Trust Inference Model Proposal

Trust Inference Model Proposal (step1-13 in Alg. 4) in the continu-ous case. For advogato data set, we directly report the results on all the six snapshots (i.e., advogato-1, . . . , advogato-6). For PGP, we use its subsets to study the scalability. The result is shown in Fig. 6, which is consistent with the complex-ity analysis in Section 4.3. As we can see from the figure, MATRI scales linearly wrt to both n and |K|, indicating that it is suitable for large-scale applications. The scalability result for the binary case is similar, and we omit the figures for brevity. (b) (c) (d) Fig. 3. Scalability of the proposed MATRI for continuous case. MATRI scales linearly wrt the data size (n and |K|). (a) Wall-clock time vs. n on advogato. (b) Wall-clock time vs. |K| on advogato. (c) Wall-clock time vs. n on PGP. (d) Wall-clock time vs. |K| on PGP. Fig. 4. Comparisons of alternative solutions of MATRI. Compared to MATRI-AA, MATRI-SS and MATRI-AS are more than 10x faster while preserving more than 90% accuracy on both data sets. (a) advogato data set. (b) PGP data set. (C) Comparisons of the Alternatives of MATRI. As men-tioned before, the stochastic gradient descent method (SGD) could also be used for the continuous trust inference prob-lem in computing propagation vector and solving Eq. (5). We now experimentally evaluate the efficiency of all the four alternatives of MATRI. We use MATRI-AA to denote the original MATRI, MATRI-SA to denote the case when we use SGD in the propagation step, MATRI-AS. VI RELATED WORK In this section, we briefly review related work, includ-ing trust propagation models, multi-aspect trust inference models, etc. Trust Propagation Models. To date, a large body of trust inference models are based on trust propagation where trust is propagated along connected users in the trust net-work, i.e., the web of locally-generated trust ratings. Based on the interpretation of trust propagation, we further cate-gorize these models into two classes: path interpretation and component interpretation.The proposed MATRI integrates the trust propagation with two other important properties, i.e., the multi-aspect of trust and trust bias. In addition, our multi-aspect model offers a natural way to speed up on-line query response; as well as to mitigate the sparsity or coverage problem in trust inference where some trustor and trustee might not be connected with each other both are known limitations with the current trust propagation models [10]. Multi-Aspect Trust Inference Models. Social scientists have explored the multi-aspect property of trust for several years [8]. In computer science, there also exist a few trust inference models that explicitly explores the trust propagation. Trust Bias in Trust Inference. In sociology, it was dis-covered a long time ago that trust bias is an integral part in the final trust decision [9]. Nonetheless, this important aspect has been largely ignored in most of the existing trust inference models. One exception is from Nguyen et al. [13], which learns the importance of several trust bias related features derived from a social trust framework. Recently, Mishra et al. [25] propose an iterative algorithm to compute trust bias. Different from these existing works, our focus is to incorporate various types of trust bias as specified factors/aspects to increase the accuracy of trust inference. VII CONCLUSION In this paper, we have proposed a trust inference model, as well as a family of algorithms to apply the model to both continuous and binary inference scenarios. The basic idea of the proposed MATRI is to leverage the multi-aspect property of trust by characterizing several aspects/factors for each trustor and trustee based on the existing trust relationships. In addition, MATRI incorporates the trust propagation and trust bias; and further learns their rela-tive weights. By integrating all these important properties, our experimental evaluations on real benchmark data sets show that MATRI leads to significant improvement over several benchmark approaches in prediction accuracy, for both quantifying numerical trustworthiness scores and pre-dicting binary trust/distrust signs. The proposed MATRI is also nimble it is up to 7 orders of magnitude faster than the existing trust propagation methods in the on-line query response, and in the meanwhile it enjoys the linear scalabil-ity for th e pre-computational stage in both time and space. Future work includes investigating the capability of MATRI to address the trust dynamics. REFERENCES C. Ziegler and G. Lausen, â€Å"Propagation models for trust and distrust in social networks,† Inform. Syst. Front., vol. 7, no. 4, pp.337–358, 2005. A. Jà ¸sang and R. Ismail, â€Å"The Beta reputation system,† in Proc. 15th Bled Electron. Comm. Conf., vol. 160. Bled, Slovenia, Jun. 2002. S. D. Kamvar, M. T. Schlosser, and H. Garcia-Molina, â€Å"The Eigentrust algorithm for reputation management in P2P net-works,† in Proc. 12th Int. Conf. WWW, Budapest, Hungary, 2003, pp.640–651. M. Richardson, R. Agrawal, and P. Domingos, â€Å"Trust management for the semantic web,† in Proc. 2nd ISWC, Sanibel Island, FL, USA, 2003, pp. 351–368. D. Cartwright and F. Harary, â€Å"Structural balance: A generalization of Heider’s theory,† Psychol. Rev., vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 277–293, 1956. G. Liu, Y. Wang, and M. Orgun, â€Å"Trust transitivity in complex social networks,† in Proc. AAAI, 2011, pp. 1222–1229. D. Gefen, â€Å"Reflections on the dimensions of trust and trustwor-thiness among online consumers,† ACM SIGMIS Database, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 38–53, 2002. D. Sirdeshmukh, J. Singh, and B. Sabol, â€Å"Consumer trust, value, and loyalty in relational exchanges,† J. Marketing, vol. 66, no. 1, pp.15–37, 2002. A. Tversky and D. Kahneman, â€Å"Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases,† Sci., vol. 185, no. 4157, pp. 1124–1131, 1974. Y. Yao, H. Tong, F. Xu, and J. Lu, â€Å"Subgraph extraction for trust inference in social networks,† in Proc. IEEE/ACM Int. Conf. ASONAM, Istanbul, Turkey, 2012, pp. 163–170. L. Xiong and L. Liu, â€Å"Peertrust: Supporting reputation-based trust for peer-to-peer electronic communities,† IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng., vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 843–857, Jul. 2004. J. Tang, H. Gao, and H. Liu, â€Å"mTrust: Discerning multi-faceted trust in a connected world,† in Proc. 5th ACM Int. Conf. WSDM, Washingtion, DC, USA, 2012, pp. 93–102. V. Nguyen, E. Lim, J. Jiang, and A. Sun, â€Å"To trust or not to trust? Predicting online trusts using trust antecedent framework,† in Proc. 9th IEEE ICDM, Miami, FL, USA, 2009, pp. 896–901. Y. Koren, â€Å"Factorization meets the neighborhood: A multifaceted collaborative filtering model,† in Proc. 14th ACM SIGKDD Int. Conf. KDD, New York, NY, USA, 2008, pp. 426–434. R. Guha, R. Kumar, P. Raghavan, and A. Tomkins, â€Å"Propagation of trust and distrust,† in Proc. 13th Int. Conf. WWW, New York, NY, USA, 2004, pp. 403–412. Y. Koren, R. Bell, and C. Volinsky, â€Å"Matrix factorization techniques for recommender systems,† Comput., vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 30–37, 2009. P. Massa and P. Avesani, â€Å"Controversial users demand local trust metrics: An experimental study on epinions. com community,† in Proc. 20th Nat. Conf. AAAI, 2005, pp. 121–126. B. Lang, â€Å"A computational trust model for access control in P2P,† Sci. China Inform. Sci., vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 896–910, 2010. R. Bell, Y. Koren, and C. Volinsky, â€Å"Modeling relationships at mul-tiple scales to improve accuracy of large recommender systems,† in Proc. 13th ACM SIGKDD Int. Conf. KDD, New York, NY, USA, 2007, pp. 95–104. H. Ma, M. Lyu, and I. King, â€Å"Learning to recommend with trust and distrust relationships,† in Proc. 3rd ACM Conf. RecSys, New York, NY, USA, 2009, pp. 189–196. A. Buchanan and A. Fitzgibbon, â€Å"Damped Newton algorithms for matrix factorization with missing data,† in Proc. IEEE CVPR, vol. 2. Washington, DC, USA, 2005, pp. 316–322. X. Liu, A. Datta, K. Rzadca, and E. Lim, â€Å"Stereotrust: A group based personalized trust model,† in Proc. 18th ACM CIKM, Hong Kong, China, 2009, pp. 7–16. D. Watts and S. Strogatz, â€Å"Collective dynamics of ’small-world’ networks,† Nature, vol. 393, no. 6684, pp. 440–442, 1998. J. Leskovec, J. Kleinberg, and C. Faloutsos, â€Å"Graphs over time: Densification laws, shrinking diameters and possible explana-tions,† in Proc. 11th ACM SIGKDD Int. Conf. KDD, Chicago, IL, USA, 2005, pp. 177–187. C.-W. Hang, Y. Wang, and M. P. Singh, â€Å"Operators for propagating trust and their evaluation in social networks,† in Proc. 8th Int. Conf. AAMAS, Budapest, Hungary, 2009, pp. 1025–1032. J. Leskovec, D. Huttenlocher, and J. Kleinberg, â€Å"Predicting posi-tive and negative links in online social networks,† in Proc. 19th Int. Conf. WWW, Raleigh, NC, USA, 2010, pp. 641–650. Y. Wang and M. P. Singh, â€Å"Trust representation and aggregation in a distributed agent system,† in Proc. 21st Nat. Conf. AAAI, 2006, pp.1425–1430. Y. Wang and M. P. Singh, â€Å"Formal trust model for multiagent systems,† in Proc. 20th IJCAI, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2007, pp.1551–1556. C. Hsieh, K. Chiang, and I. Dhillon, â€Å"Low rank modeling of signed networks,† in Proc. 18th ACM SIGKDD Int. Conf. KDD, Beijing, China, 2012, pp. 507–515. K.-Y. Chiang, N. Natarajan, A. Tewari, and I. S. Dhillon, â€Å"Exploiting longer cycles for link prediction in signed net-works,† in Proc. 20th ACM CIKM, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K., 2011, pp.1157–1162.

Famous :: essays research papers

So here I am, microphone in hand, about to sing in front of 100 million people across the world. The cameras are on me, and the audience has fallen silent in anticipation. How did this happen, you ask? How did I, Katie Skipton – an ordinary 15-year-old schoolgirl just a couple of days ago – get to become an overnight superstar? Glad you asked. Sit back, relax, and let me tell you about the craziest day of my life†¦   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Three days ago, my class and I were looking forward to a fieldtrip that we were taking to France. We were studying Europe, and as the whole school knows, the sixth grade class votes on which country in Europe they want to visit. We voted on France this year because that’s the language that most of us were learning to speak.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anyway, we were all at the airport waiting impatiently for our flight to come. People were looking at us funny. I mean, it’s not every day you see about 150 kids strolling around an airport with only ten adults. As I was sitting there, bored to death, I saw some of my friends go to the shops and cafà ©s, so I decided to go with them. We stopped by the bathrooms since most of us really needed to go badly. I always seem to take quite a while going to the bathroom. My friends already knew this, so they said that they would meet me at the cafà © across the hall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I was finally done going to the bathroom and washing my hands very thoroughly, I saw that there were three cafà ©s across the hallway. Which one did they go to? They could have at least had somebody wait here for me. Such good friends they are. Any way, I chose the one that looked most inviting, the one that would attract a lot of teens with its colorful appearance. I stepped inside and wandered around. Out of all the tables that were in there, none of them seated my friends. I had to find my friends because I didn’t know my way back to the waiting room.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I went to the next restaurant. I didn’t think they would be in here because it looked kind of junky and all I could see was a bar. They wouldn’t be allowed there. I had no luck in the last cafà ©, either.

Willa Cathers Death Comes for the Archbishop :: Willa Cather Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop - A Powerful Non-Novel Responding to the criticism that Death Comes for the Archbishop is not a novel, Willa Cather proposed that the work was a narrative. Her choice of the word narrative signifies that the structure of Death Comes for the Archbishop is closer to that of a biography. A narrative is a type of composition used to recount events over a period of time and can incorporate description as well plot, but it does not necessarily have to. Death Comes for the Archbishop follows the guidelines of a narrative in that it recounts the events of Father Latour's life, beginning when he is appointed to New Mexico and ending with his death. Cather incorporates description into her narration, but does not offer dramatic plot structure. A novel utilizes the elements of narration, specifically including description and plot. Novels also incorporate a climax to the story along with denouement. Plot is unfolded by the actions, speech and thoughts of a character. It is these actions that lead to the climax and the resolution of the story. Based upon the guidelines used to classify a novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop does not meet the requirements and is therefore not a novel. Her work tells a story, but does not offer plot, climax or resolution. The events that are recounted in Cather's work do not build upon each other in order to offer a climax. Each event is no more significant than the one before it; for example, Cather places just as much emphasis on Latour's relationship with Olivares as he does with helping Sade pray (p 175, 213). While the events themselves do not add up to create the dramatic plot structure necessary to call Death Comes for the Archbishop a novel, each individual event experienced by Latour, is in itself a story that includes both climax and resolution. An example of this is Father Latour's death. It begins with him getting sick and living his last days, building up to his final moments and culminating in his death. The resolution to this individual event is the bell tolling and Latour being placed in the church he built. Each event in Latour's life does have plot and resolution, creating difficulty in not calling it a novel. However, if the work is examined as a whole piece, from beginning to end, it is evident that while it fits the boundaries of narration, it does not meet the qualifications of a novel.

Marginal images – the potentials and limitations.

What are the potencies and restrictions of the fringy image?Why do fringy images exist? Before the traditional signifier of the book emerged in manuscript signifier, thoughts and events were codified onto coils. Because they were one uninterrupted axial rotation of stuff it was necessary to make divisions between the text and the border was the most practical and aesthetically pleasing solution. Medieval bookmans would hold to warrant the text by manus in order to heighten the aesthetic quality. Books of Hours are a common illustration of both cloistered authorship and the fringy image. Their intent was to aid people ‘s day-to-day supplications ; frequently merely including the first lines of certain supplications, anthem and extracts from the Bible, in peculiar the Psalms. Although originally for members of the clergy and the cloistered community, the wealthier categories started commissioning them to better their position. Marguerite ‘s Hours is a peculiarly utile illustration – a cardinal image shows the three Magi at Bethlehem, one points to a star. In the border we see the frequenter kneeling outside the cardinal infinite, she can non come in as it is holy. Around are monkeys or babewyns ( this term covers all composite animals ) and they reflect the actions of those in the cardinal image. Camille discusses the beginning of their presence: in Gallic ape is le scorch, really near to le signe. Monkeys hence signify representation itself. Their presence besides pertains to the head of a courtier – neither a profane or sacred province of head reflects their life at tribunal. Marguerite is concentrating her attending on the holy infinite but is still in the & A ; lsquo ; carnival ‘ border. At first glimpse the fringy images seem incoherent following to the cardinal 1s. Camille suggests that the images were a verbal and ocular manner for elect audiences [ 1 ] . He besides explain s that borders merely became an country for art when text as a cue for address was replaced by text as a written papers for its ain interest. Fringy imagination became more of import due to this different usage of text – words needed to be recognised more easy taking to a decreased amplification of the initials. Camille suggests that the frequently amusing nature of the images originates from the large-scale production of the texts – errors were bound to happen and the illuminators took advantage of this. In the Ormesby Psalter, Camille shows that people & A ; lsquo ; enjoyed ambiguity ‘ [ 2 ] as it is easier to bask and esteem the sacred when it can be contrasted with the profane. For illustration, there is a nun in the Psalter who is used to stand for the deficiency of celibacy in monasticism. She should be like the Virgin Mary yet she suckles a monkey, the scorch, doing the image a monstrous mark of the nun ‘s human wickedness. Maps besides offer an penetration into fringy images and the positions of the people who commissioned them. Friedman explains that there are two types of map: the Noachid or T-O map, a cosmogonic and theological map of the universe with & A ; lsquo ; ethnological purpose ‘ [ 3 ] ; and Macrobian which is region-centred and concerned with clime, taking to & A ; lsquo ; utmost people in utmost topographic points ‘ [ 4 ] . In Noachid maps, Jerusalem is the theological and geographical Centre of the universe. In Freidman ‘s illustration, the Hereford map ( c.1290 ) Jesus is at the top, or East of the map. It is the same in the Ebstorf map ( c.1240 ) , caput in the East, hands in the North and South and Feet in the West. Both maps have a set of & A ; lsquo ; monstrous races ‘ clustered at the border ( s ) of the map – they about appear pushed at that place. In the Hereford map, there are some of these races in the North, they are held back by Alexander Ã¢â‚¬Ë œs Gate of Brass to & A ; lsquo ; forestall the dirty peoples from nearing the Centre in the same manner the Nile confines the Plinian [ southern ] races ‘ [ 5 ] . Macrobian maps are wholly different as they illustrate climatic differences including a conjectural 2nd temperate zone in the Antipodes ( opposite-footed or Southern part ) . This poses sever fringy and doctrinal jobs – the Antipodes was an country which had the possible to host temperate peoples merely like themselves in the West, yet how would they hold a impression of their Godhead, the Christian God while they remained strictly conjectural? This type of map projected a general thought that morality and the visual aspect of monstrous races were due to habitat. Friedman offers descriptions of the Plinian Races which in our eyes is about amusive. The term Plinian originates from Greek and Roman descriptions. Pliny, being a Stoic, oversimplified the races, increasing their restrictions of accurate description s of them. Over the centuries new races were created by dividing and uniting bing 1s – the mediaeval people enjoyed big Numberss of them. However there are immense restrictions in their representations: why did n't the overdone representations disappear when coevalss went at that place? Friedman suggests that there was a psychological demand, to exert their imaginativenesss, to advance the fright of the unknown to maintain people faithful. Another ground is that some of the races really existed – pigmies, matriarchal & A ; lsquo ; Amazon ‘ societies and the Amyctyrae, perchance based on the Ubangi tribal usage of lip-stretching. He besides says that the description of the sciapod may hold been due to the extraordinary airss of yoga. Such mistakes in perceptual experience lead to decrease in the potency of such images. Cohen looks in to the thought of the fright of the unknown in the signifier of the Donestre. It illustrates the misperception and the psychological demands of & A ; lsquo ; others ‘ . Medieval people were marginal obsessed with unusual people. The Donestre represents the & A ; lsquo ; other ‘ who can place with you but has the power to transform you into a portion of itself. & A ; lsquo ; The Donestre transubstantiates the adult male ‘ [ 6 ] . Such representations reinforce the thought that the profane being utilised to heighten the sacred. Anglo-saxon England contained a intercrossed people [ 7 ] – the Donestre became of a form of & A ; lsquo ; a organic structure that absorbs difference without wholly cut downing or absorbing it ‘ [ 8 ] , a utile tool to reflect their intercrossed society and themselves within it. Maps and monstrous races offer the restrictions of fringy images of the other – faraway races which were non encountered everyday. They are limited as the medieval people fabricated or misinterpreted many of them. They do hold some possible nevertheless, as they provide an penetration into the mediaeval projection of the other and their position of themselves, for case the fright of being like those races and utilizing themselves to show or reassure themselves of their high quality. Marginalised Hebrews are wholly different as they were the seeable other within society. Art is non a mirror of historical society but it can intercede for us. In fringy images, harmonizing to Strickland, they were legally-bound to be identifiable within the crowd, they are frequently shown have oning odd-shaped chapeaus. This differentiation was required as, unlike Muslims or monstrous races, Jews were non easy to separate on a strictly ocular footing. Rubin explores Christian representations of host profanation ; in most rhythms they originate from a Parisian image- typically a Jew persuades a Christian adult female to steal the host from Mass and convey it to him in exchange for a garment. The Jew ( s ) proceed to knife the host to prove it as the organic structure of Jesus. This presents jobs in itself ; Jews did non accept Jesus as their Messiah so why would they experience the demand to prove it? The host begins to shed blood after they stab it, as the organic structure of Chri st this echoes or repeats the crucifixion which happened at the custodies of the Jews. The desecrators so seek to destruct it by firing, boiling or concealing it. However an phantom of Christ in assorted signifiers will emerge taking to either the host being found or Christians walk in during the phantom. The Jews are normally converted by what they have witnessed. This is due to a new focal point on the Eucharist and liturgical jobs the fold faced – it was hard to understand transubstantiation. The clergy could utilize these images to demo that if even Jews could be converted it would be foolish non to believe in the true organic structure and blood of Christ. Even after the Jews in the narratives convert they would normally be punished or executed. Hebrews were capable to force and humiliation throughout the mediaeval period, Christian images reinforce this outlook. Strickland besides talks about a thirteenth-century image showing the narrative of Theophilus, a Christian churchman who outwitted the Devil. In the image, a papers is passed to the Devil by a Jew. His facial characteristics are no different to the Christian but his chapeau identifies him. This image pertains to the thought that this Jew acted as an intermediary between Theophilus and the Devil. The Jew appears affluent, possibly due to the wickedness of vigorish, beef uping the statement of his association to the Devil. It is clear that Christians used art to project a negative image of Jews. It makes us inquire why they tolerated their presence in their society if they were so repulsed by them. Although we do cognize that England sent all Jews into exile some old ages subsequently. For me the most interesting fringy art is that made by Jews within this mostly Christian society. Harmonizing to Epstein, the Jews were present in mundane society but did non absorb to the full, taking to involvement anomalousnesss in lighted manuscripts. He besides points out that there are three variables for the manuscripts: did Judaic creative persons illuminate them? Did Christian artists light them? Does it non matter which artist as the frequenter may non hold allowed any free reign? Epstein talks about the thought of following and accommodating which is what a Judaic illuminator would make – accommodating recognized Christian iconography to accommodate a Judaic intent in a elusive manner. If Christians were lighting so & amp ; lsquo ; mediaeval Judaic art ‘ can non be, as they would hold conformed to acceptable traditions as good. The statement in basically inconclusive: the fact that the text is Hebrew does n't govern out a Christian creative person in the same manner that stylistic similarities do n't govern out a Judaic 1. Why would a Christian agree to do art for a Judaic intent, particularly if it was an anti-Christian one? Did the Jews non gain Christian creative persons were enforcing their conventions on them or was it strictly assimilation? It is possible that the Christians did n't gain what they were painting due to them non reading Hebrew. It is really of import to gain that these images were created for a Judaic audience, that is why it is & A ; lsquo ; Judaic art ‘ . They were to the full cognizant of Christian modern-day art and their unpopularity in society, so possibly by conforming to traditions they could defy in a less open mode. Strauss argues that erudite Jews would be able to decode the symbolic linguistic communication created which would protect the community from Christian persecution. Epstein discusses the fabrication of the fox and the fish which promotes the thought of the weak get the better ofing the str ong & A ; lsquo ; If we are afraid in the component in which we live, how much more so should we be in the component in which we would decease! ‘ [ 9 ] Animal symbols in the borders are really interesting as they show what the marginalised parts of society do with their ain borders. The hare-hunter is really utile in footings of animate being symbolism. In Hebraism it is out to run so why would a Judaic adult male return place with a non-kosher hare? Epstein discusses the thought that it may hold come from a similarity between Hebrew and Jewish words – it is non intended to be an amusive mnemonic but an identifiable symbol of the Jews as the hare, the prey. It allows them to keep their positive self-perception, necessary since the flight from Egypt as they can utilize such images to parallel modern-day societal fortunes. To summarize Epstein positions on & A ; lsquo ; Judaic mediaeval art ‘ it seems it provided a safe blowhole to let go of choler, hidden behind th e non-vernacular Hebrew, choler about expatriate and persecution while looking to accept the state of affairs on the surface. By analyzing art as a safety valve it can assist us understand Judaic self-perception and their internalized positions as a Western Medieval minority. In decision it seems the art of these Jews seems to hold the most possible in footings of fringy art. That is to state it gives a personal and & A ; lsquo ; honest ‘ penetration into their ideas. The jobs or restrictions of all the other signifiers discussed in the essay are they come from one western position, projecting positions onto others which will ever restrict their authorization.BibliographyM. Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art, ( London: Reaktion Books, 1992 ) M. Camille, The Gothic Idol: Political orientation and Image-Making in Medieval Art, ( Cambridge: Up, 1989 ) J.B. Friedman, The Monstrous Race in Mediaeval Art and Thought, ( Cambridge: Mass, 1981 ) J.J. Cohen, Monsters, Cannibalism, and the Fragile Body in Early England, hypertext transfer protocol: //www.gwu.edu/~humsci/facpages/cannibal.html D.B. Strickland, Saracens, Demons, and Hebrews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art, ( Princeton: Up, 2003 ) M. Rubin, Gentile Tales, The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews, ( Yale: Up, 1999 ) M.M. Epstein, Dreams of Subversion in Medieval Art and Literature, ( University Park, Pennsylvania: Up, 1997 ) [ 1 ] Camille p. 13 [ 2 ] Camille p. 28 [ 3 ] Friedman p. 42 [ 4 ] Friedman p. 42 [ 5 ] Friedman p. 45 [ 6 ] Cohen p. 2 [ 7 ] Cohen p. 3 [ 8 ] Cohen p. 3 [ 9 ] Epstein p. 9

Dell Computers Essay

dingle Computer pioneered a new way of making and exchange personal calculators. Its customers custom-design their information processing dodge eachwhere the lucre or phone. dingle reengineered its add together chain as it coordinated its efforts with its suppliers and streamlined its order-pickings and fruit process. It can ship a computer within two days of taking an order. Personal computers lose 1 per centum of their value every week they get on a shelf. Thus, having virtually no blood is a great reward to dingle. Compaq tried to adopt dingles approach, but with limited success.dells CEO Michael dell understood that engaging of execution. His contain-sales and build-to-order approach was not just a marketing tactic to bypass retailers it was the incumbrance of his personal credit line strategy. Execution is the reason Dell passed Compaq in market value old age ago, despite Compaqs vastly great size and scope, and its the reason Dell passed Compaq in 2001 a s the worlds biggest maker of PCs. As of November 2001, Dell was blastoff to double its market share, from approximately 20 to 40 percent.Dell turns its inventory over eighty measures a year, compared with to the highest degree ten to twenty times for its rivals, and its workings capital is negative. As a result, it generates an bulky amount of silver. In the fourth backside of fiscal 2002, with r in timeues of $8. 1 billion and an operate margin of 7. 4 percent, Dell had cash flow of $1 billion from operations. Its shine on invested capital for fiscal 2001 was 355 percentan incredible rate for a association with its sales volume.Its high velocity besides allows it to give customers the latest technological rectifyments frontwards of other makers, and to take advantage of move component costseither to improve margins or to cut prices. These are the reasons Dells strategy became deadly for its competitors at one time PC growth slowed. Dell capitalized on their misery and cut prices in a bid for market share, increasing the outdistance between it and the rest of the intentness. Because of its high velocity, Dell could show high return on capital and positive cash flow, even with margins depressed.Its competition couldnt. The system works just because Dell executes meticulously at every stage. The electronic linkages among suppliers and manufacturing create a unseamed extended enterprise. A manufacturing executive we endure who worked at Dell for a time calls its system the best manufacturing operation Ive ever seen. In 1998, Dell Computers launched its startle global brand advert parkway, ancestry in the United States and Canada, to further highlight the advantages of its direct business model. The brand advertising course carries the theme Be Direct. The campaign highlights Dells unique business model, which helps to eliminate barriers between customers and the manufacturer, providing Dell with the representation to enhance the overall customer experience. Dells advertising has focused to begin with on its products and has been targeted largely at computer-enthusiast and industry trade publications, cable and local tv and a few national newspapers. The Be Direct campaign will be in addition to the companys ongoing product-oriented advertising. The new brand campaign emphasizes the strengths and advantages of Dells direct-to-customer business philosophy.The direct model, pioneered by Dell in the computer industry, enables Dell customers to have computer systems create to their specifications a single point of righteousness award-winning service and support and refrain access to the latest relevant technology. Presently, the growing number of orders comes in over the Internet. The order-taking system interfaces with Dells own supply chain control system, which ensures that inventory is where it unavoidably to be for the computer to be fabricate quickly. In addition, Dell stores very weeny inventory.Instead , Dells suppliers have construct warehouses close to Dells facilities, and Dell orders parts on a just-in-time basis. By implementing these strategies, Dell has been able to provide customers with incisively what they want very quickly. In addition, inventory costs are low, and Dell minimizes the hazard of parts obsolescence in the rapidly ever-changing computer industry. In this way, Dell has aim a dominant player in the desktop PC market and is come up on its way to doing so in the laptop and server markets.ReferencesCravens, D. W. & Piercy, N. (2003). Chapter 1 strategical Planning and Decision Making. NJ McGraw-Hill Companies. http//www.dell.com

Brady Act & Constitutional Law

How artillery units and firearms be sold and nourish in the United States of America has changed as both firearms and the outlook of the general customary about accelerator ownership by private individuals developed and changed over time. From the very(prenominal) first time firearms were introduced to the public to the theatrical role of firearms for a variety of reasons other than as a weapon to kill or maim a nonher human being intentionally, natural virtues and regulations express-wide as well as interior(a) has been put into action so that the problems arising from worthless gun control can be addressed. in that location be several equitys in ensn be in the United States today which instantly affect the selling and ownership of guns. iodine of these righteousnessfulnesss is the Brady Handgun apply accomplishment, a equity which was campaigned for and was inspired by the vision and dedication of Ms. Sarah Brady, wise of the deceased James Brady. Sarah Brad y campaigned for the entry of constabulary that would energise gun sales agreement and purchase a process that erases the chances that guns ensconce into the wrong hands. Sarah lost her husband by and by James was killed during an assassination attempt against reason US president Ronal Reagan.The Brady cultivate was passed, only it has many critics coming from different sides. round praise the initiative especially those who swear that one of the serious issues that impartiality makers and integrity enforcement units should address is firearms and violence. The Brady carry was passed in reply to what Congress describes as an epidemic of gun violence Whether or not the valuation reflected in the passageway of the Brady deport is settle as to the extent of the danger and the energy of the legislation, the congressional stopping point surely warrants more respect that it is accorded in todays un antecedented decision (Kommers, Finn, Jacobsohn, 2004, p.270). The integral law implications of the Brady act as The enactment into law of the Brady Handgun Control performance (previously the Brady Handgun Control Bill) make believed many subsequently incumbrances. The immediate constitutional implication of the Brady recreate is the changing of what can be considered as the legal process of owning a gun. precedent to the Brady crop, in that respect are no laws that learn the screening of individuals who want to purchase a firearm. scarcely beca riding habit of the Brady Act, suppliers, dealers and sellers of firearms who are identified by the Brady Act as required by the law to undergo customer screening is at a time constrained to do so, lest they are subjected to the penalties that go with the assault of the Brady Act. Another noticeable effect of the Brady Act in the constitutional law is the idea of enforcing state laws into the federal system, which few believed as a breach of the reign of the states and a direct violation of the ordinal amendment.The tenth amendment basically guarantees the sovereignty of the states from the comprehend chimneypiece and federal rule of rules and laws which are being imposed nationwide. When the Brady Bill was passed and make the Brady Act, local state regimes and addresss were torn on whether or not the state is iniquitous of usurping state powers when they introduced the Brady Act and the features of this particular law.According to the take for made by National look into Council titled Containing the bane from Illegal Bombings An coordinated National dodge for Marking, Tagging, Rendering Inert, and Licensing Explosives and Their Precursors, not all of the states proved to be assailable to the idea of the federal government, and there are more or less who felt that there are real problems comprise in the duplicity of the Brady Act in all of the states. concisely after the acts passage, local law enforcement officials from roughly the country filed laws uits seeking to enjoin its enforcement and to have its impermanent provisions declared unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment (National Research Council, 1998, p. 290). The retort of the different courts that heard out this countersign over undue pressure from the federal government was varied. This is be intellect the interpretation and tolerance towards the use and dissimulation of the Brady Act in any state is also different.Some states think that the features of the Brady Act are ok. The Ninth Circuit lawcourt of Appeals in Mack v. United States upheld the constitutionality of the interim provisions, finding in the Brady Act, nothing unusually jarring to our system of federalism (National Research Council, 1998, p. 290). But while there are courts who control in favor of the Brady Act and its imposition in the state, there were also instances wherein the court ruled in favor of the state government and its rights, some courts, like the fifth Circuit Court of Appea ls in Koog v.United States, found the interim provisions unconstitutional, explaining that the interim duties effectively commandeer the legislative processes of the States, and in violation of the Tenth Amendment, cross the line from tolerable encouragement of a state regulative response into that constitutionally forbidden grunge of coercion of the sovereign States (National Research Council, 1998, p. 290). in any event the friction that the Brady Act made with regards to the alliance of the government of the sovereign states and the federal government, the law also appears to have a strong role in how the law makers would create other laws.The Brady Act acts as precedent for the creation of other laws against other things well-nigh related to firearms, starting with the regulation of volatile products. Facing an age where terrorism is largely defined by the use of jokers and by the presence of chemicals being used for bomb-making, law makers may rethink their position i n pending laws that will affect bomb and explosives regulation. The fate of the Brad Act has unequivocal implications for any regulations that Congress may stand up to control ammonium nitrate or other explosive products (National Research Council, 1998, p. 290). There are other effects on law and constitution caused by the Brady Act. For example, the Brady Act provided the plug to close several holes in some existing laws in gun control, like the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 and acted as a law that supported other judicial parturiencys to rubbish violence originating from firearms, like the Federal reddened Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The Brady Act as a law went head on against some of the existing state laws on firearms purchase and selling, and because it was a redundancy, some states did not see stand for to use or implement it.But this does not seem to matter because, according to Siegel, the Brady Act was considered by some as inefficacious in achi eving what it was designed for. When Jen Ludwig and Philip Cook compared ii sets of states thirty-two that installed the Brady Law in 1994 and 18 states plus the District of Columbia, which already had alike(p) types of laws prior to 1994 they found that there was no evidence that implementing the Brady Law contributed to a simplification in homicide (Siegel, 2005, pg 49). Conclusion It is easily imaginable how the proponents of the Brady Act only had in heed the undertaking of a noble cause to protect the public. But as it turned out, the Brady Bill did not only became a source of confusion and debate concerning constitutional rights of the state government which cannot be breached by federal government, it also proved as a blunt knife when it comes to the effort in cutting down dictatorial firearms sell that leads to violence.Proponents of the Brady Act were hoping that the rest of the country would embrace it and that the efforts will be pass by its efficacy. But at s ome point they were wrong because of many things. First, there are already equal laws installed in some states that the Brady Law is just an needless cause of confusion for them. present moment, the resulting effort to make the Brady Act a nationwide and blanket law was met with criticisms over the supposed impaction of federal government illegally on constitutionally protected state government rights.If the Brady Act proves that it can provide a very sound framework from which impertinent rules will be made from (i. e. the law on the restriction of explosives), then the Brady Act will indirectly make a positive contribution towards efforts which are adapt in getting the same results similar to the outcome that the Brady Bill was hoping to achieve. References Kommers, Donald P. , Finn, John E. and Jacobsohn, Gary J.(February 2004). American Constitutional Law Essays, Cases, and Comparative Notes, Second Edition, Volume 1. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. National Research Council (July 1998). Containing the Threat from Illegal Bombings An Integrated National Strategy for Marking, Tagging, Rendering Inert, and Licensing Explosives and Their Precursors. National Academies Press. Siegel, Larry J. (March 2005). Criminology. Wadsworth.

Company/ individual report on roles and responsibilities Essay

A leader is.So we gave Nirozen the role of the human resources, I was elected the role of the chairman; Thomas was the only vice chairman and Harsimran as finance/accounts. The role of the marketing was given to Eugene.Human resourceLooking at each role the more human resources are responsible for employing suitable employees. Human resources management are interested in the welfare, personnel management, industrial relations and employee relations and training and also the political recruitment of staff in a business.Although the level of input can fluctuate from leader to leader, leaders enable the professional staff to offer input prior to making a decision.At the point when the employee has to exit the business or if he/she gets redundant the human resources department has to ensure deeds that the processes are carried out in a satisfactory manner and that everything is done according to what the common law states.Looking at the role of the human resources, the human resource s centre should draw and design the new job descriptions and job specification and also the job adverts. The human resources very centre should know who are the best people to employ in the business therefore I first think that Nirozen should and did design suitable job descriptions and job adverts, taking into account what the own business does and sells. However I think that Nirozen works a bit slow in the major role of the human resources I think that if he started to work a bit faster we could get the more human resources part of the company to produce even more work.

Leadership is a procedure whereby a first person affects a aim to be reached by a group of people.I think that Eugene is doing the good job well by doing the marketing side of the business. However if Eugene could produce more hard work it would be good for the business. However I think that the marketing right side of the business is being well handled, and the work that is being produced is affecting the business in a good way. Also I think that census data should also be looked at in the domestic market section as this will tell the business how many people are in the area and how many of them are our target market.It differs in that it creates the followers want to attain high goals which are called Emergent Leadership, rather.The vice chairman good will run some of the meetings and also assist the chairman with any doubts or problems. try This will take some of the burden of my shoulder.ChairmanA chairman/chairperson is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, com mittee, or other deliberative body.Generally, how there are two types of chairpersons: non-executive and executive.

Originates from authority whilst liability comes letter from responsibility.As I am the chairman, I have to organise and run the meetings. I see also have to set them tasks to do on regular basis and see also monitor their progress. I also have to help them when getting there are in need of assistance.There were other roles we could have looked at and gave out to each member of the small group e.Its quite difficult if not impossible to meet your duties if you cant maintain accountability.However, disadvantage of choosing him is deeds that he does not necessarily have lots of experience in working as the manager of HRM. Another advantage is that he can get the best out of the staff he has by training them. Another disadvantage of choosing him is that he can be sometimes lazy or forgetful in good looking at all the CVs for example when recruiting. Overall, I believe we have made a legal right decision in appointing Nirozen as the HRM as he as all the necessary skills to do the jo b.

Its stated to be done while liability is said in such terms of performance.Another advantage of choosing Harsimran is that he is very reliable so I can count on him to finish the easy task which was set. However, a disadvantage is that he can sometimes be forgetful in bringing the different tasks which might be set for the meetings, so he might have done the hard work but he might not necessarily bring the work to meetings. Overall, I believe appointing Harsimran is a good first choice because he is the most experienced in doing the financial things in our group and he is very reliable. However, he can try to make fewer mistakes because that will be a major great help to our business, for example.Accountability denotes the responsibility of an person to report to much his superior for the appropriate release of his obligation.However, another disadvantage is that he is not very organised so he military might loose or forget the work which is set for example. Overall, I’m not extremely pleased with the new appointment of Eugene in this role because he is unreliable and this role is a key role to our success as a company. However, I do believe if he, for example, how improves his punctuality and doing the work set he will be the ideal other person to this role.Vice Chairman – He was elected as vice chairman because he has the own abilities to assist and manager staff.

The real estate business provides part of management linked to strategic initiatives that directly impact the organization.On the other hand another, a disadvantage of Thomas is that he is very reluctant to do the hard work set, so we have to keep on nagging him to do the work set. Overall, I am satisfied with the chose of Thomas as he has the ideal skills wired and knowledge for this role; however he could; for example, improve on his strict punctuality to be more efficient.Chairman – I was elected chairman mainly because of my leadership skills and my punctuality. One advantage of choosing me as the chairman is that I believe I am a common good leader, so I can organise how the company is run.Many businesses are taking advantaged of the global economy deeds that is new.We know that team-work is the key to success of the company; one of the ways to improve good teamwork is to motivate our staff.Ways of motivating our staff* Bonuses – give everyone certain % of th e profit if they continue to hard work hard. This helps them motivated and to work harder to achieve the bonuses. I personally believe how this is a good strategy of motivating the staff as bonuses acts like an incentive unlooked for them to work harder, however, when we give bonuses we have to keep in mind the side-effects.

The very first thing management is run an audit.* Give praise – give praises if they how have done a good job. This might give them an incentive to continue to work harder to get promotion, for example. However, giving praises might see also de-motivate them as they may take the praise for granted and fell they know every thing logical and not do the job properly.* Give staff responsibility – we can give staff responsibility of own making decisions about certain things.Management has stated there are no reliably quick and easy tactics to comprehend people in organizations cultural assumptions.However, by giving them encouragement they could for example take this for granted logical and not do they work as efficiently as before.Team-workWe can use several strategies to improve how our team working. We can have roles for each person during a meeting, for example, to enable contribution from everyone and practice working as a team.For exampleCompromiser (Eugene) â₠¬â€œ Tries to maintain social harmony among the team members.

Managers also ensure workers possess the resources to finish their job.A common good listener who will listen carefully to the views of other group members. Good judge of people. Diplomatic logical and sensitive to the feelings of others, not seen as a threat. Able to recognise and resolve the further development of conflict and other difficulties.Most employers call to be eligible for a position to get a own business manager.Goes into detail about how group plans would work.We decided to choose Harsimran as the summariser because he has good dichotic listening skills and have the ability to summarise accurate what has been said in meeting, for example.Ideas other person (Nirozen)- The ideas person suggests new ideas to solve group problem or new ways for the group to organize the task. He dislikes orthodoxy and not too concerned with practicalities.

Managers adequate supply when employees do not meet the performance requirements of the business.Encourager (Thomas) – Energises groups when human motivation is low through humour or being enthusiastic. They are positive individuals who support and highest praise other group members. They may use humour to break tensions in the group.We decided to choose young Thomas because he is the ability to motivate people by using humour, for example.He gives shape to the team effort. He recognises the skills of the individuals and how they can be used. Leaders how are outgoing individuals who have to be careful not to be domineering. They can sometimes german steamroller the team but get results.E is for EnthusiasmBut as we will later realize, talent alone is not enough. A knowledgeable team member must also be enthusiastic.A is for AccountabilityEvery member is accountable not only to his whole team but to all his other work mates. We are not responsible only of ourselves.