Difference Between Upload and Download

Difference between Upload and Download Introduction In computer networks, data is always transferred from one place to another in order to accomplish various tasks. This can be easily performed using Uploading and Downloading. These are the two processes which are used for transferring data between a client and a server. Uploading is the process of sending files including documents, pictures and videos from a client computer to a server. Downloading is the process of transferring files from the server to the client. UploadUploading means that sending files from our local system to another remote location such as a server, over the network. For an example, if we want to build a website, we should upload the required files, images and other content to the relevant server where we host the website. When considering the Internet, every time we send a request for a web page using a browser, the data containing our IP address and the web page we have requested, is uploaded to the server wh ere the requested page is available. The time needed to upload depends on the size of the file we send.Small text based files can be sent quicker than the larger music files, heavy video files, images or other large multimedia files. Most probably, uploading can be performed while doing other tasks on the computers. After uploading files to a server, it will be available for the other users, too. Download Downloading is transferring data or information from a server to our client computer. For example, the same files which have been uploaded to the server can be downloaded by another user to the hard disk of a local system.When considering the Internet, in order to view the content of a requested web page on a browser of the user’s PC, the web page content including the images are downloaded first from the particular server. The time cost for downloading a file depends on the size of the file. When the file gets larger, the time takes to download the file also increases. As t hese files are downloaded to a personal computer, only the user of the machine can access those files. Compare and ContrastBoth Upload and Download are used to share the required data within a computer network. The primary difference between these two terms is that the direction of the data is being transferred. In uploading, the data is sent from our system to another remote system while in downloading, the data is received to our system from a remote system. So download is the reverse of the upload process. In uploading, there should be enough storage space in the server or other remote system to keep the uploading files.In downloading, there should be enough free space in the hard disk of our personal computer to save the downloaded files. In uploading, the files may be accessed by all the users who have access to the server but in downloading, the files can be used by only the owner of the local system, who has the interest for those files. There are some risks in use of downloa ding because some files available for downloading may come from untrustworthy sites and so they can harm our computers. So we have to be careful when downloading from unknown sources.

The Law of E-Commerce

English law has long been recognized as respecting freedom of contract. In other words, the state has not, generally, laid down legislation which has interfered with the freedom of parties to agree the terms of their contracts. In more recent years, there have been a number of inroads into the principle of freedom of contract, particularly with respect to consumer protection. It very much remains the case that English law does provide parties with considerable flexibility both as how they conclude contracts and the terms that they include. Offer and acceptance In order for a contract to be binding under English law it requires an offer, acceptance, intention to create legal relations, consideration and capacity. With regard to electronic commerce, the contractual requirements need careful consideration. Offer A supplier offers an unconditional offer which could be accepted by any potential customer. If the customer informs the supplier that he or she accepts the offer ,there will be a binding contract. On the other hand, the supplier could provide to the customer what is known in legal terms as an â€Å"invitation to treat†. This is not a binding offer, but an â€Å"invitation† for the customer to make an offer, which the supplier can then accept. It is very important for suppliers wanting to sell goods through on line to ensure that their websites and other on line advertisements are interpreted as invitations to treat. If a supplier's website constituted a formal offer to provide certain services or goods, the supplier may be in breach of the local laws (both civil and criminal) if there are certain kind of customers who would not ordinarily be entitled to make the purchases which are being offered. For instances, the sale of alcoholic products to minors and guns or other weapons into all countries, when some countries restrict more carefully the circumstances in which guns or other weapon can be purchased. Acceptance English law is generally very flexible about how an offer can be accepted. Acceptance could be communicated by an acknowledgement (e.g. email) or by physical act such as the shipping of the goods. What is more uncertain under English law is when acceptance takes place – particularly in an Internet contract. The general rule is that an offer is not accepted until acceptance is communicated to the offeror. So far there is no case relating to this rule which applies to contracts made over the internet. But however, there is case law which applies to other instantaneous forms of communication, such as telexes and facsimiles, provided that such communications are sent during the business hours. With the global use of electronic trade, the question of when each business day begins may be difficult to determine – particularly when the customer cannot easily work out where the server accessed is based. The major exception to the general rule on acceptance concerns acceptance by post. In the majority of cases, acceptance takes place when the acceptance is posted and not when it is received by the offeror. The â€Å"postal† rule means that the contract will already have been made and the offeror will be bound to complete his obligations, provided that the other party can prove that the acceptance letter has been posted. In some ways, notwithstanding its instantaneous nature, acceptance by electronic means does have similarities to postal acceptance. A common carrier will assume the responsibility in transmitting the message (in this instance the carrier is the Internet Provider). With this kind of communication, it is not easy to determine the receipt with respect to email sent over the internet. What this means is that the sending party will not know when or if the acceptance has been received. Given the fact that it is not clear when acceptance of an offer will occur, any supplier should take care to consider how and when acceptance will take place. This has long been the principle adopted in EDI contracts, and those doing business on the Internet have to ensure that they do not leave anything out for questioning later in the contract. Any supplier should have no difficulty in exercising control over the manner in which the only contracting process is conducted. Unlike the Internet most real world contracts are formed on a person to person basis, either by a face to face conversation or verbally over the phone. By contrast, most Internet contracts are remotely made, impersonal and above all automated. If there is any ambiguity or uncertainty over the transaction but a more likely issue to whether there was a contract at all. Contract terms and liability English law gives the contracting parties the freedom to set many of the terms upon which they will contract the business. But this will be subjected to two areas where the law will imply terms. First, certain terms will be implied by statute. Secondly, the law will imply terms just to give â€Å"business efficiency† to a contract. This happens where either parties have forgotten to deal with an issue expressly in circumstances where they would have done so had they thought about the issue at the time f the contract was finalized. The main terms implied by statute in contracts to sell goods is the Sale of Goods Act 1979. This terms will imply to any contract that: * the goods will be of satisfactory quality; * where expressly or impliedly known by the supplier, the goods will be reasonably fit for the buyer's purposes; * where goods are sold by reference to a description, the goods will correspond to that description. This term is particularly important for internet sales where a buyer may make a purchase of certain goods having visited a supplier's website. If a supplier provides services, the implied term for the services will be that they will be dealt with â€Å"reasonable skill care†, and within a reasonable time frame (Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982). Under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, these terms cannot be exempted in any circumstances with respect to consumers. Sometimes in the contract for a business, a supplier can exclude liability for breach of these implied terms where it is â€Å"reasonable† to do so. Not only the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 in which the implied terms under the Sale of Goods Act can be exempted, but the Act also imply other liability can be limited as far as the services concerned. The main provisions deal with: * liability for death and personal injury – this cannot be exempt under any circumstances; * liability in negligence other than for death and personal injury – this can be exempt where reasonable; * liability to a consumer – this can be exempt only where reasonable (except in the case of liability for breach of the terms implied under the Sale of Goods Act; * liability when dealing on the supplier's standard terms and conditions – a supplier can only be exempt liability to his customers where it is reasonable to do so; There are a number of matters with regard to the reasonableness that the court will take into account when questioning each case individually. The questions are undoubtedly related to the insurance carried by both parties; what other sources were open to customers; and whether the buyer knows or ought to know the exclusions and limitations clauses incorporated into the contract. If there are any ambiguities in the terms of the contract, the court will be in favour of the customer. And the supplier will be left to prove that his exclusions are to be reasonable with respect to doing the business. No doubt that many online contracts will incorporate standard terms and many sales will be directly to consumers, the Unfair Contract Terms Act will play a role in determining the exposure a supplier may face in providing the services or goods using the Internet as a communication mechanism. The UCTA will only be using the English law system for a contract of consumers if they are based in the UK and for a contract where there is a choice of law other than English law, when it is selected for the purposes (mainly or wholly) of trying to avoid the effect of UCTA. Apart from the Unfair Contract Terms Act, there is one exception with regard to the contracts conducted over the Internet. It concerns the international supply contracts where the offer and acceptance of the sale of goods take place in different countries or the goods are physically shipped from one jurisdiction to another. Many companies wishing to sell goods through the Internet could use this exception whereby the purchaser accesses the server to order goods from other location which is outside of the English jurisdiction. It should be realized that this exception can be applied even where the English law is governing law of contract. When a contract is considered to be an international one, the Unfair Contract Terms Act will not intervene and a supplier is free to limit or exclude his liability without having to look at the UCTA to see whether if it is reasonable to do so. Although it is likely to apply to sales to businesses only in the light of certain parallel consumer legislation – the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994. In addition to UCTA, any supplier considering doing businesses over the Internet must also bear in mind the impact of the Regulations when dealing with the consumers. These Regulations incorporate into English law of the European Community Directive on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts, which provides the entire states of the European Union cases in which it is unfair to limit or to exclude certain rights of consumers by contract terms. If the terms of the contract is considered to be unfair, then it will be declared as void. Furthermore, the Regulations could assist the consumers if the consumers are asked to pay a penalty in the event they fail to complete their contractual obligations and when the supplier restrict the consumers' legal recourse in the event of a breach (for instance, by making the consumer go to arbitration). It is for this reason that it was suggested that the international supply contract with the exception in UCTA will only be of real benefit to those selling goods to businesses. Furthermore, there are also other helpful pieces of legislation which a consumer can depend on: * The Consumer Credit Act 1974 – if a customer has paid for the goods by credit card and the value of each item is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 or more then the credit card company assumes the same responsibilities as the supplier does and a consumer can make a complain to them. * The Misrepresentation Act 1967 – may give a customer the right to return goods and have his money back if he/she has been told something factual about them that made him/her decide to buy but which turns out to be untrue. * The Trades Description Act 1968 – if a seller makes a particularly gross misrepresentation about an article or if he or she is regularly misrepresenting the qualities of any goods then this may warrant a complaint to and investigation by Trading Standards who have the power to prosecute. * Misleading Prices Regulations – the law does not control prices as such but does requires that prices are accurately displayed or advertised. If a seller has incorrectly displayed a price a customer cannot force a sale at that price but it may warrant a complain to Trading Standards. So how can businesses conducting sales over the Internet protect themselves from the inevitability of pricing errors? Hence thousand of orders can be placed with online retailers before they can detect the problem. When the prices are incorrectly displayed and contracts are formed, the sellers are forced to choose between accepting that price as a financial loss in goodwill or trying to consider the contracts under the doctrine of unilateral mistake. Otherwise to avoid the contracts to be binding with customers with the incorrectly pricing, the sellers should employ protective methods of contract formation that assist them to prevent loss. The risks and costs of pricing errors Many online errors result from the fact of proofreading mistakes and software problems, but a lot of mistakes keep increasing because many sellers online tend to change their prices more often than normal and convenience high street stores [1]. Furthermore, online businesses execute sales automatically and therefore lose the added safety of having the human eye confirm the price. The Internet, with all the richness of information resources, can cause some harm. Many of the online shopping combine with chat rooms, emails and bulletin board which in turn can result in a flood of orders and thousands of sales being processed before the sellers is able to pinpoint and correct the mistake. For instance, in 2001, Kodak offered a à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½329 digital camera for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 [2]. At the time the case was decided that Kodak's automatic confirmation email formed legally binding contracts [3], and in the end, the company was forced to honour the sales. The incident caused the company substantial losses of more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2 million [4]. Kodak argued that, if there was a contract formed, that contract could be void by reason of â€Å"mistake† (i.e. the price of the goods offered was so low that there was obviously a mistake). Kodak's refusal to fulfill orders was widely reported. The common law view was that Kodak would lose any actions brought against it because 1) its standard terms were unfair to the consumer; 2) a camera worth à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½300 being sold as a special offer for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 was not an obvious mistake; and 3) Kodak's reply not only to acknowledge the sale, but used the words â€Å"this contract†, Kodak forced to accept the orders. In another example involving Argos, a catalogue online retailer, who advertised a TV on its website for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2.99, one one-hundredth of its normal price. Argos received orders worth over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1 millions, none of which were acknowledged. Argos argued that there was no contract between the customers and itself, because Argos did not confirm any orders as far as the product concerned. The case was decided confidentially and it is believed that Argos did not fulfill the majority of those orders. The equitable doctrine of unilateral mistake When the online seller make honest and honourable mistake on pricing which result in big losses, their mistake could be considered based on the doctrine of unilateral mistake. What this means is that one party's mistake could make the contract voidable when the mistake concerns a basic assumption on which the contract was formed and has a material effect on the agreement that is adverse to that party [5]. Furthermore, the effected party must prove that: a) the mistake is such that enforcement would be unconscionable, or b) the other party had reason to know the mistake or should have known that the price was a mistake [6]. An unconscionable contract is defined as â€Å"no man in his senses, not under delusion, would make†¦.and which no fair and honest man would accept†¦.† [7]. The contract, if was formed, must cause hardship to the effected party [8]. In addition to this, the court would look to see whether the sale would cause the seller a big loss and not merely a diminished profit [9]. Alternatively, the online seller could also prove that the customers had reason to know or ought to know that the price was wrong [10]. â€Å"Reason to know† means that a person â€Å"has a duty to another† and â€Å"he would not be acting adequately in the protection of his own interests were he not acting with reference to the facts which he has reason to know† [11]. Rescinding the contract is the only remedy option under the unilateral mistake; it is not a basis for reformation [12]. It means that the seller cannot ask the customer to go ahead with the sale at the actual price. But instead, the seller must cancel all customer's order and re-offer the good at the actual price. However, after the re-offering the good the customer might not show any more interest in purchasing it. In some instances, the court might refuse to order rescission. The court will consider whether one party has so detrimentally relied on the contract it would be inequitable to order rescission [13], will be prejudiced by rescission [14], or cannot be returned to the status quo [15]. Furthermore, the court might refuse to rescind the contract when the mistake resulted from the seller's negligence or lack of due care [16]. Case of an e-seller policy Amazon.com provides an example of an online seller who has incorporated a policy into its website to deal with potential pricing mistakes. It provides a direct link to its pricing policy from its term of use. In its term, Amazon states that the price of any products is not confirmed till the customer completes the order. Additionally, Amazon further states that the items in the catalogue may be mispriced and the price will be verified before it's sent out. If the actual price is lower than the stated price, Amazon will charge the lower price and ship the good. On the other hand, if the actual price is higher, Amazon will either contact the customer or cancel the order and notify the customer of its cancellation. Despite all these precautions, however, Amazon has been involved in a number of argument concerning the incorrect pricing. Recently, in the UK Amazon made a mistake in advertising iPaq handheld computers priced at less than one fiftieth of the retail price. But fortunately, Amazon has managed to avoid big losses because its conditions of sale explicitly stated that the contract is not formed till the good was dispatched, giving Amazon the right to cancel most of the orders it has received. The contents of its conditions' statement were the same throughout. On the same token, in America, Amazon mistakenly put on sale a memory module priced at 10% less than the actual price and DVD's priced at 75% of their list price. Amazon in America emailed notices to customers, in according to their pricing policy, requesting if they could pay for the actual price of the products or cancel their order completely. Several customers filed complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau. But it is not clear how these complaints have been resolved. Conclusion In short, to avoid losses caused by pricing errors, online seller can employ a few measures ensuring that his business is protected. One of the thing the seller should do is he should include the terms and conditions in the contract stating that he reserves the right to cancel orders and an explanation that the customer's order only constitutes an offer, which the seller can accept by charging the customer's credit card or by dispatching the good. In addition, the customer should be required to assent to those terms and conditions by clicking â€Å"I accept† during the checkout process. The English cases indicate that the terms of a contract are binding if a seller has made sufficient efforts to bring the terms to the attention of the buyer and if the parties agree to the terms. It is very important that the buyer who buy things online ought to see and accept the terms before an order is placed. However, the terms should allow the sellers to reject orders at any stage before dispatch. Any automatic response to an order ought to let the buyer know that a binding contract has not been entered into and the price is subject to change until it is shipped. Although these precautions has taken place, a seller online may still face potential litigation and consumer complaints, concerning any incorrect prices confirmed by auto-reply emails. The Internet is undoubtedly will grow in importance and it is no more than a tool of communication just like the telephone, telex or fax. Furthermore, electronic contract is becoming more common and right now a substantial percentage of both commerce and consumer contracts is concluded in cyberspace. Although e-commerce contracts suffer some problem, but they can be overcome by applying the three basic questions, when was the contract concluded? What are the terms of the contract? and where is the contract governed? These questions would help us to deal with any contract whether it is formed electronically or by more traditional means. â€Å"It is the moral equivalent of being given too much change in a supermarket and pocketing the money instead of handing it back† ( Bill Thompson, technology analyst).

Athenian Democracy 4 Essay

Who really made our type of government? We surely didn’t. It was amazingly the people of Athens. It started in 508 BC and is still around as we use it. It remains a unique and intriguing experiment in direct democracy where the people do not elect representatives to vote on their behalf but vote on legislation and executive bills in their own right Participation was not at all open, but the in-group of participants was constituted with no reference to economic class and they participated on a scale that was truly phenomenal. The public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. Only adult male Athenian citizens who had completed their military training as ephebes had the right to vote in Athens. We have had that and many other laws changed around the government. In our government every few years the people vote on new people to represent them, hence the name â€Å"Representative† Democracy. However the Athenian people also voted on some of their leaders but that was done in the Agora, which is where every male land owner who is over the age of twenty would meet. This meeting was called the assembly. The assembly could be best related to our State Representatives. Then just above them was the council of 500, who monitored the assembly and gave them topics to discuss, as well as bills to vote on. Above the council of 500 come the Magistrates. The Magistrates job can be best described as the â€Å"Police in the Government. † Their job is to ensure that all the laws are being followed and act accordingly when they are not. The Magistrates, despite the amount of power that they hold, are still not the highest government official in the Athenian democracy, after them comes the Council of the 10 Generals. The Council of 10 Generals was in charge of the military. The Athens didn’t start by being a democratic city. It was started by Cleisthenes whose reforms turned Athens from an oligarchy (government by the few) to a democracy (government of the people). The key to Athenian democracy was Cleisthenes redrawing of the social-political landscape of Athens and Attica. The chief magistrate of the city was often called the Archon eponymous or ruler. His responsibilities included conducting investigations of legal cases, in particular those that involved the state. He was responsible for protecting the orphans and heiresses with no family and to appoint the choregos who was in charge of organizing the religious festivals. The move towards democracy reflects other changes in society. In the prehistoric period, throughout Greece, aristocratic families have provided the main fighting force, as cavalry. In the seventh century the Greek city-states develop the new military idea of the heavily armed soldier, the hoplite. A remorseless phalanx of hoplites becomes as effective on the battlefield as the tank in modern times. These soldiers provide their own weapons and armor, but this is expensive. Several of the Greek oligarchies, including that of Athens in the sixth century, reflect the power of this middle class of citizens. A strategic change of direction by Athens, early in the fifth century, gives these poorer citizens a new power. The military effort is diverted into building up an Athenian navy. Triremes, the fast warships of the time, need men to row them. Suddenly every citizen has a part to play, and the crews of a fleet of warships have a self-evident political strength. A more radical democracy, introduced by Pericles in 462, is almost an inevitable result. Approximately one hundred officials out of a thousand were elected rather than chosen by lot. There were two main categories in this group: those required to handle large sums of money, and the 10 generals, the strategy. One reason that financial officials were elected was that any money embezzled could be recovered from their estates; election in general strongly favored the rich, but in this case wealth was virtually a prerequisite. Generals were elected not only because their role required expert knowledge but also because they needed to be people with experience and contacts in the wider Greek world where wars were fought. In the fifth century BC, principally as seen through the figure of Pericles, the generals could be among the most powerful people in the polis. Yet in the case of Pericles, it is wrong to see his power as coming from his long series of annual generalships (each year along with nine others). His office holding was rather an expression and a result of the influence he wielded. That influence was based on his relation with the assembly, a relation that first lay simply in the right of any citizen to stand and speak before the people. Under the fourth century version of democracy the roles of general and of key political speaker in the assembly tended to be filled by different persons. In part this was a consequence of the increasingly specialized forms of warfare practiced in the later period. Elected officials too were subject to review before holding office and scrutiny after office. They too could be removed from office any time the assembly met. In one case from the fifth century BC the 10 treasurers of the Delian league (the Hellenotamiai) were accused at their scrutinies of misappropriation of funds. Put on trial, they were condemned and executed one by one until before the trial of the tenth and last an error of accounting was discovered, allowing him to go free.

Electronic and Mobile Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Electronic and Mobile Commerce - Essay Example In response to the growing need for mobility by consumers, mobile commerce emerged out of e-commerce. According to Tarasewich, Nickerson and Warkentin (2002), M-commerce is â€Å"the ability to conduct commerce, using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, while on the move.† in order to remain relevant most organization strive to establish their presence online, which as become a major competitive tool with the ever changing consumer behavior in the competition-ridden market. This paper explores tools and skills necessary to implement electronic and M-commerce in business. There are numerous sites, such as Google places, that present the chance for business organization to connect with their target market online. Such tools enable the company to stay online making possible to draw a large audience for the business. The organization should stick with chosen sites that are popular and not bother with many others. The organization can decide to stick with Facebook and Twitter, which are supposedly the most popular social media sites. Photographs tend to draw more attention than status updates. They are usually vivid, precise and welcomed by many users of social media. The fashion and music industries can reap big from using photography approach rather than posting mere status updates. Nonetheless, organizations in other industries can also make use of this approach by posting pictures of their products. This approach is likely to attract a large number of online communities into the organization. The second way to create an online presence for an organization is through creation of a website. A properly designed website can be a crucial marketing tool that can instill confidence in the business process and also act as an online storefront. All prosperous online business organizations have a fundamental platform that connects all social media profiles. The company’s website should appear formal, certified and established. To gain popularity, an organization

African American Women in Labor Unions Black, Brave and Bold Essay

African American Women in Labor Unions Black, Brave and Bold - Essay Example Black women operated in American workforce and labor movements throughout the span of the mid nineteenth to mid-twentieth century.During this time,America was not a place where people of color were treated fairly, which was more evident in the south. However, this was also the span of time that marked the emancipation of slaves through the Thirteenth Amendment, which caused a mass migration of African Americans into the northern parts of America. Blacks had a better opportunity, though immensely unequal to that of whites, to minutely progress in status due to many laws and stipulations placed upon them because of their skin tone.Black women operated in American workforce and labor movements throughout the span of the mid nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. During this time, America was not a place where people of color, particularly African Americans, were treated fairly, which was more evident in the south. This prospect was more probable in the North.Moreover, during this time, wo men in general were not viewed positively. In fact, women were also emancipated from the bondage of not being able to vote, just as blacks through the Nineteenth Amendment. Therefore, to be an African American female laborer in American society in this time period was accompanied with many trials and tribulations.Since there were two strikes (being a black female) of African American women in the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, this study will investigate a few cases that showcase the strength of the black woman worker during this time. This study will compare and contrast the success of the various examples and explain how each one glorifies Marxists views. Marxist thinking caused black women of that era to stand for equality in the workplace. A synopsis of each case will be given and will explain how they relate to Marxist ideas. The study will be divided into empirical and theoretical questions that exist in Marxist ideologies. It will answer the question whether or not there is evidence that forms of society exist only for as long as they advance productive power, and are replaced by revolution. The theoretical question is whether there are sufficient evidences to support Marxist functional explanations. 1. Karl Marx (1813-1883) Karl Marx is a philosopher but is popularly known for his works as a revolutionary communist that inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the 20th century. He has many philosophical ideas on other subjects, but this study will dwell on the political economic policy of Karl Marx that deals on the economic inequalities. He rejects the assumption that economic inequalities do not affect political equalities but focuses on the inequalities of neither individuals nor citizens but by the entire class. For Marx, the most fundamentally problematic inequality is that between those who own the means of economic production and those who do not. That some are rich and others poor is of concern, but this is only symptomatic of the former, deeper inequality. (Stamford Science Encyclopedia) Marx points out also to the inequality of sexes that is no longer economic in nature, but still forms a basis of capitalist political economic system. In a capitalist political economy, Marx contends that the economy, institutions of society and structure of society are controlled by the capitalist class and become basis for legitimacy. He said that the " ideologies of liberal democracy only serve to legitimate what is in fact a system of freedom and democracy only for some. The political equality emphasized by liberals is but a veil for the economic inequality that is so fundamental to a capitalist society and so detrimental to human freedom." (Source) As for other thinkers, equality is not an end in itself for Marx. Instead, equality in ownership and control of the means of production is a necessary prerequisite for freedom. 2. Other dedicated source synopsis 2.1 "We are all leaders". This is a kind of unionism that existed in 1930s. Staughton Lynd describes it as different from the bureaucratic business unions today. This was inspired by women nut pickers in St. Louis

What are the pros and cons of challenges to the appointment of Essay

What are the pros and cons of challenges to the appointment of arbitrators - Essay Example Nevertheless, the solicitor takes the vital role of advising on all possible methods that can be applied in dispute resolution, prior to recommendation of relevant in a given situation. In this case, arbitration is an alternative for resolving disputes in a situation that a third party reaches a decision, which is binding upon the parties to the dispute. The arbitrator decides on the issue in concerning the dispute, and he or she enforces a binding decision on the parties. Therefore, arbitration is undertaken due to a certain business contract; hence, offering arbitration for is situations where the disputes arise. Moreover, arbitration is considered to be the best suited for facilitating a settlement between parties in dispute. The paper will focus on exploring pros and cons of challenges to the appointment of arbitrators in the perspectives of parties bringing the challenge, opposing party in the disputes and the arbitrator whose appointment is be. In the process of arbitration, th e parties involved in the dispute agree to submit their dispute to the neutral arbitrator, instead of a court. Therefore, the arbitrator acts like a judge, whereby he or she listens to the testimony, reviews evidence and enters a binding ruling. After the decision in made, the prevailing parties may deicide filing in court to convent the award to a judgment. 4. On the other hand, the prevailing party may be raise claims that the judgment, which was provided, and the process involved binding arbitration require enforcement through the courts. Pros of arbitration One of the pros of arbitration is being quicker compared to litigation, and this becomes a debatable topic with arbitration tending to similar to a formal process of the court5. Therefore, once the party bringing the challenge and the opposing party in the disputes enters into arbitration they do not have to wait for the Court to add them in to a list, which is over clouded6. The parties have a chance of acquiring a suitable arbitrator, who is available, and they are make to decide on the time of arbitration. On the other hand, the decision made during the arbitration is binding to the party bringing the challenge and the opposing party in the disputes. However, there are some of other forms of ADR, which are non-binding; hence, they facilitate failure of the arbitration, despite the cost. In this case, once the arbitration is submitted there are expectations of definitive results. Arbitration is considered faster and less formal compared to the Courts process since the appointments are planned in a way that establishes a mutual convenience among the party bringing the challenge, opposing party in the disputes and the arbitrator. However, in the courts situation, the plan is dictated by the Court calendar, hence, in arbitration there is a chance of deciding on the duration, time, which is to be spent by the arbitrator in their case7. The party bringing the challenge and the opposing party in the dispute s have a chance of appointing somebody who they are familiar with in a situation of a dispute. Therefore, the arbitrator relates the process of arbitration to an industry normal practice. The party bringing the challenge, opposing party in the disputes and the arbitrator are able to include the clause in contracts sue to the likelihood of reaming confidential, unlike the disputes in the courts. Therefore, arbitration facilitates maintenance of the business relationship between the party bringing the challenge and the opposing party in the disputes8. Given that arbitration can lead to a resolution of a dispute faster than litigation, it is considered less costly than litigation since the

Personal statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Personal statement - Essay Example For a reputable student with less finances, I would apply high earning aspect in New York City, thus start raising money. Even though the effort might not come out very huge, this attempt will ask people to pay regard to a community like ‘The Association to Benefit Children’. I would choose â€Å"My Father’s Eyes† by Eric Clapton. This song embraces all generations and is preferred. As a business man or CEO of a company, a person should be responsible for his employees’ management. If offered a chance to sing, I would harmonize one powerful speech which would change people’s mind. My father has worked as President of a company over 20 years which has attracted me with his challenging persona. As I am not a person who is satisfied with sticking at once place, I ventured into the realms of Stern School of Business at NYU as it is competitive and has produced many successful business folks, hence encouraging

Investor Psychology and Return Predictability Essay

Investor Psychology and Return Predictability - Essay Example To do so, we start with a traditional constant relative risk aversion utility function. This type of utility function is a standard criterion for choices under uncertainty. This function is expanded in a Taylor approximation up to the fourth order. The first two moments correspond to mean and variance. The third and fourth moment correspond to a directional measure of extreme events and to a symmetric measure respectively. A negative third moment indicates that there are more extreme negative realizations than there are positive ones. The fourth moment measures how the tails of the return distribution compare with the tails of the Gaussian distribution. From a technical point of view, in our paper, a numerical optimization takes place where the allocation involves higher moments. More pronounced results expected in the case one consider portfolios of individual stocks. Our findings are the following: a) When an investor may allocate his wealth to the indices and to the risk-free asset, then the weights corresponding to the risky assets are essentially unaffected by the introduction of a concern for the third or fourth moments. c) As the third moment comes to play a role, Asia (except Japan) gets less weighted because it contains large negative returns, whereas the importance of Japan is increased. The strong weighting of Japan comes from the fact that the Japanese returns contain several very large positive outliers generating a positive third moment. The implication of this research is that the traditional utility functions or expansions thereof may not sufficiently weigh realizations of extreme nature. This brings up the question how to adapt a utility function so that more weight is given to extreme realizations. A further question is how the allocation would change in a conditional setting, or with individual stocks rather than with portfolios, since in such circumstances, one may expect that higher moments take larger values than in the present setting. These questions are left for future research. Abstract Investment strategy is the first issue that investors should consider. At the outset, investing is an act of faith, a willingness to postpone present consumption and save for the future. Investing for the long term is central to the achievement of optimal returns by investors. Unfortunately, the principle of investing for the long term-eschewing funds with high turnover portfolios and holding shares in soundly managed funds as investments for a lifetime- is honoured more in the breach than in the observance by most mutual fund managers and shareholders. This proposition for investor's psychology affect the return predictability can be shown to be precisely true in several popular mathematical models of the portfolio decision. If returns are independent over time, then the mean and variance of continuously compounded returns rises in proportion to the horizon: The

Cultural diversity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural diversity - Research Paper Example The countries/regions included in this paper are the United States, Great Britain, Middle East, India, Pakistan and Philippines. The paper further examines how Islam differs from Christianity and Judaism, and how these understanding affect the Muslim to non-Muslim relations. Finally, the paper proposes ways in which these relations can be improved. In order to have an idea about the teachings of Islam, this section briefly discusses the five Pillars of Islam. The first is the Declaration of Faith (Shahada), which is the belief in one God and Prophet Muhammad. Prayer (Salat) is the second pillar which emphasizes that observant Muslims have to pray five times in a day (Arab American National Museum (AANM), 2011). Prayers should be conducted at dawn, mid-day, mid-afternoon, at sunset and nightfall. These prayers can either be performed individually or in groups. The third tenet is Fasting (Soum). Ramadan is considered to be a holy month by Muslims. They believe that Prophet Muhammad got his first revelation during this month. Therefore, Muslims use this period to reflect and pray, and at the same time trying to correct their mistakes. Therefore, during this period, all Muslims are expected to fast and pray (AANM, 2011). Fourth, there is the pillar of Charity (Zakat) which requires that all Muslims have to give to charity every ye ar. This giving is usually done during the month of Ramadan, and the specific amount to give depends on the financial capabilities of the individual. The final pillar is Pilgrimage (Hajj). According to this pillar, all Muslims who have the financial and personal capability must perform the hajj once during their lifetime (AANM, 2011). All pilgrims wear white garments to in order to create a sense of equality before God. Currently, it is estimated that more than three millions pilgrims arrive in Mecca every year for the hajj. In a research conducted by the Pew Research Center (2011) on Muslim Americans, the results show

Effects of Media Globalization on Arab Culture Essay

Effects of Media Globalization on Arab Culture - Essay Example If the information technology and media dimensions are prohibited from entering into their closed territories, the countries lag behind and no country can afford to do that. Also all countries are anxious to take advantage of the benefits of globalisation, open their culture and attractions to tourism industry, so that they could be financially benefited. Environment is another matter that belongs to all the countries of the world and no country could afford to stay out of this issue. Arab countries are also keen on opening up the economy to venture into highly profitable imports and exports without which they will remain backward, while others are moving relentlessly forward. At the same time, most countries with closed cultures do not like their people to watch, learn and get influenced by other cultures. Some countries and cultures have an unfortunate view that only their culture is the best and all other cultures are unholy. Even for them it is important to take advantage of the technological improvements and discoveries from the 'unholy' cultures. Hence, the dilemma continues and even such countries cannot choose to lag behind by closing their doors to globalisation and information technology and rightly so. It is important to know all the diverse views about globalisation, media explosion and communication on the rather cosseted world of Arab culture. There are many views and most of them are against the globalisation. This does not mean that they do not want the benefits of globalisation. They only need the culture to be maintained as it had been done all these centuries. It is significant to find out how they could do it, and how effective they are in their goal. Also it is important to know how the global consumerism is catching up in the Islamic world of Arab countries. It is pertinent to peep into the women mentality and their freedom and if there had been any effect in that field at all. Finally it is necessary to know how Lebanon is fairing under globalisation and media explosion because Lebanon is in a unique position as it is caught in the political upheaval for a long time, a struggle for supremacy with Israel, a difficult problem of maintaining and working with Hezbollah, an d at the same time, trying to contain the terrorist and militant fractions of the society. LITERATURE REVIEW There is definitely broad diversity of opinions about the profit and loss of the effect of the internationalisation of non-tradition media under globalisation. In a way, Arab countries including Lebanon are trying to find political and economic solutions while trying to keep the social dimensions unchanged and this might become quite a challenging task eventually. Like any other country in the world, Arab countries too are living in a rapidly changing world and absolutely emotional attachment to the origins might become difficult and to some extent, a hindrance. There are opinions that globalisation in a way helped the Arab world to unite further. "I refer, above all, to the advanced communications technology which has functioned, on the one hand, to transfer the forces of globalization to the rest of the world and, on the other, to strengthen the bonds of language, culture, customs and tradition between Arab Americans and their original homelands" says Nasser in http://www.alhewar.c om/HGANasser.htm In the same speech Dr. Nasser goes on

Eu to Impose Anti-Dumping Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels. Essay Example for Free

Eu to Impose Anti-Dumping Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels. Essay Commentary: EU to impose anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Free trade versus protectionism is a topic of great debate in internal economics. The former takes place when there are no barriers to trade established by the government or international organizations. On the other hand, protectionism is the use of barriers to imports in a determined country and it is usually applied to protect domestic employment and firms. According to the article, China is being accused by the EU of dumping, defined as the selling by a country of large quantities of a commodity, at a price lower than its production cost, in another country. In the case the accusation was proved, the government is allowed, under international trade rules, to impose anti-dumping measures to reduce the damage to its domestic industry. The EU is already imposing a protectionist measure, tariffs. These are defined as a tax that is charged on imported goods and are considered as the most common type of anti-dumping measure. Before applying tariffs, the country consumed 0-Q2 Solar Panels at the price of the world (Pw), but domestic firms were producing only 0-Q1 and the rest (Q1-Q2) were imports. When the tariff is imposed, S (World) shifts upward by the quantity of the tariff to S (World)+Tariff. This produces prices to go up to Pw+T and the total quantity demanded of Solar Panels falls to 0-Q4. Because of the shift in the world’s supply curve, domestic producers now produce from 0-Q3 and their revenue increases from g to g+a+b+c+h. Foreign producers now supply Q3-Q4, but even when their products now have a higher price, they have to pay the amount of the tariff to the government and thus, their revenue falls from h+i+j+k to only i+j. As a result, the government receives tariff revenue of d+e. However, there are some issues that come with the application of this measure. First, is the dead-weight loss of welfare produced by the loss of consumer surplus, because even when consumers keep the amount â€Å"k† that they would have spent on Solar Panels, the new consumer surplus (equivalent to â€Å"f†) is not purchased. Secondly, now the EU would produce Q1-Q3 units of Solar Panels in a more inefficient way compared to China, and thus â€Å"c† represents the inefficiency of the domestic producers and a loss of world efficiency. Another issue with this measure is the creation of trade diversion with regards to Germany. As a member of a custom union the imposition of the tariffs to China are also compulsory for Germany, which is by far China’s greatest partner in the EU and, therefore, the production of Solar Panels for Germany would move from a low-cost producer outside the union to a high-cost producer inside the union. Before the EU imposed the tariff, Germany would produce 0-Q1 units of Solar Panels domestically and would import Q1-Q4 units of Solar Panels from China. Now with the new tariff, Chinese Solar Panels become more expensive than those produced in the EU. This would make Germany to produce 0-Q2 units of Solar Panels itself and import Q2-Q3 units from the EU. Now there is an overall fall in the quantity demanded of Solar Panels of Q3-Q4 units and so a loss of consumer surplus. Moreover, a misallocation of the world’s resources is produced since Q1-Q2 units of solar panels are now being produced by less efficient German producers and the production of Q2-Q3 units has transferred from efficient Chinese producers to relatively inefficient EU producers. It is true that, if the EU can prove that dumping has damaged its industries, they are allowed, under international trade rules, to impose anti-dumping measures. However, it is very difficult to prove whether or not a foreign industry has actually been guilty of dumping. Furthermore, the EU has the most subsidized economy in the world and it is arguable that when they subsidize a product, it is actually a case of dumping because the price doesn’t reflect the actual costs of the EU producers. This makes the issues about protectionism even greater, since (taking the previously mentioned assumption into account) the EU would not have the grounds to accuse China. There is now a high risk of retaliation from China leading to a possible  major tariff imposed by them to the EU and â€Å"Chinese and EU interests would be hurt if not properly handled† as mentioned by Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang. Clearly a better solution would have been a talk between governments, rather than any form of protectionism.

Irish Housing Policy Essay Example for Free

Irish Housing Policy Essay The legacy of anxious tenant and the battle for security of tenure continues to educate much political debates and imagery around housing. The longing to be free of landlordism usually is the primary factor for owner occupation at any cost. Many people view Irish as a conservative race by nature. In the field of housing, unique features have developed over the years which make Irish different from other European states. One of these features is the longing to own one’s own home. Successive regime have acknowledged this natural tendency towards this type of tenure and the need of providing it by introducing measures structured to encourage home ownership over the years. Irish housing policy has been greatly controlled by developers and house building companies since the 60s. This is still same today because possession of riches, properties, land and housing is not extensively divulged (O’Connell, 2007). Evolution of Irish Housing Policy Current Irish housing policy has been struggling to tackle the economic development of the past ten years. The upsurge of the economy since the mid 90s resulted to a fast growth in demand for housing mainly in the major cities, with a belated growth in housing development/production. Between 1993 and 2001, the real economic growth was approximately 8% per annum (Norris and O’Connell 2002). Irish emigrants returning home hunted housing in the thriving economy and the pace of new household establishment rose due to absence of emigration in the history of Ireland state. This led to a flourishing housing market and housing price inflated by 20% per year. All this unanticipated development occurred without a rational housing policy suitable for a modern industrializing nation. House builders and developers were left to address the new phenomenon (Norris et al 2007). Politicians complained of the rising prices which were excluding part of the population from accessing housing. This led to development of measures and plans for allowing access to those excluded from the market. One of the key responses of the government was the 2003 partnership agreement which had pledged to provide some ten thousand affordable housing units for low economic group who could not afford housing in the market. This was done by coordinating housing developer and market to develop cheaper units for sale. The state offered assistance through local government and provided subsidies of some state land (Norris and O’Connell 2002). The establishment of social housing policy in Ireland has mostly been seen as a responsibility of the domineering class to integrate the poorest of the low economy into the national community. Attempts to address social segregation of many Ireland population which finds it roots from historical residualisation of social housing have birthed another development and building chances instead of any real resource distribution (O’Connell, 2007). However, the 21st century Ireland housing policy is mostly dealing with housing equity, affordability, mortgage securitization and seasonally horrors of homelessness. The year 2000 was marked with increased social housing construction but this failed to recapture the relative output seen before the 80s. To this end, a number of policies have been formulated and introduced with mixed accomplishment. The first and immediate reaction to drops in social housing was a changing towards housing allowances for private renters (rent supplement) as a way of accommodating low economic households. Though this was structured as a short term housing support, the number of claimants and duration of claiming increased and the scheme became a parallel housing arrangement (Norris et al 2008). Doubts on the efficacy of this scheme and the poor quality of houses rented to claimant made the government to respond by announcing a new Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) in 2002. The local government was made responsible for administration of rent supplement claims and take long term lease from private renters for letting to these households. This was aimed at reducing rental costs and improvement of the quality of accommodation. Social housing reduced its role as a means towards home ownership in the 90s. This led to difficulties in home purchasing and the government came up with schemes to enable the poor householders to purchase their own house. These schemes included the affordable housing scheme, the shared ownership scheme and the mortgage allowances. Between 1991 and 2002, 29% home owners availed themselves for the schemes but there was a question of the sustainability of the scheme due to high mortgage arrears (Norris et al 2007). In 2003, 38% of home owners in the shared ownership scheme had over 3 month arrears (Norris O’Connell 2002). Conclusion Severe economic recession and related political predicament which has hit Ireland in the recent years has made future social housing prediction difficult. However, the mood of latest housing policy changes is an indication of likelihood of expansion of state intervention in the housing system. There has been a radical increase of private rented sector regulation as well as mainstream social housing production (Cowan 2006).

Performance Enhancement for Robot Localization

Performance Enhancement for Robot Localization Performance Enhancement for Robot Localization and Fault Minimization Using Alternative Least Square Machine Learning Technique ABSTRACT Machine learning tools are used for specific applications. The purpose is to investigate proper machine learning tools for the SFU Mountain data-set. Impact: Revealing the appropriate machine learning tools will guide us to build a better data model. We are conducting semi-structured woodlands for fault diagnosis of how environmental variables affect the availability of important robotic services. Using a modeling framework, we are creating future scenarios of robotic service availability based upon local knowledge and climate projections. In addition, we are developing models derived from inputs to compare and potentially combine with local knowledge inputs. This allows us to assess, from several perspectives, how a critical component of community flexibility cans revolution in the future. Perfect productivities will be used to simplify deliberations in the groups on variation options that could minimize the negative consequences while seizing upon positive opportunities. Keywords: Sfu-mountain, ALS, fault diagnosis etc. I.INTRODUCTION This paper considers the problem of recognizing locations based on their appearance. This problem has recently received attention in the context of large-scale global localization [Schindler et al., 2007] and loop-closure detection in mobile robotics [Ho and Newman, 2007]. We progresses the state of the art by developing a principled probabilistic framework for robotics algorithms for long-term deployment. Unlike many existing systems, our approach is not limited to localization we are able to decide if new observations originate from places already in the map, or rather from new, previously unseen places. This is possible even in environments where many places have similar sensory presence (a problem known as perceptual aliasing). Our system effectively learns a model of the common objects, which allows us to improve inference by reasoning about which sets of features are likely to appear or disappear. We present results which demonstrate that the system is capable of recognizing pl aces while rejecting false matches due to perceptual aliasing even when such observations share many features. The approach also has reasonable computational cost fast enough for online loop closure detection in realistic mobile robotics difficulties where the plot covers numerous thousand places. We establish our scheme through identifying loop conclusions over a 4km path length in an initially-unknown outdoor environment, where the system detects a large fraction of the loop closures without false positives. A calibrated sensor If you have a sensor or instrument that is known to be accurate. It can be used to mark position interpretations for evaluation. Best laboratories will have devices that have been standardized beside and documentation including the specific reference alongside that they were regulated, as well as several improvement issues that need to be functional to the output. B. Trail environment Relatively few researchers have focused on the needs, trail location predilections, and involvements of the mountain biker. This research gives recreation supply managers with data that can prompt modification in the method they observe how trail environments should be managed. In one of the few comprehensive studies of mountain biker preferences for recreational settings and experiences, Cessford (1995) in a study for the Department of Conservation, New Zealand, measured altered users and their near of involvement about desired setting issues, trail types, trail conditions, downhill and uphill preferences, and social encounters. Major results presented that there was a relationship between biker preference and level of experience. For example, novice bikers preferred smooth, open, or clear trails and had low preference for obstacles and carrying bikes on sections not feasible for biking. II. Literature survey Jake Bruce, Jens Wawerla and Richard Vaughan [1] they have taken a dataset which are based on measured, coordinated and ground truth- aligned of woodland trail navigation in semi organized shifting outdoor surroundings. The dataset is projected to support the growth of ground in robotics procedures for long-term arrangement in challenging outside situations. It takes total time more than 8 hours for trail navigation, with more accessible in the upcoming as the location variations. The data contain of interpretations from adjusted and coordinated sensors functioning at 5 Hz to 50 Hz in the form of color stereo and gray scale monocular camera images, perpendicular and push-broom laser scans, GPS sites, wheel odometry, inertial sizes, and atmospheric density standards. Dudek Jugessur [2] proposed an appearance-based navigation which is long history inside robotics; there has been substantial expansion in this field in last 5 years. Appearance-based navigation and loop closing recognition schemes working on routes on the instruction of a few kilometers in length are now common. Certainly, place detection schemes comparable in character to the one labeled here is now used equal in single-camera SLAM organizations intended for small scale uses in (Eade Drummond, 2008) [3]. In real time application of these schemes on the scale of tens of kilometers or new has too initiated to be possible. For example, in (Milford Wyeth, 2008) a scheme employing a set of naturally stimulated approaches accomplished effective loop closing recognition and plotting in an assembly of more than 12,000 images from a 66 km route, with processing time of less than 100 ms per image. The appearance-recognition element of the scheme was built on direct pattern matching, so sca led linearly with the size of the location. Working at a comparable scale, Bosse and Zlot define a place identic classification built on distinctive key points removed from 2-D lidar data (Bosse Zlot, 2008) [5] and prove good precision-recall performance over an 18 km suburban data set. Cummins Newman, 2009 [6], they established loop closure recognition on a 1,000 km path, using a type of FAB-MAP which used to an inverted index structural design. One latest research is the improvement of combined schemes which syndicate appearance and metric data. Olson [7] defined a method to increasing the robustness of overall loop closure detection schemes by using both appearance and comparative metric information to choose a single dependable set of loop closures from a bigger no. of applicants (Olson, 2008). The technique was assessed over numerous kilometers of urban data and shown to improve high precision loop closures even with the use of artificially poor image features. More loosely joined systems have also newly labeled in (Konolige et al., 2009; Newman et al., 2009). Significant applicable work also occurs on the more limited problem of overall localization. II.PROBLEM STATEMENT The data are highly challenging by virtue of the self-similarity of the natural terrain; the strong variations in lighting conditions, vegetation, weather, and traffic; and the three highly different trails. In contrast, we traverse challenging semi structured woodland trails, resulting in data useful for evaluating place recognition and mapping algorithms across changing conditions in natural terrain. III. PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION Interestingly, optimizing the posterior probability therefore amounts to optimizing the likelihood function *plus* another term that depends only on the parameters. The posterior probability objective function turns out to be one of a class of so-called penalized likelihood functions where the likelihood is combined with mathematical functions of the parameters to create a new objective function. Dataset The SFU Mountain Dataset involves of numerous 100 GB of sensor data verified from Burnaby Mountain, British Columbia, Canada. Each traversal covers 4km of woodland trails with a 300m altitude change. Recordings contain complete video since 6 cameras, collection data from two LIDAR sensors, GPS, IMU and wheel encoders, plus calibration parameters for each sensor, and we provide the data in the form of ROS bag files, JPEG image files, and CSV text files. Jake Bruce, Jens Wawerla, and Richard Vaughan. The SFU Mountain Dataset: Semi-Structured Woodland Trails Under Changing Environmental Conditions, in IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Robotics, Factory on Visual Place Acknowledgment in Varying Surroundings. Seattle, USA, 2015. Proposed Approach Flow Alternating Least Square (ALS) Machine Learning Alternating Least Squares starts by rotating between fixing one two coordinate for matrix dimension ui or vj that can be computed by solving the least-squares problem. This approach is handful as it improves the previous non-convex problem into a quadratic that can be solved easily [9]. A general description of the algorithm for ALS algorithm for collaborative filtering taken from Zhou et. al [11] is as follows: Step 1: Initializing matrix V by allocating the average rating for that motion as the first row, and then for the small random numbers of the remaining entries. The least squares simply adding up the squared differences between the model and the data.   Minimizing the sum of squared differences leads to the maximum likelihood estimates in many cases, but not always.   One good thing about least squares estimation is that it can be applied even when your model doesnt actually conform to a probability distribution (or its very hard to write out or compute the probability distribution).One of the most important objective functions is the so-called posterior probability and the corresponding Maximum-Apostiori-Probability or MAP estimates/estimators. In contrast to ML estimation, MAP estimation says: choose the parameters so the model is most probable given the data we observed. Now the objective function is P(theta|X) and the equation to solve is As you probably already guessed, the MAP and ML estimation problems are related via Bayes theorem, so that this can be written as Once again, it is convenient to think about the optimization problem in log space, where the objective function breaks into three parts, only two of which actually depend on the parameters. Step 2: Fix V, solve U by minimizing the RMSE function. Step 3: Fix U, solve V by minimizing the MSE function similarly. Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until convergence. Development tool The raw data development kit provided on the Autonomy Lab / SFU Mountain Dataset contains MATLAB demonstration code with file which gives further details. Here, we will briefly discuss the most important features. Before running the scripts, steps are: Step 1: Read curves points from the Excel file Step 2: Extract Row Co-ordinate and column too Step 3: Define fault rate Step 4: fault Detected Parameter Machine// Compute current from voltage vector Step 5: Do coerce to limit extrap values to positive values Step 6: fault Detection rate minimization as per coverage distance Step 7: Define sigmoid function regularization for numerical stability Step 8: Define bernoulli probability weight matrix response update Step 9:check convergence Step 10: compute MSE V.RESULT In this section we present results showing sample trajectory matches, fault detection rate and MSE on results plots. The current implementation has ALS optimization built in, so compute scales linearly with the length of the dataset. For all experiments, computation was performed at real-time speed or faster on a standard Intel Core i7 PC. We have evaluated our system with the public datasets from the [1] Project. The data were collected by a robotic platform in static and dynamic indoor, outdoor and mixed environments. Figure 5.1: initial robot position in equilibrium state. Above figure 5.1, the static position for robot 21.15 mm with 1.99-time slot fixing the pointer location having dynamic stages assign to each tracking region. Figure 5.2: Robot define fix counter to each direction and tracking target position with dynamic localization in green lines. Figure 5.3: robot coverage distance divide region in track and make define position of laser range at 360o  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Above figure 5.3 specification the counter stage as per rotated angle and capture each laser to minimization and tolerate skipping factor from 6.5 -9 micro meter in 0.96 millisecond timing. Figure 5.4: Fault detection rate minimization as per coverage distance over Energy level Above figure 5.4, the model of 200 mm distance with weather circumstances at 25oC having least fault detection rate i.e. 1.19, if we raise coverage or laser range of robot with same angle as previous weather circumstances meanwhile fault detection rate get highly maximized with same energy level or battery power of our robot configuration. Figure 5.5: MSE vs iteration for least square machine learning for faults Abovefigure 5.5, specification our proposed approach if raised no of dimension with same angular rotation of expert system means square error improving, hence minimum mean square error rate with 4- dimension of same iteration for our approach. iteration Fault minimization Rate 1 1.483500 2 1.034048 3 0.791479 4 0.340193 5 0.044917 6 0.000661 7 0.000000 The ALS method for computing correspondences, since they proved effective under several kinds of environments in the training datasets. In Fig. 5.5 we show the MSE curves obtained for our proposed simulation part which implemented in MATLAB tool with these parameters, we achieved a low MSE rate in the datasets with no false positives at dimension 4. In order to check the reliability of our algorithm with datasets, we used MATLAB as evaluation datasets. For these, we used our algorithm as a ALS, with the default configuration given above and the same vocabulary. This test shows that our method can work fine out of the box in many environments and situations, and that it is able to cope with sequences of images taken at low or high frequency, as long as they overlap. VI.CONCLUSION In this work, our proposed simulation of robot self-localization and utilizing all dimension and transferring position towards fix position by using a Alternate least square method. Our strategy is to create a visual experience for the library of raw visual images collected in different domains, to discover the appropiate visual patterns that clearly depicts the input scene, and use them for scene retrieval. In particular, we also showed that the appearance of the pose of the mined visual patterns, user laser range with tracking all coordinate with 360 degree which are matched with those of the database scenes by employing image-to-class distance and spatial pyramid matching. In future , the quadrate can be make for floor plan for learning object finder in internet of things and applying the deep learning into it. REFERENCES [1] Jake Bruce, Jens Wawerla and Richard Vaughan The SFU Mountain Dataset: Semi-Structured Woodland Trails Under Changing Environmental Conditions Autonomy Lab, Simon Fraser University. [2] Dudek, G. and Jugessur, D. Robust place recognition using local appearance based methods. In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, volume 2, 2000 [3] Eade, E. and Drummond, T. Unified loop closing and recovery for real time monocular slam. In Proc. 19th British Machine Vision Conference, 2008 [4] Milford, M.J. and Wyeth, G.F. Mapping a Suburb With a Single Camera Using a Biologically Inspired SLAM System. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 24 (5):1038-1053, 2008. [5] Bosse, M. and Zlot, R. Keypoint design and evaluation for place recognition in 2D lidar maps. In Robotics: Science and Systems Conference: Inside Data Association Workshop, 2008. [6] Cummins, M. and Newman, P. Highly scalable Appearance-only SLAM FAB-MAP 2.0. In Pro- ceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, Seattle, USA, June 2009. [7] Olson, E. Robust and Efficient Robotic Mapping. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, June 2008 [7] Konolige, K., Bowman, J., Chen, J.D., Mihelich, P., Calonder, M., Lepetit, V., and Fua, P. View-based maps. In Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), 2009. [8] Schindler, G., Brown, M., and Szeliski, R. City-Scale Location Recognition. In IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 1-7, 2007 [9]Nist ´er, D. and Stewenius, H. Scalable recognition with a vocabulary tree. In Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, volume 2, pp. 2161-2168, 2006 [10] J ´egou, H., Douze, M., and Schmid, C. Hamming embedding and weak geometric consistency for large scale image search. In David Forsyth, Philip Torr, Andrew Zisserman (ed.), European Conference on Computer Vision, volume I of LNCS, pp. 304-317. Springer, oct 2008. [11] Y. Zhou, D. Wilkinson, R. Schreiber, and R. Pan. Large-scale parallel collaborative filtering for the netflix prize. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Algorithmic Aspects in Information and Management, AAIM 08, pages 337-348, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008. Springer-Verlag.

Grendel the Existentialist Monster :: Grendel Essays

Grendel the Existentialist Monster The monster Grendel is the ironic eye through which the action is viewed and from this perspective he provides the reader with never-ending examples of buffoonery and self-parody. Often his claims reveal the Sartrean component in his makeup: "I create the whole universe, blink by blink"(Gardner 22). Gardner,of course,wants to make a point here about solipsism. There is more to the objective world than Grendel's ego. Naturally the universe still exists when Grendel closes his eyes. Likewise, when Grendel says "I observe myself observing what I observe", (Gardner 29) ,he reminds us of Sartre's view of the self-reflective nature of consciousness. As he said in his interview, Gardner planned to parody Sartre's ideas in Being and Nothingess in these sections of the novel. When Grendel says "then I am not that which observes! I am lack. Alack. "(Gardner 29) he plays on the French verb manquer(to lack) that Sartre uses in his description of the lacking quality of consciousness. This ability to observe his observing is a clue to the philosophical underpinnings of the early chapters. Gardner's irony should be crystal clear--Grendel is amusing himself with Sartre's phenomenology. Now what is the reader to make of all this? A brief summary of Sartre's description of consciousness may help. According toSartre man exists on the level of being-in-itself(as a body in a world of objects) and on the level of being-for-itself(consciousness ). The key to understanding Grendel's view of the world is this distinction between the in-itself and the for-itself.Since, for Sartre, being-in-itself is uncreated(he can find no evidence of a creating God) and superfluous("de trop"), it reveals itself as a sort of absurd, meaningless outer reality. But being-for-itself, on the other hand, is the awareness that consciousness is not the being of the in-itself. Its being is revealed in a more paradoxical way-- as an emptiness in the center of being. How can it be aware of itself as an object?Impossible says Sartre. Simply put, the for-itself is the absence or the lack(thus Grendel's "lack") of the objectness of the in-itself . It reveals itself as the nothingness that remains when y ou realize that your consciousness is not an awareness of an object(such as your body), but rather an awareness of the lack of an object; or,to put it another way, it is an awareness of a nihilated presence.Grendel is proof that only an

Educational Goals and Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

Educational Goals and Philosophy It was not until middle school that I began distinguishing those of my teachers who motivated and inspired me from those who simply went through the motions of teaching. It was also about that same time that I began envisioning myself as an educator -- one who not only impressed his students with the mastery of content but also impressed upon his students the need to perform at the highest academic level possible. When you really think about it, an education is simply an instrument with as many uses that an individual can come across; however, it is also something that is taken for granted by so many. Educating our youth and society is essential to the survival of the human race, and making sure that all children not only receive a full, well-rounded education but also take nothing for granted is a serious challenge for today's educator. I possess that inner desire to make a difference; I hold myself in that light hoping to inspire and motivate generations of students to come. T o accomplish this dream, though, I will need much more than sheer desire and determination. In fact, any hopeful educator must subscribe to philosophies and strategies ranging from teaching styles to discipline, from motivational techniques to leadership. In the following text, I will attempt to touch on all of these issues and also spend some time discussing such topics as educational reform and mainstreaming in the classroom. First, I should focus on what philosophies I will adhere to as an educator. At best, I can describe my philosophy as a combination of the well-established, almost timeless philosophies of idealism and realism. The idealist in me views discipline the same as do other idealists. Handling student misbehavior and misconduct is a personal issue that I will handle with the student privately. Only after several of these attempts fail or the misconduct is so severe will I involve a third party such as parents or administrators. Another similarity I have with the idealist point of view is their passion for teaching. It's an almost indescribable feeling, but I just cannot wait to have my own classroom. Looking at things from a different point of view, I identify very much with the realist philosophy in terms of the sharing and gaining of knowledge.

The Success of the Civil Rights Movement Essay -- 1960s Civil Rights M

Although there was significant improvement in the lives of black people through the Success of the civil rights movement by the late 1960s, there were also some failures and aspects that the civil rights movement had not achieved. These failures were social, economical, political and cultural. These failures included the fact that some laws were not upheld. Black people saw this as an injustice and inconvenience and as a failure economically. There was unemployment to a certain degree amongst the black community, as over 10% of black people were unemployed. This could be linked to poverty and poor quality of schooling and education Poverty and the condition of living and housing was a major issue in 1967, when one third of black families were living below the government's poverty level in comparison to under 10% of white people who were living below the government's poverty level. Economically, this was another failure. A cultural and social failure was the mortality rate of black babies, that being twice as high ...

ANZ Sustainable Business Practices Essay

â€Å"Sustainable† business practices are being touted, or even required, more and more by western society. What is ANZ’s sustainability policy and how is this congruent (or not) with cutting edge sustainability thinking and theory. Does this thinking and practice change across borders? And if so, how does the ANZ’s Australian head office engage with it? Does what they espouse align with the reality of their practice? Over the past few decades, sustainable business practices have become more prevalent and required in corporations. Australian organisations are required to be responsible for being sustainable socially, economically and environmentally, here we focus on the environmental factors. Australia’s government is constantly coming up with new way for its people and businesses to follow more sustainable programs. Western society as a general believes that sustainable business practices are an essential part of any business policy. Pushes through meeting between world leaders, countries are now more than ever expected to upkeep sustainable conventions. Although almost all large corporations claim that they have strong sustainable business practices and policies, not all corporations espouse what they preach. It is difficult for any corporation to achieve sustainability at a level which pleases everybody, however most organisations are noticing that having sustainable business practices is rewarding both financially and at a customer satisfaction level. Meeting the needs of a business and its stakeholders, while at the same time managing it’s effects on society and the environment are core to business sustainability (Pojasek 2007). The culture we live in thrives off of new and improved ways of living. Finding the most sustainable option, in every case, allows organisations and their customers to grow. This generation will not stand for ignorance and insensible approaches to sustainability in the corporate world. Large businesses must be aware that the decisions they make will often impact beyond the walls around them, and that they must answer for the damage they cause. Organisations that shy away from sustainable options, be it due to finances or ignorance will see themselves placed under immense pressure from government organisations all the way down to the consumers. This push for a better tomorrow, is being incorporated around the world on a business and personal level. Burke (1991), lists ten characteristics for a sustainable  society, such as using renewable resources and linking development with conservation, these when applied to an organisation build a trust and a loyalty with stakeholders who align their morals with the companies they choose. If everyone were to stand by these rules, the prospect of the population doubling in the next fifty years may not seem so daunting. However not everyone abides, as it is not always economical or immediately beneficial to be sustainable and some corporations cannot see the footprints they are leaving behind for the next generations to deal with. Corporations need to see the potential for improving business value through sustainability, starting internally with management, before reaching out. The general consensus is that sustainable business practices are vital in the longevity of any organisation and needs to be taken seriously. Australia is ranked quite highly when it comes to cutting edge sustainabil ity thinking and theory. In fact the most sustainable company in the world in 2014 is Westpac Banking, which is an Australian corporation (Smith 2014). With four companies placed in the top hundred, on the most sustainable companies list, one can see that Australia’s expectations for business’ to adopt sustainable approaches throughout all their business operations is taking effect. The government uses many tactics to make sure that businesses are using sustainable business practices. One method is the annual Australian business award for sustainability, this is useful, as it is important to commend sustainable companies and it encourages a healthy competition to have the best continual business model and be more aware and proactive in regards to the environment. The Australian government is active in its move to promote and push for sustainable business practices, one of their more recent resolutions is the Clean Energy Legislation, which is made of individual bills covering levys on green house gases and fuel tax, this enforces corporations to oblige and making a move towards being green (Griffiths, 2012). However this means that certain organisations will do the bare minimum of what is required of them by law and nothing more. There are other initiatives in place to encourage sustainable business practices which are not legally binding, such as Sustainable Bu siness Australia, who provide policy recommendations and resources for sustainability challenges (SBA, n.d). Companies who become members with SBA are held in high regards by their stakeholders as they abide by the recommendations regarding carbon  action and resource solutions. There is also an emphasis on the people, and their crucial role in creating business value. Previously people were satisfied with just their basic needs being fulfilled, but no longer, we now see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs triangle unravelling as people require more to feel satisfied with themselves and what they do in their work space (Kiel, 1999). With encouragement from government and local communities, Australia is making an effort with great determination towards having the best sustainable business practices. ANZ (2013) asserts that it endeavours to recognise the environmental impact within its work places and branches, following social and environmental pressures to reduce them. ANZ makes it clear that they are aware of their environmental impact directly through their buildings, structures and empl oyees, as well as indirectly through their lending. They are certified carbon neutral with the National Carbon Offset standards and create progress reports biannually regarding their impact on a variety of areas such as gas emissions, water and paper usage and resource efficiency among others, they have been doing so for ten years (ANZ 2004). Although ANZ has variety of KPIs and targets to meet, they cannot always fulfil their requirements. One of the targets for 2013 was to reduce paper usage by converting everything into electronic statements, New Zealand successfully did so, however Australia did not reach that target, and has set it as a goal for the year to come (Nash 2013 p.68). ANZs sustainability policy is very broad and covers a range of issues, beginning with educating sustainability, it is seen as vital to begin by reaching out and teaching staff so they are aware of the impacts they have on the environment, directly and indirectly. The policy goes over safety, fairness and responsibility as well as maintaining an environmental management system and integrating government and community needs in regards to sustainability (ANZ 2004 pg.2). ANZ’s sustainability policy goes above and beyond what is required of them by law, this is the case through to stakeholder. ANZ works closely with its stakeholders through collaboration and engagement, progress is reported to stakeholders regularly and based on responses, ANZ makes public commitments which they aim to accomplish (ANZ n.d.). Questionable practices and unethical behaviour would have stakeholders removing themselves from being associated, for this reason ANZ aims high to please its stakeholders which intern promotes sustainability and business  continuity. Crossing borders to the rest of the world we find variations in sustainable business practices from commendable nuclear recycling in France to disgraceful toxic waste dumping off the Ivory coast. Every co untry has a different set of laws and legislations set up that can affect the way one runs a sustainable business. An Australian based corporation with locations around the world, still has to abide by the countries laws that they are set up in. Luckily more and more people are realising the benefit of sustainable business practices around the world such as Ray Anderson (Ted Talks, 2009) who claims, â€Å"The biggest culprit in this massive mistreatment of the earth by the human kind†¦that culprit is business and industry†, and that the only solution is for businesses to take responsibility of their actions and move towards more sustainable resolutions. In 1997 many of the worlds countries met in Kyoto, Japan to discuss greenhouse gas emissions, through this the Kyoto protocol was created with the aim to help avoid global warming (Gang 2007). Through these worldly events and meetings between leaders, countries are becoming more obligated to be vigorous in their attempts to create a sustainable future. As the governments accept new world protocols and create their own, businesses must oblige and follow suit. Overall western societies are all on the same page when it come sustainability, as they can afford to take steps to preparing for a greener future. It is a struggle with third world countries who do not have the funds to improve on their sustainability, such as the upfront costs of solar power. What must be realised that no matter poor or not, one cannot afford to be wasteful or carless with resources on this planet. Since 1835 ANZ has branched itself all over the world, originating in the United Kingdom, then Australia and now in the Asia Pacific region amongst other areas. Considering that business is being conducted in these areas, and major lending does occur, the effects of this must be contemplated. ANZ proactively adopts a program called the sensitive sector policy, which regulates who ANZ lends to. Employees who are working in the lending field at ANZ are thoroughly trained in social and environmental risk and how the people and companies they lend to will affect the standard of living and the environment in the country that they are in. This training goes on, and is consistent in all of ANZ’s branches across the planet from Australia to Hong  Kong and Singapore (ANZ n.d.). ANZ does put an effort in to having a globally sustainable business policy, not just within their company but also through the communities it works in. In 2013 one of ANZ’s global key aims was to have their staff do at least 100,000 hours of volunteering in the districts that they operate in. They hit ninety precent of their target, which is an achievement (Nash 2013). What ANZ is seeing is that businesses need to seek sustainable solutions internally as well as externally, as they have an affect on whichever communities they are in. They use a geocentric view, which is more world orientated and find people from around the globe who are best suited to knowing what is needed in the communities that they are in. ANZ uses an accommodative approach to corporate social responsibility. Luke (2013) says that CSR is a type of political agenda, a way to deceive people that one is doing good for good, even so the social impact programs and the environmental outreach, whether a form of coercion to be seen as a good and successful company, still has a positive effect even if the intentions weren’t so. ANZ also partners with WWF, which is aimed at creating awareness, providing information and education in regards to the environment and sustainability within the corporation and to the customers it serves (ANZ, n.d.). ANZ aspires to have and uphold sustainable business practices globally and believes that it is. Although companies aim to achieve the best sustainable business policies, often they cannot hold true to their word. Unfortunately for ANZ due to their investments in projects which will have an adverse affect on the climate and natural habitats of the Great Barrier Reef, their customers are protesting, threatening and are indeed changing banks (Vincent, 2013). In fact ANZ is Australia top lender when it comes to coal and gas projects, they have already lent a whopping $1.1 Billion to the undertaking of finding fossil fuels in the Great Barrier Reef (Charlie, 2013). Interestingly though, ANZ’s attitudes on the subject of coal and fossil fuel investments are not negative. ANZ actually approaches the subject of their investments in coal and fossil fuels as a positive, even though this area is receiving a large amount of negative publicity on the news and from a variety of NGO’s. They do not try to hide their investments either. Their argument is that coal is one of Australia’s main sources of energy and is also our second largest export, therefore helping finance the country (Nash, 2013). Although they do  fund many of these fossil fuel and coal schemes, they do control where they invest, ANZ has recently not agreed to lend to three coal and gas-fired power prospects, because of various reasons including the level of gr eenhouse gas involved and incompetent business practices (Nash 2013). Whilst the intentions of most large corporations are for the good, often the product of their doings is not seen that way. To continue to be a successful business, one must always seek to improve and to look towards a sustainable future. ANZ has done an outstanding job at doing so, winning awards in innovation and excellence, and coming in as a finalist in the award for the best sustainable development in the new buildings category. All architects and builders now look towards creating a harmony between building designs and being environmentally conscious. Studies have shown that using sustainable building methods can be more cost efficient in the long term (Sims, Rogner & Gregory, 2003). ANZ has gone above and beyond in 2009 when they completed the work on their accredited six green star ANZ headquarters, situated in the docklands of Melbourne. This building includes a myriad of environmental features such as solar power, wind turbines, tri-generation black water recycling, and use of the river cooling (Puchalski 2011). One of ANZ’s objectives for the coming years is to increase their lending to lower carbon emission power and financing new energy opportunities. While it was uncovered that one of ANZ’s customer was attaining oil from illegal palm oil plantations, ANZ identified the situation, and through delicate discussion, cleared the air and made sure that all practices were completely certified (Nash 2013). ANZ has many goals and KPIs both financial and non financial that they set and aim to achieve every year, a surprising amount of these are part of their sustainable business policy. As a corporation they are doing more good than harm. Whilst countless organisations aim for profit growth, the need of sustainable business practices means that choices may be made that might not necessarily maximise capital, but will be beneficial for society and the environment. Sustainable business practices are essential to all organisations, even more so in the western world. Sustainable technology is constantly growing as the need for it expands. However it is not always simple to comply and meet everyone’s expectations when it comes to sustainability, even so through world incentive corporations are being pushed to take the matter seriously. Although there are set policies for  what is appropriate and approved, businesses have the ability to surpass what is expected of them and in doing so help nurture a sustainable future. Reference List ANZ 2013, Our approach and performance, ANZ, Australia, viewed 25 April 2014, www.anz.com.au/about-us/corporate-responsibility/framework/urban-sustainability. ANZ n.d., Engagement and best practices, ANZ, Australia, viewed 6 May 2014 http://www.anz.com.au/about-us/corporate-responsibility/environment/engagement-best-practice/ ANZ n.d., Sensitive sector policies, ANZ, Australia, viewed 26 April 2014, http://www.anz.com.au/about-us/corporate-responsibility/customers/responsible-business-lending/policies-guidelines/sector-policies/. ANZ n.d., Stakeholder Engagement, ANZ, Australia, viewed 25 April 2014, http://www.anz.com.au/about-us/corporate-responsibility/more-mike/stakeholder-engagement/. Burke, J, 1991, Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living, IUCN/Gland, Switzerland, viewed 25 April 2014, https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/edocs/CFE-003.pdf. Charlie, 2013, Coal and climate dominate ANZ AGM, 350 Australia, viewed 23 April 2014, http://350.org.au/coal-and-climat e-dominates-anz-agm/. Griffiths, M 2012, ‘Climate change policy in Australia: contexts and consultation on the Clean Energy Legislative Package’, Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on e-Government, held in Barcelona, Spain 14-15 June, 2012, Academic Conferences and Publishing International, M. Gascà ³, pp. 1-9. Kiel, J 1999, ‘Reshaping Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to reflect today’s educational and managerial philosophies’, Journal of Instructional Psychology, September, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p167, viewed 6 May 2014, Teacher reference centre Luke, T 2013, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: An Uneasy Merger of Sustainability and Development’, Sustainable Development, March, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p83, viewed 5 May 2014, EBSCO Host. Nash, J 2013, Corporate sustainability report 2013, ANZ, viewed 25 April 2014, http://www.anz.com/resources/e/2/e29f5bf3-8b7e-456f-a3a3-f381b46a99f8/ANZ_Sustainability_Review_FY13.pdf. Pojasek, R 2007, â₠¬ËœA framework of business sustainability’ Environmental quality management, December, vol. 17, issue 2, p.81, viewed 23 April 2014, Wiley Online Library.