Crosscultural communication and classroom ecology Essay

Crosscultural communication and classroom ecology - Essay Example Prhps surprisingly, it dos not mn trting ll qully. For xmpl, qulity of opportunity will not ncssrily b nsurd if thos who spk nglish s thir scond or third lngug r ssssd qully ginst thos who spk it s thir first nd only lngug. Th formr my nd dditionl cr nd tching if ssssmnt ginst othrs in thir yr is to hold mning. In this rspct, simply rmoving obstcls from th pth of ll studnts my not b nough to provid ll with qulity of opportunity. Positiv ction (somtims rfrrd to s 'positiv discrimintion') my b ncssry. This involvs crting th circumstncs in which qulity of opportunity cn xist, rthr thn lving it to chnc. For physiclly- disbld studnt, prcticl chngs to th school nvironmnt r ndd (such s rmps instd of stps). pupil struggling with ttntion dficit disordr cn find this disdvntg diminishd or limintd if thy r std s clos to th tchr s possibl nd surroundd by positiv rol modls. For clssroom tchrs, thr r fw qustions tht cn b focusd on priodiclly to bring ttntion to th issu of qul opportunitis. Th gol is not to work slvishly to th nd for qulity of opportunity but to dvlop nturl instinct for 'sussing out' whn pupils my b indvrtntly disdvntgd. This might b rsult of th work you hv skd thm to do or of thir intrctions in your clssroom. W ll hv prjudics - it's prt of intrcting with humns. But bing wr of your prjudics prvnts thm from dominting, or dvrsly ffcting, your tching). Cn you think of tim whn you hv unintntionlly discrimintd ithr for or ginst pupil Think bout your prsnttion to clsss, th rsourcs you us nd th tsks you xpct of pupils. Cn you think of circumstncs in your lssons whn ll pupils would hv flt prticulrly mpowrd Might thr hv bn occsions whn som my hv flt dismpowrd Wht fctors might hv contributd to this Is thr vidnc of bullying or 'scpgoting' in your clss(s) r you ctivly bl to promot inclusion (Mlon,2005) Hv you vr tlkd to your pupils bout how thy viw qul opportunitis in your clssroom Dpnding on th g of thos you tch, this cn b n xtrmly ffctiv wy of gining insight into wht it's ctully lik bing tught by you. Do thy hv n id of wht it mns to b discrimintd ginst Tll thm how importnt it is tht thy fl includd nd providd for. Your profssionl judgmnt will tll you if thir viws hv bn distortd. Non of this involvs bcoming so proccupid with nsuring qulity of opportunity tht th tsk in hnd (i.. tching) gts nglctd. It is bout bing wr, nd bout mking subtl chngs in prctic whn ncssry. Th widr pictur of your tching nd not b ffctd. ftr ll, you lon cnnot b rsponsibl for qul opportunitis in your school. But your wrnss of th issu could mk ll th diffrnc to th pupils in your cr. Th thnic mk-up of our ntion hs chngd, nd th mk-up of our univrsitis hs chngd, too. W hv mor intrntionl studnts, nd our domstic studnts r vrid in thnic, socil, conomic, rligious nd culturl bckgrounds. Our job s tchrs is to hlp ll studnts lrn, to mk th clssroom whr ll studnts fl wlcom, rspctd, qully bl to prticipt, firly trtd. It is vry importnt to mk ll studnts fl wlcom.In th minuts bfor clss bgins you cn crt informl xchngs with studnts tht mk thm fl lss nrvous or isoltd.B sur to mk prsonl contct with studnts from undrrprsntd groups so tht thy know thy r noticd nd wlcom.B xplicit with your clss tht you pprcit th divrsity of th studnt body.void trms tht cn sm to b drogtory or slurring.It is vitl to trt studnts s individuls.Don't strotyp studnts nd don't ssum tht womn won't do wll in mth or tht mn don't lik potry or tht thlts rn't intrstd in cdmics.Don't ssum tht studnts from

The Cash Connection Essay Example for Free

The Cash Connection Essay The payday lending industry is a very competitive industry established in the 1990’s, designed to give citizens the option to receive a quick fix regarding financial issues, in an effort to make ends meet. The main objective for those in the payday loan industry â€Å"should be to serve customers in compliance with the rules of the industry and better educate them on the services and products they offer† (Personal Communications, 2012). This industry raises the controversial topic of ethical, or unethical, and to this day is still being disputed. Cash Connection’s strategy is â€Å"to provide financial products and services to the unbanked and financially underserved customers†(CashConnection. eu), also to set themselves apart their competition with the intention of becoming the most dominant franchise in the lending industry. The lending industry was established to provide citizens in a financial crisis with quick cash loans while adhering to the rules of the industry, and informing them of the importance of wise borrowing. A focused differentiation strategy is defined as â€Å"concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals with a product offering that meets the specific tastes and requirements of niche members better than the product offerings of rivals†. Cash Connection is taking this approach by offering attractive features to its customers that its competitors cannot offer. The different characteristics consumers find valuable when searching for a quick cash loan, such as lower interest rates, and larger loans have an impact on the consumer’s purchase decision. Cash Connection uses that to their advantage by focusing their strategy around those features in an effort to become the leading lending franchise in that industry. In the excerpt given by Paul Smith there is evidence that suggests that Cash Connection’s strategy and business model is ethical. â€Å"Individuals taking high interest loans were less likely to be in poverty, less likely to be hungry and less likely to have lost their job† (Personal Communications, 2012). Given this act, high interest loans have had a positive impact on society as a whole. Cash Connection explains the importance of wise borrowing before the customer receives the loan, in hopes of preventing the customer from getting into serious financial trouble, as a fair warning before the transaction is complete. â€Å"For companies that operate within this industry, a main objective should be to serve customers in compliance with the rules of the industry and better educate them on the services and products they offer† (Personal Communications, 2012). Certain liabilities are associated with almost every offered product, for example tobacco companies include a warning regarding the health risks associated with the product, and also, alcohol incorporates the same concept into its products. The evidence that suggests Cash Connection’s strategy and business model lies in the â€Å"Pay Loans Scrutinized† video, regarding a woman who carelessly used the system, and built up dependence for the instant cash received (CBS, 2008). In this video a lady reveals her financial struggles she has acquired through the use of high interest lending loans. She explains how lending loans are to blame for the debt she acquired, and states she would prefer to go without heat, water, and food than be in the financial position she is currently in. She obviously abused the privilege and got herself into a predicament. The only unethical argument that rises is the high interest rates that apply under the terms and conditions, making it difficult for those living in poverty to pay back borrowed money. The dominant economic characteristics that affect the payday lending industry consist of the different rules and regulations imposed by the government. The biggest threat the payday lending industry faces is the possibility of it becoming illegal. â€Å"A state that has permissive usury laws can always change its laws to lower ceilings on payday loan finance charges, or to make payday lending illegal†(Caskey, 2002). Also Caskey states some payday franchises require customers to be enrolled in a job position that provides income, along with a checking account. This can have a major impact on the payday lending industry by ruling out those customers that do not fit the necessary requirements established in order to receive a lending loan. â€Å"The five competitive forces include (1) competition from rival sellers, (2) competition from potential new entrants to the industry, (3) competition from producers of substitute products, (4) supplier bargaining power, and (5) customer bargaining power† (Rollins, 2011). Rivalry among the lending industry is very intense and competitive. Since the 1990’s when this industry was established, competition has been fierce because of â€Å"The exiting of traditional financial institutions from the small-denomination, short-term credit market; a change largely due to its high cost structure,† and â€Å"The soaring cost of bounced checks and overdraft protection fees, late bill payment penalties, and other informal extensions of short-term credit† (Personal Communications, 2012). Competition from new entrants in the industry can impose a serious threat because barriers to entry are so low. The only ingredient necessary to enter this market is access to upfront cash. Competition from producers of substitute products contains the ability to be a serious threat because of the different types of loans that banks offer, along with the different characteristics regarding those loans, such as financing programs. Supplier bargaining power holds moderate strength which lies in the hands of the banks. Banks choose which payday franchise to do business with based on that company’s performance. Without the assistance of banks â€Å"the supplier† there is no opportunity for success, so the supplier bargaining power holds serious strength in determining the success of Cash Connection. Lastly, Customer bargaining power does not hold great power. The rates for each payday business are basically the same, and negotiating is not an option for consumers in this industry. The five forces model reveals that the payday lending industry is not ideal for those wanting to manage a successful business. It is very easy for competitors to enter the market, it is in danger of becoming illegal, competition is fierce, and the market already contains too many. The driving forces that currently affect the payday lending industry differ from tate to state. In South Carolina for example, the maximum loan amount is $550, the loan cannot exceed 31 days, and A licensee shall not charge, directly or indirectly, a fee for other consideration in excess of 15% of the face amount of the check† (Morton, 2012). Also several different acts were implemented by the Federal Government to address the different issues associated with payday lending that have an effect, forcing businesses like Cash Connection to create a strategy and approach that comply with these regulations.

Femme Fatales of English Literature Essay -- Symbolism Seduction Women

Femme Fatales of English Literature The femme fatale, a seductive woman who entices men into perilous and compromising positions by way of charisma and mystery, is a classic, and often enthralling, character who can be found in many sources of literature and mythology of various origins and eras (â€Å"Femme Fatale† 1). â€Å"If the goddess of virtue is a lily and the vamp is an overripe red rose, the femme fatale is a Venus flytrap.† (Billinghurst 1). In the simple quote above, Ms. Jane Billinghurst, author of â€Å"Temptress†, provides explanation of the femme fatale by way of metaphor, likening the way in which the Venus flytrap, or Dionaea muscipula, succeeds in obtaining its next meal by way of temptation to the likeness of the femme fatale, using temptation to secure her victims, thus leading to unescapable doom (Venus’s fly-trap 1). â€Å"Temptress†, whose pages and cover alike overflow with a lavish visual collection of photographs, paintings and illustrations of the femme fatale, examines the extraordinary and fascinating history of sexual, or sexualised, women and the journey taken in receiving the infamous title of the femme fatale. This symbolic figure exists in numerous varying forms and can be found in virtually every society or culture throughout history. It is the femme fatale’s infamous aura of mystery, temptation and charms that provides the intense magnetism of this deadly female character. One of the most noted and greatly debated fatale characters of literature can be found in the Bible: Eve. â€Å"And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. . . . And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.† (Genesis 2:21 – 3:20). Often viewed as the original and ultimate femme fatale, Eve has come to bear such a title because of her involvement in the fall of humankind and, in turn, the introduction of sin, death and destruction into the world. It is Eve herself who succumbs to the influence of temptation with the persuasion of the evil serpent, which represents Satan, in the Garden of Eden and therefore brings a... ...ncipally the cold, bitter soul of the always-mesmerizing Kathleen Mallory that gains the strongest link to the psychotic seductress type known to literature as the femme fatale (O’Connell). Throughout history the beautiful woman has been adored, loved, praised, and, by some, envied. Men worship what society has defined as an attractive woman. Many times, men even envision these women as supernatural or mystical beings. They have become the focus and subjects of many paintings, poems, legends, tales and stories, and have caused great debate. Considered not only as material beauties, they are often viewed as seductresses who tempt â€Å"innocent† men to their doom. These seductive beauties are labelled femme fatales, women who entice men with their charms and mystery. Such a character is classic, and alluring, and can be found in many sources of literature and mythology (Hass 1). The femme fatale has survived centuries of time, change and movement, and still this female beauty can be found in uncountable forms of literature and mythology. She has survived the turn of civilisation in almost every culture known to human kind, and will continue to live within the psyc hes of human kind.

Men Makes Better Teachers Than Women

Men Make Better Teachers than women (Just for comment)The simple answer is women should teach by men teacher and boy should teach by women teacher so both are study interestingly and paying attention on their subject so students get a good marks I will discuss in general view about men make better teachers than women and in my point of view both are good and bad. There are many characteristics, techniques and other factors that make a successful and exemplary teacher. These may be varied as the teachers themselves.However, there are certain time-tested attributes, characteristics, practices and environmental actors which contribute immensely to teacher success. The main topic of today is to be categorized as Teacher-Personality and Attitude, Teacher-Student Psychology and Teacher-Institute Relationship and who can be teach better men and women? If teacher doesn’t have knowledge and clear concept of his teaching he shouldn’t teach. There are some cases that, a teacher ma y be a good student in his class but he cannot be a good teacher. Good teacher requires communication skills and Teacher-Student Psychology between students and teachers.A teacher also a good friend of you. He understand the nature of students either they are in mood of study or not and how should I convey my knowledge to students in a fun or serious, in story or in joke. That’s make the teacher best that he/she understand the student on their level and if some students asks any question he/she try to understand that what students want to say and try to clear this concept on his mind. One thing also play a big role in class, â€Å"Teacher-Personality and Attitude with students†. There are certain personality characteristics and attitude issues which will help a teacher excel at his/her work.It is widely believed that if a teacher is presentable, he/she will give a good impression to the students especially in the first few days of the class. This indicates that the tea cher is taking his/her job seriously and acting professionally and the students eventually will appreciate that. In addition to looking presentable, the teacher’s personality in class plays a big role in how efficiently the class will be conducted. It is essential that the teacher send the right signals to the students so they will understand the basic rules in the class. A teacher also should active and energetic, some teachers are good in nowledge but they don’t have much communication skills with student in the result, the students are sleeping in the class and they don’t much concentrate on that subject. According to my point of view I generally categorized the teacher in different situation that are: An average teacher just tells the students that what did they do? But, A good teacher explain the students that how did they do? And also, A very good teacher demonstrate the students that like this way they can do? And a great and best teacher inspires you, he gives motion to student to achieve the target for not be a good student but also a very good person in community.That teachers are very rare today that they sincere with their students and wish they always done a best in every field of life. A famous quote â€Å"In every successful student behind a teacher, and in failure a strict teacher† So that’s reason our villages people don’t study more because teacher treat them strictly and they prefer work instead of study. The teacher who follow these things it is a good teacher either it is women or men. But in my personnel point of view a man teacher is more best then women teacher because he behaves sometime strict and he doesn’t compromise with their students as women teacher.

Human Performance Technology Model Essay

The journal I had chosen is â€Å"Minding the gap , identifying performances issues using the Human Performances Technology model (HPT) . † The purpose of this journal is to main a useful model for identifying and addressing employee performance issues in academic libraries , specifically in a Learning Commons . As we know , assessing and improving employee performance , especially library services are always challenging . However , HPT provides methods for evaluating human performances , such as the performance of employees at a service point , and , and provides method in fixing problems that are identified . Most of the time , training is always assumed solution for many performances issues , but HPT suggests that the training is not always the answer and provides a variety of the other solutions referred to intervention . The HPT model created by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI , 2010 a ) was used to evaluate employee performance at the service point in a newly created Learning Commons . Various interventions are also discussed the address performances issues in libraries. The HPT model may help librarians create measurable performance indicators which can be used to set standard of performances for employees. This model is useful for a combination of student workers, paraprofessionals and librarians. The HPT model comes from field of HPT , which is the combination of education , psychology and business . So , HPT is the process of identifying and analyzing the gap between current performances ( where one is ) and ideal performance ( where one wants to be ) using various tools such as models . Closing the gap can be done through a recommend solution called an intervention. â€Å"Intervention† in HPT refers to a course of action taken to improve performance . Each stage of the HPT process helps one understand the behaviors of people in an organization and of the organization as a whole . HPT aims to analyze observable behaviour both individually and collectively. HPT ensures a through of a variety of areas within an organization in order to understand the performance gap. An analysis of values, norms, culture, structure, performance, and environment is recommended . Through an organization analysis , environmental analysis , gap analysis , can cause those who using HPT analysis determine the performance problem or opportunity . Without careful analysis , inappropriate intervention could be implemented . Intervention should be long term , evolutionary and progressive. Learning Commons in Randall Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW ) was using HPT model to evaluate employee performance. The Learning Commons provides a variety of hardware and software, a centralized service point is included in the middle of the Learning Commons. This service point staffed by librarians who are full time faculty members at UNCW and university’s Technology Assistance Center (TAC) student assistant who are hired to work part time at multiple service points , including the Learning Commons service point , in Randall Library . The primary user group of the Learning Commons is UNCW students . The learning Commons applied HPT after three months opens . The performances issues identified after three months after opening . While some performance issues may ‘work themselves out ‘ overtime , if using the HPT model early in the operation can identify the problems immediately and prevents the problems . Application of the model can helps to identify the root of the causes and helps pinpoint appropriate solution for those issues. An assumption that training is always the appropriate solution for all performances problems can be corrected using HPT . As noted in the HPT model , there are several phases of analysis which are performance analysis , organizational analysis , environmental analysis , gap analysis and cause analysis . A â€Å"cause analysis† follows the performance analysis helps to identify a â€Å"lack of environmental support† or a â€Å"lack of repertory behaviour†. â€Å"Intervention selection ,design , and development† follow all analysis phases . That is because after identify all the gaps or problems , then only can select the appropriate intervention to fix the problem . Main Body and Discussion Human Performance Technology (HPT ) is a systematic approach to improving productivity and competence , it is a strategy for solving problems and for realizing opportunities related to the performance of people . It uses a wide range of intervention to improve individual and organizational performance . There are three fundamental processes to go through . There are performance analysis ,cause analysis and intervention selection . It can be applied to individuals , small groups ,and large organizations . Without identified the causes of the issues , the appropriate intervention impossible to created . Learning Commons in Randall Library at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) was using HPT model to evaluate employee performance at the service point . First stage of the HPT model calls performance analysis . The â€Å"performance analysis† is to determine if a performance problem exists . A performance analysis includes an organizational analysis , an environmental analysis ,and a gap analysis . The first step in the performance analysis , the organizational analysis , calls for an examination of an organization ‘s vision , mission , values ,goals and strategies . It is important to define the boundaries of the organization before performing this phase in the model . It is useful to examine all departments or offices that closely related to the specific area under examination. The next component of HPT model is environmental analysis . The environmental analysis examines four important factors which are organizational environment, work environment, work, and the worker. In the HPT model, the â€Å"Work Environment† refers to the â€Å"resources, tools, human resources, and policies† of an organization, or in this case, of the Learning Commons. â€Å"Work† is described as â€Å"work flow, procedure, responsibilities, and ergonomics†. â€Å"Worker† refers to the â€Å"knowledge , skill , motivation , expectation and capacity† of an individual . The â€Å"Gap analysis† requires an examination of the actual performance versus the optimal , or desired performance . The information collected through the organizational and environmental analysis . The HPT model shows that the gap falls between the â€Å"Desired workforce performance† and the â€Å"Actual state of workforce performance†. It is important to identify the gaps , then analyze the causes of those gap happens. In Learning Commons , there has a temporary service desk was constructed , new furniture was not yet installed and a formal staff training program was not yet implemented . The performances of Learning Commons service was not optimal and causes a â€Å"gap† between optimal and desired performances . Next is causes analysis . As the HPT model suggests , after the performances gap was identified ,the â€Å"cause analysis† should be completed . The cause analysis can determine why the performance gap exists . Once a cause is identified, one or more interventions can be selected that will be able to close the performance gap . There are some causes for the performances issues . First , data , information and feedback . Initial training and communication of clear roles , responsibilities and expectations were not provided when the Learning Commons initially opened . Second , environment support , resources and tools . Detailed in Learning Commons employee did not exist . The conflict among workers will be happened . Third , consequences , incentives , reward . There were no consequences , incentives or rewards related to performance at the Learning Commons service point . Forth , skill and knowledge . A deficiency in general knowledge of the library services and the role of the librarians at the service point existed among TAC student assistants . Fifth , motivation and expectations . It is unclear what motivates Learning Commons employees and what they expect from themselves . After knowing the causes of the issues , intervention selection , design and development is needed . Closing the performances gap can be done through recommended solutions called interventions. HPT suggests that training is not always the appropriate solution because training will not solve issues related to motivation and expectation . However , an incentives and rewards will address motivation . There are some interventions existed after knowing the causes . There are job description intervention , document and standards intervention , training intervention , performance appraisal intervention . A job description specifically for employment in the Learning Commons would define each position’s duties , responsibilities , working conditions , and job activities , which would help employees understand their own job and the role of the other employees at the Learning Commons services point . Besides that , to remedy problems related to lack of information for job duties and procedures , the recommendation is a documents and standards intervention . The standard operating procedures(SOP) manual would include the job description , expectations , policies , guidelines , and procedures for each position at the service desk . Training intervention is training librarians and TAC students . Training employees would provide expectations for each employee . Performance appraisal intervention show staff that there will be consequences for poor performance and rewards for good performance . On the other hand , feedback should be encouraged in Learning Commons . Positive feedback should be provided and given from all the employees . Negative feedback is also important to correct everyday issues . After implemented all the intervention that suggested, must evaluate their success based on further analysis of performance . In my opinion , HPT is a very good tool to evaluate the individual performance or organizational performance . As we see the problems in Learning Commons , HPT had given a good solution for it in fixing the problem . HPT begins with a comparison of the of the present and the desired levels of individual and organizational performance to identify the performance gap. Once the performance gap and the causes have been determined, the appropriate interventions are designed and developed. These may include measurement and feedback systems, new tools and equipment, compensation and reward systems, selection and placement of employees, and training and development. The interventions are then implemented and the change process managed. After implemented all the intervention , The employees in Learning Commons will clear about their roles , responsibilities . At the same time , The Learning Commons is already providing to be a great resource at UNCW . HPT model must be applied cyclically and systematically over time to evaluate employee performance . However , I do not agree that HPT is always the best tool in solving problem . This is because it might identify wrong data or information during performance analysis . If it is wrong in the beginning of the process , inappropriate intervention might created . This will make the decision maker make the wrong decision . While doing wrong analysis , there might insert a high cost and it’s will be a waste of time if the analysis is wrong . Moreover , HPT has mentioned a few intervention to fix the problems . It’s hard to implement all those intervention at the same time . If cannot implement successfully , the more problem might exists . But if whole process is running smoothly , nonetheless , HPT is a very tool in solving problem . I had compared two models which are HPT model and ADDIE model . The ADDIE model is a systematic instructional design model consisting of five phase which are analysis , design , development ,implementation and evaluation phase . There are a few similarities between HPT model and ADDIE model . They both use process of analysis to look the problem and seek for the solution as well . However , they have a key different between the model . The ADDIE model addresses the â€Å"gaps between desired outcomes or behaviours and the audience’s existing knowledge and skills†. The ADDIE models mainly focus on the individual needs and then design and develop objectives and processes help the individual . Evaluation and implementation do not just happened at the end of the design and development . They are ongoing to inform the designer . So if there any changes, the necessary solution can be made quickly . The HPT model is different because it more focus on the causes of â€Å"performance† gap . The success of the organization is depend on its employees . HPT will look what causes the employees unable to perform the job . HPT’s goal is to increase the bottom line of the company by increasing the individual’s ability to perform the job . In addition , it is important that the HPT is look â€Å" what caused the problem† ,while the ADDIE model looks at â€Å" solving the problem exists † . HPT model design seem to also behaviourist approach because the focus is more changing individual behaviour . The HPT model will look at evaluation of the problem and how it was addressed long after the process . The HPT model has its own advantages . In my view , because HPT model is focused on how the people perform on the job . In my opinion , the workers or the people of the organization is the assets for its organization . So , the performance of the individual affect overall success of the organization . This model takes many variables into the account , that there will affect performance . It humanizes the work place because the individuals are allowed to address their problems. At the same time , it may be necessary to provide training course if the individual unable to perform the work is because of lacking information or unknowledgeable . Beside that , HPT model never ignore the reward or motivation . If they have a good performance , incentive or reward will be given to motivate the employees . Every model has its own disadvantages as well , disadvantage I see is how the technologist ensures lifelong working and the successful using the collected information. Because they wait a while before evaluating. It would seem to me that the worker would want to know immediately if they are doing better so that changes can be made more quickly. Feedback is so important to workers feeling successful and competent. If there is too much focus on negative feedback, it may have a negative impact on the individual. Where as in the ADDIE model, the worker’s deficiencies or the causes problems are not the major focus, and you get feedback at various stages rather than only at the end of the process. If I were a human resource professional in any area , I would use HPT model . As I was also a worker before , I see that would be beneficial for all the subordinates or primary worker . If workers feel supported, they’ll do better than if they’re not supported. It provides a guide to helping individuals be successful in their work. I think someone who feels successful and competent in their work is more likely to suffer less burn out than those individuals who have no one in their corner to mentor or help them solve whatever issue is keeping them from doing their best on the job. I might also use HPT when talking to friends or children about getting jobs and being successful on the job. I can apply it to my own career and be my own trouble shooter as well as look for solutions. This puts a little more power over what I do in my hands because at least I would know that I can change me to help the organization do its job better too. On the other hand , as I mentioned employees are a part of assets of the organization . I think it is the responsibility of the human resource department to choose an appropriate system of performance appraisal . Effective appraisal system motivate the employees all the time rather than joining training . Conclusion In conclusion, HPT model has been described as the systematic and systemic identification and removal of barriers to individual and organizational performance. Nonetheless ,HPT model is an effective tool for uncovering performance issues . The model can be applied to any area in the library where employees must perform and is not limited to public service . In any new service , some performance issues may â€Å" work themselves out† overtime while some may not . In some cases , problems left unidentified or unsolved , it may be quite difficult to fix after an extended period of time . It is same like our daily habit or problems , if a parent identified that a child is beginning to pick up a bad habit , it is certainly easier to change the child’s behaviour when the parent first notices their child’s behaviour . If the parents did not take action to stop their child in the beginning , it is hard to stop their child after maintain a long bad habit . Similarity to any other service , if identify the problems early , then can find out the causes and fix it as fast as possible . The model does require extensive analysis . Without this analysis , a full picture cannot be taken , assumption will be made , and issues or problems cannot be identified . Optimal employee performance is critical in any organization . From the journal , Learning Commons in UNCW is using human performance technology (HPT ) . It is a library . With libraries needing to demonstrate their value and provide assessment data and administration . The HPT model serves as one more useful tool for libraries to accomplish this . I had read a journal , which is about ADDIE model and I had also compared both ADDIE and HPT model . I found that there have many similarities . But when I go deeper for the journal , I found that there is a big differences . ADDIE model focus more on training building program , while in HPT model , training is only one of the tool . HPT model is not only useful in organization , but also useful for every individual . If did not find out the causes properly , a appropriate solution is impossible to created .

marx and marxism essays

marx and marxism essays 2. First noted by John Locke in his Second Treatise on Government, labor is a source of value. Stated simply, the work a person does is worth money or a wage. This is a fundamental, arguably the fundamental principle, in the capitalist economic system. Most critics of the system argue capitalism exploits the worker because he is not paid and cannot be paid the full value of his labor, because this is the profit for the capitalist or employer. In describing a utopian capitalist world, Robert Heilbroner writes, The laborer who contracts to work can ask only for a wage that is his due. What that wage will be depends . . . on the amount of labor time it takes to keep a man alive. (157) However, for profit to exist for the capitalist or employer, the worker must work for longer than just his subsistence for the same wage. This, what Marx calls, surplus value, is the profit. However, what I have just described is the utopia of capitalism, at least for the worker and leads into what may be the single worst consequence of the failure of government regulation during early capitalism and today, a failure to regulate the workday and enforce a living wage. A living wage, most simply, is a wage that allows a person to support themselves and their family. The text How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis will serve as evidence of the consequences of lack regulation of the wages and the workday in early capitalism, as well as help to demonstrate how the same reality exists today for many. he has done what he could with merciless severity where he could to smother every symptom of wakening intelligence in his slaves. In this effort to perpetuate his despotism he has had the effectual assistance of his own system and the sharp competition that keep the men on starvation wages (140) Riis description of an early capitalist, the sweater of Jewtown th ...

Haunted House

Haunted House Free Online Research Papers Generations of superstition have bred the thought that there exists a house inhabited by more than mere mortal flesh – one that possesses spirits of sorts, an unseen force capable of imposing independent will upon human dwellers. Such spirits, as they tend to develop over years, are sagging faces of previous tenants, whose dolourific lives are absorbed into the heart of the very home that bore them. The ghastly umbrae emerge with the sole desire to establish reigning presence over the psyche of the living. They are but a malicious stagecoach driver who holds both bullwhip and blunderbuss to unwittingly subservient horses, horses that know no other treatment. It follows, therefore, that an atmosphere depends on the collective mind of living residents, who are affected by and in turn contribute to this harrowingly irrevocable cycle. But ho! Maintain sanity, for such a place exists only as the setting in a mystic’s tale. Such a setting is imagined, such a place I ha ve known. From a distance a weary traveler reveled in its magnificence. So prudently was this house perched atop a lonely hill. It seemed awkwardly massive, an oversized chapeau atop a wispy haired nobleman. In the hour ‘twixt dusk and twilight, the sun’s sheltered rays gleamed against delirious windowpanes. Heavenly colors reflected off this make shift prism smelled of watermelon seeds and bumblebee trees. Again a wisp of air warned him, yet childlike hunger defied his intellect and drew him nearer primordial needs before the safety of his soul. How cynical of this house, to be so perniciously inviting to the ignorant traveler. He continued on, answering the silent beckon with uncertain footing. A single ring from a distant campanile tore through placid air as a jagged edge does water. His initial step ascending the forbidden knoll was met with another toll of the bell. Trees that lined his path turned away, pitying this unknown traveler, doubtful of his return. He drew closer with each chilling chime, salt on broken skin. A murder of crows sped from the treetops and squawked at the man. With the seventh consternating reverberation, the glowing orb and dismal sky disappeared into the shadow of night. The man wearily approached the morose structure, as its sagging frame conformed to trails of calming air. Raspy winds were of eerie comfort to his skin, like a fine silk garment on a cold day. From somewhere in the darkness, a nightingale sang her tune directly to, and only for the man. There was something so sweet in her eye, and it did him so much good. His boots left no mark on the wooden porch already trodden black as he swept toward the door. Whitewashed wooden siding emanated bright resounding hope if only for a moment, as an ember plumes, struggling to survive before extinguishing completely. He trod on, up bending steps to the chipped oaken door. He grasped the brass knocker with his whole palm and swung it in one great motion, slamming it against its brass-plated counterpart. With that came such a reverberation as to shake the foundation on which he stood. He dared to knock at the door of Avernus, and would so face the riddle of judgment. The ominous silence whispered to him, then could be heard no more. The earth violently quaked, parting the warped flats of the porch. Effusing sulfurous vapors patiently considered mercy, yet the fates had conspired against his plea. On the rupturing boards he remained, mortified, as molten hell-rock spewed from the depths of his new Tartarean home. Horror that could sear marble inspired him to flee fast from that detestable place, but stone replaced flesh – Mercury would have no power or means but to guide him forward. As he began to accept this fate, fear was slowly iced away. Spirit had been held and weighed in the hands of destiny and mercilessly taken from him. Bitter flame ensued as he took his place among the shadows of what was once his home. Research Papers on Haunted HouseThe Spring and AutumnWhere Wild and West Meet19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Hockey GameLifes What IfsTwilight of the UAWThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationHip-Hop is ArtQuebec and CanadaMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand On the morning of June 28, 1914, a 19-year-old Bosnian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Sophie and Franz Ferdinand, the future heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary (the second-largest empire in Europe) in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a simple postman’s son, probably didn’t realize at the time that by firing those three fateful shots, he was starting a chain reaction that would lead directly to the start of World War I. A Multinational Empire In the summer of 1914, the by now 47-year-old Austro-Hungarian Empire stretched from the Austrian Alps in the west to the Russian border in the east and reached far into the Balkans to the south (map). It was the second-largest European nation next to Russia and boasted a multi-ethnic population made up of at least ten different nationalities. These included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Romanians, Italians, Croats and Bosnians among others. But the empire was far from united. Its various ethnic groups and nationalities were constantly competing for control in a state that was predominantly ruled by the Austrian-German Habsburg family and the Hungarian nationals- both of whom resisted sharing the majority of their power and influence with the rest of the empire’s diverse population. For many of those outside the German-Hungarian ruling class, the empire represented nothing more than an undemocratic, repressive regime occupying their traditional homelands. Nationalistic sentiments and struggles for autonomy often resulted in public riots and clashes with the ruling authorities such as in Vienna in 1905 and in Budapest in 1912. The Austro-Hungarians responded harshly to incidents of unrest, sending in troops to keep the peace and suspending local parliaments. Nevertheless, by 1914 unrest was a constant in almost every part of the realm. Franz Josef and Franz Ferdinand: A Tense Relationship By 1914, Emperor Franz Josef- a member of the long-standing royal House of Habsburg- had ruled Austria (called Austria-Hungary from 1867) for nearly 66 years. As a monarch, Franz Josef was a staunch traditionalist and remained so well into the later years of his reign, despite the many great changes that had led to the weakening of monarchical power in other parts of Europe. He resisted all notions of political reform and viewed himself as the last of the old-school European monarchs. Emperor Franz Josef fathered two children. The first, however, died in infancy and the second committed suicide in 1889. By right of succession, the emperor’s nephew, Franz Ferdinand, became next in line to rule Austria-Hungary. The uncle and the nephew often clashed over differences in approach to ruling the vast empire. Franz Ferdinand had little patience for the ostentatious pomp of the ruling Habsburg class. Nor did he agree with his uncle’s harsh stance towards the rights and autonomy of the empire’s various national groups. He felt the old system, which allowed ethnic Germans and ethnic Hungarians to dominate, could not last. Franz Ferdinand believed the best way to regain the population’s loyalty was to make concessions towards the Slavs and other ethnicities by allowing them greater sovereignty and influence over the governance of the empire. He envisioned the eventual emergence of a type of â€Å"United States of Greater Austria,† with the empire’s many nationalities sharing equally in its administration. He believed strongly that this was the only way to keep the empire together and to secure his own future as its ruler. The result of these disagreements was that the emperor had little love for his nephew and bristled at the thought of Franz Ferdinand’s future ascension to the throne. The tension between them grew even stronger when, in 1900, Franz Ferdinand took as his wife the Countess Sophie Chotek. Franz Josef did not consider Sophie to be an appropriate future empress as she was not directly descended from royal, imperial blood. Serbia: The Great Hope of the Slavs In 1914, Serbia was one of the few independent Slavic states in Europe, having gained its autonomy piecemeal throughout the previous century after hundreds of years of Ottoman rule. The majority of Serbs were staunch nationalists and the kingdom saw itself as the great hope for the sovereignty of Slavic peoples in the Balkans.  The great dream of Serbian nationalists was the unification of Slavic peoples into a single sovereign state. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, however, were perpetually struggling for control and influence over the Balkans and Serbs felt under constant threat from their powerful neighbors. Austria-Hungary, in particular, posed a threat due to its close proximity to Serbia’s northern border. The situation was exasperated by the fact that pro-Austrian monarchs- with close ties to the Habsburgs- had ruled Serbia since the late 19th century. The last of these monarchs, King Alexander I, was deposed and executed in 1903 by a clandestine society comprised of nationalistic Serbian army officers known as the Black Hand. It was this same group that would come to help plan and support the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand eleven years later. Dragutin Dimitrijević and the Black Hand The aim of the Black Hand was the unification of all southern Slavic peoples into the single Slavic nation-state of Yugoslavia- with Serbia as its leading member- and to protect those Slavs and Serbs still living under Austro-Hungarian rule by any means necessary. The group relished in the ethnic and nationalistic strife that had overtaken Austria-Hungary and sought to stoke the flames of its decline. Anything that was potentially bad for its powerful northern neighbor was seen as potentially good for Serbia. The high-ranking, Serbian, military positions of its founding members put the group in a unique position to carry out clandestine operations deep within Austria-Hungary itself. This included army colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, who would later become the head of Serbian military intelligence and leader of the Black Hand. The Black Hand frequently sent spies into Austria-Hungary to commit acts of sabotage or to foment discontent amongst Slavic peoples inside the empire. Their various anti-Austrian propaganda campaigns were designed, especially, to attract and recruit angry and restless Slavic youths with strong nationalistic sentiments. One of these youths- a Bosnian, and a member of the Black Hand-backed youth movement known as Young Bosnia- would personally carry out the murders of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and thus help to unleash the biggest crisis ever to face Europe and the world to that point. Gavrilo Princip and Young Bosnia Gavrilo Princip was born and raised in the countryside of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 as a means to preempt Ottoman expansion into the region and to thwart Serbia’s aims for a greater Yugoslavia. Like many of the Slavic peoples living under Austro-Hungarian rule, Bosnians dreamed of the day when they would gain their independence and join a larger Slavic union alongside Serbia. Princip, a young nationalist, left for Serbia in 1912 to continue the studies he had undertaken in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. While there, he fell in with a group of fellow nationalist Bosnian youths calling themselves Young Bosnia. The young men in Young Bosnia would sit long hours together and discuss their ideas for bringing about change for Balkan Slavs. They agreed that violent, terroristic methods would help to bring about a speedy demise of the Habsburg rulers and ensure the eventual sovereignty of their native homeland. When, in the spring of 1914, they learned of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s visit to Sarajevo that June, they decided he would be a perfect target for assassination. But they would need the help of a highly organized group like the Black Hand to pull off their plan. A Plan Is Hatched The Young Bosnians’ plan to do away with the Archduke eventually reached the ears of Black Hand leader Dragutin Dimitrijević, the architect of the 1903 overthrow of Serbia’s king and by now chief of Serbian military intelligence. Dimitrijević had been made aware of Princip and his friends by a subordinate officer and fellow Black Hand member who had complained of being pestered by a group of Bosnian youths bent on killing Franz Ferdinand. By all accounts, Dimitrijević very casually agreed to help the young men; although secretly, he may have received Princip and his friends as a blessing. The official reason given for the Archduke’s visit was to observe Austro-Hungarian military exercises outside the city, as the emperor had appointed him inspector general of the armed forces the previous year. Dimitrijević, however, felt sure the visit was nothing more than a smokescreen for a coming Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, though no evidence exists to suggest such an invasion was ever planned. Furthermore, Dimitrijević saw a golden opportunity to do away with a future ruler who could seriously undermine Slavic nationalistic interests, were he ever to be allowed to ascend to the throne. The Serbian nationalists knew well of Franz Ferdinand’s ideas for political reform and feared that any concessions made by Austria-Hungary towards the empire’s Slavic population could potentially undermine Serbian attempts at fomenting discontent and inciting Slavic nationalists to rise up against their Habsburg rulers. A plan was devised to send Princip, along with Young Bosnian members Nedjelko ÄÅ'abrinović and Trifko GrabeÃ… ¾, to Sarajevo, where they were to meet up with six other conspirators and carry out the assassination of the Archduke. Dimitrijević, fearing the assassins’ inevitable capture and questioning, instructed the men to swallow cyanide capsules and commit suicide immediately after the attack. No one was to be allowed to learn who had authorized the murders. Concerns Over Safety Initially, Franz Ferdinand never intended to visit Sarajevo itself; he was to keep himself outside the city for the task of observing military exercises. To this day it is unclear why he chose to visit the city, which was a hotbed of Bosnian nationalism and thus a very hostile environment for any visiting Habsburg. One account suggests that Bosnia’s governor-general, Oskar Potiorek- who may have been seeking a political boost at Franz Ferdinand’s expense- urged the Archduke to pay the city an official, all day visit. Many in the Archduke’s entourage, however, protested out of fear for the Archduke’s safety. What Bardolff and the rest of the Archduke’s entourage did not know was that June 28 was a Serb national holiday- a day that represented Serbia’s historical struggle against foreign invaders. After much debate and negotiation, the Archduke finally bent to Potiorek’s wishes and agreed to visit the city on June 28, 1914, but only in an unofficial capacity and for only a few hours in the morning. Getting Into Position Gavrilo Princip and his co-conspirators arrived in Bosnia sometime in early June. They had been ushered across the border from Serbia by a network of Black Hand operatives, who provided them with faked documents stating the three men were customs officials and thus entitled to free passage. Once inside Bosnia, they met up with six other conspirators and made their way toward Sarajevo, arriving in the city sometime around June 25. There they stayed in various hostels and even lodged with family to await Archduke’s visit three days later. Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, arrived in Sarajevo sometime before ten in the morning of June 28. After a short welcoming ceremony at the train station, the couple was ushered into a 1910 Grf Stift touring car and, along with a small procession of other cars carrying members of their entourage, made their way to the Town Hall for an official reception. It was a sunny day and the car’s canvas top had been taken down to allow for the crowds to better see the visitors. A map of the Archduke’s route had been published in the newspapers prior to his visit, so spectators would know where to stand in order to catch a glimpse of the couple as they rode by. The procession was to move down the Appel Quay along the northern bank of the Miljacka River. Princip and his six co-conspirators had also obtained the route from the newspapers. That morning, after receiving their weapons and their instructions from a local Black Hand operative, they split up and positioned themselves at strategic points along the riverbank. Muhamed MehmedbaÃ… ¡ić and Nedeljko ÄÅ'abrinović mingled with the crowds and positioned themselves near the Cumurja Bridge where they would be the first of the conspirators to see the procession going by. Vaso ÄÅ'ubrilović and Cvjetko Popović positioned themselves further up the Appel Quay. Gavrilo Princip and Trifko GrabeÃ… ¾ stood near the Lateiner Bridge toward the center of the route while Danilo Ilić moved about trying to find a good position. A Tossed Bomb MehmedbaÃ… ¡ić would be the first to see the car appear; however, as it approached, he froze with fear and was unable to take action. ÄÅ'abrinović, on the other hand, acted without hesitation. He pulled a bomb from his pocket, struck the detonator against a lamp post, and tossed it at the Archduke’s car. The car’s driver, Leopold Loyka, noticed the object flying towards them and hit the accelerator. The bomb landed behind the car where it exploded, causing debris to fly and nearby shop windows to shatter. About 20 onlookers were injured. The Archduke and his wife were safe, however, save for a small scratch on Sophie’s neck caused by flying debris from the explosion. Immediately after throwing the bomb, ÄÅ'abrinović swallowed his vial of cyanide and jumped over a railing down into the riverbed. The cyanide, however, failed to work and ÄÅ'abrinović was caught by a group of policemen and dragged away. The Appel Quay had erupted into chaos by now and the Archduke had ordered the driver to stop so that the injured parties could be attended to. Once satisfied that nobody was seriously injured, he ordered the procession to continue to the Town Hall. The other conspirators along the route had by now received news of ÄÅ'abrinović’s failed attempt and most of them, probably out of fear, decided to leave the scene. Princip and GrabeÃ… ¾, however, remained. The procession continued on to the Town Hall, where Sarajevo’s mayor launched into his welcoming speech as if nothing had happened. The Archduke immediately interrupted and admonished him, outraged at the bombing attempt that had put him and his wife in such danger and questioned the apparent lapse in security.   The Archduke’s wife, Sophie, gently urged her husband to calm down. The mayor was allowed to continue his speech in what was later described by witnesses as a bizarre and otherworldly spectacle. Despite reassurances from Potiorek that the danger had passed, the Archduke insisted on abandoning the day’s remaining schedule; he wanted to visit the hospital to check on the wounded. Some discussion on the safest way to proceed to the hospital ensued and it was decided that quickest way would be to go by the same route. The Assassination Franz Ferdinand’s car sped down the Appel Quay, where the crowds had thinned out by now. The driver, Leopold Loyka, seemed to have been unaware of the change of plans. He turned left at the Lateiner Bridge toward Franz Josef Strasse as if to proceed to the National Museum, which the Archduke had planned to visit next prior to the assassination attempt. The car drove past a delicatessen where Gavrilo Princip had bought a sandwich. He had resigned himself to the fact that the plot was a failure and that the Archduke’s return route would have been altered by now. Somebody yelled out to the driver that he had made a mistake and should have kept going along the Appel Quay to the hospital. Loyka stopped the vehicle and attempted to reverse as Princip emerged from the delicatessen and noticed, to his great surprise, the Archduke and his wife only a few feet from him. He pulled out his pistol and fired. Witnesses would later say they heard three shots. Princip was immediately seized and beaten by bystanders and the gun wrested from his hand. He managed to swallow his cyanide before being tackled to the ground but it, too, failed to work. Count Franz Harrach, the owner of the Grf Stift car that was carrying the royal couple, heard Sophie cry out to her husband, â€Å"What has happened to you?† before she appeared to faint and slump over in her seat. (King and Woolmans, 2013) Harrach then noticed that blood was trickling from the Archduke’s mouth and ordered the driver to drive to the Hotel Konak- where the royal couple was supposed to stay during their visit- as quickly as possible. The Archduke was still alive but barely audible as he continually muttered, â€Å"It is nothing.† Sophie had completely lost consciousness. The Archduke, too, eventually fell silent. The Couple’s Wounds Upon arriving at the Konak, the Archduke and his wife were carried up to their suite and attended to by regimental surgeon Eduard Bayer. The Archduke’s coat was removed to reveal a wound in his neck just above the collarbone. Blood was gurgling from his mouth. After a few moments, it was determined that Franz Ferdinand had died from his wound. â€Å"His Highness’s suffering is over,† the surgeon announced. (King and Woolmans, 2013 Sophie had been laid out on a bed in the next room. Everyone still assumed she had simply fainted but when her mistress removed her clothes she discovered blood and a bullet wound in her lower right abdomen. She had already been dead by the time they had reached the Konak. Aftermath The assassination sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Austro-Hungarian officials discovered the Serbian roots of the plot and declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 exactly one month after the assassination. Fearing reprisals from Russia, which had been a strong ally of Serbia, Austria-Hungary now sought to activate its alliance with Germany in an attempt to scare the Russians out of taking action. Germany, in turn, sent Russia an ultimatum to stop mobilizing, which Russia ignored. The two powers- Russia and Germany- declared war on each other on August 1, 1914. Britain and France would soon enter the conflict on the side of Russia. Old alliances, which had been dormant since the 19th century, had suddenly created a dangerous situation across the continent. The war that ensued, World War I, would last four years and claim the lives of millions. Gavrilo Princip never lived to see the end of the conflict he helped to unleash. After a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison (he avoided the death penalty due to his young age). While in prison, he contracted tuberculosis and died there on April 28, 1918. Sources Greg King and Sue Woolmans, The Assassination of the Archduke (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013), 207.

Regal Marine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Regal Marine - Essay Example The product life cycle has four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. During the introduction stage sales are low because there are few customers buying the product (Netmba, 2011). The product needs advertising in order to attract new customers. The profits during this stage are nonexistent due to the fact that expenses are high and sales are slow. Regal Marine losses money when new boats are introduced, but eventually if the products survives and stays in the market during its entire product life cycle the firm generates a profit from the model. The maximum amounts of profits are generated during the growth stage. The growth stage of the product life cycle is considered a period of rapid market acceptance and substantial profit improvement (Kotler, 2003). Regal Marine should produce a lot of units during this stage. Investments made in advertising during this stage have a high return. The third stage of the product life cycle is the maturity stage. Competition is high during this stage which causes sales to decline (Valuebasedmanagement, 2011).The firm should lower its advertising expenses during this stage because the product is well known. The final stage, declining, is a period of downward sales and eroding profits. At the end of the declining stage the boats model is taken off the market.

Childrens Literature - Depiction of Fatherhood Essay

Childrens Literature - Depiction of Fatherhood - Essay Example The essay ‘Children’s Literature - Depiction of Fatherhood’ highlights the role of fatherhood in children's life based on discussing of two novels: Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’ and Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’. Both the stories have very strong story lines relevant to that age when society was made up of gender identities and set patterns of behavior that were unique to girls and boys. The father in ‘Little Women’ plays a pivotal role, even though he is either at war or when he returns home, remains in the background in the novel. In her own life, the author, Louisa May Alcott had a lot of father issues. Her own father, Bronson Alcott was an unconventional thinker and a Transcendentalist philosopher, who always disrupted the peace and harmony within his family with his conflicting ideas and crazy projects. In R.L Stevenson’s historical adventure, Jim Hawkin’s father does not hav e a major role and his character is used to move the story forward. When his father dies, Jim is in search of a father figure throughout the story of ‘Treasure Island. The author R.L Stevenson has aptly substituted the father figure with other characters in the story. Both the authors make the readers realize the importance of a good and noble father and what could happen for the lack of it. Both these novels are masterpieces and indispensable to many youth who experience the same condition even today.

Eportfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Eportfolio - Essay Example Amongst the many reasons that led to the decision was the need to run the plant more efficiently. While the management role rested wholly on the ministry of defense, the plant hardly ran at the optimal level as evidenced by the case study excerpt and this necessitated change. Efficient and strategic leadership was all that was required in order to restore and actualize the optimal performance of the naval pant. Efficiency in managing human resource, time, information and finances was a critical requirement, which led to the decision to put on board private management team by the ministry of defense. This paper therefore intends to critically analyze the performance of the plant before 2002, when the ministry of defense and the royal navy managed the plant, the strategic theories and models that were used and contrast the findings with the management structure that was introduced after 2002. A comparison of the internal features of the organizations will also be done. Analysis on thes e findings will employ the Hope Hailey’s and Balogun Change Kaleidoscope. Moreover, the paper will equally conduct Lewin’s Force field Analysis to the case study of the Fasline. An interview with Howie, who was the Fasline managing director for the period running from 2002-2006, reveals that the naval base offices are well constructed to accommodate the ships as well as the sailors. He says that it was the need to reduce operational costs and improve on the effectiveness that led to the decision to have partnerships with industrial firms in the running of the naval base and the ministry of defense of UK. The initial contract to be signed in the year 2002 dictated that the incoming team was obligated to bring about an approximate savings of about $ 114 million of the operational costs within five years while at the same time delivering the services of the naval. Strategic change context in 2002, at the start of the change process at Faslane Change is a common phenomenon in management of today’s firms. Organizations have been seen to employ permanent change policies as regards future performance in every change adopted. Changing an organizations structure and administration enhances quality and service delivery. During the freezing stage, members that are directly involved are prepared about the change and the need to have it. It is therefore a preparation stage (Rezvani, Dehkordi and Shamsollahi, 2012, 113-114). Since the change entails a wide range of rearrangement of the organization structure, proper preparation is essential. In analyzing the Faslane 2002 change, we look at the critical reasons that necessitated the change among which the general management formed basic. A sound system that would ensure profitability by way of saving costs was necessary. Moreover, the naval base required proper management of the over 7500 people around the naval base. However, resistance to change as is a common feature in all organizational change proce dures was evident. The customers were first hesitant in embracing the adoption of private firms to manage the base, as the structure that they were familiar with was the royal navy and the ministry of defense structure of management. Howie says that the civilians had adopted the supervisory role against the navy personnel who were busy looking after the ships and the submarines.

How Personal Can Ethics Get Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

How Personal Can Ethics Get - Essay Example Favoritism and Partiality has forever been known for violation of equal rights – a policy that most organizations carry on their sleeves. If an executive practices partiality in his/her choices of human resource, it not only affects the morale of the competitor individual but also diminishes the overall efficiency of the organization knowing a suitable candidate was rejected for a project against an incapable one. Additionally, this will also demoralize other employees of the organization, knowing that the system for their career growth is corrupt by personal biases. If this partiality is backed by personal gains (monetary or otherwise) on behalf of the executive, it further deteriorates the organizational relationships – the employees tend to be uninterested in company decisions, disloyal towards the organization and low- performed. Turnover rate can also be expected to be higher than normal for such an organization. Also, it can be expected that such an organization w ill dissolve rapidly into non-existence. Business operations therefore strictly require the setting aside of personal differences and working in collaboration for common organizational goals. Ethics play a vital role in organizations and organizational commitments on behalf of employees. Ethics, if practiced properly, can guarantee organizational prosperity. This is because ethical environment ensures safeguard of employee rights, allowing them to concentrate on their jobs and prove to be productive members of the organization. The employees will be less pressurized to compromise their own ethics and values, making them comfortable and satisfied in their jobs. It will promote equality among all employees, controlling misconduct and sycophancy naturally. An employee will possess greater willingness to report misconduct, if any, knowing the organization will take appropriate

Political science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

Political science - Essay Example Another cause of political violence is the need to control rich resource areas and racial discrimination. During the Second World War Germany demonstrated this by invasion and subsequent conquer of Poland. The massacre of unknown number of Jews also referred to as the ‘holocaust† by Hitler was racial motivated political violence. Differing ideologies between sects can lead to political violence as it did during the great American civil war (Eickelmann, A., Nelson, E., & Lansford, 2005). While political violence is common in many countries, there are ways governments can limit it. In tribal, racially or religious motivated violence, promoting exchange between groups can be an effective means of limiting political violence among groups. The more two or three more groups interact the less likely the groups are going to engage in deadly violence. States can also concentrate on protecting individual freedom and rights to avoid the rise of rebels and insurgencies within the states. Perhaps the most important of all is for states to respect and ensure that justice and reconciliation prevail (Eickelmann et al., 2005). This is demonstrated by the impact the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Nelson Mandela formed at the end of apartheid in South Africa. For a long time people have been debating on the importance of the electoral systems designed to promote democracy and their invaluable roles in the states that apply them as their electoral systems. While most people agree and differ on their preferred electoral system, it is no secret of the importance of the existence of electoral system in democratic governments. Proportional representation and a single member district are two varying electoral systems, used in different states to select a body of members of an assembly or a legislature A single member district is an electoral area that elects one office holder through

How Personal Can Ethics Get Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

How Personal Can Ethics Get - Essay Example Favoritism and Partiality has forever been known for violation of equal rights – a policy that most organizations carry on their sleeves. If an executive practices partiality in his/her choices of human resource, it not only affects the morale of the competitor individual but also diminishes the overall efficiency of the organization knowing a suitable candidate was rejected for a project against an incapable one. Additionally, this will also demoralize other employees of the organization, knowing that the system for their career growth is corrupt by personal biases. If this partiality is backed by personal gains (monetary or otherwise) on behalf of the executive, it further deteriorates the organizational relationships – the employees tend to be uninterested in company decisions, disloyal towards the organization and low- performed. Turnover rate can also be expected to be higher than normal for such an organization. Also, it can be expected that such an organization w ill dissolve rapidly into non-existence. Business operations therefore strictly require the setting aside of personal differences and working in collaboration for common organizational goals. Ethics play a vital role in organizations and organizational commitments on behalf of employees. Ethics, if practiced properly, can guarantee organizational prosperity. This is because ethical environment ensures safeguard of employee rights, allowing them to concentrate on their jobs and prove to be productive members of the organization. The employees will be less pressurized to compromise their own ethics and values, making them comfortable and satisfied in their jobs. It will promote equality among all employees, controlling misconduct and sycophancy naturally. An employee will possess greater willingness to report misconduct, if any, knowing the organization will take appropriate

139 DB wk6 Quail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

139 DB wk6 Quail - Essay Example Well-situated business must be accessible to clients at all time. Daily time to spend in the premises to that at home with family also affect the business choice. Due to my interest in food industry, dedicating more than half of the day in the business should not be a problem. Capital invested in restaurant business is medium meaning lower risk. In addition, pay attention to laws governing this type of business and competitors around and ways to deal with any challenge. Check the financial statement of the business of interest to ascertain if there are any loans under the name of the business. Further information from an auditing company on the financial state of the business is important in determining profitability. Tax return for five years will be helpful in determining profitability. Cheap source of ingredients is another factor to consider. First, determine the value of the infrastructure and any added material used in the business. Then determine the value contributed by the name and values contributed by the employees. From this point, determine net value of the business based on expected future profit. To determine profitability then consider tax return for the past three to five years and the profit margins that affect its growth potential. Consideration for competition from other similar businesses around is another factor that affects growth

Dog Training Essay Example for Free

Dog Training Essay Training dogs has become my personal hobby for the past __ years. While I do not gain any financial benefit from this activity, I am able to derive entertainment and satisfaction from it. In fact, it has allowed me to gain additional information about dogs, grow emotionally, and increase my patience, respect, and compassion. First, my exposure to dogs enabled me to learn more about the canine species and their behavior. Dogs have specific characteristics that vary based on their breed. For example, the temper of a Golden Retriever is different from a Lhassa Aphso with the latter being relatively upbeat than the former. Second, I was able to grow emotionally and become more considerate of others. Dogs are one of the most affectionate animals both towards other dogs and human beings. It is the faithful and loyal nature of dogs that I find very moving and exceptional, to a certain extent. As I become immersed with them every day, I am able to enhance my ability of expressing my own feelings and become appreciative of others. Lastly, I became more patient, respectful, and compassionate. Training dogs requires a great deal of patience especially when the dog refuses to cooperate. However, I learned to devise strategies that would increase my patience by infusing respect and compassion in my work. I reminded myself that I have to respect the limitations of others and become more compassionate with individual differences. Indeed, dog training, as a personal hobby, benefited me in more ways than one. It taught me values that are essential for everyday living, such as respect, patience, compassion, emotional growth. To top all of these, I gained valuable information through an entertaining and fulfilling way.

Experiment for Plant Recognition

Experiment for Plant Recognition Abstract In classical sparse representation based classification (SRC) and weighted SRC (WSRC) algorithms, the test samples are sparely represented by all training samples. They emphasize the sparsity of the coding coefficients but without considering the local structure of the input data. Although the more training samples, the better the sparse representation, it is time consuming to find a global sparse representation for the test sample on the large-scale database. To overcome the shortcoming, aiming at the difficult problem of plant leaf recognition on the large-scale database, a two-stage local similarity based classification learning (LSCL) method is proposed by combining local mean-based classification (LMC) method and local WSRC (LWSRC). In the first stage, LMC is applied to coarsely classifying the test sample. k nearest neighbors of the test sample, as a neighbor subset, is selected from each training class, then the local geometric center of each class is calculated. S candidate n eighbor subsets of the test sample are determined with the first S smallest distances between the test sample and each local geometric center. In the second stage, LWSRC is proposed to approximately represent the test sample through a linear weighted sum of all kÃÆ'-S samples of the S candidate neighbor subsets. The rationale of the proposed method is as follows: (1) the first stage aims to eliminate the training samples that are far from the test sample and assume that these samples have no effects on the ultimate classification decision, then select the candidate neighbor subsets of the test sample. Thus the classification problem becomes simple with fewer subsets; (2) the second stage pays more attention to those training samples of the candidate neighbor subsets in weighted representing the test sample. This is helpful to accurately represent the test sample. Experimental results on the leaf image database demonstrate that the proposed method not only has a high accuracy and lo w time cost, but also can be clearly interpreted. Keywords: Local similarity-based-classification learning (LSCL); Local mean-based classification method (LMC); Weighted sparse representation based classification (WSRC); Local WSRC (LWSRC); Two-stage LSCL. 1. Introduction Similarity-based-classification learning (SCL) methods make use of the pair-wise similarities or dissimilarities between a test sample and each training sample to design the classification problem. K-nearest neighbor (K-NN) is a non-parametric, simple, attractive, relatively mature pattern SCL method, and is easy to be quickly achieved [1,2]. It has been widely applied to many applications, including computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning [3,4]. Its basic processes are: calculating the distance (as dissimilarity or similarity) between the test sample y and each training sample, selecting k samples with k minimum distances as the nearest k neighbors of y, finally determining the category of y that most of the nearest k neighbors belong to. In weighted K-NN, it is useful to assign weight to the contributions of the neighbors, so that the nearer neighbors contribute more to the classification method than the more dissimilarity ones. One of the disadvantages of K-NN is that, when the distribution of the training set is uneven, K-NN may cause misjudgment, because K-NN only cares the order of the first k nearest neighbor samples but does not consider the sample density. Moreover, the performance of K-NN is seriously influenced by the existing outliers and noise samples. To overcome these problems, a number of local SCL (LSCL) methods have been proposed recently. The local mean-based nonparametric classifier (LMC) is said to be an improved K-NN, which can resist the noise influences and classify the unbalanced data [5,6]. Its main idea is to calculate the local mean-based vector of each class as the nearest k neighbor of the test sample, and the test sample can be classified into the category that the nearest local mean-based vector belongs to. One disadvantage of LMC is that it cannot well represent the similarity between multidimensional vectors. To improve the performance of LMC, Mitani et al. [5] proposed a reliable local mean-based K-NN algorit hm (LMKNN), which employs the local mean vector of each class to classify the test sample. LMKNN has been already successfully applied to the group-based classification, discriminant analysis and distance metric learning. Zhang et al. [6] further improved the performance of LMC by utilizing the cosine distance instead of Euclidean distance to select the k nearest neighbors. It is proved to be better suitable for the classification of multidimensional data. Above SCL, LMC and LSCL algorithms are often not effective when the data patterns of different classes overlap in the regions in feature space. Recently, sparse representation based classification (SRC) [8], a SCL modified manner, has attracted much attention in various areas. It can achieve better classification performance than other typical clustering and classification methods such as SCL, LSCL, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and principal component analysis (PCA) [7] in some cases. In SRC [9], a test image is encoded over the original training set with sparse constraint imposed on the encoding vector. The training set acts as a dictionary to linearly represent the test samples. SRC emphasizes the sparsity of the coding coefficients but without considering the local structure of the input data [10,11]. However, the local structure of the data is proven to be important for the classification tasks. To make use of the local structure of the data, some weighted SRC (WSRC) and lo cal SCR (LSRC) algorithms have been proposed. Guo et al. [12] proposed a similarity WSRC algorithm, in which, the similarity matrix between the test samples and the training samples can be constructed by various distance or similarity measurements. Lu et al. [13] proposed a WSRC algorithm to represent the test sample by exploiting the weighted training samples based on l1-norm. Li et al. [14] proposed a LSRC algorithm to perform the sparse decomposition in local neighborhood. In LSRC, instead of solving the l1-norm constrained least square problem for all of training samples, they solved a similar problem in the local neighborhood of each test sample. SRC, WSRC, similarity WSRC and LSRChave something in common, such as, the individual sparsity and local similarity between the test sample and the training samples are considered to ensure that the neighbor coding vectors are similar to each other if they have strong correlation, and the weighted matrix is constructed by incorporating the similarity information, the similarity weighted l1-norm minimization problem is constructed and solved, and the obtained coding coefficients tend to be local and robust. Leaf based plant species recognition is one of the most important branches in pattern recognition and artificial intelligence [15-18]. It is useful for agricultural producers, botanists, industrialists, food engineers and physicians, but it is a NP-hard problem and a challenging research [19-21], because plant leaves are quite irregular, it is difficult to accurately describe their shapes compared with the industrial work pieces, and some between-species leaves are different from each other, as shown in Fig1.A and B, while within-species leaves are similar to each other, as shown in Fig.1C [22]. test sample training 1 training 2 training 3 training 4 training 5 training 6 training 7 (A) Four different species leaves (B) Four different species leaves (C) Ten same species leaves Fig.1 plant leaf examples SRC can be applied to leaf based plant species recognition [23,24]. In theory, in SRC and modified SRC, it is well to sparsely represent the test sample by too many training samples. In practice, however, it is time consuming to find a global sparse representation on the large-scale leaf image database, because leaf images are quite complex than face images. To overcome this problem, in the paper, motivated by the recent progress and success in LMC [6], modified SRC [12-14], two-stage SR [25] and SR based coarse-to-fine face recognition [26], by creatively integrating LMC and WSRC into the leaf classification, a novel plant recognition method is proposed and verified on the large-scale dataset. Different from the classical plant classification methods and the modified SRC algorithms, in the proposed method, the plant species recognition is implemented through a coarse recognition process and a fine recognition process. The major contributions of the proposed method are (1) a two-stage plant species recognition method, for the first time, is proposed; (2) a local WSRC algorithm is proposed to sparsely represent the test sample; (3) the experimental results indicate that the proposed method is very competitive in plant species recognition on large-scale database. The remainder of this paper is arranged as follows: in Section 2, we briefly review LMC, SRC and WSRC. In Section 3, we describe the proposed method and provide some rationale and interpretation. Section 4 presents experimental results. Section 5 offers conclusion and future work. 2. Related works In this section, some related works are introduced. Suppose n training samples,, from different classes {X1, X2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦,XC}. is the sample number of the ith class, then. 2.1 LMC Local mean-based nonparametric classification (LMC) is an improved K-NN method [6]. It uses Euclidean distance or cosine distance to select nearest neighbors and measure the similarity between the test sample and its neighbors. In general, the cosine distance is more suitable to describe the similarity of the multi-dimensional data. LMC is described as follows, for each test sample y, Step 1: Select k nearest neighbors of y from the jth class, as a neighbor subset represented by; Step 2: Calculate the local mean-based vector for each classby, (1) Step 3: Calculate the distance between y and. Step 4: if Euclidean distance metric is adopted; while if cosine distance metric is adopted. 2.2 SRC SRC relies on a distance metric to penalize the dissimilar samples and award the similar samples. Its main idea is to sparsely represent and classify the test sample by a linear combination of all the training samples. The test sample is assigned into the class that produces the minimum residue. SRC is described as follows, Input: n training samples, a test sample. Output: the class label of y. Step 1: Construct the dictionary matrixby n training samples. Each column of A is a training sample called basis vector or atom. Normalize each column of A to unit l2-norm. A is required to be unit l2-norm (or bounded norm) in order to avoid the trivial solutions that are due to the ambiguity of the linear reconstruction. Step 2: Construct and solve an l1-norm minimization problem, (2) where x is called as spare representation coefficients of y. Eq. (2) can be usually approximate by an l1-norm minimization problem, (3) whereis the threshold of the residue. Eq.(3) can be generalized as a constrained least square problem, (4) where ÃŽÂ »>0 is a scalar regularization parameter which balances the tradeoff between the sparsity of the solution and the reconstruction error. Eq.(4) is a constrained LASSO problem, its detail solution is found in Ref. [27]. Step 3: Compute residue, whereis the characteristic function that selects the coefficients associated with the ith class; Step 4: the class label of, y, is identified as. 2.3 WSRC WSRC integrates both sparsity and locality structure of the data to further improve the classification performance of SRC. It aims to impose larger weight to the training samples that are farer from the test sample. Different from SRC, WSRC solves a weighted l1-norm minimization problem, (5) where W is a diagonal weighted matrix, and its diagonal elements are. Eq.(5) makes sure that the coding coefficients of WSRC tend to be not only sparse but also local in linear representation [13], which can represent the test sample more robustly. 2.4 LSRC Though a lot of instances have been reported that WSRC performs better than SRC in various classification problems, WSRC forms the dictionary by using all the training samples, thus the size of the generated dictionary may be large, which will make adverse effect to solving the l1-norm minimization problem. To overcome this drawback, a local sparse representation based classification (LSRC) is proposed to perform sparse decomposition in a local manner. In LSRC, K-NN criterion is exploited to find the nearest k neighbors for the test samples, and the selected samples are utilized to construct the over-complete dictionary. Different from SRC, LSRC solves a weighted l1 minimization problem, (6) wherestands for data matrix which consists of the k nearest neighbors of y. Compared with the original SRC and WSRC, although the computational cost of LSRC will be saved remarkably when, LSRC does not assign different weight to the different training samples. 3. Two-stage LSCL From the above analysis, it is found that each of LMC, WSRC and LSRC has its advantages and disadvantages. To overcome the difficult problem of plant recognition on the large-scale leaf image database, a two-stage LSCL leaf recognition method is proposed in the section. It is a sparse decomposition problem in a local manner to obtain an approximate solution. Compared with WSRC and LSRC, LSCL solves a weighted l1-norm constrain least square problem in the candidate local neighborhoods of each test sample, instead of solving the same problem for all the training samples. Suppose there are a test sampleand n training samples from C classes, andis the sample number of ith class,is jth sample of the ith class. Each sample is assumed to be a one-dimensional column vector. The proposed method is described in detail as follows. 3.1 First stage of LSCL Calculate the Euclidean distancebetween y and, and select k nearest neighbors of y fromwith the first k smallest distances, the selected neighbor subset noted as, . Calculate the average of, (7) Calculate the Euclidean distancebetween y and. From C neighbor subsets, selectneighbor subsets with the firstsmallest distancesas the candidate subsets for the test sample, in simple terms, denoted as. The training samples fromare reserved as the candidate training samples for the test sample, and the other training samples are eliminated from the training set. 3.2 Second step of LSCL From the first stage, it is noted that there aretraining samples from all the candidate subsets. For simplify, we just as well express the jth training sample ofis. The second stage first represents the test sample as a linear combination of all the training samples of, and then exploits this linear combination to classify the test sample. From the first stage, we have obtained the Euclidean distancebetween y and each candidate sample. By, a new local WSRC is proposed to solve the same weighted l1-norm minimization problem as Eq.(5), (8) where is the dictionary constructed bytraining samples of,is the weighted diagonal matrix, is the Euclidean distance between y and. In Eq.(8), the weighted matrix is a locality adaptor to penalize the distance between y and. In the above SRC, WSRC, LSRC and LSCL, the l1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢norm constraint least square minimization problem is solved by the approach proposed in [28], which is a specialized interior-point method for solving the large scale problem. The solution of Eq.(8) can be expressed as (9) From Eq.(9), is expressed as the sparse representation of the test sample. In representing the test sample, the sum of the contribution of the ith candidate neighbor subset is calculated by (10) whereis the jth sparse coefficient corresponding to the ith candidate nearest neighbor subset. Then we calculate the residue of the ith candidate neighbor subset corresponding to test sample y, (11) In Eq.(11), for the ith class (), a smalleraverages the greater contribution to representing y. Thus, y is finally classified into the class that produces the smallest residue. 3.3 Summary of two-stage LSCL From the above analysis, the main steps of the proposed method are summarized as follows. Suppose n training samples from Cdifferent classes, a test sample y, the number k of the nearest neighbors of y, the number S of the candidate neighbor subsets. Step 1. Compute the Euclidean distance between the test sample y and every training sample, respectively. Step 2. Through K-NN rules, find k nearest neighbors from each training class as the neighbor subset for y, calculate the neighbor average of the neighbor subset of each class, and calculate the distance between y and the neighbor average. Step 3. Determine S neighbor subsets with the first S smallest distances, as the candidate neighbor subsets for y. Step 4. Construct the dictionary by all training samples of the S candidate neighbor subsets and then construct the weighted l1-norm minimization optimization problem as Eq.(8). Step 5. Solve Eq.(8) and obtain the sparse coefficients. Step 6. For each candidate neighbor subset, compute the residue between yand its estimationby Eq.(11). Step 7. Identify the class labelthat has the minimum ultimate residue and classify y into this class. 3.4 Rationale and interpretation of LSCL In practical, some between-species leaves are very different from the other leaves, as shown in Fig.1A. They can be easily classified by the Euclidean distances between the leaf digital image matrices. However, some between-species leaves are very similar to each other, as shown in Fig.1B. They cannot be easily classified by some simple classification methods. In Figs.1A and B, suppose the first leaf is the test sample, while other seven leaves are training samples. It is difficult to identify the label of the test leaf by the simple classification method, because the test leaf is very similar to Nos. 4,5,6 and 7 in Fig.1B. However, it is sure that the test sample is not Nos.1, 2 and 3. So, we can naturally firstly exclude these three leaves. This exclusion method example is the purpose of the first stage of LSCL. From Fig.1C, it is found that there is large difference between the leaves of the same species. Therefore, in plant recognition, an optimal scheme is to select some trainin g samples that are relatively similar to the test sample as the candidate training samples, such as Nos. 2 and 9 in Fig.1C are similar to the test sample in Fig.1C, instead of considering all training samples. The average neighbor distance is used to coarsely recognize the test sample. The average neighbor distance as dissimilarity is more effective and robust than the original distance between the test and each training leaf, especially in the case of existing noise and outliers. From the above analysis, in the first stage of LSCL, it is reasonable to assume that the leaf close to the test sample has great effect, on the contrary, if a leaf is far enough from the test sample it will have little effect and even have side-effect on the classification decision of the test sample. These leaves should be discarded firstly, and then the later plant recognition task will be clear and simple. In the same way, we can use the similarity between the test sample and the average of its nearest neighbors to select some neighbor subsets as the candidate training subsets of the test sample. If we do so, we can eliminate the side-effect on the classification decision of the neighbor subset that is far from the test sample. Usually, for the classification problem, the more the classes, the lower the classification accuracy, so the first stage is very useful. In the second stage of LSCL, there are S nearest neighbor subsets as candidate class labels of the test sample, thus it is indeed faced with a problem simpler than the original classification problem, becauseand, i.e., few training samples are reserved to match the test sample. Thus, the computational cost is mostly reduced and the recognition rate will be improved greatly. We analyze the computational cost of LSCL in theory as follows. There are n samples from C classes, and every sample is an mÃÆ'-1 column vector, the first stage need to calculate the Euclidean distance, select k nearest neighbors from each class, and calculate the average of the k nearest neighbors, then the computational cost is about. In second stage, there aretraining samples to construct the dictionary A, the cost ofis, the cost ofis, and the cost ofis. The second stage has computational cost of+. The computational cost of LSCL is ++in total. The computational cost of the classical SRC algorithm is[8,9]. Compared with SRC, it is found that the computational cost of LSCL will be saved remarkably when. 4. Experiments and result analysis In this section, the proposed method is validated on a plant species leaf database and compared with the state-of-the-art methods. 4.1 Leaf image data and experiment preparation To validate the proposed method, we apply it to the leaf classification task using the ICL dataset. All leaf images of the dataset were collected at the Botanical Garden of Hefei, Anhui Province of China by Intelligent Computing Laboratory (ICL), Chinese Academy of Sciences. The ICL dataset contains 6000 plant leaf images from 200 species, in which each class has 30 leaf images. Some examples are shown in Fig.2. In the database, some leaves could be distinguished easily, such as the first 6 leaves in Fig.2A, while some leaves could be distinguished difficultly, such as the last 6 leaves in Fig.2A. We verify the proposed method by two situations, (1) two-fold cross validation, i.e., 15 leaf images of each class are randomly selected for training, and the rest 15 samples are used for testing; (2) leave-one-out cross validation, i.e., one of each class are randomly selected for testing and the rest 29 leaf images per class are used for training. (A) Original leaf images (B) Gray-scale images (C) Binary texture images Fig.2 Samples of different species from ICL database