Pick n Pays Essay Example for Free

Pick n Pays Essay What is your strategy to reverse Pick n Pays loss of market share? Pick n Pay lost market share in part because it opened materially less space than some of its major competitors. A significant proportion of its capex was invested in supply chain technology infrastructure in recent years, which by its nature doesnt drive sales compared to stores. Our capital focus is now on new stores and refurbishment, which will drive sales and, in time, profitability. Over the past year we have refreshed, without substantively altering our strategy. Our overarching ambition is for the Group to become the â€Å"Retailer of choice for all South Africans†. This builds on Pick n Pay and Boxer’s brand strength and strong store portfolio. Importantly this refreshed strategy does not represent a major departure from the strategy that has been followed for the past five years. We have seven themes geared to ensure that the business can grow sustainably and profitably. There is a balance of growth-driven priorities, focusing on space, customer, franchise and product, and those largely focused on improving efficiency such as replenishment and store operations. The â€Å"One Pick n Pay† initiative ties these together to ensure that the business works well as a unified whole. Strategic priority: Grow selling space ahead of the market There is substantial competition for retail space both within South Africa and in other African markets. Ensuring that Pick n Pay increases its overall share of trading space over the long term is an important strategic priority. Over the past three years our space growth has lagged that of our competition particularly into the faster growing lower income areas and small stores. This not only directly reduces our market share but also puts pressure on like-for-like sales growth. We will continue to develop store formats and channels that meet customers’ changing needs both in Pick n Pay and Boxer, in South Africa and beyond. Additionally we continue to build a pipeline of new sites, whether greenfield or through acquisition that will ensure we meet our aspirations. Strategic priority: Build deep customer relationships The launch of our customer rewards programme Smartshopper gives us a  significant opportunity to get to know our customers’ shopping habits and preferences substantially better than we do today. Since its launch in March 2011 the programme has been a great success. After just one year we now have over five million active cardholders, exceeding our initial target by two million. This enables us not only to know and understand each customer a great deal better, but to communicate with our customers in a different and more engaging manner. We have direct access to the vast majority of Smartshopper customers by either sms or email, which means that we can send targeted marketing communications directly to them. We can also ask for feedback directly from them. All of this translates into a very valuable two-way dialogue with our customers. As a result we are designing and executing marketing campaigns which are more relevant to our customers. We are extracting insights from their shopping habits data in order to tailor our product ranges and more accurately serve them. All of this will assist us in growing our sales volumes significantly. Strategic priority: Revolutionise Pick n Pay’s product offer During the past 12 months we have invested considerable time and resources in building a single specialised category buying division. Prior to the establishment of this division, Pick n Pay’s sourcing activities were distributed across the operating regions. This led to fragmentation of the Group’s buying scale, with each buyer having a wide range of products to source. Our new specialised category buying division is made up of category teams each of which is responsible for the end-to-end profitability of a specific product category. They are tasked with developing a product range that meets all customer needs, sourcing those products at the lowest possible cost, constructing shelf layouts that help customers find what they are looking for easily, building a promotional plan that generates customer excitement, increased volumes and higher margins, and ensuring that Pick n Pay’s prices remain hig hly competitive. Included in their responsibilities is the task of improving our Pick n Pay branded offer.

Young Gangs And Criminal Behaviour In Malaysia

Young Gangs And Criminal Behaviour In Malaysia According to the National Youth Development Policy in Malaysia (as cited in United Nations, 2002), people between the ages of 15 and 40 are considered youth. However, the United Nations defines youth, as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. The Merriam-Webster (2010) defined youth as the time of life when one is young, the period between childhood and maturity. Statistically, youth aged 15 to 24 contribute to the largest proportion of the total population (Economic Planning Malaysia, 2010). The youths are the future leaders of tomorrow. Therefore, the government of value and stressed on the development of youth. Recently, the government had allocated RM20 million to the 1Malaysia fund for youth development under the Budget 2011 (Bernama, 2011). As youth constituted to the biggest section of Malaysias population, their involvement in youth gang and criminal behaviours has received great attention from everyone. According to the Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary (1997), the term gang can be described as a group of young people, who are typically troublesome; regularly associate together. Kennedy and Baron (as cieted in Ngail, Cheung, Steven, 2007) defined gang as a group oriented and committed to anti social, deviant, and criminal activities. Howard (1997) stated that youth gang is a self-formed association of peers having identifiable leadership and collective actions to carry out illegal activities. Background of Study The risk behaviour among youth is an ever growing problem in Malaysia. A study revealed the risk behaviour among adolescents revealed that truancy (34.4%) was the major risk behaviour and followed by loitering in public places (21.5%); bullying friends (14.4%), stealing (12.9%) and smoking (12%) (Hidayah, Hanafiah, Idris, Rosnah, Ibrahim, Nonnah, 2009). An academic analysis on the rise of crime in Malaysia showed that there is an increase of crime from 70,823 in year 1980 to 156,455 in 2004 (Sidhu, 2005) . This amount to an increase of 120 percent which indicated that crime rate has increased dramatically. The crime index continue to grow from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 224,298 cases in 2007 which indicated the increased of 45% over the past four years (Crime and Safety, 2008). The three major races of Malaysian are Malay, Chinese and Indian. The Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia calculated the population of Malaysia in 2010 stated that Malays (21%) constituted to the largest group; Chinese (22.6%); and Indian (6.8%). Although Indian represents a small minority group, they have contributed to the criminal and gang related problem. Mr. Ramli Yusuff, deputy national chief of detectives, disclosed that there were 38 Indian crime gangs in the Peninsular of Malaysia with a total membership of around 1,500 in 2000. Indians are a minority in the country but criminals from the ethnic group are committing the most number of serious crimes compared with other races, he said (Concern in Malaysia, 2000). Aliran (as cited in Suryanarayan, 2008) provided statistical details that 40 percent of serious crimes in Malaysia are committed by the Indians; furthermore, Indians recorded the highest number of those detained in prison. Chapter II Literature review Most gang members begin their involvement in gangs as youth. Snyder and Sickmund (as cited in Sharkey, Shekhtmeyster, Chavez-Lopez, Norris, Sass, 2011) reported that most gang members join between the ages of 12 and 15 years. Three former gangsters has been interviewed and reported to joined gang during their secondary school life (Alagappar, Len, George, Lee, Wong, 2005). These studies indicated the crucial developmental period of youth is during the high school period. The Social Activities of Youth Gang Youth gang engaged in various gang activities. Futrell (as cited in Yahaya, Boon, Buang) stated that activities carried out by the gangsters in school consist of being harsh to teachers, threatening acts, stealing, and bullying or beating students. Another study indicated that youth gang especially high school students reported to have high prevalence of alcohol use, engaged in physical fighting, drug use and drug selling (Swahn, Bossarte, West, Topalli, 2010). Gang members have found to have greater involvement in delinquent behaviors and the gang affiliation increases adolescents involvement in violence (Madan, Mrug, Windle, 2010). The youth gang issues in Malaysia have been frequently reported by the media. In 2006, news published in Daily Express regarding gang fights and police rounded up eleven boys, among them were four secondary school students. At the same year, a group school girls engaged in gang fight by bullying another student was reported (The Star, 2006). This year, cases have been reported over newspapers. Guang Ming Daily (2011) reported that a gang of youth has been engaging in theft behavior and three teenagers has robbed and injured a sergeant. Recently, five men, aged 18 to 30 were arrested in connection with a clash involving 40 members of two rival gangs. In the ensuing fight, at least five members were injured and two vehicles burnt (Tahir, 2011). Sin Chew Daily (2011) has revealed teenagers vandalized the public property; a group of Mak Rempit refused to listen to advice and stabbed innocent person. The news being reported has indicated the significance of youth gang problems and the sev erity of the problems can range from vandalism to killing people. Risk Factors for Gang Membership Strain theory The traditional strain theories stated that some individuals are drawn to crime when they are prevented from achieving cultural goals such as monetary success or higher social status (Froggio, 2007). A more conventional approach of strain theory suggested that if young people are treated badly, they become upset and respond with aggression, crime and other deviant behaviors (Agnew, as cited in Froggio, 2007). Agnew stated that strain refers to relationships in which others are not treating the individual as he or she would like to be treated. Poverty. Sharkey et al. (2011) stated that people living in poverty experience strain due to the inability to achieve the ideal economic success; consequently, people may grow to feel despair and turn into criminal activities in order to achieve sense of gratification. There were 41 percent vagrants and beggars in Malaysia has been reported by Aliran (as cited in Suryanarayan, 2008) to be Indians. This may indicate the higher poverty rate is among the Indian community; hence, they have higher risks to engage in crime. A recent research in Malaysia reviewed majority of bullies were from rural schools and families with low income (Uba, Yaacob, Juhari, 2010).Young people living in poverty may find it difficult to meet basic physical and psychological needs; one way to earn cash is to join a gang involved in the drug trade (Gang, 2008). Gangs provide the perfect structure and leadership necessary to maximal criminal success (Sharkey et al., 2011). Inequality. Malaysias social workers and politicians said that Indians turn to crime because they feel marginalized from government development plans and lack equal education, business and job opportunities (Concern in Malaysia, 2000). When groups of people are denied access to power, privileges, and resources, they will often form their own anti-establishment group (Gang, 2008). Regan (as cited in Sharpe, 2003) explained that individuals joined gang as the gang provides sense of acceptance to them. Social control theory The control theory suggested that entry into deviant peer groups is a function of a lack of social control experienced by youth (Hirschi, as cited in Hill, Howell, Hawkins, Pearson, 1999). Youth are less likely to join a gang if they are committed and able to adapt to the community expectations (Sharkey et al., 2011). School. School as a social control system contributed to a childs adaptability to community expectation. High academic expectation and teachers expectation tend to play the role. The risk factors identified in joining a gang included academic failure; negative labeling from teachers; low commitment to school; high delinquent in school (Hill et al., 1999). Social learning theory Social learning theory believed that people learn through modeling. The role models of family members and peers tend to be the most influential in youngsters. Family. Family members are important models from whom youth learn from. Howell (1997) indicated that family members in a gang will contribute to the risk factor of youth for gang membership. Other studies related to family revealed that students with no parents, students from broken family and poor family management had greater odds of joining gang (Hill et al., 1997). Consistently, the findings obtained from Alagappar et al. (2005) interviews indentified former gang members in Malaysia were from troubled and lack understanding family (refer to Appendix A; Appendix B). Peers. In self-report studies, association with deviant or delinquent peers is consistently one of the strongest predictors of an adolescents own delinquency (Esbensen, Peterson, Taylor, Freng, 2009). Affective ties to delinquent peers are also strongly and consistently linked with youth gang involvement (Sharkey, et al., 2011). Consistently, a study of gangsterism in Malaysia secondary school showed that friends were the most influences referred to by the students as compared to their family (Yahaya et al., 2001). Other peer-related factors included limited or lack of association with pro-social peers or low commitment to positive peers (Howell, 1997). Cognitive developmental theory Cognitive developmental theory regards inadequate cognitive development as a cause of delinquent behaviours and gang involvement (Ngai, Cheung, Steven, 2007). Cognitive development manifests itself in ones ability to process and analyze information in order to formulate solutions to problems (Husband Platt, as cited in Ngai, Cheung, Steven, 2007). Raine (as cited in Ngai et al., 2007) explained that the ability involves empathy, perspective thinking, and ethical reasoning which are cognitive guides of ones behaviour. Ngai et al. further discussed that delinquency arises out of ignorance of others. As a result, anger, quarrel, and even violence against others may happen due to inability to understand and tolerate others. Maslows hierarchy of needs According to Maslows model of hierarchy, people have basic hierarchal needs, which include physiological (hunger, thirst, shelter), safety (security and protection), belongingness (love, affection, family, acceptance, friendship), esteem (self-esteem, achievement, recognition, respect), and self-actualization (self-fulfilment; Maslow, 1970). Findings from several youth gang research have been found to support Maslows theory. Physiological needs. A focus group of youngsters who associated with gang, aged 17-21 were interviewed by Alagappar and her group in 2005. When the researchers asked the participants what makes them more likely to join gangsterism, majority of the participants answered in need of material goods and money. Safety. A recent study reviewed by Taylor, Freng, Esbensen Peterson (2011) demonstrated that most youth reported joining a gang for protection. Research in Malaysia has found that some students were victims of bully before they join into a gang (Alagappar et al., 2005; refer to Appendix C). Belongingness. In a qualitative analysis, an ex-gangster was asked why he joined gangsterism, he replied: 9 out of 10 of my friends are gangsters; I would be left out and alienated if I do not join them (Alagappar et al., 2005). This result further supported the social learning theory as youth obtain the sense of belonging and identity through peers (refer to Appendix A). Esteem. Alagappar et al. (2005) indicated that one of the reasons youngsters involve in gang is to gain popularity and recognition from other students in school (refer to Appendix A). Additionally, joining gang will provide higher privileged for youngsters to vent out their anger. Once in a gang, self-esteem is increased through power, wealth, and status (Sharkey et al., 2011). Sharkey and his group further described that gang provide members with self-esteem and respect that they do not receive from others. Gang can function as adaptive social mechanisms for satisfying needs of some youths that are not met through traditional and socially acceptable means. Gangs offer many benefits that are unmet in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods (Sharkey et al., 2011). Regan (as cited in Sharpe, 2003) explained that gangs serve a valuable role in the development and socialization of an individual as they seek the approval of their peers and their identities; acceptance and identity is provided by the gang and thus makes membership an attractive possibility. Studies postulated that failure in academic or social areas motivates youth to antisocial behavior and involve in gang provide self-esteem, peer acceptance, increased pride, feelings of empowerment, and a sense of family, where other institutions have failed to provide (Kee, Sim, Teoh, Tian, Ng, 2003). Youth Gang and Suicide Madan, Mrug, and Windle (2010) worked on a sample of 589 ethnically diverse adolescents indicated that gang membership was associated with suicidal behavior. As gang members reported higher level of delinquency and witnessing community violence, this will mediate the effects of gang membership on suicidal behavior. Thus, higher involvement in criminal activities and witnessing violence may be responsible for increased suicidal behavior in adolescent gang members. Adolescent gang members not only are at risk form harming others but also themselves. Additionally, violence exposure is associated with an increased symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (Suglia, Staudenmayer, Cohen, Wright, 2009). As the gang members exposed to violence frequently, the risks for them to develop post-traumatic stress disorder is high which will in turn contribute to the suicidal behavior among youth gang members. CHAPTER III DISCUSSION CONCLUSION There was several risk factors found associated with youth gang membership. Although each risk factor has been reviewed independently, the exposure to multiple risk factors may increase the risk for gang membership. Analyses of the effect of exposure to multiple risk factors done by Hill et al. (1997) indicated that exposure to greater number of risk factors in childhood greatly increased the risk of joining a gang in adolescence. In other words, youths may be resilient to the disadvantage posed by several individual risk factors, but as these accumulate, this resiliency may deteriorate and delinquency may result (Esbensen, Peterson, Taylor, Freng, 2009). Thus, exposure to multiple risks factors will increase the probability of problem behavior such as violence or gang membership. The case studies in Malaysia indicated several factors that students joined gang (refer to Appendix A; Appendix B; Appendix C). The factors include family problem, academic failure, peer pressure, being bu llied, to gain protection, to earn recognition, being recognized and have privilege in expressing anger. From the developmental perspective, youth are experiencing physical and psychological changes. The period of youth has been recognized as transient, characterized by typical trials and tribulations (Idris, Yee, Tamam, Hamzah, Wong, 2008). In some circumstances, due to difficulties experienced, youth may manifest behavior that is deviant, abnormal and distressing. During this period, the socio-cultural milieu plays an important role in molding youths value and culture. Parenting, peers, school and society thus are vital in shaping youth. Western countries have contributed to the major part of intervention toward youth gang. A school-based gang prevention programme, Gang Resistance Education and Training (G. R. E. A.T.) in United States has shown positive preliminary results in reducing gang affiliation and delinquency (Howell, 1997). This programme provides students with age-appropriate skills to deal with life stressors. At the same time, the programme offers training for parents, schools and police officers to prepare them to deal with youth gang problem. Malaysia as a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country, the use of intervention with youth should be wise and well considered. The major problem that needs to be addressed is the lack of awareness on Malaysian on the youth gang issues. The insufficient of youth gang research done locally has lead to the lack of prevention and treatment programme to deal with youth gang issue in Malaysia. This is the major limitation for the implication of intervention toward Malaysian. More studies involving the cultural diversity of Malaysians need to be conducted in order to get a better understanding of the profile of youth gang and the risk factors for gang membership, in turn enable better treatment and prevention protocol. PART B: INTERVENTION PROGRAMME Program Title: Esprit de Corps Aim: To prevent and reduce students from involving in gang As most researchers indicated that the risky age of youth to be involved in gang is during the secondary school years (Alagappar, Len, George, Lee, Wong, 2005), this intervention programme is designed to target secondary school students. This is a school-based programme that will be carried out during classes, in order to involve full participation of students in the school. Instead of naming the programme of anti-gangsterism, an attractive and unique name has been designed. The word Esprit de Corps means unity; to strengthen the bond among students, and teacher. Various programmes will be carried out during the month of April and May (refer to Appendix D, overview of programme). Programme 1 Educational programme According to Thraser and Lal (as cited in Yahaya, Boon, Buang, 2001), the occurrence of youth gang is often out of the sight of the teacher. Therefore, the first step to evaluate the occurrence of youth gang is to identify its existence. The programme will begin with an educational programme targeted on teachers. Training will be provided to teachers, in order for them to run activities during the month of Esprit de Corps. Purpose: to increase teachers awareness and understanding of the phenomena of youth gang and to equip teachers with the knowledge of youth gang in Malaysia and the skill to help student in need. Duration: 1 month (once per week) Week Duration Person In Charge Objective Description 1 9am-12pm Speaker: Social Worker Raising awareness The professionals served to provide information to the teachers Brief introduction on youth gang in Malaysia Prevalence Where, when, how, and why youth gang cases happen in school Risk factors QA session 2 9am-12pm Registered counsellor To equip teachers with the knowledge of youth gang in Malaysia and the skill to help student in need. Counsellors share their experience and skill while handling with the youth gang cases Role play session 3 9am-12pm Counsellor and Social Worker Help the teacher to be well prepared and be confident when handling the real situation Focus on case study to sharpen teachers counseling skill Information exchange with the professional to have a better understanding on handling the youth gang issues. 4 9am-12pm Social Worker and Teachers To prepare teachers to run activities To modify better activities before implementation Run activities (drama, debates, poster design, teambuilding games) that will be carried out with the students. share information and idea on how to strengthen the activities to match with the purpose. Month: April (every Saturday) Various activities that attempt to reduce students impulsive and risk-seeking tendencies are carried out by teachers after undergo the training. Programme 2: Ex-gang member testimonial Purpose: Create awareness about youth gang and consequences of joining youth gang through talks and sharing by ex-gang member. Target: Students Duration: 1 hour Venue: School hall Description: A former gang member will be invite to share his experience. There will be a brief introduction on the ex-gang member background. He will share about the reasons that he joined gang and his experiences as a gang member, as well as what makes him feel regrets and what had changed him. Due to his real life experience, his words may have greater impact toward students. Programme 3: Drama Purpose: Provide student a chance to involve with different character and understand the different roles of youth in different situation. Duration: 30 minutes Venue: Classroom (during moral class) Description: A class of students will divide into four groups. Each group will get a different title (bystander, cultural differences, vandalism and fighting). The students will be given a week of time to prepare for the drama. Each group will be presenting on each week. Other students will be the audience. Through this, the performer can get into the role and able to think as if they were in the shoes of others. In the end of the drama, pupils are invited to share their ideas and feedback will be collected. For example, the group with bystander will be assign to a scenario and it is accompany by the roles card which include Bully, Bullied, Bystander, Collude, and Challenger. The students will have to play different roles in order to enhance their emphatic feelings. Programme 4: Poster Design Purpose: Enable student to express their own view on youth gang and Esprit de Crops in drawing form. Duration: 1hour Venue: Classroom (During art class) Description: A3 drawing paper will be provided and students need to prepare their own drawing material. The best drawing will be voted by students in the same class and the best poster will be printed on T-shirts and sell to the public. The fund collected will be used in the next community caring program. Programme 4: Community Caring Program Purpose: increase youths moral convictions, social conscience/responsibility, and altruistic values through helping others; visiting underprivileged people may help students to be grateful. Duration: 5 hours Day: Saturday Venue: Orphanage, old folks home, center for disabled, rehabilitation centers, shelter home and other related places. Description: The teachers will discuss with their class to decide a place for them to visit. Students can buy some daily utensil through the collected fund or donate the money to the center. Besides that, they may prepare some activities to interact with the people at the center. Also, students may work together in cleaning the place and provide comfortable setting for the underprivileged one. Programme 6: Debates Purpose: Provide a setting to let student to freely speak out their mind at the same time enhance their critical thinking skill. Duration: 30 minutes Venue: Classroom (During moral class) Description: The title for debate is: youth gang, voluntary or involuntary? The title will be given two days prior the debates. Each of the panel has to prepare their own information. During the day of debate, each team is given three minutes to arrange their information. The first debater of each group is given 3 minutes to make his introduction. The second debaters will have 4 minutes to voice out their point. The third debaters will be given 5 minutes to argue the opponents point and affirm their stands. For the last debaters, 2 minutes will be given to restate their stands and conclude. An open discussion on the debate title will be held in class after the debate. Programme 7: Teambuilding games Purpose: To enhance teamwork among students; let them feel being involved, and accepted; strengthen the bond among peers. Duration: 30 minutes Venue: School field or basketball court (During physical education class) Description: All the students will be divided into small groups (8-10 people per group). Game instruction will be given. This game required team work where all members will have to get into the hula hoop which will be placed on the ground. The members in the circle can only stand with one leg. Group members need to help each other to ensure everyone is able to get inside the circle; the group needs to keep their position for at least 10 seconds. The game ends with an explanation on the purpose of game. Standing with only a leg is to illustrate that everyone has limitation and they need to tolerate and help each other in order to accomplish the given task.

Justice and Injustice in Molieres Tartuffe Essay -- Tartuffe Essays

Justice and Injustice in Tartuffe  Ã‚   A theme of the play Tartuffe is justice. Justice, or the lack of justice, can be seen in the relationship between father and son, father and daughter, and guest and host. Lacanian philosophy, which focuses on language and the conflict that the male feels due to a disintegration of oneness, can be used to look at injustice as it manifests itself in the male conflict within the play.   Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Lacan, a male child experiences conflict with his father, who is associated with language and thus otherness. Once a child enters into the world of language he loses his sense of unity with his mother. In Tartuffe the father, Orgon is in conflict with his son, Damis. Damis is a rash person who does not think things completely through before choosing a course of action, as seen when he says abruptly, "I'll go and tell [Tartuffe] off-, I'm out of patience" (3. 1. 10). He verbally spars with his father, who is completely infatuated with the behavior of Tartuffe, to see Tartuffe for what he is. After eavesdropping on the conversation between Elmire, the wife of Orgon, and Tartuffe, Damis is convinced that he has the evidence that he needs to convince Orgon of his position, as indicated when he says, "And now I've proof that can't he disbelieved Proof that was furnished me by Heaven above" (3.4.24-25). 1 le then goes to destroy his father's view of Tartuffe.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Orgon, however, upon hearing that Damis has caught Tartuffe trying to seduce Elmire, immediately takes a defensive stance and instead of believing his own son, claims the accusation is false and defends the stranger saying, "Ah, you deceitful boy, how dare you try / To stain his purity with so foul a lie?" (3.6.15-16). He scolds him:... ...time a just man before he met Tartuffe.   Ã‚  Ã‚   There is much injustice in the play Tartuffe. This injustice as well as the justice that triumphs often comes through the use of language for the purpose of establishing either law or love. Sometimes a character takes on this language by association with other characters, and other times in reaction to the use of this language by other characters. Regardless of the source, language is a common medium for the expression of justice or its opposite. This language is used by characters as a result of the conflict that a male feels as described by Lacan, which more often that not, results in the expression of injustice. The expression of injustice is language-based because the male, by being exposed to language, is thrust into a world of alienation, and has experienced injustice from his first experience with language.   

UBIQUITY :: Essays Papers

UBIQUITY As many people have expected, We are living in an environment saturated with wired and wireless connections. This technological explosion has become a part of our daily lives; but we don't really realize, to what extent , our trivial behaviors rely on informatic systems and our interaction with them. While we are living in the era of pervasive computing, we may wonder about the change that pervasive computing has brought to our lives and our social and cultural responses to these fascinating technologies and increased change. Some people remain fearful of the impact of the brain machines on our human behavior, on the other hand, others are struggling to make our environment filled with intelligent machinery, like the air we breath, and to make our interactions with this machinery as smooth as possible. The story of creating smart machines equipped with the same reasoning capabilities of humans is very old but the era of computers makes it very realistic in the eyes of scientists. Since we have machines that manage to do all these tasks, it is time for a new generation of machinery that can do exactly what we can do or better; from understanding our behavior to making decisions on their own. The article: " A Bayesian Computer Vision System for modeling Human Interactions", provides and excellent example of what people interested in artificial intelligence are trying to do. In fact, they focus on creating machines that understand human behavior and respond according to this interaction. It is stated in the article: " Our approach to modeling person-to-person interactions is to use supervised statistical machine learning techniques to teach the system to recognize normal single-person behaviors and common person-to-person interactions" (Oliver, Rosario, Pentland 831). There are many l imitations to accomplish this goal as any new technology or knowledge but the dream seems to be realistic for these people. according to the same article, if the models are trained to recognize a limited number of human behavior, how to make them understand new patterns without limitations : "A major emphasis of our work, therefore, is on efficient Bayesian integration of both prior knowledge (by the use of synthetic prior models) with evidence from data (by situation-specific parameter tuning). our goal is to be able to successfully apply the system to any normal multiperson interaction situation without additional training". This article provides an example of what is going on in many laboratories spread throughout the world and how artificial intelligence focuses on creating smart practical machines that understand and interpret our behavior and probably surpasses our reasoning capabilities.

The Hangman versus The Terrible Things Essay -- essays research papers

During World War II, six million Jews were brutally massacred by Adolph Hitler's Nazi regime. Several authors have written about the actions of bystanders in the Holocaust. In a poem, "The Hangman," and an allegory, The Terrible Things, Maurice Odgen and Eve Bunting described how bystanders could cause problems through their inactions. In the poem "The Hangman," by Maurice Ogden, the poet explained that a person could resolve a situation by showing acts of courage. One day, a hangman came to a town and built a scaffold on the courthouse square. The townspeople asked him which criminal would be hanged and he replied with a mischievous grin and a glint in his eye that it would be the person who will continually make his job easier. When the hangman spotted a foreign person, he chose him to be the first victim. The townsfolk were relieved that they weren't picked to be hanged, and that the gallows frame would be gone the next day. However, after they saw that it was still there, the hangman said that the foreigner was used to determine how strong the hemp was. When a man cri...

Marine Corps Mci Answers Math For Marines Essay

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Public Health and Nutrition Essay

Final In-Class Essay: Fast Food Nation Choose one of the topics below, and brainstorm, plan and write an argumentative, thesis-driven essay of at least 600 words. You may use your copy of FFN; you will have two hours. Your essay, as always, should: Provide a short, separate introduction that presents the issue and then segues into an explicit thesis with several concrete reasons to back it up. Develop each reason in a body paragraph that offers textual evidence (quotes and/or paraphrases) and your own analysis of the issue. Provide a conclusion summarizing your main points and leaving a closing thought. Don’t forget to proofread for grammar errors, as they can bring your grade down. Good luck! Topic A: Fast Food and Worker Safety In the Fast Food Nation chapter â€Å"The Most Dangerous Job,† Eric Schlosser describes the gruelling, exploitive, injury-laden, low-paying jobs of meat-packing workers who handle the cattle that eventually become hamburgers. Schlosser explains how—for different reasons—the OSHA has been unable to enforce effective safety regulations needed to protect workers. Based on this chapter, discuss why the OSHA must have stricter regulations for the meatpacking industry. How has the OSHA been disempowered? To what extent has this federal agency’s enforcement abilities been reduced, and with what consequences? How will giving OSHA more power benefit the employees and the general public? What particular industries and jobs especially need OSHA to be given more enforcement powers? Why? Provide several (at least two or three) specific reasons to support this claim, and, of course, quote and paraphrase from FFN to develop your argument. Topic B: There’s S**t in the Meat! As we have read about and discussed this semester, one major problem with the  largely unregulated fast food industry is that—in the words of a character in the film Fast Food Nation—â€Å"There’s s**t in the meat!† As Schlosser explains in FFN, this is because a potentially deadly bacteria known as E. coli O157:H7 can and does get into the beef supply that makes the millions of hamburgers which people eat at fast food restaurants. Based on Schlosser’s discussion of this problem (and, if you’d like, the scenes we saw from the film version of FFN), explain why the government must implement stricter regulations and enforcement for beef producers in order to protect people’s health. Describe why the current, unregulated system is dangerous, and how greater government regulation will increase people’s safety. Provide several specific reasons to support this claim. Topic C: Fast Food and Communities In the Fast Food Nation chapter â€Å"Cogs in the Great Machine,† Eric Schlosser presents us with some ways in which the fast food industry changes communities for the worse. He provides examples like the town of Greeley, Colorado, as well as other places, whose communities have been irrevocably changed by the fast food industry when slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants set up shop there. For this topic, discuss several specific ways in which the fast food industry harms communities. According to Schlosser, what specific problems does a community often face when its economy is partly or largely based on fast-food related jobs, as is the case in Greeley? How do these problems form because of the fast food industry? What kinds of people (what specific groups—immigrants, young people, etc.) in communities like Greeley suffer, and how? In what ways does a town or city’s quality of life decrease with the arrival of a slaughterhouse, meatpacking plant, or perhaps eve n fast-food restaurants? Why should communities fight to keep these kind of facilities out?