20 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity

20 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity 20 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity 20 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity By Michael So youd like your latest writing project to get moving faster. Great writers have felt the same. Dont worry, its fixable. When the words stop, writers have effective ways of getting them moving again. Plow new ground Write multiple drafts instead of obsessively editing the same one. You can tell the same story, but tell it over again. You will probably feel more encouraged. That part that you never knew how to fix? Maybe your new draft doesnt have it anymore. Commit to a consistent schedule Write daily, not someday. Start today, not tomorrow. Find the best time for you. Resolve that 6:00 a.m or 9:00 p.m. will be your regular time for writing, and thats it. If you dont make time, you may not find time. Use the time you have. After all, you cant use the time you dont have. Though its definitely easier to write when you dont constantly switch tasks, you cant wait for large blocks of time to appear in your schedule. They may not. Instead, take advantage of the minutes between tasks, time that might have been misused. And when you cant write, prepare to write. Set priorities I regret to inform you that you cant do everything. You cant spend three hours a day watching television, four hours playing video games, eight hours at work or school, eight hours sleeping, two hours eating, and one hour writing. That totals 26 hours a day. Youll have to cut something from your schedule. Do you want to write or not? Count words, not minutes. You may feel lighter and freer if you know that you can get up from your chair and play golf as soon as you have written 1,000 words. You may write faster out of sheer anticipation. Count minutes, not words. On the other hand, sometimes the words get hard and so does your chair. If your mind is strained, tired or muddled, maybe you should limit your writing time. But find a goal you can stick to. Im not giving you permission to give up easily. Don’t begin at the beginning The title and first lines are the hardest parts to write. They get easier after youve finished the rest, and having perfected them may not help you write the rest more efficiently. So dont bother writing them first. You can change the title any time before the release thats one reason why movies have working titles. Start in the middle Actually, start writing the part that most inspires you, Start where you want to, where your creative urge is strongest. You can add introductions and conclusions later. Write your favorite part first. Choose an audience You can write most effectively when you know who youre writing for, when you can picture them in your mind. Then you know more clearly what the purpose of your writing is. Change your audience If your writing gets stuck or even boring, try picturing a different reader. Maybe you werent picturing any particular reader at all. No wonder your writing sounded unfocused. Imagine youre writing to your best friend, your best customer, your biggest fan, or to your grandmother. (Write regularly to your grandmother, if you have one.) Take very small steps If youre overwhelmed by the thought of writing the whole piece, tell yourself to only write one sentence then make yourself stop. Science fiction writer Roger Zelazny used to advise authors to write two sentences. Never rewrite until you’re done writing. There is a time for writing and a time for editing, and most writers cant do both at once. Editing as you write will slow down your writing, often to a standstill its a major cause of writers block. Once you get started, ideas will come running fast enough that you wont have time to refine them until after the stampede. When one project bogs down, switch to another. We were built for variety, and the specialization of the Industrial Age has lessened us. You werent meant to always do the same thing. Keep more than one project bubbling at once. When you (temporarily) lose interest in one book, you always have something else to work on. Please only yourself. You can pretend to be interested in a genre because it sells well, but youre competing against other writers who arent pretending. Competition in the publishing world is tough enough. Im not saying to ignore market forces if you enjoy writing in two genres, its fine to pick the more popular one. But if you focus on what you know best, you can write faster and research less. And theres less competition. Your teacher is not looking over your shoulder. Too often, school teaches children to write and teaches them to hate writing. Writing gives us a way to share ourselves, and we should love it. Grammar is not sharing; its only an aid to sharing. Style is worthless if it doesnt help your reader. You have no obligation to sound like anyone but yourself. Keep a notebook When you have a fresh idea, write it down and store it up for the times when you dont. Make notes of interesting expressions youve overheard, describe scenes youd like to write about, record physical details. Dont wait for inspiration. If your Creative Muse doesnt flit into your room and shower inspiration upon you, go out into the hallway and take her by the hand. If you were in your chair writing at your scheduled time of 6:00 a.m. or 9:00 p.m, she would have known where to find you. Look in your notebook there should be some inspiration there. Say what you really mean If you get stuck or tangled in your writing, try this: pretend youre talking to a child and say, What I really mean is. Then say what you really mean. My college speech teacher used a similar technique. When nervous students showed up to give their first speech, she told them, You dont have to give your speech, just tell us what you would have said. Change your medium. If you cant get your writing to move, try telling your story out loud. Leave yourself a voicemail. Send it as an email to someone. Send it as a text. Write it as a series of headlines. Write only the outline. Use a pencil. Use a crayon, as James Thurber did. As his eyesight diminished, he had to write one letter per page. And you think you have problems. Write any way you can. If you feel constricted as a writer and the words dont come, work around your block. Dont force yourself to stay on the main point. Tell your backstory, share your history, give the background, explain the alternatives. Youll get back on track soon enough. How many of these tips have you tried? What other tips have worked for you? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†Capitalization Rules for the Names of GamesGrammatical Case in English

What to Read in March

What to Read in March Not sure what to read this month? Try these suggestions based on   authors born in the month of March! Robert Lowell (March 1, 1917-September 12, 1977): Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet who inspired the confessional style of other poets such as Sylvia Plath. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and was a United States Poet Laureate. His own personal history and his family and friendships were important subjects in his poetry. Recommended: Life Studies (1959). Ralph Ellison: (March 1, 1914- April 16, 1994): Ralph Waldo Ellison was an American literary critic, scholar, and novelist. He won the National Book Award in 1953 served on The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recommended: Invisible Man (1952). Elizabeth Barrett Browning: (March 6, 1806- June 29, 1861): Elizabeth Barrett was an important English Romantic poet. Many do not know that Brownings family was part-Creole and spent much time in Jamaica, where they owned sugar plantations (kept by slave labor). Elizabeth herself was highly educated and was vehemently opposed to slavery. Her later works are dominated by political and social themes. She met and married the poet Robert Browning after a long epistolary relationship. Recommended: Poems (1844) Garbriel Garcà ­a Mrquez (March 6, 1928-April 17, 2014): Gabriel Josà © de la Concordia Garcà ­a Mrquez was a Colombian author of plays, short stories, and novels. He is considered one of the most important writers of the twentieth-century, having won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982. Garcia Marquez was also a journalist who criticized national and international politics, but he is best known for his fiction and magical realism. Recommended: One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). Jack Kerouac: (March 12, 1922- October 21, 1969): Kerouac was a pioneering member of the 1950s Beat Generation. He originally went to college on a football scholarship, but upon moving to New York City he discovered Jazz and the Harlem scene, which would change his life, and the American literary landscape, forever.   Recommended: On the Road (1957). Louis L’Amour (March 22, 1908-June 10, 1988): Louis Dearborn grew up in North Dakota during the sunset years of the American frontier. His interactions with traveling cowboys, the great Northern Pacific Railroad, and the world of cattle ranching would shape his later fiction, as would the stories of his grandfather, who fought in civil and Indian wars. Recommended: The Daybreakers (1960). Flannery O’Connor (March 25, 1925-August 3, 1964): Mary Flannery  OConnor was an American writer. She flourished in the essay, short story and novel genres and was also a significant contributor to literary reviews and commentaries. Greatly inspired by her Roman Catholicism, her works often explored major themes of ethics and morality. She is one of the greatest Southern writers in American literature. Recommended: A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955). Tennessee Williams: (March 26, 1911- February 25, 1983): Thomas Lanier Williams III is one of Americas greatest playwrights and an important presence in the history of homosexual writers. His works are heavily inspired by his own life, especially is unhappy family history. He had a great string of successful plays in the late 1940s, before shifting to a more experimental style which was not as well-received by audiences. Recommended: Suddenly, Last Summer (1958). Robert Frost: (March 26, 1874- Jauary 29, 1963): Robert Frost, perhaps Americas greatest and most successful poet, first explored a variety of careers, such as cobbler, editor, and teacher, before publishing his first poem (My Butterfly) in 1894. Frost spent some time living in England during the early 1900s, where he met such talents as Robert Graves and Ezra Pound. These experiences had a profound influence on his work. Recommended: North of Boston (1914). Anna Sewell (March 30, 1820- April 25, 1878): Anna Sewell is an English novelist, born into a Quaker family. When she was a girl, she severely injured both of her ankles, which confined her to crutches and limited walking for the rest of her life. Recommended: Black Beauty (1877). Other Notable Classic Writers Born in March: Theodore Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss (March 2, 1904-September 24, 1991)Tom Wolfe (March 2, 1931-  Ã‚  Ã‚   )Douglas Adams (March 11, 1952-May 11, 2001) Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879-April 18, 1955)John Updike (March 18, 1932-January 27, 2009)Philip Roth (March 19, 1933-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   )Lawrence Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ) Gloria Steinem (March 25, 1934-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   )John Fowles (March 31, 1926-November 5, 2005)

Children with Asthma Who Take Budesonide and Who Take Nedocromil Research Paper

Children with Asthma Who Take Budesonide and Who Take Nedocromil - Research Paper Example The treatment of asthma in children by physicians should be so effective that its end result is a child growing with near-perfect life devoid of constant chest and breathing complications. This means that physicians have to employ top-notch medical practices and procedures to ensure that this objective is achieved. Due to the fact that there has never been comparative analysis between the efficacy of nedocromil sodium and inhaled corticosteroids in treating childhood asthma, it is not possible to discern their comparative usefulness.5 Thus, the need for broadened research in this area cannot be neglected. Importantly, it is necessary to discuss the relevant terms used in this study. Key words that have been used in this study include; sodium cromoglicate and budesonide. To begin with, sodium cromoglicate is a type of asthma inhalant that is used regularly by asthma patients to prevent potential attacks. However, it does not help in cases where an asthma attack that has already starte d.2,4 On the other hand, budesonide is an inhalant used to prevent asthmatic attacks. Studies have shown that if used regularly budesonide decreases the symptoms and severity of asthma attacks. It does not however, relieve asthma attacks that have already started.In line with the topic, the paper utilized various databases like Google Scholar, Bing, Yahoo and many more to find relevant articles. Similarly, websites containing medical journals were accessed and important articles used in this study retrieved.

Leadership - Mahathir Mohamad - Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Essay

Leadership - Mahathir Mohamad - Former Prime Minister of Malaysia - Essay Example areas where the leader needs to rightly improve to help in the generation of effective leadership skills in the fulfillment of visionary objectives of the leader taken related to a business organization or the national region as a whole. The paper would first generate an effective background of the national leader and thereby reflect on the leadership potentials of the leader in the context of the organization or the region as a whole. Further, it would tend to highlight on key leadership theories and thereby aim to analyze and critically evaluate the leadership style of the person based on a specific leadership theory. Effective recommendations and conclusions would be generated thereof relating to the analysis conducted. Mahathir Mohamad served as the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia during the period ranging from 1981 to 2003. Mahathir Mohamad is observed as the true beckoner for generating improvement in the economic situation of the Malaysian region. The model of economic development generated and used by Mahathir Mohamad is observed to guide the development of a number of developing countries. Born in 1925 in the Alor Setar region of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad during his early life started his career as a doctor. Later he was observed to join the UMNO (United Malays National Organization) Party and earned a seat in the parliament. He quickly spearheaded to the post of Prime Minister from a general Member of Parliament (Plate, 2011). The 22 year tenure of Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister of the region reflected mixed contributions. On one hand, where as a Prime Minster he was found responsible for generating a model of economic betterment and welfare for the developing nations; on the othe r hand he was also found responsible for imposition of rigid limitations in the aspect of civil liberties. As a long term Prime Minister of Malaysia, the actions of Mahathir Mohamad is observed to generate considerable influence on the cultural patterns and also on

Piagets Theories Essay Example for Free

Piagets Theories Essay The summary of Piaget’s theories includes stages of learning through cognitive development. The cognitive perspective was revolutionized by Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. Piaget proposed â€Å"that all people pass in a fixed sequence through a series of universal stages of cognitive development†. (Feldman, 2008, p. 20) Piaget’s theory outlined four stages of development. Piaget’s Four Stages of Learning The four stages of learning are sensorimotor, birth to 2 years old, preoperational, ages 2 to 4, concrete operations, ages 7 to 11, and formal operations, ages 11 to 15. Campbell, 1976, p. 1) Piaget’s four stage learning model demonstrates how the mind processes new information encountered at different ages. The child does not move from one stage to the next until it has reached physical maturation and has experienced relevant situations. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) In the sensorimotor stage the infant learns through interaction with the environment, which could include mouthing and touching items to build an understanding of oneself at this stage of cognitive development. The infant is unable to speak therefore learns through assimilation. (Campbell, 1976, p. 1) Catherine P. Cook-Cottone used Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to analyze student counseling sessions. In her article â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† she identifies the stages of learning of students in sessions. Students in the sensorimotor stage â€Å"may enter the counseling situation with a very limited ability to conceptualize and describe their presenting problems†. Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 182) In the pre-operational stage conceptualizing abstractly is not possible. There needs to be concrete physical situations for the child to understand there is a difference. The child needs to see objects in simple ways with important features setting it apart from other objects. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) In â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† there is a sequence of learning for the students in therapy who work through resolving their problems. Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7) In pre-operational stage students are able to label the areas of concerns. â€Å"As students gain therapueutic experience with concepts or issues, they begin to develop increasingly organized schemata for the problem-related experences†. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 182) Concrete operations stage the child begins to think abstractly and is able to conceptualize. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) The child creates logical explanations for the physical experience it is relating to or sees. Catherine P.  Cook-Cotton states â€Å"Once labels are consistently used in the counseling situation, students narratives become increasing more focused on making many connections among experiences. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 183) The fourth and final learning stage is formal operations. This stage is the final learning phase for an individual. There is no longer a need for concrete objects to reason, and hypothesis begins. (Campbell, 1976) In â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† the students â€Å".. ave achieved a formal integration of the problem-specific content, they begin to make a sophisticated associations among more abstract ideas in addtion to being able to make associations amoung concrete experiences†. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 183) Piaget’s Theory vs. B. F. Skinner Operant Theory With â€Å"operant conditioning, formulated and championed by psychologist B. F. Skinner, individuals learn to act deliberately on their environments in order to bring about desired consequences†. (Feldman, 2008, p. 19) Cognitive Development operates on the individual assessing, learning and developing through inner self and their experience with the environment. With operant conditioning the individual learns by reinforcing a behavior through a series of rewards or consequences to avoid the behavior. In other words, positive or negative consequences determine the learning, and ultimate behavioral outcome. Conclusion Piaget’s theory of cognitive development revolutionized the way learning was observed. The focus turned to how an individual learns from within instead of observing the environment and what the individual learns from their surroundings.

How Fitzgerald Controls readers reaction To Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald delays the introduction of Gatsby until fairly late in the novel. This emphasizes the theatrical quality of Gatsby's approach to life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality, at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. We hear of Gatsby through Nick, and in a sense his reputation precedes him. Fitzgerald propels the novel forward through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby's background and the source of his wealth in mystery. Fitzgerald uses Nick as a puppet and, because of this we first hear Nick?s feelings towards Gatsby in chapter one. Nick is looking back into the past at this point, and how he perceives him since he first met him. Nick says, ?Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn? and at this point in the novel, Fitzgerald makes sure we don?t understand what Nick is talking about. He then drip feeds us more information throughout the book, but this gives a very mysterious impression of Gatsby. What shouldn?t we like about him? We haven?t even met him yet. Fitzgerald then controls Nick to say, ?If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the ?creative temperament? ? it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romanti... ...ross just as he would like to be perceived at the start of the novel. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of ?greatness?: indeed, the title ?The Great Gatsby? is reminiscent of names for such magicians as ?The Great Houdini? and ?The Great Blackstone,? suggesting that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion. As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby?s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations.

Tddc17 – Lab 2 Search

TDDC17 - ­? Lab 3 Part 2 Q5 P (Meltdown) = 0,02578 P(Meltdown | Ica weather) = 0. 03472 b)   Suppose that both warning sensors indicate failure. What is the risk of a meltdown in that case? Compare this result with the risk of a melt- ­? down when there is an actual pump failure and water leak. What is the difference? The answers must be expressed as conditional probabilities of the observed variables, P(Meltdown|†¦ ). P(Meltdown | PumpFailureWarning, WaterLeakWarning) = 0,14535 P (Meltdown | PumpFailure, WaterLeak) = 0,2 c)   The conditional robabilities for the stochastic variables are often estimated by repeated experiments or observations. Why is it sometimes very difficult to get accurate numbers for these? What conditional probabilites in the model of the plant do you think are difficult or impossible to estimate? a) What is the risk of melt- ­? down in the power plant during a day if no observations have been made? What if there is icy weather? It is hard to ful ly understand all possible factors that can effect or trigger an event and how they interact with each other.Observations are always a description of the past and is not always accurate in forecasting the future. E. g. Icy weather is not a thing you can measure and span over a wide range of weather conditions including combinations of precipitation, wind and temperature. d)   Assume that the â€Å"IcyWeather† variable is changed to a more accurate â€Å"Temperature† variable instead (don't change your model). What are the different alternatives for the domain of this variable? What will happen with the robability distribution of P(WaterLeak | Temperature) in each alternative? The domain decreases in size of possible states as for example precipitation and wind is no longer a part of the estimations. The temperature will be represented as an absolute number or intervals, instead of just true or false. Resulting in a lot more defining of the probabilities of the child nodes with aspect to each value/interval of temperature. Q6 a) What does a probability table in a Bayesian network represent?The probability table shows the probability for all states of the node given the states of the parent nodes. b)   What is a joint probability distribution? Using the chain rule on the structure of the Bayesian network to rewrite the joint distribution as a product of P(child|parent) expressions, calculate manually the particular entry in the joint distribution of P(Meltdown=F, PumpFailureWarning=F, PumpFailure=F, WaterLeakWaring=F, WaterLeak=F, IcyWeather=F). Is this a common state for the nuclear plant to be in? Kedjeregeln ger foljanade:P(alla ar falska) = P(ICYWEATHER) * P(PUMPFAILURE) * P(PW | PUMPFAILURE) * P(MELTDOWN| PUMPFAILURE, WL) * P(WL | ICYWEATHER) * P(WATERLEAKW | WL) = 0,95 * 0,9 * 0,95 * 1 * 0,9 * 0,95 = 0,69 Ja, detta ar ett vanligt tillstand. c)   What is the probability of a meltdown if you know that there is both a water leak and a pump failure? Would knowing the state of any other variable matter? Explain your reasoning! P(Meltdown | PumpFailure, WaterLeak ) = 0,8. No other variables matter. When all the parents values are observed they alone determine the child value. ) Calculate manually the probability of a meltdown when you happen to know that PumpFailureWarning=F, WaterLeak=F, WaterLeakWarning=F and IcyWeather=F but you are not really sure about a pump failure. P(Meltdown = T | PUMPFAILURE osaker, resten falska )= P(ICYWEATHER) * P(WL | ICYWEATHER) * P(WATERLEAKW | WATERLEAK)* [P(PUMPFAILURE=T) * P(PW | PUMPFAILURE=T) * P(MELTDOWN=T | PUMPFAILURE=T,WL) + P(PUMPFAILURE=F) * P(PW | PUMPFAILURE=F) * P(MELTDOWN=T | PUMPFAILURE=F,WL)] = 0,95 * 0,9 * 0,95 * (0,1 * 0,1 * 0,16 + 0,9 * 0,95 * 0,01) = 0,008 (1)P(MELTDOWN=F | PUMPFAILURE osaker, resten falska)=P(ICYWEATHER) * P(WL | ICYWEATHER) * P(WATERLEAKW | WL)* [P(PUMPFAILURE=T) * P(PW | PUMPFAILURE=T) * P(MELTDOWN=F | PUMPFAILURE=T,WL) @+ P(PUMPFAILURE=F) * P(PW | PUMPFAILURE=F) * P(MELTDOWN=F | PUMPFAILURE=F,WL)] = 0,95 * 0,9 * 0,95 * (0,1 * 0,1 * 0,84 + 0,9 * 0,95 * 0,99) =0,694 (2) (1) och (2) =; alfa = 1 / (0,008 + 0,69) = 1,42 0,008 * 1,42 = 0,012 0,694 * 1,42 = 0,988 Part 3 During the lunch break, the owner tries to show off for his employees by demonstrating the many features of his car stereo. To everyone's disappointment, it doesn't work. How did the owner's chances of urviving the day change after this observation? Without knowing whether the radio is working or not, the probability of him surviving is 0,99001. If the radio is not working the probability is 0,98116. How   does the bicycle change the owner's chances of survival? With the bicycle the probability of surviving is 0. 99505. Small increase. It   is possible to model any function in propositional logic with Bayesian Networks. What does this fact say about the complexity of exact inference in Bayesian Networks? What alternatives are there to exact inference? Yes but i t might be complex and you might sometimes have to add new nodes.For example if you want to model an OR-relationship you have to add a new node with truthtable probabilities that match. An alternative to exat inference is probabilistic indifference. Things might not always be true or false with a predefined probability. With probabilistic inference yuou can reuse a full joint distribution as the â€Å"knowledge base† Part 4 Changes in graph Mr. H-S sleeping ( T = 0. 3, F = 0. 7) Mr HS reacts in a competent way: WaterleakWarn. Pumpfailurewarning Mr HS sleeping T T T T F F F F T T F F T T F F T F T F T F T F T 0. 0 0. 8 0. 0 0. 7 0. 0 0. 7 0. 0 0. 0 P(Survives | Meltdown, Mr HS reacts) incresing 9% (0. 9) The   owner had an idea that instead of employing a safety person, to replace the pump with a better one. Is it possible, in your model, to compensate for the lack of Mr H. S. ‘s expertise with a better pump? Yes, by increasing the probability of the pump not failing w ith 0. 05. The chance of survival increases to 0. 99713 Mr   H. S. fell asleep on one of the plant's couches. When he wakes up he hears someone scream: â€Å"There is one or more warning signals beeping in your control room! â€Å". Mr H. S. realizes that he does not have time to fix the error before it is to late (we can assume that he wasn't in the control room at ll). What is the chance of survival for Mr H. S. if he has a car with the same properties as the owner? (notice that this question involves a disjunction which can not be answered by querying the network as is) Clarification:Maybe something could be added to or modified in the network. By adding a new node called warning, which represents the OR-relationship of WaterLeakWarning and PumpFailureWarning, i. e. Warning is true if WaterLeakWarning is true or if PumpFailureWarning is true or if They are both true and is false if they are both false. P(survives) = 0. 98897 if Warning is observed true. What   unrealistic a ssumptions o you make when creating a Bayesian Network model of a person? That a persons actions are predictable and that he never gains more experience as time passes, which would effect the probabilities of his actions. Describe how you would model a more dynamic world where for example the â€Å"IcyWeather† is more likely to be true the next day if it was true the day before. You only have to consider a limited sequence of days. By adding nodes representing the weather of the previous days. E. g. one node representing the day before, one bubble representing the day before that and so on†¦ Tommy Oldeback, tomol475 Emma Ljungberg, emmlj959

Airlines & low-priced transportation Essay

Airlines are now in the commodity business as the public demands low-priced transportation. It has moved from elite to a common form of transportation. Today the travelers are well informed about how to surf the web for bargains through numerous sites such as Sidestep, Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, and Cheap tickets. As a commodity, airlines cannot increase prices to increase profits, so they are only left with the choice to cut operating costs such as labor costs. Amid the competition, airlines have refocused their attention on the customers. The industry still heavily targets frequent flyers, as members can earn miles through traveling, car rentals, hotels, and credit card use. Since deregulation, airlines have had the same pricing opportunity as companies in other industries had and airline pricing thus, made pricing very complex for the normal customer. The fares and freight rates were set in accordance to the response from both the customer demand and the prices of competitors. Consequently, fares change much more frequently than they used to in the past and passengers sitting in the same section on the same flight often pay different prices for the same seats. The setting of fares is difficult to understand for some travelers but makes sense to the airlines keeping in mind that seat on a particular flight is of different value to different people. For the airlines, the chief objective in setting fares is to maximize the revenue from each flight, by offering the right mix of full-fare tickets and various discounted tickets. Discounting which is very low against weak demand for the flight and the plane leaving the ground with a large number of empty seats result in loss of revenue generating opportunities for that particular airline. While too much discounts can sell out a flight far in advance and prevent the airline from booking last minute passengers who are highly likely to be willing to pay higher fares which is also another revenue opportunity lost. Deregulation of the airline industry has largely been a success with better service and better pricing for the traveling public. The benefits of deregulation have not yet been fully realized but in an ideal world, deregulation should result in an open and competitive environment in which low-cost and new entrant airlines can compete on a level playing field with the larger carriers. Nevertheless, with major carriers controlling entrances at key points, a significant barrier to entry is formed that reduces competition and the number of new entrants into a market. With the number of airline mergers over the past years, larger carriers ended up with the majority of leased gates at certain airports, which became the carrier’s hubs. In some cases, these gates were not being fully utilized, but were withheld from competitive carriers trying to obtain space to run their operations. However, with the financial troubles currently being experienced by larger carriers, gates at larger airports are freeing up and the smaller, low-cost providers are moving in. Recommendations The airline industry has continued on the path towards globalization and consolidation, very much similar to other industries. The airline industry has achieved this by the mergers and cooperation among the airlines and breaking all barriers to restrict any airline from operating in a particular region. It has been predicted that by 2010 there will be an immense growth in the number of passengers and due to which the future will hold many challenges for the European airlines. Prosperous and achieving airlines will be only those which continue to undertake their costs and advance their products, in that way securing a strong presence in the world aviation markets. Thus, European Airlines should consider taking measures which will revolutionize its existence in the market: adoption of new trends, creating a blue-ocean strategy and partnering with other airlines to provide quality service.

The Scarlet Letter †Dimmesdales Dilemma

The Scarlet Letter – Dimmesdales Dilemma Free Online Research Papers Adultery was one of the worst sinful acts in Puritan times. As one of the Ten Commandments, this sin was punishable by death at extremes. Puritans believed that marriage was sacred and believed that illicit fornication would lead to corruption, and believed that these actions should be punished severely. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale commit adultery. While Hester was caught and tried for her sin, Dimmesdale managed to escape accusation; therefore, he received no punishment for sinning and this troubles Dimmesdale to the point where he begins to punish himself for sinning. While confessing his sin would bring relief at first, Dimmesdale, in the long run would suffer more from this confession. Suffering from the guilt of not being caught for his sin, Dimmesdale is suffering both mentally and physically. Finding a way to lessen or eliminate this pain would make him a healthier person. Dimmesdale takes this emotionally pain and inflicts physical pain such as whipping himself and starvation to try to lessen him suffering. Until Dimmesdale tells the town of his sin, he will never be able to live with himself. If he were to tell the town of his sin a large weight would be lifted off of him and he would be able to return to his normal state of mind for a short time. This great relief would sweep over him and help to return him to the man he once was. If Dimmesdale no longer felt this guilt he would cease the self-inflicted pain upon himself thus making him a much healthier man. Relieving the suffering inside of him would bring a calm sense to this troubled man, but unfortunately it would not last. If he were to confess his sin, the scorn directed at Mr. Dimmesdale, the town’s pride and joy, by the town’s people would destroy him and he would slip back into his pit of anguish. Every day of his life, Arthur Dimmesdale would be reminded of his sin and would be told of a grim fate awaiting him in hell. This torture would be rough on any person let alone someone as holy as Dimmesdale. This new suffering would tear at him just as his prior guilt did; however, now instead of only his own judgment, Dimmesdale would have to face the entire town. The original reason the Arthur Dimmesdale feels that he needs to punish himself is the guilt he feels for his sin, but now he would plunge back into this despair. The new guilt he would feel would tear him apart, and he would begin to punish himself again. These habits will destroy Dimmesdale and would make him much worse off then he was originally. Telling of his sin is what would relieve Dimmesdale of his guilt for this horrible event that occurred; nevertheless, the new suffering Dimmesdale would feel will create more problems then he previously had. The unbearable scorn of the townspeople would be too much for Dimmesdale to handle and he would eventually lose all sanity. While he is punishing himself now, things can only get worse. Puritan beliefs on the issues of marriage and sex are very strict, but these views are very understandable from certain perspectives. To commit adultery is a horrible sin and it can ruin lives just as it did in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Research Papers on The Scarlet Letter - Dimmesdale’s DilemmaCapital PunishmentArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)The Hockey GameThe Spring and AutumnAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyGenetic Engineering

Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children

Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children Who is guilty when teens break the law? Should parents be blamed? Read to know who should be responsible for the crimes of teens. It’s no secret that teens break the law, thinking they’re basically invincible. They engage in underage drinking, vandalism, also possession, and under the influence, of drugs. But then some young people commit much bigger crimes – felonies such as breaking and entering into a house, grand theft auto, even murder, and rape. Children of all ages are capable of breaking the law, but it can be speculated that adolescents tend to break the law more. Unfortunately, teens in American engage in some pretty risky behavior in their middle and high school years. And unfortunately, these crimes have severe consequences that last a lifetime. While these minors are often thought of as children simply making mistakes, they are still rational, mostly reasonable human beings who knowing exactly what they are doing. So, therefore, their crimes should not make their parents responsible. Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children? Could not, for one, be responsible for the crimes of their children, because any person of sound mind is a rational being. They know when they are committing a crime and doing something wrong. It has nothing to do with their parents – unless the parents are condoning, encouraging or taking part in the crime; then, and only then, should parents be held responsible for their children’s crimes. It is rarely the parent’s fault, even if they do teach their children right from wrong. Many people attempt to commit a crime because they think they can get away with it. The same goes for teens committing a crime: They do it, most of the time because they anticipate getting away with it. This is no reflection of one’s upbringing – only the way that person views right from wrong. Even if the children are diagnosed as mentally unsound, insane, crazy, manic-depressive, it’s still not the parent’s fault. SINGLE-PARENT CHILDREN BEHAVIOUR If someone’s child commits a crime and gets caught for it, a parent should not be held responsible for the child because it is the child committing the crime, not the adult. Some may argue how a child’s sense of right and wrong derives from the way their parents raised them – which is true; however, in the case of committing crimes, a child can still steal a pretty piece of jewelry from a friend even if they were taught as a child not to steal. This has nothing to do with the parent, only the child, or teen, committing the crime. If the child commits the crime, they should be at fault and charged appropriately. If one’s child commits the crime, unless the parent directly took part in the illegal activity associated with their child, the parent should without a doubt never be held responsible – not morally, emotionally or legally – for this crime. Parents Are Not Guilty! Unless the parent assisted in helping the child commit the crime –underage drinking drug usage, for example – the adult should never be held responsible for the child’s actions. If a kid gets in trouble, it’s easy to blame the parents, attribute the mishap to how they were raised, the kind of family they were born to. But that is what is wrong with this country: no one takes responsibility for their own actions, especially if they’re minors. It’s a major problem. This way, people become adults never being accountable for anything – they just blame it on someone else. This isn’t the way to go; all it does is condition someone that they are not going to face consequences when the do wrong. Why is that detrimental? Because a person gets a pretty rough reality check as an adult when they are faced with legal charges for committing a crime. At that point, their parents surely aren’t even in the picture. Only the child/teen sho uld get penalized for committing and crime. IS GUN CONTROL AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF REDUCING CRIME In conclusion, we all make mistakes, and many of us, even on accident, commit crimes (just look at how often people send friends or family members prescription pain-relieve medication. One word: felony). And when people committing crimes are caught, they get charged. The same goes for children, mostly adolescents. They generally know when they are doing something wrong, so they should always be held responsible for their actions – and not their parents. The same, of course, applies to teenagers: when they get caught committing a crime, their parents should never be held responsible unless the parents assisted in the crime. It’s time to hold young people responsible for their actions.

Do state assessments truly measure a disabled students' intellectual Research Paper

Do state assessments truly measure a disabled students' intellectual abilities - Research Paper Example Testing to Students with Disabilities Students with disabilities should be afforded the same kinds of opportunities to do well in high-stakes testing. This is proven in a document released by The University of the State of New York?and The State Education Department?Office of Vocational and Education Services ?for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID). It states: According to Test Access and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (2006), â€Å"All students, including students with disabilities, are expected to learn and achieve high standards.   To meet this goal, students with disabilities must have access to general education curriculum courses, electives and required assessments.   This was affirmed in 1997 when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was amended to require that students with disabilities, including students with severe cognitive disabilities through the development of a State alternate assessment, participate in State and districtwide a ssessments† (pgh. 1). Further, it has been noted that appropriate testing accommodations can and shall have been made in order to take into account the fact that there are several different types of differently-abled learners. What should matter is that these students are given the same types of opportunities as students in regular and Honors courses to achieve their best, at whatever level of schooling they are at—but especially in high school so they are adequately prepared to move on to higher education beyond the secondary level. According to Test Access and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities (2006), â€Å"IDEA 2004 further strengthened this requirement by adding several new provisions that will ensure that students have access to State tests and that test results are valid and... The research paper tells that students with disabilities should be afforded the same kinds of opportunities to do well in high-stakes testing. This is proven in a document released by The University of the State of New York and The State Education Department Office of Vocational and Education Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID). Further, it has been noted that appropriate testing accommodations can and shall have been made in order to take into account the fact that there are several different types of differently-abled learners. What should matter is that these students are given the same types of opportunities as students in regular and Honors courses to achieve their best, at whatever level of schooling they are at—but especially in high school so they are adequately prepared to move on to higher education beyond the secondary level. These accommodations that are called for routinely help assess students’ true intellectual abilities by helping students demonstrate how they have attained a mastery of certain skill sets. According to Test Access and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities, â€Å"Many students with disabilities will require testing accommodations in order to participate in testing programs on an equal basis with their nondisabled peers. Such accommodations provide students with the ability to demonstrate mastery of skills and attainment of knowledge without being limited or unfairly restricted due to [having] a disability†.

Hume's critique of the concept of natural rights. How far do you agree Essay

Hume's critique of the concept of natural rights. How far do you agree with this critique - Essay Example However much Hume is critical of Locke's notion of what is natural, there is much incorporated in the view that could essentially be described as Lockean. Finally, this analysis will close with an analysis of literature which is critical of Hume's critique. The question will be asked as to whether or not, Hume is not essentially setting up a straw man as he criticises Locke? Is Hume doing Locke justice will be a question examined in the closing of the analysis? Finally, this analysis will close by arguing that the radical scepticism of knowing, when implied to the self demonstrates to am impossible situation. Where Locke believed that the self was substance with attributes, Hume maintained because of his scepticism that it could not be known at all. That is the logical outcome of his logic, and the closing of this paper will examine why that it is so. Whether it is Hume discussing Locke, or just Locke discussing something like private property one has to understand what Locke argued to be a natural right. Moreover, to understand what Hume understood by natuin more detail, his particular views on private property when he criticized Locke on this and a number of different areas connected to the our relationship to to the external world. One of the interesting aspects of Locke’s view on private property. ... [Locke 21]. As we shall see for Hume, this is point of criticism which is often described in terms of the distinction between what 'ought' to be versus what is? The state of nature is in practise for Locke, unstable in its essence, and this follows from his claim that humans, unless coerced, often infringe on the natural rights of others. [Locke 10] It is soon apparent in the Second Treatise, that in order that humans or a community enjoy their natural rights, and for the sake of creating stability, they must join together and form a ‘social contract’. The function or the purpose of this contract, is to form a civil society in which humans will maintain their natural rights, within a government that has been established to enforce laws for the end of protecting those rights, and in turn, to adjudicate or legislate disputes. This law of nature gives humans their natural rights, and within this, we all have a right to life and a right to some liberty, as long, however as o ur actions do not infringe upon the natural rights of others: â€Å"the state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions† [Locke 9]. Before the creation of civil society, or in the state of nature, ma has a right to amass or acquire private property only in so far he has a use for it. For example, a man has a right to as much food as his family might need, but he has no right to a surplus of food which might perhaps spoil. Thus, the way in which problems are resolved in a community of equals, is that a ruler serves the purpose or the function of providing the