Communication Institutionnelle

Strategic management  : Etude de cas 1- SWOT SWOT Apple  : Strenghts  : – Good reputation among consumers always with innovative products (ipod: the first portable music player) – A high turnover and the company is quoted on stock – They have their own operating system (Linux) – Customer loyalty to the brand it create a community among users of Apple – An operating system more intuitive than Microsoft. Weaknesses: – Steeve Job’s death destabilized the brand – Product prices are higher than other competitors' products – Lack of flexibility (you can’t install freeware) Opportunities: – Young children are using more and more products such as Iphone, Iphone to play. – Gap between prices of iphone and android who is closing. Threats: – The androids are developing their own applications (andoid market) – Arrival of computers with batteries that have autonomy from 9am (DELL) – Tablet PC are becoming more accessible (price) with competition SWOT Samsung  : Strenghts: – Highly technical and developed products – Create their operating system for mobile phone (Bada system) – Quick adaptation to competitors' innovations Several sector are covered (tv, laptop, computer †¦ ) if loss of money, it’s offset by other sectors – Reputation of the brand = high-tech Weaknesses: – Several sectors covered brand catchall – Creating products from the competition forger – The operating system Bada is new it is not led bugs, lack of applications†¦ Opportunities: – G rowing on Indian market – Positive brand in terms of consumers = quality Threats: – Increase in prices of raw material – Strong competition on the various markets covered by samsung. 2- Which generic strategy  : About the generic strategy, Apple applies the broad differentiation strategy. Indeed, Apple differentiates with his high quality products, the service that they propose (Apple community) has if they products are realized for the best. The generic strategy of Samsung is more popular. Even if it’s a really technical brand, they play on the cost of the product. They don’t change the quality of the product but they only try to reduce the cost of production. So, it’s a cost leadership strategy that’s using at Samsung Corp. 3- Analyse strategy Apple has an international reputation in the field of high-tech with innovation, and esthetics of its products. With this reputation the company can afford to implement higher price than competitors. Those prices select customers and therefore reduce the target brand. Apple makes its products in front with original advertising campaigns, and sells a preview creating an enthusiasm that the consumer side and therefore a large increase in sales (600 000 iphone4 sold the first day of sale). Samsung operates on the appearance of cheaper products while keeping product uality. This strategy is possible inspired by the technologies of competitors and produced at lower cost. Also the fact that Samsung produce several kind of high-tech products, avoids large losses of money if failure. 4- Suggestions/recommandations based on analysis of strategy Samsung should develop its own designs and technologies so that flakes of the forger image with consumers. Apple, however, with more elitist strategy should democratize its prices on some products to make its product more accessible to smaller budgets.

Bullying: who does what, when and where? Essay

In this paper, bullying was defined as a form of aggressive behavior or negative actions reoccurring over time between children who bully and those who are victimized (Fekkes, Pijpers, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2005). Furthermore, Fekkes et al. (2005) suggested bullying as a group phenomenon involving not only the bullies and their victims, but also the bystanders. Other problems addressed by this research included the negative impact bullying has on children’s mental and physical health and the level of involvement that is necessary for effective intervention strategies to be successful. The specific research questions posed investigated the extent to which children are involved in bullying behavior, the level of involvement of others (i. e. , teachers, parents, classmates), and the effectiveness of current intervention strategies used to stop bullying behaviors. The purpose of the data presented by this research was to gather information and to utilize that information to compose novel efforts in combating bullying in schools. Fekkes et al. (2005) presented a range of empirical literature to support the need for this research. Studies by Williams et al. , (1996); Salmon et al. , (1998); and Forero et al. , (1999) were included to support the problem of negative health issues associated with bullying behaviors (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Studies by Atlas and Pepler (1998) and Hawkins et al. (2001) supported the notion of bullying as a group phenomenon and the effectiveness of bystander intervention (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Participants in this study were 2766 children from 32 Dutch elementary schools. These children had participated in a longitudinal study on the effectiveness of an anti-bullying policy at schools. It is important to note that the data were collected prior to any implementation of the anti-bullying policy. In November 1999, children from 9 to 11 years old were administered a questionnaire in the classroom. The questionnaire addressed frequency of bullying behaviors, types of bullying behaviors, where bullying behaviors took place, who intervened to stop the bullying, and whether or not the interventions were successful. According to Liebrand et al. (1994), Mooij (1992), and Olweus (1994), this questionnaire was based on the Dutch version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, a well-documented questionnaire that was used in numerous studies on bullying (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Using statistical analyses to analyze the data from the questionnaires, Fekkes et al. (2005) found that active bullying was prevalent at schools. Physical forms of bullying behaviors, such as hitting or pushing, were found to be most typical of boys. Girls were found to initiate bullying behaviors that were relational in nature, such as isolation tactics and rumor spreading. Bullying was found to take place on the playground as well as in the classroom. Nearly half of children being bullied did not report it to their teacher but did speak to their parents about it. A similar finding was also reported by Whitney and Smith (1993) (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Intervention attempts by teachers were found to have little effect, if any, on bullying occurrences. All of these findings provided the insight needed to recommend future intervention strategies. The prevalence of bullying behaviors among children in this age group was found to be consistent with the findings of similar studies conducted cross-culturally. Fekkes et al. (2005) compared the findings of this study to others in Norway, the UK, Italy, and Germany. With regard to gender differences in bullying behaviors, Whitney and Smith (1993), Borg (1999), Junger-Tas and van Kesteren (1999) found similar results among the direct and indirect nature of bullying behaviors among boys and girls (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Olweus (1993a) found that levels of bullying were lower on playgrounds with more teachers present (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Consistent with Whitney and Smith’s (1993) study and Rivers and Smith’s (1994) study, teachers are not regularly told about incidents of bullying behaviors by victimized children (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Because so many of the findings of this paper were consistent with other studies, the next logical step for future researchers would be to systematically integrate the various aspects of this topic into an intervention model with a comprehensive approach. Fekkes et al. (2005) recommended many strategies to assist such interventions. One such recommendation stated that teachers should create an environment in which children feel comfortable talking about their negative bullying experiences. Olweus (1993a) suggested the establishment of class rules aimed at minimizing bullying behavior (as cited in Fekkes et al. , 2005). Fekkes et al. further suggested that in addition to establishing class rules to minimize bullying behaviors, class discussion of the rules on a regular basis may aid in establishing an anti-bullying culture within that community. Another possible step for future research may be to replicate the study with a younger set of participants. Data collected from a younger age group may provide more insight into the early stages of bullying behaviors and early intervention strategies may aid in minimizing the prevalence of incidents of bullying in the higher elementary grades. Overall, I believe this study provided some valuable insight with regard to prevalence of bullying behaviors without the aid of an established intervention program. One of the strengths of this study was its large number of participants as well as findings which were consistent in similar studies in other countries. Such a large sample size provides for a clear snapshot of the pervasiveness of this problem. An additional strength of this study involves its use of an adapted version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire which has been used in many studies on bullying. Using such a well-documented tool lends to the consistency of the findings across multiple studies. Something that stood out to me was that there was no mention of effects of bullying behaviors on peer bystanders, positive or negative. I feel this was a limitation because bystanders were referred to as having a certain degree of power when taught effective intervention strategies Fekkes et al. , 2005). Another limitation I observed was the limited age range of the participants. I feel that with younger participants, it may be possible to do comparison studies to try to pinpoint just when bullying behaviors begin to surface within the social structure of the classroom. A final limitation of this study was its use of a quantitative design to address issues more qualitative in nature. Fekkes et al. (2005) state that the aim of the data presented was to provide insight on the topic. This may be more effectively accomplished by doing a current literature review on the prevalence of bullying behaviors and current intervention strategies. Fekkes et al. (2005) describe their current involvement in a project aimed toward development of anti-bullying policies within schools in the Netherlands. They also describe how this study will be used in that capacity. This paper being linked to such a project also raises questions for me about the integrity of the purpose of the study.

A Nurse is a Nurse

The public and professional images of nursing and the portrayal of nurses in the media have a great impact on several work-related issues – how health care as a collaborative enterprise is provided to patients, the extent that nurses’ work is valued, the participation of the nurse in healthcare team decision-making, the visibility of nurses in shaping national health care and the effect of these images on nurses’ job performance (Fletcher, 2007.Most researchers agree that although there have been improvements in the image of nursing, the portrayal today is still largely negative – an issue that has been raised by nurses for the past century. Gender issues seem to be at the core of this situation.Other disciplines, specifically the medical profession, view nurses based on certain qualities. In a study by Weinberg, Miner and Rivlin (2009) on the perspectives of medical residents on working with nurses, nurses were trusted and regarded as colleagues depending on how competent, congenial and hardworking the residents perceived them to be (p.37).This implies that the collaborative approach does not always permeate the nurse-medical resident relationship despite nursing practice being elevated into a profession that is equal to other health disciplines. To be respected as a colleague requires a condition – nurses must first have to prove that they possess the qualities expected of them.Meanwhile, the media reinforces the image of nurses as a health worker that is lower in status than physicians or as other concepts other than being a professional. In a literature review conducted by Fletcher (2007) concerning the media portrayal of nurses, the author found that television shows, novels, films and advertisements then and now mainly portray nurses in four categories, namely â€Å"as ministering angel, battleaxe, physician handmaiden and naughty nurse† – negative images because these do not capture the reality of nursing (p.208).As an acute nursing shortage looms ahead, the campaign to improve the image of nursing, in order to attract more students into the profession, yielded a positive outcome. A recent Gallup survey on professional ethics and honesty found that 84% of Americans agreed that nurses are the most trusted professionals (Singleton, 2009). The Gallup survey image of nurses represents a positive development because nurses were viewed as professionals who are bound by a code of ethics and who adhered to such a code.Both the positive and negative images of nursing seem to reflect the unequal power relationship between men and women in society where women are viewed as either sex objects or as domestic partners. The end product is a stereotypical view of women’s roles as subservient to men.Along with this role are the associated feminine traits ranging from obedience, hard work, compassion and congeniality to promiscuity. The physician-nurse relationship reflects these stereotypes as physicians are disproportionately male and while nurses are disproportionately female. As a male-dominated profession, the physician’s work is highly recognized and valued while the nurse’s work is undervalued and unrecognized.Because of the stereotypes reinforced by media, the public largely identifies nurses only with bedside care and with carrying out physician’s orders. Most would think that since the work involved seems trivial, nurses do not need to obtain a 4-year BSN degree. They do not see the complex daily responsibilities of the nurse that requires education, training and autonomy or the current scope of nursing practice. As such, they fail to appreciate the significant impact of nurses’ work on patient health and outcomes.Although men have enrolled in nursing, it is still mainly a women’s profession and as Lavinia Dock (cited in Fletcher) aptly put it, â€Å"the status of nursing in all countries and at all times depends on the status of women† (2007, p.210). Because the nurse is a woman in a caring profession, expectations of her relate to female gender roles as well. Hence, further improvements in the status of women will similarly uplift the status of nursing.

Philosophy of Immigrant Groups Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Philosophy of Immigrant Groups - Assignment Example The influx of European immigrants at the turn of the century has been associated with the formation of ethnic gangs and organized crime. Different values of people from diverse geographical area also tend to raise the criminal activities. Many immigrants obtain employment in low-skilled jobs eating into the jobs of the natives. Additionally these immigrants lend a reason to employers to push down the wages even further thus creating conditions for crime. Sociological theorists posit that the immigrants may themselves not have a negative disposition towards crime; however, the strains of immigration are such that the subsequent generations indulge in organized crime. That there exists a category of illegal immigrants is no secret. Since there is no official financial support available to this section of the society, these illegal immigrants are more prone to indulging in organized crime. Ousey, Graham C., and Charis E. Kubrin. "Exploring the Connection between Immigration and Violent Crime Rates in U.S. Cities, 1980-2000." Social problems 56.3 (2009): 447,447-473. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 26 Aug.

CCI - Exploiting new ventures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CCI - Exploiting new ventures - Essay Example The day to day affairs of the in-company ventures are handled by the business unit management, whereas, the organization management monitors and controls the overall performance of various business units. Joint ventures, whether local or worldwide, are the organizations engrossing two or more companies merging for an interim period to commence a specific project. Joint ventures may engage two or more companies from a single or more countries. International joint ventures in particular are becoming more popular, especially in businesses where a specific project involves huge amount of cost, for e.g. exploration of oil and gas and minerals and metals handling processes. The basic reason behind this type of venture is always to reduce related costs. A spin-out corporate venture is one when a company breaks up its various sections as independent and stand alone businesses or companies. The split company takes its associated assets, properties, products, related technologies and etc from its parent company. Agilent technology is an example of a spin out venture of Hewlett-Packard

Radiation and Thermal Conductivity Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Radiation and Thermal Conductivity - Lab Report Example The third experiment involved the verification of Stefan Boltzmann law and the general realization was that there exists a direct proportionality between the intensity of radiation and the ration between emitter temperature and ambient temperature to factor four (?4). The fourth experiment involved an analysis of Aluminum and Stainless Steel. During the analysis the general realization was that the thermal conductivity of Aluminum was that the thermal conductivity of Aluminum. Introduction Radiation can be defined as the situation arising from the interaction involving heat between a system and the surrounding environment. Consequently thermal radiation involves the study of the electromagnetic radiation emitted as a result of the temperature of the emitter with regard to the dual-wave particle nature of electromagnetic radiation (Mahan, 2002). According to Mahan, studies of Heat have led to the realization that heat is an energy that occurs as a result of energy variations between a system and its surroundings. The basis of the experiment was to conduct an analysis on the various characteristics of thermal radiation as a form of heat transfer and the characteristics are applicable in real life situations. The objective of the first experiment was to study the relationship between the view factor designated F and the intensity of the radiation measured in terms of the temperature. The second experiment was aimed at validating the postulation that there exists an inverse proportionality relationship between the source of heat and the surface. The third experiment was aimed at validating the Boltzmann law which is mathematically expressed as: qb = O( Ts4 – Ta4 ) The fourth experiment was aimed at comparing the thermal conductivity of two different metals. Literature Review Apart from conduction and convection heat can be transferred via radiation. The major difference between radiation and the other forms of heat transfer is that radiation can travel in a vaccum because unlike conduction and convection that require molecules, radiation does not require molecules. Radiation occurs via elecgtromagnetic waves. According to Theodore (2011) any system that has a temperature greater than absolute zero is an emitter of thermal radiation. Theodore outlines that the amount of radiation given out by a given system depends on both the temperature and the charatceristics of the surface. In essence, the undertanding of thermal radiation requires an understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic radiation is an occurrence experienced when the atoms of a system become excited from their dormant state so that they acquire enough internal energy to begin emitting the radiation. Am example of a biological phenomenon that depends on radiation is sight. Although we are not able to see the electromagnetic waves our eyes are able to detect the waves and the ability allows us to percieve the images of the objects around us. Although radiati on can be approached from the particulate aspect, scientists have since found it more convenient to approach radiation from the wave aspect. According to Kubota (2007), scientists now approach radiation as involving emission of wavelengths by solid particles. In the study of black body radiation, scientists have also

Spanish Film Review Movie Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Spanish Film - Movie Review Example Ignacio approaches the priest at the Catholic School where he attended as a boy and confronts Father Manolo, who molested Ignacio when he was a boy at the school. Ignacio threatens Manolo with publishing a fictionalized account of the molestation. Enrique is intrigued with this script because it accurately represented what happened to the real Ignacio, however, he suspects that the man who presented the script was not really Ignacio. His suspicions prove correct, and it turns out that Father Manolo, with the help of Ignacio’s brother Juan (who is now posing as Ignacio), murdered Ignacio by giving Ignacio pure heroin which caused an overdose. This was ironic, because, at Enrique’s urging, the ending to the script was changed to where the priest had Ignacio killed. This film is reflective of Spanish culture, in that the culture has become more liberalized with regards to homosexuality and homosexual themes. Therefore, the protagonist, Enrique, can be portrayed sympathetically, even though he is a homosexual. It also is timely, in that it’s focus is on priestly pedophilia, and this is a topic which is currently in the news on a regular basis. The sexual issues in the film enhance the story because these issues show the problems created by pedophiliac priests. One has the suspicion that perhaps Ignacio would not have the problems that he had in life- the drug problem, the sexual identity problems, etc. – if the priest did not molest him. Therefore, the sexual issues in the film give clarity and focus to the central themes.

Marketing Audit and set Marketing Objectives for British American Assignment

Marketing Audit and set Marketing Objectives for British American Tobacco Company - Assignment Example The threats facing the company include the illicit and counterfeit trade, stringent regulations, high excise taxes and stiff competition. BAT can use its strengths to exploit opportunities in the e-cigarette customer segment, lucrative China market or make strategic acquisitions in emerging markets. BAT is a leading global tobacco company that was founded in 1902. The company has operates in more than 200 countries and has attained success through acting responsibly in the controversial tobacco industry (Lussier 2008). BAT has a diverse product portfolio that includes more than 200 brands that are sold in more than 200 markets across the world. The market is estimated at one billion adult smokers and some of the global brands include Dunhill, Pall Mall, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and Lucky Strike. Yach and Bettcher (2000) outlines that BAT has a strong presence in all geographical markets such as Americas, Asia-Pacific Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and has established 45 cigarette factories in 41 countries across the world (p 210). The traditional BAT tobacco products include the cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco while the next-generation products that are more innovative include the electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn devices (Hagele 2010). According to the 2013 financial results, BAT attained strong market and strong earnings growth despite unfavourable operating environment and currency movements in some parts of the world. The company increased its diluted earnings per share by 6 percent in 2013 and total dividends were increased by 6 percent. The company managed to sell 676 billion cigarettes in more than 200 market and recorded 15,260 million pounds in revenues. BAT adopted a new vision and new strategy in 2013 that reflects the needs of the consumers. BAT has implemented a sustainability approach to its

Psychological Reaction to the movie American Beauty Essay

Psychological Reaction to the movie American Beauty - Essay Example The family is portrayed as normal but as the films tag line suggests look closer then it is possible to fully understand the implications that takes place in this seemingly happy home. My perception is that the film is masterfully directed by the famous theater director Sam Mendes and encompasses a great number of cinematic techniques that appear fresh and exciting. Critics have mentioned many of these techniques. However, they failed to notice the clever use of color used throughout the film, especially the color red. Psychologically speaking, Sam Mendes effectively uses the color red; as a central design to accentuate mood and theme, to contrast families, and to reveal characters personalities and feelings. This paper speaks of whether the movie should be allowed to see on the part of the college students or not and it looks at the reaction to this movie in the psychological sense. Since this paper delves into the psychological tone that I have set in reaction to the movie, I have focused on the color red which has been used widely in this paper and it is thus the point of discussion in the following lines as well. As we know that in American culture red is a color of various meanings and images.

Coca cola Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coca cola - Essay Example John Pemberton died within two years of invention and the brand was then purchased by Asa Candler in 1889. The beverage was initially sold at 5 cents for each glass in Jacob’s Pharmacy. The company expanded its operations mostly within 1900 to 1920. The marketing strategy of Asa Griggs Candler has helped the product to lead the market of soft drinks all throughout the twentieth century (â€Å"The Chronicle of Coca-Cola: The Candler Era†). The Coca Cola Company manufactures concentrated coca cola or coke. This concentrated product is sold to all the licensed bottlers of Coca Cola who sell these products all over the world (â€Å"Overview†). The bottlers have territorial contract with Coca Cola Company and they produce the finished products of the company in bottles or cans from their initial concentrated state and then sell them all over the world. Occasionally there are other cola drinks available which are sold under the same brand name of ‘Coca Colaâ€⠄¢. The most common drinks in this form are Caffeine free Coca Cola, Coca Cola Cherry, Diet Coke Caffeine free, etc. The Coca Cola brand has been ranked as the most valuable brand in the world on the basis of Interbrand’s best global brand in the year 2011. ... Moreover, the reason behind choosing coca cola is its unique taste and saltiness (â€Å"Family, Food and Coca Cola†). However, presently it has been seen that the customer preferences towards non alcoholic drinks like Coca Cola is changing because of the increasing health concerns, demand of other alcoholic competitive products in the market and changes in the life style of the consumers (â€Å"The Five Mega-Trends Shaping Tomorrow's Customers†). The five mega trends of the customer’s preferences would be driving the beverage industry. They are: mass urbanization, aging population; rise of the middle class globally, changing technology and concern of people related to sustainable society (â€Å"COKE CEO: These Five Consumer Mega Trends Are Changing the World†). Among all top beverage producing companies PepsiCo is having huge demand among the consumers. Thus, Coca Cola faces high competition from PepsiCo. There has been increasing demand of Coke Zero produ ct of the Coca Cola Company in the market in order to satisfy the health conscious customers (â€Å"How Coca Cola Keeps Up with Shifting Consumers Demands†). This product is found to have higher penetration in the market because of men rather than women. However, it has also been found that the college students have great affinity towards varieties of Coke like Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coca Cola Classic. The next portion of the study would be conducting a primary open ended survey by means of an interview of the potential customers of the brand ‘Coca Cola’. The customers who were focused while conducting the research belonged to the young age group. Primary Research Do you think that packaging, taste and calories are three important

Comparison between The Tell-tale Heart Essay Example for Free

Comparison between The Tell-tale Heart Essay The Tell-Tale Heart was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843. Famous for his scary novels Poes most famous work was the short story, The Tell-Tale Heart which depicts an anonymous narrator as he carries out his plan to murder a helpless old man. Misery was written by Stephen King in 1987 and it follows a similar theme of horror/thriller with similar characters in similar positions. King tells the story of a renowned author as he gets captured and tortured by a woman. Both of these stories use different techniques through their plot, language and punctuation but they have much the same effect on the reader. In both stories, one of the underlying techniques for building up suspense is hidden inside a well thought out and structured plot. In Misery, the narrative switches back and forth between Paul the author, and his kidnapper, who is known only as Annie. This creates the main source of suspense in the story building it up by showing where each character is, what theyre doing and how close theyre getting to each other. What adds to this suspense is the effect of hearing Pauls thoughts directly. Even though the extract is written in third person, a fraction of the text is written in italics and it represents Pauls thoughts. The writer does this for several reasons. To show things from Pauls point of view and what he is thinking at the time in more detail , but also to underline how worried and panicked he is as things start to go wrong. By hearing Pauls thoughts directly the reader gets to understand how fearful Paul is of getting caught. Also concealed between the lines of the plot is the way the writer stresses the high stakes of what Paul was doing and what will happen to him if hes caught. Right at the beginning of the extract, Paul compares what is happening to him, to his past childhood experience. Through this comparison, the writer introduces the possible idea of Paul getting caught and what will happen to him if he is. The flashback takes the reader back to when Paul had been twelve and decided to try some of his mothers cigarettes. As the room filled with smoke, his mum returned in search for her forgotten purse. We are not told about what his mother did to him when she caught him, but you can guess from the words It will be more than a spanking this time that it was going to be bad. This tells us that if he is caught by Annie in present day he would have to face terrible consequences. Paul compares these to situations because in both hes attempting something and trying not to get caught. In the flashback he does get caught, giving a sense of foreboding to the rest of the story, making the reader think he might get caught again. The high stakes are also shown throughout the extract in Pauls actions and thoughts. His desperation in his attempts to get back into the room and lock the door and his attention to detail show how scared he is of getting caught, because of what he thinks will happen to him if he is. Oh Jesus Christ, did you chip the paint, did you leave a track. His thoughts also scream fear and anxiety in the way punctuation like question marks, exclamation marks and pauses are used. did she hear that? She must have must have heard that! These things are used very effectively as Paul stumbles upon problem upon problem as he attempts to return to the living room after failing to escape from his prison. He must leave everything the way it was to avoid suspicion from Annie, his kidnapper. However his luck doesnt seem to be doing him any favours whilst Annie pulls up the driveway. His first problem was getting into the living room; the wheelchair was a very tight fit. On his first go he crashed into the side, The wheelchair thumped against the right side of the doorway and bounced back a little. His reaction to this was one of great terror and panic, Did you chip the pain? His mind screamed at him. On his second try he got jammed in the doorway and wouldnt budge. The amount of effort he put in getting through shows the reader how scared he was of the cost of getting caught. The muscles in his arms quivering like overturned violin strings. The other problem that he encounters is made clear to the reader, as Paul tries to close the door of living room. The door must be closed and locked in order to leave everything the way it was before Annie left it and avoid suspicion. However whilst pushing the lock back with his thumb he meets an obstruction. Through panicked deduction he realizes the bobby pin he had originally used to unlock the door was stuck in the keyhole, stopping the lock from going back inside. These events contribute greatly to the suspense of the extract by giving Paul more chance of getting caught and keeping the story thrilling and fast-paced. In terms of pace I think that in Misery, as Paul encounters several problems on his return to the room, the story is more fast-paced and exciting than The Tell-Tale Heart. In comparison with Misery, The Tell-Tale Heart is extremely slow and unhurried because as it is first person the narrator is describing everything in full detail and all his thoughts at the time. Plus most of the murder involved waiting. At the end of the extract Paul overcomes all his problems but as he sat in his wheelchair awaiting the untimely arrival of Annie, he looks down and realises that the box of Novrils is still in his lap. The box of Novrils was still in his lap. This final sentence in its simplistic form puts an end to Pauls series of unfortunate events in a great climax of suspense. The sentence is short and straightforward, leaving the reader to work out what will happen for themselves. There was no way Paul could do anything with the box without being seen because Annie was just on the other side of the living room door. If she found him with the Novrils (which were fictional painkillers) she would be able to guess what he was doing whilst she was out and he would have to pay the dire consequences of his actions. From the extract, the way Paul was reacting to every detail of the room, you would fear the worst for his life. The sentence finishes the extract with an ominous feeling for what will happen to Paul when discovered, leaving the story with a suspenseful cliff-hanger. In The Tell-Tale Heart, the way the plot builds up tension lies solely with the narrator and the way he recounts the story of how he killed an old man. The narrator starts the story by trying to convince and persuade the reader that he is indeed sane and not mad. This in itself is mysterious; what had he done that needed persuasion on others behalf to credit as sane. The narrator then introduces the idea of a murder by first establishing the motive behind the crime. The narrator states that he killed the old man (the victim) whom he loved, on the basis that he had and eye that resembled that of a vulture. I think it was his eye! Yes it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture-a pale blue eye with a film over it The motive is ridiculous and in no way should it inspire an act of murder. By first introducing the idea of a murder through the murderers motive, the writer allows the reader to make up their opinion on the sanity of the narrator at the beginning of the story whilst enticing the readers imagination leaving them wondering what else this madman will do. So already the reader would have a set opinion on the narrator, and the narrators behaviour throughout the rest of the short story would do nothing but solidify their suspicions of a troubled individual who is mentally ill. This is not only because he/she is constantly trying to prove their genius thinking behind the murder, but also because they believe that this genius and cunning must surely grant them their sanity. Would a madman have been as wise as this? At the end of the story the narrator (lulled into a false sense of security by his soon to be short-lived success) permits the entry of several policeman into the very room where he had committed the murder, after they came knocking to investigate a mysterious noise heard by one of the neighbours. Not only does he let them sit in the room, but also on the very floorboards where the cut up parts of the dead body lay hidden beneath. Though this just maybe a sign of over-confidence, it is bordering on madness and another reason for the reader to doubt the judgment of the narrator. If all this strange behaviour isnt enough to chill the reader, then the murderer hallucinating should be. His guilty conscious gets the better of him and he thinks he can hear the imaginary beating of the stopped heart of the dead old man. The narrator succumbs to the noise by confessing to the clueless police sitting in front of him, that he had killed the old man who had lived here. Villains! I shrieked, Dissemble me no more! I admit the deed! -tear up the planks! -here, here! it is the beating of his hideous heart! The narrators insane behaviour throughout the story adds to the horror atmosphere of the text. As a final sentence, I would say that Misery ended better than The Tell-Tale Heart in terms of suspense, because it leaves more unexplained questions in readers mind. This is probably because Misery is an extract and still in the middle of its story, and The Tell-Tale Heart finishes with its last line. As an ending I do believe that the final sentence of The Tell-Tale Heart is satisfying as it gives the reader the bare minimum information for the reader to deduce what happens to the murderer after he confesses instead of just saying that he was arrested and went to prison. After analysing both plots, overall I think that the plot of the Misery extract builds up tension better than The Tell-Tale Heart solely on the belief that it is its faster-paced therefore much more exciting. The effect of the chosen narrative for The Tell Tale Heart, which is first person and from the narrators point of view, lets the reader into his/her mind and see their motives and thinking behind an atrocious crime. First person is perfect for The Tell Tale Heart because looking into the murderers mind is exactly what the reader needs to get a proper grasp of the plot. The disadvantages however, are you do not get to find out the gender of the murder because its all I did this and I did that. Also you dont find out what the old man is feeling or what he is thinking. For Misery however third person is used and that also suits the story quite well. This way youre aware of both Paul and Annies actions at the same time. If it was first person and from Pauls point of view, since Paul couldnt have known exactly where Annie was and what she was doing and how close she was, the reader would be clueless and the main way the plot builds up tension would be gone. If it was from Pauls point of view, the focus of the narrative will no longer switch between Paul and Annie, therefore eliminating one of the ways the plot creates a gripping atmosphere and seriously lowering the suspense levels. The disadvantages of third person are made up for by being able to see Pauls thoughts directly. Other than the plot, language is the main source of suspense used to create the atmosphere of the two texts. In Misery, the writer has chosen to use individually effective words that remind the reader of death whilst describing something that is completely unrelated. Phrases such as stopped dead and inside the guts of the lock and Wasnt it enough she killed the phone? In all these occasions, the writer couldve used simple, non-death associated words, but instead he used the words dead, guts and killed. All these words inspire the thought of death in the readers brain, and although it is not directly mentioned it subconsciously arouses the idea of Pauls death in the readers mind. This adds to the overall horror and suspense of the extract. In The Tell-Tale Heart individual words are also used to set the mood of the text but in a different way. Instead of death-connected words, the writer has used long and soft sounding words to slow the pace of the story and calm the mood. I undid the lantern cautiously oh, so cautiously cautiously The use of the word cautiously, which is a long and soothing word, slows the pace of the story down and set s a calm atmosphere. In terms of adding suspense to the text, I believe that Miserys use of death-related words is more effective. In that sentence, the other thing that calms the mood is the use of repetition. As the narrator repeats the word cautiously, it emphasizes the fact the narrator was cautious and it shows the narrators arrogance in their actions. However repetition is used for other purposes throughout the short story. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant . . . It grew louder I say, louder every moment This phrase contains a lot of repetition as the narrator is trying to stress how quick and loud the beating heart was. The repetition also allows the writer to show how agitated the narrator is getting, because of the fact it was getting quicker and louder, but also because he thinks that the reader doesnt believe him. A clear sign of insanity. In Misery repetition is used for similar reasons, but instead of agitation its to show the characters desperation, in phrases like Caught! Im caught! Please God, no God; dont let her hurt me God and Come on . . . Come on . . . Come on. In the first quote the repetition of the word God shows that hes really desperate and has started to pray to God to help him. The second quote is similar as he is repeating the words come on as he gets more and more distressed. In misery what are also used to emphasize a point are superlatives like in the grip of the greatest terror he had ever known. This superlative highlights how bad the experience was for Paul. I believe that The Tell-Tale Hearts use of repetition is more effective than Misery because not only does it build up suspense but also it shows signs of madness in the narrators behaviour which does not occur in Misery. This helps the plot on the whole build up tension. There is a great variety of long and short sentences in both stories. In both pieces of text short sentences are used to slow the pace of the text down. In the Tell Tale Heart it shows that the narrator is calm and unrushed. But even yet I refrained and kept the lantern still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. However, in misery short sentences are used to emphasize whats happening in the sentence. It was her. This sentence just highlights the fact that it was Annie pulling up the driveway, and it makes the reader think about the consequences of these events. Although both are successful in creating suspense, I believe that Misery is more effective. Long sentences are usually used to keep the story going and build up the suspense. In Misery however, long sentences also show that Paul is panicked and rushed. He sat in his chair, eyes half -closed, hoping madly that he had gotten the chair back where it had been(or at least close enough to it so she wouldnt notice), hoping that she would take his drenched face and quivering body simply as reactions to missing his medication, hoping most of all that he hadnt left a track. This humungous sentence shows how worried Paul is of getting caught and its a great way to build the suspense because it allows no pauses. In The Tell-Tale Heart, long sentences arent used as effectively to build up suspense. In both pieces of text, there is a lot of punctuation used effectively to add horror and tension. The Tell-Tale Heart is first person and from the narrators point of view, so exclamation marks and capitals are used for his thoughts when he is angry and or shocked. They heard! -they suspected! -they KNEW! -they were making a mockery of his horror! The exclamation marks and capitals are emphasizing his thoughts, showing his rage and disbelief, whilst the dashes allow no pause and add suspense as he moves from one revelation to another. In other occasions, exclamations are used to show the narrators surprise and wonder at his own brilliance and ingenuity. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! The Misery extract however, contained only a couple of exclamations, used only to show that Annie was shouting to Paul in the living room so they were less effective than ones in The Tell Tale Heart. In The Tell-Tale Heart, because the narrator is recounting a story, it is almost as if he is having a conversation with the reader. At the beginning of the story, the narrator begins by asking numerous questions on whether or not the reader believed he was mad or not. How then am I mad? The effect of these questions and question marks makes the reader feel as if he had contradicted the narrator in some way and the narrator was having an argument with them. This is a good way to show the madness of the narrator from right at the start of the story. Question marks are also used in Misery however for different reasons. Phrases such as did you chip the paint? and did you leave a track? are used as another way to show Pauls desperation but also to show his own uncertainty as he starts to panic. For these reasons I believe the use of question marks is better in Misery than in The Tell-Tale Heart. Another aspect of the punctuation in Misery is the use of pauses. Come on . . . come on . . . come on and Never . . . never in time . . . Shell hear are two good examples of where the writer has used pauses to give a sense of desperation and anxiety to Pauls thoughts. To conclude this essay, I would have to say that the extract from Misery by Stephen King is more effective than The Tell-Tale Heart in the way it creates an atmosphere of horror and suspense. It does this by using and expert blend of individually effectual words, well structured plot, effective narrative, well thought out and carefully placed punctuation, and a wide range of long and short sentences. Although The Tell Tale Heart does contain most of the techniques stated above, one thing I think Misery does better, and what makes it the better piece of text, is hidden inside its suspenseful plot line where Paul is constantly in a state of desperation and anxiety and in almost immediate danger. This I think is lacking in The Tell-Tale Heart, the sense of immediate danger, and is what makes the extract from Misery the perfect horror/suspense text.

Marketing and Customers Essay Example for Free

Marketing and Customers Essay Right now, HubSpot is serving different customers with different requirements. This causes their engineering and sales staff to be stretched thin. They are falling behind on product releases and their sales staff is converting only 4% (exhibit 10) of the potential market into customers. To increase efficiency, HubSpot should narrow their target market. If they target the most profitable segment of customers, then they can acquire more of those profitable customers and increase overall profit. The attached exhibit breaks down the LTV value for different customer segments based on their churn and revenue generation. Across all the segments, small B2B businesses have lowest churn rate of 1. 4% and hence highest LTV of $17357. As shown in exhibit, total number of potential customers in small B2B business 12126. This would allow Hubspot to grow 12 times their current size. Hence, HubSpot should target this segment as their priority. They could even convert more than 12126 customers out of total market if their sales team is totally targeted at this segment. The next most profitable target segment, as evident for attached exhibit, is Marketer Marys. Within Marketer Marys, Hubspot should target B2B customers. This is because, B2B have lower churn rates compared to B2C customers. Also, Hubspot is already geared towards serving B2B customers. Company (HubSpot) The core competency for company is their philosophy of inbound marketing. They build and market their software using this philosophy. So they should not tinker with this philosophy and should stick to inbound marketing. Another point to note from the exhibit 10 is that the biggest customer churn happens between 12th and 18th month. To address this phenomenon, they could offer discounts to customers after 12th month. Also, the customers who have switched to CMS have lower churn rate compared to customers who have not switched. So in order to increase customer retention, they could consider offering free CMS to all customers and possibly discounts to customers who adopt CMS. They would still be profitable after discounts as they seem to ave very low marginal costs. Competitor HubSpot also have relative advantages over their nearest customer Eloqua. HubSpot offers software-as-a-service compared to the large upfront fee of Eloqua. This leads to low switching cost for customer and hence easier penetration for HubSpot. They also have ease of use over Eloqua. But they do need to upgrade their software for more sophisticated users. This would be more required when they start going after Marketer Marys B2B business.

Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram

Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram Make Multilevel Thresholding According to Histogram by Cooperative Algorithm based on AFSA and Fuzzy Logic Image segmentation is a technique which is usually applied in the first step of image analysis and pattern recognition and is an important component of them. This technique is taken into account as one of the most difficult and the most sensitive problems in image analyzing. In this paper, a cooperative algorithm is proposed based on AFSA and k-means. The proposed algorithm is used to make multilevel thresholding for image segmentation according to histogram. In the proposed algorithm, first, artificial fish (AF) perform optimization process in AFSA. After swarm convergence, obtained cluster centers by AFs are used as initial cluster centers of k-means algorithm. After forwarding AFSAs output to k-means, AFs are reinitialized and performs clustering again. The proposed algorithm is used for segmenting 2 well-known images and obtained results are compared with each other. Experimental results show that segmented images quality by the proposed algorithm is much better than four other t ested algorithms. Keywords: Multilevel Thresholding; Histogram; Cooperative Algorithm; k-means. Image segmentation is a technique which is usually applied in the first step of image analysis and pattern recognition and is an important component of them. This technique is taken into account as one of the most difficult and the most sensitive problems in image analyzing. In fact, quality of final result of image analysis depends highly on the quality of image segmentation result. In image segmentation process, an image is divided into different regions. Segmentation approaches of mono-color images are with respect to discontinuity and/or similarity of gray level amounts in one region. If the approach performs segmentation based on discontinuities, the image is segmented with respect to abrupt changes on gray level by means of recognizing dots, lines and edges [1].The purpose of image segmentation approaches is to classify and convert pixels into regions. Histogram thresholding is one of the techniques, which has been applied extensively in mono-color images segmentation [2]. Generally, images are composed of regions with various gray levels. Therefore, an images histogram can consist of some peaks that each of them is related to one region. To separate boundaries of two peaks from each other, a threshold value is considered between valleys of two adjacent peaks. Indeed, histogram thresholding is a famous technique which is looking for peaks and valleys in a histogram [3]. Various clustering algorithms such as k-means [4] and FCM [5] have been used for histogram thresholding so far. As a matter of fact, clustering approaches, because of simplicity and effectiveness, belong to the most famous techniques that could be used for natural image segmentation. Applying clustering algorithms in histogram thresholding are such that first colors histogram is built and after that, clustering is done according to color distribution among pixels. O ne of the clustering methods is to use such swarm intelligence algorithms as particle swarm optimization (PSO) [6], and artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) [7]. PSO was presented by Kenedy and Eberhart in 1995 [8]. Different versions of this algorithm have been used many times in data clustering [9]. Artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) was presented by Li Xiao Lei in 2002 [10]. This algorithm is a technique based on swarm behaviors that was inspired from social behaviors of fish swarm in nature. AFSA works based on population, random search and behaviorism. This algorithm has been applied on different problems including machine learning [11, 12, 13], PID controlling [14], image segmentation [16], data clustering [7, 16] and scheduling [17]. K-means or famous Lloyd algorithm is one of the famous data clustering algorithms [18]. This algorithm is of high convergence rate, but has some weaknesses such as sensitivity to initial values of cluster centers and convergence to local op tima. Researchers have tried to remove these weaknesses by hybridizing this algorithm with other algorithms such as swarm intelligence ones [6, 19] and to utilize their advantages. One of these algorithms is KPSO in which first, k-means is performed and after that outcome of k-means is delivered to PSO as a particle [20]. Hence, at the beginning of the algorithm, k-means reaches to a local optimum with its high convergence rate and after that PSO takes the responsibility of increasing the result accuracy and exiting form local optimum. In this paper, a cooperative algorithm is proposed based on AFSA and k-means. The proposed algorithm is used to make multilevel thresholding for image segmentation according to histogram. In the proposed algorithm, first, artificial fish (AF) perform optimization process in AFSA. After swarm convergence, obtained cluster centers by AFs are used as initial cluster centers of k-means algorithm. After forwarding AFSAs output to k- means, AFs are reinitialized and performs clustering again. In fact, in the proposed algorithm, AFSA is used for a global search and k-means is used for a local search. The proposed algorithm along with four other algorithms is used for image segmentation on two known images Lenna and Barbara. Efficiency comparison shows that the proposed algorithm has an appropriate and acceptable efficiency. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: in sections 2 and 3, standard AFSA and k-means algorithm will be described respectively and in section 4, the proposed algorithm will be presented. Section 5 studies the experiments and analyzes their results and final section concludes the paper. In water world, fish can find areas that have more foods, which is done with individual or swarm search by fishes. According to this characteristic, artificial fish (AF) model is represented by prey, free-move, and swarm and follow behaviors. AFs search the problem space by those behaviors. The environment, which AF lives in, substantially is solution space and other AFs domain. Food consistence degree in water area is AFSA objective function. Finally, AFs reach to a point which its food consistence degree is maxima (global optimum). In artificial fish swarm algorithm, AF perceives external concepts with sense of sight. Current position of AF is shown by vector X=(x 1, x 2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, x n). The visual is equal to sight field of AF and Xv is a position in visual where the AF wants to go. Then if Xv has better food consistence than current position of AF, it goes one step toward X v which causes change in AF position from X to Xnext , but if the current position of AF is better than X v, it continues searching in its visual area. Food consistence in position X is fitness value of this position and is shown with f(X). The step is equal to maximum length of the movement. The distance between two AFs which are in Xi and Xj positions is shown by Dis ij =||X i-Xj|| (Euclidean distance). AF model consists of two parts of variables and functions. Variables include X (current AF position), step (maximum length step), visual (sight field), try-number (the maximum test interactions and tries) and crowd factor ÃŽÂ ´ (0 The standard k-means algorithm is summarized as follows: Initial position of K cluster centers is determined randomly. The following steps are repeated: a) for each data vector: data vector is allocated to a cluster that its Euclidean distance from its center is smaller than the other clusters centers. Distance from cluster center is calculated by Equation (1): (1) In Equation (1), Xp is data vector p, Zj is the center of cluster j and d is the number of dimensions of data vectors and cluster center vectors. b) After allocating all data to clusters, each of cluster centers is updated by Equation (2): (2) Where, nj is the number of data vectors that belong to cluster j and Cj is a subset of all data vectors which belong to cluster j. The resulted cluster center of Equation (2) is the average vector of data vectors comprising cluster. (a) and (b) steps are iterated until the stopping criterion is satisfied. In this section, the proposed algorithm is described. In the proposed algorithm, there exists a population of AFSAs AFs. This population of AFs is initialized randomly in problem space. Each AF consists of K cluster center positions in one dimensional image histogram space. Therefore, search space for AFSA for K cluster centers has K components. Fitness function which AFSA has to minimize is shown in Equation (3). (3) Clustering on histogram is done by Equation (3) based on color distribution between given images pixels. The image is divided into K clusters (Ci) according to color attribute by K-1 thresholds. In Equation (3), the distance between color Xj on image histogram and the center of a cluster which it belongs to ( Zi), is multiplied by the frequency of pixels (fj) which have color value Xj on given image. This value is computed for all color values with respect to the center of a cluster which they belong to. Each color becomes the member of a cluster in which their distance from that cluster center is less than other cluster centers. Finally, the obtained results of all clusters are summed with each other. Indeed, Equation (3) calculates sum of intra cluster distances for one dimensional gray scale images, which is one of the most well-known clustering criteria. For improving obtained results by AFSA, some modifications must do on its structure. The best found position by swarm members so far in AFSA is saved in bulletin and AF which has found it might go even toward worse positions with performing a free-move behavior. Therefore, AFs cannot utilize their best swarm experience for improving the convergence rate because they just save it in bulletin. On the other hand, performing free-move behavior is inevitable for maintaining diversity of the swarm. In this paper, to remove this problem, every AF except best AF can perform free-move behavior. In fact, during execution of the proposed algorithm, this behavior is not performed for the best AF of the swarm at all. Hence, the best found position by the swarm would be the position of the best AF of the swarm. As a result, other members of the swarm can move in the direction of the best found position by executing follow and swarm behaviors. The purpose of designing the proposed algorithm is to take advantages of both AFSA and k-means algorithms and remove their weaknesses. K-means is of high convergence rate, but its very sensitive to initializing the cluster centers and in the case of selecting inappropriate initial cluster centers, it could converge to a local optimum. AFSA can pass local optima to some extent but cannot guarantee reaching to global optima. However, AFSAs computational complexity for optimization process is much more than k-means. How the proposed algorithm functions remove weaknesses of these two algorithms and apply their advantages is as following: In the proposed algorithm, first, the AFs are initialized in AFSA. Each of AFSA contains K cluster centers (K-1 threshold) which are displaced in the problem space by performing AFSAs behaviors. AFSA continues to perform until the AFs converge. After convergence of AFSA, best AFs position including the best cluster centers which have found by AFs so far is considered as the input of k-means. Then, k-means algorithm starts working and while it is not converged, it continues working. Therefore, AFSA searches globally and as far as it can, it passes local optima. After convergence of AFSAs AFs, its output would have an appropriate initial cluster centers for k-means. Hence, after sending AFSAs outcome to k-means, this algorithm starts searching locally. Consequently, in the proposed algorithm, global search ability of AFSA has been used and after converging, a great part of optimization process will be given to k-means to utilize high capability of local search of this algorithm and its high convergence rate. Since initial cluster centers for k-means are obtained by AFSA and k-means is used for local search, k-means weakness of sensitivity to initial cluster centers is removed. But, AFSA capability may not be enough for preventing from being trapped in local optima. If this algorithm is trapped in local optima, it cannot present proper initial cluster values to k-means. Thereafter, according to low ability of k-means in passing local optima, the obtained result cannot be acceptable. To raise this problem, after convergence of AFSA, the output of this algorithm is sent to k-means. Simultaneously with starting of k-means, AFSAs AFs are initialized and start global search again. In fact, in one time of executing the proposed algorithm, AFSA has several times of chance to perform an acceptable global search. It should be noted that in the proposed algorithm, in each time of executing AFSA, AFs just search globally and converge after a short time and k-means undertakes the remaining of optimization process which is local search. Therefore, with respect to low computational complexity of k-means, huge amount of computations for local search is prevented. In the proposed algorithm, it has been tried to utilize this conserved computation load for giving new opportunities to AFSA in order to perform an acceptable global search in at least one of given opportunities to it. Hence, for each execution of global search by AFSA, k-means is also performed once. In the proposed algorithm, to determine the convergence of artificial fish swarm, the difference of obtained results in consecutive iterations of performing the algorithm is used. When particles converge, the obtained results difference in consecutive iterations decreases, so by considering a threshold for the difference between best AFs fitness values in iterations i and j, it can determine their convergence. In the proposed algorithm, because AFSA and k-means algorithms are performed multiple times , always, it has to save the best found cluster centers by algorithm so far. For this purpose, a blackboard is applied that each time k-means finishes after convergence of AFSA, the obtained result of that will be compared with saved result in blackboard. If obtained cluster centers are better than saved result in blackboard, saved value in blackboard is updated. K- means execution finishes when after two consecutive iterations of its execution, cluster centers wouldnt be displaced. Pseudo code of the proposed algorithm is represented in Figure (1). Experiments are done on two known gray scale images, Lenna and Barbara, of sizes 512*512 in Figure (2). In this paper, the well-known criterion of uniformity is used to compare images segmentation qualitatively [3] which is shown in Equation (4) (4) Where, c is the number of thresholds. Rj is the segmented region j. N is the total number of pixels in the given image, fi shows the gray level of pixel I,  µi is the mean gray level of pixels in jth region, finally, fmin and fmax are the minimum and maximum gray level of pixels in the given image, respectively. Usually, uà Ã‚ µ[0, 1] and larger amount for u declares that the thresholds are specified with better quality on the histogram. Proposed Algorithm: 1:for each AFi 2:initialize xi 3:Endfor 4:Blackboard = arg [min F(Xi)] 5:Repeat 6:for each AFi 7:Perform Swarm Behavior on Xi(t) and Compute Xi,swarm 8:Perform Follow Behavior on Xi(i) and Compute Xi,follow 9:if F(Xi,swarm) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥ F(Xi,follow) 10:then Xi(t+1)= Xi,follow 11:Else 12:Xi(t+1)= Xi,swarm 13:Endif 14:Endfor 15:if swarm is converged 16:then Execute k-means on XBest-AF until stopping criterion of k-means is met 17:Endif 18:if F(Xk-means) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤ F(Blackboard) 19:then Blackboard = Xk-means 20:reinitialize AFSA 21:Endif 22:until stopping criterion is met Figure (1): Pseudo code of proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm along with standard AFSA, PSO algorithm, hybrid algorithm called KPSO [20], and k-means is used to segment two images, Lenna and Barbara. PSO and KPSO parameters are adjusted according to [6], and for k-means, initializing Forgy method is applied [21]. AFSA parameters and are adjusted according to [7]. AFSA settings in the proposed algorithm are the same as [7]. With respect to various experiments, if fitness value relating to Best AF is less than 0.1 in 3 iterations, it means that artificial fish swarm is converged. The following results are obtained from 50 times repeated experiments. Figure (3) shows segmented images, Lenna and Barbara, by the proposed algorithm with 5 and 3 thresholds. Figure 2: Orginal gray level Lenna (left) and Barbara (right) images Figure 3: The thresholded images of Lenna and Barbara using 5, and 2-level thresholds, from top to bottom. Average uniformity obtained from 5 algorithms on two images with thresholds 2, 3, 4 and 5 are shown in Table (1). As it is observed in Table (1), obtained results from the proposed algorithm is better than the other algorithms for all cases. AFSA algorithm has the worst result for all cases because of low ability in local search. K-means algorithm has found better results than AFSA because of high capability of k-means in local search. The reason for superiority of k-means to AFSA is the problem space property in histogram clustering. In fact, because of low dimensions of problem space in this environment, local search ability is of greater importance than global search ability. Also, it can reduce k-means weakness of sensitivity to initial values by means of one of the initializing methods of k-means like Forgy. Thereafter, with respect to considerable superiority of k-means local search ability in contrast to AFSA, k-means results are better than AFSAs. TABLE I: Comparison of uniformity for the five Algorithms Image T AFSA K-means PSO KPSO Proposed method Lenna 2 0.9138 0.9634 0.9730 0.9728 0.9775 3 0.9361 0.9749 0.9781 0.9783 0.9795 4 0.9495 0.9762 0.9816 0.9811 0.9826 5 0.9517 0.9804 0.9835 0.9834 0.9838 Barbara 2 0.9758 0.9761 0.9765 0.9768 0.9781 3 0.9783 0.9802 0.9808 0.9805 0.9820 4 0.9797 0.9834 0.9843 0.9851 0.9862 5 0.9822 0.9849 0.9855 0.9850 0.9884 Obtained results from PSO are better than k-means in all cases and its because of global search ability superiority of PSO to k-means. Moreover, in PSO, theres a trade-off between global search and local search abilities [16] and PSO also can perform a proper local search beside an acceptable global search. KPSO results are better than k-means results for all cases because after executing k-means in this algorithm, PSO algorithm is performed and improves obtained results from k-means. But obtained results from KPSO are not better than PSO for all cases. The reason is that sometimes k-means converges toward a local optimum and obtained result from that is not appropriate. Therefore, PSO is responsible for taking out the result from local optimum; however, it sometimes may not be successful. Indeed, improper result of k-means causes fast convergence of particles to local optimum. Obtained results from the proposed algorithm are better than other algorithms in all cases. The reason is u sage of strategies which have been used for global search in this algorithm. In fact, the proposed algorithm is successful in finding the global optima in most runs and can prevent final result from being trapped in local optima, whereas, this ability is observed less in other algorithms and they cannot guarantee passing local optima. This weakness causes that other algorithms to be of less robustness and not to be able to reach to almost the same results in their various implementations. Also, in the proposed algorithm, k-means algorithm performs local search after finding global optimum region by AFSA. Consequently, with respect to high ability of k-means in local search and taking proper initial cluster centers from AFSA, local search is done well in the proposed algorithm, too. As a result, both k-means and AFSA algorithms abilities are utilized in the proposed algorithm and the weakness of k- means algorithm cant decrease the algorithms efficiency. As it is observed in all algo rithms except KPSO, with rising up the number of thresholds, uniformity amount is improved. In KPSO, since the weakness of k-means has an undesirable effect on PSO efficiency, obtained results are not stable. In this paper, a new cooperative algorithm based on artificial fish swarm algorithm and k-means was proposed for image segmentation with respect to multi-level thresholding. In the proposed algorithm, AFSA performs global search and k-means is responsible for local search. The process of the proposed algorithm is such that the robustness and ability of preventing from being trapped in local optimums is improved. The proposed algorithm along with four other algorithms is used for segmenting 2 well-known images and obtained results are compared with each other. Experimental results show that segmented images quality by the proposed algorithm is much better than four other tested algorithms. [1] R. C. Gonzalez, and R. E. Woods, Digital image processing, In: Pearson Education India, Fifth Indian reprint, 2000. [2] S. Arora, J. Acharya, A. Verma., and K. Panigrahi, Multilevel thresholding for image segmentation through a fast statistical recursive algorithm, In: Journal on Pattern Recognition Letters 29, pp. 119125, 2008. [3] Maitra. M, A. Chatterjee, A hybrid cooperative-comprehensive learning based PSO algorithm for image segmentation using multilevel thresholding, In: Journal on Expert System with applications 34, pp. 1341-1350, 2008. [4] M. Mignote, Segmentation by fusion of histogram-based k-means clusters in different color spaces, In: IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 2008. [5] X. Yang, W. Zhao, Y. Chen, and X. Fang, Image segmentation with a fuzzy clustering algorithm based on Ant-Tree, In: Journal of Signal Processing 88, pp. 2453-2462, 2008. [6] Y. T. Kao, E. Zahara, and I. W. Kao, A hybridized approach to data clustering, In: Journal on Expert System with Applications 34, pp. 1754-1762, 2008. [7] D. Yazdani, S. Golyari, and M. R. Meybodi, A new hybrid approach for data clustering, In: 5th International Symposium on Telecommunication (IST) , pp. 932937, Tehran, 2010. [8] J. Kennedy, and R. C. Eberhart, Particle swarm optimization, In: IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks, 4, pp. 1942 1948, Perth, 1995. [9] A. A. A. Esmin, D. L. Pereira, and F. Araujo, Study of different approach to clustering data by using the particle swarm optimization algorithm, In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 18171822, Hong Kong, 2008. [10] L. X. Li, Z. J. Shao, and J. X. Qian, An optimizing method based on autonomous animate: fish swarm algorithm, In: Proceeding of System Engineering Theory and Practice, pp. 32-38, 2002. [11] D. Yazdani, S. Golyari, and M. R. Meybodi, A new hybrid algorithm for optimization based on artificial fish swarm algorithm and cellular learning automata, In: 5th International Symposium on Telecommunication (IST), pp. 932-937, Tehran, 2010. [12] D. Yazdani, A. N. Toosi, and M. R. Meybodi, Fuzzy adaptive artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: 23 th Australian Conference on Artificial Intelligent, pp. 334-343, Adelaide, 2010. [13] J. Hu, X. Zeng, and J. Xiao, Artificial fish swarm algorithm for function optimization, In: International Conference on Information Engineering and Computer Science, pp. 1-4, 2010. [14] Y. Luo, W. Wei, and S. X. Wang, The optimization of PID controller parameters based on an improved artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: 3rd International Workshop on Advanced Computational Intelligence, pp. 328-332, 2010. [15] C. X. Li, Z. Ying, S. JunTao, and S. J. Qing, Method of image segmentation based on fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm and artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Integrated Systems (ICISS) , pp. 254- 257, Guilin, 2010. [16] L. Xiao, A clustering algorithm based on artificial fish school, In: 2nd International Conference on Computer Engineering and Technology, pp. 766-769, 2010. [17] D. Bing, and D. Wen, Scheduling arrival aircrafts on multi- runway based on an improved artificial fish swarm algorithm, In: International Conference on Computational and Information Sciences, pp. 499-502, 2010. [18] J. A. Hartigan, An overview of clustering algorithms, In: New York: John Wiley Sons , 1975. [19] C. Y. Tsai, and I. W. Kao, Particle swarm optimization with selective particle regeneration for data clustering, In: Journal of Expert Systems with Applications 38, pp. 65656576, 2011. [20] D. W. der Merwe, and A. P. Engelbrecht, Data clustering using particle swarm optimization, In: Congress on Evolutionary Computation, pp. 215-220, 2003. [21] E. Forgy, Cluster analysis of multivariate data: efficiency vs. interpretability of classification, In: Biometrics 21, pp. 768, 1965

Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay: The Existential Anguish of J. Al

The Existential Anguish of J. Alfred Prufrock      Ã‚   Upon reading Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the first question which sprang to my mind was the question of how Eliot, a poet who was in his mid-twenties at the time, was able to write a poem dealing with the problems of aging in such a penetrating manner. Upon closer examination, however, I realized that Prufrock's aging was only incidental to his central problem. Prufrock's major problem is a problem of existential anguish. Prufrock's doubts about aging at a dinner party are merely one example of this anguish, and this party brings his psychology into sharp focus when the reader examines closely the moment in which the poem's events occur.    It is true that Prufrock's overtly expressed fears all seem to stem from his aging. For instance, he mentions the thinning of his hair in lines 40, 41, and 82; and the aging itself is mentioned toward the end of the poem:    I grow old . . . I grow old . . . I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. (lines 120-121)    However, all of Prufrock's problems stem from his insecurity and his inability to reveal his interest in the women at the party. "How should I presume?" he asks several times throughout the poem. (lines 54, 61, and 68) Prufrock is so entranced and frustrated by the women that every detail, including the arms "braceleted and white and bare" (line 63), the "long fingers" that smooth away the afternoon (line 76), and the "skirts that trail along the floor" (line 102) become everything to him in that moment.    These small details so obsess Prufrock and so occupy his mind, in fact, that everything else ceases to exist for him. He does not simply wonder how he should p... ... of the poem, then become clear. In the epigram, he quoted someone directly addressing the reader; in the first twelve lines, he invites us to "make our visit" (line 12); and in the three lines of the poem, Eliot tells us that "We have lingered [...] Till human voices wake us, and we drown." (lines 129-131) At this point, Eliot invites us to identify ourselves with the main character of the poem. J. Alfred Prufrock is not simply J. Alfred Prufrock. There is a quite a bit of Prufrock, with his self-doubt and his existential anguish, in all of us. But unlike Dante, we do not return to a normal life: we are merely drowned in "the chambers of the sea," (line 129), which the mermaids ride, uncaring.    References Eliot, T.S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in The McGraw-Hill Book of Poetry. Ed. Robert DiYanni and Kraft Rompf. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

sheeps :: essays research papers

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An American citizen was kidnapped along with the three Romanian journalists abducted Monday in Iraq, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday. Citing privacy laws, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington said she could not release more information, but called for the "immediate and safe recovery of all hostages in Iraq." The Romanians and an unidentified man appeared in a video that aired on the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera Wednesday. It has not been confirmed whether the unidentified man is the American hostage. The four were shown sitting on a floor as two men -- their faces covered by traditional headscarves -- stood to the side, pointing guns at them. The three Romanians -- Marie Jeanne Ion, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, and Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian -- work for Prima TV. They were abducted Monday night. (Full story) Prima TV confirmed the three were in the hostage video. It did not know who the fourth individual was. The hostages appeared calm in the video. At one point, Ion looked into the camera and said in English, "We have been kidnapped." She then said there had been reports their hostage-takers "asked for something in exchange for our freedom. This is not true." In Romania, the Foreign Ministry and the main intelligence service have set up a team to investigate the abduction, and President Traian Basescu has expressed concern. Ion's sister pleaded for her safe return. "I implore you to do everything you can to bring my sister back home," Ana Maria Ion said in an interview on Romanian television. "She has no guilt. Our family is waiting for Marie Jeanne to be here, also all the others." The three were last heard from by the station around 7:45 p.m. Monday during a telephone conversation that was broadcast while they were apparently being abducted, an executive said. A cell phone text message also was sent that said: "Please call the embassy urgently," a reference to Romania's Baghdad embassy. The Romanian ambassador to Iraq has collected the personal effects of the team, which had been in Iraq for three days and had been planning to stay for only five days, a Western source said. Seven civilians die in attacks Insurgents targeting U.S. forces killed seven civilians Wednesday, police said, during attacks in the northern city of Mosul and the Iraqi capital. A woman and child were among six killed in Mosul when insurgents fired on a U.S. military patrol in the northeastern part of the city, police said.

Locke’s Logical Plain Method Essay -- Philosophy Religion Essays

Locke’s Logical Plain Method As those philosophers before him, or at least as far back as Descartes, John Locke is â€Å"perplexed with obscure terms and useless question† (qtd. in Jones 238), and is interested in starting fresh and free from the opinions of his predecessors. He devises the historical plain method in order to examine the knowledge we posses, with the assumption that the mind is â€Å"white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas,† (qtd. in Jones 245). My interest here, however, is to briefly describe, and to evaluate Locke’s historical plain method. The following passages are to demonstrate the chief values and key limitations of the historical plain method as it pertains to its own investigation of what is true from experience, and to show that Locke mistakes a logical approach for a historical approach, meaning that his method is a logical plain method. The historical plain method allows us to distinguish between what is true, and therefore important enough to warrant our consideration, and what is fantasy and not worth our time. It accomplishes this by examining an object to see whether it has originated from our sense perception, and is thus a sensation, or from the operations of the mind, and thus a reflection. If the object is thus found to have its origins in either the senses or the mind, then it is to be a true object, or one that does exist. Objects that are conveyed by the senses are such as â€Å"hard,† â€Å"red,† â€Å"loud,† and the like. Some are combinations of more than one simple idea derived from more than one sensory input. In the case of â€Å"fast,† the speed of something can both be derived from seeing motion as well as feeling motion. Objects conveyed by the operations of the mind are such a... ... reality of objects, but it may not have the ability to be proven beyond any doubt, and is thus less certain than the logical inquiry. Locke’s historical plain method, named so incorrectly, endeavors to show what is true and false, what is meaningful and meaningless, and therefore, what is important and what is not important. By examining objects it deems to demonstrate their origin as being of sensation or reflection. Since Locke assumed all ideas to be based on simple elements however, he pursued in that direction, which is a psychological and logical one. Thus, Locke developed the logical plain method, but mistakenly named it the historical plain method. For the historical order begins with the objects, and through investigation of it, we derive its simple elements. Works Cited Jones, W. T. Hobbes to Hume. 2nd edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1980.

Impact of Climate Change on Food Security

[pic] [pic] CASESTUDY: SOLOMON ISLANDS NAME: LIZZIE IMMACULATE. TEGU ID #: S11053489 Course Code: GE302 DUE DATE: week -13- 2011 Lecturer: Dr. Tamarisi Yabaki INTRODUCTION Agricultural sector was the most important sector for the economy. It accounts for approximately 30% of the GDP. Agricultural export is a major source of export earnings and it is the main source of employment and livelihood in the rural areas. Agriculture consists of three sub-sectors: subsistence smallholder farming, a commercial sub-sector, and large plantations (Central Bank of Solomon Islands, 2006, Annual Report 2005).On the other hand, the climate of the Solomon Islands is changing and people are now experiencing increased in intensity or severity of extreme events like cyclones, storm surges, floods and droughts. These extreme events are causing substantial damage to agriculture and associated infrastructure with negative impact on food production. In which, There is increasing concern over the consequences of climate change on food production amongst the Pacific Island Countries, Solomon Islands for instance.Already, the changing weather patterns is having some effects soil fertility, pests and diseases, increased heat stress on plants, changes in rainfall and soil moisture, salt water incursion from rising sea-levels and increased damage on agriculture and crops from extreme weather events (Baragamu, G. 2008). Well, in this report it will focus on the effects of climate change on the agriculture expansion in Solomon Islands. However, the research will concentrate looked at the food security and land specifically apart from livestock, fisheries, and forestry as a part of agriculture as well.Besides, the research looks at how effects of climate changes affect land , and result in lessen of food crops such as taro, banana, sweet potatoes, Pineapple, coconut, and so on. Statement of the problem Well, this research project will mainly focus on the climate change and its effect on the agr icultural expansion in SIDS. The problem that this research tried to find it out is that, how do the SIDS will cope with drastic effect of climate change if there is no enough land left for agriculture to expand, for example low-lying lands are covered due to sea-level rise Ontong Java for instances.And also what happened if the crops are affected due to increased of temperature, and humidity where it encourage the plants to die out due to lack of underground water, and also encourage of pests to damage the crops, whilst it lessen the agricultural productions in the country. It leads to downfall of the GDP of the economy, poverty that people will experience. In which it is a problem for Solomon Islands, therefore these research will investigate on the problem, and come with a possible solutions to help them to deal with problem.Significance of the study The significance of this research is that, to find out the most problems, and challenges that face by the Solomon Islands in terms of their agricultural expansion as result of climate change, and how it halt the agriculture development at the community basis or level and to provide some possible solutions to help them to cope with the changing climate. BACKGROUND INFROMATION The country had an estimated population of 508,000, there were nine provinces in the country Malaita is the most populous and Renbel the least populous.The population of Solomon Islands is predominantly Melanesian (about 95%) although there are smaller Polynesian, Micronesian, Chinese and European communities ( Solomon Islands national census statistic, 2007). Moreover, the economy is largely dependent on agriculture, forestry, and fishing. For a high proportion of the population (mainly village-based), the Solomon Islands economy involves the production of subsistence foods and other items for personal consumption.The main item of production for cash at the village level is copra (the dried flesh of coconut), but also significant in some a reas is cocoa, market vegetables and marine products including fish and shells. Export commodities include gold, copra, wood and fish products, and cocoa (Judith A. Bennett 1978) Solomon Islands is a low-lying coastal country that shares similar sustainable development challenges, including small population, remoteness, susceptibility to natural disasters, vulnerability to external shocks, and excessive dependence on international trade and foreign aid.Besides, Solomon Islands have particular problems and concerns in dealing with the effects of climate change, variability and extreme events, and Climate change will be a major impediment to the achievement of sustainable development in Solomon Islands. As all economic and social sectors are likely to be adversely affected, and the cost of adaptation will be disproportionately high, relative to gross domestic product (GDP) (World Bank, 2000). GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION & INFORMATIONThe Solomon Islands is located between latitudes 5o South and 12o South and longitudes 1520 East and 1630 East in the Pacific Ocean, encompassing a total land area of 28, 785 square kilometres (km-2) and an Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) of 1. 34 million km-2. The land area of the Solomon Islands consists of a double chain of six large islands that make up total 997 islands. The double chain of islands is described as a fragmented island arc situated along the boundary between the Ontong Java Plateau-Central Pacific Basin and the Solomon Sea-Woodlark-Torres Basins.A composite basin separates the double chain of islands that make up the main archipelago of the Solomon Islands and is the segment of the Melanesian Island arch complex that separates the Pacific Ocean from the Coral Sea and Solomon Sea (Geography. about Solomon 2005). Map of Solomon Islands [pic] Source:http://maps. google. com/maps? hl=en&biw=1276&bih=820&bav=on. 2,or. r_gc. r_pw. &wrapid=tlif130062192869311&q=google+map+of+solomon) OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH †¢ To find out the effects of climate change on the agricultural production specifically on the food security. To find out whether the halt of agricultural expansion affect the livelihood and nation as a whole. †¢ To find out the challenges or problems that Solomon Islanders or farmers were facing due to climate change. †¢ To determine adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope with the effect of climate change, local and national level. LITERATURE REVIEW According to Kenneth M, and Joel S (1995), they highlighted that agricultural production could decrease in many countries, low-lying land; particularly in deltas could inundated by sea-level rise.Thus, they said that, climate change could cause developing countries to fall farther behind developed countries. In which they provide examples, that agricultural output in many developing may be reduced by climate change compared to what it would be without it, while many developed nations could have increased output, because high dependen ce on climate sensitive systems, and rapid population growth, cause developing countries will be more vulnerable to climate change than developed countries.Besides that, he mention that, countries with large agricultural productions in deltas, such as Egypt, Bangladesh, and China are particularly vulnerable for a 1m sea level rise, in which he people will be at risk because they depend on agriculture for food and monetary purposes. In which Solomon Islands experience the similar problems as stated by the two authors. Well, in addition to that, in the coming decades, many low-lying areas, and plain areas in Solomon Islands will almost certainly suffer from more frequent and intense droughts and floods, which will reduce yields and potentially fuel forest clearance.Moreover, according to Aalbersberg, W. , Nun, P. D. , and Ravuvu, A. D. (1993), stated that climate change has the great effect on agriculture in a sense that increased temperatures will cause heat stress on many plants, an d increased evaporation may lead to increased drought, especially in drier areas during the dry season. Besides that, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will increase plant growth; faster growth will also lessen time maturity. This could decrease yields and perhaps food values. Weeds will also grow faster, competing with plants for water and soil nutrients, and areas of agriculture would shift.Due to warming upland area could be planted with crops that previously could not be grown there. Sea-level rise will claim coastal land that is currently for agriculture through inundation or salination where it affect the expansion of agriculture whilst it cause the price to accelerate, and the economy of the SIDS will be drop. To more extent, other factors affecting agricultural output may change in a warmer, more humid south-west Pacific. The occurrence of agricultural pests may increase causing lower yields and increased loss during storage.His sum up with one statement which is,† Farmers are likely to be less productive as temperature and humidity increase†. Well, there are ways that the authors highlight to mitigate climate change in terms of agriculture, for example Network internationally, it was global research to find out cultivars that are less sensitive to heat, salt and drought stress, and it required technological developments that help us the pacific to address these problems. However, it is not applicable for the Solomon Islands for instance, because it was very expensive in sense that it required professionals to deal with this kind of experiment and very demand.And also, they didn’t seen the underlying issues of resistance to heat, salt because pacific islands are surrounded by oceans, and even though they find those cultivars but they do not suite the climate conditions in the pacific. The gap of this research is the way forward to achieve the sustainable agriculture where it not cause climate change on the other hand whilst it wil l adapt to the changing environment rather than emphasis on the sophisticated technology with the solutions that cannot applicable for theSIDS, Solomon Islands for instance. Nevertheless, look carefully on the simple methods that agriculture could expand but does not create any green house gases as well. METHODOLOGY The completion of this report was extracting from a wide Variety of sources, which included quantitative and qualitative data. They highlight below under each sub-heading. In addition, the sample size of the population that interviewed are fifteen (15) both students and working staff for supporting ideas for substantiate some ideas gathered from the secondary sources.Quantitative Method Quantitative is a numerical data in which it is gathered and collected from the interviewees and from the secondary sources; for example, collected data from the internet about the total agricultural production that damaged due to effects of climate change. Besides, collected trend of tem perature, and also the amount of rainfall from each meteorological station in Solomon Islands. Hence, the information gathered, and the sources of information will be summaries in the table below. Sources |Types of information |Primary data |Secondary data | |Internet |Total agricultural production that damaged | | | | |Trend of temperature | | | | |Amount of rainfalls | | | | |Rate of change in sea level height | | | However, there were difficulties and challenges faced during the collections of figures, in which the figures collected from the internet and books were general to understand and analysed in order to pick out the relevant figures. Besides, the sample size of the research did not achieve the accurate results because the sample size was very small. QUALITATIVE METHOD Qualitative is normally non-numeric data in which it gathered during data collection. There were many sources of information collected through websites, books, Library, interviews, observation and so forth. Below summaries the types of information gathered and their source. Sources |Types of information |Primary data |Secondary data | |Internet & Grounded theory |Information for the literature review | | | | |Google pictures of the site | | | | |Effects of climate changes | | | | |Impact of climate change | | | | |Geographical information for Solomon Islands | | | | |Relevant information on the effects of climate change | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Library books |Literature review | | | | |addition information on the topic | | | |Interviews& questionnaires |Effect of climate changes in Solomon Islands | | | | |In terms of the agricultural productions specifically on food| | | | |security | | | |Suggestions of new strategies adaptations for development | | | | |sustainability | | | |Observation |Damaged of crop productions | | | |Lecture handouts |Report format | | | However, there were difficulties and challenges faced while searching for the information because there was very general information gathered for the literature review. Besides, the questionnaire are not properly answered due to some students did not understand what climate change is. To more extent, the questionnaires are delay to give it back, thus it delayed to complete my report in time. Despite of the challenges and difficult faced, the information was accessible and available. RESULTS AND FINDINGSSolomon Islands has a climate humid and warm with mean daily maximum temperature of about 300 ? C and a mean daily minimum of about 230 ? C. Rainfall distribution is quite varied with annual average rainfall normally ranges from3000mm to 5000mm. Often drought in the country is associated with the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO). From about December to March, a period of west to north-westerly monsoonal winds and abundant rainfall can expected as well as a period where tropical cyclones form and affect the islands. The south-east trade winds (SE trades) blows from around May to October an d trigger higher rainfall particularly on the windward side of the islands (http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com).Figure 1. 0. Shows The annual mean temperature trends for two locations indicate a warming trend since the 1950s. This is consistent with warming trend elsewhere in the Pacific islands region. [pic] [pic] Source: http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com The above two figures obviously indicated the warming trend of two main stations in Solomon Islands since 1950. The best fit maximum temperature approximately starting from 29. 0 C and gradually upward, while the minimum temperature approximately from 22. 0 C and upward. So by telling that because of the mean, it seen the temperature was gradually increasing with respects to the number of years.Therefore, because of the positive changing in temperature it would actually decreased yields of agriculture crops especially taro, potatoes and so forth on the coastal lowlands, and fires can also result from burning of debris in shifting agriculture systems. Moreover, The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR4) estimates that sea-level rise over the last century was 1. 7+ 0. 5mm/yr. However, from 1961-2003, the average rate of sea level rise is estimated at 1. 8+ 0. 5mm/yr. Global projection of sea level rise estimated by AR4 ranges from 0. 18m to 0. 59m (IPCC 2007). Thermal expansion accounts for about 75% of the total sea level rise (http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com). Figure 2. 0.Shows the rate of sea level rise in the last 10 years up to 2006 from satellite records. In the southwest Pacific (Melanesia region), the rate of change of sea level height as measured by satellites over the 10 years was at 8-10mm/yr, approximately three times the global average. In more recent measurements of sea level in Solomon Islands from 1994 up to June 2008, indicates the net relative sea level trend at 7. 6mm/yr, which two-time average of the trend up to June 2007. [pic] Source: http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com It clearly, shown above in the global map with respects to scale and colour signify the raising sea level due to the climate change. Moreover focuses ainly on Pacific Ocean especially Solomon islands, and from the map, Solomon Islands is located between latitudes 50 South and 120 South and longitudes 1520 East and 1630 East in the Pacific Ocean. So the color that represent the region is somewhere between the scales reading of 3-9 mm per years. So evidently, Solomon Islands facing the sea level rising which causes salt-water intrusion, storm surge and flooding in low-lying coastal areas of the main islands and the atolls such as Ontong Java are already threatening food crops and livelihoods. Figure 3. 0. While temperature records show a generally warming trend, rainfall records show a downward trend.Rainfall trend for seven meteorological stations in Solomon Islands. [pic] Source: http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com From the grap hs above shows the rainfall trend for the seven meteorological stations in Solomon Islands from each year. Likewise, it showed the amount of rainfall from each provinces in Solomon Islands as well, where in some provinces the amount of rainfall were increasing from1960s , Auki for instance as shown in the map. Therefore, the above station evidently had shown the downward trend of rainfall due to the changing of climate. As compare to the pass years from 1950 the amount of rainfall increase, while in the current years the amount of rainfall going downward.The trend of best-fit line is downward, which indicate the decrease in amount of rainfall, and raise the temperature, where could change the pattern of the environment system. So this may result in high intensity storm events, increased evaporation and more pronounced dry seasons, could have severe impacts on agriculture crop production and intense rainfall during planting seasons could damage seedlings, reduce growth and provide co nditions that promote plant pests and diseases. Moreover, below were the responses from the 15 interviewees on the effect of climate changes and its impact on the agricultural productions in Solomon Islands. Table 1. Show the number of the interviewees’ views on the objectives of the research topic. |Temperature |4 | |The effect of climate change on |Sea level Rise | | |agricultural expansion in Solomon Islands |Rainfall | | | |Cyclone |9 | | |Drought | | | |Flood | | | |Tsunami | | | |Storm surge |2 | |What will happen if the agricultural |National level |8 | |expansion decline? Less production to export | | | |Decreased in GDP of the economy | | | |Price of the production increase due to less supply | | | |Local level |7 | | |Less income earning | | | |Less production in the domestic market | | | |Decrease in food supply leading to the increase of prices, thus | | | |creating poverty to low ncome earners | | | |Rural villagers won’t make profit or money leading to the | | | |increase in poverty rate | | |Determine the challenges or problems |Decrease in food supply |5 | | |Increase in food prices | | | |Decrease in employment rate | | | |Poverty |3 | | |Diseases | | | |Hinder standard of living | | | |Water shortage for irrigation |1 | | |Decrease in GDP of the economy due to less agricultural |6 | | |production | | | |Decline in household purchasing power | | | |Decline in income basis for household | | |Determine adaptation and mitigation |Adaptation strategies |3 | |strategies to cope with the effect of |Diversify root crops. | | |climate change, local and national level. |Select crops and cultivars that tolerate stresses | | | |Increase support for plant breeding programs. | | | |Broaden genetic base of traditional food crops. | | | |Develop locally adapted crops. | | |Adopt agro-forestry practises. |5 | | |Promote low tillage and permanent soil cover on agricultural | | | |lands. | | | |Construct safe food storage facilities. | | | |Identify alternative food sources including imports. | | | |Research on farming systems including soil/land husbandry. | | | | | | | |3 | | |Mitigation strategies | | | |Promote adaptive management approaches. | | | |Increase public awareness about potential impacts on agriculture | | | |and food security. | | |Review breeding strategies and regulations concerning varieties |4 | | |release and seed distribution | | | |Support agriculture research especially on traditional food | | | |crops. | | | |Encourage and support local processing of food crops | |The table had shown clearly the views of the interviewee about the climate change in Solomon Islands. There a maximum of 15 people, response to the questions and their views a arranged above in the table. More over most of them their views a similar, because of the reality that occur now in the country Solomon islands. Thus, they grouped according to their similarities on the responses. Besides, you can see that many interviewees answer some of the questions and few students answer some of the questions, but it based on what they experience that they see in the Solomon Islands about the effects of climate change, some of their perceptions on the mitigations and adaptations as indicated above.Hence, some of their responses shown above are clearly stated that they really experience the severe effects of climate change in their homes in Solomon Islands, and suffered extensively from the impacts, western Solomon for instance where they heated by the Tsunami in 2007, in which they lived in poverty for a long period before they recovered. By saying this because, they lost their farms both subsistence and commercial farming, and the entire valuable belongings, house, and stuffs inside are damaged due to the drastic event. Figure 4. Shows the summary of the table into graph in percentage [pic] The pie chart showed the percentage of the responses, and by looking at the graph, it showed that, 75 percentages of the res ponses were strongly agreed that effect of climate change had a great impacts on food security, 20 % of the responses were fair in weighing the effects of climate change and other factors.And 5 % they did not sure of the effects of climate change on food security. EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND EXPANSION IN SOLOMON ISLANDS Table 2 a. Table shows the effect of climate change on agricultural productions that collected from the interviewees’ views and from other research findings in Solomon Islands. |Direct effect of climate change |Impacts | |Cyclone |Increased intensity/frequency of cyclones could have dramatic effects on agriculture and food | | |production that often lasts for many years. | |Also, after the immediate effects, pests and diseases could come in later damaging the newly grow | | |crops. | | |For examples, Cyclone Namu in 1986 had dramatic effects on commercial agriculture (palm oil and rice)| | |in Solomon Islands, particularl y rice production has not recovered, and there is now a heavy reliance| | |on imported rice. | | |Rural people experienced downfall of food security due to the event. |Drought |Drought in different localised parts of the country, as influenced by ElNino and La Nina in 1987 | | |people experienced a long period of droughts , had a great impacts on food production | | |cause crops to die due to less underground water for the crop to absorb | | |Agricultural systems were seriously affected by drought conditions, and increased air temperature. | | |Coconut trees and pandanus trees, which are most resilient to dry conditions, wither away during | | |prolonged droughts.Other crops breadfruit, banana and Giant swamp taro are in a worse state | | | | | | | |Floods |Cyclone Namu in 1986, flooding the crops both subsistence and commercial crops, decreased in food | | |security for the people, and export commodities as well. | | |Damaged the entire farm, e. g. the crops are underg round. | | |Cause the root crops to rotten, e. g. cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, vegetables and so on. | | |Flooding low-lying coastal areas of the main islands and the atolls such as Ontong Java are already | | |threatening food crops and livelihoods. | |It lessen the production , and it affect the local markets in urban areas because less production | | |they sold in the market, and it cause the price of the crops to accelerated, where even the goods in | | |the shop are cheap as compared to the cultivated crops. | | |Storm surge and flooding in low-lying coastal areas of the main islands and the atolls such as Ontong| |Storm surge |Java, Tikopia, Anuta are already threatening food crops and livelihoods. |Tsunami | | | |Washed away crops, such as coconut, sweet potatoes, and vegetables and so on in the western part of | | |Solomon Islands in 2007. | Table 1b. Shows the indirect effects of climate change |Indirect Impact of Climate Change |Impacts | |Temperature |Increased temperatures – A correlation has been found between rising temperatures and decreased | | |yields of taro on the coastal lowlands of Makira (Legu 2006). Fires can also result from burning of | | |debris in shifting agriculture systems, Malaita, Solomon Islands. | | | | | | | |Changes in rainfall, high intensity storm events, increased evaporation and more pronounced dry | |Rainfall |seasons, could have severe impacts on agriculture crop production | | |Intense rainfall during planting seasons could damage seedlings, reduce growth and provide | | |conditions that promote plant pests and diseases | | |More pronounced dry seasons, warmer temperature and greater evaporation on the other hand could | | |induce plant stress reducing productivity and harvest and subsequently, affect food security. The | | |alternate scenario of increased rainfall could have equally severe impacts with waterlogged soils | | |decreasing agricultural production, while increased humidity an d rainfall could provide ideal | | |conditions for the proliferation of a number of plant pathogens. E. g.Malaita province in Solomon | | |Islands | | |These conditions could lead to declining agricultural production and this would adversely affect | | |both the country’s economy and food security | | |Plants flowering earlier than usual while others are fruiting much later than normal during the past| | |3-4 years Pineable for instance. Southeast trade winds that were still blowing at end October when | | |traditionally this would have ended in August/September each year. Whilst these people agree that | | climate change may have something to do with these changes, it was difficult for them to determine | | |the extent such changes were influenced by climatic conditions and variations. | |Sea level rise |Sea Level Rise and Coastal Erosion is becoming more evident, reducing the area of land available for| | |agriculture either directly through loss of agricultural l and or indirectly due to families moving | | |further from the coast and taking up agricultural land, E. g. western Solomon Islands, and artificial| | |Islands. | |This erosion also increases vulnerability of agricultural land to rapid onset disasters such as | | |cyclones and storm surges due to the reduction in the natural barrier functions from changes in | | |coastal profiles | | |Salt-water intrusion, storm surge and flooding in low-lying coastal areas of the main islands and | | |the atolls such as Ontong Java are already threatening food crops and livelihoods. | | | | The above tables summarize the results collected from the interviewees on the effects of climate change on the agricultural expansion, to the extent, food security. Well there were two tables above which is figure 1a and b, and they were categorize in two different sub headings which is direct effects and indirect effects of climate change as shown clearly.Seeing that they affected the food security in b oth ways, which is the Solomon Islanders are experience food insecurity and less production for export especially, cocoa, copra, and oil palm for instance. Take for example climate change affect our food security directly as shown above, where by the crops were damaged instantly at the spot when the event strike, and lessen the foods for the household and as well as the productions at the national level in the Solomon Islands. While indirectly effects happened in another way around, where as a result of the sea level rise, it cause salt intrusion and coastal erosion, which lead to less land along the coast for crops and cash crops, cocoa for instance to grow. Table 2: shows the crops that are vulnerable to climate change as stated by the interviewees. crops |Effects | |Taro |Easily destroyed by cyclone | |Sweet Potatoes |Damaged by flooding | |Cassava |Damaged by High intensity of rainfall and cyclone | |Cocoa |Damaged by flooding | |Coconut |Destroyed by sea level rise | |Pinea ble |High intensity of rainfalls where it delay the flowering , and as well as the harvesting | |Cabbage |Spoiled the leaves to rotten | |Giant swamp Taro |Cause to turn yellow colour due to salt intrusion, less underground water | |Yam |High rainfalls, and cyclone cause the crop to rotten, and damaged | |Pana |High rainfalls and cyclone | |Palm Oil |Flooding due to intensity rainfalls | This table showed the type of crops that are vulnerable to climate change, for example Taro, Cassava in which they can easily destroyed by the cyclones and high intensity of rainfall. During cyclones, there always be a strong wind and associate with heavy rain falls, whereby it totally damaged the taro leaves into pieces, and the breeze from the sea can cause the taro leaves to turn yellow due to the high intensity of salt, Thus, it cause the Taro corm to rotten.Besides, the strong wind also damaged the Cassava stalk. If the cassava is premature in which it affect the root crops to small in size for the stage of maturity or if not it cannot yield or have no root crops anymore, because it disturbed the growth. Moreover, cocoa, oil palm and coconut are the major cash crops in Solomon Islands; and, they highly vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding result from eroding of coastal land or coastal erosion where it dug the coconuts out, and flooding could wiped the cocoa and oil palm out due to the great force of the current. Along the same line, it digs the riverbanks and causes the cocoa along the rivers to wash down along the river.Figure 4: shows the percentages of agricultural productions that affected due to the effects of climate change from 2004 to 2007. [pic] Source: Central Bank of Solomon Islands, 2006, Annual Report 2005 The figure above obviously had shown the outcomes of agriculture production that was affects by the climate change as from 2004 to 2007 both subsistence and commercial. Well the output affects product was increases accordingly, like in 2004, the affect ed products percentage was 21%, 24% for 2005, followed by 25% for 2006 and 30% for 2007 and as it continues the percentage will increases accordingly. This is because of the changes in temperature and rainfall and the occurrence of tropical cyclones in Solomon Islands.Now day families and communities experience inadequate supply of food from their garden, which leads to the limited products supply due to the following experiences: †¢ Yield from staple fruits trees is not sufficient to meet the food needs of the population and this problem is exacerbated by natural cycle and weather pattern changes. †¢ Yield from roots crops is not sufficient to meet the food needs of the population because of declining soil fertility and poor choice of root crop varieties. †¢ Yield from supplementary sources of food (bush, and gardens) have declined because of climate change and sea level rise. †¢ Less production export in which it decrease the GDP of the economyIn addition, coas tal garden areas (mainly taro patches) were flooded by seawater for long period, and caused the swamp taro tubers to turn yellow and bitter rendering them not suitable for Consumption. Hence, Seawater flooding also affected the quantity and quality of potable water supply that could be exacerbated by drought conditions. Thus for Ontong Java sea-level change and its concomitant consequences are already being experienced. DISCUSSION Well agriculture sector was the backbone of the pacific islands countries, particularly Solomon Islands because it accounts and contributes in to the economic sector with higher percentage of the GDP.Not only that but it was also accommodated the daily and sustainability of earning for the rural people (Legu, M. 2006). Therefore, it is a concern for every people and well as government to take action, adaption and mitigation strategies on this issue of growing climate changes on the food security and agriculture production. Refer to figure 1. 0. It depict o ut the increasing minimum and maximum temperature of two main islands, Malaita and Guadalcanal of Solomon islands since the 1950s. Besides, the best fit maximum temperature approximately from 29. 0 ? C and gradually upward, while the minimum temperature approximately from 22. 0 ? C and upward.From that, you can see that best fit is continuously increasing from 1950s to 2007, likewise from 2007 to 2011 in which the temperature might 30. 0 ? C from the estimation from the figure. Besides, the figure 1. 0 was true because it back up the evidence from the interviewees, where they said that they experienced droughts, and hot session not like before. Where, some of the grasslands in Guadalcanal province were in flame, due to the friction between the grasses itself and the hot weather. These lead to the massive destruction on the crops due to the burning, and diminish the growth of the agricultural crops because of inadequate nutrients and ground water to the support the growth of the crop s.Increased temperatures resulted in a correlation has been found between rising temperatures and decreased yields of taro on the coastal lowlands of Makira (Legu 2006). Fires can also result from burning of debris in shifting agriculture systems. For example, in 1997 and 1998 ENSO, people experienced a long period of drought , result in hunger due to poor quality of crops because they are affected by disease because they breed in dry session, sweet potatoes for instance, and so on, where only few crops have left, in which it reduced in food supply for the household consumption (Legu 2006). Besides, swamp water for the Giant swamp Taros were dried up, and they are dead due to no water for them to keep alive and as well rice farms.Whilst, it reduced in food security and even the production, rice for instance for both daily consumption and export were affected. Along the same line, in 2002, they experienced the long sunshine period due to effects of climate change, and it has the grea t effect on food security in a sense that increased temperatures will cause heat stress on many plants, and increased evaporation may lead to increased drought, especially in drier areas during the dry season, (Personal Interview of Dr. Morgan). Hence, it affected the food production to be less in the central market in Honiara, where it causes the price of the crops too expensive for the urban dwellers especially for the low-income earners. Moreover, according to figure 2. 0.It shows the rate of sea level rise in the last 10 years up to 2006 from satellite records. In the southwest Pacific (Melanesia region), and Solomon Islands is one of them. Likewise, the record indicates that from 1994 to 2008 the relative trend of sea level rise is 7. 6 mm per year for Solomon Islands (http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com). Well, estimated from 2008 to 2011 where the global trend of the seal level rise is 1. 1 mm per year, in which absolutely it rise to 11 mm according to the record from th e estimation. In addition, sea level rise spoil the swamp Taros and cause intrusion to the leaves to turn yellow because it resist to salination, and even the corm of the swamp Taros (Kakake) are perished.Hence it affect the food security to reduce and some household experienced hunger during flooding, and diseases, because this food can substituted instead of high land taro, and sweet potatoes and so on for their survival. besides, it signifies that coastal land are eroding, where it reduced the size of the land to plant coconut and cocoa Plantations where they used to reside along the coast in which they found land areas to plant. To more extent, from the responses of the interviewees, it shows that sea level rise and Cyclones and storm surges was a major problem especially the low-lying coast in Solomon Islands especially, Ontong Java, Tikopia, Anuta, western Solomon, and northern Solomon. For example, a storm in early 2006 coinciding with high tides caused extensive floods on th e two permanently inhabited islands, Luaniua and Pelau.And Ontong Java considered highly vulnerable to cyclones due to the high exposure and sensitivity to impacts from flooding, dependence on few crops (mainly coconuts and taro) and wind-sensitive house constructions. In addition, from the interviewees, especially the students from western part of Solomon Islands, they said that, they experienced the great massive of destruction on the agricultural productions and as well taking life of human. For example, in 2007, the Tsunami heats the coastal area in western Solomon and split the villages into half, and washed away the crops along the coast, and they experienced great hunger ever in their lives that they did not experienced in life before. (Personal Interview with students). Below is the picture of the Tsunami in 2007. [pic][pic] Source: by Calwin, 2007As you can see from the picture above, the Tsunami split the Coconut Plantation, and all the coconut trees along the coast were w ashed away, and with their homes. The impacts result in coastal erosion, and eroded of the large area of land that planted by coconut and cocoa trees, and the sea come through the inner part of the land and washed ? part of the plantation away. Likewise, it results in shortage of supplies to the main centre for exporting, because less coconut and cocoa ripe fruits collected for dryer. Hence, it reduced the revenue coming into the country for increased the economy in terms of the GDP, this is because coconut and cocoa are primary products and main source of export from Solomon Islands.Well, it affected the household income basis because less income received from the selling of the dryer coconut flesh and dry and wet cocoa beans, result in hindrance for their livelihood in terms of living standard. Likewise, they suffered from the drastic event until today. Furthermore, agricultural productivity in PICs is heavily dependent on the seasonal rainfall. About 70% of the gross cropped area in the Pacific Islands is geographically located to benefit from rains in the summer season (November – April). Well, most of the rural population in Solomon Islands lived and cultivated crops in areas where annual rainfall was in the range 1800–3500 mm.In mountainous locations where clouds formed early in the day and reduced sunlight, human settlement and agriculture was generally absent. Localities where the annual rainfall was more than 4000 mm tend to be wet and have too much cloud covered for good agricultural production. The variation of the normal rainfall can have many impacts to the agriculture products like shift of rainfall patterns affect planting time, growing stages, harvest periods, post harvesting storage and drastically reduced the total yield (World Bank, 2000). Cocoa production is widely distributed throughout Solomon Islands, grown in all provinces except Rennel/Bellona, which makes cocoa the second most important cash crop after coconut.The high r ainfall in production areas led to severe outbreaks of the Black-pod disease having devastating effects on production ( personal interviews with student). Agriculture and crop productions were under stress from these climatic factors but it remains difficult to predict the likely outcomes with certainty because of limited empirical data for the Solomon Islands. These can affected the local food consumption and the total exports of products per year, which also contributed to the decline in country GDP. Hence, by observation the most destructive impacts of excessive rainfall on agriculture infrastructure and crops are flooding and water logging.For example, Cyclone Namu in 1986 had dramatic effects on commercial agriculture (palm oil and rice), and in Solomon Islands, particularly rice production has not recovered, and there is now a heavy reliance on Imported rice (personal interviewed with Dr. Morgan, 2011). Another example, flooding in 2009-caused damage to gardens and the oil pal m and other outdoor crops, these in fact lead to lose in output oil palm and other farmers loses. And affected the livelihood of the people both rural and urban dwellers, and even at the national level GDP for instance reduced because less merchandise to export (Lizzie Tegu, 2009). Below show some pictures in 2009 flooding in Solomon Islands and affected the outskirts of the Town Honiara, even further away from the City in Guadalcanal province. [pic][pic]Source: shot by Lizzie Tegu, 2009 These pictures have taken during the flood in 2009 but just outskirt of the cities, and only few but not all pictures. Moreover, from the analysis of the interviewees’ views or responses from the tables, it come with the summary that, absolutely the food security was rapidly reduced due to the effects of climate change that discussed above. Well, it shown that, Solomon Islanders facing a great challenges and problems but they do not realized the real effects on the food security, in which the y experienced less food for household consumption, and some urban dwellers experienced the price of the crops were increasing so fast from year to year.Imagine that even the crops were very expensive than the proceed food in the shops in Solomon Islands, where the price should decrease because there was no Taxes, labour cost on the crops, but it shown that the productions is reduced but they do not know the exact causes. In addition, from some findings shows that there are great percentage lose from the agricultural production especially food security both in rural areas and outskirt of the city of Honiara. Where figure 4, give the actual data, each year the percentage of the crops were decreased due to cyclones, flooding, seal level rise, drought, and so on as indicate from the table above. As you can see below was the picture taken during the Cyclone that affected Tikopia, and Lordhowe (http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. com). [pic] Source: http://www. SolomonIslandsNapa. pdf. o m). From the responses, highlighted that, flooding was a major problem in Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal province where Honiara city is located, it have a great massive destruction on the Oil palm plantation, where it washed away the new seedlings and even dig out the big Oil palm trees and through the river to the seas. Where it results in low export of Oil palm to the global market and it really affected the GDP of the economy to fall and experience devalued in currency. Besides, the sweet potatoes, melons, vegetables were damaged and covered with ground, and it happen every year in Solomon Islands during heavy rains associate with cyclones.Where it affected the food security to reduce, and daily income of the people halt and it affected the purchasing power of the rural people for other necessities from the shops. The interviewees’ responses gave me clear picture that some of their places where they plant their crops covered with seas, Makira province in Solomon Islands for instance. Besides, the coconut and cocoa plantation really affected by the sea level rise because it would erode the coconut and cocoa trees into the sea and covered with seas today especially my home village, and it seen that the half bottom coconut was standing in the beach, but before there was a land mass that occupied with coconut plantations.Thus, it affect the owner of the plantations because their plantation size already reduce, and it can lessen the mature coconut fruits during their maturity stage to fall, where they can make 10 bags of coconut drier only to sell it for the Liver Company Limited for exporting. While before he can make 30 bags out of the plantation during one harvest. Likewise, it really shown the great changes on his output, and even the income he received also reduced as he expected for his family survival. Therefore, climate change was really a challenge to hinder the living of people in terms of the income they received from their productions, and to th e extent, the production for exporting also reduced and it cause the GDP of the economy to fall. The adverse impacts on agriculture and food security are a major concern for many communities and/or villages.Evidence from changes in temperature and rainfall and the occurrence of tropical cyclones in Solomon Islands will have long-term effects on food production systems. MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES Below are the suggestions from the interviewees and from other findings in Solomon Islands. a) National Food Security programme, food security issue is common to all service providers in the agriculture sector. b) Provincial Food Banks – To mitigate and prepare against the effects of climate change such as cyclones, tsunamis, floods, and pest outbreaks, provincial food banks must be established at strategic sites. c) Crop diversification – The introduction of various crops to boost food production and economic development in the country must continue. This activity ca n be one by all players in agriculture development. d) Tolerant crop species – salt, drought, high rainfall, etc. – Crop varieties that are tolerant to extreme effects of climate change must be identified and rapidly propagated and distributed to hot spots. e) Rapid Response to disasters – exotic pests and diseases outbreaks, floods – An agriculture rapid response center must be established to prepare for any disasters such as pest and disease outbreaks. f) Weather forecasting- Predicting outbreaks of pest and diseases on crops -Developing capacity and capability to predict weather patterns such as weather simulations and pest and disease outbreaks would reduce crop loses. ) Weather stations establishment at agriculture production areas – The establishment of weather stations at agriculture field stations would ensure that data on rainfall, sunlight, and temperature are kept. This information is critical for crop production. h) National Urban Fruit Tree Planting – Planting fruit trees in urban centers such as Honiara, Auki, Gizo, Kirakira, Buala, Lata, Taro, Tulagi, and Tingoa. This will serve two purposes; as a source of fresh fruits and as beautification of the towns. It is vital for everyone in Solomon Islands to practices this adaptation and mitigation to improve their food security and even safe side during those drastic events happening in our country.Besides, Government must work hard by giving out people to give awareness or workshops on the type of system in order to implement in the communities in the provinces in Solomon Islands. CONCLUSION From the findings, it shown clearly that Climate change is a threat to Solomon Islands as it affected the livelihood of people both directly and indirectly in rural and urban areas in terms of hunger, decreased in household income, and affected their purchasing power because agriculture is the source of living in Solomon Islands. And, to the extent it affected the nationa l level in the country as well due to decreased in GDP result from less merchandize export.Hence, Government and individuals should act on by looking for possible adaptation and mitigation strategies or adapt to the highlighted ones above to help each other, in order to minimize the impacts on the food security, and as well as the welfare of the nation. BIBLIOGRAPHY Aalbersberg, W. , Nun, P. D. , and Ravuvu, A. D. 1993. Climate and agriculture in the Pacific islands: future perspectives. Institute of Pacific Studies, Suva, Fiji. Strzepek, K. M and Smith, J. B. 1995. As climate changes: International impacts and Implications. Cambridge University Press. New York, USA. FAO. 2010. Collaborative Changes: A communication framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Food Security. Rome, Italy. Judith A. Bennett, 1978, Culture of Solomon Islands. Solomon printed limited, Honiara. Legu, M. 006, NCSA UNFCCC Stocktaking Report, Honiara, Solomon Islands. World Bank, 2000. Adapting to Climate Ch ange. Vol. IV in Cities, Seas and Storms, Managing Change in Pacific Island Economies. Papua New Guinea and Pacific Island Country Unit, The World Bank. IPCC (2001). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis, available on line at http://www. grida. no/ climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/. Accessed 6th August from: http://sustainableagriculture. net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/nsac_climatechangepolicypaper_final_2009_07_16. pdf Accessed 6th August from: http://www. ceepa. co. za/Climate_Change/index. html Accessed 7th August from: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/11/16/DI2007111601638. tm Accessed 7th from: http://www. faopacific. ws/Portals/167/publications/Current%20Updates/SAP%20publications/Vanuatu%20FAO%20climate%20change%20study. final. pdf Accessed 11th August from: http/siteresources. worldbank. org/INTPACIFICISLANDS/Resources/summary_Voulme_IV_test. pdf. APPENDICES Questionnaires 1. What are the effects of climate change on the agricultural production in your country? 2. Do you think that agriculture sector in your country seriously affect by the effect of climate change? (Yes or No). If yes, then in what way. 3. What are some challenges or problems that SIDS were face due to the halt of agricultural expansion? 4.How do your people cope with the challenges or problems face by climate change on the agricultural development? 5. Do you think that halt of agricultural expansion affects life and nation as a whole? Give your reason. 6. Does your country have some possible ways to deal with these issues? Yes or No 7. What are some possible ways or solutions to address the challenges or problems in your country? 8. Do you think that Agriculture contributes a lot in the economic growth of the country? State your reason. 9. Do you think that climate change is the major problem on Agricultural expansion in SIDS? 10. What do you think if the agriculture did not expand? 11.What are some ways to improve or increase the country is GDP if Agriculture is not progress well? 12. What are some suggestions that government need to implement in order to reduce the effect of climate change on agricultural expansion? 13. What are some of the effective methods that SIDS need to pursue in order to maintain their sustainability? 14. What are the effects on the livelihood of the people? 15. What is your advice for your Government as Citizen to address the issue? List of the Interviewees 1. Dr. Morgan 2. Simeon 3. Mike 4. John 5. Peter 6. Angela 7. Rodley 8. Calwin 9. Lavinia 10. Fred 11. Sau 12. Agnes 13. Emily 14. Matilda 15. Robert