Monday, December 23, 2019

President John F. Kennedy And Nikita Khrushchev - 1913 Words

President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev were two of the most important men during the Cuban Missile crisis; they had a lot of differences in character and response to the situation, but had some similarities as well. The two were a couple of the most influential men of their time, especially considering the tense Cold War and resulting Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy was the youngest man to be elected president at his time, so you can imagine the pressure he must have felt as a prominent leader in such a trying time. However, he had an admirable history, having gone to some of the most respectable schools throughout his life, including Princeton University and Harvard University (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Born into a†¦show more content†¦When it capsized, he ordered his men to swim to a small island about three miles away. He towed one man to shore in a heroic five-hour struggle. Several days later, having displayed great courage, leadership, and endura nce, Kennedy succeeded in having his men rescued (Encyclopedia of World Biography). After coming into office, he led a renewed drive for public service and eventually provided federal support for the growing civil rights movement. He called on his fellow Americans to work together in the pursuit of progress and the elimination of poverty, but also in the battle to win the ongoing Cold War against communism around the world, saying, â€Å"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.† (www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-f-kennedy) Nikita Khrushchev, a short and plump man, was known to have a quick temper, and was a seemingly likeable man with a sense of humor (The Human Odyssey: From Modern Times to our Contemporary Era 226). It was much harder for Nikita to rise to power than Kennedy. Nikita started out his career as a pipe fitter, and later joined the Red Army against the whites in the Ukraine during the Civil War, being employed by Stalin to do so. The following year, he became a full member of the Politburo, and later became the first Secretary of the Communist party in 1953 (http://spartacus-educational.com/RUSkhrushchev.htm). By 1956, he became the USSR’s dominant leader (World History:

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Viloin Technical/Descriptive Essay Free Essays

The crowd waited in silence as minutes had passed. Then suddenly the velvet red curtains began to part. Rushing to opposite sides of the stage revealing a girl. We will write a custom essay sample on Viloin Technical/Descriptive Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now The spotlight shining bright directly on her, you could see the fear in her glossy hazel eyes as she took a quick glimpse into the crowd. She slowly closed her eyes and gently laid her head on her shoulder rest of her beautiful classical 4/4 violin. We watched as she placed her fingers correctly and there it was, the first note. A beautiful A flat. So petite and perfect you knew her performance was going to be astonishing. A violin is a beautiful instrument to look at. That beauty, which comes from the instrument’s curved and often shiny body, is what helps make the sound you hear. The body of a violin is hollow. The strings are above the body, suspended by a bridge. The bridge is a small, maple piece of wood. This bridge is secured on the instrument because of the tension of the strings. When the violin is played, the vibration of the strings is transferred from the bridge to the body. The vibration is amplified in the body of the violin, and this is the sound you hear. The sound of a well played violin is the sound of emotions, from the length of sadness to the shortness of expectations. Sometimes, it’s low pitch, whispering like the wind and warm like a blanket and then it gets higher and higher until the pitch is so high, it’s borderline painful, but just before you reach the pain†¦ it stops and get silenced†¦ and then whispers again. The violin is the highest pitch instrument in the orchestra like the higher part of a piano. Sometimes the violin can sound scratchy when you mess up but other times it sounds like harmony and peace when you succeed. Sounds like the high pitch of the bird singing outside your window that wakes you up in the morning. Majestic like water, drops of water creating ripples of sound. Waves that flow into your ears and give you those goosebumps that make the little hairs on your arms stand up. The beautiful sound that makes your ears ask for more and more of its gorgeousness . That when they stop playing you feel that little crack in your heart from the loss of the astonishing sound you crave for more of. She pulled back on her bow creating her last note. Her last note was a decrescendo on the note E. She drew back her bow slowly not quite letting the beautiful sound end just yet, It slowly faded away into the distance, my ears lingered to hear the note that was disappearing into the darkness. My eyes were closed , secretly begging to hear more but all i heard was silence. I opened my eyes and saw she had picked up her bow. The audience was so astonished they sat in silence. That pause felt like eternity but then i stood to my feet and began to applaud her, as everybody else in the crowd followed me and a tear fell off my cheek, Knowing that was my student on that stage. How to cite Viloin Technical/Descriptive Essay, Essays

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Compensation System of Imperial Oil-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Compensation and Benefit System of Imperial Oil. Answer: Introduction Imperial Oil Limited was founded in the year 1880s in London, Ontario of Canada. They have their headquarters situated in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for operating in their major markets. The company has achieved the second position in Canadian petroleum industry (imperialoil.ca, 2017). They produce high quality petrochemical products for their customers and provide standard and friendly services in their stores for attaining sustainability. They channelize their products and services through Esso retail network to the customers with needs of fuel. The products are then utilized by the end users that are individual customers utilizing to the fuel to run their motor vehicles. The current employment strength of the company is 5600 decreasing from 5700 in 2015 (statista.com, 2017). This report identifies the internal equity of the organization by identifying the existing job evaluation system. The report then identifies analysis methods and performance evaluation method for understanding how equity is maintained. The report further discusses the compensation methods utilized by the organization and how they are aligned with the marketplace. Later part of the report discusses about the benefits received by the employee form working Imperial Oil. The effectiveness of the compensation system it later evaluated in the report. The final part of the report consists of recommendation and conclusion made for developing the existing system in the organization. Internal Equity Job evaluation is the method of prioritizing the positions in an organization to determine the value of the job. Imperial Oil uses factor comparison method of job evaluation system, which is both detailed and expensive job evaluation system of all. It is a combination of several evaluation method, which Imperial Oil utilizes to evaluate the jobs offered. The company first ranks the job using point assessment, which evaluates the monetary value of a position. They then analyze the jobs in terms of external market to determine the rate for the particular position (Shields et al, 2015). This helps the company in determining the rate for a new hire in the market. Imperial Oil also have Checklist and weighted checklist for analyzing the performance of its employees. It is both expensive and lengthy process of job evaluation (Taticchi et al, 2015). However, it helps them identify the overall performance of their employees performance for a particular time span. External Equity Imperial Oil conducts standard compensation survey for identifying the compensation package offered for the similar position in the similar companies. It is to identify the industry standard and market rates to establish a fair compensation package for their employees and competitive reward strategy (San, Theen Heng, 2012). The company purchases the annual reports of similar companies in the market to analyze and establish external equity. The data they use in the process are base salaries, increased amount, salary range, merit increases, incentives, allowances, working hours and educational requirements (Taticchi et al, 2015). Imperial Oil uses these data to set their job requirements and salary for each positions. It helps them to position themselves in one of the leads in the operation market. They are now hiring students from universities, colleges of gaining competitive advantage in the market (imperialoil.ca, 2017). They provide salaries to their new employees considering thei r knowledge and market pricing for the position after aligning these with their internal equity. The compensation mode set by the company can be divided into three segments that are basic pay, incentives and other compensation. These vary according to the position and performance of the employee. Fr example, the vice president of the company Mr. Redburn received $733,374 as base pay, $501,767 as incentives and $60,241 as other pay for the calendar year 2016 (Salary.com, 2017). Benefits Imperial Oil established a number of policies for ensuring the safety of their employees in both working in the facilities or outside the facilities. They also provide training on safety to the employees to work efficiently and avoid unwanted circumstances. The employees are incorporated to take the responsibilities for ensuring the workplace safety. They further provide training to their newly hired employees to fill them with knowledge about roles and responsibilities they have in their appointed position. The working hour for every employee working in Imperial Oil is set at eight. However, the employees are encouraged to perform over time duties in exchange of bonus. However, they make sure to limit every employees over shift to avoid exhaustion of the employees. Furthermore, every Imperial Oil facilities are provided with parking facilities, meals with pay for their employees. The company also provides several benefits such as pension, health and dental, out of province emergency health coverage, life insurance and accident insurance claims to each of their employees. The expenses are shared both by the employee and the employer as they both contribute a portion of the premium invested in the insurances (mobil1.ca, 2017). Effectiveness of Compensation System The company has a basic pay structure for all its employees and has compensation pay on the amount of overtime they are performing. Moreover, they have appraisal system based on both tenurity and performance. These appraisals are individual based on individual performance. This is to satisfy the employees need and ensure job satisfaction to retain them. The following compensation efficiency scale reflects the satisfaction level of the employees either working or recently worked in the company. This will in turn help the management to revise their compensation system and make it more capable for competing in the market. Compensation Efficiency Scale Question 1 2 3 4 5 Is the compensation survey effective? Is Factor comparison method is effective in case of Imperial Oil? Is checklist and weight checklist method for performance analysis effective? Is the compensation model efficient? Is the benefits provided are justified? The standard compensation survey utilized by the company is considered as the most efficient in the market. However, it is also cost inefficient, which needs revision. Factor comparison method utilized by the company is helping them in successfully maintaining their internal equity. The checklist analysis method is serving the company well in identifying employee performance and provide appraisal to the employees. However, it is too expensive for the company to maintain. Compensation model on the other hand is successful in satisfying the employee needs. Benefits on the other hand can be modified by providing free meal to the employee. They can adjust the money with the base pay accordingly. It will save money for both company and the employees (Boone Boone, 2012). Recommendation The Factor comparison method utilized is considered is effective, but costing the company a huge amount of money. Hence, they can shift to custom survey, which has similar potential with low costing. Moreover, the checklist and weight checklist method for tracking employee performance is both lengthy and costly for the company. However, in a company like Imperial Oil, it is important for having accurate knowledge over employee performance, which cannot be compromised. However, they can modify their compensation model and benefits. They can provide free meal to their employees changing their current meal with pay. They can adjust the costing with the employees basic pay. This will benefit both the company and employee as it will cost less for the company to purchase huge amount of meal form the caterer, whereas, the employees need to pay the market rate for the meal. The overall compensation and benefit model however is efficient in providing benefit to the organization and to the emp loyees. References Boone, H. N., Boone, D. A. (2012). Analyzing likert data.Journal of extension,50(2), 1-5. San, O., Theen, Y., Heng, T. (2012). The reward strategy and performance measurement (evidence from Malaysian insurance companies).International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology,2(1), 211-223. Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... Plimmer, G. (2015).Managing Employee Performance Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press. statista.com. (2017).Imperial Oil employee number 2008-2016 | Statistic. Retrieved 28 November 2017, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/566599/number-of-employees-at-imperial-oil/ Taticchi, P., Garengo, P., Nudurupati, S. S., Tonelli, F., Pasqualino, R. (2015). A review of decision-support tools and performance measurement and sustainable supply chain management.International Journal of Production Research,53(21), 6473-6494. Salary.com, (2017).IMPERIAL OIL LTD Executive Salaries Other Compensation | Salary.com.Salary.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://www1.salary.com/IMPERIAL-OIL-LTD-Executive-Salaries.html mobil1.ca (2017).Imperial Oil benefits. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://www.mobil1.ca/Canada-English/Files/InTouch_Newsletter_Feb_2011.pdf imperialoil.ca. (2017a). Imperial. history Retrieved 27 November 2017, from https://www.imperialoil.ca/en-ca/company/about/history/our-history imperialoil.ca. (2017b).Careers. Retrieved 27 November 2017, from https://www.imperialoil.ca/en-ca/careers/careers

Saturday, November 30, 2019

None_provided Essays (1347 words) - Project Mercury,

None_provided General Chuck Yeager Charles E. Yeager was born on February 13, 1923 in Myra, West Virginia and raised the nearby village of Hamlin for the first eighteen years of his life. His father drilled natural gas, and his mother was a housewife. At an early age, Chuck helped his father drill, and learned mechanics from his father. Chuck was always fixing the car engines or the drill engine if it broke. In high school Chuck played basketball and baseball, although he never really excelled in either. He also was not that smart in school. He said the only thing that he was good at was typing and math, everything else, he got a D in. After high school, Chuck, being poorly educated and destitute decided to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. The funny thing about that is that Chuck never even saw an airplane on the ground until he was 16 years old, when it had an emergency and landed in a cornfield, and Chuck was not even impressed with it. He said the reason that he joined the Air Corps is because the recruiter made the Air Corps sound more interesting that the Navy recruiter. Anyway, Chuck joined the Air Corps as a mechanic. After a year of being a mechanic, the Untied States was short pilots, so they put up a notice to see if anyone wanted to become a pilot. Chuck signed the form; however, it took another year for them to pick him. It was always hard for Chuck to fit in among the other pilots and mechanics. Because he was from West Virginia, he had a strong accent, and a poor education, so he was never given a chance at first. Then, when he first went in a plane, he almost quit the pilot school because there was turb ulence and he was bumping all over the place. On the other hand, once he flew a plane by himself he was hooked. He excelled in pilot school because he had excellent vision, 20/10, and learned how to dogfight, that is getting in position to shoot down another plane and avoiding getting shot down yourself. He left for the War in 1942. He was disappointed at first because after 6 missions, they hadnt seen one German. Yet, on his 7th mission the Americans encountered German planes while escorting a bomber. Yeager killed one and returned safely. Unluckily for Yeager, on his next mission in 1943, his plane gto shot down over enemy territory and he had to jump out (there were no ejection seats in those days). For the next 3 weeks it was hell. After he jumped, all he had were 2 stale candy bars and a bottle of water. He saw a French woodcutter and jumped him for his axe. However, instead of getting mad, he got help for Chuck. Within a couple of hours, Chuck had the help of the French Maquis, a French resistance group. They led to the Pyrenees Mountains with one other shot down pilot, where they told them that they were on their own. They hike the mountains for days, thinking they go nowhere. One day, they found a cabin and rested. The other pilot put his socks over bushes to dry. A German patrol did not even bother to look in the cabin, but just shot. The other pilot got his leg totally blown off. Chuck decided to carry him for three days before they finally got into neutral Spain. There, Chuck spent another 3 weeks in a luxury hotel, paid for by the army, while the government negotiated for his release. When he finally got back he received bad news. He was not going to be able to go back because if he got shot down again the Germans would torture them to find out where the Maquis were. He appealed to General Dwight Eisenhower and Eisenhower let him stay in. From there, Yeagers career took off. He went back in the Corps and after a couple of missions we was back to dogfighting. One time there were 200 Germans attacking roughly 40 Americans. On that day, Yeager became and Ace shooting down 5 on his own, (the first

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on Investigatory Project On Herbal Soaps

METHODOLOGY I. State the Problem. Good health is necessary for all human beings in order to enjoy life. But manufactured foods and medicines have become very expensive for all of us especially in this time of economic crisis, so it's very hard to maintain good health. Oftentimes it is the cost of these medicines that use up all our money and savings. Medicines and foods need not be expensive anymore. Traditional healing thru the use of medicinal herbs, fruits, vegetables, seafoods, rootcrops and other natural foods are just at your doorstep. They are found everywhere around you. You can prepare your own medicine and food at home without spending too much. Traditional healing methods are continuously sought despite the presence of hospitals and medical clinics. They are also sought not only because they are less expensive, but also because they get satisfying results. One example of these traditional healing is the use of guava leaves. Applying a paste ( crushed leaves ) of guava leaves on wounds helps in curing them. A guava leaf decoction can also be use as an antiseptic for wounds. II. What observations made you to decide to study the problem? In these modern days of sophisticated medicine and the new way of producing so many kinds of medicine, very few people especially those from the cities will not take their time out just for the process of what you called, traditional healing. Even though they do still believe it’s effectiveness. So, why not modernized this traditional kind of healing? As in, the case of healing a wound, why not make this traditional healing into something more easier and convenient. Instead of using a lot of time in looking for some guava leaves and make a decoction to be use as an antiseptic, I’m thinking of making a soap out of the guava leaf. This can be immediately used especially for emergency cases. III. What factor must you consider? Gua... Free Essays on Investigatory Project On Herbal Soaps Free Essays on Investigatory Project On Herbal Soaps METHODOLOGY I. State the Problem. Good health is necessary for all human beings in order to enjoy life. But manufactured foods and medicines have become very expensive for all of us especially in this time of economic crisis, so it's very hard to maintain good health. Oftentimes it is the cost of these medicines that use up all our money and savings. Medicines and foods need not be expensive anymore. Traditional healing thru the use of medicinal herbs, fruits, vegetables, seafoods, rootcrops and other natural foods are just at your doorstep. They are found everywhere around you. You can prepare your own medicine and food at home without spending too much. Traditional healing methods are continuously sought despite the presence of hospitals and medical clinics. They are also sought not only because they are less expensive, but also because they get satisfying results. One example of these traditional healing is the use of guava leaves. Applying a paste ( crushed leaves ) of guava leaves on wounds helps in curing them. A guava leaf decoction can also be use as an antiseptic for wounds. II. What observations made you to decide to study the problem? In these modern days of sophisticated medicine and the new way of producing so many kinds of medicine, very few people especially those from the cities will not take their time out just for the process of what you called, traditional healing. Even though they do still believe it’s effectiveness. So, why not modernized this traditional kind of healing? As in, the case of healing a wound, why not make this traditional healing into something more easier and convenient. Instead of using a lot of time in looking for some guava leaves and make a decoction to be use as an antiseptic, I’m thinking of making a soap out of the guava leaf. This can be immediately used especially for emergency cases. III. What factor must you consider? Gua...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Army to College

From the military to the university, when I entered military education where the bus was strictly protected, I stared at the slogan: Do what you can do. As the bus stopped, several angry drill coaches began to introduce us a very colorful vocabulary. They instructed us to gather our belongings, got off the bus and gathered them in the circle. When I was looking for the strength to stand up, I found myself moving, and a few drilling instructors shouted at us. US Army War College will develop leaders at a strategic level while enhancing knowledge of Landpower's global applications. The purpose of the US Army War College is to train graduates with skill-oriented philosophers and complex problem solvers. At the same time, the US military is also responsible for serving as a factory for commanders and civilian leaders at the global strategic level and often discusses and discusses the role of the army in achieving national security objectives doing. The Army ROTC is a course offered at hu ndreds of universities throughout the country, training university students to become aggressive soldiers, army reserve forces and army guards. This is a four-year course that can be divided into two parts: basic and advanced. The basic course is usually done between the freshman year and the second grade. Advanced courses usually take place during the last two years of the university, including a five-year leadership assessment development program. Usually done in the summer between your junior and senior. LDAC provides you with practical training and confidence that you can not learn in class. Army ROTC's mission is to trust to lead the US Army's future officers. Army ROTC is a college elective subject you can take the necessary university course. Provide tools, training, and experience to succeed in a competitive environment. In addition to good leadership training, the Army ROTC can also pay tuition fees at your university. You will have ordinary college student experience on ca mpus just like any other person, but when you graduate you will become an army officer. Being a US Army officer means that you are a leader, consultant, strategist and motivated. It is similar to being an important administrator of the company. As a military officer, you lead other soldiers in all situations and adapt to changing circumstances. You will succeed with your team in every task Army to College From the military to the university, when I entered military education where the bus was strictly protected, I stared at the slogan: Do what you can do. As the bus stopped, several angry drill coaches began to introduce us a very colorful vocabulary. They instructed us to gather our belongings, got off the bus and gathered them in the circle. When I was looking for the strength to stand up, I found myself moving, and a few drilling instructors shouted at us. US Army War College will develop leaders at a strategic level while enhancing knowledge of Landpower's global applications. The purpose of the US Army War College is to train graduates with skill-oriented philosophers and complex problem solvers. At the same time, the US military is also responsible for serving as a factory for commanders and civilian leaders at the global strategic level and often discusses and discusses the role of the army in achieving national security objectives doing. The Army ROTC is a course offered at hu ndreds of universities throughout the country, training university students to become aggressive soldiers, army reserve forces and army guards. This is a four-year course that can be divided into two parts: basic and advanced. The basic course is usually done between the freshman year and the second grade. Advanced courses usually take place during the last two years of the university, including a five-year leadership assessment development program. Usually done in the summer between your junior and senior. LDAC provides you with practical training and confidence that you can not learn in class. Army ROTC's mission is to trust to lead the US Army's future officers. Army ROTC is a college elective subject you can take the necessary university course. Provide tools, training, and experience to succeed in a competitive environment. In addition to good leadership training, the Army ROTC can also pay tuition fees at your university. You will have ordinary college student experience on ca mpus just like any other person, but when you graduate you will become an army officer. Being a US Army officer means that you are a leader, consultant, strategist and motivated. It is similar to being an important administrator of the company. As a military officer, you lead other soldiers in all situations and adapt to changing circumstances. You will succeed with your team in every task

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Best Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Best Experience - Essay Example It depicts different cultures and heritages of the world and allows professionals to explore beyond the boundaries of their origin. I am personally very ambitious about diving in the field of fashion product development and acquire the best that this field can offer to the candidates. I believe this institution has all the right ingredients for a passionate learner like me. The theories of aesthetics and the history of fashion development form an integral part of the course and I realize that these, along with an individual’s creativity and conceptual understanding help a great deal.Past experience always helps an artist to be more creative and expressive in his ideas. My experience has allowed me to explore my potential in this regard and I am optimistic about my revival in the field of Fashion Product Development. Working in the clothing company and designing t-shirts has been a good exposure. I have learned that there are different types of people with varying strengths and areas for improvement. I am no exception because life has to move on despite all the ups and downs. Rejoining the University would be the best thing at this stage because I will not only be able to catch-up with my profession but also be able to gain the best possible knowledge in the field of my choice. The university will help me to understand the field of fashion and learn the important aspects of this field. I am truly committed to my career and I will put in all my strength and efforts to meet the requirements of the university.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 56

Discussion - Essay Example Although US had the highest GDP per person but its infant mortality rate was higher than France’s infant mortality rate which and similar was in the case of life expectancy rate. Countries that are poorer can establish better infant mortality rate as well as higher life expectancy rate as established in the comparison of France and US. This is because higher amount of GDP does not mean that the government is spending more on wellbeing and healthcare of their citizens. A country may be experiencing lower amount of GDP, but the amount of money it directs towards its populations healthcare determines how well a country stands in the measures of infant mortality rate. Secondly, the cost of healthcare even determines the countries standing in these measures. If cost of healthcare is kept low, then citizens can obtain better healthcare at lower prices. GDP per person statistics can only provide insight regarding how much per person is able to spend on goods and services, but does no t determines the amount of goods and services that can be purchased and the quality of goods and services that can be purchased by individuals, thus relying on GDP per person statistics does not provide a clear picture of a nation’s standard of

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Transformative Learning Theory and Multiple Intelligences Essay Example for Free

Transformative Learning Theory and Multiple Intelligences Essay This writer reflection paper is about transformative learning theory and multiple intelligences. Sunny Cooper (2004) stated that â€Å"the study of transformational learning emerged with the work of Jack Mezirow (1981, 1994, 1997). Transformational learning is defined as learning that induces more far-reaching change in the learner than other kinds of learning, especially learning experiences which shape the learner and produce a significant impact, or paradigm shift, which affects the learners subsequent experiences† (para. 2). Cooper and Wallace (2004) stated that â€Å"transformational learning was reviewed in four areas: (1) theories of transformational learning, (2) roles of participants in transformative programs, including students and instructors, (3) course content, environments and instructional activities as they relate to transformational learning, and (4) challenges for instructors who teach transformational material† (para. 1). According to Armstrong (2009), â€Å"the theory of multiple intelligences was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. It suggests that the traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too limited. Dr. Gardner proposes eight different intelligences to account for a broader range of human potential in children and adults. These eight intelligences are: Linguistic, Logical Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Naturalist† (para. 1). According to Wallace, she described Transformative Learning Theory as a adult education based theory that suggests ways in which adults make meaning of their lives. It looks at â€Å"deep learning,† not just content or process learning, as critical as those both are for many kinds of learning, and examines what it takes for adults to move from a limited knowledge of knowing what they know without questioning (usually from their cultures, families, organizations and society). It looks at what mechanisms are required for adults to identify, assess and evaluate alternative sources of information, often sources that may looks at how adults can identify,  assess and evaluate new information, and in some cases, reframe their world-view through the incorporation of new knowledge or information into their world-view or belief system. According to Mezirow (1991), the roles of participants in transformative programs, including students and instructors. The educators must help learners become aware and critical of their own and others assumptions. Learners need practice in recognizing frames of reference and using their imaginations to redefine problems from a different perspective (p. 11). According to Mezirow (1991), course content, environments and instructional activities help the students relate to transformational learning. The key idea is to help the learners actively engage the concepts presented in the context of their own lives and collectively critically assess the justification of new knowledge. According to Columbia University, the challenges for instructors who teach transformational material is very important because transformational teaching goal is to create independent, self directed, self-motivated learners who are capable of critiquing and directing their own work, who are open to alternative vie wpoints, and who have strongly developed higher order thinking skills (para 1). During the fifth week in class, this writer made up a question asking â€Å"In order to practice and teach transformative learning the instructor must experience transformative learning† The answer is True. This writer found one college on the Wed Site that teach instructor transformational learning. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/pdfs/Transformational%20Teaching.pdf (Teacher Center located at the Columbia University in the city of New York. According to Armstrong (2009), Gardner, described the eight multiple intelligences theory in detail below and they are: 1. Linguistic Intelligence: the capacity to use language to express whats on your mind and to understand other people. Any kind of writer, orator, speaker, lawyer, or other person for whom language is an important stock in trade has great linguistic intelligence. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence. 2. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: the capacity to understand the underlying principles of some kind of causal system, the way a scientist or a logician does; or to manipulate numbers, quantities, and operations, the way a mathematician does. . In Howard Gardners words, it entails the ability to  detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking. 3. Musical Rhythmic Intelligence: the capacity to think in music; to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, and perhaps manipulate them. People who have strong musical intelligence dont just remember music easily, they cant get it out of their minds, its so omnipresen. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence. 4. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: the capacity to use your whole body or parts of your body (your hands, your fingers, your arms) to solve a problem, make something, or put on some kind of production. The most evident examples are people in athletics or the performing arts, particularly dancing or acting. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related. 5. Spatial Intelligence: the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind the way a sailor or airplane pilot navigates the large spatial world, or the way a chess player or sculptor represents a more circumscribed spatial world. Spatial intelligence can be used in the arts or in the sciences. 6. Naturalist Intelligence: the ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) and sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef. 7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: having an understanding of yourself; knowing who you are, what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward. We are drawn to people who have a good understanding of themselves. They tend to know what they can and cant do, and to know where to go if they need help. 8. Interpersonal Intelligence: the ability to understand other people. Its an ability we all need, but is especially important for teachers, clinicians, salespersons, or politicians -anybody who deals with other people. During my teenage years, this writer assumed that people were born with special brains, special brains cells or special pysch power to out perform other people normal ability with in the eight multiple intelligences group. According to Gardner, he stated that it true that some people possesses all eight intelligences and can develop all eight to a reasonable level of competence. This writer knowledge from the class discussions and assigned  reading on multiple intelligences had enhance my understanding why some people exciled more in one or all of the multiple intelligence group. This writer no longer feels insecure to other people with a higher intelligence then mine. This writer multiple intelligence is the naturalist intelligence because I enjoy planting flowers in the garden and growing variety of vegetable in the garden. During the sixth week in class, this writer made up a question asking â€Å"Why did Dr. Howard Gardner introduce the multiple intelliences theory?† This writer answer was â€Å"Dr. Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences in his classic book, Frames of Mind in 1983. In this scholarly work Dr. Gardner provided extensive support for his proposition that there is more to intelligence than what shows up on an IQ score. Based on a unique definition of intelligence and eight criteria, he carefully describes how a broad array of evidence supports the powerful idea that the human mind possesses at least seven distinct forms of intelligence. In 1996 he added the eighth intelligence to the list, Naturalist, in recognition that the understanding of living things is not sufficiently covered by the original se ven intelligences. http://www.miresearch.org/mi_theory.html this web site gives you more in-depth detail about Dr. Howard Gardner and his eight multiple intelligences theory. According to Mezirow (1991) Transformative Learning Theory provides a structure and process through which to better understand adult growth and development. Early theorists including Jean Piaget and Maria Montessori, developed very thorough theories about childhood development and for years few scholars probed how adults learn and make meaning of their lives. Mezirow (1991) study on women returning to school as adults, discovered much of what we now know as Transformative Learning Theory, a theory that started with Mezirow and has been greatly enriched by many others. This writer is a transformative learning because I am a female adult over fifth years old and it is hard trying to re-train my brain to retain new information. The instructors and other staff members at Spring Arbor University helped developed my â€Å"frame of reference† by motivating me to enhance my mind by learning new information. According to Jack Mezirow (1991) the â€Å"frame of reference is defined as â€Å" Adults have acquired a coherent body of experience associations, concepts, values, feelings, conditioned response called frames of reference that define a  person life world. Frames of reference are the structures of assumptions through which a person understand the experiences. A frame of reference encompasses cognitive, co-native, and emotional components, and is composed of two dimensions, habits of mind and a point of view† (p. 5). References Cooper, Sunny., (2004). Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology: Jack Mezirow Transformational Theory. Retrieved December 14, 2012, http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/humanist/mezirow.html Mezirow, Jack, (1991). Article called Transformative learning: Theory to practice (pp. 5- 11). Retrieved December 12, 2012 and Web Sit http://www.lifecircles- inc.com/Learningtheories/humanist/mezirow.html Smith, Mark K. (2002, 2008). Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences, the encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved December 14, 2012, http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm. Wallace, Scott., (no year). Transformative learning Theory. Retrieved December 14, 2012., http://transformativelearningtheory.com/

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Julia Ward Howe: More than the Battle Hymn :: Poet Julia Ward Howe Papers

Julia Ward Howe: More than the Battle Hymn "Mine Eyes have seen the coming of the Glory of the Lord†¦." Almost effortlessly the rest of the familiar tune comes rolling off the tongue. The battle Hymn of the Republic, a traditional and powerful patriotic hymn, will undoubtedly remain that way for years to come. However is the average American able to place a face with that tune? Julia Ward Howe was the bright mind behind the Battle Hymn, but she did not stop there. Howe's life and poetry succeeded in meshing contrasting religions and beliefs, as well as strengthen and challenge the freedoms of women during her time. In New York City, in the year 1819, Julia Ward was born into a strict Episcopalian Calvinist Family. Loosing her mother at a young age, Julia was raised by her father and an aunt. Not long after her mothers death Julia's father, a successful banker in the city, passed away, leaving Julia in the sole custody of her uncle. During her childhood she had been brought up believing in the strict and conservative views of Calvinism. Julia's mind was filled with the ideas and principles behind predestination and ramus logic, always encouraged to look for the hand of God first and then base everything else in society off of the premises she was taught (30). After the death of her father, Julia began searching for deeper meaning. She went through an intense period of revival as she attended church and became more and more involved with religious activities in the city. She soon began to notice, however, that men dominated this new conviction. Men wrote the sermons, men published the books, and men told her what she needed to do to become closer to God. Soon Julia's strict Calvinist kick would end (48). Prompted by Mary Ward, Julia took a winter "off" from any outside influences to get her thoughts in order. After this time she began to read and research Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson's introduction into Transcendentalism offered Julia the presence of God without the dominating male authority. Transcendentalism theory stressed the immanence of God and his active presence in everyone's life. She agreed with the idea that the bible was not meant to be taken literally, but that one's own intuition could lead to an understanding of God. These new and radical views for her time, coupled with her Calvinist upbringing, seems like it would be the recipe for disaster.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Harbor Chemicals

Assignment 5 Sheet Harbour Chemicals Sheet Harbour Chemicals (SHC) manufactures chemicals used in the paint industry. The process involves three departments. Chemical A, which is purchased for $3 per liter, is processed through Department 1 in batches of 100 liters. Each batch of chemicals processed through Department A produces 70 liters of chemical B and 30 liters of chemical C. Chemical B is sold for $10 per liter. Chemical C is used in Department 2 to produce chemicals D, E, and F. Department 2 processes chemical C in batches of 200 liters.Each batch processed through Department B produces 100 liters of chemical D, 60 liters of chemical E, and 40 liters of chemical F. Chemical D is sold for $12 per liter. Chemical E is a waste product that is donated to the local municipality to be spread on gravel roads to keep down dust. Chemical F is a hazardous waste product that must be disposed of at a cost of $6 per liter. Alternatively, chemical F can be processed through Department 3 to produce chemical C. Department 3 processes chemical F in batches of 40 liters.For each batch of chemical F processed, 20 liters of chemical C are produced. In the past, this operation has had a tendency to build up stocks of chemical C. The maximum storage capactiy for chemical C is 1,000 liters. The accompanying diagram summarizes the production activities at SHC. The sales manager indicates that sales of chemical B cannot exceed 35,000 liters in the upcoming period, and sales of chemical D cannot exceed 10,000 liters. The production manager advises that 7,000 labor-hours are available for the upcoming period. Workers are paid $10 per hour worked.The production manager indicates that the labor-hours required for each batch in Departments 1,2, and 3 are 10, 15, and 10, respectively. Moreoever, because of constraints relating to the mixing vats and storage, the maximum number of batches in Departments 1, 2, and 3 are 600, 80, and 40, respectively. The estimated variable overhead cost s per batch in Departments 1, 2, and 3 are estimated as $250, $750, and $100. 2 Required: 1. Formulate an LP to determine the optimal production plan at SHC for the upcoming period. 2. Using Excel, solve the LP formulated in requirement 1 to determine the optimal plan.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Book Review †English as an International Language Essay

The blurb of this contribution to the scientific research of English states that this language does not only matter in the context of linguistics but also in other subcategories of science like â€Å"sociocultural, political and pedagogical† fields. The reason is seen in the matter of English being a lingua franca that is used in all areas of these studies and therefore the book’s goal is to take a closer look into the complexity of the international usage of English. The book is kept in a light tone of brown on the outside. On the cover there is a picture of a globe published in Digital Shock in 1997, obviously underlining the focus on inter-nationality. Title and Editor are kept in white. The book spine gives a short introduction about the focus and provides the reader with some quotes of well-known scholars like Janina Brutt-Griffler and Ryuko Kubota. At the beginning of the book, the lists of acknowledgments, contributors and abbreviations are located, followed by an overview by the editor Farzard Sharifian. The work is split into four parts namely: 1. Native/ Non native Divide: Politics, Policies and Practices; 2. EIL, Attitudes and Identity(ies); 3. EIL, Teacher Education and Language Testing: Gaps and Challenges; 4. The Scope of EIL: Widening, Tightening and Emerging Themes. All of the parts contain 3 essays, except the fourth chapter that provides five different endings. In order to give a brought overview, I will summarize each essay in short and name the convincing and the missing points. The introduction states that the focus of this book is â€Å"on communication rather than on the speakers’ nationality† (p. 5). The reason for this focus lies within the critique that English language teachers express while looking at the results of such a research. This reveals a unilateral measure, excluding the scientific field of English language teaching and underlining the focus on more political issues. However, it already gives a certain sense to the difference between English as an international language (EIL) and English as it is taught in school. This overview deepens on the following pages dealing with the difference of â€Å"politics, policies and practices† (p. 6) and the more precise definition of EIL. By looking closer on attitudes and identities, the author takes position in recent debates and controversies e. g. based on the â€Å"NS-NNS accent†. Even though he declares an assumption stating that â€Å"English native speakers have no difficulty understanding each other† (p. 8) to be wrong, he at the same time provides the readers with the pro and contra arguments in such a debate. Due to the fact of his entry being more or less an introduction, Sharifian succeeds in not going to far into detail but giving hints of what will be dealt with in the following. The starting chapter is mainly concerned with the politics influencing English as an international language. The first essay is contributed by Adrian Holliday, professor for linguistics at the Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK. He argues that English as a lingua franca cannot be dealt with on sociolinguistic grounds alone but must be seen as phenomenon of changing ownership. With this statement he does not question the lingua franca movement but rather points out possible problems resolving from this point of view (p. 21). After providing the reader with background knowledge of the movement establishes a distinction of native and non-native speakers based on the question whether or not this is a distinction to be made on linguistic or political foundation. In the end he comes to the conclusion that due to their distance to the language, non-native speakers are more critical about English as a lingua franca. With the combination of political and linguistic approaches, Holliday provides the reader with a real sense connection of the two fields and therefore this entry is an appropriate contribution to the subject of the book. The next essay is written by Sadia Ali, anthropological linguist from Zayet University. Her focus lies within the field of EIL in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) (p. 34). In order to do so she reflects upon the experience of English teachers within this council. This is a major contrast o the focus that Sharifian declared in the beginning of the work. However, by finding out that the employed people in this field are usually native speakers, Ali continues by analyzing their experiences within the alien culture (pp. 40-42). Through the research on the students perceptions, she also enlightens the flip side of the issue and comes to the conclusion that even though the qualification of a teacher does not depend on his/her being a native speaker, hiring processes are still unfair and not adjusted to the actual needs. Additionally, she proposes to give up older convictions of regarding correct English as an attribute of native speaker (pp. 51-52). Marko Modiano from the University of Stockholm takes the same line with the slight adjustment of rather concentrating on European language teaching which in his opinion failed. By providing the reader with tables that reveal the multilingualism in Europe and its state, he claims that the policy of staying with this system causes the failure of English language teaching (pp. 70-76). Even though the arguments seem convincing, Modiano totally neglects the opposite view of English being just used in order to simplify international economical or cultural processes. The second part of the book deals with the characteristics of EIL in particular. The first contribution by David Li, Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, aims to research the views of non- native speakers towards intelligibility and identity. In short the discussion whether native speaker based pedagogical models are useful or if pluricentricity should be the norm. Based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data using a semi-structured questionnaire he comes to the conclusion that teachers should raise the awareness of their students for other varieties of English rather than sticking to a native-speaker based model in order to â€Å"encourage the learners’ confidences in their own English varieties† (p. 110). The sixth chapter is published by Enric Llurda is a Professor Applied Linguistics at the University of Lleida, Spain. His scrutiny is located within the fields of native models among second language users and teachers and their pervasiveness. He establishes a connection between non-native English speakers and the phenomenon of the Stockholm Syndrom (p. 119). He claims that non-native speaking English teachers are accepting proposals and formulation â€Å"that relegate to mere spectators and at times executioners of native speaker norms† (p. 119). After establishing a connection between these teacher and EIL, he further describes the attitudes between the two and comes to the conclusion that there is a â€Å"need to overcome non-native English speaking teachers and their subordination to native speakers models† (p. 28). Additionally, he provides possible solutions e. g. to gibe teachers more opportunities to develop their language skills. (pp. 130-131). EIL migrant teacher identities is the field of investigation of Bojana Petric, a lecturer at the Department of Language and Linguistics at the University of Essex. Taking into consideration the mobility of English language educators, she wants to give an overv iew into the role of a migrant teacher within his/hers classroom. Her results are based on interviews with four English teachers in Hungary. These interviews brought her to the conclusion that various factors have an influence on the teachers’ constructions of identities. However by admitting that e. g. gender, race or class have also impact to a certain extend she reveals that the research on this field is just one out of many to tackle the issue of migrant teachers (pp. 148-149). The third part of the entire book already gives an impression of more future oriented essays, aiming to improve backward conditions. The first essay subscribe to that and is written by Vaidehi Ramanathan, a Professor for Socio/Applied linguistics at the university of California, and Brian Morgan from the the York University in Toronto. From a more critical point of view the two argue that globalization makes the problem of classes and their inequality more complex than before and has therefore also an influence on teaching English to speakers of other Languages (TESOL). The interesting thing about this article is the structure of it. Both authors engage in some kind of dialogue and thus the arguments add up and reflect upon each other. Be that as it may they come to the conclusion that that globalization results in significant challenges for â€Å"new scholars and practitioners in TESOL† (p. 166-167) which at the same time help lead to new possibilites in ways of approach. While all preceding chapters deal with whole parts of the globe e. g. the Eastern bloc, chapter 9 focuses on preparation programs in Japan for English teachers. Aya Matsuda, Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, takes a stand in the debate about the Japanese action plan â€Å"to ‘cultivate Japanese with English abilities. (p. 169) and in how far World English and EIL are incorporated into such a program. In order to do so, she used a questionnaire for Universities having an accredited teacher preparation program to collect the information needed. After the evaluation she draws to a close that the current preparation programs are â€Å"attempting to increase their students’ awareness of the sociolinguistic complexi ty† (p. 87). However, it will take more time to further improve these programs and to make them a good instrument to change the teaching methods and hence our society. The test that almost every student of English has encountered during his studies is the TOEFL. For this reason, Sarah Zafar Khan, director of the Effat English Academy at Effat College in Saudi Arabia, puts tests like this in comparison to the notion of English as an international language. She basically questions the dominance of standard American variety of English and the parts of the TOEFL test. In short is there a hegemony or not. To provide a practical example she integrates a case study from Saudi Arabia (pp. 195-197). Through her research, she sums up that students are able to use English for communicative reasons, still, they are not explicitly acquainted to the standardized American English occurring in the TOEFL. Thus she demands a change in the system of English testing for non-native speakers (p. 204). In the fourth part of the book, Paul Roberts and Suresh Canagarajah (the first is a publisher of ELT books and worked as an English teacher in 8 countries, the other Professor for Language Learning at Pennsylvania State University) open up with a glance spoken English in an international encounter. In order to do so, they concentrate on a conversation between five non-native speaking persons, all of them with a different nationality. Through this procedure they find out that â€Å"ELF 2 speakers have the capacity to negotiate English when the context demands it. † (p. 224). Due to the fact that capacities like this have been left out of linguistic literature so far, the assumption may come up that this is just possible because of the special circumstances both authors created. Be that as it may, it reveals that the strategies of communication are based on the circumstances and not on capability of the speakers themselves. The twelfth chapter is written by Sandra Lee McKay, Professor for English at the University of San Francisco. She concentrates on the pragmatics and EIL pedagogy. The author desires more attention to the teaching of pragmatics in English as an EIL. Mainly paying attention to L2/L2 interactions, the foundation for her argument is built upon the hybridity of modern interactions in English (pp. 127-128). The outcome of her research is that non-native speakers of English are more likely to use constructions or words of their L1 systems. In cases such as this, she proposes the working out of a specific communicative strategy to clarify certain concepts of English (p. 251). The final chapter fourteenth chapter with scholarships and the role of English connected to it. Andy Kirkpatrick, Head of the English Department at the Hong Kong Institute for Education, considers â€Å"the implications of the rise of English as the international language of scholarship for the dissemination of indigenous knowledge. †(p. 255). The main source of his investigation is Chinese medicine and its international transition. With this he proves that a cultural property such as traditional medical procedures, are widely spread across the globe through the help of English language. Still he thinks that this is not a thread to the Chinese tradition because the medical procedures still vary even if they claim to be Chinese. In brief the change in Chinese medicine would have sooner or later anyway (pp. 266-268). The final chapter is contributed by Eric Anchimbe, assistant Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bayreuth. He analyzes the differences of local and international standards. Therfore he concentrates on Indigenized Varieties of English that have spread in the recent decades and are also referred to as New Englishes. In the following he underlines the differences e. g. to non-native Englishes (pp275-277). Anchimbe proves that the variation of English is not only based on misconception but â€Å"asymmetrical power relations as well as social constructs sustained through colonially-inherited discourses† (p. 84). Also, to him it is inevitable that the language of English changes like everything in the progress of globalization. All in all the contributions to the book are more than satisfactory concerning the actual goal announced by Sharifian in the introduction. However, it is sometimes hard for the reader to draw the connection between goal and entry of the book. The single texts are easy to approach and combine statistical research with comprehensible conclusions. Another point that is well done, is the fact that all texts are written from different authors from different parts of the world. This is of course necessary for a book that researches international facts in English, still the range of countries taken into consideration is remarkable. One point that does not succeed is the division into different chapters and parts. First of all it really confusing regarding the fact that there are so many texts. Also the division does not make sense because many texts have similar approaches and goals and are still not part of the same chapter. In comparison to other linguisitic books of research the topic is rather detailed. Therefore some entries appear to repeat many facts from each other. Still, by taking a closer look to the chapters, it becomes clear that every author uses the points for different ways of arguing in favor or against his topic. I think this book would make a great contribution to every language class. It shows that English is not only substantial in English speaking countries, but all over the world due to economy and culture and the influences of globalization.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Uses of organic compounds essays

Uses of organic compounds essays Theres a big problem in my neighborhood and thats population, to many people in a little town. There have been so many births and so many kids that schools are over crowded and they have to keep reasoning boundaries lines on where kids go to school. Another reason there are so many people is because of jobs. Everyone lives on the military base and because there are still people moving here because of the military they have to buy houses outside the base crowding the small towns around the base. I remember when there used to be 20 acres behind my house now theres only a whole 2 acres. This is all because they keep building more and more houses and communities allowing more people to move here without building extra schools and other things which just makes there overcrowding situation worse. There are so many people here now it takes you 5 min just to pull off your street into the main street. There are so many attractions in Maryland, we have all the government here, and we have ocean city and other attractions. This brings tourist over summers and they love it so much that they stay and crowd up the area even more. We also have good schools such as university of Maryland and AACC which is the 2nd best community college in the states. This draws students from all over the world which means more people which means a bigger increase in population. This may not seem to be such a big problem as terrorist or war. But it is a big problem in our many small towns across our nation. My town alone has to of grown to over 10,000 people and thats only in 15 years and thats probably a small number of a big number. This problem can also bring diseases and such. ...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Textbook Prices Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Textbook Prices - Annotated Bibliography Example Allen, Nicole. â€Å"A Cover to Cover Solution: How Open Textbooks are the Path to Textbook Affordability.† The Student PIRGs. Public Information Resource Group, Sep. 2010. Web. 10 July 2011. In this lengthy article, Allen details a study she conducted to determine if open textbooks are a logical way to make student textbooks more affordable. Considering â€Å"the average student spends $900 on textbooks annually,† she thinks â€Å"the need for solutions is increasingly urgent† (Allen 4). She goes into some detail around what she calls â€Å"market failure that hinders the economic checks and balances that naturally regulate costs† (6) as the reason publishers charge so much. Other reasons include issuing new editions every â€Å"3-4 years regardless of changes in the subject† (6) and bundling books with software or study guides most professors do not require students to use. She cites that the federal government is aware there is a problem with textbook costs and is doing several things to help students, including requiring publishers â€Å"disclose textbook prices to professors during the marketing process† (7). She introduces the idea of open source textbooks, which are â€Å"offered online under an open-source license that allows free digital access, low-cost print options and customization by instructors† (8) and says that over 1000 college professors are currently using this option (8). The remainder of the study looks at student preferences and finds that 75% of students still prefer printed copies over electronic copies (9) and 34 % would still rather buy at least some of their textbooks rather than rent them (10). In Allen’s final recommendations, she encourages the further development of open textbooks by publishers and their use by students (16). This article does a great job providing enormous detail to explain the costs each year to students of traditional textbooks versus the savings of open textbooks. It also shows that students are not yet ready to make the move to electronic, online books. It is also important to note that the group that funded the study, PIRG, has been involved in mu ltiple protests against textbook companies for what it claims are price gouging practices. 2. Bernard, Tara Siegel. â€Å"For Class, Book Deals.† New York Times 15 Jan. 2011 late edition: B5. Access World News. Web. 10 July 2011. Bernard’s article looks at ways students can save money by buying their books in places other than the campus bookstore by compiling suggestions from college students around the country. She points out that when it comes to buying textbooks â€Å"there are so many options, however, that the whole process can begin to feel like the semester’s first research project† (Bernard B5). Bernard lists several comparison sites, where students can enter a needed title on one site and it will automatically search several sites for a cost comparison of the exact book needed, but she also points out that the â€Å"condition of the books varies greatly† (5). Students may also find that international versions of books can be half the pric e of U.S. versions, but her source warns â€Å"some publishers have made small changes to the pagination or text to make it more difficult to use in the United States† (5). Overall, Bernard does a good job of quickly explaining options to students to help save money, but nothing in this article explains why textbooks are so expensive or gives an opinion on what colleges can do to help students with their high book bills. 3. Bruno, Laura. â€Å"College Books for Less.† USA Today 17 Aug. 2010 final edition: 6D. News Bank. Web. 10 July 2011. Bruno’s article looks at a rental solution to high textbook costs that over 1300 colleges have implemented across the U.S. with â€Å"potential savings up to 50% off the price of a new textbook† (Bruno 6D). The article also mentions the Higher Education Opportunity Act that â€Å"says colleges must list required course materials for students during registration,†

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Marketing Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Analysis - Assignment Example Nevertheless, the discussion of the assignment endeavours to identify the key elements of marketing mix approach by analysing these and provides effective recommendations in relation to the primary objective of commencing bicycle shop in the growing market of Oxford. The overview of the current bicycle shop business industry in the UK has long been witnessed to attain major growth since the preceding few decades. In relation to the emerging trends, the bicycle business industry in the UK has been apparently witnessed to accomplish 8.5% growth in the year 2012 (Reed Business Media, 2013). In the context of size, the cycling market of Oxford is noted to gain continuous development especially across the locations adjacent to the universities and other educational areas (Farrelly, 2014). According to the recent observation of the market, the size of the cycling market in Oxford is mainly covered by a wide range of demographics including the income level, gender along with current social status of the customers (Grous, 2011). Correspondingly, the emerging trend of using bicycle by the students and other customer groups in an immense manner is also noted to ensure a major opportunity for the marketers to successfully attain their desired commercial goals (Association of the European Two-Wheeler Parts’ Accessories’ Industry, 2012; Transport for London, 2010). It is worth mentioning that the aspects including strong social inclusion and greater focus on environmental protection related interests of the customers can be duly regarded as the major external environment factors leading to increase the demand of bicycle in Oxford (Nielsen, 2010). The recent trend regarding the use of bicycle in Oxford has been viewed to experience continuous development. In relation to an in-depth observation, it is evident that the city of Oxford along with its surrounding areas are experiencing continuous growth due to the usage of bicycles for different purposes. The

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Critical apraisal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical apraisal - Essay Example The article is pertinent as this particular segment of society faces lot of problems related to stress and depression resulting in health problems that adversely affects their work and employment scope. The article, ‘A randomized controlled trial of combined exercise and psycho-education for low-SES women: Short- and long-term outcomes in the reduction of stress and depressive symptoms’ by Waerden et al., is a study that was conducted on 161 Dutch low SES women with a moderately high stress level or depressive symptoms between September 2005 and May 2008. It helped evaluate the impact of interventions on their stress and depression. The group based program was divided into three categories: E or exercise only; EP or exercise with psycho education; and WLP or waiting list control condition where participants were randomly assigned. The study highlighted 8 weeks intervention with follow up after 2, 6 and 12 months respectively. It revealed that E and EP showed stress reduction in women with low education achievement. The findings are important as this group can be targeted for reducing stress and depressive symptoms. The study has a clear statement of goals and articulates its importance within the designated target group. The main objective of the research is to evaluate the ‘effects of multidisciplinary preventive intervention aimed at reducing stress and depressive symptoms among low-SES women’ (Waerden, et al. 85). The research is important because it addresses the gap of combining exercise with psycho social approaches for low SES women. It is highly relevant because low SES women often do not engage in preventive measures for stress or depression. Moreover, the studies so far have been accompanied by lot of questionnaires and feedbacks that required verbal skills and home assignments which have served as

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Compare the structure and activities of a public sector or not for Assignment

Compare the structure and activities of a public sector or not for profit organisation with a similar organisation in the privat - Assignment Example INTRODUCTION Private sector and public sector organizations differ in the way they are managed and operated. The way they are structured helps to facilitate goal achievement. This report compares the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) with Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac). Reserve Bank of Australia RBA is Australia’s central bank. The objectives of the Bank are set out in its policies – ensuring that the monetary and banking policies are advantageous to the people of Australia (Reserve Bank of Australia 3). In so doing the policies of the bank are designed to ensure stability of Australia’s currency, facilitate full employment; and contribute to economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people. RBA has a Governor and Deputy Governor as well as a number of boards, committees, groups and departments. They all have their relevant functions which facilitate the proper management of the Bank. The structure of the organization is shown in the organization cha rt in Appendix 1. The Boards include the Reserve Bank Board and the Payments System Board. The Reserve Bank Board has responsibility for monetary and banking related polices while the Payments Systems Board is responsible for polices relating to the payments system. The Governor is the Chairman for both Boards with the Deputy Governor as Deputy Chairman for the Reserve Bank Board. The committees of RBA include the Executive Committee; the Audit Committee; the Remuneration Committee; and the Risk Management Committee. The forum for discussions among heads of functional departments and the Governor and Deputy Governor is provided by the executive committee. The audit committee is chaired by a non-executive board and this should help facilitate the level of independence that is required of members of this committee. The Remuneration Committee is also a committee of the Reserve Bank Board and is drawn from the non-executive members of that Board. The Risk Management Committee is chaired by the Deputy Governor and its responsibility is that of identifying and managing those risks that are not policy related, across the bank. The Groups consists of the Banking and Payments Group; the Corporate Services; the Currency; the Economic; the Financial Markets; and the Financial System Groups. All of these groups have one or more departments that fall under their remit. They provide a range of services for institution. The Banking and Payments Group consists of two departments – the Banking Department and the Payments Settlements Department. The function of the Banking Department includes the provision of a special range of banking and registry services to the departments of the Australian Government, overseas central banks and official institutions. The Payments and Settlements Department on the other hand has the responsibility of settling high valued payments and inter-bank obligations which result ‘from the conduct of Exchange Settlement Accounts andâ€℠¢ the RBA’s own trading activities. Other responsibilities of the Bank and Settlement Department include the operations of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS) which is Australia’s real time gross settlement (RTGS) system. RBA’s Corporate Services Group consists of the Facilities Management Department; the Financial Administration Department; and the Systems and Technology Department (Reserve Bank of

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Advantages Of Studying Abroad Education Essay

The Advantages Of Studying Abroad Education Essay The development of the society is going towards a globalised world where the social, cultural and traditional differences between people are becoming less distinguishable. One of the key factors which has largely influenced in the development of peoples way of understanding and analysing social and cultural values is education which has taken an important place in the new century. Education is an essential foundation for personal, social and economic success in a globalised economy (OECD 2008). International studies are becoming the new trend of young people as a way to expend their education beyond their traditional education style and their everyday world (Spiering and Ericson 2006). Johnson and Mulholland (2006) consider international education as an opportunity to increase the awareness of the people about the culture of the world which can contribute in creating individuals with a broader understanding of issues concerning todays society rather than limiting them in the scope of home educational system. In this point of view, studying abroad students gain the opportunity to learn more about world affairs and increase their acceptance of other countries regardless of the differences in culture or language. Moreover studying in a foreign directly benefits in learning a new language. Pellegrino (1997) argues that study abroad is one of the most effective ways of becoming proficient in a new language. Students who chose to spend a certain amount of time in a country the language they are willing to learn is spoken, have the opportunity to interact with native speakers a fact which would directly influence in the improvement of their linguistic and sociolinguistic skills to achieve real communicative goals, and to experience the tangible and visible manifestations of the culture of the country (Pellegrino 1997). Individuals who have studied abroad in foreign language often demonstrate cognitive development, creative thinking which surpass the abilities of individuals who have educational experiences of their home country only (Kinginger 2007). One of the reasons why studying abroad is becoming more important nowadays considering the effects of globalization, is the international job market. Qiang (2003) observes that there is a significant increase in the number of recruitments regarding the international workforce due to globalization process which has caused the education system, especially higher education, not to be strictly viewed in the national context. Mpinganjira (2009) analyses that the need of being competitive in the international job market has influenced many students to look to opportunities to enhance their career prospects through acquiring high quality education with qualifications that are recognised worldwide. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to analyse the advantages of studying abroad from the students point of view and to propose some new ways of thinking for students when evaluating the possibility of studying in a foreign country. The hypothesis to be studied is: students in the Southern and Eastern Europe think that high quality of studies can only be achieved through studying in a Western country. In addition the primary and secondary research will attempt to identify some of the factors that influence in the choice of students regarding their studies. Some of the major objectives of this study are: The guiding factors for young people toward choosing a university abroad rather than going in a local university How important is the financial situation in deciding to study in a foreign university What role plays the learning a new language in deciding in which university to go Identify the opinion of students about the influence that a period of studies would have in their personal life and future career MATERIALS AND METHODS The research process was divided into two major parts which contributed in the collection and analyze of the data. The first part included secondary data collection from different sources related to the subject of research. Some of this sources are used in the paper in order to explain different facts regarding to the topic. The second part consisted of primary data collection through a survey which was designed in accordance to the characteristics of the population it was intended for (see Appendices Survey). The survey was distributed to young people (high school and college students) in Korca, Albania by e-mail. It resulted in 25 respondents out of 50 actually delivered or 50% response rate. In order to increase the number of respondents the survey was redistributed to students in Perrotis College completing the intended number of respondents, 50. After the data were collected Microsoft Excel was used in order to organize the data in tables. Afterwards the data were imported to JMP 8 statistical software where the data were analyzed using tables, charts and other statistical analyses figures. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Characteristics of the population From the analyse of the data using JMP 8 the characteristics of the population were identified. Table 1 contains the full characteristics of the population and the responses retrieved from the survey. No. of partecipants Gender Factors in deciding where to study Would you go to study abroad Why foreign university Advantages of foreign universities Western Universities offer quality 16 male Quality Quality More opportunities personal experience yes 17 male Quality Quality More opportunities quality of studies yes 18 male Quality Quality Excellent experience quality of studies most likely 19 male Quality Quality Couldnt study in my country Language proficiency yes 20 male Quality Quality Couldnt study in my country Language proficiency yes 21 male Quality Quality Couldnt study in my country personal experience yes 22 male Quality Quality Excellent experience quality of studies yes 23 male Quality Quality Excellent experience quality of studies yes 24 male Quality Quality Excellent experience quality of studies yes 25 male Quality Quality Excellent experience multicultural experience most likely 26 male Quality Quality More opportunities multicultural experience yes 27 male Quality Quality More opportunities personal experience most likely 28 male Quality Quality More opportunities multicultural experience most likely 29 male Quality Quality More opportunities quality of studies yes 30 male Cost Cost Excellent experience Language proficiency yes 31 male Cost Cost Excellent experience multicultural experience yes 32 female Location Location Excellent experience personal experience yes 33 female Location Location More opportunities quality of studies most likely 34 female Quality Quality More opportunities quality of studies yes 35 female Quality Quality Excellent experience quality of studies yes 36 female Quality Quality More opportunities multicultural experience yes 37 female Location Location Couldnt study in my country personal experience yes 38 female Quality Quality Excellent experience Language proficiency yes 39 female Quality Quality More opportunities multicultural experience most likely 40 female Cost Cost More opportunities multicultural experience most likely Distributions Age Age of Respondents Figure 1 Frequencies Level Count Prob 17 18 9 0.18000 18 20 11 0.22000 20 22 22 0.44000 22 24 5 0.10000 above 24 3 0.06000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 5 Levels Figure 1 illustrates the age characteristics of the sample involved in the survey. As it is shown the majority of the respondents belonged in the age group of 20 22 years old which corresponds to the first year of college for many countries. Gender Distribution of the sample by Gender Figure 2 Frequencies Level Count Prob female 19 0.38000 male 31 0.62000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 2 Levels From figure 2 gender characteristics can be understood. The research has been directed to 50 individuals where 62 % or 31 of the respondents were males while 38% or 19 respondents belonged to female gender. Factors in deciding where to study Important factors which influence the students when choosing where to study. Figure 3 Frequencies Level Count Prob Cost 11 0.22000 Location 3 0.06000 Quality 36 0.72000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 3 Levels The above figure summarises some of the most important factors which influence the young people by the most when making a decision about the university they are going to be attending. As shown the most important factor in students opinion, is the quality of studies that a university offers or the fame of the university. Would you go to study abroad The students willingness to study abroad Figure 4 Frequencies Level Count Prob I dont know 22 0.44000 No 2 0.04000 Yes 26 0.52000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 3 Levels When asked about their willingness to continue their studies in a foreign university 52% of the students answered that they would chose a university outside their home country for their studies while, 44% of them answered that their choice would depend on the characteristic of the universities they would go in their country. This part of the questioned sample would go for studies abroad only if the universities in their country would not offer the preferred characteristics for the students. Only 4% of the students answered that they are not considering at all the possibility of studying in a foreign country. Why foreign university Reasons for choosing a foreign university Figure 5 Frequencies Level Count Prob Couldns study in my country 11 0.22000 Exellent experience 18 0.36000 More opportunities 21 0.42000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 3 Levels The majority of the students think that foreign universities offer more opportunities for their future career, therefore, they would go to study abroad. The other part of the students consider studying abroad as an excellent experience in their lives. On the other hand, the minority of the questioned students would go in a foreign university only if they wouldnt be able to study in their preferred university in their countries. Advantages of foreign universities Advantages of studying abroad Figure 6 Frequencies Level Count Prob Linguage proficiency 5 0.10000 multicultural experience 18 0.36000 personal experience 11 0.22000 quality of studies 16 0.32000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 4 Levels Regarding to the advantages that the foreign universities offer compared with studying experiences in the home countries, students are approximately equally divided regarding to what they think are the advantages of studying abroad. 36% of the students consider the multicultural aspect of the studies as the most important factor on studying in a foreign university while 32% emphasise the quality of studies in other countries as the main aspect. Also the possibility of personal experiences and opportunity to know yourself better are very important in students evaluation for a university. While the opportunity of learning a new language proficiently is less important. Financial implications of studies Students opinion about the impact of costs associated with studying abroad Figure 7 Frequencies Level Count Prob Agree 14 0.28000 Dissagree 1 0.02000 Dont know 8 0.16000 Strongly agree 27 0.54000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 4 Levels The biggest part of the students strongly agreed that the cost of studying in a foreign university plays an important role in deciding to go for studies abroad or not. Western Universities offer quality Do western universities offer better quality? Figure 8 Frequencies Level Count Prob most likely 12 0.24000 yes 38 0.76000 Total 50 1.00000 N Missing 0 2 Levels When asked if they think that universities in the Western Europe offer a better quality compared with universities in their own countries, the majority of students, 76% agreed that the universities in the west offer more opportunities for a high quality of studies, while, 24% of them answered that they were not sure on this statement. There were no students to disagree. Contingency Analysis of Western Universities offer quality By Home Country Mosaic Plot Contingency Table Home Country By Western Universities offer quality Count Total % Col % Row % most likely yes Albania 6 12.00 50.00 19.35 25 50.00 65.79 80.65 31 62.00 Bulgaria 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 2 4.00 5.26 100.00 2 4.00 FYROM 3 6.00 25.00 50.00 3 6.00 7.89 50.00 6 12.00 Greece 1 2.00 8.33 12.50 7 14.00 18.42 87.50 8 16.00 Moldova 1 2.00 8.33 50.00 1 2.00 2.63 50.00 2 4.00 Turkey 1 2.00 8.33 100.00 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 2.00 12 24.00 38 76.00 50 Tests N DF -LogLike RSquare (U) 50 5 3.7635068 0.1366 Test ChiSquare Prob>ChiSq Likelihood Ratio 7.527 0.1843 Pearson 7.710 0.1730 Discussion In the table above can be observed that the model constraint by the hypothesis has a log-likelyhood of 3.763 while the ChiSquare has a non significant p-value of 0.1843. The hypothesis risen in the beginning that Student from Eastern and Southern Europe think that high quality of studies can only be achieved through studying in a Western country is supported by the values given form the contingency analysis. Therefore the hypothesis is accepted. CONCLUSION

Friday, October 25, 2019

Plastics and Our Environment Essays -- Environmental Impact Ecology Es

Plastics and Our Environment Works Cited Missing Plastics today play an important part in cutting-edge technologies such as the space program, bullet-proof vests and prosthetic limbs, as well as in everyday products such as beverage containers, medical devices and automobiles. Recycled plastics are used to make polymeric timbers for use in picnic tables, fences, and outdoor toys, thus saving natural lumber. Plastic from 2-liter bottles is even being spun into fiber for the production of carpet. They are such a valuable resource, that, as a society, we have become dependent on plastics. It is essential that we develop programs to assure this resource will always be available in the future. Plastics are being used in so many different ways. Whether you are aware of it or not, plastics play and important part in your life. Plastics' versatility allow it to be used in everything from car parts to doll parts, from soft drink bottles to the refrigerators they are stored in. From the car you drive to work in to the television you watch when you get home, plastics help make your life easier and better. So how is it that plastics have become so widely used? How did plastics become the material of choice for so many varied applications? The simple answer is that plastics are the material that can provide the things consumers want and need. Plastics have the unique capability to be manufactured to meet very specific functional needs for consumers. So maybe there's another q...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Case 9: Horniman Horticulture Essay

1. Strengths: – Profitability Ratios: Constant growth from 2002-05, particularly year 2004 and 2005 with impressive growth in revenue with12.5% and 15.5% respectively, much higher than the benchmark just -1.8%. Gross, operating and net profit margin were all performing better than the benchmarks. – Management: Co-owner Bob Brown has been brought up to value a strong work ethic, which he has obtained through his father since at young age by working for his father at the mill. After finishing his study, he returned to the mill and excelled at his job (supervisor) and was highly respected. Bob was a â€Å"people person†, his warm personality made beloved by all customers and employees. Weaknesses: – Activity Ratios: takes increasingly time to receive payments from sales – 51 days year 2005 (far exceeded the benchmark – 22 days). Days of inventory on hand (476 days) has been increased gradually much higher than the benchmark (386 days). Payables turnover (10 days) is too short compared with the benchmark (27 days) and slowly declined as years pass by. – Liquidity problems seen through cash on hand kept decreasing since 2002 and sharply reduced in 2005 probably resulted from the issue that quick payables and slow receivables happened simultaneously every year. Since 2005, they had not reach their target balance of 8% cash over total revenue (fell to 0.9% – 2005) 2. Free cash flow to the owners of the firm (FCFE) for 2005: FCFE = Operating Cash Flow – Change in Net Working Capital – Change in Investments |Operating profit | |100.0 | | − Taxes | |39.2 | | + Depreciation | |40.9 | |Operating cash flow |101.7 | | − Capital expenditure | | (4.5) | | − Increase in NWC | |(156.3) | | Increase in CA |803.3 – 642.9 = 160.4 | | |- Increase in CL |47.3 – 43.2 = (4.1) | | |Free cash flow | |(59.10) | Cash cycle of the business for 2005: CCC = Days Inventory Outstanding (DIO) + Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) – Days Payables Outstanding (DPO) = 476 + 51 – 10 = 517 (days) Using cash: Even though HH had rapidly increased gross profit, operating profit and net profit since 2002, the firm’s cash balance had massively declined from $120,100 (2002) to $9,400 (2005). Increasing in inventory as extending property by 12-acres, with an expected capital expenditure of $75,000 in 2006, HH has also increased their product range by 40%. Therefore cash has been used a lot in this period. The firm’s credit terms have been improved as HH offers longer payment periods for customer (DSO of 51 days), firm’s payment of purchases within 10 days (DPO) to receive a 2% discount, this shows that HH is making payments five times faster than receiving them. DIO is also a concern that HH has a hand in, HH is choosing to focus on more maturing plants, therefore its inventory will naturally be longer than the benchmark, in fact, HH’s lowest end was still 10% over the benchmark. 3. The growth trend would be expected to be stronger in 2006. However the cash deficit is still a significant issue due to both capital expenditure and working capital would be further increased in order to maintain the business expansion. Therefore, they need to work out some financial leverage to solve this problem. |Projected Horniman Horticulture Financial Summary (in thousands of dollars) | | | | | | | | | | |2002 |2003 |2004 |2005 |2006E |20% | |Profit and loss statement | | | | | | | |Revenue |788.50 |807.60 |908.20 |1048.80 |1258.56 | | | Cost of goods sold |402.90 |428.80 |437.70 |503.40 |630.49 | | | |51.10% |53.10% |48.19% |48.00% |50.10% |Percentage of Sales | |Gross profit |385.60 |378.80 |470.50 |545.40 |628.07 | | |SG&A expense |301.20 |302.00 |356.00 |404.50 |482.53 | | | |38.20% |37.39% |39.20% |38.57% |38.34% |Percentage of Sales | |Depreciation |34.20 |38.40 |36.30 |40.90 |37.45 |Average over 4 years | | Operating profit |50.20 |38.40 |78.20 |100.00 |108.09 | | |Taxes |17.60 |13.10 |26.20 |39.20 |42.37 | | | |35.06% |34.11% |33.50% |39.20% |39.20% |Similar as year 2005 | | Net profit |32.60 |25.30 |52.00 |60.80 |65.72 | | | | | | | | | | |Balance sheet | | | | | | | |Cash |120.10 |105.20 |66.80 |9.40 |13.43 | | |Accounts receivable |90.60 |99.50 |119.50 |146.40 |160.24 | | | |11.49% |12.32% |13.16% |13.96% |12.73% |Percentage of Sales | |Inventory |468.30 |507.60 |523.40 |656.90 |763.03 | | | |59.39% |62.85% |57.63% |62.63% |60.63% |Percentage of Sales | |Other current assets |20.90 |19.30 |22.60 |20.90 |20.93 |Average over 4 years | | Current assets |699.90 |731.60 |732.30 |833.60 |957.62 | | |Net fixed assets |332.10 |332.50 |384.30 |347.90 |300.10 | | | Total assets |1032.00 |1064.10 |1116.60 |1181.50 |1257.72 | | | | | | | | | | |Accounts payable |6.00 |5.30 |4.50 |5.00 |5.20 |Average over 4 years | |Wages payable |19.70 |22.00 |22.10 |24.40 |31.41 | | | |2.50% |2.72% |2.43% |2.33% |2.50% |Percentage of Sales | |Other payables |10.20 |15.40 |16.60 |17.90 |21.19 | | | |1.29% |1.91% |1.83% |1.71% |1.68% |Percentage of Sales | | Current liabilities |35.90 |42.70 |43.20 |47.30 |57.80 | | | Net worth |996.10 |1021.40 |1073.40 |1134.20 |1199.92 | | | | | | | | | | |Capital expendit ure |22.00 |38.80 |88.10 |4.50 |75.00 | | |Purchases |140.80 |145.20 |161.20 |185.10 |224.13 | | | |17.86% |17.98% |17.75% |17.65% |17.81% |Percentage of Sales | 4. The company’s accounts-payable policy: Currently the firm’s DSO was 10 days (in order to receive a 2% discount), approx. 2.7 times as fast as the benchmark of 27 days. This policy is not suitable as their current credit terms offered to customer up to 51 days, which is double the benchmark. The firm’s net profit margin was 5.8% (the benchmark is just 2.8% – 2005), so HH does not need to continuously make payment to suppliers early (adversely, HH should take advantage of the offered credit terms allowing firm 30 days to payback for purchased goods), and also HH will also reduce the credit terms even though the sales probably drops, which would leave more cash available for firm as well as the cash cycle will be shorter so that the business will avoid the insufficient liquidity of the cash. If HH does not change the policy, in the long run, the shortage of cash may adversely influence the purchasing power and operating capacity of the business and further business’s profitability. 5. What can the company do to solve its cash problem? – Offers discount payment terms (i.e. 2% discount if payments are received within 10 days): enable HH to collect cash immediately. – Takes advantage of the offered credit terms (allow firm 30 days to payback the purchased goods): keeps more cash for operating activities in long-term period. – Slows down the expansion pace to decrease the capital expenditure. Starts selling product ranges that are not â€Å"instant landscape† plants (as these take a long time to mature and also can eliminate some risks for keeping the plants for longer periods of time – feature of this industry: rely heavily on weather that is unpredictable) – Raising funds: starts financing through debt, also can receive the tax shield benefit on interest payments. Transforms business from sole proprietorship into partnership in effort of not only increasing cash available for business but also receiving contributions of property, labor and skills form partners. 6. Calculate the sustainable growth of the company in 2005: |Sustainable growth = ROA x Leverage x Retention | | |5.36% | |ROA (Net profit / Total assets) | | | |5.15% | |Leverage (Total Assets/Net Worth) | | | |1.04 | |Retention (1- Dividend Payout ratio) | | | |1.00 | |Economic profit = (ROA – Cost of capital) x Total Assets | |-57.35 | |Cost of capital | | | |10.00% | |Total Assets | | | |1181.50 | |Net Worth | | | |1134.20 | The negative economic profit shows that the firm does not earn a sufficient return on capital. The firm is facing their dismissing level of cash and as a result, the negative cash level in the forthcoming years will be clearly observed. As shown above, the majority of the firm’s cash expenditure is held up in inventory (with cash cycle being 517 days compared with the benchmark of 381 days) and account receivables (due to the collection policy). The trade-off that company has to face is an increase in their credit terms. Even though this may reduce the sales volume, the company will probably avoid the risk involved with having a more mature product range.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Ontela Picdeck Harvard Case Essay

Ontela designed a revolutionary product which allows wireless subscribers to seamlessly transfer data from the consumer’s wireless phone and send it to an email inbox, PC, or website. This allows consumers to use their wireless device more frequently, which generates more revenue for the industry in mobile phone services. Joe Levy, Ontela’s director of carrier marketing, assisted with PicDeck’s segmentation in determining the appropriate target audience. Below you will find an analysis on PicDeck’s choices regarding customer segmentation and evaluation on their data; supporting that research proves their target audience are primarily middle-aged married women and men. SWOT Analysis Issues Short-term †¢Best way to determine the right target audience †¢Making PicDeck more conceptually-friendly so consumers can better understand it user-friendly functions Long-term †¢How could Ontela balance the needs of the subscribers with the carrier’s goals of decreasing churn and increasing ARPU? †¢What is the next big idea to keep company ahead of the game (please help rephrase) Problem Statement: For future growth, the industry will need to continue being creative and innovative in seeking out added services such as data and wireless Internet use to increase yearly revenue; how can Ontela and their counterparts target the right consumers which will utilize both without compromising ARPU? Case Response: Section A 1. Based on the three customer personas, which customer segment should Ontela target? a.Ontela’s objective was to increase the use of wireless carrier service and increase average revenue per user (ARPU). In order to do this the organization conducted a segmentation research to select the right Personas, which will determine how to allocate their resources and time for consumers who use their cell phones and cameras the most. Based on this criteria Sarah, the parent should be considered as the primary target. It is important to consider that women control or influence the purchase of 80% of all consumer goods, including such items as stock for investments, personal computers, and others (2011, Boone). This will automatically include Regina, the teen into the equation, which will automatically boost both revenue and data usage. According with some cell phones statistics from the Defakto Company: †¢55% of mobile social networks usage that is female. †¢42% more likely working moms are than average cellular users to download content to their cell phones †¢42% of women post photos on Facebook (2010, Vermon) Therefore, for this specific scenario, the target should be a female from age 15 to 45 years old, which are the ages for the generations that have lived through the technological changes. In order to narrow more of the target audience, a psychographic segmentation will be necessary. The organization would need to know the typical values and lifestyle of the women who use cell phones cameras, for this purpose we can use tools as VAL which classify consumer by psychological characteristics. 2. Create a positioning statement for your chosen persona and identify the key themes that should be emphasized in the messaging for the PicDeck service to this segment. a.Positioning statement for PicDeck: For the wireless subscribers who want to transfer picture to their computers, email inbox, and mobile devices, the PicDeck provides the most effective way to download and manage pictures. Unlike the currently complex and limited methods we have today, the PicDeck allows the transfer of pictures to any pre-designated destination without the need to press any extra buttons. 3. What are the risks of using qualitative personas to select target customer segments? a.The customer personas and the goal of the organization should be aligned with one another to ensure the company’s cohesiveness and allow them to determine their target customer. The use of personas is useful in marketing to understand the customer behavior, so the personas should represent attributes of the target audience that we want to reach. In using qualitative personas we are assuming that the people represented have similar expectations and goals, and we are not considering important issues as culture and race; and that’s when it becomes risky for the business. This can cause the company to lose revenue because a product of this caliber is universal and therefore the company has no need lock themselves to a certain type of customer when all types of customers can utilize the product. Section B 4. Which segment(s) would you recommend as a target for PicDeck? Explain the logic behind your choice. a.Using demographic segmentation has been a useful tool in determining which customers to target in promoting their product. According to exhibit 4 in section B the strongest response in the surveys came from middle aged married consumers and/or male wireless subscribers. There is additional statistical research supporting this data from the customer personas; which a middle-age married woman with a teenager has the need for this produce and the purchasing power to attain it. In addition, Exhibit 2 consistently illustrates that the middle age consumer wants a device that is easier to transfer photos to their PCs, email, or social website. By continuing using demographic segmentation they can place more focus on income, education, and occupations within middle aged married consumers and males; which this may address Mr. Levy’s concerns regarding the increasing and/or maintaining ARPUs. 5. Develop a positioning statement for your selected target customer(s) the key benefits of the PicDeck service and how the service is differentiated from alternative that customers might consider. a.For the up-to-date Mom and professional savvy male who is looking for timeless convenience the PicDeck Mobile provides fast and clear pictures of your loved ones or Power Point to your boss. Unlike archaic digital cameras the PicDeck can seamlessly send that memory or great idea before you can say cheese. In conclusion Ontela’s Picdeck was definitely on the right path. Looking at today’s society people are using this product every day. Whether it’s a person taking pictures with their smartphone, and instantly sending it to their Facebook page or a fellow student snapping a shot of the groups contact sheet and sending the document via email to the group members; everyone values the product for its convenience and accessibility. It has now become the â€Å"norm† function of a phone. Therefore, Levy’s positioning strategy to ensure the solvency of his company; in addition, addressing carriers’ goals seems as a success with the continuing growth of this industry.