Assessment, Measurement, and Research Assignment

Assessment, Measurement, and Research - Assignment Example   The culture fair test is relatively valid considering that it only reduces cultural bias and as stipulated in its construction, it admits impossibility to eliminate cultural bias. It only seeks to reduce biases during the performance of intelligence tests. The first time of use of the culture fair test was after the World War II and involved screening American soldiers of average intelligence and non-native English speakers. Since its first use, the test has gained widespread application in schools and other institutions and applied in screening non-native English speakers (Messick, 1999). The culture fair test instrument is relatively reliable considering the various steps used in its construction and initial implementation. To begin with, there should be no timing of the test and if possible, directions can be oral or in pantomime. Secondly, the instrument has been the use of a draw a person tests that measure body concepts and differentiation to define culture fair indices of intellectual ability (Ungar, 2011). Thirdly, the structure of test allows room for use of nonverbal responses for children whose languages are different from the ones presented in the standardized test. During the consultation, the counselor noted that there is no educational threshold to guide or prove the applicability of the cultural fair test in counseling. However, the counselor reiterated that practitioners need to have at least a certificate or any higher training in counseling psychology. The method that led to the selection of the culture fair test involved listing and sampling of the tests with reference to the critical cultural issues eminent in the field of psychology.  

Comparing Properties of Trig Functions Essay Example for Free

Comparing Properties of Trig Functions Essay The properties of the 6 trigonometric functions: sin (x), cos (x), tan(x), cot (x), sec (x) and csc (x) include the domain, range, period, asymptotes and amplitudes. The domain of a cosine and sine function is all real numbers and the range is -1 to 1. The period is 2Ï€, and the amplitude is 1. They have no asymptotes. The domain of tangent is all real numbers except for Ï€2+kÏ€. The range is all real numbers and the period is Ï€. Tan has no amplitude and has asymptotes when x= Ï€2+kÏ€. The domain of a secant function is all real numbers except for Ï€2+kÏ€. The domain of a cosecant function is all real numbers except for kÏ€. The range of both is (-∞.-1]U[1,∞) and the period is 2Ï€. Secant has asymptotes when x=Ï€2+kÏ€. Cosecant has asymptotes when x=kÏ€. They have no amplitude. Cotangent’s domain is all real numbers except for kÏ€. The range is all real numbers and the period is Ï€. It has no amplitude and has asymptotes when x=kÏ€. In an inverse function, the x coordinate, or the domain, and the y coordinate, the range, switch places. Since only one to one functions have inverses, we take the interval -Ï€2 to Ï€2, which contains all the possible values of the sine function. Now, the new domain is [-Ï€2, Ï€2], while the range stays the same. We then switch the domain and the range, so the domain and range of arcsin (x) is [-1,1] and [-Ï€2, Ï€2]. For cosine, the interval [0,Ï€] contains all possible values, and the range is still [-1,1]. To find arcos (x) we invert the domain and range again, to get [-1,1] as the domain and [0,Ï€] as the range. For arctan (x), the interval (-Ï€2, Ï€2) includes all possible values. The range still remains all real numbers. Exchanging the domain and range gives us all real numbers as the domain and (-Ï€2, Ï€2) as the range. As you can see, the properties of the six trig functions have many similarities and the inverse trig functions’ domain and range can be obtained with the one to one property of inverse functionsÃ'Ž

Automobile Dependency and the Working Poor Essay -- Poverty

Automobile Dependency and the Working Poor David Shipler briefly mentions in The Working Poor that lack of access to a car is one of the factors that make finding and holding a job difficult. A person in need of a job may be unable to afford a car, since car ownership is so expensive, but they may need a car because of urban sprawl and inadequate public transit networks. But just how serious is the burden of car ownership, and how exactly does under funded public transit and urban sprawl contribute to the need to take on this burden? The costs of car ownership concern motorists greatly, so it isn't difficult to find information. AAA releases an annual brochure and report called "Your Driving Costs." Their 2004 brochure reports a composite national average cost of 56.1 cents per mile over 15,000 miles of driving annually. This amounts to an annual cost of $8,415. Americans spend more of their income on their cars than they do on anything else except for shelter. A reliable car that has been paid for in full may cost $4,000 annually, but the upfront cost of a car is still great, and few Americans can afford to buy a car outright. This picture is complicated by the fact that few low-income families are able to afford a new car, which reduces the cost of financing, but these families are also likely to have poor credit which has the opposite effect. The used cars that they buy are also likely to be less reliable than the average, which increases repair costs. Clearly, owning a car is a huge financial burden. Why take it on? The problem is an urban and suburban infrastructure designed to accommodate cars at the expense of non-automotive mc and a lack of well-designed, well-funded public transit services. In the yea... ...s Amherst. 26 Feb 2006 . Ewing, et al. Measuring Sprawl and its Impact. 2002. Smart Growth America. 10 April 2006. . Oppenheimer, Laura. "Portland, Ore., Ranks Among Least Sprawling Communities in Country." Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. 18 October 2002. ABI/INFORM Dateline. ProQuest. Univ Mass Amherst. 26 February 2006 . Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. 2004. New York: Vintage-Random, 2005. Sinha, Kumares C. "Sustainability and Urban Public Transportation." Journal of Transportation Engineering 129.4 (Jul-Aug 2003): 331(11). Academic Search Premier. EBSCO Host. Univ Mass Amherst. 26 February 2006 . Your Driving Costs. 2006. AAA Exchange. 26 February 2006. . Automobile Dependency and the Working Poor Essay -- Poverty Automobile Dependency and the Working Poor David Shipler briefly mentions in The Working Poor that lack of access to a car is one of the factors that make finding and holding a job difficult. A person in need of a job may be unable to afford a car, since car ownership is so expensive, but they may need a car because of urban sprawl and inadequate public transit networks. But just how serious is the burden of car ownership, and how exactly does under funded public transit and urban sprawl contribute to the need to take on this burden? The costs of car ownership concern motorists greatly, so it isn't difficult to find information. AAA releases an annual brochure and report called "Your Driving Costs." Their 2004 brochure reports a composite national average cost of 56.1 cents per mile over 15,000 miles of driving annually. This amounts to an annual cost of $8,415. Americans spend more of their income on their cars than they do on anything else except for shelter. A reliable car that has been paid for in full may cost $4,000 annually, but the upfront cost of a car is still great, and few Americans can afford to buy a car outright. This picture is complicated by the fact that few low-income families are able to afford a new car, which reduces the cost of financing, but these families are also likely to have poor credit which has the opposite effect. The used cars that they buy are also likely to be less reliable than the average, which increases repair costs. Clearly, owning a car is a huge financial burden. Why take it on? The problem is an urban and suburban infrastructure designed to accommodate cars at the expense of non-automotive mc and a lack of well-designed, well-funded public transit services. In the yea... ...s Amherst. 26 Feb 2006 . Ewing, et al. Measuring Sprawl and its Impact. 2002. Smart Growth America. 10 April 2006. . Oppenheimer, Laura. "Portland, Ore., Ranks Among Least Sprawling Communities in Country." Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. 18 October 2002. ABI/INFORM Dateline. ProQuest. Univ Mass Amherst. 26 February 2006 . Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. 2004. New York: Vintage-Random, 2005. Sinha, Kumares C. "Sustainability and Urban Public Transportation." Journal of Transportation Engineering 129.4 (Jul-Aug 2003): 331(11). Academic Search Premier. EBSCO Host. Univ Mass Amherst. 26 February 2006 . Your Driving Costs. 2006. AAA Exchange. 26 February 2006. .

Why Does He Do Me This Why?

Osikenoya Usman-Aliu Professor Katherine A. James EN101 February 21,2013 Narrative Essay Why Does He Do Me This Way? I can remember the first day I laid eyes on him it was truly love at first sight. My name is Lily Jackson and I’ll tell you why love is blind. I was 14 years old and in the eighth grade year. I hated eighth grade year because everyone had a boyfriend except for me. I was always the outcast. That all changed for me the second semester in eighth grade. My teacher Ms. Williams announced to the class that we were having a new student join room 411.Everyone was excited, but I wasn’t because it was going to be another student that didn’t like me. Ms. Williams went outside and said â€Å"Class meet Jerome† Everyone started whispering: â€Å"where is he going to sit†? â€Å"What if I don’t like him†? The boys stated† I might have to beat him up if he talks crazy to anybody†? I slouched back in my seat covering my fac e. When he finally walked in everyone’s mouth dropped. The girl’s eyes grew big and the boys were angry. He entered the class and said â€Å"hey everyone† in this nice deep voice.Jerome was tall, handsome, had a clean fade, and beautiful straight white teeth. â€Å"He’ll sit next to Lilly† said Ms. Williams. I shouted BUT I ALWAYS SIT BY MYSELF. â€Å"This will give you time to open up Lilly† Ms. Williams stated in her eager voice. When Jerome sat next to me he smelt so good. I was nervous, but actually I was happy to sit next to the new boy. It was around the time of graduation and Jerome and I had become very close. We were attending the same high school. We grew a bound that nobody could touch. We had become best friends.A few weeks after graduation high school had begun and Jerome and I had almost every class together. Around senior year we grew even closer he would come pick me up for school and drop me off at home. All the girls wanted Jerome because he had a nice body, he was nice, and he gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. The most popular girl in the school was Jenna Hawkins. Every boy dreamed of being with her because she had long beautiful hair, no pimples, and was extremely smart. Her parents were millionaires so she was very spoiled. She drove a Bentley to school, which was all white and was a drop top.One day Jenna approached Jerome and asked him would he like to go to homecoming with him of course he said yes because he never let people down. I was very angry because Jerome and I always attended homecoming together; it was our tradition. When Jerome had dropped me off he asked me who I was attending homecoming with. â€Å"I’m not going â€Å"I stated in my mad voice. â€Å"Are you mad? † Jerome asked. â€Å"I responded NO! † â€Å"Do you want to go with me? † he asked. â€Å"No have fun with Jenna she’s real nice† I responded. He finally drove me off. I ran in my room and started crying.The next day at school I found out that Jerome and Jenna started dating. I was extremely upset. There was a rumor going around that I liked Jerome. Jerome approached me and said â€Å"Do you like me? † I stated â€Å"NO† He stated, â€Å"If you do I understand† I finally stated, â€Å"Yes I like you, I love you Jerome† â€Å"But we’re just friends Lilly and you know that† Jerome stated. I ran off filled with embarrassment. I stopped getting rides from Jerome and I completely cut him off. When Graduation came around I was isolated once again. I didn’t talk to no one. Jerome said, â€Å"I love you Lilly, but only as a friend†.

11 Facts About Elder Abuse Essay

1. Elder abuse most often takes place in the home where the senior lives. It can also happen in institutional settings, especially long-term care facilities. 2. Approximately 1.6 to 2 million seniors become victims of abuse or neglect in domestic and institutional settings in the U.S. every year. 3. The four most common forms of elder abuse are physical abuse (including sexual abuse), psychological and emotional abuse, financial/material abuse, and neglect. 4. Most elder abuse victims are dependent on their abuser for basic needs. 5. At least 1 in 9 Americans over the age of 60 has experienced some form of elder abuse. 6. Seniors who have been abused have a 300 percent higher risk of death when compared to those who weren’t. 7. In almost 90 percent of elder abuse and neglect incidents, the perpetrator is a family member. Two-thirds of perpetrators are adult children or spouses. 8. For every reported incident of elder abuse, five others go unreported. 9. Almost 50 percent of seniors with dementia (a decline in mental ability. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia) experience some form of abuse. 10. While 91 percent of federal abuse prevention dollars are spent on child abuse, 7 percent is spent on domestic abuse, and only 2 percent goes towards protecting the elderly. 11. Legislatures in all 50 states have passed some type of elder abuse law. Types Although there are common themes of elder abuse across nations, there are also unique manifestations based upon history, culture, economic strength, and societal perceptions of older people within nations themselves. The fundamental common denominator is the use of power and control by one individual to affect the well-being and status of another, older, individual. There are several types of abuse of older people that are generally recognized as being elder abuse, including: Physical: e.g. hitting, punching, slapping, burning, pushing, kicking, restraining, false  imprisonment/confinement, or giving excessive or improper medication Psychological/Emotional: e.g. humiliating a person. A common theme is a perpetrator who identifies something that matters to an older person and then uses it to coerce an older person into a particular action. It may take verbal forms such as name-calling, ridiculing, constantly criticizing, accusations, blaming, or non verbal forms such as ignoring, si lence or shunning. Financial abuse: also known as financial exploitation. e.g. illegal or unauthorized use of a person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables (including changing the person’s will to name the abuser as heir). It may be obtained by deception, coercion, misrepresentation, undue influence, or theft. This includes fraudulently obtaining or use of a power of attorney. Other forms include deprivation of money or other property, or by eviction from own home Scam by strangers: e.g. worthless â€Å"sweepstakes† that elderly persons must pay in order to collect winnings, fraudulent investment schemes, predatory lending, and lottery scams. Sexual: e.g. forcing a person to take part in any sexual activity without his or her consent, including forcing them to participate in conversations of a sexual nature against their will; may also include situations where person is no longer able to give consent (dementia) Neglect: e.g. depriving a person of food, heat, clothing or comfort or essential medication and depriving a person of needed services to force certain kinds of actions, financial and otherwise. The deprivation may be intentional (active neglect) or happen out of lack of knowledge or resources (passive neglect). Hybrid financial exploitation (HFE): e.g. financial exploitation that co-occurs with physical abuse and/or neglect. HFE victims are more likely to be co-habiting with abusive individual, to have fair/poor health, to fear the abusive individual, to perceive abusive individual as caretaker, and to have a longer duration abuse. In addition, some U.S. state laws also recognize the following as elder abuse: Abandonment: deserting a dependent person with the intent to abandon them or leave them unattended at a place for such a time period as may be likely to endanger their health or welfare. Rights abuse: denying the civil and constitutional rights of a person who is old, but not declared by court to be mentally incapacitated. This is an aspect of elder abuse that is increasingly being recognized and adopted by nations Self-neglect: elderly persons neglecting themselves by not caring about  their own health or safety. Self-neglect (harm by self) is treated as conceptually different as abuse (harm by others). Institutional abuse refers to physical or psychological harms, as well as rights violations in settings where care and assistance is provided to dependant older adults or others. What causes physical abuse of an elder? The exact cause of physical abuse is not known. Poor or crowded living conditions may be one of the reasons it occurs. The following may increase your risk of physical abuse: You have learning or memory problems. You have a long-term condition, such as dementia, diabetes, paralysis, or stroke. You have no relatives or friends who can take care of you. You have difficulty getting along with others. The carer depends heavily on you for things such as money or housing. The carer drinks alcohol or uses illegal drugs. The carer has a personality disorder, depression, or another mental illness. The carer has a history of family violence, such as physical or sexual abuse. The carer has stress due to work, taking care of you, or financial problems. What are the signs and symptoms of physical abuse of an elder? Repeated falls or injuries, or old injuries that were not treated when they happened Scratches, bite marks, or marks from objects used for restraining, such as belts, ropes, or electrical cords Broken or dislocated bones Cuts or bruises, especially on both upper arms (grab marks) Scars or burns from cigarettes, irons, or hot water Blood or discharge coming from your nose, mouth, or genitals

Rome 100-600 Essays

Rome 100-600 Essays Rome 100-600 Essay Rome 100-600 Essay Emma Betz World History AP Period 2 Comparison Essay on Rome Between 100 C. E. and 600 C. E. , Rome went under many changes both culturally and politically. Culturally, Rome had a change in the empire’s religious beliefs. Politically, there was a division of the empire. With so many changes, there were a few continuities, such as Paterfamilias and the political standing of women. Religion was a large part of any Roman’s life that was changed drastically. In the early empire, Paganism, where there was a belief in many gods, was the main religion. When the idea of Christianity came around, it initially attracted the poor. Eventually it gained popularity in the other classes. Eventually such a large amount of people believed in Christianity that even though the authorities had rejected the religion in 100 C. E. , Constantine was forced to legalize it in 313 C. E. Christianity quickly spread through the Roman Empire and took over the other religions. A huge change politically was the division of the Roman Empire into east and west. There were extreme economic issues and battles both internally and externally. During this time, most of the emperors were weak and there were many disputes over who was next in line for the throne. Germanic tribes took advantage of the chaos and tried to take over land to the east and west. Rome had to split their forces in order to fight them, dividing the empire. Another reason for the division was that the Roman Empire was so vast that there were too many different ideas on how to run the empire and it was impossible to make everyone happy, thus dividing the empire. Paterfamilias was one way culturally that Rome did not change. A male who was the father had complete control over his family. He had control of his children’s lives for his whole life. He controlled their occupations, spouses, economic possessions, and could choose to kill them if he wished; although, he usually tried to consider their needs and desires. He had power until his death and was the only member of a family that had full legal rights. Paterfamilias remained dominant through 100 C. E. to 600C. E. Women’s political status did not change during this time period. Women offered advice, plotted behind others backs, and sometimes went through in public, but they were denied public office and a role in government. They had no political importance, although some women influenced their husbands and sons who had high power. Freeborn women generally had more rights than freedwomen. Women were unable to own property. The only women who had some rights were those who took a vow to chastity (the Vestal Virgins in Rome), they were more respected in society and even had the privilege to own land. The Roman’s experienced many cultural and political changes, religion and division, and many continuities, Paterfamilias and standards of women. These changes and continuities between 100 C. E. and 600 C. E. influenced other matters and changed the Roman Empire throughout the rest of it’s history.

Discussion Procedures Questions Final Essay

Discussion Procedures Questions Final Essay Discussion Procedures Questions Final Essay The use of questions is an integral part of teaching and there are a variety of questions as well as a variety of reasons for using questions while teaching. Asking the right questions promote learning and discovery, piques students interest, and creates discussions. This essay will explore the use and benefits of using questions to promote learning. In order for students to feel safe asking and answering questions, the first and most important thing a teacher can do is to create an environment that is conducive to asking questions. It is important to create an environment where students feel emotionally safe, and respected in their classroom, once this happens they will be able to grow and learn together. The climate of the classroom needs give students’ the ability to ask questions, answer questions, and share knowledge without the risk of being ridiculed or being made to feel inadequate, unimportant etc. In order to create this type of environment students must be taught that their classmates, and everyone who walks into the room comes with different background experiences, and the potential to perceive things differently then they do. It is important for students to understand and to recognize their classmates are coming in with different experiences and that they must respect those differences. It is important to crea te an environment that is respectful of students differences, safe for students to express their ideas, and to be open to others points of views. Once students are able to recognize and respect these differences then and only then will they be able to provide and receive constructive feedback. In order to create a safe environment students need to feel they can ask questions, answer questions, and make statements that won’t be ridiculed. Another aspect to creating a classroom that is conducive to students asking questions is to avoid bias. For example, stereotyping is a form of bias such as in a math and science class the teacher will call on boys more often than girls as stereotypically boys have a more mathematical and scientific mindset. By doing this the teacher makes the girls feel inferior. On the other hand in a language arts class the teacher will ask girls more questions than boys, as stereotypically girls are more of the language art mindset. By doing this they make the boys feel inferior. Another bias is teachers will refrain from asking ELL or struggling students questions because they don’t want to embarrass them or make them feel singled out. However if teachers would utilize questioning strategies that direct students in the right way by using redirecting, probing, and queuing to help students be successful with their answers then those biases can be avoided. By using these techniques you are ab le to build up the confidence up in the students and this will help create an environment that is conducive to students asking and answering questions. Another example of a bias that teachers need to avoid would be avoiding asking the long-winded students to provide feedback. By avoiding asking this type of students questions you are ultimately going to make this student feel inferior to the rest of the class and that their answers are not even worthy of being called heard. These types of biases must be avoided in order to create a climate that is conducive to students asking questions. Students can learn from each other’s experiences, as they are able to share those experiences, consider each other’s perspectives, and sometimes push themselves out of their comfort zone for the sake of learning. By allowing students to express their thoughts and ideas, they will learn to build relationships and practice collaboration, they will learn to respect others opinions even if they are different from their own. Students need to be given a chance to problem solve through conversation and collaboration. It's so much better when ideas and solutions come from the student. These are all things that happen in a

Word Choice Every Day vs. Everyday - Proofeds Writing Tips

Word Choice Every Day vs. Everyday - Proofeds Writing Tips Word Choice: Every Day vs. Everyday What difference can one little space make? With the terms â€Å"every day† and â€Å"everyday,† the answer is quite a big one! But what exactly is the distinction here? And how do you use these terms? Check out our guide to â€Å"every day† and â€Å"everyday† to make sure you work is always error free. Every Day (On a Daily Basis) Written as two words with a space between, â€Å"every day† is an adverbial phrase meaning â€Å"on a daily basis.† This means we use it to describe an action that happens daily. For instance: We go bowling every day. Here, â€Å"every day† modifies the verb phrase â€Å"go bowling† to show us how often it happens. The most important thing here, though, is that the two-word phrase â€Å"every day† applies to actions. Strike!(Photo: skeeze) Everyday (Routine or Mundane) Written as a single word, â€Å"everyday† is an adjective meaning â€Å"routine,† â€Å"normal,† or â€Å"mundane.† We can therefore use it to describe something that is for daily use or part of a regular routine: I’ll wear my everyday clothes now and get changed later for the party. This sense of â€Å"everyday† is used to contrast with something designed for special occasions. It doesn’t, however, necessarily mean that the speaker wears the exact same clothes every single day. And although this term is commonly used for clothing, it can be applied to anything that is part of a regular routine or day-to-day practice (e.g., a store might offer â€Å"everyday prices†). Most crucial here, though, is that â€Å"everyday† should only be used to modify a noun (i.e., a thing), not a verb. Every Day or Everyday? The difference here is subtle, so it pays to be careful when using either â€Å"every day† or â€Å"everyday.† The key is that â€Å"every day† is an adverbial phrase, so it only applies to actions. The single-word term â€Å"everyday,† meanwhile, is an adjective and therefore used to modify nouns. Remember: Every day (adverbial phrase) = On a daily basis Everyday (adjective) = Routine or mundane

Third World sub-region Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Third World sub-region - Research Paper Example Despite having abundant natural resources, the West African sub region still slugs behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development. The following report presents an analysis of the West African region, based on the elements of development and dependency and the effects that they have had on the region’s development. This report will first identify the main elements that have been key hindrances to the development in the sub region. The report will conclude by providing a prediction of the future development in the region as well as the factors that will be key in sustaining its long term development. Different regions in the world have varying economies. These variations are based on the GDP per capita of the countries in the region and extend to extreme ends. The West African sub region is comprised of seven countries, most of which have the lowest GDP per capita in the world. Handelman’s definition of a third world country is one that is underdeveloped politically, economically and socially. Countries in this sub region fit this description perfectly. These countries have a variety of ethnic tribes and are currently marked by civil war. This sub region is also highly populated, with over 290 million people as at 2012, with half of this population living in Nigeria. In this region, most of the countries are low income countries. These countries top the list of the World’s poorest countries as shown in the following table. For instance, as at 2011, Liberia had a GDP per capita of $ 440.66, Sierra Leone had $820, Malawi $906.65 (World Bank, 2012). Countries in the West African Sub region are shown in bold. The slow growth and poor GDP among these West African countries have been triggered wars and political turmoil that has been experienced in the region for decades. According to Feed the Future, the GDP in this region has grown at an annual rate of 5.8%

Intellectual Property Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Intellectual Property Rights - Essay Example If not then licensing of patents will have to be negotiated between the company and the laboratory. In such a scenario it is the internal agreement between the laboratory and the staff, students or post doc fellows which comes in effect. There might be a general agreement in place and specific agreement for the particular project might have to be executed including or excluding the right so people of the laboratory (Queen’s University IPR Guide, 2011) 2) Work for Pay – if the staff is specifically hired to follow directions of the laboratory coordinator or anyone else then they shall not be entitled to any IPR as it was not their genesis. They were just executors who acted on behalf of the director and did not contribute any cognitive inputs (NIT, Rourkela 2009) 3) Contractual work – if the project is work-for-hire, the employee or agency will retain the right to be identified as the creator of the IP but the right of commercialization and IP rests with the labor atory. In such cases the staff depending on the general agreement has the share of the IP benefit as the work was not indigenously developed by the laboratory. 4) Full time work – if any student or staff works in the laboratory full time or part time the rights to IP depends on the contract of employment.

The History of Computer Programming Research Paper

The History of Computer Programming - Research Paper Example Computer programming started in the 19th century, though scientists had started designing several devices such as calculators for various purposes before this period. Charles Babbage designed the first programmable computer in 1835, called the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine could be programmed to solve computational problems. Ada Lovelace designed the first program for the Analytical Engine and invented the programming loop and subroutine. Herman Hollerith invented the concept of data recording on machine readable media in the late 1880s. He used punched cards and invented two machines namely the tabulator and keypunch to process the cards (Campbell-Kelly and Aspray 45). In the 1940s, computer coding was done manually and then entered into the system as the systems were slow and had limited memory. Computer programming languages such as Plankalkul, C-10, and ENIAC were developed. A machine called Robinson was developed in 1940 by the British in order to decrypt the messages encrypted using the Enigma machine by the German military during World War II. Z3 was designed in Germany in 1941 by Konrad Zuse. He started developing Plankalkul (Plan Calculus) in 1945, which was the first algorithmic computer programming language. His machines were destroyed during the World War II and only the Z4 survived. Scientists from IBM and Harvaerd designed a programmable computer in 1944 called Mark I (O’Regan 124). In 1945, John Von Neumann invented the concepts of ‘shared-program technique’ and ‘conditional control transfer’. The shared program technique stated that complex instructions should control simple hardware instead of the simple hardware being wired for every program. The conditional control transfer enabled the development of loops with IF, THEN, and FOR statements. This concept also suggested that small code blocks could take any random order instead of the steps ordered chronologically. Von Neumann architecture was invented and it enabled the

Dry farming the Zinfandel grape varietal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dry farming the Zinfandel grape varietal - Essay Example Before irrigation systems became available and practical, dry farming was standard practice for planting and managing wine grapes in California. Dry farming is still possible and successfully used by some growers, but it is site-specific and dependent on annual rainfall, climate, soil type and grape variety. The economics of dry farming are a key consideration in relation to grape yields and prices. Dry farming wine grapes depend on residual soil moisture to meet the water requirements for grape vine growth and berry development (Chatterton, 196). Even in California’s dry Mediterranean climate, the water retained in soils from winter rains can be sufficient to support grape production throughout the growing season without supplemental irrigation. Dry farming techniques can improve grape and wine quality. Many growers have said that they trade quantity for quality when dry farming. Although dry-farmed vineyards may yield less than irrigated vineyards, the fruit that is produced often has more concentrated flavors and a deeper expression of quality taste. Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles believes that their dry-farmed berries are essential to the balance and expression of their wines. Dry farming can also have significant positive impacts on the environment and improve the sustainability of vineyards. By not irrigating, dry farmers reduce the water footprint of the vineyard. According to Frank Leeds (2003), studies in Napa Valley shows that he is saving a minimum of 16,000 gallons of water an acre a year by dry farming his vineyards, compared to those that only lightly irrigate. If vineyards can conserve fresh water, not only will they be contributing to water conservation, but also reducing their dependency on a highly demanded resource, particularly in areas of groundwater overdraft (Hargreaves & Mary, 109). Competition over

E-Learning and Business Training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

E-Learning and Business Training - Essay Example The aims of this research are to describe the use of educational technologies in a business management context. That is, we seek to understand if business training methods and educational directives are supported by e-learning, adaptive to e-learning, and provide the appropriate tools, training and resources to students and business professionals that may use E-learning as a training resource. The research study expects to reveal opportunities businesses to develop E-learning training strategies. Management theory and E-Learning research are used to understand obstacles and opportunity in reaching training goals. This paper makes a conclusion that business management often involves stages that overlap between the training and employee growth, as well as knowledge and information management. Business needs traditionally include: cost management, scheduling, equity and debt. When a business hires an employee, that employee must be trained, and very often there are continuous training needs, like annual diversity training or monthly sales training. The nature of the research proposal is to use input from multiple sources to understand and identify E-learning training management models. Information will be gathered from books, journal articles and individual surveys. This will allow for evidence to support activities of E-Learning in business training. The resources necessary to complete this research is the development and distribution of the survey, as well as book, journal and other historical evidence.

Dry farming the Zinfandel grape varietal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dry farming the Zinfandel grape varietal - Essay Example Before irrigation systems became available and practical, dry farming was standard practice for planting and managing wine grapes in California. Dry farming is still possible and successfully used by some growers, but it is site-specific and dependent on annual rainfall, climate, soil type and grape variety. The economics of dry farming are a key consideration in relation to grape yields and prices. Dry farming wine grapes depend on residual soil moisture to meet the water requirements for grape vine growth and berry development (Chatterton, 196). Even in California’s dry Mediterranean climate, the water retained in soils from winter rains can be sufficient to support grape production throughout the growing season without supplemental irrigation. Dry farming techniques can improve grape and wine quality. Many growers have said that they trade quantity for quality when dry farming. Although dry-farmed vineyards may yield less than irrigated vineyards, the fruit that is produced often has more concentrated flavors and a deeper expression of quality taste. Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles believes that their dry-farmed berries are essential to the balance and expression of their wines. Dry farming can also have significant positive impacts on the environment and improve the sustainability of vineyards. By not irrigating, dry farmers reduce the water footprint of the vineyard. According to Frank Leeds (2003), studies in Napa Valley shows that he is saving a minimum of 16,000 gallons of water an acre a year by dry farming his vineyards, compared to those that only lightly irrigate. If vineyards can conserve fresh water, not only will they be contributing to water conservation, but also reducing their dependency on a highly demanded resource, particularly in areas of groundwater overdraft (Hargreaves & Mary, 109). Competition over

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) - Essay Example The second research paper titled ‘Corporate social responsibility brand leadership: a multiple case study’ has been directed towards using existing research and studies that provide frameworks for the analysis of CSR as a tool for brand leadership strategy. The existing literature is supported by a qualitative study of five UK based firms that have a significant market share, successful brand strategies and a very active CSR. The paper is organized in two parts where each part is dedicated to one research paper. The analysis is organized as presenting the research strategy, methods, findings, assumptions, and overall quality of the research paper. The analysis also makes suggestions for improvement after the analysis. The main argument of this research paper is to critically analyze the two research papers based on qualitative studies and suggest drawbacks that could be improvised for a more comprehensive study. The paper uses Grunig’s situational theory of publics for the purpose of analysis of cases presented within the paper (Byrd, 2009). The framework within the theory helps in creating a single case study with three different aspects of analysis. The research is conducted by way of exhaustive interviews conducted with the senior counselors of each of the two American companies that are under analysis. The primary document analysis is focused completely on the communication of the progress reports presented to the global compact unit on a semiannual basis by each participating member. The secondary analysis is conducted by way of materials and documents produced by the agencies which also include speeches, articles and presentations for the purpose of business publication. The key research question is to find out the dynamics that were responsible for company realization that such coalition was for the benefit of the organization. The second

Endospore-forming Bacteria and their Role in Biodefense Essay Example for Free

Endospore-forming Bacteria and their Role in Biodefense Essay Bacteria that have the ability to produce non-reproductive structures or endospores during unfavorable environmental conditions are termed endospore-forming bacteria. Two genera of bacteria in which sporulation are predominant are Bacillus and Clostridium. Bacilli are rod-shaped bacteria, species of which are either obligate or facultative aerobes. The genera include both free-living and pathogenic species. When conditions become unfavorable, the bacterial populations thrive by producing endospores or cysts which can remain dormant and viable for prolonged periods. The genera include several species such as Bacillus anthracis, B. coagulans, B. megaterium, B. cereus, B. globigii, B. natto, B. infernus, B. licheniformis, B. subtilis, thuringiensis, B. polymyxa and B. sphaericus. Of these, the most pathogenic ones are B. anthracis and B. cereus. B. anthracis causes anthrax. B. cereus causes a foodborne illness. B. subtilis and B. coagulans are microbes that cause food spoilage. B. thuringiensis, is an insect pathogen and is therefore a potential biocontrol agent, while B. subtilis is used as model organism in research. Clostridium is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, which are obligate anaerobes. They are also capable of producing endospores under stressful or unfavorable environmental conditions. Species include Clostridium acetobutylicum, C. beijerinckii, C. aerotolerans, C. bifermentans, C. chauvoei, C. botulinum, C. butyricum, C. difficile, C. formicaceticum, C. colicanis, C. laramie, C. perfringens, C. ljungdahlii, C. novyi, C. piliforme, C. phytofermentans, C. sordellii, C. scatologenes, C. tetanie, C. tyrobutyricum and C. sporogenes. Five species of this genus are highly pathogenic. These are C. botulinum, C. perfringens, C. tetani, C. sordellii and C. difficile. C. botulinum causes botulism by producing toxin in food or wound. C. perfringens causes varied disease symptoms such as food poisoning, gas gangrene, enterotoxemia in cattle. This species also causes food spoilage. C. tetani causes tetanus. C. sordellii is a microbe associated with deaths of women post childbirth. C. difficile causes pseudo-membranous colitis. Both these genera of gram-positive bacteria are capable of producing endospores in response to nutrient depletion. According to Liu et al (2004), spores are dormant bacterial morphotypes able to endure harsh environments for decades, thus making it easier to be formulated and dispersed as a biological weapon. B. anthracis spores are highly persistent and can simply be â€Å"weaponized† for routing through air, food or water. The formulated spores are usually dry and concentrated, which can reach the human body by inhalation, ingestion, or cutaneous contact and cause anthrax. Infection is severe upon inhalation on endospores of B. anthracis. When inhaled, the spores enter lungs and reach deep into the alveolar spaces. From there they traverse into the medistinal and peribronchial lymph nodes. Once they reach the blood stream, they begin to multiply by switching on to the vegetative cycle and produce toxins that are lethal (Young and Collier, 2002). These are potential biodefense agents because, B. anthracis endospores when dispersed in the air as 1-to-5- µm particles may create a threat over a larger geographical location. In Russia, an accidental release of endospores from a military biologic-weapons facility in Sverdlovsk caused anthrax in humans as far as 4 km from the site, and cases in animals extended as far as 50 km away (Swartz, 2001). The detection of anthrax spores is also not easy and technologically also it is not realistic for rapid in-place detection to be done (Webb, 2003). Nevertheless, when diagnosed immediately the severity can be decreased, administration of oral antibiotic prophylaxis during the incubation stage has proved to be successful. However, once the fulminant stage is attained, the disease is clear of treatment and without doubt lethal (CDC, 2002). According to Inglesby et al. (2002), vaccination is supposedly effectual but the drawback is that a series of six shots over 18 months followed by annual booster shots is a pre-requisite for complete immunity. Therefore, it is obvious that when used as a biological weapon, spores of B.anthracis are capable of inflicting immeasurable torment on man and animals. This elects it to be an ideal candidate for biodefense. References CDC. (2002). Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (November, 2002) www. bt. cdc. gov_agent_anthrax_index. asp. Inglesby, T. V. , O’Toole, T. , Henderson, D. A. , Bartlett, J. G. , Ascher, M. S. , Eitzen, E. , Friedlander, A. M. , Gerberding, J. , Hauer, J. , Hughes, J. , et al. (2002). Anthrax as a Biological Weapon, J. Am. Med. Assoc. 287, 2236–2252. Liu, H. , Bergman, N. H. , Thomason, B. , Shallom, S. , Hazen, A. , Crossno, J. , Rasko, D. A. , Ravel, J. , Read, T. D. , Peterson, S. C. , Yates J. and Hanna, P. C. (2004). Formation and Composition of the Bacillus anthracis Endospore. Journal of Bacteriology. 186 (1), 164–178. Swartz, M. N. (2001). Recognition and management of anthrax an update. N Engl J Med. 345, 1621-1626. Webb, G. F. (2003). A silent bomb: The risk of anthrax as a weapon of mass destruction. PNAS. 100(8), 4355–4356 Young, J. A. T. and Collier, R. J. (2002) Attacking Anthrax. Sci. Am. 286, 48–59.

Financial and Non-Financial Motivation: An Overview

Financial and Non-Financial Motivation: An Overview In modern society, business markets are getting more competitive. As a consequence, firms in the markets try to use more effective ways to achieve their goals, which include earning more profit and expanding market share. Motivation, which is a way that encourages employees to make an effort to work, is a feasible method to help firms to reach their targets. According to Tutor2U (n. d. a), if workers are motivated well, the business will get better productivity as well as improved product quality, and earn good reputation. Hence, a business ought to spend considerable time in thinking the best way to motivate employees, and there are a significant number of different opinions about it, including financial motivation and non-financial motivation. These two methods of motivation focus on different kinds of employees and satisfy different needs of workers. In addition, both of the two measures have their advantages as well as disadvantages. Therefore, the business should use these two m ethods together to encourage employees to work harder or worse, and make productivity good or bad. Different people have different needs to work, so according to specific conditions, a business should use different methods to motivate its workers. Hall et al. (2008) state that Maslow concluded a theory that there are five levels of human needs which employees need to have fulfilled at work, and they are physical, safety, social, esteem and self actualization. An employee would be motivated by the higher need, only once a lower level of need has been fully satisfied (Tutor2U, n. d. b). For example, a person, who has no money and is dying of hunger and thirst, may think about basic wage at first instead of job security and respect from others. A business ought to offer different sets of incentives from worker to worker, because workers are not all motivated in the same way. According to Hall et al. (2008), McGregor also suggested two theories to explain why people have the will to work. Theory X assumes some workers are motivated by money, while theory Y assumes other workers are mo tivated by many other factors. For instance, due to the little amount of wage, lower paid workers, who include blue collar workers, tend to be willing to work overtime to earn higher pay. However, as for the better paid employees, including white collar workers, salary is not the only important factor for them. They may pay more attention to other aspects of work, such as colleagues, recognition and promotion. Consequently, a business should take different measures aiming at different kinds of employees in order to meet all of their needs and make profits. Financial motivation, which is related to a fair days pay for a fair days work, has both its strengths and weaknesses. Money is necessary for everybody, especially for the poor who have a strong desire to earn more money so as to make a living. Hence, the specific approach that motivates employees using money could be a good way to improve performance of workers as well as productivity. On the other hand, financial motivation may also cause some problems too, such as quality and operating problems. Hall et al. (2008) list some possible methods of financial motivation, including piece rates, fringe benefits, performance related pay and profit sharing. Each method has different benefits and drawbacks to motivate workers. An example is piece-rate pay, which is recommended by Taylor, it is the wage that is paid to workers by the number of products they make in a certain period of time (Hoddersamplepages, n. d.). Workers would work harder to earn more, because the ones who produce more co uld get higher pay. It might be good for increasing the speed of work therefore productivity. Nevertheless, piece rates tend to make employees rush work, so lead to some quality problems, and further influence the reputation of the business. Another measure is fringe benefit, and it is the extra money that employees receive in addition to their normal wage or salary, such as a company car, free use of a house as well as private health insurance (Tutor2U, n. d. c). It can help satisfy the social needs of employees and make them loyal to the firm. At Google for example, it provides free meals for employees to motivate them to be more loyal and make profits for the company (Hall et al., 2008). However, Tutor2U (n. d. c) also points out that fringe benefits could be difficult for the firm to operate because of increasing costs that are used by individuals. Therefore, there are some obvious advantages and disadvantages of financial motivated methods. Owing to the problems of financial incentives, firms should also use non-financial incentives to encourage workers. The similar to financial motivation, non-financial motivation has not only many significant benefits but also some drawbacks too. According to Tutor2U (n. d., b), Mayo reported that the human relations approach is the process for retaining and developing people in organizations but not using ways that involve money. A case in point is Tejas Securities Group. The Chairmans Cup is a silver chalice, which is awarded by the firm each month. It is the award to the workers who contribute to the success of the whole firm, so it inspires employees to work harder toward achievement (Searchwarp, n. d.). Non-financial incentives include job enrichment, empowerment and team working (Hall et al., 2008). Job enrichment means giving workers new sets of interesting and challenging tasks, which is supported by Herzberg (Hr-scorecard-metrics, 2010). It provides employees more chances to develop their capabilities and make them gain a strong sense of achievement. On the other hand, Tutor2U (n. d. d) reports that job enrichment might make some expensive mistakes if the work is too complex for workers or they do not possess the correct skill level. As for empowerment, it gives official authority to workers to make decisions and control their own activities (Hall et al., 2008). For example, employees can arrange how to use their time and how to achieve the tasks by themselves. The advantages of empowerment are significant, one of which is making employees feel free to make the most suitable choices for themselves. The disadvantages are obvious as well. Hall et al. (2008) point out employees might be given more work with the same pay, so they may be not willing to do it. Furthermore, empowerment may increase the costs that relate to the business, such as the costs of changing the workplace and training the workers (Hall, et al., 2008). If the employees make wrong decisi ons, it tends to have bad effects on the whole business. As a result, both the strengths and weaknesses of non-financial incentives exist. To sum up, according to Maslows hierarchy of needs as well as McGregors theory X and theory Y, different workers may have different needs to be met through motivation. On the one hand, either financial motivation or non-financial motivation is useful to encourage employees. On the other hand, both of the methods have their drawbacks as well. As far as I am concerned, these two methods are both beneficial for a business to motivate its employees, improve productivity, then earn more profits and achieve the business objectives. Thus, a business ought to combine these two methods, and use them together reasonably. The business should also take advantage of both financial as well as non-financial motivation, and try to avoid some unnecessary problems depending on specific needs of employees and real conditions of work.

Immigration Issues Essay -- Immigration, Psychiatry

The United States has long served as a refuge for people who seek to escape hunger, poverty, torture, and the oppression of the human spirit in their own countries. However, the issue of immigration in the United States has become a political flashpoint since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The sacralization of the tragedy has served to paint all immigrants with the same fear-ladened brush, and has marginalized and stereotyped an already vulnerable population. Today, more than ever, immigrants in the United States face increasing stressors as they try to assimilate in a politically charged post 9/11 world. To be an effective social worker, immigration issues and multicultural awareness is critical. Mary and Mario, a couple who is seeking marital therapy, will serve to illustrate the immigration issues a clinician should consider when assessing a client system in therapy. Mary, a 32-year-old Caucasian woman and her husband, Mario, a 40-year-old Latino man have been married for three years. They have both been married in the past but have no children. They report that since Mary returned to school there have been frequent arguments. Recently the fights have increased in frequency and have become violent. Mary complains that Mario is too possessive and is jealous of all her male friends. She feels physically threatened and wants to leave him. Mario feels that Mary never spends time at home anymore, and is no longer interested in him. While it is imperative not to make assumptions about a client because of their race, it is important to ask questions about their cultural identity, and if they have emigrated from another country. This ipsychosocial detail is significant because a growing body of research attests to neg... ...t, chances are that Mary and Mario will come to honor each other's diverse experiences, and will be able to fully embrace the ethos that is the American dream together. â€Æ' Works Cited Foster, R. P. (2001). When immigration is trauma: Guidelines for the individual and family clinician. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 71(2), 153-170. Kaltman, S., De Mendoza,, A. H., Gonzales, F. A., Serrano, A., & Guarnaccia, P. (2011). Contextualizing the trauma experience of women immigrants from Central America, South America, and Mexico. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24(6), 635-642. Moreno, C. L., & Guido, M. (2005). Social work practice with Latino Americans. In D. Lum (Ed.), Cultural competence, practice stages, and client systems (pp. 88-106). Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole. Sue, D. W. (2006). Multicultural social work practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. â€Æ'

My Personal Idiolect Essay

Whilst completing this project on spoken language, I discovered aspects of my own personal speech (also known as idiolect) and the variation between people’s language due to their culture and environment. Living in Luton for sixteen years I have had many experiences which shapes my idiolect to what it is today. Three main factors which have influenced me the most are my family, my friends and the media such as internet, music and TV. I was born and raised in Luton, England. Both my parents were born in England and both come from irish backgrounds, however have no trace of an irish dialect. In my home, we all have the Lutonian accent except from my mum who comes across as posh due to her job as a teacher. The typical Lutonian accent is the missing pronunciation of the letter ‘T’, for example. A good example of this is the pronunciation of the word â€Å"Luton†: to most natives, it is said like â€Å"Lu’n†, or for the word â€Å"water†, w e would pronouce it as â€Å"war’a†. During primary school, I was known as a difident girl, when communicating with people I would get really nervous, i feared silence and would get some type of speakers anxiety. This made me use fillers such as ‘erm’ and ‘like’ and hesistaions. I would use these fillers to give myself a short period of time to consider on what I’m going to say. Another reason for why I used fillers was to make the person I was having a conversation with take over and finish my sentence, as I am more of a listener than a talker. As I have gotten older, I have gained more confidence. I still use fillers (as you can see in my transcript) but I use them for holding the floor, I do not want to give 5+up my turn in speaking and instead want a little extra time to think about what I’m going to say next. I would use a â€Å"filler† to signal this. I was accused of having a posh accent during primary school due to the fact i rarely use the slang that my peers used. Words such as ‘sick’ meaning good or ‘peng’ meaning nice/beautiful were not the language i would use, due to the fact that my mum has a teaching role as an english teacher, so she has higher expectations of me and vocabulary. My mum consistently corrects my speech for instance, i usually say ‘teached’ instead of ‘taught’ which my mum would immediatly stop me in a conversation to correct me, she even corrects my punctuation or spelling mistakes in text messages. This is why in my transcript you can see I use more fillers and hesitations as I am making sure I am understandable even though I am not using developed sentences. I used the word ‘innit’at the end of my sentence when speaking to Calam, this is another way of saying ‘isn’t it’ or ‘do you agree’. I would use this word to look for reassurance that my audience (Calam) is engaged into the conversation. It is a hidden rhetorical question, which a lot of the younger generation use. In the conversation with my dad, I changed the word ‘Innit’ to say ‘Ya know what I mean’. This is because I know most adults consider slang as bad-mannered and disrespectful. Another reason is because I wouldn’t want my dad or any adult to feel uncomfortable and confused when talking to me if I spoke in the way I do with my friends. I speak to adults politer than how i would speak to my friends as society makes young people feel inferior whereas adults are seen as the unspoken authority figure. Contraction is another element I use, which is a shortenered form of group of words. An example of this is highlighted in the conversation with my brother when I say words such as ‘gonna’. This is a shorterned way of saying ‘going to’, that can also be classified as slang. This adds to the informality of the text. On the other hand, the choice of vocabulary I used with my mum was simple and more understandable than what I used with Calam. This is due to the age and generation difference.

Symbolism in Kiss of the Spiderwoman and No One Writes

â€Å"It’s a sin to take the food out of our mouths to give it to a rooster† (Garcia Marquez 31). This essay portrays the different types of symbolism throughout the novels Kiss of the Spiderwoman by Manuel Puig and No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The fighting cock is the dominant symbol in the former, representing both positive and negative matters; such is the case of hope in bringing some improvement to the Colonel’s living conditions while for his wife, being a reminder of their son’s death along with the repression they live in due to political corruption. In the novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, symbols such as the films, the food and most importantly, the Spider Woman, represent the characters’ peculiar relationship transitioning from a neutral one to a sexual and affectionate one. Both these novels are linked by the political corruption in their environment while the emotional atmosphere revealed by the symbols make them complementary to each other. In No One Writes to the Colonel, the linking of symbols and images represent the inner tensions of the characters throughout the novel. The main symbol, the fighting cock, is an interesting one in its ability to depict contrasting sentiments as one being. The first one is the hope the Colonel attains from it because of the value it possesses for the town. If the cock wins in the cock fights, the poverty they find themselves struggling with would have a chance to improve. This gives the cock a special treatment where ironically, it will be put first than them. â€Å"When the corn is gone we’ll have to feed him on our own livers. (Garcia Marquez 11) Evidently, the Colonel and his wife are eating insufficiently, unable to afford more corn for the cock, let alone food for themselves. The Colonel however maintains a positive attitude towards the cock, faithful that it will in the end lead to helping their harsh conditions. Not only for him but for the people of the town too, the rooster will come to hold a great value representing collective hope for the town as a whole. We can see this when the Colonel talks to a group of young men who were his son Agustin’s friends and after his death, always helped maintain the cock healthy not only with hope, but with the belief that it will win all of the bets and as a result, win a lot of money for them. The Colonel asks about how much he owes them for repairing his clock and they assure him the cock will reward it. â€Å"Don’t worry about it, Colonel. In January, the rooster will pay for it† (Garcia Marquez 34). It seems that there is an assurance of what the symbol of the rooster signifies and is valued for in the town. This is where the main conflict comes in between him and his wife, in which the cock’s symbolism of hope will turn into one of hatred and resentment. â€Å"It’s because the situation we’re in,† she said. â€Å"It’s a sin to take the food out of our mouths to give it to a rooster† (Garcia Marquez 31). For her, the rooster will represent something quite the contrary; where rather than it symbolizing hope for an improvement to their living conditions, it will symbolize the misery they are in, especially by being the source of their son’s death. She cannot relate with neither her husband’s wish to maintain Agustin’s aspirations for the cock alive nor the town’s value and belief for it as a symbol of opposition continuing even after the death of its owner. The cock, as a legacy of Agustin, is a symbol of collective hope for the town symbolizing resistance for opposition to authority. He and his rooster were the part of the family who possessed the highest appreciation and value from the people of the town. When he is killed, the survival of the cock is what gives his parents any respect from the people. Later on, the Colonel considers selling it since his wife constantly puts pressure on him to do so because she believes that it is only putting their own lives at risk. â€Å"Get rid of that rooster right now† (Garcia Marquez 30). However, he finally realizes as he sees and lives through the excitement of a cock fight that the cock is more meaningful than just the money it can bring. He thinks that by selling the cock, it would not only mean a glimpse of help to their situation but also a betrayal to the people of the town, â€Å"They said the rooster didn’t belong to us but to the whole town† (Garcia Marquez 56); and the problem of hunger they find themselves struggling with would still not be solved. The political standpoint in which this symbol stands is conflictive no matter what decision he makes. There is always a constant shift in which the symbolism of the cock varies from a positive tone of hope and value to a more negative one of misery and death. The rooster in itself is not suggested just as a representation of the repression the couple lived in but is truly signified as Agustin, the son who was killed as a form of punishment for selling clandestine information that the political figures of authority did not want for the public, in other words, not allowing freedom of expression. For Kiss of the Spider Woman, the symbols are portrayed by a more consistent representation of love and care between Molina and Valentino, a peculiar relationship where a homosexual man, Molina, will trap the heterosexual man, Valentino, into a â€Å"trap of webs† through seduction and a much needed care for him in times of sickness. First of all, the symbol of the films that Molina shares with him as a way of entertainment in the jail cell have stories that represent how he is feeling along with his fantasies about love. An essential film Molina told Valentino about was the last one he told before he was held free from jail, the story of a romantic tragedy. â€Å"And then suddenly you see a giant giant close-up of just her face, with her eyes flooded with tears, but with a smile on her lips†¦ And well†¦ that’s all†¦ folks†¦ -†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Puig 259) The telling of this film represented the setting of a melancholic atmosphere since after growing such a strong bond, it was now time for them to part. What these films as symbols also emphasize is the entirely different points of views that these two men attain. – It’s a question of learning to accept things as they come, and to appreciate the good that happens to you, even if it doesn’t last. Because nothing is forever. –Yes, it’s easy to say. But feeling it is something else. † (Puig 259) Molina sees himself as a female figure rather than a male one with the fantasy of finding love wi th a wonderful man, with this; he is more led by his emotions rather than reason. Valentin, on the other hand, thinks in the opposite way being led more by reason. He rejects Molina’s idea of a forever lasting love and sees personal relationships as secondary to the cause of justice. These films are constantly triggering their discussions about their opposite points of views. Valentin criticizes Molina for his desire to escape into a world of fantasy but ironically, he denies that his own expectancy for a revolution is also virtually a fantasy. We can then call upon the symbols of food in the novel representing the love, care and affection that in the end Molina has won from Valentin, a man who tends to avoid this sort of attachment with someone else. When Valentin is sick from food poisoning in the cell, Molina finds a way to treat him with delicious food that makes him feel much better after being sick from poisonous food from the jail. As their time to depart arrives, Valentin makes reference to some of the food as his way of telling him he loves him and will actually miss him, â€Å"Every time I see a piece of glazed fruit, I’m going to remember you† (Par. 5, Pg. 259). The glazed fruit will be a symbol of caring and nurturing that Molina gave to Valentin. He also mentions the chicken spit, one of the other foods he brought him that will remind him of Molina. And every time I see a chicken on a spit, turning in a deli oven† (Puig Pg. 260). The symbol of the chicken spit turning in an oven will represent two vital things: one being the foreshadowing of Valentino and the burns he will suffer later as punishment from the authority for not giving out information they asked of him and the other is how along with this physical pain, he will also live with the pain of knowing that Molina died not long before he got parole because he got involved in Valentino’s political affairs as a favor to him. And finally most importantly, we see the symbol of the spider woman representing Molina’s character, the consuming female who relishes her predator after a sexual encounter yet also the mother who nurtures. â€Å"- You, you’re the spider woman, that traps men in her web. † (Par. 5, Pg. 260). Molina is symbolized as the spider woman since in his relationship with Valentin; he was not a man but a feminine figure who won Valentin’s trust and affection through his profound care of him. In conclusion, the role of symbolism in these two pieces of literature will play a significant role in representing important aspects of the themes, the atmosphere, the social relationships, the emotions, etc. In No One Writes to the Colonel, we see that the cock will be a symbol of two main different things: the optimism in the hope for the town and the Colonel and a more negative note for the Colonel’s wife who sees it as the repression and death of their son. In Kiss of the Spider Woman, the symbols of the film stories, the food and the spider woman will also reveal how the relationship between Molina and Valentin is grandly valued despite their sexuality differences. For both of these novels, we are able to see the symbols all of hope, love, affection and misery; all vital in expressing what is needed and putting together two classical pieces of literature.

Prenuptial Agreement

What to do/say to make her willing for signing the prenup The easiest way to convince your girlfriend to sign is by making it clear that it's to protect both of you, not just you. And make sure to explain that you in no way expect to get a divorce in the future. Don't lead her to believe that you're planning your exit strategy. Explain that this is simply a â€Å"just in case† plan. It's a good idea to bring up the prenup issue early on in the relationship, and definitely before getting engaged, in order to gauge her feelings about the issue. Ask her what she knows about prenups. Make her understand that it's not you against her; you both have input when it comes to the contract. Make her understand that it's not about her getting nothing if you part ways. Don't leave her with doubts. Ask her to be logical about the situation. Although this will likely be difficult for her (it is for most women), if she really cares for you, she'll put forth the effort. You can include a clause about cheating, if she begins to question your fidelity. Keep in mind that if you agree to do this, then she should have no problem attesting that she'll remain faithful as well. Ask her to get legal advice she will eventually see the benefits of a prenup on her own. Tell her you love her, and that this is just for insurance. Read more: http://www.askmen.com/money/how_to_150/190_how_to.html#ixzz2XN57hR2j

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND DEVELOPMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example Each theory has three important aspect of communication i.e. sender, receiver and message. According to Roberts (2007) â€Å"Change is a multifaceted phenomenon, yet regardless of the paradigm adopted, there is agreement among all writers about change: it is hard, and generally more complex than anyone first anticipates.† Managing change is directing resources to the direction of goals. It involves all the concerned people from the organisation. It is a calculative and structured process of dealing with known changes. Change management is the process requires proper communication and coordination with all the related departments. There are various issues involved in change management process. Change management is always a planned approach of an organisation. Change management process will be successful when there is maximum involvement of the collective effort of the people. The risk of failure of implementation is identified and strategy is developed to deal with the same. The human aspect of change is the primary aspect of the change management in the organisation. This is depended on the industrial psychology. There are various angles to the process like change management. The process should be multi-disciplinary. It should touch all the aspects of the organisation with a focus on the fundamental of the human resource management issues. The new procedures, policies and change in the organisation processes, process and strategic procedures have various risk of the resistance. People when work together form groups. These groups can be formal and informal. Groups have certain norms. The members of a group are likeminded in various issues and approaches. They have commitment for each other. The group communicate through some language to each other. The language becomes the basic tool of keeping the information regarding the norms and expectations of the

Are Domestic and International Marketing Dissimilar Article

Are Domestic and International Marketing Dissimilar - Article Example According to Hofstede (2010), culture refers to the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from others. The culture of one country is distinguished from the other countries using the values of dimensions of the national cultures. She illustrated that power distance is a situation where there are differences in power holding in society. Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept the unequal distributed power. This power distance may be experienced in Kuwait, and she gave an example of marriage and relationship and divorce in family structures. In every family in Kuwait, every member of the family knows the extent of power that one holds in that family. In the contribution, I suggested that the society’s level of power inequality is endorsed by the followers and leaders in the Kuwait society. She also talked about the individualism and collectivism as a value that distinguishes Kuwait from other countries. She illustrated that the wealth effect has produced some form of individualism and it is evident in the new generation. I concur with her because individualism is the degree to which individuals are not integrated into groups and their ties within the society are loose while collectivism is the situation where the society is integrated into strong, cohesive groups. I contributed by saying that in Kuwait everyone is expected to care for themselves including immediate family which is mostly experienced in the new generation while in the old generation people were expected to protect each other in the society. She gave an example of collectivism using the old generations like parents and grandparents who are close to each other thus in a long time ago the extended families lived together.

Child pschyology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Child pschyology - Research Paper Example d psychology mainly studies the mental and cognitive processes and other factors that combine to give meaning to how a child reacts and use that information to improve parenting, health, education, mental hygiene and other areas devoted to child benefits. Child psychology thus enables us to understand the behavior of children. To understand the child behavior we, therefore, need to consider the child and his or her environment as an arrangement of correlating variables. Viewing behavior, or in fact any set of data in its entirety, in context has been labeled by many analysts as a field (Einstein, 1933; Kohler, 1925; Lewin, 1954). Context is generally defined as the circumstances that surround a particular situation. A child’s growth and development depends on the environmental as well as personal variables that make up the context. For example, the personal variables for a class of kindergarten children may include their genders, age, nature and upbringing; whereas the environmental variables may include the aspects of the surrounding in which the adult and children interact, such as the physical characteristics of the classroom (Parke & Gauvain, 2009; Fishbein, 1984). At later stages in a child’s life these environmental factors have a much larger scope and include factors such as social interactions, gatherings and the culture in which (s)he lives. All these factors eventually have a great influence on how a child grows. The culture in which a child lives shapes up the values and beliefs which give a special meaning to the observable elements of behavior, customs and artifacts. Beneath these values and beliefs lie the foundational idea that are called shared assumptions. These assumptions influence the behavior of children and play a great role in developing their perception. The socioeconomic level of people is influenced by many factors including their family background, education, job status, and their nationality. Children rose in families with a high

Multiple regression model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Multiple regression model - Essay Example Despite the fact that there are numerous factors affecting the housing market, this paper will focus mainly on these four factors since they are the greatest determinants of the housing market. The comparison between real house prices and unemployment rates is rather an interesting one. The 1970s and 1980s national housing bubbles showed the true relationship between unemployment and house prices. The data from the housing bubbles indicated that real house prices declined until the rate of unemployment was at peak. Following the late 1980s housing bubbles, the Caser-Shiller index was of the suggestion that prices reduced for a few years after the unemployment rate peaked. Several studies also support this arguments hence the conclusion that house prices and unemployment rate exhibit a rather negative relationship. There is a correlation between house prices and inflation. In fact several researchers show that the relationship these two variables are 0.18-which is not strong but posit ive. The fact is; the global inflation has been relatively low for quite a lot of time and the interest rates have fallen dramatically during this low inflation rate period. An increase in money supply in the economy causes inflation and house prices to increase. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot more factors that affect house prices and the relationship they exhibit is not as strong compared to the relationship that exist between inflation and house prices. One of the other factors is the rate of interest in the economy. Low interest rates means that home buyers can easily afford to buy a home. This will increase the demand hence eventually increasing the demand of the homes. In large cities like London-where availability to land is limited-you will realize a more distinct effect of inflation. Countries with high population are always characterized with high house prices. This is because high population will always increase the demand for the houses hence pushing up the housing prices. The bottom line is; if the construction industry is not able to satiate the demand for homes, the supply-demand imbalance will explain the unprecedented increase in real house prices. The economical state of the country is also important in determining prices of the houses. Countries with high GDP are experienced with high per capita income hence high demand for housing units which results to higher housing prices. This explains the reason as to why buying a house in a developed country is expensive as compared to underdeveloped or developing countries. This paper will try to analyze the relationship that exists between house prices; GDP, interest rates, population and unemployment rates. Through these variables, the paper will try to determine how house prices are affected by interest rates, GDP, population and unemployment rate in a country. A regression model will be developed: that will eventually be used to project the level of house prices in the future. Objective of the study The main goal of this study is to determine how house prices are affected by factors such as interest rates, GDP, population and unemployment rates. Assumptions of the study Assumptions are vital concept of empirical studies. Just like any other empirical study, this study applies some statistical assumptions in order to achieve the much needed results. These assumptions include: The mean difference is zero The data is normally distributed The variance of the two

Marketing transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing transportation - Essay Example Managers within the mid-level within the business division make them. Functional-level strategies concerns single functional undertakings and related concepts that allow for the establishment of tactical decision. It concentrates on comparatively limited plan offering objectives for various functions, allotment of resources amongst diverse operations within certain functional divisions. The logistic strategy bears connections with the corporate strategy since logistics offers input in the creation of corporate strategy. Logistic strategy is affected the objectives presented by corporate and business-level strategies. Additionally, logistic strategies are affected by the strategic decisions made in various sectors of functional divisions of marketing with manufacturing. The capacity of logistic function to effect the triumph of a corporation grounds from the capacity of the logistic manager to create and employ strategies that are associated with corporate strategy. Performance measurement can be considered intricate within a global logistic context given that in the measurements, there is assortment or diversity in various equipments utilized in terms of category, magnitude and commodities. Therefore, the measurements cannot be considered simple since measurements have to be established for every component. Information is considered quite influential in relation to supply management and logistics. Extensive familiarity and visibility within these areas allows for replacement of inventories with data. Extensive knowledge concerning consumer demands through sale point information assists in improving planning and lessens inconsistency with the supply chain. It allows for excellent synchronization of various concepts such as marketing and supply via ERP tools. It ensures updated order processing and diminished lead times achieved through synchronized logistic data arrangements. Utilization of

Teacher Tenure Essay Example for Free

Teacher Tenure Essay Imagine a world where teachers were perfect and students never failed exams. This world is impossible, due to the fact that no one is perfect. Unfortunately, the reality is that some teachers are very bad at their jobs. Many grade unfairly, don’t thoroughly cover the course material, and fail to make their class enjoyable. College students pay good money for an education and expect quality teachers to help them learn effectively. It is for reasons like this that teachers should not be rewarded with tenure after a certain amount of time. This idea of teacher tenure has good intentions behind it, but there are too many negative outcomes that arise from this regulation. Teacher tenure removes incentive to improve teaching, makes it more difficult to remove underperforming teachers, and makes seniority the main factor of employment instead of performance quality. Teacher tenure started in the late 1900s around the same time as some other labor movements. Some of these movements protested for safer work environments or higher pay. Teacher tenure was an idea that arose in order to protect teachers from being fired for non-work related reasons. For example, before tenure, women could be removed from teaching because they got married, pregnant, or simply because they wore pants (Stephey). These reasons were clearly very irrational and unfair. However, it is now the 21st century and those reasons are very outdated, just like the main reason for teacher tenure. Many teachers take advantage of this gift and slack off once it is given to them. After a teacher is tenured, it is very unlikely for them to be fired, meaning that they can teach in any way that they please. This could mean that they choose to ignore the course material or make their students read a textbook every day for class. Some argue that tenure allows educators to try new ways of teaching without the fear of being fired. This is a true statement, but it is irrelevant if one is not passionate about his or her profession. It seems as if many teachers become comfortable with their course material and become lazy or incompetent when it comes to adequately covering the necessary information. If there was no tenure, educators would feel more obligated to perform to the best of their ability as opposed to the bare minimum. Getting rid of tenure would also  prevent conflict when attempting to fire an incompetent teacher. Teacher tenure makes it more difficult to fire underperforming teachers. It is a timely process and it also costs much more than it should. This problem became evident in 1986, when it took eight years and $300,000 to fire an English teacher in California. After twenty years on the job, Juliet Ellery refused to improve her teaching methods. School officials documented more than 400 reasons why she should be removed from the teaching community. She stated that â€Å"the charges represented nothing more than opinions, exaggerations and lies.† After the long process of removing Ellery, she was only suspended from teaching for one year (Bathen). This is just one of many cases that exemplify the cost and time that comes with firing a tenured teacher. Unfortunately, many schools refuse to go through this process because of the cost. In some cases, the administration of the school will pay a teacher â€Å"under the table† to resign instead of trying to fire them. This is similar to Edward F. Murin’s case when he was bribed to resign so accusations of his poor behaviors would be dropped. A few of these behaviors included strangling a student and denying a diabetic student a soda in class. There were also numerous complaints from parents about racial and abusive behavior in the classroom. After 22 years of teaching and a ten-year legal battle, it cost tax-payers $1 million to remove Murin from the education world (Bathen). These two examples may be on the higher spectrum of time and money, but they exemplify the extremity of the issue. It also gives an explanation as to why, in most situations, nothing is done to banish the teachers. This means that students receive a lesser education and they can’t do anything about it. Another problem resulting from this law is the fact that seniority is a higher priority than the quality of the teacher. In many circumstances, seniority is the most important factor that determines a teacher’s salary and job position. It is very reasonable that teachers who continue to improve every year should receive raises. This would make sense that the oldest teachers would then have the highest salary. Of course, some teachers take advantage of this luxury and don’t try to improve their teaching methods. Sometimes, teachers even become worse with age. It is also common that the older teachers have the privilege of choosing their courses. This means that they have the attractive opportunity to teach General History as opposed to American Literacy of War or a much  more perplexing subject. Consequentially, students who strive for a challenge suffer with inexperienced educators. Clearly, there are many issues in regard to this policy. Some argue that tenure gives teachers academic freedom to try different teaching methods; however there are other laws that protect and allow them teach how they please. Although tenure gives educators job security and an opportunity to attempt new things, it also diminishes the quality of education given to students in some cases. Teachers should not be rewarded with tenure after a certain amount of time. This idea of teacher tenure has good intentions behind it, but there are too many negative outcomes that come from this regulation. Teacher tenure removes incentive to improve teaching and makes it nearly impossible to fire poorly performing teachers. Seniority also plays an unfair role in the education community and should also be reevaluated.

Comparison of Traditional and Activity-Based Costing Systems

Comparison of Traditional and Activity-Based Costing Systems   Introduction: It is paramount for all types of firms to invest into a costing system. Cost management enables a firm for continued progression to enable its budget to be more vigorous and ultimately more cost effective. This essay aims to outline the framework for the main two costing systems that determine the costs and predict the activities that are consuming the most resources. To retrieve these cost values, a firm can use one of the traditional cost allocation method or the activity-based costing method. Whilst scrutinising each methods opportunities and challenges, its benefits and drawbacks will also be analysed. Traditional Cost Allocation (opportunities and benefits): The traditional cost allocation method has been described as the absorption of production overheads (excluding selling and administration overheads) into product costs for stock valuation (Letza and Gadd, 1994). The premise of this costing method is to calculate the indirect costs of a manufacturing business, with the notion of assisting managers make decisions beneficial for the organisation in terms of both costing and profitability. This is rendered by using only one overhead rate. Commonly, the machine hours or labour costs as these are directly relevant to the units produced, which can be shown by the following equation (Atrill and McLaney, 2015): As there is only one overhead rate, there is an arbitrary allocation of excess costs to its total volume base. The CIMA Technical Services (2001) mentions the traditional costing system relies upon three stages to formulate its costs: 1. Accruing of all the costs within a department 2. Designate the indirect costs to the departments that are functional, from the total costs 3. The indirect costs calculated should then be applied to products and services. These 3 stages allow for the costing system to align itself and be in accordance within the guidelines of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) (Johnson, 2014). Moreover, for firms that produce only 1 product, this system allows for a quick and smooth implementation process. This is because the total volume allocation base will only cover the volume for the sole product in the firms entire production line (Hansen Mowen, 2006). Flaws of Traditional Cost Allocation inception of ABC: Over time the use of this traditional costing system has had its limitations and drawbacks. Whilst being in accordance with the guidelines of the GAAP, the traditional system for costing omits the costs created by customers. To use the results of costing in external financial reports, it excludes selling and administration overheads. The use of only one overhead rate eliminates many other potential costs associated within a firms entire production line, which can lead to unembellished imprecisions. (Atrill and McLaney, 2015) In the past, the traditional approach in determining product costs has worked reasonably well. Overhead rates were typically of a much lower value for each direct labour than the rate paid to direct workers as wages or salaries. However, it is now becoming increasingly common for overhead rates to be between 5-10 times the hourly rate of pay due to the increased significance of overheads (Horngren et al, 1999). Even an insignificant change in the amount of direct labour worked on a job could massively affect the total cost deduced due to direct labour hours on the overhead cost loading. Moreover, overheads are still typically charged on a direct labour hour basis; overheads may not be closely related to direct labour however. (Atrill and McLaney, 2015) Principles like these in the traditional system reduces the accuracy of the model, questioning the legitimacy of this costing approach. As a result, what arose was the opportunity for an alternative technique to overcome these flaws. This led to the inception of Activity-Based Costing (ABC) Activity Based Costing: The inception of an alternative costing system had been brought about in the early 1980s by Robert Kaplan the first advocator of Activity-Based Costing. It was his aim to use more cost drivers to reduce the inaccuracies and inadequacies of traditional costing systems (Singer Donoso, 2008). Activity-based costing is an accounting practice by which costs are allocated on the basis of a firms activities. The implementation of this costing system is explicated by a chronological, 5 stage template process, which Figure 1 shows. The major amendments made to the traditional costing system are the multiple cost drivers and overhead rates that are identified. Identifying cost drivers holds as the imperative component towards a successful ABC system, for a more accurate and wholly reflective costs within a firm. The cause and effect relationship with activity costs acts as a basis for attaching these costs to a product or service (Atrill and McLaney, 2015). Created to forecast future costing, forward planning places managers in a more prominent position to assess the likely effect of new products and processes on activities and costs, leading to wider opportunities for firm managers (Horngren et al, 1999). Activity-Based Costing Opportunities and Benefits Activity-based costing offers a wide plethora of diverging opportunities. Significantly, the system has been taken on and been made more relevant to service industries. In the absence of a direct material element, a service businesss total costs are more likely to be predominantly composed of overheads. A survey conducted investigating 176 UK businesses (from varying industries) with annual sales revenue greater than  £50 million found overheads represent 51% of total cost for service providers. This is in stark contrast to 25% for manufacturers. These statistics certainly point towards the fact that ABC is an appealing proposition to adopt for firms that sell services rather than products (Atrill and McLaney, 2015). ABC can be used as a powerful tool for continuous rethinking and dramatic costing improvement in not only the services and products, but also market strategies and processes (Jinga et al, 2010). When Chrysler was placed in a period of financial turbulence, it exalted its costing system to ABC in 1991 in attempts to catch up to its formidable competitors, Toyota and Ford Motor Company. Previously, the true costs of Chrysler were made to be 30 times larger than what had been calculated (Meador, n.d.). Post-ABC (after short-term struggle through inevitable transitional difficulty) Chrysler recovered to a competitive standpoint; the automotive firm claimed they have saved hundreds of millions of dollars to date. (The Economist, n.d.) Similarly, the previously publicly-owned Royal Mail endorsed the ABC system to discover the cost of making postal deliveries, they identified 340 separate activities and subsequent cost drivers (Atrill and McLaney, 2015). The implementation of ABC can present a strenuous challenge, but with astute and correct execution, a firm can reap fruitful benefits. Within 5 years of implementation of ABC, Dutch firm Wavin made this system part of its day-to-day management culture, playing a significant role in their management excellence programme. Wavin introduced ABC by linking it to a practical business application profitability management which considered an ideal pilot area for learning about ABC, as well as establishing a deeper understanding for the relationship between product and customer profitability (Horngren et al, 1999). However, by treating ABC as a short-term concept, Wavin ran into trouble. By operating on a day-to-day management culture, they concluded every effort should be made to calculate ABC for all products. The caveat was that their real emphasis should be placed in ensuring the decision-making processes would lead to the accuracy of ABC attributed to both customers and products. Consequently, with its products Wavin used a two-phased approach whereby customers were classified into separate cost drivers. This approach generated an overall cost/customer matrix which was utilised as a foundation for its managerial decisions, representing the most significant part of the companys business (Horngren et al, 1999). Wavins implementation of ABC showed the relative unease for a firm to change its costing system, whereby the system has had many critics on its complex nature. Criticisms/Shortcomings of ABC: In spite of its main objective being to add accuracy and precision into costing schemes, from its inception ABC contained flaws. Analysing multiple overheads to identify cost drivers is time-consuming and costly. The cost of setting up the ABC system, as well as costs of running and updating it, must be incurred. The more overheads and cost drivers that are identified, the greater potential is associated with higher maintenance costs (Horngren et al, 1999). Should the firms operations be more complex and involve many activities and cost drivers, the longer the time spent to maintain this scheme. Thus, higher expenses should be paid towards its maintenance.The implementation of this costing system also presents challenges. Managers need to be taught and prepared to facilitate these new schemes, which comes with external and additional training. Once more, the complexity of mastering the scheme can be taxing in terms of time consumption. Many firms have found it problematic to implemen t ABC to existing, traditional costing systems, where it is argued that it is more manageable for start-up firms to commence with ABC (Horngren et al, 1999). Furthermore, each firm looking to take on this scheme must have all its business components broken down into its discrete components to identify all potential cost drivers. Perfecting the art of this scheme requires prolonged training, which again is an expensive measure (The Economist, n.d.). Comparing TCA to ABC: Traditional cost allocation has been around since the 1870s, where its use as a system has been going for many more decades than its alternative ABC: its inception was in the early 1980s (Ben-Arieh Qian, 2003). Interestingly a study claims that ABC is an additional costing system, not an alternative. When comparing different firms financial situations, it is highly likely that these firms do not have the exact same costing system. Some firms may use a traditional system with only one activity and cost driver associated to it, whilst others using ABC will have multiple activities and cost drivers: adding onto what the traditional system has (Narong, 2009). ABC includes labour or product parts that can be identified whereas the traditional method arbitrarily accumulates salaries, expenses, and depreciations. (Blocher, 2006) For estimating costs, ABC is a more precise system as it nurtures managers in becoming more knowledgeable of the indirect resources which identifies and removes cost drivers that are of no marginal value. It also gives managers an insight into existing parameters that have generated demands. (Jones Dugdale, 2002) The traditional approach sees its overheads as rendering a service to cost units, the cost of which must be changed to those units. ABC on the other hand views overheads as being caused by activities, like operating a store to house the cost units. Since it is the cost units that cause these activities, it is thus the cost units that must be charged with the costs that they cause. A reason for the inception of ABC is within the way overheads are organised. The traditional approach has the overheads apportioned to product cost centres, whereas ABC has its overheads analysed into cost pools, with one cost pool for each cost-driving activity. (Atrill and McLaney, 2015) The intention of ABC was neither to measure short-term variable costs nor provide a day-to-day guidance on process quality. With its forward planning nature, using ABC to predict short-run costs overlooks the fact that costs are the results of spending decisions (Horngren et al, 1999). To its disadvantage, the traditional system, on the other hand, does not present non-financial information concerning the Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs), perhaps displaying a slight negligence (Hilton, 2006). Conclusions: Whilst in theory there are two major approaches to choose from for a firm to undertake its costing decisions, there is no politically correct or preferred choice. Each costing system presents altering opportunities and challenges, where a firm ultimately has to choose dependent upon factors such as the firms industry. There has not been a major swell of manufacturing firms converting to implement ABC. Costing systems in the manufacturing sector are far more complexed, needing to convert materials into work in progress, than finished goods. However, large-scale manufacturing firms such as Siemens, Philips, Volvo and Ericsson made the brave decision in the 1990s to implement ABC. (Horngren et al, 1999) Yet 2 of these firms in Siemens and Philips have in todays climate have lost a significant market share to they once had; whether this is attributed to ABC is another question. It is important to note that the intended objectives of an ABC system at the time of implementation are likely to differ from its resulting consequences. The methodology behind ABC sets a company in a superior platform in terms of precision and accuracy, allowing managers to make more informed and knowledgeable for a firms long-term future. References Atrill, P. and McLaney, E. 2015. Accounting and finance for non-specialists. 1st ed. Harlow [etc.]: Pearson Education, pp.282-306. Ben-Arieh, D. and Qian, L., 2003. Activity-based cost management for design and development stage, International Journal of Production Economics, 83,169-183 CIMA Technical Services. 2001. Activity-based management an overview. [pdf]. CIMA Technical Briefing. Available from: www.cimaglobal.com/technicalreports [Accessed 23 March 2017] Hansen, D. and Mowen, M. 2006. Cost management: accounting and control. Mason, OH: London: Thomson/South-Western. Hilton, R.W. 2006. Cost Management: Strategies for Business Decisions, 3rd Ed. McGraw Hill, New York Jinga, G., Dumitru, M., Dumitrana, M. and Vulpoi, M. 2010. Accounting systems for cost management used in the Romanian economic entities, Accounting and Management Information Systems, 9(2), pp.242-267. Johnson, R., 2014. Traditional Costing Vs. Activity-Based Costing | Chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/traditional-costing-vs-activitybased-costing-33724.html [Accessed March 24, 2017]. Jones, T. C. and D. Dugdale. 2002. The ABC bandwagon and the juggernaut of modernity. Accounting, Organizations and Society 27(1-2): 121-163. Letza, S. and Gadd, K. 1994. Should Activityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  based Costing be Considered as the Costing Method of Choice for Total Quality Organizations?. The TQM Magazine, 6(5), pp.57-63. Martin, J. (n.d.). ABC vs TOC. [online] Maaw.info. Available at: http://maaw.info/ArticleSummaries/ArtSumHolmen95.htm [Accessed 28 March 2017]. Meador, D. (n.d.). ABC: Initiating Large-Scale Change at Chrysler The Systems Thinker. [online] The Systems Thinker. Available at: https://thesystemsthinker.com/abc-initiating-large-scale-change-at-chrysler/ [Accessed 28 Mar. 2017]. Narong, D.K. 2009, Activity-Based Costing and Management Solutions to Traditional Shortcomings of Cost Accounting, Cost Engineering, 51, 8, pp. 11-22, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, [Accessed 26 March 2017] Singer, M. and Donoso, P. 2008. Empirical validation of an activity-based optimization system, International Journal of Production Economics, 113, pp.335-345 The Economist. N.d. Activity-based costing. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/13933812 [Accessed 26 Mar. 2017]. ABC WordPress. (n.d.). Activity-Based Costing (ABC). [online] Available at: https://allearth.wordpress.com/education/cost/abc/ [Accessed 30 Mar. 2017].