Saturday, January 25, 2020

Application of Matrices in Real-Life

Application of Matrices in Real-Life Application of matrix in daily life Matrices are used much more in daily life than people would have thought. In fact it is in front of us every day when going to work, at the university and even at home. Graphic software such as Adobe Photoshop on your personal computer uses matrices to process linear transformations to render images. A square matrix can represent a linear transformation of a geometric object. For example, in the Cartesian X-Y plane, the matrix reflects an object in the vertical Y axis. In a video game, this would render the upside-down mirror image of an assassin reflected in a pond of blood. If the video game has curved reflecting surfaces, such as a shiny metal shield, the matrix would be more complicated, to stretch or shrink the reflection. In physics related applications, matrices are used in the study of electrical circuits, quantum mechanics and optics. Engineers use matrices to model physical systems and perform accurate calculations needed for complex mechanics to work. Electronics networks, airplane and spacecraft, and in chemical engineering all require perfectly calibrated computations which are obtained from matrix transformations. In hospitals, medical imaging, CAT scans and MRIs, use matrices to operate. Whereas in programming which is taught at the university, matrices and inverse matrices are used for coding and encrypting messages. A message is made as a sequence of numbers in a binary format for communication and it follows code theory for solving. In robotics and automation, matrices are the basic components for the robot movements. The inputs for controlling robots are obtained based on the calculations from matrices and these are very accurate movements. Many IT companies also use matrices as data structures to track user information, perform search queries, and manage databases. In the world of information security, many systems are designed to work with matrices. Matrices are used in the compression of electronic information, for example in the storage of biometric data in the new Identity Card in Mauritius. In geology, matrices are used for making seismic surveys. They are used for plotting graphs, statistics and also to do scientific studies and research in almost different fields. Matrices are also used in representing the real world data’s like the population of people, infant mortality rate, etc. They are best representation methods for plotting surveys. In economics very large matrices are used for optimization of problems, for example in making the best use of assets, whether labour or capital, in the manufacturing of a product and managing very large supply chains. Application of Statistics in real-life problems. Statistics can be defined as a type of mathematical analysis which involves the method of collecting and analyzing data and then summing up the data into a numerical form for a given set of factual data or real world observations. In our daily life, we collect information which helps us in resolving questions regarding the world in which we live, that is statistics. One main example is weather forecast. These charts and information that you see on the television are obtained using statistics that compare last weather conditions with current weather to predict future weather. Whenever theres an election as the one coming in a few days in Mauritius, the press consult statistical surveys with the population when they try to predict the winner. Candidates use statistics to know for example that 20,000 of these voters will be between the age of 18 and 22, that is this will be their first election and thus try to focus their campaign more on benefits for these young adults. Statistics play a part in which your elected government will be consisted of. In industries and businesses it is crucial to be fast and accurate in decision making. They use statistics to know what customers want and therefore know what to produce and sell and in what quantities. Statistics helps to plan production according to the taste of the customers, the quality of the products or availability of materials. Good decisions can be made about the location of business, marketing of the products, financial resources etc†¦ Statistics are also used in agriculture to know what amount of crops is grown this year in comparison to previous years or what has been the demand for a certain crop during the past 5 years or quality and size of vegetables grown due to use of different fertilizers. Last Friday was the results day for the CPE exams in Mauritius and statistics were used to compare the different pass rates for girls compared to boys and how the whole pass rate have evolved during the past years. These statistics helps the government to determine whether the education system in the country needs to be modified or completely re-implemented. In medical studies scientists must show a statistically valid rate of efficacy before any drug can start to be prescribed in hospitals and pharmacies. Statistics are behind every medical study you hear about. For example an ongoing case, the Ebola virus. Statistics are used to determine the number of infected persons in different countries and these data helps to warn neighbouring countries about the risks they are exposed to. Application of Regression in real-life problems. Correlation and regression are largely used methods to look into the relationships between quantitative variables. A correlation looks at the validity of the relationship between variables and regression helps to determine the nature of the relationship, or how it behaves. This allows predictions to be made. These methods are very useful, but easily misused. Regressions can be used in business to evaluate trends and make estimates. For e.g. if a companys sales have increased rapidly every month for the past years, using a linear regression on the sales data with monthly sales on the y-axis and time on the x-axis would produce a line that illustrates the ascending trend in sales. After obtaining the trend line, the company could use the slope of the line to anticipate sales in future months. A company can use linear regression to determine the best sale price for a certain product bought by customers. This can be done by plotting a graph of price against quantity. The resulting line would denote how customers reduce their consumption of the product as the price increases. This could help in decision making of the prices of future products. Linear regression can be used in assessing risk. For e.g. a health insurance company shall plot number of claims per customer against age and by reading the graph deduce that older customers tend to make more health insurance claims. The results of such an analysis might lead to important business decisions made to account for risks. Application of Correlation in real-life problems. For e.g. a researcher suggested that taller people have higher self-esteem. After analyzing his data and coming up with an r-value of .08, he abandons his hypothesis because the two variables do not appear to be strongly related at all. Another area where correlation is used is in the study of intelligence where research has been carried out to test the strength of the relationship between the I.Q. levels of identical and non-identical twins. In medical studies, correlation is used widely and one e.g. is the study to test if glucose level is related to the age of a person. Correlation is mostly used in research studies. In schools for e.g. a use of correlation would be the study of how a student who has many absences has a decrease in grades or the more years of education you complete, the higher your earning potential will be. In the sports area correlation is used broadly by coaches to develop workout routines. Some common correlations are: the more time a person spends running on a treadmill, the more calories he will burn or the more you exercise your core muscles, the more stable your body gets.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Organizational studies Essay

The Functional -Structural Approach has dominated organizational studies. Describe and discuss the paradigm fully and assess the challenge posed to it by Postmodernism. Introduction Functional approach Is considered the second very essential paradigm In psychology. Functional structural approach in psychology deals with cognitive processes that Incorporate consciousness (Burrell and Gareth, 41). William James the father of functional approach came up to this paradigm from a viewpoint that functional approach in psychology is very important biological function. He also postulated that sychologists ought to understand the functions related to cognition so as to comprehend how mental processes in humans operate. Organizational studies is the study that Involves examining how individuals build organizational processes, structures, and practices, moreover, it studies how these phenomenon in turn shape social Interactions and creates organizations that impacts individuals (Knights, and Glenn, 252). Remarkably, organizational studies incorporate diverse areas that consider varied features of the organization. Arguably, cognitive oriented psychologists often describe human behavioral activities rom the perspective of mental constructs; they argue that classical conditioning as a means of behavior change is due the construction of associations within the individual’s cognition. Postmodernism in philosophy is a movement that is very precarious of the Introductory assumptions and the propensity of western philosophy. Generally, postmodernism emphasizes the significance of personalization, power relationships and discourse in construction of the world views and truth (Alvesson, 5). It can be described as a set of strategic. critical, and rhetorical activities incorporating the use f concepts that Include trace, repetition and hyper reality to subvert other concepts such as Identity epistemic certainty, unlvoclty of meaning and historical progress. Following the present dominance of functional structural approach in organizational studies currently. this paper will present how functional structural approach has dominated organizational studies. Moreover, it will discuss this paradigm fully and further assess the challenge posed to It by postmodernism. Functional – Structural Approach As a structural tneory, Tunctlonal structural approacn vlews tne organlzatlon In tne ociety being more important than any other individual within the society. Arguably, functional structural approach is a top down concept; individuals in the long run become products of societal influences as they become socialized by the institutions around them that include media, religion, family, and education. Functional approach is very important in the study of organizational studies because it offers a perspective of viewing the society as a set of interconnected parts that in the long run function as a whole. It is therefore of great importance to acknowledge he importance of functional structural approach in the study of organizational studies. Other than explaining the cognitive operations of human beings, the functional structural approach offers a platform of understanding the relationships that exist between these parts in the society hence contributing towards the maintenance of society. Through the notion of structural functionalism approach, the use of cognitive analogy in the tradition of Spencer, Comte and Durkheim has greatly influenced upon sociological thought (Burrell and Gareth, 43). By deriving upon the concepts of interrelationships between parts, holism, functions and needs the biological equivalence has been constructed in varied was to develop a social science perspective firmly linked to the sociology of regulation. Following the functional structural approach, the study of organizational studies have simplified in that functionalist believe that sociological matters should be approach from a perspective of scientific facts, a concept otherwise known positivism. According to the father of positivism Anguste Comte, functionalism should be based n primary facts and objectively weighed hence making it possible to note issues in the society that impact individuals hence providing a framework for innovation in law and implementing new legislation (Siebert, 36). The functional structural approach has been established to be of great significance in the study of organizational studies in that, by adopting the use of methodology in natural science and focusing on direct observable social facts, one is able to understand how parts that exist in the society function, hence the organizational behavior, organizational culture, organizational psychology, and organizational heory. Functional structural approach in sociology stresses the significance of the existing interdependence among various patterns and institutions within a social setting for its long term subsistence. According to †°mile Durkheim, functionalism is essential in understanding the utility of cultural and social traits, because it enlightens its contribution to the maneuvering of the overall system. Functionalism is therefore of great importance to the study of social behavior, organizational culture, organizational psychology, and organizational theory, because It OTTers a platTorm 0T crltlcally revlewlng tne reasons Denlna ce rtaln Denavlor patterns based on cognitive analysis. Arguably, functional approach is very significant in the study of attitudes (Herbert, 10). Understanding attitudes is very important to organizational studies. From a psychological point of view, the reasons behind changing attitudes are derived from the functions they accomplish to the individual specifically incorporating value expression, ego defense and knowledge. It is therefore very important to note the dominance of functional approach not only to the study of patterns in the society but lso to the changing attitudes from a cognitive perspective. In the recent years, organizational studies have been established to be increasingly important in social scientific investigation. Based on the number of research studies related to functional structural approach, it is important to note that organizational studies have claimed a better part of the functional approach (Crowther and Green, 50). Most research these days seeks a functional explanation of organizational studies, thus a societal functioning. What is the future of functional approach in organizational studies? Despite the opposition encountered by scientifically oriented organizational studies from some British organization researchers, their support on qualitative studies failed to yield credible knowledge. Their qualitative studies on organizational studies were not incorporated in the literature of organization studies because it produced no generalized knowledge. Following the failure of qualitative studies from these researchers, there has been a great increase in the number of researchers that incorporate the use of functional approach when researching issues that relate to rganizational studies. Majority of these researchers are oriented to the functional structural approach. Remarkably, the functional paradigm in psychology have hampered the rapid development of organizational studies, this will benefit the future due to the increased use of cognitive perspectives to in understanding patterns and structures in the society. Arguably, organizational studies will always provide knowledge about the performance within a society to the succeeding generations by incorporating and applying the use of functional approach hence making progress in social science. According to Hawthorne studies, functional approach has been helpful and dominant in studying and analyzing the behavior patterns among employees (Burrell and Gareth, 131). The conclusion made from these studies emerged based on conceptual scheme explanation of employee complaint which was determined drawing explanations from the functional approach. It is important to note that functional approach has dominated research pertaining to industrial problems, the interface which occurs due to the changes in the physical environment and the equilibrium established in such settings . Remarkably, theoretical views have changed overtime, nese views nave Decome more certain ana amDlvalent. I nese views nave Deen integrated to become more determinists, functionalists, more generalizing, and more organizationally rational. It is acknowledgeable that the functional approach has played a huge role towards explaining organizational studies. The challenge posed to Functional-structural approach by Postmodernism Despite the success and dominance of structural functional approach, postmodernism poses a great challenge to its subsistence and persistence. According to the post modernists, their theory is critical on the claims about bjectivity. The idea of grand theory is viewed by the postmodernists as skeptical and is viewed as unwarranted at its very least. This critique posed by the postmodernists to the structural functional approach has hindered the prosperity of this approach in the present times. Despite the importance of structural functional approach to organizational studies, postmodernism presents the dangers that the grand theory can pose, when not viewed as limited perspective when analyzing the society (Kilduff and Mihaela, 94). To some extent, the functional approach is not applicable in the postmodern society ecause norms and family structure within the society have incredibly changed overtime (Lord, 509), the changes realized in the postmodern times can be attributed as a move towards the idea of a new explanation of organizational studies. From this perspective, the use of functional approach is not useful anymore since it does not apply to postmodern society. The functional approach has been highly criticized for being more of teleological. It is has been viewed to be reverse the cause and effect order. Functional structural theory has faced a lot of criticisms from other social theories articularly the postmodernists. The most prevalent criticism faced by the social structural function from the postmodernists and other sociological notions, is the fact that most of these notions particularly the postmodern theory criticize the structural functional theory on the grounds that the concept systems of this theory offers too much unnecessary weight to consensus and integration, hence neglecting the concept of interdependence and conflict. In this theory, Parsons gave no satisfactory explanation as to how actors exercise their agency in antagonism to inculcation and socialization of the accepted norms. Generally, the structural functional theory does not offer a credible explanation as to why individuals accept or choose some values and norms within the society. From a postmodernist approach, the prominence of structural functional approach is heading to its end. This is based on the view that feminism is on a high rise and has launched critics on the functionalism theory. Considering that the functional approach did not incorporate the suppression of women in the society and the family, feminism and the post-modernist are at high opposition to the existence of this theory. Desplte tne Tact tnat Parsons aescrlDea sltuatlons tnat lead to tne rlse 0T women state of affairs and that some feminists agree that he provided accurate information concerning these situations. Parsons admits that he oversimplified his analysis concerning women in relation to family and work; moreover he postulates that he focused more towards the positive functions within the family rather than its dysfunctions towards women. The postmodernist criticize this theory because it lacks the feminist stability. Arguably, the postmodernist are likely to pose a huge challenge o the prevalence of this theory because it views the theory as a one that does not incorporate all the necessary elements. One major difference between modernism and any other notion paradigm in psychology particularly the functional approach is the fact that; whereas the structural functional approach seek universal laws for social behavior important in the study of organizational studies, the postmodernism views that the aim of social science should not be generalizability but rather innovation and discovery (Kilduff and Mihaela, 97). Remarkably, the catastrophe experienced in functional approach while analyzing rganizational studies can be attributed to postmodernism. Postmodernism is more likely to pose a huge challenge to the prevalence of functional approach, according to postmodernism, multiple contingencies upset outcomes while the historical and the cultural conditions can be ignored by people are well conversant with this knowledge. Conclusions In conclusion, it is evident that functional structural approach has dominated organizational studies. Despite its prevalence, postmodernism post a huge challenge to its development and growth.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Restorative Justice Essay - 954 Words

Restorative justice is an innovative approach to the criminal justice system that focuses on repairing the harm caused by crimes committed. The methods used in the conventional justice system may deter the offender from committing further crimes, but it does neither repair the harm caused, nor help them acknowledge their responsibility, instead it stigmatises them, worsening the situation instead of improving it (Johnstone 2003). â€Å"Stigmatisation is the kind of shaming that creates outcasts; it is disrespectful, humiliating† (p.85). It breaks the moral bonds between offender and community and can result in the creation of a destructive cycle that may result in fear and isolation. The shaming by stigmatisation creates a negative effect which†¦show more content†¦Procedural Justice Theory basis itself on the perception of respect and fairness for the offender, thus, the reason why conferences are used, they emphasise communication and offer support to both, the offe nder and the victim. Unacknowledged Shame Theory is seen in a perspective that shame can cause a destructive emotion and can promote crime instead of preventing it if it is not managed positively. By using apology in return for forgiveness symbolises that reparation can commence (Braithwaite, 2004). Defiance Theory is when the offender feels powerless and believes he/she will be humiliated. The experience of being exposed to disapproval of their behaviour may provoke some levels of deviance, however, as the session progresses and the offender expresses his/hers feelings, empathy develops between the parties, the environment becomes more reconciliatory, thus reducing deviance. James Dignan’s concepts related to offenders, but mostly, related to victims. In his work â€Å"The victim in restorative justice† (2007), he argues that restorative justice â€Å"has a tendency to focus primarily on offenders and reconviction rates rather than on victim-related concerns† (p.309). Dignan goes on explaining that only after Braithwaite’s theory became more developed in Australia and New Zealand, the role of victims became clearer (Dignan, 2007). He says that there are beneficial distinctions between reciprocal benefits and one-sided benefits, depending on the interaction of theShow MoreRelatedRestorative Justice1645 Words   |  7 PagesRestorative Justice Restorative Justice is an alternative to the traditional system. Even though restorative justice will never replace the traditional system, it has a balanced focus on the person harmed, the person causing the harm and the affected community, rather than just the crime through the eyes of the law. 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