Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Keynesian School Of Thought, The Monetarist School And...

This paper will examine three theories regarding economic performance. The Keynesian School of thought, the Monetarist School and the Austrian Business Cycle has different views on how the economy can improve during recessions or other economic downturns. Each is relevant to economic issues during The Great Depression in the 1930’s to the Great Recession in late 2000’s. This paper will discuss the history behind each theory, the specific views on key points in each school of theory and why the founders felt strongly about utilizing those particular concepts. Views on market response and the role of government regarding each philosophy will be considered as well. The Keynesian School During the midst of The Great Depression, John Maynard†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The assumption of sticky prices is an essential underpinning of the IS-LM model†¦ as the theory of short-run fluctuations† (Ball Mankiw, 1994, para 2). When demand decreases because of a downturn in the stock market, for example, many businesses will either produce less of the product or stop selling it altogether. This in turn creates an imbalance between the price to make the product and the price to maintain employees who help make the product. Keynes’ economic theory focused on short-run alternatives. Aggregate demand or total spending was his main focus in regard to his general theory. Price level remains unchanged and real output grows rapidly creating an increase in aggregate demand; other things equal. Further declaring influence in aggregate demand, through economic intervention policies by the government, is the driving force for economic stimulation. In the 1930’s during the peak of The Great Depression the economy saw a decrease in demand because of rises in unemployment, GDP, and an alarming spike in inflation. Keynes purpose in focusing on the behavior of the economy through household and businesses versus the forces of free markets and individual and company behavior; was to prove that inducing aggregate demand could stabilize the economy from such horrid times. Keynes is known for stating â€Å"†¦in the long run, we are all dead† (Blinder, 2014). A large part of Keynes general theory lies onShow MoreRelatedThe Keynesian School Of Economic Thought1151 Words   |  5 Pages1) List three key concepts from the Keynesian School of economic thought: (25 points) At least one concept must describe the management of aggregate demand. a. The primary concept of the Keynesian School of economic thought revolved around the management of aggregate demand. The author of this idea, John Maynard Keynes, believed the economy was fundamentally unable to sustain itself at full employment. One of his proposed solutions to this was for the government to intervene to increase aggregateRead MoreThe Keynesian School Of Economic Thought1948 Words   |  8 Pagesgreat prosperity they have been recognized and titled as the Keynesian School of Economic Thought as this is a theory believing aggregate demand is influenced by public and private economic decisions. There is also the Monetarism School of Economic Thought which focuses on how the money supply has an effect on the economy and tries to have a stability in price level. A third theory also considered very important is the Austrian School of Economic Though as this theory is a believer of logical thinkingRead MoreGreat Depression7197 Words   |  29 Pageshave come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.[10] The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April, though still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929.[11] Together, government and business actually spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the corresponding period of the previous year. But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severeRead MoreInflation Cause, Effects and Remedies11320 Words   |  46 Pageseconomic activity: The illusion of personal income growth beyond actual productivity may encourage consumption; housing investment may increase in anticipation of future price appreciation; business investment in plants and equipment may accelerate as prices rise more rapidly than costs; and personal, business, and government borrowers realize that loans will be repaid with money that has potentially less purchasing power. A greater concern is the growing pattern of chronic inflation characterizedRead MoreInflation Cause, Effects and Remedies11309 Words   |  46 Pageseconomic activity: The illusion of personal income growth beyond actual productivity may encourage consumption; housing investment may increase in anticipation of future price appreciation; business investment in plants and equipment may accelerate as prices rise more rapidly than costs; and personal, business, and government borrowers realize that loans will be repaid with money that has potentially less purchasing power. A greater concern is the growing pattern of chronic inflation characterized

Monday, December 16, 2019

Media and Cultural Influences on Sexual Orientation

Media and Culture Influence on Sexual Orientation Select a topic that interests you. Introduction. Media has great influence over the way people live their lives. The question is, do media or culture influence sexual orientation? Describe this social issue. Make the argument that this issue is important. Use anecdotal evidence (personal experiences) or statistical data to establish your arguments. Media and culture are important in America because they have great influence over people. They have a part in what people choose to buy, what they decide to wear, how they may do their makeup or hair, and their self-image. Media and culture affect how people see themselves, as well as their traditions, language, or cultural norms. Although media and culture can positively influence people by inspiring new ideas and lifestyles, there are definitely negative influences as well. According to The Eating Disorder Foundation, one third of women are on a diet at any given time, and over 10 million women are dealing with an eating disorder as well as low self-esteem in order to look like supermodels on television. Media and culture may even influence sexual orientation. Whether this is in a positive or negative way, This is important because whom a person is attracted to is not something someone can force to change. Being able to love someone for who they are despite gender similarities or differences is not something that should be discriminated against. Loving whom aShow MoreRelatedMen Who Have Sex With Men Essay1476 Words   |  6 Pagespersonal experience and is influenced by cultural norms. In the United States, sexual behavior and attitudes are driven by variations in gender, social class, ethnicity, and religion. In fact, sexuality is fluid and is different for everyone. It is a unique, diverse, complicated, secretive, and puzzling experience that is always changing. In essence sex is queer. In examining the definition of sexual orientation De Cecco (1981), reasons: Sexual orientation is one of the few areas of human behaviorRead MoreThe Media s The Most Powerful Entity On The Earth1564 Words   |  7 Pagesthe matter of media as a manipulative concept and that the media has a way t o shape the readers minds into only seeing the negative point of view of a either a victim or offender. In doing so, it entitles that they have a large amount of power, which influences society’s decisions on whether or not they can trust the criminal justice system as a whole. In a recent case that took place back in September of this year, involving a 15-year old aboriginal girl named Tina Fontaine, the media illustratesRead MoreThe Universe Of International Sports1657 Words   |  7 PagesIn the realm of international sports, for centuries and centuries, no one took into account the sexual orientations of athletes. For instance, the juxtaposition of the European based sport rugby, versus purely Americanized sports such as football and basketball in the way these communities have responded to their athletes coming out of the closet. In any American sport, there is media attention and moral and social questions of whether these individuals are still capable of playing the s port withoutRead MoreMedia And The Influence On Society958 Words   |  4 PagesThe Media and the Influence it has on Society Media plays a significant role in the way it can influence our culture. The media can produce positive and negative impacts on our society. It has the power to produce messages that can manipulate the way people think as well as influencing attitudes and actions taken towards the opposite sex. In the video Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity Jackson Katz discusses that the rampant of male violence that affects American societyRead MoreHistorical Impact of The Stonewall Riots in Stonewall Essay1041 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Gay Revolution. This engaging book adds to the genre of sexual orientation discrimination. Carter extensively analyzes the various factors that played a role in igniting the Stonewall riots and the historical impact that the riots had on the Gay Revolution and movement for gay equality. Through the use of interviews, newspapers, and maps, Carter argues that the riots were a product of many geographical, social, political, and cultural f actors. Carter further argues that the riots ultimately ledRead MoreThe Nature And Nurture Of The Human Sexuality932 Words   |  4 PagesThis debate is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behaviour reflects the influence of genetically arranged maturity or wether it comes from learning and experience. This essay will explain to what extent human sexuality is the result of nature or nurture, it will also relate sexuality to the Biopsychosocial model. The nature part of the human sexuality is the expression of sexual sensation and related intimacy between human beings, it is a natural behaviour of what makes usRead MoreSocio-Cultural Influences On Sexuality. Socio-Cultural1156 Words   |  5 PagesSocio-Cultural Influences on Sexuality Socio-cultural influence plays a major role in sexual behaviors. It gives a better comprehension on why men are men and women are women. These socio-cultural are influenced by physical, emotional, cultural and economic aspects. Time and time again research has proven that socio-cultural influences have a significant role in human sexuality. Culture is the manner of life of the people. Thus, culture shapes the ideas of what behaviors are acceptable for men andRead MoreStratification And Social Mobility On A Person s Chances For A Higher Life Expectancy Essay1681 Words   |  7 PagesThe idea that stratification and social mobility can influence a person’s chances for a higher life expectancy is very possible. The concept of â€Å"stratification is defined as the structural ranking of an entire group of people that maintains unequal economic benefits and power within society.† This system allows individuals opportunities only based on the tier that they occupy. â€Å"Th ere are four major systems of stratification which are slavery, caste, estate and class.† â€Å"The current stratificationRead MoreMoney Makes The World Go Round1532 Words   |  7 Pagesperiods of different influences like wars and industrialization, but perhaps the biggest of all time would be the era of The Media. We as consumers, provide the monetary power that provides that influence to the world. Most of the environment of almost every child 10 and above, growing up in the United States or any industrialized country, is the everyday use of different forms of media. Essentially it amounts to the creation of a new source of socialization. Of course the media has become part ofRead MoreAn Individual’S Sexual Curiosity In And Enticement To Other1095 Words   |  5 Pagesindividual’s sexual curiosity in and enticement to other individuals; having stimulating feelings and experiences, speak to human sexuality. Different from sexuality, biological sex is classified through genetics, anatomy, hormones and physiology; female or male. An individual s intelligence of their own gender refers to gender identity or sociocultural classification, which is also set apart from sexuality; however, it is constructed on biological sex and shapes sexual orientation. Sexuality is

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Business Strategy Forecasting Industry Profitability

Question: Discuss about the Business Strategy for Forecasting Industry Profitability. Answer: Introduction: As the multinational companies entered the bottled water industry of US, the level of competition within the industry increased to great extent. During the period of 2002-2012, the level of competition is expected to rise to greater folds as the major brands like the PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Danone. These companies are going to use aggressive marketing strategies in order to gain the competitive advantage. In the year 2001, the volume of the bottle water industry has rise to 11% for the last four years. The per capita drinking of the bottled water in US is just 60 liters compared to that of 92 liters in the Western European countries. However in the next few years this difference is expected to be minimized as the people of US are becoming more aware about the importance of mineral water. At present there are two types of bottled water that is available in the market of US, which includes the spring water and purified water. In the next few years the market is expected to be dominated by the purified form of bottled water. The marketing channels that are used by the bottled water companies are also likely to be increased, which will help in the process of supply chain distribution. The channel of distribution is also expected to be expanded to increase to both off-trade and on-trade forms. However, the premium brands are expected to distribute their products using the on-trade channels as it will help in the main of the reputation of the brands. However, with the help of off-trade channels it is possible for the small scale bottled water companies to dominate the market. By the year of 2012, the bottled water industry of US is expected to have greater level of profit as the demand of package water is likely to increase. The efficiency level of the supply chain of bottled water is also likely to increase due to the introduction of the innovative techniques. The aggressive marketing strategies of the large scale companies will also help to boost sales. Assessing strategic Positing The Coca-Cola Company was slow while entering the market of bottled water in the United Sates. However, with the launch of the Dasanai in 1999, the company was able to make significant profit in the sector. The company became the third largest company of bottled water company. The PepsiCo on the other hand, entered the market of bottled water with the help of the brand name of PepsiCo. At the initial stage the company was able to make significant profit. However, with the help of the as the Dasnai brand entered the market of US bottled water industry in the year of 1999, the PepsiCo faced a major challenge. The Danone is considered to be one the oldest company of bottled water. One of the main aims of the company was to be the leading global brand of bottled water. The Nestle has also able to enter the market with the help of the acquisition of the Vittel in the year 1969. Moreover, after the acquisition of the San Pellegrino in 2001, the company has able to gain significant competitive advantage. However, out of all the companies, the Coca-Cola Company with the brand name of Dasanai is predicted to make the maximum profit in the coming 10 years. The reason for the success of the company is due to the fact is because of the following reasons. It is the latest brand for bottled water, which uses the innovative way of purifying water. They used aggressive marketing strategies, which helped them to make competitive advantage. They use both on and off trade policies, which helps them to distribute their products in wide range of areas. The Coca-Cola company was able to gain the completive advantage due to the as they used aggressive marketing strategy. The target of the Dasani brand is to incorporate the policies, which will help them to target the younger generation of the society. The brand name of Coca-Cola is the biggest strength of the company, which will help them to gain the reputation in the market. However, as the company use spring water, the price of the water is excessively high. This is one of the major weaknesses of the company. Lower the price of the products. Spread the awareness among the people about the importance of the drinking purified water. Add important minerals in the bottled water, which helps to maintain the health of a person. Assessing the launch of JetStar in the Australian Domestic market The Jetstar Airways is one of the leading brands of Australia and is famous for providing low cost air travel service. The company launched its commercial operations in the year 2004, which consisted of 100,000 promotional fares options. The network of the company is extended to 14 different airports of Australia. One of the main reasons for the success of the success of the company is due to the lower price that is available in the market. The business model that is used by the company is based on the ideas related to the business ideas of all the low cost airline companies of the world. They used all the best features of these companies, which helped them to gain popularity over small period. They were also able to have independent about the IT regulations within the company, which helped them to make use of the independent decisions about the regulations. The Jetstar has been one able to introduce direct flight between all the major cities of Australia, with short-haul. They have also employed skilled technicians, who have been ability to do minor repair works is short interval of time. This help to save lot of time, which enables them to increase the total number of flight. Unlike the competitors of the like the Virgin group, OzJet, which do not allow last minute booking of flight, Jetstar have allowed the booking even in the last moment. The Jetstar also offered low cost international airlines in important cities of Christchurch. The price of the tickets of all other flights of includes the expense of the food and beverage that is being provided in the flight. However, the Jetstar have the policy to offer the option of lower tickets as the passengers may not like to have food for short distance flights. The management of Jetstar has gained significant experience from the failure of airlines, which has been operated by Quantas. Being a major subdivision of Quantas, the Jetstar has been able to gain significant experience about the operation of low cost air travels. Recommendations for Jetstar in the international market As the demand for the air travel is going to increase in the coming years it is important for the airline operators like Jetstar to increase the total number of lower cost flights. This will help the airline company to gain significant profit. The company needs to expend the market in the smaller cities of Australia, which will help them to provide good market for the cheaper budgets air travel. The company needs to encourage the passengers to purchase online tickets, which will help them to save the cost of agents. Discounts offer on online booking will also ensure that more customers are using the online booking facility. It will help the customers to get the extra discounts and also allow the airline company to save the cost of agents. The company can also reduce the total number of cabin crews, which will help to reduce the expense on employees. The flight also needs to have more seats, which will allow more number of passengers. With the help of the aggressive marketing policies, it is possible for the company to gain the competitive advantage in the tough airline industry. One of the requirements of aggressive form of marketing is to provide cost-effective air rides, which will encourage even the middle class of the society to travel by air instead of other cheaper modes of communication. Cocnclusion: The level of security is also a matter of concern and the Jetstar need to ensure that due to lower price, the security of the passengers are not compromised. They also need to assure the passengers about the high level of security that is being provided by the company as due to the past terrorist attacks like the one of 9/11 in USA, there are many people, who fear to take flight trips. The company needs to employ more staffs in the security department. Hence, with the help of effective future plans, it is possible for the airline company to sustain the future of the industry. The company needs to have strict actions for the overall management of the flight journey. The level of customer satisfaction is one of the prime criteria for the success of the airline companies. Jetstar needs to have online survey and customer feedback system. It is also important to suggestions from the customers, which will help them to get the idea about the changes that need to make in each of the flights.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Invisible Man Timed Writing free essay sample

Ashley Black Mrs. Gill AP Lit. 4th hour 20 September 2013 Invisible Man Timed Writing Everyone experiences that one pivotal moment in their life where everything changes; this moment defines who one is and establishes one’s place in the world. In Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, the narrator experiences his pivotal moment when he burns all of the papers in his briefcase. This moment shapes the meaning of the novel as a whole by emphasizing invisibility and self-discovery Throughout the novel the narrator is constantly changing his identity in order to please his superiors and make something of himself in the world. This is demonstrated when the narrator does everything he can to be a model student and please his headmaster, Dr. Bleedsoe. This is also explicated when he changes his name—in other words his identity—to become a speaker for the Brotherhood. In each of these instances the narrator changes who is only to be used and abused and exploited. We will write a custom essay sample on Invisible Man Timed Writing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, no matter how many times he finds out that he is being used he continues to do whatever he can to please those around him. It is not until the narrator experiences his pivotal moment that he finally stops trying to please everyone and starts living for himself. By forsaking the Brotherhood through his pivotal moment, the narrator finally realizes that he had just been a tool used by all of those who he had trusted and looked up to. No one ever sees him for who he really is; he is invisible. As a result, he comes to the revelation that pleasing them at the cost of his identity will get him nowhere in the world. Therefore, by burning all of the papers that identify him, he is burning all of the identities that society has created for him in order to create his own. Moving on, the meaning of the author’s work as a whole is discovering one’s self at one’s own expense. In other words not losing yourself to the competitive nature of society by becoming what others wants you to be. The  narrator’s pivotal moment enhances this meaning through its introduction of invisibility and self-discovery. To illustrate, when the author burns all of the papers that identify him, he finally realizes that he is invisible. Those around him do not see him even though he has done everything he could to please them. He has no identity. Thus, the only way for him to gain his own identity is to stop obeying what society says and becoming what society want him to becom e. As he realizes that what the world around him has made him is not who he wants to be the narrator discovers himself. This once again connects back to the author’s meaning of not losing one’s self to society. Ralph Ellison’s, Invisible Man, effectively exemplifies a Bildungsroman. It does this by containing a character that undergoes a discovery, one that explicates his â€Å"coming of age,† which is incited when he burns all of the papers in his briefcase that identify him. This pivotal moment allows the narrator to acquire a new understanding of who he is and contributes to the author’s meaning of not losing one’s self to society by emphasizing invisibility and self-discovery.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Biography of Robert Hooke, the Man Who Discovered Cells

Biography of Robert Hooke, the Man Who Discovered Cells Robert Hooke (July 18, 1635–March 3, 1703) was a 17th-century natural philosopher- an early scientist- noted for a variety of observations of the natural world. But perhaps his most notable discovery came in 1665 when he looked at a sliver of cork through a microscope lens and discovered cells. Fast Facts: Robert Hooke Known For: Experiments with a microscope, including the discovery of cells, and coining of the termBorn: July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, the Isle of Wight, EnglandParents: John Hooke, vicar of Freshwater and his second wife Cecily GylesDied: March 3, 1703 in LondonEducation: Westminster in London, and Christ Church at Oxford, as a laboratory assistant of Robert BoylePublished Works: Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon Early Life Robert Hooke was born July 18, 1635, in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of England, the son of the vicar of Freshwater John Hooke and his second wife Cecily Gates. His health was delicate as a child, so Robert was kept at home until after his father died. In 1648, when Hooke was 13, he went to London and was first apprenticed to painter Peter Lely and proved fairly good at the art, but he left because the fumes affected him. He enrolled at Westminster School in London, where he received a solid academic education including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and also gained training as an instrument maker. He later went on to Oxford and, as a product of Westminster, entered Christ Church college, where he became the friend and laboratory assistant of Robert Boyle, best known for his natural law of gases known as Boyles Law. Hooke invented a wide range of things at Christ Church, including a balance spring for watches, but he published few of them. He did publish a tract on capillary attraction in 1661, and it was that treatise the brought him to the attention of the Royal Society for Promoting Natural History, founded just a year earlier. The Royal Society The Royal Society for Promoting Natural History (or Royal Society) was founded in November 1660 as a group of like-minded scholars. It was not associated with a particular university but rather funded under the patronage of the British king Charles II. Members during Hookes day included Boyle, the architect Christopher Wren, and the natural philosophers John Wilkins and Isaac Newton; today, it boasts 1,600 fellows from around the world. In 1662, the Royal Society offered Hooke the initially unpaid curator position, to furnish the society with three or four experiments each week- they promised to pay him as soon as the society had the money. Hooke did eventually get paid for the curatorship, and when he was named a professor of geometry, he gained housing at Gresham college. Hooke remained in those positions for the rest of his life; they offered him the opportunity to research whatever interested him. Observations and Discoveries Hooke was, like many of the members of the Royal Society, wide-reaching in his interests. Fascinated by seafaring and navigation, Hooke invented a depth sounder and water sampler. In September 1663, he began keeping daily weather records, hoping that would lead to reasonable weather predictions. He invented or improved all five basic meteorological instruments (the barometer, thermometer, hydroscope, rain gauge, and wind gauge), and developed and printed a form to record weather data. Some 40 years before Hooke joined the Royal Society, Galileo had invented the microscope (called an occhiolino  at the time, or wink in Italian); as curator, Hooke bought a commercial version and began an extremely wide and varying amount of research with it, looking at plants, molds, sand, and fleas. Among his discoveries were fossil shells in sand (now recognized as foraminifera), spores in mold, and the bloodsucking practices of mosquitoes and lice. Discovery of the Cell Hooke is best known today for his identification of the cellular structure of plants. When he looked at a sliver of cork through his microscope, he noticed some pores or cells in it. Hooke believed the cells had served as containers for the noble juices or fibrous threads of the once-living cork tree. He thought these cells existed only in plants, since he and his scientific contemporaries had observed the structures only in plant material. Nine months of experiments and observations are recorded in his 1665 book Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Inquiries Thereupon, the first book describing observations made through a microscope. It featured many drawings, some of which have been attributed to Christopher Wren, such as that of a detailed flea observed through the microscope. Hooke was the first person to use the word cell to identify microscopic structures when he was describing cork. His other observations and discoveries include: Hookes Law: A  law of elasticity for solid bodies, which described how tension increases and decreases in a spring coilVarious observations on the nature of gravity, as well as heavenly bodies such as comets and planetsThe nature of fossilization, and its implications for biological history Death and Legacy Hooke was a brilliant scientist, a pious Christian, and a difficult and impatient man. What kept him from true success was a lack of interest in mathematics. Many of his ideas inspired and were completed by others in and outside of the Royal Society, such as the Dutch pioneer microbiologist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), navigator and geographer William Dampier (1652–1715), geologist Niels Stenson (better known as Steno, 1638–1686), and Hookes personal nemesis, Isaac Newton (1642–1727). When the Royal Society published Newtons Principia in 1686, Hooke accused him of plagiarism, a situation so profoundly affecting Newton that he put off publishing Optics until after Hooke was dead. Hooke kept a diary in which he discussed his infirmities, which were many, but although it doesnt have literary merit like Samuel Pepys, it also describes many details of daily life in London after the Great Fire. He died, suffering from scurvy and other unnamed and unknown illnesses, on March 3, 1703. He neither married nor had children. Sources Egerton, Frank N. A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 16: Robert Hooke and the Royal Society of London. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 86.2 (2005): 93–101. Print.Jardine, Lisa. Monuments and Microscopes: Scientific Thinking on a Grand Scale in the Early Royal Society. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 55.2 (2001): 289–308. Print.Nakajima, Hideto. Robert Hookes Family and His Youth: Some New Evidence from the Will of the Rev. John Hooke. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 48.1 (1994): 11–16. Print.Whitrow, G. J. Robert Hooke. Philosophy of Science 5.4 (1938): 493–502. Print.

Friday, November 22, 2019

The Essay Experts New Years Ressaylutions- Completing 2011 and Creating 2012

The Essay Experts New Years Ressaylutions- Completing 2011 and Creating 2012 Last year at about this time, I wrote a list of six New Year’s Ressaylutions for 2011. Do you ever go back to your list from last year and check on whether you followed through on your resolutions, or whether you forgot about them the moment you put your pen down? I realized that with all my talk about New Year’s resolutions, I hadn’t gone back to check last year’s list.   I got brave and dug it up this week; the following is a report on how I did at keeping my promises!   I also make new resolutions for 2012. 2011 Ressaylutions  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1.   Convert my website to WordPress. DONE!   Not only is my site fully converted to WordPress, but I also have a funky cool new slider on my home page. I also created many new forms and downloadable documents that make it easier for clients to submit information and get the materials they need. 2.   Make it easier for my readers to choose the topic they want to read about. DONE!   I now have six separate e-lists: a) Job Search (Resumes Cover Letters) b) College Admissions c) LinkedIn Professional Writing d) Grammar Tips e) Newsletter only e) Everything. Choose the one that’s â€Å"write† for you! 3.   Create autoresponders. DONE!   And there is still so much more to do.   See Ressaylution #3. 4.   Guest blog. DONE!   My articles have appeared on CareerCast.com, Careerealism.com, CareerCenterToolbox.com and ilostmyjob.com, and I was quoted in Forbes.   Recently I wrote two articles for an American Bar Association publication about resumes and personal statements for applying to law school which will be published this summer. 5.   Start an Artist’s Way group. NOT DONE.   This one took a back seat to the business.   But I DID write my morning pages every day for three months like I said I would.   And I told everyone I was leading something, which made me act like a leader.   Perhaps that’s what inspired my article, Top 10 Ways to Be a Leader.   I’m content that this item did not come to fruition. 6.   Continue to write and share about writing issues, job search issues, and sometimes life issues that strike my fancy each week and that my readers care about. DONE.   I faithfully published either a blog article or a newsletter EVERY week in 2011, without fail.   Now THAT’s something to celebrate! Here are The Essay Expert’s Ressaylutions for 2012: 1.   Create a new template for my website that brings me more into the technology of 2012. Despite my successful WordPress conversion, there’s much work still to be done before I have the ability to edit my pages without â€Å"breaking† the existing code.   Look out for a new, more user-friendly interface in 2012 too! 2.   Create new e-lists for past clients, and survey past clients. I want to follow up better with The Essay Expert’s past clients and find out how they are faring with the documents we helped them prepare.   Did they get jobs?   Did they get into school?   Do they need more assistance?   My hope is that better e-lists will allow me to start providing concrete numbers about the results of the work that we do.   In service of this goal (as well as Ressaylution #3), I will be hiring a virtual assistant (VA)!   No more interns – The Essay Expert is getting down to business. 3.   Revise autoresponders from 2011. Right now most of my autoresponders are set up as summaries of my articles with links to the full article. It turns out that people don’t like to have to click on a link to read a full article!   So I will be putting complete articles into my autoresponders for your reading convenience and pleasure.   Thank you to my future VA for helping to make this happen! 4.   Publish my e-book on Kindle This one is in the works.   It will have a cool new cover and a clickable index for easy reference.   Let’s make it a best-seller! 5.   Report on and count success stories in 2012. My goal is to report 212 success stories in 2012.   My resolution is to keep doing great work and to keep marketing The Essay Expert’s offerings so we can create 212 positive results for job seekers, school applicants and businesses in the next year.   See 212 Success Stories for 2012. 6.   Continue to write and share about writing issues, job search issues, and sometimes life issues that strike my fancy each week and that my readers care about. No change here.   I’ll see you every week in 2012. How did you do on your New Years resolutions from 2011?   Do you dare to find out? Category:Life and LeadershipBy Brenda BernsteinJanuary 16, 2012 1 Comment The Essay Expert says: January 17, 2012 at 8:06 am LOL Jan perhaps theres room to start challenging yourself more! Log in to Reply

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Rising Oil Prices and the Scottish business Essay - 7

Rising Oil Prices and the Scottish business - Essay Example Scotland has a very rich history, and it has played a significant role in bringing in enlightenment to the United Kingdom as modern economics was born from the lush green meadows of Scotland. Over the period of time, Scottish businesses have developed their core competencies and reached to a point where they are significantly contributing towards the economy of the country. An analysis of the Scottish business industry would suggest that it is dominated by heavy industry such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steel industries. This stratification of the industry within the Scottish economy suggest that it is heavily reliant on much larger industries involved mostly into Business 2 Business kind of business transactions therefore key economic variables such as rising prices hardly have the impact on them.  A recent history of oil prices suggests that they are on increasing constantly due to various factors. Many analysts believed that rising demand from China and other emerging marke ts such as Brazil, Russia, and India created a strong increase in prices of oil all over the world. Besides, there are different seasonal patterns in production as well as consumption of oil, therefore, the oil prices tend to increase due to these seasonal patterns as well as strong demand from emerging markets. (IMF).  Further, there is a growing increase into the production of alternative energy sources such as ethanol which is selling at high prices, therefore, the oil prices in the market are also going to replicate that process because alternative products are selling at higher prices. Further, the depreciation of the dollar against major currencies such as the Euro is also considered as one of the major factors behind the increase in oil prices.  These rising oil prices, however, are being considered as a good omen for the Scottish business due to different reasons. The following section will discuss whether rising oil prices are good for Scottish businesses.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Myth of Education and Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Myth of Education and Empowerment - Essay Example When I look at the aspects of school reform that are happening because of the NCLB legislation, I can understand that there are still several problems that are facing children today and part of it is that there is a systemic change coming that will influence how education is done. Before we move to that information it will be important to state the answer to the question for this essay. We have four very different people who are speaking about education. Each one of these people could be called "radical" in the way education is done today. We have Malcolm X who learned to read using the dictionary and Elijah Mohammed's teachings in the beginning. He read many books after that and become a brilliant scholar in his own right through learning thorough what some teachers call to day, "immersion." He immersed himself in the aspects of education that he wanted to learn. I am not sure that he would be the leader of the group, but I do think that he would agree with Gatto and that he would be for the idea that children could learn better in environments that were not encased in school. Mike Rose understands the plight of the student in public school in a general way. Because he found motivation through one teacher who came to his school, he would understand the unmotivated student and what it takes to get them motivated. He would understand that most of the time, the teacher who reaches out to a child in a different way than most teachers do are the ones that an individual student will work to impress.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

National Netball Coach Essay Example for Free

National Netball Coach Essay The national England Netball coach Lesley Dixon does not have to organise matches or transport because the league it self sorts them details out. Mrs Hyams on the other hand has to contact other local teams and sort out matches and tournaments, and means of transport for hers players, which can be stressful and time consuming. When Lesley Dixon has picked her team for a match from her squad she then tells the Netball associate, who then inform the players and provide them with information. When Mrs Hyams has picked the team, she then has to go and find them to tell them. She then has to provide them with fixtures that she has done herself. Lesley Dixon has to has alot netball coaching experience having spent 8 years with Hertfordshire County and later as manager for the England FENA U17 team. This much experience has enabled Lesley to teach netball at a national standard. Where as Mrs Hyams has a level one coaching qualification and no other netball coaching experience. Lesley Dixon represents the netball association she has a lot of pressure because if the national team is not winning matches they will not be bale to qualify for matches against other national teams in a well publicized tournament such as the qualify stages of a manger up coming tournament. This will look bad and the England team will lose support if they do not compete in major matches or tournaments. When Mrs Hyams prepares the netball teams for matches, there is not as much pressure because all netballs teams are entered in to tournaments. So there is no need for qualifying matches. There is also less pressure on Mrs Hyams because there is limited interest in the results of the Barclay netball team, so no one hears if they do well or not. School netball league is competitive but not as competitive as national games. Lesley Dixon gets paid every month for coaching the national England netball team, where as Mrs Hyams who coaches the school team out of school hours, does not get paid for doing so. When one of Lesley Dixon players is injured on court or suffers from injuries during training, she has the medical staff available to treat her players. So she doesnt have to have a medical or first aid qualification. Mrs Hyams has to have a first aid qualification, so when a member of the netball teams is injured, she has to treat them or escort them of court. Ways in which Mrs Hyams can improve her netball coaching ability is to go on level 2 netball coaching course at Bedfordshire Time Venue TBA. This will enable to teach netball at a higher standard and have more knowledge of the game. Mrs Hyams could also go on an beginner umpiring course at Eaton CNS School Easton Road Norwich, so when she umpires her netball teams matches and other netball teams; she can be more competent and confident in her decisions when umpiring. Most of netball team see Mrs Hyams more as a friend than a netball coach. This can sometime lead to a lack of concentration from the players, because we do not see her as an authoritive figure. To improve this Mrs Hyams could be disciplined, which would inevitable cause the team to be more focused. Although Mrs Hyams netball team, who she has coached since year seven have gone on to win the district tournament four years running. This shows Mrs Hyams dedication and hard work as well as the teams. There are not a lot of things Lesley Dixon could do to improve her netball coaching ability. One thing she could do is make netball more publicised so more people start to take notice of netball. This is because to be at a national coaching standard you need to be fully focused and qualified. These qualities are what makes a good coach and cant be faulted. Although Lesley Dixons team have recently failed to pass the test matches against Jamaica. Both types of netball coaches from national standard to school standard have to be knowledgeable about the game in order to lead and coach it to members of the team. The two different coaches have the same principle of coaching which is to teach the game, but have very different responsibilities.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Essay on Metamorphosis of the Family in Kafkas Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis of the Family in Kafka's Metamorphosis      Ã‚   In Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, the nature of Gregor Samsa's reality changes insignificantly in spite of his drastic physical changes. Gregor's life before the metamorphosis was limited to working and caring for his family. As a traveling salesman, Gregor worked long, hard hours that left little time to experience "life." He reflects on his life acknowledging the "plague of traveling: the anxieties of changing trains, the irregular, inferior meals, the ever changing faces, never to be seen again, people with whom one has no chance to be friendly" (Kafka 13). Gregor, working to pay off his family's debt, has resigned himself to a life full of work.    Kafka himself paralleled this sentiment in a quote taken from his diaries noting that no matter how hard you work "that work still doesn't entitle you to loving concern for people. Instead, you're alone, a total stranger, a mere object of curiosity" (Pawel 167). Gregor submerges himself in work and becomes a stranger to himself and to life. Any type of social contact beyond porters, waitresses or bartenders was non-existent. He had once met a "cashier in a hat shop, whom he had pursued earnestly but too slowly" (Kafka 76).    There was no room in Gregor's life for people other that his family and as a result was condemned to a life without love or caring not to mention basic companionship. He worked diligently to provide for his family and that remained his only goal in life. Gregor's family relied on him to be the "breadwinner" of the family, but gave him nothing in return. The life that he had led until now was one fully of obligations and loneliness; he came home to empty hotel rooms or his apathetic fam... ...g him and longing for his demise. Can anyone be sure that their lives are good and perfect and that their families would understand and accept any change that could arise? The fact is that above and beyond all things a person must consider themselves first, however selfish it might appear. Sense of self will keep you through all the adverse times in life and be a companion to rely on when no one else cares.    Works Cited Eggenschwiler, David. "'The Metamorphosis', Freud, and the Chains of Odysseus". Franz Kafka: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 199-219. Emrich, Wilhelm. Franz Kafka: A Critical Study of His Writings. New York: Ungar, 1968. Kafka, Franz. Metamorphosis. Trans. A.L. Lloyd. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1946. Pawel, Ernst. The Nightmare of Reason. New York: Vintage Books, 1984.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

A Day in the Life of a Teacher Essay

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

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Basic Essay Essay

Introduction This forms the beginning of your essay. It tells the examiner, or your teacher, that you understand the question and gives them an idea of the plan that you have to answer the essay. Give a very brief summary of the text or a definition, if necessary. Answer the question that was asked, without any details or explanation. These answers will become your topic sentence / points in the upcoming paragraphs. your introduction does not need to be more than five lines in length. Body This portion of the essay is an expansion of the points, or the answer, that you gave in your introduction. Each segment of the essay, hence each point, should be given its own paragraph. This is the case because your aim is to express a single idea in one paragraph. State your topic sentence, or one of the points listed in your introduction. Provide at least two appropriate examples, from the text, to prove your point (these can come in the form of quotes, in relation to Shakespeare, or simply a brief retelling of the action). Expand by discussing how the previous examples prove your point, or solidifies your topic sentence. Repeat this process for each point, or topic sentence. Conclusion This is the end of your essay. It prevents your essay from ending abruptly and gives it a feeling of completion. A repetition of the points, or topic sentences, expressed in the body End of essay! EXAMPLE: (Single Text) The book Twilight is about complicated love. a. Discuss one sign, each, that indicates that the two protagonists are in love with each other. b. In your opinion, should Edward have left Bella alone? Introduction Complex love is a complicated relationship between two people. In the text Twilight, Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen share an intricate interconnection that is exhausting, yet fulfilling. Bella obviously loves Edward because she was willing to become a vampire in order to spend all her days with him, while Edward displayed an extreme level of protectiveness towards Bella. Despite this fact, he should have left her alone. Body: point # 1 There is no question that Bella was deeply in love with Edward. This is the case because she was willing to become a vampire in order to spend her life with him. In doing this, she would have to sacrifice life as she knows it. She would have to give up her humanity, her family and friends; her way of life. For some-one to make this choice they would need to be deeply mesmerized by the person. Body: point # 2 Edward’s protectiveness towards Bella also indicates that he too was in love. An example of this over-protectiveness is the fact that he did not drink her blood. In denying his voracious need, as seen when he states that â€Å"you are like my personal brand of heroine†, he is making a major sacrifice. He is fighting his ‘vampire nature’ in order to ensure that she was safe. This can be nothing but love. Body: point #3 Despite the overwhelming love between the two characters, Edward should have left Bella alone. This is the case because he is endangering her life by his mere presence. The major point to prove this fact is that she was hunted by vampires because she was in his company. She was perfectly safe without him in her life, therefore, he should have stayed out of it. Conclusion Based on an analysis of the relationship between Bella and Edward, one could conclude that both characters were deeply in love. This does not, however, excuse the fact that he should have left her alone. [This essay is a class construction: grade 10, 2011] b) COMPARATIVE ESSAY (two texts, poems or short stories) The format for this essay does not differ greatly from the basic essay. It is comprised of an introduction, body and conclusion, with a similar format. The difference is that while you are still answering one question, you are using two texts / short stories / poems to do so. Therefore, your approach to the body of this essay would be slightly different: Your topic sentence, or point, would relate to two texts / poems / short stories. Your examples would come from two texts etc. You would attempt to explain how the examples from each text etc. explains the point, or topic sentence.   The physical structure of your comparative essay, therefore, can look one of two ways. (i) You can choose to address two texts in a single paragraph, with the topic sentence as the connector, or, (ii) you can choose to address the texts in separate paragraphs that follow each other (meaning one below the other). Please note that the paragraphs must follow each other because they are connected by the same topic sentence. (i) Single paragraph INTRODUCTION Give a very brief summary of the texts or a definition, if necessary. Answer the question that was asked, (without any details or explanation), using both texts. These answers will become your topic sentence / points in the upcoming paragraphs. Due to the fact that two texts will be used, the introduction for this essay might be lengthier than the single essay. Think along the lines of 6-8 lines in length. BODY State your topic sentence, or one of the points listed in your introduction (must relate to both texts). Provide at least one appropriate example, from each text, to prove your point (these can come in the form of quotes, in relation to Shakespeare, or simply a brief retelling of the action). Expand by discussing how the previous examples, from each text, proves your point, or solidifies your topic sentence. Repeat this process for each point, or topic sentence. CONCLUSION A repetition of the points, or topic sentences, expressed in the body End of essay! (ii) Separate paragraphs INTRODUCTION Give a very brief summary of the texts or a definition, if necessary. Answer the question that was asked, (without any details or explanation), using both books/poems/short story. These answers will become your topic sentence / points in the upcoming paragraphs. Due to the fact that two texts/poems/short stories will be used, the introduction for this essay might be lengthier than the single essay. Think along the lines of 6-8 lines in length. BODY State your topic sentence, or one of the points listed in your introduction (relate to one text). Provide at least two appropriate examples to prove your point from one text (these can come in the form of quotes, in relation to Shakespeare, or simply a brief retelling of the action). Expand by discussing how the previous examples prove your point, or solidifies your topic sentence. Repeat this process in the following paragraph for the next text. Please remember that both texts are, at this point, still exploring the same topic sentence. The analysis of one topic sentence, therefore, occurs in two paragraphs. Each text gets a separate paragraph, and they follow each other. Remember, twins cannot be separated! CONCLUSION A repetition of the points, or topic sentences, expressed in the body End of essay! Rules for the comparative essay: The important point to note is that wherever one text / short story / poem is mentioned, the twin text etc. must immediately be addressed as well. Under no circumstance must you write completely on one text etc, and then address the twin text etc. four paragraphs after. If this is done, it means that you have written two separate essays. If you have three paragraphs for your body, then the two texts etc., must be mentioned simultaneously in each paragraph. Please note that the points from the separate texts etc. can be addressed in different paragraphs, but they must follow each other if they are addressing the same point. Think of the comparative essay as your twin children; it is impossible to go anywhere without both of them. Therefore, do not complete a point without linking your thoughts to the two texts etc. that are to be addressed.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Output devices and techniques Essay Example

Output devices and techniques Essay Example Output devices and techniques Paper Output devices and techniques Paper For this assignment we have to produce a report on the types of hardware and software requirements, and their purposes, for an IT system. In the context of this essay I have decided that bullet point form along with brief descriptions and graphics is the best way to present this assignment. 6 STAGE MODEL Shown above is the six-stage model, showing the processes undertaken by a computer system. Below is what each of my pictures represents: Mouse: Input Device   The Tower: Central Processing Unit Monitor: Output Device   Floppy Disk: Backing Store. Head: Main Memory   Telephone: Communications Devices e. g. Internet Input Devices and Techniques Input devices are the means whereby computers can accept data or instructions (Heathcott P M, 2000, p 159)   Keyboard: The keyboard is the most commonly used of all input devices. It can be used for a various number of tasks, form entering programs, to typing documents using a word processor, or entering a persons personal details etc.   Mouse: The mouse and its variants such as the trackball is well known with all PC users. Scanner: A scanner can be used to scan graphical images and photographs, and software can then be used to edit or touch up the images. Scanners can also be used to read typed or hand-writtten documents and this can then be interpreted by using OCR software, which can then export it to a word processor or data file. Scanners can also be used to input large volumes of data on pre-printed forms such as credit card payments, where the customers account number and amount paid are printed at the bottom of the payment slip. Web Cam: This transfers images onto the screen. In can be used via the internet for video conferencing or you can even pre-record messages and send them via E-mail. Bar Code Reader: Bar codes appear on almost everything we buy, whether it is a new CD or a tin of bins. The pattern of thick thin lines represents the 13 digit number underneath the bar code. There are four main pieces of information on a bar code. The first few two or three digits represent in which country the product was registered. The next five digits represent the manufacturers code. The second group of five numbers represents the product and package size. The last digit is a check digit, which is calculated from the other digits in the code and ensures that the barcode is keyed in or read correctly. A very similar process to that used in the ASCII code where the spare digit is used as the parity. A Product Bar Code Light Pen: A light pen is a device which incorporates a light sensor so that when it is held close to a screen over a character or part of a graphic, the object is detected and can be moved to create or modify graphics.   Microphone: An input devise for sound recording. OMR (Optical Mark Recognition): An Optical Mark Reader can detect marks made in present positions on a form. The most common example of this is the lottery. It is also widely used for marking, multiple choice exams and market research questionnaires.   OCR (Optical Character Recognition): Light is emitted, bounced back and then received. This is how the OCR reads its characters. The light emitted is in different resolutions depending on the character. OCR is used widely in services such as gas and electricity etc.   MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition): All banks use MICR for processing cheques. Along the bottom of a cheque the banks sort code, customer account number and cheque number are encoded in special characters in magnetic ink. The amount of the cheque is encoded in magnetic ink when it is handed in at the bank. The cheques can then be processed by MICR devices that read, sort and store the data on disk. MICR has several advantages for processing cheques: 1. It is hard to forge the characters 2. The characters can be read even if the cheque is crumpled, dirty or smudged 3. The characters are readable by humans, unlike bar codes The disadvantage of MICR though is the expense. This is why you dont find many other examples of it being used.   Swipe Cards: Swipe cards are operated by using a magnetic strip. They are used in credit cards, debit cards, railway tickets, phone cards and many others. The magnetic strip can be encoded with upto 220 characters of data and other 83% of adults in Britain own at least one card. Unfortunately because there are only 220 characters of data this makes the cards very easy to copy, which is why the strips will eventually, disappear and be replaced by a chip, which is almost impossible to fake. Something slightly similar to the smart card. Smart Cards: Smart cards are of a similar appearance to that of the swipe cards, but instead of using the magnetic strip they contain a small 1-millimeter square microprocessor which is stored in the centre of the card. This is then protected by a small gold electrical contact the card can still read information through this. Unlike the swipe card the smart cards can hold millions of characters of data. In the future banks hope to replace all the swipe cards with a Super card which will also be able to be used to pay for smaller goods such as milk and newspapers without the need to carry cash. This card will almost be unbreakable. In Belgium they already have a similar system working to this it is called the Proton Card, which incorporates the use of both magnetic strip and a microprocessor chip for bank withdrawals and payments of small goods. The Smart Card   Touch Sensitive Screens: A touch sensitive screen allows the user to touch an area of the screen rather than having to type the data on a keyboard. They are widely used in tourist centres, where tourists can look up various local facilities and entertainments, in fast food stores such as McDonalds for entering customer orders, in manufacturing, and also bars. Digitisers: A digitiser can draw quality illustrations. It has a flat rectangular slab onto which a stylus (anything that terminates in a point) is placed. Output Devices and Techniques The ultimate aim of the computer is to produce useful information, the information that is produced by the computer is in binary digits, we therefore need devices to translate these into a form we can use (Corbitt T, 1990, p 11)   VDU: (Visual Display Unit) The VDU is similar in appearance to the television receiver, an alternative name is the monitor. VDUs have better resolution than TVs and therefore are better for graphical work. It has its own fixed amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) associated with it to store the image being displayed on the screen. So the more RAM it has the better the resolution displayed on the screen. The number of pixels used to represent a full: If 1 bit represents each pixel then two colours can be displayed, so to display 256 colours you would need 8 bits (1byte) It is usually possible to adjust both the resolution and the number colours if you select a high resolution you wont be able to have as many colours because of the memory available on the VDU. Printers The results of processing are usually required in printed form. Printers come in all shapes and sizes, there are two main categories of printers:   Impact Printers which transfer the image on to the paper by applying pressure against a ribbon onto the paper, this transfers ink form the ribbon to the paper forming the image   Non-impact Printers which produce the image on the paper without any contact. Impact Printers   Dot-matrix: The characters on this are formed by dots. The print head contains a number of needles, the more there are of these the better the quality of print. A head with nine needles would take seven horizontal movements to print a character, this printer would be said to have a seven-by-nine-character matrix. In the latest type near letter quality is produced by double printing. The line of type is printed, the head moves back to the beginning of the line, moves down fractionally and then prints the line a second time. This doubles the time taken to print a document. To overcome this more expensive models use twice the number of needles and near letter quality can be achieved with one pass of the head. The dot-matrix can also print out graphics and pictures of a basic quality. Dot-matrix printers, which can print in colour, are available, these use a ribbon which contains red, green and blue. Coloured output is obtained by repeated printing, repositioning of the paper, print head and ribbon. The dot-matrix can print between 30 and 200 characters per second (cps).   Daisy-wheel printers: The print head consists of flexible arms extending from a centre hub, the characters are at the tips of the arms. When printing the hub revolves bringing the required character next to the ribbon. Some daisy-wheel printers are bi-directional and the print head can turn in either direction so that quickest possible print time is achieved. The print can be changed so that different font styles can be used. Daisy wheel printers are unable to print graphics unlike the dot-matrix. It is capable of speed ranges 12 to 55 cps. Non-impact printers   Thermal printers: These use specially treated paper, which is affected by heat generated by the print head as it passes across the paper. The main advantages are that they are silent and fast, printing 30-120 cps. Disadvantages are that the paper is expensive and that the printed image degrades in time.   Ink-jet printer: With this type of printer the characters are formed on the paper by spraying it with a stream of ink dots. They are fast, printing 150-270 cps and almost soundless, the quality of print is very good. A Canon Bubble Jet Printer BJC7000   Plotters: Plotters are used to produce drawings, diagrams and other types of graphical output. There are two varieties in use, the flatbed plotter which is used where accuracy is important and the drum plotter which is used for business applications. The flatbed type is fixed while the pen moves over the top of the device while the axis moves up and down, whilst the drum variety uses continuous stationery. In both types the pens, under the program control, are moved to the down position, the movement of the pens is then controlled to draw the image. There are from one to six pens, which can be used to output different colours. There is also the less commonly known graph plotter. This is most commonly seen in use for lie detector tests.   COM: (Computer Output on Microfilm) The problem of storing information on paper can be considerable in a large business. One way to solve this is to have output from the computer photographed as microscopic images directly onto microfilm. Two methods of storage are used, one put the information onto a roll of 16mm film while the other uses microfiche. Microfiche can store upto 100 pages of A4 on a single piece, to see it you must have a microfiche reader. The most recent examples of this being used is in libraries and in garages for checking car parts. Data can be stored onto microfilm directly from the computer or off line using magnetic tape as an intermediary store. Voice output: The output of the computer can be given in spoken form by using voice synthesisers to transform words stored in the computer into human speech, this is great for disabled people who cannot speak as it allows them to communicate. The user can hear through a loudspeaker. Secondary device techniques A permanent, non-volatile form of storage is required by all computer systems to save software and data files. Magnetic tape, magnetic disks, CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory), and microfilm are all examples of what is known as secondary storage.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Pachyrhinosaurus Facts and Figures

Pachyrhinosaurus Facts and Figures Name: Pachyrhinosaurus (Greek for thick-nosed lizard); pronounced PACK-ee-RYE-no-SORE-us Habitat: Woodlands of western North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (70 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 20 feet long and 2-3 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Thick bump on nose instead of nasal horn; two horns on top of frill About Pachyrhinosaurus Its name notwithstanding, Pachyrhinosaurus (Greek for thick-nosed lizard) was an entirely different creature from the modern rhinoceros, though these two plant-eaters do have a few things in common. Paleontologists believe Pachyrhinosaurus males used their thick noses to butt one another for dominance in the herd and the right to mate with females, much like modern-day rhinos, and both animals were approximately the same length and weight (though Pachyrhinosaurus may have outweighed its modern counterpart by a ton or two). Thats where the similarities end, though. Pachyrhinosaurus was a ceratopsian, the family of horned, frilled dinosaurs (the most famous examples of which were Triceratops and Pentaceratops) that populated North America during the late Cretaceous period, only a few million years before the dinosaurs went extinct. Oddly enough, unlike the case with most other ceratopsians, the two horns of Pachyrhinosaurus were set on top of its frill, not on its snout, and it had a fleshy mass, the nasal boss, in place of the nasal horn found in most other ceratopsians. (By the way, Pachyrhinosaurus may turn out to be the same dinosaur as the contemporary Achelousaurus.) Somewhat confusingly, Pachyrhinosaurus is represented by three separate species, which differ somewhat in their cranial ornamentation, especially the shape of their unflattering-looking nasal bosses. The boss of the type species, P. canadensis, was flat and rounded (unlike that of P. lakustai and P. perotorum), and P. canadensis also had two flattened, forward-facing horns on top of its frill. If youre not a paleontologist, though, all three of these species look pretty much identical! Thanks to its numerous fossil specimens (including over a dozen partial skulls from Canadas Alberta province), Pachyrhinosaurus is quickly climbing the most popular ceratopsian rankings, though the odds are slim that it will ever overtake Triceratops. This dinosaur got a big boost from its starring role in Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie, released in December 2013, and it has featured prominently in the Disney movie Dinosaur and the History Channel TV series Jurassic Fight Club.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Ad analysie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ad analysie - Essay Example A fallacy is also referred to as a false statement, notion or an argument. Fallacies are based on invalid or false inferences, erroneousness or incorrectness of belief of reasoning. The fragrance Peace Love ad has used fallacies in various ways including the appeal of emotion fallacy. The fallacy of emotion has been emphasized by capture the attention of people and especially women who are willing to be self-actualized. Regardless of the fact those emotions are unable to control the logical thinking of individuals; it is beyond doubt that when the emotions are strong, they can undermine rational thoughts. The fragrance is a form of self-actualization need. A greater part of individuals have a great desire to self-fulfillment. In other words, people have an inclination to be actualized in what they are potential. Although sometimes, the self-actualization needs cannot be fulfilled until the lower order needs are fulfilled, People yearn more to be

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Country analysis by 17 criteria Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Country analysis by 17 criteria - Coursework Example The second criterion involves population growth. It can be scrutinized that population growth in Argentina in 2013 stood at 0.90% whereby the growth of Argentina population created a wider market for UNIQLO products. The third criteria entail the rate of unemployment in Argentina which stood at 7.50%. This means that higher unemployment rate subjected UNIQLO to incur higher cost of labour in the production of Apparel and footwear industry (Encyclopaedia, 2013). The forth demographic criteria entail income distribution which stood at a weight of 46.30% in 2013. This means that as the income distribution increases among Argentina population, more people could manage to buy more apparel and footwear products and hence leading to an increase in sales volume and profitability of UNIQLO Company (Arnold, 2011). The fifth criteria entail Argentina population demographics of people between the ages of 15 to 64 years. It can be observed that the Argentina population of people between the ages of 15-64 years increased to 36897.8 whereby, most people at this age are financially independent and could afford to buy UNQLO products. The sixth criteria involved urban population which stood at 38517. An increase in urban population caused the demand of apparel product by urban population to increase and consequently making the sale units made by UNQLO Company to rise (International Monetary Fund, 2013). The seventh criterion entails GDP (purchasing power parity); the Argentina population in 2013 was 977983, the higher the GDP means that the economy of Argentina was performing exceptionally well which in turn created a higher demand for Apparel and footwear products. Under the eighth criteria, the real growth rate in Argentina stood at 3%. This means the rate of growth of GDP from one year to another changed at the rate of 3%. The higher

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Globalgiving and environmental study of the organization Essay

Globalgiving and environmental study of the organization - Essay Example The present study focuses on an analysis of the environmental factors associated with the registered charity thus studying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and realizing the competitive advantage of the organization in regard to its objectives and goals. In order to develop plans for any new project, or business and for the purpose of its marketing, often the need for a charity might occur. In such cases, registered charities are essential for the purpose to be fulfilled. Globalgiving is one such registered charity organization that allows the donation from donors in different projects as well as assist in the initiation of new projects across the US and the UK. The Globalgiving provides with the opportunities of getting connected to large number of donors as well as project initiators thus enhancing the chances and of the project or the business to reach out in the public. Through Globalgiving, the new projects have the opportunity to present their ideas and caus es behind along with contribution from the different donors for the successful achievement of the plan. In other words, new plans get the opportunity to raise funds by presenting their thoughts and participating in the challenges as organized by the organization. The micro environment factors associated with an organization include its customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, shareholders as well as the media. As far as the Globalgiving charity organization is concerned, the most effectively working factor is an excellent team. The organization believes in hiring people who are ardent and committed to their work. The purpose of the organization is to consider all the new and good plans for the achievement of a better world to live in. The team is accordingly worked out thus accepting and supporting the new and exciting plans for the common masses, as proposed by different individuals or groups (Our team, 2011). In regard to the customers and suppliers of the organization, it ca n be obtained that Globalgiving efficiently brings in the connection between the individuals or groups who are interested to donate for the causes and those who come up with the new plans and projects to be listed in the charity (How Globalgiving works, 2011). The macro environmental factors can be understood to be associated with the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal implications as reflected by the charity organization. As far as the Globalgiving charity is concerned, it can be realized that the organization has created a position of its own in the industry thereby having donors and new projects listed for its website. Its tendency of welcoming new plans can be understood to have a positive effect on the society as well as the economic conditions of business in a country. However, in this context it can also be stated that success of the organization and support of the new plans might be expected to create newer competitors for the charity organiz ations. In regard to Globalgiving as well, several other registered charities are available across the US and the UK

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis Total quality management and non financial performance measures In order to answer the first, fundamental, question of using non financial performance measure: why should companies use non-financial reporting, it is necessary to look at the relationship between market value and book value. The market value of a company reflects the investors’ perception of the company’s present, and future, value, as manifested by stock prices. The book value, on the other hand, reflects the value of the company as reported in the official balance sheet: assets less liabilities, or net assets. Thus book value represents, in a way, the official company value and is reported to shareholders and the financial community. The market and book values for companies were very close by the end of the 1970s. The picture has, however, changed dramatically, and one estimate from the current level of stock market valuations says that book value now represents on average just around one quarter of the market value (Dutta and Reicheistein, 2005). Other data indicates an even more dramatic change in companies with valuable brands, a reputation for high quality or technical expertise, for example, in individual companies, e.g. Microsoft, the estimated book value portion is around 9%, for SAP around 5%, and for Coca-Cola around 7%. (Daum, 2002) The ratio of book value to market value is often so small that the relevance of the balance sheet to modern has often questionable. It is, of course, crucial to understand the gap between market and book values, as the market value comes from the intangible assets, such as the customer, human resource, partner, and brand assets. In order to understand the gap, there is an ob vious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, thus non-financial performance measures aim to providing such information to the stakeholders, and in particular, to the present and future investors. Lack of reliable and relevant information on intangible assets implies there is no basis for non-financial reporting, which in turn implies that market values will change over time in a less well-founded way. There is always a certain level of volatility on the stock markets, and the increasing relative importance of intangible, non financial performance measurements that has emerged over the last few decades, in combination with a persistent lack of reliable and relevant information on these assets, and no systematic non-financial reporting, is expected to create an increasing volatility. This is clearly seen, for example, on the trends in the NYSE over the past three decades (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). It is, naturally, expected that a lack of non financial reporting will imply a significant portion of unnecessary volatility, which is clearly demonstrated by the stock price development for technology stocks (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). For example, the IT ‘bubble’ to a significant extent was built up by a lack of proper information and analysis of intangible assets in these companies, due to a lack of non financial performance measurement and thus an overvaluing of intangible technology assets, such as AOL’s telecommunications distribution networks at the time of the AOL-Time Warner merger (The Economist, 2002). It is clear that this demonstrates a malfunctioning of the capital markets, causing significant negative consequences by destroying values in the short term, as well as long term. As such, the main purpose of non financial performance measurement is to provide the market investors and analysts with information to verify the present and expected future value of a company. Ultimately, the process of verifying the market value at a certain time will then be more fact based, thus reducing the unnecessary price volatility. In order to accurately achieve this, the key predictors of a company’s future financial performance: revenue, profits and market share, are crucial. Most recent research identifies these predictors as being primarily intangibles, non financial assets, thus explaining why market value today is basically determined by intangible assets. (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) In particular, indicators related to the customer asset: the size and ‘quality’ of the customer base, the human capital, the brand assets, the value of corporate citizenship, and the firms product quality and expertise, will dominate. If such an indicator is a reas onably stable, strong and sustainable predictor of future financial performance, it should be called a ‘Value Driver’ (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). Non-financial reporting aims at disclosing information on value drivers, which must be operationalised and transparent and, ideally, verifiable according to new accounting standards in order to become true non financial performance measures. Total quality management (TQM) practices have been implemented by firms interested in enhancing their survival prospects by including quality and continuous improvement in their strategic priorities. As such, they often have to be measured using both financial and non financial measures, as the expertise and cultural aspects of the TQM process are often difficult to measure by purely quantitative, financial means. One of the key measures of the success of TQM is the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, which appraises both the four key dimensions of firm performance: customers, financial, learning and growth, and also the internal business processes. The main advantage of this is that TQM does not consider employee satisfaction in its search for continuous improvement, but the BSC does consider employee satisfaction. (Hoque, 2003) Therefore, by adopting a BSC a firm that has adopted TQM will overcome this oversight which will in turn increase employee satisfaction and subsequently firm performance. Indeed, in the modern business context, employee satisfaction is key to firm performance, and so the BSC is an important non financial performance measure. TQM’s relentless pursuit of quality demands that firms identify all non-value adding waste in the manufacturing process and implement procedures to eliminate, or at least reduce, such activities. This implies better production planning to limit over-production and excessive inventory and improved product and plant design to eliminate wasteful movement and handling. (Smith, 1997) Substandard items must be eliminated and a changed attitude reinforced which is customer-focused and adopts ‘the next person on the production line is my customer’ approach (Hoque, 2003). The cost of quality is a potentially important component of management accounting systems which may facilitate the implementation of total quality management, despite being difficult to measure in absolute financial terms. The costs of prevention, appraisal and failure are all aspects of the cost of quality, and it is often necessary to use non financial performance measures to assess these. Prevention costs include the costs of plant, product and process planning, preventive maintenance, training and the implementation of statistical process control systems, and appraisal costs include the costs of inspection and testing of both incoming and outgoing materials, and the cost of maintaining and administering appraisal systems and equipment, both of which can be measure financially However, whilst failure costs include, at the internal level, the financial costs of scrap, rework, redesign and safety stocks necessary to provide a buffer against such failure; at the external level they include losses associated with customers, goodwill and reputation, all of which require non financial performance measurements. Analysis of the costs of external failure is increasingly becoming the focus of attention in this area, reflecting the current trend towards increasing customer orientation of management accounting. (Smith, 1997) Quality considerations also extend beyond those focused on the difficult ‘cost of quality’ question, and non financial reporting is useful in providing measures of other aspects of quality, such as the quality of purchased components, equipment failure and maintenance efforts. As a result, it is necessary for TQM practitioners to consider the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used in the two main contrasting performance improvement strategies continuous improvement and radical change. (Johnston et al, 2001) hypothesised that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted would be different between the two strategies, proposing that organisations involved in continuous improvement of a process will base their performance targets on past performance and internal benchmarking, arrived at through consultation and with a mixture of financial and non-financial measurements of targets. However, for processes involving radical change, targets will be based on external benchmarks imposed by senior management, with purely financial targets, and financial rewards for their achievement. However, research showed that financial measurement and reward strategies predominated in both improvement strategies, thus implying that the pot ential benefits of adopting process changes are being constrained by only considering the financial side. However, whilst academic research and other research activities among accounting organisations on intangible assets has so far mainly focused on creating awareness of the significant importance of intangibles on future financial performance, to a lesser extent, research has dealt with the serious information deficiencies related to intangible assets (Hothorn et al, 2005). In particular, the research focus seems to have been on studying the dramatic shift in production functions and asset composition of the economy, rather than the underlying problems associated with measuring intangible assets, especially in cases such as Enron, where derivatives were grossly overvalued (Wilson et al, 2003). This research involves a multitude of research activities, including the macroeconomic theory of growth, as well as empirical studies on individual companies. The growing importance of intangible assets has already been demonstrated, and one rationale behind this development is the fact that the annual United States investments in intangible assets are of approximately the same magnitude as investments in physical assets: approximately $1.2 trillion (Lev, 2001). These activities have clearly led to a rather general acceptance that traditional, financial, accounting-based, information systems fail to provide investors and policy makers with insights on the impact on the economy from intangibles. This is of increasing importance, given that the volatility of stock prices is becoming abnormally high, and this raises many serious consequences, including systematic inefficiency in managerial decisions. The recommendations so far from researchers seem to be voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles, and indeed, some companies now report externally on various aspects of intangible assets, but this happens in a very non-standardised way and seems to be of limited value for investors’ decisions. Consultants, in particular linked to the accounting industry, are empirically analysing causes and consequences of investments in intangible assets, but this research provides only marginal guidelines in identifying best practice for non financial reporting (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) Different suggestions have been presented by researchers to identify the new research agenda to understand better and manage intangible assets, with Lev (2001), for example, suggesting a focus on research related to organizational structures. The obviously incorrect validation of intangible assets in the cases of Enron and WorldCom (The Economist, 2002), shows that another focus of research mus t be to identify best practice methodology to measure intangible assets, and to measure the main intangible value drivers for future financial performance. Indeed, the sustainability of non financial reporting is completely dependent on how it will be accepted by the stakeholders of the business community: investors, analysts, customers, boards, management, employees, the accounting profession, etc This, in turn, completely depends on the ability and willingness by the accountants to provide a formal verification of the process to generate information, as well as on the information itself. Finally, this in turn depends on the quality of the information: â€Å"Companies must start by first identifying their true value drivers both financial and non-financial within the context of their business model, and by ensuring they have defined the right metrics as well as the measurement methodologies and systems to capture the right information for internal management† (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2001). Recognising that the treatment of non financial performance is a key current issue in accountancy, accounting associations have already identified a number of criteria and principles to secure and describe the quality of non-financial information. This process, however, appears far from being finalised, and in particular lacks a focus on the statistical characteristics of the information, and there is also a need for further operationalisation and transparency of the quality principles (Lev, 2001) As a general principle, any verification process should verify that non-financial reporting includes the right choice of information, has the necessary degree of relevance, and that the information provided has a reasonable level of reliability. If these three requirements are not sufficiently fulfilled there is unlikely to be a sustainable future for non financial performance measurement, in TQM or any other business aspect. Further to this, information that does not say anything or very little about future financial performance should not be included in non-financial reporting. All the included information must manifest the so called Value Drivers (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) and such value drivers should be either directly linked to future financial data, or they could be indirectly linked, through a direct value driver. Thus, relevance should be defined by the existence of verified links to future financial numbers; however this raises a number of pertinent questions to be answered by the accounting profession. Mainly, they would need to decide which financial criteria should primarily be considered to secure relevance; and which future time period is of interest to investors. For the moment, it is probably worthwhile to have a very broad scope here, as this would mean that any financial information of interest could be used and, in addition, the future time period is defined in a very generic way. Of course, it is much more difficult to verify links to financial numbers if the lead time is substantial, and so care should be taken that the data will have a recognised financial impact within a reasonably short period of time. Indeed, whatever financial criterion and time period is chosen, it is crucial to be able to verify a strong enough and stable likely future financial impact from the non financial data. In order to better, and more accountably, measure this, such impacts should be statistically significant according to a standard statistical measurement, written into the accounting standards. However, the question that remains is still whether impacts should also exceed a certain financial level, as well as a statistical level, in order to qualify as a significant non financial value driver. In this context, it is also difficult to decide whether these qualifying criteria should also involve the extent to which a value driver will explain any likely variation in the future financial criterion. There are many potential principles to be found in information theory and statistics that might be used here, such as direct explanatory power (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003), but unfortunately the requirement levels necessary to use these principles are not very easy to determine, and could be open to abuse. In summary, in almost all modern industries, the book value of a company does not reflect the actual market value of the company, due to the increasing importance of branding, technology, knowledge and reputation. Whilst the market and book values were still very close at the end of the 1970s, since then the picture has changed dramatically, with estimates stating that book value now represents just one quarter of the market value. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the measurement of intangible, non financial factors is now roughly three times as important to investors as the measurement of financially measured, tangible assets. As the market value comes from intangible assets, like the customer, human resource, partner and brand assets, in order to understand the gap there is an obvious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, which is best provided by non financial performance measures. In the context of TQM, a large portion of the process improvements seen due to TQM initiatives will not have a definite financial effect; rather they will improve a product’s attractiveness to customers, or improve the efficiency of a firm’s processes. As a result, their primary impact will be difficult to measure by financial measures, and so non financial performance measures will be most relevant. From this, it follows that the accountancy profession needs a new reporting system and also need to define a best practice of measurement for these non financial performance measures, in order to reflect the true value of initiatives such as TQM. This system has a number of requirements, including causality, standardisation, relevance or link to financial results and reliability. The prevailing opinion appears to be that it is time that new reporting systems are introduced and implemented, as the discrepancy between the importance of intangibles and the ability to account for these types of assets constitutes a growing challenge for companies, investors and for society in general. The relevant people, including academics, managers, accountants, practitioners and auditors, should thus come together and formulate a new charter for future reporting of non financial performance measures. References: Daum, J. H. (2002) Intangible Assets or the Art to Create Value Wiley. Dutta, S. and Reicheistein, S. (2005) Stock Price, Earnings, and Book Value in Managerial Performance Measures. Accounting Review; Vol. 80, Issue 4, p. 1069. Hoque, Z. (2003) Total Quality Management and the Balanced Scorecard Approach: A Critical Analysis of their Potential Relationships and Directions for Research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Vol. 14, Issue 5, p. 553. Hothorn, T. Leisch, F. Zeileis, A. and Hornik, K. (2005) The Design and Analysis of Benchmark Experiments. Journal of Computational Graphical Statistics; Vol. 14, Issue 3, p. 675. Johnston, R. Fitzgerald, L. Markou, E. and Brignall, S. (2001) Target setting for evolutionary and revolutionary process change. International Journal of Operations Production Management; Vol. 21, Issue 11, p. 1387. Kristensen, K. and Westlund, A. H. (2003) Valid and reliable measurements for sustainable non-financial reporting. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence; Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 161 Lev, B. (2001) Intangibles: Management, Measurements and Reporting Brookings Institution Press. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2002) Value reporting, Forecast 2002 Bringing Information out into the Open. Smith, M. (1997) Putting NFIs to work in a balanced scorecard environment. Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants; Vol. 75, Issue 3, p. 32. The Economist (2002) A steal? Vol. 365, Issue 8296, p. 57. Wilson, A. Key, K. G. and Clark, R. L. (2003) Enron: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Hedging Schemes. Journal of Applied Business Research; Vol. 19, Issue 4, p. 15.