Cholesterol: A Patient Conversation Essay

Hello Mr. Brown, My name is Jane and I am your PA today otherwise known as a Physician’s Assistant. The doctor had ordered some test for you and I am going to go over your results and explain to you what each of them mean. If you have any questions please feel free to stop me at any time. First we will start off with your Triglyceride level and it was 145 mg/dl. Your Triglycerides is fat in the blood and they are used to provide energy to your body and they are the main form of fat in your body (WebMD, 2014). Your levels are considered desirable meaning they are not very high, however we would like to see them a little lower. The second test that was given was to check your cholesterol and your levels were 210 mg/dl and that is considered borderline high. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance made in the liver and other cells. Mr. Brown if your Cholesterol is too high and it is it can cause heart problems (WebMD, 2014). The last set of test was to check your LDL and HDL le vels. LDL or Low density lipoproteins is known as bad cholesterol because it can cause plaque buildup on the walls of arteries and the more LDL you have in your blood then the great the risk of heart disease. Your LDL levels were 160 mg/dl and that is considered high, a more normal range should be below 130 mg/dl. HDL or High density lipoproteins are known as good cholesterol and it helps the body get rid of LDL. Your HDL levels were 33 mg/dl and that is considered to be poor. If your HDL levels are low then your risk for heart disease goes up (WebMD, 2014). Mr. Brown there are many factors that play a role for having high cholesterol and some of those you can control and others you can’t. For example, the ones you can’t control are your genetics or family history. The ones that are within your control are inactivity, obesity, and an un-healthy diet. There are many treatments for reducing your high cholesterol like changing your diet or medication. I would like to suggest that you change your lifestyle before you are put on regular medication to control your cholesterol. I know this is something that is of no interest to you because you stated you didn’t want to chang e your lifestyle, however, even if you  are prescribed medications you will still have to make a change to the way you are currently living. Let me tell you the side effects of the medication used to treat high cholesterol. I just want to let you know that tolerance of medications vary from person to person. â€Å"The common side effects are muscle pains, stomach pain, constipation, nausea, and diarrhea† (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Mr. Brown I am sure you are wondering if the benefits of lowering your cholesterol outweighs the risk of taking medication and yes they do. Statins are known as a group of drugs that inhibits the synthesis of cholesterol and promotes the production of LDL and decreases the levels of HDL. These pills may cause a small increase in weight gain and blood sugar which can also increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, however, they will also prevent you from having a heart attack and stroke so in the long run you would be better off to make simple lifestyle changes and take medication. If you choose not to take medication to help control your cholesterol then there are some other options we can look at. To start off you could change your diet because many foods such as eggs, beef, pork, and cheese will raise your cholesterol. You could try to maintain your weight by exercising more, don’t miss annual physicals with your physician, and quit smoking (Health Media Ventures, 2014). Mr. Brown I can reassure you that we can help you get your cholesterol under control. There are many things as I have said that can be done to help lower your cholesterol and help keep it lowered. I know this is a lot to take in at once but I’m not only here as your PA but also as a friend. If you would like additional information then I can send papers home with you so you can get a better understanding of what is going on and how you can control it. There are many options out there for you but you have to take the first step towards making this change. All I can do is be here for you and share my knowledge with you. I don’t want you to think that I am trying to drastically change your life style or make you do so. There are simple things that can be done to help lower your cholesterol and prevent you from someday having a heart attack. So here are some things I recommend you to do in order to lower your cholesterol eat more soluble fiber and that is found in foods lik e beans, fruits, oatmeal, and vegetables. Eat less fat and fewer foods like meats and dairy products, exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week, and lose weight. Mr. Brown if I were you I would try these simple changes  to begin with and if doesn’t seem like those changes are working then we can try medications to help lower your cholesterol, but like I said before you will still have to interpret exercise and eating healthy into your daily diet. I know it will be hard at first but with the help of family, friends, and health care providers I know you can do this. I want to be honest with you Mr. Brown, it is important that you make these necessary lifestyle changes in order to live a longer healthier life. I’m not sure if you have a wife, children, or grandchildren but wouldn’t they be worth it to make these few changes in your life? The fact is if you don’t make these necessary changes then you don’t have any other options and you are putting yourself at risk for a heart attack or possibly a stroke, then your wife will be left without a husband, your children without a father, and grandchildren without a papaw. So Mr. Brown you need to ask your self is it worth it? References WebMD. (2014). Cholesterol Basics: Types, Risk Factors, Levels, and Treatment. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/guide/cholesterol-basicsWebMD. (2014). Triglycerides and Lowering Triglyceride Levels. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/lowering-triglyceride-levelsMayo Clinic. (2014). High cholesterol Treatments and drugs – Diseases and Conditions – Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/basics/treatment/con-20020865 Health Media Ventures. (2014). Causes of High Cholesterol – Health.com. Retrieved from http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20306953,00.html

Effect of Maternal Employment on Child Hood Education Essay

Abstract The study aims to examine in detail the effects of maternal employment as a doctor on child’s academic achievement at school level, with the help of using samples taken from working doctor and non working mothers and the schools grades of their respective children. The results predicted show that mothers as a doctor does exert negative impact on the academic achievement of their children. Further findings highlight that mothers education and the quantity of time spend with the child incase when the mother is working are the important tools for better school performance. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Introduction As we all know Pakistan being a developing nation gives great importance to two main sectors namely health and education. Therefore a lot of funds and resources have been contributed to these sectors over two decades on the principals of making Pakistan a healthy and literate community. Over the years Pakistan has witnessed a great deal of changes in its social, cultures and norms one of which has great relevance to our research such as female employment. The number of female employees has greatly increased. However female employment in profession cannot take place alone until and unless it blends with sound education. Therefore an increase employment in female sectors has led to a simultaneously increase in schooling or education as well, both of which are primary focus of our discussion. Since females are now opting medical as their profession and female doctors are increasing day by day, it was for this reason why we opted for this topic to study the impact of maternal employment as a doctor on their children’s primary education. Our aim is to make people aware of the fact whether maternal employment effects children’s education or not. In Lahore preschools and primary education schools are opening up at every location. This increase in demand for more schools is mainly due to more and more mothers going out for work. To become a doctor and serve the community can although be seen as positive aspect individually and socially however it can also have serious or negative implications on the child.To draw conclusions whether the working mothers as doctor have a positive or negative influence on child’s development we would need to consider several aspects of this development  that is how it affects the child’s academic performance and achievements, his personal character development and mental and emotional well being. All of the factors mentioned above would help us in determine whether it is feasible for the mother to work as a doctor or stay at home giving attention to their children. To study in depth we have taken into account the effect of working doctor mothers on children who are mainly enrolled in preschool and primary school. Children when are between the age of 3-12 years are most demanding in time and it is these early years of a child in which a strong bond between mother and child is created followed by the character development. Mother as doctors will tend to leave their children at day care or pre schools which might end up with negative effects on the children. On the other hand preschools and primary schools may also have positive impact on the child’s growth such as learning of new activities and work in groups which will help them build up confidence and lastly make them independent at a very young age. Despite these positive aspects of the schooling, a child might not perform well in his education performance. To carry out the survey and research a lot of variables were considered and used in finding. Variables such as the number of years after the mother started practicing medical profession after the child’s birth, the monthly income of the female doctors, the fraction of the to tal monthly salary spent on children. Last but not the least the amount of items available in the house that contribute in time saving techniques resulting in ample time available for the mother to be spent with the child, these equipment would mainly include washing machines, dryers dish washers and the number of helpers present in the house. Our main objective is to also study and compare previous generations to today’s generations in Pakistan. In past very less women were doctors and mostly were housewives who believed in not to work but to spend quality time at home and give in their best efforts to bring up their children. However nowadays females are becoming doctors. Thus a question arises whether women can still manage to give quality timer to their children with medical as their profession or children have to suffer because of their mother as doctor. Which option is better, to become a doctor and raise children or become a house wife and raise children. These questions will be addressed and answered in our research. Questions that will be asked from the doctors and non working women that will help us formulate general results  are in the form of two questionnaires. To gain more primary data which is still not answered by the questionnaires; there will also be direct interviews from the doctors. Thus our population will be few female doctors in Lahore that have children. However we have further narrowed the female doctors to a few hospitals at Lahore. The sample would be taken from surgimed hospital/ Services hospital.To sum up, research paper mainly focuses on the effect of mothers being doctors on their childhood’s development with special importance given to education development. To summarize in one line, the research helps in studying the development of child when their mothers are doctors (maternal employment sector) or when their mothers are housewives (nonemployee). Literature Review This paper involves number of studies that involve the relationship between maternal employment and children’s cognitive development. Maternal employment can be taken as an economic factor which eventually can affect and influence a lot of environmental conditions, thus it also affects the children’s cognitive abilities. We cannot deny the fact that economic conditions initially play a vital role in child’s development but on the other hand psychological aspects can also not be denied and need to be taken into account. To define and state them more clearly some of the factors affecting the child outcomes may include maternal employment, education levels of parent’s socio economic standing and other demographic standings. It is widely believed that mothers as doctors have less time available to spend with their children therefore one could say mothers as doctors have negative effects on the cognitive development of children. Some of the problems that can come across are slow language development process, unable to solve mathematical problems and deficits in reading abilities. Ruhm (2000) found out that during the early years such as 3 and 4 years old, children had detrimental effect on language learning and children with the age of 5 and 6 years had to face the problems mathematical inabilities. Lack of interaction and bonding with the mother at this stage in life may lead to cognitive difficulties in the child .Maternal employment results in separation of mother and child therefore providing a gateway to cognitive problems. An interesting finding that we found out while going through the  literature was that unlike maternal employment, unemployed fathers have negative effects. Harvey (1999) found out some significant results though they were more or less confined to high income versus low income families. Harvey (1999) conducted different surveys and techniques and studied the effects of maternal employment on cognitive development. Harvey (1999) found out that maternal employment is favorable and has positive impact to children that belong to low income families. This is perhaps because children from poor families receive more education in their pre schooling compared to if they stayed at home. This view point can also be supported with the fact that mothers from poor families are less educated and thus have less motherly skills. However children from richer families mostly lose out when their mothers are not at work. Income effects: David Blau (1999) conducted a study which focused on income effects. Blau (1999) found out that only permanent income that is from permanent career can affect the relationship which also is to a limited extent. Blau (1999) agreed that different economic classes do affect the cognitive levels. Family variables are important which mainly include mother’s educational level, marital status and race. Education Status: With respect to Blau, Loury(1988) examined that the educational level of the parents is the main cause of cognitive problems. To conclude about the literature review Investigation into the influences on children’s development shows the fundamental factor is the nature of children’s experiences in their primary life contexts, including the relationships between those contexts and wider socio-cultural contexts. The most influential factor is the nature of interactions with parents and, in the early childhood education setting, with early childhood educators. With regard to the impact of maternal employment, the direction of international research suggests maternal employment in itself has no significant negative or positive effects on children, although small negative cognitive and behavioral effects of extensive maternal employment may occur in the child’s first year. These possible negative effects are linked to the quality of the early childhood education, so high quality generally removes the negative effects and may increase positive effects in that first year. Any negative effects of maternal employment are negligible beyond the child’s first year  and must be seen in relation to the numerous influences in the different contexts of a child’s life. Methodology The purpose of the study is to look at how mothers working as doctors have an effect on their children’s performance in the field of education at preschool and primary level. To carry out research, female doctors who have children were selected as population from hospitals of Lahore mainly constituting Services and Surgimed hospital . To carry out data collection the population was sampled and fifteen female doctors who have children from each hospital were given a questionnaire and similarly two interviews from each hospital were conducted. We have used quota sampling based on convenient and non probability sampling. Semi structured questionnaire which consists of both structured and unstructured questions have been used. The questionnaire designed focused on general questions in the beginning and then focused more towards specific questions, the approach known as general to specific was used.. Since there are large numbers of female doctors who have children working in these two hospitals; it was easy for us to collect data with the help of questionnaires by distributing them once and collecting the questionnaires back next time. Unstructured interviews were also conducted, two from each hospital to collect data.The aim of the interviews was to find out any additional information that could not be generated or left out in questionnaires. This additional information was generated with help of probe questions. We tried our best to create an atmosphere which is suitable and comfortable for the respondents to conduct the interview Questions used in questionnaires are mostly measured in numerical frequency. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Questionnaire results and discussion: Q1: Most of the mothers (working and non working) were married, thus majority of them belonged to a stable family meaning by they were not disturbed due to family domestic affairs.(See Appendix for charts) Q2: An interesting finding from the questionnaires was that mothers who worked as  doctors had less children. On an average female doctors had two children. Whereas mothers who were not working had a majority of three children. Thus clearly highlighting the fact that mothers can give more time to their children if they are not working. (See Appendix for charts) Q3: Mostly mothers who had children of below the age of five years took leave from their profession to up bring their children. (See Appendix for charts) Q4: Both mothers who are working as doctors and mothers who are nonworking had majority of their life partners (husbands) as working and earning. (See Appendix for charts) Q5: Income was enough for them to buy things for children. (See Appendix for charts) Q6: Though when this question was put in a different way in terms of spending time with their children. Women who were not working, mostly spent 6 hours a day with their children whereas working women only spent 4 hours a day due to their staying away from home unlike nonworking women who worked while staying home thus could give more time to children. (See Appendix for charts) Q7: Mothers who worked in hospitals had hired maids for their children to look after them whereas non working mothers who hired maids were 9 out of 30 mothers who answered questionnaire. Out of 30 working mothers who were given questionnaire 16 had The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement hired maid’s .Therefore mothers who don’t work can look after their children much better unlike maids hired by working mothers for their children. (See Appendix for charts) Q8: Though there is a slight difference as most of the nonworking mothers visit 6 times years while working mothers visit 4 times a year. (See Appendix for charts) Q9: Mothers who work are supported and to great extent in bring up their children up to their academic expectations. Majority working mothers stated that their husband contribute more than 50% in children’s education responsibility. Whereas mothers who did not work took most of the children’s education responsibilities and husband contributed very less. Therefore a valid conclusion drawn is that mothers who do not work can give more time to their children’s education and can produce better results. (See Appendix for  charts) Q10: Mothers who worked provide their children with recreational activities such as taking them out to restaurants etc. Whereas mothers who stayed at home emphasized more on providing recreational activities such as sports for healthier routine and health. (See Appendix for charts) The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Q11: Now talking about the main research question. Results drawn showed that mothers who did not work their children showed a better academic performance when compared to mothers who work. Out of 30 working mothers only 9 termed their children with excellent academic performance whereas in case of nonworking women out of 30, 18 termed their children as excellent in academics. Therefore clearly indicating that mothers who do not work are able produce better results out of their children unlike working mothers. (See Appendix for charts) Q12: Mothers who were working wanted their children to get the highest degree of education to become successful in life. Majority of the working mothers wanted their children to do masters. (See Appendix for charts) Q13: Some working women agreed that bringing up child is possible with job whereas almost an equal amount of women did not agreed that bringing up child is easily possible with job and thus affects overall performance especially academic performance. (See Appendix for charts) Q14: When working and non working mothers were asked about their opinion as mothers. Non working mothers termed themselves in majority (25 out of30) as excellent mothers whereas mothers as doctors only 12 out of 30 termed themselves excellent mothers. (See Appendix for charts) Q15: Lastly mothers were to give reasons of why they were working. Most of them mothers stated that they worked either for advancement in career or for monetary reasons. (See Appendix for charts) The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Interviews were also conducted from working women from the hospitals. The unstructured interviews followed by probe questions helped us  to find more useful information about their impact of job on their children’s education performance. The findings from the interviews were finding out how much interest they showed in their children’s education and whether they had ever thought of the impact of their profession on their children’s education performance. Most of the female doctors were interested in their children’s education performance and were concerned but they also agreed that at times they lack in keeping their child’s performance up to date due to their performance. Thought it was found out that they tried to give equal time to their profession and their children to maintain balance however doctor as profession did not allow them to work on this idea freely and thus female doctors as mothers were more towards the view that doctor as a profession is too demanding, therefore some cost in the form of children’s upbringing has to be paid. To find more details doctors were asked what they thought of this profession whether it is friendlier towards family. Most of the doctors abruptly answered in a negative manner and demanded that working hours too long and should be cut short so that more time can be spent with families. Though in monetary terms they were happy since most of the female doctors quoted a handsome amount of salary and were able to meet their children’s requirement and their schooling (education). Lastly questions were asked from doctors whether they would like their children to be a doctor as well keeping in view the costs associated and children’s education impact. Most of the mothers were not in favor of making their children’s doctors stating that there is no social and family life in this profession. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Conclusions Findings from the research we suggest that doctor as a profession is not friendly and does not goes in favor side by side in bringing children’s education performance to the peak. Mothers working as doctors no doubt work hard in up bringing their child to their best however nowadays doctor as a profession is becoming demanding day by day and the number of hours to work have increased. Simultaneously education competitions have also increase and have become very demanding. Therefore looking at the results mothers who works as doctors, their children suffer more than mothers who do not work and spend time with their children. The other two sectors like bankers etc  had less or negligible effects on children’s education. Thus doctor’s children have a negative impact on their children education unlike mothers who are government servants or bankers. Recommendations The research is very helpful and will provide a good rationale for female mothers who work as doctors to take a decision whether to take up job or bring up their child as nonworking mothers. Looking at the results and findings the researcher suggests that in Pakistan, doctor as a profession is very demanding and has negative effect on children’s performance. Therefore it is recommended that women instead of taking up doctor as their profession should look for other job alternatives such as banking or other government jobs which are less demanding and have less working hours. The main advantage of considering other professions would be to give time simultaneously to their children along with their jobs. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement Limitations: The one and only limitation faced in the project was to get the questionnaires filled out from the doctors. Since most of the time doctors were busy and getting hold of doctors to take their interviews and filling out questionnaires was difficult. The effect of maternal employment (doctor) on child development and academic achievement References Blau, F. D., & Grossberg, A. J. (1992). Maternal labor supply and children’s cognitive development. Review of Economics and Statistics Achenbach, T. M., Edelbrock, C., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Empirically based assessment of behavioral/emotional problems of 2- and 3-year-old children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Baydar, N., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1991). Effects of maternal employment and child care arrangements on preschoolers’ cognitive and behavioral outcomes: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Developmental Psychology Brooks-Gunn, J., Han, W., & Waldfogel, J. (2002). Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes in the first three years of life: The NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child Development,

Overpopulation: Earth’s Destruction

Amanda Broxton Instructor Sabel Composition II Cause and Effect Essay May 28th, 2009 Overpopulation: Earth’s Destruction Can you picture it? On one side of the world, in the middle of nowhere, a potentially beautiful child is just skin and bones; on the other side, another animal that can not be replaced has gone extinct. Somewhere there is a woman washing her few belongings in a dirty, polluted river. These and many other events like them are taking place all over the world. The cause? Over popularization, on which has been the root of many problems and is caused by many others, but do not worry there might be some hope in fixing it. Due to over popularization, one of Earth’s potential destruction is caused by over-production of the land. From more and more animals going extinct that can not be replaced because there isn’t room for them to live on. Also because of this, there is not enough food and clean water for humans and animals alike. Plus, humans are not conserving resources as they should and are taking prime land to pile more and more people on. Environmentalists have long been concerned about the resources threatened by rapidly growing human populations, focusing on phenomenon such as deforestation, desertification, air pollution and global warming. But the worst-case scenario for people experiencing overpopulation, according to Lawrence Smith, president of the Population Institute, is a lack of fresh, clean water. â€Å"If the water goes, t he species goes,† he said. ’(Hoevel, 2008, para. 9). Equally important is the fact that this is all caused by us Homo sapiens looking for a better lifestyle. We now have new medicines and technologies to help us live longer by healing every little thing that might be wrong with us. Some of those things were introduced by Mother Nature to kill us off to keep everything equal. We also have higher birth rates produced by more people having healthier births and multiple births. Furthermore, these children are living through earlier childhood killing diseases with the aforementioned medicines and technologies. ‘Until recently, birth rates and death rates were about the same, keeping the population stable. People had many children, but a large number of them died before age five. During the Industrial Revolution, a period of history in Europe and North America where there were great advances in science and technology, the success in reducing death rates was attributable to several factors: (1) in-creases in food production and distribution, (2) improvement in public health (water and sanitation), and (3) medical technology (vaccines and antibiotics), along with gains in education and standards of living within many developing nations. Without these attributes present in many children's lives, they could not have survived common diseases like measles or the flu. People were able to fight and cure deadly germs that once killed them. ’(Kinder, 2009, para. 10). Not to worry though, there are some ways that this inequality maybe reversed. They may not be what many people would approve of, but at least they are ideas of what we could do. That this one for instance, at the end of each month we would tally all the births. Then picking at random from those people that are on death-row or even in prison or jail for life for longer then ten years, would have the honor of helping with the equalization of the birth-to-death ratio. If nothing else, after a few years, this should deter hard crime. Each country and/or state would be responsible for The Equalization Program. There is also the idea of reinstating the two birth policy (China had this policy at one time) with a few ‘minor’ adjustments. One being that right after the second birth there would be a mandatory sterilization of the mother and father, and any other men over fifty years of age would also have to be sterilization. Those that wanted another child would then have to adopt those children that unfortunately don’t have a home. In conclusion, sure over popularization has many causes and it may cause many problems, but at least there are some solutions that can be looked at. I did not say that many people would like them but they’re there. In the end, I hope that things can be equaled out so that we do not have to put such a strain on our one and only earth. If we destroy it, there is not another one that we can start over on. Work cited

Discussion Board 5-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

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Policy Formulation and Implementation by International Public Research Paper

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Under Armour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Under Armour - Assignment Example Under Armour Under Armour’s current marketing strategy is to market its products primarily to customers who participate in sports, fitness, outdoor, and training activities. They execute this strategy through professional and collegiate sponsorships, individual athlete agreements, and outfitting agreements. Because of this, Under Armour can be seen on the field, fiving them exposure to the consumer via live sporting events and television. Under Armour is the official footwear of the NFL and the MLB giving them national recognition. The University of South Florida, University of Auburn, and the University of Maryland and many other colleges are all sponsored by Under Armour. Internationally, Under Armour provides uniforms for the Tottenham Hotspur Football club and the Welsh Rugby Union. By sponsoring and providing uniforms for all these teams, Under Armour is able to become a recognized brand in sports. Under Armour’s retail marketing strategy involves increased brand floor space for their products in major retail businesses. Due to increased sponsorship of sports teams allows Under Armour to be recognized easily in stores and have specified areas specifically for Under Armour products. Wholesale channels including sporting goods stores, department store chains, institutional athletics departments, and specialty retailers are responsible for the majority of Under Armour sales. Under Armour also have specialty and factory stores throughout North America and certain countries in Europe to sell strictly Under Armour products to consumers. ... Wholesale channels including sporting goods stores, department store chains, institutional athletics departments, and specialty retailers are responsible for the majority of Under Armour sales. Under Armour also have specialty and factory stores throughout North America and certain countries in Europe to sell strictly Under Armour products to consumers. Internationally, Under Armour competes in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. North America makes up for about 94% of Under Amours total revenues. The two largest customers in North America are Dick’s Sporting Goods and Sports Authority. In Europe, products are sold to about four thousand retail stores and through the Under Armour website. Under Armour has had a license agreement since 2002 with Dome Corporation that sells, markets, and produces its products in Japan. In China, Under Armour has two specialty stores in Shanghai and also distributes products to customers through a third party logistics provider. Under Armour also sells its products in Latin America through independent distributors, which are distributed from factories in the United States. Financial Performance Under Armour Nike Adidas 2010 2011 2012 2010 2011 2012 2010 2011 2012 Revenues 1.06B 1.47B 1.83B 20.89B 24.12B 25.33B 16.23B 18.03B 20.15B Net Income 68.48M 96.92M 128.39M 2.13B 2.22B 2.46B 891M 823M 709M Under Armour’s current strategy seem to be working well. They have increased their revenues by .77 billion dollars since 2010. Under Armour has almost doubled the amount of net income over the past three years as well. When looking at their competitors Nike and Adidas, the amount of revenue that they create is far more than Under Armour. This is due to

Book Review of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay

Book Review of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Essay Example That is why he needs George to make sure that he does not get into trouble, or to get him out of trouble. George always knew of the social expectation and limitations of their status. And so, throughout the story, George and Lennie struggled against these social forces that block their dream of having a farm of their own. The dream of having their own farm symbolizes their dream of being free. The ending of the story demonstrates that not all dreams can be fulfilled, not because we stop doing something about it, but because there are certain social factors that cannot be easily defeated. Examples of these are discrimination, prejudice and assumptions. Steinback used Lennie’s character as the anchor of the story. The plot revolves around Lennie’s strength and love of soft things. It was Lennie’s love for soft things that led two friends to look for another job since they escaped their previous one. It was also Lennie’s strength and love for soft things that ended their dream of having their own farm. Steinback cleverly used Lennie’s weaknesses to strengthen George’s character. Because Lennie had a mental incapacity, George became the brain of the two friends. He became the one responsible for their actions. In the end, it was George who destroyed Lennie’s dream by giving him the freedom from the social restrictions placed on them. Steinback also created other characters to negatively and positively reinforce the main characters’ strengths and weaknesses. But more than that, he used them to reveal the picture of the human society, especially during those times. There was a lot of discrimination taking place. Particularly discrimination because of gender like of Curley’s wife, because of Crooks race and because of old age and handicap of Candy. Steinback’s story revealed the impact of discrimination on people and how this might lead to their own failures in life. He used his characters to define what he believed what was happening in the society without blatantly indicating what should and should not happen to amplify the discrimination. The plot is perfectly structured, in the sense, that it does not not confuse the reader. It is linear, meaning it tells the story of the two friends in a straightforward fashion. But Steinback’s style used the reader to interpret the story. While he told the story, he did not reveal the characters’ thoughts, only their actions and their words. The narration was initially introduced, but only to open the scene. It were the characters who described each other, who told the reader what was going on in the story. It did not divulge the secret thoughts of the characters, rather it urged the reader to dig deep within himself to understand what was going on in the story. The use of dialogues emphasized the real-like nature of the characters allowing them to breathe and live. The dramatic format how Steinback opened and closed the sc ene, like zooming in and out through the camera lens, highlighted the way how characters might have looked at their lives. The circular pattern of opening and closing scenes stressed that we continuously open and close our doors in our lives. And this also highlighted the need for people to accept and let go things that we couldn’t move on if we continue to stay in one position. Steinback also used foreshadowing, although maybe a bit too much, to emphasize connections between one scene to another. It was used to tie up the entire story together and without foreshadowing the story

Napoleon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Napoleon - Essay Example He rose to prominence under French First Republic during which time he led the France through a series of successive victories against the enemies of the French revolution. In 1799, he orchestrated a coup and he made himself the First Consul. In 1804, he made himself the emperor of the French people. Afterwards, he fought a series of complex wars across Europe which were both for and against him2. During these wars, Napoleon was able to make France a military superpower in continental Europe. Napoleon also forged several alliances in Europe that gave France a lot of influence all over continental Europe3. He elevated his friends and family members to become rulers over other European countries. Although napoleon died almost two centuries ago, many scholars are still fascinated by his personality. There are many questions regarding why Napoleon left Corsica and decided to become the emperor of France. There is also the question of his relentless pursuit of power even when he failed. Many people who met Napoleon could not find the right words to describe his character. Germaine de Stael described Napoleon’s character as contradictory. She described him as a person who was neither gentle nor cruel, neither good nor violent. She concludes that such a person could not feel any sympathy. However, there are other scholars who differ with Germaine like Stendhal who described Napoleon as a man who had amazing abilities and a dangerous ambition. Sigmund Freud attributed Napoleon’s aggression to the aggression he harbored against his elder brother Joseph at a younger age. Napoleon was said to be a dreamer when he was in school. It is therefore possible that his desire t o conquer all of Europe was derived from his desire of portraying himself as great leader4. Napoleon gained a reputation as an intelligent and a determined kid at school. This is in contrary to other leaders like Hitler who have

Increase Safety in Retail Parking Lots Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Increase Safety in Retail Parking Lots - Essay Example Retail parking lots are a common place to be attacked by criminal because most customers are holding a lot of cash for shopping. The muggers see these shoppers as easy targets (Sennewald & Christman 2008). As a matter of fact, statistics show that police have reported to a high number of theft incidences from large retail companies. The company is obligated to return the favor of ensuring safety. Moreover, securing the parking lots next to our retail businesses would also increase our customer base since people love to shop in a place where they feel that they are secure and do not run the risk of being mugged. The main aim that the store is concerned about the customer being save in the [parking lot is to have a clear conscience. This is because if anything happens to the customers when they are within out parking lots, they we are guilty if we failed to do something that could have kept them save. Moreover, since we also work at the store, we also run the risk of being mugged or kidnapped. In order to have a clear conscience and also feel comfortable working at the store, it is our job to put all measures in place to ensure that our parking lot is safe (Vellani 2007). Although it is not possible for the company to prevent any misfortunes from befalling its customers, it is possible to take the necessary precautions for minimizing the chances of this happening by making sure that they are safe inside and outside the store. Keeping the client safe within and outside the stores is the right thing that any company can do. Most of our stores are found in unsecure neighborhood. This does not h owever mean that the customers need to feel insecure. Parking lots are the most areas prone to being attacked by mugger because they are usually deserted and the presence of many cars provides a perfect hide out for criminals. This implies that if the security within the retail stores were beefed up, then the insecurity in the

Othello Race Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Othello Race Journal - Essay Example This can be seen in the language which is used to describe the character. For instance, throughout the play he is refereed to as â€Å"this Moor†, â€Å"the thick lips†, or more pejorative as â€Å"Barbary horse†, and â€Å"Devil†. ("Elizabethan Thater: Skakespeare in Context" ) Moreover, characters in the play are more prone to believe that Desdemona was poisoned or somehow bewitched and in this way, forced to love Othello than to believe that their relationships are natural. â€Å"Did you by forced courses subdue and poison this young maids affections?† ("Elizabethan Thater: Skakespeare in Context") Obviously, race becomes the crucial feature that sets him apart. Throughout the play, the attitudes towards Othello are much influenced by that fact that he is racially different from the majority in the society. The following creates the tension between the characters and drives the development of the conflict. As a whole, the play reflects the existing at those time anxieties and prejudices relating to interracial marriages and the belief in the white superiority that define the place of Othello among others. In this context, Othello fulfill the role of an outsider in the society which is guided by racial stereotypes and

The American Frontier and the Western Hero Essay

The American Frontier and the Western Hero - Essay Example He is a real hero who possesses the features of an ideal man, and personifies high moral values and physical strength. Wister depicts the Virginian as a person who is able to distinguish what is good and what is bad, and who follows his personal beliefs. He is described as: "The dealer had styled the Virginian "a black-headed guy." This did well enough as an unflattered portrait" (Wister, 34). The Virginian tries to make a better world paying a special attention to universal order and peace during the Johnson County War in Wyoming. The main character of Susan Warner's novel is "Christian Character", Ellen Montgomery. Female characters in the novel are depicted through minor themes such as the themes of motherhood and religion. Christianity and church was a strong force which dictated social norms and social order. At the beginning, Ellen is depicted as a devoted parishioner who follows all values and commandments. he main similarity between the male and female characters is their desire to fight for freedom and justice which limits their behavior. The Virginian is a leader who possesses self-belief and tolerance, which helps him to create the reality; he is a high moral person who fights for justice, harmony and orderliness of the universe.

Management and Chemical Engineering Essay Example for Free

Management and Chemical Engineering Essay I have completed my Bachelors of Technology in Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India (IITG). I am seeking a position in your organization in order to enhance my skills and practical experience, while being resourceful and innovative. I have worked hard in my undergraduate studies, striking a balance between compulsory courses like Fluid Mechanics, Process Equipment Design, Process Control and Instrumentation, Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, related wet lab courses and supervised research under the guidance of Dr Chandan Das (Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITG) Dr AK Golder (Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IITG). My Bachelor Thesis Project was on Biosorption of heavy metals to purify industrial effluents under the guidance of Dr. Chandan Das (Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Eng., IITG) and Dr. AK Golder (Associate Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IITG). When I look back now, I realize the role of an inspiring mentor in a student’s life. Dr. Das and Dr. Gloder gave me a whole new direction to explore my research skills and the interest in reading research articles while doing my undergraduate courses in mainstream Chemical Engineering. After graduation I joined Jindal Steel and Power Ltd as a Project Engineer where I practiced what I learnt during my educational life. Post completion of one year, I joined SPI Pvt. Ltd. As an Assistant Manager. I choose this as apart from technical skills, I also wanted to gain a good understanding about the business processes and its various elements. While working there my interest became more focused towards managerial skills. It was there where I decided to go for my higher education in Masters in Management as managerial knowledge via a reputed and esteemed university will help me to learn a wider scope of business management skills which was missing in my technical career. In my education thus far, I have been actively involved in sports and co-curricular activities including making manual robot, organized Rock-o-Phonix for three consecutive years (2008, 2009 2010) and represented IIT-Guwahati in Inter IIT sports meet in Football which has helped me to develop upon simplicity in approach, patience, team work, confidence, loyalty, ability to manage loads of stress and adaptability. To work using the in-hand knowledge and indigenous creativity simultaneously is my biggest asset. Education I believe is not just excelling in courses that we take and cracking their exams but a continuous process of development and self-realization. Not just asking â€Å"what to do† or â€Å"how to do† but â€Å"who am i† and â€Å"what is my purpose† too. My long term career goals are to become socially responsible individual and to get the dream job of working in the field of interest. If given the opportunity of pursuing the graduate study in field of management I would be getting involved in a project that will help me grow intellectually and professionally and result in useful outcomes.

Design of Face Recognition Image Processor

Design of Face Recognition Image Processor Abstract This project deals with the design and implementation of an image processing system for Face recognition using MATLAB. Image treatment is a complex task so, we must study all the background information that image formation and processing requires, and learn the main MATLAB functions which will have to be used. The purpose for this study is to investigate a software application that can show how an image is processed in computer platform. The processing will be done in comparing the sketch image with the real picture to matrix model by using MATLAB program. Picture will be shown when program is running successfully. Real image or picture will be resulted from the matrix using the function in the MATLAB. We can use various functions such as filter or rotate depending on the user itself. In this study, the picture or real image used is from Internet that has referenced properly, scanner and etc. Basic mathematical calculation does not apply in this project as it only used MATLAB program. The significant of this project is to educated user and for us to learn how to process images by MATLAB to learn how the image can be changes after the function indicated by the program. Introduction: Our project is about to know how we can employ image processing application by using MATLAB functions. By the help of image processing Toolbox of MATLAB we were able to modify/write a program with GUI to read images, process them, blur them, and then recognize them as versions of the same images that exist in an image database; lastly we were able to display the original and blurred images. Image processing is the field of signal processing where both the input and output signals are images. Images can be thought of as two-dimensional signals via a matrix representation, and image processing can be understood as applying standard one-dimensional signal processing techniques to two-dimensional signals. Image processing is a very important subject, and finds applications in such fields as photography, satellite imaging, medical imaging, and image compression, just to name a few. In the past, image processing was largely done using analog devices. However, as computers have become more powerful, processing shifted toward the digital domain. Like one-dimensional digital signal processing, digital image processing overcomes traditional analog problems such as noise, distortion during processing, inflexibility of system to change, and difficulty of implementation. The image processing technique we will be implementing will be image blurring even there are many image processing techniques we have by using MATLAB to output the image as a matrix and store it in the data memory. In todays world, digital technology is ever growing, and the development of digitally based products is rising. Various industries such as audio, video, and cellular industry rely heavily on this digital technology. A great part of this deals with digital signal processing. This aspect in engineering has gained increasing interest, especially with much of the world now turning to wireless technology and its applications to keep businesses and industries connected. The world of digital technology is certainly one that will be present for many years to come. [Ref: 4] Project outline: This report consists four chapters. In first chapter, it discuss about the objective and scope of this project as long as summary of works. While Chapter 2 will discuss more on theory and literature reviews that have been done. In Chapter 3, the discussion will be on the methodology hardware and software implementation of this project. The result and discussion will be presented in Chapter 4. Last but not least, Chapter 5 discusses the conclusion of this project and future work that can be done. Problem Statement: In the image processing program, the info for the function are not stated clearly enough and make people understand. In the GUI (Graphical User Interface) program, the info should function as pop-up window after user press any function button. As the project title is Image Processing using MATLAB Learning Tool, the information is not good enough and clears to understand to be recognized by people. The main problem is the effectiveness of people to recognize it. Basically we have used many techniques through which we tried to simplified the way of face recognition. We have used eigenface technique that is very standarlize way to recognize the face using MATLAB application MATLAB also can be used in industry in the areas of bar coding, deck-top publication, copy preparation for printing and factory automation. However, due to the information and studies this state of program of image processing that I only can create. More advance and more functional program can be creating by using MATLAB. Thereby, to write the program became problem and this project not perfectly complete. The problem which comes to set a task to recreate the convolution function for applying filters in image processing. It is very difficult to manage and get the code working. It is also not easy to write our own m-function for unsharp masking of a given image to produce a new output image. During the project development we found following difficulties Apply smoothing to produce a blurred version of the original image, subtract the blurred image from the original image to produce an edge image. Add the edge image to the original image to produce a sharpened image. When carrying out the convolution image is cropped down by some pixel, this means when we go to carry out the subtraction for the unsharpening the images are not the same size and the subtraction cannot take place. To overcome this problems we created a blank matrix in the convolution function that is the same size as the image being inputted, the new image will then go on top of this matrix so in affect the new image has a 1 pixel border around it to make it to its original size. It is very interesting and challenging to come out from these above mentioned problems and for that we have done. Solutions to problems in the field of digital image processing generally require extensive experimental work involving software simulation and testing with large sets of sample images. Although algorithm development typically is based on theoretical underpinnings, the actual implementation of these algorithms almost always requires parameter estimation and, frequently, algorithm revision and comparison of solutions. Because it works in the MATLAB computing environment, the Image Processing Toolbox offers some significant advantages Key components of our approach We have used Eigen Vector method [Ref 12] that is a set of eigenfaces can be generated by performing a mathematical process called principal component analysis (PCA) on a large set of images depicting different human faces. Informally, eigenfaces can be considered a set of standardized face ingredients, derived from statistical analysis of many pictures of faces. Any human face can be considered to be a combination of these standard faces. For example, ones face might be composed of the average face plus 10% from eigenface 1, 55% from eigenface 2, and even -3% from eigenface 3. Remarkably, it does not take many eigenfaces combined together to achieve a fair approximation of most faces. Also, because a persons face is not recorded by a digital photograph, but instead as just a list of values (one value for each eigenface in the database used), much less space is taken for each persons face. Apart from these our project methodology includes the following: Use MATLAB to simulate the processing technique. Carefully locating the memory blocks where we will store our original and output image. Comparing our results in MATLAB. Basically the eigenvectors of a square matrix are the non-zero vectors that, after being multiplied by the matrix, remain proportional to the original vector (i.e., change only in magnitude, not in direction). For each eigenvector, the corresponding eigenvalue is the factor by which the eigenvector changes when multiplied by the matrix. The eigenvectors are sometimes also called proper vectors, or characteristic vectors. Similarly, the eigenvalues are also known as proper values, or characteristic values. The mathematical expression of this idea is as follows: if A is a square matrix, a non-zero vector v is an eigenvector of A if there is a scalar ÃŽ » (lambda) such that The scalar ÃŽ » is said to be the eigenvalue of A corresponding to v. An eigenspace of A is the set of all eigenvectors with the same eigenvalue together with the zero vectors. However, the zero vector is not an eigenvector. any problems present themselves in terms of an eigenvalue problem: A ·v=ÃŽ »Ã‚ ·v In this equationAis an n-by-n matrix,vis a non-zero n-by-1 vector and ÃŽ » is a scalar (which may be either real or complex). Any value of ÃŽ » for which this equation has a solution is known as an eigenvalue of the matrixA. It is sometimes also called the characteristic value. The vector,v, which corresponds to this value is called an eigenvector. The eigenvalue problem can be rewritten as A ·v-ÃŽ »Ã‚ ·v=0 A ·v-ÃŽ »Ã‚ ·I ·v=0 (A-ÃŽ »Ã‚ ·I ·v)=0 If v is non-zero, this equation will only have a solution if |A-ÃŽ »Ã‚ ·I|=0 This equation is called the characteristic equation ofA, and is an nthorder polynomial in ÃŽ » with n roots. These roots are called the eigenvalues ofA. We will only deal with the case of n distinct roots, though they may be repeated. For each eigenvalue there will be an eigenvector for which the eigenvalue equation is true. This is most easily demonstrated by example Example: Find Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of a 22 Matrix If then the characteristic equation is and the two eigenvalues are ÃŽ »1=-1, ÃŽ »2=-2 All thats left is to find the two eigenvectors. Lets find the eigenvector,v1, associated with the eigenvector, ÃŽ »1=-1, first. so clearly from the top row of the equations we get Note that if we took the second row we would get In either case we find that the first eigenvector is any 2 element column vector in which the two elements have equal magnitude and opposite sign. Where k1is an arbitrary constant. We didnt have to use +1 and -1, we could have used any two quantities of equal magnitude and opposite sign. Going through the same procedure for the second eigenvalue: Again, the choice of +1 and -2 for the eigenvector was arbitrary; only their ratio is important. Scope of Project The scope of our project includes the following: Study and understand the image processing in varies method, mainly in MATLAB. Create a GUI (Graphical User Interface) MATLAB program with several functions. This requires identifying the steps which must be done to obtain some results. Further this project, the main areas considered are: Study about MATLAB, and its main functions to obtain and process images. Write or modify a program which can be used to acquire and treat images. Some information about the image file and its characteristics to understand the information it contains. Objective of the Project The objective of this project is actually to educate us and new comers to basic and fundamental technique in image processing through integrated image processing software. All fundamental algorithms of image processing will be exposed through this package [Ref] the program is in appendix -B. This package will also provided easy-to-learn mechanisms turn user-friendly and graphic-orientation environment. These operations include preprocessing, spatial filtering, image enhancement, feature detection, image compression and image restoration involves process which restores a degraded image to something close to the ideal. Generally, in computer vision, especially in MATLAB program (image understanding or scene analysis) involves technique from image processing, pattern recognition and artificial intelligent. Particularly, MATLAB program offers many features and are more multifaceted then any calculator. MATLAB toolbox is a tool for making mathematical calculations. Literature review (Related Work to our Project) Image processing is any form of signal processing for which the input is an image, such as photographs; the output of image processing can be either an image or a set of characteristics or parameters related to the image. Most image-processing techniques involve treating the image as a two-dimensional signal and applying standard signal-processing techniques to it. Image processing converting the image to another form by using direction in MATLAB/Toolboxes/Image Processing tables for example is image input/output, color operation, image enhancement/ analysis and another method. Image processing and computer vision practitioners tend concentrate on a particular area of specialization. People refer to their research interests as â€Å"texture†, â€Å"surface mapping†, â€Å"video tracking†, and the like. Nevertheless, there is a strong need to appreciate the spectrum and hierarchy of processing levels. Image processing is the manipulation of the image by using a computer, with the objective to enhance or evaluate some aspect of an image which is not readily apparent in its original form. This is done through the development and implementation of processing means necessary to operate on the image. Processing image using a digital computer provides the greatest flexibility and power for general image processing application, since the programming of a computer can be changed easily which allows operation to be modified quickly. Interest in image processing technique dates back to early 1920s when digitized pictures of world news events were first transmitted by submarine cable between Newyork and London. However, application of digital image processing concepts did not become widespread until the middle 1960s, when third-generation digital computers began to offer the speed and storage capabilities required for practical implementation of image processing algorithms. Since then, this area has experienced vigorous growth and has been subjected of study and research in such fields as engineering, computer science, statistics, information science, physics, chemistry and medicine. The result of these efforts have established the value of image processing technique in of problem with application in diverse fields, including automated factory controlled, astronomy, meteorology, agriculture, medicine, art and military application. With the increasing availability of reasonably inexpensive hardware and some very importance application on the horizon, image technology is expected to continue its growth and to play an important role in the future. From the MATLAB software we have the Toolbox for image processing and Professional MATLAB. MATLAB is the interactive environment, scientists and engineers are able to analyze and develop algorithms with exceptional improvements n productivity and creativity. As a result of new algorithms with application-specific uses. The MathWorks offers a series of application toolboxes that contain set of MATLAB ofr the Linear algebra, high-speed computational kernel, extensive mathematical functionality, data analysis, 2-D and 3-D graphic rapid algorithm development, matrix based programming environment. In MATLAB Toolboxes professional version but priced at a lower rate for academic use. [Ref: 4] About Image Processing Tools of Matlab This set of Matlab tools consists of some functions that I have found useful for basic image processing and image analysis. When working with binary objects (4-connected foreground regions), we have often found it useful to measure features from the boundary stored as a list of coordinates. In other words, sometimes it is better to work with a polygon defining the foreground-background boundary than to work with a black and white image of the object. The boundary of an object in a binary (black and white) image can be stored as a list of pixel corner coordinates. The functiongetboundarymex [Ref 7] forms a list of these corner coordinates from a binary image containing an object. The toolbox containsselectobjectmexfor selecting regions by size. The commandimOut=selectobjectmex(imIn,n)will return an image,imOut, containing only thenth largest object (in terms of number of pixels) of the original imageimIn. This function is particularly useful if one wants to quickly threshold an image and then select the largest object without having to worry about smaller objects that are not of interest, e.g.imOut=selectobjectmex(im>0.5,1). [Ref:9] Also included is code for watershed segmentation by flooding from selected sources, fast calculation of object centroids etc. The usage of each the function is described by typinghelpfunctionat the MATLAB command prompt, wherefunctionis the name of the relevant function. The M-file scriptkftools shows an example of the usage of all of the functions in this toolbox . THEORY: There are various ways of implementing the image blurring technique: Linear blur horizontal or vertical averaging of a fixed number of pixels. Block blur averaging a small block of pixels by propagating a fixed sized window through the entire image. Gaussian blur convolution of the image with a two-dimensional Gaussian function. Linear blur: This is the simplest image blurring technique. It is done by taking the N-point average of a linear block of pixels (either horizontally or vertically). In our implementation, N will be 8, and we will be using the horizontal blur. An 1Ãâ€"N-pixel window is placed at the top left of the image, and the average of the window is stored in the N/2th pixel of the window (in a new image to prevent overwriting). The window is then shifted across the row and the process is repeated. Once the window reaches the end of the row, it is moved to the next row and the process repeats itself. [Ref:11] The advantage of this method is that it is the simplest of the three. However, it also gives the poorest blurring quality. This is because by taking the horizontal average of each row, there will be averaging â€Å"lines† in the output image. Also, parts of the picture where the detail does not span enough horizontal pixels will be lost after blurring. Finally, by the way this algorithm is designed, there will be an outer frame of the output image identical to the input image (i.e. the outer part of the image remains not blurred). [Ref:11] Block blur: This method is analogous to the linear blur, except that our window is now an NÃâ€"N-pixel window. The procedure is the same as the linear blur, with the averaged pixel stored in the (N/2, N/2) position of the window. See block_blur.m for the MATLAB implementation of this algorithm. This method improves upon the quality of the linear blur in that averaging â€Å"lines† are no longer visible in the output image. It also helps to retain details that span small horizontal distances in the original image better. However, it still does not overcome the problem of an outer frame in the output image that remains not blurred. [Ref:11] Gaussian blur: This is the best implementation of the image blurring technique, and is used in such commercial software as Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately, it is also the most complex. It works by performing a two-dimensional convolution on the input image with a normalized two-dimensional MÃâ€"M-pixel Gaussian function. Intuitively, each pixel of the output image is actually a Gaussian function centred at each point of the input image. Hence, the convolution will increase the size of the output image to N+M-1, so that after convolution we must crop the image to reduce it to its proper size. This method is the best of the three. It has no averaging â€Å"lines† present, and it also blurs the entire image. Image Processing Toolbox (give reference to the Toolbox) Image Processing Toolbox provide us a comprehensive set of reference standard algorithms and graphical tools for image processing, analysis, visualization, and algorithm development. We can perform image enhancement, image deblurring, feature detection, noise reduction, image segmentation, spatial transformations, and image registration. Image Processing Toolbox supports a diverse set of image types, including high dynamic range, gigapixel resolution, ICC-compliant color, and tomographic images. Graphical tools let we explore an image, examine a region of pixels, adjust the contrast, create contours or histograms, and manipulate regions of interest (ROIs). With the toolbox algorithms we can restore degraded images, detect and measure features, analyze shapes and textures, and adjust the color balance of images. Key Features Image enhancement, filtering, and deblurring Image analysis, including segmentation, morphology, feature extraction, and measurement Spatial transformations and image registration Image transforms, including FFT, DCT, Radon, and fan-beam projection Workflows for processing, displaying, and navigating arbitrarily large images Modular interactive tools, including ROI selections, histograms, and distance measurements ICC color management Multidimensional image processing Image-sequence and video display DICOM import and export We have collected many image processing function which can make our project easy to execute , some of these function we used are as follows. Image Display and Exploration Immovie: Make movie from multiframe image Implay: Play movies, videos, or image sequences Imshow: Display image Imtool: Image Tool Montage: Display multiple image frames as rectangular montage Subimage: Display multiple images in single figure Warp: Display image as texture-mapped surface Image File I/O analyze75info: Read metadata from header file of Analyze 7.5 data set analyze75read: Read image data from image file of Analyze 7.5 data set Dicomanon: Anonymize DICOM file Dicomdict: Get or set active DICOM data dictionary Dicominfo: Read metadata from DICOM message Dicomlookup: Find attribute in DICOM data dictionary dicomread: Read DICOM image Dicomuid: Generate DICOM unique identifier Dicomwrite: Write images as DICOM files Hdrread: Read high dynamic range (HDR) image Hdrwrite: Write Radiance high dynamic range (HDR) image file Interfileinfo: Read metadata from Interfile file Interfileread: Read images in Interfile format Isrset: Check if file is R-Set Makehdr: Create high dynamic range image Nitfinfo: Read metadata from National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) file Nitfread: Read image from NITF file Openrset: Open R-Set file Rsetwrite: Create reduced resolution data set from image file Image Types and Type Conversions Demosaic: Convert Bayer pattern encoded image to truecolor image gray2ind: Convert grayscale or binary image to indexed image Grayslice: Convert grayscale image to indexed image using multilevel thresholding Graythresh: Global image threshold using Otsus method im2bw: Convert image to binary image, based on threshold im2double: Convert image to double precision im2int16: Convert image to 16-bit signed integers im2java2d: Convert image to Java buffered image im2single: Convert image to single precision im2uint16: Convert image to 16-bit unsigned integers im2uint8: Convert image to 8-bit unsigned integers ind2gray: Convert indexed image to grayscale image ind2rgb: Convert indexed image to RGB image label2rgb: Convert label matrix into RGB image mat2gray: Convert matrix to grayscale image rgb2gray: Convert RGB image or colormap to grayscale We both studied the function properly and found few of them are very important for us to understand deeply. In order to segregate the most important function we select some of from them. System description: This project will use the MATLAB software package to develop algorithms which can automatically analyze these images for potential comets. MATLAB is a high-level programming environment very popular with scientists and engineers because of its powerful toolboxes and easy to use scripting language. Basic algorithms from the image processing toolbox will be utilized to find comets using the following general steps: Load original images into MATLAB Process images to isolate all bright spots and eliminate glare due to solar ejections Compare spots in subsequent images to find potential comet trajectories Analyze trajectories to ensure they meet known characteristics Highlight possible comets in original images and create output image Basically, MATLAB software has many functions/commands to apply in image processing. How to manipulate the program depending to us but must be practically know what item is MATLAB program will be used. Creativity in MATLAB can make the interesting result. Even, the complex data can be solved in MATLAB. Especially when the data involved is very complex. Here, we can create some image from converting data by using the some program in MATLAB, which just applied all procedure in the MATLAB program. MATLAB toolbox is a tool for making mathematical calculations. Image processing toolbox is user friendly programming language with feature more advanced. In the program also used the GUI (Graphical User Interface, move this definition to the first place where we used GUI) to create develop the program. Techniques and algorithm: Image and MATLAB involves the conversion of scene into a digital representation that can be processed by a digital computer. This can be performed by a sensor system specially designed to view a image and provide a digital representation of the image. When the images are installed in MATLAB, my picture for example, the color of that image is first analyzed. In the process include several functions of image processing technique. Processed Image is the image display after the process. GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphical user interface (GUI) is a graphical display in one or more windows containing controls, called components that enable a user to perform interactive tasks. The user of the GUI does not have to create a script or type commands at the command line to accomplish the tasks. Unlike coding programs to accomplish tasks, the user of a GUI need not understand the details of how the tasks are performed. GUI components can include menus, toolbars, push buttons, radio buttons, list boxes, and sliders just to name a few. GUIs created using MATLAB tools can also perform any type of computation, read and write data files, communicate with other GUIs, and display data as tables or as plots Most GUIs wait for their user to manipulate a control, and then respond to each action in turn. Each control, and the GUI itself, has one or more user-written routines (executable MATLAB code) known as callbacks, named for the fact that they call back to MATLAB to ask it to do things. The execution of each callback is triggered by a particular user action such as pressing a screen button, clicking a mouse button, selecting a menu item, typing a string or a numeric value, or passing the cursor over a component. The GUI then responds to these events. We, as the creator of the GUI, provide callbacks which define what the components do to handle events. This kind of programming is often referred to as event-driven programming. In the example, a button click is one such event. In e vent-driven programming, callback execution is asynchronous, that is, it is triggered by events external to the software. In the case of MATLAB GUIs, most events are user interactions with the GUI, but the GUI can respond to other kinds of events as well, for example, the creation of a file or connecting a device to the computer. We can code callbacks in two distinct ways: As MATLAB functions, written in M and stored in M-files As strings containing MATLAB expressions or commands (such as c = sqrt(a*a + b*b);or print) Using functions stored in M-files as callbacks is preferable to using strings, as functions have access to arguments and are more powerful and flexible. MATLAB scripts (sequences of statements stored in M-files that do not define functions) cannot b e used as callbacks. Although we can provide a callback with certain data and make it do anything we want, we cannot control when callbacks will execute. That is, when wer GUI is being used, we have no control over the sequence of events that trigger particular callbacks or what other callbacks might still be running at those times. This distinguishes event-driven programming from

Discussion on Poverty in South Africa

Discussion on Poverty in South Africa Discussion on Poverty and the current situation in South Africa South Africa has a population of 47.9 million people (http://www.southafrica.info/about/people/popprov.htm) the largest provincial province in South Africa is Kwa-Zulu Natal with 10 million people that is 20.9%. Gauteng is the most densely populated province in South Africa which consists of 9.6 million people. Gauteng is not the biggest province but because of the demand for work and income many people vacate their countries to find work in South Africa, people come from all over such as Botswana, Mozambique and most of all Zimbabwe. Many of these people come to Gauteng because of the working and living conditions in these countries are terrible and people cannot get jobs to afford to pay for their families. This does create and cause a lot of the poverty because not all foreigners can find the work and so then they have no way of leaving because they illegally live there, hence the Xenophobic attacks. Poverty in South Africa has lead to many problems in South Africa such as lack of skills, crime and education. Capital is what revolves around these socio-economic issues, because of the demand for capital people with a lack of skills cannot afford school and so they have no education. People have no money without a job and so they have to get capital, this is where stealing comes in and so the only way to obtain capital is to steal, this is why South Africas crime rate is so high because it is poverty stricken. South Africas population is dominated by Africans consisting of 78% in of the total population growing at 7% from 2001 to 2006. The remainder of the population is split as follows, Coloured 8% of the population growing at 5.77%, Indian 2% of the population growing at 4.18% and white 11% of the population growing at 0.43%. (Population chart Ref South Africa Survey 2004 Institute of Race Relations)- refer to chart 1 and 2-population How Tiger Brands deals with poverty Tiger Brands is one of the leading packing businesses in the country. Listed on the JSE. As a large company Tiger Brands has to deal with many CSR related problems, one of their main focuses is poverty, because of their packaging they deal with a lot of food packaging. Tiger Brands have specifically looked at the feeding poverty stricken areas with many children in it. This is the starting point at helping the poverty in South Africa. Tiger has established a feeding and education program that has 17 township committees, 12 mothers clubs, 13 feeding centres and five mobile vans and a number of other methods that deliver food to the poverty stricken areas. I believe this helps poverty stricken people because obtaining food in an everyday struggle and so by addressing one of their main needs does help them a lot and also ables them to survive through the food provided by Tiger. This project is also sustainable because there is another short term program that is linked to the feeding which is an educational program that will ensure that the people in the area receive education that will allow them to be employed in the future and provide the country with valuable human capital, with the education and feeding programs Tiger Brands addresses 2 of the main corporate social issues, by addressing health they will be able maintain good levels of nutrition and so people will live healthy and so stealing should cut down because of a lesser demand of capital to purchase food, if other companies did this of course. Poverty in South Africa is too high, many major events will be held in the year of 2010 in South Africa such as the FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament many people will be travelling from overseas to come and watch this prestigious event and so foreign capital will be coming to the country. Crime rates could affect this and so eradicating poverty could help by lowering the crime rate. If South Africa is seen as a stable place for investment after the world cup, the country can start to see new light with new infrastructure, more capital to aid problems in South Africa, so it is key to portray the country as one that is stable. Population according to race-Chart Chart 2 population Race 2001 2006 Increase % of pop 2001 % of pop 2006 African 35185 040 37648 310 7.00% 78% 78% Coloured 3808 770 4028 360 5.77% 8% 8% Indian 1113 210 1159 720 4.18% 2% 2% White 5242 500 5265 030 0.43% 12% 11% Total 45351 521 48103 426 6.07% 100% 100% As a result of poverty and people not being able to live are forced to find new ways in obtaining other sources of food and income. One of the most common ways in obtaining these things is stealing. (Crime Chart Ref South Africa Survey 2004 Institute of Race Relations). Stealing is related to crime in South Africa and I believe crime is linked to poverty because people have no money to afford a house or food and so they have no way in obtaining basic needs and so they resort to stealing from people in cars, from peoples homes. I believe if we reduce poverty within South Africa we can solve crime because less pressure if found on people to support their families through illegal ways. Choice of company Discussion on choice of company My choice in companies was Tiger Brands, a local company that supplies with a wide variety food stuffs including basic nutrition such as bread, maize as well as canned foods. As Tiger are a local company and have a vested interest and social issues in South Africa their employment policy is directed at the local population because they have a true understanding of some of the problems that Tiger Brands faces. Listed below are some of the areas the compete in Domestic food Consumer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Hospital Products Fishing Exports of goods Tiger Brands can be seen on many items in South Africa such as Energade, tomato sauce and bread. I chose Tiger Brands because they are a multinational company, that operates mainly in South Africa and other emerging markets (http://www.tigerbrands.co.za/Default.htm) Tiger Brands mission statement is â€Å"to be the worlds most admired branded consumer packed Goods Company in emerging markets†. http://www.tigerbrands.co.za/Default.htm I believe this is a very attainable goal for Tiger Brands because they are renound for good services and quality. Tiger Brands have been involved in a number of scams such as when they increased the price for bread; this would be the only thing stopping them to reach their mission statement because of their reputation. One of my main influences of choosing this company was because my father has dealt with Tiger Brands before and has background information on it, so information was viable. Tiger Brands have many advantages and disadvantages for their company which either help to enhance the performance of the company or bring it down, Tiger Brands works on all of their disadvantages because this brings down their name such as the price of bread going up and so they try to better their image after that incident through CSR projects and helping out the public. Advantages Disadvantages * Large company = many investors so they can grow to reach their mission statement * Bread price raising crisis that brought down their reputation. * They have companies in emerging markets and so they have a broader capital intake. * * They have CSR projects which enhances a positive image in the eyes of the public. 2010 Vision, Mission, Strategy and Capabilities for Tiger Brands (www.tigrbrands/2010vision.co.za) Vision To be the worlds most admired branded consumer packaged goods and healthcare company in emerging markets Mission Increase turnover to R30 billion and grow EBIT margin to 20% by 2010 Strategy We will achieve sustainable and profitable top line growth by: Transforming the organisation Optimising our business portfolio Pursuing growth Organic Exports African expansion Acquisitions in selected markets Capabilities Ability to attract, retain and develop the best people A reputation for innovation Excellence in brand building and customer and channel management Continuous improvement Value creation for all our stakeholders in an environment of respect, teamwork, imagination and action-orientation. Summary of different CSR projects for chosen company (Immediate needs education) â€Å"Love thy neighbour† Ubuntu campaign, which helps mitigate the socio-economic effects of HIV/AIDS through education and training and entrenches the extended family Ubuntu culture through peer education. The information offered covers a number of topics such as counselling, communication skills, teenage, HIV/AIDS and the use of ARVs. Heartbeat Heartbeat supports orphaned and vulnerable children by ensuring that their basic needs are taken, care of to ensure they can finish their schooling and live their lives as children. In 6 years since inception, Heartbeat has successfully partnered projects in 7 provinces, collectively meeting the needs of 5000 orphaned and vulnerable children. Heartbeat has developed five programs which contribute to the holistic transformation of the child and consist of different products and services. Unite 4 Health Following on from the success of Unite against Hunger, Tiger Brands healthcare company, Adock Ingram launched Unite 4 health in Jan 2006, aimed at supporting efforts to improve healthcare for disadvantaged South Africans. As with its Unite against Hunger initiatives, Tiger Brands aims to ensure the sustainability of Unite 4 health projects by providing funding and supporting infrastructural development that will serve beneficiaries in the long term. Red Cross Childrens Hospital In June 2005, Unite 4 Health agreed to donate R4 million to the Red Cross War Memorial Childrens Hospital in Cape Town. This Hospital is the only specialist centre dedicated to treating children on the African Continent. At the hospital, Africa- specific research on childrens diseases and HIV/AIDS not only improves the health of the little patients, but also assists in training doctors and nurses. Soweto Hospice The unite 4 healths funding for the Hospice contributed towards the provision of a 24 new bed womans ward and state-of-the-art facilities to support the large team of professional nurses and volunteers who care for 450 people Soweto Hospice is now a vital community resource tackling HIV/AIDS complications and various psychosocial issues. Heart of Soweto Unite 4 Health committed R2 million in support of a study which aims to track the incidence of cardiovascular disease in a developing world scenario. This study, the first one of its kind in Africa is led by Prof. Karen Silwa- head of the Soweto cardiovascular research unit at Chris Hani Baragwaneth Hospital- in collaboration with experts from Australia and the United Kingdom. The Heart of Soweto study has initiated the important task of better understanding and monitoring of the emergence of heart disease in the Soweto population. Its significance lies in tracking the incidence of a disease often associated with increasingly affluent lifestyles in one of South Africas largest urban areas. The environmental control system Tiger Brands recognizes that some of its activities and operations may have a negative environmental impact and to this end, an Environmental Control System has been implemented throughout the group to facilitate good environmental management and to ensure compliance with South African national , Provincial and local regulations. Environmental management is driven by the group safety, Health and Environment policy which commit all operations to follow best practice standards and to seek continuous improvement in Safety, health and environmental management. Discussion of a specific issue that the company concentrates on Poverty Hunger As we have read from the above articles Tiger Brands deals with many problems in society and we have learnt with each action they take another is re-acted. South Africa is overwhelmed with starving children, mothers, fathers and people who have shacks for houses if not nothing for a shelter. These are key areas that need attention from the public to help re-enforce their infrastructure and living conditions. South Africa is a Third World country because of the high percentage of people living in no homes and people running short of capital to purchase food, this is why there is a lot of crime because people have no way of obtaining their primary needs such as food, water, electricity and so people resort to stealing. (Immediate needs living conditions) Hunger and poverty continue to be a reflection of the bigger socio-economic challenges that South Africa still faces. Most of our people do not have access to sufficient nutrition or basic healthcare. They the most comprehensive array of food and healthcare brands and products that play a huge role in the lives of our citizens. As a good corporate citizen, our objective is to find ways in which to give back to the communities and our country as a whole.25% of available funds to be used in rural huger and health initiatives. Poverty in South Africa can be seen almost everywhere. Every stop street, robot we see people begging because they have no money and they need food and need a shelter for their families. In South Africa we have many informal settlements such as Diepsloot, Alexander, and Soweto, where many shacks are built and small businesses such as kiosks.   Malnutrition graph 3 urban Formal urban Informal Urban Commercial Farms Rural Tribal National Low height for age 17% 19% 19% 31% 27% 25% 22.0% Low weight for age 8% 8% 8% 13% 13% 11% 10% Low weight for height 3% 3% 2% 4% 5% 5% 4% (Malnutrition institute of race relations South African Survey 2004) Fighting off Hunger and poverty increases the positive image Tiger Brands strives for because its such a big issue in the community. The Project I have chosen is the ACFS. Tiger Brands whole CSR project revolve around this one and it has many links with different CSR projects they have. This Project is called the African Childrens Feeding Scheme. African Childrens feeding Scheme (ACFS) For over 60 years, the ACFS Community Education and feeding project has made a difference n the lives of poverty stricken children by combating malnutrition through feeding and education. The ACFS has 17 township committees, 12 mothers clubs, 13 feeding centres, 5 mobile vans and 6 tricycles that deliver food. Its activities are conducted through several interrelated projects: Its activities are conducted through several interrelated projects: Feeding the malnourished, needy and HIV/Aids affected and infected. The focus is predominantly on children and the project feeds 18 000 children daily and 1 000 families each month. As each family has an average of 7 to 9 people, this means about 8 000 people receive nutritious food parcels every month. â€Å"Love Thy Neighbour† Ubuntu campaign, which helps mitigate the socio-economic effects of HIV/ Aids through education and training and entrenches the extended family Ubuntu culture through peer education. â€Å"Care for Children† Programme, which supports orphans and vulnerable children, particularly child-headed households. Tiger Brands supports ACFS through regular donations of food, which when translated into monetary value over the past 13 months is over R1, 7 million. Living conditions and Communications Table (living conditions institute of race relations South African Survey) Types of housing Formal Informal Traditional Other 64% 16% 15% 5% Water Resources Clean water Borehole/Rain Stream, well, dam, other 84% 3% 13% Energy and lighting Electricity Paraffin Candles Other 70% 7% 23% 1% Cooking Energy Electricity Paraffin Wood Coal Gas Other 51% 21% 21% 3% 3% 1% Heating Energy Electricity Paraffin Wood Coal Gas Other 49% 15% 25% 7% 4% 1% Access to sanitation Flush lavatory Pit Latrine Bucket Latrine Other/None 54% 28% 4% 14% Sustainability Sustainability- The ability to preserve something with a limited capacity and still use it without jeopardising it for future use. Many projects such as Earth Charter have been implemented in the world to enforce sustainability concerning natural resources, capital and human resources. Sustainability is about saving something for the future and then using it again in a natural resource case, in human resource raising a person in a business environment and teaching him the ways of your business is part of CSR and sustainability. St Stithians Boys College does do this with some of their staff, they do this by paying for his accommodation at the school, and the school pays for his studies. Once the employee has completed his work he will then in return work for the school e.g. Cricket Coach etc. Sustainability falls into two categories, Conservation and preservation of natural resources. (Geography for all grade 11 learners book) Sustainable Development- this is one of the ways that people are trying to balance human development with conserving the environment. Sustainable development is defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present generation without undermining the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This means that before we begin any new development, we need to make sure it will not prevent our childrens generation from meeting their needs. For example, when we cut down trees for wood, we need to make sure we leave tress to grow for future generations to use. Ideally we plant one new tree for each one we cut down. (Life sciences for all grade 11 learners book) www.google/sustainability/images-spheres.co.za Sustainability has 3 sectors, Environmental, Economic and social the environmental is the natural resources and how you should manage the it, the economic environment is about Profit and cost savings and the social environment is about the standard of living and its about the community. The diagram above shows us how all 3 sectors are integrated. Sustainability of CSR Project (ACFS) I believe that the ACFS Project is sustainable. By helping out people in need of their main needs they can do this for their whole lives, as soon as they grow up they could join Tiger Brands and do what others did to them in the past. Through experience these people will know how and what to do and deal with because they were helped. South Africa has a very low literacy rate and many people are not educated this is a problem because this does cause poverty because people cannot get a job without an education and so an education is very important. Tiger Brands does deal with this in the ACFS project. Highest level of education table. No schooling Some Primary Completed Primary Some Secondary Completed Secondary Higher African 22.3% 18.5% 6.9% 30.4% 16.8% 5.2% Coloured 8.3% 18.4% 9.8% 40.1% 18.5% 4.9% Indian 5.3% 7.7% 4.2% 33.0% 34.9% 14.9% White 1.4% 1.2% 0.8% 25.0% 40.9% 29.8% Total 18% 16% 6% 31% 20% 8% (Education Institute of Race Relations South African Survey 2004) As we can see from the chart, education needs to be looked into because of such high rates of highest level education. South Africa has many unemployed people because of a lack of education. Tiger Brands has set up small schools and day care services to help the literacy rate. Private Schools are very expensive and so many children cannot afford to go to top schools. This is where you can find top quality education. Once education and hunger are being resolved people can start to prepare for other things in life such as saving capital for work and other things and then the unemployment rate should go down. Conclusion-All in all I think Tiger Brands main CSR Project is good and sustainable because people can come back and work for them. They have something good going on and they are making a difference in the community which CSR is all about and they are giving back to the community. Tiger Brands have addressed the serious problems in South Africa and have made a difference. South Africa has many problems that need to be solved in order to become a third world country which South Africa hopes to obtain and achieve. Glossary Dependent- A person who relies on another person for support GDP- Is the standard measure of the size of the economy. It is the total production of goods and services within a country. Sustainable- The ability to preserve something with a limited capacity and still use it without jeopardising it for future use Managerial- Of or relating to the function or responsibility or activity of management Legislation- Law made by Parliament, that is, statute law or Acts of Parliament. Law made by other bodies under the authority of Parliament is termed delegated legislation. Investor- Someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns. Pharmaceuticals- A pharmaceutical drug also referred to as medicine or medicament, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease. Other synonyms include pharmacotherapy, pharmacotherapeutics, and drug treatment. CSR- Corporate social responsibility Attainable- something to try to reach for or try to gain. SWOT-Strengths, Weaknesses, Goals and Opportunities analysis. * Sustainable Development- this is one of the ways that people are trying to balance human development with conserving the environment.