Buyer behavior & integrated marketing Essay

Briefly summarize the marketing problem/issue you have researched, and provide a brief, but multi dimensional profile of the target market. The problems on which this assignment focuses on is how can an organization understand and influence the demands and needs of a consumer by using consumer decision making model and the a decision sequence model which helps an organization define a set sequence in order to plan for its marketing and promotional strategy. The company that has been researched upon in the research paper is Automobili Lamborghini S. p. A that has recently launched its new SUV in the market which also happens to be the first SUV car from the company. The car is known is Lamborghini SUV and there are a lot of things that need to be taken care of when introducing and marketing the car in automobile arena. A consumer decision model will help the company in order to see how a particular group of consumers decides for a particular commodity. What are their preferences, their expectations, how can they be attracted, what is their taste, how well do they memorize a certain product, their loyalties to a particular brand, their interpretation from a product or marketing strategy and the knowledge that they possess. A consumer consciously or unconsciously using all these factors when going to buy a product thus in the case of Lamborghini SUV the consumer will again question himself on the above mentioned grounds (MacKenzie 1986). As given in the research done on the company, the main problems that the company tends to identify from the consumer behavior are; 1. What is the product 2. What is the target market 3. What are the substitutes 4. How does the price and value for money are correlated 5. Is the product a luxury item 6. What sort of a decision sequence model can be used Here is a brief answer to all of the questions mentioned above. As we all know that the product is a luxury SUV that is being marketed for the first time by the company, the company has to target to a specific group with specific characteristics. These people are supposed to be well to do by having good executive level jobs or running businesses and having a family of 2 to 3 persons. This suggests that the targeted customer should be more then 35 years of age but not more than 45 because that goes beyond the sporty and speedy characteristics of the car. The sport and speedy characteristics of the car open two marketing and targeting corridors for the company, that are, 1. executives and managing directors, (as discussed above) and 2. The existing sports cars clients who will then be filtered for having or not having a taste for a sports SUV. The problem is that the product that is in question in the research is quite expensive and thus it is not at all like marketing coke. Customers need to be educated and informed about the value and worth of the product that should be other than the actual cost price of the car (Bettman 1975). With reference to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel analytical framework, analyze the likely buying behavior of your target market, in terms of degree of problem solving, and identify the probable influences on this decision process. You should also identify any issues related to the information processing aspect, as this will inform task 3 With reference to Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, the decision of any consumer is based upon and involves two or more products that are substitutes to each other. For example a consumer might choose between going out for a movie or staying at home, for this matter going to movie and staying at home will serve to be as substitutes to each other. Similarly, in this of Lamborghini, the consumers have a range of choices. These choices include other sporty SUV’s that already in the market by competitor brands like BMW, Mercedes, Chrysler and others. Thus Lamborghini should look into the matter that what do consumers want in an SUV, how and what characteristics they should highlight to attract their customers. Blackwell, Miniard and Engel advocate the fact that there are a number of cognitive processes going on in a consumer mind while he makes purchase decisions. These cognitive decisions can be identified as consumer knowledge about the market and the product, beliefs and memories about information that a consumer gathers from marketing and promotional activities going on around them, their cognitive process of comprehension and lastly their integration cognitive process in which a consumer evaluates two or more choices and short lists to one final choice. This choice is made on the basis of certain behavioral decisions, thus the decision making process of a consumer can also be regarded as their decision plan. A Cognitive Process Model of Consumer Decision Making Lamborghini should keep in mind that its consumers will gather most of the information from their surroundings. Apart from their own marketing campaign, the consumers consciously and unconsciously are gaining information about the sporty cars, their models, information about other brands, performance of other SUV’s that come I the same category of sporty cars and much more. Consumers are exposed to TV shows, magazines, discussions and even get to see these products live at show rooms that they already a lot about the car. However, a marketer should always keep in mind that in order to attract a customer and give him what he wants, the product should be marketed in such a way that the consumer directly notices what he wants in the product without him being analyzing and comparing with other brands(Roberts 2000). The marketing campaign should highlight the characteristics of the product itself in the marketing campaign rather than letting the customer gather the information on his own that can also lead to possibilities that the customer may not be able to find those characteristics on his own. Same goes for Lamborghini, the company must market the new SUV in such a way that it highlights both its sporty nature and its symbol of power of status in order to cater both the target markets that have already been identified in the previous section. Moreover a company must also see into how do different consumers tend to interpret the information and marketing material that is made available to the customers. This data must be designed in such a way that it is not contrary to any sort of a customer because every potential customer might interpret the information in line with his own preferences and tastes. For example, those customers who are business and corporate executives want the car to be a status symbol for them, thus a campaign should not only cater the racing and sport nature of the car because that will leave an informal image over the formal and status conscious customers. Thus the interpretation of customers should also be taken into account by Lamborghini when coming up with a marketing plan. Moreover Lamborghini should introduce the product in the market that it leaves a lasting impression in the memory of the potential consumers. This is because the consumers that Lamborghini is planning to target are the ones who will not think about whether to buy or not to buy a product. They will tend to go to buy only when they need to buy a product. For this they must have an image of Lamborghini in their minds that they can recall when they feel the need for a product. Moreover, as the product that Lamborghini is marketing is a product that the consumers do not buy very quickly due to its price, thus over this decision making plan and process of the consumers, Lamborghini should also provide the consumers with new information and characteristics of the car in order to renew the old information in the minds of consumers along with keeping them more informed and updated about the product. This can easily be done with a planned marketing campaign through which new information and strategies can be implemented as soon as the company feels the need to implement them(Moner 1973). The integration and evaluation process is stored in a consumer’s memory and thus most of the time it is seen that these evaluations then tend to turn into attitudes and beliefs of a consumer. These beliefs and attitude are of both the natures, they can be changed and at times they cannot be changed. Thus the marketer need to focus on these beliefs and attitudes because basically these are the factors that influence a customer’s intension in his decision making process. Thus Lamborghini can use this information of customer in many ways that is; they can analyze why brand loyal consumers go for a certain brand, why do they hate another brand and what are their beliefs and attitudes towards the product if they don’t go with it. For example, some customers might be loyal to Lamborghini sedan cars and they might not go for an SUV because they might think that they are not that fast s the sedan, hence, the Lamborghini can use this information by educating its customers and potential target market that the Lamborghini SUV is as fast as a normal sedan and can highlight extra advantages of the SUV then the normal sedan. The company can also market its muscular look and powerful attributes in order to attract those customers who are looking for sporty SUV’s due to status symbol both in an out of the office, that is in the corporate world and when traveling with a family(Woodside 1992).

Challenges of Management Essay

Management is an important organ of the modern society. The decisions of management in government, business and other organizations constitute a powerful social force which is vital to the effective functioning of the contemporary society. Management is that organ of the society which is given the responsibility of making the productive use of resources for the betterment of the society. The term ‘management’ is also used to represent an organized body of knowledge which enables the ambitious executives to acquire and master the skills needed to discharge their responsibilities effectively. This body of knowledge should not be taken as static. It should be studied in the light of socio-economic, political, educational and other changes. These changes make it appropriate (even mandatory) to re-examine the role of modem managers. Modern managers have the responsibility to devise the management practices to meet the new challenges and make use of the opportunities for growth of the organization. Change is an important feature of modern organizations. Significant changes take place every day in social, technological, political and other aspects of modern world. However, the recent spate of changes in the economies of the world caused, by creation of World Trade Organization (WTO), economic liberalization and trend towards globalization of economies have brought many opportunities and threats for the modern organizations. No manager can afford to ignore such changes; rather he has to make use of them to his advantage. In other words, he has no option, but to accept the challenges. To be successful, the manager must try to forecast the changes because of the following reasons: i) The changes in business environment will have a considerable impact on the theory and practice of management. Experience that once provided a sense of security to preceding generations of managers may be of little comfort to future managers. New problems will arise which may render the old principles and practices of management obsolete and call for evolving new theories and practices. (ii) The effective handling of change calls for latest information and new skills on the part of managers. Those who prepare themselves for challenges in the future will find many opportunities for growth and expansion of their business. During the last two decades, there has been a phenomenal growth in Size and complexity of organizations in every field, be it Government, religious, educational, medical, military or business. In fact, an increasing proportion of all our activities occurs within the boundaries of these complex organizations and in that sense, we have become truly a ‘organizational society’. Management concepts and practices, organization structure and behavior have responded to these changing influences. This chapter aims at sketching out a framework for looking at the future of management of organizations and analyses the important forces at work in this regard. The important areas which would create challenges for the management are as follows: 1. Social environment. 2. Economic environment. 3. Technological environment. 4. Physical environment. 5. Political environment. 6. International environment. The trends of these environments and their relevance for the future manager are discussed below. Population Explosion. Population of our country and of the world is increasing rapidly. This will require new jobs, more product’s, new methods of production and distribution and new modes of living. The population mix will also change. There will be an increase in the proportion of older people due to increase in the average life span. This will affect the demand for products of many organizations. b. Educational Level. The governments of various countries have been taking steps to eradicate illiteracy and to increase the educational level of their citizens. Educated consumers and workers will create very tough tasks for the organizations in future. It would become really difficult to satisfy enlightened consumers whose behavior would not be predictable. The workers will be better organized and compel the organizations to safeguard their interests and to allow them to have say in their management. c. Leisure Time. People will have more leisure time because of reduced working hours, increased automation and quick means of traffic and communication. The effects of this trend are many and varied. For some people, more leisure time means higher spending in pursuits of leisure which will encourage the growth of tourism, fast food and entertainment industries. For others, it means an opportunity for earning more by doing some part-time jobs. d. Public Opinion. Public Opinion about business will shape the attitudes of future managers. If the people have distrust in the market system, they will prefer governed controls to free competition. The opinion is going to be very complex because of changes in values of society, increased international competition, rise of consumerism use of industrial robots, etc. . Changes in Economic Environment (Globalization and Liberalization) the degree of resource exploitation will have a direct bearing on the economic environment and through this on the business. As is obvious from the present trends, physical environment will not remain confined to land only, but would extend to oceans and space also. In future, oceans will be developed via farming and mining operations; and space flights and missions will concentrate on studying causes of changes in atmospheric conditions and finding reserves of natural resources in land and water. Economic conditions in India are changing at a fast speed because of Government’s policy of liberalization of industrial licensing and foreign direct investment and also the creation of World Trade Organization (WTO). There is now increased emphasis on the globalization of economy. The Indian managers will have opportunities of raising capital from foreign markets, distribute their products internationally and start industries abroad. Business competition will no†¢ longer be restricted to national boundaries. It will become international because of growth of multinational corporations. Big organizations will continue growing through diversifications and take-overs. Despite growth of giant corporations, opportunities for small business will not be reduced. Small firms will be needed to serve as feeder to large ones and to supply non-standardized goods. All these will increase the complexity of decisions in the future. 3. Changes in Technological Environment Technological changes will affect management in the future in terms of heavy investment in technology, understanding the principles of production and their consistent application, and effects of technology on markets. In future, all big organizations will be actively engaged in technological forecasting. Automation and information technology will assume new proportions as discussed below: (a) Automation. Automation has created several problems. Jobs have become routinized and unchallenging. Introduction of industrial robots has created a feeling of job insecurity among workers. Once industrial robots take over from workers, the primary task of the workers would be to set up production runs, to program the robots and to run them under computer control. Thus, future organizations will have highly automated man-machine systems. (b) Information Technology. There will be remarkable impact of computerized information systems on management. Firstly, there will be Use of electronic equipment to collect and process data. Secondly, Computers will help application of quantitative techniques to management Problems. Thirdly, there will be simulation of higher order thinking though computer programmers. Thus, improved and innovative use of information technology would be an essential factor in future management. In view of the fact that information technology will challenge many long-established practices and doctrines, we will need to rethink some of the attitudes and Values which we have taken for granted. In particular. we may have to reappraise our traditional notions about the worth of the individual as opposed to the organization and about the mobility rights of young men. This kind of inquiry may be painfully difficult, but will be increasingly necessary. † It may be noted that technological changes are not an independent force. They overlap the social changes . nd affect the organization relationships. For instance, improved technology would reduce total employment which will create social reactions. Further, the efficiency of managerial personnel and professionals like doctors, chartered accountants, engineers, etc. would increase considerably because of advancements in technology. 4. Changes in Physical Environment. Protection of ecology and maintenance of ecological balance has become a major issue these days. This is evident from the rise of several social groups against felling of trees for commercial use (chipko movement) and air, water and noise pollution. The society will no longer tolerate environmental pollution. The typical examples are: closure of several tannery units in Kanpur by the Supreme Court as they were polluting the Holy Ganga and closure of several foundries around Taj Mahal by the Supreme Court as they were polluting the air leading to adverse effect on the whiteness of the national monument. The country cannot allow tragedies like Bhopal Gas Leak Case, 1984 at Union Carbide to occur again. The growing awareness of the people about environment will pose problems before the managers. They will have to study the adverse effects of business operations on the environment and take suitable steps to check all kinds of pollution. Thus, there will be greater emphasis on the development of technology for pollution control and environmental restoration. 5. Changes in Political Environment. There will be greater Government’s interference in business to safeguard the interest of workers, consumers and the public at large. Government’s participation will also pose many challenges before management. The Government may restrict the scope of private sector in certain areas. It does not mean chances of co-operation between the Government and private sector are ruled out. In fact, there will be more and more joint sector enterprises. The fear of nationalization of the mismanaged units will continue. Financial institutions will not be silent spectators; they will take active part in the policy formulation of the firms whom they have advanced funds. 6. Changes in International Environment. Several changes are taking place in the international environment which may have adverse or favorable impact on a particular business. For example, the disintegration of U. S. S. R. aused great miseries for the Indian exporters in the early nineties. Not only their investment was blocked, further exports were also hindered. This compelled the Indian businessmen to explore new export markets. The managements will have to be alert in future to meet the challenges posed by international forces Because of liberalization of industrial licensing by developing nations and reduct ion of economic barriers between nations as a result of GAIT agreement 1993; several changes seem to be imminent in the near future. Multilateral trade among the nations will increase. The role of World Trade Organisation1 I. M. F. , World Bank and other international institutions will change and a new economic order will take place leading to globalization of economies. EMERGING HORIZONS OF MANAGEMENT (Challenges before Future Managers) The changing environment of business is likely to pose the following challenges before the future managers: 1. Reconciliation of Conflicting Demands of Social Groups The organizations are expected to reconcile the conflicting demands of various stakeholders such as owners, employees, suppliers, customers, government and the community. The shareholders or owners of the business want the highest possible return, the workers the highest possible†¢ wages, the consumers the goods at the lowest possible price and the Government wants the highest possible revenue. It would be the duty of management to bring about a compromise among the interests of various parties. The business managers will also have to take care of the expectations of the society such as higher quality, fair trade practices, maintenance of physical environment, etc. If they fail to meet the needs and expectations of the society, it will be rendered difficult for them to survive. The managements of organizations will also have to give due consideration to the human resources working with them. They will have to change their policies to give the workers a greater say an influence in organizational functioning. Latent human capability is the most valuable resource of the organization much more important than physical and financial resources. Increasingly, management will emphasize the importance of human resources and recognize that maintaining a viable psycho-social system is one of its most vital tasks. In other words, the organizations will have to decentralize authority, introduce flexibility in the structure and give sufficient freedom to individuals to take decisions to meet the social, economic and technological challenges successfully. 2. Economic Liberalization The liberalization of the Indian economy has posed the following challenges for the managers : (a) Competition in the fast growing domestic market. Diversification into the core and infrastructure sectors—power, telecoms, roads, ports, insurance, etc. hich was earlier reserved for the public sector (c) Raising India’s exports and share of the world trade. (d) Achieving the vision of becoming India-based Multinational Corporation. 3. Globalization The world has become a small village, thanks to the rapid means of transportation and telecommunications. Satellite transmission has widened the geographical markets. The countries have become interdependent, in terms of technology, capital, purchases and sales. Global, companies buy from the cheapest markets and sell where they can get maximum prices. They carry on production in the country where cost of production is the minimum. In other words, globalization calls for reduction of costs, improvement of quality, expansion of markets and diversification into new areas and markets. Indian companies use not only imported components, but are also selling their finished products to markets abroad. To take advantage of global markets, Indian companies are making strategic alliances with foreign companies. We have Mod i-Xerox, HPL-Olivetti, ICIM-Fuji, Kinetic Honda, etc. Global networking of suppliers, distributors, technical collaborators, ad agencies, etc. is being created. The most successful companies will rely more and more on global integration and networking. 4. Expanding Operations of Business Organizations The changes in environment and technologies during the last four decades have compelled organizations to increase their scope and encompass additional activities. The development of big industrial houses with activities in a wide variety of industri4l fields is a typical example of such expansion of activities of organizations. Industrial giants have accumulated vast financial resources and spread their risks),y branching out into different areas of economic activity. To cope with the changing requirements, such organizations have developed new organizational structure with focus on planning, control and coordination. The managerial systems of these companies are substantially more flexible and dynamic than of the simplified single-product companies. Another facet of expanding frontiers of organizational activities is the spread of corporations outside the national boundaries. These corporations are known as multinational or transnational corporations.

Google Innovation & Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Google Innovation & Technology - Essay Example 50 percent of the audience is from outside the United States and the company is having 5,680 full-time employees working for the betterment of the company, over the years we have seen so many new services started by Google, such as Google Earth, G-Mail, G-Talk, Google Books, Google Cash, Google Desktop, Google Adwords, Google Adsense, and Google Maps. The services that Google is providing is exactly by putting the needs of the customers first, although every website claims to put their customers first but not the case with Google, which doesn't offer anything that is not beneficial to the visitors/users, even the search engine is fast and easily loadable, it doesn't advertise anything that can prove to be distracting the visitors/users and exactly the same way they have taken very good care of small things that can create more value in the eyes of visitors/users, the Google co-founder L. Page has said that "The perfect search engine [Google] would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want", this is clearly showing the signs of highly innovated technology, as the matter of fact, it is Google's goal to provide the visitors/users the information they seek in an absolute form. Google has gained success and popularity in an unusual way, they haven't really done any advertisement of their own and also haven't run any such campaigns, but their success and fame is from the word of mouth, just like from one person to another, another strange thing one can notice about google is the first online company who's stated goal is to have its users leave its website as soon as possible, which means that they want every thing to work fast perhaps just on a click, the time is taken by a query is even less than half a second, Google doesn't rely on big servers in fact they claim to have networked PCs that made their work so fast and innovative, another good thing found in google is that it has used a "Page Rank" technology in their search engine, through this technology they are able to rank websites that are mostly visited by the users for the purpose of information through Google, another technology used by google is "Hypertext-Matching Analysis".

Immigrants and the City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Immigrants and the City - Essay Example United States of America is one of the developed countries in its economic, political, social, and environmental sectors and is amongst the super powers of the world since decades. Fifty-two states in total makes up the U.S. as a federal constitutional nation.  U.S. touches its borders with Canada and Mexico and Washington D.C. is its capital state (United States Bureau of the Census, pp. 640-715, 2004). Due to its gigantic land mass and huge population, United States comes under the world rankings. Diversity dominates the culture of U.S. as people from several races, civilizations and backgrounds reside in it. It is one of the most powerful nations with the strongest and most established economy (Kleniewski, pp. 167-190). U.S. economy comes under handling by the capitalist economical structure and subjects to domination by industrial and service segments. Advanced telecommunication, transportation, and technology govern the success of the financial sector of America. Its economy i s trade based and it is one of the leading importers and exporters of manufactured goods and some fossil fuels. It is also a nuclear power and is rich in resources, which makes it potential of producing electrical energy in gargantuan amounts (Kleniewski, pp. 167-190). Agriculture sector contributes a small part in U.S. total income; however, U.S. cultivates some of the important crops on its land. The value of U.S. dollar plays a critical and significant role in governing the currency value of most of the countries in the world (United States Bureau of the Census, pp. 640-715, 2004). United States is a country with the populace from all around the world. The immigration history dates back to several centuries. According to some schools of thought (Fisher, pp. 6-50, 2007), the earliest immigrants were from several regions of European continent and marked the beginning of influx of people in America from different corners of the world, whereas, few believed that Asians were the initi al migrants (Kleniewski, pp. 167-190). Where numerous people came to America by their own will, many coercively came under bringing as slaves and labors. The migration pattern experienced a fluctuating trend as many historical events had influenced the happening (Fisher, pp. 6-50, 2007). The purposes with which the immigrants migrated to United States were either religious, slavery and to have a wealthy life or future. The early migrations did not involve any kind of immigration policies and visas as people mostly migrated via sea routes. Consequently, United States observed a major escalation in the population growth and cultural diversity as people from different ethnic backgrounds came and settled there. The discrimination factor has always been present when considering the immigration matter. This enormity became noticeable and got official recognition under an act when countless people inhabited the U.S. territory and government came into formation (Kleniewski, pp. 167-190). Ac cording to this Act, white people received higher preference over people of other skin tones such as browns and blacks (Fisher, pp. 6-50, 2007). This practice came under eradication in late twentieth century when legal steps gave equal immigration rights to everyone regardless of their color, race, and religion. The entrance to America

Keep it clean Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Keep it clean - Essay Example Therefore, it is the hope of this author that the analysis will not only be beneficial in discussing and analyzing the subject matter but also in helping the reader to come to a more full and complete appreciation for how some of the same information and viewed under the lens of a different culture and a different dynamic is necessarily much different. As a function of performing such an analysis, the reader will be able to come away with a more clear understanding of how current employers utilize social media and other forms of web content as a means of narrowing down the applicant pool. Likewise, it is the further intention of this author to pain a level of distinction with regards to how American culture integrates with such a threat as compared to how Chinese culture integrates with such a threat. The application that was defined on the website consists of a specific program which is designed to pour through large amounts of social networking data as a means of targeting social n etworking data that potential employers might find offensive and helping the user to remove this content prior to this ever being an eventuality (Jones, 2011). Accordingly, this necessarily assumes two factors, the first of these is that the social networking user would necessarily have information that would be viewed negatively by a potential employer and the second of which is that they would be familiar with the service that the app can provide and seek to utilize it (Parker, 2013). The second assumption is perhaps the more important one due to the fact that if the individual is mindful enough to seek out an application to clean their social networking history, they are likely intelligent enough in the first place not to post scandalous information upon social networks which might be able to be viewed by a variety of strangers. However, the reality of the situation is that the changing and interconnected nature of the world and the hiring process has made it common for employers to seek out such information within the world wide web prior to making determinations with regards to what employee would be the best choice and the best fit for the given firm or entity in question (Arrington et al, 2011). Although it may seem as an uncomfortable level of surveillance, the fact of the matter is that these companies and firms are merely exploiting the information that social networking users so carelessly post about themselves (Clark & Roberts, 2010). Rather than seeing such a practice as somehow dubious on the part of the employer, the reader can and should integrate with the understanding that the end users are the ones that are ultimately responsible for the representation that they make to the world and so oftentimes leave as publicly accessible. In such a way, the application tha

The War on Terror U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan Essay

The War on Terror U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan - Essay Example Thesis statement: The U.S. initiated War on Terror and invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) is helpful to obstruct the rapid spread of terrorism, restoration of democracy in Afghanistan, and peace in the Middle East. The War on Terror The War on Terror, a military campaign initiated by the U.S. and its allied nations, primarily aims to resist rapid spread of terrorism, especially the terrorist plots like 9/11. Duffy (2005), an eminent human rights activist, writer, and the director of the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights points out that, â€Å"In the immediate wake of the attacks of 11 September 2001, the United States committed itself to a sustained ‘war on terror’, a significant component of which has involved the use of military force by the United States and its allies in several countries, notably Afghanistan and Iraq† (p.186). One can see that the origin of terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and Taliban is inte rconnected with the growth of militant nationalism in the Middle East. On the other side, the War on Terror never hindered counter-terrorism measures adopted by the world nations. To be specific, the War on Terror aims to reduce the influence of terrorism among the world nations. ... The origin of the War on Terror is interconnected with the growth of al-Qaeda and Taliban in the Middle East. The end result of the creation of al-Qaeda by Osama bin Laden in 1980s was the rapid spread of terrorism and the origin of Taliban in Afghanistan. Gradually, Bin Laden began to control Afghani Taliban. This eventually led to the origin of terrorist networks in the Middle East and in the African continent. On the other side, the U.S. interest and influence among the oil rich Middle Eastern nations was an imminent threat to the terrorist networks. So, Bin Laden decided to intimidate the U.S. and other Western nations by attacking the officials and civilians. Soros (2007), who is the chief of the Soros Fund Management, supporter of open societies and an important critic on the War on Terror, opines that, â€Å"Bin Laden correctly identified the one aspect in which military Islam is superior to Western civilization: the fear of death† (p.108). The millennium attack in the year 2000 proves that Bin Laden was ready to challenge the U.S. and its allied nations. The immediate cause behind the War on Terrorism and the attack on al-Qaeda and Taliban is the 9/11 attack, formulated by Bin Laden. This attack infuriated the U.S. and it eventually led to the extension of the War on Terrorism to new levels. The War on Terrorism aimed to destroy the mastermind behind the rapid spread of terrorism. Soros (2007), opines that, â€Å"My emphasis on the role of the United States as the source of stability in the world and the protector of our civilization is somewhat exaggerated on account of personal considerations† (p.xviii). But, Bin Laden and other leaders of Al-Qaeda and Taliban like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were in Afghanistan. So, the warfront gradually shifted to

Analysis of The Economic Organizationof a P.O.W Camp andThe Wizard of Essay

Analysis of The Economic Organizationof a P.O.W Camp andThe Wizard of Oz , Journal of Political Economy - Essay Example The Economic Organization of a P.O.W Camp This article focuses on economic organization of a Prisoner Of War camp written by R.A Radford. The camp organization and politics are matters that concern the present and future existence of the inmates. In this article, one aspect of social organization is economic activities that exist in this camp. Prisoners in this camp depended on their economic activities to provide for their necessities. However, prisoners in the camp were roughly given equal share of the essentials; it is through trade that prisoners would meet their individual preferences (Radford 190). The Development and organization of the market The captives realized that it was undesirable and unnecessary to accept gifts of food or cigarettes in the view of limited size and equity of supplies. This led them to develop trade as a means of maximizing individual satisfaction. The writer talks of a transit camp in Italy a fortnight after capture where captives received food parcel from Red Cross each a week later. Weeks later the donation turned to small exchange trade where they became a custom in the market. Exchanges existed between foods and cigarettes where at the end of a month there was a lively trade in all commodities and their values were well known. The cigarette became the standard of value where goods were exchanged in return although barter trade was not extinguished (Radford 191). Despite the organization in Italy, the market was divided where French, Russians, Jugo-Slavs and Italians were free to move in the camp while British and Americans were in a confinement in their compounds. However, a few cigarettes would grant any man authority to visit their compounds. People who visited the highly organized French trading centre found relatively low priced coffee, and found out later that some of the coffee was sold in black market by some French prisoners. This discovery raised a hostile public opinion against these monopoly profits and led to chan ges in the market (Radford 192). The cigarette became the currency in the market given that it performed all the functions of a metallic currency as a unit of account, a measure and store of value.  

The Body Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Body - Assignment Example 571). The notion of being in a pageant is like an obsession in the society, going beyond the bounds of schooling and social ethics, where most of them are geared towards socializing of womens bodies (Anderson-Fye, 2004, p. 572). The community’s perspective is inclined towards pleasing the tourists and many will do whatever it takes to look good to them by getting thinner bodies. This craze makes even parents encourage their daughters to get thinner and please the many tourists visiting the country (Anderson-Fye, 2004, p. 579). Further, the strip clubs frequented by tourists prefer thinner women and thus girls are encouraged to eat less to get better pay and recognition to them (Anderson-Fye, 2004, p. 580). The tourists are a motivation towards getting better body images as a promise of employment and other future career benefits like the threat of Kara. The extent of connectivity in the global scene has indeed influenced the bodily aspects of the people in the country. Most girls who have gone on trips in other countries have been influenced to take up their traits, in the example of the United States (Anderson-Fye, 2004, p. 586). Further, the interconnectivity through media has also influenced the body aspects of the people in the way that outside influences determine their attitudes towards body size (Anderson-Fye, 2004, p.

Perspective on Conflict, Conflict Interests and Goals, and Coursework

Perspective on Conflict, Conflict Interests and Goals, and Interpersonal Negotiation - Coursework Example Parties enter into conflicts because their objectives are not being met and they want to achieve their goals in all cases. Entering into conflicts is in the interest of no party. It only tends to weaken the integrity of the organization because the overall morale declines. Conflicts should be resolved as soon as possible either at personal level or through the use of mediation strategies. If conflicts remain unresolved, this affects the productivity and job dissatisfaction continues to increase which is harmful for everybody in the long run. It is very crucial that interpersonal negotiation is conducted among the conflicting parties so that they are brought together on a communicative platform where they can work out a solution that acceptable to all parties involved. Interpersonal negotiation requires the mediator to have such skills with which he is able to bring all parties together at equal level so that they can discuss their problems with each other and work toward resolving the

Corporate Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Corporate Strategy - Essay Example .W.O.T analysis shows the internal strengths and weaknesses of the company and the external opportunities and threats in conjunction to the environment in which the company operates (Stimpson Peter,Farquharson Alastair, 2010). Primarily, Dyson Private Ltd.’s main internal strengths of are its human resource of the company, which consists of highly professional fleet of engineers and scientists including Sir James Dyson himself. Secondly, the company has an edge as a resultant of the cost saving which was achieved when the operations such as an introduction of a manufacturing assemblies being established in Malaysia, most significant strength of the company lies with the quality of products it offers to its customers. On the contrary, the weaknesses associated with Dyson Pvt. Ltd. are the remoteness of its operation in Malaysia that is the cost of transport incurred and the communication problems in Malaysian corporate culture restricting effective communication. Moreover, the external factors resulting in future opportunities and hence success for the company is the potential of customers in the global market for its promising products, similarly the continuous research and development of new prototypes and designs. External threat for Dyson Private Limited is mainly the competition from the home country and foreign countries, the main competitors for Dyson vacuum cleaners are Kerstar (Kerstar, 2014), which also like Dyson Co provides a large range of vacuum cleaners with alternative variations, such as dry vacuum cleaners, wet and dry dwarf vacuum cleaners, industrial vacuum cleaners, carpet vacuum cleaners and others. However, Kerstar’s pricing strategy is penetration pricing strategy, as per renowned UK ranker website (Brandes, Werner, 2014), Dyson Pvt. Ltd. ranks number 1, and for this reason, Kerstar uses this pricing strategy. Another major competitor confronted by Dyson Private Limited is the Big Brute Co (Big Brute, 2004). Big Brute Co. of fers a wide

José Rizal Essay Example for Free

Josà © Rizal Essay Jose left Calamba for Binan to study under the instruction of Maestro Justaniano Aquino Cruz. His days in school were full of memories and It is where he develop his skills in painting and the arts of wrestling. He was also the best student in their school. Jose surpassed all the Binan boys. It contributed for the love of independence in Jose. At that tender age, he was able to control himself. Although he was struck by homesickness but diverted the feeling of nostalgia in developing talents and focused more in his academic studies. I remember when I was in my elementary years. Sometimes, I was left alone by my parents. I just use my time by coloring books and playing with my friends. This activity helps me in identifying colors and building harmonious relationship with others. December 1871 Jose went to Calamba, his home town, where he was welcomed home by his parents, brothers, and sisters. He also spent his Christmas in Calamba. He was given a chance to celebrate with his family the Christmas on 1871. He even shared his experience in Binan. Christmas and other holidays would be merrier when we spend it with our family especially when we exchanges jokes and stories. January 1872  The Cavity Mutiny flared up, followed by the execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora on February 17th. Paciano was deeply affected with the execution of his friend. As a sympathy and protest against the injustice of Spanish authorities, he quit studies and went back to Calamba. This was the period when Jose’s determination to consecrate his life to combat the evil forces of his times despite of his tender age. As a Filipino, I too, is greatly affected by this event because it shows injustice and racial discrimination because Filipino priest were considered inferior and given limited assignments. They were not allowed to hold parishes. June 1872 The hero’s mother was accused and arrested on malicious charge that she aided her brother, Jose Alberto, in trying to poison Alberto’s wife. She was forced to walk on foot from Calamba to Santa Cruz. Jose Rizal experienced the injustice of the Spanish authorities. This event in his life was inculcated in his mind and opened his eyes to reality and dreamed to have equality between Filipinos and Spaniards before the law. This event shows how Spaniards manipulate justice for their own benefit. This will also leave a message to the reader not to trust anyone be June 1872 to 1873 Jose entered Ateneo Municipal. He was at first put at the tail of the class, but he was soon promoted and kept on being promoted so that at the end of one month he had attained to the rank of Emperor. At the end of the term he obtained marks of excellent in all the subjects and in the examinations. . He had reason to feel proud of his advancement; and so when he went home on vacation that year, he ran alone to see his mother in the prison and tell her the happy news. Jose shows that he can do better even when he is Second year in Ateneo (1873 to 1874) The second year, Jose had the same professor as in the previous year; but instead of lodging outside the City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes. At the end of the term he obtained a medal, and upon returning to his town, he again visited his mother in jail alone. This was three months before her release. Third year in Ateneo (1874-1875) Rizal family was happy because Dona Teodora was released from prison however, Rizal returned dissatisfied to his hometown because he only won one medal. He failed to win a medal in Spanish because his spoken Spanish was not that fluent. A Spaniard who delivered Spanish with fluency and right accentuation defeated him. He studied harder this year and regained his leadership composure and became an emperor again. Fourth Year in Ateneo (1875-1876) Rizal obtained five medals, which pleased him immensely because with them I could repay my father somewhat for his sacrifices. Last Year in Ateneo (1876-1877) Rizal was considered as â€Å"the pride of the Jesuits† because he was the most brilliant Atenean of his times.

Sam Houston Summary Essay Example for Free

Sam Houston Summary Essay Sam Houston had to face many obstacles since he was a little boy. He had very little education; however he educated himself with many readings from his father’s library. Houston served as governor for Tennessee and Texas. He also served as a United States senator for thirteen years. . He befriended General Andrew Jackson and remarried three times. Houston was made the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and was re-elected in 1841. He gave many speeches throughout the years. Houston died on July 26, 1863, in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston, fifth child of Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton Houston, was born on March 2, 1793. His father, Samuel Houston, a member of the revolutionary member, went bankrupt in 1806 and had no other option but to sell the Timber Ridge and move west to Tennessee. His father died the same year! A year later, Sam Houston, his mother, and his eight siblings resided south of Knoxville in Maryville, Tennessee. At the age of fourteen, Sam Houston had little education but spent a large amount of time reading books in his late father’s library. He also spent a great amount of time clearing land and developing a farm. The family decided that he would work as a clerk in a store because in his brother’s eyes he wasn’t doing anything worthwhile. Sam showed no interest in this job which resulted in his disappearance from the job and home. He crossed the Tennessee River with the Cherokee Indians. Houston joined a band of approximately three hundred Cherokees led by Chief Oo-loo-te-ka. The chief liked Sam greatly that he soon adopted him and gave him the name â€Å"Colonnen†. Colonnen refers to â€Å"The Raven† which is a symbol of good luck to the Indians. He went into debt due to bringing gifts home to his Indian friends each time he went to visit his family. At the age of nineteen, Houston had to find a way to get out of debt and decided to become a teacher. He charged the students a higher rate than usual which only took six months to pay off his debts. At the beginning it was just a way to make money but he soon realized that he had a strong interest in teaching. The War of 1812 had begun shortly after Houston began teaching. His career ended really soon. â€Å"Euclid soon defeated him and ended whatever thoughts he may have had of a permanent careers as a teacher. Houston was not amongst the early volunteers of the war; however he decided to enroll in a local academy to further his education in math. On March 24, 2013, Sam decided to enlist in the United States Army. Within a few weeks of training he became a sergeant. Nine months later, Sam was promoted to third lieutenant. Early in the 1814, Houston came under command of General Andrew Jackson. He became really good friends with Jackson for approximately thirty years. During the war, Houston was wounded and General Jackson ordered him to stay out the rest of the battle. The Indians refused to surrender. Houston volunteered to lead the attack; however his men hesitated to go forth, Houston ran forward and the Indians ended up shooting him twice in the right shoulder. Jackson ordered the Cherokees to complete the battles which forced the Indians to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. This treaty consisted of giving up their claims to more than three-fifths of Alabama. Sam Houston was treated at one of their hospitals in eastern Tennessee and then transported back to Maryville. After the treatment he was assigned to the Southern Division of the United States Army. He was on light duty in the adjutant general’s office. On October 28, 1817 Houston was appointed federal subjacent to the Cherokees. At the age of twenty-five, on March 1, 1818 he resigned from the army and as Indian subagent too. Three months later, Sam Houston returned to Nashville to begin the study of law with Judge James Trimble. It only took Houston six months to learn and pass the bar examination. He then moved to Lebanon and opened a law office. In 1819, Houston was elected attorney general, and he then returned to Nashville. He was very successful and knowledgeable but he was not satisfied with the pay. He resigned in1820 in private practice in Nashville. â€Å"In 1823 he ran for the United States House of Representatives from the ninth Tennessee District. † (pg 15) Houston’s second term ended on March 1827, he went back to Tennessee to run for governor. He put himself in the public’s eyes by attending political rallies and any events that included the voters. â€Å"In early September he defeated Cannon by more than 11,000 votes in a total of more than 75,000 and won the governorship. † (19) In 1824 Sam Houston was introduced to a woman named Eliza Allen. She was only twenty and Sam Houston was thirty-five at the time. He asked her father for his permission to marry his daughter. Her father gave him permission to wed his daughter. She did not love Sam; however her family pretty much pressured her into marrying Houston only because he was a successful man. She followed their command and accepted his proposal in October 1828. They exchanged wedding vows on January 22, 1829 at the Allen’s home. Unfortunately, three months after the marriage his wife left him and went back home to her family. She refused to be with him and on April 16th Houston resigned as governor of Tennessee. It is still unknown why she left Houston, although she was pressured into marrying Houston. Sam and his companion, H.Haralson, journeyed down the Cucumber River to Ohio on April 23, 1829. He ended up in Arkansas with his Cherokee friends. His companion continued to travel leaving Houston behind with his adopted father and friends. Sam Houston soon discovered that the Cherokee nation had to move out of Arkansas and into east-central Oklahoma. The Cherokees were worried that the whites were going to take their current land again. Houston became their advisor and a listener to the Cherokee tribe. â€Å"Houston departed to Washington to inform President Jackson that several Indian agents should be removed and the Treaty of 1828 honored. He traveled to Washington D. C. to inform how the Cherokees received unbroken promises and that they rather have money verses gold. Sam Houston wed another woman, Tiana, while still married to Eliza. It wasn’t a big deal because she was considered Indian and his other wife was Cherokee. Within time he got a weakness for alcohol. It started interfering with his everyday live, was turned down when he campaigned for a position on the Cherokee council, and he also hit his adoptive father. Soon after, his mother fell ill and was rushed back to her home in Tennessee where she died in September 1831. A month later he traveled back to the Cherokee nation. In April he was arrested and punished for striking congressman, Stanbery, with his cane. He was found guilty and received a reprimand. In October 1832, Houston started preparing for his trip to Texas; however his wife refused to go. Houston left her some of his possessions and then divorced her. Sam Houston set up headquarters in San Felipe and began to plan a defensive strategy against the Mexicans. The volunteer soldiers under Stephen Austin battled and successfully took San Antonio, killed Milam, and forcing General Cos to surrender. The soldiers believed that the war was over; however Houston was not convinced that it was over. He made a public announcement that Texas was in need of 5,000 trained men by March 1, 1836. While Houston and the men prepared for the war they were approached by Fannin and the two leaders that won at war in San Antonio. Fannin, Johnson, and Grant came in making promises to the soldiers causing thousands to leave Houston and to join their militia. Sam Houston continued to lead approximately sixty to seventy men. On January 20, Houston traveled to San Felipe to meet with Governor Smith. Houston spent the rest of February with the Cherokees and Indians in the northeast. After arriving at the convention site, Washington-on-the-Brazos, he received news that Santa Anna’s army had attacked Texas and â€Å"besieged† the Alamo and the remaining soldiers. The declaration of independence was adopted on March 2nd. Two days later, Houston had become â€Å"commander in chief of the land forces of the Texian army both Regulars, Volunteers, and Militia, while in actual service. † On March 11th, Houston reached Gonzalez and found 374 volunteers that were led by Edward Burleson. While preparing the men for war Houston received news that Santa Anna’s army had â€Å"taken† the Alamo and attacked and burned all of its defenders. Houston ordered Fannin and his army to retreat to Victoria. They were captured and murdered by the Santa Anna’s army. On April 20th, the battle began between Santa Anna and Houston’s soldiers. Unfortunately, Houston was injured during the battle. Houston’s army men had captured and killed many men causing Santa Anna to offer a peace treaty. Houston refused until both government leaders were present. Fortunately, Houston’s approach succeeded. Sam Houston and Eliza’s divorce was not final until 1837. Houston served as president for two years, December 1836 to December 1838. He was reelected in September 1840. In 1836, a small group of soldiers were attacked by the Mexican General Santa Anna. Houston’s army won the battle against the Mexican forces at San Jacinto and gained independence for Texas, opened up a law office, and promoted a land development after his term expired. He traveled to Mobile, Alabama to interest a wealthy merchant, William Bledsoe, in the Sabine City project. While visiting the Bledsoe estate Houston met Margaret Lea. They were married in Marion, Alabama, on May 9, 1840. They had eight children. Margaret convinced Houston to stop drinking and attend church. Houston continued to work towards annexation with the United States. He used the United States and Great Britain hatred to one another in hopes to make each country want to snatch up Texas so that the other country could not. With high hopes of joining with the United States, the United States still was unwillingly to annex Texas. In 1845, Texas became part of the United States. â€Å"Houston’s joyous moment at the approach of annexation was tempered by the death of Andrew Jackson on June 8, 1845. The family rushed to the Hermitage but arrived a few hours late. They attended the funeral and were guests at the Donelson plantation for several weeks. † (139) Meanwhile, Mexico was at war with Texas for ten years. Houston remained in Washington to work in support of the war. Houston left Washington in the spring of 1847 because his wife had surgery due to breast cancer. â€Å"Houston traded Raven Hill for land within a few miles of Huntsville and planned to build a home for his family. He remained in Texas for the rest of the year, keeping abreast of the war news as General Winfield’s Scott’s army took Mexico City. † (147) In January 1847, Sam Houston obtained a new six year senate term. Houston became a presidential candidate but Houston’s mind and heart was with his family. In 1852, Franklin Pierce was elected; however if Houston put in the effort he could have won. January 15, 1853, he was elected to a new six-year term as Senate. In October 1853, Houston’s family moved to Independence, a city fifty miles to the southwest, while leasing out his home in Huntsville. In 1859, Sam Houston appeared to be leaning toward retirement. Houston invited the public to vote in his favor; however he did not campaign. â€Å"Texans who wanted his leadership had drawn him into the contest, and they did the campaigning. Houston became the only man in the United States to serve as governor of two states. He promised funds for railroads, schools, river improvements, and a protector of Texas if Mexico should try to battle again. Houston was all about the people he served and not the political party. Some petitioned for him to run for president, but he refused to participate in the national convention. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, Houston warned Texans that the civil war was going to happen if Lincoln violated the Constitution. The Texas convention removed Houston from office and replaced him with Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark. This resulted because Houston refused to take oath to loyalty to the newly formed Confederate States of America. He wanted to avoid war at all cost and declined Lincoln’s offer to use the federal troops to keep him in office and Texas in the Union. After leaving the Governor’s mansion, he continued to support Texas. Sam Jr. joined the Confederate Army, against his father’s advice, was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. He was reunited with his family but on crutches. Houston moved his family to Huntsville because United States â€Å"took† Galveston and â€Å"destroyed the Houston’s family’s main source of income. † (197) In the winter of 1863, Houston fell ill. He developed an awful cough and was diagnosed with pneumonia. His wife stayed by his side and heard his very last words before his death, â€Å"Texas†¦Texas†¦Margaret. † Texas and his family were very important to Sam Houston. Sam Houston, one of the most important political figures to Texas. Houston served as governor for Tennessee and Texas. He also served as a United States senator for thirteen years. . He befriended General Andrew Jackson. He remarried three times; however he had eight children with his third wife. Houston was made the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and was re-elected in 1841. He gave many speeches throughout the years. He led a successful battle for Texas Independence. On July 26, 1863, Houston died of pneumonia in their â€Å"Steamboat House. † He will always be remembered!

Image To Voice Converter Is Software Computer Science Essay

Image To Voice Converter Is Software Computer Science Essay Image to Voice converter is software or a device to recognize an image and convert it into human voice. The purpose of the conversion is to provide communication aid for blind people to sense what the object in their hand or in front of them. This converter is also suitable for children at the age of three until six years old for early education part. In this project converter, it consists of image processing and sound generation. For an image processing, it is a series of calculation techniques for analyzing, reconstructing, compressing, and enhancing images. When an object is inputting, an image will captured through scanning or webcam; analyze and manipulate of the image, accomplished using various specialized software applications such as MATLAB and output like a printer or a monitor. Image processing has several techniques, including template matching, KNN (K-Nearest Neighbour), thresholding and etc. For the template matching, it is a technique for finding small parts of an image to match with the template image; it is also used to identify printed characters, numbers, and other small, simple objects. KNN (K-Nearest Neighbour) is an algorithm that can work very well in practice and easy to understand. It is also a lazy algorithm that does not use the training data points to do any generalization. Besides, thresholding technique is one of the most important approaches to image segmentation. It is a non-linear operation that can converts a gray-scale image into a binary image. The purpose of image processing in this project is to analysis of a picture using techniques that can identify shades, colours and relationships that cannot be observed by the human eye. Besides that, an image processing is used to solve identification problems, i.e. in forensic medicine or in establishing weather maps from satellite photos. It assigns with images in bitmapped graphics form that have been scanned in or taken with digital cameras. For sound generation is to generate a sound through window sound library or play a wav file from computer. Problem Statement Nowadays, many visually impaired people still using blind mans stick to sense the road of the direction and object in front of them in this society. With just only a plain stick and a pair of covered eye, it is difficult for a human to get sense of their direction. Probably, they would not know what the objects around the people which had been blinded eye. As we can see the economy nowadays is getting worse, most of the people or family members were getting busy on their busy work life; they have no extra time to spend on the handicap people to give them a good care. In this case, for all the handicap people especially blind people, they have to get use to it on their living style. In order than that, this product is also available to help the small kids to improve the ability on distinguishing or differentiate the daily use objects. This is the reason why the product mentioned above was developed. Project Aim and Objective: The aim of this project is to develop an Image to Voice converter which able to recognize an image from the webcam and then convert it into sound by window sound library or wav file with good performance. To achieve the main objective of this project, there are sub-objectives need to be carry through as follows: To develop a unique image recognition algorithms for shapes and colours for real time application using MATLAB. To analyze the performance of the image recognition algorithm in term of accuracy and time processing. To develop an algorithm to convert recognized image to voice using MATLAB. To analyze the performance of image to voice conversion algorithm. Test the performance of the closed loop interface for the image and sound processing converter system. To develop Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the image to voice converter for case of user finding. Project Scope/Limitation The scope of this project is to construct a unique image to voice converter within a period of time at cost not to exceed RM200. Referring to this project, it consists of hardware which is webcam and software which is MATLAB. The system of this project is to capture an image using webcam, then recognize an image and generate a sound using MATLAB with several techniques. This product specially created for visually impaired people or to improve small kids learning capability. There was few limitation of this project which specified as follows: Shape limitation Colour limitation Resolution limitation Distance limitation Literature Review Image processing is a technique to convert an image into digital specification and go through some actions on it, so as to get an enhanced image or to collect some advanced information from it. It is a kind of signal exemption in which input is image, like video frame or photograph and output may be image or features related with that image. Frequently, image processing institution consist of treating images as two dimensional signals while applying already set signal processing techniques to them[1]. For the image recognition process can be divided into several algorithms which are image acquisition, image pre-processing, image segmentation, image representation and image classification. For the image acquisition, it is a digital image that captured by one or a few image sensors, such as various types of light-sensitive cameras, range sensors, tomography devices, radar, ultra-sonic cameras and etc. According to the type of sensor, the outcome of an image data is an generally two dim ensional image, a three dimensional capacity, or an image order. The pixel values usually correspond to strength of light in one or a few spectral bands, but can also be involved many physical measures, such as depth, absorption or reflectance of sonic or electromagnetic waves, or nuclear magnetic resonance. Image pre-processing is one of the algorithms that can increase the dependability of an optical inspection. This algorithm can be categorized into two categories which are image enhancement. Image enhancement requires intensifying the different features of images either for display or analysis targets. The enhancements techniques are edge enhancements, noise filtering, magnifying and sharpening an image. Several filter operations which increase or reduce certain image features allow an easier or faster evaluation. For examples, mean filter, median filter, wiener filter, and etc. With continuous use, an image will becomes degraded and has many errors. Image restoration is the process used to restore the degraded image. This process is also used to correct images read from different sensors that show up murky or out of focus[2]. Next, image segmentation is performed to assemble pixels into salient image areas, for example, areas corresponding to specific surfaces, objects, or inherent sections of objects. Segmentation could be used for object recognition, occlusion boundary estimation within motion or stereo systems, image density, image editing, or image database. The traditional image segmentation method can be divided into several techniques including gray threshold segmentation method, edge extraction method, regional growth method and split consolidation method and etc. Threshold technique was applied in this project. It is a technique that deals with gray-scale images. For the moment of the influence of noise or illumination, it can be assumed that the majority of pixels belonging to the objects will have a relatively low gray-level, whereas the background pixels will have a relatively high gray-level. For example, Black is represented by a gray-level of 0, and White by a gray-level of 255. Based on th is observation, we can divide the pixels in the image into two dominant groups, according to their gray-level. These gray-levels may serve as detectors to distinguish between background and objects in the image. On the other hand, if the image is one of smooth-edged objects, then it will not be a pure black and white image; hence this would not be able to find two distinct gray-levels characterizing the background and the objects. This problem intensifies with the existence of noise[3]. In order to overcome the ill influence of noise and shading, there are two methods that can solve this problem which are Otsu known as Global Threshold and Neighbourhood known as Adaptive Threshold. For the image representation, all information is commonly represented in binary. This is real of images as well as numbers and text. However, an important differentiation needs to be made between how image data is shown and how it is stored. Displaying includes bitmap representation while storing as a file includes many image formats, such as jpeg and png[4]. There are few techniques for image representation which are Roundness ratio known as Circularity, Fourier Descriptors and etc. The intent of the image classification procedure is to sort all pixels in a digital image into one of several land cover categories, or themes. This categorized data may then be used to deliver thematic maps of the land cover present in an image. Ordinarily, multispectral data are used to carry out the classification and truly the spectral pattern present within the data for each pixel is used as the numerical basis for categorization. The purpose of image classification is to determine and describe, as a distinct gray level or colour, the characteristics occurring in an image in terms of the object or kind of land cover these characteristics practically express on the ground[5]. The technique for this algorithm is using template matching and KNN (K-Nearest Neighbour). Table : Comparison of image sensors for image acquisition[6, 7] Types of Image Sensor Strength Weakness 1 Webcam allow face to face interaction low cost easy to use low resolution not portable no optical zoom lenses no auto-focus 2 Digital Camera high resolution portable with batteries has optical zoom lenses has auto-focus high operating speed less durability battery consumption faster high cost many complex function From the Table 1, it can be seen that both image sensors have its own strengths and weaknesses. This research will more focus on webcam due to this image sensor is using for this project. Webcam can be used to connect with computer to capture an image for image recognition. On the other hand, it is easy to use and cheaper compare with digital camera which is more complex and high cost. However, the megapixel of digital camera is higher than webcam. .. Table : Comparison of several types of filter for image pre-processing[2, 8] Types of filter Strength Weakness 1 Median filter more robust more smoothing provide good results memory consuming complex computation 2 Mean filter intuitive simple to use smoothing not good in sharpen images susceptible to negative outliers 3 Wiener filter short computation time controls output error straightforward to design results often too blurred spatially invariant From the Table 2, it can be seen that all filters have its own strengths and weaknesses. This research will focus on two types of filter which are median filter and mean filter. Median filter have been chosen for this project is because median filter is more robust on average than mean filter and so a not representative pixel in a neighbourhood will not influence the median value significantly. Since the median value needs to be the value of one of the pixels in the neighbourhood, the median filter does not establish new unrealistic pixel values when the filter straddles an edge. This is because of the median filter is better at preserving sharp edges than the mean filter. Also, median filter removes the noise level more than mean filter. Table : Comparison of threshold techniques for image segmentation [9, 10] Threshold Techniques Strength Weakness 1 Otsu fast ease of coding easy to use less sensitivity assumption of uniform illumination does not use any object structure or spatial coherence complex computation 2 Neighbourhood produce a good result less computation memory consumption time consumption sensitive From the Table 3, it can be seen that both techniques have its own strengths and weaknesses. Otsus method, named after its inventor Nobuyuki Otsu, is a global threhold that consists of many binarization algorithms[11]. This method involves iterating through all probable threshold values and computing a measure of propagates for the pixel levels each side of the threshold, i.e. the pixels that can be falls in background or foreground. The purpose is to find the threshold value where the total of foreground and background propagate is at its minimum. Neighbourhood which known as adaptive threshold is used to separate desirable foreground image objects from the background based on the difference in pixel intensities of each region. The differences between both methods were Otsu uses a histogram to threshold the image and the Neighbourhood method uses a histogram to threshold the pixels in a small region/neighbourhood around the pixel. In addition, Otsu methods suffer less errors occur t hat are caused by the sensitivity of the local algorithms to image noise compare with the Neighbourhood methods. Table : Comparison of the two techniques for image representation[12] Techniques of Image Representation Strength Weakness 1 Roundness Ratio very fast algorithm scale, position and rotation invariant high accuracy if image shape can be preserved properly after segmentation susceptible to errors if object shape is changed due to improper segmentation 2 Fourier Descriptor medium speed produce a good result low computation cost overcome the weak discrimination ability scale, position and rotation invariant difficult to obtain high order invariant moments cannot deal with disjoint shapes From the Table 4, it can be seen that both techniques have its own strengths and weaknesses. Roundness is defined in term of a surface of revolution like cylinder, cone or sphere where all marks of the surface alternated by any plane vertical to a common axis in case of cylinder and cone are equal in distance from axis. As the axis and centre do not exist, measurements have to be made with consultation to surfaces of the figures of revolution only. The circularity of the outline is to measuring roundness[12]. Fourier Descriptors are used to describe the feature of contour of shape. It was founded in the early sixties last century by Cosgriff and Fritzsche. According to the Fourier analysis theory, Fourier coefficients can be often generated by Fourier transformation. Lower frequency coefficients have the general shape of the signature, and higher frequency coefficients have the more information about the shape. As the harmonic amplitude and the phase angle can represent the Fourier D escriptor, and Fourier coefficients are usually normalized by dividing the first Fourier coefficient separately. Because there are some fast algorithms in computing the coefficient of Fourier series, many recognition systems in machine vision using these coefficients as shape features. Table : Comparison of several techniques for image classification [13-15] Techniques for Image Classification Strength Weakness 1 Template Matching easy to implement high degree of flexibility high accuracy of detection shape limitation computation speed susceptible to scaling and rotation 2 K-Nearest Neighbour easy to implement very effective improve accuracy improve run-time performance poor run-time performance if the training set is large very sensitive outperformed by more exotic techniques 3 Neural Network minimize energy function high accuracy easy to use unstable curse of dimensionality space consumption From the Table 1.5, it can be seen that all techniques have its own strengths and weaknesses. This research will focus on two techniques which are Template Matching and K-Nearest Neighbour. The standard template matching technique is known as simple mechanism, high accuracy of detection, and is used as a general model assessment and error estimation. Hence, it plays a very important role in image processing, and is commonly used in object detection and recognition. But the contradiction between rapidity and accuracy is exceptional. The main factors affecting rapidity are searching calculation, and operations of template matching. Appropriately decreasing positions and similarity computing precision can increase the speed of template matching obviously. That is becoming a focus in this field. Many studies focus on improving the searching algorithm, decreasing the matching times by decreasing the matching points on the template of images, which need to be detected so that rapidity is r ealized. The typical algorithms are pyramid algorithm, genetic algorithm and so on. Each matching operation is based on the template matching, thus it is necessary to pay attention to improving the computation speed of template matching fundamentally[14]. The intuition underlying Nearest Neighbour Classification is quite straightforward, examples are classified based on the class of their nearest neighbours, it is often useful to take more than one neighbour into account so the technique is more commonly referred to as K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) Classification where k-nearest neighbours are used in determining the class. Since the training examples are needed at run-time, i.e. they need to be in memory at run-time; it is sometimes also called Memory-Based Classification. Because induction is delayed to run time, it is considered a Lazy Learning technique[13]. . Analysis on Similar Products and Paper Literatures Oral Image to Voice Converter by Takaaki HASEGAWA and Keiichi OHTANI[16]: In this paper, the authors propose a new speech communication system to convert oral image into voice, Image input Microphone. This system synthesizes the voice from only the oral image. This system provides high security and is not affected by acoustic noise, because actual utterance is not always necessary to input. Moreover, since the voice is synthesized without recognition, this system is independent of languages. Simulations to convert oral image to voice about Japanese five vowels are carried out as basic investigation. A vocal tract area function is estimated from the oral image, and PARCOR synthesis filter is obtained from the vocal tract area function. The PARCOR synthesis filter is driven by a pulse train. The performance of this system is evaluated by hearing tests of the synthesized voice. As a result, audible voice has been synthesized and the mean recognition rate of Japanese five vowels has been 91%. This paper describes a system to convert oral image into voice with considering humans lip-reading ability. In the proposed system, the voice is directly synthesized only from the oral image without recognition, and actual utterance is not always necessary to input. They use both the feature of a tongue and the feature of lips obtained from the oral image. Therefore this system is not affected by the acoustic noise, and simultaneously, it provides high security because of no utterance input capability. The system structure of this product is using a vocal tract area function which is equivalent to the transfer function of the vocal tract as a parameter. Indirect means synthesis via the vocal tract area function. The vocal tract area function is obtained from the PARCOR analysis of speech signals, and speech signals are synthesized by inverse processing of PARCOR analysis. Therefore if the vocal tract area function is estimated from oral image signals, they can convert the oral image to the corresponding voice. Human utters various voice by changing the vocal tract, and each articulator moves not independently but cooperatively in utterance, It is generally known that the information of articulation is obtained from lip-reading. Software Comparison Table below shows that the two comparison of the software between MATLAB and C++. Table : Comparison of software between MATLAB and C++[17] Types of Software Strength Weakness 1 MATLAB easy to learn fast numerical algorithms inexpensive software fast development slow processing complex computation 2 C++ mature standard large community fast complex computation difficult to debug low level programming From the Table 6, it can be seen that both types of software have its own strengths and weaknesses. MATLAB is software that has been widely used in image processing and computer vision community. Multiple image analysis function has been build into this software; it is very useful image analysis tools for end user. C++ is a standard template library (STL), computer graphics, and image processing. Based on C++ template mechanism, the library accepts all C++ build-in types as the image data, although certain functions are only valid to subset of build-in types. MATLAB has been selected due to the project analysis characteristic. MATLAB version R2010b will be used to analyze the image quality and performance in this project. Project Methodology This project has been divided into hardware and software. For the hardware section is the webcam as the input and speaker as the output. For the software section is using MATLAB to recognize image to sound with several image processing techniques. Block Diagram Webcam Image Segmentation (Thresholding) Image Acquisition (Acquire image) Image Preprocessing (Median filtering) MATLAB Image Representation (Roundness Ratio) Sound Generation (WAV file) Image Classification (Template Matching using KNN) Speaker Figure 1: Block diagram of Image to Voice converter. The block diagram shown in Figure 1 is the basic concept on the system interface that needed to be carried out. Base on the block diagram, first prepared a webcam. Then, capture the image in front of the webcam. After that, perform a median filtering in image pre-processing using MATLAB. It will filtered unwanted signal or noise inside the image. Next is image segmentation, referring to the literature review, the most suitable method is using Otsus method in thresholding techniques to convert grayscale image into binary image to do segmentation. Secondly, find the largest object and do the image representation using roundness ratio to calculate the ratio of the largest object to determine which one is the nearest to the template ratio. Next stage is image classification, using template matching with KNN techniques to find the small part of the image to match with the template image. After matching done, it will automatically generate a sound from the computer with WAV file. Flow Chart Start Acquire image from webcam Perform median filtering Colour Space Conversion Thresholding using Otsu Image labelling Find the largest object Image Representation -roundness ratio Template matching using KNN Is the image matched? No Yes Generate Sound Figure 2: Flow chart of Image to Voice converter. Based on Figure 2, before the beginning of image recognition, first, acquire an image in front of the webcam, and then the acquired image will go through image enhancement process to perform median filtering to filter some unwanted noise and sharpening the image. After that, the image will perform a colour space conversion which is convert the image colour space to another colour space, i.e. RGB, HSV, YCbCr and etc. The purpose of converting the colour space is to ensure that the converted image to be as same as the possible to the original image. Next, perform a threshold technique using Otsus method to calculating a measure of spread for the pixel levels each side of the threshold. The reason of doing this is to separate the objects from the background. Once the thresholding technique is done, perform a image labelling by taking the outside lines in the image and label them as occluding the background. After that, find the largest object and do the image representation using roundn ess ratio to calculate which object is similar to the template ratio. Then, perform a template matching techniques to find a match between the template and a portion of the image. The template that most closely matches the object is then found using the KNN method to do a matching system with the database image. If the data is matched, it will generate a sound automatically by using MATLAB to load the wav file from the computer or laptop. After that, it will repeat the procedure starting from the first step. If the data is unmatched, it wont generate a sound and it will go back to the first step and repeat the procedure again until the data is matched. Projects Method Median Filter Median filters are nonlinear rank-order filters based on replacing each element of the source vector with the median value, taken over the fixed neighbourhood of the processed element. These filters are widely used in image and signal processing applications. The purpose of median filtering is to removes impulsive noise, while keeping the signal blurring to the minimum[18]. Otsu Method Otsus method is a widely used method of segmentation, also known as the maximum infra-class variance method or the minimum inter-class variance method. This method involves iterating through all the possible threshold values and calculating a measure of spread for the pixel levels each side of the threshold, i.e. the pixels that either falls in foreground or background. The aim is to find the threshold value where the sum of foreground and background spreads is at its minimum[11]. Roundness Ratio/Circularity Roundness is defined as a condition of a surface of revolution like cylinder, cone or sphere where all points of the surface intersected by any plane perpendicular to a common axis in case of cylinder and cone. Since the axis and centre do not exist physically, measurements have to make with reference to surfaces of the figures of revolution only. For measuring roundness, it is only the circularity of the contour which is determined[12]. Template Matching The classical template matching method is charactered as simple mechanism, high accuracy of detection, and is used as a general model evaluation and error estimation. Therefore, it plays a very important role in image processing, and is widely used in object detection and recognition. It is a technique for finding small parts of an image to match with a database image[14]. K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) is a branch of simple classification and regression algorithms. It can be defined as a lazy method. It does not use the training data points to do any generalization. Although classification remains the primary application of KNN, it can use to do density estimation also. Since KNN is non parametric, it can do calculation for arbitrary assignation[19]. Project Specification This project is divided into 3 main sections which are hardware, software and project estimate cost. Hardware The hardware was using for this project is Logitech HD Webcam C310, below is the basic requirement of the webcam: logitech-hd-webcam-c310.png Figure 3: Logitech HD Webcam C310[20] Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) or Windows 8 1 GHz 512 MB RAM or more 200MB hard drive space Internet connection USB 1.1 port (2.0 recommended) Software The software for this project is using MATLAB for image recognition and sound generation. Project Estimate Cost The estimate cost for this project is RM89 which was the Logitech HD Webcam C310, because this project was basically software based project and the software to be used is MATLAB from college engineering lab. Gantt Chart

Comparing Tragedy in Oedipus the King and Antigone :: comparison compare contrast essays

Oedipus the King More Tragic then Antigone   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles was a master of tragedy, thereÕs no argument there. But which of the 2 plays weÕve studied, Oedipus the King and Antigone, is the more tragic? I believe that Oedipus the King was more intensely tragic and I think that if I were to see a the plays Ã’back to back,Ó Oedipus would be the more likely one to rivet true emotions from me. I think OedipusÕ cathartic value can be seen clearly when you compare the entirety of the results in both plays.    In Antigone, she loses 2 brothers, and then a lover, and finally her life. Oedipus loses his self-confidence, his true father, his true mother, his Ã’adoptiveÓ father, his wife, his integrity, his people, and his sight. When you weigh the two, Oedipus is obviously the more tragic, in this one area at least. Certainly one must see that Oedipus goes through a more cathartic tragedy than Antigone when one looks at the circumstances under which the tragedy falls as well. Antigone knew full well that what she was doing was wrong. She knew that if she buried her brother bad things would happen and she was ready and willing to die. Oedipus on the other hand actually thought he was doing the city some good by searching out the killer of Laius. He thought everything was going to turn out just fine in the end, which makes his downfall that much worse. A point that also must be considered is hybris. Many people donÕt feel like they can relate to Oedipus because of his hybris, whereas Antigone is a very palpable sort of character, very down to earth and a Ã’peopleÕs heroÓ so to speak. She is strong, and willing to die for her cause.

A Room of Ones Own by Virginia Woolf Essay -- Virginia Woolf Essays

Virginia Woolf, a founder of Modernism, is one of the most important woman writers. Her essays and novels provide an insight into her life experiences and those of women of the 20th century. Her most famous works include Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando: A Biography (1928), The Waves (1931), and A Room of One's Own (1929) (Roseman 11). A Room of One's Own is an based on Woolf's lectures at a women's college at Cambridge University in 1928. Woolf bases her thoughts on "the question of women and fiction". In the essay, Woolf asks herself the question if a woman could create art that compares to the quality of Shakespeare. Therefore, she examines women's historical experience and the struggle of the woman artist. A Room of One's Own explores the history of women in literature through an investigation of the social and material conditions required for writing. Leisure time, privacy, and financial independence, are important to understanding the situation of women in the literary tradition because women, historically, have been deprived of those basics (Roseman 14). The setting of A Room of One's Own is that Woolf has been invited to lecture on the topic of Women and Fiction. Her thesis is that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction (Woolf 4)." She creates the character of an imaginary narrator, "call me Mary Beton, Mary Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please, it is not a matter of any importance." The "I" who narrates the story is not Woolf, yet her experiences and thoughts provide the background for Woolf's thesis. The narrator begins her search going over the different educational experiences available to men and women and the more material ... ...s, 1882-1942. v.: ill.; 28 cm. Semiannual. Issue no. 33, 32, 1989. Vol. 1, no. 1, 1973; no.2, 1974. California State College, Sonoma, Dept. of English. Roseman, Ellen. A Room of One's Own: Women Writers and the Politics of Creativity. Twayne Publishing, Inc., New York, 1995. Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. Orlando: Harcourt, 2005. Print. Internet Sources Consulted Brooks, Rebecca B. â€Å"Timeline of Virginia Woolf’s Life.† The Virginia Woolf Blog. N.p., 19 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. . Burt, John. â€Å"Irreconcilable Habits of Thought in A Room of One’s Own and to The Lighthouse.† ELH 49.4 (1982): 889-907. JSTOR. Web. 14 Apr. 2015. Rodriguez, Lara Ma Lojo. â€Å""A New Tradition†: Virginia Woolf and the Personal Essay.â€Å"Atlantis 23.1 (2001): 75-90. JSTOR. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.

Visions of Utopia in Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe :: Defoe Robinson Crusoe Essays

Visions of Utopia in Robinson Crusoe  Ã‚  Ã‚   "Daniel Defoe achieved literary immortality when, in April 1719, he published Robinson Crusoe" (Stockton 2321). It dared to challenge the political, social, and economic status quo of his time. By depicting the utopian environment in which was created in the absence of society, Defoe criticizes the political and economic aspect of England's society, but is also able to show the narrator's relationship with nature in a vivid account of the personal growth and development that took place while stranded in solitude. Crusoe becomes "the universal representative, the person, for whom every reader could substitute himself" (Coleridge 2318). "Thus, Defoe persuades us to see remote islands and the solitude of the human soul. By believing fixedly in the solidity of the plot and its earthiness, he has subdued every other element to his design and has roped a whole universe into harmony" (Woolf 2303). A common theme often portrayed in literature is the individual vs. society. In the beginning of Robinson Crusoe , the narrator deals with, not society, but his family's views on how he was bound to fail in life if his parents' expectations of him taking the family business were not met. However, Defoe's novel was somewhat autobiographical. "What Defoe wrote was intimately connected with the sort of life he led, with the friends and enemies he made, and with the interests of natural to a merchant and a Dissenter" (Sutherland 2). These similarities are seen throughout the novel. "My father...gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design," says Crusoe (Defoe 8-9) . Like Crusoe, Defoe also rebelled against his parents. Unlike Crusoe, however, Defoe printed many essays and papers that rebelled against the government and society, just as Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, did in England by depicting society languishing in social malaise (Marowski 231). It were these writings that eventually got Defoe charged with libel and imprisoned (DIScovering Authors). In Defoe's life it was the ministry that his father wanted him to pursue (Sutherland 2), but, instead, Defoe chose to become a tradesman (DIScovering Biography). The depth of the relationship between Crusoe and his parents in the book was specifically not elaborated upon because his parent's become symbolic not only of all parents, but of society. In keeping this ambiguous relationship, Defoe is able to make Crusoe's abrupt exodus much more believable and, thus, more humane.

Soldier’s Home Analysis

â€Å"Soldier’s Home† Literary Analysis It is an undeniable fact that war changes people, and this change becomes especially apparent when soldiers return home to their families. In the short story â€Å"Soldier’s Home†, Ernest Hemingway paints a picture of a soldier’s state of mind after arriving home from the war and shows the difficulties of trying to live a normal life, fit in with society, and start over. Hemingway introduces Harold Krebs as he returns home from World War I much later than the rest of the soldiers.It is very evident from his behavior that he is traumatized, confused, and feels very much out of place. He doesn’t know where to begin to pick up where he left off and truly feels confused about his purpose in life, which can be very much related to the way many soldiers feel in our generation. Things such as fitting in with the society, getting a job, and starting a new relationship become a lot more complicated, and Krebs ex presses this several times throughout the story.He especially focuses on the subject of starting a relationship with a girl and his inability and lack of interest of even introducing himself. He likes to observe women, and even desires to be with one; however, the idea of courting and investing time into it completely turns him off. Hemmingway never explains why Krebs feels this way but gives enough hints that perhaps Krebs once suffered heartbreak. â€Å"Now he would have liked a girl if she had come to him and not wanted to talk, but here at home it was all too complicated.He knew he could never go through it all again. † The reader is focused on the words â€Å"again† and â€Å"It all†, allowing the audience to assume that he might have done this once before. The word â€Å"complicated† is repeated a numerous times when it’s associated with girls; â€Å"the girls live in a complicated world, â€Å" â€Å"they were too complicated†, â₠¬Å"it is too complicated† and â€Å"He had tried to so to keep his life from being complicated. †Ã‚  which is another clue that Krebs might have gone through a rough break-up.Whether this happened during his time away or before the war, Hemingway never explains. Another reason for Krebs’ lack of interest to date could be assumed that he developed different outlook on women in his time in Germany. During any war women usually become victims of sexual and physical assault and it is safe to assume that maybe Krebs experienced this during his time in Germany. â€Å"His acquaintances, who had heard detailed accounts of German women found chained to machine guns†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"Vaguely, he wanted a girl but he id not want to spend a long time getting her are statements that can allude to him having interest in getting a girl just for a short time, for pleasure, but nothing more. With all the disconnect Krebs feels, the reader is forced to question â€Å"Wher e is home for Harold Krebs? † It is obvious that he doesn’t feel home, even though he comes from a great small town in Oklahoma, has a supportive and loving family, and has others praying for him. This, however, is not enough for Krebs to compensate for all the horrors he witnessed during the war.His mother encourages him to talk about it but never truly pays attention, which results with Krebs feeling like he cannot express himself without being misunderstood. During breakfast, his mother asks him to pray with her to what he responds, â€Å"I can’t. † This signifies that Krebs lost his faith. He truly doesn’t care what happens to him and proceeds to speak apathetically. When his father says â€Å"don’t you love your mother, dear boy? † and Harold replies, â€Å"no† â€Å"I don’t love anyone†. His mother instantly starts to cry, to which Harold realizes.He knows he hurt her feelings even though it doesn’t se em like he meant to do it on purpose. Many can presume that Krebs cannot make his parents understand everything he went through in combat. Statement such as â€Å"I don’t love anyone† almost sounds as if he is showing his parents he is all grown up and not the little boy he used to be. It is safe to say that Krebs is probably going through many emotions at once. There are things in which he says that he probably doesn’t mean, but doesn’t know how to express them otherwise.One example of this is toward the end of the story when Harold’s mother tells him she held him close to her heart when he was a baby, to which he replies, â€Å"I know, Mummy, I’ll try to be good for you. † He contradicts himself by calling his mother â€Å"Mummy†, which shows he does indeed love her. He proceeds to tell himself that his conversation with his mother didn’t touch him and moving away to Kansas City would be a good escape from his family s ituation. His thinking shows that he could possibly be lying to himself, trying to convince himself that life would be better away from them.Maybe he doesn’t want his mother to love him because he feels ashamed and nauseated for all the things he’s done during the war. Hemingway leaves much of â€Å"Soldier’s Home† to the reader’s interpretation. The story doesn’t have a set plot and the main character Krebs is not better off in the end of the story or at the beginning. A lot of Krebs’ behavior can be paralleled to our modern day soldiers’ who come home from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. From personal experience, most of them never truly talk about everything that happened there, and if they do they never express their true emotions about the events.Many have trouble coping with day-to-day lives and sometimes even express violent behavior toward their loved ones. It’s hard to make judgments on their condition because the subject of killing another human being is rather incomprehensible to someone who has never been at war. It is something so abstract for us that the only way for us to understand is to be there physically and mentally and no cinematic movie will ever truly capture those feelings. Unfortunately during Hemingway’s era PTSD was something that wasn’t discussed or even treated.The society and culture at the time was very much removed from the realities of what war was really like. It wasn’t broadcasted over the internet, and people were not exposed to explicit documentaries that showed all the horrors that happen to people. I personally believe Hemingway, who also served briefly in World War I, could relate a lot to Krebs and his environment. It is something that could have been a way for him to cope with his own personal demons while trying to make the readers understand the feelings of apathy, emptiness and the state of mind of soldier upon his return home.