Think Pink -The Musical and its Mise-en-Scene Essay

Think Pink -The Musical and its Mise-en-Scene - Essay Example The musical art is a complete cinematography of the different sociological issues in the mild tone with a zephyr of musical instruments. This extremely stylish piece of art is the mixture of Rock and Roll, soft and classical music. This classical Hollywood celebration filmmaking, in the name of sociological and ideological movement against drugs, during 50's and 60's, truly played its role in the musical reformation. This revolutionary piece of art, later set trends for different genres and established a foundations for multiple institutions in the society. The musician Twink, has contributed many other genres in this regard, which shows his level interest in this dimension. Twink, is basically an English Drummer, song writer and singer. He began his career in 1963 as with a band. Later, he had given few arts and musical performances in 1964 and 1965. The Think Pink is his first solo album with The Deviants, produced by Mick Farren . He started his work in the wake of psychedilc musi c movement to set new trend in the field of music genres. His contribution and ideology behind his work, also reflects his social ambitions behind his artistic efforts. He started his band with the name of The Fairies, later he joind the rythem and blues/soul music band, known by the name of In-Crowd. After few months the same band renamed as Tomorrow. Apart from music, Twink, is also a very good and talented actor also. Twink has truly gives one of his remarkable and outstanding performance in this unique work. His stylish blend of mixing east and west to highlight socilogical issues in the backdrop of this musical film is unmatched. This film projects the sociological and emotional intensity, through the sound into the soul of the present pop genre environment. It brings the blend of different music styles, both eastern and western, along with the different themes and melodious classical tracks. The 37 Minutes and 37 seconds, film clearly portrays the new revolutionary sense of music. The music is simple, thematic, rhythmic and beautifully composed. The lyrics are very well written. The film has tried its level best to impart the sociological awareness and food for the relaxation of minds. Twink has composed all the tracks, with the help of Took. The musical film is composed of ten tracks including; "The coming of the Other One" (Twink) - 2:23, "Ten Thousand Words in a Cardboard Box" (Twink/Wood) - 4:31, "Dawn of Majic" (Twink) - 1:43, "Tiptoe on the Highest Hill" (Twink) - 5:23, "Fluid" (Twink) - 4:04, "Mexican Grass War" (Twink) - 5:29, "Rock and Roll the Join" (Twink) - 2:46, "Suicide" (Twink) - 4:26, "Three Little Piggies" (Took/Twink) - 3:15, "The Sparrow Is a Sign" (Took/Twink) - 2:23. The tracks depicts the different musical styles using various musical instruments like Drums, Keyboards, Guitars etc in order to highlight social awarness in the elegant and unique style. In addition to that, the tracks also project the awarness on the dark side of social problems like drugs and suicide. The tracks are manifested with unique and stylish mixture of music instruments to influence the minds of the audience. The tracks also used beautiful and thought provoking lyrics, which induce the audience to relax and enjoy

Annotated Biblography Essay Example for Free

Annotated Biblography Essay Kristen E. Van Vonderen, M. S. , William Kinnally, Ph. D. (2012), â€Å"Media Effects on Body Image: Examining Media Exposure in the Broader Context of Internal and Other Social Factors†. Volume 14, Issue 2. 41-57. American Communication Journal. Summary: Vonderson and Kinnally’s article discusses the influence media has on women today and the way they see themselves. Being â€Å"overweight† has such negative stigmatism to it that women who are considered to be overweigh feel as though they are unlovable or unsuccessful because they dont look like the women in magazines. They touch on the subject of the influence from parents and peers. Parents who comment on their child’s physical appearance convey body image norms that could lead to negative association with body shape. In the article they also talk about internal influences such as self-esteem and how, in part, it is a reflection of the opinion others hold of you. Analysis: Vonderson and Kinnally’s approach to informing us about how women are portrayed in magazines is both informative and surprising. I, myself being a young women was more than aware of the issue with body image and the media. I personally have thought less of myself after looking through a magazine or watching a movie because of how thin and beautiful those women are. But I was not aware of the many causes that influence women into thinking so negatively. Reflection: This particular article was very informative and helpful towards my research paper topic because it was exactly what I am writing about. Going into this project, I thought I knew quite a bit of information on this topic, but now reading these articles I realize that there is much more to the influence media has on women than I had imagined. Gemma Lopez- Guimera, Micheal P. Levine, David Sanchez-Carracedo, Jordi Fauquet. (2010),† Influence of Mass Media on Body Image and Eating Disordered Attitudes and Behavior in Females: A Review of Effects and Processes†. Media Psychology, 13:387– 416. Print Summary: This article reviews research on the effects of television and magazines on body image and on disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in females. Evidence from different types of studies in the fields of eating disorders, media psychology, health psychology, and mass communication indicates that mass media are an extremely important source of information and reinforcement in relation to the nature of the thin beauty ideal, its importance, and how to attain it. Although considerable research remains to be done, evidence is accumulating that repeated exposure to media and to both direct and indirect (via medias effects on peers, parents, coaches, physicians, etc. ) pressures from media to be thin constitute risk factors for body dissatisfaction, concerns over weight and disordered eating behaviors in adolescent girls and young women. Analysis: I found this article to be both credible and reliable mainly on the fact that it’s research was conducted professionally. The multiple authors of this article are credible because they are head departments of psychology, clinical and health psychology, psychobiology, and methodology of health sciences all from admirable universities all over the world. Reflection: This article help shapes the arguments in my research paper. My research paper is on the topic of mass media and its influence on society and with an article that focuses just on the female aspect of it, it will really help my arguments. So, J. and Nabi, R. (2013), Reduction of Perceived Social Distance as an Explanation for Medias Influence on Personal Risk Perceptions: A Test of the Risk Convergence Model. Human Communication Research, 39: 317–338. Print Summary: The aim of this study was to develop the Perceived Parental Media Mediation Scale (PPMMS). in an initial test of this model, 500 undergraduate students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, participated in an experiment. Participants were exposed to entertainment clips that either portrayed a main character who is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease or thinks he/she might have caught an STD and gets scared of testing for it. Overall, the risk convergence model received solid support from the data, with all paths emerging as significant except for the link between perceived realism and social distance. Reduction of social distance completely mediated the relationship between identification, transportation and personal risk perceptions, thus suggesting social distance as a valid causal mechanism of the process involving the two variables. Analysis: This article is credible because studies were conducted at multiple universities such as University of Georgia and UC Santa Barbara by experts in the Department of Communications. I found this article to be non biased based on the fact that they had conducted numerous experiments and tests on a large number of students and still found that their risk perception was influenced by the media. Reflection: I found this article to be very helpful with my research paper, being that it was a rather long article with more than enough information explaining medias influence on personal risk perception.

Crew Pairing And Rostering Aviation Essay

Crew Pairing And Rostering Aviation Essay The award scheme below is loosely based on CASA regulations as regulations for the Asia and Thailand region could not be located. This award scheme takes into account Federal regulations and union negotiated contracts. A pilot may not fly and cannot be rostered when the pilot has exceeded: 38 working hours per any 7 consecutive days 100 working hours in any 28 consecutive days 900 working hours in any 364 consecutive days 11 working hours on a roster 8 hours flight time on a roster Be signed on more than once in a working day An employee (excluding pilot) may not serve work and cannot be rostered when they have exceeded: 59 working hours per any 7 consecutive days 155 working hours in any 28 consecutive days 1,400 working hours in any 364 consecutive days 11 working hours on a roster Periods free of duty: Pilot is allowed at least one weekend off in each calendar month Normally the pilot is rostered for 5 days on consecutive duty and 2 days free of duty. By mutual agreement deferral of one free of duty day can be arranged with the free of duty day taken within 30 days. Separation of free of duty days can be undertaken with mutual consent. If pilot is away from home base then deferral of free of duty days can be taken, however to be effective immediately upon return to home base. A pilot cannot be rostered after 2200 the day before free of duty is issued. If a pilot has worked after this time due to delays the pay rate will double. Similarly a pilot cannot be rostered before 0600 the day after free of duty has been issued. A pilot will have a rest time after being on duty of 9 consecutive hours embracing 2200 to 0600 local time OR 10 consecutive hours. If duty time has exceeded 11 hours due to delays the pilot will receive a rest period of 9 consecutive hours between 2200-0600 plus an hour for each 15 minutes over 11 hours OR 10 consecutive hours plus an hour for each 15 minutes over 11 hours. If duty time has exceeded 12 hours due to delays then the pilot shall receive a 24 hour rest period. Rostering: A pilots rosters must be compiled before 7 days of the roster period and cover a minimum 14 day period. Break: A pilot will be allowed a 30 minute break within 5 working hours. Leave: An employee is entitled to 42 days of annual leave which may be split over two sections within a calendar year. Work related injury or illness will have a maximum of 52 weeks absence from work fully paid if proof is found that firm is at fault. Sickness or injury occurring outside of work will have a paid leave of a maximum 10 days within a calendar year. Pay Rates 1:50 cabin crew ratio for 36-216 seats 1:36 Over 216 seats, 1 cabin crew member per each exit B787-9 8 exits Resource Planning Flight Crew Normal 28 Day Roster 18 days flying 1 day training 1 day reserve 8 days duty free Cabin Crew Normal 28 Day Roster 19 days flying 1 day training 8 days duty free Flight Crew There are 13 roster periods within a year (28 days) Non working days are 42(annual leave) + 10(sick leave) = 52 days per annum Therefore approximately 1.86 off duty periods per annum 900 working hours per annum max à · 11.14 working periods per annum = 80.77 working hours per period -80/10/13 80.77 working hours per period à · 19 flying days per period = 4.25 hours per day Therefore we must utilise our aircrew an average of 4.25 hours per each flying day to achieve maximum utilisation of 900 working hours within 364 consecutive days, the regulation limit. Cabin Crew There are 13 roster periods within a year (28 days) Non working days are 42(annual leave) + 10(sick leave) = 52 days per annum Therefore approximately 1.86 off duty periods per annum 1,400 working hours per annum max à · 11.14 working periods per annum = 125.67 working hours per period 125.67 working hours per period à · 20 flying days per period = 6.28 hours per day Hence to gain maximum utilisation out of our cabin crew respective to the 1,400 hours working limit per 364 consecutive days, the cabin crew would need to work approximately 6.28 hours per day. Pattern Planning Objective: Minimise the number of crew that have to work each day hence flying the current crew as many block hours as possible. This allows for high utilisation of crew leading to a decrease in the amount of crew needed. Crew staying over at DXB instead of BOM in case of delays BKK-DXB-BOM crew would go overtime. Duty time of BKK-DXB-BOM = 10:38 flight time = 7:53. Aurora Air has decided on changing the aircraft schedule to try and implement a very high utilisation of flight crew, however this ended up not working due to the constraints of maximum flight hours allowed at any one time. Pattern 01 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0500 Day 1 BKK/TLV 0600/0946 7:46 Blk Day 1 Sign Off 1006 9:16 Dty Overnight: Tel Aviv Day 2 Sign On 1001 Day 2 TLV/BKK 1101/2247 7:46 Blk Day 2 Sign Off 2317 9:16 Dty Pattern 02 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0700 Day 1 BKK/DXB 0800/1033 5:33 Blk Day 1 Sign Off 1103 7:03 Dty Overnight: Dubai Day 2 Sign On 1048 Day 2 DXB/BOM 1148/1538 2:20 Blk Day 2 BOM/BKK 1653/2155 3:32 Blk Day 2 Sign Off 2225 5:52 Blk 8:37 Dty Pattern 03 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0730 Day 1 BKK/NRT 0830/1546 5:16 Blk Day 1 Sign Off 1616 6:46 Dty Overnight: Tokyo Day 2 Sign On 1601 Day 2 NRT/KIX 1701/1748 0:47 Blk Day 2 KIX/BKK 1833/2118 4:45 Blk Day 2 Sign Off 2148 5:32 Blk 7:47 Dty Pattern 04 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0530 Day 1 BKK/PVG 0630/1052 Blk 3:22 Day 1 PVG/BKK 1207/1429 Blk 3:22 Day 1 Sign Off 1459 Blk 6:44 9:29 Dty Pattern 05 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 1444 Day 1 BKK/TPE 1544/1940 Blk 2:56 Day 1 TPE/BKK 2055/2251 Blk 2:56 Day 1 Sign Off 2321 Blk 5:52 8:37 Dty Pattern 06 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 1654 Day 1 BKK/HKG 1754/2058 Blk 2:04 Day 1 HKG/BKK 2213/2317 Blk 2:04 Day 1 Sign Off 2347 Blk 4:08 6:53 Dty Pattern 07 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0600 Day 1 BKK/ICN 0700/1312 Blk 4:12 Day 1 Sign Off 1342 5:42 Dty Overnight: Seoul Day 2 Sign On 1327 Day 2 ICN/BKK 1427/1639 Blk 4:12 Day 2 Sign Off 1709 5:42 Dty Pattern 08 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 1638 Day 1 BKK/SIN 1738/2024 Blk 1:46 Day 1 SIN/BKK 2139/2225 Blk 1:46 Day 1 Sign Off 2255 Blk 3:32 6:17 Dty Pattern 09 (Base: BKK) Day 1 Sign On 0630 Day 1 BKK/PEK 0730/1219 Blk 3:49 Day 1 PEK/BKK 1334/1623 Blk 3:49 Day 1 Sign Off 1653 Blk 7:38 10:23 Dty Change due to 0600 constraint being included Constraints: Pattern 01 04 cannot have an OFF day preceding them 8 OFF days per roster period OFF days must be in pairs 1 Training day per roster period 1 Reserve day per roster period No reserve days overlap between each fleet type Each pattern flown only once each day An unscheduled day must follow a reserve day Crew Rostering Aurora Air has regarded that using the fair share system in which the airline will assign the crew their flying duties in a fair manner taking into account periods of duty free time, hours already flown, etc (Cybula, 2006). In addition crew rostering will take into account the legal limitations of all employees within our region of Thailand and Asia. We have decided to take this approach as we are a starting up airline and it is assumed that pilots apart from the chief pilot will have similar flying hours. All unscheduled days are assumed to be standby days in which the flight crew can be allocated to a flight within a short period of time. Priority will be given to reserve crew who will be stationed at the airport assisting with operations of flights and will be used first to cover any shortages in staff. However if a further shortage of flight crews is realised then any flight crew on standby can be called into duty. Both reserve crew and standby crew are to go without pay however reserve crew must be at the airport in full uniform. Reserve crew will be given meals at expense to the airline. Crews who are rostered as Reserve Ltd are limited in their ability as they cannot take over a flight pattern for more than one day as it will interrupt the normal schedule. Hence these days which only have reserve limited crew are much more susceptible to delays for the next coming day as the pilot may not be where they are normally rostered. Flight crew using wide body jets are paid significantly more than narrow body jet due to the long haul nature. Because of this long haul there is less availability to fly more routes and hence the crew wage is a multiple. The flight crew is also paid by block hours rather than duty hours and once again if crew is to stay overnight the current wage already includes a multiple that takes this into consideration. Accommodation is provided for flight and cabin crew at the airlines expense. Cabin crew will be rostered separately to the flight crew due to their own set of regulation circumstances which is not included in this report.

Children with Autism :: Autism Brain Disorder Essays

Children with Autism Abstract By identifying autism, many other facts are then discovered including the different effects of autism and the way it can be treated. Children with autism will mostly always experience language problems, restricted interests and activities, as well as sensory and intellectual problems. This occurs because of a brain disorder that influences the way the brain uses the information. Although some children with autism do not speak at all, that doesn’t mean that none of the patients speak. Some may repeat words or mimic sentences or phrases they have observed from someone else. As of yet there is no cure for autism, but there is a great amount of different medications that work very well at reducing the symptoms. Thesis Occurring in all races and social backgrounds around the world, autism is found four times more often in boys and usually the first-born (Autism Society Manitoba, 2001). According to Edition 5 of Mosby’s Medical, Nursing and Allied Health Dictionary, autism is a mental disorder characterized by extreme withdrawal and an abnormal absorption in fantasy, accompanied by delusion, hallucination, and inability to communicate verbally or otherwise relate to people. It is a lifelong disorder that obstructs ones capability to comprehend what is seen, heard, and touched. This causes profound problems in personal behavior and in the ability to relate to others. One with autism must learn how to communicate appropriately and to relate to people, objects and events. Even though a lot of patients that undergo autism have a lot of similar indications, they do not all suffer from the same degree of impairment. There is a full spectrum of symptoms, which can range from mild to severe (NA AR, 2002). Autism occurs in as many as one or two per one thousand people. Of those people, approximately fifty percent will never speak. By identifying autism many other facts are then discovered including the different effects of autism and the way it can be treated. Autism is a brain disorder that influences the way the brain uses and transmits information. Studies have found abnormalities in several parts of the brain that almost certainly occurred during fetal development. The problem may be centered in the parts of the brain responsible for processing language and information from the senses. One with autism will have language problems, restricted interests and activities, as well as sensory and intellectual problems (Cohen, 1987).

In the Time of the Butterflies By Julia Alvaraz Essay

Organizational Patterns: In the Time of the Butterflies is organized into three parts—Part I, Part II, and Part III. These parts are followed by an Epilogue critical to the story. Each part of the book consists of four chapters, each chapter is told by a different narrator. The narrators are the four Mirabal sisters (aka the butterflies), Dede, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Patria. As each chapter changes narrators, bits and pieces of the story are revealed as each different personality finds different facts important. Dede, Minerva, and Patria all use a standard narration, but Maria’s narration is related through her journal: she includes drawings, dates, pictures, and more trivial and personal experiences of her days. Maria’s chapters add something a little unique and therefore contribute to the creativity and interest of the story. Narrator: Dede is the leading character as she is the only sister who is not claimed by the martyrdom. The narration begins in second person with Dede in her current time (1994), relating the story of the butterflies by going back in time. Each sister then begins taking her turn, rotating chapters, narrating in first person. With Dede, Minerva, Patria, and Maria all taking a turn by chapter, each girl’s distinct personality and voice adds variety and excitement to the book. The story then does well to validate a large audience who will most likely find some of themselves in a particular sister, or in the sisters combined. Themes: Sacrifice – The central theme of this book is sacrifice; sacrificing oneself for the greater good, for others, and for one’s country. Throughout the entire novel the Mirabal sisters are exemplars of this as they sacrifice of their time, energy, and hearts to help not only the ones they love, but the many strangers about them who are suffering political injustice and violence. Minerva, who becomes a political icon and some sort of a hero because of her fighting spirit and call to action, consistently sacrifices herself in her combat of injustice, and expects the same of those around her. Her sisters follow her lead in sacrificing themselves through her persuasion and passion for what is right. Political Control – The book resonates with political chains and injustice. All people in the Dominican Republic in this time period, the early and middle 1900’s, lived in constant fear of the way they spoke and the way they lived. The dictator of the time—Trujillo—had planted spies and technology within hearing range of most public homes. If for any reason Trujillo was to suspect a person or family of political disloyalty the suspects would disappear, being sent to either prison or their death. Throughout the book superficiality and fear are continually exhibited through the public who are forced to worship and praise a bloodthirsty dictator or fear for their lives. Loyalty – Many different forms of loyalty are addressed in the book through those fighting for freedom and those fighting for power. The Mirabal family displays strong loyalty and love as they do not allow a political system to tear them apart. At all costs they fight for one another and prove the importance of family, devotion, and forgiveness. The opposing side also displays a different kind of loyalty as loyalty is forced through fear. The superficial loyalty of the government stands in stark contrast to the chosen loyalty of friends and family members. Identity – There is a strong sense of identity throughout the book as each Mirabal sisters’ personality and value system is related in the different chapters. There is an obvious struggle in each sister as she must determine who she is, which side she is on, and what she will stand for. Detailed and intimate conflicts are related as each girl interacts with the people around her, and decides the kind of life she will lead. Choosing the course that is best for all and contributes to the greater good, rather than focusing on just the individual, is stressed. Each sister succeeds in finding a strong and accomplishing individuality through the help and encouragement of each other. Regret and inner battles are something each girl deals with immensely as she struggles to choose the right course for herself, and her conscience. High contribution and expectation are placed upon each sister as they succeed in living up to a strong sense of purpose and identity. Setting: The setting of the book takes place in the Dominican Republic. Because the book relates two different time periods as Dede gives the present view and the relation of the story by going back in time, the time periods and situations do change. When Dede goes back in time the years are 1938-1960 where dictator Trujillo has control of the country. In this setting the political unrest and fear of the people are very high. The Mirabals begin as a regular family who then gradually become famous in this time period through their noncompliance with the government and â€Å"radical† political views. Dede also relates her present circumstances in the year 1994 throughout the book. In this this time period the effect and fame of the Mirabals are related as current political icons and martyrs in a now free Dominican Republic. The two different settings accomplish cause and effect. The cause of the Mirabals is related in the first setting and time period of the book, and the effect of their action is displayed in the second and current time period for Dede. Tone: The tone of the book is one of action and enjoyment. As the Mirabal sisters choose a dangerous and outspoken course the book becomes very high spirited. Through many adventures, love stories, relationships, and sorrows, reader is called to a more active lifestyle with high expectation. While the book deals with very dangerous situations ultimately resulting in death, somehow it is also able to keep a tone of love, loyalty, and pleasure through the optimism and energy of the sisters. A tone of willpower definitely comes forth, most highly exemplified through the character of Minerva. Foreshadowing: As the main narrator Dede relates the story of the butterflies through a second person narration as a moment in history, and because she is relating history she knows where the story will go and how it ends. This being the case, there are many moments of foreshadowing through flashbacks as Dede remembers certain parts of the story. Following are a few examples of Dede’s foreshadowing: Chapter 1 -Dede’s garden (year 1994) foreshadows the ending of her sisters, or â€Å"the butterflies†, when she realizes she has accidentally, â€Å"snipped her prize butterfly orchid† (5). -A foreshadowing of the history Dede experienced when she hears a car door slam and jumps, â€Å"Any Dominican of a certain generation would have jumped at that gunshot sound† (5). -Foreshadowed is the inability to freely express oneself in the historical time period to be told, â€Å"Words repeated, distorted, words recreated by those who might bear them a grudge, words stitched to words until they are the winding sheet the family will be buried in when their bodies are found dumped in a ditch, their tongues cut off for speaking too much† (10). The sisters all take part in foreshadowing their future martyrdom as political unrest and their involvement proceed: -Maria comments in her journal early on of her most radical sister Minerva, â€Å"I swear my older sister will be the death of me!† (39) Minerva does end up swaying Maria into the underground fight that ultimately does result in her death. -After the first couple encounters with the dangerous Trujillo, Minerva writes of her family, â€Å"We sit silently, listening to the rain on the thatched roof, a numb, damp, fatalistic feeling among us. Something has started none of us can stop† (116). -As Dede scolds her niece (Minerva’s daughter) at the present time about being on the road at night, she thinks, â€Å"If their mothers had only waited until the next morning to drive back over that deserted mountain road, they might still be alive to scold their own daughters about the dangers of driving at night† (173). -And Minerva as she is feeling the end near, â€Å"Certainly there was something suspicious in his granting us these privileges. But all I felt was numb, resigned, sitting in that stuffy office. Not only was there nothing in the world we could do to save the men, there was nothing in the world we could do to save ourselves either† (283). The sisters are murdered the next month. Affective Issues Related to the Work: Peer Pressure – There are ample amounts of peer pressure as these sisters face a highly energized time where every person must choose a side. Minerva is the sister that gives the most pressure to her other sisters as she works at persuading them to be strong and join her cause. The most inner conflict is seen in the character of Dede as she is torn by what her husband believes and what Minerva believes. Both are fighting for her loyalty. Dede wants to please everyone but finds that it is an impossible task. She is continually swayed back and forth as she battles her conscience about what side she should join. She feels she must be loyal to her husband and his opinion to stay out of the political issues, but then she feels a call morally to join her sister Minerva who is fighting against evil. She never quite finds the solution or a single path to follow, but ends up finding a good in between for herself. This is the more realistic case in most people’s world, and theref ore brings a strong sense of humanness as Dede experiences the power of influence, and the power of inner conscience. Most secondary students are dealing with the same issues and can relate to the pressures of pleasing both ourselves and others. Right and Wrong – There are many examples of people having to choose in quick moments between what is right and wrong. Minerva has an extremely strong sense of what is right and wrong and is continually fighting for fairness and truth. Patria is extremely religious and is guided always by her inner devotion to God. Maria is timid but consistently chooses a good path, and notices in others when they make bad or wrong choices. Dede also fights the same battle within to make choices that are right. All four girls are extremely guided by religion and doing what is right. Their complications and inner struggles are very real and relatable as each person ultimately chooses at some point the path they will choose. There are many good examples in the book of when one needs to stand up for what is right. All secondary students are battling with this same thing in their lives as they make decisions that will affect their character for the rest of their lives, and as they decide whether they will stand for what is right, or for what is wrong. Self Discovery – Because each sister is able to have her turn at narrating, there is a strong sense of self discovery as very personal details of their lives are included. Each girl explains her childhood and the many paths that were before them, and the reasons why they chose the paths they did. The strongest example of self discovery would lie in the character of Patria as she feels an extreme devotion to God as a young child. Because of her extremely large heart and faith she is sent to a religious school where she can be guided in becoming a nun if that is the path she would choose. She is extremely devoted to God and continues to be devoted as she experiences puberty and all things that come with it. Very personally, but not graphically, she relates her desire to be touched as stronger than her desire to become a nun. She chooses to love a man instead of becoming a nun, gets married to her love, and begins having children. She remains extremely faithful religiously and never regrets the path she chooses as she discovers the things she really wants from life. Vocabulary Issues: The book is fairly easy to read on terms of vocabulary; however Spanish is consistently mixed in throughout the book. The story does take place in the Dominican Republic, where the standard language is Spanish, so often Spanish expressions and words are used by the characters. Reader does not need to understand these words to understand the novel by any means, however understanding the few Spanish words would be helpful. It might be nice as a class to either go over the Spanish words together after each reading, or simply have a list typed of all the Spanish used in the book, with English translations for students to refer to as they read. There are a few words that are used repetitively and so should be addressed in the beginning. Males are often referred to as macho—the Spanish word for male. Also the butterflies are referred to as las mariposas—the Spanish word for butterflies. Background Knowledge: Author Julia Alvarez does a fantastic job at explaining the state of political unrest and depicting the power of a government run by a dictator in this historical novel. While background knowledge is not necessary because the book contains good recounting of the history in question with much explanation, background information could still be helpful. One’s interest may be peaked upon learning of the butterflies, the underground political system, Trujillo and his government etc†¦ and their actual role in history. Because the historical facts are so interesting it could be very fun to give a build up lesson or two teaching about dictators and government in general and the power they have successfully gained in the past. Followed by this general outline of government, the specific time period of the book could then be searched and taught about. The characters themselves would be very interesting to study and to learn of in a more historical and brief way before the book is read. This book offers many outside lessons as it deals with actual history, social problems, and real people. Many doors are opened for outside lessons to understand the novel more clearly. Implications for Students of Diversity: This is a great book for students of diversity as it takes place in a different country, with darker colored people, who speak a different language. The book is an experience that the majority of students in the class will be unfamiliar with. Because the majority of minorities in the United States right now are Spanish speakers, this book will be of more interest to them as the characters use Spanish throughout the book and are living in a Spanish culture. It is fun to read this book as a minority because these girls are heroines of a different ethnicity. It would also be helpful to have some of the Spanish speaking students in the class contribute in translating some of the words or explaining the culture for the class if they are acquainted with some of the traditions. This will be a good opportunity for these students of diversity to better acquaint themselves and their background with their classmates. It will also be a good opportunity for the majority of the class to experience and learn about a history and lifestyle other than their own. Gender Issues: Gender issues are addressed strongly throughout the book mainly because the main characters in the story are women. Not only are they women, they are women experiencing the mid 1900’s, they are outspoken, and they are extremely active in areas that women were not usually active in. Minerva time and time again undermines the authority of Trujillo, not just a male but also the leading dictator. The father of the Mirabal girls passionately loves his daughters, but often references to wishing he had sons as they are the preferred gender. Men are shown at their worst often in the story sometimes exuding a feministic tone. Maria continually includes in her journal how she hates men, as she has reason, having seen adultery committed by the men closest to her. Each sister is extremely independent often undermining any kind of authority their husbands â€Å"should† have. The sisters are extremely ahead of their time when it comes to the woman question, and it is referenced again and again throughout the novel. While there are hints of feminism throughout the novel, there is also an extreme devotion of the Mirabal sisters to their father and husbands. Forgiveness plays a key role in the relationships as it should in most relationships, and therefore does not truly exhibit negativity towards men or these relationships. The girls are strong, but still extremely loyal and loving of their male counterparts. The Central Question or Enduring Issue: The central question or enduring issue of this novel would have to do with choice. Each person chooses his or her path. Each person decides their own fate according to what is inside of them, and what the outside circumstances would require. In more of a question form perhaps, when does one act? When does one stand up and manifest who they are? Every person has agency and practices it each day. The Mirabal sisters chose a higher route. They used their agency to battle the fight against evil. They chose to make something of themselves bit by bit in every little decision they made that led to the big decisions in the end. Humans everywhere settle for mediocrity, but a better question might be, when is mediocrity not enough? When does one use his or her agency to accomplish something greater? The battle of right and wrong is everywhere, and the Mirabal sisters chose the path for right. Research Issues/Project Ideas: Because of the historical richness of the novel there are many opportunities for research papers. Students could research the dictator Trujillo, the history of government in the Dominican Republic, the time period, specific characters, the accuracy of the novel in comparison to the facts, the effect of the Mirabal sisters, whether the legend lives on etc†¦ Projects might include expressions of art using the theme of butterflies, or using the different personalities of each sister, characterization in the form of art or a paper on a favorite sister. Other options for papers are available in the form of a compare and contrast essay between the student and a chosen character, or two characters form the novel, a creative writing paper including a new character or an expansion of the chapters on one of the sisters, a paper on a chosen theme or issue, social problems could be studied, feminism could be written about, the relationships between the men and women could be written about etc†¦ The topics go on and on in this novel. Because of its perfect blend of characterization, plot, history, and social issues the opportunities seem endless! Informational/Functional Texts: Wikipedia gives a good intro and brief historical explanation of the book that might be a nice intro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Time_of_the_Butterflies This site gives a brief introduction to the government, history, and culture of the Dominican Republic to familiarize with the students: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107475.html This is a good picture of a map to help students see where the Dominican Republic is located and how close it is to the United States: http://www.islandbrides.com/maps/loc_dominican_republic.gif This site gives a wonderful introduction to In the Time of the Butterflies historically, followed by facts about Trujillo’s bloody reign. The facts are both graphic and eye opening as the destruction one man caused is related. This makes the Mirabal sisters even more admirable as the ruthlessness of Trujillo is accessed here: http://gbs.glenbrook.k12.il.us/Academics/gbseng2/ButterfliesAlvarez/trujillobutterflies.htm This is a wonderful site that con tains pictures of the Mirabal sisters, explains their lives, and their martyrdoms. There is also a picture of their murderer available—Trujillo. There is an English and Spanish option to read and learn more about the lives of the heroines: http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2000/sites/mirabal/mainpage.html

Individual Liberty v. Public Health essays

Individual Liberty v. Public Health essays In Typhoid Mary, Mary Mallon is isolated on North Brother Island from 1907 to 1910 and again from 1915 until she dies in 1938. Mary Mallon is striped of her civil liberties and is unwillingly quarantined to preserve public health. This brings about an interesting issue, an issue that is just as important today with regard to AIDS as it was nearly a century ago with typhoid. Many have suggested, then and now, that if an individual endangers the public health of the community that that persons liberties should become secondary to the safety of the community. However, people that contract diseases are unwilling victims of it and they too are members of the community. There must be a balance. While protecting the larger community, the individual must too be protected. Ones individual liberties should not be denied in order to protect public health. When facing a public health concern like a contagious disease, isolating people with the disease does not guarantee its elimination but it does rob these people of their freedoms. The purpose of this essay is to suggest that protecting an individuals liberties is just as important as protecting public health and that isolation should not be used as a method of preventing the spread of disease. Using two prime examples we will look at how isolation violates civil liberties. The first example is of Mary Mallons isolation. This example illustrates that a well-informed, cooperative carrier, can be a far more useful tool than isolation. The second example is of Cubas national HIV/AIDS containment program. From this example one can see the negative impact that isolation has on the stricken and the community and that isolation, as a means of preventing the spread of disease ultimately does not work. Mary Mallon arrives in the United States in 1896 at the age of fifteen. Although she is poorly educated and unskilled, Mallon is bright and spirited. She mov...

Free Essays on Sociolgy

pop into my head? I compiled a list of a few things that I would expect to find at Smith College based on my ideas about class. These included such things as prestige, comfort, space, attention, power, money, inf... Free Essays on Sociolgy Free Essays on Sociolgy We have all heard the phrase â€Å"money talks†. Have you ever wondered what it said? Well that all depends on how much of it you have, and where you plan on spending it. Money has a language that is translated through power and inequality. It is the transporter of goods and services, of knowledge and identity. It weaves its way through a system that bypasses some and leaves others with a hefty share. As it grows and divides, money finds itself entangled in everything, replacing morality with greed. It gets stronger and stronger, evolving into institutions, embedding itself in the brains of all that inhabit its world. For those who have been touched by the golden hands of prosperity, money provides shelter, a cloak of being that distinguishes them from the less fortunate. In order to keep the hierarchy stable, certain conditions are established, one of which is education. Here, the formal breeding ground of society is constructed in such a way that certain values are emphasiz ed amongst the various groups. These values will result in future status, career paths, and ability to succeed. This unique economic institution called education serves two very distinct purposes, to turn individuals into capital investments, and to perpetuate social class. In this paper, I will contrast Smith College and the University Of Massachusetts, and discuss the ways in which cultural and socio-economic class is exemplified in higher education. First of all, it is important to understand the many dimensions of class. When evaluating the dynamics of a school that is supposed to represent a higher class, we must first know what to look for. What are the social markers that indicate class in education? When I think of upper class, what types of words pop into my head? I compiled a list of a few things that I would expect to find at Smith College based on my ideas about class. These included such things as prestige, comfort, space, attention, power, money, inf...

Charles Darwins Biography

Charles Darwins Biography We are a part of a great life on our planet. For many years, we tried to understand the world, where we live. We also tried to find out the roots and the source of our appearance. Therefore, there were suggested many theories concerning the way of our appearance in the world.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Charles Darwins Biography specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some of these theories are well-known for us, and some of them are still hidden or, at least, hard to comprehend. Paying attention to the well-known theories of our origin, we can observe a great number of variants, each of which presents to us something new about our history and the way, how we entered this great and interesting world. There should be also admitted that in different times, there were different theories that were considered to be the only true variants of our origin and some of them were still regarded to be false. In spite of the fact tha t some religious conservatives reject Darwin’s theories (Gelernter et al. 52), Darwin with his ideas is well-known all around the world. His theories enjoy wide popularity among representatives of different cultures and nations. His book â€Å"The Origin of Species† presented a new way of understanding our origin and our life. However, there are still many issues in Darwin’s work, which have to be analyzed and be better understood by us. Therefore, there can be observed many attempts to understand Darwin: Darwin’s theory touches upon very difficult and important things and observe different ways of using the word â€Å"nature†. To comprehend Darwin’s ideas and intentions, it is very important to understand his world and his attitude to this life and to realize that by Darwin, nature is a great part of us. The first thing that is very important for understanding Darwin is the analysis of his life, the way he worked and understood this great w orld. We know that Darwin lived in the industrial world, and we can observe the facts, which reflect this in his works, when he uses metaphors reflected the world of business, factories and the empire (Crook 160). Therefore, that is necessary to mention that such a situation influenced Darwin very much, as that is not possible to live and to work without feeling the influence of time. That is also possible to suppose that Darwin tried to compare the system that exits in nature and in business. Because in his works we can observe the situation that all the species live in great competition, and that is why some species can change some other species (Darwin 67-90). The same situation we can observe in the sphere of business. So, we can say that Darwin tried to see and to understand the world through the glasses of the time, when he lived and worked. Such a statement is very important for understanding Darwin.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The other thing that is quiet necessary for understanding Darwin is the meaning of the word â€Å"nature† in his work. For all of us, the word â€Å"nature† means something very important and necessary. However, each person understands the meaning of this world in different ways. And such a situation can be explained with the fact that that is almost impossible to give one general explanation to this word. Many people use this word as the second possible name of the world. Some people think that nature is just a small part of our great world. As for Darwin, here we can say that he uses the word â€Å"nature† in different ways. For example, he uses this word in order to show our word: â€Å"†¦ in the hands of man, apply in nature†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Darwin 67). In this situation, we can understand the word â€Å"nature† in the meaning of the whole world. This meaning is quiet understandabl e and clear for us. That is also possible to say that Darwin understands and really thinks that nature is the world, where we live and where we create something new. That means that we can influence this world. We can change something in many different ways. There is also an idea that the time of Darwin was reflected in his works. As in the industrial world people tried to change the world very much in order to make it more convenient for their life. Darwin tried to show that people always tried to change the world, as that was possible to do that. Therefore, we understand nature as just the world where we live and which we try to change according to our own desires. We can also observe such meaning of the word â€Å"nature† in the next Darwin’s words from his work â€Å"The Origin of Species†: â€Å"†¦we should then have places in the economy of nature †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Darwin 67-90). Here we can also observe the situation when Darwin understands nature as our world, with its important components and systems. We just take this world and live in it, of course, changing it according to our way of life. For example, when talking about different species, Darwin states that they all already exist in nature, in our world, by some of them disappear and some new species appear (Darwin 67-90). Therefore, we can say that we can change this world and even create some other one. At the same time Darwin uses the word â€Å"nature† in some other meaning. For example, in the Darwin’s words: â€Å"†¦ so could Nature but far more easily†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Darwin 67-90).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Charles Darwins Biography specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Here, nature stands as a great power that is much stronger than man is. Therefore, Darwin writes this word with the capital letter in order to show its importance and value. The great power of Nature can change na ture as our world, according to its own plans. In addition, that is necessary to mention that in the text Darwin uses the pronoun â€Å"she† instead of the word â€Å"Nature† (Darwin 67-90). In this way he shows that Nature is something alive and that it exists and lives together with man and all other species. We can also observe the word â€Å"Nature† in the next part of the text of â€Å"The Origin of Species†: â€Å"†¦Nature cares nothing for appearances†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Darwin 67-90). Here that can be understood that Nature cannot be seen but it can be felt, and that man can be seen but he cannot influence his life from the inside Darwin 67-90). From these words we can understand that Nature and man act in different spheres and planes. Nature is something very important and very necessary for our life, and we cannot do something without it, as it created us. Therefore, that is quiet wrong to think that man is the lord of the world. Everything in the world is just under control of Nature. That is necessary to say that Darwin tried to show the role of Nature and the role of man in our world. In The Decent of Man, Darwin evaluated a change as something of â€Å"a quite unexpected nature† (Darwin et al., 100). Comparing Nature and nature, we can say that Darwin showed nature as the world where we live, and Nature as the power that exists in all spheres and areas of this world. He also wanted to show that man lives between nature and Nature, as he lives in this world, changes it, but , of course, in accordance with the rules of Nature. Therefore, man can change nature, and Nature can change man. However, this power of Nature is difficult for understanding. We can change nature, and in this way we can make other species appear or disappear (Darwin 67-90). However, Nature can change us. For example, the power of Nature can change a climate of countries, and in this way Nature can change our conditions of life, and we are po werless not to let Nature do that (Darwin 67-90). We can also take weather. We cannot make it rain or snow, and at the same time we cannot make it stop raining or snowing. In such a situation we can really see that we are powerless, and that we are just creatures of Nature. Therefore, Nature is a really great power that can do everything with this world. Therefore, some people are really afraid of this power, as it can destroy us. That is important to say that such fears are right, as nowadays we can observe many catastrophes that cannot be prevented by man. Darwin understood the existence of the great power of Nature. And using the word â€Å"nature† in different ways, Darwin wanted to show that there is the world where we live, and that there is the great power of Nature that influences our lives.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Comparison of these two meanings of the word â€Å"nature† is very important for understanding Darwin’s theory, as he wanted to show not just the way of our origin and the world where we live, but also he wanted to show as the great power of Nature. In this way Darwin wanted to show us that we are not the masters of this world, and that we are just a great part of it. In conclusion, that is possible to say that we all live in nature, and sometimes we do really think that we are the lords of this world, and that we can do everything with it, but we are mistaken. Very often, these mistakes bring us to catastrophes. Nevertheless, there are many people, who try to understand the real course of nature. Among these people we can observe Darwin, who tried to show to the whole world the real nature and the real situation in the world. We should try to understand him, and in order to do that we should investigate the questions of Darwin’s work very attentively. For examp le, we should try to understand how Darwin sees the nature, how he understands it. Taking into consideration our observations, we can say that there were different variants of nature in Darwin’s works. Understanding of these variants is very important for understanding Darwin. That is clear that Darwin’s theories can help us to make more right actions and to understand that not everything in this world is under our control. We should try to live in agreement with the great power of Nature, by means of not destroying its other creature – our great world. Darwin was a very great scientist, who made a very great contribution into the development of our world. We should study his works, in order to understand this world better. Our life is in our hands. However, we should take into account the rest parts of this world. Nature is our home, and that is also a home for many other species. Therefore we should not be the only masters of this world. Crook, Paul. Darwins Origin of Species: A Biography. The Australian Journal of Politics and History 53.1 (2007): 160+. Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species. Ed. Gillian Beer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Dawrin, Charles, Zimmer, Carl, and Waal, Frans. The Decent of Man. New York: Plume, 2007. Gelernter, David, Thomas Fleming, Michael Behe, and John O. Mcginnis. The Descent of Man: Can Conservative Concepts Be Derived from Evolution? Critics Respond to John O. McGinnis. National Review 9 Mar. 1998: 52+.

Employee Selection and Performance Measurement Essay

Employee Selection and Performance Measurement - Essay Example Therfore, Microsoft uses the content and construct validity approaches to select the most suitable applicants for a particular job. Microsoft conducts a thorough background check of each employee that it recruits. It does not employ discrimination in selection process as it uses the person-organization fit approach. Thus, it ensures that it is free from any legal or ethical issues that may arise from its human resource management activities. Furthermore, it fully ensures that all its online and offline interview questions are designed in a legal manner that encourage diversity in its workplace. Microsoft’s policies are designed in a way that they ensure that human resource activities including employee appraisal programs are employee friendly.In the knowledge economy the competitive advantage of a business is its human resources. This increases the challenges posed to the organizations to be selective and open minded in making their decisions regarding recruitment of employees and forming their strategies for their selection processes, choosing the most effective and relevant performance appraisal method and compensating and rewarding the employees accordingly. Both employee selection and their performance appraisal plays a critical role in the organizational productivity and profitability. The selection phase determines the right employees for the right job and performance appraisals determine their loyalty and therefore, retention in the organization for a long period of time. This report aims to examine the selection and performance appraisal program employed in Microsoft Corporation. I am familiar with the processes through which the employees are selected and their performance is measured in Microsoft Corp. Headquartered in Washington, USA, Microsoft is an American based Multinational Company having offices worldwide. It operates in a diverse range of industries including computer software, consumer electronics, digital distribution, computer hardwa re IT consulting, video games, online advertising, retail stores and automotive software. As of 2011, Microsoft employees 90,000 individuals around the globe. The report will conduct a literature review of the existing literature available on employee selection, performance appraisal methods used in practice and their legal or ethical implications. The report will next examine these practices in Microsoft Corporation and investigate strengths and any weaknesses existing in the current practice of the organization. In the end, the report will provide preliminary recommendations based on the analysis and provide a reflection of the study. 2 Processes Used for Employee Selection and Performance Measurement in Microsoft Corporation Bohlander, Carson and Kinicki (1992) argued that there is a misunderstanding in the world among the personnel

Importance of Psychology in Nursing Dissertation - 1

Importance of Psychology in Nursing - Dissertation Example With its over-arching knowledge and general applicability to various discourses, psychology has been successful in having an impact on the profession of nursing as well. The profession of nursing entails, â€Å"the use of clinical judgment in the provision of care to enable people to improve, maintain, or recover health, to cope with health problems and to achieve the best possible quality of life whatever their disease or disability until death† (Glasper & Richardson, pp. 95, 2006). As obvious from this definition, nursing is inevitably related to psychology and its inferences since it does not only deal with humans (patients) but also has a critical impact on how nurses deal with different patients, as well as on the element of care and strategies that focus on the stimulation of quicker recovery. Thus, in all aspects, psychology and nursing are highly interrelated with one affecting the performance of the other. However, there is more to it than just the element of care and its psychological underlying themes. What is particularly interesting, especially in the light of modern advancements in career planning and professional motivations is the issue of gender in nursing. Recently, what was considered to be only women’s profession, first of prostitutes and nuns and later on, by the virtue of Florence Nightingale, of decent educated and cultures young women, is now profession of young men. In specific, there has been a significant rise in number of male nurses in the past decade globally. Interesting to note; however, are the differences and similarities between these trends and behaviors of caring and treating the patients by male and female nurses individually (Miers, 2000). In this regard, this paper will attempt to discover these differences and trends and identify response patterns particular to each of them.

PM Company (International Business Practices) Essay

PM Company (International Business Practices) - Essay Example The balance between two types is an effective method for PM Company, because it is closely related to delegation of authority and is concerned with what should be transferred down, what policies are needed to guide actions and the need to train and select people and control their actions. Decentralization is closely related to delegation, but it includes all areas of management and requires a great deal more than handing authority to subordinates. In contrast to centralization, decentralization will help to avoid duplication of efforts, and overcome lack of sufficient flexibility to permit immediate reactions to local problems. New strategy will require additional spending and staff, a new department of international trade and opening new offices abroad. Organizational activities should be organized into separate product businesses, each having its own market and responsible for its own profit or loss. In general, this strategy will help PM Company to penetrate new markets faster and attract wider target audience delivering a wide range of the company's products. Using this organizational structure, PM Company can extend its international expansion plans, and cover more foreign countries, for instance, European and Asian market.

Moving Image- Films Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Moving Image- Films - Research Paper Example The current outflow of talents from Mexico is as diverse as it is compelling. From the likes of actors such as Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal who have received acclaim internationally through the movie â€Å"Y Tu Mama Tambien† (And Your Mother Too) to the breakthrough of directors Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron and other prominent talents such as screenwriter and director Guillermo Arriaga. The contribution of Mexico to the world of film is more than notable. Quite possibly one of the most influential directos of all time, Luis Buà ±uel, who although was born in Spain worked for most of his life in France and Mexico. Known for his surrealist take into directing and as evident in his films, Buà ±uel was known for being an inspiration to other well-loved directors of all-time such as Alfred Hitchcock and Devid Cronenberg. His style is often attributed to an uncomplicated and elegant touch oscillating back and forth between its unusual intricacies (Walls, par. 3). Known as the film industry’s founder of the Surrealists, Buà ±uel won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1972 for the movie The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. He is also known for collaborating with another famous Spaniard Salvador Dali during the 1920’s. Although he scorned his previous works in comparison to the ones he made in France where he was provided with augmented budgets and an almost complete artistic freedom, the grit of his earlier works makes much for his compelling artistry. Later on in his career, his films had such an aura of complacency about them. Maybe this is due to the artist’s warranted comfort and contentment in his career (Walls, par.4-5). The year 1992 marked an enormous hit to the movie industry of Mexico. Seeing the slump of movie making, former president Carlos Salinas removed the limit on the prices of tickets, gave up control on government-owned theaters and completely opened the market to Hollywood films. Deregulation brought forth three adverse

Community Project that is Hand Washing Education from Kindergarten to Term Paper

Community Project that is Hand Washing Education from Kindergarten to 3rd Grade - Term Paper Example diseases which might be caused due to improper hand-washing practices, a plan needs to be proposed for creating awareness within the Carroll community and also would involve a number of definite activities. Each activity will be highly focused towards demonstrating the significance of hand-washing for the kindergartens and grade 3 children within the various areas of the community. A large number of proposed events will be executed in different locations which would entail school and community based programs with respect to creating awareness concerning the needs of hand-washing for the children within the Carroll community. Kindergarten significantly refers to the education program intended for the children in their preschool periods. The proposed planning for providing educational program related to the significance of hand-washing will include certain activities for the kindergarten till grade 3 children across the Carroll community. The proposed plan will involve certain objectiv es such as, general information that is when to wash hands, the actual process of washing hands along with the use of appropriate soap and liquid materials and miscellaneous information regarding prevention of probable diseases (Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services, 2008). General Information The general information of the awareness program will include various information and impacts related to germs which give rise to a number of physical ailments. With this concern, the hand-washing education program for the kindergartens in the Carroll community will highly focus to deliver the information regarding the negative influences of the germs. The awareness program will be focused to provide information on various communicable diseases to all the government as well as privately... This paper stresses that the hand-washing education program can be considered to be one of the foremost exercises for the kindergarten children to keep them away from the adverse affects of bacterial and other infectious diseases. With this concern, the program will be beneficial for this segment within the Carroll community in order to educate them towards fighting against the germs which are hidden in the skin. The hands are measured to be one of the major carriers of various types of germs from other person or environment to the body. Hands can pick up microorganism from objects that are touched by other persons which might create a vulnerable condition for the human body. Therefore, an appropriate process of hand-washing can be highly considered to be necessary in order to prevent various types of germs that are transferred from the environment or any other subjects. This report makes a conclusion that the hand-washing education program for the kindergarten to grade 3 children can also be considered as one of the major steps for communicating the significance of hand-washing along with the other major issues that might get prompted due to non-washing or inappropriate washing of hands. However, it is also important to address a standard health need along with an effective support of the stakeholders in terms of conducting hand-washing education program for any community.

Care of the Patient in the Surgical Environment Essay

Care of the Patient in the Surgical Environment - Essay Example It will also demonstrate skills to use equipment within the operating theatre and knowledge in associated dangers. Body The patient Patient Miss WC (not her real name) is an 82-year-old female who was having surgery after having fallen outside her house while waiting to cross the road during the morning hours. To safeguard her anonymity and confidentiality, she will be referred as Patient WC. Such confidentiality is being maintained in order to protect her identity and maintain her confidence in the nursing research and practice. She was diagnosed with a medial malleolus fracture in her right ankle and was scheduled to undergo an internal fixation of her fracture. She has been widowed for five years now, has two children, and a generally active social life. She is active in the local community social gatherings, joining her fellow senior citizens in various activities like ballroom dancing. In recent years since her husband’s death, she has minimized her involvement in the soc ial activities, mostly because she still feels saddened and lonely about losing her husband of 50 years. She also has limited her physical and social activities because she often feels easily tired and exhausted when engaging in her usual activities. She has no known medical problems, has had no previous operations, and no known allergies. Before her fracture, she has been independently mobile and has been generally carrying out her activities of daily living independently. At present, due to her injury, she has limited mobility and needs assistance in her daily activities. The initial assessment indicated that her BP was at 140/90; her height was 5 foot 4 inches and her weight was at 150 pounds placing her BMI at normal; heart rate at 75 bpm; breaths rate at 22 breaths per minute; and her temperature at 36.5 degrees Celsius. The fracture of her medial malleolus (right) is basically a fracture of her ankle. A medial malleolus fracture represents a fracture of the body processes in t he inner area of her ankle, known as the medial malleolus (Physio Advisor, 2008). The lower leg has the two long bones of the tibia and the fibula and the tibia has a bony process found in the inner aspect of the ankle, and such is known as the medial malleolus. In certain activities, stress is often placed on the tibia and the medial malleolus and this stress cause the medial malleolus to break (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). These breaks often occur in rolled ankles in instances of significant weight bearing forces. They may also be apparent during awkward landings from a jump, from falls following a direct blow to the front aspect of the ankle. It is a fracture common in running and jumping sports, usually with changes in direction in sports activities like football, soccer, rugby, and basketball (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). Patients with a medial malleolus fracture often express that they experience the sudden onset of a sharp and intense pain in the inner ankle or lower leg during their injur y (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). For some patients, limping is possible soon after their injury, but for some others, weight-bearing is often not possible, especially where their malleolus is misplaced. These patients may often experience swelling in their ankle, including bruising and pain on firm touching (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). Pain is often exacerbated by movements or with standing and walking.

Moving Image- Films Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Moving Image- Films - Research Paper Example The current outflow of talents from Mexico is as diverse as it is compelling. From the likes of actors such as Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal who have received acclaim internationally through the movie â€Å"Y Tu Mama Tambien† (And Your Mother Too) to the breakthrough of directors Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron and other prominent talents such as screenwriter and director Guillermo Arriaga. The contribution of Mexico to the world of film is more than notable. Quite possibly one of the most influential directos of all time, Luis Buà ±uel, who although was born in Spain worked for most of his life in France and Mexico. Known for his surrealist take into directing and as evident in his films, Buà ±uel was known for being an inspiration to other well-loved directors of all-time such as Alfred Hitchcock and Devid Cronenberg. His style is often attributed to an uncomplicated and elegant touch oscillating back and forth between its unusual intricacies (Walls, par. 3). Known as the film industry’s founder of the Surrealists, Buà ±uel won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1972 for the movie The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. He is also known for collaborating with another famous Spaniard Salvador Dali during the 1920’s. Although he scorned his previous works in comparison to the ones he made in France where he was provided with augmented budgets and an almost complete artistic freedom, the grit of his earlier works makes much for his compelling artistry. Later on in his career, his films had such an aura of complacency about them. Maybe this is due to the artist’s warranted comfort and contentment in his career (Walls, par.4-5). The year 1992 marked an enormous hit to the movie industry of Mexico. Seeing the slump of movie making, former president Carlos Salinas removed the limit on the prices of tickets, gave up control on government-owned theaters and completely opened the market to Hollywood films. Deregulation brought forth three adverse

Care of the Patient in the Surgical Environment Essay

Care of the Patient in the Surgical Environment - Essay Example It will also demonstrate skills to use equipment within the operating theatre and knowledge in associated dangers. Body The patient Patient Miss WC (not her real name) is an 82-year-old female who was having surgery after having fallen outside her house while waiting to cross the road during the morning hours. To safeguard her anonymity and confidentiality, she will be referred as Patient WC. Such confidentiality is being maintained in order to protect her identity and maintain her confidence in the nursing research and practice. She was diagnosed with a medial malleolus fracture in her right ankle and was scheduled to undergo an internal fixation of her fracture. She has been widowed for five years now, has two children, and a generally active social life. She is active in the local community social gatherings, joining her fellow senior citizens in various activities like ballroom dancing. In recent years since her husband’s death, she has minimized her involvement in the soc ial activities, mostly because she still feels saddened and lonely about losing her husband of 50 years. She also has limited her physical and social activities because she often feels easily tired and exhausted when engaging in her usual activities. She has no known medical problems, has had no previous operations, and no known allergies. Before her fracture, she has been independently mobile and has been generally carrying out her activities of daily living independently. At present, due to her injury, she has limited mobility and needs assistance in her daily activities. The initial assessment indicated that her BP was at 140/90; her height was 5 foot 4 inches and her weight was at 150 pounds placing her BMI at normal; heart rate at 75 bpm; breaths rate at 22 breaths per minute; and her temperature at 36.5 degrees Celsius. The fracture of her medial malleolus (right) is basically a fracture of her ankle. A medial malleolus fracture represents a fracture of the body processes in t he inner area of her ankle, known as the medial malleolus (Physio Advisor, 2008). The lower leg has the two long bones of the tibia and the fibula and the tibia has a bony process found in the inner aspect of the ankle, and such is known as the medial malleolus. In certain activities, stress is often placed on the tibia and the medial malleolus and this stress cause the medial malleolus to break (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). These breaks often occur in rolled ankles in instances of significant weight bearing forces. They may also be apparent during awkward landings from a jump, from falls following a direct blow to the front aspect of the ankle. It is a fracture common in running and jumping sports, usually with changes in direction in sports activities like football, soccer, rugby, and basketball (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). Patients with a medial malleolus fracture often express that they experience the sudden onset of a sharp and intense pain in the inner ankle or lower leg during their injur y (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). For some patients, limping is possible soon after their injury, but for some others, weight-bearing is often not possible, especially where their malleolus is misplaced. These patients may often experience swelling in their ankle, including bruising and pain on firm touching (PhysioAdvisor, 2008). Pain is often exacerbated by movements or with standing and walking.

Mergers and Acquisitions and Market Share Essay Example for Free

Mergers and Acquisitions and Market Share Essay Mergers and Acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly without having to create another business entity. A merger is a combination of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another in which no new company is formed. Definition The main idea: â€Å"One plus one makes three†. The equation is specially based on Merger or Acquisition. The key principle behind buying a company is to create share holder value over and above that of the sum of the two companies. Two companies together are more valuable than two separate companies together. 1. Acquisition: An acquisition is the purchase of one company by another company. Acquisitions are actions through which companies seek economies of scale, efficiencies and enhanced market visibility. All acquisitions involve one firm purchasing another there is no exchange of stock or consolidation as a new company. Acquisitions are often congenial, and all parties feel satisfied with the deal. Acquisition has become one of the most popular ways since 1990. Companies choose to grow by acquiring others to increase market share, to gain access to promising new technologies, to achieve synergies in their operations, to tap well-developed distribution channels, to obtain control of undervalued assets, and a myriad of other reasons. So, because of the appeal of instant growth, acquisition is an increasingly common way to expand. 2. Mergers: The combining of two or more entities into one is called merger. Therefore, a merger happens when two firms agree to go forward as a single new company rather than remain separately owned and operated. What makes Mergers and Acquisitions? These motives are considered for making of mergers and acquisitions: 1. Economy of scale: This refers to the fact that the combined company can often reduce its fixed costs by removing duplicate departments or operations, lowering the costs of the company relative to the same revenue stream, thus increasing profit margins. 2. Economy of scope: This refers to the efficiencies primarily associated with demand-side changes, such as increasing 3. Synergy: Better use of complementary resources. 4. Taxes: A profitable company can buy a loss maker to use the targets loss as their advantage by reducing their tax liability. 5. Geographical Diversification: This is designed to smooth the earnings results of a company, which over the long term smoothen the stock price of a company, giving conservative investors more confidence in investing in the company. 6. Empire building: Managers have larger companies to manage and hence more power. 7. Increased revenue or market share: This assumes that the buyer will be absorbing a major competitor and thus increase its market power (by capturing increased market share) to set prices. 8. Cross-selling: For example, a bank buying a stock broker could then sell its banking products to the stock brokers customers, while the broker can sign up the banks customers for brokerage accounts. Or, a manufacturer can acquire and sell complementary products. 9. Resource Transfer: Resources are unevenly distributed across firms and the interaction of target and acquiring firm resources can create value through either overcoming information asymmetry or by combining scarce resources.

Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram

Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram Make Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram by Cooperative Algorithm based on AFSA and Fuzzy Logic Image segmentation is a technique which is usually applied in the first step of image analysis and pattern recognition and is an important component of them. This technique is taken into account as one of the most difficult and the most sensitive problems in image analyzing. In this paper, a cooperative algorithm is proposed based on AFSA and k-means. The proposed algorithm is used to make multilevel thresholding for image segmentation according to histogram. In the proposed algorithm, first, artificial fish (AF) perform optimization process in AFSA. After swarm convergence, obtained cluster centers by AFs are used as initial cluster centers of k-means algorithm. After forwarding AFSAs output to k-means, AFs are reinitialized and performs clustering again. The proposed algorithm is used for segmenting 2 well-known images and obtained results are compared with each other. Experimental results show that segmented images quality by the proposed algorithm is much better than four other t ested algorithms. Keywords: Multilevel Thresholding; Histogram; Cooperative Algorithm; k-means. Image segmentation is a technique which is usually applied in the first step of image analysis and pattern recognition and is an important component of them. This technique is taken into account as one of the most difficult and the most sensitive problems in image analyzing. In fact, quality of final result of image analysis depends highly on the quality of image segmentation result. In image segmentation process, an image is divided into different regions. Segmentation approaches of mono-color images are with respect to discontinuity and/or similarity of gray level amounts in one region. If the approach performs segmentation based on discontinuities, the image is segmented with respect to abrupt changes on gray level by means of recognizing dots, lines and edges [1].The purpose of image segmentation approaches is to classify and convert pixels into regions. Histogram thresholding is one of the techniques, which has been applied extensively in mono-color images segmentation [2]. Generally, images are composed of regions with various gray levels. Therefore, an images histogram can consist of some peaks that each of them is related to one region. To separate boundaries of two peaks from each other, a threshold value is considered between valleys of two adjacent peaks. Indeed, histogram thresholding is a famous technique which is looking for peaks and valleys in a histogram [3]. Various clustering algorithms such as k-means [4] and FCM [5] have been used for histogram thresholding so far. As a matter of fact, clustering approaches, because of simplicity and effectiveness, belong to the most famous techniques that could be used for natural image segmentation. Applying clustering algorithms in histogram thresholding are such that first colors histogram is built and after that, clustering is done according to color distribution among pixels. O ne of the clustering methods is to use such swarm intelligence algorithms as particle swarm optimization (PSO) [6], and artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) [7]. PSO was presented by Kenedy and Eberhart in 1995 [8]. Different versions of this algorithm have been used many times in data clustering [9]. Artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) was presented by Li Xiao Lei in 2002 [10]. This algorithm is a technique based on swarm behaviors that was inspired from social behaviors of fish swarm in nature. AFSA works based on population, random search and behaviorism. This algorithm has been applied on different problems including machine learning [11, 12, 13], PID controlling [14], image segmentation [16], data clustering [7, 16] and scheduling [17]. K-means or famous Lloyd algorithm is one of the famous data clustering algorithms [18]. This algorithm is of high convergence rate, but has some weaknesses such as sensitivity to initial values of cluster centers and convergence to local op tima. Researchers have tried to remove these weaknesses by hybridizing this algorithm with other algorithms such as swarm intelligence ones [6, 19] and to utilize their advantages. One of these algorithms is KPSO in which first, k-means is performed and after that outcome of k-means is delivered to PSO as a particle [20]. Hence, at the beginning of the algorithm, k-means reaches to a local optimum with its high convergence rate and after that PSO takes the responsibility of increasing the result accuracy and exiting form local optimum. In this paper, a cooperative algorithm is proposed based on AFSA and k-means. The proposed algorithm is used to make multilevel thresholding for image segmentation according to histogram. In the proposed algorithm, first, artificial fish (AF) perform optimization process in AFSA. After swarm convergence, obtained cluster centers by AFs are used as initial cluster centers of k-means algorithm. After forwarding AFSAs output to k- means, AFs are reinitialized and performs clustering again. In fact, in the proposed algorithm, AFSA is used for a global search and k-means is used for a local search. The proposed algorithm along with four other algorithms is used for image segmentation on two known images Lenna and Barbara. Efficiency comparison shows that the proposed algorithm has an appropriate and acceptable efficiency. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: in sections 2 and 3, standard AFSA and k-means algorithm will be described respectively and in section 4, the proposed algorithm will be presented. Section 5 studies the experiments and analyzes their results and final section concludes the paper. In water world, fish can find areas that have more foods, which is done with individual or swarm search by fishes. According to this characteristic, artificial fish (AF) model is represented by prey, free-move, and swarm and follow behaviors. AFs search the problem space by those behaviors. The environment, which AF lives in, substantially is solution space and other AFs domain. Food consistence degree in water area is AFSA objective function. Finally, AFs reach to a point which its food consistence degree is maxima (global optimum). In artificial fish swarm algorithm, AF perceives external concepts with sense of sight. Current position of AF is shown by vector X=(x 1, x 2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, x n). The visual is equal to sight field of AF and Xv is a position in visual where the AF wants to go. Then if Xv has better food consistence than current position of AF, it goes one step toward X v which causes change in AF position from X to Xnext , but if the current position of AF is better than X v, it continues searching in its visual area. Food consistence in position X is fitness value of this position and is shown with f(X). The step is equal to maximum length of the movement. The distance between two AFs which are in Xi and Xj positions is shown by Dis ij =||X i-Xj|| (Euclidean distance). AF model consists of two parts of variables and functions. Variables include X (current AF position), step (maximum length step), visual (sight field), try-number (the maximum test interactions and tries) and crowd factor ÃŽÂ ´ (0 The standard k-means algorithm is summarized as follows: Initial position of K cluster centers is determined randomly. The following steps are repeated: a) for each data vector: data vector is allocated to a cluster that its Euclidean distance from its center is smaller than the other clusters centers. Distance from cluster center is calculated by Equation (1): (1) In Equation (1), Xp is data vector p, Zj is the center of cluster j and d is the number of dimensions of data vectors and cluster center vectors. b) After allocating all data to clusters, each of cluster centers is updated by Equation (2): (2) Where, nj is the number of data vectors that belong to cluster j and Cj is a subset of all data vectors which belong to cluster j. The resulted cluster center of Equation (2) is the average vector of data vectors comprising cluster. (a) and (b) steps are iterated until the stopping criterion is satisfied. In this section, the proposed algorithm is described. In the proposed algorithm, there exists a population of AFSAs AFs. This population of AFs is initialized randomly in problem space. Each AF consists of K cluster center positions in one dimensional image histogram space. Therefore, search space for AFSA for K cluster centers has K components. Fitness function which AFSA has to minimize is shown in Equation (3). (3) Clustering on histogram is done by Equation (3) based on color distribution between given images pixels. The image is divided into K clusters (Ci) according to color attribute by K-1 thresholds. In Equation (3), the distance between color Xj on image histogram and the center of a cluster which it belongs to ( Zi), is multiplied by the frequency of pixels (fj) which have color value Xj on given image. This value is computed for all color values with respect to the center of a cluster which they belong to. Each color becomes the member of a cluster in which their distance from that cluster center is less than other cluster centers. Finally, the obtained results of all clusters are summed with each other. Indeed, Equation (3) calculates sum of intra cluster distances for one dimensional gray scale images, which is one of the most well-known clustering criteria. For improving obtained results by AFSA, some modifications must do on its structure. The best found position by swarm members so far in AFSA is saved in bulletin and AF which has found it might go even toward worse positions with performing a free-move behavior. Therefore, AFs cannot utilize their best swarm experience for improving the convergence rate because they just save it in bulletin. On the other hand, performing free-move behavior is inevitable for maintaining diversity of the swarm. In this paper, to remove this problem, every AF except best AF can perform free-move behavior. In fact, during execution of the proposed algorithm, this behavior is not performed for the best AF of the swarm at all. Hence, the best found position by the swarm would be the position of the best AF of the swarm. As a result, other members of the swarm can move in the direction of the best found position by executing follow and swarm behaviors. The purpose of designing the proposed algorithm is to take advantages of both AFSA and k-means algorithms and remove their weaknesses. K-means is of high convergence rate, but its very sensitive to initializing the cluster centers and in the case of selecting inappropriate initial cluster centers, it could converge to a local optimum. AFSA can pass local optima to some extent but cannot guarantee reaching to global optima. However, AFSAs computational complexity for optimization process is much more than k-means. How the proposed algorithm functions remove weaknesses of these two algorithms and apply their advantages is as following: In the proposed algorithm, first, the AFs are initialized in AFSA. Each of AFSA contains K cluster centers (K-1 threshold) which are displaced in the problem space by performing AFSAs behaviors. AFSA continues to perform until the AFs converge. After convergence of AFSA, best AFs position including the best cluster centers which have found by AFs so far is considered as the input of k-means. Then, k-means algorithm starts working and while it is not converged, it continues working. Therefore, AFSA searches globally and as far as it can, it passes local optima. After convergence of AFSAs AFs, its output would have an appropriate initial cluster centers for k-means. Hence, after sending AFSAs outcome to k-means, this algorithm starts searching locally. Consequently, in the proposed algorithm, global search ability of AFSA has been used and after converging, a great part of optimization process will be given to k-means to utilize high capability of local search of this algorithm and its high convergence rate. Since initial cluster centers for k-means are obtained by AFSA and k-means is used for local search, k-means weakness of sensitivity to initial cluster centers is removed. But, AFSA capability may not be enough for preventing from being trapped in local optima. If this algorithm is trapped in local optima, it cannot present proper initial cluster values to k-means. Thereafter, according to low ability of k-means in passing local optima, the obtained result cannot be acceptable. To raise this problem, after convergence of AFSA, the output of this algorithm is sent to k-means. Simultaneously with starting of k-means, AFSAs AFs are initialized and start global search again. In fact, in one time of executing the proposed algorithm, AFSA has several times of chance to perform an acceptable global search. It should be noted that in the proposed algorithm, in each time of executing AFSA, AFs just search globally and converge after a short time and k-means undertakes the remaining of optimization process which is local search. Therefore, with respect to low computational complexity of k-means, huge amount of computations for local search is prevented. In the proposed algorithm, it has been tried to utilize this conserved computation load for giving new opportunities to AFSA in order to perform an acceptable global search in at least one of given opportunities to it. Hence, for each execution of global search by AFSA, k-means is also performed once. In the proposed algorithm, to determine the convergence of artificial fish swarm, the difference of obtained results in consecutive iterations of performing the algorithm is used. When particles converge, the obtained results difference in consecutive iterations decreases, so by considering a threshold for the difference between best AFs fitness values in iterations i and j, it can determine their convergence. In the proposed algorithm, because AFSA and k-means algorithms are performed multiple times , always, it has to save the best found cluster centers by algorithm so far. For this purpose, a blackboard is applied that each time k-means finishes after convergence of AFSA, the obtained result of that will be compared with saved result in blackboard. If obtained cluster centers are better than saved result in blackboard, saved value in blackboard is updated. K- means execution finishes when after two consecutive iterations of its execution, cluster centers wouldnt be displaced. Pseudo code of the proposed algorithm is represented in Figure (1). Experiments are done on two known gray scale images, Lenna and Barbara, of sizes 512*512 in Figure (2). In this paper, the well-known criterion of uniformity is used to compare images segmentation qualitatively [3] which is shown in Equation (4) (4) Where, c is the number of thresholds. Rj is the segmented region j. N is the total number of pixels in the given image, fi shows the gray level of pixel I,  µi is the mean gray level of pixels in jth region, finally, fmin and fmax are the minimum and maximum gray level of pixels in the given image, respectively. Usually, uà Ã‚ µ[0, 1] and larger amount for u declares that the thresholds are specified with better quality on the histogram. Proposed Algorithm: 1:for each AFi 2:initialize xi 3:Endfor 4:Blackboard = arg [min F(Xi)] 5:Repeat 6:for each AFi 7:Perform Swarm Behavior on Xi(t) and Compute Xi,swarm 8:Perform Follow Behavior on Xi(i) and Compute Xi,follow 9:if F(Xi,swarm) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ F(Xi,follow) 10:then Xi(t+1)= Xi,follow 11:Else 12:Xi(t+1)= Xi,swarm 13:Endif 14:Endfor 15:if swarm is converged 16:then Execute k-means on XBest-AF until stopping criterion of k-means is met 17:Endif 18:if F(Xk-means) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ F(Blackboard) 19:then Blackboard = Xk-means 20:reinitialize AFSA 21:Endif 22:until stopping criterion is met Figure (1): Pseudo code of proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm along with standard AFSA, PSO algorithm, hybrid algorithm called KPSO [20], and k-means is used to segment two images, Lenna and Barbara. PSO and KPSO parameters are adjusted according to [6], and for k-means, initializing Forgy method is applied [21]. AFSA parameters and are adjusted according to [7]. AFSA settings in the proposed algorithm are the same as [7]. With respect to various experiments, if fitness value relating to Best AF is less than 0.1 in 3 iterations, it means that artificial fish swarm is converged. The following results are obtained from 50 times repeated experiments. Figure (3) shows segmented images, Lenna and Barbara, by the proposed algorithm with 5 and 3 thresholds. Figure 2: Orginal gray level Lenna (left) and Barbara (right) images Figure 3: The thresholded images of Lenna and Barbara using 5, and 2-level thresholds, from top to bottom. Average uniformity obtained from 5 algorithms on two images with thresholds 2, 3, 4 and 5 are shown in Table (1). As it is observed in Table (1), obtained results from the proposed algorithm is better than the other algorithms for all cases. AFSA algorithm has the worst result for all cases because of low ability in local search. K-means algorithm has found better results than AFSA because of high capability of k-means in local search. The reason for superiority of k-means to AFSA is the problem space property in histogram clustering. In fact, because of low dimensions of problem space in this environment, local search ability is of greater importance than global search ability. Also, it can reduce k-means weakness of sensitivity to initial values by means of one of the initializing methods of k-means like Forgy. Thereafter, with respect to considerable superiority of k-means local search ability in contrast to AFSA, k-means results are better than AFSAs. TABLE I: Comparison of uniformity for the five Algorithms Image T AFSA K-means PSO KPSO Proposed method Lenna 2 0.9138 0.9634 0.9730 0.9728 0.9775 3 0.9361 0.9749 0.9781 0.9783 0.9795 4 0.9495 0.9762 0.9816 0.9811 0.9826 5 0.9517 0.9804 0.9835 0.9834 0.9838 Barbara 2 0.9758 0.9761 0.9765 0.9768 0.9781 3 0.9783 0.9802 0.9808 0.9805 0.9820 4 0.9797 0.9834 0.9843 0.9851 0.9862 5 0.9822 0.9849 0.9855 0.9850 0.9884 Obtained results from PSO are better than k-means in all cases and its because of global search ability superiority of PSO to k-means. Moreover, in PSO, theres a trade-off between global search and local search abilities [16] and PSO also can perform a proper local search beside an acceptable global search. KPSO results are better than k-means results for all cases because after executing k-means in this algorithm, PSO algorithm is performed and improves obtained results from k-means. But obtained results from KPSO are not better than PSO for all cases. The reason is that sometimes k-means converges toward a local optimum and obtained result from that is not appropriate. Therefore, PSO is responsible for taking out the result from local optimum; however, it sometimes may not be successful. Indeed, improper result of k-means causes fast convergence of particles to local optimum. Obtained results from the proposed algorithm are better than other algorithms in all cases. The reason is u sage of strategies which have been used for global search in this algorithm. In fact, the proposed algorithm is successful in finding the global optima in most runs and can prevent final result from being trapped in local optima, whereas, this ability is observed less in other algorithms and they cannot guarantee passing local optima. This weakness causes that other algorithms to be of less robustness and not to be able to reach to almost the same results in their various implementations. Also, in the proposed algorithm, k-means algorithm performs local search after finding global optimum region by AFSA. Consequently, with respect to high ability of k-means in local search and taking proper initial cluster centers from AFSA, local search is done well in the proposed algorithm, too. As a result, both k-means and AFSA algorithms abilities are utilized in the proposed algorithm and the weakness of k- means algorithm cant decrease the algorithms efficiency. As it is observed in all algo rithms except KPSO, with rising up the number of thresholds, uniformity amount is improved. In KPSO, since the weakness of k-means has an undesirable effect on PSO efficiency, obtained results are not stable. In this paper, a new cooperative algorithm based on artificial fish swarm algorithm and k-means was proposed for image segmentation with respect to multi-level thresholding. In the proposed algorithm, AFSA performs global search and k-means is responsible for local search. The process of the proposed algorithm is such that the robustness and ability of preventing from being trapped in local optimums is improved. The proposed algorithm along with four other algorithms is used for segmenting 2 well-known images and obtained results are compared with each other. Experimental results show that segmented images quality by the proposed algorithm is much better than four other tested algorithms. [1] R. C. Gonzalez, and R. E. Woods, Digital image processing, In: Pearson Education India, Fifth Indian reprint, 2000. [2] S. Arora, J. Acharya, A. Verma., and K. Panigrahi, Multilevel thresholding for image segmentation through a fast statistical recursive algorithm, In: Journal on Pattern Recognition Letters 29, pp. 119125, 2008. [3] Maitra. M, A. Chatterjee, A hybrid cooperative-comprehensive learning based PSO algorithm for image segmentation using multilevel thresholding, In: Journal on Expert System with applications 34, pp. 1341-1350, 2008. [4] M. Mignote, Segmentation by fusion of histogram-based k-means clusters in different color spaces, In: IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 2008. [5] X. Yang, W. Zhao, Y. Chen, and X. Fang, Image segmentation with a fuzzy clustering algorithm based on Ant-Tree, In: Journal of Signal Processing 88, pp. 2453-2462, 2008. [6] Y. T. Kao, E. Zahara, and I. W. Kao, A hybridized approach to data clustering, In: Journal on Expert System with Applications 34, pp. 1754-1762, 2008. [7] D. Yazdani, S. Golyari, and M. R. Meybodi, A new hybrid approach for data clustering, In: 5th International Symposium on Telecommunication (IST) , pp. 932937, Tehran, 2010. [8] J. Kennedy, and R. C. Eberhart, Particle swarm optimization, In: IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks, 4, pp. 1942 1948, Perth, 1995. [9] A. A. A. Esmin, D. L. Pereira, and F. Araujo, Study of different approach to clustering data by using the particle swarm optimization algorithm, In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 18171822, Hong Kong, 2008. [10] L. X. Li, Z. J. Shao, and J. X. Qian, An optimizing method based on autonomous animate: fish swarm algorithm, In: Proceeding of System Engineering Theory and Practice, pp. 32-38, 2002. [11] D. Yazdani, S. Golyari, and M. R. Meybodi, A new hybrid algorithm for optimization based on artificial fish swarm algorithm and cellular learning automata, In: 5th International Symposium on Telecommunication (IST), pp. 932-937, Tehran, 2010. [12] D. Yazdani, A. N. Toosi, and M. R. Meybodi, Fuzzy adaptive artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: 23 th Australian Conference on Artificial Intelligent, pp. 334-343, Adelaide, 2010. [13] J. Hu, X. Zeng, and J. Xiao, Artificial fish swarm algorithm for function optimization, In: International Conference on Information Engineering and Computer Science, pp. 1-4, 2010. [14] Y. Luo, W. Wei, and S. X. Wang, The optimization of PID controller parameters based on an improved artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: 3rd International Workshop on Advanced Computational Intelligence, pp. 328-332, 2010. [15] C. X. Li, Z. Ying, S. JunTao, and S. J. Qing, Method of image segmentation based on fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm and artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Integrated Systems (ICISS) , pp. 254- 257, Guilin, 2010. [16] L. Xiao, A clustering algorithm based on artificial fish school, In: 2nd International Conference on Computer Engineering and Technology, pp. 766-769, 2010. [17] D. Bing, and D. Wen, Scheduling arrival aircrafts on multi- runway based on an improved artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: International Conference on Computational and Information Sciences, pp. 499-502, 2010. [18] J. A. Hartigan, An overview of clustering algorithms, In: New York: John Wiley Sons , 1975. [19] C. Y. Tsai, and I. W. Kao, Particle swarm optimization with selective particle regeneration for data clustering, In: Journal of Expert Systems with Applications 38, pp. 65656576, 2011. [20] D. W. der Merwe, and A. P. Engelbrecht, Data clustering using particle swarm optimization, In: Congress on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 215-220, 2003. [21] E. Forgy, Cluster analysis of multivariate data: efficiency vs. interpretability of classification, In: Biometrics 21, pp. 768, 1965