Financial Statement Ratio Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Financial Statement Ratio Analysis - Essay Example (basic raw material) plus an oven to bake the cookies (plant and machinery), and also a place to keep the oven (premises). Plus, not to forget, skilled labor (You've got to know how to make cookies OR hire someone who can.). Last but not the least, your have to find a way to sell the cookies - either hire a salesman with a fixed pay or hire an agent with a fixed share in profits (Selling and distribution overhead). All these factors would sum up to be the 'Cost' incurred on making the cookies. Based on this cost, you may decide your expected 'Selling Price' and thus the 'Contribution' per unit. (Activity Ratios) Also, to keep things going, you would need enough money readily available for your short term requirements (like buying more raw materials, paying rent, electricity bills, wages to employees, etc.) as well as for long term requirements (paying off debts, more money for further expansion, etc.). Also, you very well know that your creditors will supply you material on credit only if you are worthy of it. i.e. you are able to pay them in time. (Liquidity Ratios) In both the cases, money doesn't come free of cost. Business should be profitable enough. Both the parties would again, check your credibility as well as the worthiness of the business. In the first case, you would be liable to pay a fixed interest to your bank, regardless of what you make. In the second, you've got to make enough money so that you and your friend are glad that you invested in the business. Therefore, to be sure of what you are doing, at every moment you would be analyzing your 'profitability ratios', like you would constantly be calculating your earnings as against your investments (EPS) and comparing it with what ever was the next best use of your money (opportunity cost). Further, you could even decide your debt-equity ratio - how much share in the profit should be sacrificed for funds and how much should you borrow from the bank. And if you make handsome profits, how much of it should be invested back in the business (retained earnings). Or maybe you have better uses for your money and decide to take a further loan against your business from the bank so as to free your capital and maximize your returns on investment (leverages). Thus, organizing your 'Capital Structure' is a very basic and important decision. The point behind this entire example is that the smallest of small business would require analyzing their basic ratios to know how well they are doing. Without comparing various financial figures (ratios) we cannot make an informed decision. Without these, you will never know what can go wrong with your business. Before staring any business you must know in advance what you may expect from the business and what you should be expecting in return for your time, effort and investment. At any stage of the business you must know how much have you given to the business and how much the business can return back and what is the present condition as well

Cultural background Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cultural background - Essay Example My father is a Spanish who lived in Venezuela and travelled a lot to Spain. It is a common tradition for Hispanics to stay with relatives while on short vacations and so my father did. Being a capable member of the family, he took the responsibilities of every extended family member experiencing financial difficulties, sicknesses, and other life issues. In Hispanic culture, individual in the same family are vested with the responsibility of taking care of those unfortunate in the same family. Hispanic parents instil the importance of honour, respect for the elderly, good manners, and respect to authority to their children right from their childhood. Some common etiquette includes a handshake, a hug and a kiss on the cheek to signify greetings. The Hispanics have common attire that is worn to various important places including the church, or social gatherings. From the Hispanic culture, I have learnt the importance of placing great value on my looks as a sense of honour, pride, and dignity. I am a religious person and most of the Hispanic’s are, most of them professing the Roman Catholic faith. My mother being from Venezuela, we have adopted some of their cultures like love for Venezuelan fine arts, music and dances, and

Introduction to Company Law

Introduction to Company Law Q1. There are the difference between a private company limited by shares and a public company, as following: Transfer shares A private company limited by shares is restricted to transfer share according to its articles but a public company is not restricted. Number of members For a private company limited by shares, the number of member is limited to 50. However, the number of member of a public company is no limitation. Subscription Any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company is prohibited in a private company limited by shares. Nevertheless, it does not restrict a public company. Levels of regulatory regimes The requirements of a private company limited by shares in the Companies Ordinance are lower than those of a public company. Its annual returns filing with the Companies Registry are less information than ones of a public company. In addition, it does not have to file its accounts with the Companies Registry so that its financial information is not in the public domain. Therefore, the cost of compliance of a private company limited by shares is lower than a public company. Functions A private company limited by shares cannot become a listed company since becoming a listed company requires first becoming a public company. Thus, a public company may become a listed company. Risk A private company limited by shares is the lack of freedom to exchange shares and the low transparency level of their accounts. It leads to a higher risk investment. Consequently, it is lower level of capital investment. To opposite, a public company is lower risk investment. (Unit 1 P.32-33) In this case, it is about the corporate veil between the company and its members. That is to say, it considers whether the rights and liabilities of the company are treated as separate from the rights and liabilities of its members in company law. Lifting the corporate veil is no guidelines in law but there are many law cases in previous years. Generally, a company is a separate legal entity which its members are legally permitted to hide behind the corporate veil according to Salomon v. A Salomon Co Ltd [1897] AC 22. Nevertheless, the courts may lift the veil because of obtaining improper advantages, perpetrate fraud or conceal illegal activities. The corporate veil seems a sham or facade so that the courts would lift the veil. For example, the courts determine the criminal responsibility of a companys staff or a director acts dishonestly with the companys property. In Re H and others (Restraint Order: Realisable Property) [1996] 2 All ER 391, a lot of individuals failed fraudulently to pay more than  £100 million in excise duty. Two family companies had the total of owned 100% shares. The government applied a court order to restrain them for dealing with the companies’ property and their own property. The Court of Appeal held that it was a prima facie case that the companies had been used for the fraudulent evasion of excise duty. Moreover, it lifted the corporate veil because it treated the companies’ property as the individuals’ own property. John suggests that Kelvin sell his shares to Leo who is Johns brother. However, Leo is a fresh graduate so that he has no money to pay in Genius Limited. John wants to pay Kelvin HK$700,000 from the company. After that, John as a shareholder of Genius Limited should receive dividends and then he will use the dividends to set off the sum of HK$700,000. Therefore, he will transfer the 30% shares to Leo Free of charge. It is improper method because it treats the companies’ property as his own property in accordance with the case. He does not have right to use the companys property to set off Leos liability. At the same, his behavior is unfair for others and David is deprived of his right to buy the shares. Hence, it is an improper advantage. In conclusion, the property of the company is used to set off Leos liability and the behavior is illegal. The amount of HK$700,000 is the companys property, not the members. (Unit 1 P.26) In a private company, its shareholders right is restricted to transfer shares in compliance with its articles. Generally, there is a pre-emptive right which is a shareholder must firstly provide his shares to other shareholders if he wants to sell and transfer them. After the other shareholders reject, he offers to a third party and cannot provide a discount on the shares. That is to say, the selling price cannot be lower than the amount of selling to other shareholders. The reason is that a private company is very small scale and there is trust among shareholders. When a shareholder withdraws in the company, hence, the other shareholders have an opportunity to determine whether they accept a new shareholder. In this case, John should have a prior right over David due to the above reason. Genius Limited is a private company which the articles restrict to transfer shares. In addition, John is the majority shareholder in the company. As a result, Kelvin should comply with its articles and he should first offer his share to John who has a pre-emptive right. If John refuses Kelvins shares, Kelvin has a chance to sell David which is the third party. However, the selling price cannot be lower than the price of selling to John. Model articles should be read to determine whether directors refuse any transfer of shares. Generally, it allows directors refuse the transfer. The reason is that they can first offer their shares to existing shareholders and the behavior is a pre-emptive right. That is to say, Kelvin should first offer his shares to John. Except that, directors provide share buy-back that is to offer shares back to the company. In other words, Genius Limited may repurchase Kelvins shares. Furthermore, shareholders agreements restrict the transfer of shares but it is only suitable for existing shareholders of the company. To conclude, John can object that Kelvin sell his shares to David because he can choose buy Kelvins shares or share buy-back. Q2. George wants to know whether FG Limited buy back its own shares. In the past, it was not allowed because of the rule in Trevor v. Whitworth case. However, it is allowed under the new Companies Ordinance, as following: According to the House of Lords in Trevor v. Whitworth (1887) 12 App Cas 409, it was not permitted that a company could buy back its own shares even if the Memorandum of Association allowed. That is to say, its paid-up capital should be maintained and kept unless: it was lost due to ordinary business risks, or there has been a reduction of the share capital authorized according to the legislation. The reason of prohibition of repurchasing a companys own shares is that it would make the damage of creditors and other abuses. For instance, an entity may pay higher than the market value when there is share buy-back. It leads to dilute the value of the remainder. But the entity pay lower and the value of the remaining shares would increase. At the same time, directors may use this method to enhance the value of their own holdings or to expand their voting power. In recent years, the rule about capital maintenance is abolished. In other words, share buy-back for all companies is allowed and it subjects to a solvency requirement (CR 2008). The following share redemption or buy-back may be funded in accordance with the new Companies Ordinance: Payment is paid out of a company’s distributable profits. (section 257(2)(a)); There is out of the proceeds of a new issue of shares which is for the purpose of share redemption or buy-back (section 237(2)(b)); or There is out of capital if a solvency test is passed. (section 248-266). It is unlawful for a company or its subsidiaries to give indirectly or directly financial assistance for the purpose of acquisition of its shares in accordance with section 275. Breaking the prohibition leads to the directors in a fine and imprisonment. Under section 274, financial assistance refers to gifts, guarantees, security, indemnities, loans and any other financial assistance. Acquisition means shares transfer and shares subscription. However, there are the following exceptions: the payment of dividends, allotment of bonus shares, distribution of assets in winding-up, reduction of capital confirmed by the court (section 277); the ordinary business of the company is lending money (section 279); a company in good faith in the interests of the company provides financial assistance for the employee share scheme (section 280); or the company provides loans to its eligible employees for the purpose of enabling them to purchase fully paid shares in its holding company or the company (section 281). Under section 283 to 285, it subjects to solvency test and one of the three procedures, as following: Under section 283, it provides financial assistance if : directors pass a resolution to give the assistance; those directors make a solvency statement; the aggregate amount of the assistance and other financial assistance given under this section not repaid (such as guarantee or security) is less than 5% of the paid-up share capital and reserves of the company; and the assistance is given not more than 12 months of the solvency statement. According to section 283(4), the company has to send a notice and the solvency statement to all members within 15 days after giving the assistance. Under section 284, the assistance is approved by written resolution of all members. Under section 285, the assistance is approved by an ordinary resolution. Directors must show the benefit of the assistance to the company. To conclude, share buy-back in Franklin Limited is allowed in recent years but there is some above restricted conditions. (Unit 2 P.34-38) If FG wants to reduce its capital, there are two methods for reduction of share capital. One method is that a company passes a special resolution and applies by petition to the court for an order confirming to reducing share capital under the new Companies Ordinance under sections 226 to 232. On the petition, the court makes the order on any terms and conditions it thinks fit. In fact, every creditor of the company has a right to reject the reduction of share capital. The court confirms the reduction of share capital when it is satisfied that: the creditors consent is obtained; or the creditor’s debt or claim is discharged, determines or is secured (section 229). Another method is a court-free procedure and there are some following criteria: All directors make a solvency statement in accordance with section 216. Members approves in a special resolution passed within 15 days of the solvency statement in section 216. A public notice of the reduction of share capital is published in Gazette declaring the content under section 218. A notice is published in one specified Chinese and one specified English newspaper and a written notice to be given to its creditor before the end of the week after the week in which the special resolution is passed according to section 218(3). A copy of the solvency statement is filed to the Registrar for registration. The members or creditors of the company have a right to examine the solvency statement and special resolution within five weeks’ time. If no application of objection is raised by dissentient members or creditors to cancel the resolution, the company can deliver a copy between five and seven weeks after the resolution to the Registrar for registration in accordance with section 224(1). The reduction of share capital and the special resolution should take effect when the return is registered. If a creditor or member objects to the special resolution, the court may cancel or confirm the special resolution and on any terms as it thinks fit under section 222. In order to determine whether the reduction is approval, the court may consider various elements, such as whether the reduction is equitable among shareholders and whether the interests of the creditors in the company are protected (CR 2013a). The above states the solvency statement which each of directors makes to form the opinion that the company needs to satisfy the solvency test in accordance with section 206(1). The statement should be applied to reduction of share capital, share redemption and buy-back and financial assistance under section 204. In section 205, it states the solvency test is satisfied if: immediately after the transaction, the company will be capable of paying its debts; and the company will be able to pay its debts within 12 months after the transaction or commencement of winding up. Given an opinion, a director must ask the company’s state of affairs and prospects and take into account all the liabilities of the company in section 206(2), for example, contingent and prospective liabilities. Besides, a solvency statement is in the specified form, states the date on which it is made and the name of each director making it, and is signed by each director who makes it according to section 206(3). In conclusion, George can choose either one of the above two procedures to reduce the capital of FG Limited. (Unit 2 P.30-33)

Women of the Nineteenth Century: Relating protagonists in two short stories :: essays research papers fc

Women of the Nineteenth Century: Relating protagonists in two short stories The short stories, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and A New England Nun by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, both contain analogous regional attitudes resulting in similar outcomes for the protagonists of each story. The archaic 19th century regional standards the authors utilized within the text of these short stories, emphasizes the role of a woman within society as being strictly limited to family and household matters. Can the regional standards of the 19th century be such that if not met, a woman is left with no other option then to become a spinster? Regional values of the nineteenth century placed women in a precarious position within society, influencing their actions so profoundly that upholding honor and duty were simply undisputed. In A Rose for Emily, the protagonist, Emily Grierson, is a woman of great nobility in her town, and she is bound by her duty as their elected icon. Through the years, the town’s residents developed a respect for her family’s wealth and privilege. So much so, that upon the death of Miss Emily’s father, the mayor of her town relieved her taxation obligation indefinitely. However, the mayor, knowing that Miss Emily would not accept charity, concocted an untruth involving her father loaning the town money, in order to justify the tax relief, and allow Miss Emily to proudly accept the gracious offer. There is much to be said for influencing such power in a family name, and much to live up to for Miss Emily. Her father was an ambiguous character, and he made it clear that the common townsmen were not worthy suitors for his daughter. Her father’s obstinate attitude, and her regional afflictions, contributed to Miss Emily being unwed for years longer than expected for a woman of such class and distinction. The town took a sort of perverse pleasure from the fact that â€Å"when she got to be thirty and was still single; we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated even with insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized† (1350). When Miss Emily was around forty, she met a common man named Homer Barron. Homer was a laborer, not fit to marry a woman of such distinction as Miss Emily. If Miss Emily were to marry such a common man as Homer Barron, the town would be in a quiet uproar of disagreement.

Akamai Teknologi

Why don’t major business firms distribute their videos using P2P networks like BitTorrent? BitTorrent is a protocol that supports the practice of peer-to-peer file sharing and is used for distributing large amounts of data over the Internet. Peer-to-peer  (P2P) networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or work loads between peers.Emerging collaborative P2P systems are going beyond the era of peers doing similar things while sharing resources, and are looking for diverse peers that can bring in unique resources and capabilities to a virtual community thereby empowering it to engage in greater tasks beyond those that can be accomplished by individual peers, yet that are beneficial to all the peers. Major business firms distribute their videos not using P2P networks like BitTorrent Because Akamai’s service is available in all countries in the world.For example, 85% of the world’s Internet users are within a single network â€Å"ho p† of an Akamai server. Akamai has A wide range of large corporate and government clients: 1 out of every 3 global Fortune 500 companies, 90 of the top 100 online U. S. retailers, all branches of the U. S. military, all of the top Internet portals, all the major U. S. sports leagues, and so on. Akamai has over 73,000 servers on nearly 1,000 networks in 70 countries around the world. In the 2010, Akamai delivers between 15% and 30% of all Web traffic, and hundreds of billions of daily Internet interactions.Akamai’s massive server deployment and relationships with networks throughout the World enable optimal collection of geography and bandwidth-sensing information. Beside that, the Akamai it has an special way which this company is using it to make an easily download’s for the costumers such as videos, music and so on. However, Web sites that are â€Å"Akamaized† can be delivered anywhere from 4 to 10 times as fast as non-Akamaized content. P2P means the sh aring of files between users of the P2P service such as Bittorent or Bitlord. But this also means that all users are actually servers meaning that it is not easy to collect user data.Also major firms might want to use Akamai instead of P2P as it is more reliable, secure and stable. With the underlying infrastructure of the Internet major companies will most likely not benefit from P2P services. Due to the slow loading of websites companies will most likely chose for a web-streamed based content. These content are often saved on a local server and are most likely quicker distributed to their costumers. As a result, Akamai provides a highly accurate knowledge base with worldwide coverage. Customers integrate a simple program into their Web server or application server.This program communicates with the Akamai database to retrieve the very latest information. The Akamai network of servers is constantly mapping the Internet, and at the same time, each company’s software is in con tinual communication with the Akamai network. The result: data is always current. Advertisers can deliver ads based on country, region, city, market area, area code, county, zip code, connection type, and speed. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/BitTorrent http://en. wikibooks. org/wiki/The_World_of_Peer-to Peer_(P2P)/Networks_and_Protocols/BitTorrent http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Peer-to-peer

Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper Essay

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes surrounding learning, memory, perception, and thought. Though it is still a relatively new formal branch of psychology, its roots extend back to Descartes who sought a way to explain how the mind worked, proposing the analogy of a â€Å"hydraulic system of nerve function† (Willingham, 2007, p. 26) after he observed animated statues in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It has been the restless pursuit of not only the idea of how the mind works but also what exactly constituted the mind that eventually led to the foundations of cognitive theory. As psychologists examined how mental processes produced behavior, it was evident a different approach would be needed. Cognitive psychology developed primarily from the inability of the behaviorist approach to fully explain every form of behavior. While there were many things that drove its development, there were four main milestones in the development of cognitive psychology: the inadequacies of behaviorism, the information processing model and computer metaphor, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience. Each of these four milestones contributed significantly to the search for a better model and the development of the cognitive approach, which we have today. Behaviorism had many shortfalls with its primary one being that it excluded the effect of genetics entirely. It only accounted for what had been learned through reward and punishment only. Questions were raised and answers were missing when examining the question through the lens of behaviorism only. One area where ethologists observed discrepancies were in fixed-action patterns and critical periods in animals. Fixed-action patterns were behaviors that received little to no reward or punishment in which the animals engaged in and critical period referred to a specific period of time in which if a behavior has not been learned, it may never be able to be learned. Another area in which behaviorism could not provide consistent answers was in language acquisition. Behaviorism posited that language was learned or imitated as modeled b y someone else. However, there were points that the behaviorist perspective did not address. First, learning cannot account for  the rapid rate children acquire language. Second, there are an infinite number of sentences and all cannot be learned by imitation. Next, children consistently make errors in things like verb tense. Since adults usually use correct form, this would not be learned by imitation. And last, children acquire their language skills even if adults do not correct their syntax (Language and Cognition, 2013). These points show there must be other explanations such as innate language skills to further explain the acquisition of language. These points seemed best explained by the cognitive perspective using theories, such as innate language centers. The second milestone, the information processing model, was very influential in moving closer to a cognitive approach through the computer metaphor. There were many attempts to find a way to explain how the mind worked, including a switchboard and solenoids but these did not fully explain how the mental processes (Willingham, 2007). In the computer analogy, the brain was likened to the hardware of a computer and thought processes were likened to computer software. The ‘mind is like a computer’ draws the connection between the input we receive from our environment to the mental processes that leads to the output of behavior. This analogy was revolutionary in the way psychologists studied the mine and led to the information processing model. With this model, psychologists began to ask questions about and use the scientific method to look at how the mind processed input resulting in behavior, instead of only the behavior itself. Artificial intelligence was the third milestone and is defined as â€Å"the ability of a computer or other machine to perform those activities that are normally thought to require intelligence† (Artificial intelligence, n.d.). In the 1950s, an artificial intelligence program was developed by Allen Newell and Herb Simon that proved theorems in formal logic using abstract constructs and representations. This A.I. program demonstrated sophisticated â€Å"behavior†, it solved problems similarly to h ow humans solved them, and it used abstract constructs (Willingham, 2007). Through the artificial intelligence, it became apparent to researchers that the human mind processed information much like a computer, using representations and processes and this approach could help give deeper insight into the processes of the mind and the resulting behavior. The last main milestone, neuroscience, is â€Å"a branch (as neurophysiology) of science that deals with the anatomy, physiology,  biochemistry, or molecular biology of nerves and nervous tissue and especially their relation to behavior and learning† (m-w.com, n.d.). The focus is on the brain and its impact on behavior as well as normal cognitive functions and the impact on the nervous system resulting from neurological, psychological, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuroscience began to show a clear connection between behavior and specific structures of the brain. This connection revealed the biological side of behavior that could not be ignored. Studying behavior from this aspect allows a clear p icture of a how disorders affect the brain itself initiating behavior and can be compared to normal behavior to gain greater perspective. Observation of an individual’s behavior is important as it is an indicator and reflective of what is transpiring within the mental processes. The whole of an individual’s behavior is found neither by observation only or an examination of one’s thoughts only, but a combination of the two. The observance of behavior affords cognitive psychologists the ability to test and evaluate theories about behaviors and the hypotheses developed from them. Self-reporting can present errors that can be confirmed or rejected through the use of behavioral observation tested using empirical means. Additionally, cognitive psychologists cannot personally observe and measure internal mental processes but in utilizing behavioral observation, the cognitive psychologist can arrive at logical conclusions of the existence of the behavior based on the observation of the behavior. In using the accepted standard of behavioral procedures, cognitive psychologists are able to examine the cogniti ve processes thought to be the source without inferring unproven causes (Zentall, 2002). This removes much of the subjectivity that initially made the cognitive perspective suspect. Cognitive psychology developed the framework to test theories and further explain behavior using behavioral observation. Using the scientific method, the theory predicts the behavior to be expected if the said theory is provable. There are several steps to take in order to this. First, develop alternative theories by having at least two possibilities to select from when testing the hypothesis. Second, derive specific predictions for each theory by providing a bridge between the observable and unobservable in order to accurately confirm or disprove. And lastly, the compilation of sufficient data by which to compare the theories to validate both the methods and the  results. Research methods that are employed using behavioral observation to test cognitive theories are descriptive research, relational research, and experimental research. Descriptive research consists of naturalistic observatio n, case studies, and self-reporting, all of which are describing a behavior as found in the world (Willingham, 2007, p. 43). Relational research is much like its name in that it is observing two or more behaviors and discerning how they are related. Experimental research is testing what has been observed and determining if the theory can be confirmed or disproved using the scientific method. Using verifiable research methods, for example, there are an â€Å"increasing number of cognitive models of anxiety disorders that seek to provide a complex integrative view of their underlying cognitive processes and structures† (Eysenk, 2004). The study of cognitive psychology has been a critical step toward understanding how behavior develops. It has opened the doors to increased research that is measureable and theories that could be empirically tested to confirm or disprove cognitive theories. This has granted us numerous insights into the connections between the brain and behavior and continues to be a source of learning. Additionally, it has had positive impacts on behavioral treatments as shown by Eysenk, â€Å"some of the theoretical and empirical contributions emerging from the cognitive approach have direct implications for therapeutic interventions† (Eysenk, 2004). In the end, the ability to form and research theories has brought these two fields of behaviorism and cognitive perspective together through an understanding of the connection between observable behavior and mental processes. It has paved the way for artificial intelligence, which is used in almost every discipline, and neuroscience and promises to continue to improve treatments and shed light on behavior.

Read Graphic Novel And Answer 2 Questions Example

Read Graphic Novel And Answer 2 Questions Example Read Graphic Novel And Answer 2 Questions – Coursework Example Answers to the 2 questions Marji’s parents decided to send their daughter away from the current Iran political turmoil as they realized that the situation will cause a negative impact on their daughter. Marji was a patriotic and determined young-girl, and she has been aspiring to see justice prevail in her homeland but her ambition was susceptible to in causing her problem. Marji’s patriotic heart made her to be perceived as a rebellious girl in school. One day, Marji confronted with one of the teachers after speaking the truth that led her into trouble with the school. â€Å"You say that we don’t have political prisoners anymore, but we’ve gone from 3000 prisoners under the Shah to 300000 under your regime† (Persepolis p.144).After this incident Marji’s parent felt that Iran was no longer a safe place for their daughter,and because they valued education, they validated Marji to leave to Australia to enable her learn without restriction. â₠¬Å"trust[s] your education† (Persepolis p. 147).The novel end in giving us a vibrant reason on why children eventually break ties with those who raise them, and move to live their life. Marji breaks from her family and from her Iran culture that raised her hence fashioning her identity that enable her to grow into her own self.â€Å"Western† is used in Persepolis to reveal the existing stereotype that western Hemisphere specifically Europe and the U.S. have toward Iran. The author in her book had tried to elucidate how westernized Iranian was; Marji did this with a strong ambition of convincing western people to stop stereotyping Iranian culture. "Stereotypes of the Islamic Republic as oppressive and backward against the Western conviction over its own progressive liberalism" (Persepolis p.224).Marji dresses in western-style jeans hence assisting the author to contrast the Eastern and Waster culture to help people to grasp how westernized Iranian culture is. â€Å"I re ally didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde.† (6). Marji was stuck between the two antagonistic worlds. One side Marji dressed in western-style cloth, and she felt contented with, while on the other side she dresses in a veil which although she hates at one point she saw the veil as beautiful. The author at the end of her book she drew a significant picture that there is a high possibility for bridging the predominant cultural difference between the Western and Eastern people.Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon Books,  2003. Print.

Critically evaluate the contribution of the Essay Example

Critically evaluate the contribution of the Essay Example Critically evaluate the contribution of the Essay Critically evaluate the contribution of the Essay Critically measure the part of the classical school of theoretician to our apprehension of administration direction Introduction Schools of direction idea forms the theoretical foundation for direction surveies. These schools of idea have emerged in the late nineteenth century, and evolved over the centuries supplying rich political orientations in the apprehension of direction techniques, organisational behavior, and patterns. The schools of direction ideas are categorized into three wide classs, viz. classical, behavioral and systems schools. Among these, the classical schools of theoreticians are possibly the most controversial yet cardinal to direction surveies. The classical schools of direction thought belongs to the oldest group of theoreticians whose concerns have been to increase organisational efficiency. Theorists in the classical schools therefore dominate the survey of direction in the stipulating how work processes and organisational efficiency can be improved through assorted theoretical models and patterns. Statement The undermentioned subdivision is a critical rating of how classical schools of direction theoreticians contribute to our apprehension of organisational direction. It aims to explicate that classical theoreticians continue to be the foundation of organisational surveies because they help us understand the cosmopolitan organisational elements such as human behavior, organisational construction and procedures. Discussion Management is the survey of organisational behaviors. It is a societal scientific discipline subject that uses scientific methods to set up and formalize theories. Historically, the direction subject had bordered the survey of behavioral and natural surveies. However as the subject progressed, assorted theoreticians established that organisational direction is a combination of the survey of procedures and direction techniques every bit good as human psychological science. This conceptualisation did non emerge instantly but bit by bit progressed by the classical school of theoreticians from the late nineteenth century through the twenty-first century [ 1 ] . The classical school of direction theory possibly began with Tomas Bata whose direction system became the footing for scholarly involvements in the late nineteenth century. He believed in the development of the workplace depended on the workers every bit good as on leaders who were responsible for understanding, analysing and larning about organisational procedures. He emphasized on the usage of engineering for volume and quality production. Thus, Bata part had been based on the extremist invention in transforming organisational resources and its efficient use. [ 2 ] Similarly, Edward Cadbury in the early twentieth century introduced the Bourneville construct. The basic premiss of the proprietor of the cocoa company had been to put in his work force to guarantee they were more productive. This in bend would construct good will with the workers every bit good as the community, which the company served. Possibly Edward and his male parent George Cadbury were the first to present a system for human resources direction, which became a widespread phenomenon even today [ 3 ] . Similarly, Max Boisot introduced the influential thought of constructing organisational constructions to ease human activities, and thereby influenced their efficiency. This processed involved the edifice of organisational communicating construction that would ease inter-communication every bit good as circulation of cognition to better productiveness and efficiency. [ 4 ] These early enterprises by Boisot, Cadbury, Bat’a and a host of others perked the involvements of bookmans of the direction subject. Classical schools of direction idea were formalized by the surveies carried out by bookmans and practicians like Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Drucker etc. Today, their surveies have been grouped as the scientific, administrative and bureaucratism direction. Scientific direction emerged during the period of industrialisation and societal passage. Frederick W. Taylor was its chief innovator who was of the position that direction was the survey of best method for carry throughing organisational undertakings by choosing qualified staffs, trained them to work in cooperation with the direction to accomplish common opportunisms. Taylor s survey introduced the formal credence of human resources direction by set uping criterions, wage systems, policies and public presentation direction. His positions have greatly contributed to modern twenty-four hours direction as it allowed studiers to understand direction is a scientific discipline of all direction procedures and applications. [ 5 ] Scientific attack to direction survey moreover aids modern twenty-four hours practicians in understanding how human behavior could be integrated in organisational constructions and procedures. Peter Drucker for illustration posited that staff public presentation is based on aims, while aims determine the public presentation of the organisation. Douglas McGregor furthers this political orientation and writes that the director is the key to driving the subsidiaries frontward by actuating them and training them to concentrate on the aims. [ 6 ] Related to behavioral integrating is the experience-based apprehension of direction. Classical administrative theoretician Henri Fayol at the beginning of the twentieth century studied the experiences and processes that directors go through. He stated that all organisations engage in activities such as production, commercialism, finance, security, accounting and direction. As organisations became larger, they need to concentrate on the elements of control and coordination to guarantee undertakings were completed and resources were utilised expeditiously. He introduced the construct of POSDCORB ( planning, organizing, staffing, directing, co-ordinating, coverage and budgeting ) . Furthermore, he besides stated that activities in organisations can be categorized based on his celebrated 14 rules so that the director could minimise hazards and uncertainness at the workplace. This he surmised from his observations of directors and their day-to-day activities. [ 7 ] Thus, for Fayol directi on was about organisation of undertakings and activities so that the director has more clip to concentrate on organisational efficiency. Max Weber who introduced the construct of bureaucratism direction has taken up this construct of organisational efficiency. Weber was of the position that organisations are made of societal relationships of people working within the organisation every bit good as those working exterior of the organisation. The hierarchy of the authorization to guarantee the organisation run expeditiously was governed by the organisational construction and civilization. [ 8 ] Weber introduced the construct of formal organisation and stated that workers need to follow concatenation of bids, and likewise should be treated as particular groups with specialization, specific imposts, makings, emotions and stuff involvements. Those with the most materiality have the highest bid and authorization because they have the power to influence others. However, for an organisation to be effectual, rational regulations and systems should be set up to guarantee maltreatment of power does non happen and obedience achie ved. [ 9 ] The premiss of bureaucratism theoreticians had been to stress on the relation of the organisation with the civil society and those within it. By specifying constructions, hierarchy and concatenation of bids these theoreticians believed directors would be able to extinguish the hazard of noncompliance and/or misconstruing or abuse of interpersonal dealingss. Decision Given the above treatment, the research worker is of the position that the classical schools of direction theoreticians based their conceptual models on the generalised direction patterns and experiences of the persons. They are practical even in today s environment because they have been based on human behaviors and its apprehension. Since human behaviors are dynamic, direction ideas or surveies that follow it besides become dynamic, and applicable in any given state of affairs regardless of the clip period. However, theoreticians like Weber and his followings based their constructs on organisational construction and hierarchy tends to go out-of-date because one must understand that organisations evolve harmonizing to societal demands, technological alteration, political influence and environment advancement, hence establishing direction premiss on old organisational construction and theoretical accounts becomes excess. For this ground, one could state that the classical schools of thought tend to go limited at times in explicating modern twenty-four hours direction issues. Bibliography Ackroyd S and Fleetwood, S ( 2000 ) Realist Perspectives on Management and Organisations. Routledge: London. Barnett, T. ( 2006 ) Management Thought, Reference for Business, Thomson Gale, Online accessed on 22 June 2006 from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Log-Mar/Management-Thought.html Fayol, H ( 1949 ) General and Industrial Administration. Sir Issac Pitman A ; Sons, Ltd. : London. Harding N ( 2003 ) The Social Construction of Management: Text and Identities. Routledge: New York. Miller, T R and Vaughan B J ( 2001 ) Messages from the Management Past: Authoritative Writers and Contemporary Problems. SAM Advanced Management Journal. Volume: 66. Issue: 1. pp4 Miner, J B ( 2002 ) Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. Oxford University Press: New York, pp59 Witzel, M ( 2003 ) Fifty Key Figures in Management. Routledge: New York. 1

Erre Moscia - Dispelling Linguistic Myths and Legends

Erre Moscia - Dispelling Linguistic Myths and Legends ​ The bulk of our linguistic competency is learned at an early age- normally before we even show signs of having acquired this ability. We listen to pronunciations, intonations and cadences, and use it all to fashion our own way of speaking. As adults, we can watch this process taking place in young children learning to talk. What we dont usually observe is that we begin to form opinions about another person based solely upon the way he or she speaks. Accents define us in more ways than we care to admit. Usually these preconceptions remain subconscious, only revealed, for example, when we believe someone with a heavier accent less intelligent than ourselves. Other times, the notions are much closer to the surface.One such highly debated presumption of Italian phonology centers on the misunderstood letter r which is typically pronounced as an alveolar trill in the front of the mouth. However, in some parts of Italy, notably Piedmont and other parts of the northwest near the French borde r, r is produced as a uvular sound in the back of the mouth. This is known as erre moscia or soft r and many Italians have crowned this unfortunate pronunciation wrong, going so far as to say that all those who speak with erre moscia are either snobby or have a speech impediment. Before making such assumptions about erre moscia, we must understand a few simple facts about its background. The History of R The letter r has a distinct history in many languages. In the phonetic table of consonants it hides under the label liquid or approximant, which are just fancy terms for letters halfway between consonants and vowels. In English, it is one of the last sounds to be developed, possibly because children arent always certain what people are doing to produce the sound. Researcher and linguist Carol Espy-Wilson used an MRI to scan the vocal tract of Americans saying the letter r. In order to produce r, we must constrict our throats and lips, position our tongue and engage the vocal cords, all of which requires a lot of well-timed effort. She discovered that different speakers use different tongue positions, yet exhibit no change in the sound itself. When a person does produce a sound differing from normal r, that person is said to exhibit signs of rhotacism (rotacismo in Italian). Rhotacism, coined from the Greek letter rho for r, is an excessive use or peculiar pronunciation of r. Why Piedmont? The phrase no man is an island relates just as well to human languages as to human emotions. Despite the efforts of many language purists to prevent influences from other languages entering their own, there is no such thing as an isolated linguistic environment. Wherever two or more languages exist side-by-side, there is the possibility of language contact, which is the borrowing and intermingling of words, accents and grammatical structures. The northwest region of Italy, because of its shared border with France, is in a prime position for infusion and mixing with French. Many of Italys dialects evolved similarly, each changing differently depending on the language with which it came into contact. As a result, they became almost mutually incomprehensible. Once any alteration has taken place, it remains within the language and is passed from generation to generation. Linguist Peter W. Jusczyk has conducted research in the field of language acquisition. It is his theory that our capacity to perceive speech directly affects how we learn our native tongue. In his book The Discovery of Spoken Language Jusczyk examines a number of studies which demonstrate that from approximately six to eight months of age, infants can distinguish subtle differences in every language. By eight to ten months, they are already losing their universal ability to detect delicate phonetic differences in order to become specialists in their own language. By the time production begins, they are accustomed to certain sounds and will reproduce them in their own speech. It follows that if a child only hears erre moscia, that is how he will pronounce the letter r. While erre moscia occurs in other regions of Italy, those instances are considered deviations whereas in t he northwest region erre moscia is perfectly normal. It is no secret that r- at least in the beginning- is a very difficult sound to produce. It is one of the last sounds children learn to say correctly, and has proven a rather difficult hurdle for people trying to learn a foreign language who claim they cannot roll their rs. However, it is doubtful that people who speak with erre moscia have adopted that sound due to an inability to pronounce another kind of r. Speech therapists who work with children to correct a variety of impediments (not just for the letter r) say that they have never witnessed a case where a child substitutes a uvular r for another one. The idea doesnt make much sense because erre moscia is still a version of the letter (albeit not the popular one) and still requires complicated positioning of the tongue. More likely, a child will substitute the semivowel w sound which is close to the letter r and easier to pronounce, making them sound like Elmer Fudd when he shouted Dat waskily wabbit! As for a snobbish affectation, there are certainly examples of wealthy, prominent Italians who speak with this accent. Actors who wish to depict an aristocrat from the 1800s are said to adopt erre moscia. There are even more recent examples of wealthy Italians who speak with erre moscia, such as the recently deceased Gianni Agnelli, industrialist and principle shareholder of Fiat. But it should not be ignored that Agnelli was from Turin, the capital city of the Piedmont region where erre moscia is part of the regional dialect. Certainly the phenomenon of erre moscia in Italian speech is not the consequence of any one variable but rather a combination. Some people may choose to use erre moscia in an effort to seem more refined, though considering the stigma attached, it would seem to defeat the purpose. It doesnt appear to be a speech impediment because erre moscia is not any easier to produce than the normal Italian r. More likely it is the result of language contact with French and adoption as part of the native dialect. However there are still many questions surrounding this unusual sound and the debate will continue among speakers of Italian, both native and foreign.About the Author: Britten Milliman is a native of Rockland County, New York, whose interest in foreign languages began at age three, when her cousin introduced her to Spanish. Her interest in linguistics and languages from around the globe runs deep but Italian and the people who speak it hold a special place in her heart.

Multivariate analysisand cluster Speech or Presentation

Multivariate analysisand cluster - Speech or Presentation Example This analysis is aimed at investigating the significant difference between the USFOX and BRITISHFOX. In this study, the variables are F1 Height at shoulders in centimetres, F2 body length in centimetres, and F3 weight in kilograms. In this case we will investigate if there is any difference in adult male red fox measurements between the US and Great Britain. The difference between the two populations USFOX and British FOX will also be investigated in this research. In this study, we will investigate if there exists any correlation between the height at the shoulders, and the length of the body (Tunner. D. E and Youssef-Morgar C.M, 2013). The correlation between the height of the body and the weight of the body. The correlation between the length of the body and the weight of the body. We will first explore the population to investigate the univariate normality and bivariate normality, Kutner, M. H., C. J. Nachtsheim, J. Neter, andW. Li (2005). We will also explore the relationship be tween the variables. We use the r-program to do the analysis test for univariate and bivariate normal. Statistics is in every day activities, and its hard to go without any encounter of statistics (Campbell, G, Stonehouse, G & Houston, B 2002). Without statistics, we couldn’t be able to plan our budgets, pay our taxes, enjoy ourselves to the fullest or even evaluate our performance in the various job positions. Descriptive statistics includes qualitatively describing the features of gathering of information. Descriptive statistics aims at summarizing the sample unlike inferential statistics that aim at learning about the population. The descriptive statistics are not obtained on the ground of probability theory. Some of the measures used to define the data are the measures of central tendency and the measures of dispersion (Brue Stanley. & Randy Grant, 2007). The measure of central tendency that we are going to look at include; mean,

Global Marketing and Social Responsibility Research Paper

Global Marketing and Social Responsibility - Research Paper Example Due to the fact that I am a marketer, I move about San Antonio, TX. Currently, I am working for a multinational company based in San Antonio, TX. I am dynamic and a person of high integrity (Sims, 2007). In addition, I have 3 years of experience as a marketing officer. The additional diploma courses enhance my efficiency especially given the fact that they related to managing individuals, which marketing is all about. My marketing mixes in the US are definitely not the same with those of my country of interest. Nevertheless, I wish to point out that my dynamisms will allow me to work in any city within Spain. However, I expect to find a challenging job that has opportunities for growth. It would be my pleasure to use my skills, knowledge, and experience to see into it that my new organization benefits significantly. The minimum basic salary that I will be looking for is $ 10,000 per

The baby boom generation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The baby boom generation - Essay Example Because advertisers are trying to gain the attention of their target consumer group, they work hard to depict the ideals of the society. If young and slim is attractive, they will work that into their presentation in as many ways as they can. If macho and hard is the current fashion, this, too, will be reflected in the way a product is marketed. At the same time, by changing the way they combine different types of visual clues, these same media outlets can help to redefine a culture, to make it more tolerant of ecological issues, for example, or to change the way a society views gender roles. Studies are utilized by advertising agencies to identify potential buying demographics. This information is then used to target specific markets and to learn about public attitudes, why they buy specific products and what sort of promotions would most appeal to their desires to purchase. To some companies, marketing is about generating sales, period. It is therefore surprising to discover how li ttle advertising is actually targeted toward the baby boom generation. Although our culture seems to worship youth above all else, the reality is that the baby boom generation, now entering retirement, remains a large and greatly viable market. Baby Boomer is the term used to designate a specific age group in American society, generally defined as those who were born between the years 1946 and 1964. The generation is named this in recognition of the ‘boom’ of births that took place immediately following the return of soldiers home from World War II (Jones, 1981). These individuals shared a number of experiences during their generation that serves to unite them, including the murder of a president, the first footsteps on the moon, the ‘rebirth’ of the ‘60s and the large-scale introduction of psychedelic drugs into the marketplace. The Civil Rights Movement occurred during many baby boomers’ early

Descriptive Analysis Paper. I Chose Option #3 On my assignment Which I Essay

Descriptive Analysis Paper. I Chose Option #3 On my assignment Which I will scan to you and have it forwarded - Essay Example At this point I can relate with Anne Hood who took the same exit – â€Å"I took Exit 12, the same exit I have taken to go home since I got my driving license in 1972† (Hood, 239). Andover is the place where I first got to interact with the people of US in the second language from The Andover High School, my first English school which lay to the right as I drove down the Bartlett street. It is here that I mastered the English language after persistent effort of 13months. I quickly mastered the words â€Å"Hello†, â€Å"Thank You†, â€Å"Bathroom† and â€Å"Water†. I felt like I was on another planet. I got to see the first snowstorm here. Despite being a migrant to Andover, the six years’ stay here has helped me embrace this place as a ‘SECOND REAL HOME’, polished/upgrade my skills and brought me where I am today and established some strong lifetime connects. Moving into the town of Andover played a big role in connecting with my dad and mom. My parents’ business was the reason why I came here apart from the fact that my parents wanted to provide me with better education. My parents wanted to shift their business here and this also enabled me to gain some practical insights into the economic and business world and I became more connected to my grandparents. My mom mostly, understood that she needed to connect more to me because I was her son and here she stayed at home most of the time. My mother helped me with my creative writing assignments in school, debates and projects. I most of art projects I achieved A-grade because of the mother’s unique ideas which she also used in the interior decoration works of their business. This is the place that taught me different sports, developed special interest in soccer, interact with the neighborhood friends and the way to apply my creative mind for constructive purpose. Back in Taipei, I was not the type of person who loved to read I never enjoyed

What Employers Want to See in a Business Writing Course Essay

What Employers Want to See in a Business Writing Course - Essay Example The topics that are expected to be covered by professors that would enable students to write in a business-manner at the end of the course are writing style, format, structure and ethics in business writing. The writing style in business is formal and professors must be able to teach students what constitute a formal writing in business correspondence. It involves the correct selection of words, the appropriate framing of thoughts and professionalism in tone. The format in business writing must also be taught by professors for students to know how to package their letters in a business manner. Format conveys professionalism and this is important in the world of business to be taken seriously. Structure in business writing is also important and it meant more than the arrangement of thoughts but also on how to arrange them concisely. This will help students to get their ideas across clearly and concisely. Finally, professors must also guide students about the appropriateness of business correspondence. This would include ethics in business writing and how to maintain professionalism.

Business Strategy in Transport Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business Strategy in Transport - Essay Example In the running of any business, there is a necessity to have a strategic plan that defines the company, its market and the services and/or products it offers. Strategic planning, that is discussed in the essay involves making clear-cut decisions in terms of direction and resource aimed at pursuing the organisation’s strategy. One of the first strategies explained in the essay is the cost of leadership principle, that is a strategy in which the organisation cuts down on the costs of production with the aim of being the most affordable service provider. Second question focuses on the concept of cost leadership and its relevance to business strategy with reference to one of the modes or types of transport. The airline industry was specially discussed in this essay as an example, also Gareth Morgan’s concept of a 'machine' organisation was explained as well as an attractive model for organising commercial businesses for transport modes such as shipping, railways and in the twentieth century for airlines. It also refers to the transport industry in the twenty-first century to the transport industry in the nineteenth century and assess the shortcomings of machine organisations from a business strategy perspective. Investigations in the causes of crashes of airplanes, in the 19th century showed that human error was a contributing factor, especially exhaustion. From such events, the machine organisation approach cannot be used in all sectors and the approach is largely losing its popularity.

What Employers Want to See in a Business Writing Course Essay

What Employers Want to See in a Business Writing Course - Essay Example The topics that are expected to be covered by professors that would enable students to write in a business-manner at the end of the course are writing style, format, structure and ethics in business writing. The writing style in business is formal and professors must be able to teach students what constitute a formal writing in business correspondence. It involves the correct selection of words, the appropriate framing of thoughts and professionalism in tone. The format in business writing must also be taught by professors for students to know how to package their letters in a business manner. Format conveys professionalism and this is important in the world of business to be taken seriously. Structure in business writing is also important and it meant more than the arrangement of thoughts but also on how to arrange them concisely. This will help students to get their ideas across clearly and concisely. Finally, professors must also guide students about the appropriateness of business correspondence. This would include ethics in business writing and how to maintain professionalism.

Benefits and Risks of Using the Internet Essay Example for Free

Benefits and Risks of Using the Internet Essay What are the benefits and risks of using the Internet as a source of informationwhen writing assignments for Master’s programmes? Searching for information on the Internet is a methodology when writing essays for Master’s programmes. Obviously, both the advantages and disadvantages of this methodology can be found. The merits of using the Internet are obvious. It is very likely that MSc students are able to find more materials on the Internet quickly and conveniently. The huge amount of information is just a click away from the assignment writers. As for MSc students, they can search the e-library of their university and other data base from around the world. Furthermore, all of this work can be done at home within few minutes. Besides, the information on the Internet is always more vivid than that in books, because the forms of information are various. There are video materials, audio materials, image materials and so on. In these forms, it is more easily for students to understand the theoretical content of their programmes, because Master’s programmes are hard to understand. On the other hand, I would agree that there are drawbacks to using the Internet. Admittedly, because of convenience, the writers tend to rely on souce materials instead of creating by themselves. What’s worse, some writers even plagiarize other people achievements. In addition, some materials from the Internet may be inaccurate or even wrong, which might mislead MSc students. In sum, students are the beneficiaries of the Internet, although misusing the Internet as a source of information is harmful. Therefore, MSc students should use the Internet carefully in terms of finding source materials for assignment.

3-D Magnetic Data Inversion with Physical Bound

3-D Magnetic Data Inversion with Physical Bound A new method Mohammad Rezaie1*, Sahar Moazam2 1 PhD in mineral exploration, Faculty of Mining, Petroleum and Geophysics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran. 2 MSc in mineral exploration, Faculty of Mining, Petroleum and Geophysics, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran. Abstract Inversion of magnetic data is an important step in the interpretation of practical data. Smooth inversion is a common technique for inversion of magnetic data. Physical bound constraints can improve the solution of the magnetic inverse problem. However, how to introduce the bound constraint into the inversion procedure is important. Imposing bound constraints makes magnetic data inversion a non-linear inverse problem. In this study, a new algorithm for 3D inversion of magnetic data is developed which use an efficient penalization function for imposing bound constraints and Gauss Newton method to achieve the solution. An adaptive regularization method is used for choosing regularization parameter in this inversion approach. The inversion results of synthetic data show that the new method can produce models which adequately match with real location and shape of synthetic bodies. The test carried out on the field data from Mt. Milligan Cu-Au porphyry deposit shows that the new inversion approach could produce the magnetic susceptibility models consistent with the true structures. Keywords: Magnetic data, Inversion, physical bound, Gauss Newton, Regularization. 1. Introduction Magnetic surveys can provide useful information about the Earths interior. Magnetic measurements are usually used to delineate magnetic anomalous bodies and indicate their locations and depths. One of the most important topics in the quantitative interpretation of potential field data is the inversion of practical data (Rezaie et al. 2015). Inversion can be defined as a mathematical procedure that constructs a subsurface property (susceptibility) model using measured (magnetic) data by incorporating a priori information as available. The recovered models must predict the measured data adequately (Foks et al. 2014). 3D inversion of potential field data such as magnetic data is generally difficult (Jin et al. 2013). The main difficulty is the non-uniqueness of the solution in magnetic inverse problem. There are infinite equivalent source distributions that produce the same measured magnetic data set (Blakely 1996). The standard approach to overcome this issue is applying a priori infor mation. Several approaches have been introduced for incorporating priori information into the inversion process (Last and Kubik 1983; Barbosa and Silva 1994; Li and Oldenburg 1996, 1998, 2003; Pilkington 1997, 2008; Portniaguine and Zhdanov 1999; Farquharson 2008; Lelievre et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2015). Last and Kubik (1983) developed the compact inversion method which produce compact and structurally simple model. Guillen and Menichetti (1984) minimize the moment of inertia of the body with respect to the center of the body or along single axis passing through it. Barbosa and Silva (1994) generalize the moment of inertia functional to impose compactness along several axes. Li and Oldenburg (1996, 1998) developed a model objective function that produce smooth models. This method can locate anomaly sources accurately nevertheless, the values of the recovered model are smaller than the true values due to the smoothness effect of the objective function. Portniaguine and Zhdanov (1999) developed a focusing inversion method based on compact inversion method for potential field data. Barbosa and Silva (2006) developed an interactive method for inverting magnetic data with interfering anomalies produced by multiple, complex, and closely separated geologic sources. Farquharson (2008) used L 1 measure of Li and Oldenburgs model objective function to recover dipping structures and models which have angled interfaces.   Lelievre et al. (2009) used Li and Oldenburgs (1996, 1998) model objective function and developed advanced constrained inversion by geological information. Zhang et al. (2015) improved Li and Oldenburgs method by applying Lagrangian multipliers in the model objective function to add geological constraints. In the 3D inversion of potential field data, particular bounds of the physical property may be known. This physical bound constraint can improve the solution and make it more feasible (Rezaie et al. 2017a). Consequently, how to introduce the bound constraint into the inversion procedure becomes an important issue. Portniaguine and Zhdanov (1999, 2002) used a penalization algorithm to impose bound constraint in focusing inversion of potential field data. Li and Oldenburg (2003) chose a logarithmic barrier method incorporating bound constraints on the re covered smooth model. Zhang et al. (2015) imposed bound constraint in smooth inversion of potential field data via a method using Lagrangian multipliers. However, imposing bound constraint makes magnetic data inversion a non-linear inverse problem. Therefore, the logarithmic barrier and Lagrangian multipliers methods increase computation time. Another issue in solving non-linear inverse problem is choosing regularization parameter that can increase computation time (Farquharson and Oldenburg, 2004). In this study, we develop a new 3D magnetic data inversion method based on the Gauss- Newton (GN) algorithm that can incorporate bound constraints on the recovered model using penalization algorithm introduced by Portniaguine and Zhdanov (1999, 2002). Also, we will use an adaptive regularization method for regularization parameter selection in our magnetic data inversion method. Finally, the capabilities of the proposed method are illustrated by its application to the inversion of a synthetic data set and to the 3D inversion of magnetic data from the Mt. Milligan deposit at British Columbia, Canada. 2. Methodology 2.1. Forward model for 3D magnetic anomalies Susceptibility distribution in the sub-surface () produce magnetic field (T) at the surface. The purpose of forward modeling is to compute this magnetic field. The total component of the magnetic field is given by (Blakely 1995): (1) where (Henry.meter-1), R denotes the volume occupied by causative body. is distance and is magnetization vector which can be obtained as a vector sum: (2) where is earths magnetic field and is remanent magnetization. If we ignore remanent component, the magnetization will be in the direction of the earths field and can be obtained simply as: (3) To compute total component of the magnetic field in Eq. (1), it is required to discretize the subsurface under the survey area into rectangular prisms of known sizes and positions with constant susceptibilities. The formulation for computation of magnetic response for each rectangular prism was presented by Bhattacharyya (1964) and later simplified into a form that is more suitable for fast computer implementation (Rao and Babu 1991). We use the formulation developed by Rao and Babu (1991) to compute magnetic response resulting from individual prisms. If the observed magnetic anomalies are caused by M subsurface prisms, the magnetic field at the field point i is given by: (4) where N is the number of observation point. The forward modeling of magnetic data using Eq. (1) and Eq. (4) can be written as following matrix equation: (5) Here, G is forward operator matrix that maps the physical parameters space into the data space. denotes the vector of unknown model parameters and is data vector that is given by measurement data. There are some error in measurement data because of noise that is usually assumed to be uncorrelated and have Gaussian distribution (Rezaie et al. 2017b), So (6) where, is vector of observed data and is vector of data error. The main purpose of the magnetic inverse problem is to find a geologically plausible susceptibility model ()based on G and some measured data () at the noise level. 2.2. Inversion method In the typical minimum-structure inversion procedure, subsurface of the survey area is discretized into rectangular prisms (cells) of known sizes and positions with the values of the physical property (e.g. susceptibility) in the cells that are called the model parameters to be estimated in the inversion (Rezaie et al. 2015). The solution can be obtained by minimization of an objective function, which is a combination of a measure of misfit between observation and predicted data and a measure of complexity of the model subject to a physical bound constraint (Li and Oldenburg 1996): (7) where is a regularization parameter. L is lower susceptibility bound, U is the upper susceptibility bound and the misfit functional is defined as (8) Here, is data weighting matrix given by . Where,stands for the standard deviation of the noise in the ith datum, and is a stabilizing functional (stabilizer) which measure minimum norm of model structure (Li and Oldenburg 1996, 1998, 2003): (9) where are coefficients that affect the relative importance of derivative components in different directions. resembles first-order finite-difference matrices in x, y and z directions. We have to use an additional depth weighting matrix for compensating lack of the data sensitivity to the deeper model parameters (Zhdanov 2015): (10) Now, Eq. (9) can be reformulated to apply the depth weighting matrix to the objective function. (11) where is the cumulative first-order finite-difference matrix. Eq. (7) is reformulated using matrix notation to incorporate depth weighting easily: (12) where and . Eq. (12) is transformed into a space of weighted model parameters by replacing the variables and (Rezaie et al. 2017a): (13) The solution of Eq. (13) is obtained according to the regularization theory similar to the classical minimum norm optimization problem (Tikhonov et al. 1977). The solution of the magnetic inverse problem is obtained by minimizing this equation using the GN method. The upper (U) and lower (L) susceptibility bounds can be imposed during the inversion process to recover more feasible model. If an achieved susceptibility value falls outside the bounds, the value at that cell is projected back to the nearest upper or lower susceptibility bound (Portniaguine and Zhdanov 1999). To solve Eq. (13) with GN method, assume the obtained solution denoted by at the (n − 1)th iteration, and the predicted data corresponding to this model are .Then at the nth iteration, a model perturbation can be achieved by solving following equation so that the inverted model can be updated by (Aster et al. 2013): (14) where is the regularization parameter in nth iteration. Then the solution of the inverse problem in Eq. (7), is given by (15) In order to recover a more feasible model of the subsurface, upper (U) and lower (L) physical bounds of susceptibility are imposed in each iteration to force. If a given susceptibility value falls outside the bounds, the susceptibility value of that cell is projected back to the nearest physical bound value. The solution to Eq. (14) is also equivalent to the least-squares solution of (16) The least-squares solution of the Eq. (16) is obtained by a fast iterative method such as Lanczos Bidiagonalization (LB) (Pagie and Saunders 1982) at each GN iteration. therefore, the proposed algorithm would be suitable for large scale problems (Rezaie et al. 2017a,b). The GN iterations stop when the RMS misfit reaches an acceptable level or the model corrections become small enough (Pilkington 2008). We have used an adaptive method for choosing regularization parameter similar to which was proposed by Farquharson (2008) which is a fast and efficient algorithm for choosing regularization parameter. The regularization parameter is started at 100 () which is a relatively large value. If an inversion is performed with the regularization parameter fixed at this value, a model would be produced that had a small amount of structure and predicted data under fit the observations. At each iteration, the regularization parameter is damped to give a slow but steady progression of models with increasing structure and decreasing data misfits: (17) where    based on empirical experiments. 3. Synthetic test We apply our algorithm to a synthetic test to evaluate the reliability of the introduced method. The synthetic model consists of two different blocks with dimension 200 m 200 m 200 m which are embedded beneath the surface so that susceptibility of uniform background is zero. The Susceptibility of each block is 0.06 (SI). Perspective view of the true model is displayed in Fig. (1a). Fig. 1 perspective view of the synthetic model with 2 blocks (a). Magnetic anomaly produced by the synthetic model with 5 % Gaussian noise of the accurate datum magnitude. Depth to the top of the shallower block (block (1)) is 50 m and depth to the top of the deeper block (block (2)) is 100 m. The total-field anomaly data have been generated above the surface assuming an inducing field with inclination (I) of 75, declination (D) of 25 and a strength of 50000 nT. The data generated over a grid of 1000 m 1000 m with sample spacing of 25 m. There are 1600 data and 5 % Gaussian noise of the accurate datum magnitude has been added (Fig. 1b). The subsurface is divided into 40 40 20 = 32000 rectangular prisms with the same size of 25 m for inversion. The inverse problem has been solved using the proposed method that is described in the preceding section (). The solution obtained after 5 iterations with RMS of 0.05. Fig. 2 shows a plan section and a cross section through the recovered model from proposed inversion method. The result indicates acceptable smooth reconstruction of the synthetic multisource blocks at different depth levels below the surface. The recovered bodies in the model are smooth and adequately matched with real location of synthetic bodies. Fig. 2 Plan sections through the recovered susceptibility model obtained from the 3D inversion of magnetic data at depth= -125 m (a). A cross-sectional slice of the susceptibility model at Northing= 500 m (b). The borders indicate the true position of each body. 4. Inversion of field data Mt. Milligan is a Cu-Au porphyry deposit situated in central British Columbia. Geological information obtained from a major drilling program show the host rocks of the deposit are Mesozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks and contain intrusive monzonitic rocks that have accessory magnetite. There is an intensive hydrothermal alteration primarily in the region near the boundaries of the monzonite stock. The monzonite body is known as the MBX stock (Oldenburg et al. 1997). The copper and gold are concentrated in the potassic alteration zone, which is mainly around the contact of the monzonite intrusions (MBX) and may extend outward and into fractured volcanic rocks. However, magnetite is one of the strong indicators of the potassic alteration. In this region, magnetic data are acquired at 12.5 m spacing along lines in the east direction that spaced 50 m apart (Li and Oldenburg 1996). We use the data at 25 m spacing which yields 1920 data points. The reduced magnetic anomaly map is shown in Fig. (3). Fig. 3 The magnetic anomaly map of Mt. Milligan. The data are on 25 m 25 m grid. The direction of the inducing field is I= 75 and D= 25.73 with a strength of 58193 nT. It is assumed that each datum have an error whose standard deviation is equal to 5 percent of its magnitude (Li and Oldenburg 2003). To invert these data, the subsurface of the area is discretized into 48 40 18 = 34560 cells each of size 25 m. The positivity constraint was imposed which means lower (L) physical bounds of susceptibility are set to 0 SI. The solution is obtained after 112 iteration with RMS error of 0.05 which is about the predicted noise of the data. The recovered model is shown in Fig. (4) as one plan-section and one cross-section. The true edge of MBX stock and mineral assemblage which were derived from the drilling results overlaid on the cross-section. Fig. 4 The recovered susceptibility model shown in a plan-section at the depth of -80 m (a). A cross-section at the northing of 600 m overlaid by true boundary of monzonite body (MBX) with black line and mineral deposit with red shaded polygon (b). The results indicate that the anomalous body of magnetic susceptibility highs are mostly associated with the monzonite intrusion. There is a moderate anomalous body at the center of cross-section which is probably caused by magnetite content of potassic alteration. This area coincides with mineral deposit. Thus, the obtained solution is in a good agreement with true geologic boundaries of Mt. Milligan deposit. 5. Conclusions We have developed a new algorithm for inversion of magnetic data using Gauss Newton method. In each GN iteration LB method is used for solving least- square problem. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is efficient for large scale problems. We used an adaptive regularization method for choosing regularization parameter in each iteration which is a fast and efficient method for choosing regularization parameter. In the new algorithm, the physical bound constraint can be imposed during the inversion process via penalization function which does not need any transformation. Therefore, this method of imposing bound constraint is more efficient. The obtained results show the new developed 3D inversion method is able to produce a smooth solution which define the shape and extent of synthetic bodies adequately. Furthermore, the application of this inversion algorithm for a field magnetic data from Mt. Milligan deposit produced a model that is consistent with the available geological information. Compression methods such as wavelet compression which can compress the kernel matrix and using parallel programing that decrease the required memory and computation time will be subject of future works for large scale problems.

Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe Ralph Waldo Emerson called him the jingle man, Mark Twain said that his prose was unreadable, and Henry James felt that a taste for his work was the mark of a second-rate sensibility. According to T. S. Eliot, "the forms which his lively curiosity takes are those in which a preadolescent mentality delights." After notices like those, most reputations would be sunk without a trace, and yet Edgar Allan Poe shows no sign whatsoever of loosening his extraordinary hold on our imaginations. In 1959, Richard Wilbur, an elegant poet and a critic of refined taste, inaugurated the Dell Laurel Poetry Series (mass-market paperback selections from classic British and American poets) with an edition of Poe's complete poems, for which he provided a long and thoughtful introduction. In 1973, Daniel Hoffman, also a distinguished poet and critic, published a highly regarded study of Poe's writings. In 1984, two massive volumes of Poe's collected works, together comprising some three tho usand pages, were published in the Library of America. In the 1990s, Poe has been the subject of a children's book and a substantial new biography, and a Halloween episode of the Baltimore-based television series Homicide: Life on the Street made very effective use of his legend and his writings, especially the poem "Dream-Land" and the stories "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado." A century and a half after his death, he is the one American author whose name is known to virtually everyone. Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second of the three children of David Poe and Elizabeth (Arnold) Poe, both of whom were professional actors and members of a touring theatrical company. Eclipsed by his more famous wife, his own promising career ruined by alcoholism, Poe's father deserted the family when Edgar was still an infant; nothing conclusive is known of his life thereafter. While appearing professionally in Richmond, Virginia, Poe's mother became ill and died on December 8, 1811, at the age of twenty-four. Her three children, who would maintain contact with one another throughout their lives, were sent to live with different foster families. Edgar became the ward of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, and his wife ... ... eye as the cause of unexplainable illnesses and misfortunes of any kind. To protect oneself from the power of the eye, certain measures can be taken. In Muslim areas, the color blue is painted on the shutters of the houses, and found on beads worn by both children and animals. There is also a specific hand gesture named the "Hand of Fatima," named after the daughter of Mohammed. This name is also given to an amulet in the shape of hand that is worn around the neck for protection. In some locations, certain phrases, such as " as God will" or "God bless it" are uttered to protect the individual from harm. In extreme cases, the eye, whether voluntarily or not, must be destroyed. One Slavic folktale relates the story of the father who blinded himself for fear of harming his own children with his evil eye. Would Poe have had knowledge of this rather strange belief? It is altogether possible that he would have, which creates another interesting twist to this story. Maybe the narrator who tries to convince us that madness is not really the issue, is telling the truth. Maybe this vile act is necessary in order to destroy the power of the old man's evil eye!

Essay examples --

Short Answers – 5 points each. Pick 10 questions 1. Describe two IT initiatives that can help move an organization toward greater process orientation. For each, describe why this would work. Data Collection: IT can help organization plan and control their process by collecting important data. This is an effective way to monitor work and helps reduces errors caused by lack of important information. Process Planning: IT can provide necessary tools for organization to use for effecting planning to meet its business objectives. This will work because it can help then monitor their processes and it can also be used for business analysis. 2. In your own words, describe the difference between a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan. Include two things that should be covered in each. Business continuity plan and disaster recovery plan helps organizations prepare for the worse. Business continuity plan is when an organization makes plans to carry on its normal routine after a disaster occurs while disaster recovery plan is when an organization fixes its routines after a serious disaster. 3. Provide two key considerations for determining which business processes as not good candidates for outsourcing. Quality Control: Company must take into consideration the monitoring of the quality of major processes in their business Intellectual Property: Company must not risk their IP being exposed while outsourcing. 4. Explain why installing an enterprise system often requires the redesign of existing business processes and the impact this has on the organization. Installing Enterprise system requires the redesign of existing business processes so it can achieve ideal performance of the integrated modules. This ... ... of the IT of the business. An alternative approach to radical process re-design is the incremental change. The goal of this is to improve business processes through small step by step changes rather than a radical one. This method allows manager to choose a process to improve, chose to measure the improvement and find ways to improve the process based of measurements of improvements collected. Organization should elect to go this route because it give them some sort of control over the improvements that are being made and it may because less damage if something goes wrong. In an incremental change approach, a business manager’s role is to ensure the changes are not detrimental to the overall outcome of the revenue of the company while the IT manager’s role is to monitor the incremental changes over time and providing effective support to implement the changes.

Child Consumerism Essay

The essay â€Å"Kid Kustomers† by Eric Schlosser talks about how children got sucked into the idea of consumerism. It all started in the 1980’s with parents wasting more money on their kids. Now companies such as Kid2Kid, the Gepetoo Group, and Just Kids and other big corporations specialize in finding ways to get kids to buy their products. The author mentions the different ways children nag to get what they want, such as the pleading, persistent, forceful, demonstrative, sugar-coated, threatening and pity nag. The television plays the biggest role in consumerism because of the advertisements that children are watching all day and the effect it has on them. The reason advertisements are the best tactic when it comes to consumerism is because children think that advertisements are part of the television show. Schlosser brings up several good points throughout the essay. This world is a materialistic world. Most people nowadays are sucked into being the consumers and buying things that they do not even need because now it is all about who has the best clothes, shoes, car or house. It’s one big competition and hardly anyone is ever happy because there is always someone who has something that you do not have. Another reason people like to be consumers is because like to own the newest version of something. One example would be the millions people who buy the new iPhone or iPad when in reality it’s practically the same as it predecessor. If these marketing techniques work well on adults than that is the reason they are more effective on children. Lastly Schlosser’s points are valid because I too have seen children being convinced to buy a product by people on the streets ,beg to their parents and have seen the effects advertisements have children. It happens all the time, whether people realize it or not. When a child sees a guy with a big sign advertising toys or food the kid is going to want to ask their parents if they can get the toy or that they are hungry. It is sad that almost all children know who Ronald McDonald is and when they get hungry they are most likely to go to McDonalds because it is convenient. Children are more easily targeted now because now their friends influence them and if that one friend has something that they like, they will find a way to own it too. My little cousin Max who is ten years old feels he has to own the newest thing. It saddens me because he is in a competition with his friends and these companies are making money off him when he may not truly be interested in their product. Companies target children specifically because they get what they want the majority of the time. Companies depend on their children to beg to their parents so that they can buy their product. Whenever my cousin Max beg to his parents he eventually gets what he wants because he is persistent and persuasive and makes his parents feel guilty if he does not get what he wants. Sometimes while I am walking down the street or in the mall I see a kid with a iPhone wondering what they with something that sophisticated at such a young age. It makes me wonder if kids have things such as the iPhone then what else do they have? These are the children who are sucked into consumerism and have to buy everything that is considered cool or new. To me one of the biggest reasons companies invest time and money on marketing advertisements directed towards children the most is because children have not learned the true importance of t the dollar bill. They no value behind it and do not think it of as much when their parents are the ones out their spending there money on them. Advertisements on television play the biggest role in consumerism. One effect that advertisements have on children is that the advertisement gets suck in their head. Children remember the words or specific tune that went along with the advertisement. A majority of children that I know are watching television most of the day. When I was a kid advertisements played a role in what I should buy or eat. The majority of the things that I had heard of had come from advertisements. This is true because most people do not eat at a place they have never heard of because they do not want to take the risk. The same thing goes for things such as video games and toys for kids because advertisements make the product look good, which gives people a sense of hope that it will not be a waste of money if they buy it for full price. An example would be my cousin Rachel buys most of her toys because she sees them on the television. The advertisements reassure her that buying the toy will be worth it. She falls for the same toys each time because they are not much different from each other. She mostly gets dolls and princess castles, which all virtually look the same but only, differ in color. In the end advertisements effect our decision when we go out to buy the things we want. Companies have succeeded when it comes to convincing children to buy their product. It doesn’t matter where a pers on is at now. They can be outside or in their house and they will still be surrounded by advertisements. The advertisements are on the television all day, billboards, people on the streets and one of the stronger forms of advertisement the Internet. Whenever a person watches a video on YouTube they are stopped by a short advertisement and overtime a majority of the world knows the advertisement and may be a little more tempted to go out and buy it. This world has become a world where humans feel need to buy everything even if they do not need it. As long as companies keep releasing new products then children will be consumers because children always buy the newest toy even if they just bought their last toy two weeks ago.

Riordan Manufacturing Pt 1

BSA375 Service Request SR-rm-022, Part 1 Joshua J. Farmer BSA/375 March 25, 2013 †¢ Key Stakeholders Of the majority of the stakeholders at Riordan Manufacturing, the focus would be on those most influential to the process change and those that will have direct use of the new system. Those individuals are CEO Michael Riordan, Executive Assistant Jan McCall, SVP-RD Kenneth Collins, COO Hugh McCauley, VP international operations Charles Williamson, IT service managers.In addition to the above listed key stakeholders, the individual users of the final app will be consulted for input and revisions per the information gathering steps. †¢ Information-Gathering Collection of the requirements to aid in the completion of the system will be a ten part process to ensure that the system and processes are workable and answer the demand set forth by SR-Rm-004. These processes are outlined below but are in no way set in procedural number and can be repeated numerous times or omitted based on current requirement status. 1.One-on-one interviews: sit down with the key stakeholders individually and receive input as to the solution sought and possible methods to achieve it. 2. Group interviews: focus on the departments and meet with the key individuals from the same department to get their input as a group effort. 3. Facilitated sessions: useful stage used only when there seems no cohesive solution can be found from both meeting stages above. 4. Joint application development (JAD): this stage will keep the group interview session together until a solution is agreed upon. 5.Questionnaires: are a viable way to gather information and input from the key stakeholders who are in remote locations so that they are part of the requirements and solution gathering. 6. Prototyping: create a working version of the solution for testing and refinement. 7. Use cases: create a story about how the solution will work or not work and how to refine the final process. 8. Following people arou nd: Useful stage when the interviewed cannot explain every process or routine that they follow, steps may be found that they are not aware or did not report. 9.Request for proposals (RFPs): a list of criteria and requirements already compiled to check against for possible matches between companies. 10. Brainstorming: Gather all the key stakeholders in conference to discover the best solution that they all feel will meet their requirements. Each of these steps have their own value in certain circumstances, and in many cases, you need multiple techniques to gain a complete picture from a diverse set of clients and stakeholders. †¢ Key Factors In order to keep track of progress towards the agreed upon solution there will be implementations of different progress milestones.One will be a short term milestone based on weekly reporting and the second will be long term milestone based on month end meetings. The Weekly reporting will consist of meeting agendas met and key developmental stages being met. The Monthly meetings will ensure that every weekly milestone is met and if there are problems to resolve then they can be addressed. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are at the heart of any system of performance measurement and target-setting. When properly used, they are one of the most powerful management tools available to growing businesses.The progress tracking is based on two key factors. The first is target date setting, making sure to picking out a date that can be met. The second is to create reachable goals, as demonstrated above in both short term and long term goals. Keeping these factors in mind will aid in project completion that creates a viable solution. One of the key challenges with performance management is selecting what to measure. This can be avoided by knowing what the solution is that you are working on and the requirements that need to be met. †¢ Project ScopeThe Project Scope pertains to the work necessary to deliver a product. Requi rements and deliverables define the project scope, and it is critical that the stakeholder is in agreement with the information discussed in the proposed plan. Scope planning does not occur after only one planning session, the scope baseline consists of the project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary, a collaborative approach is the most effective method for scope planning, all stakeholders must understand the scope baseline to minimize scope creep during project execution Rreferences Mochal, T. (2008). TechRepublic. Retrieved from http://www. techrepublic. com/blog/10things/10-techniques-for-gathering-requirements/287 Info Entrepreneurs. (2009). Retrieved from http://www. infoentrepreneurs. org/en/guides/measure-performance-and-set-targets/ Project Scope. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. projectscope. net