Measles outbreak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Measles outbreak - Essay Example The unvaccinated women from California transmitted the virus in theme parks and Airports (Gastaà ±aduy, et al., 2014). The State Health departments from Colorado, California, Washington, and Utah have confirmed cases of an extremely contagious strain of measles. These cases, taken together, they would account for about 12% of all measles cases reported in United States over the last one year. The Centre for Disease Control, (CDC) projects that there are about 220 cases of measles reported per annum (Gahr, et al., 2014). According to the CDC, Measles is the most deadly of all childhood fever or rash diseases. Measles is a virus that inhabits the throat and nose of all the people that are infected and causes a rash, fever, coughing and red eyes. Although, there is a vaccine, an anti-vaccination movement has gained momentum in the United States despite the increased debunking and criticism of the movements claims (Jin, 2015). On January 7th, 2015, the California’s Department of Public Health believes that, in December, the individual infected with measles was residing in Disneyland Theme Park. The person unknowingly infected other people at the theme park (Zipprich, et al., 2015). According to LA Times, at that time, among the people infected with Measles was unvaccinated traveller in her 20s. On 28th December, while at the Theme Park the woman became sick and contagious. From there, she flew from Orange County to Washington State, Snohomish County, and then returned to Orange County, on January 3rd. Four days later, on January 7th, health officials in California announced an outbreak of measles (Jin, 2015). Measles viruses are contagious; they can live up to two hours on the surfaces of the infected people, transmitting it through sneezes and coughs (Whitaker & Poland, 2014). The CDC states that Measles is a highly contagious virus that 90% of the unvaccinated people close to the sick person are infected. Although, over 20 Million

Transformational Leadership Style And Organizational Culture Management Essay

Transformational Leadership Style And Organizational Culture Management Essay This quantitative research investigates the relationship between transformational leadership style organizational culture with organizational commitment and job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. The literature supported the relationship between these variables and the relationship between these variables was investigated by different approaches. However, in the current study the researcher uses transformational leadership style which introduced by Bass as a independent variable and four types of organizational culture such as Clan, Hierarchy, Adhocracy, Market and which introduced by Cameron and Quinn in 1999 as a mediator variable, while the three dimensions of organizational commitment such as Affective, Normative and Continuance commitment which introduced by Meyer and Allen in 1991 and job satisfaction as dependent variables. The objectives of this research are Firstly, to determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Secondly, to determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Thirdly, to determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocratic) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Fourthly, to determine the effect of Organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocratic) on the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. fifthly, to determine the effect of Organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocratic) on the relationship between tr ansformational leadership style with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Lastly, to determine the nature of the relationship between organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. To achieve these aims four instruments will use in this research such as Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) uses to test employee opinions about leadership style, Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) uses to measure Organizational Culture, (TCOCQ) Three Components Organizational Commitment Questionnaire uses to measure Organizational Commitment and (JSS) Job Satisfaction Survey to measure Job Satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. The pilot study asserted that these instruments were suitable for this research because the result of the Cronbachs alpha reliability coefficients for the transformational leadership style, organizational culture, organizational commitment and job satisfaction are more than 0.70. The nature of the data and the relationship between the method and the research objectives are considered as the basis for selecting the right statistical methods. Therefore, this study used what is relevant to the research question and framework. The statistical methods will be used in this study consist of Descriptive analysis, Inferential analysis, Correlation, and Multiple linear regression. The findings from this study will also provide some useful information of leadership style in oil sector in Libya to many researchers and managers with the opportunity to gain and enhance their knowledge in this field, and will be contribute building knowledge and an understanding in this field in National Oil Corporation in Libya insha Allah. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Libya is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa. Libya has attracted hydrocarbon exploration since 1956, when the first wildcat oil well was drilled onshore in the Sirte Basin. Libya granted multiple concessions to Esso, Mobil, Texas Gulf, and others, resulting in major oil discoveries by 1959. The government dominates Libyas economy through control of oil resources, which account for approximately 95% of export earnings, 75% of government receipts, and over 50% of GDP. The National Oil Corporation was established in 1970. It dominates Libyas oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for around half of the countrys oil output. Figure 1.1the map of Libya describes Gas Pipeline, Oil Pipeline, Oil Field, Liquefied Gas Planet Oil Terminal (Oil Exporting harbor) and Petroleum refining which owned and controlled by National Oil Corporation in Libya. http://www.odysseydawn.com/libya-oil-map.jpg Figure 1.1: Map of Libya describes Gas Pipeline, Oil Pipeline, Oil Field, Liquefied Gas Planet Oil Terminal (Oil Exporting harbor) and Petroleum refining which owned and controlled by National Oil Corporation in Libya. Source: http://www.google.com.my/images (8-4-2011) National Oil Corporation is carrying out exploration and production operations through its own affiliated companies, or in participation with other companies under service contracts or any other kind of petroleum investment agreements. This is in addition to marketing operations of oil and gas, locally and abroad. NOC has its own fully owned companies which carry out exploration, development and production operations, in addition to local and international marketing companies. NOC also has participation agreements with specialized international companies. Such agreements have developed into exploration and production sharing agreements, in accordance with the development of the international oil and gas industry, and international petroleum marketing. The National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC) is a state-owned company that controls Libyas oil and gas production. The company is the biggest oil producer in Africa. Its mandate was to endeavor to promote the Libyan economy by undertakin g development, management and exploitation of oil resources as well as by participating in planning and executing the general oil policy of the state. The Brega Petroleum Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NOC, was set up to carry out the marketing activities of NOC, and the marketing assets of all the foreign oil companies were nationalized. A point of that during the past four decades, the impact of leadership styles on organizational performance has been a topic of interest among academics and practitioners working in the area of leadership (Darwish, 1998; Sadler, 2003; Rowe et al., 2005; Gadot,2007; Yiing, and Zaman Ahmad, 2009). The researcher would like to examine how leadership style influences organization performance in Libya in (NOC). Rowe et al (2005) pointed out that the most prominent reason for this interest is the widespread belief that leadership can affect organizations performance (Jing and Avery, 2008). In addition, the creation of a state-owned oil company allowed Libya to follow in the footsteps of other oil-producing economies, where control of such a revenue-generating resource lay with the government. Soon after its establishment, NOC signed a joint venture agreement with the U.S. Occidental Petroleum involving production-sharing. In 1971, NOC arranged a processing deal with Sincat of Italy for refining oil products for domestic consumption, thereby providing a cheap supply of oil for internal Libyan consumption. A joint drilling company was formed with Saipem, a subsidiary of the Italian ENI, in early 1972. By April 1974, production-sharing agreements had been reached with Exxon, Mobil, Compagnie Franà §aise des Pà ©troles, Elf Aquitaine, and Agip. By using the surplus funds and technical expertise of the foreign oil companies, the problem of stimulating investment in exploration was resolved. In 1980, the Libyan Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco) was established by NOC throug h the amalgamation of the Arabian Gulf Exploration Company, Umm-al-Jawabi Oil Company, and direct NOC exploration and production interests. NOC continued to make production-sharing agreements. In 2004, NOCs estimated crude oil output was 1.623 million barrels per day. The company hoped to raise its production to two million barrels per day by 2007. Figure 1.2 below shows the revenue of National Oil Corporation in Libya from (1999 to 2009). Figure 1.2: Libyas Oil Production (1999-2009) in million barrels per day Source: British Petroleum, BP Statistical Review of World Energy June (2010) This study set out to investigate whether there is an interrelation between transformational leadership style and organizational culture, and the effect of organizational culture on the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the National Oil Corporation in Libya. In particular, our knowledge would benefit from an understanding of how leadership and organizational culture affect job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study examines Libya National Oil Corporation in relation to leadership style in the organization. Thus, the study also would like to explore an organizational culture of the National Oil Corporation and finally how does leadership style in particular transformational leadership style may influence the National Oil Corporation progresses. The subject of leadership is interesting for many researchers. In addition, the continued search for good leaders has resulted in the development of many leadership theories (Mosadegh and Yarmohammadian, 2006). According to Oluseyi and Ayo (2009) Leadership is a central feature of organizational performance. This is an essential part of management activities of people and directing their efforts towards the goals and objectives of the organization. There must be an appropriate form of behavior to enhance performance. Leadership might be viewed in terms of the role of the leaders and their ability to achieve effective performance from others. In recent years, leadership has been studied in various ways, depending on the researchers methodological preferences and definition of leadership (Chen, 2002; Reuvers, et al., 2008; Gadot, 2007). Oluseyi and Ayo (2009) defined Leadership as the moral and intellectual ability to visualize and work for what is best for the company and its employees. Good management and effective leadership help to develop team work and the integration of individual and group goals. On the other hand, Kenny and Zaccaro (1983) suggested that leaders to be successful need a behavioral repertoire and the ability to select the right role for the situation. To do this, leaders need both cognitive and behavioral complexity and flexibility a leader needs the ability to perceive the needs and goals of a constituency and the ability to adjust ones personal approach to group action (Leban and Zulauf 2004). Therefore, Mosadeghrad et al (2006) pointed out that while there are several styles of leadership such as: autocratic, bureaucratic, laissez-faire, charismatic, democratic, participative, situational, transactional, and transformational leadership. Not everyone agrees that a particular style of leadership will result in the most effective form of organizational behavior. Different styles were needed for different situations and each leader needed to know when to exhibit a particular approach. No one leadership style is ideal for every situation, since a leader may have knowledge and skills to act effectively in one situation but may not emerge as effectively in a different situation. In contrast, Darwish (1998) pointed out that there is wide disagreement among scholars with regard to effective leadership style. For instance, Brozik (1994) argues that no one type of leadership style is the best in all situations. The leader, subordinates and the environment or the task determine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of each style Kur (1995) believes that effectiveness in leading is directly related to the leaders way of thinking about him, subordinates, organization and environment. Likert (1977) argue that the participative style is more productive in any culture. In the last three decades many scholars had received increasing attention to two new paradigms called transformational leadership and transactional leadership where the interests of the study are. It added a new dimension to organizational studies, namely the visionary aspect of leadership and the emotional involvement of employees within an organization. The basic notion is that a visionary leader can create an impression that he has high competence and a vision to achieve success (Jing and Avery, 2008). According to Bass (1985) developed a theory of visionary or transformational leadership whereby the leader inspires and activates subordinates to perform beyond normal expectations (Jing and Avery, 2008). The study would like to examine this in National Oil Corporation in Libya. On other hand, Lowe et al., (1996) pointed out that there are four dimensions of transformational leadership style such as: Idealized influence or charisma, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. (Bass et al., 2003; Piccolo and Colquitt, 2006), defined these dimensions for transformational leadership as follows: a. Idealized influence or Charisma is the degree to which leaders behave in such a charismatic way that followers identify with them. b. Inspirational motivation is the degree to which leaders articulate visions for the future that appeal to followers. c. Intellectual stimulation is the degree to which leaders challenge assumptions, take risks, and solicit followers ideas. d. Individualized consideration is the degree to which leaders attend to followers needs, act as mentors or coaches, and listen to followers concerns. Bass, (1985), Burns (1978) Leadership is considered a factor that has a major influence on the performance of organizations, managers and employees. More recently, researchers have focused mainly on the subordinates perspective and proposed two main facets of leadership transactional and transformational. This theory suggests that transformational leadership, more than transactional leadership, has a stronger positive effect on employees attitudes towards their job, their job environment, and ultimately affects their work performance. Oluseyi and Ayo (2009) pointed out that leadership is a central feature of organizational performance. This is an essential part of management activities of people and directing their efforts towards the goals and objectives of the organization. There must be an appropriate form of behavior to enhance performance. Leadership might be viewed in terms of the role of the leaders and their ability to achieve effective performance from others. On the other hand, Xenikou and Simosi (2006) suggested that organizational culture and transformational leadership have been theoretically and empirically linked to organizational effectiveness. During the 1990s a number of comparative studies on the culture-performance link showed that certain culture orientations are conducive to performance. Lok and Crawford (2004) pointed out that organizational culture can influence how people set personal and professional goals, perform tasks and administer resources to achieve them. Organizational culture affects the way in which people consciously and subconsciously think make decisions and ultimately the way in which they perceive. While other researchers has suggested that organizational culture can exert considerable influence in organizations particularly in areas such as performance and commitment. Bass (1985) said that transformational leaders frequently change their organizations culture with a new vision and revision of its shared assumptions values and norms. In a transformational culture, there is generally a sense of purpose and a feeling of family. Superiors feel a personal obligation to help new members assimilate into the culture. Assumptions, norms, and values do not preclude individuals from pursuing their own goals and rewards. In addition, Bass (1985) mentioned that transformational qualities lead to performance beyond expectations in organizational settings. A study of Ogbonna and Harris (2000) organizational culture and leadership finds that the two areas have been independently linked to organizational performance. A little critical research attention has been devoted to understand the links between the leadership and culture also and the impact that such an association might have on organizational performance (Ogbonna and Harris, 2000). Organizational commitment is an important employee attribute from the organizations perspective. Several studies have found relationships between high-commitment human resource policies and positive organizational outcomes such as productivity, quality, and profitability (Perryer and Jordan 2005). Organizational commitment has been studied in relation to employee performance there is still considerable controversy surrounding the precise nature of the relationship. While there is some evidence to suggest that organizational commitment is a mediating variable between leadership and performance. Consequently, studies that examine the complex relationships and interaction between these variables will be of value to management theorists and practitioners. Lok and Crawford (2004) said that organizational commitment and job satisfaction have received significant attention in studies of the work place. This is due to the general recognition that these variables can be the major determinants of organizational performance and effectiveness. A numerous of studies in the area of job satisfaction and organizational commitment have been asserted that leadership and organizational culture have significant impact on both job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Chen and Francesco, 2000; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Williams and Hazer, 1986). Lok and Crawford (2004) had the same result in his research which has been done to make comparative between Hong Kong and Australian managers the result confirms that organizational culture and leadership styles are important organizational antecedents of job satisfaction and commitment. However, the influence of national culture on leadership styles, organizational culture and their subsequent effects on employees job satisfaction and organizational commitment were not explored intensively enough in National Oil Corporation in Libya. To choose National Oil Corporation in Libya for the current study because Libya is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It holds the largest proven oil reserves in Africa which make it as one of the most important oil-producing countries in Africa and in the world. Therefore, petroleum sector in Libya is very important sector which is like the backbone of Libyan economy. In this context, National Oil Corporation of Libya (NOC) is a state-owned company that controls Libyas oil and gas production. The company is the biggest oil producer in Africa. Its mandate was to endeavor to promote the Libyan economy by undertaking development, management and exploitation of oil resources as well as by participating in planning and executing the general oil policy of the state. In additionally, the study expected to offer some useful information of leadership style in National Oil Corporation in Libya, and hopes that this useful information can help to contribute building knowledge and an understanding in this filed in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 1.2 Purpose of Research Study The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between transformational leadership, organizational culture, with job satisfaction and organizational commitment in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Cameron and Quinn (1999) pointed out that numerous studies report the most frequent reason given for the failure of planned organizational change was due to a neglect of the organizational culture. According to Schneider (2000) Organizational culture is a key to organizational success, and effective leadership is the means by which the culture is created and managed. Understanding organizational culture is an important activity for managers because it affects strategic development, productivity and learning at all levels of management (Twati and Gammack, 2006). The relationship between transformational leadership style and organizational culture was examined by some researchers such as Xenikou and Simosi (2006), who asserted in his study that organizational culture had direct impact on organization performance while transformational leadership had indirect positive influence on performance through its impact achievement orientation. This study showed that organizational culture mediates the effect of transformational leadership on performance. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to accept or reject the suppositions that there is a relationship between transformational leadership style organizational culture with job satisfaction and organization commitment in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Therefore, Yiing and Bin Ahmad (2009) pointed out that leaders behaviors have positive and significant relationship with organizational commitment. On the other hand, cultures have significant moderating effects on the relationship between leadership behaviors and organizational commitment. However, the main academic purpose of this study is to make a contribution in leadership field behaviors on culture and on organization behavior in the petroleum sector in Libya. 1.3 Problem Statement The oil sector is the most important sector in Libya. Libya is one of the most important oil-producing countries in Africa and in the world and that the interest in this sector is very important. Therefore, this sector needs professionals leaders who can achieve all the goals of both employees and organization. An organization short on capital can borrow money, and one with a poor location can move. But an organization short on leadership has little chance for survival (Darwish, 1998). A set of characteristics that help leaders to achieve the plans, programs, policies and strategy that have been developed and the advancement of their respective organizations. The most important of these characteristics experience, decision-making, knowledge and to deal with the environmental variables that may occur both within and outside the organization. The weakness of these skills and characteristics makes it difficult for leaders to carry out its functions and achieve organizations goals. Therefore, Chen (2002) found that transformational leadership behaviors have a slightly positive relationship with organizational commitment. While Harris and Mossholder (1996), pointed out that organizational culture stands as the center from which all other factors of human resource management derive. It is believed to influence individuals attitudes concerning outcomes, such as commitment, motivation, morale, and satisfaction. In addition, Bass (1985) have mentioned that demonstrates the relationship between leadership and culture by examining the impact of different styles of leadership on culture. He argues that transformational leaders frequently work towards changing the organizational culture in line with their vision. Similarly, Brown (1992) observes that good leaders need to develop the skills that enable them to alter aspects of their culture in order to improve their organizational performance. The leaders of National Oil Corporation have to know that organizational culture, organization commitment and job satisfaction are very important factors can help them to achieve the goals of the organization, and these variables enhance organization performance. In short, and based to what has been mentioned above, this study is trying to clarify the relationship between transformational leadership style organizational culture with job satisfaction and organizational commitment in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Which the researcher believes it does not exist in Libya National Oil Corporation. Specifically, the relationship between transformational leadership style organizational culture with job satisfaction and organizational commitment and how organizational culture effect the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment and job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. The research questions are as follows: 1. Is there any relationship between transformational leadership style organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 2. Is there any relationship between transformational leadership style job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 3. Is there any relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 4. Does Organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) have any effect on the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 5. Does Organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) have any effect on the relationship between transformational leadership style with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 6. Is there any relationship between organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya? 1.4 Focus and Research Objectives The overall objective of this study is to examine the role of leadership style in the National Oil Corporation in Libya. The specific objective in this study is to clarify the relationship between transformational leadership style with job satisfaction and organizational commitment while organizational culture is the mediate variable in the National Oil Corporation in Libya. The study expected to offer some useful information of leadership style in oil sector in Libya, and hopes that this useful information can help to contribute building knowledge and an understanding in this filed in National Oil Corporation in Libya. The breakdown of these objectives yields the following specific objectives: 1. To determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 2. To determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 3. To determine the nature of the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 4. To determine the effect of organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) on the relationship between transformational leadership style with organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 5. To determine the effect of organizational culture (Clan, Market, hierarchy and adhocracy) on the relationship between transformational leadership style with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 6. To determine the nature of the relationship between organizational commitment (affective, normative and continuance) with job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 1.5 Rationale of Study Previous studies have examined the link between leadership paradigms and behaviors and have shown a positive relationship, none has explained the nature of this connection, and therefore, how and why leadership affects performance. Future research needs to address this deficiency. In sum, based on the above discussion, there are many problems and gaps in existing studies of the leadership performance relationship that need to be addressed before a clear picture of this relationship can be drawn (Jing and Avery, 2008). Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership, organizational culture with job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the Notional Oil Corporation in Libya. Therefore, the topic of leadership is very important to the organization performance and the entire petroleum sector. Leaders can set the direction of the organization and it is very significance issue can lead the organization to achieve their goals. To do this study in the Notional Oil Corporation in Libya because Libya is the one of the (OPEC) organization and this sector is very important which is like the backbone of Libyan economy. Therefore, organization culture influences organization performance and also the employees. Organization culture influence perceptions of employees towards investors of technology transfer. Additionally, try to add useful information to improve our knowledge for this field in Libya. 1.6 Significance of Study This study is important for several reasons, to make a positive view of transformational leadership style in the National Oil Corporation in Libya. To clarify the problems and barriers encountered in application of transformational leadership style programs in the National Oil Corporation in Libya in the context to the case included in this study. In addition, to clarify the role of leadership to improve organization performance in the National Oil Corporation in Libya and to what extent this leadership succeeded to achieve organizations goals. On the other hand, this study is an attempt to participate in and contribute to research resulting in knowledge increases. Assist scholars, and other researches in leadership field. The researcher achieved that the leadership style and organizational culture play a significant role to effect organizational commitment and job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. In particular, how transformational leadership style and organizational culture can impact organizational commitment and job satisfaction in National Oil Corporation in Libya. Finally, the researcher achieved the nature of the relationship between all these concepts such as transformational leadership style, organizational culture, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in National Oil Corporation in Libya. 1.7 Definition of Terms 1.7.1 Leadership Leadership, like most other concepts in social sciences, has no single or unique definition. It has been defined differently by different authors. Leadership is defined as the process of influencing employees to work toward the achievement of objectives. While others defined leadership as a management function, which is mostly directed towards people and social interaction, as well as the process of influencing people so that they will achieve the goals of the organization. 1.7.2 Leadership Style Leadership style is the way to understand why leaders, faced with seemingly identical situations, use such different decision processes. Leadership style can be viewed as a series of managerial attitudes, behaviors, characteristics and skills based on individual and organizational values, leadership interests and reliability of employees in different situations. In the other meaning, it is the ability of a leader to influence subordinates to performing at their highest capability. 1.7.3 Transformational leadership Transformational leadership is grooms followers into future leaders by giving them freedom to control their behavior, elevates followers concerns from physical to psychological needs

The Articles of Confederation Essay -- Governmental American History E

The Articles of Confederation As the Revolutionary War came to a close, the Continental Congress introduced a new form of government as it instituted the Articles of Confederation. The articles established a democratic government that granted the states sufficient power to control their own laws and regulations. However, the Articles of Confederation were ineffective and, hence; they failed to provide a strong government. During this time in an American history, often known as the â€Å"Critical Period†, regionalism and anarchism began to expand as a result of the following reasons. The Continental Congress controlled public affairs, but the Articles of Confederation neglected to grant the Congress power to enforce laws or unify the States. Under the Articles, the United States lacked a solid monetary system to ensure that taxes would be paid and to protect commerce, both nationally and foreign trade. Also, without leading national figure, the strong unity America gained during the Revolutionary War began to diminish along with the nations overall strength. Being that Congress had only the power to recommend actions to the states, the Articles were incompetent. Law and recommendations could not be further enforced by Congress. Each state obtained its own form of a constitution, monetary system and method to enforce the laws. Each state committed strongly to the state laws and self interests rather than to the recommendations of Congress. America’s sense of unity began to plummet as regionalism pitted one state against another. For example, Rhode Island voted to reject Congress’s recommendation of an impost on imported goods because its leaders felt the idea objected the state’s constitution. (Document A) ... ...ct to gain the use of the Mississippi, and it could only negotiate a treaty with Spain, but it was ineffective. During this â€Å"Critical Period†, the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the United States with an effective and powerful government. The American sense of unification began to dissolve compared to the colonists’ attitudes during the Revolutionary War. The states were divided separately into one nation, rather than unified into one nation. Each state, with its own interests, currency, and government debilitated economic progression. Congress had no authority to enforce recommendations, or to unify the states. Without the presence of a president or national court system, it became impossible to make necessary changes within the nation. If this young nation was to survive, the Articles of Confederation needed to be altered or replaced. The Articles of Confederation Essay -- Governmental American History E The Articles of Confederation As the Revolutionary War came to a close, the Continental Congress introduced a new form of government as it instituted the Articles of Confederation. The articles established a democratic government that granted the states sufficient power to control their own laws and regulations. However, the Articles of Confederation were ineffective and, hence; they failed to provide a strong government. During this time in an American history, often known as the â€Å"Critical Period†, regionalism and anarchism began to expand as a result of the following reasons. The Continental Congress controlled public affairs, but the Articles of Confederation neglected to grant the Congress power to enforce laws or unify the States. Under the Articles, the United States lacked a solid monetary system to ensure that taxes would be paid and to protect commerce, both nationally and foreign trade. Also, without leading national figure, the strong unity America gained during the Revolutionary War began to diminish along with the nations overall strength. Being that Congress had only the power to recommend actions to the states, the Articles were incompetent. Law and recommendations could not be further enforced by Congress. Each state obtained its own form of a constitution, monetary system and method to enforce the laws. Each state committed strongly to the state laws and self interests rather than to the recommendations of Congress. America’s sense of unity began to plummet as regionalism pitted one state against another. For example, Rhode Island voted to reject Congress’s recommendation of an impost on imported goods because its leaders felt the idea objected the state’s constitution. (Document A) ... ...ct to gain the use of the Mississippi, and it could only negotiate a treaty with Spain, but it was ineffective. During this â€Å"Critical Period†, the Articles of Confederation failed to provide the United States with an effective and powerful government. The American sense of unification began to dissolve compared to the colonists’ attitudes during the Revolutionary War. The states were divided separately into one nation, rather than unified into one nation. Each state, with its own interests, currency, and government debilitated economic progression. Congress had no authority to enforce recommendations, or to unify the states. Without the presence of a president or national court system, it became impossible to make necessary changes within the nation. If this young nation was to survive, the Articles of Confederation needed to be altered or replaced.

Data mining

This is an accounting calculation, followed by the application of a threshold. However, predicting the profitability of a new customer would be data mining. Dividing the customers off company according to their profitability. Yes, this is a data mining task because it requires data analysis to determine who the costumers are that brings more business to the company. Computing the total sales of the company. No, this is not a data mining task because there Is not analysis involve, this information can be pull out of any booking program. Sorting a student database based on student ID numbers.No, this Is not a data milling activity because sorting by ID numbers doesn't Involved any data mining task. This is a simple database query Predicting the future stock price of a company using historical records. Yes. We would attempt to create a model that can predict the continuous value of the stock price. This is an example of the area of data mining known as predictive modeling. We could use regression for this modeling, although researchers in many fields have developed a wide variety of techniques for predicting time series. Monitoring the heart rate of a patient for abnormalities. Yes.We would build a model of the normal behavior of heart rate and raise an alarm when an unusual heart behavior occurred. This would involve the area of data mining known as anomaly detection. This could also be considered as a classification problem If we had examples of both normal and abnormal heart behavior. For each of the following, identify the relevant data mining task(s): The Boston Celtic would like to approximate how many points their next opponent will score against them. A military intelligence officer is interested in learning about the captives proportions of Sunnis and Shies in a particular strategic region. A NORA defense computer must decide immediately whether a blip on the radar is a flick of geese or an incoming nuclear missile. A political strategist is seeking the b est groups to canvass for donations in particular county. A homeland security official would like to determine whether a certain sequence of financial and residence moves implies a tendency to terrorist acts. A Wall Street analyst has been asked to find out the expected change in stock price for a set of companies with similar price/earnings ratios.Question 3 For each of the following meetings, explain which phase in the CRISP-DIM process is represented: Managers want to know by next week whether deployment will take place. Therefore, analysts meet to discuss how useful and accurate their model is. This is the Evaluation phase in the CRISP-DIM process. In the evaluation phase the data mining analysts determine if the model and technique used meets business objectives established in the first phase. The data mining project manager meets with data warehousing manager to discuss how the data will be collected. This is theData Understanding phase in the CRISP-DIM process. The data wareh ouse is identified as a resource during the Business Understanding phase; however the actual data collection takes place during the Data Understanding Phase. In this phase data is collected and accessed from the resources listed and identified in the Business Understanding phase. The data mining consultant meets with the vice president for marketing, who says that he would like to move forward with customer relationship management. The main objective of business is to review during the Business Understanding Phase.So, therefore after the meeting it seems the data mining consultant gained success in convincing UP of marketing to provide approval for performing data mining on the customer relationship management system. The data mining project manager meets with the production line supervisor to discuss implementation of changes and improvements. The discussion of implementation of changes and improvements in the project whether specific improvements or process changes are required to ensure that all important aspects of the business are accounted is performed under the Evaluation Phase.The meeting held with business objective to collect and cleanse the data to ensure the quality of data. The analysts meet to discuss whether the neural network or decision tree model should be applied Question 4 [10 points] Describe the possible negative effects of proceeding directly to mine data that has not been preprocessed. Before data mining algorithms can be used, a target data set must be assembled. As data mining can only uncover patterns actually present in the data, the target data set must be large enough to contain these patterns while imagining concise enough to be mined within an acceptable time limit.A common source for data is a data mart or data warehouse. Pre-processing is essential to analyze the multivariate data sets before data mining. The target set is then cleaned. Data. Question 5 [1 5 points] Which of the three methods for handling missing values do you prefer? Which method is the most conservative and probably the safest, meaning that it fabricates the least amount of data? What are some drawbacks to this method? Methods for replacing missing field values with: User defined constants Means or modesRandom draws from the distribution of the variable Question 6 Describe the differences between the training set, test set, and validation set. The training set is used to build the model. This contains a set of data that has fricasseed target and predictor variables. Typically a hold-out dataset or test set is used to evaluate how well the model does with data outside the training set. The test set contains the fricasseed results data but they are not used when the test set data is run through the model until the end, when the fricasseed data are compared against the model results.The model is adjusted to minimize error on the test set. Another hold-out dataset or validation set is used to evaluate the adjusted model in step #2 where, a gain, the validation set data is run against the adjusted model and results compared to the unused fricasseed data. The training set (seen data) to build the model (determine its parameters) and the test set (unseen data) to measure its performance (holding the parameters constant). Sometimes, we also need a validation set to tune the model (e. G. , for pruning a decision tree). The validation set can't be used for testing (as it's not unseen). Data mining This is an accounting calculation, followed by the application of a threshold. However, predicting the profitability of a new customer would be data mining. Dividing the customers off company according to their profitability. Yes, this is a data mining task because it requires data analysis to determine who the costumers are that brings more business to the company. Computing the total sales of the company. No, this is not a data mining task because there Is not analysis involve, this information can be pull out of any booking program. Sorting a student database based on student ID numbers.No, this Is not a data milling activity because sorting by ID numbers doesn't Involved any data mining task. This is a simple database query Predicting the future stock price of a company using historical records. Yes. We would attempt to create a model that can predict the continuous value of the stock price. This is an example of the area of data mining known as predictive modeling. We could use regression for this modeling, although researchers in many fields have developed a wide variety of techniques for predicting time series. Monitoring the heart rate of a patient for abnormalities. Yes.We would build a model of the normal behavior of heart rate and raise an alarm when an unusual heart behavior occurred. This would involve the area of data mining known as anomaly detection. This could also be considered as a classification problem If we had examples of both normal and abnormal heart behavior. For each of the following, identify the relevant data mining task(s): The Boston Celtic would like to approximate how many points their next opponent will score against them. A military intelligence officer is interested in learning about the captives proportions of Sunnis and Shies in a particular strategic region. A NORA defense computer must decide immediately whether a blip on the radar is a flick of geese or an incoming nuclear missile. A political strategist is seeking the b est groups to canvass for donations in particular county. A homeland security official would like to determine whether a certain sequence of financial and residence moves implies a tendency to terrorist acts. A Wall Street analyst has been asked to find out the expected change in stock price for a set of companies with similar price/earnings ratios.Question 3 For each of the following meetings, explain which phase in the CRISP-DIM process is represented: Managers want to know by next week whether deployment will take place. Therefore, analysts meet to discuss how useful and accurate their model is. This is the Evaluation phase in the CRISP-DIM process. In the evaluation phase the data mining analysts determine if the model and technique used meets business objectives established in the first phase. The data mining project manager meets with data warehousing manager to discuss how the data will be collected. This is theData Understanding phase in the CRISP-DIM process. The data wareh ouse is identified as a resource during the Business Understanding phase; however the actual data collection takes place during the Data Understanding Phase. In this phase data is collected and accessed from the resources listed and identified in the Business Understanding phase. The data mining consultant meets with the vice president for marketing, who says that he would like to move forward with customer relationship management. The main objective of business is to review during the Business Understanding Phase.So, therefore after the meeting it seems the data mining consultant gained success in convincing UP of marketing to provide approval for performing data mining on the customer relationship management system. The data mining project manager meets with the production line supervisor to discuss implementation of changes and improvements. The discussion of implementation of changes and improvements in the project whether specific improvements or process changes are required to ensure that all important aspects of the business are accounted is performed under the Evaluation Phase.The meeting held with business objective to collect and cleanse the data to ensure the quality of data. The analysts meet to discuss whether the neural network or decision tree model should be applied Question 4 [10 points] Describe the possible negative effects of proceeding directly to mine data that has not been preprocessed. Before data mining algorithms can be used, a target data set must be assembled. As data mining can only uncover patterns actually present in the data, the target data set must be large enough to contain these patterns while imagining concise enough to be mined within an acceptable time limit.A common source for data is a data mart or data warehouse. Pre-processing is essential to analyze the multivariate data sets before data mining. The target set is then cleaned. Data. Question 5 [1 5 points] Which of the three methods for handling missing values do you prefer? Which method is the most conservative and probably the safest, meaning that it fabricates the least amount of data? What are some drawbacks to this method? Methods for replacing missing field values with: User defined constants Means or modesRandom draws from the distribution of the variable Question 6 Describe the differences between the training set, test set, and validation set. The training set is used to build the model. This contains a set of data that has fricasseed target and predictor variables. Typically a hold-out dataset or test set is used to evaluate how well the model does with data outside the training set. The test set contains the fricasseed results data but they are not used when the test set data is run through the model until the end, when the fricasseed data are compared against the model results.The model is adjusted to minimize error on the test set. Another hold-out dataset or validation set is used to evaluate the adjusted model in step #2 where, a gain, the validation set data is run against the adjusted model and results compared to the unused fricasseed data. The training set (seen data) to build the model (determine its parameters) and the test set (unseen data) to measure its performance (holding the parameters constant). Sometimes, we also need a validation set to tune the model (e. G. , for pruning a decision tree). The validation set can't be used for testing (as it's not unseen). Data Mining Determine the benefits of data mining to the businesses when employing 1. Predictive analytics to understand the behavior of customers Predictive analytics is business intelligence technology that produces a predictive score for each customer or other organizational element. Assigning these predictive scores is the job of a predictive model, which has, in turn been trained over your data, learning from the experience of your organization. Predictive analytics optimizes marketing campaigns and website behavior to increase customer responses, conversions and clicks, and to decrease churn. Each customer's predictive score informs actions to be taken with that customer. 1. Associations discovery in products sold to customers The way in which companies interact with their customers has changed dramatically over the past few years. A customer's continuing business is no longer guaranteed. As a result, companies have found that they need to understand their customers better, and to quickly respond to their wants and needs. In addition, the time frame in which these responses need to be made has been shrinking. It is no longer possible to wait until the signs of customer dissatisfaction are obvious before action must be taken. To succeed, companies must be proactive and anticipate what a customer desires. For an example in the old days, the storekeepers would simply keep track of all of their customers in their heads, and would know what to do when a customer walked into the store. Today’ store associates face a much more complex situation, more customers, more products, more competitors, and less time to react means that understanding your customers is now much harder to do. A number of forces are working together to increase the complexity of customer relationships, such as compressed marketing cycles, increased marketing costs, and a stream of new product offers. There are many kinds of models, such as linear formulas and business rules. And, for each kind of model, there are all the weights or rules or other mechanics that determine precisely how the predictors are combined. In fact, there are so many choices, it is literally impossible for a person to try them all and find the best one. Predictive analytics is data mining technology that uses the company’s customer data to automatically build a predictive model specialized for the business. This process learns from the organization's collective experience by leveraging the existing logs of customer purchases, behavior and demographics. The wisdom gained is encoded as the predictive model itself. Predictive modeling software has computer science at its core, undertaking a mixture of number crunching, trial, and error. 2. Web mining to discover business intelligence from Web customers The fast business growth has made both business community and customers face a new situation. Due to intense competition on the one hand and the customer's option to prefer from a number of alternatives, the business community has realized the essential of intelligent marketing strategies and relationship management. Web servers record and accumulate data about user relations whenever requirements for resources are received. Analy zing the Web access logs can help understand the user behavior and the web structure. From the business and applications point of view, knowledge obtained from the web usage patterns could be directly applied to efficiently manage activities correlated to e-business, e-services and e-education. Accurate web usage information could help to attract new customers, retain current customers, improve cross marketing/sales, effectiveness of promotional campaigns, tracking leaving customers etc. The usage information can be exploited to improve the performance of Web servers by developing proper perfecting and caching strategies so as to decrease the server response time. User profiles could be built by combining users? navigation paths with other data features, such as page viewing time, hyperlink structure, and page content†, according to Sonal Tiwari. 3. Clustering to find related customer information Clustering is a typical unsupervised learning technique for grouping similar data points. A clustering algorithm assigns a large number of data points to a smaller number of groups such that data points in the same group share the same properties while, in different groups, they are dissimilar. Clustering has many applications, including part family formation for group technology, image segmentation, information retrieval, web pages grouping, market segmentation, and scientific and engineering analysis. Many clustering methods have been proposed and they can be broadly classified into four categories such as partitioning methods, hierarchical methods, density-based methods and grid-based methods. Customer clustering is the most important data mining methodologies used in marketing and customer relationship management (CRM). Customer clustering would use customer-purchase transaction data to track buying behavior and create strategic business initiatives. Companies want to keep high-profit, high-value, and low-risk customers. This cluster typically represents the 10 to 20 percent of customers who create 50 to 80 percent of a company's profits. A company would not want to lose these customers, and the strategic initiative for the segment is obviously retention. A low-profit, high-value, and low-risk customer segment is also an attractive one, and the obvious goal here would be to increase profitability for this segment. Cross-selling (selling new products) and up-selling (selling more of what customers currently buy) to this segment are the marketing initiatives of choice. Assess the reliability of the data mining algorithms. Decide if they can be trusted and predict the errors they are likely to produce. Most methods for validating a data-mining model do not answer business questions directly, but provide the metrics that can be used to guide a business or development decision. There is no comprehensive rule that can tell you when a model is good enough, or when you have enough data. Accuracy is a measure of how well the model correlates an outcome with the attributes in the data that has been provided. There are various measures of accuracy, but all measures of accuracy are dependent on the data that is used. In reality, values might be missing or approximate, or the data might have been changed by multiple processes. Particularly in the phase of exploration and development, you might decide to accept a certain amount of error in the data, especially if the data is fairly uniform in its characteristics. For example, a model that predicts sales for a particular store based on past sales can be strongly correlated and very accurate, even if that store consistently used the wrong accounting method. Therefore, measurements of accuracy must be balanced by assessments of reliability. Reliability assesses the way that a data-mining model performs on different data sets. A data-mining model is reliable if it generates the same type of predictions or finds the same general kinds of patterns egardless of the test data that is supplied. For example, the model that you would use to generate for the store that used the wrong accounting method would not generalize well to other stores, and therefore would not be reliable. Analyze privacy concerns raised by the collection of personal data for mining purposes. 1. Choose and describe three (3) concerns raised by consumers. Recent surveys on privacy show a great concern about the use of personal data for purposes other than the one for which data has been collected. The handling of misinformation can cause serious and long-term damage, so individuals should be able challenge the correctness of data about themselves, such as personal records. The last concern is granulated access to personal information, such as personal information about someone’s health when applying for a job. 2. Decide if each of these concerns is valid and explain your decision for each. These concerns are valid, the first concerned mentioned caused an extreme case to occurred in 1989, collecting over $16 million USD by selling the driver-license data from 19. million Californian residents, the Department of Motor Vehicles in California revised its data selling policy after Robert Brado used their services to obtain the address of actress Rebecca Schaeffer and later killed her in her apartment. While it is very unlikely that KDDM tools will reveal directly precise confidential data, the exploratory Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDDM), tools may correlate or dis close confidential, sensitive facts about individuals resulting in a significant reduction of possibilities. The second concern is valid due to incident happening in Washington; Cablevision fired an employee James Russell Wiggings, on the basis of information obtained from Equifax, Atlanta, about Wiggings' conviction for cocaine possession; the information was actually about James Ray Wiggings, and the case ended up in court. This illustrates a serious issue in defining property of the data containing personal records. The third issue is For example, employers are obliged to perform a background check when hiring a worker but it is widely accepted that information about diet and exercise habits should not affect hiring decisions. . Describe how each concern is being allayed. KDDM revitalizes some issues and possess new threats to privacy. Some of these can be directly attributed to the fact that this powerful technique may enable the correlation of separate data sets in other to significantly reduce the possible values of private information. Other can be more attributed to the interpretati on, application and actions taken from the inferences obtain with the tools. While this raises concerns, there is a body of knowledge in the field of statistical databases that could potentially be extended and adapted to develop new techniques to balance the rights to privacy and the needs for knowledge and analysis of large volumes of information. Some of these new privacy protection methods are emerging as the application of KDD tools moves to more controversial datasets. Provide at least three (3) examples where businesses have used predictive analysis to gain a competitive advantage and evaluate the effectiveness of each business’s strategy. The first advantage analysis helps when it comes to validity of a product by making a distinction between the positioning of a product and its ability to satisfy customer requirements. Another important attributes include ease of use, innovation, how well the product integrates with other technologies that customers need. The second advantage is the technology provides to customers. Even if a product is well designed, it must be able to help businesses achieve their business goals. Goals range from gaining insight about customers in order to be more competitive, to using the technology to increase revenue. A key attribute that is measured in this dimension is how well the product supports companies in meeting their objectives. The third advantage is the strength of the company’s strategy. It is not enough to simply have a good vision; a company must also have a well-designed road map that can support this vision. Vision attributes also include more tactical aspects of the company’s strategy such as a technology platform that can scale, well-articulated messaging, and positioning. A key component of this dimension is clarity: it must be clear what business problem the company is solving for which customer.ReferencesAlexander, D. (2012). Data Mining. Retrieved from: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/~anorman/BUS.FOR/course.mat/Alex/#8Josh, K. (2012). Analysis of Data Mining Algorithms. Retrieved from: http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~desikan/research/dataminingoverview.html Exforsys. (2006). Execution for System: Connection between Data Mining and Customer Interaction. Retrieved from: http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/data-mining/the-connection-between-data-mining-and-customer-interaction.html Frand, J. (1996). Data Mining: What is Data Mining? Retrieved from: http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty/jason.frand/teacher/technologies/palace/index.htm Pupo, E. (2010). HIMSS News: Privacy and Security Concerns in Data Mining. Retrieved from: http://www.himss.org/ASP/ContentRedirector.asp?type=HIMSSNewsItem&ContentId=73526 Stein, J. (2011). Data Mining: How Companies Now Know Everything About You. Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058205,00.html#ixzz25MwYNhuh

Nommo and the Bible

Nommo and the Bible A Comparison and Contrast of the Character Names in The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingslover writes a book entitled, The Poisonwood Bible that explore the effects one culture has on another. The four daughters; Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, at birth are given names suitable and fitting to their personalities, as well as new Kikongo names which describe the girls’ attitudes towards the people in the Congo. A principal of the Congolese belief system, suggests that the girls have grown into their names, causing their specific type of people interaction.The eldest daughter of the four is Rachel Price. In the Bible, the person named Rachel is described as more beautiful than her sister Leah (Genesis Ch. 29-35). In the Poisonwood Bible, Rachel Price is the most appealing than the other three siblings. Rachel’s Kikongo name is Mvula, which refers to a pale white termite that only comes out after it rains. Back home, Rachel was beautiful and her pale skin was desirable. Now, Tata Ndu (chief of the village) wanted to marry Rachel because her skin is ugly to the Congolese women causing his wives to feel better about themselves.Rachel Price did not want to be around the Congolese people, and stayed inside her house snuggled up with her own vanity. Leah and Adah Price are twins and the middle children of the family in the Poisonwood Bible. Leah, in the Bible, was tricked into marrying the man Rachel loved by their evil father (Genesis 29: 21-28). In both instances, Rachel and Leah were deceived by their father causing them to become unable of having a true sisterly bond with one another. In Kikongo, Leah is called Leba, meaning â€Å"fig tree† (148). The Congolese do Leah a favor by not calling her Leah, because the Kikongo translation for Leah means â€Å"nothing much† (148).Anatole has special names for all the girls and he calls Leah â€Å"beene-beene† which means â€Å"the truest truth† (396). It is clear he has respect for Leah. â€Å"Benduka† is Adah Price’s Kikongo name; it means â€Å"crooked walker†. Adah Price was born with the use of only one side of her body causing a perpetual limp. In the Bible, Adah is a minor character that could be the wife of two men (Genesis 4:19). In the book, Adah goes back in forth between her two â€Å"men† or beliefs; she either believes in science, or God. Adah is also overlooked when the fire ants attacked their village; her own mother felt her behind (306).Orleanna did not favor Adah, causing her to be a â€Å"minor† member in the family. The youngest and most innocent of the Price children is Ruth May. She is given the name of Bandu in the kikongo language, meaning â€Å"the reason for everything† and â€Å"the littlest one on the bottom. † Orleanna (the mother) values Ruth May the most of her four children. All of Orleanna’s narratives are meant for Ruth May. In the Bible, Ruth is a cha racter who helped soldiers when they needed it, she was a friend. The translation of the word Ruth in Hebrew means â€Å"companion† (â€Å"Origin and Meaning of Baby Names†).The word ruth in English, mean grief; for Orleanna, she felt much grief when Ruth May died. An entire book of the Bible describes Ruth, and an entire character dedicates what she says to Ruth May. The Kikongo word â€Å"nommo† is â€Å"the force that makes things live as what they are† (209); it is â€Å"a song, a poem, a scream, a prayer, a name†(210). It refers to the belief that naming something gives it its nature – a man is a man because that is what he is named, whereas a rabbit is not a man because that is not what he is named. Nommo says you do not have a life until you are named; your name makes you who you are.Would Rachel Price be less vain and beautiful if her name were not Rachel Rebekkah? Nommo says, yes, she would be a different person. Kingslover’s approach to identifying the characters in The Poisonwood Bible, maintains the focus on who each person is and who they are meant to be. The names give us hints as to what each person’s personality will be. Also, the names can allude to biblical references that help define what the character’s relationships with others are. Nommo and their birth names combined adequately describe each girl and their actions.