Gobi Fund Essay Example for Free

Gobi Fund Essay Why is it difficult to establish a new fund? Why is track record so important in fund raising? The main concern is to convince the investors to invest their money in Gobi. Therefore, it is necessary to raise a rational-sized fund. To raise a new fund is not an easy thing to do as everything including the fund structure, team, approach, LP base, and amount of capital have to be defined appropriately. The general partners also need to contribute their own money in order to convince the investors to invest together with them. The track record is very important in fund raising because if Gobi has a good track record, more investors will be interested to invest in it. Q2. Prepare a SWOT analysis for Gobi Fund II proposal in the context of venture capital fundraising. Gobi operates in an area where there is a lot of pent up demand (IT and digital media). * Gobi can acts like a bridge for western LPs to invest in Chinese companies. It is difficult to raise a new fund and if Gobi do not really have a good track record, it will become harder to gain the investors trust in order to raise the new funds. May have the advantage in acquiring a higher return from investment in the IT and media market since they already invest in that industry during the early stage. Meaning that they already have the experiences in investing in IT industry, therefore, may not become a problem to earn a high return. What are the keys to raising the second fund and how large should it be? There is no definite answer in this question as they could be changing depends on the situations. The planning horizons may take between 7 to 10 years or maybe longer than that because of a lack of infrastructure and development in the industry. The fund size may be between $100 million to $200 million allowing around $2 million to $5 million for each company. The subsequent funds should be of similar size or larger as the industry grows. Gobi wants the first close at $75 million. The key is whether to include more financial LPs or not. Q4. From the perspective of a potential LP, what are your choices when funding international focused VC funds? Would you fund Gobi? Gobi has never exited from an investment before, and there is high level of risks involved in the development of early stage IT companies as well as huge risks that may impede company development and growth. However, Gobi operates in an area where there is a lot of pent up demand (IT and digital media) and Gobi can acts like a bridge for western LPs to invest in Chinese companies. It may be a good choice to invest in it if it offers a rational return considerate with the level of high risks involved.

Company Profile For Shine Communications Business Essay

Company Profile For Shine Communications Business Essay The assignment mainly focuses on understanding the nature of small business with the variety of business and management concepts. In this assignment target on performance evaluation of small business, applying changes to improve business performance, assess business objectives and plans , introducing new business plans. Scenario 1 Company profile for Shine Communications Among almost all the marketing communication agencies Shine Communications is ranked as one of the best small company in UK. Shine Communications was founded in 1997 as an agency for public relations and marketing communication and the company runs on four basic values: Smart, Fresh, Connected, Committed. Shine Communications awarded as the best small business / company at Sunday Times Best Small Companies To Work For 2012 and also the CEO Rachel Bell was recognized as the best leader. The company is changing day by day with the latest requirements. Shine organize many campaigns under different ways but the major way of delivering is social media activities. Team strength of the company is highly counted in scale of small business. Shine Communications is running with a team around fifty heads and they are able to work with most strong brands around the world. SWOT analysis for Shine Communications Strengths Market position Shine Communications is the most sought after personal relations agency over five years in UK. Working Partners Shine Communications has strong working capacity with strong brands across the world as BARCARDI , ebay, paramount , Intercontinental hotel group etc. it is a huge advantage for Shine Communications to have such large dealers in their business. That cause to build a magical reputation to the company name. Diversification Shine Communications is well diversified across their pattern of delivering campaigns. Shine 1 is the place where all the campaigns are built on with strategies , valuable ideas and PR related materials via marketing mix. Shine 1 also focus on delivering solutions for brand Management. Shine Studio capable enough to deliver high quality collateral design , production of videos, photography to client. Shine Live is currently engaged in for develop events , direct marketing , sampling , guerrilla marketing. Shine creations are mostly backed by social media. This way of interacting is highly demanded. When comes to Shine Social Media it based on five C s ; content, channel, community , carrots and connection. The diversifying factor within the business is attain higher strength to the company. Research and Development For the development and sustaining in the industry each and every business need RD. Shines Communications particularly does not has a department to carry out such procedures. But they always alert on latest trends and fashions in market , culture and society. In that way they are able to keep their campaigns refreshing. That ability of being alert add more and more values to the business. Weakness Revenue Concentration When compare to the same scale business the expected revenue is not much satisfied that is about  £35000 (36%). it is not enough revenue because the company operates under different categories. Count of heads Shine Communications work with a team of less number about 56. All the functions carried out by them in a tight schedule. In one side it adds weak point to the company . Opportunities Client Base The company has the ability of building strong client base due to the versatility behavior of the company. At present they are also working with iconic brands in the market under different categories. As the company get to know day by day ,with their achievements and awards it will lead to marketing efficiency in the industry. Threats Shine Communications has to face competition posed by other local small firms with the special client base they have from surrounded areas. And also the competition from large scale PR firms that serves nationwide. Analysis of the business performance Performance of a company depends on different factors. To evaluate performance of a company comparatively Porters five forces model gives a large cover up. The task facing managers is to analyze competitive forces in an industrys environment in order to identify the opportunities and threats confronting a company. Michael E.Porter of the Harvard school of business administration has developed a framework that helps managers in this analysis.(Morden ,2007) According to the Porter establishment of many companies pose a threat. Industry of PR is fully filled with thousands of companies , so the buyers can easily move on to other company. As PR is not much capital oriented industry so entry is much easier compare to another industry. so there is high threat of new entrance. Bargaining power of customers is the power customers have to stress up companies in a particular industry. In PR applying this factor is not identical. Some firms highly depend on customers while others neglect that so the bargaining power can be ranked as moderate factor. PR is a industry build with knowledge. It is very hard to find good PR people so they can demand more. There is competitive rivalry among companies in the PR industry because loosing a one customer may cause to lose ten. Value chain analysis contains interlinked activities that finally targeted to achieve customer needs and requirements. In each stage it adds value to the final product. In the industry of PR it targets to grant customer satisfied final product. Activity of the value chain consists which are related to sales, marketing, promotional. As a small business in PR industry it needs to pay attention on that activity. Elements of service represent activities related to after service, assisting, handling complains. As a company in PR industry it is highly connected with those element. Scenario 2 How to overcome weaknesses As pointed out in SWOT analysis there are few weaknesses identified. The less revenue compared to other companies in PR industry is an issue related with the company. To overcome this problem company needs to focus on generating more and more profits. For that they need to target as well as high budget and low budget campaigns. Because sometimes profit margin of low budget is higher than profit margin of high budget. And also they must carry out promotional campaign emphasizing their awards in order to attract more and more valuable customers Strength of a working team is not always depends on count of heads. But in Shine Communications there are only 56 employees in the company. Because they are in PR industry they always have to deal with people who need everything perfectly done. As the few number of work force they have a very busy and tight work plan so sometimes they have to face problem of flexibility when dealing with customers. So it is better to hire well selected employees to overcome being inflexible amidst customers. How to maintain and strengthen existing performance Shine Communications operates with core values inside the business that helps to run business functions smoothly. That leads them towards more achievements. In order to maintain performance they need to refresh their ideas continuously. Customers expect different type of outcomes from the company. Identifying new trends in cultures, market and society is important because customers preferences change with those trends and factors. In this type of business it is needed to build great team spirit and relationship. To strengthen up existing performance in a company team playing plays vital role. Shine Communications already having good team spirit and that should be keeping up and strong to maintain performance. Shine Communications reach their customers in different ways and they value their customers. It is better to tie up a knot between customers in a small scale business because one customer means lots. To attain more performance it is required to value people indeed. Performance of a company rather depends on capabilities of the employees of the company. So in order to acquire high performance it is needed to improve performance of individuals. For that employees should be trained, push to gain new knowledge, encourage to learn. Those will definitely leads to improve performance of the company. New area which the business could be expanded It is a way of performing well by entering to a new field of business. As a company in the field of PR the Shine Communications can expand their business operations in to different fields. As per the behavior of the business and the way they conduct their business activities most lead to the sector of marketing research. Marketing research is the function which links the consumers, customers , public and the market through information. Information used to identify define marketing opportunities and problems , generate refines and evaluate marketing action and activities monitored marketing performances and improve understanding of marketing as a process(Macolam,2007). Shine Communications already in the position of understanding behavior of customers and they are deeply study the changes in market as well as every aspect of the society in order to carry out their campaigns. So shine communications has a passion for researching. In a marketing research it is important to measure what we done. Validity refers to the extant to which we captured data and are we measuring what we intended to measure(Naresh,2006) . Shine Communications measure the output of their effort that they achieved the required target. So by using those techniques they will be able to measure the impact and benefits of conducted marketing research to a particular company. Scenario 3 Identify and assess the existing business objectives and plans Objectives of a business define where the business wants to go in future and what we want achieve in a given period of time(Baker, 2008). Shine communications are in a plan of getting more and more closer to their customers in order to deliver standard service to them. As per the Truban(2002) the customer is the person receiving the outcome of the campaign in fact we must look at the deepest level of specific satisfaction. So according to that shine has a plan to customize their distribution channels suit to the present day demand. They are planning to use LIS Shine the mailing list and other social web sites to make aware and advertise what is happening , new posts , new applications for those who are interest. According to the Rothwell(2004) the main objective of staff training and development are to improve the quality of employee for achieve different tasks. Shine is not in strength of allocating time for series of training and development. But they are having a plan to develop s kills of their employees by using twitter and LinkedIn. In that method they are having objective to allow their members to share skills and experience with others over the social media. Revise the existing business plans of the organisation and suggest new business plans As per the Pinson(2004) business plan is extremely important for the success of business and it is main purpose is to give a picture of the future business. Business plan is very much important to have a integrated vision about the company , mutual understanding among the team , recruiting, determine financial requirements and many more things. Shine Communications should focus on raising their profit margin for that they need to develop business plans in order to achieve that task. Also the company must concentrate on recruiting procedure. To build up strengthen high spirit team they must have a good plan for manage human resource. According to the new business era suggested Shine Communications is needed to develop new business plans and objectives in order to capture the market. Business plan is not a fixed written document that cannot be amended according to the changes within the company (Carig,2009). So as the suggested new business field of marketing research they are expected to develop new aims and objectives to the company s business plan. First company needs to develop a methodology to conduct the researches. That means they should experiment on different ways to gather information and measure the result. The best result methodology can be selected. Then the company needs to hire capable human resource to carry out field work as well as indoor work. Then they must develop a business plan to promote new business area to existing customers , new customers and outsiders by social media. à Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬  Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   Prepare an action plans to implement the suggested changes According to the ideas of Bozeman and Straussman(2003) action planning guide to day today activities in a small scale company. It should be a strategically build up framework that must significantly impact on the business activities. It is important to plan operationally and strategically when a company move to a new business , product or service. As per the ideas of Homburg , Kuester , Krohmer(2009) when preparing a action plan first required to develop statement of what must be achieved. In there it is needed to specify the types of the outputs and results that should come out. Then it is needed to spell out the steps that need to follow in order to achieve the objectives and how it is going to take place. Each and every step of the action plan should be carried out carefully by delegating the responsibilities and power. To determine the best methodology first need to collect information from direct contacts already they have with the company. Then focus on small and medium scale g roups to collect information. Then use shines social media activities in order to gather activities. After collecting enough information it should be processed to select the best methodology. For the selecting appropriate methodology company has to follow above specified steps accordingly by the existing staff in a given timeframe. But for the future tasks the existing staff not be sufficient enough and they are not technically and skillfully ready to carry out the tasks. So the next action should be recruiting research capable human resource to the company. Then they will be able to carry out the next level tasks efficiently and effectively to meet customer requirements Scenario 4 Outline the changes of the organization with the new revised plans The rapid change affects the organization development as well as the organizational environment. The transformation of the organization can be a competitive advantage while it may cause to collapse the entire organization structure (Hudson , 2001). Organizational structure As per the idea of Robbins(2007) structure of organsation reflects the meaning of framework organized on the group who are connected under one roof. It shows the way they are working , power delegation , responsibilities , leadership and how the decisions flow. According to the new plans the organsational structure is liable to change. Because of the new recruitment procedures and new business field new posts are generating , new leaders are emerging . so the existing structure of the organization has to change according to new business plans. Business policies According to the Smith and Fingar(2003) business policy provides guidance to predetermine aims and targets of the company to cover up aspects of structural , functional manner. With the establishment of new business field in a existing company it cause to do changes in the existing business policies. Impact that the proposed changes on business and personnel Small scale enterprises rarely believe in policy changes and business changes. They mostly do changes with the intension of creating better work place and work environment (Obien 2011). In the Shine Communications the changes going to made may occur different impact on both business and personal. By proposed changes the business will get new dimension towards the success. The business will be more profit oriented in a budgeted framework and have to focus on both iconic brands and locally distributed brands. Shines policy changes may lead business to more and more customers locally and nationally. Until new policies and practices become familiar and established organizational performance can be affected according to the changes made. Performance may grow up while employees are confident enough to suit with the new business procedures (Smith and Fingar 2003) With the new business aspect employees should be able to work in each and every department without any hesitation. For that the existing staff need to study the new business area and its operations thoroughly. Because being a small scale company no one can limit only tone field of activities. They are expected to get on the job training by sharing experience among one another. Managers are to use the listening and questioning methodology that transfer employees to correct frame work that leads to target organization objectives in a team spirit (Conaty and Charan ,2011 ). To build up team spirit within the organization there should be a bond between new and existing staff. For that it is required to plan and develop campaigns which allows to join together and share skills and experiences. That changes help to develop employees personally and finally it leads to whole performance of the company. How the changes on business going to manage and measure the performance As per the ideas driven by Pinson(2004) significant changes within a business may cause to change management , production , policy negatively. When applying changes to existing business it is needed to systematically minimize negative effects on the business functions, employees and management. Specially there can be competition among new and existing employees because of the level of skills and experience. A smart competition can be admired but if it is growing up to rivalry it should be attended. Employees with different abilities must be appreciated while giving others a chance to improve their skills. The term diversification is connected with changes of a business function , market , product line . Diversification can bring business towards while much diversification pulling business backward. By adding more business fields to the existing business it may cause complex situation because of too many business functions and activities. But by concentrating on each and every functio n clearly and particularly identifying specific factors the negative impact on business can be reduced. As per the Malhotra(2006) performance of a new plan should measure and report in detail in order to significantly identify. Performane by daily basis Tasks of new plan Task1 Task2 Task3 Task4 Task5 Task6 1 2 3 Total value 4 High performance 3- Average Performance 2-Poor Performance 1-Not performing Conclusion The business environment of small scale business is rather different to large scale business environment. Business functions of a small business is not much complex to understand and also it is easy to measure the performance. The selected company has activated business plans and it can be advanced by applying minor changes. Though it is an small company changes in business policies , business functions and objectives cause large impact on the performance of the company.

Development of Competent Nursing Skills

Development of Competent Nursing Skills Introduction This essay focuses on a reflection on the development from novice, to competent beginner, to skilled practitioner in the light of my own development in clinical nursing practice. It is based on the signposts identified within my clinical learning portfolio and focuses on the notion of the helping role and caring skills within nursing practice. It utilises a reflective framework to better identify and reflect upon the journey from novice to practitioner. The model for reflection I have chosen is Gibbs Reflective Cycle (see Appendix). Reflection has been described as as a process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective (Boyd and Fales, 1983). Therefore, the experiences of my three placements are explored under three rotations of Gibbs Cycle. Meretoja et al (2004) state that nurses self-recognition of own level of competence is essential in maintaining high standards of care. I have chosen the caring role based on my own recognition of the level of competence achieved in this area. Cycle One Novice to Advanced beginner What Happened. I had to assist a patient in with personal care; make them comfortable in bed and collaborate in pressure area management; assist with toileting, washing, mouthcare, and application of emollient cream. I also had to document care and any deviations from the norm. Feelings I was very aware of my inexperience and of the trust this patient placed in my and the nursing team. I was also aware of the intimate nature of the care I was providing, and the fact that it was basic care also highlighted the fundamental role such care has in supporting health promotion and patient wellbeing. Evaluation I was uncomfortable at first, and clumsy in the provision of the various aspects of care. However, my mentor was informative, supportive and helpful, which assisted me in doing the various tasks. However, I found it difficult to complete these as quickly as I should have. I did learn to communicate with the patient and provide a sensitive approach. Analysis This situation required fundamental aspects of the caring role. It also demonstrates the link between basic nursing care an every other aspect of nursing. The NMC (2004) requires nurses to provide individualised care for their patients. The care for this person was based on their own needs and adapted as those needs changed. I was able to identify those needs and develop competency in providing care at this level. The caring role was very rewarding but physically and emotionally taxing However, I was still in the process of identifying particular needs and responding to them, such as toileting, which required me working with others in a collaborative manner, which I did not find easy. I also realised how much I did not know about nursing. Conclusion In this situation, I could have developed more collaborative working skills and modelled myself on those around me more actively ie., copied the ways in which other nurses and healthcare assistants provided care. When I did do this, it was effective. But I found that despite my enthusiastic approach, my knowledge base meant that I did not always understand the rationale for what I was doing. Action Plan The action plan from this was to take the confidence and competence I had developed in the practical skills and incorporate them into all aspects of the caring role. It was also to identify areas where my knowledge base was lacking, and seek out this knowledge. Keeping knowledge up to date is a requirement of the NMC code of condut (NMC, 2004). Working collaboratively is another NMC requirement (NMC, 2004). Taking this knowledge forward into practice made this process of reflection a learning activity. Cycle Two Advanced Beginner What Happened As part of my role assisting with patient care, I had to monitor pain levels and assist with providing analgesia as prescribed, along with monitoring its effectiveness. This was a surgical placement, and I also discussed with elderly patient their coping and wellbeing after hospital discharge. I engaged in health education and support to enable clients to be self-caring. I was also responsible for monitoring wellbeing through performing and recording clinical observations, recording fluid balance and reporting any abnormalities. I was also involved in providing personal care to patients in a safe manner, especially in the disposal of waste products. Feelings To begin with, I felt glad to be working at a more advanced level of competency, and felt confident in my basic nursing skills including performing clinical observations. However, the increased demand also meant increased pressure and I was aware of this. Again, I felt that I had developed a degree of competency but was very aware of my need to develop further knowledge and skills. The caring role involved supporting people and I had to access other professionals to ensure I gave the right information and that my care had been effective. Evaluation It was good to find that I had the clinical competence to effectively monitor clinical status. However, the complex nature of patient needs meant that I still didn’t always know the answers to their questions. Being involved in discharge planning was an enabling activity for myself and the patients. I developed competence in the administration of medications, under supervision, including controlled drugs, but felt I still needed more practice and skill in this area. Colleagues noted my competence and qualified staff were happy to delegate a range of appropriate tasks to me. Analysis It would appear that the caring role means the provision of patient centred, holistic care. This was achievable in this situation but required a lot of knowledge and the ability to provide focused attention and empathic care whilst carrying out complex clinical nursing tasks. This was harder to achieve, and I was made aware of my continued learning needs around medication and surgical care, for example. However, I must have developed some competence as qualified staff were happy to delegate to me and to act on my feedback. Conclusion It is hard to see what else I could have done, except perhaps done more reading around surgical care, discharge planning and the nurse-patient relationship. Action Plan It was possible to identify future learning needs, and so my action plan included building on my current competence by engaging in more advanced practice, under supervision. Having the confidence to engage in more complex nursing tasks will help me to achieve more competence in advanced practice in the future. Recognising the demands of the caring role means that I will view future practice as based upon this role. Cycle Three Competent Level What Happened. I monitored patients with chronic pain and helped with analgesia. I also supported patients with freedom of choice for their own care (NMC, 2004) and provided personal and palliative care in sensitive manner. I mastered more advanced practical nursing skills including aseptic technique and safe disposal of sharps. I fully documented all care given, and recorded medication given, and communicated to staff at shift change during the nursing handover. Feelings During this experience, I felt that my knowledge and experience in the caring role was finally coming together. I was confident and happy in engaging with patients and providing empathy and a supportive manner, whilst also carrying out more complex clinical tasks appropriately and effectively. It was very nerve-wracking giving handover, but I became more confident as I had more practice. Evaluation I was able to provide care of a high standard, and recognise my sphere of competence and seek help when needed. I was able to engage in effective caring relationships with clients, meet their individual needs, but also value my own input into their wellbeing. Analysis It was obvious that I had moved on to a level of nursing competence which allowed me some autonomy. I was able to act with less direct supervision, but still access the support of the whole care team. The caring role extended to the provision of all care, including end of life care, and I was able to utilise my knowledge and experience and also identify my learning in action, and my future learning needs, which have changed since the first reflection. Conclusion The change from novice to competent practitioner in the caring role has demonstrated not only the acquisition of skill but the incorporation of clinical abilities into what is really a way of being with patients. Action Plan Signposting future learning needs is important following this reflection. I was able to identify the need to still learn advanced clinical skills and perhaps know more about the range of other professionals who could enhance care in individual situations. Conclusion This reflection has signposted my development towards competent nursing practice. The caring role encompasses provision of basic care, advanced techniques, medication and pain relief, health promotion, end of life care and collaborative care. It seems to be the fundamental and most important part of nursing practice. Collaboration and coordination, as well as the holistic management of the situation, are highly recognized as meaningful characteristics of competent nursing practice (Meretoja et al, 2002). References Boyd E, Fales A. (1983) Reflecting learning: key to learning from experience. Humanist Psychol 23 (2) 99–117. Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing. A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford Meretoja, R., Leino-Kilpi, H. Kair, A. (2004) Comparison of nurse competence in different hospital work environments Journal of NursingManagement.12(5) 329–336 Meretoja, R., Eriksson, E. Leino-Kilpi, H. (2002) Indicators for competent nursing practice Journal of Nursing Management 10(2) 95-102 Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) Code of Conduct Available from www.nmc-uk.org Accessed 30-4-07.

Free Essays: Literary Sources of Frankenstein :: Frankenstein essays

Literary Sources of Frankenstein Frankenstein is considered to be the greatest Gothic Romantic Novel. It is also generally thought of as the first science fiction novel. I have always been impressed and amazed by the fact that Mary wrote this novel when she was eighteen years old. What experiences and powers of imagination led to such an innovative and disturbing work? The idea for the novel arose in the summer of 1816 when Mary Shelley was staying at Lord Byron's villa in Geneva Switzerland. Not only did Mary incorporate experiences from that summer into her novel, she also utilized the sources that she had been reading and studying. Two in particular were the Metamorphoses by Ovid and Paradise Lost by Milton. It is believed that Mary studied Ovid in April and May of 1815. The major element that Ovid supplied to the theme of Frankenstein, was his presentation of the Prometheus legend. This is acknowledged in the subtitle: Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus. The creation of the monster is similar to this passage from Ovid: Whether with particles of heav'nly fire, The God of Nature did his soul inspire; Or earth, but new divided from the sky, And, pliant, still retain'd th'ethereal energy; Which wise Prometheus temper'd into paste, And, mix't with living streams, the godlike image cast... From such rude principles our form began; And earth was metamorphos'd into man. Lines from Frankenstein that reflect the above passage are; "I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet." (p.51) "...that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed." (Frankenstein p.101) The second important literary influence was Paradise Lost by Milton. ( If you have not read this, it is really worth the time. It is difficult, but is well worth the effort. I find that it is helpful to have a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology when reading it. Almost all of Milton's mythological references are explained in Bullfinch.) The influence of Milton's Paradise Lost can be seen directly from the epigraph of the 1818 edition of Frankenstein. "Did I request thee, Maker from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee, from darkness to promote me?" The spirit of Paradise Lost permeates Frankenstein throughout the novel.

The Empiricist Journey of Young Goodman Brown Essays -- Young Goodman

The Empiricist Journey of Young Goodman Brown  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In the late 17th century, John Locke was one of the most influential people of his age. He was a renowned philosopher who established radical ideas about the political, social, and psychological ideals of mankind. One of his philosophical ideas, which he is said to be the founder of, is British Empiricism. This idea holds that "all knowledge is derived from experience whether of the mind or the senses" ("Empiricism" 480). In any man’s life, there arises such a point in time where he comes to the realization that there is a sense of evil in the world. Whether it is by something as subtle as locking the door at night before going to bed or being directly confronted at gun point as a man demands your tennis shoes, at some point man will realize that the innocence of his childhood does not last forever. Locke believed that people gain knowledge from their own personal experience. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with his journey into the forest with the fellow traveler as chronicled in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story. Initially, Brown was, as his namesake foretells, a "young, good man" who believes in man’s basic goodness, yet within the inner desires of his heart wishes to see what all the world had to offer. Therefore, he set off on a "journey" into the forest to explore the world of this unknown evil. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is a classic example of the empiricist ideas of Locke in how the intrigues of the unknown beckoned Young Brown as he experienced the transition between his initial idea of man’s basic goodness to the reality that evil exists in the heart of every man. However, before we can analyze Young Goodman Brown’s journey in the for... ...h he knows little about. Works Cited Brown, Vivenne. "The ‘Figure’ of God and the Limits to Liberalism: A Rereading of Locke’s ‘Essay’ and ‘Two Treatises’". Journal of the History of Ideas 60.1 (1999): 85. "Empiricism." New Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 1998 ed. Volume 4, 480. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 268-276. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. New York: Penguin, 1974. Meyer, Michael, ed. "A Study of Three Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flannery O’Connor, and Alice Munro." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 267. Tritt, Michael. "‘Young Goodman Brown’ and the Psychology of Projection". Studies in Short Fiction. 23 (1996): 113-117.    The Empiricist Journey of Young Goodman Brown Essays -- Young Goodman The Empiricist Journey of Young Goodman Brown  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In the late 17th century, John Locke was one of the most influential people of his age. He was a renowned philosopher who established radical ideas about the political, social, and psychological ideals of mankind. One of his philosophical ideas, which he is said to be the founder of, is British Empiricism. This idea holds that "all knowledge is derived from experience whether of the mind or the senses" ("Empiricism" 480). In any man’s life, there arises such a point in time where he comes to the realization that there is a sense of evil in the world. Whether it is by something as subtle as locking the door at night before going to bed or being directly confronted at gun point as a man demands your tennis shoes, at some point man will realize that the innocence of his childhood does not last forever. Locke believed that people gain knowledge from their own personal experience. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with his journey into the forest with the fellow traveler as chronicled in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story. Initially, Brown was, as his namesake foretells, a "young, good man" who believes in man’s basic goodness, yet within the inner desires of his heart wishes to see what all the world had to offer. Therefore, he set off on a "journey" into the forest to explore the world of this unknown evil. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is a classic example of the empiricist ideas of Locke in how the intrigues of the unknown beckoned Young Brown as he experienced the transition between his initial idea of man’s basic goodness to the reality that evil exists in the heart of every man. However, before we can analyze Young Goodman Brown’s journey in the for... ...h he knows little about. Works Cited Brown, Vivenne. "The ‘Figure’ of God and the Limits to Liberalism: A Rereading of Locke’s ‘Essay’ and ‘Two Treatises’". Journal of the History of Ideas 60.1 (1999): 85. "Empiricism." New Encyclopaedia Brittanica. 1998 ed. Volume 4, 480. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 268-276. Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. New York: Penguin, 1974. Meyer, Michael, ed. "A Study of Three Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flannery O’Connor, and Alice Munro." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 267. Tritt, Michael. "‘Young Goodman Brown’ and the Psychology of Projection". Studies in Short Fiction. 23 (1996): 113-117.   

PHL 2560 Reasoning Exercise #4 Essay

1.What speciï ¬ c techniques were used to bring about the destruction of self-awareness among the prisoners? The prison camp used social alienation techniques to bring about the destruction of self-awareness among the prisoners. They treated each prisoner like animals and did not acknowledge them as human beings. The ability to cater to basic human functions as we do was taken away. This degradation broke the prisoners down and stripped them of their personal traits. This kind of treatment worked well in a group-style setting with other prisoners experiencing the same type of torture. 2.What opposite processes could be used to create the reverse process, that is, a strengthening of the self-concept? By empowering the unique individual traits we all possess, we in turn strengthen the self-concept. Encourage people to put their best work out there and recognizing individual strengths that make a strong team nearly unstoppable. All of those things make the self-concept crystal clear. 3. Assume that you are charged with the orientation of a cohort of new managers in your organization. How would you help them understand their own strengths and inclinations and how they could best contribute to the ï ¬ rm? My overall goal would be to show them that â€Å"teams work† based on diverse traits and talents. An important first step would be to help the group identify the strengths and talents each individual holds, and also show that one person’s strength may not be present in another. That’s why working together is not only vital for personal success and growth, but benefits the company as a whole.

Enrollment forecasting methodology

Virtually, forecasting plays everywhere a major role in human life, especially in making future decisions such as weather forecasting, university enrollment, production, sales and finance, etc. Based on these forecasting results, we can prevent damages to occur or get benefits from the forecasting activities.Up to now, many qualitative and quantitative forecasting models were proposed. However, these models are unable to deal with problems in which historical data take form of linguistic constructs instead of numerical values. In recent years, many methods have been proposed to deal with forecasting problems using fuzzy time series. In this paper, we present a new method to predict the calendar day for average Arabian Gulf Oil Company using fuzzy time series approach based on average lengths of intervals. A visual-based programming is used in the implementation of the proposed model.Results obtained demonstrate that the proposed forecasting model can forecast the data effectively and efficiently Keywords: Fuzzy time series, Forecasting, Fuzzy sets, Average-based lengthl . Forecasting the size of any phenomenon in future is important and helpful for understanding behavior of phenomenon along time. It is impossible to make future plans to face the phenomenon without defining its future dimensions and identifying shape and modes of complicated process, especially when it is related to future forecasting. Making decisions depends completely on accuracy of forecasting.It is evident that forecasting plays major role in our daily life. The accurate and the most efficient forecasting may support making correct decisions to raise accuracy of our expectations up to 100%. This may be impossible, yet we try to reduce forecasting errors. In order to solve forecasting problems, many researchers proposed several methods and different models. One of these models is traditional time series analysis, uni-variant and multi-variant. However, traditional time series has wide applic ations, but it must satisfy proper conditions to be successful.For example, 50 up to 100 bservations at least are needed to achieve Autoregressive and Integrated Moving Average Models (ARIMA) and average zero is needed to achieve autoregressive. Traditional time series has been applied in many fields such as pollution monitoring, blood pressure estimation, etc. This problem has been studied widely in statistics areas and neural networks. However, in practical life, there are regression models in which the uncertainty accompanied to the model is because of vagueness, not because of neither randomness nor both of them.In these models, probability theory cannot be pplied and fuzzy sets theory is applied, where variables are foggy i. e. declarative variables are not fixed and scaling of these variables is not expressed by a point, but by an interval or linguistic variables [1, 3]. 2. FUZZY LOGIC Fuzzy logic [1 1], is a form of logic which has used in some expert systems and artificial i ntelligence applications. It was first proposed in 1965 by the Iranian scientist Lutfi Zadeh, at University of California, where he developed it as a better method of data processing.However, his theory didn't find a wide interest until 1974, where fuzzy logic was used to control a steam engine. Since then, applications of fuzzy logic kept developing until the manufacturing of fuzzy logic chip which have been used in many products such this science. There are many reasons for scientists to improve fuzzy logic. For example, development of computers and software founded the need to invent or program systems that are capable of dealing with ambiguous information to mimic human thinking.However, this created a problem since computers can only deal with exact and accurate data. This problem caused occurrence of expert systems and artificial intelligence. Fuzzy logic is a theory for building such systems. Fuzzy set theory has many useful achievements in different fields and it aims at app roximation of professional knowledge that contains vagueness in human thinking. Figure 1 illustrates the difference between traditional and fuzzy set theories. Fuzzy logic simply reflects how do people think and try to represent our feelings by words, decisions making and our common sense.So, fuzzy logic models are being increasingly used in time series analysis, where they are important for dealing with linguistic values and other models in order to yield better forecasting results. Time Series is defined as a sequence of events easured in successive times at definite intervals. It was widely used in economic systems such as stock index and interest. Also, it was used in metrology, especially in wind speed, temperature, pressure, Figure 1: Traditional and fuzzy sets 3.FUZZY TIME SERIES Fuzzy time series is another concept to solve forecasting problems in which the historical data are linguistic values. Fuzzy time series based on Zadeh's works [1 1], Song and Chissom [7], first prop osed a forecasting model called Fuzzy Time Series, which provided a theoretic framework to model a special dynamic process hose observations are linguistic values. The main difference between the traditional time series and fuzzy time series is that the observed values of the former are real numbers while the observed values of the latter are fuzzy sets or linguistic values.In the following, some basic concepts of fuzzy time series are briefly reviewed Definition 1: Let U ,u2 un } be a universe of discourse (universal set); a fuzzy set A of U is defined fA (u ) / u fA (u ) / un ,where fA is a membership function of a given set A , fA [0,1]. Definition 2 If there exists a fuzzy relationship R(t – 1, t), such that F(t) =F(t ), where is an arithmetic operator, then F(t) is said to be caused by F(t – 1). The relationship between F(t) and – 1) can be denoted by – 1) Definition 3 Suppose F(t) is calculated by F(t – 1) only, and – 1) R(t,t-l).For a ny t, if R(t – 1, t) is independent of t, then F(t) is considered a timeinvariant fuzzy time series. Otherwise, F(t) is timevariant. Definition 4 Suppose – 1) and F(t)= A], a fuzzy logical relationship can be defined as Ai AJ where Ai and AJ are called the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the fuzzy logical relationship, respectively. 4. REVIEW OF RELATED WORKS Many studies have interested in fuzzy time series and have been applied in various fields including university enrollment.Fuzzy time series had proved its efficiency in forecasting as a good new method for predicting linguistic values. Song and Chisson [9, 10] first introduced the method of fuzzy time series, humidity and rainfall. In addition, time series was used in geophysical records including indexed measurements, times of earthquake, radiological activities, industrial production, rates of idleness, etc. therefore, they are considered as founders of fuzzy time series science. Also, in 1994, they in troduced a eries.Chen [1] presented a new method for forecasting university enrollment using fuzzy time series historical data enrollments of the university of Alabama from 1971 to 1992, the proposed method is more efficient than the proposed method by Song and Chissom, due to the fact that the proposed method uses simplified arithmetic operation rather than the complicated MaxMin composition operation. Hwang [8] proposed a new method on fuzzification to revise Song and Chissom's method. He used a different triangle fuzzification method to Fuzzify crisp values.His method involved determining an interval of xtension from both sides of crisp value in triangle membership function to get a variant degree of membership. The result got a better average forecasting error, in addition, the influences of factors and variables in a fuzzy time series model such as definition area, number and length of intervals and the interval of extension in triangle membership function were discussed in det ailsStep 2: Define the universe of discourse U. Find the maximum Dmax and the minimum Dmin among all Dh. For easy partitioning of U, choose two small numbers Dl and D2 as two proper positive numbers. The purpose of Dl and D2 is to make the lower and upper bounds of U become multiple of hundreds, thousands, etc. The universe of discourse U is then defined by: U = Dt-ntn -Dl , Drnax+D2 Step 3: Determine the appropriate length of interval L. Here, the average-based length method (Huarng, 2001 b) can be applied to determine the appropriate L.The length of interval L is computed according to the Table 1: Base mapping table Range Base 0. 1-1. 0 0. 1 1. -10 11-100 10 101-1000 a) Calculate all the absolute differences between the values Dh-l and Dh as the first differences, and then compute the average of the first differences. b) Take one-half of the average as the length. c) Find the located range of the length and determine the base from Table 1 d) According to the assigned base, round t he length as the appropriate L.Then the number of intervals m, is computed by: D max+D2-D Then U can be partitioned into equal-length intervals Assume that the m intervals are Step4: Define fuzzy sets from the universe of discourse: f(un)(3) Ai=A11+A22+†¦.. +Ai l Then fuzzify the time series. First determine some linguistic values A1, A2, †¦ , An. Second, defined fuzzy sets on U. The fuzzy sets Ai are expressed as follows: 10. 500 0. 510 . 50 00. 51 0. 5 Step 5: fuzzify the historical data. If the value of Dh is located in the range of ui, then it belongs to fuzzy sets A'.All Dh must be classified into the corresponding fuzzy sets. However, fuzzify the historical data and give fuzzy set to each year's historical data. If the historical data belongs to Ai at year t, the historical data of that year can be written by A'. But usually one historical data to ifferent A1, the need to find out maximum degree of each year's historical data belonging to each A1. Step 6: Establish f uzzy logical relationships (FLRs) for all fuzzified data, derive the fuzzy logical relationships based on Definition (3).The fuzzy logical relationship which have the same left-hand sides is like Ai Ak, which denotes that if the Dh-lvalue of time t-1 is AJ then that of time t is Ak Table 2: Fuzzy relationship Ak Ar A1 Am 0. 5 um -2 um -1 um Where ui n) is the element and the number below ‘/'is the membership of ui to Then follow the rules for determining the degree of the membership of the istorical data Yi belonging to interval u'. The general triangular membership function is expressed as below: Step 7: establish the fuzzy logic relationship groups (FLRG).The derived fuzzy logical relationships can be arranged into fuzzy logical relationship groups based on the same fuzzy numbers on the left-hand sides of the fuzzy logical relationships. The fuzzy logical relationship groups are like the following: AJI Step 8: The forecasting of the historical data is based on heuristic rule s proposed by chen (1996) and outlined as follows.