Criminology Essays (1431 words) - Criminology, Deviance, Wideman

Criminology One child grows up to be somebody who just loves to learn. And the other child grows up to be somebody who just loves to burn (198) An excerpt of this poem paints a picture of two brothers, John and Robert Wideman, leading different lives. Robert Wideman, embraced a path common for black men during that era; a life of crime, glamour, and drugs. Quietly sitting in jail, he reminisces deeply about his troubled past and the consequences of the future that now haunts him. John, on the other hand, chose the path less taken by those living in the same world as he did and in due time become a successful professor at a University. How did two people from the same origin, living in similar environments, and raised by a caring family choose such different paths? Some might explain the cause to be risk factors, learned behavior, or missed opportunities. When explaining criminal behavior, it is inevitable to identify sociological, behavioral, and psychological problems as causes of crime. John and Robert always dreamed about running away from the poverty embracing their community. Even though they shared the same dream, each considered different means of achieving this dream. John determined early on that " to get ahead, to make something of myself, college had seemed a logical, necessary step; my exile, my flight from home began with good grades, with good English" (27). In order for John to climb the social status, he realized that his only ticket out of poverty and his community is through a good education. Status must be earned through hard work and determination. Robert is just the opposite of John. Early on, Robert acknowledged that school and sports could not satisfy the glamour that Robert so much desired? Unlike John who disliked blackness, Robert "got a thing about black. See black was like the forbidden fruit" (84). Robert embraced the people living in Homewood, Pittsburgh. He felt connected to them especially when he discovered Garfield "cause that's where the niggers was. Garfield was black" (85). By embracing what other people valued and thought, Robert incorporated the same criminal values as his own. Robert has accepted his fate, a life of glamour through deviant behavior. Delinquency at an early age may have contributed to Robert's behavior. According to Cohen, deviant behavior derives from an inversion of values. Robert's values can be best summed up by the statement "[t]he thing was to make your own rules, do your own thing, but make sure it's contrary to what society says or is" (58). Inversion of values is practically portraying what society views as socially acceptable, unacceptable. A great example explaining this inversion of values is captured during a school strike. Robert recaptures the greatest moment of his life when he took over the school. Through his eyes, "[i]t was the white man's world and wasn't no way round it or over it or under it ... so I kept on cutting classes and *censored*ing up and doing my militant thing every chance I got." (114). It seems that Robert felt frustrated living in such an oppressed environment. He once believed that prosperity can be achievable but somehow his belief in what society has taught him relating to success is wrong. Through this belief, Robert maintains a violent life. Other variables such as family, the community, and opportunities for success play a critical role in shaping the behavior of adolescence according to Cloward and Ohlin. There were lost opportunities when Robert's family decided to move back to Homewood from Shadyside. A good education in a community that cared for the student was stripped from Robert's grasp. Robert was never able to attend the school that his older brother had previous graduated from. Now living within the boundaries of the poor community, Robert is exposed to violence and the substandard values of the neighborhood. Homewood is a community that scared Robert's Mother. Her prediction of trouble and Robert's wild side connecting turned into reality " [a]nd she was right. Me and trouble hooked up" (85). As a child Robert constantly needed the attention of his family members especially his mother. From a different point of view, we can say that Robert was a neglected child, emotionally. During a time when Robert needed the people he loved most, they were not there for comfort or guidance. Sometimes Robert felt the "least important. Always last. Always bringing up the rear. You learn to do stuff on your own because the older kids are always busy, off doing their thing" (88). To

Compromise Is the Key essays

Compromise Is the Key essays Laws are designed to protect all citizens, even though they are not clear when it comes to deciding on what happens to couples embryos. The judge, in the fact pattern case, is torn because the parents want different decisions. He also has to remember that he will be setting a legal precedent for which other cases will be based on. The decision will be ridiculed no matter the outcome. The embryos should not be destroyed because every living thing has the right to life, there are numerous loving couples who can not have children on their own, and children are still desired by one parent. An embryo is the young of something in an early stage of development. Although, it is not recognizable, two people conceived the embryo in question. Therefore, the fetus should have the same right to life that all existing creatures possess. No one person should be allowed to destroy something already in the process of living. The decision of destroying any living being should be left in the hands of the being, and in this case that is impossible. We have to wait until the child is old enough to ask her. Many couples, who can not have children of their own, want to adopt new born babies. If the embryo is allowed to live nothing but good will happen for it, because of the demand for newborn babies in the adoption market. The child would not end up in a foster home because the mother has feelings for it, and would see the baby is well taken care of. Adoptive parents are known to be loving and caring begetters, because they try hard to bring children into their lives. Consequently, the judge should at least allow another couple to make good use of the embryos. The lady in the fact pattern still has the desire for children. She gave her eggs fully expecting to use them when the time is right. The husband obviously wants nothing to do with the embryos, but the wife could make an agreement to take full responsibility. The ...

Eassy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Eassy - Essay Example This essay will touch on the key steps involved in the academic writing process, all of which should have critical thinking intertwined with them. The three parts of the pre-writing stage are choosing a topic, gathering ideas, and organizing data. These steps help the writer to become focused on the topic so the paper does not end up rambling on. Overall, pre-writing can be one of the most important stages of the writing process. If one does not organize data and work out a plan of action to complete the writing process, the paper may turn out unsuccessful. The first stage in the academic writing process is to critically analyze the topic. However, choosing a topic must come before this step. The writer should decide on a topic and choose how the topic shall be researched. Next, it is important to gather ideas. Gathering ideas is very important, as this is a part of the pre writing stage. During this stage, it is also important to organize data. Once the pre-writing stage is complete, the writer can begin to draft a rough copy. While drafting a rough copy, the writer will be able to critically analyze all of the researched data and put ideas into words. During this rough draft process, the paper begins to take shape as sentences are formed into paragraphs. The importance of this stage is critical because this is the basis for the entire paper. The rough copy needs to be written in three steps. These steps are important to the paper, as they allow for the paper to be properly developed. The first step is to create an opening paragraph. The opening paragraph allows the reader to become hooked on what the paper is about. The thesis of the paper is also mentioned here. In this opening paragraph, it is wise to entice the reader with information on the topic that will leave the reader wanting to know more. The body of the paper is the second step in

Tivo Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tivo Case Study - Essay Example They are providing personalized services to their customers who buy the black boxes by providing them Electronic programme guide (EPG) with menu option to watch TV live option having pause, replay and fast forward options without subscription fee and with subscription fee provide access to all previously recorded programming, preview of shows schedule for recording, video magazine produced by Tivo and network of showcases of best shows. It provides customers personalized TV viewing. Though the company is getting good feedback from customers but the sales is not picking up. Presently company is not facing competition from any quarter even then sales are dropping down. Strength: The company have certain inherent strengths such as Tivo is enjoying almost monopoly in the market. It’s nearest competitors like Replay TV has no advantage of product or price or services and Microsoft has not launched the product yet. The company has 42,000 subscribers and increasing 14,000/quarter. So the company have formidable customer base. Report of customers about service and performance of the product is good enough. The company enjoys technically sound product at present and no other competitors have better product right now. The company enjoys the most reliable and effective partners who are well known to everyone and it approves the quality of the product. Company have proper and wide network for marketing its product through electronic stores, online buying. The most important strength of the company is that it provides ability to its customers to decide what to see and when. It almost provides its subscribers to preferential and personalized viewing. Weakness: Tivo is also facing some weaknesses and due to these it cannot be able to improve its position. Though having good feedback company is not growing to its expected level due to lack of awareness of the product to its potential customers. The product seems to be technically

Environmental analysis case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Environmental analysis case study - Essay Example It starts by outlining a brief historical background of the organisation in question for the sake of easier understanding then followed by an analysis of the above mentioned tools for scanning the environment in which the organisation operates. Environmental scanning plays a pivotal role in helping the marketing managers of an organisation to be better positioned to know the situation obtaining on the ground for them to be able to gain a competitive advantage especially in view of the competition that exists. Background According to Datamonnitor (2004) â€Å"Tesco PLCTesco is the largest food retailer in UK, operating around 2,318 stores worldwide. It operates around operates around 1,878 stores throughout the UK, and also operates stores in the rest of Europe and Asia. Tesco.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary offering a complete online service, including tescodirect.com and tesco.net. The company also offers a range of both online and offline personal finance services. Tesco is headq uartered in Hertfordshire, UK.† Against this background, this essay seeks to outline the organisation’s PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces model as well as the value chain. Kotler (1999) posits to the effect that PESTEL analysis is a powerful tool in determining as well as understanding the market forces that affect the growth of business. In other words, it determines the direction for operations in any given business. PESTEL analysis for Tesco PESTEL stands for factors which may affect the operations of business such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental as well as legal factors (Lancaster & Reynolds 1999). This is a very useful tool in analysing the environment in which an organisation operates. It can be noted that there are various factors that affect the operations of any given organisation and these have to be taken into consideration by the senior management so as to achieve a competitive advantage by the organisation. Any given organisation is guided by certain factors that so as to ensure that it does not violate the needs and interests of the consumers as well as the other stakeholders. Political In UK and Europe at large, there are policies that govern the operations of all retail stores. There are laws that govern monopolies as well as competition and these are some of the main political factors that affect the operations of Tesco. It can be noted that Tesco’s success is owed to the observation of these policies where protection of the consumer interests is take as a virtue. Consumer law in UK is effective and under the EU law, every big organisation like Tesco is expected to protect the needs and interests of the customers. Continuous scanning of the political environment greatly helps Tesco to gain a competitive advantage over other rival competitors. On the other hand, it can be noted that the current political environment prevailing in the EU is not exploitative which is seen as the reason w hy Tesco is able to keep pace with the demands of the market. The government in the UK determines the value of the currency as well as the exchange rates and it can be noted that the success of Tesco is greatly owed to compliance with these rules and regulations promulgated by the government. The Competition Commission for instance suggests that a supermarket should not account for more than 25% of the national market and these are som

Sudoku Puzzle Design Algorithms Computer Science Essay

Sudoku Puzzle Design Algorithms Computer Science Essay Our project is called generating, rating and solving Sudoku puzzle. The aim of the project is to design and develop Sudoku puzzle solving program by generate the puzzle with five differences difficulty rating level. The program is able to solve the Sudoku puzzle by using some Artificial Intelligent algorithm. The final year project development period is given two trimester and we divided the development process into two part. The first part is to develop the problem specification, design, generating and study on some Sudoku solving algorithm which to be done by trimester one. Part 2 of the project is developing the complete Sudoku solving program and this part will be done by trimester 2. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction Sudoku is logic based number-placement puzzle. It designs with 99 grids so that the digits 1-9 appear exactly once in each row, each columns, and each 33 sub grids (also called as blocks) that compose the grid. Each Sudoku puzzle created with a unique solution, which typically means that there is only one correct way to fill in the 81 grids. The aim of the project is to design and develop Sudoku puzzle solving program using the artificial intelligence algorithm. First at all the Sudoku configuration program would be able to generate the puzzle with five differences difficulty rating level, which are very easy, easy, medium, difficult and expert. The program also able to solve the Sudoku puzzle as well as providing the chances of having tips while they achieve the specify condition which could help the player to solved the puzzle when they get stuck. An interesting Sudoku puzzle is the one with the minimal hints given. The puzzle should be generated with a single solution. So, knowledge for the rules of Sudoku is very important which the digit 1-9 need to be appear exactly once in each rows, each columns, and each 33 sub-grid. Then a 99 empty grid need to be created and filled in with the digit 1-9 by following the rules to create a complete puzzle. The next step is to begin removing digits from the completed Sudoku puzzle randomly to create the game. To generate a symmetrical puzzle, we need to randomly remove the singleton from the row, column, or block, following by naked pairs, naked triples, hidden pairs, hidden triples, and pointing pairs accordingly. The techniques used to remove the cells decided the difficulty level of the Sudoku puzzle. Lastly, the program is able to solve the Sudoku game by using the AI algorithm like simulated annealing. 1.2 Problem statement People nowadays always busy for working and cope for the challenges on their life. With the increasing busyness of the life, stress become a common issue that faced by the society. A long term of facing a particular problem will make a people to feel pressure and stress themselves badly. Therefore, they need some break to take their mind off from working materials before they continue to work. Sometimes, a challenges mini game like Sudoku can helps to exercise their brain and reduce stress. Besides, with the fast growing of the technologies today, most people are able to obtain the advance electronic device like PDA, laptop, and so on. So the Sudoku puzzle game is not the game that is only published in the hardcopy such as newspaper or Sudoku book. Therefore Sudoku game can be installed in their electronic device so that they can bring it anywhere. 1.2 Scope Scope of the project is generating the Sudoku puzzle with different difficulty level and solves the Sudoku game. The scope covers: Allow user to select the difficulty level of the Sudoku game. Generate a complete Sudoku puzzle by following the Sudoku rules which are the digits 1-9 appear exactly once in each row, each columns, and each 33 sub grids. Remove cells to create a valid Sudoku games according to the difficulty level that the user selected. Allow user to input the digit 1-9 into the empty cells of the puzzle. Highlight the incorrect input of digit with red colour. Solve the Sudoku games. 1.2 Objectives Understanding the algorithm behind Sudoku puzzle. Identify an algorithm to generate a complete Sudoku puzzle with the rules that the digit 1-9 appear exactly once in each row, each columns, and each 33 sub grids. Identify the ways of removing cells from the complete Sudoku puzzle to create a valid game. Generate Sudoku with different difficulty level. Identify the algorithm to solve the Sudoku puzzle. 1.3 Project Schedule Project Schedule Management Gantt Chart Tasks Activity Start date End date Duration(days) Task 1 Research and study relevant material 7/6/2010 27/6/2010 21 Task 2 Planning development process 28/6/2010 4/7/2010 7 Task 3 Implement Prototype for Generating 5/7/2010 8/8/2010 35 Task 4 Test Program and Fix error 9/8/2010 14/8/2010 7 Task 5 Amends report and prototype 15/8/2010 29/8/2010 14 Task 6 Validate interim report and Submission 30/8/2010 1/9/2010 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Nature of the problem Sudoku puzzle is a famous game among the worldwide. Most of the newspaper has a long history of publishing the Sudoku games such as The Times, Sin Chew Daily, and so on. The games in hardcopy required user to use pen or pencil to finish on the paper and the number of games are limited. So, in this project, a program is created to generate the Sudoku puzzle games. User does not need to use an extra writing material like pen or pencil to complete the Sudoku games. They just need a mouse to interact with the game. Other than that, the program is able to solve the Sudoku puzzle as well as identify the puzzle is solvable and have a unique solution. User also can enter the Sudoku games that are not generated by the program and solve it by using this program. 2.2 Background The origin of Sudoku is from Switzerland (By a Mathematician Leonhard Euler) and then travels to Japan by way of America. Su is the Japanese character with the meaning of number and doku means single. In another word, it called single number which means that for each column, each row, and each sub grid, it can only contain the digit 1-9 without repetition. In this project, we need to consider some important things like the cost that we need, the purpose of this project, the target user of this program and so on. Cost that we need to use is to complete the project in 24 week period. The purpose of this project is to create a program which can generate the Sudoku games with different difficulty level as well as able to solve the Sudoku games. Sudoku is a game that suitable for all generation of the people. The program is able to generate the game in 5 different difficulty levels which is very easy, easy, medium, hard, and expert. Level very easy and easy are suitable for the children, medium is suitable for the adults, hard and expert are suitable for those who are experienced in the Sudoku games. 2.3 Literature Review 2.3.1 The Science behind Sudoku Sudoku is a game of numbers, but it does not have anything to do with mathematics such as addition or multiplication. A Sudoku grid is a special kind of Latin square that named by an 18th century mathematician-Leonhard Euler. Latin square is an n x n matrices that are filled in with n symbols in a way that the same symbols appear exactly once in same row and column. The number of valid Sudoku grids is 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 which proved by the use of logic and computers. The minimum numbers of hints that a 9 x 9 Sudoku puzzle can start with and the solution can still remain unique seem to be 17. This mean for any Sudoku which is having the hints that less than 17 will make it cannot guarantee a unique solution. C:UsersVinZDesktop1.pngC:UsersVinZDesktop2.png Figure 1.An example of the minimal hints for a Sudoku puzzles and still guarantee with the unique solution. C:UsersVinZDesktop3.pngC:UsersVinZDesktop4.png Figure 2.An example of a Sudoku game with 16 hints provided and leads to two solutions. To solve a Sudoku puzzle, the most common way is backtracking. First, the program places a number 1 in the first empty cell of the Sudoku puzzle. If the number is compatible with the existing hints, it moves to the second empty cell and place a 1 again. When it encounters a conflict or clash with other existing hints, it erases the number which just placed and enters number 2. If it is invalid again then proceed with 3 or the next legal number. After the legal number placed, it moves to the next cell and start again with number 1. If the number that placed and it is still not compatible with the existing hints is 9 (9 is the largest number in Sudoku puzzle), the program will backtrack and increase the precious cells number by one. After that it moves forward until it is clash with other existing hints and backtracks again. Sometimes the program needs to backtrack for several times before it can move forward. Backtracking technique is good and fast when apply in a program or machine, but a human player need to spend more time to finish the game using this technique. So they used smarter ways for solving Sudoku and generally turn to method trial and error method at last of the solving part. 2.3.2 A Pencil-and-Paper Algorithm for Solving Sudoku Puzzle To solve a Sudoku puzzle, it involve with the widely known concept of matching numbers across cells. In another mathematical point of view, we name it as pre-emptive sets. The most important technique to solve the Sudoku puzzles is based on two things, which are the (i) definition of pre-emptive sets and (ii) the occupancy theorem. A mark up puzzle can help to solve the Sudoku puzzle with more efficiently by writing down the possible number that can be filled into the empty cell. C:UsersVinZDesktopmarkup.png Figure 3.Example of a mark-up Sudoku puzzle. Pre-emptive sets: A pre-emptive set composed of the digits 1-9 and is a set of size m, where: 2 {[n1, n2, , nm], [ c(i1,j1), c(i2,j2), , c(im, jm) ]} Where 1= C:UsersVinZDesktop852.png 3459 459 6 23478 1 2348 234579 24579 2345 Figure 2.Pre-emptive set For example, the figure above consist of a pre-emptive set {[3, 4, 5, 9], [c(7, 1), c(7, 2), c(8, 3), c(9, 3)]} with size 4. Occupancy theorem Suppose that x is a number that listed in the pre-emptive set and it lies completely in one column, or row, or a sub grid, so there can be no occurrence of x for the column, or row, or sub grid that outside of the pre-emptive set. Firstly, the algorithm use method 1 and method 2 to complete the puzzle until it cannot continue further. Method 1 is to figure out the Force cell which is the cell that can be determine by eliminate the impossible number (number that already existed in the same column, row and sub grid) that occupy the cell. Method 2 is to figure out the possible number for the empty cell that can be determined by checking the same number which occupies the cells in the column and row of the sub grid. After that we look for the pre-emptive set from each column, each row, and each sub grid. Try to break it into several smaller pre-emptive set and cross out the number according to the occupancy theorem. For example in Figure 2, the pre-emptive set is {[3, 4, 5, 9], [c(7, 1), c(7, 2), c(8, 3), c(9, 3)]} with size 4, it cross out the number that are not inside the pre-emptive set. In figure 2, digits 8 and 2 in cell c(8, 1) and c(9, 1) can be determined directly after the number had been crossed out. So apply again method 1 and method 2 to figure out other possible number. Clearly then, repeat again the process untill it cannot find out any pre-emptive tes ot until the sudoku puzzle is solved.if the result seem to be violated, then the sudoku game is a unsolable game. Metaheuristics can solve Sudoku puzzles Before the simulated annealing can straightforward, representation, neighbourhood operator and evaluation of candidate solution need to be defined. Representation used to assign each empty cell a value randomly, but every sub gird contain the digit 1-9 exactly once. During the process, neighbourhood operator choose two different non-fixed cells (the cell which filled in by randomly) in the sub grid and swap them. Two of the non fixed cells to be swap must be in the same sub grid to make sure the criterion of each sub grid contain the digit 1-9 exactly once. Cost function used to evaluate the candidate solution by looking at each row and column, and then calculate the number of values that are not present. For example in figure 3, 1 and 2 had repeated two times in the first row, so the score of that row is 2. Note that the complete solution of the Sudoku puzzle will have zero of cost. C:UsersVinZDesktop854.png Figure 3 Here, simulated annealing start with a candidate solution s and a neighbour s. s is accepted if s is better than s (according to cost function) or with the probability: Exp (-ÃŽÂ ´/t), which ÃŽÂ ´ = proposed change in the cost function, t = control parameter (as known as temperature). t, temperature is very important to expend the Simulated Annealing and lead to the success. The initial temperature should allow majority if the moves to be accepted, approximately 80% (according to Van Laaehoven Aart (1987)). During the process, temperature is reduced according to the simple geometric cooling schedule. A formula, = use to make sure the temperature decrease according to the cooling rate. Note that , so the largest value of is less than 1, such as 0.9999. For example, value of is 0.9999 will cause the temperature drop slowly, and the value of is 0.5 will make it drop faster. Furthermore, the use of homogenous Simulated Annealing schema takes the form of a sequence of Markov Chains that generated at the fixed value of t. The t is then changed in-between subsequent chains (Van Laarhoven and Aart, 1987). The value of t here is also very important as it decided the time to explore of the search tree and also the run times. The size of the problem-instance defined by the non-fixed number in the grid where: ml = ml = size of the problem-instance. = the function that indentify the number of cells in the are non-fixed. By using this formula, the value can allow each pair of the non-fixed cells have a good chance to considered at least once per Markov chain.

The Physics of Baseball :: Sport Baseball Physics

Swinging the Bat for Power Many people might think that swinging the bat straight through the ball would be enough to hit the ball a decent distance off the bat. There's many more mechanics involved in the swinging process. Muscle has only a small part to play in the swinging a bat for power. There are two types of mechanics involved while swinging a bat, Linear and Rotational. Rotational mechanics are the dominant source of power in the swing. Out of the rotational mechanics come the two forces that help generate the speed and power of the swing, torque and the other comes from the energy of rotation. Speed from the energy of rotation comes from the path that your hands follow as you swing the bat. The speed generated by the circular rotation from your hands is like a ball at the end of a string, as long as your hands are moving in a circle then the ball continues to accelerate in a circle. So the bat will also move in at an increasing speed as long as your hands are following a circular path as you swing. An y foward movement of the hands or body in a straight line won't add to the overall bat speed. Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball. A good batter will use almost all of these rotational and torque energies either before or durning contact with the ball. After contact your body is relaxed and its remaining motion is smooth, this extra motion is caused by the momentum of the bat pulling the arms up and through.Your follow through is also very important, even though the ball has already been hit it is ideal that you complete your swing so that you're not thrown off balance by that extra momentum when you start to run.