Use of non-alphabetic languages (e.g. Chinese pictogrraphs) in information system Essay Example for Free

Use of non-alphabetic languages (e.g. Chinese pictogrraphs) in information system Essay One of the problems of information flow in the network system is the language barrier especially when information exchange is between two ports with different language. Linked with this problem is the difficulty in reading the information transferred, unless the two use the same writing system. Today, the effort in universalizing the system of writing or even the language had gone not much farther that is why, even in the information system, the hindrances brought by this problem can be clearly seen. There are a lot of systems of writing around the world but they can be categorized either in at least one of these three groups namely, logographic, syllabary and alphabetic (library. thinkquest. org). The first system, the logographic uses a single symbol to represent a word. The syllabary uses a single symbol to represent a syllable, which can then be combined to form a word. These two systems are of common use to many countries in Asia such as Japan, China and Korea. The last system, the alphabetic, uses characters or letters as the smallest unit to form syllables, which then represents a single unit of sound. Of these three, the alphabetic is the easiest to learn, mainly because it has less number of characters than those of the other systems that even has over thousands of symbols (library. thinkquest. org. ), although this is not necessarily mean that alphabetic is the most effective and efficient form to be use. Having the variety of system used in day to day encounter, the said variety is brought to the electronic-based system of communication which is the information system. The current information system uses mostly the QWERTY keyboard (home. earthlink. net). This type of keyboard specializes in the use of the alphabetic languages. Since alphabetic has only about less than 50 characters including letters and numerals, a unit can be represented in just one key, making it efficient for someone to key in words using the keyboard. On the other hand, system that uses logographic and syllabary such as the Chinese pictographs and the Japanese’ Katakana and Hiragana cannot have a single representation for a character since they are using thousands of characters and putting one by one in a single key for a character is not practical and even not an idea to think of. Solving this problem, there are two most common approaches in keying in characters or input text for non-alphabetical languages developed and are incorporated in the standard QWERTY keyboard so as to assist non-alphabetical language users to make input a little effective. These two are the radical-based method and the phonetic-based method on inputs (Hamzah pp. 311-312). In the radical based method, the standard stokes for a specific language is typed and then possible characters possessing the strokes you typed are prepared for you and then you select the right character that you are supposed to input. For example, there are 11, 172 Hangul characters but those characters has only 24 fundamental or basic strokes. Thus, to type Hangul or Korean characters, we only need to use 24 keys where every key has a unique stoke. This method is now commonly used in cellular phones. On the other hand, the phonetic-based input method uses the sound property of the alphabetic system in keying in characters. See Figure 1, courtesy of Hampzah p. 311 from http://www. pacis-net. org/file/2006/1104. pdf. In the figure on the previous page, if you want to key in non-alphabetic characters, you must first think of how the word is pronounced and then use its representation in alphabetic system. The original Japanese word can be pronounced as â€Å"tegakino† and thus tegakino must be typed in the QWERTY keyboard. Because the Japanese language have complexity in pronunciation brought about by words with similar sounds (www. japan-guide. com), then typing tagekino alone will not guarantee that what you are supposed to type is the right thing, so the system will then list characters with similar pronunciation as tagekino and now you are allowed to select the right group of characters that will fit or that you are intended to type. Noticed that in these two methods, the effort of input of a single character or a word is significantly higher than the effort it takes to input an alphabetical character or a word. This hypothesis is further proven by the study made on the input of Chinese and Japanese characters. The result of the study revealed that it takes about 36% of the total time of input of a Chinese character just to pick the right character from the list, even after the system of writing of Chinese is condensed and over 2000 characters are simplified (www. omniglot. com). Also, about 70% of the total time of input of Japanese characters account for choosing a kanji character that will be used in input for the intended Japanese character (Hamzah p. 313). Time is truly important in many of the transactions in the information system. More of the times, the data transfer must be done in real-time since the information transferred is either very important for the receiver or are controversial. Using the previous two methods of text input for non-alphabetical language, time is sacrificed and thus the flow of information or the processing of information becomes relatively slower, thus affecting great deal of transactions. Studies have been made in solving this issue and they come up with the idea of freeform annotation. Freeform annotation would mean that keying in characters will not use keyboard but by hand or through handwriting. This will use a somewhat scanning device that will scan the input through handwriting and then the system will match the strokes input with the characters stored in database. After the matching has been done, the characters selected by the computer will then be displayed and the user will be prompted by the computer to confirm if the selected characters are the intended characters of the users. However, only few are interested in making studies about the use of this method in information system (Hamzah p. 312). Other solutions that are now getting its way into the electronic system are those that are related to live translation. This would simply means that databases are to be build and programs would be produced so as to make information flow between users with different system of writing meet or be understood by both. Databases and programs such as Automatic Machine Translator, Multilingual Customer Support Platform and Glossary Builder will be utilized during data transfer to suit the preferred language and system of writing of the user (partners. wholetree. com). Thus using these innovations, the language barrier between nations with different systems of writing can now be lessen or even eliminated if more and more advancement with the technology and the linguistics experts’ cooperation in the succeeding projects. In the electronic age, the common problems that have arises concerning the language has been bought in the electronic-based system. Problems such as variations in the system of writing and the variations of pronunciation and usage of words are now a problem of the information system. Though there are assumed solutions to these problems like the annotation and translation processes, it is still difficult to solve the problems stated above. It is somehow linked with the problems with the variations of culture, for language is somewhat a part of it, that is why it is one of those problems that are almost impossible to give a definite solution. I am only saying it is almost impossible because I believe that through advancement and collaborative efforts, this flaw can have a solution. References Basic Information. 6 June 2007. http://www. japan-guide.com/e/e2050. html. Consider QWERTY†¦ the Typewriter Keyboard†¦Ã¢â‚¬  6 June 2007. http://home. earthlink. net/ ~dcrehr/whyqwert. html. Hamzah, Muhd Dzulkhiflee, et, al. (2006) A Video Analysis of Eye Movements During Typing. 6 June 2007. http://www. pacis-net. org/file/2006/1104. pdf. â€Å"Simplified Chinese Characters†. Omniglot: Writing Systems and Languages of the World. 6 June 2007. http://www. omniglot. com/writing/chinese_simplified. htm#simp. â€Å"The Development of Writing. † ThinkQuest. 6 June 2007. http://library. thinkquest. org/ C004367/la6. shtml.

Business Ethics Essay -- Ethics

According to Wikipedia, ethics, also known as â€Å"moral philosophy†, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality. Concepts such as good and bad, noble, right and wrong, justice and virtue. To business, ethics is a tool to examine principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. Therefore, business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. Ethics is a part of the larger social ethics, and also always affect business development. In other words, business ethics is a factor of determining the fundamental purposes of a company. Marketing ethics is a subset of business ethics. Because in marketing, ethics deals with the principles, values and ideas by marketers; it shows how they behave in business cases. Marketing ethics affects other processes of business. Visual communication is part of marketing ethics, it is observed and serves as an instrument of epistemic closure restricting worldviews with stereotypes of gender, social status and race relationships. Pricing is how firms work out price between produce processing and customers, Anti-competitive practices with supply and chains, Content of advertisements, like products regarded as immoral or harmful to public. Children and marketing could be concerned in this case. Children is a weak group and should get more protection in business sales action. In fall 2008, China’s baby milk crisis was about thousands of Chinese babies have developed kidney stones after drinking milk contaminated with melamine. An industrial chemical has highlighted the need for the country to improve detection standards for chemical contaminants in foods. In this case, the milk’s company failed to study ethics, instead of seeking profit wit... ...h person has grown up with a particular cultural background and their own understanding of right and wrong. From a businessperson’s point of view, Social factors also play and important part and so does education and up bringing it. To firms, it has significant meaning to promote ethical spirit with business development. Because ethics is a primary element to all business, ethical is an essential part of the foundation in society. A business or society that lakcs ethical principles is bound to fail sooner or later. References †¢ www.wikipedia.com ( vocabulary & definition search) †¢ CCTV4 â€Å"Face to Face† TV Program ( Statistics approve) †¢ Shang Hai University Survey ( Published by China daily ) †¢ Financial Time ( Resources& Example) †¢ (Published by Zhang Ruimin, CEO of Haier) †¢ www.baidu.com (Resources&Example)

Benefit of changing to Activity Based costing system

Activity Based Costing has been of great help to the companies and other forms of businesses. With the help of ABC, the organizations have been able to implement strategies to overcome various problems facing the welfare of their businesses and other activities in the organizations. The organizations have been able to assign cost of each activity to the products and services that are offered by a particular organization. This is done for the sole purpose of elimination of high prices to some products and due to lack or low profits in other products or services.The ABC rule is used as a tool by businesses to assign the cost of the business activities to the goods and services (organization products) offered by the business to its customers. It is used as a tool that understands the customers and the product cost and the overall profitability. It is also used to in supporting the decision making process as would be used in product pricing, marketing, identification and a way to measure the initiative of improvements. IntroductionThe Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is a method used by accountants that can allow the business to collect data in regard to their operations costs. Their operations cost is then assigned to specific activities that include planning, production and other organization activities and then they are associated with the variety of products and services. This enables the company to know what products and services have increasing profits and which have increased losses, this help in learning the flow of each product and service within the company.The use of ABC method help the concerned personnel in the company to prepare an effective data that will aid in preparing budget that will bring a greater achievements in the company and enable the company to have an effective plan for the expense that will keep the company running smoothly for a given period of time. ABC method is mostly effective and is much recommended for a longer period of time over t he short term as opposed by the theory of constraints. Research objectives The objectives of this research are: †¢ To determine the effectiveness of ABC†¢ To investigate how companies implement the ABC in their activities †¢ To compare the excellence of companies that use ABC and those that don’t use ABC †¢ To determine the advantages and disadvantages of ABC Literature review The activity based costing got first implementation in the 1980s. It was a formed as an alternative to replace the traditional way of cost management systems that was not effective in producing favorable results when allocating the costs. The implementation of the system was advocated by Professor Robert Kaplan of Harvard business school.It was initially used for private business though it has currently gained usage by even the public forums like those used to measure the efficiency of the governance. The ABC programs require proper planning and great commitment from the highest mana gement. It is recommendable to start up with trials in the organization. These trials may be done with the departments that are not performing well as it would be expected of them. This would be a great chance to show that the ABC is an effective system that would save money for the company with great achievements.On the other hand, if the company des not save money on this, either the system process was not well implemented or may not be effective for the company. (Gary, 1998) According to the study, the business should first set up a team that will master the progress of the product and which activity would be appropriate for the product and service. The team should include all persons from the different departments of the company. After the formation of the team and putting in place all the required materials, the activities that cost money are determined. (Cokins, 1999 and David 1991)At this point, great attention is paid for details on each activity are required, most of the co sts might be hidden and may bring in controversy there after for the may not be obvious initially. Even though there might be some replacement to human labor, it’s still important to determine the fixed cost of a product or service. (Cokins, 2000) Even though this method is important to the business, it has some risks. The companies that use the ABC system, the risk using too much time and money while trying to implement the system and collecting data, going through it and in implementations.Lack of detailed data can lead to frustrations of the managers and can on the other hand contribute to the down fall of the system. Mistake done on the data collection can lead to downfall again if not noticed before implementation. (Joyce, 1999) Through the implementation of the activity based costing, the employees are able to understand the different costs that are involved in different activities. This enables them to analyze and identify the activities that add value to the product a nd those that do not, it helps them improve on value and benefits are realized.In the DHL Company, the employees are involved in collecting data and views from the clients; this enables them to involve themselves in quality improvement of their services and eliminate the non profitable activities that enable the overall company’s efficiency. (Henricks, 1999) The ABC system has helped the DHL Company to answer the market need in providing quality service at a better and competitive price. This system has helped the company’s to management in the decision making process. (Hicks, 1998) This has helped the company to reduce the price of their services without a decline in value of their services.(Hicks, 1999) The benefits of the ABC system are now in use in most institutions that include the government departments and the public financial institutions. The Barclays bank New York changed its accounting method to provide accurate and cost effective data. Through the change t o ABC, the Barclays bank has particularly found it helpful compared to the former funding based accounting systems that was designed for ensuring legal compliance. (Paulo, 1998) In the use of ABC, the managers are able to direct funds where they are more beneficial.They are able to learn the weaker points in the organization making it easy for them to implement the most beneficial activity in the business. (Robert, 2004) The managers in Barclays bank found that ordinary accounts were not doing much well compared to loans, they campaigned for people to take more loans at simpler rates and prolonged repayments period, and this increased to Banks profits than ever. The bank is launching new loan strategies that are expected to double the profits. (Robert and Bruns, 1987)

August

Sampling products at various stores In Sioux Falls and surrounding areas. Provide customer service to customers In store at all times. Inventory of products before and after sales and record numbers to marketing firm. Send invoice of completion of position. Medication Aid Resident Assistant 11/08- 2/1 1 DOD Rumen Assisted Living Provided nursing care assigned by staff nurse Provided nursing care In conformance with established standards and administrative policies. Performed room checks Assisted with organizing charts Charted blood pressures, Tall's Passed medication as scheduled and PORN BasisOther duties as assigned Medication Aid 10/07-02/08 Ward Assisted Living Sioux Falls, South Dakota Administer medications to residents at scheduled times and as needed. Assist with dietary needs of residents Housekeeping, cleaning of residents residential room's and assist with daily laundry Other Duties as assigned Independent Contractor 1 1104-present Haute Model/Reel People Talent Agency Oma ha, Nebraska Worked cooperatively with employer on pre-marketing sales promotions. Researched product prior to marketing to customers. Set up and gather inventory for specific product demonstrations.Ensure that the product and services provided to customers are effective and satisfactory. Prepare post-inventory report at the completion of event. Customer Assistance Professional 08/02-04/04 1st Financial Bank; USA Sioux Falls South Dakota Advised credit card holders of delinquency on billing statements. Proposed variety of payment program solutions to bring customers up to date. Provide positive feedback on budgeting, maintaining balances and establishing good credit. Provide superior customer service via telephone.

The Effects of Satire essays

The Effects of Satire essays Often authors use satire to put a point across in their writing. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley; Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury; and The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood are all good examples of such satire. Each of these authors mock society in the way they feel it will be in the future if some of the actions that society takes go too far. They all do this by describing a different kind of Utopia. There are forms of brainwashing, censorship, control and fear in each novel which then lead to some sort of rebellion because of personal conflicts. Huxley uses satire in his novel to describe what he is thinking about technology today. In Brave New World there is a convention where babies are artificially produced. There is no such thing as reproducing humans sexually. There is still such a thing as sex, yet it is strictly for pleasure only. There are so many new ways to produce humans technologically today and Huxley is stating that if society doesnt control such technology that the technology will soon take control of us. Our society could turn out to be that of a Brave New World. In Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury is satirizing technology also. Bradbury uses a thing called the Parlour Family. This is a room that has something much like a television studio. The main character, Guy Montag has one of these. His wife is constantly glued to it and calls the people her family. She is more involved with her parlour family that she almost forgets Guy is there most of the time. This parlour represents the television or even the computer and the internet. Technology is so advanced today that Bradbury is predicting how technological it will be in the future. He is depicting people of today who are constantly glued to a television or computer. Bradbury is putting across that society must not let technology tare you away from your family and friends. People should get out and do more then wa...

Alzheimer\s Disease Essays - Cognitive Disorders, Free Essays

Alzheimer?s Disease Alzheimer?s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who discovered the disease in 1906 after studying the brain tissue of an elderly woman who died of an unusual mental illness. It is a serious disease which causes mental deterioration and eventually death. Alzheimer?s disease is ?a progressive degenerating process of neural tissue? (Black). The symptoms of this disease can be slowed with certain treatments, but cannot yet be prevented or cured. Although not an infectious disease, Alzheimer?s is still very prominent in the world. Forty-five percent of people who are eighty-five and older have Alzheimer?s disease (Alzheimer?s). Also, the number of cases of Alzheimer?s is rapidly increasing. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) states that, ?experts suggest that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer?s disease? and that there are ?200,000 individuals under age 65 who have younger-onset Alzheimer?s? (NIH). Alzheimer?s is also the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. While other diseases? mortality rates are declining, Alzheimer?s mortality rate has gone up by sixty-six percent in the past eight years alone (Alzheimer?s). According to the NIH, scientists do not yet understand what causes Alzheimer?s. However, they do believe that Alzheimer?s develops due to a complicated series of events in the brain. The cause of Alzheimer?s is thought to be a mix of factors having to do with genetics, environment, and lifestyle. It is interesting to note that recent studies have shown that African Americans are actually at a higher risk of getting Alzheimer?s than other races. This may be due to the fact that African Americans have a higher rate of vascular disease, which is one of the risk factors of Alzheimer?s (African). Women also are more susceptible to this disease. As the NIH states, ?Because people differ in their genetic make-up and lifestyle, the importance of any one of these factors in increasing or decreasing the risk of developing Alzheimer?s may differ from person to person? (NIH). This makes finding a cure for Alzheimer?s all the more difficult because so many factors can affect it. Alzheimer?s is categorized in four different levels of severity: Early, Mild, Moderate, and Severe. During the Early Alzheimer?s stage, the patient has a decline in certain aspects of cognition such as word-finding, vision/spatial issues, and impaired reasoning or judgment. Some other symptoms may include: depression, social withdrawal, mood swings, distrust in others, irritability, aggressiveness, changes in sleeping habits, wandering, loss of inhibitions, and delusions, such as believing something has been stolen (NIH). Later, in the Mild Alzheimer?s stage, memory loss and other cognitive abilities worsen. A person with Alzheimer?s may have problems such as getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, poor judgment, and mood and personality changes. As it progresses even further into Moderate Alzheimer?s, damage occurs to parts of the brain that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and consciou s thought. Memory loss and confusion will worsen even more, and the patient will have trouble recognizing familiar people (NIH). The NIH says that, ?[The patient] may be unable to learn new things, carry out tasks that involve multiple steps (such as getting dressed), or cope with new situations. They may have hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia, and may behave impulsively? (NIH). By the time the patient reaches the final stage, Severe Alzheimer?s, the brain tissue will have shrunk significantly. According to the NIH, ?People with severe Alzheimer?s cannot communicate and are completely dependent upon others for their care. Near the end, the person may be in bed most or all of the time as the body shuts down? (NIH). Alzheimer?s vastly affects the daily life of a patient and his or her family. A person with Alzheimer?s will be very limited in the things that most people consider normal, daily tasks. As stated above, they will have trouble communicating with other people, and memory loss will take away most of or all reliability from them. They will also lose the ability to drive safely, as they will be more likely to get lost, will have a harder time turning, or may drift out of their lane more often (Driving). Their family and friends will also be greatly affected

Personality Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personality Development - Essay Example Similarly, if a person lacks the cognitive abilities by nature, that is, if there is some inherited mental deficiency, development will be at stake. Cognition, by virtue of its definition, plays the most vital part in developing an individual's personality. Moreover, evolution, genes, and environment are three other factors that highly contribute to the development of personality. It is not only the history of humankind and its birth but also the type of environment they are exposed to which shape an individual. As far as aggression is concerned, it takes its roots from all three factors. Evolution can lead to the appearance of aggressive personalities if relying on the trait of aggression for human survival is deemed necessary and vital for sustainability. If in the past, people who were more aggressive succeeded in sustaining themselves better, it is an evidence of a high proportion of aggressive personalities present today. Furthermore, it is also certain that an individual's pers onality is also a result of their genes. ... Circumstances in life, which an individual faces and the demands of those situations are best, reflected in the type of their personality. For a child, the parents are the best role models. In that, they shape the child's personality through different ways and interactions. For example, if a child's parents appreciate their time management, innovative drawings, or projects and encourage them to opt for newer challenging tasks, the child will be high on conscientiousness. Moreover, if those parents encourage behavior such as public speaking, socializing and deter them from introversion, the child will grow up to be an extrovert. Behaviors encouraged by parents, tend to be repeated and become a part of the child's personality. Self-efficacy is another important factor that plays a part in shaping an individual's personality. Basically, ''self-efficacy is defined as people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave... A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways'' (Bandura, 1994). A person is rightly defined by their level of self-belief. If a person lacks the desired self efficacy, it is very likely that they will be adversely effected by the minor challenges in life or certain tasks and will not be able to cope up to achieve desired goals. Such behaviors lead to a weak personality that is easily discouraged and deterred by trivial problems. However, individuals who possess a strong self-efficacy can be seen as those with stronger personalities, those