Statistics paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Statistics paper - Essay Example Commercial sample showed a strong negative correlation (r=0.98) while residential sample showed a strong positive correlation (r=0.97) between the bill size and the delay. The date of a payment can be predicted by the regression equations derived separately for commercial and residential samples. Late bill payments always trouble the service providers by interrupting their future planning and investments. Delay can be varied from a day to few months or sometimes a year. It is really helpful if a service provider can predict the date of the payment. The size of the bill may have a relationship with the number of days the payment delays. It may take a long time for a customer to pay a large bill than a small bill or it could be vice versa. However if such a relationship is found the service provider can use it to predict payment dates and work accordingly. The mean values of the total and sub samples (commercial and residential) were calculated. Regression analysis (linear) was performed using Excel and SPSS statistical packages to find out possible correlations between the size of the bill and number of days the payment delayed. Size of the bill was considered as the independent variable in this analysis. Regression analysis for total sample (figure 1) showed no correlation between bill size and delay. However regression analysis for commercial sample (figure 2) showed strong negative correlation. This explains their behavioral trend of paying large bill more quickly than that of the small bills. The residential customers expressed a totally different behavior than the commercial customers. They delay the payment as the bill size increases. Amongst the commercial customers the bill size negatively correlated with the delay while it was positively correlated with the delay amongst the residential customers. The date of a payment can be predicted by the following regression

What an education means to me Essay Example for Free

What an education means to me Essay â€Å"Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance† says Will Durant (1885-1981) Education liberated me from ignorance and placed me in a high pedestal to wine and dines with the intellectuals and not mere men. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been, without being educated. Like they say education is expensive, then why don’t you try ignorance? A life without education is a passive one. In everything I believe â€Å"basics are the mother of all knowledge† hence, societal development is highly dependent on the literacy level of its citizen. Education to me can either be an informal education or formal education. Informal education is a type of education which is outside the school premises while those of formal are within the school settings. Informal education given to me by my parents helped me a lot and equipped me with basic skills in human relationship and communication skills on which I was able to build upon. This gave me a starter dose. As a child, the elementary school introduces me to the basic skills, information and attitude necessary to thrive in my society. I was also introduce to the principles of reading, writing and spelling and even to some basic arithmetic. I was also introduced to some forms of fine arts, elementary science and some forms of handicraft. Education taught me the creative use of my mind and how to make it work for me in all aspect of my life. It gave me the capacity and ability to evaluate information and to predict future outcomes. I can also effectively recognize and evaluate different points of view even when arguing with my colleagues or friend and not creating a kind of enmity. Education also trained me to seek out alternative solutions and evaluate them when there is need for such, this I called problem solving skills. Education gave me a better understanding of my culture and environment and also helped me to learn history of my country, and an insight into that of others. With all the knowledge and wisdom from such learning I was able to integrate that with some aspect of my life. Acquisition of information about the past and present: including traditional disciplines such as literature, history, science, mathematics was as a result of education and this influence the development of every community. Without education knowledge and history can not be passed from one generation to the other. Education also influences my religion and this has guided my beliefs and actions. The influence of education on self esteem can not be underestimated. Taking my life as a case study, I used to be someone with a low self esteem until I got to realize what self esteem is all about and its effect my actions, life in totality. The sense of well-being, i. e. my mental and physical health has greatly improved. I’m now able to acquire some values and attitude that is highly essential in the competitive and dynamic worlds of ours. The role of education in personal values is very important, because this gave me an opportunity of self-realization and self reflection which is germane to the awareness of my innate abilities and goals. Educations taught me â€Å"morals† which simply means acting in a right manner and knowing how to deal with people. Knowledge of moral practices and ethical standards acceptable by society and culture can only be achieved via education. Everything my religion taught me about morals was as a result of my ability to read, think and takes actions, which are all by-products of education. It’s often said that where there’s no law there’s no sin, hence people can only behave well when they are taught the benefits of acting right towards their fellow citizen. This simply gives capacity and ability to be a good citizen. Education is a prerequisite for an intellectual pursuit. From mine point of view is education simply makes people respect you and recognize you and your achievements. I believe there can be a professor without education and there can’t be a civilized society without education. Culture which is a way of life can only be acquired through education and exposure to the arts. Formation of healthy social and or formal relationships among and between students, teacher, others are some of the importance of education to my life. Culture is also maintain and kept from one age to the other as a result of education. My utmost view of education is that I will be able to earn a living, make the right choice, strengthening my character, becomes strong, develop my body soul and spirit and live a fulfill life. With my career I will be of use to my immediate environment. Above all education makes a better leader. I will conclude this piece by quoting the words of B. F skinner and Jack Stack which says â€Å"Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten†. – B. F. Skinner â€Å"When you appeal to the highest level of thinking, you get the highest level of performance†. -Jack Spack Reference Teachers mind resource. (2008). The meaning of education. Teacher’s mind resource. Retrieved July 9, 2008. From www. teachersmind . com

Ethical Dilemmas of Genetic Prenatal Screening Essay -- Genetic Testing

One of the questions that has recently plagued me has been that of which is about the genetic structuring of our offspring. I ask myself, will we able to choose the physical features our child? If so, do we as a society think this will be an ethical practice? Perhaps, scientifically, this might be entirely possible, but law will most likely restrict it. An article written by Frederic Golden helped me draw some understanding on this hot topic. Golden commences his article with a brief story of a mother and father who have been through prenatal testing. They tested for Down syndrome and an inheritable neuromuscular disease. While it was a straightforward procedure that was deemed valid by their doctor, Blue Cross (their insurance provider) refused to pay the bill, even though it was only $300. â€Å"It often opens up a Pandora’s box of questions that tear not only into pocketbooks but our psyches: What if the news from a test is bad? Or ambiguous? Should the fetus be aborted? Or should the child be brought into the world in hopes that a cruel disease can be managed or cured? And w... Ethical Dilemmas of Genetic Prenatal Screening Essay -- Genetic Testing One of the questions that has recently plagued me has been that of which is about the genetic structuring of our offspring. I ask myself, will we able to choose the physical features our child? If so, do we as a society think this will be an ethical practice? Perhaps, scientifically, this might be entirely possible, but law will most likely restrict it. An article written by Frederic Golden helped me draw some understanding on this hot topic. Golden commences his article with a brief story of a mother and father who have been through prenatal testing. They tested for Down syndrome and an inheritable neuromuscular disease. While it was a straightforward procedure that was deemed valid by their doctor, Blue Cross (their insurance provider) refused to pay the bill, even though it was only $300. â€Å"It often opens up a Pandora’s box of questions that tear not only into pocketbooks but our psyches: What if the news from a test is bad? Or ambiguous? Should the fetus be aborted? Or should the child be brought into the world in hopes that a cruel disease can be managed or cured? And w...

HNA Case

HNA group’s five blocks of business are all interrelated around the airline industry and tourism space. All business blocks compliment each other and are instrumental toward HNA group’s achieving success in the â€Å"soaring plan†, going forward. The strategic organization of the HNA group in terms of visible resources, organizational resources, financial resources and human resources allow it to synergize across its business blocks and derive profitability which is higher than individual players in each of these businesses. Looking at major crises that affected the HNA Group, such as the SARS epidemic and oil price fluctuations, I believe that being in multiple blocks of business allows the group to hedge its risks against such unexpected global events. Air transport is definitely the major growth area for the HNA group, generating 78% of the group’s revenue. Efficient operations and lean management allow it to derive higher margins compared to its competitors. The group’s plans in this business block are aggressive, indicated by the formation of Grand China airlines. Airports are directly complementary to the airline operations and provide an avenue to grow and expand, with the increasing Chinese government policy towards privatization of airports. The tourism block and the hotels block complement each other in addition to benefiting the air transport business. The relative industries serve a primary purpose of diversifying the Group’s assets, protecting it against unexpected global fluctuations. Looking at the HNA group’s current financial distress, I believe that the HNA group could look at generating some cash immediately by disposing off some of its high value physical assets or some of its relative industries. The group has high fixed assets amounting to $1636 million, which include some high value properties in business districts where they face direct competition from international chains like the Marriott and the Hilton group. From 2004 to 2008, revenue from hotels increased from 3% to 4%, which is not very significant. Also, relative industries such as department stores, property management and computer systems do not figure prominently in revenue figures for 2008. Finance and commerce look like attractive industries to enter. They are complementary to each other in several respects and generate 31% of HNA’s revenue in 2008. Further expansion in these areas and ways to integrate these businesses with the primary businesses of air transport, hotels and airports is the direction that I would recommend that the HNA group should pursue.

Movies and Television Shows Should Include Better Role Models for Their Audiences Essay

I’m sure it has happened plenty of times. When you finish watching a movie and afterwards feel so inspired. This is often when the movie hero was presented as someone we would like to be or has a personality that we admire. Sometimes it can be other characters that are shown to be â€Å"cool†, attractive, and popular that also inspires us to mimic their personality traits. Movies can also prompt us to try certain activities. Of course this can be seen as the beneficial side of media; the fact that there could be that one movie that has the power to influence someone to become a better person. But like almost everything, there’s a downside to it too. The fact that media can be convincing in positive ways suggests that it can equally convey negative messages as well. The way that movies or television shows portray their characters is something that definitely needs to be paid attention to. The rebellious heroes, senseless social statuses, and unhealthy activities characters engage in are all factors that will influence the audience. Therefore it is important to consider whether it is worth presenting the characters in this way. A large majority of movies are presenting their characters as bad people, yet the people that anyone would find themselves wanting to be. I believe that is wrong, thus movies and TV shows should include better role models for their audiences. Current movies portray violence without consequence, inaccurate representations of social statuses and social interaction, and encourage characters to engage in activities with more harm than good. Many of the heroes in movies happen to be quite rebellious and are often involved in violence. It’s usually the fact that they’re so involved in violence that helps them obtain their cool, heroic status. The characters we see as role models are always showing that violence can be used as a quick fix for conflicts to avoid negative consequences. K. A. Earles states, â€Å"This depiction of violence increases the probability that violence will be one of the first strategies chosen by a child. † Bandura, a professor in psychology at Stanford University demonstrated that preschoolers learn aggressive behavior by watching television. Three groups of children were shown a film n which a man commands a human-sized doll to move, and when it did not he hit the doll with his fists, a mallet, and then rubber balls. In other words, he used violence as an immediate strategy. Group one saw the man rewarded. Group two saw the episode end without reward or punishment. Group three saw the actor receive a verbal lecture. After watching the film, the children in groups one a nd two were seen to behave more aggressively than the ones in group three. This proves that the consequences characters find themselves facing has quite a strong impact on how the audience will act. What encourages violence even more is that it is often carried out by the hero in the story line who is then rewarded for his/her endorsement in violence. â€Å"Such constant exposure to portrayals of physical violence, some of which viewers do not even recognize as violent, may dull a child’s aversion to this behavior. † says K. A. Earles. Reenactments of national worldwide disasters such as terrorism scenes or brutal wars are one thing. But for a fictional superhero to battle and beat his â€Å"enemies† with realistic and bloody dramatizations is not a good way to entertain kids. There aren’t many positive or useful characteristics of the role model heroes for the children to gain besides their â€Å"charismatic† and â€Å"brave† personalities but they express these lovely character traits through violence. They care for the ones who are in danger so they save them with violence. As they stand up to their enemy and begin to battle them they show out their bravery. These heroes are showing young boys that if you are not strong enough, not brave enough to endorse in a physical fight then you are not capable to be someone as amazing and powerful as they are. Physical strength is spotlighted while intellectual strength is forgotten. Sharon Lamb, a professor of mental health at University of Massachusetts-Boston surveyed 674 boys aged 4 to 18 to analyze marketing trends for action figures and movies. This resulted in violence, emotional aloofness, and general hyper-masculinity being the main messages directors of these movies are promoting to young boys. This shows us that there aren’t many useful or healthy things these movies are promoting to their audiences. This only leads me to conclude that directors need to think over the way they are presenting their heroes. Violence is not the only existing strategy. As well as action movies, there are the modern teenage soap operas. I’ve noticed that these programs have a distorted portrayal of the theoretically existing teenage social statuses. There are always the good people and the bad people, the â€Å"cool† people and the â€Å"lame† ones. Although most television programs are to entertain, having a message or lesson for the audience to gain is also important. As mentioned earlier, the way the characters are portrayed is very significant to the audience since they are what influence the audience. There are the more obvious heroes which are the supermen in action movies but the less spotlighted ones in calmer, closer-to-reality programs. In these kinds of films, the â€Å"hero† would be a character the audience finds themselves admiring and looking up to. This depends on the way the characters in the film are presented. A person who our society would admire and want to be has very precise but general character traits; a confident, rich, bossy girl who has an attractive appearance and good leadership skills. It’s practically the same for boys. Society’s image of a picture perfect female or male is neglecting the many other personality traits of a human being that makes them a good and interesting person. Movies present the â€Å"popular guy† typically as someone who is necessarily good at sports for instance, and send the message to younger boys that if they are not good at sports they can’t expect to be at the top of the theoretical social scale regardless of other good qualities they can have. The same goes for girls. These films portray the â€Å"popular† girls as girls who are very narrowed down in their interests. Female adolescents are portrayed as being obsessed with their appearance. † Smart people are shown to be socially unaccepted. â€Å"Intellects are frequently viewed as social misfits. † These movies are encouraging and strengthening society’s distorted image of who the â€Å"popular† kids should be and contribute to a very inaccurate picture of what social interaction and social status is built on in reality. Young girls or boys may start to think that if they are not what the â€Å"cool kids† are presented as in movies, then they will not be successful or liked. This is definitely not the kind of message that should be sent to the younger generations. Lastly, quite a few of the activities characters in movies or TV shows engage in are not healthy and do not set good examples for young teens. The usage of alcohol and drugs is always by the cool, popular kids who will then convince the kids and teens a part of their audience to try them at one point. â€Å"Social Learning Theory suggests that children learn by watching, imitating, and assimilating. † This only proves that the majority of the children that are exposed to media that is practically encouraging alcohol and drug usage will most likely try it in attempt to imitate their role models. Movies propel the idea of these bad habits being â€Å"cool†. With teenagers picking up their first cigarette as early as 14 years of age, evidently there’s a problem. As many parents and adults may have noticed, kids/teens are beginning to have a distorted idea of what sex is all about and media may be the main cause for their way of thinking. Many movies and shows portray it as a normal thing to indulge in, therefore teens are enacting what they see from the media and often end up being pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease. A study was done on 75 girls in which half were pregnant. It was found that the pregnant girls watched more soap operas than the non-pregnant girls and were found more surprised when told that their favorite soap opera characters used any sex protection. According to the National Survey of Children, males who watched more television were found to be more sexually active than the ones who watched less television. â€Å"Television may be a significant contributor to the sexual practices and attitudes of young people. † All of these things may be a part of a movie to show what it’s like out there but there must be some sort of proof of it being a bad thing to no give out the wrong message. Having characters in movies continuously smoking cigarettes and never even considering the consequences of having sex may influence kids in a completely wrong way. All of these reasons strongly suggest that the role models portrayed in movies and television shows can influence the younger audiences in negative ways. If teenagers are continuously exposed to such behaviors their minds will adjust to thinking in a certain way and no matter how hard their loved ones will afterwards try to convince them that these activities are wrong, that these behaviors are wrong, they will not be capable of changing their minds. Dear parents, are you okay with your 14 year old daughter already indulging in sexual activity, and your 15 year old son reacting violently and aggressively to any confrontations? Dear world, do you believe it’s acceptable for young girls to stress about their appearance and feel bad about themselves simply because of the way they look? For boys to believe that sports are what they are bound to engage in to be liked? Directors of movies should start to think how to get society to think differently, rather than encourage its shallow beliefs. Fighting scenes should not be the only entertaining scenes for kids. More creative ways of how to entertain children in a positive way could be thought of. The modern teenage popular kids should all have different interests and be liked for who they are and not what they look like. Pathetic assumptions and senseless social statuses in general should be presented in a brighter way in programs. Unhealthy activities should be portrayed as the bad things to do rather than the â€Å"cool† things. Kids will follow their role models, and if they’re role models are doing good things, it’s likely they will too.

Free sample - Anthropology. translation missing

Anthropology. AnthropologyAnthropology   refers   to   the   study of   human   beings   and   their   cultures.   This   study   cuts   across   the   natural   sciences,   humanities   as   well   as   the   social   sciences.   The main   focus   of   the   study   is   to   investigate   the   origin   of   man (Willigen, 1993).   It   deals   with   the   origins   of   homo   sapiens,   homo   sapiens   characteristics,   behavior,   how   evolutionary   past  Ã‚  Ã‚   of   homo   sapiens  Ã‚   affects   its   social   organization   as   well   as   culture   and   the   reason   for   differences   among   different   groups   of   people.   Anthropology   basically   has   four   subfields:   archaeology,   cultural/ social   anthropology,   linguistic   anthropology   and   physical/ biological   anthropology   (Strauss, 1963). Archaeology   is   a   subfield   that   is   concerned   with   the   study   of  Ã‚   the   material   remains   of   various   artifacts  Ã‚   such   as   buildings,   tools, and   pottery   of   different   communities.   This   study   aims   at   establishing   the   cultures   as well   as   the   cultural   evolution   of these   societies (Willigen, 1993).   The   professionals   involved   in   this   study   are   referred to   as   anthropological   archaeologists.   They   mostly   focus   on   the   prehistoric   cultures   since   they   have   not   been   documented   as   well   as   early   animal   domestication   and   metal   use (Willigen, 1993).  Ã‚   Anthropological   archaeologists  Ã‚   mainly   attempt   to   establish   several   things   from   the   artifacts   they   collect. They   at tempt   to   establish   the social   dispensation   of   the   culture,   the   relationship   of   this   culture   with   others   in   the   area,   the   nature   of   the   physical   environment   of   that particular   area   as   well   as   the   animal   and   plant   resources   of   the   area,   if   the   culture   under study   engaged   in   domestication   of   animals   and   plants,   the   people’s  Ã‚   religion,   population   size,   health,   and   technology ,  Ã‚   causes   for   cultural collapse   and   finally   the   reasons   for   cultural   evolution/change(Willigen, 1993) .   Biological/   physical   evolution   on   the   other   hand   is   concerned   with   the   biological   aspect   of   people.  Ã‚   It   further   attempts   to   establish   how   the   biological   nature   of   human   beings   relates   to their   cultural   practices,   evolution   as   well   as   their   environment (Willigen, 1993).   This   subfield   is   further   divided   into   three   main   branches   which   are:  Ã‚   paleoanthropology,  Ã‚   primatology,   and   the   study   of   modern   variation   as   well as   adaptation of   human   beings (Strauss, 1963).   Paleoanthropology  Ã‚   is   basically   concerned   with   the   study   of   human   fossils   as   well   as   their   close   relatives   while   primatology   focuses   on the   study   of   primates   such   as   humans,   ap es,   monkeys   and prosimians (Willigen, 1993).   References Strauss, C. (1963). Structural   Anthropology.   London: Oxford   University   Press Willigen, J. (1993)   Applied   Anthropology.   London:   Oxford   University   Press

Academic Freedom essays

Academic Freedom essays James Madison once said, A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives. A popular government without the means of acquiring information is a prologue to a tragedy. It is because I agree with Madison that I stand in strong affirmation of the resolution, When in conflict, academic freedom in U.S. High Schools ought to be valued above community standards. To better clarify the round I offer the following definitions (definitions). The ultimate value that will be upheld in todays debate will be that of Knowledge, knowledge is generally defined as acquaintance with fact or truth. It is the state of knowing or understanding. I have one observation dealing with my value: my opponent my argue that knowledge is undesirable because the information we require my be untrue and leads us astray. You should note that this argument is illegitimate because it does not attack knowledge; it attacks false hood, which by definition cannot be knowledg e. My value will be supported through my Criterion of the Cost Benefit Analysis, where I will show you that the benefits we as a society would receive through academic freedom greatly outweigh the costs. Therefore the person that can show more benefits than cost through their value should win the round. I will now proceed to uphold my value through three main levels of analysis. The first level will consist of showing how community standards cannot be defined in a society such as ours. Second I will show how restricting academic freedom makes society more vulnerable to irrational prejudices. And finally the third level will express how the marketplace of ideas is necessary in Americas High Schools. My first level of analysis: Community Standards cannot be defined in a society such as ours. The first step in this level will be the realization that only personal standards exist. Supreme Court Justice Stewart once stat...