Catherine of Aragon - Early Life and First Marriage

Catherine of Aragon, whose parents united Castile and Aragon with their marriage, was promised in marriage to the son of Henry VII of England, in order to promote the alliance between the Spanish and English rulers. Dates: December 16, 1485 - January 7, 1536Also Known as: Katharine of Aragon, Catherine of Aragon, CatalinaSee: more Catherine of Aragon Facts Catherine of Aragon Biography Catherine of Aragons role in history was, first, as a marriage partner to strengthen the alliance of England and Spain (Castile and Aragon), and later, as the center of Henry VIIIs struggle for an annulment that would permit him to remarry and try for a male heir to the English throne for the Tudor dynasty. She was not simply a pawn in the latter, but her stubbornness in fighting for her marriage -- and her daughters right to inherit -- were key in how that struggle ended, with Henry VIII separating the Church of England from the Church of Romes authority. Catherine of Aragon Family Background Catherine of Aragon was the fifth child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. She was born in Alcalà ¡ de Henares. Catherine was likely named for her mothers grandmother, Katherine of Lancaster, the daughter of Constance of Castile who was second wife of John of Gaunt, himself son of Englands Edward III. Constance and Johns daughter, Catherine of Lancaster, married Henry III of Castile and was the mother of John II of Castile, Isabellas father. Constance of Castile was the daughter of Peter (Pedro) of Castile, known as Peter the Cruel, who was overthrown by his brother Henry (Enrique) II. John of Gaunt tried to claim the throne of Castile on the basis of his wife Constances descent from Peter. Catherines father Ferdinand was the great-grandson of Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt and his first wife, Blanche of Lancaster. Philippas brother was Henry IV of England. Thus, Catherine of Aragon had considerable English royal heritage herself. Her parents were also both part of the House of Trastà ¡mara, a dynasty that ruled kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula from 1369 to 1516, descended from King Henry (Enrique) II of Castile who overthrew his brother, Peter, in 1369, part of the War of the Spanish Succession -- the same Peter who was the father of Isabellas grandmother Constance of Castile, and the same Henry John of Gaunt tried to overthrow. Catherine of Aragon Childhood and Education: In her early years, Catherine traveled extensively within Spain with her parents as they fought their war to remove the Muslims from Granada. Because Isabella regretted the lack of her own educational preparation when she became a ruling queen, she educated her daughters well, preparing them for their likely roles as queens. So Catherine had an extensive education, with many European humanists as her teachers. Among the tutors who educated Isabella, and then her daughters, was Beatriz Galindo. Catherine spoke Spanish, Latin, French and English, and was well-read in philosophy and theology. Alliance with England Through Marriage Catherine was born in 1485, the same year Henry VII seized the crown of England as the first Tudor monarch. Arguably, Catherines own royal descent was more legitimate than Henrys, who was descended from their common ancestor John of Gaunt through the children of Katherine Swynford, his third wife, who were born before their marriage and later legitimized but declared ineligible for the throne. In 1486, Henrys first son, Arthur was born. Henry VII sought powerful connections for his children through marriage; so did Isabella and Ferdinand. Ferdinand and Isabella first sent diplomats to England to negotiate Catherines marriage to Arthur in 1487. The next year, Henry VII agreed to the marriage, and a formal agreement including dowry specifications was drwan up. Ferdinand and Isabella were to pay the dowry in two parts, one when Catherine arrived in England (traveling at her parents expense), and the other after the wedding ceremony. Even at this point, there were some differences between the two families over the terms of the contract, each wanting the other to pay more than that other family wanted to pay. Henrys early recognition of the unification of Castile and Aragon in the Treaty of Medina del Campo in 1489 was important to Isabella and Ferdinand; this treaty also aligned the Spanish with England rather than France. In this treaty, the marriage of Arthur and Catherine was further defined. Catherine and Arthur were far too young to actually marry at that time. Challenge to Tudor Legitimacy Between 1491 and 1499, Henry VII also had to contend with a challenge to his legitimacy when a man asserted himself to be Richard, duke of York, son of Edward IV (and brother of Henry VIIs wife Elizabeth of York). Richard and his older brother had been confined to the Tower of London when their uncle, Richard III, seized the crown from their father, Edward IV, and they were not seen again. Its generally agreed that either Richard III or Henry IV had them killed. If one had been alive, hed have a greater legitimate claim to the English throne than Henry VII did. Margaret of York (Margaret of Burgundy) -- another of the children of Edward IV -- had opposed Henry VII as a usurper, and she was drawn into supporting this man who claimed to be her nephew, Richard. Ferdinand and Isabella supported Henry VII -- and their future son-in-laws inheritance -- by helping to expose the pretenders Flemish origins. The pretender, whom the Tudor supporters called Perkin Warbeck, was finally seized and executed by Henry VII in 1499. More Treaties and Conflict Over the Marriage Ferdinand and Isabella began secretly exploring marrying Catherine to James IV of Scotland. In 1497, the marriage agreement between the Spanish and English was amended and treaties of marriage were signed in England. Catherine was to be sent to England only when Arthur turned fourteen. In 1499, the first proxy wedding of Arthur and Catherine was held in Worcestershire. The marriage required a papal dispensation because Arthur was younger than the age of consent. The next year, there was new conflict over the terms -- and especially over payment of the dowry and Catherines arrival date in England. It was in Henrys interest for her to arrive earlier rather than later, as payment of the first half of the dowry was contingent on her arrival. Another proxy wedding was held in 1500 in Ludlow, England. Catherine and Arthur Marry Finally, Catherine embarked for England, and arrived in Plymouth on October 5, 1501. Her arrival took the English by surprise, apparently, as Henrys steward did not receive Catherine until October 7. Catherine and her large accompanying party began their progress towards London. On November 4, Henry VII and Arthur met the Spanish entourage, Henry famously insisting on seeing his future daughter-in-law even if in her bed. Catherine and household arrived in London on November 12, and Arthur and Catherine were married at St. Pauls on November 14. A week of feasts and other celebrations followed. Catherine was given the titles of Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and Countess of Chester. As prince of Wales, Arthur was being sent to Ludlow with his own separate royal household. The Spanish advisors and diplomats argued whether Catherine should accompany him and whether she was old enough for marital relations yet; the ambassador wanted her to delay going to Ludlow, and her priest disagreed. Henry VIIs wish that she accompany Arthur prevailed, and they both left for Ludlow on December 21. There, they both became ill with the sweating sickness. Arthur died on April 2, 1502; Catherine recovered from her serious bout with the illness to find herself a widow. Next: Catherine of Aragon: Marriage to Henry VIII About Catherine of Aragon: Catherine of Aragon Facts | Early Life and First Marriage | Marriage to Henry VIII | The Kings Great Matter | Catherine of Aragon Books | Mary I | Anne Boleyn | Women in the Tudor Dynasty

What Is At The Interest Of The Strong Or Ruler Example

Essays on What Is At The Interest Of The Strong Or Ruler Coursework Socrates View of Justice Lecturer: Justice is closely linked with being fair to other people. Socrates was mostly concerned that injustices were carried out with impunity by the leadership. Specifically, he was concerned that individuals be judged according to the law and regulations that had been laid out. Justice was not meant to be carried out by the desires of the leaders. In the clip, he offers an apology when he was as a member of the Council that was addressing the trial of the body of ten generals who had failed to collect the survivors of the sea battle. He opposed the rest of the committee’s decision of acting against the law. He was not afraid to face death or a prison sentence. Socrates views a government that acts in defiance of its set laws as an unjust government. He also identifies the actions of people who wish to break the laws as injustice. In addition, he argues that it is better to suffer from acts of injustice than to be the cause. He further states that suffering injustice can only cause physical injuries, but it does not hurt one’s character. Doing injustice to others is detrimental to one’s conscience and character (Plato, Grube, Cooper,65)Socrates places emphasis on negative justice that is not carrying acts of injustice to others. He was not concerned with positive justice that can be defined as seeing that other people get what they rightfully deserve.He identified the need to adhere to set laws especially in times of political turbulence and emergencies. Further, he stressed the importance of avoiding tempting shortcuts to violate liberties and punish wrongdoers without observing their rights. He advised that the due process of law should be followed. ReferencesPlato, Grube, G. M. A., Cooper, J. M. (2000). The trial and death of Socrates: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, death scene from Phaedo. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub.

St. Augustine-Human Person free essay sample

Philosophy Human Person Nowadays, human being seems to have a control in everything. Transcendent Being or God seems to have a very little role in the life of human person. Human persons are acting as superhuman or to borrow Nietzche’s term ‘ubermensch’. From different spheres in human society, man seems to be superior. Man shows his superiority in every field he belongs to. In the sphere of politics, leaders cannot agree on crafting specific laws that would serve the greater good or the interest of the public. Leaders are putting premium on the interest of the self. They fail to put forward the interest of their constituents. In looking on other field in human society, people engage in business are showing superiority by manipulating other individuals. Greater profit is the driving force for people in business world. Most often, they disrespect the rights of their employees and customers. Improper compensation is still the cry of many employees today. We will write a custom essay sample on St. Augustine-Human Person or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Inequity is still present in the business world. In the field of science, man’s superiority is also present. Man seems to have a total control of the development of human person. The presence of cloning is an evident that man is trying to control even the creation of a living creature. In this manner, man is no longer subordinate to the Creator but he shares the same power with the Creator. In the field of education, man of today fails to realize the very essence of educating oneself. Man of today always equates education with schooling. Schooling, most often promotes the attitude of superiority. Students, in order not to fail, would cheat during examination. Learning is most often measured through grade that’s why students use any means whether it is by hook or crook, just to pass from the subject. This attitude towards learning produces many individuals who are merely schooled but not educated. Schooling, sometimes promotes negative attitudes to the students who are not willing to submit to the discipline of education. All these examples are realities of today. These are realities that show that man is indeed trying to control everything-an attempt of superiority over the Creator. Despite the effort of man to control everything, he could not still explain why there are circumstances that give him no control of everything. The death of an innocent child, accidents, and plans that were never materialize despite the efforts that man exerted- all these are uncontrollable instances. Man seems cannot hold everything. Uncontrollable events cannot be comprehended by human mind. The deepness of the meaning of the event is not easy to understand. He cannot be certain of the reason why such event happened. In this point, man’s innate attitude of searching for Higher Being becomes notable. When everything left to be complicated, man moves to search for a reason or purpose why such event took place in his life. St. Augustine as a Christian philosopher understands reality always in relation to God. His understanding of reality would never be isolated with his understanding of God. God for him is the Ground of all truth (Copleston, 1950). St. Augustine found truth through introspection (inward thinking). In knowing ourselves and in knowing that man can know the truth, he is led to affirm the existence of God. It is only in God that one could find truth. In searching for truth, St. Augustine regarded sensation as a way of acquiring truth. Senses never lie or deceive if human being is just true of what he feel or see. If corporeal things are taken as corporeal things then there will be no problem. If man sees a green chair then he should say that the chair appears green to him. In that sense, he is faithful to the senses. Senses are mutable things (Copleston, 1950). In this light, human person as described by St. Augustine, is a rational soul using a mortal and earthly body (Teske, 2001). The soul is in possession of a body but does not consist of two persons but one man. The soul being superior to the body cannot be acted on by the body, but it perceives the changes in the body due to an external stimulus. The soul of human person apprehends indestructible truth, which shows that it is itself indestructible. The human person consists of soul and body can reason and can know the truth unlike the soul of an animal. This soul is created by God. In this manner, human person always reaches out to his creator in order for him to determine himself. Human person do not have the capacity to fully understand himself and others without the illumination of Transcendent Light (God), as contrary to the first paragraph of this essay which expresses man’s superiority. Human person having soul should go beyond corporeal entities in order to find bliss which is one of human’s purposes in life according to St. Augustine. If human person will insist to determine himself ,it will just end up in following a path that will mislead him to his Creator.

Motivation On Organizational Effectiveness - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Motivation On Organizational Effectiveness? Answer: Introducation Different organizations have different structures that are based on their objectives and culture. The structure of any organization would be the determinant of the way of the operations and the performances. Structures permit the responsibilities that are necessary for different processes and functions to be plainly allocated to different employees and departments. The most common forms of organizational structures are: flat, tall, hierarchical, centralized and decentralized (Naqshbandi and Kaur 2013). Flat Structure: A flat organizational structure contains fewer levels of management between the executive level and the front-line employees. The premises behind the flat organizational structure would be of empowering employees by means of them being turned into a bigger part of the decision-making process. This type of organizational structure displays good communication amongst the top management people and the employees, a good working spirit, lesser bureaucracy, easier decision making and fewer management levels (Lunenberg 2012). Toyota is an organizational example of flat structure, which has adopted this approach, and gained profits. Toyota had completely given up micromanaging its employees. Tall Structure: A tall organizational structure contains several levels of management and supervision. A long chain of command runs from the top of the organization to the bottom of it. The span of control is narrow, with a clearer management structure having clearer and distinct function in each layer. Coca Cola has tall organizational structure, it is managed by vertical hierarchy in which decision-making are made by upper level, while decisions related to daily operation are made by line manager who is in medium level. The tall structure of organization consists of various levels of hierarchy with multiple managers playing the roles of controlling and managing the employees and staffs. It is kind of complex, because of which, it takes more time to respond to the changes. The various levels of management within this organizational structure develop certain rules, regulations and laws that are needed to be followed by the lower level employees. The communication process is managed quite easily, though the decisions made take lots of time. Because of the involvement of multiple managers and supervisors, the costs of managing the business operations are more and due to this, it creates certain complexities as well (Alvesson 2012). Examples of tall organizational structure could be IBM, Wal-Mart that followed this kind of structure because of its large size as well as various departments consisting of managers. Hierarchical Structure Inside the hierarchical structure of an organization, power and accountability would be clearly quantified and allotted to the individuals in accordance to their standing and position inside the hierarchy. British Gas is an example of organization having hierarchical structure. Centralized and Decentralized Structure Centralized organizational structures have reliance only on a single individual for making decisions and providing directions for the organization. On the other hand, decentralized organizational structures most of the time contain individuals who are accountable for taking different business decisions and the running of business (Pekgun, Griffin and Keskinocak 2016). Microsoft is a centralized organization, whereas Tesco has a decentralized structure. Craigslist and Facebook are examples of organizations having both. A proper organizational culture helps in managing shared values and beliefs to make people understand their roles and responsibilities and even understand how the organization functions. Influence of Organizational Culture on Organizational effectiveness Organizational culture is considered by many as a factor that requires getting investigated from the perspective of organizational life. For accomplishing the objective of organizational performance level in the present competitive workplace, assessment of the degree of influence of the factors regarding this are getting more and more concentrated on by both academicians and practitioners. Organizational environment as being considered as a determining effect getting complex on the stratagem that enables the achievement of organizational level could play out a vital role in the association between organizational culture and organizational efficiency. The types of organizational culture have some relation with some organizational efficiency dimensions. In this association, the stability and variability of both the external and internal organizational environment and the values of the top managers have a moderating role to play. If commitment, possession of norms and values as per the organization, can be seen from the side of the employee, an increase in performance for achieving the organizational goals can be seen (Hatch and Cunliffe 2013; Powell and DiMaggio 2012). The satisfaction of customers can lead to attraction as well as retention of more customers, furthermore allow them to make decisions and reduce the chances of risks associated with the organization. To make loyal customers and influence their buying behaviors, it is important to provide rewards and other benefits through the usage of loyalty cards while making any purchases (Benn, Dunphy and Griffiths 2014). The loyalty cards are designed to target various market segments to whom the rewards shall be provided and ensure that they can be benefited somehow while making the next purchase through use of the loyalty cards. The organization must understand the needs and requirements of the customers and provide the benefits and rewards according to that, which would create customer satisfaction, attract as well as retain the new and existing customers respectively (Bschgens, Bausch and Balkin 2013). Impact of Learning on the Effectiveness of Employees A workforce that is engaged possesses the required skills, expertise and knowledge that is vital for any kind of organization who is looking for achieving high level of business success. In the present business scenario, learning and development has become an important mean of keeping employees engaged for maintaining the competitive advantage. Training and teaching employees is focused on imparting the skills that are required for doing this effectively. Flourishing organizations depend on their people for performing constantly well. This could be achieved only if the employees feel motivated and engaged. Proper knowledge in employees can help them nurture their talents and assisting them in learning new things and improving their performance eventually. Most employees want to feel like they are being productive and contributing something for their organization. Learning and development offers an option of addressing all the different human needs and largely improves employee engage ment. The learning and development would be possible by training and developmental sessions provided to the employees by the organization, which could not only facilitate the process of communication but would also result in making the employees skilled enough to reach the business goals and objectives by moving in the right direction. Using advanced technology during the learning process could increase the scopes and effectiveness of the training and developmental programs provided to the employees (Bolman and Deal 2017). Technological influence could be created by electronic learning via web based training, use of mobile technologies such as I-pad and managing simulations as well. Virtual reality could provide simulated training for making employees skilled and knowledgeable and improve the learning process for the employees within the organization. The technological advancements could also support the growth and development of personal and professional career of the employees with ease and effectiveness (Carter et al. 2013). Companies who are investing in their people via learning and development processes are also seen in a more favorable light by the employees than those in the company who dont. Linking objectives with the learning process would help make the work effective for managers. If conducted efficiently, learning and development would be able to be the means of motivation and engagement with employees like never before (Cherian and Jacob 2013; Dries, Vantilborgh and Pepermans 2012). Impact of Teamwork on Employee Effectiveness Working in teams encourages employees into contributing to the organization as much as possible in their capacity for reaching some common goals. Working in teams makes sure of timely delivery of work, as employees working in teams are more reliable, confident, proactive and efficient. Teamwork increases the efficiency of employee, which ultimately benefits the organization and yielding of higher profits. Teamwork leads to the appropriate delegation of responsibilities in accordance with the expertise, knowledge and skills sets of the employees. If the employees get the option of contributing as per their specialization and experience, then targets would be achieved more easily. Individuals who are working in teams have the option of interacting, discussing and brainstorming ideas for reaching any unique solution and also gaining from one anothers expertise. Work tales much lesser time when people having similar knowledge working in unison. Encouraging morning meetings at the office helps as the employees can come and meeting together on a common platform with their team leaders for planning their entire day. It is important that managers as well as the team members are aware of what the other team members are up to. It is impossible for people in working alone. Most of the problems evaporate if the employees get the option of voicing their concerns and discussing with their co-workers and supervisors (Farh, Seo and Tesluk 2012). There are various benefits of working as a team within the business organizations. First of all, it is easy to create a good culture and working environment and there are more scopes and opportunities to accomplish a task quickly and at the same time, focus on the enhancement of production level. The roles and responsibilities of the team members would be shared equally among themselves and tasks should be matched according to their skills and knowledge level. Team working could help people to communicate with each other effectively and even keep the goals and objectives clear and focused on (Cherian and Jacob 2013). Team working could also be possible by providing them with training and developmental sessions and furthermore enhance their skills to understand their roles while working as a team. All these approaches could help in improving the team performance and manage consistency in performances of the various team members (Cook et al. 2013). In spite of the benefits, there are few drawbacks as well such as mismatch of opinions of the various team members, which may create conflicts and misunderstandings. Every member might not feel mutually considerable due to difference in opinions, which could create further complexities and lack of decision-making ability too. Lack of participation of team members, ineffective group thinking ability, ineffective leadership of the team leader could also be other issues associated with the team working within organization. Team members also do not share adequate information, because of which, sometimes it becomes difficult to accomplish the project properly (Hatch and Cunliffe 2013). Lack of transparency is another issue faced while working as a team. The Chinese company: Huawei is one of the successful examples in implementing team work aspect within workforce structure in a way of approaching employees to achieve companys goalswith collaboration and dedication mode and successfully reflected this concept as one of core values in companys culture. Teamwork could develop a diversified work culture and become the organizational norm by ensuring that any sort of discrimination is prevented. The leaders make the employees informed about the goals and objectives that are needed to be achieved and create scopes for making the employees interact with each other and determine the benefits of working as a team. The performance management system is also useful for focusing on the value of teamwork and this will be possible by integrating the 360-degree feedback within the system. Feedbacks of employees should be taken for making necessary changes and improvements and make sure that the business outcomes are achieved (Hogg 2016). The employees must follow the laws, rules and regulations of the company, which could also give rise to a1.5 Impact of Leadership Behaviors on Organizations Leadership has direct causal and effect relationship with the organizations and their success. Leaders are the one who manage the employee motivation, culture and change toleration. They are the ones shaping institutional strategies that include their execution and efficiency. Leadership behavior allows the leader or manager of the organization to develop tone properly by creating policies and guidelines through maintenance of business values and mission. The policies and guidelines could help in identifying the weak performing employees and replace them with skilled workers. Organizational performances depend on the appropriate behaviors of the leaders and, so it is important to make sure that the leaders keep the employees motivated and consider their feedbacks and responses while making any decisions. This would make them feel valued for the organization and furthermore encourage them to perform to their potential, thereby improving the business performance and derive positive outcomes (Laloux 2014). One example could be how leadership impacted on the business performance at Tesco. Tesco followed the democratic leadership style for making sure that the responses and opinions of the employees were considered while making business decisions. The leadershi p qualities helped in managing the staffs properly and made sure that that it a good culture and working environment were maintained for fulfilling the needs and preferences of employees too. This resulted in employee satisfaction and improvement in morale, finally resulted in keeping the staffs motivated through good leadership skills. Leaders have the capacity of influencing everyone around them for reaping the maximum benefits possible from the resources of the organizations, which includes both the most crucial and the most expensive ones - the people. The present leadership theories define leadership on the basis of traits and the influence and power that is used for the achievement of the organizational objectives. Based on the different leadership traits, leaders might be classified into autocratic, democratic, bureaucratic or charismatic types. Autocratic leaders are mostly people who have the responsibility of leadership thrust upon them and they have the capability of irreparably damaging the organization with no shared vision and no motivation. Bureaucratic leaders depend only on policies for meeting their organizational goals. They are most relaxed in relying with any stated policy for convincing their followers in getting on board. Democratic leaders get most frustrated with the large effort that is nec essary for building consensus and they have the potential for weak execution and poor decision making. Charismatic leaders are the most successful leaders, having vision, personality for motivating to follow that vision for execution (Manzoor 2012; Garca-Morales, Jimnez-Barrionuevo and Gutirrez-Gutirrez 2012). Impact of Change on Employees Effectiveness Impact of change on the employees can be categorized into several factors. It is reasonable that employees are expected to be reacting as the process of change is involved with the transition from known to unknown. When employees start reacting it is crucial that distinguishing is carried out amongst the different symptoms of reactions and the reasons behind them. The most key factors that influence employees reaction to change are communication, employee contribution in decision making and employee emotion and cognition. The contingency theoryproposed by Fiedler allows the leaders to change according to situations through making sure that consistency is maintained while focusing on the nature of task, the behaviors and personality of the leader and nature of group that the leader manages.The contingency theory allows for managing the organizational operations and makes decisions, furthermore ensure that the actions undertaken are contingent. It could also allow the leader to act according to the situation and apply the own leadership styles for ensuring successful business operations and processes management (Levi 2015). The participative theory is similar to the democratic leadership style where the employees opinions and responses are considered while making any decisions in business. It supports the modern management procedures and is hierarchical in nature. It is a managerial style that obtains the inputs of people working there and provides output in the form of decisions made (Lunenburg 2012). Research has shown that employee acceptance and resistance to change are concrete milestones that is attainable, and once that is done it remains so. These milestones can be reached in the change initiative by means of completing the goals allotted. Change is difficult for employees, creating havoc for the bottom line of the organization. Change in its broad reach can bring high stress levels for the employees, including lack of timely communication and perceived injustices. Companies get the option of cutting on salaries and benefits when they bring in change for saving cost. However, this makes the employee look out for job somewhere else. Motivation levels go down, with decrease in job performance and company loyalty. Organizational changes ask for huge restructuring, which ultimately changes the lives of the employees (Carter et al. 2013) Leadership Behavior Theories Behavior is the extent of exercises and attributes made by animals, systems, or reenacted components in combination with their condition, which consolidates interchange structures or life conforms to and also the physical condition. Behavioral Theory of Leadership is a leadership theory that considers the observable movements and responses of leaders and aficionados in a given condition. Behavioral theories concentrate on how leaders act and admit that leaders can be made, rather than made-up and productive leadership trusts upon recognizable, learnable behavior. Behavioral theories of leadership are designated such in light of the way that they concentrate on the examination of exact behaviors of a leader. For behavioral researchers, a leader behavior is the best pointer of his leadership impacts and appropriately, is the best element of his or her leadership achievement. These theories concentrate on what leaders truly do instead of on their qualities. Unmistakable cases of behavio r are observed and requested as 'styles of leadership'. This domain has likely dragged in most thought from sharpening managers (Miner 2015). The contingency leadership theory allows for managing and leading an organization and make decisions by keeping the actions contingent according to the internal and external situation. The great man theory involves the greatest men who are skilled and knowledgeable and has the necessary charisma, wisdom and intelligence to gain power and authority over the subordinates and manage the business functioning properly. The participative theory allows for engaging the employees together and allowing them to discuss and share their views and opinions that could be valuable for the organization as well as during the making of business decisions (Cook et al. 2013). Yet many research studies could be ordered under the title of the behavioral approach, the Ohio State studies, the Michigan studies, and the studies by Blake and Mouton are unequivocally illustrative of the musings in this approach. By looking of these social affairs of studies, we can draw a perfect photograph of the key thoughts and consequences of the style/behavioral approach to manage leadership. Of these the two Key Studies in behavioral theory at the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University twisted up obviously eminent in the exceptional period of leadership ask about. These studies recognized two key behavioral groupings - presentation toward undertaking and presentation toward people. Michigan Leadership Studies Michigan Leadership Studies is a behavioral Leadership Theory that shows the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan guided exploratory studies to perceive styles of leader behavior that outcomes in advanced execution and gratification of a get-together. The estimation of Michigan Leadership Studies lies in the examination of two leadership stylestask and delegate organized styles. In its place of binding to traits of leaders, they focused on the behavior of leaders. It enhances the understanding of leadership, but there is still supporting to be gained for the implications (Gregoire and Arendt 2014). Example of an organization that follows these kind of leadership styles is Intel. Under Andy Grove, Intel was much organized and remained cool under pressure emotional towards situations at the same time. The organized structure of the organisation and its proper management of business operations and processes helped in smooth business functioning. The leadership qua lities and the calmness f the leader also enabled him to guide the employees in the right direction and kept them motivated to perform efficiently too (Hogg 2016). Ohio State Leadership Studies Ohio State Leadership Studies is Behavioral Leadership Theory. Course of action of studies on leadership was done by the Ohio State University in 1945 to recognize distinguishable behaviors of leaders as an alternative of concentrating on their separate traits. Ohio State Leadership Studies exhibited that beginning structure and thought are two specific estimations and not absolutely disconnected. A low score on one doesn't necessitate a high score on the other. Thought is the all-inclusive community presentation and beginning structure is the errand presentation. The Ohio State studies were coordinated around an indistinct time from the Michigan Leadership Studies, which also recognized as fundamental the accentuation on task and people. It broadened the scope of leadership research, but it fails in associating the behaviors of leaders with outcomes (Northouse 2015). Example of an organization that follows these kind of leadership styles is Coca Cola. Coca Cola makes sure their empl oyees get the chance of learning and developing their own leadership skills. Theories Related to Work Relationships and interactions. Interpersonal relationship insinuates a strong relationship among individuals with practically identical tastes, desires and premiums in life. It is fundamental for individuals to share a sound relationship with each other for snappier movement of consequences and in addition for a helpful vibe at the workplace. Social Exchange Theory Social Exchange Theory was proposed by George Casper Homans in the year 1958. According to Social Exchange Theory "give and take" shapes the preface of all relations however their degrees may change as per the energy of the relationship. In a relationship, every individual has wants from his/her accessory. A relationship without wants is futile. According to Social Exchange theory estimations and feelings have to be reacted for a compelling and tried and true relationship. Relationships cannot ever be uneven. An individual puts his chance and imperativeness in relationships exactly when he gets something consequently (Cook et al. 2013). It is often seen that employees working at IBM are not praised or recognized for their good performances. To overcome this kind of issue, social exchange theory is effective, and it can enable employee recognition program for understanding their hard work and provide them rewards and benefits for that. This has created a stir within the workplace and allowed the managers and leaders of the organization to fulfill the employees needs and ensure that good relationships are maintained thereafter (Bschgens, Bausch and Balkin 2013). Uncertainty Reductions Theory Based on the Uncertainty Reductions Theory, it is important for clearing up the association between individuals who don't have any associate with each other much or have been outsiders. As showed by Uncertainty Reductions Theory, two cloud individuals meeting all of a sudden affair assorted stages to weaken the level of powerlessness among them and come nearer to each other. Outsiders must grant well to know each other better and discover their similitude level (Hogg 2016). When two employees come from two different organizations, it would be difficult to manage coordination between them though sometimes, with proper communication, it could be easy for them to work as a unit and ensure recognizing own self easily and accomplish the business objectives together. Extension Activities: Organizational Culture Theory in Developing Organizational Effectiveness Organizational culture provides a detail analysis and assumptions of shared suppositions, qualities and various stages through which individuals gain experience for overcoming the issues related to management of relationships. The various aspects of cultural changes are accelerated for ensuring motivation of human beings and ensuring that it can represent an integrated elegance and maintain consistency across various disciplines within the organization. There is another culture theory named as the Hofstede cultural dimension theory that includes the power distance, individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity vs femininity (Bolman and Deal 2017) Entry Stage The entry stage is depicted by two individuals attempting to see each other better. Each one attempts to find the other person's understanding, relatives, informational ability, interests, recreation exercises and so forth. Each one divulges his/her inclinations to reinforce the bond and take the relationship to the accompanying level. Personal Stage In the second stage or the personal stage, individuals attempt to discover more about their associate's perspective and feelings. Individuals attempt to get some answers concerning the other person's morals, qualities, conduct and nature with everything taken into account. Individuals who are never again untouchables take in additional about each other's personality traits in the personal stage. The Exit Stage The Personal Stage picks the fate of the relationship. Individuals pleasing in each other's association go into whole deal duties i.e. either officially get hooked or stay together till the finish of time. Not every relationships blossom into social unions. Individuals fail to fathom and modify with each other choose to shared feelings that show people what is legitimate and wrong behavior. These qualities influence delegate behavior and moreover organizational execution. Culture is, all things considered, intangible to individuals likewise as the sea is imperceptible to the fish swimming in it. Regardless of the way that it impacts all specialist behaviors, considering, and behavioral cases, individuals tend to twist up recognizably more aware of their affiliation's culture when they have the opportunity to balance it with various affiliations. The dealing with limit incorporates settling on and realizing organizational layout decisions. The culture of the affiliation is solidly associated with organizational arrangement (Cummings and Worley 2014). An affiliation's culture may be one of its most grounded assets or its most prominent commitment. Without a doubt, it has been battled that affiliations that have an exceptional and hard to-impersonate culture welcome a high ground. Culture, or shared regards inside the affiliation, may be related to extended specialist execution. Examiners found a relationship between organizational cultures and laborer execution, with respect to advance pointers, for instance, wages, sales volume, market share, and stock costs provoking affirmation of the affiliations objective. Meanwhile, it is basic to have a culture that fits with the solicitations of the association's condition. To the extent that shared regards are fitting for the association being alluded to, delegate execution may benefit by culture. Despite having repercussions for delegate execution, organizational culture is a fruitful control instrument overseeing specialist behavior. Culture is an all the more powerful technique for con trolling and supervising agent behaviors than organizational rules and bearings. The ability to understand and affect organizational culture is a basic thing for managers to have in their tool compartment when they are finishing their controlling limit and also their dealing with ability to enhance laborer execution and propel the affirmation of the organizational destinations (Alvesson 2012). The various cultural dimensions of Hofstede model are power distance index, individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs femininity and long-term vs short term orientation. The power distance index enabled the staffs to get accustomed with the culture and accept that the power had not been distributed equally. The individualism vs collectivism dimension helped in making the staffs work in coordination and in groups for preventing conflicts and maintain a good culture within the workplace. uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs femininity and long-term vs short term orientation The uncertainty avoidance index enabled the community to tolerate the issues and clear doubts for ensuring that the rules, regulations and guidelines were followed properly. The masculinity vs femininity enabled the members of the organizations and community to achieve heroic abilities and cooperate with others by keeping separate distance between the male and female values and ethics. The long-term vs short term orientation could allow for understanding the past consequences and prepare for necessary plans to become successful in the present as well as the future. Some of the benefits of involving employees in organizational decision making are: Helps employees gain professional and personal stake Makes employees valued for the organisation and they could feel interested to perform more potentially Increase in responsibility means the employees will be able to manage their roles easily and ensure that the positive business outcomes are achieved. They feel a strong relationship and have greater roles and responsibilities to make decisions in business Commitment gives productivity Expands employee skills through deliverance of good quality training programs that can also make them enough skilled to handle any situations with ease and effectiveness. The motivation level and morale of employees also increase while the manager or leader has enough time to contribute to the organizational success Improves employee engagement, which can drive the performance of the company as well as enhance the organizational productivity Betters employee morale Bad relationships between management and employees are reduced Betters job satisfaction when the workers would be provided with enough benefits and their needs and requirements would be met as well. This would keep them motivated and encouraged to perform to their potential. Saves money and time on outsourcing Presents company with long-term assistance Helps employee offer insightful knowledge to the company through providing of training and developmental sessions to them for the enhancement of their skills, knowledge and expertise Opportunity of voicing opinions Encourages positive teamwork by promoting teamwork and collaboration between the employees and managers for facilitating the process of manufacturing and production Opens interaction with co-workers Some of the issues of involving employees in organizational decision making are: Risk of blurring distinction between management and employees Loss of disciplined structure Inconsistent decision making Hard time monitoring employees Not enough communication Lack of communication results because of differences in culture, belonging from different backgrounds, language differences, etc. Due to this, string bonds are not formed, which further hampers the communication between the management and employees Different ways to motivate employees are: Making sure that communication process is managed properly Provide good examples Empowering employees Managers must make them believe that they have trust in the employees and even communicate a clear vision to focus on the business goals and objectives. Motivation could be done by proving them with rewards, benefits and encouraging self-improvement for obtaining their best in terms of performance and improve the business effectiveness (Lunenburg 2012). Offering good opportunities for advancement Providing incentives Ways in which different motivation theories help employees: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs: Inside this theory, the motivational factors impact what employees aspire for. Herzbergs Hygiene model: This model helps in the elimination of dissatisfaction factors and even creating situations for job satisfaction. Victor Vrooms Expectancy Theory: According to this theory, motivation is dependent on the employees needs of an outcome. How Apple motivates their employees: Apple leads its employees by example. They are always offering their employees with various tasks and make sure that they remain engaged to provide their opinions and even make decisions properly. Apple only hires people who are willing to go through the entire process. They are even known for showing employees the right way. Inside the organization, culture is made up as the journey progresses so that everyone can adjust accordingly. New recruits get the most motivational lift from day one. There are a wide range of incentives and benefits for employees so that they get huge amount of job satisfaction. Task goals are set for providing employees with directions. Analyse how motivational theory can inform employee motivation There are various motivational theories like the Maslows hierarchy of needs theory and Herzberg hygiene model. The Maslows hierarchy of needs theory allowed creating reasoning and feeling among the individual at different motivational levels, starting from the psychological needs to self-actualization needs. The various needs at levels include psychological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization needs. The motivational factors influence what the person actually needs. If a person is struggling to get a god job or finding it difficult to accomplish a task within the organisation, then motivation will be to enhance his skills and knowledge for accomplishing the goals and objectives with ease. One cannot reach the above levels without fulfilling the needs at the lower levels. By interpreting the theory, it can be understood that in case a manager of an organisation like Apple demands for fulfilling the self-actualization needs and develop the potential of employees, then he can provide them with proper training sessions. The employees could also be provided with either monetary or non-monetary rewards for keeping them motivated and focused on the achievement of business goals and objectives with ease. The employers or HR manager at Apple could also structure the entry-level positions for keeping the employees motivation and make them perform above their expectations, furthermore drive the sales and increase profit level for the company too. Evaluate how a named organisation motivates its employees The business organisation Samsung has used the Performance appraisal technique to evaluate the performances of employees and made sure that their strengths and weaknesses are assessed and reviewed properly. The employees of Samsung were provided with regular feedbacks regarding their mistakes and areas of improvements, which resolved the performance related issues as a whole. This further helped in making necessary changes and improvements through providing of training sessions for enhancing their skills, knowledge and expertise level. The employees who performed much better than the actual expectations of the HR manager or leader were praised. They were even provided with rewards like mementos and additional monetary benefits too for keeping them motivated. The employees were engaged during orientation sessions and even their responses and opinions were considered before making any business decisions. This made them believe that they had been valued and kept performing to their pote ntial for bringing the best outcomes in the future. References Alvesson, M., 2012.Understanding organizational culture. Sage. Benn, S., Dunphy, D. and Griffiths, A., 2014.Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017.Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley Sons. Bschgens, T., Bausch, A. and Balkin, D.B., 2013. Organizational culture and innovation: A meta?analytic review.Journal of product innovation management,30(4), pp.763-781. Carter, M.Z., Armenakis, A.A., Feild, H.S. and Mossholder, K.W., 2013. Transformational leadership, relationship quality, and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change.Journal of Organizational Behavior,34(7), pp.942-958. Cherian, J. and Jacob, J., 2013. Impact of self efficacy on motivation and performance of employees.International Journal of Business and Management,8(14), p.80. Cook, K.S., Cheshire, C., Rice, E.R. and Nakagawa, S., 2013. Social exchange theory. InHandbook of social psychology(pp. 61-88). Springer Netherlands. Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Dries, N., Vantilborgh, T. and Pepermans, R., 2012. The role of learning agility and career variety in the identification and development of high potential employees.Personnel Review,41(3), pp.340-358. Farh, C.I., Seo, M.G. and Tesluk, P.E., 2012. Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: the moderating role of job context.Journal of Applied Psychology,97(4), p.890. Gallie, D., Zhou, Y., Felstead, A. and Green, F., 2012. Teamwork, skill development and employee welfare.British Journal of Industrial Relations,50(1), pp.23-46. Garca-Morales, V.J., Jimnez-Barrionuevo, M.M. and Gutirrez-Gutirrez, L., 2012. Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation.Journal of business research,65(7), pp.1040-1050. Gregoire, M.B. and Arendt, S.W., 2014. Leadership: Reflections over the past 100 years.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,114(5), pp.S10-S19. Hatch, M.J. and Cunliffe, A.L., 2013.Organization theory: modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university press. Hogg, M.A., 2016. Social identity theory. InUnderstanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory(pp. 3-17). Springer International Publishing. Laloux, F., 2014.Reinventing organizations: A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage in human consciousness. Nelson Parker. Levi, D., 2015.Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications. Lunenburg, F.C., 2012. Organizational structure: Mintzbergs framework.International journal of scholarly, academic, intellectual diversity,14(1), pp.1-8. Manzoor, Q.A., 2012. Impact of employees motivation on organizational effectiveness.Business management and strategy,3(1), p.1. Miner, J.B., 2015.Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge. Naqshbandi, D.M.M. and Kaur, S., 2013. A study of organizational citizenship behaviours, organizational structures and open innovation. Northouse, P.G., 2015.Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Pekgun, P., Griffin, P.M. and Keskinocak, P., 2016. Centralized vs. decentralized competition for price and lead-time sensitive demand. Powell, W.W. and DiMaggio, P.J. eds., 2012.The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. University of Chicago Press.

Saving for Retirement Essays - Taxation In The United States

Persuasive Speech On Saving For Retirement Persuasive Speech on Saving for Retirement Dateline: 08/17/98 In virtually every business college, you will have to take some form of speech/communication class. Here's a persuasive speech with a format that Business Majors Guest Writer Allen Yamazaki used for his Speech 251 class. You can also learn about saving for retirement at the same time. Saving for Retirement General Purpose: To persuade Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to start saving for their retirement Central Idea: Starting early to save for retirement has many benefits over Social Security Introduction: I. (Attention Getter) Only 2 people out of the 19 responses I got from the survey have started saving for their retirement. A. This is understandable because most of us probably think that retirement is something that is eons away. B. Because we are college students, our school schedule only allows us to work part time. C. Between the 2 people that has started saving for their retirement, one person currently works full time. And this person also is participating in their employer's profit sharing program or 401K plan. And this person also owns stocks. This person already has a good start. II. (Credibility Statement) I myself have started saving for my retirement by starting an IRA. III. (Reveal Topic) You simply cannot rely on Social Secur

Probability And Nonprobability Example

Probability And Nonprobability Example Probability And Nonprobability – Coursework Example Probability and Non Probability Probability and Non Probability As d, probability sampling is quite useful as it provides a strategy whereby the research can focus on a given population and then pick randomly to find participants. It effectively eliminates the possibility that the researcher is biased in who or she picks to participate in a study and enables for a simplistic way to determine who should be asked. Scientifically, the larger the sample size, the more likelihood that a good representative of different viewpoints regarding the topic under examination. This is one of the drawbacks, however, if the population is quite small, as the statistical probability of have a sample size that is not truly representative of the overall population would be much higher. Probability sampling would certainly be the sampling method of choice for the final project titled: The Impact of Group Support on Stress in the Workplace. This choice of method is justified because it will enable the res earch to obtain a healthy cross section of different employees throughout the organization whose population forms the foundation for the study. This will lead to reliable and valid data because bias will have been eliminated as much as possible, and the eventual sample size that is chosen will be more reflective of the type of employees working in that particular type of industry or occupation (Groves, Presser, & Dipko, 2004). ReferencesGroves, R. M., Presser, S., and Dipko, S. (2004). The role of topic interest in survey participation decisions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(1), 231.

Physician Assistant Career Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Physician Assistant Career - Personal Statement Example A Physician Assistant career grasped my educational interest. I consulted with many friends and the majority of them suggested Charles Drew University. The University is known as a pioneer in medical discipline and has a pool of carefully selected experienced professors. Today, the health care has acquired an industry status, which has also resulted in many people not being able to afford visiting the physicians regularly. I'd like to be a part of their lives as well, so that I can share my knowledge and experience with the lesser privileged. My short term goal is to gain credentials as a qualified learner, who's ready to accept the challenges and learn from them. The necessity for health care workers is also on a rise, as in today's fast paced society there are many physical and psychological issues requiring adequate attention. I am a hard working person with an ability to adapt myself to any sort of environment, which is bound to help me in dealing with different sets of circumstances as a health worker. Previously, I had the experience of incompatible academic performance due to some tight schedule and improper time management I had committed my self to. I spent my free hours working outside the campus.

Environmental problems report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental problems report - Essay Example Due to the very nature of the tropical rainforests, these places not only experience higher level of temperature but also witness higher level of rain. What is more important about tropical rainforests is the biodiversity which they encourage and possess. Over 10% of the earth’s surface is covered by the tropical rainforests therefore they play an important role in balancing the overall environment of the earth. However, deforestation of tropical forests and its persistent occurrence has created stronger consequences for the biodiversity as well as environment of the earth. The systematic removal of the forest area so that they can be used for other purposes is what is called tropical deforestation. This report will discuss the ecological reasons for tropical deforestation and will also discuss some of the possible solutions which can be implemented to reduce the occurrence. Ecological Reasons of Tropical Deforestation One of the key and most documented reasons for the tropica l deforestation is the agriculture. It has been suggested that subsistence farming has been one of the real cause as to why tropical rainforests are being destroyed. ... s therefore in order to sustain higher level of population growth and to accommodate humans within the overall eco-system, tropical deforestation quickened during last 100 years. (Simon, Dickey , & Reece, 163) It has been argued that though tropical deforestation may provide advantage to human life however, it can have also devastating effects on other species and the environment as a whole. What is also critical to understand that overall devastation caused by tropical deforestation is not just limited to the local environment but to the global environment too. The interaction of humans with the environment and how they actually use the environment to fulfill their needs however many species actually are microhabitats in these forests. Due to this dependence of other biological species on the survival of forests, it becomes critically important the overall pace of deforestation is slowed down. The overall changes in the trees as well as the insects and other biological organisms red uce the ability of the forests to actually sustain the environment over the longer period of time. (Lindsey, 2007) Ecological reasons also indicate that in certain areas, especially in Asia, the overall intensity of the climate is on the rise. This intense climate changes create droughts and precipitation. This increase in precipitation and intensity in the temperature is also seen as one of the key reasons as to why tropical forests are decreasing in their overall size. Another important ecological reason for tropical deforestation is the increasing demand from developed countries of the material found in the tropical forests. Tropical forests are rich in producing rubbers, lumber and other active ingredients which are used by the pharmaceutical companies. The higher and sustained rise in

International relation class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

International relation class - Essay Example declare war on America minutes after they pulled out of the talks but several circumstances hindered the passing of the maessage in time leading to what became the worst attacks on Japanese soil. The concept of the film is based on the conflict that led to a great loss of life due to lack of amicable ways to resolve the conflict that existed. The theme of international relationships is prevalent as poor relations between the two nations had disastrous consequences. International relations can be defined as the relationship between countries and the roles government and non-governmental agencies play in fostering these relationships (Carlsnaes, 2013). The film highlights the importance of positive international relations to the growth of a country and the importance of proper conflict management techniques within international circles. Countries and nations need to co-exist together and respect the sovereignty of each other. There is also a need to have conflict resolution forums to ensure conflict between nations are resolve in a way that will have minimum negative effect to the countries relations (Baylis,

Detection and Tracking of Arbitrary Objects in Video

Detection and Tracking of Arbitrary Objects in Video Kleanthis Constantinou Abstract— Detection and tracking of arbitrary objects in video is a technique which detect object and an object tracker follows that object even when the detectable part cannot be seen. The goal to detect an object in video or image is to determine whether there are any defined object in the video and return their locations, for example the object can be individual team members in a video showing sports, and it’s also been useful for the police in hot pursuit of vehicle by detecting the vehicle while moves. In this paper includes an analyses a methodology for detecting and tracking arbitrary objects in videos and documentaries. This work will explain how a moving object can allow deriving and maintaining a dynamic template of each moving objects. INTRODUCTION This paper will examine and analyze the paths followed for the implementation of a system that makes the detection and tracking of an arbitrary object possible. In addition the paper will point out the importance of embedding such a system in surveillance systems enhancing the need of those systems upon collecting cohesive temporal information though such an implementation. Section II will distinguish need for implementing such a system and how it can benefit its host. Section III will be stating the structure and the techniques used to properly manage the events of tracking and detection of an arbitrary object. Section IV will refer to the variety of problems disclosed in detection and tracking systems such as operation interference, while in addition it will state the required precautions that need to take place in order to prevent any operation interference and allow the system to run efficiently and effectively enhancing its accuracy. Section V will briefly explain the different types of surveillance systems and how they can be accessible. Lastly Section VI will display the steps followed in a moving detection system. In Video analysis the first step is the detection of moving objects and the areas which can be used are surveillance videos, tracking and monitoring people and traffic, therefore in this section we will be stating some examples on how the system works from a camera view and how effective the system can react. II. Reasons The reasons for providing an algorithm to make possible the detection of video objects is due to the need of acquiring data to be forced as an input to a computer based vision application. The application’s goal is to rebut tracking objects in the scene considering parameters in the background and the camera. Background based variables include the variation of light and objects that can change their status from moving to stopped and vice versa. The algorithm consists of two parts, the object detection which is light in terms of programming and a second part which is based on a more sophisticated structure that functions behalf of detecting objects in videos. The process of locating and tracking a moving object in video over time can be done by using a camera. Detection and tracking does not satisfy the purpose of extracting information’s but also to make implementation of systems such as traffic control, security and surveillance, medical imaging, human computer interaction, video communication and compression, augmented reality and video editing possible. Establishing correspondence of objects parts between consecutive frames of video it is the main goal of the tracking. The task of this application provides us with data that are used to enhance lower level processing like motion segmentations and data extraction such as activity analysis and behavior recognition which categorized as higher level processing. Methods and algorithms of detection and tracking The tracking and detection methods are categorized based on how an application can use them. Generally object tracking systems are adequate for outdoor surveillances videos where tracking parts of an object is necessary for several indoor surveillance systems. It is necessary to distinguish objects from each other in order to track and analyze their actions reliably. The main methods for object tracking include firstly the correspondence matching points and secondly to carry out explicit tracking by making use of position prediction or motion estimation. The techniques used for designing surveillance camera systems include the use of stationary cameras to allow the segmentation of each image into a set of regions representing the moving objects by using background differencing, and by using the method of k-Gaussian expand the video processing and allowing process of real stream videos with time varying background and without dedicated hardware. Figure 1: Tracking block diagram The diagram above shows the main blocks followed for object detection and tracking, where foreground and background are the basis for defining images. The information extraction in this scenario includes object attributes and features that could be used in applications and real time video applications. The Methods which classified as point detectors, background subtraction and segmentation is object detection. The information expected to be derived from the tracker is the trajectory of the path which has been followed from a moving object over time by locating its position in every individual video frame. The use of detection and tracking algorithms include implementation of techniques such as: data mining neural network artificial intelligence wireless sensor network biometrics. IV. Problems and Solutions Based on statements made in section II, background changes refers to light changing scenarios such as an outdoor scene, clouds covering the sun and for an indoor scenario such as turning off the lights. By considering those two factors there is problem for an object to be detected and tracked. So the approach cannot be based on frame difference where frame rate it is also depended on the object speed. From this perspective the attention must be laid on the moving object detection based on the background suppression where background model is computed and evolved frame by frame. Clarifying that statement object motion is defined by the difference between the current frame and the background model. Apart from that there must be a high response rate between the changing nature of background and reliable background model computation. Then a model must deal with erroneous ghost detection which includes objects in background that appear as moving in order to be able to compute the differenc e between those objects original position and the position that those objects where projected to after performing motion. Another puzzling fact that makes the algorithm more difficult and not approachable were the existence of shadows and moving objects while the associated shadows are sharing the same features of visual such as detectability and motion, so when the background is updated, the shadows and the moving objects are detected and grouped at the same time. The tasks that are affected by shadows its object classification and the assessment of moving object. This kind of problem mostly affects a system that controls the traffic which is evaluating the trajectories of vehicles. To eliminate such problems the approach of shadow detection needs to be defined and suppressed based on a color analysis HSV space. Another thing that interferes with the processes of tracking and detecting objects in video is the availability of video sensor, the zoom capabilities and videos streams acquired by moving platforms. In such situations the background differing techniques cannot be used because they rely on stabilization algorithm for canceling the motion of cameras, and because the stabilization and the detection are based on the background and cannot perform perfectly since it requires stabilization algorithms in order to affine the perspective model for motion compensation where the quality of compensation depends on the observed scene. To increase the accuracy of detecting a moving object we used a stabilization algorithm that locates regions of an image where this region detecting the normal component of the optical flow field. Surveillance Surveillance systems is been used for monitoring of the behavior, activities or other changing information and more often of people for influencing, managing, directing or protecting them. Such surveillance system serving government and law to enforcement to maintain social control, giving the privilege to prevent or eliminate threats because of the services suck monitoring and recognition which surveillance systems provide. Types where this kind of program and technologies are used: Computers: where responsible for the monitoring of data and traffic through internet, which is categorized in real time monitoring Computer surveillance is used monitoring all phones calls, emails, web traffic; instant messaging etc. Telephones: the official and unofficial tapping telephone lines, the program which is on use for monitoring it is on real time. By using speech to text software creates this kind of algorithm intercept audio and then processed by automated call analysis program where search for certain key words or phrases. Social network analysis: Creating social map network based on data were collected from Facebook, twitter from social sites and from phones call records. Biometrics: this kind of technology its for human analysis for their physical characteristics such fingerprinting, DNA and facial patterns. The technique used is called facial recognition and is based on person’s facial features to accurately identify them from video surveillance. Aerial: Aerial: is an airborne vehicle surveillance which is collecting visual imagery or video. Because this kind of system extraction is high resolution imagery of identification object of extremely long distance it require to use a surveillance hardware such as micro aerial vehicle Data mining and profiling: Data mining is mathematical algorithm method and statistical techniques to identify previously unnoticed relationships within the data. And the process of assembling information about a particular individual or group is called Data profiling which is use of generate profile.. Such application is use for economic and social transactions where the amount of data is large where application is working by following the electronic trail. Every transaction nowadays is electronic, resulting in an electronic trail like credit card, phone card, rented video etc. The most common type of Surveillance systems include utilization of cameras in order to survey a particular space. Surveillance videos up until now consisted of systems analogous to three differentiated generations, 1GSS, 2GSS, and 3GSS. The first generation was used for controlling a room using various cameras at different positions where the role controller was a person. The second generation involved the use of digital and analog subsystems where digital video was focusing on real time detection consequently giving the video human operators for filtering out spurious events. The third generation systems provide end-to-end digital systems followed by today’s video object detection systems. Examples From Video analysis Crossing line detection: The object is detected when a moving object crossing the â€Å"safety† line through the video processing. The safety line can be setup base on the background and the various security zones in arbitrary shapes within the cameras view. So when the object crosses the line the program will automatically activate the alarm and the object will be marked with an alert frame so that the system will mark its moving trace and will alert security personnel to pay attention to the object recognizing it as intruder. Figure 2: moving object crossing the safety line Appearing detection: when an object appears within the camera view alert detects and identifies it as a moving object, if the object behavior is according to the pre-defined alert condition the system will alarm and detect its moving tracks. This system will automatically detect any moving object like human vehicle in a designated area. Figure 3: Moving vehicle Guarding region Entry detection: By setting various security zones in arbitrary shape with in cameras view and through the intelligent video processing technique, automatically will detect moving objects such as human animals, vehicle etc. and if the object does not met the predefined rules when they entered to the security zone then alarm will alert and the object will be marked with an alert frame. Figure 4: Security zone in arbitrary shape Leaving detection: Can set alert areas or regions when an item is removed from its region and indicate its track using alarm frame when the object is removed from it position. Prevent prison break and kids who left the safe place from the kindergarten. Figure 5: Alert area or region CONCLUSION In this paper we analyzed the fact that a system for tracking and detection is necessary for computer vision application implementations such as video compression, video surveillance, vision based control, human computer interfaces, medical imaging, augmented reality etc. this kind of systems provide key tasks for monitoring and controlling applications by providing input data to video databases such content based indexing and retrieval. Reference point [1].http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=arnumber=784651url=http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=784651 [2]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.3288 [3]. http://www.google.com/patents/US20130322689 [4]. http://www.slideshare.net/yuhuang/object-processing11 [5]. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wdn/myresearch.html [6]. http://jivp.eurasipjournals.com/content/2013/1/42 [7].http://www.reoll.com/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=5Itemid=8lang=en [8]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_tracking [9]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV

Personal Narrative- The Path Towards Grace, Love and Peace :: Personal Narrative Writing

Personal Narrative- The Path Towards Grace, Love and Peace When I was 16 I left my parents home. One month before I left, I wrote this in my journal: â€Å"What is the fluttering in my belly, rising up through my chest? An apprehension — a fear — excitement? I am anticipating a change — a falling down — a caving in of something I expect to be solid. I’m in a strange place, moving slowly forward with nothing that can be measured — an internal advancement, a shedding away of old selves. I am pared down.† The story of my leaving still feels like something written in code — a code no one could understand on the rational mind level. It was my soul’s decision and no amount of explaining or writing has helped enlighten those who did not understand it. I barely understood it myself. To those who did understand, I had to say very little. They knew within the first two minutes of my telling. They were inevitably people who, at some point in their lives, tried to bury their own soul’s yearnings, who had decided to live a perfectly fine and reasonable life, until the day they could not. That day of â€Å"soul excavation† remains crystal clear in their minds. As do all the nudges and urgings from the universe that led them there. Once I left, I looked back and saw this path towards that day so clearly — to me it made perfect sense. So much so that when friends asked me later, â€Å"How could you leave such a life — not having to work, good parents, nic e house?† I would answer, â€Å"How could I not?† And yet, I had never felt so humbled. With my leaving came the realization of how very little I had known my Self all those years. I did not leave gracefully. I did not expect my soul to be such an urgent and powerful force. Nor did I plan to leave when I did — but once I did, I felt supported and encouraged by something I could not name. The path ahead kept lighting up as if with neon. Go there. Do this. Fear accompanied me and frustration, guilt and desperate prayers, but no longer did I feel that deep sadness I could not name, which Sarah Ban Breathnagh, in her book Simple Abundance, says is â€Å"you missing your authentic self.† I feel lucky now that as a child I took on little of our culture’s burden around success.

Gender Roles in Jeopardy

Erica Ahern Eng 102-09 Essay 3 November 4, 2009 Gender Roles in Jeopardy Traditional gender roles are being threatened in today’s economy, the out-dated stereotype that men are better workers than women is now absurd. Although, the stereotype that women can take care of the household better than men has not changed. For as long as human behavior has been documented there have been strict ideals of the different gender roles in parenting.These hunter and gatherer sub sequential gender responsibilities have fundamentally defined what the correct social position for men and women are, yet recently in some households those traditional gender roles have become reversed. The Movie â€Å"Daddy Day Care† is about the plight of a man named Charlie, played by Eddie Murphy, who is laid off at his job when the health division in his company is shut down. Charlie had worked in product development at a large food company, and was the main provider for his family.Charlie’s unfo rtunate employment situation left his wife with the responsibility as breadwinner of the household. Due to the new financial strain put on his family and no job possibilities on the horizon he and his friend Phil, played by Jeff Garlin, are forced to take their sons out of an exclusive program called The Chapman Academy and become stay at home fathers. Desperate for money, Charlie opens up a day care center, which offers reasonable pricing and flexible hours. Unfortunately for Charlie his business doesn’t exactly take off with the popularity he had expected it too.Charlie thought that with his tremendous competitive rates that he would have an overwhelming starting success. Unfortunately for Charlie and his friend Phil their potential customers were very patronizing about two men taking care of their children, due to this typically being a woman’s occupation. The idea that women are better than men at maintaining a household and carrying out domestic responsibilities i s rebutted by Laura Vanderkam in her article â€Å"What Moms Can Learn From Dads; Stay-at-home Men Find More Time for Leisure, Less Time for Chores and Present a Healthier Picture of Domestic Life. Vanderkam’s article makes a point to explain that as more men are taking on the primary parenting role, that research has shown that they are undertaking the household responsibilities better than the more traditional families today. (Vanderkam 1). She conveys that with men, domestic work and child care are considered two separate jobs. That men believe that the task of caring for children is reasonably different from doing the housework. (Vanderkam 2). Men are seeming to have a better strategy for dividing the responsibilities with their spouses, and giving themselves more time for leisure.Peg Tyre and Daniel McGinn explain in â€Å"She Works He Doesn’t† that the unemployment rate has recently hit six percent. They explain that several million families are experienc ing dads coming home from work with a severance package, especially white-collar men due to corporate downsizing. Tyre and McGinn also state that women are currently earning more college degrees and M. B. A. s than men, which is making them better equipped to pick up the financial slack. (Tyre 51). Although, gender often shapes the work opportunities and experiences that men and women often have in industrial societies.They also mention, though, that the shift of the wife becoming the breadwinner can be very difficult when families are forced into it. (Tyre 56). It is pointed out in Hilary Potkewitz’s article â€Å"Daddy and Me! ; Newly Jobless Fathers Discover Ups and Downs of Stay-at home Life,† that due to the recession most layoff’s in the New York industry have been male dominated. This predicament leaves more and more men having to undertake the responsibility as primary caregiver to their children. This role can often be intimidating for men due to the fa ct that most child activity networks are more geared towards women guardians. In a world of Mommy and Me groups, breast feeding workshops and ballet classes where the aesthetic is overwhelmingly pink, there are few programs that reach out to fathers. † She explains that fathers new to the role of caregiver are easy to spot due to their lack of experience with pushing strollers, that they often bump them into inanimate objects. (Potkewitz 1). Stay at home dad’s also often feel rejected by nannies and mothers in child care classes, that women make them feel inadequate as primary caregivers. (Potkewitz 2).If a husband loses his job and is having trouble finding work, the wife can be justified in threatening to leave him. However, consider the arbitrary reaction if a husband threatened to leave a wife who was in the exact same predicament. He would probably be crucified. If a man loses his job, the woman is justified in resenting the fact that the financial burden is then t hrust on her. Nevertheless, a man is not permitted to resent this very same dilemma. If a man is laid off and cares for the household and kids, while the wife is working, he can be accused of not pulling his weight.Yet this is exactly the same situation that women demand more recognition for. It's perfectly acceptable for a woman to demand a man make a certain salary, to be deemed â€Å"marriage material†, and provide stability. Likewise, if a man demands the wife do the cooking and cleaning, he can now be labeled a sexist hater of women. If he asks her to carry her weight financially, just like he does, he can be criticized as an inadequate provider. In conclusion, with the recent recession in the economy more men are being laid off of their jobs.With women now becoming more educated and being able to achieve jobs of higher pay and better achieved status than in the past they are now able to assume the role of breadwinner. Women’s and men’s participation in pai d work and the nature of that work often determine their social value, and overall status in society. This reversal of habitual gender roles is slowly becoming more popular, and hopefully more acceptable in today’s society. The ideals of the different gender roles when it comes to parenting are now in jeopardy as women are now earning higher salaries than that of the past.Men are also proving themselves adequate as the caregivers of their children, and reshaping the generic belief that only women can be domesticated. Work Cited Tyre, Peg. McGinn, Daniel â€Å"She Works, He Doesn’t. † The Changing World of Work. Ed. Marjorie Ford. New York: Pearson 2006. 50-58. Potkewitz, Hilary. â€Å"Daddy and Me! ; Newly jobless fathers discover ups and downs of stay-at-home life. † Crain’s New York Business. (March 16, 2009) Vanderkam, Laura. â€Å"What Mom’s Can Learn From Dads; Stay-at home men find more time for leisure, less time for chores and prese nt a healthier picture of domestic life. † USA Today. (June 24, 2008) Ahern

Big Picture Questions in ACT Reading Whats the Main Point

Big Picture Questions in ACT Reading What's the Main Point SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips On ACT Reading, you'll encounter questions that ask you to be able to read large amounts of text and distill them down; we call these "big picture" questions here at PrepScholar. Big picture questions can ask about the entire passage, a series of paragraph, or even just one paragraph (as opposed to "little picture" questions, which will ask for specific information). Being able to answer these types of questions will prove very useful for college/university, where professors will expect you to use these skills with even more dense and academic writing. What are â€Å"big picture† questions on ACT Reading, and what are the best ways to approach answering them? I’ll start by discussing the two primary types of big picture questions you’ll encounter on the ACT, along with common ways the ACT will ask you about each. After that, I’ll give you some strategies to answer both types of questions, illustrated with examples from prose fiction and academic writing. feature image credit: The Bigger Picture by F Delventhal, used under CC BY 2.0/Cropped from original. Type 1: Main Point Questions First of all, what is the main point of a passage or paragraph? For Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science passages, the main point is the central argument. It's a little more complicated for Prose Fiction or Literary narrative, since they don’t always have central arguments; for these passage types, the main point is often the central conflict and its implications. If you're stumped, it can also sometimes help to think of the main point of a Prose Fiction/Literary Narrative passage as a short summary of what happens, or even the â€Å"moral of the story.† Questions that ask you about the main point are not asking about the topic, or theme, of the writing, but are instead looking for something more specific. The main point should answer the question, â€Å"so what’s the author’s point in this paragraph/passage?† in a short sentence. Identifying Main Point Questions It’s usually pretty clear when you’re being asked about the main point of a passage. The wording will go something like the following (all extracted from and modified from actual SAT questions): â€Å"Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?† â€Å"The primary focus of lines 65-92 is..." "The author’s main purpose in lines 54-69 is to show..." â€Å"The main theme of this passage concerns the...† â€Å"The main idea of the first paragraph is that the music of the video game Portal...† Main Point Questions: Examples Let’s take an example from a paper I wrote during graduate school (minus footnotes). I’ll even include introductory material, similar to what you might find on the ACT. This paragraph is excerpted from the paper â€Å"‘This was a triumph:’ Narrative and dynamic uses of music in Portal† by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2013 by Laura Staffaroni). This paper was written as the final assignment for a Research and Materials class. In general, because Portal is a puzzle game, it might be expected to lack a strong narrative; this, however, is not the case. While the gameplay is focused on the solving each level’s puzzle, you are also provided with tantalizing bits of story in the form of dialogue spoken to you by GLADoS, the AI directing the â€Å"tests.† Bits of the story are revealed over the course of the game in this way, picking up with the introduction of secret rooms with writing on the walls and the adorable but deadly turrets. So what’s the main point of this paragraph? If you just go with what the topic is, then your answer might be something like â€Å"games,† or even â€Å"the video game Portal.† *buzzer* EHHHHHH. WRONG. Remember, the main point should be able to answer the question "What's the author's point in this paragraph?" The answer to that question will be something like "The author is arguing that [main point]." So "the video game Portal" doesn't even make sense as an answer - "The author is arguing that the video game Portal" is not a complete sentence, which means "the video game Portal" cannot be the main point of this paragraph. Here's my short answer for what I think the main point of that paragraph is: Portal is a puzzle game that also has a narrative. This successfully answers the question "what is the author's point in this paragraph?" in a way that makes sense: the author is arguing that Portal is a puzzle game that also has a narrative. I will go into strategies for how to extract this information from a paragraph or passage in a little bit. For now, let’s take a look at another example, this time from prose fiction. This paragraph is excerpted from the short story â€Å"Writer’s Block† by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2009 Laura Staffaroni). This story was written as an assignment for a Creative Writing class. Emma gave her friend a glare that conveyed both her disbelief and annoyance. Really, sometimes Rachel could be a bit melodramatic, as shown by, oh, EVERYTHING she had just said and done. If anyone had trouble writing, it was her, Emma. When given a prompt, Rachel’s pen would start racing back and forth across the page like a ping-pong ball on a string, going to the right right right AND back to the left, where the metaphorical paddle awaited. Meanwhile, Emma would be sitting with her pen pushed into the paper, hoping for a few sentences or paragraphs in half an hour. It just didn’t seem fair. Now Rachel was worried about writing? It was probably a ploy, some kind of act she was putting on, so that when she ended up producing a three-page story in the space of fifteen minutes everyone would feel especially awed. What’s the main point, or primary focus, of this paragraph? If you go with â€Å"theme,† your answer might be along the lines of â€Å"jealousy,† or â€Å"writing.† Again, this is not specific enough to be correct. The answer to the question "What's the main point of this paragraph?" should be able to give a person who hasn’t read the paragraph a good idea of what goes on in it, not just what it’s about. So what’s the focus of this paragraph? Again, that can be answered with just a short statement: Emma’s jealousy of Rachel’s ability to write a lot quickly. What about the main point? The main point is that Emma is jealous of Rachel's ability to write a lot quickly. 1961 Triumph TR3A by The Car Spy, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. Type 2: Perspective Questions Rather than asking about â€Å"what happened†, perspective questions ask â€Å"what is the perspective, attitude, or point of view of the [person, narrator, author], shown in this [paragraph, series of paragraphs, passage]?† These questions are a little different from main point questions (and occur less frequently than main point questions), but since answering them requires you to synthesize large amounts of information down into one central point, perspective questions are still big picture questions. It's a subtle distinction, but it is important to make a note of whether a question is a main point or perspective question, particularly if it is asking about a paragraph, rather than the whole passage. Why? Because it's entirely possible that a single paragraph is from a particular character/person's point of view, and that person's opinion may differ from the objective reality presented in the rest of the passage. Identifying Perspective Questions Here are a couple examples of how a perspective question might be phrased on the SAT: "The passage is written from the point of view of..." "Based on the passage, which of the following statements best describes the overall attitude of the narrator?" Perspective Questions: Examples Let’s use the example of my paper on Portal again. This paragraph is excerpted from the paper â€Å"‘This was a triumph:’ Narrative and dynamic uses of music in Portal† by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2013 by Laura Staffaroni). This paper was written as the final assignment for a Research and Materials class. In general, because Portal is a puzzle game, it might be expected to lack a strong narrative; this, however, is not the case. While the gameplay is focused on the solving each level’s puzzle, you are also provided with tantalizing bits of story in the form of dialogue spoken to you by GLADoS, the AI directing the â€Å"tests.† Bits of the story are revealed over the course of the game in this way, picking up with the introduction of secret rooms with writing on the walls and the adorable but deadly turrets. Question: â€Å"The passage is written from the point of view of...† Correct answer: This passage is written from the point of view of†¦a dispassionate narrator describing a component of Portal’s gameplay. True. The narrator doesn't appear to have particularly strong feelings about Portal, and the excerpt describes an aspect of the gameplay (that you get bits of story through dialogue). Incorrect answer: This passage is written from the point of view of†¦GLADoS, the AI. No. The passage mentions GLADoS, but isn’t written from her POV. Incorrect answer: This passage is written from the point of view of†¦a narrator unhappy that Portal is different from all other puzzle games. No. The narrator mentions that Portal is a puzzle game, but doesn’t mention that it is different from all other puzzle games, nor does the narrator seem unhappy about this. Here's a prose fiction example, again using the passage from before: This paragraph is excerpted from the short story â€Å"Writer’s Block† by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2009 Laura Staffaroni). This story was written as an assignment for a Creative Writing class. Emma gave her friend a glare that conveyed both her disbelief and annoyance. Really, sometimes Rachel could be a bit melodramatic, as shown by, oh, EVERYTHING she had just said and done. If anyone had trouble writing, it was her, Emma. When given a prompt, Rachel’s pen would start racing back and forth across the page like a ping-pong ball on a string, going to the right right right AND back to the left, where the metaphorical paddle awaited. Meanwhile, Emma would be sitting with her pen pushed into the paper, hoping for a few sentences or paragraphs in half an hour. It just didn’t seem fair. Now Rachel was worried about writing? It was probably a ploy, some kind of act she was putting on, so that when she ended up producing a three-page story in the space of fifteen minutes everyone would feel especially awed. Question: â€Å"Based on the passage, which of the following statements best describes the overall attitudes of Rachel and Emma?† Correct answer: Emma does not believe Rachel’s anxiety is real. True: Emma thinks that Rachel's worrying about writing is an an "act [Rachel is] "putting on", which means it is not a real emotion. Incorrect answer: Rachel likes writing, while Emma doesn’t. Possibly true, but not directly supported by anything in the paragraph. Incorrect answer: Rachel is manic and exuberant, while Emma is depressed and calm. Again, maybe true, but not apparent from this paragraph alone. Warning: Main Point and Perspective ≠  Function Warning by Stefano Brivio, used under CC BY 2.0. Main point and perspective questions are different from function questions. Instead of asking "what's the point," function questions usually ask "what does this [line, sentence, paragraph] DO?" Rather than asking "What is the perspective from which the author is arguing her point?" (a perspective question), you'll be asked questions about the author’s purpose: â€Å"why is the author writing this?† Example: "The main idea of the first paragraph is..." You can translate this to "What does this paragraph say,† a main point question. Compare to: "Which of the following best describes the way the fifth paragraph (lines 48–54) functions in the passage as a whole?" You can translate this to "What does this paragraph do," a function question. On the other hand, sometimes main point questions can masquerade as function questions. Take this example (1): "1. In terms of the passage as a whole, one of the main functions of the third paragraph (lines 13-19) is to suggest that... A. ER’ s successes in various professional pursuits helped prepare her to take action in the political world.B. ER had avoided the political spotlight in her personal pursuits.C. ER had competing and conflicting interests during her first year as first lady.D. while ER had many personal accomplishments, little could have prepared her for life as the first lady." Even though the question has the word "function" in its wording, it is actually asking about the main idea of the paragraph. How can you tell? Compare the above question to a similarly-worded function question (2): "2. The function of the first paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole is to: A. orient the reader to the subject of longitude by explaining how longitude is determined at sea.B. explain the political significance of developing an accurate way of determining longitude.C. establish that longitude calculations are necessary to determine time in two different places at once. D. introduce a discussion of how knowledge of Earth’s position relative to the Sun was gained in the process of advances in timekeeping. " The difference is in both the wording of the question and in the answer choices presented. If you reduce the questions down to their basic strucutre, example 1 asks "what does this paragraph SUGGEST (what does this paragraph say)?" By contrast, example 2 asks "What is this paragraph's FUNCTION (what does this paragraph DO)?" The answer choices are also telling: function questions often have answer choices in the form of "verb a noun" (in this case, "orient the reader," "explain the political significance," "establish that longitude calculations are necessary," and "introduce a discussion"). Main point questions, on the other hand, have answer choices that answer the question "what's the point?" For more on the distinction between big picture and function questions, check back soon for my ACT Reading function questions article. Now that you know what big picture questions are, though, how do you go about answering them? Strategies For Answering Big Picture Questions The strategy you use to answer big picture questions depends on how you read the passage. If you have enough time to read each passage in full and answer questions afterwards without feeling rushed, then you should be trying to figure out the main point and author perspective as you read. You can do a quick check to see if there will be any questions about it first, but even if there aren’t any questions that directly ask you about the main point, it can be helpful in answering other questions (more on that later). If you read the questions first, you may be able to get a sense of what the big picture is just by the questions asked. If you skim the passage, then attack questions, you should focus on just the key information the first time through But how do you know what the key information is? Read on to find out! Check The Introduction and Conclusion For questions about non-Prose Fiction/Literary Narrative passages, chances are that if the author’s done a good job, the main point and perspective should be clear in the conclusion, if not the introduction as well. This can, of course, be true for Prose Fiction/Literary Narrative passages as well, but since it isn’t as essential to the construction of a successful piece of prose fiction or literary narrative, an author won't always structure her writing that way. When finding the main point of a single paragraph, on the other hand, this rule gets a little fuzzy. Sometimes there will be direction-changing words in the middle of the paragraph that are essential to understanding the main point - words you might miss if you only focus on the introduction and conclusion sentences. Last sentences also often try to take the argument a step beyond what has been discussed in the article, placing it in a broader context. Still, the introduction and conclusion can be helpful as places to start. If the introduction and conclusion seem to contradict each other, that is a clear sign that you need to dig deeper into the passage/paragraph to find the main point. Use Key Words It makes intuitive sense that you’d want to note where the author says things like â€Å"important† or â€Å"significant† – those things probably are important (or even significant). You can also uncover key information, however, by paying attention to words and phrases that signal changes of direction, like â€Å"in contrast,† â€Å"while,† â€Å"however,† and so on; because the information associated with these words contrasts with what came before, it often is important. Key words can help you get to the meat of the issue by helping you avoid the trap of just reading the first sentence of a paragraph and assuming that is what it will be about. Let's take yet another look at my Portal paper for an example of this. In general, because Portal is a puzzle game, it might be expected to lack a strong narrative; this, however, is not the case. While the gameplay is focused on the solving each level’s puzzle, you are also provided with tantalizing bits of story in the form of dialogue spoken to you by GLADoS, the AI directing the â€Å"tests.† Bits of the story are revealed over the course of the game in this way, picking up with the introduction of secret rooms with writing on the walls and the adorable but deadly turrets. The beginning sentence of this paragraph basically says that Portal doesn’t have a strong narrative. The â€Å"however† later on in that same sentence should catch your eye....however, as should the following sentence that starts with â€Å"While†, because they indicate that something in contrast to the opening statement is being presented. Don't ever abandon a paragraph without double-checking for contrast words.  ©2013 Laura Staffaroni. Answer In Your Own Words If you come across a question that asks you a big picture question, try to formulate the answer using your own words before you look at the test's answer choices, relying only on what you read in the passage or paragraph, not on things that COULD BE true but aren’t supported. Then, when you go to look at the answer choices, see which one best matches the answer you came up with in your own words. If you use this strategy, however, you have to be careful not to oversimplify when you answer the question in your own words. Remember, the central argument is the specific point the author is making, not a general topic or theme. Use as few words as possible to write down your version of the answer – after all, you don’t want to waste too much time on something that won’t be graded – while still being precise. It can be a tough balance to maintain at first, but practice makes it easier. Putting Strategies To Use: A Final Big Picture Example Let’s end by taking a look at the conclusion paragraph of my Portal paper and seeing if we can extract the main point from it, using some of the strategies I mentioned above. This paragraph is the conclusion of the paper â€Å"‘This was a triumph:’ Narrative and dynamic uses of music in Portal† by Laura Staffaroni ( ©2013 by Laura Staffaroni). The paper was written as the final assignment for a Research and Materials class. Overall, the music of Portal tends to fit more within a narrative framework than it does the ideal of interactivity. The use of an ambient musical soundtrack, silences, musical dialogue, non-ambient music for dramatic effect and underscoring of characters’ psychological states, and thematic music for narrative continuity and as a way to transition in and out of the game world all serve narrative purposes. Yet, like many other current game music composers, the composers of Portal created a paradigm wherein â€Å"the music and sound effects are responding to the needs of the game and the gameplayer† by creating tracks like â€Å"Procedural Jiggle Bone† that are able both to loop back into themselves and to move on to other tracks without a problem. This dichotomy confirms that the best way to analyze the music in Portal is not by applying any one analytical schema to it, but instead to assess what the most important elements of the game are and decide from there wh at methods of analysis are most appropriate. Perhaps the way music functions in Portal is best summed up by Whalen’s description of how music should function in general when it comes to digital games: â€Å"By simultaneously enriching the worlds of video games and assisting the player’s navigating the syntagmatic structure of video games, music is essential to the semantic operations of a video game as an interactive story.† If the music in Portal did not both provide narrative structure and respond to each player’s interaction with the game, it would not have been nearly as engaging and successful a game. Whew, that’s a lot of words. Where should I start if I want to figure out the main point of the paragraph? Step 1: check out intro and conclusion sentences: Intro: â€Å"Overall, the music of Portal tends to fit more within a narrative framework than it does the ideal of interactivity.† Conclusion: â€Å"If the music in Portal did not both provide narrative structure and respond to each player’s interaction with the game, it would not have been nearly as engaging and successful a game.]† Do these sentences support each other or contradict each other? My thinking: First sentence says music in Portal fits better with narrative framework than interactivity (whatever I meant by that); last sentence says music in Portal has both narrative structure and interaction parts. Hmm. Better go deeper to double check. Step 2: Look for direction words. Here's a sentence that begins with "yet," a direction word: â€Å"Yet, like many other current game music composers, the composers of Portal created a paradigm wherein â€Å"the music and sound effects are responding to the needs of the game and the gameplayer† by creating tracks like â€Å"Procedural Jiggle Bone† that are able both to loop back into themselves and to move on to other tracks without a problem.† Yikes. This is saying that the composers for Portal’s music did†¦something†¦to make music that could loop and also go on to other tracks. This is sort of contradicting the opening sentence (responding to the needs of the game is interactive, but the opening sentence says the game isn’t interactive). Also, that seems way too detailed to be a main point. Are there any other direction words? Aha, next sentence! "but instead": â€Å"This dichotomy confirms that the best way to analyze the music in Portal is not by applying any one analytical schema to it, but instead to assess what the most important elements of the game are and decide from there what methods of analysis are most appropriate.† [bolding mine] This says you shouldn’t just analyze Portal in one way, which seems to support the conclusion sentence. Good sign. Step 3: Answer in your own words. My thoughts: Main point is that music in Portal is used in both narrative and interactive ways (can’t just go with one or the other). Time to look at the actual answer choices... The main idea of the last paragraph is that the music in Portal: A. was a key factor in the game’s success B. occurs as a way of maintaining narrative continuity C. can be analyzed from a narrative or interactivity perspective D. results entirely from interactions between player and game My thoughts: A: could be true, but not really what this paragraph is about B: true, but that’s not the main idea C: true, and that’s close to how I phrased the main idea D: no, that’s entirely wrong. So the answer must be C. (and so it is) August 25th "The Big Picture We've Done It_I'm a World Record Holder!" by Amanda Slater, used under CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped from original. In Conclusion... Big picture questions require being able to scan a text and sum up â€Å"what’s the point.† Knowing the main point or perspective of a paragraph, series of paragraphs, or passage can be useful for answering other types of questions, especially function and author technique questions; on occasion, knowing the main point/perspective can also be helpful for little picture, vocab-in-context, and inference questions as well. No matter how you approach the passage, use the strategies of checking intro/conclusion, looking for key words, and coming up with the main point in your own words to help you answer main point and perspective questions. What’s Next? Are these strategies fine in theory...but in real life, you always run out of time when reading (especially on the ACT)? Discover how to avoid that terrible fate here. Want more in depth guides like this? Check out our articles on other ACT Reading skills types, starting with vocab-in-context questions! What are the other types of questions you’ll find on the ACT Reading, and what’s the best way to read the passage to answer them? We have ways of making you...read the passage effectively. Find out what's actually tested on ACT Reading here. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Reading lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial: