerate. This debate automatically vouched for the inclusion of the question, however what was evident from the argument was that Janie and Mike belonged to two opposite value systems. Janie had a more collectivist approach whereas Mike was more of an individualist, who could not see beyond himself and his responses while making the questionnaire. Mike was the group leader and was very domineering throughout the project, he spoke more and listened less.

Corruption in Colombia Essay Example for Free

Corruption in Colombia Essay There has been a four-decade long conflict between government forces and anti-government groups, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) who are funded by the drug trade, has escalated over the years. Since about 2002 the violence has decreased a slit amount because of the lack of the military and popular support necessary to overthrow the government. However these groups of insurgents have continued to attack civilians. Large areas around Columbia are under the revolutionary influence. By the end of 2006, more than 31,000 former governments’ officials had ceased to function as long as the formal organization the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). When this occurred criminal groups arose and members included former government officials. The Colombia Government has made efforts to advance government control throughout the country. In order to understand how corruption is affecting Colombia, we must first examine concrete economical statistics. The Colombian Peso exchange rate depreciated 6. 64 percent against the US Dollar during the last 12 months. The Colombian Peso spot exchange rate specifies how much one currency, the USD, is currently worth in terms of the other, the COP. While the Colombian Peso spot exchange rate is quoted and exchanged in the same day, the Colombian Peso forward rate is quoted today but for delivery and payment on a specific future date. Colombian pesos (COP) per US dollar: 1,869. 9 (2010) 2,157. 6 (2009) 2,243. 6 (2008) 2,013. 8 (2007) 2,358. 6 (2006) According to the CIA World Factbook, Colombia is ranked 59th in exports and 54th in imports. In May of 2011 Colombia exports were worth 4704 Million USD and imports were worth 4931 Million USD. Their major exports are petroleum, coffee, coal, nickel, gold and, nontraditional exports. Their major imports are industrial and transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, and electricity. The total population in Colombia was last reported at 45. 9 million people in 2010 from 16. 0 million in 1960, changing 187 percent during the last 50 years. Colombia has 0. 67 percent of the world? s total population which means that one person in every 150 people on the planet is a resident of Colombia. The unemployment rate in Columbia from 2000 until 2010 averaged at 14. 7 percent. The highest percentage was in January of 2001 when it was 20. 99 percent. The lowest percentage was in November of 2007 when it was 8. 91 percent. Labor force is the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work. The non-labor force is those who are not looking for work, those who are institutionalized, and those serving in the military. According to the World Bank, the Colombia Gross Domestic Product is worth 288 billion dollars or 0. 46% of the world economy. Colombias average GDP was 60. 55 billion dollars and reached the highest dollars in December of 2010. Colombia is a free market economy with major commercial and investment ties to The United States. Transition from a highly regulated economy has been underway for more than 15 years. Colombias average annual economic growth rate was of over 5% from 2002 to 2007. The inflation rate in Colombia was last reported at 3. 3 percent in August of 2011. Inflation rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power. The most well-known measures of Inflation are the CPI which measures consumer prices, and the GDP deflator, which measures inflation in the whole of the domestic economy. Corruption’s negative impact on Colombian Foreign Direct Investment is reflected by the poor image of Colombian government by its citizens. The Colombian government, although less developed and more corrupt, is structured similarly to the United States’ government. However unstable it may be, it is a republic and consists of three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Also like the United States, Colombia is dominated by two major political parties, the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party. Because of the natural radicalism of the two parties, two major civil wars have resulted from their existence, The Thousand Days War and La Violencia. The Thousand Days War is a prime example of how the corruption of the Colombian government has made Foreign Direct Investment a very difficult achievement for Colombia. The Thousand Days War was a civil war fought between the Conservative Party of Colombia and the Liberal Party of Colombia, sparked by corruption. In 1898, Conservative Party member Manuel Antonio Sanclement, was elected president of Colombia. This was very controversial because it was believed that significant election fraud had made this possible. As Sanclement was an adamant Liberal Party oppose, the Colombian Liberal Party waged war. The war, which lasted 4 years, claimed an estimated 100,000 lives. As devastating of a loss as 100,000 people is, the worst outcome of The Thousand Days War may be that it did little to resolve the extreme differences between the Liberal and Conservative Parties of Colombia. The Thousand Days War was soon followed by a second civil war more commonly known as La Violencia. La Violencia was also a war founded on corruption. It was sparked by the assassination of the Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. After the assassination in 1948, Conservative Party leader Laureano Gomez, was the uncontested elected president in 1950. Under Gomez’s power, there was an increased rate of violence, specifically by the liberals of Colombia who were very upset about Gomez’s rise to power. Gomez was overthrown by a military coup led by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilpla in 1953. However, Rojas proved to be just as corrupt his predecessor and was soon overthrown by the Colombian military, with the support of both the Conservative and Liberal parties. La Violencia, a time properly named after and extreme period of violence and conflict, lasted from 1946 to 1957. Within that timespan it claimed an estimated 300,000 Colombian lives. The following chart shows the number of Colombian citizens who are murdered per 100,000 people by year. What is more concerning than its high rates, is that it continued to increase even after La Violencia. These extreme rates of murder and frequent conflicts are heavily dependent on the poor image citizens have of the Colombian government. There is a lack of trust in the Colombian government. Historically, governmental corruption is common practice in Colombia, just as it is a frequent occurrence that violent rebellions and civil wars take place in order to transfer power between the two political parties. This poor government infrastructure and lack of control allows corruption to run wild in Colombia making it a very difficult place for Foreign Direct Investment. This poor image of government in Colombia did not see much improvement after La Violencia. Another violent problem emerged with narco-terrorism. Colombia has become notorious for its cocaine production. In 2008, Colombia was the sources of 50% of the world’s cocaine. It is an industry which is very frequently held out violently, leading to what is known as narco-terrorism. In 1990, three presidential candidates were killed by narco-terrorists. With the rise of drug trafficking in Colombia, it appears that narco-terrorists have more control than the Colombian government. Although Colombian government has always struggled with corruption, there have recently been many signs of improvement towards a better country for Foreign Direct Investment. Within the past decade, several laws have been passed to weaken drug cartels and strengthen governmental control. From 2002 to 2008 Colombia has seen a decrease in many historically struggling areas. Its homicide rate dropped 44%, its kidnapping rates dropped 88%, its terrorist attacks dropped 79% and its attacks on country’s infrastructure dropped 60%. These tremendous improvements show an increase in governmental authority in Colombia. If Colombia can continue to improve in these areas and demonstrate that its government can have more control over its people, without corruption, it will become a much better candidate for Foreign Direct Investment. In August 2010, President Santos, introduced a legislation that would distribute industry incomes to Columbians who have lost their land due to violence. He also is trying to make improvements through domestic security. Columbia is third largest exporter of oil to the United States. Foreign direct investment from 2008 to 2009 went from $10 billion to $7. 2 billion. Even though records show that it has dropped $2. 8 billion, in 2010 it began to recover their losses through the oil sector. Because of their financial crisis the economy didn’t grow significant amount till 2010 then it grew 4. %. Before that the growth was a low percentage. With the challenges that Colombia’s faces it requires major improvement to sustain economic expansion. The outrageous amount of corruption in Colombia is hindering its economy and stopping it from becoming a safe and stable country. Although it is one of the oldest democracies in Latin America, Colombia has some of the most corrupt elections. An estimated 130,000 candidates are running for election at the local, regional, and national levels. 10% of these candidates have proven criminal records. About a third of their senate is currently under investigation for parapolitics and many of which are already in jail. The corrupt election are stopping Colombia from having a stable government which is stopping foreign investors from taking the risk of putting money into Columbia, meaning less jobs and poorer quality of life for the average Colombian. In 2005 the parapolitics scandal was uncovered and left the Colombian senate in chaos. The Colombian senate seats 102, and with 51 senators now being investigated and 29 in jail, they are virtually paralyzed. As each senator is arrested, it delays the agenda for legislation even more. Paramilitary leaders have confessed to hundreds of thousands of crimes including murders, abductions, rapes, narcotics, and extortion. They have also confessed to backing many politicians in an attempt to be protected outside of the law. Many members of the former president of Colombia, President Alvaro Uribe’s party were arrested for parapolitics showing the world how unstable the Colombian government is. One of the arrested politicians includes the president’s cousin Mario Uribe who has had very close ties to the president both family-wise and politically. This influenced the United States greatly and in 2007 a package of military aid destined for Colombia from the United States was blocked in the U. S. senate because of fear of election corruption. Colombia depends on the U. S. greatly, as it is number 3 in the world for U. S. military aid. The aid is used to assist in fighting the drug war and without it; more violence and corruption will take place. Paramilitary has a huge effect on the elections conducted in Columbia. There are around 20,000 paramilitary fighters in the country all growing from their creation in the 1980’s. In 2010 armed groups killed over two dozen candidates running for election and at the same time they invested large sums of money to fund their own candidates’ campaigns. Along with bribing people to run for them, these armed groups will also pay the public for individual votes. This can be as much as $40 per person in some places. Other times they will also use sheer military force to intimidate the public into voting for them. Many of the jailed parapoliticians have others running in their place as puppets while they are still in jail. Caracol news agency reported that 18 of the candidates in 2010 were â€Å"political front men† for ex-senators. There was an increase in the amount of women running for election which usually is considered a good thing. The truth is that the ones with the best chance for election were being backed by paramilitary families in an attempt to keep seats lost by jailed parapoliticians. The other big problem in Colombia its enormous drug trade and the negative effect it has on the economy. Columbia is the world’s largest cocaine producer and accounts for 43% of coca cultivation (the crop used to make cocaine). 0% of the cocaine found in the United States is Colombian. Combined, Colombian and Mexican drug cartels make an estimated $4. 6 billion exporting to the United States per year. Overall Columbia’s drug trade is about $10 billion / year which is equivalent to 25% of the countries legal exports. In 2008 81,000 hectares of land were being used for illegal coca cultivation. These are staggering numbers and makes you wonder, how is all of this being allowed to happen? If Colombia was not as corrupt as it is, this wouldn’t happen. Many of the drug lords use their influence and resources to pay off politicians, police, and military to turn a blind eye to their drug trade. Attempts have been made to stop this massive drug trafficking but so far it has only slowed it down. Colombia’s defense spending is now at $12 billion per year which is triple the average defense budget of other South American countries. Along with an increased defense budget, the United States has also committed an additional $6 billion since 2001 to help crackdown on the coca production. These are large sums of money that could be spent in other more productive ways. Such as, creating a better national infrastructure and creating jobs. $18 billion is a lot of money to invest in an economy, and currently they are losing all of that potential production because drugs are such a big problem. Drug trafficking and election corruption are both hurting the Colombian economy. Billions of dollars are being spent to stop the corruption but to this point there is still a great deal going on. In order for Colombia to have better production in a global economy, they must prove to the world they have a stable government, and reduce the risks associated with investing in them. Over the past few years, foreign direct investment in Colombia has been gradually increasing as their country has been fighting the corruption and violence that had been prominent. Some of the most advantageous areas for FDI are technology, fuels – such as coal, oil and natural gas and infrastructure. One reason that fuel is a wise choice for FDI is because Colombia has much more oil than is being used by its population: This excess would allow foreign companies access to enough oil to run more plants at a cheaper cost. Infrastructure is also important because Colombia’s current ease of transportation leaves much to be desired. If a company decided to invest in Colombia’s transportation, it would draw more investors in as said transportation costs decreased. The Colombian government has been actively working to encourage local companies to develop the roadway systems across the country to attempt to make Colombia more attractive to foreign investors. While several countries are investing in Colombia, the United States is the lead investor by over 30%. It is certainly beneficial to have a strong investor, however it can be problematic for one country to control so much of Colombia’s foreign direct investment. Having investments in Colombia is helpful for the United States because Colombia is a relatively close population of cheap labor without many of the highly-regulated working conditions that are found in more developed, less corrupt countries. As a surprisingly strong investor, Anguilla contributes 20% of Colombia’s foreign direct investment. For a country whose economy is largely based on tourism, it is interesting to see their commitment to a local country that has very little tourism because of its reputation for violence, drugs and corruption. Foreign direct investment has been increasing in the recent years due to Colombia’s higher regulation of corruption and desire to control the violence in the streets. Many businesses are beginning to trust Colombia to protect their product rights and property, although Colombia is still far from stable and dependable. While crime rates are slowly decreasing in Colombia, most businesses still avoid investing in Colombia because of its reputation for extensive riots and drug wars. If Colombia can decrease their reputation for instability and corruption, they have every opportunity to successfully draw in investment and provide a safer, better future for their citizens. As stated throughout this extensive research paper, corruption can cause a country many problems. One aspect that it affects the most is trade. Countries and corporations are less attracted to corrupt governments opposed to more stable governments. According to Mauro, who analyzed 94 corrupt countries, GDP increased by four percent with a decrease of 2. 38 on his teen point scale; GDP per capita increased by . percent. Mauro contributed to the book, The State in a Changing World, World Development Report 1997. Columbia has had corruption problems for an extended period of time now. Parts of the government have tried to stop such corruption but cooperation from all parts is needed to progress. In order for Columbia to progress they must start at the root. They must analyze what causes corruption and approaches other countries took to successfully start eliminating corruption. A few of the reasons corruption is practiced are to avoid penalties for illegal actions or to get around legal regulations. One overwhelming problem in Columbia, that is no secret to most, is drug trade. Drug cultivating and trade in Columbia is evident due to its geological location and ideal climate. In order to transport these drugs and have farms some drug lords may need to pay off government officials so they can â€Å"turn their eyes† on such activities. In this case both the drug lords and government officials benefit. Corruption will be hard to fight in Columbia due to the fact that the drug industry is estimated to be valued in the billions and whenever there is such a significant amount of money on the line, people are willing to do anything. Regardless of the reason, usually it is for an individual’s personal gain, companies included. Institutional corruption usually arises when government officials have a significant amount of power but little accountability. Most of the time, the officials must have their own financial incentives in order to partake in the corruption. The more control government officials have to regulate corporations the more corruption is likely to occur. If the probability of being caught or punished is low, people will tend to risk dealing with corruption. There are two approaches that must be taken to fight corruption, the first approach must be an institutional approach and the other must be a social approach. To begin an institutional reform towards corruption, Columbia must limit authority. Columbia has a questionable democratic government. With all the corruption going on, the polls could be altered. This is where the social approach comes into play later on. There most prominent branch is the executive branch. This supports the fact that Columbia’s authorities may have too much power. Privatization is believed to be able to reduce corruption by limiting the amount of government interaction with companies. In order to be successful there must be certain regulation put into place. The only problem with this approach is that it has already been taken by Columbia, and while it did improve corruption, it was not notable enough. Columbia has gone as far as privatizing its water supply and while it had many critics at first, it turned out to be a good decision by their part due to the correct regulations put into place. Other suggestions are to increase liberalization by reducing tariffs. This will lead to officials having less access to 1bribes. Competition among public services can also reduce corruption by eliminating monopoly type organizations. By increasing accountability, corruption can be decreased. Accountability includes stricter enforcement and easier detection mechanisms. Accountability can be increased through many ways. Freedom of information legislation can help. To better explain freedom of information legislation, and example would be the Ugandan government began posting prices for services and activities such as registering a car or starting a small business. This eliminates questionable pricing and increases transparency. Another tactic to increase transparency is to implement financial disclosure among government officials. This tactic makes government officials income and assets public. Some South American countries have already began this practice; countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Government expenditures and income can also be made public for transparency purposes. This way money won’t go missing and if it does the people will know; this is known as an open budget process. Legislative oversight can benefit Columbia greatly in terms of eliminating corruption. Since Columbia must give more power to its legislative branch rather than its executive branch. A recent example has been one of Columbia’s neighbors, Brazil. The congressional impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello demonstrated the strength of the legislative branch. The Brazilian senate has also set up a special committee to investigate potential fraud in selling government bonds. Columbia’s senate should take initiative and also set up some sort of committee to investigate corruption charges. These methods won’t completely eliminate corruption and none will come close to even making an impact if it’s the only method used but if they are combined corruption and decrease considerably. An incentive to avoid corruption would be stricter sanction. By increasing the severity of the punishments people face a higher risk factor when participating in corrupt actions, thus leading them to think twice about their actions. Sanctions may include but are not limited to minimum sentences for taking part in corrupt activities or denying public services for any entity offering bribes, this includes people or companies. Columbia was already on somewhat of a right track when it comes to strengthening their judicial branch’s power. In 1991 Alfonso Valdivieso was appointed attorney general. In Colombia the Attorney General cannot be dismissed or reappointed and he is given investigatory powers. Valdivieso gained world recognition for prosecuting high ranking drug lords and government officials. I would recommend Columbia to ask Valdivieso for help, knowing that he is a reliable source when it comes to corruption. He can’t be Attorney General again but if special unit is formed to combat corruption, he is definitely a guy that should be taken in mind. This concludes possible ways to avoid and reduce corruption from an institutional view point, reducing corruption from a social approach is rather different. The way people are raised and their surroundings affect their views on many things including corruption. If children are raised in a corrupt environment, they will view it not only acceptable but almost necessary. It’s a top down effect where government officials and corporation leaders are at the top. They must set an example for the public to look down on corruption and not endorse it. Public Relations Campaigns can be put into effect to better inform people on the consequences and harm done by corruption that is not too clear. Campaigns can be executed through mass media, community activities or school programs. A few key points that should be emphasized are the effect that corruption has on things such as public services, investments, and inequality. All of these aspects are affected in a negative way. Columbia’s unemployment rate is 11. 8% and its Gini index is 58. 5. These numbers could improve with by decreasing corruption but this fact isn’t evident to most of the population. If people feel like they have a say in the situation and can make a change, they will be more actively supportive. These campaigns should aim towards making people feel as if every little bit of help counts. In Argentina a non-government organization was formed to inform the public about corruption. The organization consists of television and radio ads. Another positive use of media to combat corruption is investigative journalism. Investigative journalism increase transparency greatly. It helps uncover corrupt officials and acts. The truth is what drives investigative journalism rather than just a story. Investigative journalism poses a threat of being exposed towards anyone that is participating in corrupt acts. It is a risky job due to the fact that people being uncovered may have a lot of power. Workshops should be set up to train such journalist. Countries such as Uganda and Tanzania have just that. In a country like Colombia with all the guerilla forces and drug cartels, this is a very important part to investigative journalism. Journalist run the risk of being targeted, so they must be careful and smart in the ways they go about reporting and accessing their findings. Lastly Columbia could search for outside help. Help can come from individual countries or organizations. Organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank could offer guidelines to help. Both organizations are pretty much powerless but they can help establish treaties that could improve anti-corruption efforts. Individual countries that wish to invest in Columbia could also take initiative and further influence Columbian anti-corruption movements. To recap corruption is mostly if not solely negative towards Columbia’s economic development. It makes Columbia look risky to outside investors hoping to make a Federal Direct Investment. Investors prefer stability rather than turmoil. Due to its geological position, Columbia has faced drug problems for a few decades now. In order to transport these drugs and grow them, bribery and corruption is needed. Columbian citizens and officials should notice that corruptions cons outweigh the pros when it comes to the Columbian economy as a whole. Officials must lead by example and the power of the executive branch should be reduced.

Military Draft Essay -- United States Military Army Essays

Military Draft According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the United States military now maintains a force of around 1.4 million active duty personnel. In times of relative peace, this is sufficient to protect U.S. interests at home and abroad. But when the United States engages in a larger scale operation, the military may need to call up reserve forces. In a major conflict, the United States may even institute the draft, drawing soldiers from the general civilian population. The idea of a military draft, also called conscription, has been around in one form or another since ancient times. In its relatively short history, the United States has implemented a number of different conscription systems to fill its military ranks in both peacetime and wartime. Currently, the United States is not practicing conscription; it has an all volunteer military, meaning active troops serve on their own accord. By offering a range of benefits to enlistees, the military is able to recruit enough troops to fill its ranks, at least during times of peace. Additionally, the United States maintains a volunteer national guard and a corps of volunteer reserve troops. These highly trained forces stand ready to assist the military at the president's command. In times of peace, the SSS's, Selective Service System, main task is to put together a list of potential draftees in the United States. The potential draftee pool is made up of male U.S. residents between the ages of 18 and 25. Und...

Why is this a Buddhist Poem? Essay -- Literary Analysis, Who Are You?,

The protagonist of the poem, Who Are You, attempts to define his identity in the manner that most humans fall victim to. The inquirer, assumed to be Buddhist, is unsatisfied with his response as it contradicts the Dharma of the enlightened Buddha. Peter, when asked, â€Å"Who are you?† endeavors to label himself by the people that surround him, the place in which he was born, and the traits that he feels connected to. The question, however, is a deception used in the hope of unveiling the flaws of the perception that humans carry for themselves. The Buddhist questioner engages in conversation with the motive of exposing the three marks of existence. The first is Anitya, impermanence, the second is Duhkha, dissatisfactoriness, and the third is Anatman, no self. The no self is a principle that other religions contradict, and most humans have difficulty comprehending. The Buddha replaces the concept of an intrinsic or everlasting soul with the Five Aggregates, thus further illust rating impermanence. In order to eradicate the Duhkha in Peter’s life, he must recognize all these notions within the Buddhist doctrine along with that of Dependent Arising. This further explains the source of Anatman, offers a passage to eradicate the Duhkha, and further cease the existence of Samsara. With the dharma of the Buddha, it is evident that Peter’s ignorance towards life will become replaced by wisdom and comprehension, allowing him a lifestyle liberated from Duhkha. The method, in which Peter desperately attempts to decipher who he is, represents the flaws that the Buddha recognized in most sentient beings. These flaws are epitomized by the three marks of existence. The first mark of existence, reflected in the man’s responses, becomes visible. This... ...t his identity, he finds that no answer seems to satisfy the other. The more perplexed Peter becomes, he discovers how little he truly knows, and upon declaring this, the questioner is appeased. This is because the motive of the Buddhist is to unveil the dharma of the Buddha in hopes of enlightening his disciple. Through his questions, he illustrates the three marks of existence, Anitya, Duhkha, and Anatman. The Buddha replaces Anatman with the Five Aggregates to explain the impermanence and the dissatisfactoriness in the human realm. In addition, the notion of dependent arising is prevalent in hopes of explaining the cause for Duhkha, ignorance, and the method to eliminating it. Through the banter between he who is enlightened, and he who is not, the reader is hopeful that Peter will appreciate the dharma presented and cease the delusion and dissatisfactoriness.

Prejudic/ Discrimination Essay

†¢ How is discrimination different from prejudice and stereotyping? Stereotypes involve generalizations about the certain characteristics of people in groups. Some examples is saying that women are bad drivers or that they need to stay in the home. Discrimination is a reaction that is either positive or negative actions toward the objects of prejudice. An example is when someone states that they do not want a particular race to enter their club and because of this statement a person discriminating will react a certain way with that race if they were to want join. Prejudice is the act of judging someone or a group of people without having any prior knowledge of their personal selves. An example is assuming that because someone is of a different race than you that wouldn’t be acceptable to hire. All of these actions feed off of one another which had caused so many problems everywhere. These problems stem from past actions that we are still trying to correct today. †¢ What are the causes of discrimination? One cause is culture to culture. Some cultures do not want other races coming in and messing with their women. They do not want the blood lines to mix. Also some cultures do not want others to come in and try and take over or change their ways which why some do not like Americans. Another cause is people being stuck in one era especially when it comes to women. These days most women don’t want to stay home. They need to work to provide and since it seems sometimes the roles have switched with men staying home they feel that have to take care of everything. Another cause is racial. One cannot assume that because one person of a culture or race follows in the same category as the rest of their race. These days there are a lot of cultures and race that have crossed over still holding on to their heritage but venturing out to know and understand others. In understanding other races a trace of it stays with you leaving you a little changed †¢ How is discrimination faced by one identity group (race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability) the same as discrimination faced by another? How are they different? Discrimination against race is when you take a look at one race on a whole and assume by either prejudice or stereotyping that every one is the same. All black people sag their pants, all white people are rich and all Chinese people are smart just to name a few. Then there is discrimination against gender. There are still men today who believe that women need to stay at home. It seems, though, that men are taking care of their families less than they used to like long ago so women have no choice but to get up and do what women need to do in order to take care of their families. There are many cases where women advance faster than men and men tend to discriminate because they are intimidated. In some cases women aren’t looked at as someone who can be an asset to the company and that they have to hire them because minority rules.

The Wright Brothers essays

The Wright Brothers essays For centuries, thousands of men sought after the dream of flight and never attained it. Figuring out how to fly, without killing yourself in the process, was an enormous task. Many intelligent men died in the process. However, after several years of reading and preparation, two men accomplished their dream. This is their story. Wilbur and Orville Wright, from a small city called Dayton, Ohio, invented the first airplane. The sure genius of the task was insurmountable to many people. Even more amazing, however, was the fact that the brothers who never attended college, had no rigorous education in science or engineering, and that dropped out of high school without even receiving a diploma, learned more by teaching themselves. They never drank and never smoked. They shared everything from a joint bank account to their experiments with flying machines....they were as inseparable as twins (Freedman 3). Although they were four years apart, they ended up becoming very close friends. One of their mutual interests was buying machines, just to take them apart, see how they worked, and put them back together again. They were always very good with their hands...and bubbling over with ideas (Freedman 3). One of their ideas was to open up a newspaper in Dayton. It was called the West Side News and published local stories. For about a year, the newspaper company made good money, but then bigger newspapers came to Dayton and ran the brothers out of business. But, the younger of the two brothers, Orville, had a new idea. A new invention, called the bicycle, had just been invented and was an enormous hit. Wilbur and Orville went right out and bought bikes. They also needed a new job, so they both decided to open a bicycle shop together. They called the store the Wright Cycle Company. The company began really small. The brothers rented bikes, sold bikes, and repaire...

A Glimpse at the mighty structures of the past

A Glimpse at the mighty structures of the past A Glimpse at the mighty structures of the pastIn the past a cultures buildings and Architecture served as a sign of power wealth and prestige. The Aztecs were able to construct marvelous buildings and temples, which still stand to this day. In a sense the Aztec can be compared to Ancient Rome at its time of greatness, The Aztec Empire ruled as a powerful influence over surrounding areas. Its architecture serves as a demonstration of the Aztec might and power, much like we would brag about our most prestigious cities here in America.The Aztecs were an American Indian people that had a great civilization in Mexico. They thrived in Tenochtitlan, current day Mexico City, during the 1400's and early 1500's (geocities.com). Their architecture reflects an image of the people who developed it. They had been building structures for hundreds of years. This experience and knowledge made their architecture some of the most advanced and elaborate of their time.English: Model depicting the first l ake battle bet...Their greatest examples of architecture include the Sacrificial Temple, the Shrines of the gods, the Emperor's Palace and their everyday homes.The Sacrificial Temple was a very important structure to the Aztecs. They were extremely religious people and believed in sacrifices to please the gods. They were not monotheistic but polytheistic (believing in many gods). The purpose for building a Sacrificial Temple was to sacrifice people as an offering to the gods. The Aztecs believed so strongly in pleasing the gods they worshiped, over 20,000 people were sacrificed a year (www.courses.psu.edu). The construction of a temple wasn't done in a traditional manner; buildings were not built on an empty spot. If a new temple was constructed in the place of an older temple, the older temple was not destroyed; rather, the new temple was built over the older one.

5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words

5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words 5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words 5 Tips to Understand Hyphenated Words By Mark Nichol The complexity of rules about those little dashes that separate many words for various reasons causes so much misunderstanding that many writers just leave them out of the recipe or spill them randomly into the mixing bowl. But your compositional cuisine need not be so undisciplined. The rules may seem complicated at first, but soon you’ll be able to put hyphens in their place. 1. Adjectives Hyphenate two adjectives united to modify a noun: â€Å"a well-trained writer.† But do so only before the noun: â€Å"a writer who is well trained.† Keep in mind, though, a convention that has arisen in which permanent open compounds, words that have been bonded together to form perpetual concepts, like â€Å"income tax† or â€Å"ice cream,† don’t take a hyphen even in phrases like â€Å"income tax records† and â€Å"ice cream cone.† How do you know which compounds have bonded and which remain free agents? If an open compound is listed in the dictionary, it’s permanent. 2. Adverbs But notice that these rules apply to adjectives but not to a similar-looking class of words; adverbs ending in â€Å"-ly† aren’t hyphenated to the verbs they modify: â€Å"a brightly colored shirt,† â€Å"a quickly memorized poem.† But most other adverbs are (â€Å"little-known fact,† â€Å"best-kept secret†); compounds with â€Å"least,† â€Å"less,† â€Å"most,† and â€Å"more† are exceptions. 3. Nouns Nouns are usually compounded, too, of course (â€Å"footstep,† â€Å"mountaintop†) but some, like â€Å"life-form† and â€Å"mind-set,† resist the closure that most of their like have accepted. Compounds that can be used as verbs and nouns alike differ in that the former are often hyphenated (â€Å"I had to jump-start his car†) and the latter aren’t (â€Å"He asked me for a jump start†). Another example is â€Å"fast track†: â€Å"We fast-tracked the project,† but â€Å"It’s on the fast track.†) 4. Multiword Coumpounds Multiword compounds like â€Å"right-of-way,† â€Å"back-to-back,† and â€Å"up-to-date† always include hyphens. Beware, though: â€Å"Head to toe,† although a common expression, does not appear in the dictionary with or without hyphens, so omit them (unless the phrase modifies a noun: â€Å"a head-to-toe inspection†). Familiar word strings that modify nouns are usually hyphenated before and after: â€Å"next-to-last person in line,† â€Å"the reply was matter-of-fact.† 5. Confusing Words Some words in which you wouldn’t expect a hyphen to persist remain to avoid confusion with a similar word with a different meaning (â€Å"re-cover,† as opposed to â€Å"recover†; â€Å"re-creation† instead of â€Å"recreation†). Had enough? We haven’t even covered every hyphen rule yet, but I’ll save some for later. The bottom line about this floating line, though, is: â€Å"When in doubt, look it up.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should Know75 Synonyms for â€Å"Talk†10 Tips About How to Write a Caption

Website Usability of Coventry University Students Union Assignment

Website Usability of Coventry University Students Union - Assignment Example There are different ways usability can be determined for a given software product. These different ways are known as the usability evaluation methods. They include usability testing, usability inspection, and lastly, usability inquiry.In usability testing, we look at how users use the software product or website to accomplish various tasks. Then, as evaluators, we use the different results we receive from the whole process to determine whether the user interface is usable enough to support the demands of users as they go about accomplishing their different tasks. Under usability testing there are several other different sub-methods (Nielsen, 1994). The sub methods include co-discovery learning, coaching method, question-asking protocol, performance measurement, shadowing method, thinking aloud protocol, remote testing, and lastly, teaching method.The next testing method or evaluation method for the usability of a software product or a website is usability inspection. In this case, as the software developer, or as a user and or a professional in the usability field, we look at the various aspects of the user interface that are related to each other. There are different ways of doing this. We could decide to do this using pluralistic walk through, or using cognitive walkthroughs, or heuristic evaluation, or feature inspection, and lastly, through perspective based inspection. The last evaluation method is done through, usability inquiry. In this evaluation method, as professionals and evaluators, we talk to the users.... Under usability testing there are several other different sub-methods (Nielsen, 1994). The sub methods include co-discovery learning, coaching method, question-asking protocol, performance measurement, shadowing method, thinking aloud protocol, remote testing, and lastly, teaching method. The next testing method or evaluation method for the usability of a software product or a website is usability inspection. In this case, as the software developer, or as a user and or a professional in the usability field, we look at the various aspects of the user interface that are related to each other. There are different ways of doing this. We could decide to do this using pluralistic walk through, or using cognitive walkthroughs, or heuristic evaluation, or feature inspection, and lastly, through perspective based inspection. The last evaluation method is done through, usability inquiry. In this evaluation method, as professionals and evaluators, we talk to the users to find out information ab out what they like about the product we are giving them. In this process, the target or aim is to get to know the dislikes, the likes, the needs, as well as the understanding of the users. This can be done by watching them use the system to do real work, or through talking to them and asking them questions and noting down the answers. Additionally, the questions could be written or asked aurally. The different ways inquiry evaluation takes place is through, focus groups, field observation, interviews, questionnaires, proactive field study and so on and so forth. www.cusu.org is the website run by the Coventry University Students Union. The Coventry University Students’ Union, abbreviated CUSU, represents the voice of the students

Juvenile Recidivism Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Juvenile Recidivism - Research Proposal Example The following review covers a relevant time span, a wide range of factors that have an impact on recidivism amongst juveniles, a wide variety of peer-reviewed articles, and guidance on what areas should be considered to support further inquiry factors impacting juvenile recidivism. Moreover, a plethora of methods in multiple regions of the world are considered to illustrate the common links in treatment for juvenile offenders and what role that plays in recidivism. Patterns are identified throughout the articles as well as unique aspects of study and focus. Kevin Minor, James Wells, and Ear1 Angel compiled a 2008 study that explores how release from residential placements impact juvenile recidivism depending on multivariate predictors and gender differences. The data indicated that â€Å"only gender, age, victimization history, and presence of special education needs significantly predicted recidivism† of the variables that were tested (Minor, Wells, & Angel, 2008). The research span over an 18-month time span and tested a sample of 580 juvenile offenders that were released from out-of-home placements. The article’s strengths can be attributed to the method testing 33 possible predicators for juvenile recidivism. That provides a wide range of factors and may demonstrate how the factors relate to one another. The results state that males are impacted significantly by certain variables in comparison to females. Yet, both genders’ recidivism rates are directly impacted by out-of-home placements. Moreover, the authorsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ implications for further research are offered as well as a critique of the shortfalls of other research on juvenile recidivism. Also, the role of residential treatment has allowed clinicians to play a role in answering what impact recidivism rates amongst juveniles. Nancy Calley and Emily Richardson (2011) examined the influential factors related to the

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 45

Assignment Example nserved proteins responsible for the maintenance of the conformational homeostasis of cellular proteins and RNAs† and are believed to be usually induced by environmental stress (Soti & Csermely, â€Å"Molecular Chaperones† 227). In short, as molecular chaperones are often associated with aging tissues and aging in general, these proteins are especially found in such situations. There is, however, a debate whether their presence in the aging tissue is merely induced or it is this presence that induces aging. Hsp60 is involved in protein folding and hsp70 has a role in the regulating the heat shock response as well as membrane translocation. While hsp60 are found in the mitochondria, hsp70 is found in the eukaryotic cytosol, ER and mitochondria. Both families of proteins actually function for protein translocation and transport as well as folding and assembly (â€Å"Molecular Chaperones†). In aging and diseased tissues, high amounts of hsp60 are found in people with atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndromes and angina, while hsp70 is found in those with peripheral as well as renal vascular diseases (Frostegard & Pockley 201-202). A number of experts and experiments in the field of molecular biology are pointing out that chaperones are the ones that bring about the aging process at the molecular level. Soti and Csermely, in their study entitled â€Å"Chaperones and aging: role in neurodegeneration and in other civilizational diseases, underlined the possibility that HSPs â€Å"might contribute to the onset of†¦atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes and several neurodegenerative diseases† (384). In an actual experimental study in Korea, it was confirmed that the HSPs â€Å"might be involved in tumorigenesis† as it did in patients with hepatocellular carcinomas (Lim et al. 2077). This is so because, as proven by rodent experiments, â€Å"HSPs are known to be essential for the survival of cancer cells in different cancers† (Lim et al. 2077). Moreover, one particular HSP, hsp90,

A thoughtful comment about a video Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A thoughtful comment about a video - Essay Example He first places the fork over one edge of the plate then sprinkles sugar carefully over the fork. This leaves space on plate to serve food (Cronin, 2012). The use of a sieve in sprinkling sugar is important in achieving uniform distribution over a third area of the plate for placing the fork. After sprinkling only amount require to covers the, he stops and lift the fork carefully. Leaving behind is a decoration that is fork-shaped. In the procedure, he makes sure to use right quantity of sugar so as not to affect food taste. In the second part of decoration, he uses a white square plate. This time he places a fork on plate followed by a spoon across over the fork. The spoon and fork combination make sure of decoration in a quarter of the square-shaped plate. He then sprinkles cocoa powder using sieve over the spoon and fork. The cocoa powder is dark in color and gives a nice contrast to the white plate for decoration to be visible. He finally lifts the spoon then fork carefully to leave decoration of their shapes on the plate (Cronin, 2012). The cocoa power is bitter hence avoid using large amounts due to its flavor in

On Being A Music Therapist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On Being A Music Therapist - Essay Example t; highly developed aural awareness; and the ability to make arrangements for unconventional combinations of instruments requiring variable or minimal levels of playing proficiency† (Musictherapyworld.de). A basic knowledge in â€Å"human psychological, physiological and emotional response to music, historical development of music therapy, detailed study of one music therapy approach, wide range of music therapy approaches and their theoretical bases, and the ability to compare contrast and critically evaluate clinical applications† are significant in the practice and application of the profession (Musictherapyworld.de). In becoming a professional MT, one must possess fine personal qualification and attitude such as: being responsible; good in written and oral communication skill; good interpersonal skill; â€Å"knowledgeable in professional and institutional code of ethics, experience in a multi-disciplinary team, sharing and accessing Bachelor degree in music therapy is necessary in acquiring the profession as a music therapist. United States of America is setting a standard in granting the board certificate to MT graduates. â€Å"A music therapist must complete 1200 hours of clinical training in addition to required coursework, research, and passing a nationally accredited certification exam† to be a Board-Certified or MT-BC (Wikipedia.com). The various cultures, practices, and lifestyles have an influence on physical, emotional, and mental aspects of a person. Dealing and living with our high-stressed, busy, and sophisticated technology-oriented environment subject us to sickness, depression, psychological illness and others. Thus, music therapy gives more opportunity in terms of employment and career because everyday more people are having those negative feelings that need to be treated. I have great interest in choosing this career since I have the potential skills in the field of music. I can play guitar and electronic organ and even compose my own songs.

A thoughtful comment about a video Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A thoughtful comment about a video - Essay Example He first places the fork over one edge of the plate then sprinkles sugar carefully over the fork. This leaves space on plate to serve food (Cronin, 2012). The use of a sieve in sprinkling sugar is important in achieving uniform distribution over a third area of the plate for placing the fork. After sprinkling only amount require to covers the, he stops and lift the fork carefully. Leaving behind is a decoration that is fork-shaped. In the procedure, he makes sure to use right quantity of sugar so as not to affect food taste. In the second part of decoration, he uses a white square plate. This time he places a fork on plate followed by a spoon across over the fork. The spoon and fork combination make sure of decoration in a quarter of the square-shaped plate. He then sprinkles cocoa powder using sieve over the spoon and fork. The cocoa powder is dark in color and gives a nice contrast to the white plate for decoration to be visible. He finally lifts the spoon then fork carefully to leave decoration of their shapes on the plate (Cronin, 2012). The cocoa power is bitter hence avoid using large amounts due to its flavor in

Changes in Communication Technology Impacting The Possibility of a Essay

Changes in Communication Technology Impacting The Possibility of a Global Society - Essay Example It can be reflected that the information and communication technologies being used in the present times reflect a contributive characteristic in the development of a society. This is primarily because the advanced technology provides with newer and innovative measures to communicate knowledge and information. The Arab Spring or the Arab awakening presents to a great extent the level in which the communication technology or the use of the social networking sites have contributed in the revolution being spread among the individuals. The current study focuses on the changing use of communication technology impacting the possibility of a global society, taking into reference the incident of the Arab Spring. The Media and its Development: Over the period of time on and from the 1980s, the communication and the media industry have been found to be have modified to a great extent. The media has now become a global instrument of communication reaching over the different parts of the world co mmercially. Not only is the media performing towards communicating to the world, but the global effects of the media and the communication technology have significant impacts on the societal issues related to the economics and politics of any country or nation. The media has an extensive role to play in the democratic revolutions occurring in different corners of the world. They bring into the focus of the entire community the different information in relation to the revolution (Herman & McChesney, 2001, pp.1-4). Thus the improved and advanced role of the media in the present generation can be understood to be efficient enough to communicate issues to individuals strongly such that they can be motivated and encouraged to take part in the revolution or any related steps for the good of the nation. The modification and advancement of the media and the industry over the years have been found to have certain positive implications on the society. Different cultures tend to mix up and com bine their opinions and views towards the right measures for a nation. The media acts as the voice for the societies to reach out to each other. Moreover, several values and principles can also be shared in between the different parts of the world with the proper use of the media and the technology of communication. Over the years, the technologies used for the purpose of communicating have also been changing and becoming more advanced. The newspapers, radio and television broadcasts were used to be the primary sources of communication of the media (Herman & McChesney, 2001, p.8). Today the internet has taken a huge space being a fast and easier means of communication among the individuals. The social networking sites prove to be highly demanding as well as seem to be a part of the regular lives where one can communicate anything in fractions of seconds to other individuals. The changes in development of the media and communications industry also bring about different challenges. Wi th the advancement, increases the competition between the different communicating mediums and sources. However since the importance of the media has been realized the communication and media companies are more focused towards providing their consumers with better facilities and meet their needs and

Alcoholics and Liver Transplants Essay Example for Free

Alcoholics and Liver Transplants Essay Cohen and Martin do not believe that someone that has induced this disease by alcohol abuse is no less deserving of a liver transplant than someone that takes care of their self. They support the moral argument by stating, â€Å"If alcoholics should be penalized because of their moral fault, then all others who are equally at fault in causing their own medical needs should be similarly penalized†. One of the medical arguments that the authors combat is that liver transplants performed on alcoholics have a lower success rate then non-alcoholics. Statistics are presented in the text to argue this notion which really strengthens this aspect of the argument. They also state that a candidate for any other procedure would not be excluded because of the risk of success rate. This argument rises and falls based on what side you’re on. One could assume that most people waiting for a liver, who have never had a drink in their life would be very reluctant to side with this argument. However, an alcoholic or recovering alcoholic that needed a liver would more than likely be behind this passage all the way. One of the weaknesses of this argument was the comparisons that were made with other procedures. A reason why a doctor may be reluctant to transplant a liver to an alcoholic is the scarcity of the organ itself so comparing it to another organ that may be more abundant is asinine. Overall, this argument was moderately effective for the aforementioned reasons but I do not personally agree with the sentiments of the authors.

Automatic Number Pate Recognition System Information Technology Essay

Automatic Number Pate Recognition System Information Technology Essay Automatic number pate recognition system is a mass surveillance method that uses optical character recognition on images to read the license plates on vehicles. System might scan number plates at around one per second on cars traveling up to 100mph(160 km/h).they can use existing closed -circuit television or road-rule enforcement cameras, or ones specifically designed for the task. They are used by various police forces and as a method of electronic toll collection on pay-per-use roads and monitoring traffic activity, such as red light adherence in an intersection. ANPR can be used to store the images capture by the cameras as well as the text from the license plate, with some configurable to store a photograph of the driver. Systems commonly use infrared lighting to allow the camera to take the picture at any time of the day. A powerful flash is inclined in at least one version of the intersection-monitoring cameras, serving both to illuminate the picture and to make the offender aware of his or her mistake. ANPR technology tends to be region -specific, owing to pate variation from place to place. Some concerns about these systems have centered on privacy fears of government tracking citizens movements and media reports of misidentification and high error rates. However, as they have developed, the systems have become much more accurate and reliable. There is an increasing requirement to identify vehicles and track their location for a wide number of applications. These include: Congestion charging Several major cities around the world levy a charge a drive within them Car park management Using the number plate to identify the time of entry and departure of a Vehicle. Counter-terrorism Monitoring the arrival and departures of vehicles at major ports. Literature Review Our literature survey mainly focused on automatic number plate system research papers and its existing system along with its application, image processing technique and neural network recognition. These can be clearly illustrated as follows: Automatic number plate recognition system Javaanpr existing open source code in sourceforge.net Thesis describing research, image processing and neural networking technique along with its algorithm in pdf on javaanpr on sourceforge.net Image processing technique ImageJ -api based on java language for digital image processing Image editor -api based on java language made for image processing JAI api -java advance imaging for image processing from sunmicrosystem at java.sun.com. Opencv- Digital Image Processing (text book from library) Neural networking technique Introduction to java neural network second edition by jfheaton at heatonresearch.com Some ocr samples using neuralnetworking at sourcecode.com and its explanation Study on nepali ocr research conducted by madan puraskar guthi(yala Maya Kendra) Ocr sample developed by Google based for Linux available for windows on dot net (tesseract) Jooneengine-java api on neural network not so well developed and efficient at http://www.jooneworld.com Kohenen -java api on self organizing map applied to compress jpeg image. Somdemo-sample java program for illustration how self organizing map works. Program iterately train to converge with identical color from random samples Artificial neural network text book available at library (low price edition from pearson education. Neural networks systematic introduction by Raul Rojas(from lectures at free university at Berlin and later at the university of Halle) Automatic Number Pate Recognition system a)javaanpr Javaanpr open source available at sourceforge.net worked as prototype for building our Nepali automatic Nepali number plate recognition system. It also contain thesis in pdf format prescribing image processing technique and neural networking technique along with its algorithm. It works well recognizing foreign number plates contained as sample in the site. It was beautifully coded applying sophisticated and specialized algorithms for image processing and neural network technique. It also used xml files to save and retrieve neural network training data. Figure: sample javaanpr at sourceforge.net For more information-http://sourceforge.net Image processing Technique a)ImageJ 1.42 ImageJ was first developed on class files now available on GUI interface. User can just process image using various buttons and entries if prescription is required .programmers can develop own macros and plugins to achieve its intended function if required and compile there within and run the code. It is capable of processing both 2D and 3D interactive image processing. Figure. ImageJ graphical window interface For more information: http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/ b) Image editor Image editor was also found during search for image processing tool. It is also based on java language and available as java API, now class file are available with GUI interface easing its its manipulation. Image editor api seems inefficient and not so capable for our intended operation and not so much researched. C) JAI api the java advance imaging(JAI) API further extends the java platforms (including the java 2D API) by allowing sophisticated, high -performance image processing to be incorporated into java applets and applications.JAI is a set of classes providing imaging functionality beyond that of Java 2D and the Java Foundation classes, though it is compatible with those APIs. JAI implements a set of core image processing capabilities including image tiling, regions of interest, and deferred execution.JAI also offers a set of core image processing operators including many common point, area, and frequency-domain operators. JAI is intended to meet the needs of all imaging applications. The API is highly extensible, allowing new image processing operations to be added in such a way as to appear to be a native part of it. Thus, JAI benefits virtually all Java developers who want to incorporate imaging into their applets and applications. JAI features Cross-platform imaging Distributed Imaging Object-oriented API Flexible and Extensible Device Independent Powerful High Performance Interoperable Initially program coding was done in JAI Later it becomes little inefficient and we again go for another programming method. For further information-http://java.sun.com d) Digital Image processing (text book from library) e) Opencv The OpenCV implements a wide variety of tools for image interpretation. It is compatible with Intel ® Image Processing Library (IPL) that implements low-level operations on digital images. In spite of primitives such as binarization, filtering, image statistics, pyramids, OpenCV is mostly a high-level library implementing algorithms for calibration techniques (Camera Calibration), feature detection (Feature) and tracking (Optical Flow),shape analysis(Geometry, Contour Processing ),motion analysis (Motion Templates, Estimators ), 3D reconstruction (View Morphing),object segmentation and recognition (Histogram, Embedded Hidden Markov Models, Eigen Objects). The essential features of the library along with functionality and quality is performance. The algorithms are based on highly flexible data structures (Dynamic Data Structures) coupled with IPL data structures; more than a half of the functions have been assembler optimized taking advantage of Intel ® Architecture (Pentium ®MMXà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢,Pentium ® Pro, Pentium ®III, Pentium ®4). Why We Need OpenCV Library The OpenCV Library is a way of establishing an open source vision community that Will make better use of up-to-date opportunities to apply computer vision in the Growing PC environment. The software provides a set of image processing functions, As well as image and pattern analysis functions. The functions are optimized for Intel ® Architecture processors, and are particularly effective at taking advantage of MMX†ºÃ¢â‚¬ º Technology. The OpenCV Library has platform-independent interface and supplied with whole C Sources. OpenCV is open. Relation between Opens and Other Libraries OpenCV is designed to be used together with Intel ® Image Processing Library (IPL) And extends the latter functionality toward image and pattern analysis. Therefore, OpenCV shares the same image format (IplImage) with IPL. Also, OpenCV uses Intel ® Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) on lower-level, if It can locate the IPP binaries on startup. IPP provides cross-platform interface to highly-optimized low-level functions that Perform domain-specific operations, particularly, image processing and computer Vision primitive operations. IPP exists on multiple platforms including IA32, IA64, And StrongARM. Source:-openCV reference manual.pdf Cmgui-wx-2(.net wrapper class) This openCV tool can be easily integrated with .net platform like c#, visual basic etc. Cmgui is an advanced 3D visualization software package with modeling capabilities.Cmgui is a part of CMISS, a mathematical modeling environment initially developed by the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute.CMISS stands for Continuum Mechanics, Image analysis. Signal processing and System Identification. There are three major CMISS software packages. Broadly speaking the main areas each piece of software deals with are as follows: CM is used for computational modeling Unemap is used for signal acquisition and processing Cmgui is used for model visualization and manipulation For more information:-wiki/getting started with cmgui Neural Networking technique a) Introduction to java neural network by jeff heaton This book along with video lecture helped very much for us to understand neural networks and learn coding technique. It was published form Heaton research center and they have developed encog framework for neural network where programmer can build fast neural network prototype for fast testing and checking since easy and flexible. After parameters have been determined for best operation such as number of hidden layers and number of neurons in each layer coding can be done since it code will be inflexible for such modification. Book contained different chapters on various types of neural networks and also its application. Only first seven chapters are allowed to read online and rests are not. It provides all its source code on site which also helps in learning and testing. Same book is also available in c# language. For more information-http://heatonreasearch.com/ b) On the beginning of project research we also got OCR sample using neural network at sourcecode.com with explanation. It was written at c#, due to compiler problem I didnt stress here much. c) Nepali OCR For us it was good news and opportunity to study research on Nepali OCR conducted by madan puraskar guthi. Different research papers were available on the site along with image processing portion code used to fragment Nepali character Image written on java. It deals with problem issues and complexity faced on Nepali character like devnagari font. For more information -http:// d) OCR engine tessaract by Google This was used by Nepali OCR for its processing and it supports many languages like Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, arabi etc. we didnt research here much. Figure: segmented portion of Figure : Another segmented portion of For more information-make Google search for link d) joone engine joone engine as a api in hope for easy and efficient coding we consider but it seems unworthy for project work. For beginner liking to test some xor operations and similar may find at least satisfactory otherwise unworthy. For more information-http://www.jooneworld.com/docs/engine.html e)Kohenen This sample also seems beautiful in understanding self organizing map or kohenen network. Here it is used to compress jpeg image. It was programmed on seven packages. For more information-http: // f) som demo This sample tries to converge iteratively with similar colors from randomly scattered pixel colors based on Euclidean distance method. Figure: som before training Figure: som after training For more information-link available at reference http://www.ai-junkie.com/ann/som/ g) Artificial neural Network text book (library) h) Neural network systematic introduction (by Raul Rojas) This book is good for understanding neural network systematically and based on lectures at free university at Berlin and later at the University of Halle. For more introduction-reference at http://www.wikipedia.com/selforganisingmap Figure: sample kohenen neural network (3D kohenen feature map) Source: http://rfhs8012.fh-regensburg.de/~jfroehl/index.html Anpr system application around world Police enforcement Germany On 11 March 2008, the Federal Constitution Court of Germany ruled that the laws permitting the use of automated number plate recognition systems in Germany violated te right to privacy. Hungary Several Hungarian Auxiliary Police units use a system called Matrix Police in cooperation with the police. It consists of a portable computer equipped with a webcam that scans the stolen car database using automatic number plate recognition. The system is installed on the dashboard of selected patrol vehicles (PDA based handled versions exists as well) and is mainly used to control the license plate of parking cars, as the Auxiliary Police doesnt have the authority to order moving vehicles to stop. If a stolen is found, the formal police are informed. United Kingdom The UK has an extensive (ANPR) automatic number plate recognition CCTV network. Effectively, the police and security services track all car movements around the country and are able to track any car in close to real time. Vehicle movements are stored for 5 years in the National ANPR Data Centre to be analyzed for intelligence and to be used as evidence. USA In the USA, ANPR systems are more commonly referred to as LPR (License Plate Reader or License Plate Recognition) technology or ALPR (Automatic License Plate Reader/Recognition) technology. One of the biggest challenges with ALPR technology in the US is the accuracy of the Optical Character Recognition (OCR)-the actual identification of the characters on the license plate. From time to time, states will make significant changes in their license plate protocol that will affect OCR accuracy. They may add a character or add a new license plate design. ALPR systems must adapt to these changes quickly in order to be effective. In addition to the real-time processing of the license plate numbers, some ALPR systems in the US collect data at the time of each license plate capture .Data such as date and time stamps and GPS coordinates can be reviewed in relation to investigations and can help lead to critical breaks such as placing a suspect at a scene, witness identification, pattern recognition or the tracking of suspect individuals. Average Speed cameras Another use of ANPR in the UK, Italy and Dubai (UAE) is for speed cameras which work by tracking vehicles travel time between two fixed points ,and therefore calculate the average speed. These cameras are claimed to have an advantage over traditional speed cameras in maintaining steady legal speeds over extended distances, rather than encouraging heavy braking on approach to specific camera locations and subsequent acceleration back to illegal speeds. UK The longest stretch of average speed cameras in the UK is found on the A77 road in Scotland, with 30 miles (48 km) being monitored between Glasgow and Ayr. Italy In Italian highways has developed a monitoring system named Tutor covering more than 1244 km (2007). Further extensions will add 900 km before the end of 2008. The Tutor system is also able to intercept cars while changing lanes. Traffic control Many cities and district have developed traffic control systems to help the movement and flow of vehicles around the road network. This had topically involved looking at historical data, estimates, observations and statistics such as: Car park usage Pedestrian crossing usage Number of vehicles along a road Areas of low and high congestion Frequency, location and cause of road words The UK Company Traffic master has used ANPR since 1998 to estimate average traffic speeds on non-motorway roads without the results being skewed by local fluctuations caused by traffic lights and similar. The company now operates a network of over 4000 ANPR cameras ,but claims that only the four most central digits are identified , and no number plate data is retained. Electronic toll collection Ontarios 407 ETR highway uses a combination of ANPR and radio transponders to toll vehicles entering and exiting the road. Radio antennas are located at each junction and detect the transponders, logging the unique identify of each vehicle in much the same way as the ANPR system does. There are numerous other electronic toll collection networks which use combination of Radio frequency identification and ANPR. These include: Bridge pass for the Saint John Harbor Bridge in Saint John New Brunswick City link Eastlink in Melbourne, Australia Gateway Motorway and Logan Motorway, Brisbane , Australia Fast Trak in California ,United states Highway 6 in Israel Tunnels in Hong Kong etc Charge zones the London congestion charge The London congestion charge is an example of a system that charges motorists entering a payment area. Transport for London (TFL uses ANPR systems and charges motorists a daily fee of  £8 paid before 10pm if they enter, leave or move around within the congestion charge zone. Stockholm congestion tax In Stockholm, Sweden, ANPR is used for the congestion tax of cars driving into or out of the inner city must pay a charge, depending on the time of the day. Other uses ANPR systems may also be used for/by: Section control, to measure average vehicle speed over longer distances. Border crossings Fillings stations to log when a motorist drives away without paying for their fuel. A marketing tool to log patterns of use Traffic management systems, which determine traffic flow using the time it takes vehicles to pass two ANPR sites. Drive Through Customer Recognition, to automatically recognize customers based on their license plate and offer them their last selection, improving service to the customer To assist visitor management systems in recognizing guest vehicles. Circumvention Techniques (drawback) Vehicles owners have used a variety of techniques in an attempt to evade ANPR systems and road -rule enforcement cameras in general. These methods may be Increasing reflective properties of the lettering and so that system might no locate or produce high enough level of contrast to be able to read Use of plate cover or spray Use of dirt to smear their license plate or utilize covers to mask the plate ANPR imaging hardware The frontend of any Imaging hardware is image capturing device that is camera. Retroreflective camera returns the light back to the source and thus improves the contrast of the image. A camera that makes use of active infrared imaging (with a normal color filter over the lens and infrared illuminator next to it) benefits greatly from this as the infrared waves are reflected back from the plate. This is only possible on dedicated ANPR cameras, however, and so cameras used for other purposes must rely more heavily on the software capabilities. Figure: hardware components used in ANPR system Figure source-http://securityautomation.co.uk To avoid blurring it is ideal to have the shutter speed of a dedicated camera set to 1/1000th of a second. License plate capture cameras can now produce usable images from vehicles traveling at 120 mph (190 km/h).threshold angles of incidence between camera lens and license plate are also major consideration to avoid image distortion during installation. Manufacturers have developed tools to eliminate errors from the physical installation of license plate capture cameras. Research on down sampling character For neural network input character image is down sampled into matrix whose value is binary 1 or 0 according to Boolean property of character on matrix region. It showed that no of samples required is not fixed and it varies with thickness of font traced. Figure: down sampling image character o with 7*5 matrix Figure: downsampling same character image o (buffered) with 32 *35 matrix Research works on algorithms A new algorithm for character segmentation of license plate Character segmentation is an important step in License Plate Recognition (LPR) system. There are many difficulties in this step, such as the influence of image noise, plate frame, rivet, the space mark, and so on. This new algorithm presents character segmentation using Hough transformation and the prior knowledge in horizontal and vertical segmentation respectively. Furthermore, a new object enhancement technique is used for image preprocessing. The experimentation results show a good performance of this new segmentation algorithm. Algorithm (steps) Preprocessing Size normalization Determination of plate kind Object enhancement Horizontal segmentation using Hough transformation Vertical segmentation For more information:-a new algorithm for character segmentation of license plate.pdf an adaptive thresholding algorithm for the augmented reality toolkit It is well known that fixed global thresholds have adverse effects on the reliability of marker-based optical trackers under non-uniform lighting conditions. Mobile augmented reality applications, by their very nature, demand a certain level of robustness against varying external illumination from visual tracking algorithms currently AAR Toolkit depends on fixed-threshold image-binarization in order to detect candidate fiducials for further processing. In an effort to minimize tracking failure due to uniform shadows and reflections on a marker surface, a fast algorithm for selecting adaptive threshold values, based on the arithmetic mean of pixel intensities over a region-of- interest around candidate fiducials. Algorithm This works on a per-marker basis and evaluates the mean pixel luminance over a thresholding region-of -interest (ROI), which is defined as bounding rectangle around the markers axis -aligned corner vertices in screen space. If a marker has been detected in any given frame, its bounding rectangle will be used as thresholding -ROI prediction for successive frames. This method yields good thresholding level in practice, given sufficiently high video frame rates. Fig.1.reflection off a markers surface with adaptive thresholding (upper) and a global threshold (lower) For more information:-10.1.1.9.4636.pdf adaptive license plate image extraction This paper represents the automatic plate localization component of a car license plate recognition system. The approach concerns stages of preprocessing, edge detection, filtering, detection of the plates position, slope evaluation, and character segmentation and recognition. Single gray-level images are used as the only source of information. In the experiments Israeli and Bulgarian license plates were used, camera obtained at different daytime and whether conditions. Algorithm (step) preprocessing for plate candidate identification vertical edge detection rank filtering plate candidate segmentation vertical projection acquisition prime clipping of the plate plate skew evaluation horizontal segmentation plate candidate verification Cray-level distribution consistency considerations

Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays research papers

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the descendent of a long line of Puritan ancestors, including John Hathorne, a presiding magistrate in the Salem witch trials. After his father was lost at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him toward more isolated pursuits. Hawthorne's childhood left him overly shy and bookish, and molded his life as a writer. Hawthorne turned to writing after his graduation from Bowdoin College. His first novel, Fanshawe, was unsuccessful and Hawthorne himself disavowed it as amateurish. However, he wrote several successful short stories, including "My Kinsman, Major Molyneaux," "Roger Malvin's Burial" and "Young Goodman Brown." However, insufficient earnings as a writer forced Hawthorne to enter a career as a Boston Custom House measurer in 1839. However, after three years Hawthorne was dismissed from his job with the Salem Custom House. By 1842, however, his writing amassed Hawthorne a sufficient income for him to marry Sophia Peabody and move to The Manse in Concord, which was at that time the center of the Transcendental movement. Hawthorne returned to Salem in 1845, where he was appointed surveyor of the Boston Custom House by President James Polk, but was dismissed from this post when Zachary Taylor became president. Hawthorne then devoted himself to his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. He zealously worked on the novel with a determination he had not known before. His intense suffering infused the novel with imaginative energy, leading him to describe it as the "hell-fired story." On February 3, 1850, Hawthorne read the final pages to his wife. He wrote, "It broke her heart and sent her to bed with a grievous headache, which I look upon as a triumphant success." The Scarlet Letter was an immediate success and allowed Hawthorne to devote himself to his writing. He left Salem for a temporary residence in Len ox, a small town the Berkshires, where he completed the romance The House of the Seven Gables in 1851. While in Lenox, Hawthorne became acquainted with Herman Melville and became a major proponent of Melville's work, but their friendship became strained. Hawthorne's subsequent novels, The Blithedale Romance, based on his years of communal living at Brook Farm, and the romance The Marble Faun, were both considered disappointments.

Columbine High School Shooting Essay

Tuesday, April 20, 1999, was a turning point in the lives of many Columbine students and families. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two former students at Columbine High School, went to school on that day for one purpose, to annihilate the school building as well as the student body. Although Eric and Dylan’s bombs did not detonate, they still succeeded in destroying the lives and families of the twelve students and the one teacher that died. The Columbine High School shooting occurred because of the premeditation of the shooters, the event of the school, and the results of the shooting. Eric and Dylan were just like most kids now a days entering high school. They came not knowing what to expect and soon realized no one even cared that they were there. They were bullied and picked on all the time. Eric and Dylan started a club called the Trench Coat Mafia which was known for its violent and vulgar language. Sometimes they would walk around school wearing trench coats to make the m seem stronger and to â€Å"protect† themselves in a way. Entering tenth grade was sort of the same for them, but it seemed to get worse quick. They started to participate in drinking, smoking, and petty crimes to make them more popular. The only people they got popular with were the police because they were constantly arrested for breaking into cars, homes, and stealing from stores. Eric over the course of all this developed serious anger problems and began taking Zoloft, a depressant, to make it better, but he started abusing the drugs and selling them for money. They made videotapes in Dylan’s basement showing them making pipe bombs and other explosives and talking about killing sprees. When they finally decided that they were going to do a killing spree in Columbine, they made more videos apologizing to their parents and other people and showing their ammunition. On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, Eric and Dylan left their houses as if it were a normal day, but the night before they had packed their book bags and some duffle bags with guns, rifles, explosives, pipe bombs, and 7-8 actual bombs. It was a normal day until around 11:00 a.m., Eric and Dylan entered the cafeteria with two rifles in hand firing random s hots everywhere. People scrambled to get out of the cafeteria, some thinking it was a joke and others realizing it was real. When the cafeteria was empty, they set up two bombs at opposite ends of the cafeteria. When they did not detonate, they were mad. After this first mishap, they ran across the school campus looking  to shoot anyone in sight and then they reached the library. The library is where they kill 7 out of 13 people. They taunted and fired random shots to scare the students that scrambled under the tables trying to protect themselves. Some were successful and some were not. After the library they returned to the cafeteria and this is where they committed suicide with one of the pipe bombs. The result of the shooting brought a devastating feeling on all the families and thankfulness to the families of the students that were not harmed. â€Å"Eric and Dylan are responsible for what they did, but Columbine is responsible for creating Eric and Dylan†. The event of Columbine still haunts us today with some of the more recent school shootings such as Sandy Hook Elementary. We will always remember what happened that Tuesday and try to prevent this ring of school shootings that seems to keep growing larger and larger from occurring anymore. The Columbine High School shooting occurred because of the premeditation of the shooters, the event at the s chool, and the results of the shooting.

Huffington Post

I will admit that I am rather new to the discussion on bigotry, privilege, and the various -isms. I was speaking with a female friend of mine a few months ago, and I remarked that women, on average, are less able to compartmentalize their emotions than men. She was Oustiflably) irate, and I qualified myself. You see, I had never been explicitly exposed to the socially-propagated idea that women are emotionally unstable. When I found out, I felt rather embarrassed in not only being sexist, but in being so trite and un-profound in doing so.I am simply an bserver of humanity, and although some people might suggest that I have internalized institutional misogyny, herein lies the purpose of my short essay. Imagine you're a mad scientist in a laboratory, and the U. S. government has charged you with the task of creating a perfectly average white man. You split white men down into their fundamental characteristics: hair color, body hair length, belly-button protrusion, etc, and then you tak e measurements and find the average of each of them. Because of the outliers, what will result will probably resemble Frankenstein's onster.This is an analogy I find useful when discussing prejudice. The essence of the previous paragraph was that prejudice arises from two factors: perception of the average as informed by personal experience, and institutionalized power dynamics. These two are inextricably linked, and as one feeds the other, it is very difficult to isolate the effects. However, I will arbitrarily make the choice to begin by discussing perceptions of the average and see where that leads us. My econometrics professor last term proposed that while girls on average tend to do ust as well as boys on standardized math exams, the variance for boys is higher.This is not to say that there are not girls who are incredibly gifted in math, but that there are fewer of them. But naturally, our life experiences are such that we will not be acquainted with the whole of a population, and that is where our prejudices arise. The vast majority of my friends at college are math or computer science majors, so the girls who I do interact with tend to be exceptional at math, and since I have no oint of comparison, I don't regard them as any more exceptional than the boys with comparable acuity because they are girls.However, as in my opening anecdote, sometimes our sampling of the population isn't so flattering. In those cases, we come to believe that the institutionalized power dynamics are an accurate depiction of the entire world, and we consciously draw â€Å"privilege† from them. The most common â€Å"privilege† in public discourse is white privilege, but institutionalized prejudice extends to things like male privilege, cis- privilege, and thin privilege. Sometimes it even leads to active bigotry.In the ideal world, if we all were statisticians, had perfect data, and approached eve rything objectively, we would distill the portion ot stereotypes th at were actually real and omit the portion that are societal caricatures. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Observers of humanity like myself will continue to notice patterns in human behavior across heterogeneous groups, but I will make a conscious effort to not let that sully my daily interactions with my friends.I will approach each individual as a erson, because they are Just that: the politics of their identity are too complex for a feeble mind like my own to accurately discern. But do notice that I assert that parts of the stereotypes are real. You cannot form an asset bubble on zero information, and similarly, building a stereotype out of nothing would require heavy orchestration, nothing short of state-sponsored propaganda. Unfortunately, it doesn't take very much real information to form a cascade, and if we could distill our stereotypes, the actual remaining substance would be, in most cases, statistically insignificant.

Top Gun

Top Gun relationship to Dully Article Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. The movie was inspired by the article â€Å"Top Guns† (U. S. navy established an elite school for one percent of its pilots it purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat, also known as flight weapon school) written by Ehud Yonay for California magazine.The film starts stars such as Tom Cruise as a young naval aviator named Lieutenant Pete â€Å"Maverick† Mitchell; Anthony Edwards aka â€Å"Goose† as a Radar Intercept Officer, and Maverick best friend; Kelly McGillis as â€Å"Charley† as a civilian instructor in air combat and a lover of Maverick, and others. The movie Top Gun centers around Maverick (Tom Cruise), a hot-headed, troubled, egoist fighter pilot/navy pilot, and how he grows up as a man/person and as a better pilot with the help and influences from his past and his colleagues. In th is paper I will be examining the theory or studies given by Dr.Frank Dully, and relating it to the characters of the movie by identifying their personality traits of naval aviator described in the Dully Article â€Å"The Life Style Keys to Flight Deck Performance of the Naval Aviator. † As mentioned above, this movie portrait around the character Maverick. Who is a very skilled, smart, charming, and one of the best fighter pilots in the nation; but he also is cocky, hot-headed, aggressive, very controlling, emotional, mission-oriented naval aviator who characteristics changes throughout the movie.In the beginning of the film Maverick and his partner Goose are involved in a reconnaissance mission. While maneuvering Maverick and his partner Goose made a contact to enemy aircraft. With his skills and boldness he maneuvered to trail the enemies’ aircraft; while breaking all the rules of flying such as flying under 10000 altitudes, high-speed passes over 5 air controlled to wer, uses the illegal breaking maneuver to outsmart the enemy, performing unrealistic stunts even throughout the movie. This characteristic of Maverick shows that he is reckless, aggressive, and very controlling naval aviator.As Dully mentioned, the first ingredient of a naval aviator characteristic is being in control, and in this movie Maverick is very controlling, the one who make things happen. Dully also mentions that â€Å"oldest sons and oldest daughters comprise a remarkably large segment of this population, well in excess of their demographic one-out-of-three stature. These are the youngsters that initially set out to please that Very Important Parent, (usually Dad), in response to his requirements for excellence in many things. It becomes the mission of the first child to bring to the Very Important Parent a series of vicarious successes.Seizing the opportunity for recognition and a taste of success, the child usually applies himself diligently to the tasks thus assigned. † In this movie Mavericks is known as the only son, and his mission-orientation or goal/action was based on his father action and reputations. However his friends are trying to help him to be a team player and a healthier naval aviator. Another characteristic that is associated with Maverick personality traits described in the Dully article is the calculation of emotional distance. As mentioned in the article, there are three factors that shape our emotional views.First â€Å"occurs in the toddler years, the second plays out in early grammar school, and the third takes place late in his high school years. † For Maverick his emotional feeling or factors seemed like they were inherited from his dad actions. Another example that shows his emotional feeling was in the beginning of the movie when he disobeyed the leader to help one of his fellow pilots back to the carrier. This shows that he is not selfish, he cares for other and he is a team player in his way. Also his emo tional feeling come out when his losses his friend Goose.For instance, when he was trying to drop out of the top gun course; this could symbolize Maverick as a stressed or failing aviator. Lastly his emotions are seen with his relationship with Charlie. That he is a nice, caring and aggressive guy when it comes to Charlie. Another character that plays a huge part in this movie is Anthony Edwards aka â€Å"Goose,† a Radar Intercept Officer, and Maverick best friend. In his movie Goose would be described as the man who influences Maverick to change from a hot-headed, reckless fighter pilot to a well-mannered, responsible, team-player pilot.After Maverick passed by the control tower, Goose told him that his action will also endangered his own place at work, so to be careful. Goose personality traits are not really mentioned well in the movie; however he seems to have a good balance with Maverick to make a good naval aviator. Goose personality traits are that he is very likable, friendly, caring, funny, not controlling, a good husband and naval pilot. According to the Grid I would classify Goose as a 5, 5 pilot because he has come to adopt or adjust to the system and to the comfortable tempo thatMaverick lives in. The last character I will be describing, and who had a big influence on Mavericks well-being is Charlie. She is a highly-qualified instructor at the school and holds a degree in air combat. Throughout the movie she has different personality and behaviors. She too, is an ambiguous figure. She seems fairly masculinizing and controlling through her name. However she has an emotional affiliation with Maverick that she wants to keep private. She is also very aggressive, usually get what she wants.As Dully mentions, usually the oldest son the controlling and aggressive ends up with the same counter-part controlling and aggressive oldest daughter in this case it seems true. Although this movie could be a good description on what a healthy/good and bad na val aviator life might be. It has a Hollywood twist and a perfect ending which make it hard to conclude and study the life, personality, and attitude of naval pilots. But it shows the significant characteristic described by Dully.

Characteristics of a good citizen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Characteristics of a good citizen - Essay Example Another vital responsibility is by participating in elections and exercising their right to vote. They have to show responsibility because it is a requirement for democratic governments (Jackson 2013). To be a good citizen, an individual should participate in all community activities at all times and be involved in the betterment of the lives of other citizens. Participation in community requires people to know what is happening in the neighborhood and report anything suspicious to the authorities. To be a good citizen, one also needs to be civically active and obey laws all the time. All these actions are vital because they make the society safe and a better place to live (Jacques 2011). The actions are a sign of active citizenship, and they facilitate governance at all levels of the society. Active citizenship is a significant step towards a healthy nation. Crime tends to reduce because criminals cannot thrive in a community that reports wrongdoers and suspicious people to the law enforcers. There are also significant economic gains when people contribute their efforts to society developments. There is also increased peace because people get contented with the leaders they choose. Jackson, R. (2013, December 5). Government of the People: The Role of the Citizen. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from