New Heritage Company

NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Capital Budgeting NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Capital Budgeting Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case Brief Case To: CFO (New Heritage Doll Company) From: Date: 11/16/12 RE: NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY To: CFO (New Heritage Doll Company) From: Date: 11/16/12 RE: NEW HERITAGE DOLL COMPANY Here a composite report is advanced on the toy industry, New Heritage Doll Company and the evaluation of its investment projects. Here a composite report is advanced on the toy industry, New Heritage Doll Company and the evaluation of its investment projects. Index Index | | 1. Introduction| 4| | | | | | 2. The Doll Industry| 6| | | | | | | 3. New Heritage Company| 9| | | | | | | 4. Capital Budgeting| 11| | | | | | | 5. Investment Proposals| 17| | | | | | | 6. Projects analysis| 20| | | | | | | 7. Election of one project| 26| | | | | | | 8. Exhibit. 1. Match My Doll Clothing| 32| | | | | | | 9. Exhibit. 2. Design Your Own Doll| 35| 1. Intro duction 1. Introduction ————————————————- ————————————————- 1. 1 New Heritage Doll Company: Capital budget In September 2010 Emily Harris was considering two proposals for investment for the company New Heritage Doll Company.As always, there are certain financial constraints that force the choice of a project and discard the other. The evaluation process for each project is hard, there are many details to consider, other data are not known with certainty and the only thing that can be done is an estimate as closely as possible. Our role here is to help interpret information, work with it, develop surveys and help clarify the dilemma so that the end result is the choice of the most suitable investment project for New Heritage Doll Company. Sport toys Sport toys 2. The doll industry 2. The doll industryNew Heritage has created a durable franchise for its line of heirloom dolls. New Heritage has created a durable franchise for its line of heirloom dolls. Revenue in the toy industry in the United States were 42 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow 4. 6% per year to reach 52. 5 billion in 2013 (graph 1). The market is divided into two broad segments: video games (48%) and traditional toys and games (52%) (Figure 2). The second segment is further divided into preschool toys (14. 5%), wrist (14. 1%), sports toys (12. 3%) and other toys and games (59. 1%) (Figure 3). Figure 2 Figure 2 Toys segmentsToys segments Figure 1 Figure 1 Sport toys Sport toys Figure 3 Figure 3 Traditional toys and games Traditional toys and games Preschool toys Preschool toys Sport toys Sport toys Other toys Other toys Dolls Dolls Sport toys Sport toys Sport toys Sport toys 3. New Heritage Company 3. New Heritage Company By the year 2009, New Heritage had grown to 450 em ployees and generated approximately $245 million of revenue and $27 million of operating profit. By the year 2009, New Heritage had grown to 450 employees and generated approximately $245 million of revenue and $27 million of operating profit. ———————————————— 3. 1 New Heritage Dolls The New Heritage Dolls Company was founded in 1985 by Ingrid Beckwith, a retired psychologist specializing in child development and the grandmother of two young girls. Figure 4 Figure 4 It sought to extend the New Heritage brand and capitalize on high levels of customer loyalty by selectively licensing the company’s doll characters and themes to a variety of media that reached the firm’s target demographic of toddler to pre-teen girls. New Heritage Dolls Production DivisionNew Heritage Dolls Production Division 4. Capital Budgeting 4. Capital Budgeting ———â⠂¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€- 4. 1 Capital budgeting Capital budgeting is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term investments such as new machinery, replacement machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth pursuing. It is budget for major capital, or investment, expenditures. ————————————————- 4. 2 Ranked Projects The real value of capital budgeting is to rank projects.Most organizations have many projects that could potentially be financially rewarding. Once it has been determined that a particular project has exceeded its hurdle, then it should be ranked against peer projects. The highest ranking projects should be implemented until the budgeted capital has been expended. ———————â €”————————- 4. 3 Need for capital budgeting 1. As large sum of money is involved which influences the profitability of the firm making capital budgeting an important task. 2.Long term investment once made cannot be reversed without significance loss of invested capital. The investment becomes sunk and mistakes, rather than being readily rectified, must often be born until the firm can be withdrawn through depreciation charges or liquidation. It influences the whole conduct of the business for the years to come. 3. Investment decision are the base on which the profit will be earned and probably measured through the return on the capital. A proper mix of capital investment is quite important to ensure adequate rate of return on investment, calling for the need of capital budgeting. 4.The implication of long term investment decisions are more extensive than those of short run decisions because of time factor involved, capital budgeting decisions are subject to the higher degree of risk and uncertainty than short run decision. ————————————————- 4. 4 Capital Budgeting at New heritage Doll Company Currently the capital budgeting process in New Heritage is conducted by a panel consisting of the CEO, the CFO, the COO, the controller and the division of presidents. Historically, capital budgeting was about 15% of Ebitda. Three formal methods are used in New Heritage capital budgeting: 1.Net Present value (NPV). 2. Payback period. 3. Internal rate of return (IRR). These methods use the incremental cash flows from each potential investment, or project. Under accrual accounting, revenues and expenses are reported based on accounting principles. This means that revenues are reported when they are earned, and expenses are matched to the periods of the revenue. In other words, revenues and expenses are not reported on the income statement when the money is received or spent. Further, the revenue and expense amounts are not adjusted for the time value of money because of the monetary unit assumption.Capital budgeting decisions should be based on cash flows that are adjusted for the time value of money. The time value of money recognizes that a dollar received or spent in the future is less valuable than a dollar received or spent in the present. Calculations such as the internal rate of return or net present value include adjustments for the time value of money. In these calculations present value factors, financial calculators, or computer software are used to discount the cash flows to their present values. ————————————————- 4. Incremental cash flows They are additional operating cash flows that an organization receives from taking on a new project. A positive incremental cash flow means that the company's cash flow will increase with the acceptance of the project. There are several components that must be identified when looking at incremental cash flows: the initial outlay, cash flows from taking on the project, terminal cost or value and the scale and timing of the project. A positive incremental cash flow is a good indication that an organization should spend some time and money investing in the project. ———————————————— 4. 6 Free cash flows A measure of financial performance calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. Free cash flow (FCF) represents the cash that a company is able to generate after laying out the money required to maintain or expand its asset base. Free cash flow is important because it allows a company to pursue opportunities that enhance shareholder value. Without cash, it's tough to develop new pro ducts, make acquisitions, pay dividends and reduce debt. FCF is calculated as:EBIT (1- Tax rate)| | | + Depreciation ; Amortization| – Change in Net Working Capital| – Capital Expenditures|   | Free Cash Flow| | | Where: Current assets| – Current liabilities| Net working capital| Where: Cash| | | + Accounts receivable| + Inventories| | Current assets| | It is important to note that negative free cash flow is not bad in itself. If free cash flow is negative, it could be a sign that a company is making large investments. If these investments earn a high return, the strategy has the potential to pay off in the long run. ———————————————— 4. 7 Sunk cost It is a cost that has already been incurred and thus cannot be recovered. A sunk cost differs from other, future costs that a business may face, such as inventory costs or R&D expenses, because it has alre ady happened. Sunk costs are independent of any event that may occur in the future. ————————————————- 4. 8 Opportunity cost It is the best return that could be earned on assets the firm already owns if those assets are not used for the new project.Now suppose the initial cost shown in each project was based on the assumption that the project would save money by using some equipment the company now owns and that equipment would be sold for certain amount of money, after taxes, if the project is rejected. The amount is an opportunity cost, and it should be reflected in our calculations. We would add that amount to the project's cost. The result would be an NPV- Asset value. ————————————————- 4. 9 Terminal value The terminal value of an asset is its anticipated valu e on a certain date in the future.It is used in multi-stage discounted cash flow analysis and the study of cash flow projections for a several-year period. The perpetuity growth model is used to identify ongoing free cash flows. The exit or terminal multiple approache assumes the asset will be sold at the end of a specified time period, helping investors evaluate risk/reward scenarios for the asset. An asset's terminal value is a projection that is useful in budget planning, and also in evaluating the potential gain of an investment over a specified time period. 5. Investment proposals 5. Investment proposals ————————————————- . 1 Match My Doll Clothing (MMDC) line expansion This line consisted of a set to match clothes for girls and dolls and some accessories. Due to the good publicity, it is thought to be a good time to expand this line. It is believed that this expansio n will be profitable because the current line is very popular and allows charging premium prices. This project involves the expenditure of large sums for research and development, market research and marketing. Table 1 Table 1 Initial expenditures ($ thousands)| 2010| Upfront R&D| $625 | Upfront Marketing| 625| Investment in Working Capital| 800|Property, Plant ; Equipment| 1,470| Total| $3,520 | The R;D and marketing expenditures would be deductible for tax purposes ta New Heritage’s 40% corporate tax rate. ————————————————- 5. 2 Design Your Own Doll (DYOD) Research suggested that many loyal customers would purchase yet another doll if they could customize the doll’s features to create a â€Å"one-of-a-kind† addition a girl’s or family’s existing collection of dolls. However, even a limited degree of customization increased manufacturing complexity and expense. Table 2 Table 2 Initial expenditures ($ thousands)| 2010| 2011|Upfront R;D| $841 | | Upfront Marketing| 360| | Investment in Working Capital| | 1,000| Property, Plant ; Equipment| 4,610| | Total| $5,811 | $1,000 | As with Match My Doll Clothing, the required R;D and marketing costs would be tax deductible. To complete development work, it is planned to use some of the company’s existing IT staff. The majority of the work would take place during calendar 2011. The number of people is shown in the table below. Table 3 Table 3 Application Development Personnel Costs| Number| Salary| Total| Web Application Developers| 1| $150 | $150 | Database Manager| 1| 160| 160|Systems Integration Specialist| 1| 125| 125| Total Cost| | | $435 | If this project stumbled for some reason, New Heritage risked damaging relationship with its best customers. 6. Projects analysis 6. Projects analysis For each project, three metrics are going to be calculated: 1. Net Present va lue (NPV). 2. Payback period. 3. Internal rate of return (IRR). ————————————————- 6. 1 Net Present Value (NPV) The difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. NPV is used in capital budgeting to analyze the profitability of an investment or project.NPV compares the value of a dollar today to the value of that same dollar in the future, taking inflation and returns into account. If the NPV of a prospective project is positive, it should be accepted. However, if NPV is negative, the project should probably be rejected because cash flows will also be negative. For example, if a retail clothing business wants to purchase an existing store, it would first estimate the future cash flows that store would generate, and then discount those cash flows into one lump-sum present value amount, say $565,000.If the owner of the store was w illing to sell his business for less than $565,000, the purchasing company would likely accept the offer as it presents a positive NPV investment. Conversely, if the owner would not sell for less than $565,000, the purchaser would not buy the store, as the investment would present a negative NPV at that time and would, therefore, reduce the overall value of the clothing company. ————————————————- 6. 2 Payback period The length of time required to recover the cost of an investment. The ayback period of a given investment or project is an important determinant of whether to undertake the position or project, as longer payback periods are typically not desirable for investment positions. ————————————————- 6. 3 Internal rate of return (IRR) The discount rate often us ed in capital budgeting that makes the net present value of all cash flows from a particular project equal to zero. Generally speaking, the higher a project's internal rate of return, the more desirable it is to undertake the project. As such, IRR can be used to rank several prospective projects a firm is considering.Assuming all other factors are equal among the various projects, the project with the highest IRR would probably be considered the best and undertaken first. ————————————————- 6. 4 How to work with working capital assumptions To know the value of current assets (cash, accounts receivable and inventories) and accounts payable a set of assumptions are given, with which we must work: 1. Cash Minimum Cash Balance as % of Sales. It is easy to know the amount of cash together by applying the percentage to sales revenue. 2. Days Sales OutstandingIn this case the data is provided are the days. Using the formula of Days Sales Outstanding, we can solve for the value of accounts receivable. DSO = Accounts receivableSales365 3. Days Payable Outstanding. In this case the data is provided are the days. Using the formula of Days Payable Outstanding, we can solve for the value of accounts payable. DPO = Accounts payableCost of sales365 ————————————————- ————————————————- 6. 5 Metrics results for both projects Clarifications: For the terminal value, it has been employed the following formula:Terminal value=FCF10 (1+G)(R-G) Where: * FCF10 is the free cash flow of year 10 (2020). * G is the growth rate. In this case a growth rate of 2% has been used, for New Heritage prefer more conservative forecasting. * R is the discount rate used. T hree different discount rates have been used depending on the level of risk is low, medium or high. ————————————————- 6. 6 Metrics for Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion These are the results obtained from free cash flows provided by Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion: Table 4 Table 4 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR|Low| 7. 70%| 7,285. 27| 7. 52| 23. 08%| Medium| 8. 40%| 5,938. 36| 7. 52| 22. 12%| High| 9%| 5,002. 43| 7. 52| 21. 40%| ————————————————- 6. 7 Metrics for Design Your Own Doll These are the results obtained from free cash flows provided by Design Your Own Doll project: Table 5 Table 5 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| Low| 7. 70%| 9,219. 21| 9. 06| 18. 17%| Medium| 8. 40%| 7,010. 46| 9. 06| 17. 09%| High| 9%| 5,483. 73| 9. 0 6| 16. 29%| ————————————————- 6. 8 Other aspects to consider in capital Budgeting FlexibilityCapital budgeting techniques used by large businesses often run into flexibility problems. Many companies use a standard capital budgeting form where an analyst plugs numbers into specific categories to come up with net present value, cash flows, ROI and other basic results. However, not all costs and revenues from a project fit into such a fill-in sheet and can be difficult to classify. The best type of capital budgeting is the kind that can be customized for each project. Accuracy Capital budgeting depends largely on the quality of information that is used to for the budget analysis.This opens the process up to flaws if the incoming data is incorrect. For example, if someone underestimates a key cost, capital budgeting will show the project as less expensive than it will be. This is a common risk, and managers should always consider that the financial information behind the capital budgeting process is usually not 100 percent accurate. Benefit Type There are two general benefits associated with capital budgeting and projects. Hard benefits directly affect the project and loss statement and have easy, tangible results.There are also soft benefits, which are quantifiable but do not easily affect profit or loss directly. A third group, intangibles, is related to intellectual, emotional and environmental gains. Companies tend to only concentrate on hard benefits and forget that projects can produce other advantages as well. Emotions and Assumptions Capital budgeting is ultimately a tool that can help managers make decisions, not a process for making the decision itself. Managers are susceptible to energy behind a project and may support a project because it appears exciting or the end results are highly noticeable.Sometimes it is better to go with more boring, stable results that will keep the company strong than always moving for flashy projects. 7. Election of a project 7. Election of a project In the case of the Match My Doll Clothing, given the current economic situation and the inherent characteristics thereof, it seems most reasonable to choose the medium risk discount rate (8. 4%). At this rate, the following results are reached: Table 6 Table 6 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| Medium| 8. 40%| 5,938. 36| 7. 52| 22. 12%|In the case of the Design Your Own Doll, as it has a fairly long payback, it has new unknown processes for New Heritage and because if the project fails the customer relationships will be damaged, it seems that it is more appropriate to assign the high risk discount rate (9%). At this rate, the following results are reached: Table 7 Table 7 RISK LEVEL| RATE| NPV| PAYBACK PERIOD| IRR| High| 9%| 5,483. 73| 9. 06| 16. 29%| Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion and Design Your Own Doll are Mutually Exclusive P rojects which means that are a set of projects from which at most one will be accepted.For example, a set of projects which are to accomplish the same task. Thus, when choosing between â€Å"Mutually Exclusive Projects† more than one project may satisfy the Capital Budgeting criterion. However, only one, i. e. , the best project can be accepted. Of these three, Net Present Value, Payback Period and Internal Rate of Return, only the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return decision methods consider all of the project's cash flows and the Time Value of Money.And, only the Net Present Value decision method will always lead to the correct decision when choosing among Mutually Exclusive Projects. This is because the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return decision methods differ with respect to their Reinvestment Rate Assumptions. The Net Present Value decision method implicitly assumes that the project's cash flows can be reinvested at the firm's Cost of Capital, where as, the Internal Rate of Return decision method implicitly assumes that the cash flows can be reinvested at the projects IRR.Since each project is likely to have a different IRR, the assumption underlying the Net Present Value decision rule is more reasonable. Nevertheless, the NPV method has some disadvantages. One major disadvantage is that the method requires a detailed prediction of the project’s future cash flows. It is not that difficult if the project life is four years. But generally the life of a project is much longer. For example, computing the NPV for one these projects would require forecasting cash flows for the entire life of the project.This period could be 20 years, 30 years but we don’t know exactly how many and forecasting revenues for so many years is extremely difficult. A second disadvantage of the NPV method is that it assumes that the discount rate will remain the same over the life of the project. In many instances, the cost of capital, and the refore the discount rate, changes as firms refinance debt. ————————————————- 7. 1 Projects NPV Profiles The figure bellow presents the net present value profile (A graph showing the relationship between a project’s NPV and the firm’s cost of capital)For both Match My Doll Line Expansion and Design your Own Doll projects. To make the profile, we find the project's NPV at a number of different discount rates and then plot those values to create a graph. We can see that at a zero cost of capital, the NPV is simply the net total of the undiscounted cash flow. This value is plotted as the vertical axis intercept. It is also seen that the IRR is the discount rate that causes the NPV to equal zero, so the discount rate at which the profile line crosses the horizontal axis is the project's IRR.When we connect the data points, we have the NPV profile. IRRMMDC IRRMMDC NPV ($) NPV ($) Cost of capital (%) Cost of capital (%) IRRDYOD IRRDYOD DYOD DYOD Crossover rate; conflict if r is to the left, no conflict if r is to the right Crossover rate; conflict if r is to the left, no conflict if r is to the right At r = 10% NPVMMD > NPVDYOD but IRRDYOD > IRRMMD, so there is a conflict At r = 10% NPVMMD > NPVDYOD but IRRDYOD > IRRMMD, so there is a conflict MMDC MMDC The IRRs are fixed, and DYOD has the higher IRR regardless of the cost of capital. * However, the NPVs vary depending on the actual cost of capital. * The two NPV profile lines cross at the crossover rate that is the cost of capital at which the NPV profiles of two projects cross and, thus, at which the projects’ NPVs are equal. * MMDC project has the higher NPV if the cost of capital is less than the crossover rate, but DYOD has the higher NPV if the cost of capital is greater than that rate.Besides, MMD has the steeper slope, indicating that a given increase in the cost of capital caus es a larger decline in NPVMMDC than in NPVDYOD Finally, although MMDC is more sensitive to the variation of the discount rate, we think the most reasonable for New Heritage, as to these two investment proposals, is to choose Match My Doll Clothing Line Expansion for the following three reasons: * NPV is greater ($5,938. 36) than that of Design Your Own Doll ($5,483. 73). * The payback period is shorter (7. 2 years) than that of Design Your Doll (9. 06 years). Years Years * The IRR is greater (22. 12%) than the Design Your Own Doll (16. 09%). New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 1. Cont | | | | | | | | | | New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont New Heritage Doll Company Exhibit 2. Cont

10 Things I Hate About You. Play and Movie

â€Å"I burn, I pine, I perish! † this is a quote from the movie â€Å"10 things I hate about you† and a play made by William Shakespeare called â€Å"Taming of the Shrew†. The movie â€Å"10 things I hate about you† was originated from a play from William Shakespeare called â€Å"Taming of the Shrew†. The director of the movie is Gil Junger. In â€Å"10 things I hate about you†, a new boy in school called Cameron falls in love with a girl called Bianca and tries to date her, but her father doesn’t allow Bianca to date anyone before Katherine, who is called a shrew because of her behaviors, does. Cameron persuades Joey to pay Patrick to date Katherine, so he can date Bianca. After some time, Patrick and Katherine fall in love with each other and Cameron makes out with Bianca in the end. The movie is an adaptation of the play and the author has changed to suit the audience, because the target audience of this movie is modern people, not people in Elizabethan English. To get audiences’ attention, it has used several filming techniques. There were lots of usages of filming techniques in the movie. For example, at the scene when Katherine was about to kiss Patrick, extreme close-up was applied to the scene in order to capture the emotion of the two characters. Also, Tracking is applied at the scene when Michael shows Joey around the school in order to involve the audience in the action and to show the environment. Both of these filming techniques were used in order to keep the audiences’ attention and to involve audiences into the scene in order to make the audiences feel the way that the director wants them to feel. In the movie, there were more techniques that were used. For most of the time in the movie, the colors that they have used are bright colors, such as pink, yellow. The lighting is usually bright, but in the scene where Bianca kisses Cameron, the lighting is very mild, like a moonlight, which has romantic connotation.

Phi/105 Letter

Letter to a 20 or 21 Century Philosopher PHI/105 September 23, 2012 Letter to a 20 or 21 Century Philosopher I am writing this letter to John Dewey regarding his theory of pragmatism. I am choosing this theory because it interests me in the scientific aspect of your thinking. I know that you chose to challenge logicians to answer the question of truth. This is a hard thing to sort out and make real and true. Going up against some of the times most logical thinkers and challenging them to come up with true answers was one of your strong points.I know that you were not totally opposed to modern logic as you have stated â€Å"logic based upon the idea that qualitative objects are existential in the fullest sense. To retain logical principles based on this conception along with the acceptance of theories of existence and knowledge based on an opposite conception is not, to say the least, conductive to clearness – a consideration that has a good deal to do with existing dualism be tween traditional and the newer relational logics. †(Qualitative Thought  1930) This statement to me means that you had maybe exhausted the traditional way of thinking that you had imagined.I believe that you had to reach for more answers and different ways to get those answers. Truth is a hard thing to come by and it is not easily obtained. I know that you were a philosopher of science and that you used this to try and understand the world. From you research you did not stretch the truth but rather examined all of the parts that could be explained by science. In figuring these things out you were able to determine if the phenomena that you were examining at the time were actually true or not.I find this interesting because there are many things in this world that are hard to explain. I am sure that there were many questions left unanswered for you because the research technology was just not there for you at the time you were doing your research on different phenomenaâ€⠄¢s. The scientific method that you chose to follow would be a base for all of the scientists that followed your research and I find it amazing that you are still known to this day. I can see now by researching your history why you did not believe in religion. I would have to say this is ecause it is something that could not be proven. The phenomena that a being could exists and create everything is just too impossible to conceive. It is impossible to determine by science even to this day if someone such as this did or could ever exist. There is no scientific method that can prove the truth of this and this is why you did not believe it was possible. I would have to also agree with this point and if there were a way to research it scientifically and prove that such a being or person did exist I would believe that to be the truth.With no truth about certain things it is hard to put any kind of faith in them. The more I think about these things the more I believe the scientific method the best way for me to go about life and think about things. I believe that the other two schools are just as good as yours. I just lean a little more towards science then math or metaphysics. These other two schools are necessary as well for the understanding of almost all things that are explainable. There is no one school that is better than the others and I would have to relate to all three of them.As for the things that are just phenomena I would have to agree with you in analyzing the facts and truths that we are able to prove and believe in rather than just making things up and believing in false truths. John Dewey you are truly someone to look up to and I have found in your readings some truth to this life that we lead. Many things go unanswered but in time many things that were unanswerable will get figured out and the truth shall be revealed. References READING:  Ch. 9 of  Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas. READING:  Ch. 8 of  Philosophy: The Power Of Ideas. http://w ww. infed. org/thinkers/et-dewey. htm

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Psychological Testing - Wechsler intelligence scale for children - Essay Example By detecting low IQ scores in children, an intervention can be put in place to help the child learn. High IQ scores can help place an advance child in a higher learning environment. Normal IQ scores can make sure a child is on their level. Identifying IQ’s in children are important due to these reasons. One intelligence test for children today is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). The WISC was created by David Wechsler (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2005, p. 7). The WISC was first introduced in 1974, then revised accordingly until today’s version the WISC-IV came into use (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2005, p. 10). The WISC produces an IQ number for children ages six to sixteen. Unlike most IQ tests, the WISC does not require a student to read or write. The oral side of the test lets educators determine a true IQ, not just test ability. Although the WISC can be used for various reasons, the WISC is intended to be as an IQ evaluation of children. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children is the test that will be critically reviewed as a standardized psychometric test for this paper. The WISC is an intelligence psychometric test. This paper will discuss the evolution of the WISC into the WISC-IV. The WISC will be evaluated as a tool for determining learning disabilities, accessing a child’s true ability, tracking a child’s development, and as a primary IQ test. In the Literature Review, the WISC’s advantages and disadvantages will be given. Then my personal opinion will be given in the Discussion section. Finally a brief Conclusion will wrap up the paper as a whole. The WISC-IV is used today. This IQ test is split into two sections, a verbal scale and a performance scale (Carey, n.d.). The test is split into different subtests, but the two main sections are the verbal and performance scales. On the verbal sections of the test, a verbal response from the child is needed. On the

Dance 234 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dance 234 - Assignment Example The dance is about the event that brought together various choreographers and performers who took part in the performance. The BoSoma2 created the choreography for the dance as created by the directors of the dance company. The leadership of the company consists of three members of the company. The company seeks to utilize the rigorous athleticism that exists within the entertainment industry. Judging by the movie, the dance was on 27th of February 2015. The show presented is the Third Life Choreographer that involves several performers including Rowan Salem, Bosama 2 Dance, Jennifer Farrell, Kelley Donovan, Bryce dance company, Olivia Coombs, Catherine Wagner and Kelly Engel. The program involves performances including the Real Rosie that involved several performers. Variations on the story were a performance choreographed by Kelly Engel. The performers included Kelly Engel, Malone Thermitus, Previlu, Lisa Lin and Erica Lin. The performers dance to music by Susie Suh and Koch Robert. The Hunt was the performance that followed and choreography of Shannon Luchs. The dancers in the performance include Grace Stauffer, Tessa Hamza, and Sahaiyai Khalili. The dancers performed music by Bjork, which was a remix of the song, Cover me. The Freedom Dances was an exceptional performance that presented sections of work in progress. The choreography was by Laliberte Nicole instructing several dancers including Stephanie Walsh, and Luciana Lyans. The performers danced to music by Antonio Vivaldi and Vann Teirsen. Madeline Douglas and Elizabeth Griffin appeared courtesy of the spindle city Ballet Jr.Co. The second section was an untitled dance by several performers such as Erin Gridea, Tara Gragg, and Lauren Difede. The appearances were courtesy of the Island moving company that presented a great performance. The dance tells a story that provides the audience with an

SUNRISE SENIOR LIVING (SRZ)....FIRM THAT'S NOT WORTHY INVESTMENT Research Paper

SUNRISE SENIOR LIVING (SRZ)....FIRM THAT'S NOT WORTHY INVESTMENT - Research Paper Example The company operates in a high competitive market in US where Assisted Living Concepts Inc and Brookdale Senior Living Inc are two major competitors of it. Financial ratio analysis has shown that company is not at all profitable in terms of major profitability ratios. Though it has quite good asset turnover but capital structure of the company is very much unstable. Liability holds 90% of the totals assets and 10 times more than equity capital. Therefore, it operates with a huge amount of debt which indicates high possibility of bankruptcy in near future. By projecting key financial parameters for next financial year, it is identified that net profit would remain negative in next financial year. Profitability of the company would also remain very much weak compared to its competitors. The company is also much behind in terms of market share, profitability and operating efficiency than its competitors. From, detailed analysis of the company in financial and non financial perspective, it can be recommend that currently the company is not investment worthy. Introduction This paper deal with detailed analysis of Sunrise Senior Living Corporation, a US based multinational senior care service organization. ... The company operates in healthcare industry and provides senior living services to the aged people. It operates through 300 locations in home country United States and also in Canada and United Kingdom. Sunrise offers independent living, Alzheimer’s care, assisted living and personal carte, short term stays and nursing and rehabilitative care. This healthcare organization specializes in assisted living for the old people along with Alzheimer’s care through skilled nursing. The company is listed in fortune 1000 company. Recently, Sunrise Senior Living Corporation has been acquired by the Health Care REIT. SSL was established in 1981 in Virginia by Paul and Terry at an aims of long term healthcare to look after the senior citizen of the society. This objective of the business was termed as assisted living. Within next few decades the company penetrated throughout the United States and expanded in United Kingdom as first foreign market. In 2001 the company expanded its for eign market into Canada. The company changed its name as Sunrise Senior Living from Sunrise Assisted Living in 2008. It closed down all centers in Germany in 2010. Currently, the company employees near about 31,000 employees to provide senior living services through healthcare centers in more than 300 retirement communities across the world. Industry overview and trend Sunrise Senior Living operates in healthcare sector and long term care industry. This industry has been growing in western countries like United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Increasing life expectancy among the people, falling of birth rate are the key drivers for growth of this industry. According to the

The concept of trust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The concept of trust - Essay Example To the extent, this expectation is present, there is also risk factors that the other person may not be able to stand up to the expectations. Herein lays the risk in trust dealings. It is seen that trust is all encompassing both in organizational and personal interactions. In a nurse-provider setting it is seen in the range and diverse functions that are being carried out by the service provider towards the care and welfare of the patient. The concept of trust is present in all areas of human endeavor where there is need for one person to place trust on another, for the performance of services or actions and it is more so in the cases of nursing services where the duty of caring and saving human lives are concerned. Definition: A trust could be said to be a basis of relationship between one person and another in terms of the firm belief of the veracity, genuineness and worthiness of the relationship between one people with another. The basis of trust could therefore, be in terms of a bonding relationship between one person and another based upon the fiduciary trust between the persons. However, in the context of nursing trust, it could be defined to be the bond that exists between the client and the health care service provider. In other words, in the case nurse-client trust, the trust between the members of the immediate family of the client, or even the client himself, could be defined to be a process, which comprises of different strata’s, some of them of an evolutionary nature that exists between the client and the provider that is based on the foundation of mutual beliefs, understandings and intentions. â€Å"These six characteristics of trust between family and health care provider were identified regardless of patient age, patient condition, health care provider, health care situation, and health care setting.† (Lynn-sMcHale & Deatrick. 2000, 210-230). We shall

The Philosophy of Confucius Essay Example for Free

The Philosophy of Confucius Essay For my essay I have decided to analyze the philosophy of Confucius as seen in The Analects or Lunyu ( ). I will be focusing primarily on what I have found to be the key components underlying Confucian ethics; Filial Piety (Xiao) (? ), Ritual Propriety (Li) (? ) and Authoritative Conduct (Ren) (? ). These three moral concepts are integral aspects of Confucian role ethics; they develop as a counterpart to western philosophy such as Immanuel Kant’s ethics of duty and have remained to this day sound and honourable ideologies that people should live their lives in accordance with. Confucianism has had the most the most prevalent influence on Chinese society for nearly two thousand years (c100BC-1900AD), it affected all aspects of Chinese life; education, politics and personal conduct in both one’s private and public affairs. It became the paramount school of thought and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism would take their lead from Confucianism. The Chinese government made Confucianism the official state philosophy but that is not to say didn’t fall out of favour over the last two thousand years; from c.200-600AD there was a severe decline in followers as a result of the emergence of Buddhism and Daoism but Confucianism was fully revived by 700AD. In 1100s came Neo-Confucianism, innovated by Zhu-Xi, focussing more on Li and aspects of human nature and in the 1900s Confucianism fell out of favour with western beliefs such as communism. However all government opposition to communism ended by 1977 and Confucianism is now being embraced again in both eastern and western cultures. Confucius is known to the Chinese as ‘Kung Fu-tzu’ ( ) which has been Latinized by Europeans to Confucius. He was born in 551BC amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era into a poor family of the lower nobility. Throughout his life he made numerous attempts to gain an office with a prominent ruler willing to implement his concepts, after failing to do so he dedicated his life to teaching and accumulated an impressive amount of disciples, including Mencius and Xunzi. Confucius’ followers took it upon themselves to document and formulate their own interpretations of his interactions and teachings as Confucius never wrote anything down himself. These records of Confucius’ philosophy can now be found in The Analects which has been translated into many languages and sold millions of copies around the world. Xiao or the notion of Filial Piety is probably the most definitive sentiment associated with Confucianism. Xiao is usually highlighted by western interpreters as it does not comply with western values and for this reason was not used as a starting point for promoting Confucianism in the western world. Confucius discusses Xiao in the context of identifying states of order and disorder in society. In a time of constant warfare Confucius conceded that this a social behaviour was due to a lack of Xiao, in The Analects Confucius tells us that a man with filial piety is unlikely to revolt in society or defy the authority of his superiors; â€Å"A man filial to his parents, a good brother, yet apt to go against his superiors – few are like that! †. Confucius gives numerous definitions of Xiao to different students he explains that Xiao is the root of moral excellence. Like a plant, Xiao has to take place at the beginning of one’s life in order for it to flourish; â€Å"The gentleman operates at the root. When the root is firm, then the Way may proceed†. Confucius emphasized that it was imperative for people to develop this notion of Xiao in which younger generations were obliged develop emotional immediacy to their next of kin, an element of devotion was expected. Confucius put great importance in conducting numerous rituals for varying occasions; he found it essential to the well-being of society. Religious activity was geared toward the worshipping of ancestors. When an elder died the children of the deceased were expected to undertake a three year mourning period in which they completed altered their living conditions to bear minimum and did not partake in any social conventions such as work or celebratory events; â€Å"When a gentleman is mourning, he gets no pleasure from eating sweet foods, finds no joy in listening to music, and feels no comfort in his place of dwelling. This is why he gives up these things† Many considered three years to be an excessive period of time as we see when Zai Wo asks Confucius if he can limit the mourning period to one year and Confucius considers him perverse, he explains that only after being fully tended to for three years can one leave their parents’ bosom, parents alter their lives to accommodate the birth and raising of a child regardless of social convention. Similarly in Chinese culture it is thought that when a person dies they enter the spirit world in which they are once again rendered â€Å"new-borns† and need the care and devotion of their descendents to begin life there. It is reciprocity between generations, an exchange of unconditional loyalty and love. Xiao is initially established in these undertakings. Ritual propriety or Li involves perfecting the art of self-governing and restraint, it refers to the secular functions of everyday life such as all formal conduct, from table manners to patterns of greeting and leave-taking, to graduations, weddings, funerals, from gestures of deference to ancestral sacrifices . Li is the mechanism by which one conveys their respect and gratuity to their elders and superiors; it also encompasses how one should act social in order to earn respect and honour in return. It is appropriate behaviour in the sense that it promotes and enhances relationships in a community. This was essential as the social context of the Chinese was focussed on communal living, therefore Confucius tries to instruct people on how to live harmoniously with their families. Everything one says and does is brought into consideration under the concept of ritual propriety; â€Å"Look at nothing in defiance of ritual, listen to nothing in defiance of ritual, speak of nothing in defiance of ritual, never stir hand or foot in defiance of ritual†. The aesthetic aspect of Confucius is not to understand morality and judge but rather become more skilful in engaging the people around you in your endeavours, everyone has a role in society and they must uphold it. Devoting yourself to ritual is not the same as shunning your own desires and emotions; it’s the ability to reconcile one’s own desires amicably within the social context you are occupying. In the Analects Confucius explains that by curbing our own personal agendas we can learn to appreciate the conventions of society which allows it to function harmoniously, he also stresses that with age and experience one can only truly gain this appreciation; â€Å"When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent on study. At thirty I was a confirmed student. At, nought could move me from my course. At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of heaven. At sixty, my ears were attuned (to them). At seventy, I could follow my hearts desires without overstepping the lines of rectitude†. Confucius also stressed the importance of sincerity, he felt that without possessing a genuine interest in the well-being of others whatever ceremonial manners one undertook it would signify nothing. He felt that rites should not be looked upon simply as conventions by which we did things but they should be practiced with complete reverence and honesty; â€Å"He sacrificed to the dead as if they were present. He sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits were present. The Master said, ‘I consider my not being present at the sacrifice as though there were no sacrifice’ In the tenth book of The Analects we are effectively given the portrait of how one contending with Li should behave. The examples are given under the pretence of Confucius as a person himself and how he conducted himself. They give us direction as how to act appropriately and â€Å"how to serve the spirits to bring about good fortune†. Each passage gives shows us a different scenario and Confucius’ exemplary behaviour in that context, a few examples are; â€Å"While eating he would not converse, and having retired for the night he would not talk†, â€Å"In asking after the well-being of a friend in another state, he would bow twice before sending the messenger on his way†, â€Å"In sleeping he did not assume the posture of a corpse, and when at home alone, he did not kneel in a formal posture as though entertaining guests† and â€Å" On meeting someone in mourning dress, even those on intimate terms, he would invariably take on a solemn appearance. On meeting someone wearing a ceremonial cap or someone who is blind, even though they were frequent acquaintances, he would invariably pay his respects†. These passages made Confucius the epitome of courtliness and personal decorum for succeeding generations of Chinese officials. The final focal point of Confucianism is Ren or Authoritative conduct, references to Ren appear over one hundred times in the Analects. Ren is comprised of two elements, a person and the number two, emphasizing how our own person can only be cultivated through interactions with other people as Herbert Fingarette states; â€Å"For Confucius, unless there are at least two human beings, there can be no human beings†. Ren consists of five basic virtues; seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence and kindness. It is the basis of Confucian political theory, he felt that if a ruler lacked Ren it would effectively be impossible for his subjects to act humanely, he believed that people who had this mastered moral excellence inherent to Ren should be put into positions of political power; â€Å"The Master said; If people are proper in personal conduct, others will follow suit without need of command. But if they are not proper, even when they command, others will not obey†. Confucius felt that the political intuitions in his era had completely lost their legitimacy, he felt that this was due to tyrannical behaviour in the sense that those in control lacked certain attributes such as Ren, vital to successfully ruling and were not worthy of the positions they held. We can observe through Confucius the idea that a ruler, whether good or bad has an  effectively contagious effect on his subjects and if he lacks the necessary qualities that deem him worthy to rule, his subjects will similarly lack the qualities that enable them to serve efficiently, everyone most uphold their truthful role in society to achieve harmonious functioning; â€Å"Good government consists of the ruler being a ruler, the minister being a minister, the father being a father, and the son being a son†. To cultivate one’s Ren one might look to Confucius’ ethics of reciprocity and perhaps his most famous teaching of all time, the golden rule which has been taken since the time of Confucius been included as part of numerous different religions and ideologies such as Christianity; â€Å"Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself. † Interestingly, unlike Mencius and Xunzi, Confucius did not seem overly concerned about the root of human nature and whether we are innately good or bad but he did say â€Å"Human Beings are similar in their natural tendencies, but vary greatly by virtue of their habits†, implying that Confucius perceived all men to be born with intrinsic value that can be shaped or moulded by study and practice. After reading and analysing The Analects of Confucius I think it’s clearly that it is the three components of Xiao, Li and Ren that are most predominant in his philosophy but that is not to say there weren’t other valuable concepts that are crucial to Confucianism such as Xin (? ) and Yi (? ) but they are beyond the scope of this essay. Confucius Bibliography -Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press Dawson, M. M (1915). The ethics of Confucius: the sayings of the master and his disciples upon the conduct of the superior man. US: Putnam Riegel, J. (2006). Confucius. Available: http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/confucius/. Last accessed 5/12/11. Ames, R. Hall, D. , (1987), Thinking Through Confucius. Albany: SUNY Press.. Slingerland, E. G (2003). Confucius analects: with selections from traditional commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing -Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. 51 Name: Shauna O’Mahony Date: 07/11/11 Module: Chinese Philosophy (PH2023) Essay title: Philosophy of Confucius. Word Count: 2,285 [ 1 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (1. 1) [ 2 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (1. 2) [ 3 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (17. 21) [ 4 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. pg51 [ 5 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (12. 1) [ 6 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (2. 4) [ 7 ]. Watson, B (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia: Columbia University Press (3. 12) [ 8 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. Random House Publishing Group. pg51 [ 9 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (10. 10) [ 10 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (10. 15) [ 11 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (10. 24) [ 12 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (10. 25) [ 13 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. Pg 48 [ 14 ]. Confucius, Ames, R.T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (13. 6) [ 15 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (12. 11) [ 16 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (15. 24) [ 17 ]. Confucius, Ames, R. T, Rosemont, H (1999). The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation. : Random House Publishing Group. (17. 2).

Face Recognition Using PCA Algorithm

Face Recognition Using PCA Algorithm Bollini Lokesh, Abhishek Nallamothu, Mr.S.Planiappan ABSTRACT Day by day technology is changing and way of securing and automation is also trending. Facial recognition (or face recognition) is a type of biometric software application that can identify a specific individual in a digital image by analyzing and comparing patterns. Facial recognition systems are commonly used for security purposes but are increasingly being used in a variety of other automation applications. In real time, face recognition algorithms deal with large data base. Execution of these face recognition algorithms take high computational power and time on large database. Our objective is to improve speed of face recognition on large data base by using PCA algorithm. The goal of our proposing PCA algorithm is to reduce the dimensionality of the data by mapping the data into a lower dimensionality subspace while retaining as much as possible of the variation present in the original dataset. We formally prove this algorithm on ORL face data base with best precision. Keywords: PCA: Principle Component Analysis, MATLAB: Matrix Laboratory, ORL: Olivetti Research Laboratory INTRODUCTION Facial recognition (or face recognition) is a type of biometric software application that can identify a specific individual in a digital image by analyzing and comparing patterns. Facial recognition systems are commonly used for security purposes but are increasingly being used in a variety of other applications. The Kinect motion gaming system, for example, uses facial recognition to differentiate among players. Currently, a lot of facial recognition development is focused on smartphone applications. Smartphone facial recognition capacities include image tagging and other social networking integration purposes as well as personalized marketing. A research team at Carnegie Mellon has developed a proof-of-concept iPhone app that can take a picture of an individual and within seconds return the individuals name, date of birth and social security number. Facebook uses facial recognition software to help automate user tagging in photographs. Here’s how facial recognition works in Facebook: Each time an individual is tagged in a photograph, the software application stores information about that person’s facial characteristics. When enough data has been collected about a person to identify them, the system uses that information to identify the same face in different photographs, and will subsequently suggest tagging those pictures with that person’s name. Facial recognition software also enhances marketing personalization. For example, billboards have been developed with integrated software that identifies the gender, ethnicity and approximate age of passersby to deliver targeted advertising. The main aim of this project is to improve the computational speed of face recognition by using PCA algorithm. This can be done by reducing the dimensionality of images, while doing computations on images in data base. We propose a PCA algorithm with reduced dimensionality in calculations, and we formally prove this algorithm on ORL face data base of ten different images of each of 40 distinct subjects with best precision. RELATED WORK The proposed face recognition system by using PCA algorithm overcomes certain limitations of the existing face recognition system. It is based on reduction of dimensionality and extracting the dominating features of a set of human faces stored in the database and performing mathematical operations on the values corresponding to them. Hence when a new image is fed into the system for recognition then it will reduce dimensionality of new image and extract the main features to compute and find the distance between the input image and the stored images. Thus, some variations in the new face image to be recognized can be tolerated. When the new image of a person differs from the images of that person stored in the database, the system will be able to recognize the new face and identify who the person is. The proposed system is better mainly due to the use of facial features rather than the entire face. Its advantages are in terms of: Recognition accuracy and better discriminatory power Computational cost because of reduction in dimensionality and removing of noise from data set Concentrating on main features require less processing to train the PCA. Because of the use of dominant features and hence can be used as an effective means of authentication Principle Component Analysis Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was invented by Karl Pearson in 1901 and is now used in many fields of science. It is a way of identifying patterns in data, and expressing the data in such a way as to highlight their similarities and differences. Since patterns in data can be hard to find in data of high dimension, where the luxury of graphical representation is not available, PCA is a powerful tool for analyzing data. The other main advantage of PCA is that once you have found these patterns in the data, and you compress the data, ie. by reducing the number of dimensions, without much loss of information. The main aim of this project is to improve the computational speed of face recognition by using PCA algorithm. This can be done by reducing the dimensionality of images, while doing computations on images in data base. We propose a PCA algorithm with reduced dimensionality in calculations, and we formally prove this algorithm on ORL face data base of ten different images of each of 40 distinct subjects with best precision. Actually issues arise once performing arts face recognition in a very high-dimensional area (curse of dimensionality). therefore we have a tendency to area unit managing spatiality issues in face recognition performance. important enhancements will be achieved by 1st mapping the information into a lower-dimensional sub-space. Mapping knowledge|of knowledge|of information} into lower dimensional data is feasible by PCA formula. In PCA formula, 1st itll convert all face pictures (N X N pixel) in knowledge base into face vector (N2X1 dimensionality).It hundreds of these face vectors into one matrix (N2X M matrix; here M=number of face pictures in database).It cipher average face vector(N2X1 dimensionality) by doing mean on all face vectors. It calculate normalized face vectors matrix (N2X M dimensionality) by subtracting average face vector from every face vector. It calculate variance matrix to search out out best Eigen|chemist}|chemist} vectors (best Eigen vectors represent best Eigen faces).It calculate signature of image and place it in( M X S dimensionality; here S=number of signatures). PCA converts input image (image for face recognition) into face vector, then it converts into normalized face vector and thereby it verify weight vector of input image. Finally it compare weight vectors and thereby it verify the person. Face recognition bioscience is that the science of programming a laptop to acknowledge a personalitys face. once someone is listed during a face recognition system, a video camera takes a series of snapshots of the face and so represents it by a singular holistic code. once somebody has their face verified by the pc, it captures their current look and compares it with the facial codes already hold on within the system. The faces match, the person receives authorization; otherwise, the person wont be known. the prevailing face recognition system identifies solely static face pictures that just about specifically match with one among the photographs hold on within the information. once this image captured nearly specifically matches with one among the photographs hold on then the person is known and granted access. once this image of someone is significantly totally different, say, in terms of facial features from the photographs of that person that area unit already hold on within the information the system doesnt acknowledge the person and thence access are denied. The existing or ancient face recognition system has some limitations which may  be overcome by adopting new ways of face recognition: The existing system cannot tolerate variations within the new face image. It needs the new image to be nearly specifically matching with one among the photographs within the information which can otherwise end in denial of access for the individual. The performance level of the prevailing system isnt considerable. CONCLUSION The PCA method is an unsupervised technique of learning that is mostly suitable for databases that contain images with no class labels. PCA improve speed of face recognition by mapping higher dimensionality of face image into lower dimensionality. PCA provides best precision in face recognition process. In future we are planning to implement automation in security and automation in attendance by using this algorithm. We will try to get more efficiency and precision by combining this algorithm with other algorithms. We are planning to implement this algorithm for recognizing multi faces by combining this algorithm with other face recognition algorithms. REFERENCES: [1] A.S Syed navaz, T. Dhevi sri Pratap mazumdar â€Å"Face recognition using principle component analysis and neural networks† International Journal of Computer Networking, Wireless and Mobile Communications (IJCNWMC) ISSN 2250-1568 Vol. 3, Issue 1, Mar 2013, 245-256 [2] Lindsay I Smith â€Å"A tutorial on Principal Components Analysis†February 26, 2002 [3] Sasan Karamizadeh, Shahidan M. Abdullah, Azizah A. Manaf, Mazdak Zamani, Alireza Hooman â€Å" An Overview of Principal Component Analysis† Journal of Signal and Information Processing 2013, 4, 173-175 [4] Toshiyuki Sakai, M. Nagao, Takeo Kanade, â€Å"Computer analysis and classification of photographs of human face,† First USA Japan Computer Conference, 1972 [5] Yuille, A. L., Cohen, D. S., and Hallinan, P. W., Feature extraction from faces using deformable templates, Proc. of CVPR, (1989).

The Evolutionary Aspects Of Fear Psychology Essay

The Evolutionary Aspects Of Fear Psychology Essay This paper presents an exclusive discussion of what is known about the biological basis of fear. In presenting this discussion, the paper shall explore the main concepts relating to the biology behind fear in humans with the main ideas being the definition of fear, the evolutionary aspects of fear, as well as the emotional response of the brain in the event of fear or anxiety. The paper shall also present an analysis that seeks to establish fear and anxiety as identical rather than two contrasting concepts as believed by many. In the discussion on the biological basis of fear, the study shall include biological evidence relating to the specific parts of the human brain that respond and react to fear. Introduction It is interesting how humans respond to fear, especially the bodily changes that take place in the event of an activity or something that triggers fear. Humans respond to fear in different ways, and their bodies react to unexpected situations of fear almost instantly. In response to fear, human bodies exhibit increased arousal, autonomic and neuroendocrinal activation and immediate expectancy among other spontaneous reactions. It is even surprising that fear triggers some emotional reaction in humans based on recent studies by psychologists. An interesting revelation according to empirical studies on emotions under the field of biology point to the fact that emotions are not just feelings as evolutionary studies would want us to believe. Emotions in human beings are accompanied by physiological and behavioural variations (Davidson, 2000). A widely accepted perception of emotions today touches on the fundamental ideology that humans experience emotions in three different but interrela ted levels: the behavioural level, the neurophysiological level and the psychological or metal level. Based on inference that emotions have a close relation to fear in terms of the mental or psychological state, it is possible to use such information to build upon the biological basis of fear (Walker, 2002). The consequence of predisposing factors that trigger emotions also tend to instil fear in human beings and this paper shall seek to unravel the biological basis of fear in terms of psychological and behavioural responses relating to biology. What is fear? Fear is a motivational state triggered by specific stimuli that result in or escape defensive behaviour. Enthologists believe that fear is an unpleasant emotion that comes about as a result of the perception that somebody or something dangerous is likely to happen. This unpleasant emotion triggers a form of defence mechanism that results in escape or counter behaviours. In terms of biology, a couple of neuoroendocrinal activations that are usually automatic mostly typify fear. This is essential in explaining the sudden escape of a person at the sight of a scary animal that triggers immediate activations in the brain (Strongman, 1996). This effective defence mechanism triggered by a stimulus instils fear. In this context, such instantaneous reactions to fear facilitate coping mechanisms used by the body to respond to cases of fear. The evolutionary aspects of fear The evolutionary aspects of fear mainly relate to emotional responses. Fear is a factor of de-escalating tactic interceded by the emotional (paleomammalian) part of the fore brain. As man and other animals evolved millions of years ago, they adapted differently to fear. During the evolutionary period, diverse types of fear characterized the universe and were responded to by animals and humans in dissimilar ways. Scientists conclude that the adaptations developed by humans during this period explain the response and reactions of humans towards fear (Strongman, 1996). However, a couple of fear such as the fear of height is common to all mammals because of the adaptations developed during the Mesozoic era. The fear of snakes and other dangerous reptiles came into existence during the Cenozoic era and is common to all higher primates including humans and apes. However, others such as the fear of insects and mice developed in the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods are unique to humans. Dur ing these periods, insects and mice became popular carriers of dangerous infections and diseases, which resulted in different adaptive measures by humans. Such fears are still common today (Iijima, et al., 1996). The emotional brain The emotional aspect of the brain occurs at three levels: the behavioural level, the neurophysiological level and the psychological or metal level. Theories of emotion touching on the brain reveal that bodily changes tend to follow directly the perception of existing facts and human feelings of the same changes according to the occurrence of the emotion. In other words, the stimulus that reaches the cerebral cortex part of the brain provokes intuitive changes, which are perceived as emotions. Other studies have advanced that the thalamus is greatly involved in the neuropsychological matter of the brain because such matters are subcortical in nature. A biological explanation on the emotional brain is that a stimulus from the environment triggers the thalamus, which transmits information from to the viscera and cortex, and back again to the cortex to engender an emotional state (Gray McNaughton, 2000). Specific parts of the brain that work together to trigger reactions to fear stimuli Amygdala The amygdala is part of the brain structure where a majority of neurobiological events related to fear occurs. It is located just behind the pituitary gland and respond in different ways to fear stimuli. Any fear stimulus activates the Amygdala to secrete a series of hormones that immediately influence aggression and fear (Vianna, 2003). As the process of secreting such hormones into the body begins, the Amygdala prompts the body into a state of awareness and alertness, which trigger instant response from other muscles in the legs and hand to get ready for take-off or a fight. As the essential component of the limbic system, the amygdala is critical in preparing the body to respond or react to fear by secreting hormones at the trigger of a fear stimulus (Borod, 2000). It integrates rapid and direct thalamic inputs that transmit a fear stimulus and imitates a cognitive process that prepares the body to respond or react to the threat. Hippocampus The hippocampus is touted as the central structure in the brain that engages in processing contextual information necessary to fear conditioning. Situated just next to the amygdala and connected to it by the subiculum and entorhinal cortex, the hippocampusà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s main functions is to condition fear into contextual information. The hippocampus conditions fear in circumstances that involve complex polymodal events by receiving impulses from the amygdala and integrating such impulses with prior information to ignite meaningful reactions that respond to fear (Davidson, 2000). Hypothalamus The hypothalamus plays a crucial role as far as fear response is concerned. It is responsible for controlling stress reactions and other body processes including emotions and moods. Through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HTPA axis), the hypothalamus controls the limbic, pituitary, adrenal and genadotropic aspects of the body. A fear stimulus sends LC (locus ceruleus) neurons to the hypothalamus, which activates the HTPA axis that triggers the stress response linked to fear (Lewis Haviland-Jones, 2000). The connection between the hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdala act to activate the HTPA axis to respond to a fear stimulus. The hypothalamus receives sensory information from the lateral part of the amygdala, processes the information and relays to the central nucleus, which then projects it to various parts of the brain that respond and react to fear. Fear stimulus impulses relayed by various neurons activate the sympathetic nervous system, as well as the modulating syst em of the HTPA axis. This triggers a run or attack response, better known as a fight or flight response mechanism (Hyman, et al., 1999). Sensory cortex The sensory cortex is an essential component of the fear response mechanism. Immediate sensory data from fear stimulus collects in the thalamus part of the brain. After the collection of the sensory data, the sensory cortex obtains the data from the thalamus, interprets it and organizes the sensory data for dissemination to the amygdala, hippocampus and hypothalamus (Hirsh, 2004). Thalamus The thalamus also plays a critical role in fear response. The thalamus basically acts as a collection center, which gathers and collects information from essential sensory organs such as the ears, eyes and mouth. After collecting the sensory information from such organs, the thalamus has the capacity to determine where to send such information for processing. A fear stimulus from the eyes, hands or mouth sends sensory information through neurons to the thalamus, which collects and sends the information to the appropriate response organs for processing (Lewis Haviland-Jones, 2000). Fear conditioning explains the behavioural archetype displayed by organisms and their capacity to learn to respond to or predict fearful or threatening events. Fear conditioning explains why some people fear dogs to the extent that they become helpless at the sight of this à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“monsterà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢. It is believed to depend upon the amygdala and the hippocampus in cases of contextual fear conditioning. Fear conditioning also explains the neurobiology of fear because touches on the essential components of the brain including the thalamus, the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, the amygdala and the sensory cortex (Lewis Haviland-Jones, 2000). Latest research findings point to the fact that researchers are beginning to develop interest on the neurological processes that trigger fear response mechanisms. Conclusion The biological basis of fear can be explained by the evolutionary concepts of anxiety and emotions and adaptations of human beings to different stimuli. However, empirical research findings have established a basis for explaining the biology of fear through the human mind the structures such as the hypothalamus, amygdala, thalamus, hippocampus and the sensory cortex. The outcome of predisposing factors that trigger emotions tend to instill fear in human beings as discussed in this paper. The biological basis of fear in terms of psychological and behavioural responses relates to emotion and anxiety, which is an advanced form of fear. Further research should be directed to the neurochemical processes that occur in the brain and the chemical components involved in response to fear.

Farewell to arms - Bravery :: essays research papers

Bravery is the quality of a person who displays courage and fearlessness in the face of danger. Such qualities show splendor and magnificence in a person. Fear and terror sometimes hinder the determination someone can show. Overcoming this fear is what portrays bravery. In Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Frederick Henry shows bravery by freely joining the Italian army, risking his life for some ambulance drivers and swimming to freedom, being shot at the whole way. Frederick Henry grew up in America and in his early twenties, he decided to go to Europe and fight in the Italian army. Henry’s decision in the first place, showed courage and bravery. Fighting for another country over making a living in your own goes above and beyond what is remotely asked for. Even in my wildest dreams, I would probably not even think about fighting for my own country, let alone a foreign country. Times were tough, especially when the start of the winter came. With that winter came â€Å"permanent rain and with the rain came the cholera. But it was checked and in the end and only seven thousand died of it in the army.† (4) In the army, people die, and it is not the nicest place. Frederick Henry chose to enter this world and this portrays bravery. In chapter nine, Henry shows his brave character once again. In Paula, Henry was installed in a roadside trench. Some of the men were hungry so Henry volunteered to go and fetch some cold macaroni from the other side of the trench. The major advised him against it and said, â€Å"You better wait until the shelling is over.† Henry replied, â€Å"They want to eat.† (53) As Henry and the others came back to the dugout, shelling began and bombs burst around them. Then the blast furnace door swung open and Henry was badly injured. This incident showed his selfless courage and bravery. He did not have to do it, yet he went and got the food anyway. Henry risked his life for the others, and that is another true sign of bravery. Henry shows courage again in one of the last chapters we read. In the morning after a night of sleeping in a barn, Henry and Piani reunited with a group of soldiers. Suddenly two men from the battle police seize hold of Henry. Piani was led away, questioned, and then shot to death.

Essay --

Happiness is arguably the most sought after goal of the human condition, and time and money are possibly two of the most valuable resources any individual possesses. The article â€Å"Time, money and happiness: How does putting a price on time affect out ability to smell the roses?† by Sanford E. DeVoe and Julian House (2012), sets out to answer the question; what is the connection between time, money, and happiness? The hypothesis that DeVoe and House (2012) proposed was that there is a frustration caused when the goal of maximizing the economic value of time is obstructed and that this frustration can lessen other benefits of experiences, especially pleasure. This hypothesis requires that the individual think about time in relation to its monetary value and therefore whether or not time can be better spent doing something that brings in money. The researchers tested their hypothesis through a few experiments. The first experiment that DeVoe and House (2012) conducted was to directly test their hypothesis. The procedure of this experiment was to take 53 undergraduate students (32 femal...

Effects of Drinking Alcohol Essay

Drinking alcohol is like taking a drug. It is a form of drug abuse, and drug addiction. This is a worldwide problem that many people are involved in. There are good effects of alcohol if it is in small amounts, and in moderation. On the other hand there are bad short and long term effects. The effects that a person will get are all based on certain factors like, how much and how often alcohol is consumed, the age of the person, when the person started and how long they have been drinking for, gender, their family history and last but not least based on their health. Lately scientists have been saying that a little bit of alcohol with dinner is not only okay but it is also good for you. This is true in moderation. They say that if you drink a small amount of alcohol it will help you sleep. Also if you drink a moderate amount every day it can help your health in the long run. A moderate amount is considered to be 1 drink for women daily and 2 drinks for men daily. This can help bring your HDL level up, which helps protect your heart against disease that causes heart attacks. Also a moderate amount of alcohol everyday can lower your risk of developing diabetes by increasing your insulin sensitivity. It can also raise ‘good cholesterol’ levels. In the long run they have said that for women it helps keep the mind sharp in later years. Now when they talk about having a helpful amount of alcohol they mean small doses of it a day with a meal, so that the absorption rate is slowed down. Now this doesn’t mean that a person should start drinking for the benefits that it gives, it just means that if you drink in moderation already it could be slightly helpful to you in the future. If you take advantage of that and drink in excess there are effects that you should be aware of. Contrary to some beliefs, alcohol is a depressant. This is the opposite of a stimulator, meaning that it calms you down, and slows down some organs in your body. Alcohol therefore has short term effects on your body. With about 0. 05% blood- alcohol level you start to get dulled judgment and your inhibitions are released. After that stage you start to get clumsy and will have slurred speech with about a 0. 10% blood-alcohol level. Once you come close to unconsciousness you have a 0. 30% blood-alcohol level. After that point it starts to get dangerous, because you can go into a coma at 0. 45%, and then at 0. 70% the brain starts to shut off and stop controlling things like breathing, and your heart, which will end up in death. These facts are not meant to scare you, because most people can’t drink past 0. 40% because they are asleep. Some other short term effects include blackouts, where you can’t remember what happened, and insomnia, where you can’t fall asleep. While you are drinking you will be less alert, less aware of your surroundings, lose your muscular coordination, have difficulty walking, have blurred vision, and have slow reaction times. This can lead to accidents, injuries, and death. Also after drinking you may get a hangover the next morning which will include effects like headaches, nausea, thirst, heartburn, dizziness, and fatigue. If you are not careful with the amount of alcohol that you drink you can get some bad side-effects. Once you start to become addicted to alcohol you are considered an alcoholic. There are many long term effects that come along with drinking lots of alcohol for a prolonged amount of time. Drinking alcohol like this will damage your organs, like the brain, liver, stomach, intestines, and heart. The brain is affected, because brain cells die which leads to memory loss, confusion, learning difficulties, problems with attention, and brain disorders. The liver is effected, because cancer can develop there, and also in the mouth and throat. The stomach may acquire ulcers. From prolonged drinking you can have a stroke, or have heart failure. The nervous system can also get damaged, and when this happens the person will get physical and behavioral problems. Impaired vision can also be a result of this type of drinking. It also affects your health. One reason for this is because alcohol is high in calories which can lead to obesity. Another reason is that poor nutrition normally comes side by side with lots of drinking. This could be because the alcohol interferes with the absorption and storage of the vitamins you get. Also the water soluble minerals get lost because of the increased urination that happens. Because of the lowered health you also have a lowered resistance to infections. Some other less serious effects of prolonged drinking are vomiting, profuse sweating, hallucinations, tremors, and sleep disturbances. All of these problems can quickly lead to injury to oneself or to others, violence, and death. Also it leads to a loss of employment, and a loss of family life. If you are addicted to alcohol or drink a lot of alcohol for a long period of time you will shorten your life span by about 12 years, and get a lot of serious side-effects. In conclusion alcohol can affect your life in a good or bad way depending on how you drink, how often you drink, and how much you drink. It is better to drink in moderation, and responsibly. This normally means drinking only 1 to 2 glasses a day with a meal, and to also have a healthy diet that goes along with that. Otherwise the health benefits of drinking alcohol are gone, and replaced with some horrible side-effects. Everyone can make their own decision on what drinking in moderation is and what drinking responsibly means, but everyone should be informed with the facts.

Patronus Charm

â€Å"A Patronus is a kind of positive force, and for the wizard who can conjure one, it works something like a shield, with the Dementor feeding on it, rather than him. In order for it to work, you need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory†¦ Allow it to fill you up†¦ lose yourself in it†¦ then speak the incantation â€Å"Expecto Patronum†. † —Remus Lupin teaching Harry Potter the Patronus CharmThe Patronus Charm is a charm that evokes a partially-tangible, positive energy force known as a Patronus (pl. Patronuses Patronuses are also called spirit guardians though this may only refer to corporeal Patronuses. It is primarily designed for defence against otherwise unbeatable Dark creatures like Dementors and Lethifolds, though there are other uses such as messaging. It is apparent from old woodcuts and scrolls that the Patronus Charm has been used since ancient times.To successfully cast the spell one must muster a happy memory (the happier the memory, the more powerful and tangible the Patronus will be) and incant â€Å"Expecto Patronum†. It is unknown if there are any other elements required in casting, such as physical gestures (aside from drawing and pointing the wand forward prior to or during incantation). The happy memory one requires when casting does not necessarily have to be a specific moment in your past. Arguably more important than content, is how the memory or thought makes you feel now.Harry Potter, for instance, is often seen to produce his more powerful patronuses when he his merely thinking of the people he loves. Harry also often thinks of his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger and produces successful Patronuses. One time Harry also used the thought of Dolores Umbridge being sacked to produce a patronus for his Defence Against the Dark Arts O. W. L. Harry uses his love and happiness, evoked from thinking of his friends and family, to produce a patronus, rather than having to remember emotions felt in the past.A non-corporeal Patronus is one which does not resemble any living creature and has few distinguishing features (if any). Non-corporeal Patronuses resemble a burst of vapour or smoke without any clearly defined form shooting from the tip of the wand. While they may be partially effective at halting dementors (but not repelling them), non-corporeal Patronuses are not â€Å"fully-fledged† Patronuses, and are regarded as a more primitive or weaker version of the true Charm.

Market

The product as the first p something that is taken to the market to be noticed, sold, applied, or consumed; which is possible to satisfy a need or desire. Product can be a physical object, service, location, organization, or even an Idea or thought (Mob All et al, 1385: 195). The ultimate goal of organizations Is to produce the products which are better and superior In one or more aspects compared with others to be welcomed by customers and make them to pay well for each product (Cutler, 179:1379).Vaginal in an article with the title of McDonald: the globalization thought y using marketing mix states that in marketing mix, McDonald has offered its product by creating a standard procedure that is the same in all parts of the world, according to the tastes and traditions of different countries and their laws. For instance, Big Mac is served without cheese in Israel, or it is served in Indian McDonald's restaurants with specific types of vegetables and lamb meat. And also the limitation s which are imposed by various religions are considered (vaginal, 2001 : 99). 1. Brand The name and logo of a product is an Important component of goods in consumers' sews, and the brand name adds value to every goods. For example, consumers consider a bottle of cologne with famous brand name, as an expensive and high- quality merchandise. But If this bottle lacks any Indication of the brand, even If the flavor is similar, shall be considered as low quality merchandise. The brand differentiates the goods and services that are offered by competitors. A good brand makes the consumer loyal. A research showed that among the present dish washing liquids, the housewives are the most loyal to Gold,Jam, and Risk.These three groups f customers buy their desired dish washing liquid regularly. The interesting point was that all customers have considered the same characteristics for a good dish washing liquid (e. G. Cleaning power, concentration, high foam, etc). But it was believed that only t he dish washing liquid that is bought by them (In other words, they are loyal to) has all those qualities. In other words, those who bought Goal dish washing liquid believed that Goal has all the qualities of a good product, and those who bought Jam, thought that Jam Is better than other dish washing liquids Assimilate, 185:1381).According to the arguments presented, the value of brand name can lead to a product's reputation and induction of high quality product to its customers, make a very strong image in the minds of customers, and become one of the major assets of a company. 1. 2. Packaging There is 8000 years statistics about packing in which packaging has been used as the containers were made of clay and glaze rough mats in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The customers identify a product through its packaging. Package transfers the producer's assuage to the buyer and communicates and exchanges Information between them.The packaging gives Identity to the product, and protects the protec t against Impact, moisture, climatic conditions, odors, fumes, vibration, microorganisms, pressure, collapse and Insects (spearheaded, 1384: 13). Also the packaging protects the goods, makes adolescently, beauty, product safety, easier storage of goods and products (Smiles Pour, 192:1381). If the package is done in a great way, it gains interest to Pricing, is the monetary value of goods and services or the amount of benefit that nonusers particularly pay for the benefits of having or using the product or service.Pricing simply means determining the price for the product or service (Ecological et al. , 1385: 1). Vaginal states that McDonald's in price marketing mix used different strategies for pricing in different countries. For example, it used strategies such as cost based on the target strategy, the ultimate cost plus a percentage of profit, or prestigious pricing. For example, a Big Mac in the United States is equivalent to 14 minutes work of a worker a day, but in a country li ke Nigeria it is equivalent to several hours of work (2001: 101 vaginal).Types of pricing methods in dealing with competitors The competitors may price their products in four ways: 1 . Pricing based on cooperation: the price is determined by cooperation and consensus with partners. This situation occurs mostly in competitive oligopolies markets. 2. Adaptive pricing: market leader and main shareholders determine the price, and the others price their products according to them. Opportunistic pricing: n some markets, when a supplier increases the price for its products, a rival that has good resources might not change the price of its product.Sometimes, in the case of the increase in prices by a producer, the rival increases the prices, but tries to offer more services to attract part of customers of the company which first increased prices. This method is called opportunistic pricing. 4. Punitive pricing: some suppliers who are able and good facilities, in order to eliminate smaller c ompetitors, lower prices for their products. Sometimes this method will result in removal of small suppliers from the market (Flask, 1386: 169).According to the arguments presented, the pricing strategy of a product, when the product is part of a group of products, has different characteristics. In this case, the organization considers overall prices of one group in order to maximize profits. The firms, after codifying pricing strategy, are faced with conditions in which they are compelled to reduce or increase prices, and marketers need to respond to the change in pricing strategies and develop other strategies.

Basque Conflict Essay

Introduction I. Conflicts are not entities in themselves. They have to be viewed and analyzed within the context of various factors; those that lead to conflict in the first place and also those that keep them fuelled. II. The Basque conflict in Spain is a result of cultural repression and intolerance. III. We propose to examine the Basque conflict with a particular focus on the Spanish interests in the matter and intent to present the historical context of the conflict in a socio-political manner, then move to the cultural implications of the issue, then analyze the cultural conflict that has both been born of and furthered Basque nationalism. I. Causes of Basque conflict A. Ideology B. Culture II. Consequences of Basque conflict A. Kidnappings-for-ransom B. Extortion C. Terrorist acts II. Solutions A. Refusing to negotiate with who it refers to as terrorists B. A propaganda war C. Increase anti-terrorist activities D. Grant full independence to the Basques subject to a plebiscite within the Basque country .Conclusion I. The government has to show it is ready to concede some more autonomy to the Basques. II. Peace is not possible in the years to come in Spain without a radical reconsideration of the government as well as the unilateral support from both Spaniards and Basques of the dismantling of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. Script Conflicts are not entities in themselves. They have to be viewed and analyzed within the context of various factors; those that lead to conflict in the first place and also those that keep them fuelled. The Basque conflict in Spain is a result of cultural repression and intolerance. The Comunidad Autonoma Vasca, or Basque region in the South of France and the northeastern edge of Spain is currently riddled with violent conflict. In this presentation we propose to examine the Basque conflict with a particular focus on the Spanish interests in the matter. We intent to present the historical context of the conflict in a socio-political manner, then move to the cultural implications of the issue. The Basque Independence Party (Batasuna) with its military wing Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) has employed military means to achieve its goal of Basque self-determination. The Basque organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was formed in 1959 and began waging a small scale war against the Spanish government. The causes for conflict lie in ideology and culture according to Fukuyama and Huntington respectively. The arguments of Friedlander and Cohen do not agree with these two theorists as they both posit that individuals do much less to influence history than the overarching powers of collective peoples. The argument that Fukuyama brings forth in his work; â€Å"The End of History†, conjectures that history is composed of a string of ideological shifts brought about by conflict in an evolutionary manner. He argues that history is the cyclical build-up of new competing ideologies which escalated into a military conflict which leads to a victorious ideology and then the arrival of new competitors. In order to finance its operations, ETA has used kidnappings-for-ransom, extortion, and (less frequently) robberies. The main targets of such money-rising activities have been Basque entrepreneurs, who have since begun to abandon the Basque Country in large numbers in order to escape extortion or abduction by the terrorist group. In addition, the terrorist conflict has been frequently cited as deterrence for domestic and foreign direct investment in the Basque Country. Finally, although terrorist attacks have occurred in almost all Spanish regions, most of ETA’s violent activity has been concentrated in the Basque Country. Almost 70% of the deaths caused by ETA in Spain during 1968-1997 occurred in the Basque Country. During the period 1968-1997, ETA’s activity measured as number of deaths per inhabitant was 37 times larger in the Basque Country than in the rest of Spain. Now let’s look at the options open to the Spanish Government because it is obvious that ETA will not just go away. Firstly, refusing to negotiate with who it refers to as terrorists. This is the course of action presently taken by the government in Spain at the moment. It does not however mean that the Basque conflict will disappear. By ignoring the problem it won’t go away. People in Spain are getting fed up living in continual fear of a bomb attack. Secondly, a propaganda war. This could have the scope of showing Basques that their lot is better by remaining Spanish, and also isolate the more militant nationalists from the bulk which are wary of the conflict. Thirdly, increase anti-terrorist activities. This has been done in the past and it does not seem to have worked except to drive ETA even more underground. Anti-terrorist groups are too much of a liability as has been shown by the â€Å"dirty war†. Everything has to be done within the law something favoring the separatists. The state could attempt to eliminate all the separatists but it is hardly possible, whilst eliminating them of their leadership has not worked due to the separatists’ system of having autonomous branches all capable of committing anti-state activities. Then, grant full independence to the Basques subject to a plebiscite within the Basque country:- This is a â€Å"hard to swallow† option for any Spanish Government. Firstly a plebiscite in the Basque country would most probably (although not certain) result in favor of independence, secondly it would mean an electoral defeat for the party putting it in action in Spain itself. The Basque country is too important both for economic and industrial reasons and also for the ethnically Spanish people living there. The government has to show it is ready to concede some more autonomy to the Basques .It is our belief that peace is not possible in the years to come in Spain without a radical reconsideration of the government as well as the unilateral support from both Spaniards and Basques of the dismantling of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. We believe that in some cases this unilateral front will need to engage in military action. The terrorist leaders of ETA are identifiable and can be eliminated publicly and legally Reference List Flash Points/World Conflict Basque-Spain Conflict http://www.flashpoints.info/countries-conflicts/Spain-Basque-web/Spain-Basque_briefing.html United States institute of Peace The Basque Conflict: New Ideas and Prospects for Peace http://www.usip.org/resources/basque-conflict-new-ideas-and-prospects-peace The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country Author(s): Alberto Abadie and Javier Gardeazabal Source: The American Economic Review, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Mar., 2003), pp. 113-132 Published by: American Economic Association Stable a