Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Milton Friedman free essay sample

â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits† in 1970, on the Social Responsibility of a business and his hypothesis, which is known as the â€Å"Efficiency Perspective†. In each article and book that I have found out about social duty, Friedman’s â€Å"Efficiency Perspective is put midway. During my examination I found that Friedman is frequently censured for being excessively old style. Friedman accepts that manager’s chief goal or even good commitment to the firm ought to be to boost benefits consistently. There is anyway one condition that makes his point of view progressively confused, for me, yet additionally for a few notable creators. As indicated by Friedman, the managers’ commitments ought to be done: â€Å"†¦while adjusting to the fundamental standards of the general public, both those encapsulated in law and those epitomized in moral custom†. This prompts one of the fundamental inquiries of my article: To what degree does Friedman’s â€Å"Efficiency Perspective† give establishment for capable and moral worldwide administration conduct? Furthermore, need we any worry in the event that it neglects to do as such? To completely address the inquiries, I first need to clarify the two unique pieces of the principal question: capable worldwide administration conduct and good universal administration conduct. We will compose a custom exposition test on Milton Friedman or then again any comparable subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page In organizations these days they consolidate these two sections, separately dependable and moral become social duty in universal administration. The subsequent inquiry foresees different hypotheses and models we have to consider when Friedman’s productivity viewpoint doesn't give establishment for social obligation in global administration. Anyway before I go in further detail, I initially clarify increasingly about the idea social obligation. After this I clarify Friedman’s full hypothesis, and how it identified with these various models of social obligation, lastly I will reach an inference. As any expert hoping to have a situation in the corporate level will before long perceive that ongoing years have seen a blast in notoriety of the possibility of ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR). On going through twenty-five hours per day at their work areas, forthcoming volunteers are all around encouraged to fake energy about the possibility of going through their ends of the week planting trees in the nearby park to counterbalance carbon outflows. For sure, if this is going to make you even half as cheerful as the representatives on the sites look, who can question? Milton Friedman distributed renowned article clarified the possibility that a business had any obligation other than to expand its benefits inside legitimately and morally worthy edges, contending that ‘a corporate official is a worker of the proprietors of the business. He has direct reâ ¬sponsibility to his bosses. That responsiâ ¬bility is to direct the business as per their wants, which by and large will be to get however much cash-flow as could reasonably be expected while conâ ¬forming to the fundamental guidelines of the general public. ’ Anyone setting out to disagree is, de rigueur, named a ‘socialist’. The contention has a specific intrigue. In the event that we can excuse the idea of CSR as †in truth †flippant, we can spare many exhausted administrators a ton of time on their days off, and increment the benefits of investors. However, it must be said that Friedman essentially makes one wonder. Obviously, who doesn’t want to make a boundless profit for his capital? Be that as it may, is this a decent want? The concealed suppositions here are that business is an action to be practiced simply in the quest for boundless private increase, that it has no social capacity, and that there is no restriction past which returns on capital become out of line †useful meanings of insatiability, independence, and usury. A portion of those in the CSR development appear to have gulped Friedman’s evaluate, and by suggestion his vision of what establishes a decent business. It isn't irregular to see CSR legitimized less by moral goals than by the contention that it is ‘good for business’, for which read ‘increases profitability’. However, maybe both the Friedman study and the regular act of CSR are missing something significant. It can contend that both Friedman’s proposition and the current act of CSR lead to an absence of polished methodology. Envision we pose the inquiry: what makes a decent shoemaker? For Friedman, it is making a lot of cash. For the CSR extremist, it is spending Saturday early evening time chipping in the nearby creature cover. However sound judgment discloses to us that nor is valid, that the great shoemaker is the person who makes great shoes at reasonable costs, since shoes are something that everybody in the network needs. Medieval thinkers †dissimilar to early Christian scholars who for the most part took a dreary perspective on commercial exchange †valued that dealers play out a helpful social capacity, not by expanding the benefits of their investors, however by moving products from zones of bounty to territories of shortage, adding to a progressively impartial dispersion of the earth’s assets and as per the general inclination of genuine needs. The capacity of a business †commercial or in any case †isn't, as per this perusing, to augment private benefit by getting however much cash as could reasonably be expected, yet to boost the benefit of all by making merchandise and ventures accessible to the individuals who are needing them. Genuine corporate social obligation isn't a ‘extra-curricular’ movement, yet the act of the temperances appropriate to a specific occupation and the will to act as per reality that the motivation behind one’s calling is to satisfy as consummately as conceivable some positive capacity inside the network. At last, it could be Milton Friedman’s vision which prompts ‘pure and unadulterated socialism’. At the point when the general population see that organizations are not keen on giving them quality merchandise or administrations, however just in taking however much cash from them as could reasonably be expected while remaining on the correct side of the law, it makes a ‘them’ and ‘us’ attitude which is a rich reproducing ground for agitation, and in the long run for communism. Contentions about the job of business in the public arena have seethed as organizations buy in to seeing techniques to limit the requirement for CSR or for approaches to hand social duty over to a factor of benefit making. While some accept that CSR is an interruption that stops organizations performing to their latent capacity and devastating the economy, I immovably accept that a powerful CSR strategy, combined with effective promoting and business system could enable a business to develop to bigger benefits while additionally profiting society on the loose. Milton Friedman is one of the designers of the development against social obligation, composing what is considered by numerous the original bit of work trashing CSR and the organizations who advancing their CSR certifications, saying, â€Å"Businessmen who talk thusly are accidental manikins of scholarly powers that have been sabotaging the premise of a free society these previous decades. † (Friedman, 1970, p1) Friedman’s general conviction was that no one but individuals can have obligations, not organizations, and the individuals who are recruited by entrepreneurs have a duty fundamentally to their managers, to meet their wants which as a rule are benefits. Friedman perceives that an individual can have seen obligations in territories from the business, yet says of this: â€Å"If we wish we can allude to a portion of these duties as ‘social duties. ’ But in these regards he is going about as a chief not a specialist; he is investing his own cash or time or vitality, not the cash of his bosses or the time and vitality he has contracted to commit to their motivations. On the off chance that these are ‘social responsibilities,’ they are the social obligations of the individual, not the business. † (Friedman, 1970, p2) Friedman’s technique is to de-amass the representation of organizations in to singular specialists and to rather introduce them as what he accepts they seem to be; aggregates of people who are paid to work at the offering of the proprietors. Along these lines, the representatives ought to be exclusively spurred to satisfy their obligation to make benefit for the proprietors and not to be worried with respect to whether their job in the firm is profiting society or not. One could nearly contend that Friedman is stating that those with the longing to work with a social still, small voice have no spot in the free market. While I would concur there is a measure of sense in this contention, I can't help feel that Friedman’s comprehension of CSR is excessively tight, centered simply around the business and its job in a free market and has gotten without a doubt obsolete for the contemporary culture. He makes admirable statements during his deconstruction of the representation of a business, anyway he overlooks the primary property that is CSR’s quality and that is the desire of the overall population. He may see the business in the verifiable way of which he introduced; representatives arranged to work for the owner’s advantage, yet people in general don't. They see the organization in general agent and on the off chance that one man’s botch prompts a mistake is social judgment, the open will pass judgment all in all organization, not simply the one man. It has been demonstrated over and over while CSR presently can't seem to be bridled to make a huge positive contrast to benefits, a negative approach can pulverize benefits. Shockingly for Milton Friedman, corporate social duty has endured long enough to never again be viewed as a pattern however a completely fledged procedure fundamental to a busin

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Mending Wall :: essays research papers

â€Å"Mending Wall† is a sonnet that presents two contradicting mentalities towards keeping boundaries up between individuals. Each neighbor has an alternate supposition. One neighbor needs a noticeable line to isolate their property lines and different sees no purpose behind it. The sonnet suggests an absence of security and trust one individual may have towards another, in any event, when it may not appear to be nonsensical or important. Every year the two neighbors meet yearly at the bordering divider. The two men walk the length of the divider to evaluate and fix the year’s mileage. Frost’ composing style welcomes the peruser to test the requirement for correspondence or, all the more correctly, the manner in which individuals set up dividers to make boundaries between themselves. The visual symbolism of the divider encourages the peruser to move from simply considering the to be as a fundamental, common setting to a theoretical thought of human conduct. In the primary refrain of the sonnet it sets up the feeling of secret, a genuine nature of environment, â€Å"something† that doesn't need the divider to be there. Whatever it is, it’s an incredible power and it makes a â€Å" solidified ground swell† that upsets the divider from underneath, constraining stones on top to tumble off. Harm shows up every year so the neighbors stroll along the divider to fix the holes and fallen stones that have not been made by both of the two neighbors. Ice at that point gives the peruser an unsure inquiry with respect to for what reason should neighbors need dividers in any case. For what reason do great wall make great neighbors? On the off chance that one or the two neighbors had dairy cattle or something that could do conceivable harm then a fence would be sensible. In any case, it is called attention to in the sonnet that there are no cows. Along these lines, there must be a type of human doubt between one of the neighbors. What is the doubt? Ice doesn’t let the peruser know. Maybe it is an age contrast that outcomes in extraordinary perspectives or convention. Or on the other hand possibly there is a strict inclination about the other. One neighbor needs to isolate and perhaps his family. The divider keeps the malice of aloofness from entering. The apparition of inco nvenience is by all accounts held within proper limits by this stone structure. Ice gives us the feeling that he doesn’t concur with isolating individuals. The sonnet may have something to do with prejudice. Perhaps one neighbor is dark and the other is Caucasian.

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Fall Travel Days 2+3 Westchester County

Fall Travel Days 2+3 Westchester County When you have a 2.5-year-old and a 3-month-old, anything after 6AM is considered sleeping in. I got to sleep in yesterday. :-) Woke up around 8AM, got coffee in the lobby, and checked out of the Hyatt (still no sign of Paris or Nicky). Headed to Loomis Chaffee for a school visit. Didnt get to see any students (apparently a bunch of them had come to my Hartford info session the night before and it was so amazing that they didnt need to come see me today heh) but I did have a great conversation with Alison Burr, the GC at Loomis. I did my best to explain our selection process to her, and she told me that this really helped her to understand why certain kids get in when others do not. This is a big goal of ours during fall travel helping GCs to understand what kind of applicant were looking for. So this was a great school visit, despite the lack of student attendance. Alison was a wonderful host and gave me a great tour of the entire campus Loomis is a beautiful place. Loomis Chaffee has somewhat of a sad history. Back in the day, Mr. Loomis married Ms. Chaffee and they had some kids, and then those kids had some kids, but they all died in childhood. So they took all of the money that they would have spent on the kids educations and created the school. Theres a private dining room off the main dining room with portraits of all of the family members. The portraits of the children (painted to reflect the ages they were when they died) are haunting. After Loomis, I headed down the various parkways towards New York (always take things like the Hutch instead of 95, trust me) and ended up in New Rochelle where the Westchester County central meeting was to be held at Iona Prep. With some time to kill (Id left CT early to avoid rush hour traffic), I picked a direction randomly and ended up in Scarsdale, where I got a table at a Chinese restaurant called Seven Woks. If youre ever in Scarsdale, Seven Woks makes some great Moo Shu. Ill pause here to note that for some reason I only ever end up eating one meal per day on the road. Its sortof a lunch/dinner combo thing in the late afternoon. I thought this was weird until asking my colleagues about their eating habits on the road and discovering that most of them share this habit. Part of it is the timing of the night meetings; another part is probably related to the fact that we need to be on all day/night during these trips, which likely affects our appetities. Maybe Ill lose a couple of pounds out here; thatd be cool. :-) After dinner I headed to Iona Prep to set up for the meeting. There were a bunch of ECs there including the regional chair, Arthur Katz, who was great and quite helpful. Arthur gets to travel a lot for work, including a recent trip to Nigeria. The meeting went well lots of questions at the end, so we were there pretty late. I was thinking of coming back to Boston today (Wednesday), but decided to grin and bear the 3.5 hour drive back to Boston last night so I could get woken up by my babies. They were glad to see me. :-) * Today: tons of email catchup and prep for the rest of travel. Tomorrow: a 7AM flight to Tampa for the NACAC conference.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Relationship Between Romantic Couples And The Middle East

There are lots of complicated relationships in the world and some are too complex for saying if they are â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad.† America’s relationships with some foreign countries, like China or the countries of the Middle East, are examples of these complex relationships. There are individuals that also have complex relationships with other individuals and there are extremely simple relationships. No matter how complex or basic the relationship, all successful relationships have one thing in common: good communication. Lack of communication creates turmoil in all kinds of relationships and will end them if it is not remedied. When communication is not prevalent in a relationship between romantic couples, it can cause the relationship to end. Obviously, if a couple does not communicate when or where they are going to go on a date, there is a miniscule chance that they will both pick the right place and time. Consequently, they will be angry at the other one for not telling them where they were going to be. This concept is simple and somewhat ridiculous but it applies in other situations. When one half of a couple does not address problems they are having with the relationship, the other person has no idea that there are problems and will continue life as usual. If this continues and the problems are never addressed, it will make the relationship seem worse than it really is and the couple will break up when they think the problems are too much to deal with instead of working outShow MoreRelatedSocial Class : The Great Gatsby, Conflicts And Relationships1176 Words   |  5 PagesClass is Everything In today’s society, social class plays a large role in who is with who. Celebrity couples and weddings are very commonplace, but the rich and famous rarely marry those who are of the middle, or lower class. If it does happen though, it is usually a rich, older man marrying a young, beautiful woman. This would usually not happen unless the older man was rich, and these relationships do not usually last very long. Along with this, some people in foreign countries still practice theRead MoreBusiness: Axe Commercial Research Essays1132 Words   |  5 Pagesindicate something, or at least some parties of the world. There are allusions to North Korea and the Middle East, World War II and the Vietnam War (businessinsider.com). In the commercial, there are 14 small scenes, including all of the four crisis and the last part of the Axe new product promotion. The scenes generally followed the order of the theme as follow, seemingly Middle East, seemingly World War Two, seemingly North Korea and seemingly Vietnam War (The word â€Å"seemingly† would beRead MoreCensorship Of Children And The Art Industry1488 Words   |  6 Pagesforced to keep its depiction of Princess Bubblegum and Marceline’s relationship less than explicit (Ewart, 2015). Princess Bubblegum and Marceline are two female characters who support the main character, Finn, on his adventures. The show established early on in the series that, although they have an antagonistic relationship now, they used to be very close. The creator, despite having confirmed their relationship to have been a romantic one, has had to play this down in-series due to the fact that theRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1543 Words   |  7 Pagesdisposition, and social standing prevent these relationships from reaching their full potential. By comparing and contrasting these three different kinds of relationships with each other, Fitzgerald rejects the idea of true love and proves that without a stable foundation any relationship is destined to fail. The marriage that Fitzgerald focuses on the most throughout The Great Gatsby, is that of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Tom and Daisy married in 1919 and live in East Egg, signifying their social standing inRead MoreSex, The Process Of Creation Of Any Human Alive1665 Words   |  7 Pageshow women believe love enhances physical pleasure of sexual activities. From the intimacy and trust between a loving couple a women would be more comfortable to conduct sexual activities with her partner. However, why is sexual pleasure enhanced when there is love? From the article it is suggested that sexual pleasure is enhance because the media portrays women having affairs outside a relationship negatively, hence, women may think it would be better to have sexual activities with their partner,Read MoreThe History and Patterns of Interracial Marriage and Families in the United States1229 Words   |  5 PagesComing from an interracial family, as well as an interracial romantic relationship, I was drawn toward researching the history and patterns of interracial marriage and families in the United States. Having the social experiences involved with dating exogamously or having interethnic siblings and cousins can drastically affect the way one interacts with and sees the world. As early as 1691, colonial-era United States established anti-miscegenation laws banning blacks and whites from interracialRead MoreEssay On The Relationship Between Nick And Gandby In The Great Gatsby1180 Words   |  5 PagesThe Great Gatsby develops a complex, ambivalent relationship between Nick and Gatsby and describes some puzzling similarities between the two men. Eventually, the themes expand to show Gatsby as a symbolic representation of the pursuit of the unreachable American Dream in the early 20th century. Throughout the novel, Nick’s behavior and emotions mirror Gatsby’s. The novel starts of with a description of Nick, who admits that he has moved to New York to join the bond business. Nick is chasing theRead MoreArranged Marriage Essay 11506 Words   |  7 Pagesfail when the potential spouse is an awful match, the mate that was arranged might not achieve our satisfaction and the marriage will end up with divorce and disappointment. In fact, it is showed that an arranged marriage is a deeper and healthier relationship because it is based on a lot of basic and reasonable factors that are totally necessary for setting up a marriage and having a long-life partner. Actually, there are two concepts that many people now misunderstand; it is â€Å"forced marriage†Read MoreGender Inequality : A Critical Issue That Affects Women s Rights1662 Words   |  7 PagesIn order to progress and grow as a community and society, gender equality needs to be acknowledged. According to LISTVERSE, the top ten â€Å"extreme† examples of gender inequality towards women that exists around the world today, specifically in the Middle East and North Africa, are being forbidden from driving, having clothing requirements, having limited access to divorce, education, and travel, being victims of violence, lacking custody rights, being denied citizenship, being in sexual subjugation,Read MoreThe Great Gatsby Analysis1274 Words   |  6 PagesAlthough the timeline is kept vague in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald makes it clear that his work of art is based in the early 1920’s between World War I and the Prohibition. This was a transitiona l period in the United States. America changed after the war and as a result, so did life. The idea of the perfect life fluctuated as troops began flooding back to the United States, migrating to cities, picking up jobs, and buying houses for their new or planned families. The economy was booming

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Salem Witch Trials Essay - 1478 Words

The year 1692 marked a major event in history in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witchcraft Trials still leaves this country with so many questions as to what happened in that small town. With all the documentation and accounts of the story, people are still wondering why 19 people died as a result of these trials. This paper will discuss the events leading up to the Salem Witch Trials and the events that took place during and after the trials, and the men and women who were killed or spent the remainder of their lives in jail. The Salem Witch Trials has become one of the countries most fascinating stories. HISTORY OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS Salem founded in 1926 at the mouth of the Naumkeag River by some English†¦show more content†¦The only books in a Puritan household were that of religious content. â€Å"Given the constant thundering by Puritans about Satan, sin and witches’ spells, it is not surprising that a sensitive child might be subject to fits and weeping and hysterical talk about witchcraft.† (Kallen, 2005) The settlers would live for many years with only one major crime happening in 1638, where a woman by the name of Dorothy Talbye was hanged for murdering her daughter. It was in 1641, when English law made witchcraft a capital crime. Later in 1688, after a disagreement with Goody Glover, a 13 year old girl, Martha Goodwin began exhibiting â€Å"signs† of bizarre behavior. The behavior spreads to her brothers and sisters and Goody Glover is arrested for â€Å"bewitching† the Goodwin children. The Reverend Cotton Mather tries to persuade Goody Glover to repent her witchcraft, but she is later hanged. Martha Goodwin’s behavior continues and worsens. Later that year, Reverend Mather publishes â€Å"Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions.† In November of 1689, Samuel Parris is named the new minister of Salem and he moves from Boston to Salem to preside over the small town. It was in the early months of 1692, when a little girl by the name Elizabeth â€Å"Betty† Parris became ill. It was during this time that â€Å"witchcraft† began to takeShow MoreRelatedSalem Witch Trials And The Witch Trial1494 Words   |  6 PagesFirst of all, I wanted to talk about what Salem Witch Trial is and who are the persons involve in this event. Salem Witch Trials, according to Encyclopedia Britannica is â€Å"A series of investigations and persecutions that caused 19 convicted â€Å"witches† to be hanged and many other many suspects to be imprisoned in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.† There are many people involve in Salem Witch Trials and I’ll be going to describe their role in this event, followed by the different case studiesRead MoreSalem Witch Trials And The Witch Trial Essay2225 Words   |  9 Pagesaccused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts, many more died in jail, and around 200 people total were accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Records from the event indicate that the Salem Witch Trials started when a group of young girls began acting strange, claiming they had been possessed by the Devil and bewitched by local villagers. The Salem Witch Trials is a much debated event; historians argue over the motivation and causes behind the trials and executions, not overRead MoreThe Trial Of The Salem Witch Trials905 Words   |  4 PagesI. Introduction In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many asRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials691 Words   |  3 Pageswere the Salem Witch Trials? The Trials happened in 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts, in a town called Salem. Nineteen men and women were hanged on grounds of practicing dark magic and making a pact with Satan (in other words, for being witches). Hundreds of people were imprisoned; several died there. Additionally, one man (of over seventy years!) was crushed to death with heavy stones and the lives of many were irrevocably changed. (Salem Witch Museum) IQ #2- How and why did the Salem WitchRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials1202 Words   |  5 PagesThe Salem Witch Trials were a prime part of American history during the early 17th century. During this time, religion was the prime focus and way of life within colonies. This was especially true for the Puritan way of life. Puritans first came to America in hopes of practicing Christianity their own way, to the purest form. The Puritans were fundamentalists who believed every word transcribed in the Bible by God was to be followed exactly for what it was. The idea of the devil controlling a womanRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials1866 Words   |  8 Pagessurrounding the cause of the Salem Witch Trials 1692 makes the topic captivating as many historian perspectives offer explanations for the causation of the trials, yet the personal context of each historian has determined its historic reliability. This questions the level of objectivity each historian has in their responses to the Trials. The aims and purposes of a historian, as well as their differing methodologies may alter the approach the have towards the investigation of the Trials. Many interpretationsRead MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials Essay1267 Words   |  6 PagesThe notorious witch trials in Salem began in Spring of 1692. This started after a young group of girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, professed they were possessed by the devil. These young girls even went as far as accusing some local women of practicing witchcraft. As a frenzy spreaded throughout colonial Massachusetts, a specific court was summoned to hear cases. Bridget Bishop was the first convicted witch and she was hung in that June following her trial. Eighteen other people followed BishopRead MoreThe Trials Of Salem Witch Trials1069 Words   |  5 PagesEven though the Salem witch trials were made to seem formal, they were actually subjective and not based on fact. Since there were multiple people being accused of witchcraft, the trials were short and quick to sentence. The witch trials lasted less than a year. The first arrests were made on March 1, 1692, and the final hanging day was September 22, 1692. The Court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved in October of 1692. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in the spring of 1692, when a groupRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials1635 Words   |  7 Pagesovercome was the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692 and 1693 in colonial Massachusetts. â€Å"More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft – the Devil’s magic – and 20 were executed† as detailed by Jess Blumberg on the web article A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials (Blumberg 2007). The trials had a major impact on the American society and the effects could be seen in colonial America as well as today. Why did the injustice of the Salam Witch Trials occur and whyRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials2197 Words   |  9 Pagesestablish colonies based on the word of God. Salem, like many other towns at the time, had little distinction between church and state and focused all aspects of their society on God. (Roach) Due to these conditions, Salem became the site of the largest and most violent witch hunts in America. The significance of the trials comes from the large impact they had on American law. The conditions before, during, and after the Salem Trials were unlike the witch hunts in any other colonies in the New World

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Appendix E Racial Formation Free Essays

University of Phoenix Material Appendix E Part I Define the following terms: |Term |Definition | |Racial formation | | | |Too look at a race as a socially constructed identity. | |Segregation |Setting apart or separating things or people and may refer to. |De jure segregation | | | |Segregation or isolation of individual from main group that Is imposed by law | |Pluralism |A condition in which numerous distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and | | |tolerated within society | |Assimilation |The process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs attitude of the prevailing | | |culture. We will write a custom essay sample on Appendix E: Racial Formation or any similar topic only for you Order Now | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: †¢ Throughout most of U. S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? It shows that the whites were the majority group threw out history, also it was deemed by the color of your skin also meaning if you had lighter looking skin the you were consider to be white , but if you had the darker looking color of skin then you were deemed to be of a different race. †¢ What are some of the larger racial minorities in U. S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? Hispanics really outnumber the African Americans as the largest minority group in Us history for the first time and that’s when the government starting counting the nations population more than two centuries ago. The Census Bureau’s confirmed a symbolic milestone for a nation whose history has been mainly black and white racial dynamics. They also said that it is adding a new dimension to everything from product making to politics learning the about their ethnic background. http://usatoday30. usatoday. com/news/nation/census/2003-06-18-Census_x. htm †¢ †¢ In what ways have laws been used to enforce discrimination? Provide examples. These laws were intended against which racial minorities? Professor Gates from Harvard University was arrested by police investigating a possible break in at his own house. A lot of the Harvard faculty thought it was racial profiling. Again another incident was another Professor Counter which is in neuroscience, was almost arrested by Harvard Security in 2004 after being mistaken for robbery suspect as he crossed the Harvard Yard, Security officers threatened him to be arrested when he couldn’t produce his identification badge. Both professor are thinking that black men are being targeted by the Cambridge police department. http://www. boston. com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard. html In what ways have laws been used to eliminate discrimination? Provide examples. Did the laws work to eliminate discrimination? This country has taken a huge step forward and has accepted some new changes and the remaining have not adapted to change. For example where at one time it was o kay to discriminate against race, for its wrong today, but yet we are more accepting Bisexuals/Homosexuals to our country, instead of pushing them away. So now we are accepting gay marriage, and then we have others who do not. So what this is saying is laws are helping to change but not eliminate it, and that will take some time to do and a shift in culture and society. Lindsey Metzler How to cite Appendix E: Racial Formation, Essay examples

Friday, May 1, 2020

Legos free essay sample

When asked what they want for a gift, most teens would say a CD, or maybe an iPod, but I want Legos. I received my first set for my fifth birthday, a tiny pizzeria with an umbrella and a delivery truck. Since then my collection has expanded immensely and I have built skyscrapers, constructed spaceships and designed submarines. There is a small area in my house designated as The Lego Room. Beyond its door, I fantasize and govern my own small world of castles, frenetic metropolises, and thousands of Lego people. With Legos, the possibilities are infinite. Each time I enter The Lego Room, a new story is created. Once, a friend asked to tour this room. Amazed by my Star Wars models, he reached for a ship and accidentally toppled a restaurant, smashing it to pieces! This disaster became an opportunity to rebuild and I fashioned a sophisticated two-story food court with a McDonald’s, pizzeria, and drive-thru. We will write a custom essay sample on Legos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It was better than the original! Lego sets range from Star Wars to medieval castles to whatever you can imagine. Whenever I open a new box, a sense of awe overpowers me. I spread out the pieces and observe each tiny brick. An hour later, I am amazed that these individual pieces have interlocked to become a masterpiece. Ideas for new constructions fill my head and I jot them down in a sketchbook. Legos represent a creative consistency in my life, much as an artist has his canvas and a musician, his violin. It isn’t easy keeping a thousand small people in line, especially when they can trade heads to conceal their identity! Legos have taught me to be an architect, engineer, governor, security guru, landscaper, coach, manager, customer service agent, buyer and economist. Legos have provided building blocks of my future, developing my math skills and ability to follow intricate directions. As I build new worlds, brick by brick, I imagine my own possibilities and opportunities. Through the â€Å"lives† of my Lego friends, I have been able to act out elaborate experiences. They have served as a link between my childhood and manhood. My friends call me childlike and there is truth to that, but perhaps we should all find a way to keep in touch with our childhood. Legos is mine.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Magnificent Music Essay Example Essay Example

Magnificent Music Essay Example Paper Magnificent Music Essay Introduction Magnificent Music Magnificent Music Essay Body Paragraphs Introduction Every organization or company should foster resilience strategy in order to thrive in the constantly changing market. This requires the company to take advantage of the numerous opportunities to advance its performance for good returns while still focused on its business goals. Success will depend on well-defined strategies that encompass all aspects, which will keep the company at the forefront in competition. Resilience strategy allows the company to develop a performance culture including human factors necessary for managing change. Aquaswift is a brand new organization founded by a small group of entrepreneurs. The company will have its focus on selling beverages that include fresh juices, bottled water, alcoholic and soft drinks. The management team intends on taking a Human Factors class to ensure that every employee adheres to the code of ethics and it administers with the right approach (Miller, 2012). Previously, the current members of staff were in companies th at rewarded wrong things and there were limited efforts towards success. Therefore, the new company has developed a new concept as a competitive advantage in the market. Aquaswift plans to have a large number of employees who have expertise in a variety of instruments and voice to produce magnificent music. Thus, the criteria of recruiting the company’s staff will depend on the applicant’s music capability and the ability of the applicant in performing mundane tasks in the office as well to increase Aquaswift’s business performance. The company aims at having flexible employees who can perform different required tasks. In order to maintain employee loyalty the management will ensure that they are satisfied and their interests are considered. This new organization should exhibit explosive growth by having its employees hired frequently for music performances or concerts. Clients describe the type of events they need the musicians for and the company chooses vario us individuals among the employees. Therefore, the company must employ a favorable ethics policy to have sustainable growth with a dedicated and resilient staff. Ethics Policy Aquaswift expects that all employees, clients, suppliers and other stakeholders comply with the code of ethics in the business environment. It intends to create an admirable organization culture. The ethics policy will highlight mechanisms for enforcement and consequences of non-compliance to protect the new organization from misconduct by any of the stakeholders (Miller, 2012). The policy will also provide guidelines for the large number of employees to prevent them from breaching rules in the organization. Moral values in the organization will help it to establish a reputable culture as it will uphold fairness and equality in favor of employees. Since Aquaswift has its focus on robust growth, the ethics policy will unite people in the organization creating feasible strategies and new ideas. Therefore, the co de of ethics will assure the company long-term profitability. Conduct and Behavior Standards All Aquaswift employees should perform their tasks with professionalism with an aim of contributing to the success of the organization. They should base their interests in the organization’s standards and values in the business environment. Ethical business practice will be evident in each employee’s integrity and honesty. Employees must prepare detailed financial and marketing reports with precision and be flexible enough to have good musical performances for the organization’s image. Misuse of Aquaswift’s property such as internet services, musical instruments, telephone services, beverages and other supplies will exhibit as unethical conduct. Employees should only use the resources for the benefit of the organization. There will disciplinary action on employee misconduct. Involvement in the Community One of Aquaswift’s goals is to support the communityâ €™s initiatives and local charities by sponsoring activities that improve the welfare of people in the environment. Every docket in the organization should to support the community initiatives through its charitable donations policy. The organization will produce voluntary music concerts with performance from the employees twice a year to entertain the community and ensure that people have a good perception of its image. Information Security Each employee should practice confidentiality in handling organization’s ideas, secrets, marketing and pricing strategies, customer lists and valuable business assets. Employees should not disclose the company’s valuable information to any outsider without authorization and should use the discrete information to gain a better understanding of the organizations business strategies and plans. Aquaswift’s business plan will face distortion if there is inadequate protection of information. Leaked information will limit its c ompetitive advantage in the market and reduce its chances of success. Employment and Discrimination Aquaswift employs human resilience strategy requiring its employees to be flexible in all the operational activities. In this regard, the organization values all its employees because they have immense contribution towards its success. Employees are talented in the field of music and can execute office tasks as well. Therefore, they are entitled to fair terms of employment and appropriate opportunities to develop both musical and official skills. The top management should honor the applicable terms and conditions for employment. It is the duty of Aquaswift to provide a favorable working environment for its workforce. The environment should promote good health and human safety. The company encourages the employees to report health and safety concerned to the person in charge in the business unit. Aquaswift encourages diversity and inclusion hence; all employees regardless of their race , religion, culture, gender, disability or sexual orientation should enjoy equality, dignity and respect. Any form of harassment or humanity violation is a breach of the code of ethics. Ethics in Marketplace All promotional activities of Aquaswift should be truthful and proper. The organization should maintain fair and ethical practices in the market competition. There will be no exaggeration in the advertisement of the company’s beverages. Products and services should stand on their own merit and quality. Valuable product information such as on alcoholic drinks should be included in the advertisement to show that excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to one’s health (Lawrence, Weber, 2011). The organization should provide customers with adequate information concerning the products, prices and services and apply supply terms when dealing with suppliers. Aquaswift must not infringe on the patents, copyright or trademark of other competitors in the market. The compan y’s staff should deal with client and supplier complaints fairly and with immediacy. Compliance with Laws Aquaswift recognizes and respects the laws and regulations of the countries and other jurisdictions of its operational activities. It is the duty of the top management of each docket to ensure that employees follow the law to the letter (Miller, 2012). Therefore, employees should communicate with their particular managers to verify the laws to avoid misinterpretation. The company should handle government contracts and tenders through control procedures. The law prohibits beverage companies from selling alcoholic drinks to persons under the age of 18 years. Aquaswift upholds this law by ensuring that clients of alcoholic drinks are above the ages of 18 years through an identification system. The organization also observes the rule of business tax and employee income tax. Disciplinary Action There will be disciplinary action on individuals in the organization who breach the ethics policy. Employees who infringe Aquaswift’s ethical standards will face oral or written reprimand. Further breach can result to suspension of the employee or termination of the employment contract (Sharp, 2006). Employees are required to report incidences of misconduct or infringements to the appropriate authority for rectifications and resolutions. The senior management and the business unit management should also respect the rights of the employees. Policy Implementation and Concerns Every employee and supplier should possess a copy of the ethics policy and should adhere to each requirement. Each business unit of the organization has a manager whose duty is to oversee the performance of employees in his or her docket in relation to the ethics policy (Wheelen Hunger, 2010). The senior management receives reports on all employee concerns due to vagueness in the organization. It is the duty of managers and officers to investigate alleged violations of the organizationà ¢â‚¬â„¢s ethics policy so that it experiences business continuity and success. The board of directors will address the proven violations or infringements and ensure fulfillment of the organization’s legal obligations. Conclusion Concisely, Aquaswift’s ethical policy will give it a clear direction of operating its activities to experience robust growth. It will also enable the organization to integrate the magnificent music concept in its business activities and ensure that employees cooperate with limited tension. A common culture will unite all stakeholders and improve the company’s image thereby attracting more clients to buy its products and services. The resilience strategy incorporated in the policy will serve to put it at the forefront in the competitive market. Therefore, the policy will magnify the efforts of every employee towards success and ensure that business practices are in line with ethical values that reflect human factors. References Lawrence, A. T., Weber, J. (2011). Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Miller, L. R. (2012). Fundamentals of Business Law: Summarized Cases. Cengage Learning. Sharp, D. J. (2006). Cases in business ethics. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications. Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D. (2010). Strategic management and business policy: Achieving sustainability. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. We will write a custom essay sample on Magnificent Music Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Magnificent Music Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Magnificent Music Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

Thursday, March 5, 2020

MOther Courage essays

MOther Courage essays Mother Courage is an unbraidable knot of contradictions: both fearless and feckless, wise and uneducable, maternally caring and emotionally aloof. A camp-following trader, she picks the bones of a war-withered economy to feed her fatherless children. Yet her nose for business leads Mother Courage away from those children when they need her protection, leaving them easy victims of the battlefield scavengers who prey upon the weakest of the human flock. Trapped in a system driven by greed and self-interest, war and profiteering, Mother Courage plays by its rules with the result that she both wins and loses. She succeeds in surviving at the cost of her children. In his production, director Michael Kahn hopes to communicate these contradictions of character that make Mother Courage, in his words, "one of the most extraordinarily interesting and unique characters on stage." To this end, he has cast Pat Carroll, an actress of immense warmth, vitality and humor, in the role of the flinty-hearted tragic heroine. "Mother Courage has an ironic sense of humor that, allows her to survive the most difficult situations. She is also a tenacious fighter, unwilling to be averted from her goal of providing for herself and her children. Certainly, her behavior is disturbing. But she acts out of necessity and her mistakes are the result of character flaws, not vices." Explaining how Mother Courage contributes to her own tragedy, Kahn compares her to the flawed giants of dramatic literature: Oedipus, King Lear and Falstaff. "Like the old figures of comedy and tragedy who are brought low by a fatal flaw, Mother Courage is unable to understand something about herself that ultimately ruins her. Her inability to extend her understanding of the past to the present is a failure she pays for dearly. She never learns from past experience how to avoid mistakes." Rather than calculating an emotional response to Mother Courage;s actions, Brecht intended an in...

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Politics short answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Politics short answers - Essay Example The Afghan government sought to reassert its position. The second level is similar to the first since it states the parties involved. The parties involved were the Taliban and the American forces. The Taliban is an Islamic extremist outfit that perpetuated terror. The American forces were the forces to crush the extremist outfit. The third level is the system. There are two systems in this conflict. The first system is the Taliban system. This is an extremist system that operates based on religious values. The extremist believe that their attacks are sacred hence; they are not bound by moral values. The American forces seem as agents of democracy. They are out to deliver Afghanistan from the bondage of a terrorist outfit. An ethnic group is a community that have the same religion, language or culture while a nation is a large community that contain people of diverse racial background, language and culture. Nations are recognized internationally while ethnic groups are constituents of nations. The diverse people integrate to form a state, although the cultural and ethnic differences may affect a country significantly. A security dilemma is a situation where a nation is reluctant to undertake certain action since they are cautious of the consequences. This result in a period of indecision in which the possible outcomes are evaluated

Monday, February 3, 2020

Econmic Incentive Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Econmic Incentive - Assignment Example Externalities are the effects emerging from consumption or production of services and goods for which no appropriate money is paid. Externalities cause market failure in the event the price mechanism does not consider social benefits and costs. Since environmental resources are free, people tend to overuse them thus leading to environmental destruction. Economic incentives aim to repair this scenario by placing a price for environmental destruction. Due to this, some environmental resources such as minerals are bought and sold thus, limiting people from overusing them. In the end, the environment is protected. 7. When compared to traditional regulatory approaches, do incentives-mechanism based increase the cost of effectiveness of pollution control? What is the evidence? How might high transaction costs interfere with the effect of incentives? Incentives-based mechanism increases the cost of effectiveness because they offer a more cost effective way of attaining environmental quality. There is clear evidence of their effectiveness in the sense that since their introduction, pollution has decreased, as industries are more conscious not to pollute the environment. If the transaction costs are raised, then it will force the government to reduce economic incentives. Traditional approach allowed industries to take control of pollution control efforts to an extent that would result in cost-effective distribution of pollution control burden. This in turn did not work as firms used inexpensive production technologies. Incentive-based approaches encourage industries to apply expensive production technologies, which would result in less cost incurred in controlling pollution. This approach will impose tax on pollution and activities that produce pollution. This in turn will encourage firms to adapt modern production technologies and devices that would make them pay less. Industries will realize past pollution costs and be encouraged to conduct profit and loss

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Data Multimedia Images

Data Multimedia Images Chapter I Introduction 1.1 What is meant by Multimedia Data? A number of data types can be characterized as multimedia data types. These data types are normally the essentials for the building blocks of core multimedia environments, platforms and integrating tools. The basic types can be described as text, images, audio, video and graphic objects. Following is a detailed explanation for the same. Text Text can be stored in a variety of different forms. In addition to American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) based files, text is usually stored in spreadsheets, annotations, processor files, databases and common multimedia objects. The task of text storage is becoming more and more complex due to the easy availability and abundance of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and text fonts, permitting unique effects such as text color, text shade etc. Images Digitalized images are nothing but a string of pixels that signify an area in the user’s graphical exhibit. There is an immense variation in the quality and dimension of storage for motionless images. For motionless (still) images, the space overhead varies with respect to complexity, size, resolution and compression format used to store any given image. The frequently used and accepted image formats (file extensions) consist of bmp, jpeg, tiff and png. Audio Audio, being another frequently used data type is relatively space intensive. A minute of sound takes up to 3 Megabytes (MB) of space. Numerous methods can be deployed to compress an audio into suitable formats. Video Another data type which consumes majority of space is categorized as the digitalized video data type. Videos are normally stored as a series of frames, the capacity of which depends on its resolution. A solo video frame can take up to 1 MB of space. Continuous transfer rate is needed to get a reasonable video playback with its proper transmission, compression, and decompression. Graphic Objects This data type consists of unique data structures that can define 2D and 3D shapes which further helps in defining multimedia objects. Today one can use different formats for image applications and video-editing applications. To list few examples Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) are graphic objects 1.2 How is Multimedia Data Different? Theoretically multimedia data should be considered like any regular data based on the data types for instance numbers, dates and characters. Though, there are a few challenges that arise from multimedia as described in [2]: Multimedia data is usually captured with various unreliable capturing techniques such as image processing. These multimedia processing techniques require capabilities for handling these various available methods of capturing content, this includes both automated and manual methods. In multimedia database, the queries created by the user rarely come back with textual answer. To a certain extent, the answer to user query is a compound multimedia presentation that the user can glance through at one’s leisure. The size of the multimedia data being large not only affects the storage, retrieval but also the transmission of data. Time to retrieve information may be vital while accessing video and audio databases, for example Video on Demand. Automatic feature extraction and Indexing: User explicitly submits the attribute values of objects inserted into the database in contrast to advanced tools with conservative databases, such as image processing and pattern recognition tools for images to extract the various features and content of multimedia objects. Special data structures for storage and indexing are needed due to the large size of data. 1.3 Basic Approaches for Data Retrieval Data management is being implemented since long. Many approaches have also been invented for the same to manage and inquire various types of data in the computer systems. The commonly used approaches for data management comprise of conventional database system, information retrieval system, content based retrieval system and graph/ tree pattern matching. The details for the same are as follows: Conventional database system It is the most extensively used approach to manage as well as investigate structured data. Data in a database system must match to some predefined structures and limitations (schema’s). The user should specify the data objects to be retrieved and the tables from which data has to be extracted. The user also has to predicate on which the retrieval of data will be based to formulate a database query. SQL, a query language has a restricted syntax and vocabulary that can be used for such databases. Information retrieval (IR) system This system is prominently used to search enormous text collections; where in the content of the data (text) is illustrated with the help of an indexer using keywords or a textual summary. The query demands are expressed in terms of keywords or natural language. For instance, searching for an image or video, the user is required to describe using words and also need means to store large amount of metadata in textual form. Content based retrieval (CBR) system This approach facilitates in the retrieval of multimedia objects from an enormous collection. The retrieval is based on various features such as color, texture and shape which can be extracted automatically from the objects. Though keyword can be considered a feature for textual data, conventional retrieval of information has a higher performance as compared to content-based retrieval. This is due to the fact that keyword has the demonstrated ability to characterize semantics while no other features have revealed convincing semantic describing capability. A key disadvantage of this particular approach is its lack of accuracy. Graph or tree pattern matching This particular approach seeks the retrieval of object sub-graphs from an object graph as per several designated patterns. Chapter II Data Structures for Multimedia Storage Many modern database applications deal with large amounts of multidimensional data. Multimedia content-based retrieval is one of the examples. Access Methods are essential in order to deal with multidimensional data efficiently. They are used to access selective data from a big collection. 2.1 Importance of Access Methods Efficient spatial selection support is the key purpose of access methods. These include range queries or nearest neighbour queries of spatial objects. The significance of these access methods and how they take into account both clustering techniques and spatial indexing is described by Peter Van Oosterom [3]. In the absence of a spatial index, every object in the database needs to be checked if it meets the selection criteria. Clustering is required to group the objects that are often requested together. Or else, many different disk pages will have to be fetched, resulting in a very slow response. For spatial selection, clustering implies storing objects that are not only close in reality but also close in computer memory instead of being scattered all over the whole memory. In conventional database systems sorting the data is the basis for efficient searching. Higher dimensional data cannot be sorted in an obvious manner, as it is possible for text strings, numbers, or dates. Principally, computer memory is one-dimensional. However, spatial data is 2D, 3D or even higher and must be organized someway in the memory. An intuitive solution to organize the data is using a regular grid just as on a paper map. Each grid cell has a unique name e.g. ’A1’, ’C2’, or ’E5’. The cells are stored in some order in the memory and can each contain a fixed number of object references. In a grid cell, a reference is stored to an object whenever the object overlaps the cell. However, this will not be very efficient due to the irregular data distribution of spatial data because of which many cells will be empty while many others will be overfull. Therefore, more advanced techniques have been developed. 2.2 kd Trees A kd-tree or a k-dimensional tree is a space-partitioning data structure used for organizing points in a k-dimensional space. kd-trees are a useful for several applications such as searches involving a multidimensional search key like range searches and nearest neighbour searches. Kd-trees are a special case of Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) trees. A kd-tree only uses splitting planes that are perpendicular to one of the coordinate axes. This is different from BSP trees, in which arbitrary splitting planes can be used. In addition to this, every node of a kd-tree, from the root to the leaves, stores a point. Whereas in BSP trees, leaves are typically the only nodes that contain points. As a consequence, each splitting plane must go through one of the points in the kd-tree. [4] 2.2.1 Addition of elements to kd trees A new point is added to a kd tree in the same way as one adds an element to any other tree. At first, traverse the tree, starting from the root and moving to either the left or the right child depending on whether the point to be inserted is on the left or right side of the splitting plane. Once you get to a leaf node, add the new point as either the left or right child of the leaf node, again depending on which side of the node’s splitting plane contains the new point. 2.2.2 Deleting from kd trees Deletion is similar as in Binary Search Tree (BST) but slightly harder. Step1 find node to be deleted. Step2 two cases must be handled: (a) No children replace pointer to node by NULL (b) Has children replace node by minimum node in right subtree. If no right subtree exists then first move left subtree to become right subtree. [1] 2.3 Quad-trees Each node of a quad-tree is associated with a rectangular region of space. The top node is associated with the entire target space. Each non-leaf node divides its region into four equal sized quadrants, likewise, each such node has four child nodes corresponding to the four quadrants and so on. Leaf nodes have between zero and some fixed maximum number of points. 2.3.1 Simple definition of node structure of a point quad-tree qtnodetype = record INFO: infotype; XVAL: real; YVAL: real; NW, SW, NE, SE: *qtnodetype end Here, INFO is some additional information regarding that point . XVAL, YVAL are coordinates of that point. NW, SW, NE, SE are pointers to regions obtained by dividing given region. [1] 2.3.2 Common uses of Quad-trees Image Representation Spatial Indexing Efficient collision detection in two dimensions Storing sparse data, such as formatting information for a spreadsheet or for some matrix calculations. 2.3.3 Representing Image Using Quad-tree: [7] Let us suppose we divide the picture area into 4 sections. Those 4 sections are then further divided into 4 subsections. We continue this process, repeatedly dividing a square region by 4. We must impose a limit to the levels of division otherwise we could go on dividing the picture forever. Generally, this limit is imposed due to storage considerations or to limit processing time or due to the resolution of the output device. A pixel is the smallest subsection of the quad tree. To summarize, a square or quadrant in the picture is either : entirely one color composed of 4 smaller sub-squares To represent a picture using a quad tree, each leaf must represent a uniform area of the picture. If the picture is black and white, we only need one bit to represent the colour in each leaf; for example, 0 could mean black and 1 could mean white. Now consider the following image : The definition of a picture is a two dimensional array, where the elements of the array are colored points. Figure 2.3: First three levels of quad-tree Figure 2.4: Given Image This is how the above image could be stored in quad-tree. Figure 2.5: 88 pixel picture represented in a quad-tree Figure 2.6: The quad tree of the above example picture. The quadrants are shown in counterclockwise order from the top-right quadrant. The root is the top node. (The 2nd and 3rd quadrants are not shown.) 2.3.4 Advantages of Quad-trees: They can be manipulated and accessed much quicker than other models. Erasing an image takes only one step. All that is required is to set the root node to neutral. Zooming to a particular quadrant in the tree is also a one step operation. To reduce the complexity of the image, it suffices to remove the final level of nodes. Accessing particular regions of the image is a very fast operation. This is useful for updating certain regions of an image, perhaps for an environment with multiple windows. The main disadvantage is that it takes up a lot of space. 2.4 R-trees R-trees are N-dimensional extension of Binary trees, but are used for spatial access methods i.e., for indexing multi-dimensional information. They are supported in many modern database systems, along with variants like R+ -trees and R*-trees. The data structure splits space with hierarchically nested, and possibly overlapping, minimum bounding rectangles.[4] A rectangular bounding box is associated with each tree node. [5]   Bounding box of a leaf node is a minimum sized rectangle that contains all  the rectangles/polygons associated with the leaf node. Bounding box associated with a non-leaf node contains the bounding box associated with all its children. Bounding box of a node serves as its key in its parent node (if any) Bounding boxes of children of a node are allowed to overlap. 2.4.1 Structure of an R-tree node rtnodetype = record Rec1, .Reck : rectangle P1, .Pk : âˆâ€"rtnodetype end A polygon is stored in one node, and the bounding box of the node must contain the polygon. Since a polygon is stored only once, the storage efficiency of R-trees is better than that of k-d trees or quad-trees. The insertion and deletion algorithms use the bounding boxes from the nodes to ensure that close by elements are placed in the same leaf node. Each entry within a leaf node stores two-pieces of information; a way of identifying the actual data element and the bounding box of the data element. 2.4.2 Inserting a node 1. Find a leaf to store it, and add it to the leaf. To find leaf, follow a child (if any) whose bounding box contains bounding box of data item, else child whose overlap with data item bounding box is maximum 2. Handle overflows by splits. We may need to divide entries of an overfull node into two sets such that the bounding boxes have minimum total area. 2.4.3 Deleting a node 1. Find the leaf and delete object; determine new MBR. 2. If the node is too empty: Delete the node recursively at its parent Insert all entries of the deleted node into the R-tree 2.4.4 Searching R-trees Similarly, for searching algorithms, bounding boxes are used to decide whether or not to search inside a child node. Here we need to find minimal bounding rectangle. In this way, most of the nodes in the tree are never touched during a search. If the node is a leaf node, output the data items whose keys intersect the given query point/region Else, for each child of the current node whose bounding box overlaps the query point/region, recursively search the child. 2.5 Comparison of Different Data Structures [1] k-d trees are very easy to implement. However, in general a k-d tree consisting k nodes may have a height k causing complexity of both insertion and search in k-d trees to be high. In practice, path lengths (root to leaf) in k-d trees tend to be longer than those in point quad-trees because these trees are binary. R-trees have a large number of rectangles potentially stored in each node. They are appropriate for disk access by reducing the height of the tree, thus leading to fewer disk access. The disadvantage of R-trees is that the bounding rectangle associated with different nodes may overlap. Thus when searching an R-tree, instead of following one path (as in case of quad-tree), we might follow multiple path down the tree. This difference grows even more acute when range search and neighbour searches are considered. In case of point quad-trees, while performing search/insertion each case requires comparisons on two coordinates. Deletion in point quad-trees is difficult because finding a candidate replacement node for the node being deleted is not easy. Chapter III Metadata Metadata is data about data. Any data that is used to describe the content, condition, quality and other aspects of data for humans or machines to locate, access and understand the data is known as Metadata. Metadata helps the users to get an overview of the data. 3.1 Need of Metadata The main functions of metadata can be listed as follows: [8] Description To describe and identify data sources. These descriptions help create catalogs, index, etc., thereby improving access to them. Querying Formulation of queries. Administration To provide information to help manage and administrate a data source, such as when and how it was created, and who can legally access it. Preservation To facilitate data archival and preservation like data refreshing and migration, etc. Technical To indicate how a system functions or metadata behaves, such as data formats, compression ratios, scaling routines, encryption key, and security, etc. Use To indicate the level and type of use of data sources like multiversion, user tracking, etc. 3.2 Metadata in the Life Cycle of Multimedia Objects A multimedia object undergoes a life cycle consisting of production, organization, searching, utilization, preservation, and disposition. Metadata passes through similar stages as an integral part of these multimedia objects [8]: Creation Objects of different media types are created often generating data of how they were produced (e.g., the EXIF files produced by digital cameras) and stored in an information retrieval system. Associated metadata is generated accordingly for administrating and describing the objects. Organization Multimedia objects may be composed of several components. Metadata is created to specify how these compound objects are put together. Searching and retrieval Created and stored multimedia objects are subject to search and retrieval by users. Metadata provides aids through catalog and index to enable efficient query formulation and resource localization. Utilization Retrieved multimedia objects can be further utilized, reproduced, and modified. Metadata related to digital rights management and version control, etc. may be created. Preservation and disposition Multimedia objects may undergo modification, refreshing, and migration to ensure their availability. Objects that are out-of-date or corrupted may be discarded. Such preservation and disposition activities can be documented by the associated metadata. 3.3 Classification of Metadata Metadata directly affects the way in which objects of different media types are used. Classifying metadata can facilitate the handling of different media types in a multimedia information retrieval system. Based on its (in)dependence on media contents, metadata can be classified into two kinds, namely content independent and content-dependent metadata [8]: Content-independent metadata provides information which is derived independently from the content of the original data. Examples of content independent metadata are date of creation and location of a text document, type-of-camera used to record a video fragment, and so on. These metadata are called descriptive data. Content-dependent metadata depends on the content of the original data. A special case of content-dependent metadata is content-dependent descriptive metadata , which cannot be extracted automatically from the content but is created manually: annotation is a well-known example. In contrast, content-dependent non-descriptive metadata is based directly on the contents of data. 3.4 Image metadata Some of the image files containing metadata include Exchangeable image file format (EXIF) and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF). Having metadata about images embedded in TIFF or EXIF files is one way of acquiring additional data about an image. Image metadata are attained through tags. Tagging pictures with subjects, related emotions, and other descriptive phrases helps Internet users find pictures easily rather than having to search through entire image collections. A prime example of an image tagging service is Flickr, where users upload images and then describe the contents. Other patrons of the site can then search for those tags. Flickr uses a folksonomy: a free-text keyword system in which the community defines the vocabulary through use rather than through a controlled vocabulary. Digital photography is increasingly making use of metadata tags. Photographers shooting Camera RAW file formats can use applications such as Adobe Bridge or Apple Computers Aperture to work with camera metadata for post-processing. Users can also tag photos for organization purposes using Adobes Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) language, for example. [4] 3.5 Document metadata Most programs that create documents, including Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word and other Microsoft Office products, save metadata with the document files. These metadata can contain the name of the person who created the file, the name of the person who last edited the file, how many times the file has been printed, and even how many revisions have been made on the file. Other saved material, such as document comments are also referred to as metadata. Document Metadata is particularly important in legal environments where litigation can request this sensitive information which can include many elements of private detrimental data. This data has been linked to multiple lawsuits that have got corporations into legal complications. [4] 3.6 Digital library metadata There are three variants of metadata that are commonly used to describe objects in a digital library: descriptive Information describing the intellectual content of the object, such as cataloguing records, finding aids or similar schemes. It is typically used for bibliographic purposes and for search and retrieval. structural Information that ties each object to others to make up logical units e.g., information that relates individual images of pages from a book to the others that make up the book. administrative Information used to manage the object or control access to it. This may include information on how it was scanned, its storage format, copyright and licensing information, and information necessary for the long-term preservation of the digital objects. [4] Chapter IV Text Databases Basic text comprises of alphanumeric characters. Optical character recognition (OCR) practices are deployed to translate analog text to digital text. The most common digital representation of characters is the ASCII code. For this, seven bits are required (eight bits might be used, where in the eighth bit is reserved for a special purpose) for each character. Storage space for a text document that is required is equivalent to the number of characters. For instance, a 15 page text document consisting of about 4000 characters generally consumes 60 kilobytes. Now days, structured text documents have become extremely popular. They comprise titles, chapters, sections, paragraphs, and so forth. A title can be presented to the user in a different format than a paragraph or a sentence. Different standards are used to encode structured information such as HTML and XML (hyper text markup language and extensible markup language) There are different approaches like Huffman and Arithmetic Coding, which can be used for text compression, but as the storage requirements are not too high, these approaches are not as important for text as they are for multimedia data. [10] 4.1 Text Documents A text document consists of identification and is considered to be a list of words. Likewise, a book is considered to be a document, and so is a paper in the events of a conference or a Web page. The key identification used for a book may be an ISBN number or the title of the paper together with the ISBN number of the conference event or a URL for a Web page. Retrieval of text documents does not normally entail the presentation of the entire document, as it consumes a large amount of space as well as time. Instead, the system presents the identifications of the chosen documents mainly along with a brief description and/or rankings of the document. 4.2 Indexing Indexing refers to the derivation of metadata from their documents and storage in an index. In a way, the index describes the content of the documents. The content can be described by terms like social or political for text documents. Also, the system utilizes the index to determine the output during retrieval. The index can be filled up in two ways, manually as well as automatically. Assigned terms can be added to documents as a kind of annotation by professional users such as librarians. These terms can be selected often from a prescribed set of terms, the catalog. A catalog describes a certain scientific field and is composed by specialists. One of the main advantages of this technique is that the professional users are aware of the acceptable terms that can be used in query formulation. A major drawback of this technique is the amount of work that has to be performed for the manual indexing process. Document content description can also be facilitated automatically resulting in what are termed as derived terms. One of the many steps required for this can be a step in which words in English text are identified by an algorithm and then put to lower case. Basic tools are used in other steps such as stop word removal and stemming. Stop words are words in the document which have a little meaning and most of the times include words like the and it. These stop words are erased from the document. Words are conflated to their stem in the document through stemming. As an example, the stemmer can conflate the words computer, compute and computation to the stem comput. 4.3 Query Formulation Query formulation refers to the method of representing the information need. The resultant formal representation of information is the query. In a wider perspective, query formulation denotes the comprehensive interactive dialogue between the system and the user, leading to both a suitable query and also a better understanding by the user of the information need. It also denotes the query formulation when there are no previously retrieved documents to direct the search, thus, the formulation of the preliminary query. It is essential to differentiate between the expert searcher and the relaxed end user. The expert searcher is aware of the document collection and the assigned terms. He/ she will use Boolean operators to create the query and will be able to adequately rephrase the same as per the output of the system. In case the result is too small, the expert searcher must expand the query, and in case if the result is too large, he/she must be able to make the query more restrictive. The communication of the need for information to the system in natural language interests the end user. Such a statement of the need for information is termed as a request. Automatic query formulation comprises of receiving the request and generating a preliminary query by the application of algorithms that were also used for the derivation of terms. In general, the query consists of a list of query terms. This list is accepted by the system and it composes a result set. The system can formulate a successive query based on this relevant feedback. 4.4 Matching The matching algorithm is mainly the most important part of an information retrieval system. This algorithm makes a comparison of the query against the document representations in the index. In the exact matching algorithm, a Boolean query, which is formulated by an expert searcher, defines precisely the set of documents that satisfy the query. The system generates a yes or a no decision for each document. In the case of an inexact matching algorithm, the system delivers a ranked list of documents. Users can traverse this document list to search for the information they need. Ranked retrieval puts the documents that are relevant in the top of the ranked list, thus, saving the time the user has to invest on reading those documents. Simple but effective ranking algorithms make use of the frequency allocation of terms over documents. Ranking algorithms that are based on statistical approaches, halve the time the user has to spend on reading those documents. Chapter V Image Databases Digital images can be defined as an electronic snapshot scanned from documents or taken of a scene, for example printed texts, photographs, manuscripts, and various artworks. Digital image is modeled and mapped as a grid of dots, pixels or commonly known picture elements. A tonal value is allocated to each of these pixels, which can be black, white, and shades of gray or color. Pixel itself is symbolized in binary code of zeros and ones. Computer stores these binary digits or bits corresponding to each pixel in a sequence and are later reduced to mathematical representation by compressing them. After compression these bits are interpreted and read to generate an analog output by the computer for display or printing purposes. Figure 5.1: As shown in this bitonal image, each pixel is assigned a tonal value, in this example 0 for black and 1 for white. To further describe the grayscale of a pixel one needs to say that one byte is of eight bits. For a color pixel one needs three colors of one bye each, these colors are red, green and blue. So, for a rectangular screen one can compute the amount of data required for the image using the formula: A = xyb Where A is the number of bytes needed, x is the number of pixels per horizontal line, y is the number of horizontal lines, and b is the number of bytes per pixel. Using this formulae for a screen with value of x being 800, y being 600, and for b being 3; A=xyb thus A = 1.44 Mbyte. Compression is required for this significant amount of data. Image compression is based on exploiting redundancy in images and properties of the human perception. Pixels in specific areas appear to be similar; this concept of similarity is called Spatial Redundancy. Human’s views of images are tolerant r

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Organization “in the News” Analysis Paper Essay

Company Overview Research in Motion, (RIM), is â€Å"a global leader in wireless innovation, (which) revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry solution in 1999† [ (Research In Motion, 2011) ]. While RIM has no publically available mission statement [ (missionstudy, 2009) ], we can deduct the following: 1) From the aforementioned description, they are committed to innovation. 2) From the article we will discuss later on, they are seeking to strengthen relationships with developers 3) From past history, reputation, and numerous achieved certification; they wish to provide a highly secure means of communication through mobile devices While it is not possibly to quantify most of RIM’s operational goals we can try to establish what they may entail. A recent interview with new CEO Thorsten Heins points towards having their operative goals built around having an innovative culture that involves employees and develops them and having a top 3 market share globall y in the mobile market [ (BlackBerry, 2012) ]. Furthermore, they are also very focused on reducing their costs which is demonstrated by their announcement of a core optimization program and CORE on June 16, 2011. These programs were meant to analyze the companies’ procedures and cut out overhead and redundancy [ (Research In Motion, 2011) ]. RIM’s competitors have been highly publicized and are listed by Yahoo Finance to be Nokia, Google, and Apple [ (Yahoo! Inc., 2012) ]. With RIM being in the mobile market, their consumer base is very broad selling to the general market. With such an advanced device the list of suppliers is vast as they need to provide all the parts from glass to processing chips and these suppliers are located around the world. Lastly, their key partners  are mobile companies large and small such as Verizon, Sprint, Vodafone, and Orange. Having previously worked at RIM for a year I know these statements to be fact. Article Importance and Recap RIM is currently going through relatively tough times exemplified by, â€Å"collapsing market share† [ (Isaac, 2012) ] and their declining stock value. RIM’s shares were being traded mostly between the $14 and $17 range per share in the month of February to date compared to $144 a share in the summer of 2008 [ (Google, 2012) ]. As recently as 2009, RIM accounted for half of the US smartphone market share [ (Gardner, 2009) ], but latest reports have them only accounting for 6.5% of the US market [ (Miller, 2011) ]. This fall from grace from the once dominant organization of the mobile space creates interest from a wide range of stakeholders. Consumers are interested as many have used RIM products in the past and investors are interested as they have gained and lost many dollars from the organization. As the mobile space is a very broad market it means that there is going to be many opinionated individuals for very different reasons. Because of RIM’s high profile and past and present penetration in the general population, a new business strategy is very newsworthy and is something people will talk about. Mike Isaac’s article, â€Å"RIM Claws Back Against Apple and Google With Free Tablets,† covers RIM’s decision to give android app developers free playbook tablets so long as they make their app available on the Playbook ecosystem [ (Isaac, 2012) ]. The article starts with a quote from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop who describes the importance of a platform’s ecosystem or in layman’s terms the amount of apps built for a platform. It further describes the relative lack of apps RIM has compared to Android, the Google platform, and iOS, the Apple platform. After stating the previously mentioned new strategy being employed by RIM, the article describes the reason for such aggressive tactics. The article lists the sales of RIM’s Blackberry playbook tablet being very disappointing, calling it a flop, as the main reason. The article lastly lists the other strategies that RIM has been employing to encourage app development citing extreme price cuts and Playbook’s virtual android environment which allows android apps to be easily transferred over to the Playbook. This is only possible due to the Android platform being an open OS meaning anyone can develop on it including  competitors. With an organizational theory perspective, this article best articulates a manifestation of 2 important concepts in the mobile market: 1) A resource based approach of assessing organizational effectives with apps and app developers being the scarce resource of note 2) A description of the organizational ecosystem being that of ‘population ecology’. This is demonstrated by the possible compatibility of Android and RIM platforms and the selection process of the market that is still happening most notably with the abandonment of HP’s webOS Resource Based Approach of Organizational Effectiveness The resource based approach to measuring organizational effectiveness focuses solely on an organizations ability to obtain scarce or key resources. The key measures of this approach are: * Ability to perceive and interpret the external environment * Ability to respond to environmental change * Bargaining position While RIM’s ability to obtain manufacturing resources is not being questioned, its ability to lure app developers and garner app creation is being put to the test. The tablet market itself is still maturing only having 19% penetration rate in the US and it is growing rapidly [ (Kopp, 2012) ]. RIM entered the market much later then their competitors with apple having released 2 iterations of their iPad before playbook had their initial launch. Currently, the iPad accounts for 57% of the market much due to the early release dates it had over competitors [ (Warner, 2012) ]. The rather quick emergence of the market may have exploited RIM to have a relatively slow response rate to changes in the environment as even when they did launch, the common perception of the playbook was that it was an unfinished product [ (Stevens, 2011) ]. Such offers as cutting their prices dramatically, and giving away playbooks to developers also proves that RIM currently has very little bargaining posi tion with those developers and they have to go to extremes in order to get traction on their development. By all definitions, this means that RIM is proving to be an ineffective organization by a resource based approach of assessments. If these aggressive measures are effective, the need for them will shrink as time goes on. The tactics are geared towards both increasing consumer bases to  create higher earning potential for developers and to encourage more app development with one time offers. More app development will mean higher adoption rates for consumers and the cycle goes on like this. This is in essence what RIM is trying to create; a snowball to roll down a mountain hoping momentum will take over at one point to create an avalanche. Although RIM currently stands as ineffective at collecting these resources, it is clear that they are trying hard to overcome their current shortcoming in assembling an ecosystem. Although a resource based approach still has the weakness of assuming a stable environment, which is far from the truth in the technological markets, it is actually a much more relevant measure to this situation then it would be to others. Usually a resource based approach lacks the consideration of consumer needs; in this case the scarce resource is created because of consumer needs. The ecosystem of the device became as important as the device itself in the tablet market. As an ecosystem doesn’t directly reflect internal processes or goal oriented approaches of assessment, a resource based approach is very effective in evaluating the creation of a value proposition to consumers in the tablet market. As the article stated, â€Å"a tablet is only as good as the apps it runs† [ (Isaac, 2012) ]. The Organizational Ecosystem An organizational ecosystem can be described by the nature of the interactions between organizations with the environment and each other [ (Daft & Armstrong, 2009) ]. The ecosystem can be described by its interorganizational framework which is defined by how similar the organizations are to each other and whether they act competitively or cooperatively with each other [ (Daft & Armstrong, 2009) ]. Analyzing the current mobile market, it is apparent that the functions each of the platforms have are very similar some apps being available across all platforms and each having very similar functions. The only differentiation there is within the market is the platform they are on, and the form factor of the tablets. Because of the similarity in the tablets across the platforms, it can safely be assumed that the organizations are similar to each other. However, since the differentiation involves different platforms, it also means that they are acting competitively towards each other. While some platforms are very proprietary like iOS and Blackberry, Android is open  source allowing for anyone to develop on it. Certain apps are only available on one device or another and they do not generally share their apps with each other. This is much different if everyone was on one platform and they were being differentiated solely on the tablet hardware. In this circumstance they are pooling their scarce resources of app development and creation in the effort to create a much greater app library and stronger ecosystem. Currently they are each trying to produce their own ecosystems. Since this is the case, it can also be concluded that the companies are competitive towards each other. With both factors being determined, we can refer to the organizational framework know that the current tablet market is that of ‘population ecology’. ‘Population ecology’ market is defined by: * The emergence of new models to meet consumer needs * The process of ecological change including variation, the appearance of a new population of organization; selection, whether an organization can survive in the environment; and retention, the preservation and institutionalization of organizational forms * The choice of pursuing the general market or a niche within that market meaning being a generalist or specialist respectively The iPad was the first mainstream tablet to have emerged with a market launch date of April 3, 2010 [ (Apple, 2010) ]. This was the first emergence of a tablet business model which was very much an extension of the mobile model but with a new class of product. The tablet is a device that is small in design but has similar functionalities then a laptop. This more portable form factor was the identification of consumer needs. However, since this launch almost 2 years ago, 4 new OS’s of note have emerged being that of Blackberry OS, Android, WebOS and Windows OS. The key question to ask is how many OS’s can survive in the tablet market. If it is anything like the smartphone market, it is closer to 3 or 4 as demonstrated by market share [ (Smith, 2012) ]. With the emergence of 4 new OS’s and the original iOS this means that eventually one of these would have to default. On August 18th 2011 it was confirmed that WebOS would be the ill fated platform [ (Kumparak, 2011) ]. As WebOS was selected out by the market, it provided a little breathing room for RIM with the quickly expanding market and less competition. To avoid the same fate as WebOS, RIM is actively trying to work on creating their ecosystem as described in the  last section. The emergence of an open OS platform as Android also provided it opportunity to adapt their platform to try and include Android apps as well. Both of these tactics are described in the article. What’s Missing? While the article extensively covers a resource based approach of assessing an organizational effectiveness and describes the organizational ecosystem, it fails to well define the environmental uncertainty. It doesn’t consider the broader picture of the market and it could be made more in depth with the addition of an analysis of the environmental framework. Furthermore, it has a very micro approach focusing only on the struggles of RIM with app developers. The environment is a huge factor in technological companies and it could illustrate how important the right decisions are to future success and the wrong decisions to complete failure. To analyze the environmental framework we have to see two key factors: * The stability of the environment meaning the speed of change * The complexity of the environment As previously described, the tablet market is rapidly expanding and it is only 2 years old. Combine this with RIM’s dramatic change in market share over the past 3 years it strongly indicated that the environment is quick changing. The complexity of the environment can also be defined as complex one. This can be proven by RIM having to worry about not only manufacturing resources, and app development, but also the extensive testing they must complete in order for their devices to be compliant with regulations. With many different radio bands, Bluetooth compatibilities, wifi bands, java compliance, throughput testing, and active pursuit in both hardware and software, RIM has to deal with an endless amount of variables. The hardware alone would contain a list of suppliers that are wide but then they must further ensure that all the radio frequencies are properly calibrated and the software works seamlessly amidst the global demands of their products. The article called them a flop even though they had shipped in the hundreds of thousands of devices in 2011 [ (Isaac, 2012) ]. What this means to RIM is that even though they may be down on market share, the market can easily turn in their favor. However, this also means that the market can select them out. The high uncertainty described of the environment is the sword  that decides whether RIM will prosper or die. The article does briefly describe the release of BB10, which is RIM’s new OS to be released later this year. However, it doesn’t emphasize that it would be the newest OS on the market and it was able to create the OS in a year and a half years [ (BlackBerry, 2012) ]. With the unstable environment, this means that it could very well be the basis for which their future will be decided upon. The article has a gloomy outlook on RIM’s future but also concludes with â€Å"perhaps it can find its way back to a seat at the mobile ecosystem table.† Thi s last statement would be better reinforced with an environmental analysis. Bibliography Apple. (2010, March 5). iPad Available in US on April 3. Retrieved from Apple Press Info: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/05iPad-Available-in-US-on-April-3.html BlackBerry. (2012, January 22). Meet Thorsten Heins the New President and CEO of Research In Motion. Retrieved from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFwhpcrCTw Daft, R. L., & Armstrong, A. (2009). Organization Theory & Design. Toronto: Nelson Education Ltd. Gardner, W. D. (2009, August 19). RIM Owns Half Of U.S. Smartphone Market. Retrieved from InformationWeek: http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal-tech/smart-phones/219400707 Google. (2012, February 14). Research In Motion Limited (USA). Retrieved from Google Finance: https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NASDAQ:RIMM Isaac, M. (2012, February 3). RIM Claws Back Against Apple and Google With Free Tablets. Retrieved from Wired: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/rim-ecosystems-blackberry-playbook/ Kopp, C. (2012, January 24). Tablets, E-Readers Double Market Penetration, Says Report. Retrieved from minyanville: http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/megaupload-anonymous-kim-dotcom-filesonic-tablets/1/24/2012/id/38996 Kumparak, G. (2011, August 18). It’s Official: HP Kills Off w