Building Deep Supplier Relationships

Toyota and Honda have been able to establish close cooperative relationships with suppliers by following six individual steps. Toyota and Honda understand how their suppliers work. They turn supplier rivalry into opportunity. The companies supervise their vendors to ensure their specific needs are met. Furthermore, they develop their suppliers technical capabilities by investing in the company, but making it back exponentially in the long run. Also, Toyota and Honda share information.However, they do this both intensively but selectively to maximize the benefits of sharing information, but keeping important information in house that they don’t want to leak. Finally, the two companies conduct joint improvement undertakings, which leads to common goals for both themselves and the suppliers. The U. S. â€Å"Big Three† automakers have not been similarly successful in building close relationships with suppliers as they have a much more adversarial relationship with their sup pliers compared to Toyota and Honda.The Big Three don’t develop a level of trust with their suppliers, which makes good relationships increasingly difficult. The Big Three are very confrontational, using technology to create bidding wars. One could say that the Big Three are â€Å"at war† with their suppliers. U. S. suppliers may still have concerns regarding some of the efforts of the Japanese manufactures. First of all, these suppliers still value the business of the Big Three, even if they are more hostile to deal with.Working with the Japanese could put the supplier’s other relationships in jeopardy. Also, the suppliers may not fully trust Honda and Toyota, which makes it difficult building closer relationships. The companies demand a lot from their suppliers. Their expectations are really high. Because of this, there is an expectation of the suppliers to perform at a very high level, one that may be hard to achieve on a consistent basis. One successful U. S . manufacturing firm has been Apple Inc.Apple has relationships with many different suppliers. These relationships are very secretive. Apple, like Honda and Toyota, demands a lot from its suppliers, and treats them well in return. Apple’s mandate for secrecy puts great pressure on its suppliers not to have any leaks in the company. Like Honda and Toyota, Apple uses rivalry as opportunity, shares information, and supervises their suppliers to make sure their products are being manufactured exactly to their specifications.

Political Philosophy and Aristotle Essay

When looking at the way Aristotle viewed the world and comparing it to the British Tradition you first need an understanding of each. In this paper I want to first discuss what I’ve learned about Aristotle, The British Tradition, and then compare and contrast the two. Aristotle was a disciple of Plato, but they saw society a bit differently. Plato would be considered in this day and age as someone who believes in collectivism. A collectivist believes that the needs of society as a whole are more important than the needs of the individual. On the other hand, Aristotle would have been a supporter of individualism. Individualism refers to the philosophy that an individual should have freedom in his or her economic and political pursuits. In contrast to collectivism, individualism stresses that the interests of the individual should take precedence over the interests of the state. You could say that Aristotle believed in democracy. â€Å"The best state could signify one that is conceived according to an abstract ideal; one that is considered best for human communities in general; one that is best for a particular community under given conditions; or one that, while in no sense ideal, is as good as can be attained under the circumstances. † (Levine PG. 108) Aristotle also believed in three domains. The first domain is personal action or â€Å"ethos†. This is an idea to live by. Aristotle though that people were simple enough that we could live by one code or ethos. Aristotle called this â€Å"The Good Life†. The second domain is household or â€Å"oikos†. This is economics or how to manage a household. Aristotle believed that the goal in the household should be different from the goals of the other domains. â€Å"In the household, for example, a man should manifest different concerns toward children as their father than toward his wife as her husband, and he should be able to acquire, preserve, improve, and properly utilize property. The responsibilities of the head of a polis differ from those of a head of household, and rulers should discharge them in ways to attend to the welfare of all its members, not just one or a few. † (Levine Pg. 118) The third domain is city state or â€Å"polis†. This also stood for politics. Aristotle believed that we live in groups so naturally we have to make decisions together, therefore we have to be political beings. Of course this is where Aristotle sounds much like one of the founding fathers of our country. He thought women were too irrational for politics and that slaves and common workers were too busy to be involved. Aristotle believed that to be politically involved you needed free time to develop the necessary skills and knowledge. In other words Aristotle was an elitist democrat. Aristotle’s social theory was to create an environment conducive to good habits. He believed that we were are good by nature. In this environment we can then develop our virtues. He also believed that everyone had potential, but actualizing that potential was difficult. He also believed that public deliberation among those with virtuous habits and developed reasoning skills was good for society. As far as the British Tradition goes, they believe in a fixed human nature and that there are predictable social outcomes based on this human nature. I’ll focus on three different Brits and their different views on human propensities and how they affect society. Hobbes believed that humans were naturally bad and born with selfish propensities. He believed that this could only lead to a negative outcome, unless someone with absolute power were to control society. I believe Hobbes would be somewhat totalitarian or perhaps be someone who was in favor of some sort of martial law. Locke on the other hand was basically the opposite of Hobbes. He believed people were pretty nice and this would lead to beneficial consequences for everyone. â€Å"Locke endeavored to refute the Hobbesian defense of political absolutism. In so doing, he introduced two notions that would guide centuries of British revisionism: that the human animal manifests socially benign dispositions, and that human selfish dispositions can have socially benign consequences. † (Levine Pg. 130) The third Brit that I’ll look at is Smith. He is essentially split between Hobbes and Locke. Smith believes that humans do have natural selfish propensities, but that these propensities are to the benefit of society. So when comparing Aristotle to the British Tradition it’s obvious that there are some pretty big differences. Aristotle didn’t believe in a fixed human nature like the Brits. Aristotle would say that you are a product of the society in which you are raised. A good society will produce good citizens, and bad society will have the opposite effect. Aristotle would also argue that at any point during a persons life they can make the decision to develop their potentials and become a better person. The Brits on the other hand believed that you were either born good or bad and based on that there would be predictable outcomes.

A Survey on Fingerprint Mathing Algorithms

A Survey on Fingerprint Mathing Algorithms In this networked world, users store their significant and less significant data over internet (cloud). Once data is ported to public Internet, security issues pop-up. To address the security issues, the present day technologies include traditional user-id and password mechanism and a onetime password (two-factor authentication). In addition to that, using the inexpensive scanners built into smartphones, fingerprint authentication is incorporated for improved security for data communication between the cloud user and the cloud provider. The age old image processing technique is revisited for processing the fingerprint of the user and matching against the stored images with the central cloud server during the initial registration process. In this paper, various fingerprint matching algorithms are studied and analyzed. Two important areas are addressed in fingerprint matching process: fingerprint verification fingerprint identification. The former compares two fingerprint and says they are similar or not; while the latter searches a database to identify the fingerprint image which is fed in by the user. Based on the survey on different matching algorithms, a novel method is proposed. Keywords: image processing, biometrics, fingerprint matching, cloud, security Introduction Automated fingerprint recognition systems have been deployed in a wide variety of application domains ranging from forensics to mobile phones. Designing algorithms for extracting salient features from fingerprints and matching them is still a challenging and important pattern recognition problem. This is due to the large intra-class variability and large inter-class similarity in fingerprint patterns. The factors responsible for intra-class variations are a) displacement or rotation between different acquisitions; b) partial overlap, especially in sensors of small area; c) non linear distortion, due to skin plasticity and differences in pressure against the sensor; d) pressure and skin condition, due to permanent or temporary factors (cuts, dirt, humidity, etc.); e) noise in the sensor (for example, residues from previous acquisitions); f) feature extraction errors. Fingerprint identification system may be either a verification system or an identification system depending on the context of the application. A verification system authenticates a person’s identity by comparing the captured fingerprint with her/his previously enrolled fingerprint reference template. An identification system recognizes an individual by searching the entire enrolment template database for a match. The fingerprint feature extraction and matching algorithms are usually quite similar for both fingerprint verification and identification problems. Fingerprint – Identification and Verification using Minutiae Based Matching Algorithms Fingerprints are commonly used to identify an individual. Research also suggests that fingerprints may provide information about future diseases an individual may be at risk for developing. Fingerprints are graphical flow-like ridges in palm of a human. Fingerprint is captured digitally using a fingerprint scanner. Fingerprints are commonly used to identify an individual. Research also suggests that fingerprints may provide information about future diseases an individual may be at risk for developing. Fingerprints are graphical flow-like ridges in palm of a human, that are unique amongst human beings. The hardware, fingerprint scanners are becoming low cost devices. The two most important ridge characteristics are ridge ending and ridge bifurcation. Automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) have been widely used. An AFIS consists of two phases: offline and online. In the off-line phase, a fingerprint is acquired, enhanced using different algorithms, where features of the fingerprint are extracted and stored in a database as a template. In the on-line phase, a fingerprint is acquired, enhanced and features of the fingerprint are extracted, fed to a matching model and matched against template models in the database as depicted in the figure 1. Among all the biometric techniques, fingerprint-based identification is the most common used method which has been successfully used in numerous applications. Comparing to other biometric techniques, the advantages of fingerprint-based identification are as detailed below: The minutiae details of individual ridges and furrows are permanent and unchanging. The fingerprint is easily captured using low cost fingerprint scanner. Fingerprint is unique for every person. So it can be used to form multiple passwords to improve the security of the systems. Flow of Diagram representing the Fingerprint Identification The above figure clearly explains the simple methodology of fingerprint verification. In off-line process, the fingerprint of all users are captured and stored in a database. Before storing the raw or original image, the image is enhanced. The fingerprint image when captured for the first time may contain unwanted data ie noise. Because our hands being the most used part of our body may contain wetness, dry, oily or grease; and these images may be treated as noise while capturing the original fingerprint. And hence, to remove the noise, image enhancement techniques like adaptive filtering and adaptive thresholding. Original Fingerprint Image. The standard form factor for the image size is 0.5 to 1.25 inches square and 500 dots per inch. In the above original image, the process of adaptive filtering and thresholding are carried out. The redundancy of parallel ridges is a useful characteristic in image enhancement process. Though there may be discontinuities in a particular ridge, we can determine the flow by applying adaptive, matched filter. This filter is applied to every pixel in the image and the incorrect ridges are removed by applying matched filter. Thereby, the noise is removed and the enhanced image is shown in figure 3. Enhanced Fingerprint Image The enhanced image undergoes feature extraction process wherein: binarization and thinning take place. All fingerprint images do not share same contrast properties as the force applied while pressing may vary for each instance. Hence, the contrast variation is removed by this binarization process using local adaptive thresholding. Thinning is a feature extraction process where the width of the ridges is reduced down to a single pixel. The resultant feature extraction is shown below figure 4. Feature Extraction After Binarization and Thinning The process of minutiae extraction is done as the last step in feature extraction and then the final image is stored in database. Operating upon the thinned image, the minutiae are straightforward to detect and the endings are found at the termination points of thin lines. Bifurcations are found at the junctions of three lines. Feature attributes are determined for each valid minutia found. These consist of: ridge ending, the (x,y) location, and the direction of the ending bifurcation. Although minutia type is usually determined and stored, many fingerprint matching systems do not use this information because discrimination of one from the other is often difficult. The result of the feature extraction stage is what is called a minutia template, as shown in figure 5. This is a list of minutiae with accompanying attribute values. An approximate range on the number of minutiae found at this stage is from 10 to 100. If each minutia is stored with type (1 bit), location (9 bits each for x and y), and direction (8 bits), then each will require 27 bits say 4 bytes and the template will require up to 400 bytes. It is not uncommon to see template lengths of 1024 bytes. Minutiae Template Now, the online process starts. At the verification stage, the template from the claimant fingerprint is compared against that of the enrollee fingerprint. This is done usually by comparing neighborhoods of nearby minutiae for similarity. A single neighborhood may consist of three or more nearby minutiae. Each of these is located at a certain distance and relative orientation from each other. Furthermore, each minutia has its own attributes of type (if it is used) and minutia direction, which are also compared. If comparison indicates only small differences between the neighborhood in the enrollee fingerprint and that in the claimant fingerprint, then these neighborhoods are said to match. This is done exhaustively for all combinations of neighborhoods and if enough similarities are found, then the fingerprints are said to match. Template matching can be visualized as graph matching that is comparing the shapes of graphs joining fingerprint minutiae. A 1:1 matching cannot be carried out and we use a threshold value – termed as match score, usually a number ranging between 0 and 1. Higher the value, higher is the match. Figure 6: Few- Matching in online process Minutiae are extracted from the two fingerprints and stored as sets of points in the two dimensional plane. Minutia-based matching consists of finding the alignment between the template and the input minutiae feature sets, that results in the maximum number of minutiae pairs. 1) Weiguo Sheng et.al In their paper, the authors proposed a memetic fingerprint matching algorithm that aimed to identify optimal global matching between two sets of minutiae. The minutiae local feature representation called the minutiae descriptor that had information about the orientation field sampled in a circular pattern around the minutiae was used by them in the first stage. In the second stage, a genetic algorithm(GA) with a local improvement operator was used to effectively design an efficient algorithm for the minutiae point pattern matching problem. The local improvement operator utilized the nearest neighbor relationship to assign a binary correspondence at each step. Matching function based on the product rule was used for fitness computation. Experimental results over four fingerprint databases confirmed that the memetic fingerprint matching algorithm(MFMA) was reliable. 2) Kai Cao et al A penalized quadratic model to deal with the non-linear distortion in fingerprint matching was presented by the above authors. A fingerprint was represented using minutiae and points sampled at a constant interval on each valid ridge. Similarity between minutiae was estimated by the minutia orientation descriptor based on its neighboring ridge sampling points. Greedy matching algorithm was adopted to establish initial correspondences between minutiae pairs. The proposed algorithm used these correspondences to select landmarks or points to calculate the quadratic model parameters. The input fingerprint is warped according to the quadratic model, and compared with the template to obtain the final similarity score. The algorithm was evaluated on a fingerprint database consisting of 800 fingerprint images. 3) Peng Shi et.al In their paper, the authors proposed a novel fingerprint matching algorithm based on minutiae sets combined with the global statistical features. The two global statistical features of fingerprint image used in their algorithm were mean ridge width and the normalized quality estimation of the whole image. The fingerprint image was enhanced based on the orientation field map. The mean ridge width and the quality estimation of the whole image were got during the enhancement process. Minutiae were extracted on the thinned ridge map to form the minutiae set of the input fingerprint. The algorithm used to estimate the mean ridge width of fingerprint, was based on the block-level on non-overlap windows in fingerprint image. Four databases were used to compute the matching performance of the algorithm. 4) Sharat Chikkerur et.al The local neighborhood of each minutiae was defined by a representation called K-plet that is invariant under translation and rotation. The local structural relationship of the K-plet was encoded in the form of a graph wherein each minutiae was represented by a vertex and each neighboring minutiae by a directed graph. Dynamic programming algorithm was used to match the local neighborhood. A Coupled Breadth First Search algorithm was proposed to consolidate all the local matches between the two fingerprints. The performance of the matching algorithm was evaluated on a database consisting of 800 images. 5) Jin Qi and Yang Sheng Wang They proposed a minutiae-based fingerprint matching method. They defined a novel minutiae feature vector that integrated the minutiae details of the fingerprint with the orientation field information that was invariant to rotation and translation. It captured information on ridge-flow pattern. A triangular match method that was robust to non-linear deformation was used. The orientation field and minutiae were combined to determine the matching score. They evaluated the performance of their algorithm on a public domain collection of 800 fingerprint images. 6) Atanu Chatterjee et.al Another method for fingerprint identification and verification by minutiae feature extraction was proposed by the above authors. Minutiae were extracted from the thinned ridges from the fingerprint images and these feature matrices were applied as input data set to the Artificial Neural Network. Post processing was done to remove false minutia. Back propagation algorithm was used to train the network. Extracted features of the input fingerprint were verified with stored trained weights and threshold values. Experiments were conducted on 160 fingerprint images and the proposed system exhibited an accuracy of 95%. 7) Tsai Yang Jea et.al A flow network-based fingerprint matching technique for partial fingerprints was introduced by. For each minutiae along with its two nearest neighbors, a feature vector was generated which was used for the matching process. Minimum cost flow (MCF) problem algorithm was used to find the one-to-one correspondence between the feature vectors and the list of possibly matched features was obtained. A two hidden layer fully connected Neural Network was proposed to calculate the similarity score. Their experiments on two fingerprint databases showed that using neural networks for generating similarity scores improved accuracy. 8) Marius Tico et.al They have proposed a method of fingerprint matching based on a novel representation for the minutiae. The proposed minutiae representation incorporated ridge orientation information in a circular region, describing the appearance of the fingerprint pattern around the minutiae. Average Fingerprint Ridge period was evaluated to select the sampling points around the minutiae. Matching algorithm was based on point pattern matching. To recover the geometric transformation between the two fingerprint impressions, a registration stage was included. The Greedy algorithm was used to construct a set of corresponding minutiae. Experiments were conducted on two public domain collections of fingerprint images and were found to achieve good performance. 9) Asker M.Bazen et. al A minutiae matching method using a local and global matching stage was presented by Asker M. Bazen et. Al. Their elastic matching algorithm estimated the non-linear transformation model in two stages. The local matching algorithm compared each minutia neighborhood in the test fingerprint to each minutia neighborhood in the template fingerprints. Least square algorithm was used to align the two structures to obtain a list of corresponding minutia pairs. Global transformation was done to optimally register the two fingerprints that represented the elastic deformations by a thin-plate spline (TPS) model. The TPS model describes the transformed coordinates independently as a function of the original coordinates. Local and global alignments were used to determine the matching score. Conclusion This paper, we presented Fingerprint identification and verification based on minutiae based matching. The original fingerprint captures is pre-processed and the pattern is stored in the database for verification and identification. The pre-processing of the original fingerprint involves image binarization, ridge thinning, and noise removal. Fingerprint Recognition using Minutiae Score Matching method is used for matching the minutiae points. Usually a technique called minutiae matching is used to be able to handle automatic fingerprint recognition with a computer system. In this literature review, nine papers are explored and an insight is obtained regarding different methods. References: [1] Weiguo Sheng, Gareth Howells, Michael Fairhurst, and Farzin Deravi,(2007), â€Å"A Memetic Fingerprint Matching Algorithm†, IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security. [2] Aparecido Nilceu Marana and Anil K. Jain, (2005), â€Å"Ridge-Based Fingerprint Matching Using Hough Transform†, IEEE Computer Graphics and Image Processing, 18th Brazilian Symposium pp. 112-119. [3] Koichi Ito, Ayumi Morita, Takafumi Aoki, Tatsuo Higuchi, Hiroshi Nakajima, and Koji Kobayashi, (2005), â€Å"A Fingerprint Recognition Algorithm using Phase-Based Image Matching for low quality fingerprints†, IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, Vol. 2, pp. 33-36. [4] Kai Cao, Yang, X., Tao, X., Zhang, Y., Tian, J. ,(2009), â€Å"A novel matching algorithm for distorted fingerprints based on penalized quadratic model†, IEEE 3rd International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications, and Systems, pp. 1-5. [5] Anil K. Jain and Jianjiang Feng, (2011), â€Å"Latent Fingerprint Matching†, IEEE Transactions On Pattern Analysis And Machine Intelligence, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 88-100. [6] Unsang Park, Sharath Pankanti, A. K. Jain, (2008), â€Å"Fingerprint Verification Using SIFT Features†, SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, Orlando, Florida, pp. 69440K-69440K. [7] Anil Jain, Yi Chen, and Meltem Demirkus, (2007), â€Å"Pores and Ridges: High-Resolution Fingerprint Matching Using Level 3 Features†, IEEE Transactions On Pattern Analysis And Machine Intelligence, Vol. 29, No.1, pp. 15-27. [8] Mayank Vatsa, Richa Singh, Afzel Noore, Max M. Houck, (2008), â€Å"Quality-augmented fusion of level-2 and level-3 fingerprint information using DSm theory†, Sciencedirect International Journal of Approximate Reasoning 50, no. 1, pp. 51–61. [9] Haiyun Xu, Raymond N. J. Veldhuis, Asker M. Bazen, Tom A. M. Kevenaar, Ton A. H. M. Akkermans and Berk Gokberk ,(2009), â€Å"Fingerprint Verification Using Spectral Minutiae Representations†,IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security, Vol. 4, No. 3,pp. 397-409. [10] Mayank Vatsa, Richa Singh, Afzel Noore and Sanjay K. Singh ,(2009),â€Å"Combining Pores and Ridges with Minutiae for Improved Fingerprint Verification†, Elsevier, Signal Processing 89, pp.2676–2685. [11] Jiang Li, Sergey Tulyakov and Venu Govindaraju, (2007), â€Å"Verifying Fingerprint Match by Local Correlation Methods†, First IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications,and Systems, pp.1-5. [12] Xinjian Chen, Jie Tian, Xin Yang, and Yangyang Zhang, (2006), â€Å"An Algorithm for Distorted Fingerprint Matching Based on Local Triangle Feature Set†, IEEE Transactions On Information Forensics And Security, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 169-177. [13] Peng Shi, Jie Tian, Qi Su, and Xin Yang, (2007), â€Å"A Novel Fingerprint Matching Algorithm Based on Minutiae and Global Statistical Features†, First IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications, and Systems, pp. 1-6. [14] Qijun Zhao, David Zhang, Lei Zhang and Nan Luo, (2010), â€Å"High resolution partial fingerprint alignment using pore–valley descriptors†, Pattern Recognition, Volume 43 Issue 3, pp. 1050- 1061. [15] Liu Wei-Chao and Guo Hong-tao ,(2014), † Occluded Fingerprint Recognition Algorithm Based on Multi Association Features Match â€Å", Journal Of Multimedia, Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 910—917 [16] Asker M. Bazen, Gerben T.B. Verwaaijen, Sabih H. Gerez, Leo P.J. Veelenturf and Berend Jan van der Zwaag, (2000), A correlation-based fingerprint verification system , ProRISC 2000 Workshop

Social impacts of tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social impacts of tourism - Essay Example But not all of the results of successful tourism are necessarily beneficial. While the economic impact is usually the primary focus, it is the social impacts that tend to be less considered. It is important to understand the side of the people who call these amazing far away destinations their home. Whenever tourism booms in a given location the majority of the time the initial response is wholly positive. The newfound and continuing income that tourism can provide is a particular incentive. (Blasco Peris) Tourism, also, provides more enjoyable activities, better maintenance of streets and popular architecture, finer dining and businesses, new infrastructure, and ideally greater local pride. It can, also, contribute to positive population growth, intercultural communication, and a rise in a locale’s property values.("Tourism Social Indicators" 2) All of these things turn a given location into a very lucrative place. One of the highlights of tourism for a local population is th e fact that to accommodate the demand of visitors it may lead to a huge growth in employment opportunities. The Dambulla Tourism Destination, in Sri Lanka, was determined to make sure that the residents were involved and supportive of the tourism moving into their area. The tourism created an 85% increase in potential employment.(Chandralal 3) However, not all of the social impacts of tourism are good. Sometimes the tourism brings with a slew of side-effects that have negative impacts on the populations that are being visited. The cost of living may increase. There may be an increase in drugs and alcohol related incidents, along with overall greater crime rates. All of these are a consideration. There can be issues of overcrowding and greater use of public resources, like heath, police, and fire services. ("Tourism Social Indicators" 2) But it is the disruption of local traditions and life that can have the greatest negative impact. Tourism is an invasion, of sorts. It may be a peac eful and unintentionally intrusive invasion, but all the same, an invasion.(Blasco Peris) The presence of tourists is disruptive to the day to day life of the local populations. It must be quite overwhelming when large amounts of tourists, with strange languages and attitudes very different from what they may be accustomed to are surrounding them. A community can become so dependent upon the tourism income that they give up traditional tasks to work in the jobs demanded that tourism has created.(Ragsdale) It can change the feel and familiarity of the locals with their home surroundings and cause them to not feel at home in their own homes. This usually occurs when the number of tourist reach a certain point that the local population may start to feel smothered. It is when this happens and the benefits of tourism are not being felt, the local population may become resentful and unpleasant to the tourists; treating the tourists like terrorists.(Blasco Peris) Tourists never intended to become a nuisance to the locales that they visit, but all the same, it can happen. Many of the experts say that tourism will never be successful unless the local people are in agreement, they need that support to make a sustainable tourism industry in their communities a success. (Chandralal 2) That is why many areas that are considering opening themselves up and encouraging tourism are working harder, than in the past, to gain

Don't Leave Home Without an Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Don't Leave Home Without an Education - Essay Example These children have the freedom to study at their own pace, which usually outpaces their public educated counterparts. Moreover, the parents have the opportunity to teach material and coursework that is not offered in the local public school system. Though some may say that children develop more social skills in a classroom setting, this has not been born out by research and in fact has indicated the opposite to be true. The ability to teach your children at their own pace, in a wider array of interesting topics, and cultivate their unique socialization, makes homeschooling a welcome alternative to public schooling. In a classroom setting with 25 other children, the pace of instruction is usually set by the slowest learners. The brighter students are often ignored as they compete for the teacher's scarce time. However, home schooling offers individual instruction designed around the child's interests and abilities. Grade school children can be offered physics, astronomy, and geometry in a setting that makes the introduction to these subjects possible. Subjects usually reserved for middle school can be taught much sooner in a home setting where the student receives the individual instruction that is necessary to excel. Along with learning at a pace that is unhampered by limited teacher attention, the parent and student can decide what subjects to learn.

Staff development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Staff development - Assignment Example In the evaluation, it is more about what they have done for the organization and whether it was I line with the goals, mission and vision of the organization or not. In evaluating staff performance, the manager should allow for the employee to discuss their self-evaluation, what their needs are as well as the differences in the current and previously carried out evaluations. This allows bonding time and more communication as the interviewer and interviewee have interacted in the past hence an unstructured interview (Edenborough, 2007). In the staff selection interview, the manager takes all the charge and the staff is not allowed the open communication and personal input. This is necessary in order to create barriers and level of authority from the initial start with the employee. Managers that are too open may lead to employees that slack in performance, don’t take authority too seriously and hence leading to poor performance and manager-staff relationship in

Can harm reduction strategies provide a viable basis for youth and Essay

Can harm reduction strategies provide a viable basis for youth and community work practice in marginalized communities with significant drug problems - Essay Example e progressive nations in the world is primarily due to the realization that a consistent portion of the population will use drugs which includes alcohol and tobacco however this discussion speaks primarily to the illegal variety. The current illegal drug strategy in the UK is four-fold. One, educating young persons in the dangers of misusing drugs; two, law enforcement initiatives designed to keep communities safe from drug-related and criminal behaviour and three, disrupt the supply of drugs. The fourth part of the strategy is harm reduction techniques (â€Å"Harm Reduction†, 2002). The goal of harm reduction is to do simply that for both individual and community without regard for personal ideological, legal or moral opinions of drug use. Government sponsored programs and treatment for drug users allows an opportunity for early intervention and education or, for the habitual user, a supply source for controlled narcotic distribution and unused syringes. Access to controlled amounts of narcotics or their synthetic equivalent ensures the drug’s pureness and takes away the need to commit crimes for drug money. A ‘clean needle program’ slows the spread of the HIV virus, hepatitis and other blood-borne illnesses. The benefit to both individual and community is clear (â€Å"AIDS and Drug Misuse†, 1988). The community method of harm reduction incorporates outreach services as its main intercession technique. This is opposed to the traditional, functional approach which operates from a fixed and often inconvenient location. Agencies are situated mainly within marginalized communities and open at opportune times so as to be more accessible to the drug user. In addition, agency workers go to the user if necessary. The workers interact differently in the community method. Instead of outlining a prescribed path of wellness to the user, they inquire as to the needs of the user. â€Å"Needs will be expressed, often having nothing to do with the reduction of

Multinational Running And Study Of Spirent Communications Essay

Multinational Running And Study Of Spirent Communications - Essay Example The name Spirent was adopted by the company in the year 2000 and continued its business expansion process with the help of acquisitions and alliances by taking over firms such as Caw Networks, Scientific Software Engineering, Fanfare Software and Imperfect Networks (Morning Star, 2014). The customer offerings of the company are mainly focused on the growth of providing effective test simulations and solutions in networking and communications process (Spirent Communications Plc, 2013). However, the financial performance of Spirent in the year 2013 was not significant in comparison to their performance of preceding years.   The operating profit of Spirent went down from $118.3 million in 2012 to $50.1 million in 2013 (Spirent Communications Plc, 2013).However, based on year performance comparison; Spirent noted that the performance of 2nd half of 2013 had improved by almost 17% from that of the first half (Spirent Communications Plc, 2013). Considering the financial up-downs, strateg ic and operational planning objectives of Spirent, the report will focus on analyzing the concerned company to evaluate their competitive position. The business performance of Spirent will be observed with the help of data gathered from the financial documents of the company. Beginning with the revenue, Spirent experienced a steep fall in its net revenue in the year 2013 as it decreased by almost 13% after reflecting a steady growth curve for the preceding 4 years since 2009 (Spirent, 2014).

GEOINT and Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GEOINT and Europe - Essay Example However they were less helpful in the both world wars were easily grounded and conquered, there were several reasons to it, They were shaped in different forms ranging from polygonal to ring shape fortress however never survived and were not able to fulfill the purpose of its existence. One of reasons was its stagnant and motionless own existence as a giant body in itself. Despite its high walls and masonry. Walls were directly exposed to cannon fires, Explosive shells and artillery fires. Although advancements were made and in order to to kill the effect of cannon fires, Steel and concrete forts were introduced, and bunker concept was introduced to avoid the assault by enemies.. however despite all this and thick shielding there were couple of reasons that resulted in the whole scheme being a failure , the advancements in the machinery, the weapons, and later in world war two the use of Tanks meant any target in sight was vulnerable ,and in a way it was exposing yourself directly to the enemy. With fighter plans available, the forts presented a case of sitting duck that was waiting to be shot from above. By 2nd world war nuclear capabilities were achieved that would eliminate and erase whole of city, a fort being a small area. Any fort that had bunkers in it, a counter was created for it.and bunker busters were introduced and implemented on the forts strategy. Bunker busters are especially designed for such materials that are hard in nature .they were highly penetrative. The permanent existence of fort at one point, being a static entity, allowed the enemy to prepare itself and collect and gather all the information that was necessary to attack and launch an assault, therefore forts stood no ground of preventing and standing the enemy’s attack. By 2nd world war, the battles were fought on mobile basis. Any fixed position

Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Anthropology - Essay Example Results, that Mulling et al (85) consider as being indicative of their method of research, and which would likely to have been different within a more traditional epidemiological study, indicate that different social structures in terms of class and profession (i.e. head of household), in other words pre-existing causal links to stress, impact on the degree of chronic stress evident. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-existing links to stress initiate from concerns to do with housing, health care, social support and economics, as well as their general living environment. Mulling et al (90) further purport that pregnancy serves as a mechanism to increase those stress levels even further. The study also reveals that the kind of support these women receive from social support networks differs in relation to their social class; for example the causes of stress differ between low and middle income women. This study adopts an intersectional approach to the research by considering gender and racial inequalities of African American women in Harlem, as stemming from other social categories such as class, and showing how it affects those women in different ways. Mullings, L., AlakaWali, Mclean, D., Mitchell, J. Prince Sabiyha, Thomas, D. & Tovar, P. â€Å"Qualitative methodologies and Community Participation in Examining Reproductive Experiences: The Harlem Birth Right Project†. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 5.2 (2001):

Justification of Assisted Suicide Essay Example for Free

Justification of Assisted Suicide Essay The choice a terminally ill patient makes should be available to them in the event they no longer want to suffer. According to Dame Jill Macleod Clark, who sits on the Council of Deans of Health, states â€Å"those who have cared for terminally ill patients, friends or family know their greatest fears and anxieties are about intractable sufferings, and their desire for a dignified and peaceful death† (2011). When patients who are terminally ill want to hear options the argument has been made that all options are not available because assisted suicide comes with scrutiny and consequences. On the other hand opponents of assisted suicide do not believe this is the only way to secure a good health alternative. Opponents believe that it is important to make a patient feel comfortable and help them improve their quality of life not end life just because it is an option or that they may feel they are a burden to loved ones. Assisted suicide can be performed by a physician or a person who is willing to help a patient end their life. This paper will focus on physician assisted suicide (PAS), this has been a controversial issue in many countries and have many different opinions on the ethics behind assisted suicide. To further examine the data the utilitarian ethics approach will be used. It is important to remember that utilitarian ethics considers the consequences of actions. Indentify the Problem: Assisted suicide is it ethical or unethical? Is it right for a physician to assist a patient to kill themselves? This is the main focus of assisted suicide and the justification of the situation has been at debate for a long time. The problem is if a physician assists a patient with suicide how are they holding up the oath they took as a doctor. Doctors are healers they are to help a person feel better, make them well, and give them treatment when necessary. Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. Instead of participating in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life (Code of Medical Ethics, AMA (1994). † The opponents would say it is a physician’s duty to uphold what a patient may want, if the patient is terminally ill and in constant pain, why should they have to suffer? It is important for physicians to care for their patients and give them what they need to sustain a livable life. To what extent should a physician go to ensure the patient is happy and satisfied with their treatment? At some point a person will know someone who was in constant pain and wanted to end their life only to have to continue with treatment because the attending physician was obligated to do his job, what he went to school for, to ensure the welfare of their patient. The debate is still ongoing as to how assisted suicide would benefit a patient, the pro’s and con’s as well as the consequences of the actions. Clarify Concepts: What is Assisted Suicide? Assisted suicide can be done by a physician or a person willing to help assist a patient in taking their life. What is Assisted Suicide? Assisted suicide is also known as euthanasia and is defined by dictionary. com as also called , the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition (2012). There are several different kinds of euthanasia, the first can be drugs prescribed by a doctor which is administered by the patient to end life. The second type of euthanasia is by machine, if the patient is on a machine to keep them alive they would request the machine be unhooked to end life. The third and highly debated form of assisted suicide is by physician. A patient may request the help to end their life and this is how the assistance comes into play. A doctor or a person they trust will assist them in passing into the next life. Currently assisted suicide is illegal except in the state of Oregon, the Netherlands and Belgium (Clark, 2011). Indentify Possible Solutions: Proponents and opponents speak out! According to proponents of assisted suicide terminally ill people who will die are in unbearable pain should not be held to continue to endure the pain against their wishes (Fenigsen, 2011). If laws were put in place to help those who are in this position have a choice, it could keep the cost of assisted living facilities and critically ill facilities down. When faced with a patient who requires knowing their options, the option of assisted suicide should be presented to the patient. How this can be achieved is with a guideline for doctors and nurses to follow when speaking to a patient on their options when having to live in constant pain. Proponents believe assisted suicide is ethically justified because it is not fair to a patient to continue to endure endless suffering when there are alternatives if they were available. Opponents compare assisted suicide to abortion. There is no justification for ending a life. Pain could possibly bring on a sense of wanting to do more by a patient if shown they could go on and live their lives. Assisted suicide is not the answer to all problems and it is not an answer to a person living in pain. Give the individual a will to live and they will find a way to go on. Examination and Assumptions Proponents assume that assisted suicide should be legal because it gives a patient the opportunity to determine how they want to end their life. They are given the chance to determine if they want to continue life as they are currently living. The patient would know that at any point in time during their illness they can ask a physician to help them with ending their life. By justifying assisted suicide patients and physicians do not have to fear being found out. They would be able to perform the suicide without feeling they did an injustice. No injustice to the patient and no injustice by the patient would equal a favorable outcome to assisted suicide. Opponents assume that assisted suicide should not be legal because a physician should do what it takes to ensure a patient is being cared for. There should not be an easy way out of a situation when faced with pain or the idea of knowing one is terminally ill. There are hospices in place to take care of these patients, there are ways to maintain pain and keep it at a minimum. Life can go on even for those living with pain with the help of family, friends, and a physician. A patient can continue life and possibly have a normal life without ending it suddenly with assisted suicide. Opponents of assisted suicide assume doctors and nurses who support assisted suicide are failing their patients. Opponents assume that if doctors or nurses even give a hint to a patient that assisted suicide may be an option it could give a patient who was looking for support a sense of hopelessness. This is something that the medical community wants so desperately to avoid. Stephen Wright, who is the chair of the Sacred Space Foundation, put it best when he stated â€Å"the debate about assisted suicide is a slippery slope† (2011). Those who are in favor of a change in the law state there is no evidence that legalizing assisted dying leads to vulnerable people being killed against their wishes (Wright, 2011). But an example of how this did not exactly pan out was in the Netherlands in the 1980’s where it was determined it was legal to let one end one’s own life. With this decision thousands of Dutch patients wanted to have someone help them with assisted suicide requests. Information on assisted suicide and ethics Dr. Gary Black and Dr. Ronald M. Levine, were physicians licensed to practice medicine in Connecticut. The two doctors put forth to the Connecticut courts a request to be protected from prosecution because they wanted to counsel patients on assisted suicide. Both doctors felt that they should be able to at least counsel patients about the option of assisted suicide because the patients they dealt with had life threatening illnesses such as HIVor other terminal issues. The courts did not think the two had a basis to change the law or even the wording of the law. The Connecticut courts gave this as the reason as to why they would not change the law for the two doctors: â€Å"The court noted that Connecticut citizens have raised a myriad of concerns at public hearings on unsuccessful bills that would have amended [section] 53a-56 to permit physicians to assist their patients in ending their lives. As one individual testified at a public hearing on Conn. House Bill 6928, An Act Concerning Death With Dignity (1994): Is assisted suicide the kind of choice, assuming it can be made in a fixed and rational manner, that we wish to offer a gravely ill person? Will we not sweep up in the process some who are not really tired of life, but think others are tired of them? Some who do not really want to die, but who feel that they should not live on because to do so when there exists the legal alternative is a selfish and a cowardly act[? ] Will not some feel an obligation to have themselves eliminated in order that the funds allocated for their illness might be better used by their families? Or financial worries aside, in order to relive the families of the emotional strain involved[? ] (Bostrom, B. , 2011). â€Å"The Decision to Leave a Person Alive. The case of Mr. and Mrs. S became well known in Holland because of press reports and TV broadcasts. As a result of an error in anesthesia, Mrs. S had been in a coma for years. Her husband did not abandon her, visited her every three months, and had been very involved on her behalf. He had devoted all those years to intense reflection, and many times had requested the doctors to put an end on her life. No one wanted to make this kind of decision. Butso reasoned Mr. Sto keep a comatose patient alive is also a decision, and one that needs to be justified† (Fenigsen, R. 2011). Moral Reasoning We will apply utilitarianism to this dilemma by asking, what solution leads to the greater good? â€Å"Utilitarian ethical theory judges the rightness and wrongness of an act in the terms of its consequences in particular, whether it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over suffering for everyone involved (Waller, B. , 2011). † A simple act such as physician assisted suicide may seem simple the patient is suffering, and the patient wants to end their suffering, therefore why not help them end their life. This simple act would come with consequences as with any act. The medical community would be frowned upon; physicians are no longer keeping to an oath they took to be a doctor. The utilitarian would say that we should consider what specific act would produce the best overall consequences (Waller, B. , 2011). The act of a physician assisting in suicide could not possibly have a positive outcome, after all a life has been taken. On one side we have these positive outcomes if we allow assisted suicide, the civil right of a person who is terminally ill and wants to end his and his familys suffering once and for all would be protected. A person will get the right to die without pain and with dignity. Finally allowing assisted suicide would protect patients who are terminally ill because only those who really need it will be helped whiles others will not. But there are also many negative outcomes if we allow assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is against majority of religions. The elderly could become a target for assisted suicide by physicians or even family members. Depressed people who are not fully aware may want assisted suicide and not realize the task they are asking to be performed. Assisted suicide may at ome point be taken for granted by healthcare. The cost of taking care of a terminally ill patient can decrease if assisted suicide was available. Also the fact that some patients may not be able to pay for the medical treatment and the patient may feel ending his or her life would stop the mounting costs. Given these two lists, it would be hard to say which one outweighs the other. For assisted suicide to be justified and legal both sides would have to be carefully considered. A utilitarian would not agree if the assisted suicide was based on the patient’s request. The utilitarian would remind us that other people are affected by a patient’s decision. Even if assisted suicide would be in the best interest of the patient, it may be considered wrong because of the effect it could have on loved one. If loved ones were to support the patient’s decision to terminate their life then the utilitarian would agree that the decision would be beneficial. If we are to use the utilitarian point of view as to whether assisted suicide should be legal, then if it is legal the moral way to ensure that the legal system works is to ensure the best consequences come from the action. Consequences Assisted suicide could work for the patient who is critically ill. It would give them a sense of ending the pain. The patient would no longer have to live in pain or be a burden on family who may be taking care of them. Morally physician assisted suicide could not be justified because. Assisted suicide could pose a problem for the patient because family members may not be aware of their loved ones wish. Doctors and nurses could be held liable by the family for assisting or even suggesting assisted suicide. Those patients wanting assisted suicide could increase if a law was passed allowing patients to ask for help with killing themselves. Currently it is not actable to help a patient in committing suicide but if the law was to take affect and it has in Oregon and other countries, it would pose the ultimate issue. Is it right to kill a person because they are in pain, terminally ill, or have Alzheimer’s? This would open doors for people to ask for assisted suicide when it is not necessary. Others who want to help people kill themselves would want the right to assist in suicides. If the laws are not governed properly and studied the death rate could be higher than normal. Finally the moral idea of taking a life for no other reason than they wanted it and it was warranted because they had the entire item listed on a checklist completed does not seem ethically correct. Not politically correct but ethically correct, there are no morals or scruples considered when taking a life this way, it is the law so be it.

English Crucible Coursework Essay Example for Free

English Crucible Coursework Essay In the established society of a small, Puritan town in the late 17th century, a lie by a ministers niece sparks utter hysteria throughout the town of Salem. This quite minor fabrication causes a wildfire of deceit to burn throughout the town destroying homes, families and friendships. In the centre of this saga the marriage of John and Elizabeth Proctor has been diminished to a marriage of awkward silences and great mistrust by John Proctor adulterous relationship with Abigail Williams. As the town is in havoc, the Proctors marriage is also tested. The play portrays heir struggle to prevail I a world of treachery. In this essay of The Crucible, I am going to be examining the Proctors marriage in relevance to the theme of witchcraft and study why Miler put the marriage at the centre of the play.  When we first see the Proctors in Act Two, a conventional view of home life at that period time is portrayed the husband has been working hard on the land, while his wife cared for the children and tended to her familys needs, but this scene also shows many things. I t shows the need for gratitude from each over, as if they need to please one another vastly. This is depicted many times when John begins to eat. Early on in the scene as Proctor comments on his wifes food saying It is well seasoned which we are aware is false as previously in entering the house he sampled the food and added more seasoning to it, the way this sentence is implied suggests that he is just trying to keep the peace between them. She is content with his praise and eve thrives on his delight in her and feels if she carries on pleasing him he will not go elsewhere for this gratitude, as to his previous mistress Abigail This is not one-sided as John states to Elizabeth after consulting her if she would like a cow he says, I mean to please you with her reply being, John I know. This shows he is attempting to redeem his infidelity and prove to her al he wants is to make her happy and she is aware of his numerous efforts but cannot allow herself to forget the past months.  Elizabeth is still very apprehensive of John and questions him as soon as she is aware of his presence she begins to enquire into his delay home asking him, what keeps you so late?. Elizabeth shows great suspicion towards John; this is depicted through her eagerness to know what is keeping her husband. He justifies himself by declaring in his defence he was out farming. The premature view of the scene in Act Two reveals great suspicion in this marriage, as Elizabeth is fearful that he has been visiting Elizabeth. This parallels to the witchcraft trials of Salem and the scepticism of the inhabitants as to if someone may blindly accuse them next for minor things such as an argument in the past or over land restrictions. The weariness by the community is shown later in the Act when Reverend Hale is told of the arrest of Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse to this he declares, Then nothing left to stop the whole green world from burning. This statement refers to the suspicion in the town as when one lie has started it is difficult to stop it from causing more lies to arise, this declaration can also be interpreted as the whole green world being the forest and when a forest fire is started it is almost impossible to stop the fire in comparison to the wildfire of lies spreading through the region. This leads to the lack of trust in the district of Salem and in the Proctors marriage .As we return to the early stages of Act Two we see the Proctors involved in a minor dispute as he tells Elizabeth of his moment alone with Abigail, this is where the mistrust in their marriage is exposed and laid bare Elizabeth in disbelief of what she was just confronted with, questions him and asks you were alone with her, and he discards her and tells her, only for a moment, she reads into this as a lie and suspects their liaison has been reunited and is upset he has not informed her of this moment.  Elizabeth still detects that John is concealing something from her and because of her suspicions continuously questions him as we saw at the beginning of Act Two, her frustrations at him is shown when she says, John you are not open with me which explains her distrust in John this is because she feels he is disguising a  Fabrication from her.

African Insurgency Groups: Causes and Responses

African Insurgency Groups: Causes and Responses Daniel Silberstein In response to a spate of violent attacks from the Kenyan capital to the coast President Uhuru Kenyatta has decreed that they â€Å"will not flinch in war against terrorists†, specifically against the Al-Shabaab militant group headquartered in Somalia. His publicly declared position of a robust, aggressive, and continued response against what he refers to as an, â€Å"extremist caliphate† intent on asserting dominance in the region, is certain to be met with both solidarity and criticism amongst Kenyans, Africans, and the global community. Nigeria, home to Africa’s largest economy (according to an April BBC report) also finds itself on the brink of a larger conflict. Flanked by militant insurgency, attributed mostly to the Boko Haram, in the north and the new capital of piracy on its southern shores. The reverberations of these conflicts are uncertain. But, in order to foresee, and perhaps assuage, the consequences of this campaign, and to limit the devastation w e are likely to witness, it is paramount that international interventions adapt and correlations be drawn between this rising contention and contemporary conflicts that define modern warfare. Firstly, this should not be perceived as merely a symptom of the popularized narrative of another African affliction. This is to say that, historically, aggressions were relatively limited in regional scope. This does not downplay the reprehensible past conflicts in Africa: the horrors of genocide – such as Rwanda, Darfur, etc. and entrenched prolonged warfare – such as Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, etc. This is simply, and necessarily, to illustrate that the ramifications of warfare in Africa is quickly becoming a global hazard. The overwhelming contribution to this crises so far? Money, and quite literally tons of it. A 2009 WSJ article by Dambisa Moyo estimated over $1 trillion in fact. So, while the hopes of assisting in curtailing violence and degradation in the region have existed for decades, through foreign aid and, military and political partnerships, it is apparent that the structures in place for facilitation and management have failed to meet expectations. The current system of aid in Africa has become almost farcical. Broad strokes of assistance have missed the mark at best and have been actively harmful at worst. Much of the governmental fixtures that have grown from the influx of poorly distributed aid have actually stifled the genuine progress of their respective constituencies. Political institutions have propagated mostly as middle-men, profiteering from the flow of aid. In 2013, Transparency International placed all but five Sub-Saharan nations on the bottom half of its corruption rankings list. A new course of action is imperative to foster safety and augment economic growth. A discourse about the patronage of wealthy nations in intelligent intervention and investment is becoming more and more vital. That being said, undeterred by turmoil Africa is on the verge of a new day. Racked between geo-political vestiges of imperialism and vulnerable as potential prey to an aloof globalized economy, the region has desperately been seeking for a foothold of stability since the end of WW2. Despite a gridlock of corruption, sectarian violence, and humanitarian disasters, this century is poised to see African nations propelled into an elevated global status, both politically and economically. Countries like Botswana, Angola, and many others are experiencing an enormous growth in their middle-class sectors, which according to â€Å"The Economist† is projected to equal India’s middle-class sometime in 2015. While not the equivalent of the Western standard for middle-class this, consumer base will exponentially increase the marketability and influence of Africa’s economic bids. The consequences of increased economic pertinence is apparent throughout. A budding group of billi onaires speckle the continent, twenty-nine in fact according to Forbes in March. This is up from twenty only one year earlier. Granted, many are South African or hail from Northern Africa, countries not normally framed with Sub-Saharan Africa, but the proximity itself imparts salience. While functional and profitable large businesses develop, along with a stable middle-class, many African nations’ governments are beginning to politically mature. Even pockets of success from more circumspect aid programs exist, especially with micro-grants and loans to ground-level African entrepreneurs, demining initiatives, and the proliferation of educational opportunities. Considering Africa’s historical failures, and a perhaps tenuous grip upon a wave of rapid development, what are the right answers to best facilitate peace and stability? The necessity of foreign aid and intervention still exists. Reevaluating the distribution and access of aid, and developing prudent intervention strategies to comply with measurable outcomes is the only hope for these nations to surmount the magnitude of adversity that haunts the continent. Invariably, it seems to me, certain criteria must be met before a nation can hope to flourish: security and stability, transparency and accountability, and the development of business and infrastructure. While these guidelines are by no means exclusive of one another, nor strictly chronological in implementation. However, some semblance of this order is necessary, especially considering the familiar detachment of government policies to the populations they manage. The regression of the security situation, particularly Nigeria and Kenya the rising stars of self-reliance, threatens to derail these upwardly mobile countries by the very real potential of a conflict whose scope can easily exceed any in African history. The most significant distinction of this rising conflict are the links to a well-funded and ambitious international terrorist culture. Though intelligence is inherently faulty when evaluating extremist groups, links between African insurgency groups and organizations like A l Qaeda and (if not already, certainly soon) ISIS are all but assured. In light of emerging conflicts with borderless extremist organizations, and new found wealth, African defense budgets have soared 65% since 2004, according to The Economist, greater than any other region in that time frame. Almost without fail, since the onset of the Cold War era, ballooning defense budgets are often indicative of impending crises, not only in terms of violence but in the cessation of civil liberties and international instability. To ameliorate this the sale of materiel must follow a strict and discriminatory guideline. This is why the international community must be cohesive and cognizant, even apprehensive, as Kenya and Nigeria embark on their very own â€Å"War on Terror†. Unfortunately, the profit margin for manufacturing in the lucrative arms market is quickly establishing a place in Africa. The same Economist article divulged that â€Å"four major European arms manufacturers have set up African subsidiaries this year†. These will no doubt become e conomic boons but they carry with them the latency of war. One of McNamara’s lessons becomes relevant, â€Å"Proportionality should be a guideline in war†, indeed both in the manner in which it is waged and in the prevention of needless aggression. Problems arise with inflated military spending, the accessibility of war and the justification of expenditures compels nations to treat every problem like a nail with the hammers of automatic rifles. This is the often overlooked criticism of drone warfare. They are often more precise, accurate, and less apt to error than manned machines. A drone pilot in Nevada, overseen by hordes of high-ranking officials and lawyers, is less vulnerable to primal survival instincts and rash decisions. However, accessibility draws us into conflict. When the fear of casualty counts are not smeared on news broadcasts, a sense of invulnerability obfuscates wisdom. In the face of a ravenous enemy it is understandable, though undesirable, that one seeks safety behind the acquisition of arms and muzzle fla shes. Some strides have been made in anticipation of incautious military action. The U.N.’s Forward Intervention Brigade and African Union Peacekeepers have had success in presenting a unified front; the term coalition should be avoided these days to avoid negative connotations. These organizations also lend some transparency to unilateral operations and a more honest assessment of the aftermath of military operations. Obviously these methods of waging war are by no means faultless, it is a step in the right direction. Mutual policing will be fundamental in preventing atrocity. Andrew Muzonzini, the lead for Zimbabwe’s external intelligence agency offers a precocious insight in a Business Insider Article that is in line with the appropriate approach, â€Å"Ahead of time, we should seek to understand (the Islamic State) modus operandi if we are to anticipate and predict challenges ahead†. This conclusion, hopefully shared amongst the milieu of African politics, will (hopefully) be indicative of a circumspect and deliberate course of action to repel extremist behavior. A strong internal defense approach combined with precisely defined and rigidly tailored tactical excursions, targeting only locally substantiated objectives, should be the tenets of this nascent conflict. The global community needs to facilitate such equitable actions. More valuable than financial support, more accurate than high-tech weaponry, we must impart the lessons of an ineffective and prolonged conflict. The manner in which we defend ourselves should not be so broad as to alienate us from the world at large. Africa’s Muslim population’s safety must be assured. Sovereign nations must not be disaffected. And perhaps in the end Africa may edify the global community on how to maintain morality when confronting monsters. What is Online Examination System? What is Online Examination System? Online examinations, sometimes referred as e-examinations, are the examinations conducted through the internet or in an intranet (if within the Organization) for a remote candidate(s). Most of the examinations issue results as the candidate finish the examination, when there is an answer processing module also included with the system. They can be used to efficiently evaluate the candidate thoroughly through a fully automated system that not only saves lot of time but also gives fast results. For students they give papers according to their convenience and time and there is no need of using extra thing like paper, pen etc. These examinations are conducted as open-book type examinations. Candidate is given a limited time to answer the questions and after the time expiry the answer paper is disabled automatically and answers is sent to the examiner. The examiner will evaluate answers, either through automated process or manually and the results will be sent to the candidate through email or made available in the web site. Today many organizations are conducting online examinations worldwide successfully and issue results online. There are advantages and disadvantages in online examinations. The main advantage is that it can be conducted for remote candidates and evaluation of answers can be fully automated for Multiple Choice questions and other essay type questions can be evaluated manually or through automated system, depending on the nature of the questions and the requirements. Also online examinations can be conducted at any time and does not incur higher cost as traditional exam scenario as there is no paper work involved(eg: printing exam papers, prepare paper admissions etc) , there is no invigilators, also no need of arrangement of exam centers. When comparing with traditional exam scenario the cost for an online examination will be almost zero after the online exam system is establishment and if maintenance cost is not considered. The disadvantage of the e-examination is the inability of invigilating. There are methodologies used in these examinations, when registering candidates and presentation of questions, so that to test candidates knowledge and skills. However with a limited time, candidate is not capable of totally depend on the reference materials or a supporting person. AIM OF THE PROJECT The aim of this project is to develop an online examination system by applying software engineering principles and best practices. The system will be built using popular Java/J2EE web technologies and framework available for web development. The system will be designed to be scalable, secure and robust. The online examination system will help in speeding up the process of conducting examination. Teachers will be able to create examinations by composing a set of questions. The questions can be multiple choice questions or single (text) answer question. The system will have the ability to automatically process the results of examination based on the question database. The system will have intelligent capabilities to mark the text based answers not only when there is an exact match, but it will also recognize similar answers by finding the synonyms of the words used in the answer. The system will also provide manual override feature where in the teacher can manually mark or update the result for an exam. The system will also have the capability to resume the examination from last save point, i.e., a student can stop the examination in the middle and can start again at any other time. When the student will start the same examination again, the exam will start from the same point where i t was stopped. The system will present a easy to use interface for Teachers, Students and Administrators. Once logged in, students will be able to see the examinations due and can take the examination. CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS EVALUATION OF EXAMINATION SYSTEM Paper -Based Examination: Paper -based examination are carrried out on fixed days and according to a fixed schedule. Therefore, the absentees rarely have another chance to take up the exam again. Moreover, they involve a lot of paper work (e.g. printing of exam papers, arranging answer sheets, etc ). The evaluation of these exam is also very tedious job,after the students complete their exams, theteacher has to mark each paper manually and then consolidate the result. This process is very cumbersome and takes a lot of time and hard work. Web- Based Examination: With the emergence of online examinations, the World Wide Web opens up the possibility of giving the exams online. The online examination system helps in speeding up the process of conducting examination. Teachers will be able to create examinations by composing a set of questions. The system will have intelligent capabilities to mark the text based answers not only when there is an exact match, but it will also recognize similar answers by finding the synonyms of the words used in the answer. The system will also provide manual override feature where in the teacher can manually mark or update the result for an exam. The system will also have the capability to resume the examination from last save point, i.e., a student can stop the examination in the middle and can start again at any other time. When the student will start the same examination again, the exam will start from the same point where it was stopped. The system will present a easy to use interface for Teachers, Students and Administrators. Once logged in, students will be able to see the examinations due and can take the examination. TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH Web applications are either service oriented or presentation oriented. A presentation oriented web application involves generally mark up languages (e.g. XML and HTML) with dynamic contents responding to requests. On the other hand, a service oriented web applications implements the endpoint of the web service. Below is an analysis on Postgres, Hibernate, Spring and Wicket used to implement my project. POSTGRES PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) based on POSTGRES,Version 4.2 (http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html), developed at the University of California at Berkeley Computer Science Department. The POSTGRES project, led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),the Army Research Office (ARO), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and ESL, Inc. PostgreSQL is an open-source descendant of this original Berkeley code. It provides SQL92/SQL99language support and other modern features. POSTGRES pioneered many of the object-relational concepts now becoming available in some commercial databases. Traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS) support a data model consisting of a collection of named relations, containing attributes of a specific type. In current commercial systems, possible types include floating point numbers, integers, character strings, money,and dates. It is commonly recognized that this model is inadequate for future data processing applications. The relational model successfully replaced previous models in part because of its simplicity. However, as mentioned, this simplicity often makes the implementation of certainapplications very difficult. Postgres offers substantial additional power by incorporating the following additional concepts in such a way that users can easily extend the system: inheritance data types functions Other features provide additional power and flexibility: constraints triggers rules transaction integrity These features put Postgres into the category of databases referred to as object-relational. SPRING Spring Features Spring is a layered Java/J2EE application platform, based on code published in  Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development  by Rod Johnson (Wrox, 2002). Spring includes: The most complete lightweight container, providing centralized, automated configuration and wiring of your application objects. The container is  non-invasive, capable of assembling a complex system from a set of loosely-coupled components (POJOs) in a consistent and transparent fashion. The container brings agility and leverage, and improves application testability and scalability by allowing software components to be first developed and tested in isolation, then scaled up for deployment in any environment (J2SE or J2EE).    A common abstraction layer for transaction management, allowing for pluggable transaction managers, and making it easy to demarcate transactions without dealing with low-level issues. Generic strategies for JTA and a single JDBC DataSource are included. In contrast to plain JTA or EJB CMT, Springs transaction support is not tied to J2EE environments.    A JDBC abstraction layer  that offers a meaningful exception hierarchy (no more pulling vendor codes out of SQLException), simplifies error handling, and greatly reduces the amount of code youll need to write. Youll never need to write another finally block to use JDBC again. The JDBC-oriented exceptions comply to Springs generic DAO exception hierarchy.    Integration with Toplink, Hibernate, JDO, and iBATIS SQL Maps: in terms of resource holders, DAO implementation support, and transaction strategies. First-class Hibernate support with lots of IoC convenience features, addressing many typical Hibernate integration issues. All of these comply to Springs generic transaction and DAO exception hierarchies.    AOP functionality, fully integrated into Spring configuration management. You can AOP-enable any object managed by Spring, adding aspects such as declarative transaction management. With Spring, you can have declarative transaction management without EJB even without JTA, if youre using a single database in Tomcat or another web container without JTA support.    A flexible MVC web application framework, built on core Spring functionality. This framework is highly configurable via strategy interfaces, and accommodates multiple view technologies like JSP, Velocity, Tiles, iText, and POI. Note that a Spring middle tier can easily be combined with a web tier based on any other web MVC framework, like Struts, WebWork, or Tapestry. HIBERNATE Hibernate is popular open source object relational mapping tool for Java platform. It provides powerful, ultra-high performance object/relational persistence and query service for Java. Hibernate lets you develop persistent classes following common Java idiom including association, inheritance, polymorphism, composition and the Java collections framework. The Hibernate Query Language, designed as a minimal object-oriented extension to SQL, provides an elegant bridge between the object and relational worlds. Hibernate also allows you to express queries using native SQL or Java-based Criteria and Example queries. Hibernate is now the most popular object/relational mapping solution for Java. Hibernate maps the Java classes to the database tables. It also provides the data query and retrieval facilities that significantly reduces the development time. Hibernate is not the best solutions for data centric applications that only uses the stored-procedures to implement the business logic in database. It is most useful with object-oriented domain modes and business logic in the Java-based middle-tier. Hibernate allows transparent persistence that enables the applications to switch any database. Hibernate can be used in Java Swing applications, Java Servlet-based applications, or J2EE applications using EJB session beans. Features of Hibernate Hibernate 3.0 provides three full-featured query facilities: Hibernate Query Language, the newly enhanced Hibernate Criteria Query API, and enhanced support for queries expressed in the native SQL dialect of the database. Filters for working with temporal (historical), regional or permissioned data. Enhanced Criteria query API: with full support for projection/aggregation and subselects. Runtime performance monitoring: via JMX or local Java API, including a second-level cache browser. Eclipse support, including a suite of Eclipse plug-ins for working with Hibernate 3.0, including mapping editor, interactive query prototyping, schema reverse engineering tool. Hibernate is Free under LGPL: Hibernate can be used to develop/package and distribute the applications for free. Hibernate is Scalable: Hibernate is very performant and due to its dual-layer architecture can be used in the clustered environments. Less Development Time: Hibernate reduces the development timings as it supports inheritance, polymorphism, composition and the Java Collection framework. Automatic Key Generation: Hibernate supports the automatic generation of primary key for your. JDK 1.5 Enhancements: The new JDK has been released as a preview earlier this year and we expect a slow migration to the new 1.5 platform throughout 2004. While Hibernate3 still runs perfectly with JDK 1.2, Hibernate3 will make use of some new JDK features. JSR 175 annotations, for example, are a perfect fit for Hibernate metadata and we will embrace them aggressively. We will also support Java generics, which basically boils down to allowing type safe collections. EJB3-style persistence operations: EJB3 defines the create() and merge() operations, which are slightly different to Hibernates saveOrUpdate() and saveOrUpdateCopy() operations. Hibernate3 will support all four operations as methods of the Session interface. Hibernate XML binding enables data to be represented as XML and POJOs interchangeably. The EJB3 draft specification support for POJO persistence and annotations. WICKET Features Swing-like OO Component Model : Pages and Components in Wicket are real Java objects that support encapsulation, inheritance and events. Ease of Development : Because Wicket is Java and HTML, you can leverage what you know about Java or your favorite HTML editor to write Wicket applications. Separation of Concerns : Wicket does not mix markup with Java code and adds no special syntax to your markup files. The worlds of HTML and Java are parallel and associated only by Wicket ids, which are attributes in HTML and Component properties in Java. Since Wicket HTML is just HTML and Wicket Java is just Java, coders and designers can work independently to a large degree and without relying on any special tools. Secure : Wicket is secure by default. URLs do not expose sensitive information and all component paths are session-relative. Explicit steps must be taken to share information between sessions. There are plans for the next version of Wicket to add URL encryption to support highly secure web sites. Transparent, Scalable Clustering Support : All Wicket applications will work on a cluster automatically and without additional work. Once bottlenecks are understood, Wicket enables tuning of page state replication. The next version of Wicket will support client-side models for zero-state scalability. Transparent Back Button Support : Wicket supports configurable page version management. When users submit a form or follow a link from a page they accessed with the back button in their browser, Wicket is able to revert the page object to the state it was in when the page was originally rendered. This means you can write web applications that support the back button with very little work. Multi-tab and multi-window support : Wicket provides an easy way to write application that supports multi-window and multi-tab usage allowing developer to react properly when users open new browser window or tab Reusable Components : Reusable components in Wicket are particularly easy to create. Not only can you extend existing components with the Java extends keyword, but you can also create Panel components which associate a group of components as a reusable unit. Simple, Flexible, Localizable Form Validation : It is trivial to write and use validators in Wicket. It is also quite easy to customize and localize the display and content of validation error messages. Typesafe Sessions : Wicket eliminates the need to manage HttpSession attributes by hand. Page and component objects are transparently stored in the session and your application can create a custom session subclass with typesafe properties as well. All objects stored in the session can automatically participate in clustering replication. Factory Customizable : Wicket is very extensible. Most operations are customizable through factories or factory methods. Detachable Models : Model objects in Wicket can be very lightweight in terms of memory and network use in a cluster. When a model is used, it can attach, populating itself with information from persistent storage. When the model is no longer in use, transient information can be reset, reducing the size of the object. Border Components : Wicket Border components enable the decoration of pages in a reusable fashion. This is especially useful for inheritance of common navigational structures or layout. Support for All Basic HTML Features : Wicket supports image tags, links, forms and everything else that youre used to using in your web application development. Programmatic Manipulation of Attributes : Wicket Components can programmatically change any HTML tag attribute. Automatic Conversions : Once a Form validates, the model can be updated using Wicket converters. Most ordinary conversions are built-in and it is easy to write new converters. Dynamic Images : Wicket makes image use, sharing and generation very easy. Dynamic images can be created by simply implementing a paint method. Pageable ListView : ListViews in Wicket are extremely powerful. You can nest any kind of component in a ListView row, even other ListViews. PageableListView supports navigation links for large lists. Tree Component : Out of the box tree component for navigating and selecting nodes. Localization : HTML pages, images and resource strings can all be localized. CHAPTER-3 REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIFICATIONS The requirement analysis stage consists in collecting and analyzing information about the part of the organization that is supported by the application. This information helps us to identify the users requirements for the new system. This will enable us to define the various functionalities of the new system. The identification of the requirements is important as a system with incomplete functionality can lead to a project failure. 3.1 DATA GATHERING USER IDENTIFICATION Users of the system can be categorized as : Student Teacher Admin(Administrator) FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS The system aims to be an improvement on the existing one, the paper based system by : Fully automated system. Less time and effort consuming. Database should be well maintained with well structured database tables. The system should be scalable. Allow student and teachers to view the available exams. Allow student and teacher to view marks. Allow admin to manage the user system and exam system NON FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS Security : Each user is required to log into the system. This is done using a valid username and password. Login and password should be kept secret. Reliability : The system would be used by more than 200 students in the Computer Science Department, which includes academic and administrative staff. The system should ensure minimum downtime and be able to handle multiple requests. Ease of Use : All the user screens should be easy to use and intuitive. Contact details should be provided in order to get in touch with the administrator. Scalability : It is possible to extend the current features for future use of the system. Performance : The system should have a quick response time . DOMAIN REQUIREMENTS Specific functionality provided to the Admin: Manage User System : Admin can create a new user. Activate/deactivate an existing user.Admin can delete and edit a user. Manage Examination : Admin can edit an exam and assign exam to students. Admin can activate/deactivate any exam. Admin can also delete an exam. Specific functionality provided to the Teacher: Manage Examination : Teacher can create a new exam, edit existing exam. Create questions is one of the important functionality. Question can be textual or it can be single/multiple choice. Mark Exam : Teacher can do the marking of the exam either manually or it can be automated. Specific functionality provided to the Student : Answer Exam : Student can answer the exam assigned. View Point : Student can view the point of a question. He can also view his marks in a particular exam. PROJECT PLANNING Task no. Task Name Duration(days) Comments 1 Project Proposal 4 Deadline 30th September 2010 2 Requirements Specifications Ongoing Identify the users needs. 3 Research For technologies required by the system Ongoing Investigate the technologies to be used, the data structure. Identify important features which can be applied to the project implementation. 4 Architectural Design Ongoing Define different layers of the system and apply appropriate technologies to each layer. 5 Database Design 4 Apply Database schema provided by the School IT support team. Add necessary tables and relationships between them to make the application functional. 6 Prototype 3 Design Mock Interfaces of the application. 7 First Inspection 1 Start on 10th October 2010 8 Design Model 7 Class Diagrams Sequence Diagrams 9 Coding Phase 28 It will include connections to the database server. Develop the interfaces. And implement the functionalities of the system. Deadline 10th December 2010 10 Testing 5 Test all the features of the web application. 11 Final Inspection 1 Start on 20th December 2010 12 Dissertation Ongoing Write the dissertation. 13 Dissertation Submission 1 Deadline 7th January 2011 CHAPTER-4 SYSTEM AND DATABASE DESIGN 4.1 DATABASE DESIGN Table Name Description Answer Answer table is used to save all answer of student and right answer of teacher for each question configuration Configuration is used to save configuration information such as: term condition, mark ratio Examination Examination table is used to save exam Examuser ExamUser table is used to save user Question Question table is used to save question Role Role table is used to save role information studentexamination StudentExamination table is used to save the students which are assigned a particular exam. One student can have many examination and one examination can belongs to many students. user_role UserRole table is used for linking many-to-many relationship between user and role. 4.2 SYSTEM FUNCTION DESIGN At the start of the application , a Welcome Page is displayed. On the left side there are three buttons namely Home, Help and Log in. To log into the application , the user has to press the log in button. It displays a login page. The user is prompted to enter a username and a password. Any wrong login using invalid username and password will generate error message requiring the user to try again. During the user authentication check, the system will determine the type of user (admin, student,teacher) and redirect the user to the correct page with appropriate features. ADMINPAGE If the user logged in is admin, then Adminpage shows up. It has the following links Manage Examination : Admin can manage the Examination System. It can view all the examinations created. The Admin can assign students the exams. Manage User : Admin can manage the User System. This is used to manage the user data. Admin can create a new user, edit an existing , delete a user, enable / disable a user. Configuration : This is used to change the configuration of the exam like terms conditions and the marks ratio. ROLE OF ADMIN CREATE USER When the admin opts to create a new user, he inputs the user information like firstname, lastname, e-mail , username, password, course, role in the user management system. There it is checked whether the user exists or not, and the user information entered is valid or not. If it is valid it is saved into the database. Otherwise, an error message is displayed. ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE A USER Admin can activate/deactivate any user. For this admin chooses a user from the user system, activate/deactivate the user. Then save it into the database. MANAGE EXAMINATION Admin can assign a particular exam to students. Admin can activate or deactivate any exam. TEACHER PAGE If the user logged in is teacher, Teacherpage shows up. It has the following links : Manage Examination : This is used to manage the existing exams in the database. A teacher can edit exam, create questions for a particular exam, view questions of a exam and mark a exam manually. Create Question : This is used to create question. A question can be textual, single choice or multiple choice. A teacher can also edit the existing questions in the database. Create Examination : This is used to create a new exam. Help : This is to help the teacher in creating a question. ROLE OF TEACHER CREATE EXAM When the teacher opts to create an exam, he inputs the exam name, duration of the exam, description of the exam, mark type into the exam system. There it is checked whether exam name exists or not, duration of the exam is valid or not. If all is valid it is saved into the data base otherwise an error message is returned back to the teacher. A teacher can also edit the existing exam in the database. CREATE QUESTION When the teacher opts to create a question for an exam. He chooses the exam from the exam system and creates a question for it. In the question management system it is checked whether the question content is correct or not. If it is correct, it is saved into the database otherwise an error message is returned to the teacher. MARK MANUALLY When the teacher opts to mark an exam manually, he chooses the exam to be marked from the exam system. He iterates each question and marks them. Then he saves the marks into database. STUDENT PAGE If the user logged in is a student, studentpage shows up. It has the following link : View Point : This is used to view the point assigned to a particular student. Answer Exam : This is used to answer the exam assigned to the student. ROLE OF STUDENT VIEW MARKS A student can view his marks in any exam . ANSWER AN EXAM A student can answer any particular exam assigned to him. He can view point assigned to a question also. INTERFACE DESIGN Figure: Welcome Screen This is the Welcome Screen of our application. On the left hand side there are three buttons : Home, Help, Log in. These enable the user to get to Home Page, Help and Log in helps the user to get logged into the system. The same header and footer will be applicable to every page to preserve the consistency and integrity of the application. We use the ApplicationContext.xml file to define some Java beans like dataSource, SessionFactory, etc so that we can retrieve them in the application. In this way we can reimplement the classes and use alternatively different implementations by just changing the configuration in the ApplicationContext.xml file. Once you have a sessionfactory, your application asks the factory for a session. Your application will use Hibernate sessions to manage the persistent objects. An application context configuration file is created for the entire application named applicationcontext.xml destroy-method=close> ${hibernate.dialect} ${hibernate.show-sql} ${hibernate.hbm2ddl-auto} I need to define a web.xml File contextConfigLocation classpath:application-context.xml;classpath:security-context.xml org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener Deploying the application will create a database called exam as shown below in the Figure CHAPTER 5- IMPLEMENTATION AND TESTING APPLICATION IMPLEMENTATION Create User By Admin CreateUser.java String firstName = firstNameModel.getObject(); String lastName = lastNameModel.getObject(); String email = emailModel.getObject(); String course = courseModel.getObject(); ExamUser user = new ExamUser(); user.setUsername(username); user.setPassword(passwordEncoder.encodePassword(password, null)); user.setFirstName(firstName); user.setLastName(lastName); user.setEmail(email); user.setCourse(course); String selectedRoleName = roleModel.getObject().trim(); userService.createUser(user); Manage User By Admin ManageUser.java List> columns = new ArrayList>(); columns.add(new PropertyColumn(new Model(ID), id) { @Override public String getCssClass() { return numeric; } }); columns.add(new PropertyColumn(new Model(

Documentary on Newfoundland :: essays research papers

Canada is internationally recognized for its excellence in documentary film, and in recent years several of Canada's finest documentary makers have come from this province. Some of them work primarily in Newfoundland and Labrador while others take their cameras around the world. Their films often tell highly personal stories that reflect universal themes, and many are characterized by an unmistakable passion for grass-roots politics, social change and human rights. For most of this century Newfoundland and Labrador stories and events were interpreted through the eyes of visiting filmmakers. Producers from Great Britain and the United States arrived as early as 1907 to do brief pieces about hunting, fishing and wildlife. The National Film Board of Canada (N.F.B.) made several short films here in the 1940s and came regularly after Confederation, eventually building a library of over 100 films about the province. Local directors and producers did not contribute to that library until the 1980s. A few Newfoundlanders were shooting footage in these early years, but usually out of personal interest and with no intention of creating narrative films. Finished projects by local cameramen and editors began to appear after the second World War. They included The Golden Jubilee of Archbishop Roach (1947) by W.J. Ryan and The Land We Love (1955), a travelogue of the Avalon Peninsula by Len Earle. By the late 1960s the CBC and CJON television stations were filming news, entertainment and information programs. Memorial University's Extension Service established a "media unit" to make educational films and documentaries and record significant public events. The unit also worked with the NFB on several projects, including a series of short films on Fogo Island that incorporated input and feedback from local residents. CJON at Buckmaster's Circle, 1952. Jack Squires loads CJON's mobile transmitter van in preparation for an important outside broadcast. Photo by C.F. Ruggles. From Newfoundland Radio in Pictures, 1952 (St. John's, Nfld: Guardian Press, Â © 1952) 43. (51 kb) In the early 1970s the first generation of independent filmmakers was beginning to emerge. Fourteen of them formed the Newfoundland Independent Filmmaker's Cooperative (NIFCO) in 1975. although dedicated to the making of dramatic and artistic films, NIFCO has also been vital to the development of a home-grown documentary industry. The early NIFCO documentaries focus on the province's history and heritage and are only a few minutes long. Stone's Cove (1980) profiles a resettled community through contemporary footage and old photographs. Dig At Cow Head (1982) is a brief portrait of an archaeological dig.