Core Needs Addressed and Bases of Market Segmentation Essay - 16

Core Needs Addressed and Bases of Market Segmentation - Essay Example Examining the case of Lane Bryant, it is ostensible that the company is seeking to meet the basic need for clothing with their introduction of a’ new activewear line’. The workout-wear branded as Livi Active is a product that seeks to meet the clothing desires and demands of women while participating in the gym exercises or as they leave. Availing it in sizes that fit a higher percentage of its target customers has ensured this demand is met (Mahoney, 2015). This base of segmentation considers the demographic variables including age, size, education, religion, gender among others (Blythe, 2008). Considering the case of Lane Bryant’s new product, Livi Active has been initiated with clear conscious about certain variables. Gender, age and body size are the primary aspects that have been examined extensively. The product seeks to meet the demand of ladies and not any other gender. Also, the gap in terms of body sizes has been thought through before coming up with a product that suits size 12. This has been generated from the information and statistics available. Consequently, the psychological influence that drives people into having needs and wants have been considered. In this case, lifestyle is the core aspect that has informed the development of this product. In the plus-size women desire to look sharp and this makes them develop a strong need for gym wears that are designed with colors that can attract them. The bright colors are apparently the best for this. The company’s new product targets plus-size women whose body size are above size 12. The new product is to be designed brightly and fashionably for the large-bodied customers who, in the past, have not had the chance to receive such stylish clothes. Unlike the traditional system where  Lane Bryant only stylishly designed wears for medium and small size customers, the new product will incorporate the large sizes to enjoy the same.  

The Foodservice Management Information System Essay Example for Free

The Foodservice Management Information System Essay The Foodservice Management Information System (FMIS V) sold by Genesistems, Inc. since 1980 on mini and super mini computers is now available on low cost personal computers and popular networks under FMIS V. According to Genesistems President Eric Muench, new programming languages have provided a method of allowing Genesistems proven FMIS system to operate with the same speed and flexibility on the new popular personal computers that was formerly available only on larger computers. This brings the cost of an automated solution for the foodservice operator down to a price that is affordable. The manager must be able to determine prices and schedules, make forecasts, perform an ongoing audit of inventory and other company assets, and monitor performance. More and more managers are turning to the computer to provide this information on a timely basis, he said. Traditionally, foodservice institutions have had weak in-house accounting systems based on tedious manual procedures, Muench continued. The result has been poor cost control. Food cost information is generally outdated before manual computations can even be completed. FMIS V solves these and other problems at a reasonable cost. FMIS V consists of the following modules: general ledger, accounts payable, payroll, bank reconciliation, inventory control, recipe control, sales analysis, and management report writing. Telecommunications input is available for certain cash registers. All modules are integrated and provide full accounting information automatically to the general ledger for up-to-date financial statements. The Foodservice Management Information System is available nationally from Genesistems, Inc. For more details on the Foodservice Management Information System, please contact us for more information. General Ledger The General Ledger module is the center of the accounting system. It is a powerful yet easy to use module that can accommodate a single unit restaurant as well as a large multiple unit operation. The General Ledger is automatically updated from all other modules being operated. Both 12 and 13 period accounting are supported. The Trial Balance Report and General Ledger Report provide the necessary documentation and audit trails required of a professional accounting system. Financial Statements can be designed to your specifications by you within the General Ledger module. The optional Management Report Writer gives you the added ability to print complex financial statements that consolidate or compare multiple time periods and units if necessary. Account budgets may be set up and used in forecasting and comparisons to actual activity. Accounts Payable The Accounts Payable module is designed to allow you to better manage your vendor invoices and payments. Inventory purchases that are entered will be automatically updated to the Inventory, Recipe, and Sales Analysis modules without any additional work. Invoices may be entered in summary, detail, or a combination of the two. By entering invoices, you are creating the capability of accumulating unpaid invoices easily at any time. A purchase history by vendor is also maintained, and check payment can be accomplished easily in a method that is convenient for your operation. This module lets you stay on top of your outstanding invoices so that invoices are never paid for twice. Payroll The Payroll module is designed for time entry, printing payroll checks, general ledger distribution and year-end W-2 forms. It can operate on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly basis with all input verified, copied, and employee records updated during the End-Pay-Period procedure. Other useful options are included such as payroll history inquiry, earnings summary report, employee payroll history, tip allocation, tip reporting and is integrated to the optional Federal Magnetic Media Reporting module. The module is easy to use due to its one-step nature. After set-up with a General Ledger file and initial data entry, payroll tracking becomes relatively easy. Time is entered, then the register is printed. If corrections are necessary, they can be made to the appropriate entries and the register re-printed. After everything balances, checks and reports are printed and then the pay period can be closed. This module is designed to operate in conjunction with other modules that may be installed. Programs are explained as if the General Ledger module were included. Information is transferred to all integrated modules as a function of the End-Pay-Period procedure or is transferred each month through the End-of-Month posting procedure. Bank Reconciliation The Bank Reconciliation module is used to manage your bank accounts. It is automatically updated as checks are written and deposits are entered. A simple method of canceling checks allows you to reconcile the account to the bank statement in very little time. Multiple bank accounts can be maintained simply and easily. A historical check register is maintained for up to five years for your review. Accurate, on demand financial statements tighten management control and eliminate monthly accounting fees. True, double entry accounting with forced balancing of entries eliminates costly posting errors. Comparisons of business units permit management to make intelligent analysis and take effective action. Reporting accommodates easy consolidation of multiple units or companies for corporate requirements. Simple invoice entry organizes and validates invoices for accuracy and automatically updates the Inventory module if necessary. Accounts Payable Cash Requirements Report provides immediate access to a list of currently due invoices and the total cash required. Controlled payment of Accounts Payable invoices eliminates duplicate payments, conserves cash, and accrues interest. Selection and printing of Accounts Payable computer checks saves time and eliminates errors. Bank Reconciliation provides an easy way to control and reconcile any bank accounts. Inventory Control The Inventory Control module is designed to allow you a fast and easy way to keep track of your inventory. You are able to track what you have purchased and what prices you are paying from various suppliers for any length of time. In-house batch production items can be processed along with multiple location transfers. Inventory is first categorized into major classifications that you choose such as meat, dairy and produce. Inventory can be kept on a perpetual basis by entering your purchases for those items and taking a physical count monthly or as frequently as desired to get your actual usage on each item. Inventory may also be kept on a periodic basis which does not require entering all your purchases. The periodic method allows for entry of a physical count and last cost at any point in time and will automatically extend the inventory for you. Both methods provide inventory count sheets by specific storage location and fast inventory count entry methods. The two methods can also be combined to allow detailed control of high cost items and less detailed control of less significant items. Recipe Control The Recipe Control module works hand in hand with the Inventory Control module. It provides you with an organized method of entering your recipes. You can take advantage of the ability to monitor your costs at all times before cost increases erode your profit margins. Unlimited levels of sub-recipes can be maintained very easily. Recipes can include a plate cost for items that you may not want to set up. Recipes can be costed in seconds at Last Cost or Average Cost and can be printed or displayed on the screen. Each recipe can also have detailed preparation instructions set up for use as a training manual. Quick, accurate food and beverage cost percentages can spot increasing costs before it is too late. What If capability for quick, profitable decisions on effect of price and cost changes to a menu or individual item. Easy, timely, accurate trend information on profit margins and popularity of menu items. Regular variance reporting on Actual versus Potential Inventory Usage flags items to watch for excessive use. Prompt, accurate comparisons of multi-unit sales for better management analysis and decisions. Server analysis tells you who is and who isnt selling items such as specials and desserts. Usage, waste and pilferage information is available at any time for management corrective action to maximize profits. Inventory Use and Purchase History allows more accurate inventory planning. Provides a clear, precise way of standardizing recipes for easier employee use. Inventory transfers between multiple units are tracked for proper allocation of charges and better management relations. Inventory Production allows the tracking of in-house prep items to show actual inventory usage and real costs. Friendly, flexible set up allows you to track only information you need and not data that you dont care about. Sales Analysis The Sales Analysis module completes the operations triangle. Both Inventory and Recipe Control are related heavily to Sales Analysis. Menu items are set up and defined at this point. A menu item can refer to a recipe or directly to an inventory item. Daily sales can be entered manually or transferred from a point of sale device if one is available. Sales history is maintained on a daily basis for any number of years. Entering your sales will generate your potential or optimal use of each inventory item and will give you an actual versus potential usage variance. Sales trends can be tracked in a wide variety of methods using the Management Report Writer. Sales Analysis gives you the capability to stay on top of your margins and control them before they can hurt you. Management Report Writing The Report Writer module allows the creation of custom reports wanted by individual companies. The flexibility and adaptability of this module allows for seemingly unlimited variations of report types. This module is limited only by your imagination. Thirty-six columns are available for mathematical and statistical computations (only limited by your printers capability). Data to be printed on these reports can be drawn from a variety of sources. The most common source is General Ledger and the Report Writer is particularly suited to producing complex financial statements. Reports can also be produced based on data from Sales Analysis or from the Statistics section of the Management Report Writer.

Lalbagh Fort Tourism

Lalbagh Fort Tourism Lalbagh Fort No trip to Dhaka city is fulfilled without a trip to the Lalbagh Fort or also known as the fort of Auranagabad which was built in 1678 AD by Prince Mohammad Azam who was the Viceroy back then. The fort represents the dream of the Mughal Prince which stayed unfinished. So the whole fort has a sense of history and mystery entwined in the very bricks of the foundation. The Lalbagh fort falls under the Dhaka Division/subdivison and Lalbagh thana. What to see there: The fort is structured in three levels with towers donning the south gate. The fort is filled with hidden passages and a massive mosque. It also has a fortified perimeter with a number of magnificent monuments. Among the notable monuments in the fort are the tomb of Pari Bibi and the audience room and bathing room of Nawab Shaista khan which is now being used as a museam. When can you visit the fort: Close Days: Sunday and all other listed government holidays. Visiting Hours: Monday from 1.30pm-5pm; Tuesday-Saturday, 9am-5pm during October-March; 10am-6pm during April-September; During Friday the place remain closed from 12.30pm-2.00pm due to prayer. Entry Fee: tk.10/ Bangladeshi Entrants and tk.50/ Foreign Entrants. Tel: 9673018 Video link of things you can see there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXkMZuKoS0s How to go there: Any rickshaw puller in Dhaka city will take you to the destination if you mention you want to go to Lalbagh fort or bus can be taken from local bus stands that will drop you off in either Shahbagh or Nilkhet and from there a rickshaw have to be taken to go to Lalbagh fort (30-40 taka fare from there by rickshaw) Google map link: https://maps.google.com/maps?t=mll=37.0625,-95.677068z=4output=classicdg=opt Tips: It is better to go there early in the morning as the light provides better viewing and a more pleasant experience due to bad lighting later in the day. Where to stay: Any of the following hotels should provide safe and tranquil environment with efficient service to match the needs of any tourists. They also provide car/taxi service and can guide the tourists to their destination. They also have an outstanding culinary service that should aim to please the stomach of any avid foodie. HOTEL PACIFIC 120/B, MOTIJHEEL COMMERCIAL AREA DHAKA 1000, BANGLADESH Telehone : 9587671 to 9587680 (10 lines) Fax : 9565162 Email : [emailprotected] website : www.hotelpacificdhaka.net WASHINGTON HOTEL 56 Gulshan Avenue, Road# 132 Gulshan -1, Dhaka -1212, Bangladesh Tel: 00 88 02 8851 467 72, 8850 091 94 Fax: 00 88 02 9894 915 Email: [emailprotected], [emailprotected] Web site: www.washingtonbd.com PAN PACIFIC SONARGAON 107 , Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue Dhaka, Bangladesh Tel: +880 2 811 1005 Fax: +880 2 811 3324 Web: http://www.panpacific.com/Dhaka/Overview.html RADISSON WATER GARDEN HOTEL DHAKA Airport Road, Dhaka Cantonment , Dhaka 1206 , Bangladesh Reservations: (800) 333-3333 (800) 616-1283 Telephone: 880 2 875 4555 Fax: 880 2 875 4504 / 875 4554 Email: [emailprotected] , [emailprotected] Web: http://www.radisson.com/dhakabn Lake Shore Hotel And Apartments Road No. 41, House No. 46 Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh Telephone No. : +880-2-8861787-92, +88-02-8859991, +88-02-8861783-86, +88-02-8852939 Fax No. : +880-2- 8860534, +88-02-8860519 Email Address: [emailprotected] Web Address: www.lakeshorehotel.com.bd Curzon Hall: Situated in Dhaka city of Dhaka Division/subdivision the hall is part of the school of science of Dhaka University. The hall has been named after Lord Curzon who was the Viceroy of India. The hall was built in 1904. After Bengal was partitioned and Dhaka became the new capital of East Bengal and Assam it was used as the premise of Dhaka college but later after the establishment of University of Dhaka it became part of the Universitie’s science division. The place has significant historic value due to being the point of origin where the students of Dhaka University in 1948 first uttered their refusal to accept Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s declaration that Urdu alone would be the state language in the whole of Pakistan and sparked the Language Movement. What to see here: Curzon hall is one of the most intricately designed architecture structure of Dhaka combining a blend of European and Mughal style portraying a then popular design in the North which consisted of horse-shoe and cusped arches. This style also favored the Mughal’s as they were fond of arches and domes. The building is said to mimic that of the well known Diwan-i-khas in the palace fortress of Fatehpur Sikri, Emperor Akbar’s capital during 1570-1585. Built with red bricks, ornate brackets deep eaves and a domed terrace pavillion this place is a sight to behold and to seep in an aura of legend now only found in history books. How to go there: A rickshaw or cng can be taken from any of the hotels in Dhaka city by asking to go to Dhaka university campus, Curzon hall. Or a local bus can be taken which will drop you at shahbagh/nilkhet from where Curzon hall is a 25-30 taka rickshaw ride away. Google Map Link: https://maps.google.com/maps?t=mll=37.0625,-95.677068z=4output=classicdg=opt Tips: Since it’s the department of science its usually really crowded during 10 A.M. – 2 P.M. so if you want to avoid students rushing to and fro to classes going there is earlier or later in the day is advisable. Where to stay: Refer to Lalbagh section. Dhaka National Museum Location of the spot: Dhaka Division, Dhaka Metropolitan City. Brief/why should someone go there: The Museum established in 1913 is a four storied building with forty galleries under its 4 departments of natural history, History and Classical Art, Ethnography and decorative art and Contemporary art and World civilization. The museum has a vast and elaborate collection of old coins, books on art, ivory and silver filigree works, images made with metal, many textiles including the famed Muslin fabric and Nakshi Kantha, arms and ammunitions from the Mughal time, series of painting and sculptures dating back to the Buddhist and Muslim period, handicrafts and models of the village and city life and most importantly- priceless articles of the liberation war of Bangladesh which signifies the backbone of the history of Bangladesh can be found there. How to go get back/ mode of transportation: Bus can be taken from any of the Local bus stop directly to this spot in Shahbagh. The fare will be around 15-30 taka depending upon from where in Dhaka you are travelling from. CNG can also be easily taken and the fare should be 150-200 taka. Rickshaws can also be taken to Shahbagh and the average fare should be 50-70 taka. If you are travelling from Gulshan/banana area then CNG is advisable as rickshaws do not directly go there. Contact info: Phone : 88-02-8619396-9, 8619400 Fax : 88-02-8615585 E-mail: [emailprotected] [emailprotected] WEB: http://bangladeshmuseum.gov.bd Things to do: Taking Photographs is not allowed but you can take pictures from outside of the Museum. Going through 4 levels of the museum and all the artifacts of history it stores is quite a feat and should be more than enough to keep you busy for half a day. Where to stay: Refer to Lalbagh fort. Google Map: https://maps.google.com/maps?t=mll=37.0625,-95.677068z=4output=classicdg=opt. Video links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwAf4pph7DQ ATM Information: Dutch Bangla ATM booths can be found in Birdem, PG hospital or TSC all of which is 5 minutes distance from the Museum. Brac bank ATM can be found in Aziz Super market just opposite the Museum. Standard chartard ATM booths can be found Hotel Sheraton which is 15 minutes distance from the Museum. HSBC ATM booths can be found in Hotel Sonargaon. TIPS: The Museum is very extensive and it takes a lot of time to explore it completely so it’s advisable to go there after a good meal as food is not allowed inside the museum.

To His Coy Mistress Essay: Use of Sound -- His Coy Mistress Essays

Use of Sound in To His Coy Mistress At first glance, Andrew Marvel's poem "To His Coy Mistress" is a fairly typical carpe diem poem, in which the speaker tells his beloved that they should "seize the day" and have sex now instead of waiting until they are married. Today, the speaker's speech may seem sexist in its attitude toward women and irresponsible in its attitude toward the coy mistress (the speaker doesn't explain how he would seize the day if the woman became pregnant, for example). Still, if we look beyond the limited perspective of the speaker himself, we can see that Marvell is making a statement about how all of us (regardless of gender or involvement in relationships) should savor the pleasures of the moment. For the poet, there are two kinds of attitude toward the present: (1) activities in the present are judged by their impact on the future, and (2) there is no future state--all activities occur in the present and can only be enjoyed or evaluated by their impact at that moment. The mistress would like t o postpone sex (theoretically until she and the speaker are married). The speaker wants to consummate their physical relationship now. Each viewpoint has its reasons, and certainly the woman in the poem would stand to lose practically from premarital sex. Marvell, however, isn't suggesting that unbridled lust is preferable to moral or ethical restraint; sex is the subject matter, not the theme of the poem. Marvell's actual point here is that instead of dividing our lives or our values into mathematically neat but artificial categories of present and future, we should savor the unique experiences of each present moment; to convey this theme, the poet uses irre... ...g up and slowing down time, the speaker's irregularities of meter create a melody that substitutes the rough spondaic meter for the smoothly regular iambic tetrameter. By the time they have read (aloud) the entire poem, readers should be less concerned with the poem's overall moral (or amoral) philosophizing than with its musicality. Marvell, after all, is writing a poem, not a work of philosophy. His use and then subversion of conventional rhyme, rhythm, and meter, create a music that opposes both philosophy and anti-philosophy. Life, these irregularities remind us, exists in the here and now, not on the neatly divided clock or calendar. We cannot control the fact that life is followed by death, nor should we try to do so through fantasizing about the future, but we can control each moment that we are alive: each irregular, spontaneous, surprising moment.

Simulation of Personal Emotion Experience

Reeves & NAS (1996) showed that humans like to communicate with computers as they do with people. Software applications which include models of emotional processes are needed to model the social and emotional aspects of human-machine interaction. Extending classic AAA and logic by adding simulated emotions can be useful to improve the user's experience in many ways. This chapter will provide a brief overview of existing solutions and models used for artificial emotions (AWE) and present a novel model of emotion simulation (SIMPLEX).Empirical data will be reported on its performance, especially the occurrence of emotions, in a game environment. This chapter concludes with a comment on the usefulness of separating AAA and AWE engendering recent advances in cognitive neuroscience. 2. Models for artificial emotions 2. 1 Historical roots The ass saw what might have been the first debate about emotions and artificial intelligence. The main and – as we know now – most importan t point was that purely cognitive systems lacked emotions, which strongly influence human thought processes.. Two of the models that emerged at that time will be described here.Simony's interrupt system Herbert Simon was the first to propose that emotions should be part of a model of cognitive processes (Simon, 1967). His intention was to provide a theoretical inundation for a system incorporating emotions and multiple goals. Within this system, important processes could be interrupted so that more attention went into satisfying important needs (e. G. Hunger, safety). Herbert Simon imagined two parallel systems, one designed to achieve goals (cognition, planning) and one observing the environment for events that require immediate attention (emotions).Indeed, the possibility of interrupting current cognitive processes is 2 Name of the book (Header position 1,5) vital for survival, as it makes it possible to react to threats, but also to pay more attention to one's surroundings when a threat is expected. Today's Fungus Eater Another step towards a theory for the computer modeling of emotions was made by the psychologist Mason Toad (Toad, 1982) between 1961 and 1980, with a model called the Fungus Eater. This model resulted in the design of an autonomous robot system and partial implementations.At first, Toad only wanted to create a scenario for a cognitive system that would require concentrating on multiple issues at the same time. In this scenario, the task was collecting as much ore as possible with the help of a mining robot. Operating his robot required energy that could only be gained by collecting a special fungus. Additionally, different Fungus Eaters were competing for the same resources, thus making the scenario more complicated. Toad came to the conclusion that in order to survive on their own, these Fungus Eaters would need to have emotions and to be partially controlled by them.However, Toad named them â€Å"urges† instead of emotions and on c loser examination, it is apparent that some of these are actual emotions like joy or anger, while others are needs, goals or motives (e. G. Hunger). 2. 2 Theoretical approach and recent models There are roughly three areas where emotion models are applied. Artificial emotions (AWE) can be used to improve problem-solving in complex environments, as in the early approaches mentioned above. Emotion models can also be used to test psychological emotion theories in experiments using controlled scenarios.Finally, emotions are essential to make computer characters more believable. Emotion models which synthesize and express emotions are necessary to make AAA characters more human- like. These models will be the focus of the next sections as they have inspired our own emotional model. The most influential theoretical approach, COCO, will be presented in detail, as it is the basis of many computational models of emotion. Then, three interesting recent models are briefly described.COCO â€⠀œ a theoretical approach to simulate emotions The COCO model by Retort, Color and Collins is an emotion theory based on appraisal which was explicitly developed to offer a foundation for artificial emotion systems (Retort, Color, & Collins, 1988). Its authors succeeded as it inspired many modern models and approaches to artificial emotions. The basis of the model is that emotions are reactions to the attributes of objects, to vents or to actions. Note that internal events (like bodily sensations or memories) which are a part of most modern emotion theories are neglected in the COCO approach.Objects, events and actions are evaluated in an appraisal process based on specific criteria, and result in multiple emotions of different intensities. Figure 1 gives an overview of the COCO approach. Appraising the aspects of objects requires the agent to have attitudes (tastes or preferences) in order to decide whether the object is appealing or not. This appraisal process results in either lo ve or hate. Chapter Title (Header position 1,5) 3 Fig. 1. The COCO model Events, or rather consequences of events, are appraised by analyzing their impact on the agent's goals. This determines the desirability of events.The degree of desirability depends on how much closer to or further away from achieving the goal the agent will be after the event. The emotions of Joy and distress are direct results of desirable and undesirable events, considering the consequences they have for the agent himself. Some emotions, like for example pity, are triggered when processing events that have consequences for other agents. An open issue is whether this appraisal should be based upon the agent's own goals or rather the other agent's goals. How much should an agent be empathic if another one looses something that is not important to the first agent?In an attempt to solve this issue, abstract goals were introduced (such as for example, not losing property). It eventually became clear that it is ve ry important to keep the goals general and abstract, to avoid having to define too many specific goals. The emotions triggered by reacting to other agents' good or bad fortune depend on how well-liked they are. Another agent's bad fortune can trigger pity or gloating, while happy events can result in either feeling of happiness or of resentment, depending on the relationship between the agents.Appraising an event also means evaluating its prospects – hoping or fearing that something will or will not occur. Prospect-based emotions include disappointment and relief. The intensity of these emotions is usually based on the intensity of the preceding hope or fear. The criterion used to appraise the actions of agents is their praiseworthiness, which is based on the agent's standards. Generally, praiseworthy actions cause pride and blameworthy actions cause shame, if the agent himself is the one acting.When the actions of other agents are 4 appraised, the emotions triggered are admi ration or reproach. Standards can be as complex as attitudes (aspects of objects) and goals (consequences of events), and are almost as subjective and individual. Again, the problem of listing them was solved by describing actions in an abstract way. An interesting phenomenon is the ability of feeling proud or ashamed of someone else's actions. Simply put, the closer an agent feels related to the acting agent(s), the more he will identify with him in appraising is actions.Examples of this phenomenon (called the strength of the cognitive unit) can range from parents being proud of their child to soccer fans being ashamed of their team's performance. One of the many practical implementations of COCO is the model by Stapler & PETA (1999). They constructed a virtual agent which emotion architecture links discrete emotions categories to 14 action response categories, comprising a large range of individual actions. The COCO emotion model is also partly congruent with Nice Fried's renewed theory of emotions (Afraid, 1986). For more details on emotion theory, see Trace & Kessler (2003).Artificial Emotion Engine The aim of the Emotion Engine (E) is to control the behavior of an artificial agent in complex scenarios. It is made of three layers- emotions, mood and personality (Wilson, 2000). If an emotion is triggered, the actions will be based on this emotion. When emotions are not triggered, the engine bases its actions on the current mood; when no mood is activated, then personality serves as a basis for behavior. The emotion engine is based on the FEE model, which is a three-dimensional space, describing personality traits in terms of Extroversion, Fear and Aggression.Within this space, an area around the point representing an artificial agent's personality is determined and all traits located inside this area are considered to be available to the specific character. For Wilson, the FEE is congruent with the three central systems of the human brain which according to Gray (Gray & McLaughlin, 1996) determine behavior: the Approach system, the Behavior Inhibition system and the Fight/Flight system. These three basic dimensions are intuitive, which makes programming easy. Different personalities trigger some moods more frequently than others: extroversion s linked to good moods, and fear to negative moods.Aggression affects the speed of mood changes. Reward and punishment signals work as the main inputs, and this is comparable with the desirability of events in COCO. Inputs are adjusted based on personality, but also on how often this input occurred before. An agent can get used to a certain input, and this lowers the impact it will eventually have (habituation). On the contrary, a rare or unprecedented input will have more effect (novelty). Needs are organized hierarchically. Physiological needs, such as hunger, thirst, and the need for warmth and energy are the most important.Each of these needs can become a priority, as when for example a very hungry agent will consider eating as his most important goal. Safety, affiliation and esteem needs are the remaining layers. While physiological needs are the most important, the order of the other layers can vary, depending on what is more important to the agent. Memory is very limited; an agent only remembers how much he likes the other agents. In the same way, in COCO, sympathy is used to cause different emotions for liked and disliked entities. Only the six basic emotions of fear, anger, Joy, sadness, disgust and surprise can be triggered.This might appear like a limited selection compared to the 24 emotions of COCO, but given the reactive nature of emotions in this model (working without inner events and 5 triggers) and since some emotion theorists consider the broad spectrum of emotions as mixtures of these basic emotions, this is quite a sensible choice. Personality is used to adjust the intensity or the frequency of the occurrence of emotions, so that a character with person ality that is â€Å"low in Fear† will simply not experience as much fear as others.FLAME The Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) is partially based on COCO, but hat differentiates FLAME from other models is the use of fuzzy logic. This results in a relatively simple appraisal process. FLAME can integrate multiple emotions at the same time (in a process called emotional filtering), as emotions at times inhibit one another. For example, imagine an agent feeling Joy and pride because he Just obtained a new position, but who at the same time feels anger, because a relative of the boss of the company was given a higher position than himself. At this point, his anger may prevent him from feeling joy any longer.When opposite emotions occur, FLAME lets the stronger emotion inhibit the weaker one(s), giving a slightly stronger weight to negative emotions. Another way to handle conflicting emotions is through mood, which is determined by comparing the intensities of positive and negative emotions over the last few steps. If the summed up intensities of positive emotions are higher than that of the negative emotions, then the mood will be positive. If a positive and a negative emotion of comparable intensities occur at the same time, the mood determines which of these emotions will inhibit the other one.As there is little research about the decay of emotions, FLAME uses a simple constant cay, though positive emotions decay faster than negative emotions. FLAME does not make it possible to implement an agent's personality; instead, differences in behavior are created through learning. For example, an agent may learn that reacting in an angry way will enable him to reach his goals, thus enticing him to be more choleric. FLAME implements multiple types of learning, such as classical conditioning (associating expectations with objects) which occurs in many situations, triggering fear or hope.Another type of learning is learning about consequences of actions o r events. This is simple whenever an action directly causes a result. For example, learning that eating will result in feeling less hungry is rather trivial. In the case of more complex causal relations over time, FLAME is using Q-learning, a form of reinforcement learning. Another form of learning, quite similar to model learning, is the ability to recognize patterns in the behavior of a user by observing sequences of actions. For this type of learning, FLAME simply counts the occurrences of sequences.The last type of learning in FLAME, but one of the most important, is learning about the value of actions. Remember that COCO relies on the praiseworthiness of actions, which is based on the agent's standards. In FLAME, these standards are not predefined knowledge, but they are learned from the interaction between users. Using learning instead of predefined knowledge seems like a very sensible way to avoid most of the troubling issues that come with using COCO. Additionally, learning allows agents to adjust, which makes them all the more believable.ALMA The intention in designing A Layered Model of Affect (ALMA) was to control agents in conversational scenarios. In interactive game or learning environments, the artificial harassers display facial expressions of emotions and moods through their postures to 6 appear more believable. Emotions, moods and personalities are implemented and interact with each other. Events and actions are described in terms of abstract tags which are then evaluated during the appraisal process and describe things like for example the expressed emotion or gesture accompanying an action or simply if something is a good or bad event.As ALMA is aimed at conversations, an action is often a statement. Hence, there are tags to describe the kind of statement, for example if it was an insult or a compliment. In addition, ALMA requires defining personality profiles for each agent. Essentially, these profiles already contain the desirability and praiseworthiness the agent assigns to certain tags. Since our own emotion model shares some features with ALMA (see below) a key difference should be pointed out. In SIMPLEX we considered it impractical to explicitly specify this information, as this would have limited the model to a small number of agents.So instead of using tags, our model requires to specify goals and their priorities for an agent, where generic goals can be used for all agents. Events still need to be scribed in a special way, but this is reduced too relatively objective list of which agents goals are affected and in which way. All other information like praiseworthiness is automatically derived from this and the agent's personality. Although this approach is providing less control over an agent's appraisal process, it is better suited for a generic system meant to be used with minimal extra effort. 3. SIMPLEX – Simulation of Personal Emotion Experience 3. Overview SIMPLEX is a context-independent module to create emotions as a result of primary application (environment) events. Goals, emotions, mood-states, personality, memory and relationships between agents have been modeled so they could interact as in real life. Figure 2 shows an overview of the model. SIMPLEX is based on the COCO model by Retort, Color and Collins (1988) in that it creates discrete emotions by appraising events based on the desirability of their consequences and the praiseworthiness of the actions of agents. The appraisal process was modified by including the personality of virtual agents.The personality component is based on the Five Factor Model (FM) introduced by psychologists McCrae & Costa (1987), which includes extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neurotics and openness. The personality module influences the emotion module on multiple levels during appraisal processes and in the development of mood-states. Other important aspects of the model are mood-states and relationships. Mood- states are represented in a three-dimensional space which dimensions are pleasure, arousal and dominance (Bradley & Lang, 1994), and they are based on active or recently experienced emotions (implemented by pull-functions).In the absence of motions, a mood state will slowly gravitate back to a default mood-state based on the agent's personality. A mood-state also functions as a threshold to determine whether an emotion is strong enough to become active at a given time. Relationships are handled as if they were mood-states towards other agents (for instance a player in a game scenario): they are based on emotions caused by other agents and they can be considered as a simplified way to store memories of experiences with these agents.They are used as thresholds as well; for example, an agent will be more likely to become angry at another agent towards when their legislation is in the range of negative valence. 7 Fig. 2. The emotion module SIMPLEX Personality (long-term), mood-state (mid-term) an d emotions (short-term) thus represent three levels of the emotion module that interact with each other in order to create believable agents. Events from the scenario serve as the model's inputs. They are appraised according to the COCO algorithm (see figure 1).This appraisal is influenced by the agent's goals, his personality and his relationships with other agents. At the end of an appraisal one or several discrete emotions are generated. These emotions and the current mood-state are represented in the same three- dimensional PAD space: on the one hand, the emotion(s) serve(s) as an attractor for the recent mood-state position (pull function). On the other hand, the closer an emotion is located to the current mood-state, the more probable it will be that the emotion will be activated.The speed at which the mood-state changes, is influenced by the agent's neurotics (a personality variable). Additionally, emotions that are caused by other agents will influence another mood-state rep resentation (stored on another PAD space) representing the relationship with that agent. Thus, every agent has specific relationships with other agents, which influences his behavior towards others. Emotions, mood-states and relationships with other agents are the outputs of the model and can be used by the AAA application.Originally, the PAD space was designed to represent emotions in a dimensional rather than a discrete way (Russell, 1978). In our model, PAD is used as a common space where three different constructs (discrete COCO emotions, continuous mood- states and personality), are represented in order to be handled together by the SIMPLEX algorithm. An agent's current mood-state is thus the result of a mathematical function which takes into account the default mood (defined by personality), the pulling behavior of COCO emotion(s) triggered by appraisals, and weighed factors influencing movement speed (see equation 1).Mood-state = f(PADDED, Paternosters, Filter) 8 3. 2 Basic c omponents Mood-state represented in the PAD-Space (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) Beyond discrete emotions, which are typically short-term, mood-states are a powerful way to model emotional shifts and explain affective influences over longer periods of time. To implement mood-states in our model, we chose to use Russell three-dimensional space to describe emotions (Russell, 1978) and Meridian's concept of how emotions are linked to personality traits (Meridian, 1996).The dimension of Pleasure encompasses valence ranging from very positive to very negative. Arousal is an indicator of how intensely something is perceived, or of how much it affects the organism. Dominance is a measure of experienced control over the situation. For example, a different degree of dominance can make the difference between fear and anger. Both of these emotions are states of negative valence and sigh arousal, but not feeling in control is what differentiates fear from anger. When an agent is angry, it is beca use he believes he can have a potential influence.Although emotions are triggered by COCO appraisals and are therefore discrete, they are handled in a continuous three-dimensional space by SIMPLEX. The advantage of treating emotions in this way and not Just as a fixed set of possible emotions is that it makes it possible to represent emotions that do not even have a name. It also creates the possibility to combine emotions, mood-state and personality in one space. First, a ordinate in PAD space can obviously represent an agent's mood-state. But emotions and personalities can also be described in terms of Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance values.For example, the value of arousal can be not only the degree of arousal associated with a specific emotion, but also the restorability of a person. Meridian (1996) gives specific names to the resulting different octants in PAD-space and describes the diagonally opposite octants as Exuberant/Bored, Dependent/ Disdainful, Relaxed/Anxious, Docile/ Hostile. Thus mood-states are not points but octants of the Bedspread. However, positioning a personality (based on FM) within a PAD-space could have been a rather difficult task, since there is no mathematically- correct way to make the conversion.Luckily, this transformation can be based upon empirical data. Meridian provided such a conversion table from FM to PAD after correlation analyses of questionnaires measuring both constructs in healthy subjects (Meridian, 1996). Five Factor Model of Personality (FM) The implementation of personality is a key factor when creating believable agents that differ from each other. COCO already offers a few possibilities: different goals, tankards and attitudes automatically result in differences during the appraisal process.However, since personality goes beyond preferences, it was necessary to find a model of personality that made it possible to adjust the appraisal process, to shift the agent's perception and to influence mood-states. The mod el chosen for SIMPLEX was the Five Factor Model (McCrae & Costa, 1987). After years of research, an agreement emerged that five groups of traits are sufficient to describe a personality. Using self-report questionnaires with multiple items, a personality profile can be provided for each individual scoring high or low in each of he five factors (this approach is called â€Å"dimensional†).In the case of our model, the value for each factor can be typed in when defining the artificial agent. 9 Agreeableness refers to a tendency to cooperate and to compromise, in order to interact with others in an agreeable way. High agreeableness often means having a positive outlook on human nature, assuming people to be good rather than bad. Low agreeableness is essentially selfishness, putting your own needs above the needs of others and not caring about the consequences your actions might have for others. Conscientiousness is usually high in people who plan a lot, who think everything thro ugh, and who are very tidy or achievers.Extreme cases can appear to be compulsive or pedantic. The opposite personality trait includes sloppiness or ignoring one's duties. Extroversion can be a measure of how much people experience positive emotions. An enthusiastic and active person that enjoys company and attention is extroverted, while a quiet individual who needs to spend more time alone is introverted. Neurotics is partly an opposite of Extroversion in being a tendency to experience negative emotions. However, being neurotic also means being more sensitive in general, and reacting emotionally to unimportant events that wouldn't usually trigger a response.Neurotics can be prone to mood swings and tend to be more negative in their interpretation of situations. Low neurotics means high emotional stability and describes calm people who are not easily upset. Finally, those scoring high on Openness to Experience are creative and curious individuals, interested in art and more in touc h with their own emotions than others. Those scoring low on that dimension are conservative persons with few interests, hey prefer straight and simple things rather than fancy ones, and they do not care about art or science.It is suspected that Openness can be influenced by education. 3. 3 Technical implementation The appraisal process and the generation of emotions There are three categories of inputs to the appraisal process of the emotion model: consequences of events, actions of agents and objects (see the COCO model in figure 1). The following section will describe the respective mechanisms applied when mapping each type of input to emotions. Each event handled by a character is first adjusted according to the agent's rationality.First, the consequences are adjusted based on the agent's neurotics. As neurotic people tend to see things more negatively, consequences are rated worse than what they actually are. The factor by which neurotics can reduce the desirability of events is adjustable. Note that all personality traits are in the range [-1; 1], so that negative neurotics actually makes consequences more positive. In real life, positive people could think â€Å"it could have been worse†. The desirability of events is determined by (predefined) goals during the event appraisal.A goal consists of two aspects: relevance [O; 1] and state of realization [O; 1], which means to which percentage the goal is already achieved. Afterwards, the praiseworthiness of actions is determined. Basically, the more positive consequences an action has, the more praiseworthy it is considered to be. Sympathy plays a role in this process, as it is added to positive values and subtracted from negative ones. Consequences for self are considered to be more important than consequences for others, which are currently factored in at 50% of their value. 0 After the adjusted values for all consequences have been summed up, unconsciousness is used to obtain the final result, by b eing scaled and subtracted. Thus the more conscientious an agent is, the harder it will be to commit an action positive enough to be deemed praiseworthy. This applies to both actions of other agents and actions of the agent himself. Agreeableness works the opposite way, but only for the actions of others. This is based on the psychological notion that agreeable people tend to be more forgiving in order to get along with others.Apart from having a different weight, factoring in agreeableness has the same results as active conscientiousness. The remaining factors serving as parameters for the action (responsibility, unexpectedness, publicizes) are averaged and used to scale the result of the above calculations. Finally, as cost is attempted to be derived from consequences for self, it is subtracted, before the calculated praiseworthiness is averaged over the number of consequences or rather the number of affected agents. The resulting value of praiseworthiness is used as the intensity for admiration or reproach, depending on whether it is positive or negative.If the agent is appraising his own actions, the motions are pride or shame instead of admiration and reproach. Once the praiseworthiness has been calculated, a search is conducted through the list of prospects for all the ones that are active and that match the name of the event. For each, the prospect appraisal function is called, which determines the net desirability by multiplying it with the affected goal's relevance. This value will be compared to the expected desirability for this event. The simplest situation is when a positive consequence was expected but a negative one occurs.This would obviously cause disappointment. However, this is also the case if a very high desirability was hoped for and the actual consequences are less positive, but still not negative. Having a hope fulfilled results in satisfaction. If an event has exactly the expected consequences, it results in the full intensity for the emotion. The intensity of emotions is the product of the determined quality of the event and of the intensity of the prospects. For example, if there was very little hope, there cannot be strong satisfaction. Which emotion is created depends on the kind of prospect and on the sign of the quality value.Hope and positive quality result in satisfaction, hope and negative quality in disappointment, fear and positive quality in fears-confirmed and fear and negative quality in relief. After the prospect appraisal is done, short term or one-shot prospects (only valid for one round) are removed. Appraisal concerning Joy and distress is done for each consequence affecting the agent himself, while appraisal for pity/gloating and happy-for/resentment is done for the remaining consequences.

The English Reformation

The English Reformation The English Reformation: A Momentous MovementI.IntroductionII.Causes of the ReformationA. Corruption in the ChurchB. The Renaissance and HumanismIII.Influential ReformistsA. Martin LutherB. John CalvinIV.Consequences of the ReformationV.Counter-ReformationA. Moral Reform of ClergyB. Strengthening of ChurchVI.ConclusionIntroductionThe Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons .Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiaru...It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.Causes of the ReformationMany bishops and abbots (especially in countries where they were also territorial princes) bore themselves as secular rulers rather than as servants of the Church. Many members of cathedral chapters and other beneficed ecclesiastics were chiefly concerned with their income and how to increase it, especially by uniting several prebends (even episcopal sees) in the hands of one person, who thus enjoyed a larger income and greater power. Luxury prevailed widely among the higher clergy, while the lower clergy were often oppressed. The scientific and ascetic training of the clergy left much to be desired, the moral standard of many being very low, and the practice of celibacy not everywhere observed. Not less serious was the condition...