Assessment of Creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Appraisal of Creativity - Essay Example This sort of research is done in controlled conditions, where there are some particular sorts of directions given are the equivalent (Kaufman and et al. 2004). There are numerous sorts of errands given to test imagination. These incorporate numerical issues, puzzles, sonnet composing and story composing. The detriment with this sort of test is that it is impossible to previously existing advancements. It just exists in a controlled domain. It is extremely disadvantageous as innovativeness can't be restricted to a vacuum (Kaufman and et al. 2004). The Mathematical Creativity Problem Solving Ability Test is a test created to recognize the individuals who are scientifically talented (Kim and Ahn 2003). The capacity to give new arrangements utilizing previously existing information on ideas includes thinking techniques and standards. There are four phases engaged with imaginative math critical thinking. This incorporates distinguishing proof of the issue, the arrangement of an arrangement to take care of the issue, execution of the arrangement and examination of how well the issue was comprehended (Kim and Ahn 2003). The test comprises of two sections. The initial segment is open-finished, where there are different acknowledged answers. The subsequent part is shut and there is just one right answer. This kind of test useful doesn't totally confine the thinking about a person. A science innovativeness test ought to give both merged and disparate reasoning. It ought not totally constrain one to an off-base or right answer. There ought to likewise be factors that advance the development of imagination. A domain where all the variables great for propensity arrangement are good, different errands ought to be incorporated into the test not just the capacity to give the appropriate response. Things, for example, a comprehension of the issue and explanation of the arrangement ought to be

Writing a Personal Statement Essay for Volunteer Job

Composing a Personal Statement Essay for Volunteer Job Much the same as with CVs, regardless of whether the chipping in work post doesn’t require accommodation of inspiration letter, it doesn’t mean you won’t need to send it. The questioner can request that you send CV + inspiration letter or exposition upon the fulfillment of the meeting. That’s why it’s exceptionally imperative to consider composing aâ personalâ statement at the absolute starting point. This will give you an opportunity to choose what to compose, how to compose it, and ensure the inspiration letter is all around made before you send an email. In spite of the fact that it appears chipping in inspiration letter is anything but difficult to compose, it despite everything holds a snare that you ought to stay away from. With regards to this sort of program, a great many people center just around their craving to help, contribute, learn and so on. Albeit every one of these characteristics are incredible, you shouldn’t make your inspiration letter to them as it were. Rather, to make it stick out, do the inverse †form a profoundly proficient inspiration letter that will STILL delineate your positive qualities. Stage 1 The absolute first passage of the inspiration letter ought to be like the start of an exposition for paid position †present yourself just as program wherein you need to take part. Stage 2 The subsequent passage should concentrate on your past professional adventures and achievements in the two volunteers and paid positions. Your objective here is to show you are equipped for performing undertakings they may give you. Yet in addition, it’s essential to show that you do comprehend the program and its difficulties. Consolidating both paid and volunteer situations into a similar section is utilized for making an association between the two. The two positions are comparative and distinctive simultaneously. Stage 3 In the event that you have accomplishments or significant achievements, don't hesitate to incorporate them. Let’s state you worked for some money related organization for a restricted timeframe and you were as yet casted a ballot a worker of the month. It’s a stunning accomplishment and could carry you closer to the program, especially in the event that you apply for chipping in program in a field of funds and economy. Stage 4 When you complete the â€Å"professional† section (work encounters + accomplishments and so forth.) it’s time to concentrate on your character. Portray your demeanor towards work and others in a couple of sentences. Be exact and explicit. Stage 5 End the inspiration letter expressing the beneficiary should don't hesitate to get in touch with you for more information. Likewise, accentuate your accessibility and enthusiasm to turn into a piece of the program. When you’re done, rehash the inspiration letter, right all errors or linguistic missteps and that’s it. The word check doesn’t truly matter here, yet don’t make it excessively long. Actually, 500 words ought to be a most extreme. In the event that you don't know about your capacity to compose an announcement it is entirely expected to ask proficient composing administration Help me compose my own announcement.

Book Review And Critique Example

Book Review And Critique Example Book Review And Critique â€" Assignment Example > Prologue: A Brief Perspective on Teamwork and CollaborationWhen Teams Work Best, by Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson provides an interesting perspective regarding the elements that foster collaborative teamwork and enhance the quality of results that spring from the integration of goals. LaFasto and Larson emphasize on the fact that there are many obstacles in the path towards goal achievement of the team. They discovered this by observing hundreds of teams and surveying 6,000 team members in various public and private industries and businesses. After 20 years of extensive research, the authors were able to identify five conditions that either hinder or help teams in reaching their goals: Team members can either be collaborative or dysfunctional; Good teams are highly dependent on relationships; Group processes can help make good decisions or muddle them; Team leaders can either help or get in the way of performance; An organization environment can either encourage or discourage worki ng together. (P. xii)According to LaFasto and Larson, there has been a significant and noticeable change in the way business is conducted in the private and public sector. Most notably is the transformation of the tone followed by modern day operational sphere from individual work to teamwork and collaboration. This is true in almost all areas where decisions are made and individuals combine their efforts to achieve a common goal. LaFasto and Larson (2001) addressed this when they wrote, “…people with different views and perspectives coming together, putting aside their narrow self-interests, and discussing issues openly and supportively in an attempt to solve a larger problem or achieve a broader goal” (P. xvii). The evolving character of business practices prompted the U. S. Department of Labor to report on the importance of teaching workplace skills in public schools. LaFasto and Larson (2001) found that the evolution toward teamwork and collaboration is the result of the increasing complexity of problems and social evolution. LaFasto and Larson (2001) stated, “For an organization to change or refocus its efforts in any significant way-in strategy, in design, or in structure-requires a coordinated effort among hundreds, or thousands, or even tens of thousands of individuals” (P. xviii). CritiqueThe beginning of the paper has created a platform for the discussion of the various premises that must be taken into consideration for the study and analysis of teamwork. The basic ideas expressed in the prologue demonstrate the fact that there are various perspectives in management control issues that can either support or discourage team work. This has not been propounded very strongly in the prologue which leaves out the most important take on any paper â€" the theoretical perspective. This is important for a variety of reasons. To begin with, even though the disciplinary separation between comparative policies and social relations within the organiza tion has been regularly challenged, in the traditional theories it continues to persist as a result of institutional inertia and hiring practices which finally makes or breaks teamwork and the result orientation. Result orientation is an important activity of goal achievement within the framework of teamwork. The traditional perspective on teamwork describes control as a means of regulation and a means of setting certain standards for inspection. In this regard, the traditional perspective more often than not seeks to restrain rather than enable in order to manage and exercise control within the team. This perspective must be fully explored from the very beginning of the paper.

Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X Essay

Fate, Freewill, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X, as a character in his Autobiography, believed that fate and prophecy guided his life. When he was sent to jail for ten years, he believed that his incarceration was part of his predetermination to find Allah in the Nation of Islam; it didnt ever dawn on him that he was solely responsible for his time in prison. Malcolm viewed his indefinite suspension from the Nation as a prophecy he was destined to fulfill, not as an act of jealousy and underhandedness by his fellow Black Muslims. His own violent death was not a surprise to him, for he always had chosen to believe that he would die at the hands of another and that it would be his fate. He did not believe his†¦show more content†¦However, he always believed that a supernatural power, specifically Allah, had planned for him to be caught breaking the law because the coincidental circumstances that led to his imprisonment (and the repercussions of his imprisonment) were too much for Malcolm to accept as chance al one. However much he would like to believe otherwise, it was his own decisions combined with the decisions of others and pure chance that resulted in the years Malcolm X spent in penitentiary. Malcolm X chose to believe that his removal from the Nation of Islam, a decision by a man whom Malcolm believed to be a prophet of Allah, was part of his destiny more than a result of his actions. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a man who claimed to be a prophet to Allah (God to those of Islamic faith), had told Malcolm X early in their relationship that they would one day be separated from each other. Malcolm accepted this as prophecy, but one might notice that Elijah was in a position to make this prophecy come true. It did not take Allah to sever Malcolms ties with the Nation of Islam. Elijah could tell that Malcolm would one day rise to a power greater than his, and Elijah provided a means to both add to his public image and have another prophecy become truth. Malcolm chose to believe Elijahs prophecies. Malcolm fooled himself into the simplistic, irresponsible notion of fate. It had always occurred to Malcolm that he would die violently at the hands of an enemy.

Competitive Strategies Employed by Retail Supermarkets in...

1. Proposed working title: Competitive strategies employed by Retail Supermarkets in the UK: A comparative study. 2. Research Background: This research background focuses on competitive strategies employed by retail supermarkets in the UK.This background will give a general idea as what to anticipate in the report on strategies approach of leading retail supermarkets of the UK. Retail strategy is an overall plan or the agenda of action that has to follow by the retailer to get the success in the retail supermarket competition. (Barmen, B. Evans, J. 2006).The retail supermarkets environment has become tremendous competitive in recent years .Top supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrison are heavily investing in†¦show more content†¦Ã¢Å¾ ¢ An attempt to identify which of them are most beneficial for the consumer. 7. LITERATURE REVIEW: My research is on competitive strategies employed by the retail supermarkets in the UK.The information on this topic has been published all over the books, news papers, online journals and web reports. I would like to review some of the most striking opinions given by some authors and my views on it. â€Å"We do not vary our retail offer in line with levels of local competition. We and all the other major grocery multiples have national strategies on pricing, branding, advertising, quality, range and services.† Commented by Tesco (Press association, 2007) I also agree with the author’s view above. Tesco which is number one retail supermarket in the UK decides their strategies by comparing their strong rival’s strategies. Now day’s customers have lot of choice to do shopping because of the competition between retail supermarkets in the UK. Most of the people choose to do shopping on the criteria of pricing, looking at brand and quality of goods and also service provided by the retail supermarkets. I also use same criteria to do my shopping. â€Å"Tosco’s attack on Sainsbury’s southern stronghold reflected a more aggressive store opening programmer. But he also said that Sainsbury, which will this week release interim results, could begin to feel the effects of the credit crunch if consumer worries about weekly shopping billsShow MoreRelatedThe Global Financial Crisis And Its Effects On The Supermarket Industry Essay1518 Words   |  7 Pagessubstitute, working more with equity capital, improving efficiency and re-structuring debt (Beaver and Ross, 1999; Laitinen, 2000; Pearce and Michael; 1997; Zehir, 2005). Studies shows several mitigating effects of the economic downturn in the supermarket industry. The oligopolistic nature of the market is significant. Large supermarkets have an established loyal customer base with and well-developed logistics. Private label goods became highly desirable, enabling consumers to buy the same products atRead MoreHrm on Tesco3698 Words   |  15 Pages| 2012 | | International and Comparative Human Resource Management Muhammad Rasool | Submitted By : Muhammad Rasool Student ID : L0288SASA1011 Module : International and Comparative Human Resource Management Semester : 6 Submitted To : Rajendra Kumar amp; Tatiana Pavlovsky [TESCO] | | Table of Contents S. No | CONTENTS | Page No. | 1 | Abstract | 3 | 2 | Introduction | 4 | Executive Summary | 3 | Background of theRead MoreTesco Analysis9055 Words   |  37 Pagessimply place your order and receive a non-obligatory quote within 20 minutes. We GUARANTEE that your order will be written by a professional writer with a UK degree, will be plagiarism free, will exactly match your specifications and quality standard, and will be delivered – by your deadline – via email. Strategic Management of TESCO supermarket: PESTLE analysis, Porter s 5 Forces analysis, Critical success factors, SWOT Analysis, VALUE CHAIN analysis, TESCO S strategic options, Core CompetencesRead MoreAn Evaluation of the Business and Financial Performance of Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc Between 31st January 2005 and 3rd February 20088304 Words   |  34 PagesAN EVALUATION OF THE BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF WM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS PLC BETWEEN 31ST JANUARY 2005 AND 3RD FEBRUARY 2008 A RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS PROJECT FOR THE B.Sc (HONS) IN APPLIED ACCOUNTING CONTENTS PAGE PART 1 – Project Objectives and Overall Research Approach. 1. Reasons for choosing the project topic 2. Project objectives and research questions 3. An explanation of research approach. PART 2 – Information Gathering and Accounting/ Business techniquesRead MoreCoopers Creek6279 Words   |  26 PagesCase Study Coopers Creek and the New Zealand wine industry Heather Wilson and Maureen Benson-Rea This case describes the growth of a medium-sized New Zealand winery – Coopers Creek. It is concerned with the changing collaborative arrangements employed by Coopers Creek to service domestic and international markets since its inception. These changes are set against the background of a small, rapidly internationalising industry within a global market environment. Readers are encouraged to analyseRead MoreINTERNATIONAL STRATEGY - ASSIGNMENT: Case study: Waitrose2838 Words   |  12 PagesINTERNATIONAL STRTEGY ASSIGNMENT: CASE STUDY: WAITROSE WORD COUNT: 2945 ABSTRACT: This assignment describes focus differentiation strategic models used at Waitrose organisation and its competitive industry. Waitrose environmental is analysed by internal and external factors. Different types of methods have been discussed in this assignment (e.g. PESTEL analysis, SWOT analysis). INTRODUCTION: Waitrose founded in 1904 by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. Today its one of the UKs leadingRead MoreConsumer Behavior Towards Big Bazaar15008 Words   |  61 PagesCOMPARATIVE STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGY REFERENCE TO 4PS OF BIG BAZAR OTHER RETAIL COMPANY Page |1 Management Thesis – 1 | 3rd Semester COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGY REFERENCE TO 4PS OF BIG BAZAR OTHER RETAIL COMPANY CERTIFICATE It is certified that the work contained in the thesis entitled â€Å"A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGY REFERENCE TO 4PS OF BIG BAZAR AND OTHER RETAIL COMPANY By Rajesh Kumar has been carried out under my supervision and that this work has not beenRead MoreBalanced Score Card for Tesco by Manish4430 Words   |  18 PagesTesco PLC | By manish abraham | This essay presents an analysis of the way in which Tesco implement the balanced scorecard. The strengths and hindrances associated with this approach have also been outlined with respect to this particular case study. The 4 perspectives of the balanced scorecard are examined in detail, the conclusions of which are later divulged. | | | | Table of Contents Introduction – Balance Scorecard page 4 Introduction – Tesco page 6 Financial PerspectiveRead MoreSystem and Operation Management. Critical Evaluation of Relevant Issue. Tesco Case Study4502 Words   |  19 PagesIntroduction The 21st century has brought about several improvements in business strategies and operations. Most businesses have realized that to be very effective in their given industry the internal operations of such businesses have to be to the highest level of standardized efficiency (Wang et al 2010). These busineses have also realized that the effective management of the systems and daily operations of the organisation would facilitate organisational productivity and result in maximizationRead MoreRecruitment and Selection - HRM4324 Words   |  18 PagesSELECTION Introduction Employing the right individual has the potential to, in the long run save the organisation money by reducing turnover. This highlights the importance of recruitment and selection of sales people. Various techniques should be employed to best avoid selecting the wrong individuals for the job. Effective recruitment processes are vital in attracting and retaining high quality staff (Marterel2005). This statement supports the argument that recruitment and selection is the main activity

Man Needs the Environment Free Essays

The environment is the place wherein man lives; it is his dwelling place. Man and the environment has a significant connection which entails that man cannot be detached from it, because his awareness and knowledge about things are both gained from his experiences that take place within his surroundings. Consequently, man tries to settle himself in his environment, both social and physical approaches, in order live life effectively and productively. We will write a custom essay sample on Man Needs the Environment or any similar topic only for you Order Now Man and the social environment. A quality that distinguishes man from other animals is his social nature. Man cannot be compared with other animals because he is placed above and dwells in a habitat where a social interaction is a prerequisite and basic function. â€Å"No man is an island; no man can stand alone. † – This saying implies that man is intrinsically a social being. He cannot detach himself from others and all other creatures in the world; he is intended to be a being-that-exists-with-others-in-the-world. Man has his respective social roles: being-through-others, being-with-others, and being-for-others. These social roles would help an individual establish his social identity. Man is a being-through-others. From man’s conception and birth, he is dependent on other people. He cannot grow up, work, and live neither as efficiently nor effectively, except through others. His life and death will only have meaning when considered in reference to others like him. Also, man is considered as a being-with-others. Despite the efforts to live independently, man cannot and should not live in total isolation rather he should deal and mingle with the people around him. His togetherness towards other creatures characterizes human nature. And in dealing with other individuals, he builds up inter-human relationships. As a result of the social bonds from these relationships, man’s major social needs: attention, affection, and acceptance are being fulfilled. Moreover, with the inter-human relationships he has and the exposure to his environment, his awareness is increased. He will become more conscious and observant of the events and people around him – issues, situations, problems, and conditions. The â€Å"hows† and â€Å"whys† of human actions and interactions will be learned resulting to growth of man’s knowledge. On the contrary, considering that a man who is gifted and is isolated from others since birth; man who doesn’t involve and have social relations ever since, impossibility of man’s survival arouses. In other words, man cannot be said to be a real man only with his biological birth but only when he forms social collective and lives in social relations, will he be able to exist and develop as a man. Man’s personality is moulded and developed within his social environment, through mingling with the people in his surroundings. Through interacting with others, man develops his potentials. Indeed, the social environment itself and one’s exposure to it is vital in one’s life which conveys that man needs it. Man and the physical environment. The physical environment is composed of the natural resources. And from these resources, one’s necessities as a living organism, which includes man, can be acquired. As a living organism, man is in need of water, air, and also of the presence of other living creatures. Man needs air. It is in every living organism’s nature to breathe. Breathing is vital in one’s life. It commonly serves as the basis that an individual has life and is alive. Man needs air to breathe in order to survive. The absence of air in man’s life would suggest and imply that man would eventually die. Also, man needs water. Water is one of the major needs for the survival of every living organism. Water plays an important role in man’s life, and it is involved in man’s daily living. It is used for drinking, for cooking, for hygienic purposes, for tidying things and also for watering the plants. In addition, man needs the presence of other living creatures. The existence of every living organism has an important role in the environment which brings a large impact to the other living creatures in the world. Scientifically speaking, living creatures are said to have and participate in the so called as the Food Web and Food Chain. In these particular concepts, the presence of producers and consumers are considered; plants as producers and animals, which include man, are consumers. With such, man’s survival is dependent on the existence of other living creatures in the environment. And it can be justified through man’s reliance to the gas, oxygen, which can be acquired from the plants, and to man’s practice of considering plants and others animals as his source of food. The presence of every living organism helps maintain the balance of the ecosystem. From the physical environment, man acquires his basic necessities. Indeed, man needs the physical environment for his survival. Man needs both the social environment and physical environment. From these environments, man obtains his needs. And from the satisfaction of his needs, man derives a sense of completeness and in the process, his survival is ensured. How to cite Man Needs the Environment, Papers

Wireless Technology Essay Example

Wireless Technology Essay It’s a beautiful day in the park, and you are enjoying the sunshine and the company of your friends. Then you remember. You have to do research for your science project. Hey, no problem. Your laptop is right next to you. There in the grass, you are searching the internet for ideas as birds chirp in the background. Wireless technology puts information at your fingertips from practically anywhere in the world. It allows you to connect with friends, family, and others with ease-even if there isn’t a telephone line for miles around. Wireless technology set you free, so you can create a workspace or fun space from practically anywhere. Modern technology has given us easy, convenient ways to transfer information, communicate and entertain ourselves. With wireless technology, we can do all these things on devices that work without wires or cables. Wireless technology includes cell phones, wireless internet connections, and handheld devices such as PDAs, Medical devices such as cardiac pacemakers rely on wireless technology to correct heard rhythms. A global positioning system (GPS) uses satellites and wireless technology to help people know where on earth they are and how to get where they’re going. We will write a custom essay sample on Wireless Technology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Wireless Technology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Wireless Technology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Not long ago, if you wanted privacy for a phone call, you needed a long cord to pull the phone into another room. If you wanted to surf the internet, you had to do it in your home, your office, or on a public computer at the library. Not too long ago you had to stand up and turn a knob on the TV to change the channel. That’s all changed. In the modern times, you can chat with your friends on a wireless Bluetooth handset, send emails on your Blackberry, and download new songs to your Ipod and you can do it all without leaving that sunny spot in the park. What is wireless technology? Wireless technology lets you send and receive information without using wires. It can be said to include simpler, older devices like car radios and baby monitors – even garage door openers and TV remotes. But when we talk about wireless technology, we mean electronic devices that are linked, or networked, together. These devices can send and receive large amounts of information over radio waves. Radio Waves Radio waves are energy waves that move through space at a certain frequency or wavelength. Other kinds of waves travel the same way. These include microwaves, visible light, and X-rays. Different kinds of waves travel at different frequencies. A wave’s frequency is how often it goes up and down in one second. Nearly any information can be transmitted wirelessly, including sounds, text, images and video. To do this you need three basic parts. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   a transmitter 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   a receiver 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   a carrier wave the transmitter and receiver are electronic devices. They use wires and hardware to function. The carrier wave begins as a continuous wave pattern. But to carry information, it has to be modulated or changed. For example, the sounds in a telephone conversation produce movements called vibrations. These are combined in the transmitter with a constant radio wave, or carrier wave. When they’re combined, the radio wave has been modulated. The two signals travel together through the air. Modulation changes information on the wave into codes a receiver can understand. Wi-fi routers, antennas, and cell phone towers are transmitters. They modulate sounds and images over radio waves. Computers, cell phones and other devices are the receivers. History of wireless communication Electromagnetic waves were first described by a physicist named James Clerk Maxwell. He published a paper in 1864 explaining how light waves and radio waves move through space. At the time, people could communicate by electrical telegraph. Telegraphs send messages over wires, using Morse code. A practical telephone wasn’t invented until 1876. Maxwell’s theory was proven by physicist Heinrich Hertz. In the 1880s, hertz did experiments with a simple transmitter and receiver set apart from each other. When the transmitter produced a spark, the receiver responded with a smaller spark. This experiment showed that electrical energy had traveled across the room wirelessly. Remarkable innovation has been occurring in the wireless category of net centric technologies, facilitated by that hourglass architecture that puts few restrictions on the actual means of transmission. If we can use telephone wires, coaxial cable, or fiber to transmit information using TCP/IP, then why not electromagnetic waves? Despite the obvious disadvantage of tiny screen size, some analysts predict that the cell phone will become the most prevalent means of accessing the internet, outstripping the microcomputer in a short time. In some ways, the mobile internet access market be in the same phase that land-line internet access was in, in 1995, poised on the brink of an explosive growth phase. The internet enabled cell phone may also be in a position similar to the telephone, which was initially conceived as a â€Å"speaking telegraph†. Although PCs abound in industrialized countries, they are far less common in many parts of the world, and certainly more difficult to use and expensive to buy compared to a phone. The cell phone with internet capabilities may be a means to distribute internet access far wider than has been possible in the past. The kind of optimism may have prompted the billions spent by network operators around the world to obtain licenses to run third-generation (3G) wireless netw orks, which involves advantage technology that supports much greater data speeds than the current wireless networks do. Wireless technologies are in a very fragmented state now, with many types of devices on the market using a variety of connection strategies, often incompatible with one another. They can be grouped into three general categories, based largely on the distance the signal needs to travel: personal area, local area and wide area. In the wireless personal area network arena, a key goal is to develop ways for devices to synchronize and interact with one another without short run cables. A technology called Bluetooth is an important ingredient here, and many predicts that it will replace a good portion of the cabling infrastructure that clutters office desks, connecting computers to printers, personal digital assistants, and cell phones. For local area networks, wireless technologies offer another set of attractions, especially for laptop users. Wireless access points can be placed in various locations of a building, and those with laptops and wireless LAN cards can log in to the network from any nearby location. This is becoming very popular for public spaces that would be difficult to configure with data jacks, such as large conference rooms, libraries, airports, and outdoor patios or garden. Office workers can take their laptops to the balcony and enjoy some sunshine as they continue to access the network. Wireless LANs are also becoming popular in homes, particularly for people who have a high-speed internet connection and more than one computer, but don’t want to punch holes in their walls for the wiring. Wire area wireless networks offer many different opportunities for the workplace, including the internet-enabled cell phones and personal digital assistants. Retrieving your email from your PDA while waiting in the line at the airport is not difficult with these devices. The speed of connection is typically slow, but these devices work well for simple text. The â€Å"last mile† has been an obstacle to the delivery of high-speed internet access, especially to remote areas. Wireless wide area networks offer opportunities here as well. It is very expensive to deploy new wiring to every office or residence, but constructing towers with transmitters that can service wider areas is more feasible. Satellites can also be used to serve large geographical areas. In Alaska, for example, satellites are being used to provide Internet connectivity to libraries, schools, and municipalities in remote areas of the state. Wireless systems have been especially vulnerable to intrusion, and they illustrate the tense balance between the desire for openness and the concern for security. For example, employees give rave reviews to the development of the wireless network in which they can use their laptops any place near a corporate access point. Corporations have happily set those points up in cafeterias, in the outside gardens, in the auditoriums, and in the conference rooms to workers from their desktops and make it easy for   people and teams to log in to the network from anyplace on the corporate campus. Yet securing those networks is extraordinarily difficult, and people out in the parking lot or on the street can also access the network with their own laptops. Also â€Å"rogue access points† have been hung without the knowledge of the corporation, thus adding unauthorized â€Å"doors† into the network. Security threats are so common that is easy enough to launch a hoax that frightens people into harming their own computers, under the guise of helping them remove a threat. One such hoax, sent to addresses in the victim’s address book, warned that a virus has been infecting all of them and gave precise instructions on how to remove it. There was no virus, but the file that would be removed if the victim followed the instructions was critical to the computer’s operating systems. Standards As implied earlier, wireless technology are currently being deployed for personal, home, local and wide area networks. Standardization is important in order to support interoperability and reduce costs. Now we look at key WLAN, WPAN, WWAN standards. IEEE 802.11 specifications are focused on the physical layer (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) sublayer of WLANs. The MAC is consistent with the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard. The IEEEE standard developed by working group 802.11 was accepted by the IEEE board in 1997 and became IEEE standard 802.11-1997. the standard defines three different WLAN physical implementation (signaling techniques and modulations), MAC function, and a management function. All of the implementations support data rates of 1 Mbps and optionally,   2Mbps. Security, roaming, and QoS are also considered, although major improvements to the security apparatus have been shown to be necessary. The three physical implementations are as follows: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Direct sequence spread spectrum radio (DSSS) in the 2.4Ghz – the most commonly deployed technology 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Frequency hopping spread spectrum radio (FHSS) in the 2.4Ghz band 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Infrared light (IR) GPRS is a packet switched wireless data network operations in the GSM environment that enables data to be sent and received using GPRS devices in a more cost efficient and quicker way than was possible over the GSM cellular system. users can secure data download rates up to 53.6 kbps over GPRS compared to 14.4 Kbps via circuit – switched data over GSM. GPRS is a 2.5G wireless technology standard that was expected to improve the data services that can be added to GSM. ETSI defined GPRS in 1997 with the goal of providing packet-mode data services in GSM. GPRS is an over the air system for transmitting data on GSM networks that converts data into standard IP packets, enabling interoperability between the Internet and GSM network. In GPRS a single time slot may be shared by multiple users to transfer packet data. GPRS wireless technology employs authentication and encryption via standard GSM algorithms. One of the key gain from 802.11 standard is the ability for products from different vendors to interoperate with each other. This was not the case with WLAN products available throughout the 1990s. this means that as a user, one can purchase a wireless LAN card from one vendor and a wireless LAN card from another vendor and they can communicate with each other, independent of the brand of access point utilized. This gives the user the choice to choose the system that best meets the needs for each application. As a supplement to the 11-Mbps interoperability testing that will be performed through WECA, a number of vendors have successfully tested interoperability together at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability. Security Considerations for WLANs. IEEE 802.11 provides for security via two mechanisms: authentication and encryption. Authentication is the process by which one station is verified to have authorization to communicate with other stations or APs in a given coverage area. In the infrastructure mode, authentication is established between an AP and each station. Authentication can be either open system or shared key. In the open system, any STA may request authentication. The STA receiving the request may grant authentication to any request or only to those from stations on a user-defined list. In a shared key system, only stations that posse a secret encrypted key can be authenticated. Shared key authentication is available only to systems having the optional encryption capability. Encryption is intended to provide a level of security comparable to that of a wired LAN. Without question, a variety of extremely positive services have been made available to users around the globe with the development and rapid growth of the internet over the last decade. These very useful functions range from communications services, such as instant messaging and telephony, to rapid, real time online transactions, such as e-commerce, internet banking, online gaming, political activism, and online voting. Also, within the past few years, physicians have been able to access over the internet and through handheld wireless devices patients’ health histories and diagnostic records without having to rely on time delaying courier services. Not only have young billionaires have made with the creative development of â€Å"Google-like† search engines, but in addition, government around the globe have made use of the internet to collect homeland security intelligence as a means of keeping their citizens safe.

Mass Extinction

Mass Extinction Definition: The term extinction is a familiar concept to most people. It is defined as the complete disappearance of a species when the last of its individuals dies off. Usually, complete extinction of a species takes very long amounts of time and does not happen all at once. However, on a few notable occasions throughout Geologic Time, there have been mass extinctions that totally wiped out the majority of species living during that time period. Every major Era on the Geologic Time Scale ends with a mass extinction. Mass extinctions lead to an increase in the rate of evolution. The few species that manage to survive after a mass extinction event have less competition for food, shelter, and sometimes even mates if they are one of the last individuals of their species still alive. Access to this surplus of resources to meet basic needs can increase breeding and more offspring will survive to pass their genes down to the next generation. Natural selection then can go to work deciding which of those adaptations are favorable and which are outdated. Probably the most recognized mass extinction in the history of the Earth is called the K-T Extinction. This mass extinction event happened between the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era and the Tertiary Period of the Cenozoic Era. This was the mass extinction that took out the dinosaurs. No one is completely sure how the mass extinction happened, but it is thought to be either meteor strikes or an increase in volcanic activity that blocked out the suns rays from reaching the Earth, thus killing the food sources of the dinosaurs and many other species of that time. Small mammals managed to survive by burrowing deep underground and storing food. As a result, mammals became the dominant species in the Cenozoic Era. The largest mass extinction happened at the end of the Paleozoic Era. The Permian-Triassic mass extinction event saw about 96% of marine life go extinct, along with 70% of terrestrial life. Even insects werent immune to this mass extinction event like many of the others in history. Scientists believe this mass extinction event actually happened in three waves and were caused by a combination of natural disasters including volcanism, an increase of methane gas in the atmosphere, and climate change. Over 98% of all living things recorded from the history of the Earth have gone extinct. The majority of those species were lost during one of the many mass extinction events throughout the history of life on Earth.

How a Solid Propellant Rocket Works

How a Solid Propellant Rocket Works Solid propellant rockets include all of the older firework rockets, however, there are now more advanced fuels, designs, and functions with solid propellants. Solid propellant rockets were invented before liquid-fueled rockets. The solid propellant type began with contributions by scientists Zasiadko, Constantinov, and Congreve. Now in an advanced state, solid propellant rockets remain in widespread use today, including the Space Shuttle dual booster engines and the Delta series booster stages. How a Solid Propellant Functions Surface area is the amount of propellant exposed to interior combustion flames, existing in a direct relationship with thrust. An increase in surface area will increase thrust but will reduce burn-time since the propellant is being consumed at an accelerated rate. The optimal thrust is typically a constant one, which can be achieved by maintaining a constant surface area throughout the burn. Examples of constant surface area grain designs include: end burning, internal-core, and outer-core burning, and internal star core burning. Various shapes are used for the optimization of grain-thrust relationships since some rockets may require an initially high thrust component for takeoff while a lower thrust will suffice its post-launch regressive thrust requirements. Complicated grain core patterns, in controlling the exposed surface area of the rockets fuel, often have parts coated with a non-flammable plastic (such as cellulose acetate). This coat prevents internal combustion flames from igniting that portion of fuel, ignited only later when the burn reaches the fuel directly. Specific Impulse In designing the rockets propellant grain specific impulse must be taken into account since it can be the difference failure (explosion), and a successfully optimized thrust producing rocket. Modern Solid Fueled Rockets Advantages/Disadvantages Once a solid rocket is ignited it will consume the entirety of its fuel, without any option for shutoff or thrust adjustment. The Saturn V moon rocket used nearly 8 million pounds of thrust that would not have been feasible with the use of solid propellant, requiring a high specific impulse liquid propellant.The danger involved in the premixed fuels of monopropellant rockets i.e. sometimes nitroglycerin is an ingredient. One advantage is the ease of storage of solid propellant rockets. Some of these rockets are small missiles such as Honest John and Nike Hercules; others are large ballistic missiles such as Polaris, Sergeant, and Vanguard. Liquid propellants may offer better performance, but the difficulties in propellant storage and handling of liquids near absolute zero (0 degrees Kelvin) has limited their use unable to meet the stringent demands the military requires of its firepower. Liquid fueled rockets were first theorized by Tsiolkozski in his Investigation of Interplanetary Space by Means of Reactive Devices, published in 1896. His idea was realized 27 years later when Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Liquid fueled rockets propelled the Russians and Americans deep into the space age with the mighty Energiya SL-17 and Saturn V rockets. The high thrust capacities of these rockets enabled our first travels into space. The giant step for mankind that took place on July 21, 1969, as Armstrong stepped onto the moon, was made possible by the 8 million pounds of thrust of the Saturn V rocket. How a Liquid Propellant Functions Two metal tanks hold the fuel and oxidizer respectively. Due to properties of these two liquids, they are typically loaded into their tanks just prior to launch. The separate tanks are necessary, for many liquid fuels burn upon contact. Upon a set launching sequence two valves open, allowing the liquid to flow down the pipe-work. If these valves simply opened allowing the liquid propellants to flow into the combustion chamber, a weak and unstable thrust rate would occur, so either a pressurized gas feed or a turbopump feed is used. The simpler of the two, the pressurized gas feed, adds a tank of high-pressure gas to the propulsion system. The gas, an unreactive, inert, and light gas (such as helium), is held and regulated, under intense pressure, by a valve/regulator. The second, and often preferred, solution to the fuel transfer problem is a turbopump. A turbopump is the same as a regular pump in function and bypasses a gas-pressurized system by sucking out the propellants and accelerating them into the combustion chamber. The oxidizer and fuel are mixed and ignited inside the combustion chamber and thrust is created. Oxidizers Fuels Advantages/Disadvantages Unfortunately, the last point makes liquid propellant rockets intricate and complex. A real modern liquid bipropellant engine has thousands of piping connections carrying various cooling, fueling, or lubricating fluids. Also, the various sub-parts such as the turbopump or regulator consist of separate vertigo of pipes, wires, control valves, temperature gauges, and support struts. Given the many parts, the chance of one integral function failing is large. As noted before, liquid oxygen is the most commonly used oxidizer, but it too has its drawbacks. To achieve the liquid state of this element, a temperature of -183 degrees Celsius must be obtainedconditions under which oxygen readily evaporates, losing a large sum of oxidizer just while loading. Nitric acid, another powerful oxidizer, contains 76% oxygen, is in its liquid state at STP, and has a high specific gravity―all great advantages. The latter point is a measurement similar to density and as it rises higher so to does the propellants performance. But, nitric acid is hazardous in handling (mixture with water produces a strong acid) and produces harmful by-products in combustion with fuel, thus its use is limited. Developed in the second century BC, by the ancient Chinese, fireworks are the oldest form of rockets and the most simplistic. Originally fireworks had religious purposes but were later adapted for military use during the middle ages in the form of flaming arrows. During the tenth and thirteenth centuries, the Mongols and the Arabs brought the major component of these early rockets to the West: gunpowder. Although the cannon, and gun became the major developments from the eastern introduction of gunpowder, rockets also resulted. These rockets were essentially enlarged fireworks which propelled, further than the longbow or cannon, packages of explosive gunpowder. During the late eighteenth century imperialistic wars, Colonel Congreve developed his famed rockets, which trave range distances of four miles. The rockets red glare (American Anthem) records the usage of rocket warfare, in its early form of military strategy, during the inspirational battle of Fort McHenry. How Fireworks Function A fuse (cotton twine coated with gunpowder) is lit by a match or by a punk (a wooden stick with a coal-like red-glowing tip). This fuse burns rapidly into the core of the rocket where it ignites the gunpowder walls of the interior core. As mentioned before one of the chemicals in gunpowder is potassium nitrate, the most important ingredient. The molecular structure of this chemical, KNO3, contains three atoms of oxygen (O3), one atom of nitrogen (N), and one atom of potassium (K). The three oxygen atoms locked into this molecule provide the air that the fuse and the rocket used to burn the other two ingredients, carbon and sulfur. Thus potassium nitrate oxidizes the chemical reaction by easily releasing its oxygen. This reaction is not spontaneous though, and must be initiated by heat such as the match or punk.

Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Supply Chain Management - Essay Example Thus, supply network necessitates several levels of integration with the first being the integration of separate components in organizational structures to create individual networks and secondly, integrating the networks. The first level integration results in manufacturing and distribution networks, because individual networks link to a central warehouse that receives stocks from plants when products are manufactured and distributes them to customers through field warehouses. Thus, two networks with the possible routes for manufacturing and distribution form the supply chain network that involve planning, execution and control of components. Managing flow time is crucial in providing effective customer service in the supply chain; therefore, integration is the basis of supply chain management strategy  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Development of efficient MPC system is crucial to the success of all companies that produce goods; since it coordi nates supply chain efforts across company boundaries (Jacobs 1). Inventory is a valuable asset in companies; however, benchmark results indicate that most organizations fail to manage inventory efficiently. Many manufacturers and distributors depend on overly localized inventory policies; thus, companies tie working capital which can result in hurting shareholders. Properly managed inventory acts as a lifeline for supply chain since it propels revenue and competence in companies. In IBM, supply chain inventory practices involve managing flow and positioning of inventory across different stages within the supply chain even in suppliers and downstream partners. The company adopts the opportunity of combining proven supply chain inventory practices, which reduce inventory levels across the organization while improving service levels as well as productivity. The company is does not push back inventory to its suppliers; however, IBM helps its suppliers to reduce their inventory.  Ã‚  Ã ‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rather than monitor and manage inventory at local level, IBM is increasingly adopting supply chain-wide inventory practices. Companies attempt to decrease amount of inventory in their supply chain management, which in turn reduces inventory carrying costs. The company aims at being responsive and reliable to customers, since it is crucial for the company to increase service levels without increasing inventory investment. Since inventory necessary to attain service levels relates to lead time, reducing lead time as well as supply chain unpredictability is crucial to the company. Moreover, IBM aims at improving financial performance, because it is crucial for the company inventory management success to maximize profit contribution and net margin; thus, reducing distribution and manufacturing costs is essential. In some cases the company institutes lean processes for low inventory; however, it is not too low to drain fina ncial performance of the company, which increases manufacturing re-scheduling and lost sales from uncompetitive flow times. Best companies attain high improvement rate from better inventory management practices, which are augmented when they apply technology to practices like supplier collaboration technology. IBM

The Importance of Ethics to Sustainable Growth in Engineering Research Paper - 1

The Importance of Ethics to Sustainable Growth in Engineering Enterprise - Research Paper Example Findings reveal that China’s rules and regulations related to ethical standards are not implemented strictly but it has given more importance to CSR programmes. UK on the other hand has ignored CSR programmes but is successful in incorporating various employee training programmes. While UK companies apply technology to monitor whether ethics are practised in the workplace, Chinese companies use compliance programmes. Theft of asset is a serious problem in UK while the problem of deficiency of stringent laws causes lack of ethical practices in workplace. Chief CSR officer is given the responsibility of making profit making decisions and monitoring ethical standards. The green officer along with board members takes the authoritative decisions in the company. Employees both in UK and China want ethical code of conducts in the office. However, Chinese employees believe that small firms are unable to properly implement ethics in the workplace. According to Daft (2012), data analysis is a process of evaluating the study on the basis of findings and literature review. The project is primarily based on secondary data accompanied by the interview conducted on six Chinese Engineering Companies. The secondary data is collected from journals and books of eminent authors. The primary data in the form of questionnaire survey aims at providing knowledge regarding the existing conditions of the company’s policies and the perspectives of the employees about ethical standards. Since work culture in UK represents the work environment in western companies and China represents eastern work culture, wide contrasts are noted in the study. It has been observed in the UK that titles like â€Å"chartered engineer†, â€Å"engineering technicians†, â€Å"information and communications technology technicians† and â€Å"incorporated engineer† are granted by the Engineering Council UK (Basart, Farrà ºs and Serra, 2015). The incorporated engineers of UK are

Brown vs. Board Of Education :: Teaching Education

Brown vs. Board Of Education As the Civil War ended and Slavery did, too, the question of African American’s freedom did not. African Americans had been given their freedom from slavery but not their freedom from segregation. In 1896 after the Plessy vs. Ferguson court case, the Supreme Court found that segregation, â€Å"separate but equal†, in public facilities was not against the Constitution. â€Å"Separate schools for blacks and whites became a basic rule in southern society.† All that was about to change. In Topeka, Kansas there was a little girl by the name of Linda Brown. She had to be driven five and a half miles to a black school when she lived four blocks from a public school. â€Å"The school was not full and she met all of the requirements to attend – all but one that is. Linda Brown was black. And blacks weren’t allowed to go to white children’s schools.† That was a controversial issue among blacks. In 1954 thirteen parents filed a class action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka in hope for equal education opportunities for their children. That and the desegregation period was the idea behind the case. It was the first challenge of the â€Å"separate but equal† ruling had been challenged. The thirteen parents were backed by many African American community leaders, the NAACP, and the NAACP’s lawyer Thurgood Marshall. However, against them were pretty much the whole south, many elected officials of Congress, and the Governor of Alabama - George Wallace. On May 7, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against segregation and was unconstitutional because it violated the fourteenth amendment by separating them because of the color of their skin. The decision a victory proved of significant importance. Few blacks and eventually many started attending non-segregated public schools. It proved to be Thurgood Marshall’s greatest victory and in 1967 he was appointed as the first black member of the Supreme Court.

Relationship between Development and Democracy

The rapid political transformation that exemplified the last decade of the past century in various countries of the world encouraged a renewed interest in the relationship between development and democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 55). The argument in the 1960s had been that democracy was positively interrelated to the level of modernization, and then viewed as the equivalence of development. The two succeeding decades were much more cautious about any such relationship. It was only the turbulent years following the fall of communism and the attempts to move away from dictatorial modes of rule that encouraged comparative politics students to revisit the development – democracy nexus (Chan, 2002, p. 89).The students of Latin American politics had already started to respond to reform efforts embarked on in their region in the early 1980s. It was in the 1990s that issues of democratization reentered the mainstream of comparative politics. The re-orientation in the field of compara tive politics has already resulted in a wide range of publications.Mapping the Major ApproachesDevelopment and democracy are both very complicated concepts as they tend to mean different things to different people. For example, conceptions of development have varied over time in the last five decades from being the equivalence of modernization to being concerned with overcoming social inequities and on to providing opportunities for individuals in the marketplace and institutional improvements in the name of good governance. The definition of democracy has been the subject of much debate as to whether it should be a minimalist concept useful for analytical functions (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 57).I suggest that it may be helpful to follow a distinction along 2 axes. The first is methodological and epistemological where the two endpoints are agency and structure. The second is substantive in nature which differentiates between a focus on elite or mass level. The structuralist approaches typically adopt a historical standpoint in explaining the success or failure of democratization.The development and democracy also varies in terms of its focus on elites or the mass of the population. Those who are concerned with providing prescriptive advice tend to be focusing on the privileged because they are the ones directly concerned with making policy. Political scientists have amassed enough knowledge about democratization process that we can tell the political elite what traps to keep away from and what opportunities to take hold of. This remains the ultimate goal of political science as most people in the discipline are likely to adopt a more humble position, realizing that our knowledge of democratization is still very general and fragmented (Chan, 2002, p. 144).The University of Michigan administered a survey which has contributed to an understanding of how human values and preferences shift in response to changes in material circumstances. Associations also count in t his type of political studies. The long term positive outcome comes from people working together in small scale groups.Structuralist studiesStructuralist studies have evolved over the past 40 years and it has been proved that this is a fruitful area of research. Three issues have crystallized as being of special interest:(1)  Ã‚   Does location in the global economic order matter?(2)  Ã‚   Does class or social structure matter? and(3)  Ã‚   Do value changes caused by structural factors matter?I shall discuss these issues in turn before focusing on some of the methodological challenges associated with this approach.Location in the global economic orderStudies in this area have a long pedigree with many other well-known political sociologists and political economists having made contributions. The original finding was that the more prosperous a nation, the greater the chances that it will maintain democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 68). It was not the location in the global econo mic order that was important, but the ability of a country to adopt the structural and cultural features associated with modern society, i.e. an urbanized and educated population as well as an industrialized economy.Using the regression type of statistical analysis, scholars have demonstrated that level of economic development consistently appears as a statistically and substantively significant influence on democracy (Haggard, 2003). The level of economic development alone accounts for more variance in democracy than all other independent variables taken altogether. Therefore, some students of development and democracy are ready to treat it as such a strong correlation that it must not to be in question.Even if it is a vigorous relationship, it raises questions about what in that association really matters, and what kind of conclusions to draw there from. The thing which matters is at least in part determined by how the dependent and independent variables are specified. It has been found that while being well-to-do matters at the level of cross national comparison; it is not necessarily the economic but the social factors, such as education literacy that are the more powerful explanatory variables (Chan, 2002, p. 123).Few scholars have questioned whether it is the rate of economic growth or the level of economic development that is more important. The prospects to become democratic countries are rather dim, not because most Third World nations have low average per capita incomes, but because the economic development is not fast enough or the rate of growth is slow. The potential importance of location in the global economic order is also a very significant variable. Economic development has a differential impact and it matters most in the industrialized countries, only half as much in the semi peripheral countries, and even less so for countries in the periphery (Haggard, 2003).Studies have also established a positive correlation between key variables but the y do not necessarily rein in everything that matters in the development – democracy equation. One may assume that the economic development matters the most in the core or the industrialized countries because it has been present there for a longer time period. It is not only the domestic environment of the countries in the periphery that counts but also their exterior environment. One of the gaps that need to be filled in the research on development and democracy is clearly what difference globalization makes. The relationship between globalization, socio-economic development and democracy is of prime importance (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 52).Economic crises and other performance problems in the non democratic regimes help promote a democratic transition. Using data for approximately 100 Third World nations with populations of at least one-million, it was proved that inflationary crises tended to inhibit democratization in 1950s and 1960s but seem to have facilitated the same pro cess in the late 1980s. Another proposition is that there is no relationship between per capita income level and the probability of democratic transition contrary to what was indicated earlier. One such reason may be growing international pressure to democratize (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).The Role of Class StructureThis type of study is useful for focusing on wide systematic causal processes that hold across space and time, but needs to be complemented by those that include more characteristic explanations that hold at certain times or in certain regions only (Chan, 2002, p. 24). The analysis of specific historical events or processes is often an unavoidable complement to statistical techniques, especially if the objective of the research is to concentrate on the occurrence of discrete events within their historical context.The capitalist economic development creates growing pressure for democratization by fostering the emergence of a middle-class has been very broadly accepted: †˜without a bourgeoisie, no democracy'. This sets the broader parameters for the development of democracy by liberalizing economic market forces and thereby, also individualizing both behaviors and choices. Comparing Germany and Japan, which adopted a fascist approach to rule, with the UK and USA, which chose a democratic path, the class is an extremely vital factor. The middle class or the bourgeoisie enjoys a degree of self-sufficiency by being able to shape the course of political development in any direction. It is not expected that the middle-class will choose a democratic path over a non democratic one. It all depends on how they manage the challenges that structural factors present in the economy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 53).With economic liberalization being pushed around the world, one can hypothesize that class may grow in significance. Deeper social inequalities are reported from all regions of the world and Livelihoods are being threatened, quality of life is going down f or a bulk of people, more specifically in the Third World countries. The most immediate issue is how to make the concept of class operational. There is no universal accord about how that should be done. It is not easy at this point to arrive at any solid conclusions about the relationship between the class and the prospect of transition to democracy. In a first attempt to do so, it was found that class structure does not have an impact on the likelihood that a nation makes a transition to democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67).It is a path breaking study that points to the need for many more studies in this area and the surveys that try to measure people's subjective perception of class. Survey data are available for industrialized nations but are yet to be collected in developing countries. Such data would significantly improve our ability to say something about the relationship between class and the probability of transition to democracy.Value ChangesChanges in the economy do not only crea te new forms of social stratification as they also influence our cultural values. Modernization and value change is the subject of several important studies in the field of comparative politics. Subjective aspirations reflect the nature of objective conditions, a point that is associated traditionally with Marxism but is also reflected in psychological theories (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 58). The strengthening of human striving for self expression that follows from enlarging people's cognitive and physical resources (modernization) reduces constraints on the level of formal rules by generating negative and positive freedom rights (democratization). Using data from 63 societies, it was found that:(1)  Ã‚   Democratization originates in aspiration adjustments on individual level,(2)  Ã‚   Democracy does not flow directly from economic changes but through shifts in ethical values,(3)  Ã‚   This sequence has cross cultural validity, and,(4)  Ã‚   The sequence holds against rival in fluences, the transnational infusion of changes in traditionally connected societies.More research is needed to ascertain whether these findings hold if other data sets are used, the notion that democratization in a given society is the result of both ethical and material changes is important. It is suggested that the dynamics of social change is driven more by internal than external factors. We do not specifically address this issue here, but it is one that should be considered in the light of amplified global communications (Haggard, 2003).Methodological IssuesOne of the problems with research on democracy and development is that scholars using quantitative methods tend to ignore those using qualitative methods, and vice versa. The latter tend to use thick concepts which are applied to a very small number of cases, whereas the former tend to rely on thin concepts that are applied to a large number of cases. Due to the lack of dialogue between these two researcher groups, the task of knowing more about causal relations has been stifled.The assumption being that qualitative researchers play a key role in opening up novel areas of inquiry, while the quantitatively oriented can determine the extent to which findings can be generalized. In short, the study of development and democracy requires both approaches since both of them are complementary to each other (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).There are many troubles with the existing state of knowledge in this field that stem from methodological inadequacies. The first concern is the quality of the data available. There has been a heavy reliance on the Freedom House Index (FHI) of Civil Liberties and Political Rights. With few other data sets available, it is quite understandable that many researchers have found the FHI handy.There are at least two problems with that Index. The first is that it relies on the evaluative input of a panel of experts rather than primary data collected in survey form. The scores in the Index, while not entirely invalid, nonetheless suffer from lack of representativeness of opinions in individual nations (Johansson, 2002, p. 213). The second problem is that the cumulative scores provided for each indicator and country tends to be rather rough. This lack of differentiation is also obvious in many studies that use other data.Most researchers have to settle for a sub-optimal choice, because it is extremely difficult to identify a singular manifestation. Reliability refers to the prospect that the same data collection process would produce the same data. Duplication prevails whenever other scholars are able to reproduce the process through which data were generated.Structured contingencyIf the structuralist concern with the pre-requisites of democracy constitutes the first generation of studies on democratization, a distinct second generation has emerged in the past two decades that is more process oriented and focused on contingent choice. This innovative approach incorporat es institutional factors as explanatory variables (Haggard, 2003). Democratization is understood as a historical process with analytically distinct, if empirically overlapping, stages of consolidation and transition. A variety of actors with different followings, calculations, preferences, resources and time horizons come to the fore during these successive stages.These stages vary in terms of degree of uncertainty prevailing at each point. During regime transitions, interactions, and political calculations are highly uncertain, actors find it hard to know what their interests are, who their supporters are, and which groups will be their allies or opponents. The absence of predictable rules of the game during a regime transition expands the boundaries of contingent choice (Johansson, 2002, p. 88). A government is being consolidated whenever contending groups come to accept some set of rules, formal or informal, about who gets what, when and how from politics.Power-sharing arrangemen tsDemocratization often runs into grave difficulties because societies are divided vertically rather than horizontally. Resource conflicts are not interpreted in straight-forward social class terms but take on meaning only in the context of identity politics. Whether ethnicity, race or religion constitutes the line along which cleavages are defined, they pose a special problem for democratizing countries specifically because the issue of inclusion in regime is conflated with inclusion in the community. Strategic choices are socially or culturally embedded to such an amount that it becomes difficult to produce governance agreements that satisfy all parties to the conflict (Johansson, 2002, p. 56).The problems of exclusion and inclusion do not fade away when new institutions are being adopted and put into operation. Democratization itself may aggravate such problems precisely because it brings elements of openness and competition into the political progression. Conceptions of the scop e of the political community become more prominent as people interact with each other in the public realm and have to make choices about who is an insider and who is an outsider. One of the ironies of democratization is that, as the future is being planned, the past intrudes with escalating severity. There is no such thing as a fresh start in culturally plural societies; differences in historical depth are likely to matter.For example, where the notion of first-comers is deeply rooted, claims of political priority by virtue of indigenousness are typically made to confront those deemed to be immigrants (Haggard, 2003). Europe and Asia are particularly full of such claims. Sri Lankan Tamils really belong to South India. Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia are immigrants and Bengalis are illegally in Assam. The Balkans, the Baltic and the Caucasus regions of the former USSR are other examples of places where such claims are being made. They are particularly hard to resolve because they a re frequently embedded in religious differences that reinforce the ethnic dimension and have a long history.Electoral modalitiesIn the 1990s, larger attention was paid to how different electoral rules may help promote inclusiveness. Such rules are the most specific manipulative instrument of politics. Africans realized this point at independence and many leaders proceeded to promote inclusiveness within a democratically designed single party system. Although the principle of competitive elections within a single party system was an interesting innovation, practical experience soon showed that sustaining the democratic element in such system became very hard (Chan, 2002, p. 345).Most of the conversation on what difference electoral systems or modalities make has focused on the comparative advantages of proportional representation and majority systems. The combination of parliamentary system with a proportional system of representation as the constitutional arrangement most likely to serve racially divided societies well. It is only in industrialist societies with a more dispersed population that proportional representation (PR) has the intended effects of enhancing the distribution of power among elites. Another study of electoral systems in southern Africa maintains that a mixed member proportional system (MMP), as used in Germany and New Zealand, may prove to be particularly relevant in countries such as South Africa where forms of power sharing have been considered vital to a successful democratic transition (Haggard, 2003).Legal SystemsOne of the more dominant arguments for the link between liberal democracy and capitalism rests on the premise that with the rise of a private property regime, the estate of the landlord is fully severed from the state, thus consolidating the separation between public and private spheres of power. Capitalist economic rule is no longer legitimated politically by reference to the performance of communal functions. Private power is stabilized to the extent that democratic principles of rule are successfully insulated within a public domain (Johansson, 2002, p. 98). This emphasis on human rights has also brought a renewed importance to concepts such as rule of law and by implication to the role of legal systems in democratization.Civil SocietyCivil society is a bothersome concept. It refers to all voluntary associations that have been created to mediate relations between the state and the family household. This excludes productive enterprises since their purpose is not to associate individuals to the state. Most students of civil society take a functional view of the society counting in all associations regardless of their normative stand on the democracy issue. Many nations that are attempting to consolidate democracy suffer from what is sometimes referred to as a civic deficit. This entails that society is short of the values that really help build democracy.This deficit often stems from disenchantment wit h the political leadership. The new democratic regime proves ineffective in various ways, such as not being able to curb corruption or to deliver tangible policy results. Once the transition from dictatorial rule has been made, it is more difficult to mobilize popular support for the measures that are necessary to keep the democratic process on the track. The civil society is most effective in the initial phase of the transition. It tends to lose its implication in the political process as it moves from transition to consolidation (Chan, 2002, p. 266).Social movements clearly energize civil society. They often lead major political transitions, but they also contribute to keeping civil society healthy at other times. Without such movements, the impact of civil society on democracy would be much less significant. Without implying that social movements always work for a civic or democratic cause (Johansson, 2002, p. 143). It seems a feasible proposition to state that a democratic chang e without the backing of a social movement is less likely to achieve something than one with such backing.ConclusionTo conclude, it may be worth making a few general observations on the studies of development and democracy. The first is that the difference between qualitative and quantitative studies is often exaggerated. There are substantive differences between the two, but they lie not in the criteria used to create and rationalize a particular research design but in the manner in which the former is executed (Haggard, 2003). It is primarily in the execution of research that quantitative statistical analyzes come to differ from qualitative forms of study. When it comes to designing research, considerable qualitative reasoning goes into designing quantitative studies.When choosing the unit of analysis, indicators for measurement and set of cases, qualitative criteria are being used to justify the design. The qualitative reasoning enters into the design in at least two ways: first, by differentiating between Europe and Latin America and the second, by bringing in the concept of stability, which does not even feature in the conceptual definition of democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67). We should be alert to the fact that the distinction between qualitative and quantitative forms of reasoning is more blurred than many scholars would have us believe.The second observation is that the relationships between variables are not always linear in a causal sense. The study of the development – democracy nexus provides ample of evidence that the relations are often interactive; development, or dimensions thereof, influences democracy but scope of democracy may also affect development. Modernists and Marxists tend to assume that political democracy is the outcome of underlying changes in the socio-economic or cultural spheres.Those who essentially believe in human agency would argue that institutions and choices can be made to shape developmental outcomes. Much of the cur rent debate in the international development community focuses on the independent effects that good governance is expected to have on various aspects of development (Haggard, 2003).The third and final observation concerns the propensity to treat findings as universal or to generalize without taking into consideration the potential influence of contextual variables. Much knowledge that is acquired on the issues relating to development and democracy are both time and context specific. Changing either temporal or spatial dimensions may have significant influence on the results.Generalizations that hold across national and regional boundaries are typically at a high level of aggregation. The challenge that we often face in our research is not only to disaggregate or deconstruct these concepts and variables but also to continue testing how far these general findings still hold at lower levels of aggregation.In sum, whichever way we turn in the research exercise, there are challenges just around the corner (Haggard, 2003). The contributors to this essay are highlighting many of these challenges, thereby providing a sense of what comparative politics have achieved so far and also what remains to be done.

The Principal Areas Of Judgment In Myers Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1728 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Cause and effect essay Did you like this example? Myer is a large department stores in Australia. Its parent company is NB Flinders PTY Ltd which is the Australian parent company of the Myer group of companies. There was an economic recession in 2007 until 2009 as a result of subprime crisis. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Principal Areas Of Judgment In Myers Finance Essay" essay for you Create order As a consequence of this it had impact on Myer performance as well. Myer group revenue decreased in 2008 and 2009 after Lehman Brother went bankrupt. Although, Myer has experience management team which manage quite well despite there were a decline in sales revenue in 2008 and 2009 ,but there were increase in net profit in 2008 and 2009 . In 2009 net profit rose by 10% from 93 million in 2008. Another evidence of good management is high inventory turnover which contribute to a true profit margin and high account receivable turnover. On the other hand, Myers utilizes high gearing to generate income but Myer has a good potential to pay back interest as interest coverage ratio were above 2 times and operating cash flow were positive in 2008 and 2009. Principal Areas The main principal is the basis of preparation of financial statements , principal of recognition ,revenue recognition, impairment of assets etc .Also, derivative and hedging policies are important as well. These policies are used to recognized revenue profit and loss in Myers financial statement which have an impact on Myers performance. Therefore, it is considered to be the principal areas of judgment. Myer had a good liquidity despite current ratio was just around 0.8 times since 2008 .This was because it had a high numbers of trade and other payable around 495,407 million in 2009 which increased from 489,387 in 2008. However, trade and other payable had no interest obligation which implied that the higher trade and other payable the better it was because Myer will have more cash flow due to less require working capital. Quick ratio also assess the deeper liquidity as it only included cash, market securities and account receivable but no inventory. This was due to inventor y can be a dead stock if inventory can not be sold. According to the quick ratio below 1 was no good. The quick ratio went up from 0.29 times in 2008 to 0.38 times in 2009. Low quick ratio as a result of high current liabilities , especially in trade and other payables. Solvency Debt to Equity measures how much Myer utilized gearing compare to its equity. It tells about the financial status of Myers. Usually the acceptable ratio is around 2 times, however in retail sectors can be allowed to 3-4 times as a result of high credit term from suppliers . In 2009 debt to equity ratio was 5.97 times which decreased from 7.85 times which was around 24 % as a result of higher retain earnings in total equity. Interest coverage is calculated by EBIT/Interest. It tells about the Myers potential to pay interest . The higher the better it is. There was increased in interest coverage ratio in 2009 as interest coverage rose from 1.65 in 2008 to 1.8 in 2009 and This was due to there were an increased in EBIT in 2009 while interest paid remained constant. Asset Utilization The big picture of asset utilization is how effective Myers use asset to generate income. Account Receivable Turnover measures how Myer can manage account receivable .It implies the credit term and cash cycle as the account receivable turnover should be less than account payable turnover ,because the Myer should receive a long credit term from supplier ,while give a shorter credit term to account receivable ,so Myer can have more cash flow as a result of lower working capital. Account receivable fluctuated from 2008 to 2009 . Despite there were a fluctuation but the account receivable turnover were so high .Therefore should not have a significant implication. Although, the average collection period days is the number of days that Myer receive payment from account receivable. There was a worsen in collection period from 4.06 days in 2008 to 5.11 days in 2009.A high account receivable turnover will result in a short collection period days ,where as a low account receivable turn over will result in a longer collection period days. On the other hand, an inventory turnover assess how Myer can manage inventory and sell products. It demonstrates how many times inventory is sold and replaced with new inventory. The higher inventory turn over the better it is for Myer. This is due to 2 main reasons First of all, high inventory contributes to high true profit margin especially in retails sectors such as Myers because most of businesses in retail sector have a small net profit margin while they need to have a large volume of sales. Therefore , the higher inventory turnover multiplied by net profit margin give a true profit margin for Myer. To demonstrate this. In 2009 Myer net profit margin was 3.7 times while an inventory turnover was 7.87 time .Hence, a true profit margin was 7.87 * 3.7 = 29 % not 3.64% as it appeared. Secondly, high inventory turnover enhances Myers cash flow and lower dead stock risks. There are risks associate with stock like dead sto ck when inventory can not be sold due to out of fashion or change in technology or cheaper substitute in the market. Myers inventory turnover remained constant around 8 times as cost of good sold rose more than inventory. Conversely, there was a slight decreased by 6.3% in 2009 as a result of economic recession. But Myer managed Inventory quite well as it was still high at range between 7 and 8% . Fixed Asset Turnover assess how Myer manage property plant and equipments to generate income. It fluctuated from 2008 to 2009. Although, assets turnover decreased as a result of a decline in sales revenue between 2008 and 2009, while property plant and equipments remained constant. As a consequence of this the ratio went down dramatically from 9.83 times in 2008 to 7.53 times in 2009 In addition it is a result of economic recession as well. Total Asset Turnover measures how effective Myer can manage all resources to generate income. Due to total assets consists of property plant a nd equipment as well. So, the ratio were much smaller than fixed asset turnover. However, the total asset turnover were 1.3 to 1.6 times implied that Myer could utilized total asset to generate income quite well. Income Statements Analysis Profitability The company performance is measured by profitability and net earnings. Therefore, the essential profitability ratio that give a big picture of Myer performance are Net Profit Margin, ROE, ROA, and Net Profit. To begin with net profit margin. There was an in increased in net profit margin in 2009 as a result of a rise in net profit by 10% in 2009 ,where as sales went down from 2.9 billion in 2008 to 2.8 billion in 2009 which enhanced net profit margin. Return on Equity assess how much Myer can use investors capital to generate returns. Usually ROE is correlated with net profit , if net profit increase it will enhance a higher ROE . However, a dramatic increased in retain earnings from 149 million in 2008 to 250 million in 2009 which grew up by 68% could have an impact on ROE .Therefore , ROE decreased from 45 % in 2008 to 36 % in 2009. To increase ROE Myer needs to have much net profit growth than retain earnings. Where a ROA assess how effective Myer can utilizes total ass ets to generate net profit. Ordinary ROA is lower than ROW due to assets consists of debt and equity. Despite, ROA was below 10% in 2009 but still acceptable and expect to recover when economic recover in second half of 2009 and beyond. There was an increase in net profit by 10% in 2009 as a result of decreased in cost of good sold in 2009 from 1.7 billion in 2008 to 1.6 billion in 2009. Should Myer be compared to another company? Myer should be compared with companies in the same industry. This is to measure Myers performance to an industry average Who are their main competitors? Myer is a large business , so should be compare with same size rival. This is like a heavy weight boxer. And it is David Jones a large department stores. How many years should trend analysis be done for? Trend analysis should be done not more than 5 years due to it is more accurate and precise. Beyond 5 years is too hard to predict unless the sales reach maturity stage and anticipate to grow at a rate of inflation. Also, marketing and investment plan can change dramatically. However, there are many investments and incidents can happen beyond 5 years. Therefore, it is appropriate to analyze for 5 years. To avoid errors beyond 5 years should assume sales and earnings growth at inflation rate. Short Overall Analysis Provide a short overall analysis for shareholders on whether they should maintain, increase or reduce their investment. Who are Myer? Myer Holdings Limited (MYR) is one of Australias largest department store groups targeting a wide spectrum of consumers. The company has a national network of 65 stores in Australia. Myer retails designer, national, and international fashion and apparel for men, women, and children, and operates a consumer loyalty program. The company focuses on its retail presence and execution, with a mix of house-brand and leased retail space areas. Products/services:Â   Myers offering comprises 600,000 products across 11 core product categories: womenwear, menswear, youth fashion, childrenswear, intimate apparel, beauty, fragrance and cosmetics, homewares, electrical goods, toys, fashion accessories and general merchandise. Myer is looking into further margin expansions and sales growth through specific strategies including opening 15 new stores in the next five years with 12 conditional agreements for lease already signed, rebuilding and refurbishing the Melbourne flagship store, contin uing to grow the MYER one loyalty program and roll-out a new point-of-sale system and introducing new product categories, brands and concepts to improve sales growth and margins. The company also installed a new Point-of-Sale system while it was being restructured under private-equity ownership. Myers growth strategy focuses on four areas: comparable store sales growth, new store expansion, gross margin improvement, and reduction of cost Who are they owned by? NB Flinders Pty Ltd is the Australian parent company of the Myer group of companies. Is there any current discussion on Myer in the media that might give some value to your analysis? Not at the moment. Recommendation From long term investment perspective, recommend to increase investment in Myer as expect Myer performance to recover and to grow in year 2010 and beyond when economic recover. Secondly, despite there was an economic recession in 2008 but Myer ROE and Inventory Turnover still high which are evidenced of Myers good management. Therefore, when economic recover and people purchasing power increase anticipate Myers earnings to boost .As a result of increase earnings Myers intrinsic value will increase and share price should reflect intrinsic value when there is an earnings surprise announcement.