Minute Clinic free essay sample

MinuteClinic, L. L. C. One CVS Drive Woonsocket, RI 02895 www. minuteclinic. com Strategy Development Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction3 Chapter 2 – Current Strategy3 Chapter 3 Proposed Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 Chapter 4 – Proposed Metrics. 6 Chapter 5 Summary6 Appendix †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 Chapter 1 – Introduction MinuteClinic is a division of CVS Caremark Corporation, which is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States. MinuteClinic launched the first retail health care centers in the United States in 2000 and is the first provider to establish a national presence, with approximately 500 locations  across 26 states and the District of Columbia. By creating a health care delivery model that responds to consumer demand, MinuteClinic makes access to high-quality medical treatment easier for more Americans. We have seen 9 million patients since MinuteClinic started 10 years ago. Since 2007, weve seen almost 8 million of those patients. The rate of growth has really increased dramatically. Chapter 2 – Current Strategy MinuteClinic’s original value proposition was to bring in a disruptive health care model that targeted low-risk patients with specific needs. We will write a custom essay sample on Minute Clinic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We still stand by that model, offering standardized diagnostics and primary care services such as common illnesses, minor injuries, and skin conditions. It is important to us that patients are seen in an affordable, convenient, and fast way. The value for the clients is substantial and real. Clinics are ccessible, located in high traffic, convenient areas, and affordable. High quality is provided through standardized protocols for testing and other services. Mission Statement To provide expert care and innovative solutions in pharmacy and health care that are effective and easy for our patients. Vision Statement To offer the most efficient, most effective patient care in the most convenient locations for our patients. Core Values Accountability, Respect, Integrity, Openness and Teamwork. Our current Operational Strategy is referred to as â€Å"McDoc in the box†. This service delivery strategy is based on enabling easy and convenient access by locating the clinics at high traffic pharmacies, delivering fast and high quality care through streamlined patient diagnostics and protocol based treatment processes, cost effectiveness through trained yet lower cost workforce of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants. The partnership with CVS pharmacies and continuously improving protocols are key enablers for the exponential growth of MC clinics in the past five years. The stores are located at high traffic pharmacies within CVS system with Walk-in service, seven days a week. The average wait time is limited to 5-10 minutes in most cases. The transferability of services is achieved through the collocation of the Clinics in CVS pharmacy premises. Most of the patients can get their medication prescribed at the clinic from the pharmacy enabling higher flow of volume of transactions per walk in patient. The 5-10 minutess limited service delivery duration is well suited to treat a range of different conditions while maintaining higher volumes. Technology includes â€Å"Click-and Point† diagnostics, Information system for patient record, and Pager system to manage customer wait times. Every patient visit, the patient medical information is entered into user’s electronic medical record, which is maintained by the Clinic. The patients of the patient’s Primary Care Physician can request the information in an electronic format. This allows for more communication between the Clinic and the PCP. Chapter 3. Proposed Strategy: CVS Minute Clinic is competing in a disruptive market place. Driving high volume of patients through the clinics is important for financial viability. Dependence on a narrow set of services and patient types is at the core of fast and low cost service model. Given the existing model and the changing landscape of healthcare in US CVS-MC has to deal with many opportunities and challenges. Implementing IT services as part of a push to deliver virtual medical services. Implementing Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and integrating the IT services with IDS and PCPs will enable MinuteClinic to have an intelligent monitoring of the patient outcomes and enable timely updates to care and triaging protocols. The system will enable the MinuteClinic to improve Pay for Performance measures and capitalize on the macro push for accountable care organizations. The MinuteClinic will be better positioned to enable hospitals and IDS to manage the patients under shared risk and capitation payment methods. Finally, integrating the IT services with patients and family care givers will enable them to develop virtual medical home services and provide care for chronic disease patients at their homes and help them manage their conditions effectively. Developing relationships with integrated delivery systems in metropolitan areas that are MinuteClinic markets. It is important that CVS develop relationships with integrated delivery systems like Partner’s Health, Cleveland Clinic, etc. These partnerships will provide multiple benefits for the Clinic: (a) Increased patient flow for minor conditions hence offloading the demand for minor medical procedures ; (b) Enable rotation of its staff with the IDS facilities which will ensure higher retention of medical staff, better training and improved quality of care, and reduction of costs; (c) Co-Branding can lead to main stream recognition for CVS MC and benefits for CVS pharmacy of partnership with big delivery networks; (d) Divert patients for minimal procedures to reduce load during periods of peak demand by partner hospitals. Develop capability to provide chronic disease management and wellness services. Given the Health Reform, PCP shortages and increasing number of chronically sick patients in USA, MinuteClinic is well positioned to enter chronic disease market. Expanding services for chronic disease management can have substantial long term financial benefits. Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia and Asthma can be the focus of initial push. MinuteClinic should also focus on wellness, health maintenance and screening services. (Obesity, smoking cessation, mammography) These services can rovide significant patient volume as most people avoid accessing hospitals for such services due to long wait times and visitation restrictions. Chapter 4. Proposed Metrics MinuteClinic should have clearly defined metrics. Given our mission statement and proposed strategy, the metrics should be as follows: These metrics are further broken down in Appendix 1, Balanced Scorecard. Patient Satisfaction Patient volume Patie nt wait time IT implementation Category of Patient Chapter 5. Summary We believe CVS MinuteClinic has been very successful. The suggested options are realistic ways to continue to increase patient volume and revenue. Appendix 1, Balanced Scorecard | | | | |Degree of |Sets | | | | | |Reliability/Q|Objective | | | | | |uantifiable | | | | | | | | | | |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | | Quality and Patient Satisfaction |Q1 |Patient retention |   |   |   |   |   | | |Q2 |Patient referral |   |   |   |   |   | | |Q3 |Patient complaints |   |   |   |   |   | | |Q4 |Patient Wait Time |   |   |   |   |   | | Process/Productivity |P1 |Technology |   |   |   |   |   | | |P2 |Efficiency Improvement |   |   |   |   |   | | |P3 |Systems Innovation |   |   |   |   |   | |Financial Management |L1 |Cost Per Patient Per Day |   |   |   |   |   | | |L2 |Performance against Contract |   |   |   |   |   | |Patient Category |C1 |Primary Care Services |   |   |   |   |   | | |C2 |Wellness |   | |   | |   | | |C3 |Screening |   |   |   |   |   | |

buy custom American Federal Law essay

buy custom American Federal Law essay Introduction This paper is aimed at clarifying the role of the US Supreme Court in explaining federal laws. Its interpretation on federal issues is considered final. Interpretation of navigable waters by the US Supreme Court Yes. I would like to agree with the Supreme Court for overruling the Districts and Appeal courts ruling that the gravel and sand pits contain navigable waters. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), navigable water refers to the interstate lakes, rivers and streams that are used by the interstate travelers for fishing and recreation. Under the federal laws, for a water body to be regarded as navigable; it must be in use. Therefore, I would like to say that the US Army Corps were not right to claim that the abandoned gravel pits inhabited by the migratory birds as a navigable area. This is because this area is not in use its abandoned. It also lies squarely in the state of Illinois making it not being shared b any other state. Business and environmental ethics This refers to the principles that determine what is good or wrong on business. Even if the principle goal of any business is to make profit; many investors look forward to optimize their profit at the expense of other people within their environment. Its good for a business corporation to act ethically at all times. In line with the environmental conservation; investors should act responsibly while taking care of the environment. According to environmental ethics, the investors should first of all carry out an environmental impact assessment to ensure that their projects negatively impact on the surrounding. Therefore, in this context, the solid waste agency acted unethically by releasing wastes to the animal habitats. This is against the UNCPs environmental law and the US Environmental Law that advocates for environmental conservation. I therefore suggest that a legal action be taken against it to repair the damages caused and operatte responsibly. Contemporary business and environmental laws Business should not be allowed to exist without the governments involvement. The government should be involved in business both directly and indirectly. This can be done through legal controls price regulations and environmental conservation. The government should ensure that firms conserve the environment in order to be able to achieve a sustainable development. Therefore, the US governments involvement in business should not be viewed as an unnecessary red tape procedure but is aimed at excluding others from free trade, but for creating a healthy business environment free and open for all. Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to commend the independent judicial system in USA in which the state law is professionally managed and interpreted. In this context, I would accept that this interpretation was dully done without one organ overstepping its legal mandate. Buy custom American Federal Law essay

The Impact of Globalisation on Recent Changes to Employment Patterns Assignment

The Impact of Globalisation on Recent Changes to Employment Patterns and Structure - Assignment Example The reason behind choosing China is that it offers an evident change in the employment patterns and structures after the globalization. Moreover evidences show that globalization has also hugely impacted in the national economy of China. The basic purpose of the project is to identify the impact of globalization on the Chinese employment pattern and structure. Now in order to fulfill the purpose of the study, the report will study various other aspects. It mainly includes the impact of globalization on the global employment pattern, and various other concepts related to the globalization. The report will highly stress on the concepts of industrial relations in the Chinese context and will emphasize on how industrial relation and globalization are linked. The project has a huge scope, but due to constraints in time and money it remained focused only on some of the specific areas. The project only remained focused on the Chinese employment pattern. ... However it is believed that relevant and substantial literature on this work will be found for the purpose of completing the report. Now in order to fulfill the study the report will take the following structure. At first the report will be presenting a brief description regarding the evolution of the concept of globalization. In this segment the concept of globalization will be portrayed in accordance with the effect of employment in various countries of the world. This section will also offer insights about the industrial relations. The industrial relations will be in accordance with the Chinese context. The second segment of the report will be highlighting the about the various issue of employment in China. This section will further offer a number of statistical data in order to justify the claims. Furthermore literature of this topic will be also consulted. The discussion segment will be also presenting other factors such as the global employment patterns, the employment patterns of China and also the impact of globalization on the Chinese employment structures and patterns. The third section will be concluding the project. The conclusion will be done on the basis of the level of impact of globalization on the present employment structur4ev and policies. Moreover it will also discuss about the ways by which globalization is impacting the employment patterns in China. In addition to that the report also proposes to shed light on the direct impact of globalization on employment. The next and final segment of the report is for offering some recommendation or suggestion in order to address this issue. The key recommendation of the projects is that the government of China must consider sustainable growth by reducing the level of inequality in income. This can be

Preventing the spread of clostridium difficilel (C.diff) through Dissertation

Preventing the spread of clostridium difficilel (C.diff) through Systems Change - Dissertation Example difficile infection, as the individual with Clostridium infection liberates enormous spores in the hospital environment, which persist in the dormant stage till they procure another individual. It is evident that standard disinfectants are not sufficient to combat infectious agents, thereby enhancing the diffusion of Cl. difficile. It is therefore essential to isolate the patient and perform necessary actions to prevent further spread to other individuals present in the hospital. It is essential to adopt the antibiotic for treatment to prevent CDAD (Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea). The present article highlights the proof-based directives to minimize the spread of Cl. difficile, encompassing well-timed diagnosis or CDAD, close watch of cases with CDAD, education to the staff, hygiene, clothes, highly effective sterilization process for medical equipments, cleaning the environment, efficient antibiotic stewardship. Background Numerous guidelines have been made available to minimize the risk of such infections. It is observed that control measures play an imperative role in controlling nosocomial infections. ... may persevere in the environment for months to years and display enormous resistance for various disinfectants (Barbut, 1993; Johnson, 1990; Teare, 1998). Clinical Presentation & Diagnosis Chief virulence factors encompass Enterotoxin A and Cytotoxin B of Clostridium difficile (Kuijper, 2006). Most of the strains of Cl. difficile generate these toxins, causing diarrhoea or pseudo-membranous colitis or may result in toxic megacolon and bowel perforation in some patients (Miller, 2002). The mortality rate is 25-30% (Pepin, 2005). Clostridium difficile toxins are assessed with the help of cytotoxicity assay or by ELISA, or culture technique under anaerobic conditions or PCR based assays through stool examination (Van Den Berg, 2007). Materials and Methods Data was procured from PubMed with the search terms as: 'difficile', 'nosocomial', 'outbreak', 'transmission', 'control', 'environment' and 'prevention'. Data was then evaluated to formulate the guidelines for the prevention of Clostri dium difficile. Findings In majority of the cases it is observed that spread of spores and hence the pathogen occurs by means of "contact" as the staff serves as a carrier of spores and hence the spores travel from patient-to-patient along with the staff, or they infect individuals through the contaminated environment (Vonberg, 2008). Discussion Restricted use of antibiotics particularly cephalosporin, group of antibiotics and appropriate formulation of methodologies to avert medical device-related contamination or any kind of cross-infection paves the way for the prevention of nosocomial spread of resistant species of microorganisms especially Clostridium difficile. It is essential to isolate the patient with infection from resistant microorganisms. Preemptive segregation of all cases

Arab Spring - The Utility of the Foucauldian Notion of Resistance as Essay

Arab Spring - The Utility of the Foucauldian Notion of Resistance as Opposed to The Critical - Essay Example Tunisia’s government was replaced because of protestors who were rural, and joined with labor, and that the Tunisian government was eventually replaced with a government which was amenable to labor. In Egypt, the cosmopolitan and educated young people organized the uprisings, and they soon were backed by the Islamic Brotherhood. However, these young people did not topple the government so much as the military did, and now there is a clash between the democratically backed Brotherhood and the military, and there is not yet a new power structure in place. In Libya, the country devolved into a civil war, as the power structure was voided and no new centralized power structure took its place, therefore, the nation is ran by tribes, and has been marked by multiple secessions, and kin networks are providing the goods and services, along with the safety and security (Anderson, 2011, p. 6). The question is whether the critical theory of international relations and emancipation mark th ese conflicts or do they more closely resemble the Foucauldian view of resistance? The short answer is that Egypt and Tunisia resemble resistance theory and Libya resembles emancipation theory. This paper will explain the two theories and show why each country more resembles one theory as opposed to the other. Emancipation Theory According to Dougherty (2001, p. 470), emancipation theory is based upon revolutionism, which, in turn, is one of the principal traditions of international-relations theory. Specifically, Dougherty (2001) states that revolutionism places human emancipation as being paramount, as it helps to reach â€Å"the fullest human potential† (Dougherty, 2001, p. 477). Devetak (1996, p. 155) states that critical international theory works to bring about radical change by removing constraints on freedom. To this end, Devetak (1996, p. 155) asserts that critical international theory underpins the theory of emancipation, in that it has as its focus the understanding of conditions which would make emancipation possible. Linklater (1990, p. 89) states that the other two traditions of international theory – realism and rationalism - are both based upon order and power. In contrast, emancipation theory is based upon individualism. Furthermore, emancipation, or revolutionism, forms the bas is for critical theories of international relations whereas the other two traditions of realism and rationalism form the basis for traditional theories of international relations (Linklater, 1990, p. 90). Habermas, according to Goode (2005), promoted emancipation by stating that freedom is embodied in the public square of the bourgeois, while overlooking â€Å"antagonistic class relations† (Goode, 2005, p. 34). Neufeld (1995, p. 66) states that critical theory and emancipation have, at their roots, the theories of Kant, Hegel and Marx, although he credits Marx with bringing the theory into its maturation. Perhaps because Marx though that reason would somehow trump power structures and oppression, critics refer to emancipation theory as â€Å"Utopian,† although Wyn-Jones (2001, p. 58) states that while the principles underlying emancipation theory are utopian, the value of emancipation theory relies on this optimism. Devetak (1996, p. 157) further goes on to state that emancipation is based upon three concepts – autonomy, security and community. Autonomy means, according to Devetak (1996, p. 163) that individuals are free to live their lives without constraints which are unnecessary and are inhibiting to freedom. Security means the absence of threats, because autonomy cannot exist in the face of threats – threats curtail freedom, because if individuals are not safe, then they cannot pursue freedom. Among the threats

Current Definition Of Recklessness Within Criminal Law Law Essay

Current Definition Of Recklessness Within Criminal Law Law Essay Recklessness is a problematic area of the criminal law, since there is no strict definition of what constitutes it. Statutes make provision for the presence of recklessness, but have yet to define it strictly, thus it falls on the hands of the judges to interpret what is meant by recklessness. It is therefore most easily delineated via case law. Judges have had to rely on explanations in important case reports in order to decide what amounts to recklessness. This has meant delving through colossal number recklessness cases in order to find out whether the case in question falls within the confines set out there. Realising this is challenging, the Law Commission have sought to remedy the situation, by releasing several working papers on the issue. One of them gives the following explanation: a person acts recklessly [if] he is aware of a risk thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦exists or will exist [or] à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦when he is aware of risk thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦will occur and it is, in the circumstances known to him, unreasonable to take the risk.  [1]   This assignment will start by putting forward a concise history of intent in recklessness. The development of the law in this area will be looked out with the aid of case law such as Cunningham [1957] Caldwell [1982] and RvG [2003]. This paper will provide an evaluation of the current definition of recklessness within criminal law. In order to identify and understand the concept of recklessness, intention needs to be discussed. The 19th century criminal legislation required that defendants had to have acted `maliciously and `unlawfully when committing an offence. The accused will act unlawfully if he fails to present a lawful reason for his act, he would be considered acting maliciously once he satisfies the level of Mens Rea required for the Actus Reus. The word `malicious introduces the requirement of Mens Rea. The statutory definition of `malice is, requiring an actual intention to do a particular kind of harm that in fact was done, or reckless as to whether such harm should occur or not. The accused has foreseen that particular harm might be done, and has gone on to take the risk. The word `maliciously means in relation to the law of England and Wales `an intent or recklessness  [2]  . Intention is the highest level of Mens Rea. Mens Rea means `guilty mind in Latin. Intention differs from recklessness; intention commands a severe penalty within the criminal justice system, morally intent is considered objectionable, adjacent to recklessness. Recklessness was first used within criminal statute with conjunction to the Motorcar Act 1903. Professor C S Kennys opinion of recklessness required actual awareness by the defendant of the likelihood of the particular harm. Kenny considered it an element additional to awareness of risk, indifference whether the foreseen harm occurred or not. Another view is that an individual is reckless if he takes a known risk, even if he ardently trusts the foreseen harm, will not occur  [3]  . In 1957 the case of Cunningham transformed the interpretation of Recklessness. In R v Cunningham D broke a gas meter to steal the money contained within the meter. Gas seeped from the broken pipe and into the house next door, where Ds mother-in- law was sleeping. The mother-in-law became so ill, that her life was endangered. D was convicted of unlawfully and maliciously administering a noxious thing as to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm under S.23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Cunninghams conviction was quashed because of misdirection of the trial judge as to the meaning of maliciously.   The Court of Appeal held that malice must not be taken as to mean wickedness, but as requiring either (1) an intention to do the particular harm that was done, or (2) reckless as to whether such harm should occur or not  [4]  . Recklessness in this sense means foreseeing that harm might occur, and going ahead with the act anyway. This is called a subjective test, i.e. the accused is reckless if he realised there was a risk of gas escaping and endangering someone, and went ahead with his action anyway. Prof. Kenny wrote in his first edition of `outlines criminal law that, intent or recklessness had to be proved, as mentioned previously, he also stated that ` it neither limited to, nor does it indeed require any ill-will towards the person injured  [5]  . For a defendant to be guilty under Cunningham recklessness he must have consciously undertaken an unjust risk, he must realise that there is a risk involved. However, if he continues to carry on with his conduct, he is then reckless. The case defined a type of recklessness that the knowledge of appreciation of the risk of some danger must have entered the defendants mind even, though he may have suppressed or driven it out  [6]  . Cunningham is considered the first limb of recklessness the second limb arises from the case of MPC v Caldwell (1982). The second test of Recklessness, Caldwell created a new and wider test. D was an ex-employee of a hotel and held a grudge against its owner. He started a fire at the hotel, which caused some damage D was charged with arson. The old Cunningham test of recognising theres a risk and going ahead anyway, was extended to include a second limb; namely that the D does an act which creates an obvious risk and, has not given any thought as to the possibility of there being such a risk  [7]  . The Caldwell test for recklessness is objective, i.e. the risk must be obvious to the reasonable man, in that any reasonable man would have realised it if he had thought about it. Although, it need not be obvious to the defendant: Elliott v C [1983] and R v Coles [1994]. Lord Diplock stated that the definition of recklessness in Cunningham was too narrow for the Criminal Damage Act 1971, recklessness, should not only include the Cunningham meaning. Lord Diplock stated that a person is reckless as to whether any property would be destroyed or damaged if; he does an act, which in fact creates an obvious risk that property would be destroyed, or damaged. Additionally when the act is committed he has not given any thought to the possibility of there being any such risk, alternatively, he has recognised that there was some risk involved and has nonetheless gone on to do it  [8]  . Hence, for Caldwell recklessness to be satisfied, D does not have to foresee a risk, nevertheless takes a risk that would have been obvious to a reasonable prudent man. The It was deemed that after Caldwell whenever the term reckless was involved, an objective approach would be applied to the case. However this changed with the decision in RvG, as a subjective test was applied, instead of an objective test. It was deemed that a subjective test would be applied because the Caldwell test was seen to be a model direction which contained inconsistencies and lacked precision  [9]  . The RvG case reinstated the subjective test from R v Cunningham  [10]  (Cunningham) and clarified the law on recklessness by overruling the objective test in Caldwell. Additionally one can note that from RvG, this subjective definition of recklessness would be applicable in all statutory offences of recklessness and not the definition which was illustrated in the Cunningham case. The House of Lords decision in RvG enforcing this definition of reckless, illustrated a significant impact by eradicating the definition of recklessness in Cunningham. One can note that this impact of the decision conveyed the problems with the definition of recklessness under Cunningham. For example, within the Cunningham definition, the test only refers to taking risks as a result and makes no mention of taking risks as to a circumstance. However the law commission draft criminal code adds an additional restriction on finding the term reckless. Additionally, under the draft criminal code there is the additional requirement of the awareness of the risk and that the actual damage caused might occur. Thus the reformed definition of subjective recklessness conveys a more acc urate and broad scope of the meaning of recklessness, compared to the Cunningham definition of subjective recklessness. As a result of this reform, a subjective approach will be incorporated when assessing the term recklessness. Consequently it can be seen that the House of Lords in G and another did in fact adopt the better test in terms of policy and principle. Also English law has progressed to the point where there is, almost certainly, now only one test of recklessness  [11]  which is of a subjective nature. Additionally from the Cunningham case, the expression Maliciously was replaced with the expression reckless in RvG by Lord Bingham in the House of Lords. Maliciously was an expression which was formerly recognisable within the House of Lords. This proposal was changed because the term maliciously was seen to be too narrow and with limited scope. However, the expression reckless is considered to have a wider capacity for interpretation. Therefore this modification of expressions portrays a positive impact of the decision of the House of Lords in RvG. The reasonable adult was an issue raised in RvG from the objective approach in the Caldwell test. The issue of a reasonable adult was challenged in a previous case known as Elliott v C  [12]  . This case highlighted the negative aspects of objective recklessness as the person in question was fourteen years of age with learning difficulties. Evidently the risk must be obvious to the reasonably prudent person, and not necessarily obvious to the defendant. Therefore this conveys the problems within the Caldwell test as it does not cover everything, including individual characteristics. In this case the fourteen year old girl was guilty of criminal damage as she failed to consider the risk which would have been obvious to a reasonable person. In Hardie,  [13]  which came after Elliott v C, contradicted the judgement of the latter. Hardie became intoxicated after taking valium, believing them not to be dangerous. While under this influence, he set fire to his ex-girlfriends house, with her in it. Originally convicted, Hardie appealed and his conviction was quashed on the grounds that in itself, the taking of valium was not reckless. This is contradictory because his actual mental state was considered, which was not the case in Elliott v C. Subsequently this issue was raised in RvG, where within the trial, Lord Diplocks direction in Caldwell was used and disagreement occurred as the issue of the reasonable adult was accepted in being aimed at the children of ages eleven and twelve. From this trial, the case went onto the House of Lords, which unanimously answered the conflict of this question. The impact of the House of Lords decision in RvG illustrated great criticisms on the Caldwell test, in where it was noted that the Caldwell case was based on fragile foundations because the law commission report was not referred to  [14]  and subsequently was referred to in RvG. Additionally this impact of criticism upon Caldwell was heavily enforced by other law lords, for instance, Lord Hutton illustrated his criticism nature by expressing Experience suggest that in Caldwell in law took a wrong turn  [15]  and agreeing with Lord Bingham. Therefore conveying Lord Diplocks decision in the Caldwell case was incorrect. Furthermore Lord Diplocks decision in the Caldwell case has been criticised by many academics who have described the decision to be Pathetically inadequate, slap happy and profoundly regrettable  [16]  . Therefore the decision in the House of Lords in RvG illustrated these criticisms by rejecting the Caldwell recklessness approach. On the other hand, one can note that the decision in RvG in the House of Lords has had significant criticism on the basis of the outcome of the case. Academics have criticised RvG that the decision of the case should have been different. For example, Professor Keating criticised the decision of RvG by where in his investigation, he revealed 69% of members of the public do regard behaviour such as that of the boys as criminally blameworthy  [17]   thus illustrating that the boys between ages eleven and twelve in RvG were old enough to appreciate the risks involved. Additionally, the House of Lords decision in RvG has conveyed an impact of a criticising nature. It can be seen that as a result of RvG, there are critics that illustrate that it will be too easy for a defendant to state that they have not considered a risk to others and therefore may by acquitted at their case. On the contrary, the House of Lords have reasserted the subjective test instead of the objective test seen in Caldwell and have also established that if the defendant is voluntary intoxicated, they can be convicted without the awareness of the risk present. In the RvG case, the House of Lords conveyed this to be seen as a special exception in accordance with crimes concerning intoxicated individuals. Evidently this conveys how the House of Lords in RvG took into account of refining the Caldwell test due it being unfair, and achieving justice by taking into consideration, individual characteristics which werent present before in the Caldwell test. As mentioned above, one can note that the House of Lords decision in RvG illustrated criticism thus conveying a negative impact of the case. This can be seen as the RvG case only overrules the objective test in criminal damage, therefore the Caldwell test still applies today in certain cases after RvG, this can be seen in R v Castle (Mark Anthony)  [18]  , in where both the RvG and Caldwell tests were applied. Additionally Simester and Sullivan, both academics argue that Caldwell reckless could still be applied in some offences  [19]  , an example in where Caldwell has been applied can be seen by the Data Protection Act 1998  [20]  . Alternatively, one can suggest that there has been a positive impact of the House of Lords decision in RvG. This can be conveyed by where the courts no longer have to distinguish what type of recklessness has to be applied and the House of Lords in RvG has illustrated that the subjective one will be upheld in future cases concerning recklessness. Therefore this has allowed the courts to scrutinize the expression reckless more easily than seen in cases before RvG. An illustration of this can be seen in Eliot v C as noted above. In addition one can note that RvG case has ruled out a clear distinction between negligence and recklessness. It can be illustrated by previous cases that before the decision in RvG, there was not a clear distinction between both concepts. An example of a case is Chief Constable of Avon v Shimmen  [21]  . Within this case, it was deemed that a person who stops to think will still be liable if he realised there was some risk. Therefore this case illustrates that the Caldwell test made individuals guilty who previously were not guilty due to them being careless, but now after RvG are reckless. Overall, one must appreciate the House of Lords decision in RvG, which has allowed a subjective test to be reasserted when referring to recklessness and introduced a reformed definition of subjective recklessness. Additionally the decision has allowed a clear distinction to be applied when assessing negligence and recklessness cases. Moreover, the Caldwell test has been overruled in relation to criminal damage. Furthermore it can be identified above that there are both positive and negative impacts which have departed from the RvG decision in the House of Lords. Having analysed all of the above facts and cases, it is clear that the law on recklessness has been problematic, and often contradictory in the past. However the case of RvG has gone somewhat to remedy this issue and can be said to have succeeded in many respects. But there is still room for a statutory reform even though it may be vastly difficult to make statutory provision for all potential problems within recklessness. However, in the long run, statutory definitions of all that constitutes recklessness, and explanations of issues surrounding the topic, would be most useful, and save the judiciary time and money. Booth v Crown Prosecution Service (2006)

Free Huckleberry Finn Essays: From Conformity to Manhood :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

From Conformity to Manhood  Ã‚      In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is the narrator. The character of Huck Finn was very different than the society that he was born into. Mr. Twain uses Huck’s open mindedness as a window to let humor and the book’s points and morals shine through. Huck always takes things very literally. This not only adds to the humor of the book, but it also lets some of the books deeper messages come through.  Ã‚   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, traces the story of a young man, Huck Finn, from conformity to the Southern way of thinking, to his own ideas about religion, wealth and slavery. In the first scenes of the book Huck is struggling to understand the concepts of Miss Watson's heaven and hell. He finds her harp strumming view of heaven boring and he wants to be in an exciting place. When Miss Watson tells Huck that he will get anything he prays for, he takes it very literally and decides to pray for fishing line, which he gets. But praying for fishing hooks didn't seem to work, when he asks her to pray for him to get some fishing hooks she calls him an idiot. These are both gentle pokes at southern religion. Christianity practiced a people so very pious, like Miss Watson, who can still treat their human slaves like property. This is an ongoing theme in the book. Twain points out some of the absurd incongruences between Christianity and the lifestyle of most of the south. Huck has not conformed to societies general way of thinking. When he is with the widow and Miss Watson, he begins to change, but Pap steals him away and he reverts back to a much more practical l ifestyle. Huck places very little value on the large sum of money that he has in the bank, while he finds smaller sums more important. Six thousand dollars was a fortune in the time that the book was written, but Huck, unlike the rest of his society wasn't impressed by it. This is again because of his literal mindedness. What could he use six thousand dollars for? He could use ten cents to buy some food, or five cents to buy some fishing line, but he had no use for huge sums of money. Society put value on wealth and property and book learning.

The Southern Gothic Motif of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

Thesis: In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the various types of outsiders and the small town of Maycomb contribute to the novel’s Southern gothic motif. All throughout the book Lee introduces us to different kinds of outsiders willing to make a change. During the Tom Robinson trial, Link Deas tells Bob Ewell, â€Å"†¦if I hear one more peep outa my girl Helen about not bein’ able to walk this road I’ll have you in jail before sundown† (334). By saying this, Mr. Deas is going against the typical Southern way of Maycomb by standing up to a white man in defense of a black woman. Also Scout says, â€Å"Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches† (108). Scout shows her diversity by refusing to wear dresses like all the other young, Southern ladies. Another example is how Mr. Dolphus Raymond was said to be a â€Å"†¦sinful man who had mixed children and didn’t care who knew it† (268). The town of Maycomb thinks that the way Mr. Raymond lives is against the way of society but he pays no mind and lives a happy life. Mayomb’s people are quite judgmental, but there are several inhabitants there that are 5not afraid to be outsiders. Maycomb is portrayed as a typical, small, Southern town where everyone knew each other and everyone had their place. â€Å"Maycomb was an old old town, but it was a tired old town when I knew it. The courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1). Scout describes her hometown as being very dull, hot, and boring the way she remembers it, which exemplifies some of the small town and southern characteristics of Maycomb. At school one day, Scout’s thoughts are that â€Å"Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged denim-shirted and flour-sacked first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs, were immune to imaginative literature† (22). Miss Caroline is from another county so she is not accustomed to Maycomb’s small town ways as Scout here describes. At another point during the book, Scout explains that â€Å"There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (175).We learn throughout the book that inhabitants of Maycomb County classify everyone into their own groups, usually by the amount of money they have or by their race because that’s just the way their Southern town is. Lee illustrates how Maycomb is a small, Southern town through caste systems and exclusion of outsiders. Appearance Vs. Reality In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the theme of appearance vs. reality to illustrate that people aren’t always the same on the inside as they are on the outside. For example. Mr. Dolphus Raymond admits to Scout, â€Å"Secretly, Miss Finch, I’m not much of a drinker, but you see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want to live† (268). Even though the town may think Mr. Raymond is married to a black woman because he’s a drunk, he’s actually genuinely happy and chose his lifestyle himself. One time Scout said, â€Å"It occurred to me that in their own way, Tom Robinson’s manners were as good as Atticus’s†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (260). People in Maycomb believed Tom Robinson was just a nigger that raped a white girl, but if they looked deeper they would see that he’s just as courteous as the town-known lawyer, Atticus Finch. Another great example of appearance vs. reality is when Scout states, â€Å"Neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived† (46). Everyone though Mrs. Dubose was hateful because she chose to be, but in actuality she was battling her drug addiction. People’s appearances don’t always show exactly who they are, you have to search deeper to understand a person’s true personality.

Conflicts of the Orders Patrician and Plebeian

Conflicts of the Orders Patrician and Plebeian After the expulsion of the kings, Rome was ruled by its aristocrats (roughly, the patricians) who abused their privileges. This led to a struggle between the people (plebeians) and the aristocrats that is called the Conflict of the Orders. The term orders refers to the patrician and plebeian groups of Roman citizens. To help resolve the conflict between the orders, the patrician order gave up most of their privileges, but retained vestigial and religious ones, by the time of the lex Hortensia, in 287- a law was named for a plebeian dictator. This article looks at events leading to the laws referred to as the 12 Tablets, codified in 449 B.C. After Rome Expelled Their Kings After the Romans expelled their last king, Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), the monarchy was abolished in Rome. In its place, the Romans developed a new system, with 2 annually-elected magistrates called consuls, who served throughout the period of the republic, with two exceptions: when there was a dictator (or military tribune with consular powers) orwhen there was a decemvirate (about which, more on next page). Different Opinions on the Monarchy - Patrician and Plebeian Perspectives Magistrates, judges, and priests of the new republic mostly came from the patrician order, or upper class*. Unlike the patricians, the lower or plebeian class may have suffered under the early republican structure more than they had under the monarchy, since they now had, in effect, many rulers. Under the monarchy, they had endured just one. A similar situation in ancient Greece sometimes led the lower classes to welcome tyrants. In Athens, the political movement against a hydra-headed governing body led to the codification of laws and then democracy. The Roman path was different. In addition to the many-headed hydra breathing down their necks, the plebeians lost access to what had been regal domain and was now the public land or ager publicus, because the patricians who were in power, took control of it to increase their profits, running it by slaves or clients in the country while they and their families lived in the city. According to a descriptive, old-fashioned, 19th century history book written by the H.D. Liddell of Alice in Wonderland and Greek Lexicon fame, A History of Rome From the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire, the plebeians were mostly not so well off petty yeomen on small farms who had needed the land, now public, to satisfy their families basic needs. During the first few centuries of the Roman republic, the number of chafing plebeians increased. This was partly because the plebeians population numbers increased naturally and partly because neighboring Latin tribes, granted citizenship by treaty with Rome, were enrolled in the Roman tribes. Gaius Terentilius Harsa was a tribune of the plebs that year. Thinking that the absence of the consuls afforded a good opportunity for tribunitian agitation, he spent several days in haranguing the plebeians on the overbearing arrogance of the patricians. In particular he inveighed against the authority of the consuls as excessive and intolerable in a free commonwealth, for whilst in name it was less invidious, in reality it was almost more harsh and oppressive than that of the kings had been, for now, he said, they had two masters instead of one, with uncontrolled, unlimited powers, who, with nothing to curb their licence, directed all the threats and penalties of the laws against the plebeians.Livy 3.9 The plebeians were oppressed by hunger, poverty, and powerlessness. Allotments of land didnt solve the problems of poor farmers whose tiny plots stopped producing when overworked. Some plebeians whose land had been sacked by the Gauls couldnt afford to rebuild, so they were forced to borrow. Interest rates were exorbitant, but since land couldnt be used for security, farmers in need of loans had to enter into contracts (nexa), pledging personal service. Farmers who defaulted (addicti), could be sold into slavery or even killed. Grain shortages led to famine, which repeatedly (among other years: 496, 492, 486, 477, 476, 456 and 453 B.C.) compounded the problems of the poor. Some patricians were making a profit and gaining slaves, even if the people to whom they lent money defaulted. But Rome was more than just the patricians. It was becoming the main power in Italy and would soon become the dominant Mediterranean power. What it needed was a fighting force. Referring back to the similarity with Greece mentioned earlier, Greece had needed its fighters, too, and made concessions to the lower classes in order to get bodies. Since there werent enough patricians in Rome to do all the fighting the young Roman Republic engaged in with its neighbors, the patricians soon realized they needed strong, healthy, young plebeian bodies to defend Rome. *Cornell, in Ch. 10 of The Beginnings of Rome, points out problems with this traditional picture of the makeup of early Republican Rome. Among other problems, some of the early consuls appear not to have been patricians. Their names appear later in history as plebeians. Cornell also questions whether or not patricians as a class existed prior to the republic and suggests that although the germs of the patriciate were there under the kings, the aristocrats consciously formed a group and closed their privileged ranks sometime after 507 B.C. In the first few decades following the expulsion of the last king, the plebeians (roughly, the Roman lower class) had to create ways of dealing with problems caused or exacerbated by the patricians (the ruling, upper class): poverty,occasional famine, andlack of political clout. Their solution to at least the 3rd problem was to set up their own separate, plebeian assemblies, and secede. Since the patricians needed the physical bodies of the plebeians as fighting men, the  plebeian secession  was a serious problem. The patricians had to yield to some of the plebeian demands. Lex Sacrata  and  Lex Publilia Lex  is the Latin for law;  leges  is the plural of  lex. It is thought that between laws passed in 494, the  lex sacrata, and 471, the  lex publilia, the patricians granted the plebeians the following concessions. the right to elect their own officers by tribeto recognize officially the plebeians sacrosanct magistrates, the tribunes. Among the soon to be acquired powers of the tribune was the important  right to veto. Codified Law After inclusion in the ranks of the ruling class via the office of tribune and the vote, the next step was for the plebeians to demand codified law. Without a written law, individual magistrates could interpret tradition however they wished. This resulted in unfair and seemingly arbitrary decisions. The plebeians insisted that this custom end. If laws were written down, magistrates could no longer be so arbitrary. There is a tradition that in 454 B.C. three commissioners went to Greece* to study its written legal documents. In 451, upon the return of the commission of three to Rome, a group of 10 men was established to write down the laws. These 10, all patricians according to the ancient tradition (although one appears to have had a plebeian name), were the  Decemviri  [decem10; virimen]. They replaced the years consuls and tribunes and were given additional powers. One of these extra powers was that the  Decemviris decisions could not be appealed. The 10 men wrote down laws on 10 tablets. At the end of their term, the first 10 men were replaced by another group of 10 in order to finish the task. This time, half the members may have been plebeian. Cicero, writing some 3 centuries later, refers to the 2 new tablets, created by the second set of  Decemviri  (Decemvirs), as unjust laws. Not only were their laws unjust, but the Decemvirs who wouldnt step down from office began to abuse their power. Although failure to step down at the end of the year had always been a possibility with the consuls and dictators, it hadnt happened. Appius Claudius One man, in particular, Appius Claudius, who had served on both decemvirates, acted despotically. Appius Claudius was from an originally Sabine family that continued to make its name known throughout Roman history. The blind censor,  Appius Claudius, was one of his descendants. In 279 Appius Claudius Caecus (blind) expanded the lists from which soldiers could be drawn so as to include those without property. Before then soldiers had to have a certain level of property in order to enlist.Clodius Pulcher  (92-52 B.C.) the flamboyant tribune whose gang caused trouble for Cicero, was another descendant.Appius Claudius was also a member of the gens that produced the Claudians in the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors. This early despotic Appius Claudius pursued and brought a fraudulent legal decision against a free woman, Verginia, daughter of a high ranking soldier, Lucius Verginius. As a result of Appius Claudius lustful, self-serving actions, the plebeians seceded again. To restore order, the Decemvirs finally abdicated, as they should have done earlier. The laws the  Decemviri  created were meant to resolve the same basic problem that had faced Athens when  Draco  (whose name is the basis for the word draconian because his laws and punishments were so severe) was asked to codify Athenian laws. In Athens, before Draco, interpretation of the unwritten law had been done by the nobility who had been partial and unfair. Written law meant everyone was theoretically held to the same standard. However, even if exactly the same standard were applied to everyone, which is always a wish more than a reality, and even if the laws were written, a single standard doesnt guarantee reasonable laws. In the case of the 12 tablets, one of the laws prohibited marriage between plebeians and patricians. Its worth noting that this discriminating law was on the supplemental two tablets those written while there were plebeians among the Decemvirs, so it is not true that all plebeians opposed it. Military Tribune The 12 tablets  were an important move in the direction of what we would call equal rights for the plebeians, but there was still much to do. The law against intermarriage between the classes was repealed in 445. When the plebeians proposed that they should be eligible for the highest office, the consulship, the Senate wouldnt completely oblige, but instead created what we might call a separate, but equal new office known as  military tribune with consular power. This office effectively meant plebeians could wield the same power as the patricians. Secession [secessio]: Withdrawal or the threat of withdrawal from the Roman state during times of crisis. Why Greece? We know of Athens as the birthplace of democracy, but there was more to Romans decision to study the Athenian legal system than this, especially since there is no reason to think the Romans were trying to create an Athenian-like democracy.Athens, too, once had an underclass suffering at the hands of the nobles. One of the first steps taken was to commission Draco to write down the laws. After Draco, who recommended capital punishment for crime, continued problems between rich and poor led to the appointment of Solon the law-giver.Solon and the Rise of Democracy In  The Beginnings of Rome, its author, T. J. Cornell, gives examples of English translations of what was on the 12 Tables. (The tablet placement of the injunctions follows H. Dirksen.) Whoever shall have been lacking witness, he is to go every other day to clamor (?) at the door (II.3)They are to make a road. Unless they laid it with stones, he is to drive carts where he shall wish (VII.7)If the weapon flew from [his] hand rather than [he] threw it (VIII.24)Table III says that a debtor who cannot  repay within a set period can be sold into slavery, but only abroad and across the Tiber (i.e. not in Rome, since Roman citizens could not be sold into slavery in Rome). As Cornell says, the code is hardly what we would think of as a code, but a list of injunctions and prohibitions. There are specific areas of concern: family, marriage, divorce, inheritance, property, assault, debt, debt-bondage (nexum), freeing of slaves, summonses, funeral behavior, and more. This hodge-podge of laws does not seem to clarify the position of plebeians but instead seems to address questions in areas in which there was disagreement. It is the 11th Table, one of the ones written by the plebeian-patrician group of Decemvirs, that lists the injunction against plebeian-patrician marriage. Sources Scullard, H. H.  A History of the Roman World, 753 to 146 BC. Routledge, 2008.

Data mining titanic dataset Essays

Data mining titanic dataset Essays Data mining titanic dataset Paper Data mining titanic dataset Paper Titanic dataset Submitted by: Submission date 8/1/2013 Declaration Author: Contents Dated: 29/12/2012 The database corresponds to the sinking of the titanic on April the 15th 1912. It is part of a database containing the passengers and crew who were aboard the ship, and various attributes correlating to them. The purpose of this task is to apply the methodology of CRISP-DMS and follow the phases and tasks of this model. Using the classification method in rapid miner and both the decision tree and INN algorithms, I will create a training model and try apply the class survived or didnt survive. If I apply a decision tree to the dataset as it is, I get a prediction rate of 78%. I will try various techniques throughout this report to increase the overall prediction rate. Data mining objectives: I would like to explore the pre conceived ideas I have about the sinking of the titanic, and prove if they are correct. Was there a majority of 3rd class passengers who died? What was the ratio of passengers who died, male or female? Did the location of cabins make a difference as to who survived? Did chivalry ring through and did Women and children first actually happen? Data Understanding: Describe the data: Figure Class label: Survive (1 or O) 1 = survived, died. Type = Binomial. Total: 891. Survived: 342, Died: 549 Attributes: 10 attributes 891 rows The dataset have primarily a categorical type of attribute so there is low information content. This might indicate a decision tree would be an appropriate model to use. I can see that the number of rows in the dataset is indeed 10 to 20 times the number of columns, so the number of instances is adequate. There doesnt seem to be any inconsistencys in the data. Pappas: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class. Type: polynomial. Categorical, 3rd class: 491, 2nd class: 216, 1st class: 184 0 missing Name: Name of Sex: Male, female. Type: binomial. Male: 577, Female: 314 0 missing Age: from 0. 420 to 80. Average age: 29, standard deviation of 14+-, Max was 80. 177 missing Sibs (Siblings on board): Type: integer. Average less than 1, highest 8. This suggested an outlier, but on inspection the names where there were 8 siblings corresponded. (The name was sage, 3rd class passengers, all died. ) O missing Parch: number of parents, children onboard. Type: integer. Average: 0. 3, deviation 0. 8. Max was 6. O missing Ticket: ticket number. Type: polynomial. To me these ticket numbers seem quite random and my first inclination is to discard them. O missing Fare: Cost of ticket. Type: real. Average: 32, deviation +- 49. Maximum 512. There seems to be quite a disparity in the range of values here. Three tickets cost 512, outliers? O missing Cabin: cabin numbers. Type: polynomial. 687 missing From looking at this data I think I can discount one of my initial questions about cabin numbers. If there was more data it might be an interesting factor as regards cabin locations and survival. As it stands the quality of the data is not good, there are Just o many missing entries. I. E. Greater than 40%. So I will delete (filter out) the cabin attribute from the dataset. The age attribute could cause a problem with the amount of fields missing. There are too many to delete. I might use the average of all ages to fill in the blanks. Explore the data: From an initial exploration of the data, I was able to look at various plots and found some interesting results. I have tried to keep my findings to my initial questions that I wanted answered. Was there a majority of 3rd class passengers who died? You can tell from Figure 2 that this was true. This graph Just shows survival by class, 3rd class fairing the worst. Again this is shown with a scatter plot but with the added attribute sex. You can see on the female side of the first class passengers, only a few died. Interestingly it shows that it was mostly male 3rd class passengers who perished, and it is demonstrated that more males then females died. There is a clear division in classes demonstrated. This graph answers my other question. What was the ratio of passengers who died, male or female? From this we can see that mainly males did not survive. Although there were more males on board (577), about 460 perished. From the females (314), about 235 survived. Another attribute that needs attention is the age category. I wanted to find out if the women and children first policy was adhered to, but there are 177 missing age values. This is going to complicate my results on this. From leaving the 177 as they are, I get this graph: but this is not conclusive in Figure 5. I thought that the fare price might indicate a childrens price and therefore allow me to fill in an age, but the fare price doesnt seem to have much pattern. Another idea I thought might help would be to look at the names of passengers, I. . Miss might signify a lower age. (In 1912 the average age of marriage was 22, so anyone with title miss could have an age less than 22. ) Names which include master might indicate a young age as well. Figure 5 also indicates possible outliers on the right hand side. From this graph I could easily see the breakdown of the different class of passenger and where they embarked from. It is obvious that Southampton had the largest number of passengers get on board. Question had the highest proportion of 3rd class passengers compared to 2nd and 1st class at that port, and its also interesting o note that this was an Irish port. This graph further explores the port of embankment and shows the survival rate from each, as well as the different classes. To me it seems that the majority of 3rd class passengers were lost who came from Southampton port, although they did have the highest amount of 3rd class passengers. A closer look at Southampton port. The majority who didnt survive were 3rd class (blue), also noted is the handful of 1st class passengers (green) who died, yet Southampton had the highest number of 1st class passengers to board. See figure 6. Verify data quality There were a number of missing values in the dataset. The highest amount of missing data came from the cabin attribute. As it is higher than 45% (687 missing) I decided to filter out this column. There are also 177 missing values from the age attribute. This amount of missing data is again too large a percentage to ignore and needs to be filled in. I can see that the dataset contains less than 1000 rows, so I think that sampling will not have to be performed. There doesnt seem to be any inconsistencys in the data. There are still 2 missing pieces of information from the embankment attribute. I see that they are 1st class passengers so from my graph on embankment I think I can put her embankment from Churchgoer. The other passenger is a George Nelson, which I will add to Southampton. I decided to filter out names also. I dont see how it can help in the dataset. It may have helped with age, by looking at the title as I said, but for this I Just used the average age to replace the missing values. Another approach to filling in the missing age fields might be linear regression. Remove possible outliers? I can see that there may be some outliers. For instance in the fares attribute, there re three tickets which cost 512 when the average is 32. They were first class tickets, but the difference is huge. Data Preparation: Here is the result of using x validation on the dataset before any data preparation has taken place. I will now sort out the problem of 667 cabin numbers missing. With it being higher than 40%, Vive decided to delete the attribute entirely. Vive also deleted the name attribute, as I dont see how it will help. By deleting cabin, name and ticket, here is the result I get: I replaced the missing age fields with the average of ages, this increased the accuracy lightly and gave these results with x validation: I used detect outliers and picked the top ten and then filtered them out. This gave this result: The class recall for survived has not improved much. Increasing the number of neighbors in the detect outliers operator improved things, also limiting the filter to deleting 5 made a better accuracy. I decided to use specified binning for the ages and broke the ages into three bins. For children aged up to 13, middle aged from 13 to 45, and older from 45 to 80. I tried different age ranges and found that these ranges yielded the best results. It did increase the accuracy. I also used binning for the fares, splitting them into low, mid, and high which also improved results on the confusion matrix. I used detect outlier to find the ten most obvious outliers, and then used a filter to get rid of them. I have decided to remove cabin from the dataset, and also there are 177 missing age values which I have tried various approaches in changing. I changed the ages to the average age, but this gives a spike in the number of ages 29. 7. Example of average age problem: Modeling: I tried to implement both the decision tree and inn algorithms, seeing as the dataset as primarily categorical. I found that inn yielded the best results regarding accuracy. This was set at k=l . The accuracy was not great at 73%. The parameter of K is too small and may be influenced by noise. INN: 5 worked the best at 82. 38%. This seems to be the optimal value for k, and the distance is set right. Class precision is about even on each class. Decision tree: The decision tree algorithm didnt give me as much accuracy, and I found that turning off pre pruning gave me a better accuracy. From the decision tree, the age binning seemed to predict middle aged males (13 to 45) with a low fare well. The class recall for survived was not great at 67. 85%. Generate Test Design I used x-validation to perform cross validation on the data. I initially used 20 for the number of validations, but then found 25 achieved a better result. I used the apply model and performance operators as these are best used for classification tasks and work well with the polynomial attribute. This then presented me with a confusion matrix where I could measure the accuracy of my model by comparing the accuracy, recall and precision. I found that throughout my various testing of operators and valuating the confusion matrix, raising the class recall on true 1 (survived) most difficult. After all my efforts I managed to raise it to 73. 6%. I. E. 91 were incorrectly predicted as surviving. Figure Final result Workspace: From my initial objectives I was able to determine the answers using rapidness. I wanted to find out if those who perished were in the majority 3rd class passengers. I found this to be true, and also that the majority who died were male 3rd class passengers. Female passengers and children fared better than most which leads me t o believe that the rule of women and children first applied. This may have been sighted more to the first and second class passengers as demonstrated in Figure 3. Because the dataset had such a large amount of data missing concerning age, this was more difficult to determine. I found the embarked attribute to be interesting in the graphs I could generate from it. There seemed to be a large number of 3rd class passengers who died that had embarked from Southampton. If all the cabin numbers were present I wonder if Southampton 3rd class passengers had cabins close to where the iceberg hit? Did this have a bearing on their survival? From the different algorithms I used I found that Inn yielded the better results.

US President Mr. George W. Bush Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

US President Mr. George W. Bush - Essay Example Dear Mr. President, please accept my sincere regards on behalf of CatttleMag. I wish to put forth our recent findings on feedlots. Sir, as you know, we have a large cattle population that is of immense importance to our economy. We are also the world's largest consumers of dairy products.The cattle products are vital to our food habits, the diary and meat products are consumed internally as well as exported and cattle are pivotal to our thriving leather business. The above only strengthen the fact that the US internal production of dairy is not enough and if we can utilize our potential, the industry can generate economical prosperity and employment.The US is the world’s largest consumer of dairy products. The US is also the largest importer of dairy products. A look into the consumption pattern shows a huge domestic demand for cattle products. The lack of cattle feedlots and their improper distribution across the country is a logistical challenge and an environmental hazard. Added to these are reports that suggest improper material management at the cattle feedlots causing serious environmental concerns. Unfortunately, these bright lights harbor darkness beneath them. The cattle feedlots that cater to the country are also a major health concern. Improper handling of livestock, poor slaughtering, and waste and carcass management has given rise to obnoxious fumes that not only smell bad but also have adverse respiratory implications. This is amid reports that in the race to have higher production, cattle are allowed to feed on grass for just 6 to 8 months. Their life at the cattle feedlots is spent feeding on grains, with loads of antibiotics, chemicals and hormones to promote unnatural growth over the next 8 to 12 months. This fattening on unnatural grain and supplemental protein diet causes of two serious digestive disorders found in feedlot-bred cattle. These call for immediate legislative actions so that the animals are treated ethically and environme ntal standards maintained in our culinary and economic quests FOCUS STATEMENT Sir, cattle feedlots are crucial to successful cattle health and associated economy management. Cattle feedlots: 1. Minimize streamline handling of cattle and reduce stress on both cattle and the workers, 2. Environmental balance is maintained, 3. Cattle feed and feeding habits are standardized, 4. Ensures scientific waste management, and 5. Ensures an efficient and profitable operation But the above has to be achieved within scientific standards of the environment and should confirm to ethical standards of treatment to animals. This is even more important after recent revelations that the industry has also failed to implement any type of welfare audit system for cattle operations and no federal laws protect the welfare of beef cattle in the U.S., other than the Humane Method of Slaughter Act. There should be monitoring of the cattle feed in the feedlots to check use of growth promoting medications that not only sicken the cattle but also put human health at risk on consumption of dairy products and meat of these cattle. BACKGROUND / NARRATION Since 1980, US has been the single largest importer of dairy products from New Zealand, valued at over $1000 million in 2004 alone. Till 2003, US has been the largest consumer of cheese and butter and ranked among the highest in overall consumption of dairy products. (U.S. Dairy at a New Crossroads in a Global Setting1). Kansas ranks third in the value of live animals and meat exported to other countries at $343.2 million (CJOnline2). A recent study suggests that in spite of the pivotal role of cattle in the economy, the cattle industry has failed to maintain meaningful standards for the care of beef cattle (Summary of Scientific Evidence Illustrates the Life of Cattle 3). It is indeed unfortunate. And that makes formulation of new policies essential. It must be appreciated by all concerned that an industry takes considerable time to lose its position and relevance. But once that happens, it will take even longer to regain the position. In the backdrop of a global economy, our present position & success and the outlook of our counterparts, it is essential that we look at the reasons for the collective success, find our weaknesses and

Software Quality Assesment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Software Quality Assesment - Coursework Example This ensures that there is prevention of any unforeseen defects. When started from the beginning of the product manufacture, the involved parties are able to consult with each other and understand the defects that arise as they progress to several stages of production. Quality is a difficult and comprehensive idea that always is determined by several factors. This could either be from the transcendental point of view that views quality as an idea that is recognizable but hard to describe. From users’ point of view quality is the ability of a product to accomplish its reason for being manufactured. Manufacturers see quality as sticking to laid down product qualifications. the products point of view that views quality as been one and the same to with definite features of a software and finally the value based point of view that views quality in relation to how much the final user is willing and able to pay so as to acquire it. There are several ways that the quality of software is ensured during manufacturing process (Tian 2005). These are: Software Testing Software testing is a systematic process mainly dedicated to the detection software defects. The product being manufactured is put to test under conditions that can be manipulated. This could be in special control rooms within the company premise specially designed for this type of work. The main reason the manufacturers ensure that such an environment should be in a position to be manipulated is because the manufacturers intend to create several scenarios whereby things go wrong when they are not supposed to and then they find ways to deal with the problem. Software Verification and Validation The verification process is undertaken so that the product is cleared of unforeseen malfunctions right before the testing process commences. Verification is made up of evaluations, meetings, assessing plans, policies, check ups, specifications among other details. On the other hand, validation comes immediately after validation and is the definite analysis of the product to establish its short comings that might arise due to malfunctions. Test Case A test case is a document that outlines the contributions, actions or events and the probable reactions of software. This assists the manufacturers/programmers to find out whether all aspects of the products are in the expected working status. This document contains s specifics such as the test case identifier, name, purpose, test circumstances, procedure as well as the expected outcomes. Good Design A good design is achieved when the general make up of the product is understandable, effortlessly adjustable and easy to preserve. The perfect design of a product always relies on the final users requirements. There are those products meant for commercial use thus this are made more complicated and very efficient than those meant for private/home use. Software Inspection This is a process meant to uncover imperfections and problems especially in records stipulating specifications, coding, and test cases among other issues (Rombach 1993). It is imperative to understand that this process just detects a hitch and notifies the manufacturers however it is not a process for rectification of such a problem. Most of the time in software quality checking procedures, it is very cost effective. It is open to many observers but only a single reader, moderator and a single individual for taking notes is required. Walkthrough This is a spontaneous and off the record meeting that is meant for analyzing the product. This is always attended by the management of the