Are We Better Than Our Forefathers Essay

Have you ever pondered the fact that we are better than our forefathers? If you think otherwise, I’ll explain why I think this way. Most people say that our forefathers’ lives were very peaceful. We have technology at our hands and we have made atom bombs and weapons. For destruction you might say, but that’s not true because we are making these for our protection. Our forefathers lived without many modern amenities and inventions such as electricity, aero planes, microwave ovens and more, whereas we cannot even imagine life without laptops and cellular phones. Even children play with such things. The greatest drawback of the lives that our forefathers led was that of education; the people were mostly uneducated and were unaware the major issues of life. Their thinking was limited to their surroundings and they were not aware or bothered about what was happening in other parts of the world. We are living an active life, whereas our forefather led simple, idle lives. We have clear concepts in our minds whereas the people who lived in the past had many complex issues in their minds. Young never knew the philosophy of life and children were busy with playing games only. Today, we can communicate with people in different countries within no time — thanks to telephone and email.. However, in the past it would take months to send message from one country to another or one place to another. Today, people possess knowledge about every layer within the earth whereas our forefathers living in the past were only familiar with well water. We can even touch the skies, thanks to the major strides that have been made in the field of commutation. The sky is the limit when it comes to development and progress in our age. We have overcome time and space and are covering large distances in a short span of time. While in the past people travelled on foot or in horse driven carriages now we have bullet trains and super sonic aero planes. Of course, all these facts prove that we are leading better lives than our forefathers but it is a fact that the next generation will be better than us.

Procter & Gamble Resources, Capabilities and Competitive Advantage Essay

P&G – Procter & Gamble is a consumer product company founded and headquartered at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1837 by Mr. William Procter and Mr. James Gamble. It is now led by Mr. Alan.G.Lafley whom rejoins the company in 2010. P&G success was contributed to the heart of its business model – Innovation; and that is not just for newly invented product or service, it was for the goal of recreating needs for the improvement of consumers’ living. And it is a very long culture started where the roots started from the founders; whom are soap and candles makers. The first innovative product – Ivory; started in 1879, by James Norris Gamble who is the son of the founder and a trained chemist. Ivory at then was an inexpensive white soap equal to high-quality, imported Castile soap. It was introduced nationwide through a weekly newspaper. Today, P&G has its presence across 180 countries and a team of 121,000 employees. Its business operations spanned across various segments like Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric Care & Home Care and Baby Care & Family Care; it is the house to many of the world leading brands like Head & Shoulder, Gillette, Oral B, Fabrics, Pampers and many more. Touching more than 4 billion consumers worldwide every day, the company sales volume as of fiscal year ending June 30, 2013 was more than 80 billion in sales. The Strategy – Unique Value According to Michael Porter, He argued that organizations that focus solely on operation effectiveness is not enough, they will only be successful if they are able to provide a unique value that is sustainable for a long term. Organizations competing in operation effectiveness will only gauge their performance by benchmarking what others are doing; ultimately providing the same value throughout, which is of no value to the customer. Therefore, for an organization to be able to sustain for long term, an organization would require a competitive strategy by performing a different set of activities to deliver an unique value. According to Jay Barney, he also mentioned that an organization will have a competitive advantage against others if they adopt a value creating strategy not done by others yet. And that value will deem to be able to provide competitive advantage and are sustainable in the long term if they have the four attributes – Valuable, Rare, Non-Imitable and Non Substi tutable (V.R.I.N). Valuable would be that the  resource would be able to add value to the organization; Rare would be that the resource is not common within competitors; Non-imitable would be that the competitors are not able to copy them easily or able to produce the exact same set of resources; And lastly, non-substitutable would be that resources are not easily substitutable by equivalent resources that are valuable. Grant, R.M has a very similar theory to Jay Barney’s; he mentioned that for a resource or capability to establish competitive advantage, it must fit into two conditions: Scarcity and Relevance. Scarcity would refer to that it cannot be widely available, while relevance would refer to that it must be relevant to the key success factors in the market, assisting the firm in creating value for its customers or to survive competition. It is also dependant on their durability and whether are they easily imitable. From the above, we get to understand that a firm can only be successful, if they are able to provide a sustainable value that their rivals are not providing. As derived from the V.R.I.N table above, we can see that P&G competitive advantages would be their strong branding, accumulated understanding of consumer’s needs and innovative culture where it is not achievable by their rivals. Driven by an Innovative Culture In 2011, CEO of P&G – Mr. Robert McDonald mentioned that he is on a mission and that is to make P&G the most technologically enabled business in the world. And he get it all started by digitalizing operations everywhere which has eventually contributed to reduction of cost, time and effort, reaping better product yet higher profitability. Within manufacturing, employees can now use Ipads to download real time data for communication, the goal was to integrate their operational and financial system whereby cost of each product line will be displayed, allowing management to make effective market decision at real time. Within Logistics, there is a â€Å"Control Tower† and Distributor Connect† program that were with the intent to monitor all inbound or outbound activities within internal or external resources, it has since been able to effectively reduce deadhead moments. By bringing innovation into their supply chains to deliver better efficiency and lower cost, it is no surprise that P&G was ranked among the Top 5 in the award for  Gartner Supply Chain Top 25. With the effective supply chain, it has help to keep hiking costs at bay, where P&G can price their product competitively; which ultimately spells benefit for the consumers. For retailers, P&G has developed a sophisticated ordering application whereby retailers can now order via wired phone or wirelessly via a mobile app. With that all done digitally, they can now also upload existing shelf photos and receive best practices on product arrangement to maximize sales. In product development, molecules used for research have also been digitalized. When needed, it will be modeled to predict product effectiveness. Back at the roots of their research and development centre, it is inevitable that one would notice the promotion of innovative thinking within their culture. And this strategy is not only for their employees, P&G has also taken the step out to influence their partners. A program called Connect + Develop has been created to embrace open innovation. Not limiting only to their internal resources, P&G no taps onto the vast knowledge that the world can provide. Riding on this program for the past 10 years, it has brought the value that P&G can offer to the market up by 70%. Recognizing its success, it is now a key strategy that is employed throughout every business units. Some of the well known brands that are generated through this program are Olay Regenerist, Febreze and many more. All these processes are made possible because of the analytical thinking skills found within their employees which plays an important factor since it enabled them to come up with innovative ideas often co-related to analytical data collected. And these processes are not internally focuses; it controlled both the macro and micro environment factors that contribute to their success. With a very strong innovation culture, P&G today are currently at over 55,000 active patent filings globally and, as a subset of the active patent filings, about 41,000 granted patents globally. This makes P&G among the world’s largest holders of U.S. and global patents, puttin g it on a par with Intel, Lucent and Microsoft. Understanding and Reaching Out to Consumers like no others With technology, P&G brings their understanding of consumer’s behavior into the digital age. For the past years, P&G has been able to carry out a successful global rationalization. It is achieved through deep understanding of consumer needs. With digital channels on the rise, consumers are now bringing their feedback of a product or service to the digital space through blogging, tweeting and posting comments. P&G see this advantage and make the most out of it to understand a consumer’s behavior towards a product. But since the comments are all over the place, P&G developed â€Å"Consumer Pulse† which uses Bayesian analysis to scan through the universe of comments and categorizing them into individual product. These real time insights are then sent to respective in charge for real time reaction. They then carry out appropriate go to market strategy. And since the whole world is watching, it is an excellent opportunity for them to tap on the effect and go for the creation of a positive and strong branding. And with those, P&G are able to marry the best of what they have, which are the combination of customer behavior data and their top notch research development team – connecting â€Å"what’s needed† with â€Å"what’s possible†. With a establishment of more than 177 years now, P&G has been making a great deal of awareness in the market. Being one of the biggest media buyers, they have constantly been able to come up with message with an impact for their house brands. With all these activities that happen over the years, P&G has become a very strong and reputable branding among consumers which is a very rare intangible resource whereby new entrants or mediocre players in the industry will not be able to be on par within a short period. Surviv ing Competitions – Conclusion Although an organization’s competitive advantage is able to sustain the company in the long term, it is not forever. A new set of competitive advantage may be required if there are changes in the industry or within the organization structure. An evaluation tool like Porter’s five forces will help P&G understand the structure of its industry and see if it is strategically at a winning position against its long standing on par competitors like Unilever, Colgate Palmolive. If the forces are intense, the firm will not be able to earn attractive returns on investment. If the forces are benign, then it would be profitable. In consideration of the threats above, P&G can easily fence off new entrants with the branding that they established over the past 177 years and also its vast array of products by its own R&D. According to Grant R.M., the value of branding is in the confidence that it has instill in the customer, it is an intangible resources that customers are willing to pay a premium for over an unknown brand and branding is considered a very valuable resources as unlike technology, it is long-lived, unless tarnished. Although retailers can easily switch brands, and the threat is considered high. The retailer’s customers however are brand and product conscious; the retailers buying power are greatly affected by the demand of their customers. Further to this, P&G primed themselves for quality and effective product, this is highly credited to their innovative culture and accumulated understanding of their consumers, therefore although the threat of substitute is considered moderate in this industry, they are able to differentiate themselves with their quality, it is only considering to be a threat for cost conscious shoppers who are not looking at quality – which would be a minority group. Given P&G capacity in production today, suppliers bargaining power is considered a low threat for t hem. As the purchase of raw materials would normally be source globally and in bulk for economics of scope and scale, the negotiation power of P&G would be higher than their suppliers. Another theory to support on its success via its competitive advantage was Porter’s theory on generic competitive strategies. It is said that competitive advantages are classified into Low cost or differentiation, which are in relation to the industry structure. It is the ability of how an organization is able to cope with the five forces better than its rival. The two basic types of competitive advantage combined with its activities to achieve them lead to the three generic strategies – cost leadership, differentiation and focus. In this case, P&G are using Porter’s differentiation generic strategy. This strategy calls for the organization to selects the values that consumers perceive as important and position itself strategically to meet those needs. Although the key focus was to seek differentiation, its cost position was not ignored as P&G strive in operation effectiveness by technologically enabling its operation throughout its organization. P&G is currently in a winning position against its rival. Leveraging on its competitive advantage to provide the unique value to consumers, it has gained market share and the its leader position in sales volume (as supported by above bar chart) among its competitors. REFERENCES: (2009, March 16). Wal-Mart tries to cash in on Store brand boom . Portland, Oregon, United States: The Associated Press. Barney, J. (2004). Firm resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Strategy: Process Content Context: an international perspective, de Wit & Meyer , 285-292. Chui, M. (2011, November). Mckinsey & Company. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from Inside P&G’s Digital Revolution: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/inside_p_and_ampgs_digital_revolution Colgate-Palmolive Company. (n.d.). Online 2013 Annual Report. Retrieved June 24th, 2014, from Colgate-Palmolive Company.: http://investor.colgatepalmolive.com/annual.cfm E.Porter, M. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard Business Review , 78-93. Grant, R. (2005). Analyzing Resources and Capabilties. Comtemporary Strategic Analysis, Grant,R.M. , 130-185. Independent, I. (2014, June 24). Global power-player has come a long way from humble roots. Retrieved June 24, 2014, from In dependent.IE: http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/global-powerplayer-has-come-a-long-way-from-humble-roots-30321097.html Janessa Rivera. (2014). Gartner Announces Rankings of Its 2014 Supply Chain Top 25. Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference. PHOENIX, AZ.: Gartner, Inc. Johnson, B. (2012, October 29). Procter & Gamble Co.’s Advertising Spending, 1987 to 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from AdAge: http://adage.com/article/special-report-pg-at-175/procter-gamble-s-advertising-spending-1987-2012/237974/ Lafley, A. (2008, August 26). P&G’s Innovation Culture. Retrieved june 2014, 9, from strategy+business: http://www.strategy-business.com/article/08304?pg=0 M.E., P. (2004). Generic Competitive Strategies. Competitive Advantage, porter M.E , 11-25. P&G Annual Cash Flow. (2014, June 23). Retrieved June 23, 2014, from The Wall Street Journal: http://quotes.wsj.com/PG/financials/annual/cash-flow P&G.com Company. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9th, 2014, from P&G.com Home: http://www.pg.com/en_US/index.shtml Patentdocs. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2014, from The Procter & Gamble Company Patent applications: http://www.faqs.org/patents/assignee/the-procter-gamble-company/ PG Science. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2014, from The Magic behind the brand – PG Science: http://www.pgscience.com/home/home.html Porter, M. E. (1996). What

Investigative Procedures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Investigative Procedures - Assignment Example The allegations against the accused must be verified independently to ascertain reasonable grounds for further investigations. Once this is done, the CEO and CFO must be informed. Using a suitable team for instance the manufacturing plants' accounts department, documents should reviewed for any evidence. Investigations should then proceed to neutral persons then to third parties to corroborate evidence. Care should be taken not to violate suspect’s rights or break the law in seeking evidence and the truth. Introduction Internal fraud is becoming a common problem in organizations today because the employees have knowledge of the internal mechanisms and procedures for the organization. Some are in charge of divisions and so influence decisions and can manipulate by abusing their positions to commit internal fraud and thefts and still be able to cover their tracks. The employees may also leak information to outsiders who then use that information to commit frauds and the employee gets a payoff for their services. Employee fraud incidences have been on a steep incline especially during and immediately after the global financial crisis. The US for instance reported employee fraud that cost firms a total of $ 994 billion. The UK CIFAS data show that staff fraud increased by 40% since 2008 and the trends are interesting because it is the younger employees who are reportedly committing more crimes (Cohen, 2011). The same report also showed a 63% increase in staff fraud in 2011, compared to 2008 with fraud statistics in 2010 showing that staff fraudsters were mostly youngsters with 29% being under the age of 21 years while those aged between 41 – 50 years making up just 30% while no instance of internal fraud was reported for those above age 50 (Cohen, 2011). This paper will answer various questions and thereafter make a conclusion 1. Given the situation, discuss some of the options the company has for handling this situation.   This is obviously a preca rious situation since the plant manager gets a lot of respect from the CEO and CFO and their families are very close. However being close to the CEO and CFO should not stop investigations from taking place since this would amount to complicity and cover-ups by the top management. The investigator should be a senior manager for instance the Human Resources manager or the Legal advisor; since the crime is just alleged at this point. Certain facts should be ascertained to meet a specific threshold before in depth investigations can be carried out with the plant operator being interviewed and maybe being forced to go on leave pending investigations. To avoid upsetting the existing relations and causing too much friction, the signs and evidence of internal fraud must be established. These include accounting anomalies, weaknesses in internal controls, analytical symptoms, lifestyle symptoms, behavioral systems and employee tips and complaints. From the given scenario, Mr. Reynolds should consider the case serious and warranting an investigation since he has already received a tip from an employee in that plant, that the plant operator is exhibiting an erratic personal behavior while his lifestyle has changed beyond his normal means. Care must be taken to protect the identity of the informer (Goldman, 2007). Mr. Reynolds should then obtain prior evidence from the relevant person’s incognito and write a report, and request a report from the informer. An auditor or accounts

E-commerce Web site evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E-commerce Web site evaluation - Essay Example The words car and audio do not figure independently within the meta tags for keywords. This site would hardly be picked up by search engines if someone is looking for something as specific as ‘car audio systems in Lancashire’. Google did not. At least not in the first three pages of the search results. The basic point is that the homepage fails to convey instantaneously what it is all about, a major lapse in presentation. Not a good first impression. But let us take things one at a time, and try to evaluate the website from the perspective of the most important features that any worthwhile e-Commerce website should possess. The concept of usability, which is concerned with making software systems easy to learn and easy to use, has recently gained increased attention with the development and wide diffusion of end-user interactive software applications (Dray 1995, p. 18). Navigation, hyperlink positioning, clear demarcation of advertisement area from content area, use of colour codes and continuity in design are some of aspects on which the usability of a website depends. The website under evaluation does not distinguish in anyway between hypertext and ordinary text. Though underlining of the hyperlinks is not necessary as they are placed in the conventional left hand navigation bar, the font and colour of the hyperlinks are exactly the same as other text used in the site resulting in the impression that the address of the firm are also hyperlinks. There is also no difference between visited and unvisited links. This goes against the basics of website navigability: The way the website displays its products looks very much like the advertisements or company logo that it carries. Advertisement area and content areas are not demarcated. The danger in this case lies in how users tend to scan web pages: ‘Most famously, users exhibit incredibly powerful "banner blindness." Eye-tracking studies have recorded microseconds-long

Recession of USA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Recession of USA - Research Paper Example The initial response included the criticism on the subprime mortgage crisis and how financial institutions exploited this market in order to book higher risks in the accounts. Subsequent discussions also included the failure of the regulatory bodies to have an effective check on the financial institutions and their behavior, role of fair value accounting as well as the greed and lust of financial institutions to focus on achieving short term profitability while ignoring the long term impacts of the same on the viability of the system. This paper will attempt to explore and understand as to what factors resulted in these crisis, how the crisis deepened, what was the initial response of the government, did it worked, how the policies of current administration are different from old and finally how does it measure to the short run and long run macroeconomics of the country. What caused the recession in US? A mild recession in US existed in early years of 2000s when US, after witnessing a decade of economic prosperity started to show the signs of economic recession. This recession however could not last longer as it only existed for less than a year. It is also important to note that such type of recession was also experienced by European Union and other developed countries also. This was however, considered as a natural reaction of the economy after reaching its peak in most of the developed countries including US. This was also a period when dot com bubble burst and top level corporate frauds and scandals started to emerge. During the early 2000 NASDAQ crashed due to the dot com bubble and FED also started to increase the interest rates. It is believed that the consistent and gradual increase in the interest rates by FED also contributed towards the creation of recession in the economy during early 2000s. (Ruddy, 2006) This was also a period of 9/11 when terrorist attacks on US resulted into the sharp decline in Dow Jones as well as its impact on different sector s of the economy specially airline industry. Further, US has to divert significant resources towards the war thus increasing the government expenditure. This recession however, was not as damaging as the recession which started to emerge during 2007 as a result of the financial crisis in the country. The current economic recession in the country is therefore a direct result of the financial crisis which started to emerge during 2007. The financial crisis in US started with the subprime mortgage crisis when the subprime mortgage holders started to default on their obligations. Subprime borrowers are those borrowers whose credit history is not good and they could not obtain the credit on normal terms and conditions. Due to their overall situation, they pose a greater risk therefore in order to lend them, it becomes imperative for the banks to charge them higher interest rates. Based on the risk and return criteria banks therefore started to lend to such borrowers in a bid to earn high er profitability while ignoring the risks associated with such borrowers. The issue however, became critical when the banks started to securitize their subprime mortgage portfolio and issued mortgage backed securities offering subprime mortgage portfolio as collateral. (BROOKS & SIMON, 2007). When subprime borrowers started to become delinquent on their obligat

Economic Growth in Deficit Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 25

Economic Growth in Deficit Crisis - Essay Example The collapse of the major financial intermediary followed by the improper functioning of the financial market is identified to be the major blow to the economic situation that is prevailing within the nation (Tiraboschi, 2012). With the massive blow on the financial market, there has been an enormous stress, which was experienced by the economy and was identified to be the major reason of the economic crisis and financial turmoil. The impact made its first and foremost effect on the industries directly linked with the banking sector. This economic disruption led to a series of events affecting the economy, nation as well as the people associated with the nation (Tiraboschi, 2012). In this regard, the paper intends to elaborate on a specific issue that was faced due to the crisis, which could be referred to as employment status. The political and the social framework were largely affected by the crisis-situation which has been duly analysed to develop a transparent and better understanding of the employment status. The British Labour Law dates back to the initial decades of the 20th century. The development of the bill that was associated with the employment law was integrated in the year 1923. This acted as a major milestone and altered the British law for employment. Since its inceptions in the second and the third decades of the 20th century, there have been a considerable number of reforms that were initiated within the initial principles on which the laws were framed. However, there are certain blockages that have made the researchers and decision-makers look into the issues associated with the needs of alteration within the existing legal system and make it adept for the current times (Dukes, 2014).

Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Ethics - Assignment Example The management has developed workplace policy that is based on the organizational philosophy, code of conduct, and mission statement. This policy is then incorporated into the organization’s performance management program in order to hold workers accountable for all their actions and warn them to adhere to the set professional standards when interacting with their colleagues and supervisors and when undertaking their duties. The management ensures that all employees sign an acknowledgement form indicating that they have read and understood the company’s ethics policy. This is to ensure that every worker fully understands the set ethical standards that should be adhered within the organization and failure to do this, the management takes appropriate actions upon the involved worker (Appelbaum, Deguire & Lay, 2005). Secondly, the organization evaluates all employees on ethical behavior in order to prevent expansion of unethical behaviors in the workplace which can negatively affect the firm’s production. Personal interviews is one of useful tools that the management uses to assess employees’ attributes such as ability to socialize with others, problem solving skills, communication skills, and characters. The management also evaluates demonstrated work ethics of employees against a checklist. It makes use of an employee performance assessment that has section like â€Å"Attendance, Dependability and Availability,† â€Å"Judgment,† and â€Å"Integrity†. This makes it easier for the management to measure and evaluate various concepts such as employee’s integrity. Work productivity and attendance are highly monitored. Working upon set hours and showing up shows that an employee has ethical behavior and integrity (Peterson, 2002). Employees who comes to work late and leaves early are termed as lacking ethics. Before taking final action, the management first meets with employees with

Financial Reporting Question & Answers Assignment

Financial Reporting Question & Answers - Assignment Example It eliminates all the alternatives associated with financial reporting. There are various benefits of standardization: Standardization of accounting rules enable multinational firms in developed nations to create significant employment opportunities in the job market. Professionals in accounting and other fields find it easy to relocate to other countries as a result of globalization for there is a common language in preparation of financial reports and accounts. For instance, countries such as Hungary and India forward their accounting duties to companies based in developed countries (Iatridis 2010). These firms spend less time trying to be in line with a country’s accounting policy and strict regulations as most of the rules are adopted from International Accounting Standards. Moreover, adaptation of globalized standardized accounting standards has made it easier for firms to centralize their training in accounting and increase the number of financial care centers. Transpare ncy of unified financial standards has a boost in division of labor in the global market thus it enables smaller investors to invest in other countries. Standardization of accounting standards promotes innovation. These standards give rise to new markets and products hence, creating a significant enhancement for innovations (Hesser, 2006). Consequently, innovation result to improved sales. Minus these standards, there would be poor quality products that might limit the boosting of innovation since the remnants of the stock could not be transferable to other places. Furthermore, unified standards enlarge the scale of inventive products thus in absences of the standardized standards, these products are hardly obtained. In developed nations, the International Accounting standards assists to converge the systems of accounting and reports made available for investors. This would support global financial investments and innovations (Hal, Henock 2007). Standardized accounting standards enh ance the ability for firms to forecast profits. This is a reliable opportunity for investors because the transaction cost goes down when specific national accounting regulations disappear. Companies cut on the costs of external auditing and employment of experts for the purposes of global comparison reports. International Accounting standards initiate stiff competition in auditing that reduces the inescapable costs for auditing. Unified accounting standards reduce the costs of capital. Most domestic investors run their businesses within their countries since financial reports are prepared in line with the known worldwide accounting standards that could be easily interpreted. For international investors, the most preferred financial reports should be made using the international standards and not the domestic ones. This reduces the cost of investing in foreign countries since there is no variation in rules of accounting and cost of creating financial reports. Therefore, standardized accounting standards lower the cost of capital because investors are in agreement with lower returns from business securities and a decrease in investment risk. Who has to comply with accounting standards? Accounting standards refer to specific principles, bases, conventions, rules and practices applied by an entity in preparing and presenting financial statements. This implies that those who have to comply with the accounting stand

Influence of the Media in American Politics Essay

Influence of the Media in American Politics - Essay Example These include newspapers, magazines, newsletters, advertising, websites; radio and television broadcasting. A survey of news channels and programs that feature political discussions; of the coverage of politics by American newspapers and internet sites; of radio shows reveals the wealth of information in circulation about American politics. The question is to what extent are people exposed to this information; to what extent do they absorb it. In 1987 Americans spent $6 billion for their weekday papers and nearly $1.4 billion on Sunday newspapers2. In 2001, there were approximately 248 million television sets in the United States and 1,669 hours, the equivalent of 70 days, was the projected time that adults in the United States would watch television in 20043. There is both a wealth of information about American politics and a high degree of public exposure to it. On the other hand, this does not determine that the media coverage or the public's perception of it is in any way slanted to the promotion of a particular political view. One of the most interesting means of measuring the degree to which media is reflective of the public opinion on American politics is to compare and analyse news coverage alongside reviews of public opinion. Several key issues warrant consideration. The war in Iraq and the present state of the US economy are two decidedly "hot topics" in the news today. Other interesting comparisons can be drawn with issues such as the war in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s, and perhaps the US policy against Communism until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. The most accessible political issues for analysis in this context are the war in Iraq and the US economy as a means of monitoring the political spectrum relating to the approval of the presidency of George W. Bush at this time. One of the most controversial times in recent history for the mass media was the 2001 election; this event also warrants analysis as a means of demonstrating the kind of influence that the media appears to have upon US politics. An important view is expressed by Entman regarding the workings of the mass media and its relationship to politics within the United States. Entman describes the political and the economic as the two "real" marketplaces within the United States. He also states that "in ideal vision", the competition between these two marketplaces is considered to driver journalistic excellence. The reality, he concludes, is very different from the idea4. Entman states that, in practice, the competition between the economic and the political markets in the United States "prevent journalists from supplying the kind of news that would allow the average American to practice sophisticated citizenship"5. The ultimate conclusion offered is that the America public know and care very little about the government and so do not seek or understand "high-quality political reporting and analysis", holding either the government or journalists accountable in any respect6. Certainly Entman's opinion requires the support of evidence; there is ample supply.

Transparency In Government Essay Example for Free

Transparency In Government Essay Introduction. Government organs and state owned enterprises are major buyers and sellers having a great impact on international trade. According to an OECD estimates, the total government procurement worldwide was estimated to be roughly equivalent to 82.3% of world merchandise and commercial services exports in 1998 alone[1]. Such public spending is essential in running government welfare programs such as, health, education, and pension and managing the infrastructure for future development. In order to obtain cost effective prices for contracting the services to run these projects, an efficient public procurement policy that incorporates elements of transparency and competition needs to be established to ensure that the tendering process is open to all interested parties. Besides, knowledge about a country’s contestable shares is important not only for investors, but also governments and trade negotiators. The Chairman of the WTO Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement Practices, established after the 1996 WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore, identified Transparency in Government Procurement as one of the twelve issues around which discussions on procurement matters at the WTO have been organized. This paper analyses in depth this issue with a view to improving market access and national welfare. For this purpose, we present the following structure. (SECTION II) The relationship between public procurement, market access and national welfare: Traditionally, public procurement is viewed as a sovereign domain of governments except when it is relinquished in favour of international trade agreements such as the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Though it’s easy to agree on a policy for ensuring transparency in Public Procurements, the implementation of such a policy depends on, among other factors, whether such an agreement will improve market access for suppliers at the same time cater for the county’s national welfare. Hence the main objective of this paper is to answer the question on whether transparency in Public Procurement can achieve both objectives. Here, we confirm that lack of transparency in PP reduces market access and national welfare only in the short run where the government’s demand is initially more than the total domestic supply but does not affect prices in the long run under perfect market conditions. {Baldwin and Richardson (1972)} at the same time, we examine the trade impact of transparent procurement policy and support the view that non-preferential procurement policy results in huge gains in national welfare. {Lowinger (1976) and Deardorff and Stern (1979)} (Section III) Actual data on the size of government procurement practices: Though the Data on government procurement markets are both scarce and non-standardized, we intend to measure the quantity of government procurements markets in the international trade. We shall also analyze the methodology used in collection and calculation of data from various countries with emphasis on SNA, WTO notifications, EC study based on EU official journal and the â€Å"bottom up approach[2]† The role of the OECD Trade Committee in respect of its analysis of government procurement practices shall also be examined.[3]. Section IV Rationale for discriminative practices: Cost effectiveness, geographical proximity especially for non-tradable goods[4] nationalism, corruption,[5] and protectionalism are some of the rationales that we shall discuss. We shall review the Keynesian theory associating procurement discrimination to macroeconomic development. Some projects that are prone to preferential treatment such as the aviation industry and defence contracts are also discussed. forms of discrimination such as the â€Å"outright exclusion† in which foreign bidders are excluded from tendering process, â€Å"preferential price margin† in which local bidders are preferred as long s the price difference doesn’t exceed specific margin and the concept of   â€Å"domestic content requirement† in which foreign suppliers are automatically disqualified from bidding unless they commit to purchase some components from domestic firms[6] have been reviewed. Section V Summary of the effect of preferential treatment: We present that procurement policies favouring domestic firms and products can impede international commerce especially when there is an outright ban for foreign suppliers. But at the same time local firms will greatly benefit thereby boosting national income. A liberalized policy on the other hand may achieve the WTO aim of market access, which in turn will positively affect national welfare, but transparency reform need not improve market access and welfare simultaneously[7]. We shall also highlight the importance of transparency in PP to global trade initiatives. Section VI Measures to improve transparency in procurement policies: We shall review reform initiatives and the factors aiding or hindering such reforms. International commitment in improving market access and national welfare shall also be discussed. We shall provide an overview of the achievements and failures of the following agreements in this regard. GATT 1947 The Tokyo round 1979 The Uruguay round 1994 The Singapore ministerial conference (1996) The Doha ministerial declaration (2001) Beyond the Cancun collapse The concluding remarks are given in section VII.   ACRONYMS OECD WTO World Trade Organisation SNA EC European Commission EU European Union PP Public Procurement GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. [1] OECD, The Size of Government Procurement Markets 11-Feb-2002, Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/14/1845927.pdf [2] This is a method of gathering national data on procurement expenditure directly from the national procurement agencies of various countries. [3] Please study OECD Draft instrument on Government Purchasing Policies, Procidures and Practices forwarded to GATT in 1976 for better understanding. [4] Breton and Salmon, (1995) [5] Corrupt officials expand expenditures (Hines, 1997). For a detailed political economy rationale for reform see Hoekman (1998) [6] OECD, The Size of Government Procurement Markets 11-Feb-2002, Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/14/1845927.pdf [7] Government procurement: market access, transparency, and multilateral trade rules Simon J. Evenett, Bernard M. Hoekman

Rate of convergence and bisection

Rate of convergence and bisection Rate of convergence estimate of the speed with which a given sequence or iteration approaches its limit, often measured by the number of terms or evaluations involved in obtaining a given accuracy. Although strictly speaking, a limit does not give information about any finite first part of the sequence, this concept is of practical importance if we deal with a sequence of successive approximations for an iterative method, as then typically fewer iterations are needed to yield a useful approximation if the rate of convergence is higher. This may even make the difference between needing ten or a million iterations. Rate of convergence is measured in terms of rate at which the relative error decreases between successive approximations. There are mainly two type of convergence: linear and quadratic. Convergence of a sequence subject to the condition, for p > 1, that as n increases is called pth-order convergence; for example, quadratic convergence when p = 2. One similarly speaks of logarithmic convergence or exponential convergence. The Bisection Method In mathematics, the bisection method is a root-finding algorithm which repeatedly bisects an interval then selects a subinterval in which a root must lie for further processing. It is a very simple and robust method, but it is also relatively slow. The bisection method is simple, robust, and straight-forward: take an interval [a, b] such that f(a) and f(b) have opposite signs, find the midpoint of [a, b], and then decide whether the root lies on [a, (a + b)/2] or [(a + b)/2, b]. Repeat until the interval is sufficiently small. The bisection method, suitable for implementation on a computer allows to find the roots of the equation f (x) = 0, based on the following theorem: Theorem: If f is continuous for x between a and b and if f (a) and f(b) have opposite signs, then there exists at least one real root of f (x) = 0 between a and b. Procedure: Suppose that a continuous function f is negative at x = a and positive at x = b, so that there is at least one real root between a and b. (As a rule, a and b may be found from a graph of f.) If we calculate f ((a +b)/2), which is the function value at the point of bisection of the interval a f ((a + b)/2) = 0, in which case (a + b)/2 is the root; f ((a + b)/2) f ((a + b)/2) > 0, in which case the root lies between a and (a + b)/2. Advantages and drawbacks of the bisection method Advantages of Bisection Method The bisection method is always convergent. Since the method brackets the root, the method is guaranteed to converge. As iterations are conducted, the interval gets halved. So one can guarantee the decrease in the error in the solution of the equation. Drawbacks of Bisection Method The convergence of bisection method is slow as it is simply based on halving the interval. If one of the initial guesses is closer to the root, it will take larger number of iterations to reach the root. If a function is such that it just touches the x-axis (Figure 3.8) such as it will be unable to find the lower guess, , and upper guess, , such that For functions where there is a singularity and it reverses sign at the singularity, bisection method may converge on the singularity (Figure 3.9). An example include and, are valid initial guesses which satisfy . However, the function is not continuous and the theorem that a root exists is also not applicable. Figure.3.8. Function has a single root at that cannot be bracketed. Figure.3.9. Function has no root but changes sign. False position method The false-position method is a modification on the bisection method. The false position method or regula falsi method is a root-finding algorithm that combines features from the bisection method and the secant method. If it is known that the root lies on [a,  b], then it is reasonable that we can approximate the function on the interval by interpolating the points (a, f(a)) and (b, f(b)).  The method of false position dates back to the ancient Egyptians. It remains an effective alternative to the bisection method for solving the equation f(x) = 0 for a real root between a and b, given that f (x) is continuous and f (a) and f(b) have opposite signs. The algorithm is suitable for automatic computation Procedure: The curve  y = f(x)  is not generally a straight line. However, one may join the points (a,f(a)) and (b,f(b)) by the straight line Thus straight line cuts the  x-axis at (X, 0) where so that Suppose that  f(a)  is negative and  f(b)  is positive. As in the bisection method, there are the three possibilities : f(X) = 0, when case  X  is the  root  ; f(X) f(X)>0, when the root lies between  X  and  a. Again, in Case  1, the process is terminated, in either Case  2  or Case  3, the process can be repeated until the root is obtained to the desired accuracy. Convergence of False Position Method and Bisection Method Source code for False Position Method: Example code of False-position method C code was written for clarity instead of efficiency. It was designed to solve the same problem as solved by the Newtons method and secant method code: to find the positive number x where cos(x) = x3. This problem is transformed into a root-finding problem of the form f(x) = cos(x) x3 = 0. #include #include double f(double x) { return cos(x) x*x*x; } double FalsiMethod(double s, double t, double e, int m) { int n,side=0; double r,fr,fs = f(s),ft = f(t); for (n = 1; n { r = (fs*t ft*s) / (fs ft); if (fabs(t-s) fr = f(r); if (fr * ft > 0) { t = r; ft = fr; if (side==-1) fs /= 2; side = -1; } else if (fs * fr > 0) { s = r; fs = fr; if (side==+1) ft /= 2; side = +1; } else break; } return r; } int main(void) { printf(%0.15fn, FalsiMethod(0, 1, 5E-15, 100)); return 0; } After running this code, the final answer is approximately 0.865474033101614 Example 1 Consider finding the root of f(x) = x2 3. Let ÃŽÂ µstep = 0.01, ÃŽÂ µabs = 0.01 and start with the interval [1, 2]. Table 1. False-position method applied to f(x)  =  x2 3. a b f(a) f(b) c f(c) Update Step Size 1.0 2.0 -2.00 1.00 1.6667 -0.2221 a = c 0.6667 1.6667 2.0 -0.2221 1.0 1.7273 -0.0164 a = c 0.0606 1.7273 2.0 -0.0164 1.0 1.7317 0.0012 a = c 0.0044 Thus, with the third iteration, we note that the last step 1.7273 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 1.7317 is less than 0.01 and |f(1.7317)| Note that after three iterations of the false-position method, we have an acceptable answer (1.7317 where f(1.7317) = -0.0044) whereas with the bisection method, it took seven iterations to find a (notable less accurate) acceptable answer (1.71344 where f(1.73144) = 0.0082) Example 2 Consider finding the root of f(x) = e-x(3.2 sin(x) 0.5 cos(x)) on the interval [3, 4], this time with ÃŽÂ µstep = 0.001, ÃŽÂ µabs = 0.001. Table 2. False-position method applied to f(x)  = e-x(3.2 sin(x) 0.5 cos(x)). a b f(a) f(b) c f(c) Update Step Size 3.0 4.0 0.047127 -0.038372 3.5513 -0.023411 b = c 0.4487 3.0 3.5513 0.047127 -0.023411 3.3683 -0.0079940 b = c 0.1830 3.0 3.3683 0.047127 -0.0079940 3.3149 -0.0021548 b = c 0.0534 3.0 3.3149 0.047127 -0.0021548 3.3010 -0.00052616 b = c 0.0139 3.0 3.3010 0.047127 -0.00052616 3.2978 -0.00014453 b = c 0.0032 3.0 3.2978 0.047127 -0.00014453 3.2969 -0.000036998 b = c 0.0009 Thus, after the sixth iteration, we note that the final step, 3.2978 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ 3.2969 has a size less than 0.001 and |f(3.2969)| In this case, the solution we found was not as good as the solution we found using the bisection method (f(3.2963) = 0.000034799) however, we only used six instead of eleven iterations. Source code for Bisection method #include #include #define epsilon 1e-6 main() { double g1,g2,g,v,v1,v2,dx; int found,converged,i; found=0; printf( enter the first guessn); scanf(%lf,g1); v1=g1*g1*g1-15; printf(value 1 is %lfn,v1); while (found==0) { printf(enter the second guessn); scanf(%lf,g2); v2=g2*g2*g2-15; printf( value 2 is %lfn,v2); if (v1*v2>0) {found=0;} else found=1; } printf(right guessn); i=1; while (converged==0) { printf(n iteration=%dn,i); g=(g1+g2)/2; printf(new guess is %lfn,g); v=g*g*g-15; printf(new value is%lfn,v); if (v*v1>0) { g1=g; printf(the next guess is %lfn,g); dx=(g1-g2)/g1; } else { g2=g; printf(the next guess is %lfn,g); dx=(g1-g2)/g1; } if (fabs(dx)less than epsilon {converged=1;} i=i+1; } printf(nth calculated value is %lfn,v); } Example 1 Consider finding the root of f(x) = x2 3. Let ÃŽÂ µstep = 0.01, ÃŽÂ µabs = 0.01 and start with the interval [1, 2]. Table 1. Bisection method applied to f(x)  =  x2 3. a b f(a) f(b) c  =  (a  +  b)/2 f(c) Update new b à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ a 1.0 2.0 -2.0 1.0 1.5 -0.75 a = c 0.5 1.5 2.0 -0.75 1.0 1.75 0.062 b = c 0.25 1.5 1.75 -0.75 0.0625 1.625 -0.359 a = c 0.125 1.625 1.75 -0.3594 0.0625 1.6875 -0.1523 a = c 0.0625 1.6875 1.75 -0.1523 0.0625 1.7188 -0.0457 a = c 0.0313 1.7188 1.75 -0.0457 0.0625 1.7344 0.0081 b = c 0.0156 1.71988 1.7344 -0.0457 0.0081 1.7266 -0.0189 a = c 0.0078 Thus, with the seventh iteration, we note that the final interval, [1.7266, 1.7344], has a width less than 0.01 and |f(1.7344)| Example 2 Consider finding the root of f(x) = e-x(3.2 sin(x) 0.5 cos(x)) on the interval [3, 4], this time with ÃŽÂ µstep = 0.001, ÃŽÂ µabs = 0.001. Table 1. Bisection method applied to f(x)  = e-x(3.2 sin(x) 0.5 cos(x)). a b f(a) f(b) c  =  (a  +  b)/2 f(c) Update new b à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ a 3.0 4.0 0.047127 -0.038372 3.5 -0.019757 b = c 0.5 3.0 3.5 0.047127 -0.019757 3.25 0.0058479 a = c 0.25 3.25 3.5 0.0058479 -0.019757 3.375 -0.0086808 b = c 0.125 3.25 3.375 0.0058479 -0.0086808 3.3125 -0.0018773 b = c 0.0625 3.25 3.3125 0.0058479 -0.0018773 3.2812 0.0018739 a = c 0.0313 3.2812 3.3125 0.0018739 -0.0018773 3.2968 -0.000024791 b = c 0.0156 3.2812 3.2968 0.0018739 -0.000024791 3.289 0.00091736 a = c 0.0078 3.289 3.2968 0.00091736 -0.000024791 3.2929 0.00044352 a = c 0.0039 3.2929 3.2968 0.00044352 -0.000024791 3.2948 0.00021466 a = c 0.002 3.2948 3.2968 0.00021466 -0.000024791 3.2958 0.000094077 a = c 0.001 3.2958 3.2968 0.000094077 -0.000024791 3.2963 0.000034799 a = c 0.0005 Thus, after the 11th iteration, we note that the final interval, [3.2958, 3.2968] has a width less than 0.001 and |f(3.2968)| Comparison of rate of convergence for bisection and false-position method Like the bisection method, the method of false position has almost assured convergence, and it may converge to a root faster. Finally, note that bisection is rather slow; after  n  iterations the interval containing the root is of length  (b a)/2n. However, provided values of  f  can be generated readily, as when a computer is used, the rather large number of iterations which can be involved in the application of bisection is of relatively little consequence. The false position method would be better i.e. converges to the root more rapidly as it takes into account the relative magnitudes of f(b) and f(a) unlike bisection which just uses the midpoint of a and b, where [a,b] is the interval over which the root occurs. Following is the example of the convergence rate of bisection method and false position method for the similar equation which shows that rate of convergence of false position method is faster than that of the bisection method.

Working Capital Analysis of Wal-Mart Essay -- Business Management Fina

Working Capital Analysis of Wal-Mart Every business decision is associated in one way or another with the financial condition of the organization. The results of a working capital analysis will assist in the determination of organization ¡Ã‚ ¦s ability to remain in a particular line of business. The primary focus of Team C ¡Ã‚ ¦s analysis of Wal-Mart, Inc is its current and future financial condition. The most imperative areas that are found in the Capital Structure Analysis Report fall into the following categories: Working Capital Management, Valuation and Investment, and Cost of Capital. The company ¡Ã‚ ¦s operational processes within each area can be examined and related financial data reviewed. Once the financial data is collected and calculated potential areas for improvements can be identified and corrective or innovative measures can be implemented. As in all businesses, which include Wal-Mart, it must be considered that there is always room for improvement. Working Capital Management In order to fully understand the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s financial position a financial manager must consider the amount of net working capital available. The net working capital is the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Companies normally have a positive net working capital. The components of working capital change continually within the cycle of operations. (Brealey, 2001) Therefore, an effective manager will monitor the cash conversion periods to determine the length of the production process. The longer the process, the longer the company ¡Ã‚ ¦s money will be tied up in the process. The two elements in the business cycle that normally absorb the most cash are inventory and receivables. The main sources of cash are payables and equity or loans. Speeding up the working capital cycle will generate more cash for the company. www.planware.org This management of working capital will allow the company to maximize its use of existing cash flows as well as leverage additional sources of working capital. Underperforming Company Ratios Although Wal-Mart is performing well overall and remains a leader within the retail industry, the company is not without opportunities for improvement. An analysis of the financial ratios for the company over the last three years as well as an industry comparison has identified areas in which the company could enhance its ... ... 3.03 3.26 3.59 Payout Ratio_______________________.19__________.17__________.23____ Table B Industry Averages_____________________________________________________ Fiscal Year 2001 2002 2003____ Leverage Debt Ratio 1.58 2.2 .53 Times Interest Earned Ratio .75 1.78 2.46 Liquidity Current Ratio 3.1 2.8 2.6 Quick Ratio .6 .5 .4 Net Working Capital .195 .07 .195 Efficiency Asset Turnover Ratio 2.23 2.27 2.2 Average Collection Period 12.6 10.4 8 Inventory Turnover 5.24 5.38 5.73 Profitability Net Profit Margin 3.7 2.8 3.97 Payout Ratio_______________________ 32.4__________34.3________34.6___ Tables are a combination of the following resources: www.walmart.com, www.reuter.com, www.biz.yahoo.com, UOP library resource Dun and Bradstreet industry ratios, and www.bloomberg.com.

Rat Bite Fever Essay -- streptobacillus moniliformis, rna

One of the main causes of the disease known as Rat Bite Fever is from infection by the bacteria Streptobacillus moniliformis. This bacterium is commonly the cause of the disease in North America (Elliot, 2007). This disease is typically difficult to diagnose, leading to a delay in treatment and unnecessary increase in the severity of its symptoms. Cases of rat bite fever are rather rare in North America, and those resulting in death are even less common, making the study of its pathogenesis difficult. In order to better understanding this disease, work is being done to annotate the genome of the bacterium. Gene annotation is a process in which biological information is attached to a single gene or genomic sequence. Oftentimes, this is initially done automatically via computer analysis, and then later is manually annotated. That is the case here, where an automatic annotation has been performed for many of the genes within the S. moniliformis genome (Nolan, 2009), but it is necessary to manually annotate the genome in order to better understand the biological processes. The manual annotation includes identifying or confirming the gene’s role in coding, gene expression, biochemical function, and many other functions (Stein, 2001). Smon_0852 & Smon_0853: Smon_0852 is annotated as a Polynucleotide adenylyltransferase region, which is involved in the biological process, RNA processing, and its molecular function is ATP binding, RNA binding, hydrolase activity, and nucleotidyl transferase, according to GO. Pfam identifies that Smon_0852 is a part of the Protein domains Poly A polymerase head and Nudix family. The Poly A polymerase head domain is involved in adding the poly (A) tail to mRNA (Cao, 1992). The Nudix family is ... ...l structure of NGO0477 from Neisseria gonorrhoeae reveals a novel protein fold incorporating a helix-turn-helix motif. Proteins 78:1798-1802(2010). Stein, L. (2001). "Genome annotation: from sequence to biology". Nature Reviews Genetics 2 (7): 493–503.doi:10.1038/35080529. PMID 11433356. Tscherne, J.S., Nurse, K., Popienick, P., Michel, H., Sochacki, M. and Ofengand, J. "Purification, cloning, and characterization of the 16S RNA m5C967 methyltransferase from Escherichia coli". Biochemistry 38:1884–1892(1999). Yau, K. Cyclic Nucleotide-gated Channels: an expanding new family of ion channels Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 91(9): 3481–3483 (1994). Zhang H, Huang K, Li Z, Banerjei L, Fisher KE, Grishin NV, Eisenstein E, Herzberg O, Crystal structure of YbaK protein from Haemophilus influenzae (HI1434) at 1.8 A resolution: functional implications. Proteins 40:86-97(2000).

Stephen King’s Biography Essay -- american authors, the stand

Stephen King was one most of the popular American authors in history. He was born in Portland, Marine on Sept 21, 1947. He was raised by his mother, Nellie Pillsbury, and his father, Donald King. Today, Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha King, are living in Florida. â€Å"He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fog Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students.† (King) He published his first horror novel while study at the University. â€Å"While at college, King supported his education and family’s hard pressed finance by taking small jobs and selling stories to various magazines.† During his early career, he was famous for a series of horror novel called, â€Å"Dark Tower Stories†. In the late 1990s, he was injured by a car crash which resulted in a very bad condition in his leg and lung, too (â€Å"Stephen Edwin King†). Now, he and his wife support local community charities and a scholarship for local high school students in Florida (King). Stephen King show of his life where it has influences of his writing and how it did impact many people. King’s fascination with honor of fact his writing throughout his career. The first evidence of Stephen King being very interest in horror showed in his work in his early education (â€Å"Stephen Edwin King†). He read a scary comic book which affected how he wrote (â€Å"Biography of Stephen King†). â€Å"Much of King’s early works were science fiction based, but because he lacked the scientific grounding, they tended to be a bit thin on detail, but still excellent for someone of his age.† Later, he combined science fiction and fantasy in his writing to have more eff... ...21006/Top- ten-Stephen-King-books.html>. King, Stephen. "The Stand." www.goodreads.com. Goodreads Inc, 11 Feb 2014. Web. 11 Feb 2014. . King, Tabitha. "The Author." http://www.stephenking.com/. Stephen King, 06 Feb 2014. Web. 6 Feb 2014. . "Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition." www.stephenking.com. Stephen King , 23 Apr 2012. Web. 9 Feb 2014. /stand:_the_complete__uncut_edition_the.html>. "Stephen Edwin King." www.thefamouspeople.com. FAMOUS PEOPLE, 06 Feb 2014. Web. 6 Feb 2014. edwin-king-34.php>. "Stephen King." http://www.greatamericanwriter.webs.com. N.p., 14 Feb 2014. Web. 14 Feb 2014. .

A Day in the Life of a Teacher Essay

I hear the sound of my alarm clock at 6:30am. Time to get up! I wish it was Saturday, no school! No, I’m not a child, nor a student, but a teacher! You don’t think we enjoy everyday at work, do you? No. That’s rubbish. Let me continue with my story of a day in the life of a teacher.  As I force myself out of bed, a chilling thought comes over me. It’s Wednesday. This means I still have three whole days to get through until the weekend. Better get a move on if I want to make it on time. First, I take a shower. I do this every morning to liven myself up and to prepare for the day ahead of me. Today first up we have a whole school assembly. That’s one reason why I don’t like Wednesdays. The other few reasons I particularly don’t like the day Wednesday is that I have recess yard duty and in the afternoon is the paper parade. I step out of the shower, thinking such thoughts of what has been happening in the last few days and what I have to do today. I get dressed and go out to have breakfast. Mmm, I like breakfast, my last chance in the morning to relax and not think about work, but it eventually creeps into my head anyway. Once I am finished I remember and organize, well I try to remember and organize everything that I will need. Which is a lot. When I arrive at school, about 10 to 8 I park, load up my stuff and walk to the front office. In the staff room I have a social chat to the other teachers, we talk about assembly, make our coffee or tea and get ready to leave. With a mug in one hand, handbag and everything else in the other, we back onto the staff door and out the front office. You can always tell a new teacher, they haven’t got the art of getting out the staff door in the morning perfected yet. I make my way to class avoiding the students and setup and wait in the class until the bell goes at half past 8. Outside the kids are eagerly waiting to be let inside, like a pack of puppies waiting for you to open the door just so they can jump all over you with their muddy paws. What do they eat, must be something like froot-loops. Which would explain not just the sugar rush but a for a few others something else too. As soon as we are all in class, which doesn’t take long, I give announcements and ask the class to take their chairs to assembly. When we arrive I round up my class, and once everyone is seated its time to go home. I wish! Though it is about 20minutes later. At the beginning of every assembly we stand and sing the national anthem. Which doesn’t sound like an anthem at all. Instead of sounding like we are proud and free, it’s sung in a droning tone. When we sit down I shush all the chatters and the assembly begins. As a teacher it’s our duty to listen to what is happening around the school while also keeping a small eye, quite like a hawks, on the class. We all usually sit back, act interested and see all the small things that go on. Like the two kids who like each other keep pretending to ‘look around the room’ but are really trying to catch a smile. Then there are the bad kids, who are trying to make peashooters and all the usual blabbermouths who can’t even wait until recess to talk. Since this assembly is so boring and I am bored I will go over, grab the troublemakers and sit them next to me. The rest of assembly goes on like this and is pretty much a huge waste of time and effort. At the end we ask our class to move off. We head off and back to class, when we are all finally in class I give out a quick spelling test. It’s really a time waster and a fill in until recess. When the bell goes I think of how nice it will be to relax in the staff room. Then a student comes up and mentions something about handing a form in today, Wednesday. It hits me then that I have to do.. yard duty. Out I go, trying to avoid the smaller kids who seem to want to follow me around, some even cling my leg . At the end of recess I have a 5minute break in the staff room. Some break! I quickly get a drink and then hear the bell, time to go to class. Back in class its maths time. Everyone lines up, and then I tell him or her to go inside. I ask my class to sit on the mat after about 10minutes and 2 disagreements everyone is seated. I have release time so I wait for the principal to come, because he is taking over my class. Release time, although it is called ‘release’ is a time where we just do things that aren’t done yet. Like marking work, writing a program, or putting together all the things we need to. I have reports to write, since it is the end of the term. There are a few simple things to do when writing reports to make the process as simple, easy and stress free as possible. First sort out the kids. There’s the good, the bad and the in between. The in between are really good kids, which you personally don’t like and torture for the fun of it. Then write a set paragraph for each of the groups, with 3-5 different wordings, which really mean the same thing. Once children are categorized the fun begins. Comment after comment is inserted into the report, but when I feel that a student stands out, I add my own personal touch. Two words -Be creative. After report writing I have to mark work, this is a very slow and boring process. After a few minutes a fellow teacher of mine comes into the computer room to tell me that the Principal has left for a meeting and I will have to go back and take my class, even though there is only 10minutes until the lunch bell rings.

Food sonsumed away from home Essay

Food can be put into 2 categories, namely, home made food and away frome home food. Home- made foods are those whose ingredients are bought and processed and prepared at home for consumption. On the other hand, away from home foods are those that do not have to be prepared for, including those consumed from fast food outlets, public places, schools, restaurants, vending machines etc. Away from home foods are ready-to-eat and consumed, and the consumer has less control over portion size and nutritional content (Lin et. al, 1999). There are a lot of environmental influences that affect eating behaviours including the food prices, increased variety of snacks choices, increased variety of restaurant etc. Furthermore, people have busy lifestyles, both parent works in some families, so that the popularity of eating out is increasing due to the time limitations. The increased popularity of eating out was taken into concern about its impact on diet quality. Lot of research was carried out to investigate the nutrient differences between food consumed at home (home-made) and food consumed away from home. Evidence showed that higher consumption of foods prepared away from home may cause poorer quality of diet among adolescents and the portion sizes are usually larger and contain high energy density compared to food prepared at home. These unhealthy dietary properties has a higher likelihood of increasing body weight. In addition, foods ate away from home and fast foods are more likely to be fried, or contain more oil. In other words, this would increase the intake of saturated and partially hydrogenated fat, which is known to increase cardiovascular disease risk. Thompson et al(2004) found that adolescent girls in the UK had greater mean increase in BMI who consumed food purchased away from home twice a week compared with those who consumed food purchased away from home once a week or never. Studies also suggested that higher consumption of food prepared away from home lead to overweight and increased body fatness. (Taveras et al. 2005) Research from Adamson et al. (1996) said that food consumed away from home, school meals provided a higher density of fat and a lower nutrient density of protein, iron, Non- starch Polysaccharides than the intake from home. And food from shop/cafe/tuck shop and other homes had a slightly lower density of fat (9. 5g/MJ) compared to the intake from home (10. 5g/MJ), but the density intake of sugars is considerably higher than intake from home( 26g/MJ Non- milk extrinsic sugars and 9-13g/MJ respectively). Other nutrient density, including protein, Non- protein polysaccharides, iron, calcium, vitamin C and retinol equivalents were all lower than the home intake.

Applying Family Systems Theory to Early Childhood Practice Essay

In this article, Christian (2006) discusses the six characteristics of family systems relevant to early childhood practice. The author believes that teachers have a role in discovering and improving family systems to maximize children’s abilities. Therefore, early childhood teachers should consider these characteristics to help decide the best approach for students. The first characteristic is boundaries. There are two kinds of boundaries, namely disengaged and enmeshed. The first allows children to decide on their own and accept new friends, ideas, etc. but tend to be unattached while the other s from outside of the family. The second is more strict and attached; it supports and guides an individual in making decisions, but usually expects avid conformity with family rules. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of both kinds, the teacher should respect and support family boundaries in order to respond accordingly to needs. The second characteristic is roles. Family roles have a significant effect on students’ behavior. For instance, the eldest child tends to be more mature than others and play as the peacemaker, helper, etc. Teachers should recognize these roles and provide role playing situations where students can get to play other roles. Also, teachers should make families recognize their students’ strengths through writing simple notes. The third is rules. Teachers should know family rules of students in order to avoid confusing them with school rules. For instance, explain why a certain rule works in school but not at home, and vice versa. Teachers should have a positive outlook in striking a balance between both. Also, rules should be stated clearly because unspoken rules could lead to failure to obey them. The fourth characteristic is hierarchy. Families observe a certain hierarchy in the house. This points to the power to decide within a family. Teachers should be sensitive regarding this and observe the effect of family systems of each individual. For example, there are times when a child exercises power over others due to hierarchy experienced at home. Importantly, teachers should vary activities to make students experience a different hierarchy concept. Another characteristic is climate. This is the emotional and physical environment the child has. The role of the teacher is to ensure that the child has a positive climate at home. To do this, they could organize a talk with parents to find out and suggest a better climate parents can offer. Also, the climate in school should allow venue for â€Å"positive feedback and healthy sensory experiences.† The last one is equilibrium. This refers to the sense of balance within the family. Equilibrium should manifest in all aspects, such as health, emotions, activities, finance, etc. It can only be achieved by undergoing changes from time to time. For example, if a family experiences difficulty because of a daughter’s illness, parents cannot be focused only on the ill member. They should devote equal time for their other children who equally need care and attention. As professionals, teachers can guide parents to assess equilibrium in their family. The suggestions the author makes in this article are very significant. Considering the characteristics mentioned might help each family become more well-knit, thus maximizing intellectual and emotional development of the students. To effect this, teachers should have willingness, sincerity, and respect for each student and the family system where they belong. Reference Christian, Linda Garris. (2006). Applying family systems theory to early childhood practice. Retrieved 5 November 2008, from http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/200601/ChristianBTJ.asp

Slave Narratives

During the times of slavery many people opposed the thought of forcing someone to do everything they say, to own someone. They believed in the freedom of others and to treat everyone equally. There were many abolitionists and slave narratives who wanted their side of the story to be heard. Aunt Harriet Smith was a black woman from Homestead Texas and Aunt Phoebe Boyd from Dunnsville Virginia, both slave narratives. Aunt Harriet Smith was married to Jim Smith. They white folks killed her husband and she never knew why they would do such a thing, he was an honest man who went to church and always did what he was told (Soul, 2003).During one of her interviews Harriet was asked how long ago she could remember from her slave days, she could remember all the way back when she was thirteen years old. Harriet could successfully remember everyone’s names as well, all the white children, her owner, everyone of the slaves she was around, and people she came into contact with on a regular basis. Her owner had first purchased her grandmother and from then on owned the rest of her family from there on down. One thing she was extremely faithful to was church.They allowed the white people to go to church in the morning and the black people were allowed to go at night. They had a white preacher and he was always telling them to behave themselves. If the black slaves were to act up then the preacher would tell there owners and they would be punished. She believed that there was a God, and he would help them. The slaves were never taught to read and write, the only gossip they had was the stories they heard during church about slaves being mistreated.This was something all the slaves would talk about when they seen each other and were able to communicate and talk. Harriet said that the white people were good to them. Her owner never hurt any of them. Her owner treated her well and whenever her and her family would hear about slaves being mistreated it would shock them. The y felt bad for the slaves that were being abused. At one point in her interview she was asked why she went by Aunt Harriet Smith and she said by putting the word Aunt in front of her name was a sign of respect, and people respected her.During the Civil War, she could remember sitting with her two cousins on the white picket fence just watching the vehicles driving up and down the road. They loved the white picket fence and their owner didn’t care if they say there. They would watch the soldiers all day long walk up and down the road. One of the reasons they loved watching so much because all the soldiers were colored soldiers (Smith, 1941). During the whole interview Aunt Harriet Smith was very optimistic, she always hoped for the best and didn’t really have anything to say that was too negative.Even when she talked about her husband being killed, the only thing she kept talking about was how good of a man he was. She never turned the conversation into a negative one. Aunt Phoebe Boyd was also a slave narrative. She was very fond of the Lord and always believed that something better was coming. Smith, Harriet. â€Å"Voices from the Slavery Days. † The Liberty of Congress. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. . Soul. â€Å"AFRICAN-AMERiCAN SLAVE: Aunt Harriet Smith On Church, Slavery & Punishment. † YouTube. YouTube, 24 Apr. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. .

Visual analysis of symbol Ferrari(Based on Arnheim's concept) Essay

Visual analysis of symbol Ferrari(Based on Arnheim's concept) - Essay Example The film while on the process is nothing but a portrayal of the things that might have happened or will happen but not the actual. The film on the other hand, no matter how we say is just a portrayal of the real and not the actual is patronized by the audience in a way that they relate the things happening in the movie to real life. Arnheim relates this idea to Gestalt psychology which in simple words refers to looking at the whole rather than its parts. In the book by J. Dudley Andrews entitled Major Film Theories, Arnheim's idea on looking at the table as an unchanging rectangular table no matter how the eyes go near it is an example of the view as a whole. He said that a person as he looks at the table at one side or at another distance does not make the table's image change. It will still be the same rectangular table in the mind of the viewer. Instead of looking at it as a trapezoidal item as the position of the viewer changes, the form stays the same. That is because the person sees it as a whole and not of a specific angle or position. Understanding these things also need a clarification of the most important view that Arnheim used in the book Art and Visual Perception. He raised the point that in order for an art to be recognized as a material that is not a limited raw material, it should achieve a general pattern coherent to nature. He said that equilibrium must be achieved between the artist's ideas and the stimuli of the world. The query is not on the understandability of the object but on how the ideas can be related to people and the surrounding elements. He also warned that artists may create ambiguity once this general pattern is not achieved. In short, the possibility to attain vagueness is just at hand once there is no balance between the relevant elements of the world and the artist's ideas. Through this so called pattern, it is not hard to connect the ideas in the accepted reality to that of the artist. Motifs like rising and falling, dominance and submission, weakness and strength, harmony and discord, struggle and conformance, underlie all existence. We find them within our own mind and in our relations with other people, in the human community and in the events of nature. Perception and expression fulfills its spiritual mission only if we experience in it more than the resonance of our own feelings. It permits us to realize that the forces stirring in ourselves are only individual examples of the same forces acting throughout the universe (Art and Visual Perception, p. 434). All these ideas mentioned are present and can be seen with the Ferrari logo. The Prancing black stallion that gestures and introduces the famous name of the Italian car manufacturer in Maranello and Modena Italy is not seen as a standalone stallion, or even a yellow-filled horse symbolizing the country through the three colors green, white, and red. It represents Ferrari. The symbols mixed together create oneness through the meaning when people would utter "Ah Ferrari!" The question is not what the Stallion stands for or why there are three colors and so on. Anyone can say that Stallion is for racing and the three colors stand for the Italian flag or it can also be of another meaning. The emphasis is on the general pattern that it

Collective Effort and Collective Liability Essay

Collective Effort and Collective Liability - Essay Example These intentional misuses of personal information are punishable whether they are carried out by hand, through the conventional postage system, or through electronic means (18 U.S.C. section 1028 (c).   Because the Identity Theft Act of 1998 was deemed an inadequate deterrent, Congress passed the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act in 2004 in order to increase sentences for violators of the 1998 Act (18 U.S.C. 1028A).   Despite these new laws, and the enhanced punishments, identity theft continues to plague individuals (Lahey & Matejkovic, 2001), businesses (Beales, 2002; Collins, 2003), and even powerful and well-resourced governmental organizations (Identity Theft.   Internal Revenue Service, nd; Kahn & Roberds, 2005).   The irony is that the identity theft crime has many enemies, legislation in place to criminalize all acts associated with identity theft, enhanced punishment legislation, and yet the crime is increasing rather than decreasing; clearly, therefore, current responses are inadequate.   Even a cursory examination of the relevant data and statistics is sobering.   From a financial point of view, Collins notes that â€Å"Personal identity theft is a $100-billion perannum industry worldwide; however,†¦the cost of stolen business identities can be expected to be even greater† (2003).   The statistics are similarly disturbing in terms of the sheer number of individuals, businesses, and governmental organizations which have been victimized in some.... As a preliminary matter, identity theft is defined by federal statute. The Identity Theft Act defines identity theft as occurring whenever a person "knowingly and without lawful authority produces an identification document or a false identification document" (18 U.S.C. section 1028(a)(1), 1998) or otherwise possesses, transfers, uses, or creates an identification document or false identification document while knowing that any of these acts are unlawful. (18 U.S.C. sections1028 (a)(2)-(a)(7), 1998). These intentional misuses of personal information are punishable whether they are carried out by hand, through the conventional postage system, or through electronic means (18 U.S.C. section 1028 (c). Because the Identity Theft Act of 1998 was deemed an inadequate deterrent, Congress passed the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act in 2004 in order to increase sentences for violators of the 1998 Act (18 U.S.C. 1028A). Despite these new laws, and the enhanced punishments, identity theft continues to plague individuals (Lahey & Matejkovic, 2001), businesses (Beales, 2002; Collins, 2003), and even powerful and well-resourced governmental organizations (Identity Theft. Internal Revenue Service, nd; Kahn & Roberds, 2005). The irony is that the identity theft crime has many enemies, legislation in place to criminalize all acts associated with identity theft, enhanced punishment legislation, and yet the crime is increasing rather than decreasing; clearly, therefore, current responses are inadequate. Even a cursory examination of the relevant data and statistics is sobering. From a financial point of view, Collins notes that

Leadership Capacity Development Training Proposal Essay - 1

Leadership Capacity Development Training Proposal - Essay Example They need to influence others to follow their way of working and being innovative and standing out of the crowd should be the most desirable character of a leader. Thus Leadership Capability Development Training program for the 40 newly hired mid-level managers of Etisalat has been proposed in this report by SABK, the largest training and development consultancy and HRD service provider to different business sectors of the industry of Middle East. Leadership comprises of several qualities of which the core qualities being motivator, creative mind and team building capability are most significant which are taken into consideration for the training program by SABK. Proper communication skills and building a strong team are the vital activities of a leader which are needed to be developed amongst the managers. The training program will also focus on the leadership styles of the Middle East and the HRD issues faced by managers in their work. This training program will help the managers t o cope with different critical issues and act professionally to those problems. The advanced evolution technique of SABK is committed to deliver excellent training program for the managers customized to the need of the organization and business processes and the company is confident that Etisalat will be highly satisfied with the training program from SABK for development of leadership skills for the newly hired 40 managers in their organization. Overview Statement SABK is considered as one of the greatest international institutes providing consulting and training services to clients all over the globe. The Company is located in more than 44 locations in different parts of the world and specializes in the provision of training in the fields like human resource, management consulting and other services. The company has gained immense reputation for providing training to the large private organizations located in the Middle East accounts for one of the leading telecom operators in the Middle East and Africa. It is also known for offering great leadership development programs especially designed to enhance the skills and expertise of leaders in organizations. The company uses the best infrastructure and equipments for conducting such programs which also accounts for one of the main reasons for tremendous success and reputation all across the world. The company has been seeking to provide leadership training programs to the companies in the Middle East. Presently the company targets to offer its services to the great telecom company called Etisalat which is headquartered at UAE. SABK Trainers A comprehensive development plan is incorporated for training the UAE national for the handling of critical works and responsibilities. Also they are provided with the right kind of training is areas of finance, HR, technical and commercial fields. The program is conducted by eminent international trainers coming from Dubai, and also functional experts. At the end of the prog ram trainees are sent to Dubai for attainment of specialized training. At the completion of

Technology and Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Technology and Business - Essay Example Moreover, the corporation is also taking into account the possibility of offering free internet access with food purchases. (Mullins 2001, p.120) In addition to this, the company is introducing BT Openzone WiFi hotspots into 561 drive-thru stores, fixed-line internet terminals from Datavision, and adapted web- based games for children. According to the organization, the drive-thru and service station restaurants are extremely popular with their business customers on the move. On the other hand, the hotspots allows the businessmen to check their mail, access the internet and download presentations while having something to eat and drink.(Mullins 2001, p.78) The introduction of wireless office environment that uses Symbol access points and 128-bit security encryption to improve hot-desking facilities for workers moving from site to site has slashed support costs as the organization doesn't have to spend 20 minutes reconfiguring laptops to the office environment. ( Davis 1998, p.105) The introduction of queue-busting wireless ordering devices into 500 restaurants is also paying dividends in that it has minimized customers queuing times, increase drive-thru sales by five per cent thus 82 per cent of the customers believe that it has improved. (Thompson 2002, p. 95) Outsourcing and automating Mc Donald... (Greenberg 2003, p. 130) The implementation of wireless network by the replacement of laptops and mobile phones of 225 managers to XDA smart phones has enabled the organization to integrate devices and business processes to make better use of its restaurant and office-based wireless networks. (Thompson 2002, p. 98) Moreover, by implementing the strategy of revenue sharing partnerships and advertising deals with its internet service providers and equipment providers, Mc Mc Donald is also evaluating chip- and-PIN payment cards readers for its UK branch network. (Mullins 2001, p. 65) Donald's results have been encouraging since they have nine percent customers using payment cards. (Davis 1997, p. 115) By using ADSL broadband connections to authorize transactions, McDonald's has been able to decrease the time to process card expenditure from thirty seconds to just four. (Greenberg 2003, p. 95) Impact of technology on Communication Photography has evolved from the darkroom to the computer lab, thus most photojournalists use digital camera instead of film. This makes photo editing programs such as Photoshop a must in the industry. On the other hand, abuse of technology has resulted in some manipulated and faked images being passed off by the media as truth. (Davis 1997, p.95) Impact of technology on Change management This has enabled organizations to acquire the right steps to appreciate, anticipate, and embrace corporate change through attacking the accessible employee mindset, harnessing incentive, and shaping behaviour. (Mullins 20001, p.88) Impact of technology on Network Mc Donald's U.S. received a supplier of the year's award that had an impact on the McDonald's System,

CEO Project---Pepsico Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CEO Project---Pepsico - Research Paper Example Employee goals should be defined through job descriptions, which should incorporate employees’ goal responsibilities. This will allow employees to dedicate their time in performing roles that will enable PepsiCo achieve its goals in change strategy. The process of identification of value addition is very important. It involves distinguishing activities that add value and should be retained, activities that do not add value but cannot be avoided by a company and those activities that do not add value and the company should eliminate them (ÄÅ'iarnienÄâ€" and VienaÃ… ¾indienÄâ€", 2012). The process of value identification involves workers, experts and customers in identifying product aspects that are of extreme significance. These are the aspects that should be given priority in this project (Mcleod, 2009). Analysis of the PepsiCo’s aims and objectives shows that the company aims to lead in consumer products in the world that produces convenient foods and beverages. The company also seeks to enrich its employees through growth opportunities and ensure that investors get financial rewards (PepsiCo, 2014). PepsiCo seeks to achieve excellent and sustainable financial performance. The company also aims at ensuring human sustainability through its products, as well as environmental sustainability (PepsiCo, 2011). Based on the above mission, aims vision and objectives of PepsiCo, recommended strategy changes should be implemented on a timely basis to ensure success of the company. These features that require implementation of change include PepsiCo’s policies, functional strategy and business strategy. PepsiCo has invested in research and development and high quality operations to ensure that safe products are provided to consumers (Nooyi & Johnston, 2014). The next step will involve identification of the long term strategic plans and short term strategic plans. In this case, long term strategic

PERIODICAL REPORT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

PERIODICAL REPORT - Assignment Example Since the demand for oil is high and the supply is threatening to decrease, there are big chances of oil price increases in the following weeks or months. Name Course/Subject Findlay Courier 14/03/2011 Wis. unions rush deals ahead of bargaining law By Scott Bauer The article talks about how the unions are doing last minute negotiations for unclosed agreements before the ratification of a new law that will affect their negotiation methods in the state of Wisconsin. Once enacted, it will erase their ability to collectively bargain over nearly all issues other than minimal salary increases. The enactment is being held off for a few days due to the negative uproar it caused among the unions and its members. This article therefore is helpful is portraying the role of the unions regarding labor and employment. Labor unions, like in this article, do collective bargains over wages and benefits, and represent the members of the unions in case there is a threat in the laborers status.

Critically discuss the empirical evidence that there are sex Essay - 1

Critically discuss the empirical evidence that there are sex differences in intelligence - Essay Example Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on", "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do. (p.13) The complex factors that affect intelligence have fascinated researchers over the years, with the belief that gender plays a significant role in cognitive abilities. In an effort to settle controversies concerning gender and intelligence, empirical researches in the fields of psychology and learning have made attempts to identify how the two sexes perform in certain cognitive tasks. Based on the results of the standardized measures in cognitive batteries, increasing evidence from various studies confirm that men’s functioning and women’s functioning are in fact different. A study conducted by Jackson and Rushton (2005) investigated the sex differences in general mental ability. A Scholastic Assessment Test was given to 100,000 high school graduates where results showed that the male samples performed better with an average IQ score of 3.63 higher than the females. This finding was consistent with other factors across groups such as gender differences in gene ral mental ability for participants from different socioeconomic levels and ethnic groups. Likewise, the British Journal of Psychology published the findings of a study made by Lyn and Irwing (2005) on a big sample of university men and women. The controversial research that aroused public attention indicated that based on IQ, men’s average scores were higher between 3.3 and 5.0 than women. While outcomes of these research studies have favored the male sample, results of other studies revealed that although both male and females vary on average in how competently they function on different skill tests, cognitive skills are actually equally distributed between them (Halpern, D.,Benbow, C., Geary, D., Gur, R., Hyde, J., and Gernsbacher,M., 2007). For instance, women are likely to achieve higher scores on specific verbal

Tube set to come to Croydon Essay Example for Free

Tube set to come to Croydon Essay Assess the costs and benefits of an extension of the tube line to Croydon Private costs can be defined as costs internal to an exchange, which are paid by an individual economic unit (i.e. producers and consumers). Examples include the price paid by the consumer and the costs facing the producer. In extending the tube line to Croydon, it is evident that there would be a huge cost to the government (e.g. capital, maintenance and operation costs). Furthermore, the cost of the research and development required to successfully engineer such a tube system in Croydon would also incur a hefty cost for the government. Private benefits can be defined as benefits internal to an exchange, which are received by an individual economic unit (i.e. producers and consumers). Examples include the gain felt by the consumer by consuming the good/service and the revenue/profit of the producer. The introduction of a tube line to Croydon would certainly benefit the government in that the sales of tickets and renting of space for shops in stations would generate huge levels of revenue, which could become profit over time. Another way in which this scheme could benefit the government is through the increased scope for advertising an extension in the tube system would create, meaning even more revenue would be generated for the government. External costs (or negative externalities) can be defined as costs from production or consumption that the price mechanism fails to take into account. They have a negative effect on a third party not involved in the economic decision and are shown by the difference between social costs and private costs. Possible negative externalities of this development include disruption to the public during construction time (i.e. sections of roads may have to be closed off while digging occurs underneath) and the pollution generated during the construction process. In the case of disruption to the public during construction, the marginal private costs faced by the producers (i.e. the construction firm and the government who commissions them) are clearly far lower than the marginal social costs (costs faced by society as a whole as a result of the pollution) where the price is P1 and the quantity is Q1 on Diagram 1, resulting in losses for the community (as shown by the divergence between marginal social benefit and marginal social cost, represented by the difference between P1 and P2. At price P2 and quantity Q2, the level (quantity) of disruption has been decreased by increasing the cost of disruption (most likely through some form of financial penalty enforced by the government). It is at this point that marginal social cost and marginal social benefit meet (i.e. are equal), as there are lower levels of disruption, and more money for the government to spend on the public. In the case of pollution, the marginal private costs faced by the producers while polluting is lower than the marginal social costs where the price is P1 and the quantity is Q1 on Diagram 2. This is clearly not a good outcome for society, as there is a difference between marginal social benefit and marginal social cost (i.e. the social cost is greater than the social benefit, represented by the difference between P1 and P2). At price P2 and quantity Q2, the quantity of pollution produced has been decreased by increasing the cost of polluting (most probably through some form of pigovian tax or financial penalty enforced by the government). It is at this point that marginal social cost and marginal social benefit meet (i.e. are equal), as there are lower levels of pollution, and more money for the government to spend on the public. External benefits (or positive externalities) can be defined as benefits from production or consumption that the price mechanism fails to take into account. They have a positive effect on a third party not involved in the economic decision and are shown by the difference between social benefits and private benefits. Possible external benefits of this development include the alleviation of congestion on existing modes of public transport (e.g. buses and trains) and the creation of employment opportunities (both short-term and long-term). In the case of the reduction in congestion, the marginal private benefits gained by producers (i.e. the private construction and maintenance firms and he government who regulates and commissions them) are met at Q1 on Diagram 3. In order to reach the social optimum in terms of reduction in congestion, the level of congestion reduction (quantity) would have to increase to Q2, which would represent the full marginal benefit that the community gains. The government would ensure congestion reduction up to Q1, where their marginal private benefit is balanced by the marginal cost of the development, construction and maintenance of the tube line. However, if the full social benefits received are taken into account, Q2 would be the optimum choice point: to get to this point, the government could possibly subsidise the use of public transport, the tube in particular. However, the government do not provide enough congestion reduction for the community to reach this social optimum at Q1. In the case of employment, the marginal private benefits gained by producers are met at Q1 on Diagram 4. In order to reach the social optimum in terms of employment, the quantity of jobs available would have to increase to Q2, which would represent the full marginal benefit that the community gains. The government would provide employment up to Q1, where their marginal private benefit is balanced by the marginal cost of the development, construction and maintenance of the tube line. However, if the full social benefits received are taken into account, Q2 would be the optimum choice point: the government do not provide enough employment opportunities for the community to reach this social optimum at Q1, as this would incur a higher marginal cost. Disruption to the public during construction may not be massive, as the majority of the construction would occur underground. However, depending on how far underground, it may not be safe for large vehicles to cross certain areas during construction. This may prevent lorries transporting goods from taking direct routes to their destinations, resulting in delays and financial losses, and mean workers find it harder to travel to work, make them more tired as they must travel for longer and thereby decreasing productivity and output. Disruption is nigh impossible to quantify and measure the cost of: the best one could do is a survey of commuters, and even this is susceptible to inaccuracies and unreliability. Pollution is a very serious problem, especially given that the world has become so environmentally aware in the face of global warming and rising sea levels, and the amount of machinery and resources such a development as the extension of the tube line would consume is substantial, meaning a great deal of pollution would be produced. As afore mentioned, the long term effects of the pollution could be the rising of the sea level, the creation of acid rain which could ruin crops and could also pollute river systems and a vast array of the bad consequences that come with pollution. The short term effects include more polluted air after the construction and development stage, which would create a lower general quality of life. However, it is also quite hard to judge successfully the extent of the cost to society that pollution produced during the construction of the tube line brings. The reduction in congestion on roads and in public transport (i.e. crowding of people on buses and trains) caused by the introduction of a tube line in Croydon would be highly noticeable, as long as the tube is seen as a viable alternative to buses, trams and trains in terms of cost and time: as long as the tube system complements the existing public transport infrastructure, the easing in congestion will be dramatic. Short term effects of this greater flow of transport would include greater commuter satisfaction and quicker transportation of goods on the roads. Long term effects would include reduction in overall pollution and greater appeal to tourists (which would in turn boost the local economy and community through the multiplier effect). The overall benefit of a reduction in pollution would also have to be measured using some sort of survey: it could be said that the larger the percentage of people who recognised and appreciated that there was a noticeable reduction in traffic, the greater the public benefit. There would certainly be a large increase in employment opportunities as a result of the development of a tube line in Croydon. Labour would be required for the construction, maintenance and operation of the tube line, meaning many people would need to be employed. The short term and long term effects of an increase in employment include more money being spent in the local area (by the new influx of workers), less government spending on benefits and more government revenue from taxes (if it is assumed the jobs spaces are filled by unemployed). However, it would be rather hard to measure the overall (not just monetary) benefit brought about by higher employment. In conclusion, the costs are outweighed by the benefits, as disruption would cease with the completion of the construction and pollution could be kept to the minimum with government intervention, and the reduction in congestion and higher employment would make Croydon as more pleasant and prosperous place to be. Therefore, the tube line should be extended to Croydon.