Locke's point on view about empiristics Assignment

Locke's point on view about empiristics - Assignment Example Explain why Berkeley maintains that if empiricists take these ideas seriously, Locke's account actually leads to radical doubts about the existence of the material world. What solution to this problem does Berkeley think that empiricists should accept? Berkeley's solution, however, is widely seen to be highly problematic. Which of these two problems---the (alleged) problems facing Locke or Berkeley's solution to these problems---seems to be the most damaging or difficult problem facing empiricism? Why? Critically defend your position. The empiricist claim of Locke proposes that knowledge only comes from experience and feeling while the rationalists asserts that reason is already an innate attribute and is already previously present in Descartes Cartesian proof. Locke posits that the human consciousness evolves and therefore starts as an â€Å"empty mind† or a tabula rasa. It continuously evolves with experience, learning and sensation which are the sources of our ideas. The ra tionalists like Rene Descartes however, presupposes that reason is already inherent in man. It is already there even before he or she attempts to evolve or make a conscious effort to even think. For Descartes, the mere exercise of thinking is already a validation that one exists. Even the process of doubting one’s existence, in Descartes perspective, is already a proof that one exists due to the sheer exercise of thinking.

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 4

Microeconomics - Essay Example One of the main characteristics of perfect competition includes sale of homogenous goods where all firms in the market same the same good. The second characteristic of perfect competitive market is perfect information where all sellers and buyers if goods know the price of the good and an increase in price by the seller will result in zero sales. Monopoly is a market structure consisting of one seller and many buyers; hence, the seller has total maker power on price and quantity. The main characteristic of this market is the lack of close substitutes; hence, the users have to purchase from the firm at the price. The second characteristic of monopoly is high barriers of entry that could be as a result of high capital requirement, ownership of production resources by the firm, natural causes, and government offer of single license to the firm ensuring presence of abnormal profits in the long-run in a monopoly market. Oligopoly defines a market structure characterized by few large firms operating in the market hence the decision of a firm affects other firms in the market. A characteristic of an oligopoly is aggressive and defensive advertising to ensure buyers get information on the products and give a firm advantage over the other firms in the market. The other characteristic is price rigidity, since when one firm increase price other firms may not follow suit leading to loss of sales by the firm with an increased prices and augmented sales for the other firms. Monopolistic competition consists of a market structure consisting of firms with a degree of market power owing to the production of non-perfectly substitutable goods, and the aim of the firms is profit maximization. A characteristic of monopolistic competition is free entry of firms ensuring the economic profits in the long-run are reduced to normal profits. The second characteristic is that firms produce differentiated products allowing for a certain degree of market power since the goods cannot be

Using RStudio to Prepare and Clean Data

Using RStudio to Prepare and Clean Data There is now more data available than ever before, the depth and scope is increasing daily. The explosion of the internet and connected devices has increased this and big data is now big business. With the increase in data available to us, so has the need for analysis of this data. Many companies use this data to predict future trends. Also, what has changed is the tools we use to analysis and present this data in a meaningful way. In the past statistical software was very expensive and often with no graphical capabilities. Enter the R programming language a tool that supports both, first released in 1995 with the first stable build in 2000, now on version 3 which was released in 2013. R is a free open source project with over 7000 add on packages available. Many companies such as Google and Facebook are using R for their data analysis. In this lab book we will look at cleaning and preparing data so it can analysed. We will use R Studio which is an IDE (Integrated development environment) for the R programming language. R Studio is available as an open source or commercial version, it has two editions R Studio desktop and R Studio Server and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems. The dataset we have is from the UK government, and is based on MOT outlets in England, Scotland, and Wales, it contains data such as name, address, post codes, telephone numbers and categories of vehicles tested. On quick analysis of the dataset there are a lot of blank fields, extra white spaces, typos in the telephone column as well as second telephone numbers separated by the / symbol. Using R Studio we will attempt to tidy and clean the dataset. In this lab book we will explain the various commands and techniques used to prepare the data for analytical analysis. Make a copy of the data to work with: Method: Here we make a copy of the original dataset x2016motsitelist and call it MotList, this is good practice as you will not contaminate the original dataset. Test: Result: From the above screen shot you can see we have renamed our dataset to MotList, by using the name of the dataset in R studio it lists the dataset in a screen dump on the console. Get the Stucture of Our Data Frame Method: by using the str() command in the console we get the structure of our data. Test: Result: by using the structure command str() we can see that our dataset has 22,980 objects and 14 different variables. The next lines which contain $ indicate column headings and display some of the components included in these columns. This command just provides a list with components and names. View the data Method: Using the Head command to view the data. Test: Result: using this command the first 6 records are displayed in the console window. ID names of columns Method: We use the Names command to display column names. Test: Result: this displays the names of our columns in the console window. Summary of what is contained in the columns Method: we use the Summary command to get an overview of the data in our columns. Test: Result: the summary command gives us an overview for every vector in the data frame, tells us in our case that the length is 22980 rows, that all vectors are character classes. Missing values Method: we will use the is.na command, combination of is.na with the any command and lastly the sum command to check for missing values in the data. Test: Result: the result of the is.na command returns a Boolean true or false result on the data set to tell us if a missing value is present or not. Test: Result: with the use of the any command we find that there is indeed missing data in the dataset. Test: Result: with the use of the sum command we get the number of missing records, which is 149097 in this case. Rename columns in our data set. Method: we use the colnames command to change the columns in our data set that are numbered 1,2,3,4,5 and 7. Test: Result: with the use of the above commands we change the name of the columns using the name to identify which column to apply the name change to. We use the names(MotList) to verify the result. Test: Remove NA from the different categories of vehicle that are Mot tested Method: we create another copy of our dataset and call it MotListMod, on this dataset we will change the NA values in the columns that we renamed earlier so that the different categories of vehicles tested will have complete values and no missing data. We do this by giving the dataset name and then the $ column name, we then use the which command and is.na to change the value to the desired result. Test: Result: As can be seen from the screen shot above, we have changed the NA values in the six columns of our dataset, our dataset now tells us if a Mot test centre carries out tests on the different vehicle categories Y or N, were as before it only told us the if the centre did Y with a blank field for N. Again, we run the sum is.na command on both datasets we have, now the MotListMod dataset has far less Nas in the dataset. Remove and tidy up VTS Telephone column. Method: Firstly, using the GSUB command we removed instances of Tel. and TEL. from our column, secondly, we separate the column in two sections number 1 and 2 with the SEPARATE command as some of the test centres have two telephone numbers separated by / in the dataset, thirdly we tidy up the white space. Test: Using GSUB wrongly above didnt produce the desired outcome, but in the two screens below we get the desired outcome. The above screen shows were the VTS Telephone column is split into different sections. Trimming white space from the front of the telephone numbers. Removing the NAs from the VTS Telephone number2 Result: By using GSUB and identifying the column we wanted to target, we replaced the instances of Tel. and TEL. in our dataset with whitespace, we then proceeded to split the column into two different sections, when we did this it created a lot of NAs in the second column because not every test centre has two telephone numbers, so to counter act this we replace the NAs with the value 0. We then tidy up the white space at the start of the two columns. Write to CSV file in R studio Method:ÂÂ   We will write the MotListMod3 dataset to a CSV file with the WRITE.CSV command. Test: Result: The above command writes the dataset to a csv file and can be viewed or shared with others, see above screen shot of the file in excel. Outliers and plot function. Method: using the HIST command we produce a histogram of the cars column, the columns class had to be changed to a factor form to make the function work, also we used the Table command to count the number of Y and N in this column. Test: In the screen shot above you can see a histogram of the cars column. Result: No outliers are present as our columns only have a Y or N present in the different type of vehicles tested columns. Also, our data was of class character, this had to be converted to a factor form so as we could use the histogram function on the column cars. We used the table command on the column to display a numeric result for N = 1054 and Y=21926.

Organization Essay -- essays papers

Organization First impressions are crucial. If a classroom is organized and appropriately arranged, then it is apparent that the teacher possesses good management skills. A variety of things must be considered when arranging the classroom. It â€Å"must contain interesting materials appropriate to a child’s stage of intellectual development† and not appear thrown together (Streng, 1978). All fire exits, doorways, and main walkways must be kept open and free of clutter while built in cupboards, drawers, closets, etc must be easily accessible as well. The desk arrangement, perhaps the most important element, requires several considerations. Placing the students desks in groups promotes peer tutoring and collaborative activities. However, they may tend to be more talkative and less focused. Individual seating is effective in keeping students focused and on task, but group work is often difficult and requiring time to move desks. Also, when students are separated from each other they are more dependent on the teacher for understanding since their peers are not as easily accessible. Often pairing students is a good method that promotes peer tutoring and some teamwork but has a better chance of students remaining focused and successful (Glover, 1994). Learning and teaching styles need to be considered, as well as how the classroom should be run, before arranging desks. The teacher’s desk should be strategically placed so all students can be seen and any important areas such as a black board are not blocked. Organized teachers will their desk neat and free of clutter. If the desk is cluttered time is being wasted trying to find important papers and information. Be selective about what goes on the desk so that there isn’t u... .... Providing structure, preventing problems. Retrieved September 24, 2001 from http://warthog.cc.wm.edu/TTAC/articles/challenging/problems.htm. This is an article from the College of William and Mary Website that provides ideas and examples of how to maintain order and structure in your classroom. Steele, K. Tips for organizing your desk. Retrieved November 8, 2001 from http://www.angelfire.com/ks/teachme/4yourdesk.html#Be%20Selective. A website that has four helpful tips to keeping your desk organized and clean. Thompson, M.W. (1994, December 10). Controlling the Classroom's Chaos; Rookie Instructors Often Find Discipline Is Their Toughest Lesson. The Washington Post, p. A1. An article from a series by The Washington Post about first year teachers and how they handle certain situations. This one focuses on discipline and how to handle bad kids.

Global Warming and Geomorphology Essay

In his article â€Å"Global Warming and Geomorphology†, David K. C. Jones attempts to distinguish between the doom and gloom predictions surrounding and offer a more realistic approach to the effects that climate change will have on the geological and biosphere aspects of the planet and specifically on the British Isles. Climate fluctuation based on the presence of so-called greenhouse gases has been occurring for most of the last geological period. At issue, however, are several factors that have not been considered in previous periods of rapid climate change including the impact of humanity on greenhouse gases and humanity’s knowledge of its impact (Jones, 124). This knowledge of humanity’s impact on geomorphology can be used for either gain in the coming global change or can be used to incite doomsday predictions. Jones theorizes that geomorphologic change may have happened this rapidly in the British Isles at the end of the last ice age, but that since humanity was not aware of it or could simply respond to the changes as they happened, modern man may have an advantage to protect his environment. The problem with the knowledge that humanity has affected global climate change is that it also points out how much we do not know. The author discusses this in terms of regionalization, the idea that some global effects of climate change will only affect certain regions. The effects he identified as potentials were: (i) The likelihood of catastrophic outcomes; (ii) The potential distribution of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ within an economy, both over space and through time; (iii) Whether winners and losers can be reliably identified through improved modeling in sufficient time to allow effective policy formulation; (iv) Evaluation of the costs and benefits of climatic change prevention compared with those generated by responding to changed climate through adjustment; and (v) Evaluation of the costs of attempting to maintain the status quo compared with managed adaptation to changing environmental conditions. † (Jones, 126) In essence, Jones begin his argument by saying that it is the socio-economic factors of global warming which might be more devastating to humanity than the actual physical changes on the planet. Much ado, he says, has been made about the effect the rising of the mean sea level on the planet could have in areas such as Bangladesh, where 9 percent of the population would be affected by a rising sea level, creating millions of climate refugees or in Egypt, where the nation could lose as much as 15 percent of its farmland to rising water (Jones, 127). None of these factors threatens the existence of humanity, but they do threaten life as we know it. Changes in weather patterns, top soil erosion and rainfall could have enormous effects on agricultural production, for instance, which may have a major effect on the world’s economy, but it is unlikely to have such a far-reaching effect as to produce global food shortages. Jones does not completely negate the idea that humanity could face dire consequences associated with global climate change, but he does argue that they are more likely to be economic than physical. (127). However, Jones also argues that the ability to predict the impact of global warming on geomorphology and the biosphere is somewhat limited. Specifically, he claims that: â€Å"Predicting changes in the atmospheric composition of greenhouse gases remains problematic because of uncertainty as to existing sources, pathways, fluxes and stores of the various gases involved, combined with difficulties of estimating future patterns of human inputs (Houghton et al. , 1990, 1992; DOE, 1991; Wigley and Raper, 1992) ; 2 Climate is the great integrator and, therefore, reflects a huge range of influences, both global and extra-terrestrial, some natural others human-induced, working at varying temporal and spatial scales. Both identifying and predicting the influences of greenhouse gases are, therefore, extremely difficult; 3 The relationship between greenhouse gases and climatic parameters is not simple because of both positive and negative feedback mechanisms, step-wise changes resulting from the existence of threshold conditions, synergies, and the complex influence of the oceans and their circulation patterns ; 4 Predicting change remains hampered by lack of knowledge regarding system parameters (e. g. ocean-atmosphere coupling) and the awesome magnitude of the computing task required by the most sophisticated models. † (Jones, 126-127) Perhaps the most important part of the thesis that Jones is trying to make is that once we have accepted that global warming is affected by human action, we must therefore accept that we can affect how significant that climate change will be. Specifically, Jones talks about the potential impact of actions taken to mitigate global warming including attempts to reduce the production of greenhouse gases and actions taken with regard to soil shift which is likely to occur rapidly during the temperature increase. Efforts to discuss beach erosion, cliff erosion and affects on deltas and coral islands should emphasize what actions can be taken to lessen the effect of rising ocean levels. Any action then taken to attempt to control these forces of natures will have a substantial effect on the outcome related to those climate changes. The first thing I noticed about this article is that it was published nearly 15 years ago, making some of its basic assumptions rather obsolete. For example, Jones discusses the massive computer power needed to perform the complex projections related to weather patterns and global warming. While it is possible that this limitation was considered a severe one in 1993, the rapid expansion of computer processing power means that more recent looks at global warming can attempt to analyze weather-related data and infer probability based on those history patterns. Furthermore, the computer models can be very detailed and discuss specific projected ocean levels in individual cities or nations and over a specific time frame. No longer is it just a cataclysmic claim that the sea levels will rise, but it is a specific claim regarding how much water will be where. The second thing I noticed about this article was that it was published in the midst of some of the worst flooding in modern United States history, the great flood of 1993 on the Mississippi River. Flood levels that year reached beyond the 100-year-floodplain and ignited questions about the effects of changing weather patterns on agriculture and population centers in the central United States. Since then, we have seen major flooding along several major rivers in the United States including the Rio Grande, the Missouri River and the Ohio River, while at the same time seeing the Colorado River suffer from enormous drought conditions, creating a lack of potable water for major western American cities. On the British Isles, we recently observed massive flooding along the Thames River and associated death and destruction. Already, just 15 years after Jones’ article, we are seeing the effects of global warming as weather patterns shift causing record heat waves in Europe, killing hundreds, and shifts in the American food producing states where rain seems to come at inappropriate times or inappropriate amounts. Next, I began to consider Jones’ theory that massive global climate change is primarily concerning most people because of the economic shifts it will likely cause. If several countries see their major crops begin to die out because of a climate shift, will we see the food production belts shift further northward and further southward from the equator? And, what effect will this have on the habitable portions of the world? As additional areas of the world become classified as tropical and subtropical, what will be the effect on population patterns? Will regions now largely devoted to population centers need to give the land back to agrarian tasks? Already we are seeing the effects of the global climate shift in India and Pakistan. India with about 1 billion people does not have the ecological resources to support its population, including, but not limited to, clean water. This contributes to the political instability of the region as Pakistan and other Indian neighbors face regular mass immigration from India. These massive population shifts are causing or contributing to political strife worldwide. Likewise, as food production suffers because populations are no longer nomadic and able to follow the seasons to appropriate growing conditions, it seems likely that increased international strife will develop over the supply of natural resources ranging from deciduous trees to natural grains. Further impacting this is a move to biofuels as an attempt to curb the production of greenhouse gases. So far, we have been able to observe that the high demand for grains and sugar cane to be converted in to ethanol and other biofuels has begun to drive up the cost of food stuffs on an international basis. As some point, the system will break and people will demand that they be able to afford to eat. Perhaps the most interesting portion of Jones’ article is his claim that the doomsday predictions are overblown and that climate change is not necessarily a cataclysmic event. Though it is unlikely that human-induced climate change will be the cause of an extinction event, it appears more likely that the economic and political strife caused by the climate change may cause severe population reducing events including limited warfare or extinction events such as a nuclear confrontation. Given the recent receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize to American Albert Gore Jr. for his work on informing the public about global warming, the lessons of Jones’ article are particularly timely. His advice that a plan for mitigating the effects of global warming needs to be developed and implemented beginning in the 1990s and extending to 2050 is very well received. The only tragedy is that this advice was soundly ignored for the first decade after he gave it and real attention to global warming has only come in recent years as a result of the Kyoto Treaty and efforts like those of Gore. It seems unthinkable that the debate over the validity of the science of global warming still exists when there is evidence of its existence and of humanity’s effect on it. I feared at first when reading Jones’ introduction that he was going to be one of the people who claim that the climate shift is part of a semi-predictable pattern of geological history as so many naysayers are wont to do. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that his analysis acknowledges that it is happening at an accelerated rate because of the impact of humanity and his statements in support of the idea that humanity can thus also mitigate its impact on the globe and on the species. More importantly perhaps is that some of Jones’ suggestions can be applied to mitigating the effects of global climate even if the climate change is a completely natural cycle unaffected by the pollutants added to the atmosphere by humanity. Efforts to prevent soil erosion and to minimize building in floodplains make simple sense. Anyone who simply accepts the fact of changing weather patterns can easily see the logic in these efforts regardless of whether they have any desire to reduce their carbon footprint. Using technological advances to help prevent soil loss during flood events and to insist that populations take climate change into consideration are of value regardless of the causes of global warming. Furthermore, Jones’ explanation regarding the geological history of interglacial periods can be viewed as reassuring to even those who are convinced of the human factor in global warming. At some times, the earth has undergone rapid ecological change in the past and the biosphere has not been destroyed. Therefore, his conclusions that global warming is neither something to be ignored nor the world ending event that it has been portrayed as is a very lucid approach. Too many zealots follow the anti-global warming crusades with a fervor that is as unhealthy as ignoring the issue could be. Simple changes in everyone can help prevent the need to massively adjust our lifestyles by mid-century. Efforts must be made to preserve the coastlines as much as possible and to prevent soil erosion when flooding occurs. Simple efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be attempted as well and people should adjust to the ideas of different crop patterns and therefore a different distribution of food resources. We should also prepare for an influx of immigrants from nations where receding coasts will leave populations with no place to live and we should take international action to address issues like the sub-Saharan drought in Africa, encouraging the sharing of natural resources like water among neighbor states. With these efforts now and an eye toward the issues that global warming will create in the relatively near future, we can prevent climate change from becoming an extinction event. If we ignore it, the strife brought on by it will likely be the end of humanity. Works Cited Jones, David K. C. â€Å"Global Warming and Geomorphology†, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 159, No. 2, July 1993, pp. 124-130.

My Philosophy in Life Essay

Living life to the fullest and helping others achieve the same while being my carefree self is my philosophy. My values to live life by are, to reason with or ask questions about anything and everything, to show others my point of view and persuading them is also important to me, and to accept people for who they are and help them no matter what, that defines who I am. Life is a mystery that everyone unfolds each day, by each passing moment. Asking questions, to me is something I find logical because if a hum being is curious, it wants the answer. During my childhood, when I read books about my religion, so many questions arouse in my head. Asking my parents was the only resource I had to answering my questions and ridding me of my curiosity. The world has changed so much only because people ask so many questions and work hard to find answers, if possible that is. Helping people learn and understand both the questions and answers through my experiences is a joy to me and I live by this philosophy. Answering the many questions is fine, but not everyone agrees with my reasoning. This challenging rivalry, the desire to prove my point to the opponent whether I’m right or wrong is another one of my philosophies. Back in Dubai while I was in Grade 5, I was a participant at a debate, and the topic that I had to talk about was, whether if the introduction of computers into society during this era had a negative effect. Although I was proved wrong by my rival, I stood my ground and got my point across using facts, direct quotations, and my personal drive to prove him wrong. This was not in order to win like most people see it, it was in order to show everyone the flip side of the issue at hand and to educate them about it. Being challenged is my drive to press forward. Proving my point is fun, but taking people’s feelings into consideration is the most important philosophy I live by. Sometimes it angers or upsets people when what they believed in or lived by was wrong. Causing conflict is something I always try to avoid, since I’m a very carefree person who likes to go with the flow and work accordingly. I had to prove to my parents that the career path I chose to pursue was the right choice for me. I convinced them but I also making sure I achieve what they want me to achieve, so that they are happy. As a person who is carefree, I live life as it goes on but I also stop and realise what’s happening around me, learn from it, and share my experiences with people. I prove my point but also accept others opinion so I see how other people view the world and what they think about it. This is how I learn and live life, using these few philosophies of mine.