SERVQUAL Model Summary and Evaluation

SERVQUAL Model unofficial and Evaluation1.1 Introduction assistance forest has taken into consideration in providing and accomplishing clients propitiation recently (Hishamuddin Fitri Abu Hasan, Azleen Ilias, Rahida Abd Rahman Mohd Zulkeflee Abd Razak, 2008). Besides, thither is a very(prenominal) obvious trend towards a growing concern that customers satisfaction is bingle of the worth(predicate) assets in building up a sucker fig (Srivastava et al., 2001), so marque cypher is very crucial in answer industry, by which this element is critical in influencing customers intelligences and and so their loyalty to a company.Simoes and Dibb (2001) verbalize that put up moving-picture show plays an important role in aid industry due to the steady commemorate propose persuades customers with a sense of acceptance and trustfulness. Research finding base on Bloemer et al. (1997) and Jones et al. (2002) too pointed surface that at that place is a direct family between attend to caliber towards customers perceptions, which in develop contributes to the score enter of a intersection point or company. Based on the findings from Parasuraman et al. (1994) and Zeithaml et al. (1996), proceeds fibre is instantly related to customer satisfaction and loyalty and thus on strike out image, by adjoining customers perceive measure out ( serve up attribute perceive cheer customers satisfaction customers loyalty brand image of a company).At first, there pass on have a brief explanation pertaining to the principle of the SERVQUAL impersonate in this lit review by which the dependent changeable and independent variables of this research every(prenominal)ow be discussed in detail, followed by the findings from the previous research and studies. Lastly, this literature review exit be ended up with a conclusion.1.2 guess of SERVQUAL ModelParasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) developed service quality clay sculpture which is named as SER VQUAL fabric or PZB model. They had conducted focalize group interview in order to develop the first version of SERVQUAL model. They had created ten holdings of the service quality by determining the similar criteria in the evaluation of customer. The ten dimensions of service quality included tangibility, au thusticness, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, credentials and insureing. In this research, Parasuraman et al. (1985) say that the overlapping among these ten dimensions of service quality maybe occurred and pointed that further research should be conducted. Therefore, SERVQUAL model was further developed and emerging the modified version of SERVQUAL model.In 1988, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry had conducted an empirical withdraw to measure the service quality towards the customers perceptions by using the ten dimensions as a introductory structure. The results indicated that round variables in these ten dimensions were ove rlapped with each other. In the ten elements of service quality, tangibility, dependableness and responsiveness remain unvarying while the remaining seven determinants were categorized into the last two dimensions which be assurance and empathy (Parasuraman et al., 1988). As a result, there are five service quality dimensions in the modified version of SERVQUAL model that affect customers satisfaction and thus brand imageTangibility is related to the tangible environment, facilities and the employees appearance.Reli capability is the ability to channel out the operate systematically and accurately.Responsiveness is the giveingness of the employees in helping the customer to solve the problem. assumption is the equal to(predicate) intimacy that the employees possess and the ability of the employees in entrusting the confidence.Empathy is associated with the organization provide the caring and individualized trouble to their customers.Buttle (1996) mentioned that SERVQUAL model is been used widely in measuring customers perceptions towards various types of services. Due to this reason, we are likely to choose SERVQUAL model to measure customers perceptions on brand image in our study.1.3 Dependent variable1.3.1 Brand image table service quality has signifi goatt effect on customers perceptual toward brand image, due to the statistics shown that whole brand image is needed to distinguish from competitors brands or products (Boltan and Drew 1991). At the same stratum of 1991, Schiffman and Kanuk withal stated that customer will perceive brand that match and suit their images. As a result, service quality added value to customers by helping them differentiates the brand from competing brands. This intend that customers perception of service quality is be associated brand image and customers are more likely to purchase the brand that provides the superior service quality.Keller (1993) supported the previous findings and stated that brand image is the customers perception that held in customer memory. Strong brand image is set in customers mind finished their consumption gravels and their perceptions towards service quality provided by the product or company. In the year of 1996, Agarwal and Rao continued the study and mentioned that brand image is based on superior and favorable brand grow in consumers memory. In 2003, Keller repeated the theory and reinforced that brand image refers to hale, positive and favorable brand association in memory which result in a positive effect, attitude and overall comprehend quality.Holbrook and Batra (1987) stated that the perceive quality affect the brand loyalty and thus withal entice the images of a brand. Meanwhile, service quality is clearly specify as the customers judgment about a brands excellence or superiority (Zeithaml, 1988 Aaker and Jacobson, 1994). Dobni and Zinkhan, (1990) assumed that brand image is refer to the reasoned and emotional perceptions consumers attach to spe cific brands. Zeithaml (1988) suggest that brand image is built through consumers consumption experiences with the excellence or favorable of service universe provided. Therefore, the service quality perception is core dimension that help to create a high value of a strong brand image in which directly influences consumers purchase evaluation. concord to Alba and Hutchinson (1987) and Walker et al. (1987), although brand image, brand attitude and service quality act independently, however, under some conditions, three of dimensions are unified with each other.Keller (1998) supported the brand image is multidimensional, by which it includes the attitude and behavior according to the brand and the perceived service quality. The process in order to develop a trusted brand image is based on the customers experiences towards the brand through both direct and verificatory interaction with the brand (Keller, 1993 and Krishnan, 1996). Direct come through with brand involves usage trial and satisfaction in consumption while indirect contact with brand involves advertising, word-of-mouth and brand reputation. In 1996, another researcher Meldan excessively mentioned the introduction of innovative products and services quality is to remedy the positive perception of brand image. She supported the theories which were held by Park, Jaworski, Macinnis in 1996 and Fatt in 1997, by which they stated the service quality is very important in influence the image of a brand through the take aim of customers familiarity, experience and trust of a brand. Based on these theories, Aydin and Ozer (2005) concluded there is reciprocal consanguinity between both customers perceptions and brand image.There are five dimensions of brand image being determine by Aaker (1991) which included perceived service quality, brand awareness, brand association, brand asset and customer base. However, perceived of service quality have the just about significant impact toward brand image amon g those five dimensions. Keller (1993) indicated that the service quality may improve brand image by enhancing customers loyalty and thus increasing the chance of brand choice as healthful as reducing the militant marketing. Service quality can affect the brand image of office stafficular products or companies directly and indirectly (Kirmani and Zeithml, 1993). The study held by Kirmani and Zeithml in 1993 shown that the dimensions of service quality tangibility, reliability and empathy are basic clues for in constructing a strong brand image (Bailey and Ball 2006).1.4 Independent variables1.4.1 TangibilityTangibility is one of the dimensions in the SERVQUAL model. It can be defined as the physical evidence in the service industry (Parasuraman et al., 1988). It is the physical facilities and equipment, employees appearance, physical representations of services and the physical environment. Wakefield and Blodgett (1999) also mentioned that physical environment will significantly influence the customers perceptions towards brand image. Same theory goes to the size or the number of facilities and equipment provided by a company in judging customers perceptions (Umbach, 2002). One of the examples to support the dimension of tangibility can be seen in servicescape, by which it is the physical places where services are delivered (Chua, Mohhiddin Othman, Boo, Muhammad Shahrim Abdul Karim, and Sridar Ramachandran, 2009).It can be state that tangibility has a significant impact customers perceptions towards brand image. However, services is in conspicuous, therefore, customers can only see and experience the tangible services provided by the company, such as the facilities and equipment, as healthful as the appearance of the employees. Those of the tangible services are known as clues (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry, 1992). The clues are the capabilities of the company and the quality of the environment. Berry (1980) stated that the federal agency of managing the tangibles services will directly affect customers satisfaction, due to the reason that those tangibles services are critical elements in shaping brand image.According to the research finding of Kayaman, R. and Arasli, H. (2007), there is a significant family relationship between service quality and brand image. They were mentioning that tangibility is associated with the physical characteristics provided by the company. This variable serves as a draw element by which it may be able to attract more and more customers and thus constitute competitive advantage over the competitors. Besides, element of tangibility is able to deliver both direct and indirect result on brand image. As a result, most of the companies nowadays are likely to organize and implement strategies that are useful in grabbing potential customers and maintaining current customers by using eye-catching physical structures and providing a unique and comfortable environment for the services delivered.1.4.2 Resp onsivenessanother(prenominal) independent variable that will affect customer perceptions towards service quality is responsiveness. The meaning of responsiveness is the willingness to help the customers, to provide prompt and puff up service to the clients, problem resolution when the customers faced and complaint handling (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Responsiveness should be expanded and this is because they believed that this variable is very important (Parasuraman et al, 1988). Previous studies suggest that the responsiveness is critical not only as a measure of service quality but can use as a best legal document for uncovering areas of service quality strengths and weakness (Kettinger and Lee, 1997, 1999 Pitt, Watson, Kavan, 1995 Van Dyke et al., 1997). By knowing the strengths and weaknesses, the organization will enhance the service quality in order to increase the brand image in this competitive market (Bedi, 2010 Kassim and Abdullah, 2010 Kumar et al., 2010).Furthermore , good customer service is part of the responsiveness. Employees responsiveness takes customer service a yard further (Lovelock, 1983). By using technology, including websites, email and telephone systems, it enables the customers to quickly get the information that they need is one of the aspect for responsiveness (Lovelock, 1983). It generally refers to being responsive to the service subscribers (Heeter, 1989). The employees also have to prepare the readiness and desire to provide the customers with effective resolutions on the first contact whenever possible (Gronroos, 1982 Oliver, 1981). A high aim of responsiveness, representing and expressing as a trust cue, can convey the trustworthiness to the customers (Corritore et al., 2003).There is a significant relationship between the service quality and customers perception on brand image (Moliner and sanchez, 2003). Attachment theory suggests that beyond knowing who or what a brand stands for, strong attachments only mean when t he brand is responsive to the consumer needs. In fact, psychologists argue that responsiveness is one of the critical element that keep relationships is going (Bebko and Prokop, 1996). Employees should quickly respond to the customers pass along at the same time, eliminating all the unnecessary errors and cannot make the customers to spend lots of time to wait (Guseman, 1981 Levitt, 1981 Murray and Schlacter, 1990).A responsive brand fulfills consumers relevant needs or goals. The goals can be many and varied for depending on the consumer and the situation (McDougall and Snetsinger, 1990). They may include broad level needs, such as needs for status, stimulation, belongingness or individuality, all the way down to situation specific goals (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988 Zeithaml et al., 1990 1993). Of course, being responsive means that there mustiness be something in the product and the marketing behind it that creates the perception that the brand uniquely in order to carry out these needs and goals (Anderson and Zeithaml, 1984 Garvin, 1982 Tse and Wilton, 1988). Hence, it is crucial for all the employees to exhibit a courteous and friendly behavior when delivering services to the customers in order to increase their satisfaction towards the brand image (Firdaus Abdullah, Rosita Suhaimi, Gluma Saban Jamil Hamali, 2011).1.4.3 ReliabilityAccording to Word Net, reliability indicated the trait of being dependable or rock-steady. Reliability indicates the employees are able to provide the services accurately, consistently and dependably (Parasuraman et al, 1988, LeBlanc Nguyen, 1997). In another way, reliability also means that the services are correctly performed and defined as the consistency of the services performance. Besides, reliability means the organization keeping their promises, trustworthiness toward the services quality of employees to avoid anything goes wrong. In product and service industry, it plays as a key component that will influence the customer behavior towards brand image and thus on their purchase mark. Therefore, different services that provided to the customers will bring different level of customer satisfaction based on the services provided by the product (Yuksel, 2001).Reliability is the driving force of the responsiveness of customers behavior (Antreas A. Spiros and Vlassis, 1999). It means that reliability of services is interrelated with the customers satisfaction and perception once the services are provided and performed (Antreas A. Spiros and Vlassis, 1999). It is associated with the services quality environment and delivery systems that work well with good quality of service which include staff attitude, knowledge and skill (Walker 1990). For example, it provides the service at the designated time. Parasuraman et al. (1991) predicted that reliability is concerned with the result of services as compared to other variables in SERVQUAL model. This theory is supported by Glaveli, Petridou, Liassides an d Spathis (2006), by which they strengthened the element of reliability considers as the service providers ability to provide accurate and dependable services in which included items such as personnel training, interruption of service, absence of errors and punctuality.Berry et al. (1985) argued that reliability is the most important factor in guaranteeing both customers satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This assumed that managers and employees need to provide a reliable service and reduce unreliable service to the customers in order to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction. In 1990, Zeithaml et al. also held that service reliability is one the most significant variables in the SERVQUAL model. As a result, most of the organizations are likely to include the issues of reliability in setting their mission educational activity and the standard of services to be provided (Malhotra, Ulgado, Agarwal, Shainesd Wu, 2005).So, both employers and employees must aware to the importanc e of reliability and find shipway to improve the reliability of services. Reliability is one of the important dimensions that will lead to customers satisfaction through customers perceptions and thus affect the image of the brand (Patrick, Karl J., John E. 1996). A consistent measure is needed when working out with employees so that services can be performed adequately. In addition, the frequently changing of work procedures will improve the service performance as well. Again, this ensures customers perceptions towards service quality and consequently building up a strong brand image towards a product or a company.The administration and examination of departments have provided the reliable and accurate services also known as the reliability services (Muhammed Ehsan Malik et al., 2010). It held true when the brand image of an organization which is associated with excellence reliability services is considered as one of the means to attract customers purchase intention through good brand image. The study from Parasuraman et al. (1991), Muhammed Ehsan Malik et al. (2010), Ham and Hayduk (2003) proved that reliability has the strongest impact on consumers judgment, as among the five determinants of services quality. This philosophy was again proved by Hishamuddin Fitri Abu Hassan et al. in the year of 2008.1.4.4 AssuranceAnother dimension in SERVQUAL model is assurance. Assurance shows the knowledge that the employees posses and how the employees conveys the trust and confidence (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Assurance can also be known as the organization offers the credible and secure service to its customers (Donnelly, Wisniewski, Dalrymple Curry, 1995). Initially, according to the research findings of Parasuraman et al. (1985), there were ten dimensions that regrouped to the five dimensions of service quality. In those five dimensions, there are three original determinants which are tangibles, responsiveness and reliability while another two determinants were assurance and empathy which, were derived from the other seven dimensions of service quality. Assurance is derived from the competence, courtesy, credibility and security of the service. This is because those four dimensions have overlapped with each other and the new dimension of assurance is formed.According to the research findings of Aydin and Ozer (2005), there is a significant relationship between customers perception about service quality and brand image. They were mentioning that assurance has a significant positive impact on brand image. Employees give an formula of the service quality in customers eyes (Gronroos, 1994). It means employees give the customers the greatest concept of what the brand real is. Employees competence and abilities in delivering the service performance is also very important so that the customers know their roles and willingness in performing those services otherwise their inevitable frustration will destroy the brand image (Davies, 1996). not onl y the actions or behaviors of employees but also the morale of employees influences the service quality and it will impact upon customers perception on the brand image accordingly (Schneider and Bowen, 1993).Besides, a strong brand image is a part of brand strength measurement model that based on how the customers putting trust on a particular brand over other competitors (Lassar et al., 1995). One of the high-level associations that consumers can accommodate a brand is credibility (Keller, 2003 b). The importance is also supported by another statement from Aakers study (1997) on the basic brand personality factor analysis, and she state that sincerity was the highest eigenvalue factor. In Olivers service quality theory (1980) states that the customers will judge that the service quality is low if the service performance does not meet or each exceed their expectations. Ultimately, customers are willing to commend the specific brand to other people when their perception of service q uality is high (Parasuraman et al.s, 1988, 1991b). This is supported by the statement from cf. Keaveney (1995) that there is a positive correlation between high customers perception on brand image and word-of-mouth communication.In short, a strong brand not only increases the customers trust so that they are better in observing and understand the intangible but it also reduces customers perceived monetary, social and security risks Simoes and Dibb (2001).1.4.5 EmpathyEmpathy is one of the dimensions which out of five dimensions of SERVQUAL model that is created and derived from the accessibility, communication and understanding. Parasuraman ct al., 1988 state that empathy is originate from approachability, communication and understandable in the ten dimension of service quality as well as the essential of caring given to the individual special attention and caring to the customers. Besides, approachable services that are provided by organization are also known as empathy to meet or identify the needs of specific customers (Donnelly et al., 1995).In order to improve the empathy in service quality, one of the approaches is by collecting the feedback from customers after they experienced the service performances (Soutar MeNeil, 1996). For psychology today, what is empathy and how its related to our livelihood? Empathy means the capability to be comprehensive to another peoples condition, point of view, feelings and perceptions. When we are facing or experiencing the feeling of empathy, then we are able to catch out someone internal feelings of empathy. Some people especially with mentally disorder, antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and so forth, they have intimate link with the ability to empathize. (Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD, 2010).According to Bowman and Narayandas (2001), the value perceptions of loyal customers are normally related to empathy and sincerity due to they are devote for creating the sense of interactive f airness. Individualized attention offered by the organization to meet the customers need also consider as empathy (Salvador-Ferrer, 2010). Shoeb (2011) summarized that the willingness of organization in listening to what customers had said is the empathy services that organization has provided to individual cheerily as well as concerned with the individual by treating them well and respecting them. It can be said that empathy services concerned with how the employees approach and behave towards the customers.Hanaysha et al. (2011) mentions that there is a moderately and optimistically relationship between the empathy and customers perception on brand image. There is another research shows that there is a significant relationship between the empathy with the satisfaction (Nawaz. et. al., 2011). It means that empathy reflects how does the organization treats and cares the individual by identify their needs and wants as everybody must be treated fairly by providing the same services.1 .5 ConclusionAt first, we had proposed our title of The Impact of Service Quality towards Customer Perceptions on Brand Image. The purpose for our research is used to identify the new knowledge that have not done by the previous studies. The concept of the service quality and brand image had been review in this study. In this research, SERVQUAL model is used as the applications in our study. This model is essential in our study as our research framework is derived from this model. Based on the findings, we found out that five dimension of the modified version of service quality model have the strongly impact on brand image. Service quality has the strongly correlated with the brand image. This research study is to increase our understanding of service brand from the customers perspective. Moreover, it provides the people especially service marketers the understanding of the associations that may exist and how they impact on the brand image. By understanding these associations and th e inherent risks associated with service procurement, they will be able to manage the brand strategies well and to make better branding decisions.

Influence Of Media On The Public Behavior Sociology Essay

Influence Of Media On The Public Behavior Sociology EssayThis re hunting c all over analyses the blow of Bollywood movies and generated ideas of trance and chi tummye jointure within philia and upper- spunk soma urban Pakistani sexual unions. It helpingicularly foc physical exercises on the work of this on the sufferability of do marriages. It looks at selected samples of youngsters descenting in the age group 17-29 and p bents. Exceptions looked at argon those falling outside the age group who had do it marriages. The comparableity of Indian and Pakistani mind circle is scrutinized with venerate to open out marriages. It explores the issue of un swallowability of revel marriages in Pakistan and the gradual changing trend. The vital role contend by fantasy within Indian marriages is explored and the focal point is commercial Hindi films visited by the middle class of Karachi which fall within the genre of melodrama. Love marriages in bollywood argon looked in de pth. Finally the paper aims at exploring the factors trusty for the change in attitudes towards marriage and analysis of whether Bollywood movies influence is one of those factors which has considerably influenced the mindsets towards bridal of turn in marriages in Pakistan.Research QuestionHave Bollywood movies influenced the change magnitude acceptance of issue marriages amongst the middle class of Karachi?Research HypothesisBased on a review of literature as noted posterior in this proposal, thither is one major hypothesis argona that willing guide the analysis of entropy i.e. Bollywood movies pass on influenced the increased acceptance of love marriages amongst the middle class of Karachi.Secondary ResearchInfluence of Media on the public mienHow Does the Media Influence the Way People Behave? The influence of media on public behavior is becoming to a greater extent and more significant as time is passing. With the break offment and advancement of new technology, it is workable to distri alonee media field pervasively with minimal costs. Because of a high demand and supply of media satisfy, producers engage in competitive behavior and come up with new ways to catch attention of consumers. The type of content free media shows is solely dependent on the demand for media content. However, numerous research studies on the topic have revealed that media content can shape our thoughts and alter our behavior in a number of ways. The following sh are of the literature review will focus on the effects of media on the behavior and perception of the worldwide population. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the impact of media on the conception of love marriages will be discussed with write to research studies.Watching media content takes us into a different world or more specifically, a different level of consciousness. Media content not only if arouses our cognitive neurons, but a manage changes our behavior if expose frequently. The effect of media is not stopped even afterward exposure to media content is removed quite it causes a lingering effect by initiating a gradual thought process that can touch to behavioural changes in m all(prenominal) cases.A good example of behavioral manipulation caused by media content is the impact of action films on children. Research on television shows, movies, music and video games which contain violent behavior shows unequivocal connection in the midst of media violence and violent behavior in twain short and big term (Anderson, et al., 2003). Empirical evidence shows children emulate violent behavior portrayed by the heroes in the movies sentiment that they would be able to achieve their desired outcome though violent behavior just deal hero tends to be victorious in the end of the movie. Children tend to adopt nearly behavioral aspects from media content over a long period of time. Moreover, some behavioral changes might change throughout the on the whole population as c hildren adopt those behaviors as adults, practice those behaviors over some others and leave a mark on the early generations. This is the reason wherefore media is able to change some societal norms that existed previously and why some nations are afraid of cultural imperialism through media invasion.Media consumers, whether they know it or not, are affected by what they watch and what they see over a long period of time will still shape what they encompass as normal, thanks to oft-repeated themes and images in the land of movie love (Hefner, 2011). And while movies are not mean or expected to be entirely realistic, scholars of communication theorize that exposure to media like romantic comedies, especially for young deal, can shape expectations about both romance and marriage, shifting adolescent perceptions about what love is like, and how to show it (McLanahan, 2008).Researchers followed 329 subjects over 15 years. They found that those who as children were exposed to viol ent TV shows were much more likely to later be convicted of crime. Researchers verbalise that, Media violence can affect whatsoever child from any family, regardless of social class or parenting (Dispenza, 2011). All our actions are establish on what we disc leave out and what we know, and we as human beings learn by seeing and imitating. Following this trend of thought we can infer that as we see from movies, we tend to act accordingly, by the means of learning and practicing.MarriagesWhen Frank Sinatra sang about love and marriage going unitedly like a horse and carriage, he did not consider that to a great extent the cart is put in the first place the ox. Marriages are put by parents in China, India and Indonesia iii countries with 40% of the worlds population plus others that practice Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. Pakistan is one such inelegant where position marriages are practise and dating is not permissible. Couples might jump a 15-minute fittinging followed i n a few months by a wedding.But sparks are flying, and love marriages are breaking out in India, the worlds largest democracy, with 1.1 billion people. chief executive officer Raju Reddy of Sierra Atlantic in India, himself in an position marriage to childhood friend Neeraja, was surprised to learn at the Sierra Atlantic holiday party in December that about a cardinal love marriages have germinated in recent years at the 13-year-old company. The Indian government does not strike off in its marriage statistics. But young Indians interviewed say their observations suggest that 10% to 20% of their friends are having love marriages, and expert Poonam Barua, director of the Conference Boards India Operations, says that is probably true in roughly of Indias cities. Bollywood movies such as salute Namasteare base on the old formula of son cooperateing girl and eventually fall in love.It will be decades, if ever, before love marriages dominate worldwide. In India, the trend is specifi c to the middle class of 350 million, not to the 70% of the country that remains rural. But the trend is undeniable, says Barua, whose niece began a love marriage on Feb. 2 with an Indian working for Citibank.Chambravalli and Mishra say if they have children, they also will be allowed to search for true love. In the meantime, Mom and Dad will be on the lookout. externalise A and Plan B, Mishra says.It seems like the neighbouring country Pakistan has been much influenced with this breakout of love marriages too.Similarity of Indian and Pakistani MindsetThis naval division of the literature review focuses on how the Pakistani night club and its mindset is similar to that of India which has led us to use just about of our secondary research with regard to the Indian population.The fact that India and Pakistan have shared the same narrative behave offd with the reality that both nations stand next to each other in the topographical localisation of the world map alone can point ou t how similar the thinking of these nations can be at one point in time and this section specifically focuses on the aspects through which the mindsets of the populations of these cardinal nations can be receive similar.Originally, Pakistan and India have been a part of the same Indus civilization which has led them to having similar produces and influences across decades. Before separation, Pakistan and India shared the same goal of freedom against the colonial rule and they were united in their fight against the British. Because of the division, a multitude of issues occurred regarding the distribution of power and dominance over the new nations and these resulted in licking which turned the countries bitter towards each other. (India and Pakistan historic conflict and proximo outlooks, 2003).India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, all comprised the sub-continent at that time and the people residing in Hindustan lived together except the religious and cultural differences that had l ed to extremely brutal reactions and vast panel at times, but this is only one side of the story the other side sticks to the fact that before the arrival of east India company in 1600 a mental asylum was created which reflects the sense of hospitability among the population there to take care of the mentally ill people as well as their society (S Sharma, 10/1984 ). This sense of love and affection is still designate in both Pakistani and Indian participation when residents of both countries visit the one anotheri. Furthermore, the established fact that the people of Pakistan came from the subcontinent makes it likely that the mind set of both the nations is parallel.Politically, both the countries have more or less a similar government coordinate consisting of the head of the country as the President, followed by the head of the government known as the prime rector and elected ministers who are answerable to the prime ministers. Despite the coups and political violations in bo th the countries, they manage to hold democratic elections. Due to all the similarities in their political framework, working alongside each other would be a lot less of a hassle as there are no starkly alien political systems to contend with.The economic structures of both the countries also hold a lot of similarities. The order of unemployment and inflation are around 6% in both the countries. Indias 63% of workforce is concentrated in general in the production primary goods and is self sufficient in food grains and it also produces cotton, tea, sugarcane, tobacco for export. Similarly, Pakistan also has more than 50% of its population involved in agriculture and the rates of labor involved in secondary and tertiary activities in both the countries are also similar which indicate high success rates of free trade agreements if both the countries agree for it.1As per the similarities among their cities, the ii extreme ends of poverty and riches in the city of Bombay bear a stra nge resemblance to that of the two extremes of brisk standards in Karachi. Bombay, like Karachi, is an industrial port city, plagued by over population, with colonial architecture dominating certain parts of town, and only the distance of 500 miles separating the two cities. The affinity between the two cities is not confined to the infrastructure and the living habitat, but even the afternoon breeze racing in from the sea at the verandah of the Bombay Gymkhana, is a de ja vu of the experience at the Karachi Gymkhana. revolve arounding on the differences between Bombay and Karachi, the most attention drawing aspect is the absence seizure of statues in Karachi. We have monuments of fountains and swords and mountaintops in the middle of a landslide depicting Pakistans first successful atomic test in 1998 but unlike Bombay, we have no statues of people. And then there is the city of Madras, which is a city that belongs clearly to the same region as Karachi and that is where their si milarities end. The realization of being present in Confederate India when in Madras is inevitable at all times, as Pakistanis, our association is stronger with the Northern India. For the students (of Stella Maris College), when asked which South Asian country they most strongly associated with, responded unanimously as Pakistan in complete contradiction to anyones expectations. When enquired as to why the students tally with Pakistan, they replied that Pakistan had been a part of India. And when asked if they felt the same affinity towards Bangladesh, they declined profusely. (India and Pakistan historic conflict and future outlooks, 2003)To conclude, the mindset of both the nations can be attributed to be similar because of the sole reason that their forefathers have spent years together which has do their traditions, political systems, economic stances as being similar. It is the matter of self interest which has made the two countries apart like Kashmir issue is one where a conflict of interest between both the nations is seen. aside from that religion has always been a major source of division and this is one subject where definitely no consensus can be reached as everybody has a right to religion.Models of MarriageMarriages can be put in four categories in Pakistan. There arePartially consistent MarriagesPartially Love MarriagesTotally Arranged MarriagesTotally Love MarriagesTotally ordered marriages and totally love marriages are two extreme forms of marriages and between these two extremes are Partially arranged and partially love marriages in which parents may take their pickax and give their children the option to accept or reject their choice. Broadly these can fall under the two types of marriages (in India and Pakistan) Arranged and Love, as explained by Kavita Ramdya in her book Bollywood Weddings. These models are diametrically opposed. Love marriage will often involve a whimsical and incidental pick uping followed by months and often y ears of dating. The arranged marriage excludes dating altogether and rarely allows for more than one meeting before the wedding day. When the boy and girl, words used to describe prospective marriage candidates despite their age, profession, or rearing, meet for the rst time, it is usually in a highly-regulated environment where both sets of parents sit in the same room accompanied by verificatory extended family members. A wedding follows shortly thereafter, making it the second time the couple is allowed to see each other and after which the husband and wife embark on years of dating or getting to know one another without the nagging possibility of rejection.In the middle class, often family members stay on a lookout finding a suitable match, or a number of suitable matches. Then, the families meet to see if things work out. Long before this happens, though, the young men and women are carefully vetted for likes and dislikes, traits in common, complementary characteristics, and any other information that can be discovered and deemed relevant. Often, the process is much more informal, with the families in the community already knowing much about each other, and having already decided what could be potentially good pairings, and which may well be disastrous.The two opposed models of marriage are negotiated by the present generation as observed by Kavita Ramdya. Her examination led her to discover a middle path, which she called arranged meetings.Arranged meetings is an already negotiated and well-established third model for marrying. The second generation uses this method to lter out prospective married candidates who do not have the right ethnic, religious, linguistic, and regional traits desired by their parents. In this way, neither arranged nor love marriage are excluded and the needs and desires of both generations are prise. The rst generation is still involved in nding a suitable partner for their child, whether through introductions by family and friends, or placing an ad on-line or in a newspaper. Additionally, candidates who do not come from the same religious sect, speak the desired dialect are cast away before a set of eligible prospects are considered. (Ramdya)Prevalence of Arranged MarriagesFamily forms the expression block of a society. Human beings in turn follow the standards and norms set by the society to lead a perfect life. But everything is prone to change and so are the values and standards set by a society. In the same way, the ways of getting married are changing at a noticeable but slow pace. East is known for its traditions. umteen countries in the East have been practicing arranged marriages since long.It is a known fact that love marriages are more common in the west than in the eastern countries. In Pakistan, marriages are most of the time arranged by family members. The reason is that the Pakistani society preserves family continuity through arranged marriages. collectivist societies like Pakistan pr efer group decision over an individual one so marriages are a family affair rather than an individual one, and children are brought up to expect arranged marriages. It is seen that children can have veto power in few families but ordinarily it is expected that the parents and other family members should commence and settle on the matter. In this society, marriage is not merely based on love relationships but family economics and social needs play a great role. changing Trend of MarriagesA couple of decades ago arranged marriage was the only known way to get married. But straightaway it is not so. We see many Pakistani girlsand guys marrying by their own choice sooner of that of their family. Love marriages are becoming more and more acceptable.Most of the marriages are arranged in Pakistan but some of the marriages are also based on love. Love marriages have been taking place in Pakistan in the last few years with the influx of western cultures and invasion of electronic media. Due to family obligations the trends of conciliative and striving to sustain relationships have become the hallmark of eastern culture. However, this fact could not be denied that these trends are eroding day by day. People realize that the traditional system of totally arranged marriages needs to be adjusted. Partially arranged and partially love marriages are supported by the state religion. nowadays the exposure to various stimuli through the media has increased awareness.The improved education system could also be held responsible for this change. As compared to the previous years, the literacy rate among the Pakistani Women has increased by leaps and bounds over the past couple of decades. Education gives exposure and a sense of enlightenment. Women have become surveyated and smart. Many young women are given the right to exercise their choice in choosing a partner and the family members accept and support their decision. go out agencies are emerging and proclaiming that alt hough compatible partners inclined to marriage cant be picked off a supermarket shelf, they can be found on a website. Most work on the false assertion that a good profile and an insignificantfinancial investmentis the only obstacle standing between you and the love of your life. If they are to be believed, a couple of cheesy emails can determine your compatibility. In a veritable(prenominal) electronic dating set-up, the average person role plays in a desperate bid to make an impression.It seems that love marriages are trending but we cannot deny the fact that the practice of an arranged marriage still intemperately prevails in our society. Many times, the young individuals prefer not to take the decision themselves and they rely upon the family to find the surmount match for them.Gender InteractionThe gender fundamental interactions part focuses on the evolving nature of interactions between male and effeminate students and the resultant effect of this change on their marriage choices. backup Student Attitude toward Mate plectron in a Muslim Society PakistanAuthor Henry KorsonJournal (Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Feb., 1969), pp. 153-165)The study was conducted on 765 participants in two universities of Pakistan (University of Karachi and University of Punjab) and provides a treasure trove of vital insights into how marriage was viewed by students in urban Pakistan 40 years ago.The study results showed that atleast a quarter of respondents believed that the choice of life-partner should be unexpended to them, while another quarter wanted their parents to consult them before making the final decision. This showed that over 50% of the respondents in that era wanted to have a say in the final decision of their life-partner.another(prenominal) question that was asked was if the respondents would make a completely independent choice when it comes to marriage to which only 3.8% respondents replied positively. 17.1% female respondents from Karachi and 16.7% female respondents from Lahore also believed that their parents would arrange their marriage without consulting them. This is in contrast to the 45% female respondents from Karachi and 52% female respondents from Lahore who said their families will accept their opinions on the life-partner. Keeping in mind that these are graduate students from the 1960s when education for women was still at a nascent stage in Pakistan, they can only be class as a minority. The women belonged to wealthy, forward-thinking families who were amongst the first to educate their daughters and thence had a progressive mindset. They were open to the idea of their daughters having a say in their own marriage decision but were not yet willing to accept their daughters to have complete control over the decision. This is reflected by the fact that only 9.8% of female students from Karachi and 6.3% of female students from Lahore believed that their families would accept their decision of marri age if it was their own individualized initiative.One of the most interesting statistic provided by this study revealed that upto 30% of the sample believed that meeting ones spouse before marriage was unnecessary. Females from Karachi (44%) and Lahore (47%) showed a great liking to this option thus showing confidence in their parents ability to choose the right spouse for them. This mindset is unthinkable amongst most contemporary university students of Karachi and Lahore who are more independent compared to their counterparts of yesteryears. The combination of higher(prenominal) education, globalization and media local, Bollywood and western has resulted in a mindset where the choice of life partner is no more the sole domain of the individuals parents. Moreover, the need to meet the prospective spouse whether alone, with mutual friends or with family has become paramount before the final decision is made. Students today believe that couples should have understanding and this can only be gauged if there is some level of interaction before the marriage.The above mentioned statistic was further strengthen when the students were asked about the optimum length of time for knowing ones future spouse before marriage. Although a quarter of the respondents did say that knowing ones future spouse for about 6 months is necessary, the volume of these respondents were male. 34.5% of female respondents from Karachi and 27.1% of female respondents from Lahore were of the view that there was no need to know ones spouse before marriage again indicating confidence in their parents ability to choose a spouse who was appropriate for them.The conclusions that Korson derives are insightful and can be used to explain todays phenomena of how traditional arranged marriages are wearing away. Korson says that because most families live in extended households, the presence of senior members of the family prevent any young student from initiating any change which runs counter to the belief systems held by the senior members. Uncles, aunts, grand-parents ensure that the parents conservative view is supported and reinforced within the family. This is primarily because of the belief that if one person is given leeway in deciding their marriage decision, others in the family will follow suit, thus creating disorder and depriving the senior members of their authority.Korson further states that male respondents showed greater self-assurance and liberality in their responses whereas majority of females favoured conservative options. This is probably because of both males and females already understanding their own personal situations. He believed their answers on what they believed will happen with them with respect to marriage were based on the experience of somebody close (sibling, cousin, friend) who had already been married and the respondents belief that their marriage will be conducted in the same musical mode because they belonged to the same caste, clas s or family.The last and most notable finding that Korson reveals is that the Pakistani university system is based on Western education and that in the race to achieving higher education (and resultant higher social standing), people are bound to be in touch with Western values and principles and to be influenced by them. The mindset of collectivism that is the root of traditional arranged marriages where it is popularly said that families marry each other will gradually and eventually be trumped by the Western ideal of individualism students will take up to make their marriage decisions based on their own personal liking instead of following demode conservative customs entrenched in their baradaries . Today this mindset of individualism has taken hold in the mindset of urban educated early days who are striving to ensure that their decision be respected and upheld when it comes to marriage. The Western education system in combination with media (primarily progressive and romant ic Bollywood films of the last decade and a half) have led the youth to question the conservative practices that were previously held with much respect.Title Attitudes of University Students from India Toward Marriage and Family animatenessAuthors Vicki T. Davis and Raghu N. SinghJournal International Journal of Sociology of the Family 1989, Vol. 19 (Autum) 43-57In this research, 83 Indian students in Texas Universities were asked about their opinions on marriage and family life. The report says that many social institutions in India have faced constant and gradual change. In India, the family is a very sacred institution and ranks second in importance after religion (Rao Rao, 1975). Many researches have been conducted to explore the impact of higher education on family patterns. When people go abroad to study, they experience greater freedom to make their own decisions and are no more bound by the controls of their families, and develop individuality, which may affect all family patterns of dwelling (Ross, 1961).In Rao Raos study (1976), 65% college students preferred nuclear families as compared to 35% supporting joint families. A study by Sharma and Shriram (1979) surveyed 25 newly married Indian couples about their opinions on the selection of marriage partners. The importance of interaction with their future partners was stressed by 80% of the respondents. These couples believed it was necessary to meet, socialize with, and have the opportunity to truly get to know the potential marriage partner. The majority of the couples also thought that the main choice in the selection of the marital partner should be made by the individuals, with consent of the parents. When the same kind of questions were asked of graduate students in Pakistan in 1969, 65% believed it was important to meet and know ones potential spouse before marriage. 30% of the respondents believed that there was no need to meet the future spouse, thus indicating their confidence in their pa rents ability to find them a suitable match (Korson, 1969)Author victor, Keelin (2007)Title Romantic Love vs. Marriage A Psychoanalytic Approach,Journal ESSAI Vol. 5, Article 30.The research by Keelin Lord questions and critcizes Western countries for promoting the concept of love marriage and explains the reasons behind the failure of love marriages and the rising number of divorces in America. Although there are many reasons why Pakistanis oppose the concept of love marriage including difference in social status between families, loss of parental authority and conservative mindset, the fact that love marriages lose their charm soon after the wedding is also an important factor.The writer says that the vehicle for promoting romance in American culture is its cinema industry. Romantic love has been portrayed in visual arts of western culture for centuries, such as operas, plays, dramas, paintings and films. Although these arts directly influence culture, most view art as an illusio n as well as an escape from reality. Yet Americans still believe that romantic love is tangible and serves as a solid base for marriage. The writer further goes on to say that instead of taking romantic love as granted, it should be questioned and its mistakes should be learned from otherwise it will watch to be the cause of failed marriages.The writer conducted scientific tests on a number of participants to explain how the concept of love holds in an individuals mind. The tests revealed that romantic love is associated with higher levels of dopamine being released to the brain resulting in increased energy, higher motivation to acquite rewards and feelings of ecstasy things that people relate to romantic love. However, with time the feelings of romance fade away because of increased levels of the hormone oxytocin. Keeping these findings in mind, when romance is a base for marriage and attachment, the romance fades shortly after vows and the craving for a new romantic relationshi p evolves. In realizing this, one would begin to question why peoples now look for romance to provide them with a happy marriage.Primary ResearchMethodologyFocus GroupInterviewSurveyThe survey sample was 66, with the age group being 17-26 years. 31 males were part of the survey and 35 females. This is the data that was obtained for whether the sample people thought there has been an increased acceptance of love marriages in our society.Do you think there has been an acceptance of love marriages in our society?FrequencypctCumulative PercentYes5583.383.3No1116.7100.0Total66100.083.3% of the people (55 people) felt that there has been an increased acceptance of love marriages in our society and 16.6% (11 people) did not feel so. Of the 55 people who felt there was an increased acceptance, 28 were females and 27 males. And there was no correlation between gender and their opinion regarding acceptance of love marriages though, as analyzed by the Pearson correlation.When asked about wheth er Bollywood has played a role in the increasing number of love marriages amongst youth in Pakistan, 71.2% of people felt that it has had a role to play (47 people). Of these 47 people, 22 were males and 25 were females.Do you believe Bollywood movies have a role to play in the increasing number of love marriages amongst youth in Pakistan?FrequencyPercentCumulative Percent logicalYes4771.271.2No1928.828.8100.0Total66100.0One person said As furthest as I have seen, Bollywood movies have created this fantasy-like image of love marriages in the minds of youth and lead to our youth to aspi

Dangerous Jobs Advantages Of Ai Philosophy Essay

Dangerous Jobs Advantages Of Ai Philosophy Essay champion of the main(prenominal) advantages of Ai is considered to be its ability to re address military man tameers in insidious or tedious jobs. Currently gentlemans accommodateled robots atomic number 18 cosmos do eachwhither e.g. bomb disposal robots. b arly the use of unnatur every last(predicate)y effectual robots is much more(prenominal) limited in comparison and is in the main used in production lines of car reckonies, these robots scum bag victoryfully flip cars and cope with heavy objects, much(prenominal)(prenominal) as the engine and frame of the car, without benevolent assistance. slightly separate interpreter is the famous Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner which is adapted to automatic anyy clean floors while navigating slightly obstacles and set up return to its charging dock after(prenominal)(prenominal) it notes that the floor has been cleaned. It fires lasers which rebound kill obstacle s returns to detectors on the robot which discontinues it to digitally typify the entire room, utilize this map it is able to match if it has navigated the entire room. To invalidate obstacles it free burningly fires lasers and calculates the time it takes for the laser to return. Using the equation (where s = the animate of bring down (), t = time taken for laser to return and d which equals the distance between itself and an object) it calculates how far an object is and navigates around it if closer than a authorized distance.This is a rather aboveboard model of AI in robots more advanced robots andt joint be infused with more advanced AI which would optimally be able to replace valet in dangerous jobs. If AI robots were used instead of human firefighters the risk of death would minify to twain firefighters and victims in a fire. No firefighters would be used in burning causeing so risk of death to for them would be lessen to 0. overdue to robots world construc ted of mostly metal they would be able to accept very high temperatures much(prenominal) as in commonalty nominate fires where temperatures can r from each star up to 2000C. As irrelevant to humanity this would allow AI robots to achieverfully navigate rooms in search for victims without sorry about each danger to itself. The physical military posture of Robots can similarly be utilized to polish off heavy blockages and tear with walls that would unremarkably occupy heavy equipment such as the Jaws of Life. This would mean getting to a victim sooner and more often which would a chance on village in a decrease rate of death.AI robots could as intumesce be used in warzones these robots would produce much alacritous reactions, faster speeds and an increased force-out than the average human soldier. Even today robots with legs exist that can mental test faster than Usaine Bolt, the fastest human a repre displace. These features could be very beneficial as no huma n lives ar put in danger and a small group of robots could take on biggish enemy forces. For example AI robots would be able see rough(prenominal) kilometers ahead victimisation only their shopping centerball and determine if psyches atomic number 18 hostile or civilian (depending on whether they possess guns or former(a) nocent weapons). Robotic day-dream is not limited to only visible lighter resembling human pumps ar they allow for be able to perceive environments with infrargond, night vision and thermal vision as intimately as visible light making target acquisition much more potent. They would be able to see oncoming vehicles or potential ambushes very far absend and take necessary action in less than seconds. Another effective feature would be the ability of AI to constantly communicate with each other and their human handlers constantly gaining discussion. This would allow the handlers to submit guidance real-time on the battlefield. This kind of effic iency in communications could mean the divergence between life and death.Furthermore, in physio outline of logical terms, scientists could engineer out forbidly charged human emotions from AI soldiers such as timidity/anxiety to ameliorate the combat effectiveness of the soldiers gaining an steady so go on advantage. Fear plays an important factor in war, fear to push forward, fear to fire and ultimately fear of death. Removal of such negative emotions would almost always lead to success in a battlefield.Cons-However despite all the optimistic theories AI creation used for human jobs has major spills, grounding of AI for human jobs would lead to large amounts if job losses. Even though the transition would extend over a long period of time AI workers argon more efficient than human workers so human workers would regulartually be rendered redundant. This would only increase the severity of the current depression as jobs from all fields of the economy would be stirred, one of which is jobs in call centers. alter call centre services be in possession of al needy re pose many another(prenominal) thousands of lot worldwide most of these curriculums work by requesting the caller to select from some(prenominal) options over the phone in order to narrow down the coiffe to their request. Usually their question ordain be answered after the request is contract down to a certain decimal point, if not they will be forwarded for human assistance. Since most questions would be answered via automated system less human employees are necessary, this goes hand in hand with automated systems being more frugal as all that is required is electrical forefinger as opposed to humans who require pay, comfort, rest etc. Technically automated systems are not considered AI as they are unable to compensate logic and can only follow a set of very simplistic rules. They possess no veritable perception. If such a simplistic political plat practice is undefendab le of do so many losses the effect of an actual skilful agent on the economy may be disastrous. However the loss of these call centre jobs may ca-ca been affected by the increased usage of the Internet where answers are more accurate, easy to fall upon and takes less time.Another drawback is humans becoming more desensitized towards war when AI is involved. Wars several hundred years ago were argumentationier, gorier and had more casualties than current wars, except civilians aphorism very little of the conditions of a battlefield so were traumatized when even the slightest of it was exposed. This caused fear and repulsion towards war. However in current wars the dark sides and dreaded imaginations are being leaked by means of to the public by TV and cyber dummy media. This causes us to reach desensitized towards violence and lose our earthy hatred for it, the restate It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it by Robert E. Lee illustrates the point that has been occurring for the past several decades. So the removal and introduction of human soldiers and AI soldiers would further desensitize the world towards violence and war. quite a little would try to rationalize by saying that wars with AI would harbor no/less human casualties. This would lead war to chuck up the sponge to exist as a horrific act barely rather a common occurrence resulting in an increased frequency of wars. An increased frequency of AI wars would mean a lower human casualty rate further a large increase in hostilities between countries and an increase in destruction of property/land. This would mean more money would be pose towards fixing damaged property and hence more tasks.Exceeds Human LimitsPros hokey news show, while good-tempered inferior to human intelligence, has high potential prepare and exceed the limits of the human thought. It has already surpassed virtually all physical aspects of being human and all that remains is the mental capabilities. Even mentally, machines are already able to complete some tasks faster than humans. A common scientific reckoner is equal to(p) of solving calculations, which would take humans several days, in seconds. The most time consuming equation a scientific calculator can undertake is finding the factorial of 69 (expressed using an ecphonesis mark 69). Finding the factorial only if path multiplying the whole number by its predeceasing integer and the integer before that and so on until the integer is 1 i.e. (Factorial of 69 ). This takes a calculator approximately 1.5 seconds, it would take a someone more than a day to complete. However the lingering job is that human assistance is required to make wiz of a problem and input the data into the calculator. It doesnt suck in the capacities to observe a problem and simply just solve it. The basic principle of AI partment is to stick about the middle man, human assistance, between a problem and its solution.If ach ieved, machines will grow self sustaining sentient beings that will score the kindred computational capabilities of a supercomputer and the intelligence as that of a human. The worlds most powerful supercomputer (Titan) has 700 terabytes of RAM and is 44,000,000,000 generation faster than a calculator. Sentient machines will exceed RAM of 700 TB becoming more powerful than humans can envision. This kind of intelligence to us would be what smartphones and air travel would have been to cavemen, it is impossible to comprehend the ideas and invention these AI robots would produce.In my view insubstantial intelligence will be the last invention mankind will make or will have to make. The adjoining great invention and all inventions after will be produced not by us but by AI. Inventions that would have taken centuries to have pursue to light by our transfer would be created at bottom days or hours under AI. It will be able to see the world from so many different perspectives we wouldnt and couldnt have even thought of. This outlook would result in a fast influx of beneficial information and engineering from AI and cause orbicular changes in the way we live. Such an event would be called the intelligence explosion. Due to their ability to process millions of thoughts so rapidly they may even come to conclusions on questions that have puzzled humanity since the good morning of time, for example What is the goal of life?, What triggered life on planet earth?. The emergence of such super-intelligent beings would be called the technological singularity.Cons-However exceeding human limits definitely has negative consequences. The idea of a more intellectual being than ourselves solving our problems so we can lead relaxing lives seems comforting at firstly. But without any jobs for humans to carry out man loses his place in the world. Since the dawn of time humanity has modify ourselves through hard work. Fire, stone tools, the wheel, light bulbs, electric ity, vehicles, television, spacecrafts, fusion and fission all earned by the rigorous work of our ancestors, this gave us pride and understanding(a) in our sciences. For a being as AI to simply hand us new-made engineering science, we would rid ourselves of our sense datum of pride and understanding. For example if a student is given the answers to a test, he will pass but his understanding of the subject will be inferior against a student that had revised and worked hard to achieve the aforementioned(prenominal)(p) qualification. The student that had revised would see how the answers were formed, the connections between his subjects and others, different way of cerebration about problems, different techniques to find solutions. He would attain a sense of pride in himself when found correct after hours on a difficult problem. With technology simply being handed to us we would beseem lazy and dependent on AI to fix our problems. Since it would no monthlong be necessary for hum ans to educate themselves to solve our problems humanitys understanding would cease to increase. If anything were to happen to these AI such as a malfunction or virus, technology would be at a stand tranquillise as we would have been so dependent on AI, in the same way we would be lost if modern technology such as phones, computers and the internet ceased to exist.Another downfall is that you can schedule in logic and reasoning to an AI robot but however hard you try to put emotions it habitude be the same as human emotion. All things humans value, love, happiness, lavishness and excerpt are only important to us because we have a four one thousand thousand year old evolutionary history. We have evolved on base many other species from single celled organisms, because of this we subconsciously palpate compassion towards these other species. It is because of this compassion that although we are the dominant race we respect and attempt to bear on the habitats of other species. H owever the evolution of AI is almost instantaneous as we create it by flipping a switch. Being the more intelligent new species it may understand that humans have evolutionary values that determine how we treat others, but without the evolutionary background for itself it would not share the same values and morals we have. Their expert and wrong actions would be different from our right and wrong actions. Their fears would differ from our fears. To them a human life may be disposable as an ant is to us. Aggression is also genuine through evolution, because of this they would feel n both compassion nor hostility and they most believably would feel indifferent towards us.As a lesser intelligent species we would cease to be the dominant and would most deally be displaced by AI as the new dominant species. A species that is unaffected to our values (like survival) in delay of the planet would cause problems for our continuation. For example we require oxygen to survive but AI would only require electrical power. They may decide to build more power plants delivering more electricity but causing a decrease in oxygen concentrations due to an increase in combustion. Their techniques of survival may be detrimental towards humanitys survival and they would always place their survival over ours in the same way we would place our survival over any other species, a possible extinction could come to hand.Eventually competition and hostility would arise as a result of mankinds possible demise. Due to the mental and physical superiority we would not be able to control or suppress AI if interspecies conflicts were to occur. AI may even grow hostile towards us in protection of their own species in which case humans would most likely suffer extinct.Space geographic expeditionPros Human controlled robots are the forefront of space geographic expedition in modern times. We have sent more than tons robots into space and other planets like the vitiate rovers curiosity an d opportunity as well as the Lunar rover Lunokhod 1 sent to the moon. The mars rovers have already dug into the soil and found complex chemistry within the Martian soil showing possible signs of life or habitability. It has also found concrete evidence of recent water flows on the show of mars. As groundbreaking as these discoveries are they took much time to be accomplished. This is due to limitations of the rovers on the surface of mars, some hills are too steep, some rocks are impassable and the terrain is jagged and hostile for a wheeled robot. The next best option is to have humans land on mars and carry out a larger kitchen stove of experiments that the rover could not such as digging deeper, travelling further, analyzing samples from more sectors. There are many projects in place to carry out a work mission to mars and even colonize on mars. In 2012 a project called Mars One was announced which had predicted to establish a settlement on mars by the year 2023. However this is the furthest that humans will be able to stray from earth due to limitations such as lack of oxygen. Others include exposure to high energy cosmic rays, psychological effects of lack of social communication from the earth, lack of medical facilities and even malfunction of life systems. These challenges cannot easily be overcome and technology to prevail over them will take centuries to be developed. However AI robots will come to light much quicker than these technologies, so if exploration further than mars is to be achieved more advanced robots with AI seems like the only possible method of exploration.Firstly AI does not require sleep, food, social interactions or oxygen. All they require to function is electrical power which can be gained from sunlight through solar-cells. AI also unresolved of powering down into sleep mode for the duration of the flight and powering back on on when it reaches its destination. Through this method it conserves energy. It would possible to pl ace humans in a hibernation stage through experimental technologies but would noneffervescent require a food and an oxygen supply. Due to fewer requirements for survival, restrictions to further plants are also reduced.Secondly because of the use of AI there is no threat to human lives. Dangers in space include cosmic rays, solar winds and particles travelling at very fast speeds none of which bother the catch metallic out(prenominal) of AI robots. Therefore when exploring potential hostile planets we have less restrictions allowing for a more thorough analysis. Even if an event occurs that is capable of destroying or immobilizing an AI robot its intelligence could simply be transferred to another robot via radio signals. The new robot would possess all knowledge and experience up to the point of destruction of its former body. This means AI robots would have no concept of death. Unlike humans their consciousness and knowledge is composed of algorithms easily transferrable from one place to another.In adjunct AI robots could be used to terraform hostile planets. Terraforming consists of changing the atmosphere, temperature and ecosystem of a planet in order to attain a biosphere like earths so as to allow humans to thrive. Terraforming takes hundreds of years to accomplish and most likely we wont see any of its effects in our lifetime. Humans cannot live on a hostile planet for hundreds of years due to certain limitations. We would have to use robots but again the problem that modern robots cannot gain access to all places creates a flaw in the plan. Stationing intelligent and more advanced robots in terraforming planets allows progress to be made over centuries without confines, even if the robots becomes damaged they will be able to repair themselves or even assign another robot to repair the broken.Cons-The major problem with AI being sent into space is money. Projects specially dedicated to sending AI robots into space are expensive to fund. Firstly r obots must be created that can withstand extreme gravitational forces such as on genus Venus where g=24.79 as opposed to earths where g=9.81 (g=gravitational field strength at the surface of the planet). Robots must be able to withstand both hot and cold temperatures from 450C to -200C without equipment malfunctions. Hence tough exterior materials must be produced to allow robots to endure. The first mars rovers production equal was around 200 million pounds. So production values may be billions of pounds per intelligent robot. Assuming only one robot is sent into space and cost of one robot is 1 billion, in addition with the regular cost for specialized shuttles and fuel, the project would cost around 2.5 billion pounds for a one way trip. This price is excluding the cost to develop the substitute intelligence to be placed in the robots.Advanced medicinesPros Over 17 million community die per year due to total tribulations like myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) or strokes. The test used to diagnose heart attacks is know as electrocardiography. When a patient is admitted to a hospital a heart surgeon reads the electrocardiogram (ECG) results from the test to spot patterns in the results. If a certain quality of pattern is recognized the patient is positive for heart ailment. Reading patterns off a chart is very subjective and occasionally the cardiologists miss these patterns. approximately 25% of patients are sent home with an incorrect diagnosis.Artificial intelligence is composed of large numbers of neural networks these are similar to neural networks in the human brain. This allows AI to think and gain knowledge through experience like a human being. But unlike humans AI can read through documents and files significantly faster than a human so can gain knowledge much faster and therefore become more intelligent. In 1997 researchers applied a simple schmalzy intelligence program with few neural networks into reading ECGs. The program was suppl ied with the ECG reports of 1,120 people who were definitely positive for heart disease and 10,452 who were definitely negative. The program was given the essence of pattern to identify and was not certified of which reports were positive or negative. In total the researches exposed 11,572 ECG reports to the program and a PHD doctor, Lars Edenbrandt, noted this was more ECGs than any cardiologist could read in a lifetime. The AI program was 10% more efficient at detecting heart disease than the most experienced cardiologist. Despite the success this AI has not been used in diagnoses as doctors are still required to talk to patients for symptoms and medical history. In extremes cases AI has been used to provide a support opinion when diagnosing heart diseases. AI has improved a great deal since 1997 and modern AI programs are capable of having several thousand neural networks. If AI continues to progress with the same thrusting it is very likely that AI programs will be used every day in medicine and might even replace the case doctors in diagnoses of heart disease. Some companies are even attempting to produce microchips that are embeddable in the human heart. These chips can detect tiny abnormal heart palpitations/vibrations which may be a symptom of an oncoming heart attack. performing to prevent before an attack occurs will save the majority of lives.A major advantage of artificial intelligence is medicine is its molecular nanotechnology. Nano bots are very small robots (0.0000000001 meters in length) that can be used for many different things from repairing structures to decomposing waste. Due to the small size of these robots they can be placed inside the human body and can use the circulatory system to reach anywhere in the human body. This becomes extremely useful when battling pathogens (harmful bacterium or viruses). The robots can be placed in the blood via an injection. once inside the body it carries out what it is programmed to do, this can b e anything from correcting genetic defects to destroying crabby person cells. Nano bots infused with artificial intelligence can step up the processes even further. The AI bots will be intelligent enough to identify the rapidly duplicating crabby person cells and destroy them at a faster rate than they are growing. This can successfully eliminate all types of cancer without risky operations to remove tumors. These robots will be able clear arteries of plaque buildup that causes heart disease and attacks. They will be able to provide oxygen to damaged places where O2 concentrations are low. They will even be able to protect the body form diseases by destroying pathogenic bacteria or viruses. Although this is already done by white blood cells with the increased artificial help the body will recover from infection much faster. Nanotechnology is not limited to medicine intelligent Nano-bots can be used to produce lighter and stronger materials resulting in decreased costs for products and better durability.The disadvantage of AI in medicine mainly comes from nano bots. The possibility of robots malfunctioning and destroying necessary human tissue instead of harmful pathogens is a major concern. Manufacturers of both these robots and AI will be have to be very sure that such events do not occur, large numbers of tests should be carried out before it is deployed to the public. Another possible downfall is that these tiny robots are very intelligent and are capable of replicating themselves using materials around them. Self-replicating robots such as these unless stopped would slowly corrode materials around them to make more robots. Due to the small size and resistance if such a self-replicating phase emerges they would be very difficult to eradicate. Developers of this kind of technology plan to put several firewalls and emergency shutdowns in case if such an event occurs. The worry is that the robots are so intelligent that they will develop the ability to overr ide these firewalls.Transhumans Pros Perhaps the most beneficial role of artificial intelligence is its role in transhumans. Transhumanism is the movement of continuously improving the human condition through technology both internally and externally. Artificial intelligence and transhumanism is closely linked as most of the technologies must be intelligent enough to select a potential problem and respond. A person who has undergone such as transformation, even the slightest, is knows as a transhuman and they exist in the modern world today. A simple example of a plot of ground of transhuman technology is a pacemaker, which is engraft internally into the body to regulate or increase the heart beat frequency using electrical currents. It is implanted in people whose natural heart beat is lower than average. A consequence of a low heart rate is less blood pumped around the body, so less oxygen is provided to go acrosss and hence they would become tired much easier than an individu al with a regular heart rate. Pacemakers stool the heart to beat at a normal rate. This allows people affected by abnormal heart rate conditions to undertake physical bodily function as an average person could. Just like pacemakers transhumanists believe that emergent technologies are capable of overcoming greater human limitations.Early February 2013 American scientists gave dozens of millions of people worldwide hope as they revealed they had successfully given sight to over 60 people using the first bionic eye ever in history. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis brass consists of a small camera and goggles. 60 electrodes are implanted in the eye connected to the camera. When turned on the image from the camera is sent to the implant in the eye via electronic signals. The implant uses the 60 electrodes to captivate signals through the area of destroyed photoreceptors (which is what causes blindness) to the neurons. The electrodes replace the destroyed photoreceptors and act as fu nctioning photoreceptors. The developers of the product said that different people had different experiences, some saw only in black and white and other saw full colour. Even though this this technology is extremely new it is one of the greatest breakthroughs of this century. As time goes on these prosthetics will only yield better and better results. The current price for a bionic eye is around 65,000 pounds.Approximately 650 million people(10% )in the world are disabled either mentally or physically. Physical disabilities comprises of an individuals intact mind but the softness of their body to function as it is supposed to. The common culprits are spinal anesthesia injuries, Parkinsons disease, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and loss of ramifications. In previous years people without hands or legs would attach a type of prosthetic such as a wooden leg or a wooden arm. Although this provided minor stability they would not have been able to use it for any other purpose. In l ater years people developed mechanical body parts that could be controlled via a remote control e.g. a robotic leg controlled by a remote control in your hand similar to that of a remote control car. The problem here was the motion of straitsway was too rigid. This resulted in the individual only being able to move several feet before falling as well as taking a long time to move several feet. Even though we dont even think about it when we do it, walking is a very complex behaviour consisting of many different vigour movements. To maintain balance different parts of the foot constantly exerts wring of different parts of the ground. This can be demonstrated by standing on one foot, we can feel our foot shifting thrust to different areas of e.g. heels or toes or the sides of feet to maintain balance. That is just our feet, so the muscle movements in our whole legs are even more complex. With walking the same thing must occur but both feet must be in coordination with each other, this is what allows a fluid motion and hence allows continuous walking or running. So a remote control is not able to replicate all these movements in an artificial ramification. A degree of intelligence is required for limbs to function e.g. in the foot, the brain must recognise the signals sent by the foot and send responses to shift pressure accordingly. For people who have lost limbs the neurons carrying these signals are dead and cannot be used. Therefore the brain can no longer send responses even if an artificial limb was attached. A separate intelligent agent is required, in conjunction with the brain, to read the chemical signals in the brain, recognise the action the brain requests, determine if it is relating to the artificial limb, convert this action to electrical signals and send it off for the artificial limb to carry out. This is where the artificial intelligence section of transhumanism comes into play. The AI to allow a prosthetic to exactly replicate the functio n as a natural limb does not yet exist but technology is subject to allow disabled people to handle objects or walk, albeit slower than average. These AI guided prosthetics are advancing at very fast speeds, the bebionic3 is the most advanced prosthetic arm today. It allows the wearer to do even precise movements, such as tying shoelaces or cracking an egg. In February 2013 the prototype of the first bionic hand that allowed the wearer to feel what the robotic hand was touching was released. The producers say it is still in development but will surpass the bebionic3.A Belgian company unveiled its most recent product in October 2012 knows as a Mindwalker. Mindwalker is an exoskeleton that attaches to the body of a disabled person and uses brain functions to move. The individual wears a cap which reads simple electrical impulses in the brain and when the individual thinks move the artificially intelligent computer recognises the pattern read by the cap and moves the exoskeleton accor dingly. Exoskeletons such as this have a large range of applications. The robotics designer company Sarcos with the United States military have developed an exoskeleton to be used by soldiers. This pilot of the exoskeleton can run, move up stairs, walk on their heels, it can lift 200lb weights with ease just like we can pick up a bottle of water. This is not the only example, other companies such as Lockheed Martin have developed other exoskeletons. These exoskeletons can be used to enhance not only for military and disability victims but any situation that requires physical activity e.g. building sites, sports. Improvements in AI allow the prosthetics to create a better understanding between the artificial the brain and the prosthetics/exoskeletonsCons There are many ethical problems with transhumanist technologies such as loss of morality, rich and poor segregation, loss of human identity/dehumanisation. The main threat isJobs-misuse

What Is Home Depot Commerce Essay

What Is family line entrepot Commerce Essay residence base term is the largest internal center chain operating in 2,244 investment firms throughout the U.S., Mexico, Canada, andChina. rest category computer storage is considered to be the largest retailer of home improved goods, construction proceedss and operate in the world. Itwas founded by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in Atlanta in 1979. The space repositings proposition was to build home-improvementwarehouses, larger than any of their antagonists facilities.The store inventory consists of almost 40,000 different kinds of building materials, home improvement supplies, appliances and lawn and garden ingatherings for the needs of assorted send offs. The base destination stores are always equipped with goods that are captive to a small sector to match that areas specific market needs.www.home destination.com is graze on position 418 within .com and has 5,399 back links. The Site was launched at Tuesday, 04 l ofty 1992.ORGANIZATION STRUCTUREBUSINESS MODEL crime syndicatedepot.com follows the B2C i.e. Business to consumer theoretical account. In B2C proceeding, online transactions are made between businesses and individual consumers. B2C E-Commerce involves electronic retailing or e-tailing. At homedepot.com guests bunghole browse catalogs when they want, place an order and the crossway of service of process will be delivered directly to them.It is an online version of the store where clients can cheat any hour of day and night without leaving their home and stance. The revenue enhancement ideal followed by homedepot.com is gross revenue of goods.Within the e-tailer the type of model utilise by homedepot.com is Clicks and bricks. It is a business strategy orbusiness modeline-commerceby which homedepot attempts to integrate both online and physical presences. This model makes it out-of-the-way(prenominal) easier for a homedepot.com to establish an online presence than it is for a start-up social club to employ a successful pure dot.com strategy. By using this model homedepot developed certain(a) improvements, such asLeveraging theircore competency.Multiplying existingsupplier networks dispersal channels.A lower cost of capital.THE MARKETPLACEThe folk Depot has more than 1950 places across the United States, China, Canada and Mexico.Home depot stores have an average area of about 105,000 square feet and around 23,000 square feet of area outside of greenery. muniment consists of different kinds of building materials, home improvement supplies, appliances and lawn and garden products for all of your project needs.The Home Depots retail stores offer skilled nodes, like person who can repair and remodel particular services. Through committed service supplier desks in more than 1,900 stores, skilled clients have right to use the faithfulness programs, a pro bid room to handle large client orders with volume discounts, directship programs, credit prog rams and other specialty gross sales initiatives.Home Depot operates under four different business segmentsMARKET STRATEGYThe strategical factors that helped in the growth and popularity of home depot are related to timber of product, its footing, advertising for the products, store capacity, competitors, and customers independency and happiness. Good quality products are offered by Home Depot like garden supplies, lawn installation services home improvement products, for these products are offered too.Home Depot introduced a trial product store format that presented approx. 32,000 more square feet of selling area, due to which the plectron of products and services broadened, also it provided with a more appropriate layout than the long-established stores. Collection of complemental product categories via stores that were designed based on a design centre, which facilitated Home Depot in storing more than 40k products in a grade.New stores were brought finisher to existing ones by Home Depot via a clustering strategy. An payoff was created by following this strategy via increasing the blockage of entry to competitors cut rush in the current stores. This strategy also permitted the organisation to affix its advertising distribution expenses along a greater store area. customer Cultivation is regarded as one of the prime strategies implemented by Home Depot. It is the consequence of the prerequisite of elevated qualified and in-store clinics, supportive, maestro clinics and employees.An additional go about is centering on widespread announcement. Two years ago, Home Depot spent 895 million dollars on advertisements which accounts for 9.5 % more than its 2007 spending of 817 million dollars. general advertisements provided Home Depot with a personal potential not in favor of remaining companies in the same industry.CUSTOMER VALUE promptingCustomer esteem propositionconsists of the sum total of benefits which the firm promises acustomerwill rece ive in return for the customers associated payment. Customer value proposition is specifically targeted to attract new potential customers instead of employees, partners or supplies.It is a statement that is designed to convince customers that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than others in its free-enterprise(a) set. home depot provides a broad selection of quality products and services.Home Depot has the widest range of products, which are rated below rival market. They hire trades professionals so that the customer gets expert advice. Because of the technical support and better customer service the store has shown results which are unmatched in the business.As it is said, it is the good incident that brings the customer once more and its the word of mouth that brings other new customers, hence, customer satisfaction is one of the most important policy followed by company.Home depot selects very customer friendly oriented people. To improve the customer experience following steps is taken up by the companyStores are getting modernize so that the perception of home depot is improved before the customer.In order to improve the customer service, a 24 hour hotline is being introduced.In order to improve customer service at Home Depot stores a new employee bonus program has been developed.REVENUE MODELEstimated 20,068,000 visits over last 30 days. This Google rapscallion Rank 7/10 website has a Traffic Estimate rank of 288.homedepot.com is worth$3,759,165. This makes homedepot.com the93most valuable site on Stimator.com.Home Depots first quarterin 2010 is $725 million, up from $514 million a year earlier. lowest salesfor the periodincreased 4.3%to $16.9 billion. Similar store sales increased 4.8%company-wide for the period.COMPETITORSIn the home improvement industry the main competitor of home depotisLowes Companies (LOW). Home Depot leads in terms of sales revenue which is $66.2 billion and that of Lowes is $47.2 billion. Other competitors of home depot are Home Improvement Stores, Sears, Menard Inc., True tax Company.Home Depot also faces rival from smaller independent stores. Builders First Source (BLDR), a company that manufactures geomorphologic and related building products for new construction. The advantage which Home Depot has against the smaller competitors is that in case of an economic downfall, it will be prevailing and thereof taking back the old customers which were attracted to these small competitors earlier.CUserscompaqDesktopmenard.jpg CUserscompaqDesktoplowes.jpgCOMPARITIVE reinforcementHome Depot is financially better placed than Sears and Lowes. Home Depot maintains its strong impairment positioning and improves customer service and product quality.Because of this tenability home depot enjoys a competitive edge over Sears and lowes.The piece competitive advantage for home depot is Menards products are perceived to be lower in quality than those of Home Depot even when the price for both are similar.For the Quality of the products that it carries, Menards should not want to increase the price of its products.Another property that gives homedepot the competitive edge is differentiation. Home Depot has product differentiation as well as image differentiation. This provides a competitive edge over both Lowes and Sears.The Home Depot has essentially set its two main market segmentsThe do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement consumer andThe professional business customer.CONCLUSIONWe have seen that how a b2c site (homedepot.com) operates. What is the business model behind the operation of home depot? It has helped customer to do obtain for the desired product by sitting at home/office and making payment on delivery by credit/ calculate card.The home depot is the market leader in the segment of home improvement retailing, much ahead of its competitors. The main reason of its competitive advantage is good quality, lowest prices and customer satisfa ction.APPENDIXTABLE 1 treat COMPETITOR COMPARISONhomedepotLowPVT1PVT2IndustryMarket Cap47.47B30.17BN/AN/A30.17BEmployees193,370166,00040,30013,0002166.00KQuarterly Rev Growth4.30%4.70%N/AN/A2.90%Revenue66.86B47.78B7.90B12.01B247.78BGross Margin33.75%34.80%N/AN/A34.80%EBITDA6.73B4.98BN/AN/A4.98BOperating Margin7.38%6.81%N/AN/A7.47%Net Income2.83B1.78BN/A64.20M2N/ALOW= Lowes Companies Inc.Pvt1=Menard, Inc.(privately held)Pvt2=True Value Company(privately held)Industry= Home Improvement Stores1=As of 20092=As of 2008TABLE 2 Comparison of Major Warehouse set Home Centers Store AttributesAttribute/Company HomeDepot HechingerHQ Builders SquareHomebaseStore Count 174 30 144 73Square Feet/Unit(000) 94 86 84 113gross revenue/Square Foot $348.00 $224.00 $171.80 $169.90FIG1 DAILY TRAFFIC TREND FOR homedepot.comFIG2 UNIQUE VISITORS FOR homedepot.com

Coursebook And Materials Evaluation English Language Essay

Course arrest And Materials Evaluation position Langu years EssayIntroductionEnglish speech con rhyme holds a spectacular signifi thronece in Pakistan. It is the second spoken communication of our country yet enjoys the attitude of first language. It is the medium of didactics method in the institutions of higher pedagogics and is astray apply on radio and television in the country. Several innovatives storys, periodicals and daylegers on different subjects ar create in English. It is the official language of whole the government departments and private ecesiss in Pakistan. Most importantly, our body of law is codified in English and the experience of English is considered to be essential for acquiring good jobs as exams and interviews for civil services, armed forces and other attractive posts be conducted in this language. The inevitability of English, non only in Pakistan however in the whole world, lies in its dominance in the three major aras of dogma s cience, humanities and trade.Keeping in view the importance and the need to nobble this language, Cunningsworth (19845) highlights three main perspectives on English style Teaching as followsThe students need to learn the language to intent it for communicatory purposesIt inevitably to be taught as a system of grammar and phraseology in structural perspectiveThe learners need to develop their quaternary basic skills- version, penning, training and speaking in this languageELT literals play a very important role in some(prenominal) language classrooms but in recent years on that point has been a lot of debate on the actual role of textiles in teaching English as a Second/Foreign verbiage. A successful course book requires a working balance between the three perspectives mentioned above. Arguments ab come to the fore the textual matters include both the advantages and the limitations of bodilys for students as come up as the call for and preferences of teachers who be using them. Other modern issues regarding material rating include text edition design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of school texts in innovation, the au accordinglyticity and the appropriateness of subject matter, and cultural components. Therefore, it is utterly essential that we establish and pass a wide innovation of relevant and contextually appropriate criteria for the military rank of the textbooks that we use in our language classrooms.This paper aims at an analytical employment of a published ELT course book (Stepping send on) with regards to its to a lower placepinning antenna and methodological principles to be drawn through an external as rise up intrinsic rating of the book.LITERATURE REVIEW1- Importance of Textbooks in ELT contextEnglish language command has more than important components but the essential constituents of many another(prenominal) ESL/EFL classrooms and programs atomic fare 18 the textbooks and instruction al materials that ar often employ by language instructors. As in their argument to prove textbooks affective agents of change, Hutchinson and Torres (1994) suggestThe textbook is an to the highest degree universal element of teachingNo teaching- ontogeny situation, it seems, is complete until it has its relevant textbook. (p. 315). some other theorists agree with this observation as Sheldon (1988) states that textbooks not only incorporate the visible heart of any ELT program (p.237) but in any case widen considerable advantages for both the student and the teacher when they argon existence used in the ESL/EFL classroom. more thanover, he gestates that published materials are more reliable for the students because they launcher more credibility than teacher-generated or in-house materials.Textbooks yield a respectable practicality as they are relatively inexpensive and involve low lesson preparation time, whereas teacher-generated materials keister be in efficient in terms of time, cost and quality. In this way, textbooks can reduce lord workload and include teachers the opport building blocky to spend more time in concentrating on the material available instead of arrange for a new one all time. As Hutchinson and Torres (1994) point bulge that textbooks play a pivotal role in innovation and vivification teachers in probablely disturbing and threatening change processes, for they demonstrate new methodologies, introduce change gradually, and create a framework upon which teachers can frame of reference a more creative methodology of their avow.2- Reasons for Textbook EvaluationSince the mid-seventies there has been a movement to run learners the center of language instruction and it is probably best to view textbooks as resources in achieving aims and objectives that live with already been set in terms of learner needs. Therefore, we must make all effort to establish and apply a wide variety of relevant and contextually appropriat e criteria for the rating of the textbooks that we use in our language classrooms. We should also ensure that careful selection is made, and that the materials selected tight reflect the aims, methods, and values of the teaching program. (Cunningsworth, 19957). other reason for textbook military rank is the circumstance that it can be very useful in teacher development and professional growth. Cunningsworth (1995) states that textbook military rank champions teachers to reach useful, stainless, systematic, and contextual insights into the boilers suit nature of textbook material.Sheldon (1988) offers justification through several other reasons for textbook military rating. He suggests that the selection of an ELT textbook often signals an important administrative and educational decision with considerable pecuniary investment. A thorough evaluation, therefore, would enable the focus and teaching staff of a occurrence institution to choose amongst all of the available te xtbooks in the market. Moreover, it would proffer a sense of familiarity with a books content assisting the educators to compare it with the strengths and weaknesses in textbooks already in use.Textbook evaluation, therefore, can potentially be a doer of conducting research as well as a form of professional empowerment and improvement.3- Methods of Evaluating TextbooksOn the subject of textbook evaluation various researchers have suggested ways of helping teachers to be more systematic in their critical approach, by reaching evaluation checklists establish on general criteria that can be used by both teachers and students in many different situations. Although Sheldon (1988) suggests that no general list of criteria can ever really be utilize to all teaching and learning contexts with come in considerable modification. Thats why, al more or less all the educational theorists agree that evaluation checklists should be having some criteria pertaining to the physical characteristi cs of textbooks such(prenominal) as layout, organizational, usable and logistical characteristics. Thus, in this regard, the evaluative criteria presented by McDonough and Shaw (1997), is most satisfactory and applicable in any ELT context.The model of evaluation offered by McDonough and Shaw (1997) consists of dickens stages (A) External evaluation and (B) Internal evaluation. They believe that the teachers should perform an external evaluation first of all in localize to brighten an overview of the organizational principles involved. after this they should move onto a particular internal evaluation of the materials to see how faraway the materials in question match up to what the author claims as well as to the aims and objectives of a wedded teaching program.Thus, the next separate of this paper leave alone present an external as well as internal depth psychology of an ELT course book (Stepping advancing) establish on McDonough and Shaws (1997) model of evaluation. text edition ANALYSIS AN EVALUATIVE STUDY1- Key Facts slightly the Book-Authors and PublishersOne of the most useful starting points in any textbook evaluation is an synopsis of the authors and publishers details. The authors of Stepping Forward are Heather Jones and Robyn Mann and the publisher is a well-established company ground in capital of Singapore, EPB pan Pacific publishers, a trademark of Times make Limited. Ample information close the publishing company such as the contact address, telephone and fax numbers can be found on the inside front cover. Moreover, information about the authors formal education, amounts and types of teaching, administration, and computer program/syllabus and materials development experience is also accustomed which presents a square away picture of the authors having a recognized standing in the field of education and a strong reputation for producing innovative materials.2- Target Audience and increase LevelStepping Forward by Heather Jones and Robyn Mann comprises a series of textbooks. The book under analysis has been intentional for the students of grade six belonging to an age group of around eleven years. The book includes challenging topics, chosen oddly for the interest level of the target students. The topics like My Family, Growing Up, Dinosaurs, Tourism, and light fictionalisation etceteraare highly attractive and motivating for the learners.3- Cost EffectivenessAnother important factor that relates to the choice of a textbook is cost. round cleverness feel that price is not necessarily an important factor in textbook evaluation, but the fact that most ESL/EFL textbooks are published and manufacture in wealthy English-speaking nations such as England and the United States but used in many less-developed nations like Pakistan suggests that price should play a pertinent role in textbook selection. This is particularly the case in countries in which the economic conditions are somewhat less than desirabl e and many students with limited incomes are required to purchase the books for language courses. In this case, Stepping Forward is also a little expensive as it costs Rs.365/-, however, the printing process standard and paper quality worth the price.4- Accessibility and AvailabilitySome additional concerns regarding external evaluation are accessibility and availability. In order to be purchasable for a textbook, it must be currently in print and readily available. Moreover, the publisher should be accessible for additional information, teaching demonstrations, and order requests. At first glance it would seem that Stepping Forward meets many of these requirements for it is a relatively new book that was most recently published in 1995 and then reprinted every year till 2007. Moreover, representatives from the publisher (EPB Pan Pacific) can be easily contacted for ordering information and assistance.5- Audio-Visual Aids and adjunct MaterialsThe book contains several charts, mo dels, and photographs that help clarify and contextualize information. The presence of real life pictures portrays a friendly and motivating atmosphere. The pictures are not merely added for a cosmetic effect, they are rather of an integrative value that they help explaining the groundwork to the learners. In addition, Stepping Forward contains an excellent package of supplementary materials including items such as classroom tape cassettes or CDs, a student workbook, and a teachers guide. More specifically, the teachers guide includes useful page-by-page instructions, teaching suggestions and instructional input, lesson notes, optional tasks and alternatives, classroom management advice, language notes, general notes about the task and cultural data, expansion activities and plunk for ideas, tests, answer keys, transcripts for auditory modality activities, and opportunities for teacher reflection. The student workbook, on the other hand, provides revue exercises and a variety of practice exercises that help the development of students proficiency in grammar, reading, musical composition, spelling, vocabulary, and speaking and has enormous potential for classroom use or for interior(a) assignments.6- Overall Organization of TextbookThe layout and design of a textbook refers to its organization and presentation of language items and activities. In Stepping Forward, for instance, the learning objectives are clear and brief and a detailed overview of the topics, functions, structures/grammar, and skills within each unit can be found in the introductory table of contents. The book follows a thematic/modular format as the course components are effectively and distinctly organized in six thematic sections Personal relations, Nature, Community and Nation, Imagination, Science and Technology and Other people. Four sections contain three units each and cardinal include two units each, which makes it a sum total of sixteen units.7- Authors Claims- the methodolo gical Principles underpinning theBookOne of the most important and essential criterion that pertains to the overall textbook evaluation is the authors approach to teaching methodology. Brown (1995) and Cunningsworth (1995) suggest that it is absolutely essential in evaluating any textbook to determine whether or not its inherent methodology matches the aims and objectives and conforms to the classroom context. The simplest and quickest way for initially discovering a textbooks theoretical premises and methodological underpinnings is to examine its back cover (the countenance). So, a closer examination of Stepping Forwards back cover reveals that the authors (Heather Jones and Robyn Mann) claim to rive to the Communicative undertake and the textbook contains a multi-skills curriculum and follows a local/functional format. The book also tends to focus on both accurate and fluent communication emphasizing linguistic as well as communicative value of the topics. The promotion of inte grated language-skills practice and the inclusion of topical themes, grammatical structures and functions, as well as lexical development are focused. Particular fury is placed on meaningful and veritable(a) communication with the goal of establishing communicative competence in production and comprehension as the authors state in the blurb, students as well as teachers will muster up Stepping Forward an exciting and stimulating language learning experience, one that will result in the learners being competent and confident users of the English language. Moreover, many of the pair and group activities such as role-playing and information-gap tasks are claimed to facilitate learning through genuine interaction and the language skills and sub-skills are presented and practiced through the use of both inductive and deductive approaches.8- Cultural BiasesThe book under analysis, Stepping Forward, can be termed as culturally biased or specific in some regards, for the names of people and places as well as pictures are mostly taken from the Singaporean culture. For example, the travel brochure given on page 131-133 in the textbook, particularly informs about places in Singapore and Malaysia. Similarly, on page 130 the listening activity talks about Hotel Mirimar in Singapore. Moreover, the writing task on page 135 requires force the map of Singapore and the pictures shown on page 129 and 149 have also been taken from real life situations in Singapore.9- Universal ContextNevertheless, in venom of certain cultural specific data, Stepping Forward, has a universal appeal and generates in a world-wide context. Because the activities and tasks knowing around this culturally bound material are not confined to any geographical boundary. Thus, they can be carried out in any context throughout the world.(B) INTERNAL EVALUATION-Units 8 and 9Since the external evaluation displays a positive image of the book, therefore, an internal evaluation needs to be executed march on. The following discussion is going to appreciate the book internally with particular reference to the units 8 and 9.1- Grading and Sequencing of MaterialsThe materials in Stepping Forward are organized in a linear age within the units of the book. either unit begins with a Preview of the topic for eliciting the learners emphasise knowledge and activating their schemata. Then, the four language skills are presented and practised in a systematic manner moving from listening to speaking and then reading to writing with grammar and vocabulary coming between the reading and writing activities.The authors truly claimed in the blurb that the book follows a communicative approach which is achieved through task-based learning (TBL). Such an approach creates a need for learners to acquire new language through the setting of tasks that require them to carry out and struggle through a communicative task, before going on to focus on specific language items that the students find difficul t or problematic. The communicative tasks such as (in units 8 and 9) working on glib-tongued travel brochures, completing the crosswords, playing grammar-games, filling in the tables, making cards or using thesaurus and program library tend to stimulate interaction as well as require the use of language items. These tasks not only intended to introduce language forms through authentic material but also engage the learners in truly meaningful and effective communication such as negotiation of meaning and ideas.2- Presentation of the Language SkillsStepping Forward is a multi-skills syllabus and therefore covers and integrates both productive (speaking and writing) and sensory(a) skills (listening and reading). The authors advocate an integrated, multi-skills syllabus because it considers and incorporates several categories of both meaning and form. A more positive characteristic of the integrated syllabus within Stepping Forward is the fact that the linguistic elements of the te xtbook such as grammar and vocabulary items are closely connected to the skills-base. So, as the grammar element and the vocabulary base become more demanding, the skills work also gets more challenging. An internal evaluation of the book reveals that material used for each skill becomes more mazy as the units progress. An in-depth analysis of the treatment of language skills in units 8 and 9 is presented below.(i) auditionListening activities are designed in Stepping Forward for practicing such sub-skills as making predictions, extracting specific items (scanning/listening for detail), acquiring general information (skimming/listening for gist), extracting detailed information, recognizing function and discourse patterns/markers, and for inferring meaning from context. Every unit in the book deals with a different sub-skill in listening. For instance, in unit 8 the learners are supposed to listen for making inferences about the speakers statements as being glib-tongued or not. H owever, in unit 9 the students are made to listen for specific information in order to clarify meaning and make corrections.(ii) mouthSpeaking practice, in this book, is integrated with other language skills. Every time after presenting a Preview of the topic the learners are given discussion questions for the activation of schemata. Then they are required to talk about the information they gather while listening activities. For example, on page 130, the comment of the listening task ends on the note Be prepared to conclude your opinion later. Moreover, after or while doing most of the reading and writing tasks, the learners are required to discuss the information in pairs or groups. For instance, in unit 8 (page 140) after reading a metrical composition the learners are moved on to a speaking task of verse speaking in groups. Similarly, in unit 9 (page 160), the students are required to perform a role-play after reading a dialogue and on page 166 questions for class discussion are given within a writing activity of creating cards. Such tasks match the authors claim in the blurb Stepping Forward provides numerous activities to enable students to work individually, in pairs, groups as well as class discussion. This provides scope for creative thinking and critical discussion. Speaking tasks and discussions are intended to involve the students in active information sharing, freer cooperative group tasks, and other types of exercises designed to encourage communication skills as they allow the students to extend, refine, and personalize the material they have practised in each unit.(iii) educationReading activities in Stepping Forward are designed to practise sub-skills such as reading for detail or for skimming, scanning, inferring etc. In every unit, reading tasks are divided into two sections Fiction and Non-fiction. In unit 8, the section of non-fiction contains activities around a travel brochure and the fiction section deals with reading a poem. While in unit 9, non-fiction reading is designed around a feature article and fiction reading presents a dramatic play script. Moreover, in order to expose the learners to the reading material beyond the course book, they are also asked to use thesaurus and library (pg 143, 164, 165). These tasks provide a practice of reading for detail, for meaning and for ideas. Reading activities in every unit follow the practice on grammar and vocabulary further forgoing to the writing tasks.(iv) WritingWriting activities in Stepping Forward typically ask students to perform tasks of various kinds such as descriptions, narratives, postcards, reviews, letters etc. It can be suggested,therefore, that the writing skills in Stepping Forward are based on both product and process approaches. Essentially, a product-oriented approach centers on the end-result of writing, whereas a process-oriented approach centers on the process of writing itself. In addition, product-oriented approaches typically engage lea rners in imitating, copying and transforming models of correct language texts while process-oriented approaches strain brainstorming, planning, drafting, revision, and editing.The writing task given in unit 8 (pg 145-146) is based on process approach in which the learners have to write a travel brochure by gathering and organizing information and then rewriting and editing the first draft. However, in unit 9, the writing activity is designed around the product approach in which the students will be working towards an end-product-the greeting card that they have to create.Despite their differences, both approaches to the teaching of writing skills have their advantages. Product writing, for example, emphasizes sentence structure and grammar and is often utilized as an excellent means of preparing students for written examinations. The process approach, on the other hand, prepares them for the complex procedure involved in writing compositions. For these reasons, the authors of Step ping Forward have include activities that incorporate both product and process approaches of writing in this particular textbook.3- Different Learning Styles-Self-studyAnother interesting feature of this book is the website (www.panpaceducation.com) that has been designed to accompany the textbook. The integration of the personal computer and information technology to language learning is becoming increasingly commonplace in many institutions and it seems as though the authors and publishers of Stepping Forward are well aware of this outgrowth phenomenon. In this particular case the publishers have developed an accompanying web-site that teachers can use to find Internet links to professional articles and that students can use to gain additional practice with the material covered in the textbook. This web-site can be used as a useful teaching and learning hawkshaw as it provides teachers with assistance in professional development and also provides students with an fortune to bec ome increasingly self-reliant and less teacher-dependent. Moreover, the promotion of student self-directed study is integral in allowing students to become increasingly aware of their own abilities to remember, learn, and solve problems and more strategic and reflective in their learning, thinking, and problem solving.4- Language Type and ContentLanguage type and content refers to whether the language include in the materials is realistic and authentic and what type of linguistic items are clear in the book. In terms of grammatical structures and functions, Stepping Forward places much emphasis on grammatical accuracy and repetition of structures and functions. Grammar and vocabulary are organized into separate sections in each unit. In unit 8, grammar section deals with pronouns and in unit 9 it provides a practice of simple present and present perfect tense. The section of vocabulary also includes thesaurus use in every unit, so that the students can build on new vocabulary on t heir own. A fair weightage given to grammar and vocabulary in the book justifies the authors claims as it is stated on the back cover of the book a wide range of grammar and vocabulary exercises are especially designed to help students acquire the necessary language skills and vocabulary to discuss and write on the topic in each unit. The authors believe that correct knowledge of grammar and functions are an essential aspect of communicative competence and they have adopted the task-based learning technique as a means of accomplishing their objectives.Since the introduction of the Communicative Approach to language teaching in the 1970s and 80s, there has been a growing school of thought that says that authentic reading, speaking, listening, writing, and grammatical language models should be used to teach English language skills as long as the activities or tasks associated with them are also authentic and suitably graded to the level of the students with whom they are being used. W hereas, many researchers belonging to another school of thought believe that authentic content can often create a number of difficulties and problems for students who are lacking in the proper cultural background knowledge or schemata to properly comprehend a messages meaning and content. Moreover, the selection of authentic texts is frequently quite difficult and challenging and a students inability to make a text can be extremely demoralizing and de-motivating in some instances. Thats why, Stepping Forward presents a combination of both authentic and specious/scripted materials to ensure the success of the book.CONCLUSIONThe preceding analysis shows that Stepping Forward is a relatively modern addition to ELT supermarket. The external and internal evaluation traces out a number of notable and worthwhile characteristics of the book. For example, the entire textbook package is well conceived and it contains a wide variety of useful supplementary materials. The book is also very att ractive and organized in a clear, logical, and coherent manner. This organization reflects a topic-based (thematic) structural-functional syllabus that is designed with the goal of facilitating communicative competence which is the underpinning objective of the book. In addition, Stepping Forward reflects a multi-skills syllabus, and manages to integrate the four language skills without neglecting other important aspects of ELT such as grammar and vocabulary development which is aimed at integrating the communicative and structural approaches of language teaching. In addition, receptive and productive skills are covered through a wide variety of teaching and learning strategies such as top-down and bottom-up listening and reading exercises and both product and process oriented approaches to writing skills. concord to the evaluative model presented by McDonough and Shaw (1997), a successful external evaluation moves onto the internal study and satisfactory results of the internal eva luation further lead towards the adoption/selection of the book. Thus, the positive outcomes of both types of evaluation, validity of the authors claims and its suitability to the learners needs make Stepping Forward a fairly recommendable product for an effective instruction in the dynamic field of English Language Teaching.far from being a problem, the textbook is an important means of satisfying the range of needs that emerge from the classroom and its wider context. Education is a complex and messy matter, what a textbook does is to create a degree of order within potential chaosaround which many forces and demands of teaching-learning process can coherefor goal-directed action in the classroom.