Independent research study - BBA Hospitality Management Paper

Independent study - BBA Hospitality Management - Research Paper Example The social media affects communication in diverse sections and social groups in the world. Instead of mass communication, there are mass communicators (Runion, 2010). This is because the power and authorities of traditional communication channels are losing their rigours and new and smaller channels are developing through the social media like Twitter and Facebook. In December, 1995, there were only 16 million internet users and this represented just 0.4% of the worlds population at that time (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2011). However, today, 30.4% of the worlds population is hooked onto the Internet and this represents 2.1 billion people (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2011. Many people spend a lot of their time online these days. Some go online to check their mails whilst others maintain links with interest groups, family, friends, old school mates and other relatives living overseas through social media networks. In her assessment of her statistics on the social media industry, Evans identifies interesting facts about the social media network (2011). She identifies that there were 21 million Twitter users in the United States in 2011. She states that 40% of bloggers describe themselves as professional so they spend a considerable time working on the internet. Secondly she indicates that 60% of all Fortune 500 companies conduct business over the popular social network site, Facebook. Facebook has over 800 million users around the globe this makes it one of the biggest concentration of the potential market that exists for all goods and services (LA Times, 2011). This means that more and more people are spending their time on the Internet and on social network sites. Also, a vast community of professionals are evolving, who spend time and acquire skills which is sufficient to help build the social network as a good place to do business. This therefore means that the social network are appropriate outlets through which businesses can operate and make profit.

Microsoft words Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Microsoft words - Essay Example The 5 year financial projection of the company on the basis of following growth estimates are shown below: The inflation is expected to decline gradually and by the second quarter of 2017 it is expected that inflation will turn negative. This will reduce lending and borrowing rates which will enable the manufacturing companies to leverage returns by employing debt capital. The population is expected to increase in a predictable linear trend pattern which is good for manufacturing industry. This is because higher population will create higher demand for goods and services. The graph depicted above forecasts Information Technology & Communications expenditure. The graph reveals as to why European telecommunication networks and services are the backbone of Europe’s developing technology sector. Increased expenditure in this sector will encourage manufacturing industry to use modern technology in the manufacturing process. This market size is an indication of developing political, legal and economic factors of the country. Increasing Operating cost is the most critical issue in any business and in order to increase profitability, this needs to be controlled. One can consider manufacturing in domestic market of UK because of the political factors that are currently aimed at reviving lost market demand after recession. For instance, the UK government has planned to strengthen the existing supply chain network in UK which would create and preserve over 15,000 jobs in manufacturing industry. The rationale is that by boosting manufacturing sector and creating more jobs, the economy will accelerate out of recession. A joint industry and government investment in form of public-private partnership aims to strengthen advanced supply chain in UK by investing over  £200 million (Schutte, 2013). When one conducts a cost-benefit analysis for setting up a manufacturing base in UK the company has to perceive the investment decision keeping in mind the

Formative Assessment Essay Example for Free

Formative Assessment Essay Chapter IV A Fundamental Duties ARTICLE 51A Fundamental Duties It shall be the duty of every citizen of India(a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem; (b) to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom; (c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; (d) to defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so; (e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; (f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture; (g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wild life and to have compassion for living creatures; (h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform; (i) (j) to safeguard public property and to abjure violence; to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. CONTENTS Page No. Acknowledgments Preface Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation School Based Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation Continuous Comprehensive Assessment and Evaluation in e-Typewriting- English/Hindi Assessment Rubrics e-Typewriting Syllabus and Scheme of Examination for Class IX TERM-I Unit 1: Introduction to e-Typewriting Unit 2: Keyboard Layout (QWERTY INSCRIPT) Unit 3: Touch Typewriting 10 16 21 XL XLI 1 (I) (II) (IX) TERM-II Unit 4: Introduction to Word Processing 29 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. ADVISORY BODY †¢ Shri Vineet Joshi, Chairman CBSE. †¢ Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Head Innovations Research, CBSE. EDITING COMMITTEE †¢ Prof. Om Vikas, Retd. Prof. from DIT, Government of India. MATERIAL PRODUCTION GROUP †¢ Mr. Yogesh Kumar HOD, Computer Science. Meera Model School, Delhi. †¢ Dr. D. P. Bhatia, Mata Sundri College,University of Delhi. †¢ Ms. Gayatri Subramanian, Consultant, Ministry of Corporate Affairs , Govt of India. †¢ Mrs. Sunita Chug, Senior Lecturer, Mira Bai Polytechnic, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi. †¢ Mrs. Nancy Sehgal, Mata Jai Kaur School, Delhi. CO-ORDINATION †¢ Mrs. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer (Commerce) CBSE. PREFACE Typewriters were developed to prepare documents with uniform letter prints, to overcome illegibility of hand written material and produce documents faster. Initially typewriters were mechanical, then electric and electronic typewriters came into being. Over a period, QWERTY keyboard layout was in use and it became the defacto standard for Roman Typewriting. Computers also use keyboard as an input device. Keyboard layout has specific letter on key allocation on the basis of frequency and count of letters over a fairly large sample of documents. High frequency letters are on middle/home row, distributed on both sides. For Indic scripts, Standard keyboard Layout is INSCRIPT. Mechanical typewriters are now becoming fast extinct. Computer empowers the user to input information with accuracy, speed and additional features of Word processing. The syllabus of Typewriting is hereby revised as e-Typewriting with an additional unit on Word processing in view of the growing use of computers for typewriting documents. Self assessment and keeping record of progress in Assignment files are encouraged so as to keep students motivated towards excellence. Profuse thanks are due to Prof. Om Vikas for steering the experts members Mr. Yogesh Kumar, Ms. Nancy Sehgal, Ms. Sunita Chugh, Dr. D. P. Bhatia and Ms. Gayatri Subramaniam for contributing towards development of the syllabus on -e-Typewriting and also the Formative Assessment Manual for Teachers. I also thank Ms. Sugandh Sharma, Education Officer for coordinating the meetings and bringing out the manual in this shape. It is expected that the students will enjoy this course even as an additional subject in view of the benefits of touch-typing skills in future career. We would welcome suggestions to improve upon content assessment methodology in tune with the objectives of CCE. (Vineet Joshi) Chairman, CBSE I Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Education aims at making children capable of becoming responsible, productive and useful members of a society. Knowledge, skills and attitudes are built through learning experiences and opportunities created for learners in school. It is in the classroom that learners can analyse and evaluate their experiences, learn to doubt, to question, to investigate and to think independently. The aim of education simultaneously reflects the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values and human ideals. At any given time and place they can be called the contemporary and contextual articulations of broad and lasting human aspirations and values. An understanding of learners, educational aims, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of the school as a social space can help us arrive at principles to guide classroom practices. Conceptual development is thus a continuous process of deepening and enriching connections and acquiring new layers of meaning. Alongside is the development of theories that children have about the natural and social worlds, including themselves in relation to others, which provide them with explanations for why things are the way they are and the relationship between cause and effect. Attitudes, emotions and values are thus an integral part of cognitive development, and are linked to the development of language, mental representations, concepts and reasoning. As childrens metacognitive capabilities develop, they become more aware of their own beliefs and capable of regulating their own learning. Characteristics of learning All lchildren are naturally motivated to learn and are capable of learning. Understanding l Children l and developing the capacity for abstract thinking, reflection and work are the most important aspects of learning. learn in a variety of ways-through experience, making and doing things, experimentation, reading, discussion, asking, listening, thinking and reflecting, and expressing themselves in speech or writing-both individually and with others. They require opportunities of all these kinds in the course of their development. something before the child is cognitively ready takes away real learning. Children may remember many facts but they may not understand them or be able to relate them to the world around them. takes place both within school and outside school. Learning is enriched if the two arenas interact with each other. Art and work provide opportunities for holistic learning that is rich in tacit and aesthetic components. Such experiences are essentially to be learnt through direct experience and integrated into life. Teaching l Learning l II Learning l must be paced so that it allows learners to engage with concepts and deepen understanding rather than remembering only to forget after examinations. At the same time learning must provide variety and challenge, and be interesting and engaging. Boredom is a sign that the task may have become mechanically repetitive for the child and of little cognitive value. can take place with or without mediation. In the case of the latter, the social context and interactions, especially with those who are capable, provide avenues for learners to work at cognitive levels above their own. Learning l Place of Evaluation in the Curriculum A curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching-learning program composed of overall aims, syllabus, materials, methods and assessment. In short it provides a framework of knowledge and capabilities, seen as appropriate to a particular level. Evaluation not only measures the progress and achievement of the learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used for transaction. Hence evaluation should be viewed as a component of curriculum with the twin purpose of effective delivery and further improvement in the teaching learning process. If properly understood, evaluation or assessment will not be perceived as something administered by the teachers and taken by the learners on the conclusion of a period of learning. When evaluation is seen as an end of the learning exercise, both the teachers and the learners will tend to keep it outside the teaching-learning process, rendering assessment broadly irrelevant and alien to the curriculum. Further such a perception associates anxiety and stress with evaluation for learners. On the contrary, if evaluation is seen as an integral part built into the teaching learning process; it will become continuous like both teaching and learning. When evaluation is subsumed into teaching-learning, learners will not perceive tests and examinations with fear. It will lead to diagnosis, remediation and enhancement of learning. The scope of evaluation in schools extends to almost all the areas of learners personality development. It should include both scholastic and co-scholastic areas, i. e. it should be comprehensive in nature. This is in line with the goals of education. Evaluation is continuous and reveals the strengths and weaknesses of learners more frequently, so that the learners have better opportunity to understand and improve themselves. It also provides feedback to the teachers for modifying their teaching strategies. In view of getting a complete picture of the childs learning, assessment should focus on the learners ability to – learn and l acquire a l acquire desired skills related to different subject areas. level of achievement in different subject areas in the requisite measure develop childs individual skills, interests, attitudes and motivation l understand and lead a healthy and a productive life. l monitor the changes taking place in a childs learning, behaviour and progress over time. l III l respond to different situations and opportunities both in and out of school.  apply what is learned in a variety of l work l independently, collaboratively analyze and evaluate. l environments, circumstances and situations and harmoniously. be laware of social and environmental issues participate in social and environmental projects and causes. l retain what is learned over a period of time. l Thus assessment is a useful, desirable and an enabling process. To realize this one needs to keep the following parameters in mind The need to: assess the learner. l use l a variety of ways to collect information about the learners learning and progress in subjects and cross curricular boundaries. collect information continuously and record the same. l give l importance to each learners way of responding and learning and the time it takes to do so. report on an ongoing continuous basis and be sensitive to every learners responses. l provide feedback that will lead to positive action and help the learner to do better l In the assessment process, one should be careful NOT to: l label learners as slow, poor, intelligent etc. make comparisons between them. l make negative statements. l Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all aspects of a students development. It is a developmental process of a child which emphasizes on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evaluation on one hand and assessment of broad based learning and behaviourial outcomes on the other. The term `continuous is meant to emphasise that evaluation of identified aspects of students `growth and development is a continuous process rather than an event, built into the total IV teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of academic session. It means regularity of assessment, diagnosis of learning gaps, use of corrective measures and feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self evaluation. The second term `comprehensive means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students growth and development. Since abilities, attitudes and aptitudes can manifest themselves in forms other than the written word, the term refers to application of a variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing) and aims at assessing a learners development in areas of learning like : Knowledge l Understanding/Comprehension l Application l Analysis l l Evaluation l Creativity Objectives of CCE are: l To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills. l To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasise memorization l To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process l use To evaluation for improvement of students achievement and teaching – learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction l. To use evaluation as a quality control device to maintain desired standard of performance l determine To  social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a programme and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment l To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity. Features of CCE are: l The continuous aspect of CCE takes care of continual and periodicity aspect of evaluation. Means assessment of students in the beginning of instruction (placement evaluation) and assessment during the instructional process (formative evaluation) done informally using multiple techniques of evaluation. means assessment of performance done frequently at the end of unit/term (summative) l Continual l Periodicity V l The  comprehensive component of CCE takes care of assessment of all round development of the childs personality. It includes assessment in Scholastic as well as Co-Scholastic aspects of the pupils growth. aspects include curricular areas or subject specific areas, whereas co-scholastic aspects include Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values. in scholastic areas is done informally and formally using multiple techniques of evaluation continually and periodically. The diagnostic evaluation takes place at the end of a unit/term test. The causes of poor performance in some units are diagnosed using diagnostic tests. These are followed up with appropriate interventions followed by retesting. in Co-Scholastic areas is done using multiple techniques on the basis of identified criteria, while assessment in Life Skills is done on the basis of Indicators of Assessment and checklists. Source Examination Reforms, NCERT Scholastic l Assessment l Assessment l The functions of CCE are: l It helps the teacher to organize effective teaching strategies. Continuous l evaluation helps in regular assessment to the extent and degree of learners progress (ability and achievement with reference to specific scholastic and co-scholastic areas). evaluation serves to diagnose weaknesses and permits the teacher to ascertain an individual learners strengths and weaknesses and her needs. It provides immediate feedback to the teacher, who can then  decide whether a particular unit or concept needs re-teaching in the whole class or whether a few individuals are in need of remedial instruction. evaluation, children can know their strengths and weaknesses. It provides the child a realistic self assessment of how he/she studies. It can motivate children to develop good study habits, to correct errors, and to direct their activities towards the achievement of desired goals. It helps a learner to determine the areas of instruction in which more emphasis is required. and comprehensive evaluation identifies areas of aptitude and interest. It helps in identifying changes in attitudes, and value systems. in making decisions for the future, regarding choice of subjects, courses and careers. Continuous l By lcontinuous  Continuous l It helps l It provides l information/reports on the progress of students in scholastic and co-scholastic areas and thus helps in predicting the future successes of the learner. VI Continuous evaluation helps in bringing awareness of the achievement to the child, teachers and parents from time to time. They can look into the probable cause of the fall in achievement if any, and may take remedial measures of instruction in which more emphasis is required. Many times, because of some personal reasons, family problems or adjustment problems, the children start neglecting their studies, resulting in a sudden drop in their achievement. If the teacher, child and parents do not come to know about this sudden drop in the achievement and the neglect in studies by the child continues for a longer period then it will result in poor achievement and a permanent deficiency in learning for the child. The major emphasis of CCE is on the continuous growth of students ensuring their intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural and social development and therefore will not be merely limited to assessment of learners scholastic attainments. It uses assessment as a means of motivating learners in further programmes to provide information for arranging feedback and follow up work to improve upon the learning in the classroom and to present a comprehensive picture of a learners profile. It is this that has led to the emergence of the concept of School Based Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Source : Ncert VII Scholastic and Co-scholastic Assessment In order to have Continuous and Comprehensive evaluation, both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects need to be given due recognition. Such a holistic assessment requires maintaining an ongoing, changing and comprehensive profile for each learner that is honest, encouraging and discreet. While teachers daily reflect, plan and implement remedial strategies, the childs ability to retain and articulate what has been learned over a period of time also requires periodic assessment. These assessments can take many forms but all of them should be as comprehensive and discreet as possible. Weekly, fortnightly, or quarterly reviews (depending on the learning area), that do not openly compare one learner with another and are positive and constructive experiences are generally recommended to promote and enhance not just learning and retention among children but their soft skills as well. VIII School Based Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation There has been a consistent move towards reducing the load on the student by making public or board examination stress free. Over the decade there has been a high pitched race towards more marks and thus more competitiveness among students and schools. The move of the CBSE to replace marks with grades is a step in the right direction. The paradigm shift is to empower schools by creating a workable school based continuous and comprehensive scheme. School Based Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system should be established to: reduce stress on children l make evaluation comprehensive and regular l provide space for the teacher for creative teaching l provide a tool of diagnosis and remediation l produce learners with greater skills l Position Paper on Aims of Education NCF 2005. NCERT Aims of School Based CCE l Elimination of chance element and subjectivity (as far as possible), de-emphasis of memorization, encouraging Comprehensive evaluation incorporating both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects of learners development.  evaluation spread over the total span of the instructional time as an integral built-in aspect of the total teaching-learning process. And meaningful declaration of results for effective use by teachers, students, parents and the society. uses of test results for purposes not merely of the assessment of levels of pupils achievements and proficiencies, but mainly for its improvement, through diagnosis and remedial/enrichment programmes. in the mechanics of conducting examinations for realizing a number of other allied purposes Continuous l Functional l Wider l Improvement l Introduction of concomitant changes in instructional materials and methodology. l Introduction of the semester system from the secondary stage onwards. l The l use of grades in place of marks in determining and declaring the level of pupil performance and proficiency. The above goals are relevant for both external examination and evaluation in schools IX Characteristics of School Based Evaluation : l Broader, more comprehensive and continuous than traditional system. l primarily to help learners for systematic learning and development. Aims l Takes care of the needs of the learner as responsible citizens of the future. l Is more transparent, futuristic and provides more scope for association among learners , teachers and parents. School based evaluation provides opportunities to teachers to know the following about their learners: What they learn l How l they learn l What type of difficulties / limitations they face in realising learning objectives together l What the children think l What the children feel l What their interests and dispositions are. The focus has shifted to developing a deep learning environment. There is a paradigm shift in the pedagogy and competencies of ‘controlling’ to ‘enriching’ to ‘empowering’ schools. Traditional Schooling l Teacher centred l Subjects and classes l Sorting and ranking Enriching Schooling Student centred l l Directed Self l Continuous assessment Empowering Schooling Experience centred l l Virtual authenticity l Multi literacies individuals Competency: l Memory l Competitive Competency: l Critical thinking l Collaborative l Creative Competency: l taking Risk l Ethical l Interactive There are four Assessment Paradigms Assessment of Learning Most commonly, assessment is defined as a process whereby someone attempts to describe and quantify the knowledge, attitudes or skills possessed by another. Teacher directedness is paramount and the student has little involvement in the design or implement of the assessment process in these circumstances – X Summative l Teacher designs learning l l Teacher collects evidence l Teacher judges what has been learnt (and what has not) Assessment for Learning The assessment for learning involves increased levels of student autonomy, but not without teacher guidance and collaboration. The assessment for learning is sometimes seen as being akin to ‘formative assessment’ and can be seen as informing teaching. There is more emphasis towards giving of useful advice to the student and less emphasis on the giving of marks and the grading function – Teacher designs learning l Teacher designs assessment with feedback to student l Teacher assesses what has been learnt (student develops insight into what has not) l Assessment as Learning ‘Assessment as learning’ is perhaps more connected with diagnostic assessment and can be constructed with more of an emphasis on informing learning. Assessment as learning generates opportunities for self assessment and for peer assessment. Students take on increased responsibility to generate quality information about their learning and that of others – Teacher and student co-construct learning l Teacher and student co-construct assessment l Teacher and student co-construct learning progress map l Assessment for learning and assessment as learning activities should be deeply embedded in teaching and learning and be the source of iterative feedback, allowing students to adjust, rethink and re-learn. Assessment in Learning The assessment in learning places the question at the centre of teaching and learning. It deflects the teaching from its focus on a ‘correct answer’ to focus on ‘a fertile question’. Through the inquiry, students engage in processes that generate feedback about their learning, which come from multiple sources, and activities. It contributes to the construction of other learning activities, lines of enquiry and the generation of other questions Student at the centre of learning l Student monitors, assesses and reflects on learning l Student initiates demonstration of learning (to self and others) l Teacher as coach and mentor l XI Teachers and students need to understand the purpose of each assessment strategy so that the overall assessment ‘package’ being used by learners and teachers accurately captures, generates and uses meaningful learning information to generate deep learning and understanding. Purpose of Assessment To lascertain what learning, change and progress takes place in the child over a period of time in different subjects of study and other aspects of the childs personality. To find out the needs and learning style of every learner. l To ldevise styles. To improve the teaching-learning materials by adding value. l To help l every learner find out their interests, aptitudes, strengths and weaknesses so that the learner can evolve effective learning strategies. a teaching-learning plan that is responsive to the individual needs and learning To measure the extent to which curricular objectives have been realized. l To enhance the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. l To l record the progress of every learner and communicate it to parents and other stakeholders. a dialogue between the teacher and the student and also the parents as a collaborative endeavor for overall improvement of the system. To lmaintain To involve the learners in the process through peer and self assessment. l Different stages in Assessment Examination is not assessment; it is only one of the tools of assessment. As we have seen above, assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process and hence cannot be seen as the final stage in isolation. The overall aim of assessment is to gather information to improve the teaching-learning process. So it has certain distinct stages. Stage 1: Gathering information about and evidence of the extent of effectiveness of teaching and learning We gather information in a variety of ways, using a number of tools. Observation, conversation and discussion, assignments, projects, different types of tests etc are some of the methods and tools we use for collecting information. Stage 2: Recording of Information The information gathered has to be systematically recorded because it constitutes not only rich inputs that have to be used for improving teaching and learning but also evidence to support the conclusion we come to about the progress made by the students. In order to make the recording effective, we must use different recording devices such as learner profile, XII ancecdotal records, case studies, report books etc. It is essential that the information is recorded in both quantitative and qualitative terms along with well thought out and objective observations by the teacher. It is also necessary to keep samples of students work as evidence to support the report of the teacher. The most important aspect of good recording and reporting is that it shows the progress of the learner in different domains over a period of time. Stage 3: Analysing and Reporting the Information Collected The recorded information constitutes valuable feedback that the teacher, the student and the parents should use to enhance the learning process. To do this, the gathered information has to be analysed periodically so that the teacher can draw conclusions about how a child is learning and progressing. Such analysis and the grading that is done is actually a mapping of the progress of students in a learning environment. Analysis and review also leads to unambiguous statements about the strengths of every child and the aspects requiring further improvement. The report has to be communicated to the learners and their parents so that they are able to collaborate with the teacher to take the necessary steps for improving learning. It is essential that the child is encouraged to compete with self rather than with others. One of the key components of engaging students in the assessment of their own learning is providing them with descriptive feedback as they learn. Research shows descriptive feedback to be the most effective instructional strategy to move students forward in their learning. Descriptive feedback provides students with an understanding of what they are doing well, links to classroom learning and specific input on how to reach the next step. Stage 4: Using the Information for Improvement Assessment should result in improvement. Though the student, the teacher and the parents are all stakeholders in this paradigm, it is the teacher who has to take the initiative to use the analysis of information on each learner to enhance learning. This calls for reflective practices. Some questions that the teacher could ask himself/ herself are: 1. Are all the learners involved in the activities of the class? 2. Are there learners who face problems in coping with the pace and flow of the teaching learning process? 3. What are their problems and how should I help them? 4. Is there something in my teaching strategy that has to be modified to make the class learn better? How should I go about it? 5. Are there some learners who are not challenged by the materials and methods and hence lose motivation quickly? How should I respond to their special needs? 6. Are there some lessons/ chapters/ units that pose difficulties to many learners? How should I add value to these portions of the syllabus? 7. Have I identified certain common errors, mistakes and instances of lack of conceptual clarity from the information collected and analysed? How should I go about an effective programme of remediation? XIII 8. Is my classroom time management effective? What are the changes that I could introduce to make it more learner and learning oriented? 9. Am I getting adequate support from the school management, my colleagues, the parents and the community? How can I involve all the stakeholders more actively in what I am doing for the benefit of my learners? 10. What are my own needs of professional development? How can I fulfil them in a continuous manner? Such reflective questions will help the teacher modify and refine the programme of teaching to achieve the learning objectives as well as to enhance his/ her professional competence continuously. By now it is well established that learning is a continuous process and it involves informal, formal and non-formal modes. It is also widely acknowledged that children learn by constructing their knowledge and it makes learning a process that takes place within the children rather than without. In this paradigm of constructivism, the teacher ought to recognize the importance of different stages of learning i. e. , the initial stage where the existing knowledge of the learner is seen as the entry level, the second stage where new knowledge is understood and accommodated with the existing knowledge and the third stage where the constructed knowledge as a whole is tested by the learner by applying it to real life situations for making sense of the world and the self and for drawing conclusions, problem solving, decision making etc. What constitutes knowledge at the third stage automatically becomes the learners existing knowledge for further learning and thus it is a cyclical process. The main purpose of assessment is to enhance the effectiveness of the learning process and hence it has to be integrated appropriately with every stage of learning. Since learning is continuous, assessment also must be continuous. Otherwise the learner will not be able to know whether she/ he is proceeding along the right lines, what is the stage at which he experiences difficulties, what are the new inputs and strategies that are required to successfully continue the process of construction of knowledge and what is the help that is expected from the teacher. Similarly the teacher also has to know at what stage of learning each learner is at a particular point of time, what are the changes that are to be made to the teaching strategies to make every child learn effectively and what further help can be provided. For instance, when a child in class I comes to school, it is probable that the child has not had any formal schooling earlier. It does not mean that the child has no prior knowledge because learning, as has been pointed out earlier, can be through informal and non formal modes too. So the teachers duty is to identify the prior knowledge of the child while dealing with a particular concept or skill.

VDEC Based Data Extraction and Clustering Approach

VDEC Based Data Extraction and Clustering Approach This chapter describes in details the proposed VDEC Approach. It discusses the two phases of the VDEC process for Data Extraction and clustering. Experimental performance evaluation results are shown in the last section in comparing the GDS and SDS datasets. INTRODUCTION Extracting data records on the response pages returned from web databases or search engines is a challenge posed in information retrieval. Traditional web crawlers focus only on the surface web while the deep web keeps expanding behind the scene. Vision based data extraction provides a solution to extract information from dynamic web pages through page segmentation for creating a data region and data record and item extraction. A vision based web information extraction systems become more complex and time-consuming. Detection of data region is a significant problem for information extraction from the web page. This chapter discusses an approach to vision-based deep web data extraction and web document clustering. The proposed approach comprises of two phases, (1) Vision-based web data extraction, and (2) web document clustering. In phase 1, the web page information is segmented into various chunks. From which, surplus noise and duplicate chunks are removed using three parameters, such as hyperlink percentage, noise score and cosine similarity. Finally, the extracted keywords are subjected to web document clustering using Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM). VDEC APPROACH VDEC approach is designed to extract visual data automatically from deep web pages as shown in the block diagram in figure 5.1. Figure 5.1 – VDEC Approach Block diagram In most of web pages, there will be more than one data object tied together in data region, makes difficult to search attributes for each page. Unprocessed source of web page for representing the objects is non-contiguous one, the problem becomes more complicated. In existent applications, the users necessitate from complex web pages is the description of individual data object derived from the partitioning of the data region. VDEC achieve the data capturing from the deep web pages using two phases as discussed in the following sections. Phase-1 Vision Based Web Data Extraction In Phase-1 VDEC approach performs data extraction and a measure is introduced to evaluate the importance of each leaf chunk in the tree, which in turn helps us to eliminate noise in a deep web page. In this measure, remove the surplus noise and duplicate chunk using three parameters such as hyperlink percentage, Noise score and cosine similarity. Finally, obtain the main chunk extraction process using three parameters such as Title word Relevancy, Keyword frequency based chunk selection, Position features and a set of keywords are extracted from those main chunks. Phase-2 Web Document Clustering In Phase-2 VDEC perform web document clustering using Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM), the set of keywords were clustered for all deep web pages. Both the phases of the VDEC helps to extract the visual features of the web pages and supports on web page clustering for improvising information retrieval. The process activities are briefly described in the following section. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED IN VDEC APPROACH Definition (chunk): Consider a deep web page is segmented by blocks. These each block are known as chunk. For example the web page is represented as, , where the main chunk, . Definition (Hyperlink): A hyperlink has an anchor, which is the location within a document from which the hyperlink can be followed; the document having a hyperlink is called as its source document to web pages. Hyperlink percentage Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Keywords in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Link Keywords in a chunk Definition (Noise score): Noise score is defined as the ratio of the number of images in total number of chunks. Noise score, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of images in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Total number of images Definition (Cosine similarity): Cosine similarity means calculating the similarity of two chunks. The inner product of the two vectors, i.e., the sum of the pairwise multiplied elements, is divided by the product of their vector lengths. Cosine Similarity, Where, , à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Weight of keywords in, Definition (Position feature): Position features (PFs) that indicate the location of the data region on a deep web page. To compute the position feature score, the ratio is computed and then, the following equation is used to find the score for the chunk. (4) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Position features Definition (Title word relevancy): A web page title is the name or heading of a Web site or a Web page. If there is more number of title words in a certain block, then it means that the corresponding block is of more importance. Title word relevancy, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Title Keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of the title keyword in a chunk Definition (Keyword frequency): Keyword frequency is the number of times the keyword phrase appears on a deep Web page chunk relative to the total number of words on the deep web page. Keyword frequency based chunk selection, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of top ten keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Top-K Keywords PHASE-1 – VISION BASED DEEP WEB DATA EXTRACTION In a web page, there are numerous immaterial components related to the descriptions of data objects. These items comprise an advertisement bar, product category, search panel, navigator bar, and copyright statement, etc. Generally, a web page is specified by a triple. is a finite set of objects or sub-web pages. All these objects are not overlapped. Each web page can be recursively viewed as a sub-web-page and has a subsidiary content structure. is a finite set of visual separators, such as horizontal separators and vertical separators. Every separator has a weight representing its visibility, and all the separators in the same have the same weight. is the relationship of every two blocks in , which is represented as:. In several web pages, there are normally more than one data object entwined together in a data region, which makes it complex to find the attributes for each page. Deep Web Page Extraction The Deep web is usually defined as the content on the Web not accessible through a search on general search engines. This content is sometimes also referred to as the hidden or invisible web. The Web is a complex entity that contains information from a variety of source types and includes an evolving mix of different file types and media. It is much more than static, self-contained Web pages. In our work, the deep web pages are collected from Complete Planet (www.completeplanet.com), which is currently the largest deep web repository with more than 70,000 entries of web databases. Chunk Segmentation Web pages are constructed not only main contents information like product information in shopping domain, job information in a job domain, but also advertisements bar, static content like navigation panels, copyright sections, etc. In many web pages, the main content information exists in the middle chunk and the rest of the page contains advertisements, navigation links, and privacy statements as noisy data. Removing these noises will help in improving the mining of the web and it’s called Chunk Segmenting Operation as shown in figure.5.2. Figure 5.2 Chunk Segmenting Operation To assign importance to a region in a web page (), we first need to segment a web page into a set of chunks. It extracts main content information and deep web clustering that is both fast and accurate. The two stages and its sub-steps are given as follows. Stage 1: Vision-based deep web data identification Deep web page extraction Chunk segmentation Noisy chunk Removal Extraction of main chunk using chunk weightage Stage 2: Web document clustering Clustering process using FCM Normally, a tag separated by many sub tags based on the content of the deep web page. If there is no tag in the sub tag, the last tag is consider as leaf node. The Chunk Splitting Process aims at cleaning the local noises by considering only the main content of a web page enclosed in div tag. The main contents are segmented into various chunks. The result of this process can be represented as follows: , Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   A set of chunks in the deep web page à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of chunks in a deep web page In Figure 5.1, we have taken an example of a tree sample which consists of main chunks and sub chunks. The main chunks are segmented into chunks C1, C2 and C3 using Chunk Splitting Operation and sub-chunks are segmented into . Noisy Chunk Removal A deep web page usually contains main content chunks and noise chunks. Only the main content chunks represent the informative part that most users are interested in. Although other chunks are helpful in enriching functionality and guiding browsing, they negatively affect such web mining tasks as web page clustering and classification by reducing the accuracy of mined results as well as speed of processing. Thus, these chunks are called noise chunks. Removing these chunks in our research work, we have concentrated on two parameters; they are Hyperlink Percentage and Noise score which is very significant. The main objective of removing noise from a Web Page is to improve the performance of the search engine. The representation of each parameter is as follows: Hyperlink Keyword – A hyperlink has an anchor, which is the location within a document from which the hyperlink can be followed; the document containing a hyperlink is known as its source document to web pages. Hyperlink Keywords are the keywords which are present in a chunk such that it directs to another page. If there are more links in a particular chunk then it means the corresponding chunk has less importance. The parameter Hyperlink Keyword Retrieval calculates the percentage of all the hyperlink keywords present in a chunk and is computed using the following equation. Hyperlink word Percentage, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Keywords in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Link Keywords in a chunk Noise score – The information on Web page consists of both text and images (static pictures, flash, video, etc.). Many Internet sites draw income from third-party advertisements, usually in the form of images sprinkled throughout the site’s pages. In our work, the parameter Noise score calculates the percentage of all the images present in a chunk and is computed using the following equation. Noise score, Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of images in a chunk à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Total number of images Duplicate Chunk Removal Using Cosine Similarity: Cosine Similarity Cosine similarity is one of the most popular similarity measure applied to text documents, such as in numerous information retrieval applications [7] and clustering too [8]. Here, duplication detection among the chunk is done with the help of cosine similarity. Given two chunks and, their cosine similarity is Cosine Similarity Where, , à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Weight of keywords in, Extraction of Main Block Chunk Weightage for Sub-Chunk: In the previous step, we obtained a set of chunks after removing the noise chunks, and duplicate chunks present in a deep web page. Web page designers tend to organize their content in a reasonable way: giving prominence to important things and deemphasizing the unimportant parts with proper features such as position, size, color, word, image, link, etc. A chunk importance model is a function to map from features to importance for each chunk, and can be formalized as : . The preprocessing for computation is to extract essential keywords for the calculation of Chunk Importance. Many researchers have given importance to different information inside a webpage for instance location, position, occupied area, content, etc. In this research work, we have concentrated on the three parameters Title word relevancy, keyword frequency based chunk selection, and position features which are very significant. Each parameter has its own significance for calculating sub-chunk weightage. The following equation computes the sub-chunk weightage of all noiseless chunks. (1) Where à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Constants For each noiseless chunk, we have to calculate these unknown parameters, and. The representation of each parameter is as follows: Title Keyword – Primarily, a web page title is the name or title of a Web site or a Web page. If there is more number of title words in a particular block then it means the corresponding block is of more importance. This parameter Title Keyword calculates the percentage of all the title keywords present in a block. It is computed using the following equation. Title word Relevancy; (2) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Title Keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Title word relevancy, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of the title keyword in a chunk. Keyword Frequency based chunk selection: Basically, Keyword frequency is the number of times the keyword phrase appears on a deep Web page chunk relative to the total number of words on the deep web page. In our work, the top-K keywords of each and every chunk were selected and then their frequencies were calculated. The parameter keyword frequency based chunk selection calculates for all sub-chunks and is computed using the following equation. Keyword Frequency based chunk selection (3) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Frequency of top ten keywords à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Keyword Frequency based chunk selection à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Number of Top-K Keywords Position features (PFs): Generally, these data regions are always centered horizontally and for calculating, we need the ratio of the size of the data region to the size of the whole deep Web page instead of the actual size. In our experiments, the threshold of the ratio is set at 0.7, that is, if the ratio of the horizontally centered region is greater than or equal to 0.7, then the region is recognized as the data region. The parameter position features calculate the important sub chunk from all sub chunks and is computed using the following equation. (4) Where, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Position features Thus, we have obtained the values of, and by substituting the above mentioned equation. By substituting the values of , and in eq.1, we obtain the sub-chunk weightage. Chunk Weightage for Main Chunk: We have obtained sub-chunk weightage of all noiseless chunks from the above process. Then, the main chunks weightage are selected from the following equation (5) Where,à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Sub-chunk weightage of Main-chunk. à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Constant, à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Main chunk weightage. Thus, finally we obtain a set of important chunks and we extract the keywords from the above obtained important chunks for effective web document clustering mining. Algorithm-1 : Clustering Approach PHASE-2 – DEEP WEB DOCUMENT CLUSTERING USING FCM Let DB be a dataset of web documents, where the set of keywords is denoted by . Let X={x1, x2, †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, xN} is the set of N web documents, where, xi={ xi1,xi2,†¦.,xin}. Each xij(i=1,†¦.,N;j=1,†¦.,n) corresponds to the frequency of keyword xi on web document. Fuzzy c-means [29] partitions set of web documents indimensional space into fuzzy clusters with cluster centers or centroids. The fuzzy clustering of keywords is described by a fuzzy matrix with n rows and c columns in which n is the number of keywords and c is the number of clusters. , the element in the row and column in, indicates the degree of association or membership function of the object with the cluster. The characters of are as follows: (6) (7) (8) The objective function of FCM algorithm is to minimize the Eq. (9): (9) Where (10) in which, m(m >1) is a scalar termed the weighting exponent and controls the fuzziness of the resulting clusters and dij is the Euclidian distance from key to the cluster center zip. The zj, centroid of the jth cluster, is obtained using Eq. (11) (11) The FCM algorithm is iterative and can be stated as in Algorithm-2. Algorithm-2 : Fuzzy c-means Approach Experimental Setup The experimental results of the proposed method for vision-based deep web data extraction for web document clustering are presented in this section. The proposed approach has been implemented in Java (jdk 1.6) and the experimentation is performed on a 3.0 GHz Pentium PC machine with 2 GB main memory. For experimentation, we have taken many deep web pages which contained all the noises such as Navigation bars, Panels and Frames, Page Headers and Footers, Copyright and Privacy Notices, Advertisements and Other Uninteresting Data. These pages are then applied to the proposed method for removing the different noises. The removal of noise blocks and extracting of useful content chunks are explained in this sub-section. Finally, extracting the useful con

Research Paper: Elections 2008 - Barack Obama -- American Politics

Currently, America is facing various hardships such as struggling economy, poor health care, two wars, pollution, excessive relying on exported oil and illegal immigration. Both Barack Obama and John McCain expressed in the campaigns their points of views and possible solutions for these problems. Obama, the candidate from the Democratic Party, proposed answers on improvements on situation in the United States. One of the major issues nowadays is the health care. There are many reasons why it is so controversial and needs a lot of attention from the future president. In the past eight years, health insurance prices have grown 3.7 times faster than wages. Many insurance plans do not cover a number of doctor’s visits. In addition to that, over forty-five million Americans don’t have any health insurance at all. Most of these people just cannot afford their medical bills. Dramatically rising health care costs are also making it increasingly difficult for small businesses and other employers to provide insurance to their employees. (â€Å"Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan to Lower Health Care Costs and Ensure Affordable, Accessible Health Coverage for All,† par 1) Barack Obama believes that government-run health care or insurances supplied by government are wrong. He proposes a plan that combines the two types of health care system into one. The plan would â€Å"strengthen employer coverage, make insurance companies accountable and ensure patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.† (â€Å"Plan for a Healthy America,† par 1, 2) Under Obama’s plan, everyone can keep his or her current health insurance and all the insurances will cost about $2,500 per year. Those who don’t have insurance would have many affordable options to ... ...9/opinion/19tue1.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=in%20search%2 0of%20 a%20real%20urban%20policy&st=cse&oref=slogin.>. Ivanovich, David. â€Å"Obama Likely to Tackle Energy Early on.† Chron.com 8 Nov. 2008. 11 Nov. 2008 . â€Å"New Energy for America.† Obama ‘08 08 11Nov. 2008 . â€Å"Obama-Biden vs. McCain-Palin: Record on Women.† Obama ‘08 11 Nov. 2008 . â€Å"Plan for a Healthy America.† Obama ‘08 11 Nov. 2008 . â€Å"Plan for Ending the War in Iraq.† Obama ‘08 11 Nov. 2008 . â€Å"Plan to Stimulate Urban Prosperity.† Obama ‘08 11 Nov. 2008 .

Our Schools Need Community Service Learning Programs Essay -- Communit

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." - Albert Schweitzer Each community is like a human body, it requires a constant life force to survive. Volunteers and community service workers are the blood that maintains our communities. It fortifies our foundations. A community is only as strong as the weakest link. We must empower those weakened by poverty, discrimination and other social injustices. Compassion is a learned behavior. We obtain it through our parents initially teaching us morals such as empathy, kindness, and fairness. Secondly, we can reinforce it through school-based service learning projects. Mandatory school-based community service learning will benefit our country by an increase in volunteerism from the heart and social skills in our children and teens in the future.Service is your engagement in the relationship of the act of giving. Service is its most sincere when we help through whom we are not by what we do. We have to have compassion in order to serve correctly to be in the situation with someone not just for them (Wade, Rahima C., 1997). Volunteerism is embedded in the fibers of Americans. For centuries we have aided our society in all aspects of volunteerism. Harvard University, in 1636, formed the first academic library which was staffed with volunteers. In 1736, the first Volunteer Fire Department was established; in 1857 the American Red Cross was organized using volunteer labor(Megan 2011). As volunteers, will we promote charity or solidarity? Charity exhibits as insincere, superior, and often views the poor as sub-human. Solidarity presents ... ...g-Youth O’Sullivan, Theresa A., Community Service in The United States, Alternatives to improve volunteerism among Americans, Tallahassee, FL August 2004 Vessels, G., & Huitt, W. (2005). Moral and character development. Paper presented at the National Youth at Risk Conference, Savannah, GA, March 8-10. Retrieved [date], from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/papers/chardev.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Wofford Wade, Rahima C. "From a Distance: Service- Learning and Social Justice." Integrating Service Learning and Multicultural Education in Colleges and Universities . Ed. Carolyn R. O'Grady. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000. Youth helping America educating for active citizenship: service learning, school-based service and youth engagement 3/2006 Publisher: Corporation for National and Community Service. http://www.nationalservice.gov/

Consumer Traits and Behaviors Essay

Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these plans (e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product). Companies to determine the best, and useful marketing of their product and services must study consumer traits and behaviors. By doing this extensive research, companies are sure to develop marketing plans directly aimed to the customer base they would like to attract. Sources of influence on the consumer. The consumer faces numerous sources of influence. Often, we take cultural influences for granted, but they are significant. An American will usually not bargain with a storeowner. This, however, is a common practice in much of the World. The cultural influence can also impact the actual things people feel are needs versus wants. The American culture, unfortunately is a greedy culture that can at times take for granted the fact that all of their needs are met and often times confuse them with their wants. The cultural impact makes a fancy new sports car a need when there are children in third world countries that need food and water. Physical factors also influence our behavior. We are more likely to buy a soft drink when we are thirsty, for example, and food manufacturers have found that it is more effective to advertise their products on the radio in the late afternoon when people are getting hungry. There are also documented instances where a person’s obsessive want of an it em can physically make a person ill when they cannot have them. A person’s self-image will also tend to influence what he or she will buy—an upwardly mobile manager may buy a flashy car to project an image  of success. Self image issues can also be closely related into cultural issues we all can face also, leading consumers to adopt an image of beauty that is not obtainable such as larger women developing a complex to become super model thin, and in return cause people to develop self hate towards the things about themselves and others that cannot be changed. Often times a person’s self worth is measured in the things they have versus the content of who they are on the inside. Social factors also influence what the consumers buy—often, consumers seek to imitate others whom they admire, and may buy the same brands. The social environment can include both the mainstream culture (e.g., Americans are more likely to have corn flakes or ham and eggs for breakfast than to have rice, which is preferred in many Asian countrie s) and a subculture (e.g., rap music often appeals to a segment within the population that seeks to distinguish itself from the mainstream population). Thus, sneaker manufacturers are eager to have their products worn by admired athletes. Something as simple as a Facebook like can take a product from obscurity to relevancy just like being listed on Oprah’s favorite things. Finally, consumer behavior is influenced by learning—you try a hamburger and learn that it satisfies your hunger and tastes good, and the next time you are hungry, you may consider another hamburger. We are also a culture of people to purchase the things that our family customarily purchased our band loyalty can be passed down from generation to generation. Consumer Choice and Decision Making: Problem Recognition. One model of consumer decision-making involves several steps. The first one is problem recognition—you realize that something is not as it should be. Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult to start and is not accelerating well. The second step is information search—what are some alternative ways of solving the problem? You might buy a new car, buy a used car, take your car in for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to work. The third step involves evaluation of alternatives. A skateboard is inexpensive, but may be ill suited for long distances and for rainy days. Finally, we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a post-purchase stage (e.g., you return a product to the store because you did not find it satisfactory). In reality, people may go back and forth between the stages. For example, a person may resume alternative identification during while evaluating already known alternatives. Consumer  involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on the type of product. In general, consumer involvement will be higher for products that are very expensive (e.g., a home, a car) or are highly significant in the consumer’s life in some other way (e.g., a word processing prog ram or acne medication). It is important to consider the consumer’s motivation for buying products. To achieve this goal, we can use the Means-End chain, wherein we consider a logical progression of consequences of product use that eventually lead to desired end benefit. Thus, for example, a consumer may see that a car has a large engine, leading to fast acceleration, leading to a feeling of performance, leading to a feeling of power, which ultimately improves the consumer’s self-esteem. A handgun may aim bullets with precision, which enables the user to kill an intruder, which means that the intruder will not be able to harm the consumer’s family, which achieves the desired end-state of security. In advertising, it is important to portray the desired end-states. Focusing on the large motor will do less good than portraying a successful person driving the car. Attitudes Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward some â€Å"object†Ã¢â‚¬â€within the context of marketing, usually a brand, product category, or retail store. These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will react to the object Consumer attitudes are both an obstacle and an advantage to a marketer. Choosing to discount or ignore consumers’ attitudes of a particular product or service—while developing a marketing strategy—guarantees limited success of a campaign. In contrast, perceptive marketers leverage their understanding of attitudes to predict the behavior of consumers. These savvy marketers know exactly how to distinguish the differences between beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors while leveraging all three in the development of marketing strategies. beliefs or feelings toward a product or service. A behavioral intention is defined by the consumer’s belief or feeling with respect to the product or service. The cellular phone industry is one of the rare bright spots in Asian business (Roberts, 1998). China’s cell phone market has increased at an annual growth rate of 80% since 1990 (Statistics of CMII, 2005). In 2001, China’s cell phone market  grew into 130 million users, exceeding the U.S.’s market for the first time An attitude in marketing terms is defined as a general evaluation of a product or service formed over time (Solomon, 2008). An attitude satisfies a personal motive—and at the same time, affects the shopping and buying habits of consumers. Dr. Lars Perner (2010) defines consumer attitude simply as a composite of a consumer’s beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions toward some object within the context of marketing. A consumer can hold negative or positive (Robertson, 2001). Chinese cell phone user population reached 335 million (25% of the total Chinese population), 65 million more than 2003 (Statistics of CMII, 2005). Social and Cultural Settings Influence Consumer Behavior The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by understanding issues such as how the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers). The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media); The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions; Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions and marketing outcome; How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach the consumer. Consumers Interpret Marketing Messages Differently Consumers’ interpretations of advertising messages have long been an important and controversial topic in advertising research (Jacoby and Hoyer 1982a, 1982b, 1987; Mick 1988b; Russo, Metcalf, and Stephens 1981; Shimp and Preston 1981). [The terms comprehension and interpretation are used interchangeably here. Readers who question the synonymy of those terms are also likely to believe that denotation and connotation are separate constructs- -likely because they associate comprehension with denotation and interpretation with connotation. This article seeks to defy the  denotation/connotation distinction with respect to advertising illustrations. Comprehension itself is conceptualized generally in this article from a level of processing perspective, specifically as a cue-induced spread of activation of semantic concepts (knowledge structures). Inference is the basic mechanism of this activation and also accounts for the meanings constructed as a function of bridging two alread y – activated concepts.] Historically, most empirical work has centered on consumers’ processing of linguistic information; recently, researchers have paid increased attention to nonlinguistic features (e.g., Childers and Houston 1984; Edell and Staelin 1983; Johnson, Zimmer, and Golden 1987; Richards and Zakia 1981; Rossiter and Percy 1980; Zakia 1986). Lengthy theoretical writings on visual communication in advertising have also appeared (Rossiter and Percy 1983). Despite this trend, few have actually studied the semiotic substance of consumers’ interpretations of advertising illustrations. For instance, Thematic Apperception Tests remain widespread in the advertising industry for Pretesting visual content. Yet, advertising scholars have exerted little effort to employ such semantic -unveiling methods to inform theory and assess propositions about consumers’ interpretations of nonverbal ad information. Conclusion In this document, we have been able to showcase the psychological processes and presented three social processes that impact and influence consumer behavior. As we explore the fabulous relationships between traits and behavior we can establish the marketing and tools that are needed to develop effective marketing strategies that will influence the way people buy the products that are purchased. Understanding these consumer traits and behaviors can make the company a very successful and profitable company. Understanding or a lack there of, this relationship between consumer traits and be the making or breaking of any corporation. This class and the training of being able to understand just how important it is to be able to interpret the messages that are being sent both to and from the consumer. References Retrieved From: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2571413 Retrieved From: http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-internal-influences-lifestyle-attitude.html Retrieved From: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/ (2011, 04). A Structural Equation Model of Perceived Price on Value Perceptions: a Consumer Psychology View. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 04, 2011, Retrieved From: http://www.studymode.com/essays/a-Structural-Equation-Model-Of-Perceived-6608