Problems with Space Travel

There are a couple of problems arising from making interstellar space voyages. Two main problems are time and fuel energy required. Scientists still do not consider that space travel beyond Solar System is a physical possibility even by using powerful propulsion systems like fission rockets. In addition there is Einstein’s theory of relativity and concept of relative time. The former says that to attain the speed of light, the highest speed limit in nature, the mass has to increase to infinity – thus making the energy needed for this acceleration also to be infinite. While the concept of relative time states that if one travels faster, time travels slower, and theoretically when an object attains the speed of light the time stops completely. With the existence of these problems, the space travel to far away galaxies still seems a sci-fi concept (Ratliff, Kimball & Heraty n.d.) Propulsion Theories –Antimatter propulsion While the relative-time issue still remains a problem, scientists have proposed many solutions to overcome the problem of speed by suggesting alternative propulsion ideas. While some of the scientists focus on bettering the present chemical propulsion systems by introducing new techniques, some others have proposed an alternative to replace chemical propellant by antimatter (Ratliff, Kimball & Heraty n.d.) Theoretically every particle has its corresponding antiparticle, identical in nature but opposed in charge. When these oppositely charged particles combine they are converted into combination energy and other particle, the process is known as annihilation. Scientists are currently doing experiments to use this energy as a power source for spacecrafts. There are several methods to do this. One of them follows the principles of fission reactor and a steam engine. This method would provide twice of the present impulse to spacecrafts. A more complicated method used magnetic coils to direct the by-products of annihilation to provide the thrust, which would give an impulse of 10,000,000 million seconds but the thrust would be lower (Ratliff, Kimball & Heraty n.d.) While the method is very efficient, the main limitation of using the antimatter in the propulsion system is its price – one mg of antimatter may cost nearly one hundred billion dollars to produce.   This is the major difficulty in the implementation of antimatter propulsion technology. (Ratliff, Kimball & Heraty n.d.) Research and Experiments Many experiments have been going on for making the propulsion scheme using Antimatter, to be more specific antiprotons, feasible in near future. Antimatter is generated in a handful of laboratories around the world. The laboratories in America include facilities such as Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. These laboratories produce antimatter by accelerating subatomic particles like protons near the speed of lights and then hit them against other target particles. The most famous of these laboratories is at CERN in Geneva. In fact the first antimatter particle was produced by a scientist names Carl Anderson in the year 1932 (Forward Blase 1997) The Antimatter particles are difficult to produce because of their inherent nature. The process of annihilation consists of making a contact between particles of antimatter with particles of matter. When this happens both are annihilated and energy is created. However, the synthesized antiatoms have lasted only 40 billionths of a second before their annihilation. The simplest antimatter atom to produce was Antihydrogen. This too took billion of dollars and decades of research. Even CERN, considered to be the most advanced laboratory, where this experiment was performed, agrees that the present method is far too expensive and that newer, faster and   cheaper methods need to be researched or increasing the production of antimatter (Book Rags) The current worldwide, annual production of antimatter is only two billionths of a gram. Unless this number is increased multifold to the order of milligrams; the use of antimatter in space propulsion is not a viable option. This is because â€Å"at least several milligrams of antimatter is needed to fuel a beam core antimatter engine in local operations and several kilograms for interstellar travel to Alpha Centuri† (Persson 2007). Conclusion NASA has made an approximation that â€Å"the requirements for antimatter are on the scale of 1 to 100 micrograms per mission, which with the current infrastructure equates to an antiproton cost of $60 million to $6 billion.† (Schmidt Gerrish Martin n.d). However they also speculate that with the many research projects focused on the reduction of costs, the cost per mission could drop to $60 million per mission, or even lesser possibly less. At this rate the antimatter propulsion might become a feasible option for the future space voyages. References Book Rags, â€Å"Antimatter Propulsion†, http://www.bookrags.com/research/antimatter-propulsion-spsc-04/ Forward R L, Blasà © WP, â€Å"Advanced Space Propulsion Study – Antiproton and Beamed Power Propulsion†, 1997, http://www.transorbital.net/Library/D001_S01.html Leonard D, â€Å"Looking to Lasers, Microwaves and Antimatter for Space travel†, 26th November 2003, Tech Wednesday, http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/fof_physics_031126-1.html Persson J, â€Å"Antimatter Propulsion-Future Space Propulsion Systems†, 2007, http://www.thespacesite.com/space_antimatter_propulsion.html Ratliff S, Kimball K, Heraty G, â€Å"The Speed of light: How faster can we go†, http://www.cem.msu.edu/~cem181h/projects/98/lightspeed/group.htm#Theories:%20Propulsion Schmidt G R, Gerrish HP, Martin   JJ, Smith GA, Meyer K J,   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Antimatter Production for Near-term Propulsion Applications†, NASA http://www.engr.psu.edu/antimatter/Papers/NASA_anti.pdf   

The Gathering

For this essay I'll be dicussing about Indian(Frank) and Danny. The Gathering novel is about how five kids whom chose to fight against evil spreading around Cheshunt. These five kids need to win the battle against the Kraken but to do that they need to discover more about themselves. The warning that Lallindra(Lallie) told Indian to heed was,†only a wound brought into light can be healed. That which is hidden will in darkness fester.† In the novel when Indian was seven Indian's mother left him to look after his little sister Jenny. She was five. He was watching her play on some swings when some older kids came and started calling him names. Indian fought with them and won but while fighting he did not notice his sister had climbed to the top of the slide. She slipped and hit her head, she was in coma for a week and when she woke up Jenny wasn't the same, she used to smile and laugh but now she doesn't smile or look at you. Indian felt he killed her but her body was left behind. He never told his Mother about the truth of that day. Indian feels guilty for not taking care of his little sister and not telling his Mother about the truth of what happened, now Indian does not fight back because he feels he deserve to be hurt he feels its his punishment. Indian's guiltiness is a wound and when he brought it to light by telling his mom what happen, Indian's mom forgave him and does not blame him for what happened to Jenny. Danny Odin was a victim of police sodomy many years ago. Later the saying â€Å"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely† is aptly used in reference to the story, which involved police officers letting savage dogs loose on Danny to force him to give them information that was false. For a while after that he felt scared that a police could do anything to him and no one could do anything. He went mad for a while and he had to go to a sanitorium. The only reason he could come out was because he told them he made the whole thing up. After that one of the police officers that had attacked him visit Danny's school for a talk to improve citizen-authority relations, at the end of which the officer gave Danny a wink .Danny then realised nothing was going to make it right. Nothing made sense but survival and justice. Right and wrong, it was all lies that people made up. This quote and the opinion expressed in it is somewhat jarring with the rest of the novel's message, as it flatly denies the existence of both good and evil. The theory is, however, later rebuffed by the very same character that put it forward, as it doesn't make sense in the context of the novel thought by Nathanial, â€Å"You could tell he really believed that but there was something wrong about what he was, saying. Something that didn't jell.† And he thought of Lallie's warning to Danny. She had told him not to let the dark flame of the past consume the future. That's about right winning out over wrong.' Danny told Nathanial. Danny has to forget the past. The Gathering is more than novel triumph of good over evil, it is also a novel about self discovery. All the Chain members in The Gathering had expierienced terrible things that they need to over come to win the battle against the dark because everything that happen in Cheshunt is related to everything else because it come from a sort of core. The place where evil bruised earth. The earth that sorrows.

The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes Essay

The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes - Essay Example Several studies have revealed that persistent intake of marijuana accelerates the occurrence of the diseases that the proponents of its legalization assert that it cures. Another controversy entails the method of treatment used with marijuana. Smoking is not a very good method for taking medication since it accelerates and causes other conditions. This paper will analyze and discuss in detail the reasons why legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes should not occur. The paper will provide the premise that states should not legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. It will first provide a history of the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes as well as the nature of the debate surrounding this issue. There has been a vigorous debate about legalization of marijuana for the last 40 years. Some of the policies supporters argue that marijuana is a safe drug hence individuals should possess small quantities. They also assert that criminal sanctions against personal use and ownership characterize at worst extremely harsh and unnecessary penalties. On the other hand, the opposers of the policies claim that alleviating of present laws contradict that marijuana is not a benevolent drug, particularly according to new psychopharmacologic information shows that marijuana shares many characteristics with other illegal drugs. (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). Although researchers acknowledge the medicinal value of marijuana since time in memorial, there are other traditional drugs that cure the same conditions that marijuana can treat since monitoring the dose of marijuana is hard (Koger, 2006). There is unreliable evidence that marijuana may be useful in treating a number of medical conditions hence a v ital force behind efforts to change the legal position of marijuana (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). However, doctors have used the plant for arthritic pain, treatment of pus-forming infections and fever (Koger, 2006). In addition, marijuana may have benefits on these conditions: wasting related to AIDS, nausea after chemotherapy, spastic disorders, and relief of interocular pressure related with glaucoma. However, despite the benefits the dose of marijuana used could risk a patient a prison sentence (Conboy, 2000). The debate on legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes remains very controversial. While the health professionals are ethically required to offer the best possible treatment, they also have to follow the state and federal laws. Consequently, there has been extensive research to establish the mechanisms, potential uses, side effects, and alternative delivery methods of the contents of this drug (Yambura, 2008). Political buzzwords such as â€Å"War on Drugs† have del ayed the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. In addition, the role of states’ rights complicates the matter further since it is not directly involved in the ethics of the policy as much as the country’s federalist structure (Rabbani, n.d). History of the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes In the modern world, marijuana is one of the most well known and diversified of plants. It was native to central Asia but only recognized for its medicinal purposes five years ago during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Chen Nung. However, marijuana’s medicinal properties were evident much later in the West. In the United States, marijuana was widely used for

Middle East Augmentation System - same ideas of WAAS but this is in Research Paper

Middle East Augmentation System - same ideas of WAAS but this is in the middle east - Research Paper Example ion system is used to enable aircraft to rely on GPS for all phases of flight, including  precision approaches  to any airport within its coverage area. On the other hand, Europe has the European GNSS overlay system (EGNOS). India is launching its GPS-aided Geo-augmented navigation (GAGAN) system; however, Japan has the multifunction satellite augmentation system (MSAS). They are all satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) and are already delivering improved accuracy and integrity for GPS users over much of the northern hemisphere. Since we do not have augmentation system in the Middle East, we came with new idea of creating Middle East wide augmentation system (MEWAS). The system of satellites and ground stations, which will give  GPS  signal corrections for errors, caused by ionosphere disturbances, timing, and satellite orbit errors. In this report, we will present our new idea Middle East wide augmentation system Space and Ground Segments as an integration part of Global Satellite Augmentation System (GSAS) for enhanced Traffic Control and Management (TCM) globally at sea, on the ground (road and railway vehicles) and in the air. We will discuss how it works. Beside of that, we will look for some benefits, limitations and the future of Middle East wide augmentation system (MEWAS). The purpose of this document is introducing in details (MEWAS) system, which will make flying more efficient and safe for users. GPS is a global positioning, navigation, and timing network consisting of space, ground control, and user equipment segments that support the broadcasts of military and civil GPS signals. These signals each include positioning and timing information, which enables users with GPS receivers to determine their position and time, 24 hours a day, worldwide. All branches of the military to guide troops’ movements, integrated logistics support and battle space situational awareness, and communications network synchronization use GPS. In addition, bombs and

Child Poverty in the United Stated Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Child Poverty in the United Stated - Essay Example We have read several articles that address the question of child poverty in the United States. In order to begin to try and gain a critical perspective on this big issue, I will be discussing some of the issues these articles failed to address, in what ways the recommendations they make are unrealistic, and what obstacles exist in the implementation of those recommendations. I will also consider opposing points of view by anticipating the most common objections to the solutions these writers propose. As you will see, even after a brief survey of current thinking on such an important matter, it will be obvious that the issue is both complicated and so interwoven with almost every aspect of society, that while the answer is definitely yes, there is much that could be done to alleviate the vicious cycle of child poverty, there are no solutions that could be successfully pursued without a deep and long-lasting commitment from a very large segment of society because the fact of the matter is: Many have benefited from the very policies and decisions that have created this problem. In Jonathan Marshall’s article, â€Å"Child Poverty Is Abundant†, he asserts that â€Å"economists don’t fully understand the causes of the great inequality [of income] in the U.S,† but it seems to me that the long-term effects of economic decisions in the past 50 years can give us a pretty good idea of the causes, such as freezing the federal minimum wage off and on for years at a time or giving corporations tax incentives for adding jobs overseas or just across the border. Apparently the long-term effect of these decisions on the working poor was not the main priority when they were being made. We need to know why other considerations were thought to be more important, because someone benefited from them, and values different than a commitment

State of Economy (Michigan) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

State of Economy (Michigan) - Essay Example Based on this evidence, economists remain certain that Michigan economic status will continue to climb out of its deep economic hole. The economy has enjoyed an increasingly substantial economic recovery from the Great Recession for instance the GDP of the state has increased up to 385 dollar in 2011 compared 352 dollars of the last two years and this can be attributed to some key indicators. The per capita income of the nation has increased by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter of 2012 on a yearly basis, even thought this rise was lower compared to the 2rd quarter. Based on this evidence, the GDP of the nation is calculated to be increasing at a 0.8 percent compared to the previous years. The figure below shows Michigan economic growth after the Great Recession This extensive economic growth – as shown in the figure is assumed to be from manufacturing sector. For instance, manufacturing has a great contribution to the positive economic growth index especially the automobile industry. Th e other main contribution is from the construction sector that has made an enormous growth index change since 2005. Other crucial indicators of Michigan’s economic growth include reduction in the unemployment rate from 9.2 percent to 8.7 percent between October and November. For instance, between 2011 and 2012, the nation has had substantial growth in private sector employment. This qualified Michigan to be among the top six rapidly growing world economies. The levels of employment in the nation have currently shown some improvement signs since the end of the Great Recession in 2009 (Barenblat, 25). For example, the nation’s household employment has risen to about 2.7% matching the national gain of the state. In addition, the greatest employment increased is evidence in some sectors such as education, health services, hospitality sector, leisure, logging in addition, mining sectors, with health sector adding up 1.7 million employment opportunities accounting for 50% of the job opportunities created since recession in 2008. Similarly, the housing market has also show some minimal improvements that may viewed as economic improvement indicators and the United States sales of light vehicles has been very strong in December, assisting in boosting the production of Michigan light motor vehicles in 2012. For instance, statistics shows that housing markets are stabilizing with rise in sales and prices. Although, new homes constructions remain minimal, they are expected to rise and meet the gap demand. The business climate of the nation and the economy have enhanced during the past few years although the change has not been stronger to push the nation in the top ten economically strong nations. Following the reduction of business taxation and shift of corporate tax, the business condition of the Michigan has shifted to be among the top seven best economies of the world. Economists report that the GDP per capita and employment rates of Michigan has increas ed substantially compared to their peer nations since 2008-9. A firm competitive business climate in Michigan in conjunction with innovative customer service based administration has great impacts on the country’s economic growth. The nation has reinvented the stated government in crucial ways to function for the best for its entire people. Their policies has shifted a 1.5 billion dollars deficit in the budget without the use of on-time accounting tricks and

My response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My response - Essay Example It is a reflection of numerous economic indicators, offering an overall measure of the economic growth, competitiveness, and the living standards that are dominant in an economy. It is labor productivity which explains the basics needed to understand econmic growth and social development (Freeman). Increase in labor productivity is said to increase the standard of living in an economy. When productivity increases, the price of products and services decreases which in turns increases domestic as well as foreign consumption for those particular products and services. To meet this increase in demand, overall production increases which utilizes more use of equipment and a greater demand for workforce. Hence, employment increases, real wages of the working class grow and the overall economy flourishes (Galarneau and Dumas). The first 3 paragraphs of the article ‘One Pay Gap Shrinks, Another Grows’ basically tells about how income distribution has not been equal. It is said that the major argument is not whether men have done better than women or vice versa. It is true that women are winning the race of obtaining college diplomas and male high school dropouts are at the top of those suffering the repercussions of the poor job situation. However, it is not only the education system that needs to be revised for better income distribution. The question that matters and need to be answered is ‘why the median worker hasn’t earned more’. There certainly has been an increase in overall wages, but this increase is very moderate. It is also believed that productivity is good but not at par with growth 1947-1963. According to the sources, the bottom 80% of the people would have had $670 billion more of what they have now if the growth rate would had been constant from 60s. This means that the growth rate is perfectly fine but the income has not been distributed equally.

Evaluate a range of employee development methods and barriers to Essay

Evaluate a range of employee development methods and barriers to effective learning within organisations - Essay Example â€Å"Development is a continuous improvement process that occurs at both the organizational and individual level. At the organizational level, leaders must actively manage the overall talent mix. Effective leaders recognize the need to fill key positions with individuals who have a competitive advantage in performing their roles when compared with their peers across the industry.† (Koch 2007) This competitive advantage stems from the organizational efforts to train and develop its individuals in a way so as to add value to their expertise as well to the overall organization. History is filled with examples where companies have placed immense emphasis on its employee development programs. Organizations come up with new and novel ways to train and motivate their employees and build their career for the benefit of both the employee and the organization. The learning based interactive system developed by IBM in the 1980s lead to marked improvement in the work quality of its emplo yee. Although when this system was developed IBM was losing from its competitors and incurring loses, but the company in its difficult time did not let do of its employee development and the new and innovative learning system helped the firm come back in business. The employee development methods form the basis of improving employees’ skill and technical expertise. â€Å"Employee Development methods fall under two general categories: on-the-job and off-the-job methods. The on-the-job methods consist job rotation, assistant-to positions, mentoring, special projects, and committee assignments, while off-the-job methods consist of formal education and outdoor training.† (Medina 2006) Talking of the on-the-job training, the most common method is the job rotation which is the systematic movement of an employee from one position to the other in the same or different departments. This method claims to develop employee understanding of the overall organization by moving the em ployee and making him actually do what is required in each unit of the organization. â€Å"Numerous firms have used job rotation, including American Cyanamid Baker Hughes, Ford and Prudential Insurance,† (Griffin & Moorhead 2011) The proponents of this method argue that this type of development is required by the organization in order to familiarize the employee with all the departments and technologies and methodology that the firm uses. But the opponents argue that it makes the employee jack of all trade and master of none. According to them when employees move from one department to the other, the shorter time span adds to the confusion resulting in errors that decreases the productivity of the employee. Another off shoot of the job rotation is the job enlargement which is also known as the horizontal loading of work. It involves the increasing of number of tasks in the same job as performed by previous employees. The rationale behind the inclusion of increasing number of tasks is to reduce monotony of the worker. But this kind of loading takes a toll on the time required to complete the job thus resulting in a decrease in the efficiency. However firms have gained some advantage such as employee motivation due to

Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Operations Management - Essay Example This effective facility management helps to integrate people, process, place and technology in the business process. The organization tries to avoid possible workplace conflicts through significant facility management process, such as organizational diversity, effective space allocation process in global market and maintaining god health and safety standards. On the other hand, the organization provides products according to the market demand. They established several innovation centers in order to enhance capacity management process. Effective performance turning and analysis process enhances the capacity management process of McDonalds. The organization implements capacity management process through appropriate resource calculation process based on the specific market demand. McDonalds follows facility layout process. This facility layout process helps the organizations to achieve potential competitive advantages. It is seventh major innovation strategy of McDonalds. The organization redesigned all the 30,000 outlets around the globe. This strategy helped the organization to reduce the business operation cost. McDonalds is accommodating more customers through this process comparing to past processes. Generally, the organization is providing services to near about 50 million people on daily basis through this process. Based on the review of the recommendation plans of all the group members, it can be stated that, the organization is facing major challenges regarding their operation process. They had issues like inadequate quality of food that reduced the sales of products. However, the organization overcame the issues through the introduction of several healthy food items. Health and safety issues in workplace, capacity management issues and several facility management issues are affecting the business performance of the organization. The organization needs to maintain health and safety workplace

Student Loan Summary Essay Example for Free

Student Loan Summary Essay Some future consequences of borrowing too much debt can consist of having trouble paying your bills to receiving dunning notices from your creditors due to late or no payments. This will cause your accounts to than be turned over to debt collectors. You can then be at risk of losing some of your personal assets such as a car, or home. If you find yourself going through these things this can be considered a financial crises. Before it is time to start repaying any debts back you should develop a strategic plan, say for instance, I need to plan on how I will repay my student loan. The first thing I will do is to shop for a reputable Credit Counseling Organization that can advise me on money managing and my debts. Help me in creating and developing a budget that will help me to successfully repay any unsecured loans (student loans) I have acquired. One positive thing to do to keep students loans under control. Student loans are loans that pay for higher Education there are two types of way that helps you pay your tuition, books food and housing. With loans and grants, subsidized and unsubsidized loans. A subsidized loan is based on the students needs and do not require payments or repayments of interest until six months after graduation. An unsubsidized loan builds interest upon the time it is a worded, And one positive way to keep my student loan under control. According to the student loan characteristics if I receive a disbursement of a subsidized loan and I am an independent student my first Year loan of 2,625 payments don’t start until six months after graduation and interest rates at 8. 25% for one year is 4. 06% after graduation. And an unsubsidized loan will build and you pay interest rates during the life of the loan with interest rates of 8. 25% for one year is 6. 8% six months after graduation. I think knowing the steps to managing your finances and loans will help you stay out of debt.

Examining The Definition Of White Collar Crime Criminology Essay

Examining The Definition Of White Collar Crime Criminology Essay Little is known about white collar crime among ordinary people. Many people are unaware of its damage, because it is a less apparent harm. They cant even detect it themselves as happens, for example, with descriptions of consumer goods, with major frauds, corruption and pollution. They can just observe and endure its effects long after it occurred. This essay explores what is known about white collar crime and will expose every part of it in order to comprehend its gravity. This essay aims to examine the impact of white collar crime among citizens and to expose the harms caused by it. These issues will be discussed in this order. According to Croall (2001) most of the early criminologists associated crime only to activities of a lower social class of offenders who frequently populated courts and prisons. In the 19th century this hypothesis was challenged by a US criminologist named Edwin Sutherland who stated that crime should not only be associated with that particular class of people and that: persons of the upper socio-economic class engage in much criminal behaviour; that this criminal behaviour differs from the criminal behaviour of the lower socio-economic class principally in the administrative procedures which are used in dealing with the offenders and that variations in administrative procedures are not significant from the point of view of causation of crime (Sutherland, 1949:9) Newburn (2007) states that criminology has a small interest in white collar crime, it focused mostly on crimes such as theft, assault, burglary, criminal damage and others being strongly criticized for it. In the public belief criminology deals and researches only the crime of the powerless rather than the crime of the powerful. There are a number of reasons why criminology has treated this subject with small interest. Some of these reasons are that most of the activity is private and most of the time hidden making it very hard to study, the social and political interests in this area is little, the crime statistics do not capture this type of crimes. Another reason is that media coverage is different for this type of crime. There is usually less space devoted to white-collar crime, the coverage is less prominent and it is mostly written in the specialist press rather than in the common one. Even tough the focus of criminology in this area is little the concept of white collar crime dates back in the 19th century. The criminological work that is involved in this type of crime started with Edwin Sutherlands work. He was the criminologists that gave birth to the term and introduce its study to criminology. He tried to direct the preoccupation of criminologists from crimes committed by people of low social status to crimes committed by the ones belonging to a higher social class. Sutherland was way ahead of his time by his research. His concept of crime committed by high status individuals and the concept of white collar crime came well before labeling theories suggested that the nature of crime should not be found in the act itself but in the social response to the act. Even though Sutherland approach was indisputable it was considerable criticized. (Newburn, 2007) According to Tappan (1947, cited in Newburn, 2007, pp. 374-375) Sutherlands attempt to label people who had not been convicted by a court of justice as criminals was appalling and stated that what Sutherland sees as deviant behaviour is actually normal business practice. As a response to Tappan, Sutherland stated that some of the normal business practices were in contradiction with the legal rules. His definition of white-collar crime is highly disputed because it oversees very different kinds of victims, offenders and offences. It covers crimes committed by people from a high social status, crimes that are committed against or on behalf of some organizations. It is also a very different type of crime because it generally takes place in private, it almost always involves a form of inside knowledge, it has the tendency of having uncertain legal and criminal status, it involves an abuse of trust, the offenders appear to be legitimately present at the scene and the complaints are made l ong after the event. As mentioned before there are different kinds of victims, offenders and offences in white collar crime and because of that according to Croall (2001) there are seven main types of white collar crime such as: theft at work, fraud, corruption, employment offences, consumer offences, food offences, environmental crime and an eight type, state-corporate crime, identified according to Newburn (2007). Theft at work corresponds to activities that range from small scale employee theft to large scale embezzlement. According to Barclay and Tavares (1999) research undertaken by the British retail consortium established that theft by staff accounted for losses of approximately one quarter of losses from all crime. According to Newburn (2007) another research undertaken by Karstedt and Farrell (2007) showed that, from 1000 people that have participated in the study, more than 61 per cent admitted to have committed offences such as paying in cash to avoid taxation, avoiding paying a TV licence, falsely claiming refunds and many similar small crimes. Employment offences cover business practice and aspects of working life that ranges from employment, health and safety to low pay. Every year a large group of people are injured or even killed at work and evidence shows that the people that are more likely to fall in this category are from the lowest socio-economic groups. Tombs (2004, cited in Newburn, 2007, pp. 380) states that there have been recorded over 1600 deaths that have been linked to asbestosis in 2000 and in 2001 the Health and Safety Executive recorded 633 fatal occupational injuries and about 130.000 other injuries that had the result in a minimum three days off work estimating the cost of workplace injuries at 18 billion pounds a year. Environmental crime includes a variety of offences ranging from fly-tipping to major industrial disasters such as Bhopal. Bhopal is the city where a carbide plant leaked almost 30 tones of methyl isocyanate, exposing almost half a million people and it has been estimated that almost 20.000 of those people died to date because of it. Another form of environmental crime is represented by waste dumping. A well known case dates according to Newburn (2007) from 1998 in Cambodia where a shipment of waste was deposited 15 miles outside a village wrapped in plastic sheets. These plastic sheets were considered very useful in such a poor country and were taken by local villagers that soon started to feel sick having symptoms that varied from headaches to chest pains. It has been estimated that almost 600 of the 1200 residents fell sick. (Newburn, 2007) Fraud covers many activities that involve a form or another of misinterpretation in order to achieve financial or material advantages. According to Levi et al. (2007) there are 14 common types of fraud: benefit fraud, charity fraud, cheque fraud, consumer frauds, counterfeit intellectual property and products, data-compromise fraud, embezzlement, gaming frauds, insider dealing/market abuse, insurance fraud, lending fraud, pension-type fraud, procurement fraud and tax fraud. (Levi et al. 2007) Benefit fraud is a type of fraud based on the social security system and has a variety of cases from working and claiming benefits to failure to notify benefit officials of changes in circumstances. Charity fraud covers frauds where donations are taken for charities that do not exist or have been embezzled from registered charities. Cheque fraud is the type of fraud which means issuing cheques knowing that they are not covered. It is a type of fraud that is usually covered up to a set limit. Consumer frauds include lottery/prize scams, telemarketing frauds, misrepresentation of products and gaming frauds such as fixed races. Counterfeit intellectual property and products fraud includes the illegal copying of vehicle parts, art and antiques, computer software and games, CDs, DVDs and even medicines. Data-compromise fraud covers fraud on both companies and individuals by fraudulently gaining and using financial information. Embezzlement is the type of fraud taken against businesses, government departments and professional firms by staff and it generally involves accounts manipulation or the construction of false invoices. Insider dealing/market abuse represents in general share trading by using information that is not available to the public. It may or may not directly affect people but it affects the market and can be seen as fraud against the whole public. Insurance fraud stands for fraud that is made against insurance companies and varies from arson for profit to false claims. Procurement fraud includes fraud and corruption involved in the purchasing process from price-fixing to the abuse of inside information. (Levi et al. 2007) Tax fraud covers the failure to pay direct, indirect and excise taxes. According to Newburn (2007) this is a very common type of fraud and it is estimated that it costs the European Union almost 34 billion pound per year. These are the types of white collar crime described by Levi et al. (2007) and in order to better understand Sutherlands definition of the concept we should also research the offenders. McBarnet (1988) states that usually wealthy offenders or large corporations are the ones who make the most of white collar crime as they can more easily avoid breaking the law by employing expert advisers to keep them in accordance with the letter of law. However, if they do break the rules, they may also use expert advisers or hire the best lawyers to negotiate with enforces and contest cases in court, in order to produce more indulgent outcomes. (Croall, 1989) Jewkes and Letherby (2002) state that very few offenders are prosecuted for white collar crime and, because of this, it is difficult to determine what characterizes a white collar criminal. Offenders of white collar crime are usually believed to be from high status backgrounds but there are indications that show the opposite. According to Jewkes and Letherby (2002) there are authors that found that small businesses were the types of business that mostly resorted to insurance fraud rather than big ones. They also found that small video stores and moonlighting builders are more likely to be convicted by The Inland Revenue because their offences are cheaper to investigate and easier to convict than large businesses. Another reason for this is because small businesses deal directly with the public making it harder for them to conceal their operations that most of the time are less complex than the ones from large businesses and also because the proprietor is much more easily identified a s the responsible person. Regarding to the race, age and gender of the offender there is little information. Although Gelsthorpe and Morris (1988) affirm that the vast majority of offenders are male. That could be related to womens lower involvement in powerful positions with so many opportunities to commit high-profile white collar crime. On the other hand, a large number of women are found in fraud categories. Anyway, there had been a few legendary female white collar crime offenders to compare with the male defendants in the Guinness trials, or the directors of firms who have been charged with white collar crime. In addition, most major scandals involving frauds or corruption in the United Kingdom have involved men. Besides that, popular representation of entrepreneurs and mavericks are also mainly male. It is believed that, white collar offenders are recognized by their older age. This can be partially explained by employment rates, because younger people are less likely to achieve a powerful and trusted position associated with forms of white collar crime. Some people agree with the statement that theft at work increases with age. (Croall, 2001) Race or ethnicities have been little explored in studies of white collar crime compared with other types of crime, where it has received greater attention. This could be linked to the employment status of different minority groups where high-status occupations are dominated by majority. Studies based on white collar crime have confirmed a wide variety of offenders that were divided into two main categories: Individual offenders and Organisational offenders. Newburn (2007) states that individual offenders can be grouped according to their occupational status as elite offenders, the middle classes and white-collar workers. Elite offenders group include people with great influence, owners and partners in businesses and corrupt politicians. The middle classes group belong to middle managers, professionals and civil servants whom are mostly dealing with tax offending and fraud. White-collar workers group is represented by clerical workers and the other people involved in theft, from a lower level of organisations. Organisational offenders can be grouped according to the size of their businesses into corporate offenders, petty bourgeois businesses, and rogue and cowboy businesses. Corporate offenders involve the worlds largest corporate bodies in diverse types of delinquencies. Petty bourgeois are small companies operating locally mostly implicated in health and safety offences. Rogue and cowboy group are mainly involved in consumer fraud by misrepresentation on products and services. After describing what white collar crime means, its forms and offenders we should take a look at the victims of this type of crime. According to Levi (1988) the victims of white collar crime vary from people that is very wealthy to people that are very poor. Newburn (2007) states that, white collar victimization is different from the victimization of conventional crimes. According to Croall (2007) one of the main focuses of white collar criminology is to expose the harm caused by the crimes of the powerful which seem to overcome the harm caused by conventional crime. It tends to use general categories to describe the victims and it has the tendency to research the relation between class, status, power and offending, criminal justice and sentencing rather than victimization. Croall (2007) argues that victimization is made and studied as a multitude of layers. At the first level it affects private individuals, at the second level it affects organizations and at the third and final leve l it affects the society. There are crimes that do not target individual people but they end up doing it. For example crimes that target and affect the government end up affecting all citizens. Victimization of white collar crime is often covered up by creating incidents that result from systematic violations of the regulations. The victims are also classified as deserving and undeserving. Investors can be accused of making bad investments and are seen as less deserving than people who for example are victimized through pension fraud. One of the principles of the consumer law is to let the buyer beware so most of the victims are blamed by others or even blame themselves for not paying attention and for being taken in by sales cons and counterfeit goods. According to Croall (2007) one of the most outrageous blaming of the victims was at the Hillsborough disaster when 96 people were killed in the collapse of a football stadium, disaster that ended up to have been provoked by the advanced drunken state of the spectators. (Croall, 2007) According to Croall (2001), the best way to reduce the extent of white collar crime is through promoting a good relationship with firms that are being policed. Criminal law is universalistic and absolute, and those who offend against it are criminals. (Snider, 1990: 385) Even if sentences for white collar crime attract less public attention, they do attract criticism where, for example serious fraudsters receive short prison sentences or companies blamed for death or injuries are given a relatively small fine. Their actions are rarely criminalised if they are, they are rarely punished adequately. It should be taken into consideration the harm that has been done. (Croall, 2001) White collar crime continues to raise a lot of questions to which answers must be found in order to improve the quality of life. This essay defined and described the concept of white collar crime. It studied and showed its types, the offenders and categories of offenders, the victims and the impact that it has on them and also how criminology studies this type of offence.

René Magritte :: essays research papers

Renà © Magritte   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Renà © Magritte was born in Belgium on November 21, 1898. His childhood took place in Charlerloi. He was born to poverty and held left-wing political views. Magritte’s mother killed herself when he was only fourteen. He later joined the Communist Party. However, he preferred not to use his art for political causes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Magritte started to create successful oil paintings in the 1920s. This is when Magritte started to come into his own. In 1922, Magritte got married to Georgette Berger. Magritte was inspired by Georgette and she became his model. He also became friendly with Victor Servranckx, who had developed a very geometric-abstract style. This was the beginning of a new direction for Magritte. In 1927 Magritte and Georgette moved to Paris to be closer to where it all happens. He started to take part in the activities of the Surrealists, which became his style of choice for the majority of his life. Magritte began combining words and images in his paintings. These word-pictures were not mere illustrations of an object or a concept. Just the opposite, his work was intended to gently destabilize our mental habits of representation. Magritte elaborated a instructive classification of this type of painting, the simplest which consisted of denying an images through words, or vice v ersa. Magritte shared the Surrealist concept of the power of desire and eroticism to change life and wanted to translate this idea through unconventional images. He continued involving metamorphosis in his work. In Black Magic, a naked woman leaning on a rock gradually merges into the blue sky. The painter was, nevertheless, distrustful of the obvious seduction of beautiful colors. In The Rape he even pushed it to the point of obsession with the features of a woman's face replaced by sexual attributes, such as breasts, a belly button and pubic hair.. In 1940, Magritte was going through a crisis resulting from the German occupation in World War II. Also, at this point Magritte’s financial situation became an issue and his dissatisfaction with his own paintings. From then on, he decided that a feeling of pleasure and an atmosphere of happiness had to predominate over the sense of anxiety. Magritte first thought about changing his iconography and began to paint the leaf-birds, which are seen in two works from 1942, Treasure Island and The Companions of Fear.

Essay --

Objective: We aimed to study the demographic Characteristics of the primary vasculitides in Northeast of Iran. Methods: We retrospectively studied the medical records of patients diagnosed with any kind of vasculitis at the Clinic and Department of Rheumatology of the Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2012. Patients were classified according to the American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for the classification of vasculitis and the 2012 Revised International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference Nomenclature of Vasculitides. Results: A total of 721 patients (51.5% male, 48.5% female) with a diagnosis of primary vasculitis were identified. The frequency distributions of vasculitic disorders were as follows: Behcet’s disease, 63.6%; cutaneous leukocytoclastic angiitis, 8.2%; granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s), 6.8%; Takayasu’s arteritis. 6%; giant cell arteritis, 4%; polyarteritis nodosa, 2.1%; microscopic polyangiitis, 0.6%; eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss), 1.8%; cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, 0.3%; and...

Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay

Good vs. Evil has been a classic contrast used for centuries. It has been used in films, books, plays, and even children’s tales. But what constitutes good and evil? What determines if an act is good or evil? The things that we know, the things we believe, are not our own original ideas. That is a known fact. Everything we know and believe was influenced by our upbringing, our family and friends or lack of, our education; basically every thing that comes into contact with us. Even for the people who would say â€Å"I hated my parents and my education so they didn’t influence my beliefs! † Well, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but they did. The need that you may have had to rebel caused you to believe in opposite things from your family or whoever you wanted to rebel against. But thats another question for another chapter. In todays world, we trust our own beliefs as to what is good and what is evil. But what defines this? Most people would tell you that the â€Å"norm† defines good and evil. Society tells you that helping an old lady across the street is good and shooting a man in the head is evil. Don’t get me wrong though, I do believe in good and doing the right thing, I just want to portray a philosophical approach to this contrast. Back to the point, if everyone trusts the â€Å"norm† to decide what is good and what is evil; then isn’t that a form of mob mentality? Mob mentality is something that people are constantly warned about in literature through out time, an example being Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. So I have reached a paradox. If the â€Å"norm† is decided by the majority of people, and the majority of people coming together to create an idea is mob mentality, and mob mentality is considered bad and wrong; then aren’t our ideas of good and evil created by something that is not good in the first place? If you are at this point reading and wondering what my answer will be to this question, I want to tell you now not to get your hopes up because I don’t have a difinitive answer to that. Let’s bring this idea back in time to the early times of human existence. What are a human’s basic needs? Food, water, clothing and shelter, right? I’ve heard this hundreds of times. Well if we humans are in fact animals, then we have a set of instinctive needs. Just like a new born cougar enters the world with instinct for hunting, don’t we as well? If society wasn’t here to set guidelines wouldn’t we just be living in and amongst our instinctive needs? If one of our instinctive needs is to eat, and some of us choose to eat dogs or cats (as they do in some countries) then why do we have animal help groups breathing down people’s necks to make this stop? Because it is evil, right? But is it really? I myself could not stand the thought of me eating a dog or cat, and that is because I come from a society where these animals are pets, your friends. But why is it wrong for people from another society to do this, when they don’t see it the same way we do? Who is right here? Of course, each side thinks they are right but is there a real answer to this question? Let’s give a scenario; two men break into your house, they kill everyone in your family except you and your mother. They put a gun to your mother’s head and say â€Å"We will kill her and you will get everything, the house, the car, the money, the only thing we require is that you join us and work for us. † What would you do? Do you take their offer and watch them kill your mother, or do you tell them no and die for it. It is a lose-lose situation, there is no realistic decision you could make that would create a win. If you let them kill your mother, you will live out the rest of your life with that hanging over your head. If you say no, then you both die. The people that are doing this are evil, right? Why? I would say because they are murdering innocent people, just wiping their existence away with the pull of a trigger. But do they think that? What if the person with the gun thought what he was doing was ok? What if he grew up on the streets and the only thing that he learned was violence. If violence was the norm for him, and it conflicts with our norm, which one is right? If you should always trust in your beliefs, what if your beliefs are wrong? Lets take an example from history. Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Hitler. Good vs. Evil, right? For argument’s sake, lets classify the general population of the world into two groups. Group A are the people who idolize MLK Jr. and despise Hitler. Group B are the people who idolize Hitler and despise MLK Jr. Both sides are amongst a group that holds the same beliefs and ideals as themselves. They all believe they are right, and if the idea of wrong and right is determined by the norm, and the norm is what the majority of people decides, then aren’t they both right? Doesn’t this faulty decision lead to extreme conflict? Look at all the past wars in this world. They all boil down to the basic fact that each side had conflicting beliefs and each side believed that they were doing the right thing. So does that make each side wrong or right? Good or Evil? What do you do to fix this major flaw in today’s society? Be yourself. Individuality. Don’t allow yourself to be too heavily influenced by the things around you. Take everything you see and keep it, soak it all up, leave no stone unturned, and when you think you have everything, then decide for yourself. The truth is what we all seek in one form or another. Some are content to leave things be and others aren’t. For those of us uncontent to settle for anything less than the truth, we are fighting a losing battle. I leave you with this quote from Wilkie Collins â€Å"Are there, infinitely varying with each individual, inbred forces of Good and Evil in all of us, deep down below the reach of mortal encouragement and mortal repression — hidden Good and hidden Evil, both alike at the mercy of the liberating opportunity and the sufficient temptation? â€Å"

Herman Miller

HERMAN MILLER 1. Describe Herman Miller’s strategy. Is there evidence it has produced a competitive advantage and good financial performance? Explain. They focus on a growth strategy, through innovative products and production processes. Reinvention and renewal. They survived the Great Depression and multiple recessions, recovered from the dot-com bust and were able to continue expanding overseas. They adapted to save the company, by introducing new designs. In 1996, Herman Miller began an aggressive drive to reinvent its operations and established a fruitful relationship with the Toyota Supplier Support Center. Unique to the office furniture industry, the relationship enabled the company to adopt and implement world-class, lean manufacturing processes based on the Toyota Production System principles. Through the Herman Miller Production System (HMPS), the company dramatically reduced manufacturing square footage and inventories, cut lead times for standard product from 8 weeks to as little as 10 days, and significantly grew sales and profitability. Another component of the HMPS lean initiative focuses on the company’s people and their development, complementing Herman Miller’s long history of employee participation. Herman Miller believes its success in achieving operational excellence depends on the motivation and thinking of its people to solve problems and drive improvement. -They focus more on high quality products that is why they were not dramatically hit by competition from overseas, also because they were already in some of these markets. They’re manufacturing strategy limited fixed production costs by outsourcing component parts from strategic suppliers, which increased variable nature of its cost structure, which is their competitive advantage, which is reflected in their financial performance, from 2006-2010 their gross profit margin remained relatively constant. Top to bottom it works/ demonstrate their business in their own office. All employees are cross trained. Flexible manufacturing where a production line can do multiple jobs Both differentiation and low cost provider increase their margins . How have the company’s values shaped its strategy and approach to strategy execution? Provide illustrations of how these values are reflected in company policies. They treat all workers as individuals with special talent and potential. They respect all employees, which fuelled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skills held by all, in an environment where people felt comfortable taking risks. In 19 50, developed a Scanlon Plan (productivity incentive plan), which reflects values, equity and justice for everyone in the company. Employees felt empowered a new manager took his safety glasses off and an employee yelled at him to put his safety glasses back on. The company’s beliefs were also reinforced through the employee gift committee and environment quality action team, which distributed funds and other resources based on employee involvement. They became a responsible corporate citizen through minimizing their waste which was both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Shared gains and pains. Top executives took 10% pay cuts consecutively to avoid letting staff go, received less than competing firms top executives, which shows their commitment to the â€Å"team†. They have committees for sharing ideas on improvements and how to increase profitability. Even through project purple, one out 1000 companies would do that, increasing spending for the sake of tomorrow while cutting back to survive today, they worked as a team for a common goal, leadership and decision making was shared within the team and across the organization. Their values carried over to all functional areas of business. 3. What is your evaluation of HMI’s financial performance? How does its performance compare to prior years? the competition? Their financial performance is not bad, considering they were able to recover from many recessions. From 2006-2010 their gross profit margin remained relatively constant, however during hard times when sales dropped by 19% in 08 and 09 current liabilities were a little higher than usual and net profit margins began falling from 7. 6% to 4. 17% and 2. 15% in 2010. Which the whole industry took a hit with external trends on the rise: telecommuting which decreased the need for office equipment for all employees, increase toward ergonomically correct office furniture, competition from overseas cost of raw materials. Revenues are falling 4. Until 2003, HMI offered lifelong employment. How did this practice affect the company’s ability to staff the organization with managers and employees capable of executing the strategy? How did this practice build the organizational capabilities required for successful strategy execution? It enabled them to hire people that had talents and skills that match the needs and wants of the commercial enterprise, they redesigned benefit plans to be more portable, to decrease the cost of changing jobs for employees whose gifts and talents no longer matched customer needs. Its bundled capabilities are yielding a sustainable competitive advantage, by retaining employees. 5. Do non-monetary incentives facilitate strategy execution at HMI? Explain. Yes, it becomes engrained in the employees, part of their values and beliefs. The concierge services’ goal is to provide employees with assistance and help to be successful balancing responsibilities—at work and home. 6. Describe the culture at HMI. Would you characterize HMI’s culture as healthy and largely supportive of good strategy execution? Explain. Yes as, Herman Miller instituted a formal program of participative management. An organization of employee-owners, the company is committed to problem-solving design, uncompromising quality, and customer satisfaction. Herman Miller instituted an employee stock ownership program in 1983. To aid the decision-making process, Herman Miller uses a performance indicator, measurement, and compensation system called â€Å"Economic Value Added†. EVA is an internal measurement of operating and financial performance that is linked to incentive compensation for all employee-owners, allowing the company to shift its focus from budget performance to long-term continuous improvements and the creation of economic value. The result is a highly motivated and business literate workforce that challenges convention and strives to create increasingly greater value for both customers and owners. Every month the company and all employees review performance in terms of EVA, which has proven to be a strong corollary to shareholder value. The responsibility of employee ownership requires capable people to meet high expectations. Herman Miller believes that inclusiveness is critical to the company’s success—today and for the future. 7. What recommendations would you make to Herman Miller’s CEO Brian Walker to improve the company’s current financial performance? Does the company need to radically alter its strategy because of poor economic conditions? Should it improve its approach to implementing the strategy to reduce costs and improve efficiency? Explain. I would recommend maintaining the current strategy of being the most innovative company, however reduce costs and improve efficiency as they did to weather the storm in the previous recession. Open new market by providing products at a lower cost same quality though and target schools hospital and nursing homes.

The Importance of cost information within companies

This brief study highlights the information about the Collection of Cost Data and Reduction of Business Costs and Planning and Controlling Costs. Reports start with the interdiction portion in which it discusses the importance of the cost information to the company. Second it explains cost categorizations, demands for such categorization. In add-on to that method of ciphering insistent values. In which it discusses the computation of mean, average and manner. Further methods of cal computation of scattering are besides included under the undertaking one. Third accent will be given to the indexs of the productiveness, effectivity and efficient of the company. Then it explains the betterment in quality of the merchandises and its indexs. Under the undertaking two accents will be given to the budgeting procedure, readying budgets such as gross revenues, production, material use, material purchase budgets and hard currency budgets. Finally it discusses the discrepancy analysis performed for the given informations in annexure and item analysis of direct labour, direct stuff, variable operating expense and fixed over caput are included in latter portion of the study.IntroductionCost Accounting is portion and partial of Management Accounting, Hence it ‘s better to understand the significance of the direction accounting. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ( ACCA ) defined direction Accounting as the â€Å" Application of accounting and statistical techniques to the specific intent of bring forthing and construing information designed to help the direction in its maps of advancing maximal efficiency and envisaging, explicating and organizing future programs and later in mensurating their executing â⠂¬  . Since Management accounting is concerned with information for direction intent. It is internal information for the organisation itself and is really seldom made in public, unlike fiscal accounting information. Although the cost accounting and direction accounting are oftener used together they do non give the same significance. Cost accounting is concerned with cost accretion for stock list rating for the readying of fiscal statements used in external coverage. On the other manus it is concerned with finding costs for merchandises, activities and entities to dispatch managerial maps of planning, commanding and determination devising. Hence Cost and direction accounting system should bring forth information to run into the undermentioned demand of the entity. Allocate cost between cost of goods sold and stock lists for internal and external net income coverage Provide relevant information to assist directors to do better determinations. This involves both routing and non everyday coverage. Routing information is required for a measuring the profitableness assorted sections of concern, doing merchandise mix and discontinuance determinations. Non everyday information is required for strategic determinations. Provide information for planning, control and public presentation direction. Planing involves interpreting ends and aims in to specific activities that are required to accomplish those ends and aims. Control is the procedure of guaranting that the existent results confirm with the planned results. Performance is so measured and compared with marks on a periodic footing. The term budget appears to hold been derived from the Gallic word â€Å" baguette † which means small bag or a container of paperss and histories. A budget is a formal operating program of action expressed in pecuniary footings for a given future period of clip. Simply, it is a elaborate program sketching, the acquisition and usage of fiscal and other resources over a specified clip period.Undertaking 01Cost categorizationCost is pecuniary step of the resources sacrificed to accomplish a specific aim such as fabrication or geting a merchandise. In other word cost is the sum of existent or nominal outgo incurred on or attributable to a specific merchandise or section or procedure or activity. Cost information is required to accomplish different sort of aims such as stock list rating, determination devising or control. Cost information can non be used in similar manner for all aims. Therefore cost is used in different manner. For this intent cost is classified in different ways. Cost categorization for stock list rating and net income measuring intent. Direct cost and Indirect cost Manufacturing cost and non fabrication cost Merchandise cost and period cost Occupation costs and procedure cost Cost categorization for determination devising intent. Fixed, variable, semi fixed, semi variable cost Relevant and irrelevant cost Sunk cost Opportunity cost Fringy cost Cost Classification for control Controllable cost Uncontrollable costNeed for Cost ClassificationCost categorization for stock list rating and net income measuring intentDirect cost and indirect costDirect cost – Are those costs can be specifically and entirely identified with the specific cost aim in an effectual mode. Direct cost can be farther divided in to three parts by sing the elements of cost. Direct stuff – The cost of stuffs which become a portion of the finished merchandise. Direct labour – The payments made to employees who are straight affecting in the fabrication procedure. Direct Expense – The disbursals other than direct stuff or direct labour which are straight attributable to a specific cost aim. Indirect Cost- Are those cost that can non be specifically or entirely identified with a cost aim in an effectual mode. These are normally referred to as overhead cost. These are three types. Indirect stuff cost- Cost of those stuff which are non become portion of the finished merchandise is termed as indirect stuff cost. Indirect labour cost- Payments made to employees who are non straight affecting in the fabrication monetary values. Indirect Expenses – Those cost other than direct cost indirect stuff seashore and indirect labour cost.Fabrication and non fabrication costThe cost incurred for fabricating a merchandise is termed as fabrication cost. This consists of direct stuff cost, direct labor cost, direct disbursal and fabrication operating expenses cost. Non Manufacturing cost The cost incurred for the activates other than fabrication of a merchandise is called not fabrication cost. Normally fabricating cost is included to value the stock list but non fabrication costs are charged to gain and loss history.Merchandise cost and period costMerchandise cost is these cost that are identified with goods purchased or produced for resale. In other words those costs which are attached to the merchandise that are included in the stock list rating for finished goods, or work in advancement are termed as merchandise cost. Time period cost is those costs which are attached to a specific period and therefore they are non included in the stock list rating. These costs are treated as disbursals for the period in which they are incurred and charged to income statement. Hence these cost rare non attached to a merchandise.Job cost and Procedure costJob bing system is applied where broad scope of occupations or orders received and every occupation is non equal. Therefore cost of each occupation is calculated individually. Hence occupation cist is those cost which are attached to a specific occupation. Procedure bing system is applicable where many units of the same merchandises are manufactured. Cost of a unit is to be measured by spliting the Cost of production for the period by figure of units produced. Hence procedure cost is those which are attached to a fabrication procedure. Cost categorization for determinations doing Fixed, variable, semi fixed, semi variable cost This categorization is done based on the behaviour of cost. Harmonizing to behaviour cost are classified in to four parts. Under this categorization costs are classified by sing their behaviour with regard to the Variable Cost Variable cost is those costs that vary in direct proportion to the degree of activity ( Production Volume ) Fixed Costss Those costs that remains changeless over broad scopes of activity. These costs are non altering within short tally with the alterations in production volume. Since the entire fixed costs remain unchanged that cost spread over the big figure of units when the production volume is increased and so fixed cost per unit is decreased. Semi Fixed cost Semi fixed cost are those costs that jump in to different fixed cost degrees at critical points of activity within short tally. Semi Variable cost Those cost that consist of both variable and fixed constituent.Relevant and irrelevant costRelevant cost is those costs that differ among alternate classs of actions. Therefore when determination is made those costs are relevant for the division. Cost can be changed by determinations. Irrelevant costs are those cost that do non differ among alternate classs of action. That cost will non be changed by a determination and cost can non be saved non taking a given class of action. These are common to all classs of action.Sunk CostSunk cost is those cost that have already been incurred for the acquired assets. These costs do non differ among alternate classs of action. They have been created by a division made in the yesteryear and that can non be changed by a determination that will non be made in the hereafter. Therefore these costs are irrelevant for the determination. Opportunity cost Expected benefits of the chance that is lost or sacrificed when pick of one class of action. This cost is relevant for the determination. Fringy cost In economic sense the fringy cost is the extra cost of one excess unit of end product. But in accounting sense fringy cost is nil but variable cost. Cost categorization for Control For this intent of commanding cost duty centres are established. Cost centre is an organisational unit headed by a director who is responsible for the cost of that unit. Some cost points can be managed by the directors of the cost unit and some points can non be managed. Hence governable cost is those cost that are moderately capable to ordinance by director and he can act upon on cost. Whereas unmanageable cost are those cost that are non moderately capable to ordinance made by the director with whose duty those cost are being identified. But the director can non act upon on these cost from his action.C. )Consequences of the Calculations as per the appendix 01 to this studies is as follows.D. )Representative ValuessRepresentative values can be calculated by utilizing following methods, Arithmetical mean Median MannerDispersionThe grade to which numerical informations tend in to distribute about an mean value is called the fluctuation or scattering of the informations. Following are the of import methods of mensurating scattering. Scope Semi inert-quartile scope Average divergence Variance and standard divergenceE. )Arithmetical MeanArithmetical Mean is the common type widely used step of cardinal inclination. Arithmetical mean of a series is the figure obtained by spliting the entire value of the assorted points by their figure. There are two types of arithmetic Mean Simple arithmetic mean Weighted Arithmetical mean Mean = a?‘ x1+x2+x3 Nitrogen a?‘X = the amount of variables N= Number of observationsMedianMedian is the value of the point that goes to split, the series in to equal parts, one half incorporating values greater than it and the other half contain values less than it. Therefore series has to be arranged in go uping or falling order before happening the median.MannerMode is the most common point of the series. Mode is defined as the value of the variable which occurs most often in a distribution.ScopeIs the difference between the smallest value and the largest value in the distribution? It ‘s a unsmooth step of scattering. Range = Largest Vale- Smallest ValueSemi Inter- quartile ScopeIt can be defined as the half the distance between 3rd quartile and first quartile. Semi Inter quartile scope = Q3 – Q1 2Average DeviationIs the arithmetic mean of the divergence of a series computed from any step of cardinal inclination ( Mean, Median, Mode ) all the divergences are taken as positive. Hence it is a step of scattering based on all points in the distribution. M.D. = a?‘ degree Fahrenheit ( D ) Nitrogen D= divergence from mean f= several frequenceStandard DeviationThis can be defined as the positive square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the divergences of the given observation from their arithmetic mean. 2 = a?‘ ( X -X saloon ) 2 NitrogenProductivenessAs koontz and O ‘ Donnel, productiveness is the input: end product ratio with in a clip period with due consideration for quality. As a expression, Productivity = Output Input signal In its really simple signifier, productive people are capable of acquiring more end product with less input. This is nil to make with sum of resources we have, but how good we are overseas telegram of utilizing available resources to accomplish higher degree of input. Productiveness can be measure through input end product ratio. If the ratio gets high figures than the budgeted figure shows the betterment in productiveness of the company.EffectivenessHarmonizing to Drucker, is â€Å" making right thing † , which denotes that resources are used to accomplish the intended aims. It s evidently connected with the end product of a procedure. Improvement in effectivity of the company indicates through if the figure of units produced for the twelvemonth is greater than the budgeted production units for the twelvemonth.Efficiencyâ€Å" Making thing right † . Hence efficiency is evidently connected with the usage of input. If anything is done with a minimal usage of resources, with no wastage and mopess, the manner it is done is efficient. If the manner something is done is sound so t is efficient. Efficiency of the company indicates through decrease of direct labor cost per unit of end product, direct stuff cost per unit of end product and direct over caput cost per unit of end product. Direct labour cost per unit of out moue can be calculated by spliting the entire labor cost for the period by the figure of units produced. As such direct stuff cost for the period and direct over caput cost for the period besides divided by the figure of unit produced for the same period in order to bring forth the direct stuff cost per unit of end product and direct operating expense cost per unit of end product severally. This can be compared with the current twelvemonth and last twelvemonth.QualityTo run into the challenges of the competition, organisations are trusting progressively on higher quality. Although quality has ever been of import many organisations traditionally merely emphasizes sensible quality. It was and likely still is by and large believed that high quality is associated with high cost. High quality had non been stressing in the yesteryear because traditionally, the cost accounting system did non mensurate the costs associated with utilizing hapless quality stuff and bring forthing hapless quality merchandises. Cost comptroller was by and large involvement in fiscal steps. Cost of hapless quality are by and large non fiscal in nature hard to mensurate and hence ignored. Management who relied upon traditional cost accounting studies was by and large incognizant of the high cost of hapless quality. This had contributed to the gradual eroding of competitory advantages of many organisations peculiarly against those organisations where there was a great trade of accent on quality including such characteristics as entire quality Control. J. ) Cost accountant tins steps quality. Quality steps include fiscal every bit good as non fiscal.IndexsMeasure of Vendor PerformanceDelivery on clip Right quality Right measure Fair monetary value and footings Willingness to work together to work out the jobs Vendor public presentation is an of import since if seller or provider who do non adhere to high quality may present hapless quality stuff, unequal measures and do late deliver. As such cost of merchandises may increase and quality of merchandises lessenings.IndexsMeasure of Manufacturing PerformanceDefects rates Percentage output Bit Rework Unscheduled machine down clip If defects rates and bit values are high and unscheduled machine down clip are high indicts the hapless fabrication public presentation ensuing hapless quality to the company. Finally step of client public presentation in footings of following indexs is of import since good public presentation show the high quality of the company. If figure of ailments are less, favourable feedback from the clients, merchandise failures at client locations are less and decreased guarantee disbursals shows the improve quality of the company.IndexsMeasure of Customer AcceptanceNumber of client ailments Feedback from clients Merchandise failure at client locations Guarantee ExpensesUndertaking 02A. )Budget is a elaborate program sketching the acquisition and usage of fiscal and other resources over a specified clip period. Phases of Budgeting procedure Communicating inside informations of budget policy and usher lines to those people responsible for the readying of budgets. Determining the factor that restricts end product. Preparation of gross revenues budget Preparation of functional budgets Negotiation of budgets with higher-ups Coordination and reappraisal of budgets Concluding credence of budgets Ongoing reappraisal of budgetsB. )Fixed Budgets It is prepared based on one degree of end product. If existent end product differs from budgeted degree of end product, discrepancy will originate. Therefore it ‘s prepared on the premise end product and gross revenues can be estimated with just grade of truth. In the state of affairss where gross revenues and end product can non be estimated accurately, fixed budgets do non accommodate and flexible budgets can be used. Flexible budgets A budget which recognizes the difference between fixed and variable costs in relation to fluctuations in end product, turnover or their variable factors such as figure of employees are designed to alter appropriable with such fluctuations.C. )Gross saless, production, material use, Material purchase and direct labor budgets for the Grose Limited are depicted on Annexure 02 to this study.D. )Flossy Limited Cash budget for the period of 03 months is shown in annexure 02 to this study. Balance at the terminal of the each month is as follows. January =? 25,000 February =? -125,000 March = ? -45,000E. ) & A ; F. )Variance computation for the Frost Production Company Ltd. Is shown in annexure to the studyG. )Operating statement is shown in annexure to this study.H. )Consequences of the operating statement shows the snap shooting of the differences between the budgets and existent figures, However detail analysis of each cost point is required to do good determinations.I. ) & A ; J. )Direct stuff discrepancy of the company indicates that existent proportion of stuff used are more than the standard proportion since it gives minus figure of 200. Direct material Output discrepancy examines the differences between the standard output of the existent stuff input and the existent output, both valued at the standard stuff cost of the merchandise. Direct labor discrepancy is the difference between the existent direct labour cost and standard direct labor cost for a period of clip. In this neither instance there is nor difference between the existent and standard cost. Null figure is given due to negative labour rate discrepancy of 800 and positive labor efficiency discrepancy of 800. Variable operating expense cost discrepancy besides recorded as Zero bespeaking there is no difference between budgeted figures and existent. This is as a consequence of the Unfavorable variable over caput outgo discrepancy of 200 and favourable discrepancy of variable over caput efficiency discrepancy of 200. Finally the fixed over caput outgo discrepancy shows the favourable discrepancy of 400 taking to the consideration of budgeted and existent fixed over caput cost. Whereas fixed over caput volume discrepancy is recorded as nothing.DecisionCollection of Cost Data and Reduction of Business Costs -Those cost aid to see the timing and hazard of the benefits from stock ownership and helped to do good determinations hence monetary value of the houses ‘ common stocks additions. Planing and commanding cost – Budgeting and other cost information are necessary for the directors who held responsible for a specific point of cost to stipulate bound on how much can be spent. This bound may be adjusted depending on the activity during the period.

Summary and Reflection

The article contains a piece of history because in a way, it talks about how the Cold War started based on the point of view of an editor named Charles L. Mee.As can be readily ascertained from the title, the author is merely presenting his educated opinion pertaining to the contribution of different countries like the United States, Russia, Germany and other countries , their hidden conflict, how they acted and reacted, and how they each played their role in the beginning and ending of the Cold War.The author also discussed some of the so-called behind -the-scenes strategies that came into play which involved famous political figures, and he is leaning to the possibility that what these authorities did may have mitigated or aggravated the circumstances that further ignited the beginning of the Cold War (Mee, 2009).The author opens the article by painting a picture of two scenarios: The first one focuses on how President Truman expressed his uncensored sentiments about the Russians t o Foreign Minister Molotov who only arrived to pay his respects to the remains of President Roosevelt, and the second one talks about how Winston Churchill kept thousand of captured German troops and prepare them against Russia (Mee, 2009).In both of these pictures, the author is trying to illustrate sarcastically that the behavior of these people was a sure fire way to start a conflict. It is not unknown to many that the Cold War began after the World War II. Sensitivity should be exercised at all cost during these trying times when talking about matter relevant to national security and diplomatic relations and the author is trying to say that these political figures showed the exact opposite of being sensitive.The author goes on to discuss how the different countries picked the strategy that would work best for their country economic- and military- wise, and they also picked on the countries which they would deem as allies.The Cold War resulted in a battle between the strongest of countries, the east against the west. This view of the author is strengthen when he mentions that the Big Three does not care about what happens to other countries as long as they did their part right and make sure that they can have everything going in their direction.He further extends his argument when he said that these contenders were just using the weak ones as pawns because during these times, the power is up for grabs and they need all the help they can get. The Big Three that the author is referring to are Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill (Mee, 2009).

Need for Security Essay

Security and control is needed in a custodial environment as people are sent there for a reason so if they were allowed to do whatever they want then it wouldn’t be a punishment. An advantage of having control is that the staff will always have authority over the prisoners, which is vital as they must be able to enforce discipline. Another advantage of having control is that they can keep an account of offences that prisoners have committed. This will come in useful if the prisoner has adjudication, it will also come in usual when reviewing the prisoner. Having the IEP scheme in a prison is a good thing as it encourages the prisoners to behave, this will make security and control easier to manage as the prisoners aren’t doing things they shouldn’t be. It will also make prison life for the prisoners more enjoyable, which is an advantage as it’s another reason why they won’t misbehave. Searches are needed in prisons to ensure that prisoners aren’t in possession of any prohibited items, if they do have this then it could lead to potentially dangerous situations. An example of this is if a prisoner has a weapon then they may use this against other prisoners or against staff. It is also important that searches are carried out on visitors of the prison as they will try their hardest to smuggle items in for prisoners. This is an advantage as it prevents prisoners from having things that shouldn’t, having an item like drugs will lead to gangs within the prison and this is something that must be avoided. Another aspect of security which is a big advantage to the prisoners and the officers is the dynamic side of security. Prisoner officers monitor the prisoners to ensure that they are coping with life in prison; if they aren’t coping well at all it could lead to them becoming suicidal. Prisoners could self-harm or even commit suicide if the prison officers aren’t keeping an eye on them. It is the duty of the prison officer to ensure that they look after the prisoners so letting this happen would mean they aren’t carrying out their job efficiently. Having dynamic security is a big advantage as it stops this from happening.

European political systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

European political systems - Essay Example The countries that joined in 1958 include Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands and Luxembourg. These six countries were motivated to put collectively the coal and steel industries under supra-national control. The coal and steel developed to European Economic Community in 1958. In 1995 three countries joined the union namely Austria, Finland and Sweden. In 2007, Bulgaria and Romania joined the union. In 2004, Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland and Slovenia were considered part of European Union and largest integration that took place. The integration involved the breaking of some of the countries restrictions to adhere to certain issues such as the free movement issues. To some countries, the Stabilization and Association Process put in place to deal with particular cases before recognition, was a challenge to entry. In 1973, the following countries joined European Union, Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland. Greece joined in 1 981 and Spain in 1986 (Zeff & Pirro,

Substance Abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Substance Abuse - Essay Example Some people argue that recreational use of drugs is not harmful, however studies show that use of recreational drugs leads to addiction and permanent usage of drugs. People who support the recreational use of drugs favor the use of Marijuana as they feel it is not harmful for people. However, recent studies show that marijuana is also harmful for human beings. According to National Institute of Drug Abuse, marijuana users become dependent on others. They find it hard to understand different aspects of life and others assistance on every aspect. It is also important to note that illegal drug is not the only thing that creates addiction in an individual. Things like medicine, alcohol, tea, coffee etc could also create addiction which may cause problems for an individual (á ¸ ²aminer, 2010). Treatment The aim of the treatment of patients for substance abuse is to take them to a point where they are free of the dependency and habit of using illegal drugs. Although, the patients may not get rid of the problem completely, but the negative effects of the use of such drugs may be negated from such treatment. Studies show that 60 out of 100 are treated with desired results, as the dependency of drug addict patients reduces with the treatment.

A Case Study of China's C Information Technologies Co Dissertation

A Case Study of China's C Information Technologies Co - Dissertation Example Alongside with the competition growing in various sectors, Information Technology (IT) sector has also been rapid in growth as a sector as well as competition within industry. Therefore, combination of competition in Information Technology (IT) sector as well competitive resources is multiplied and human resource with Information Technology (IT) skills is of multitude competition. Among 150 economies, China being an emerging economy has also increased its pace of digitalization hence accelerated its move of growth in IT industry (as show in the figure below). This growing pace has also increased importance of IT professionals’ altogether. However, this growth is not only concerned to meet statistics but immense consideration have been given to high value performing IT professionals and hence, performance management of IT professionals of IT industry has arisen as important area that calls for due consideration (Dutta and Bilbao-Osorio, 2012). (Dutta and Bilbao-Osorio, 2012) MATA (1995) has found that proficiency of Information Technology (IT) employees of an organization on technical as well as operational front has significant positive correlation with business performance. Higher their capacity to provide more customized products or projects greater it will benefit the firm. Their competency is also important as implementation phase of the Information Technology (IT) project also require more knowledge staff than other sectors. Information technology since its development and growing phase has been progressively facing issues and challenges pertaining to its application. IT issues vary in large in number from sector to domain, size and type of the company etc. These may range from the selection and implementation problems of the system to staff issues and also variation from sector as well (Shaukat, Zafarullah, and Wajid, 2009). Among large number of failures of IT project, many of them fails and cited reason of failur e is the delay and financial excess burden that it causes. In HR only, 30 percent to 70 percent of the projects fail in this respect (Sohal, Moss, and Ng, 2001). If explored reason behind these two factors is directly or indirectly human resource as it is human resource that work on implementation of designed technology and scope. Project Management in general and Information technology in specific has a dominant list of failing projects. Most of projects fail for their inability to be completed on time, within defined cost and scope. And main reason cited behind the failure of IT projects is its inability to meet the organizational need to technology update. Top ten corporate information technology failures given in images below, cites former or later the similar reason: (Top 10 Corporate Information Technology Failures) With the highlighted importance of Information Technology (IT) staff in an organization, author of the study has aimed to explore the avenue in China due to it acc elerated growth. With case study methodology, author has selected China's C Information Technologies Co., Ltd. for this study. The study is aimed to find the factors, methods and strategies that are effective tools of performance management in specific relation to the performance of Information Technology (IT) personnel. Researcher has identified certain research questions addressing them will lead to get insight of the topic. Following are the research questions for the case: 1- Given the characteristics of C Company’s Information Technology (IT) project staff, what are the theoretical bases for their incentives? 2- In C Company, what are

The Risks Associated with Outsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Risks Associated with Outsourcing - Essay Example Offshoring refers to the location of the work while outsourcing refers to who does the work. A company may offshore without outsourcing if the jobs are relocated to its captive unit or its own office in another country (Scott, Ticoll & Murti, 2005). Thus, in general terms outsourcing refers to a buyer contracting with an outside supplier for services. Various factors are responsible for this but both the buyer and the supplier are subject to risks in different fields. Outsourcing as a cost-effective strategy has shown positive results but significant risks have to be recognized and managed. Since the company relies on some other company for its functions, they have to be managed properly otherwise it could adversely affect the customers and their operations (O’Keeffe & Vanlandingham, n.d.). As far as the buyer is concerned, delays by the supplier can affect customer satisfaction and performance level. In production units, this would mean maintaining higher levels of stocks to mitigate risks but then this involves higher working capital to be blocked. Secondly, the product or service quality may suffer in outsourcing. Hence it is important that the partners or the suppliers have to be assessed carefully before finalizing the deal. If the supplier does not have the capacity to carry out the work or have the financial stability to service the contract, it poses a risk for the buyer (McKenna & Price, 2007) Suppliers may not be financially viabl e thus exposing the buyer to supply interruption risk. Loh and Venkatraman (1995) emphasize that the control issue is the major inhibitor. Firms are reluctant in shifting the locus of competencies towards the external suppliers. This would mean that the decisions rights over the assets are vested in the vendors that might not share the same goals and objectives as the client organization. Thus, even though the benefits of outsourcing offer temptations to the client organization, the risks to have to be considered before signing the contract. Both parties face risk although the client organization is more at risk than the vendor. The skills and competencies of the vendor are critical to the success of the alliance. The client has to transfer not just the technical know-how to the supplier but also communicate the larger goals and objectives so that the vendor’s approach is in alignment with the company objectives. In fact, unless both the parties work in unison, risks would be on both sides. Â  

Marketing management in pratice Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing management in pratice - Article Example Perfumes are a multibillion industry with many big and small players vying for the market space. Fragrance forms the critical component of perfumes. According to Williams and Curtis (2006) researchers have established a variety of roles for marketing people, which includes; As such there are other cosmetic items which have fragrance, but these items are supposed to cater to some other needs as well. Cosmetics have been around for many thousand years now. Use of cosmetics can be traced back to earlier times when people used to paint their body for religious ceremonies, war, and mating rituals (Kumar et al, 2006). Range of items like powders, soap, shampoo, toothpaste etc. also form part of the cosmetics industry, but the first thought that comes to mind on hearing the term 'cosmetics' is makeup and perfumes, especially for women. Though perfume as such doesn't come in the category of items required for living, but over the years it has certainly acquired a status of an item required to make a 'decent living'. It is this aspect that is required to be explored optimally, using marketing communication techniques. Traditional marketing mix concept, first proposed by McCarthy in 1960, consists of Product, Price, Place and Promotion (better known as the 4Ps). Each particular marketing mix adds up to a certain amount of effort the company is making for the purpose of generating sales. Any plan to develop a competitive advantage must be based on a sound analysis of the company's competitors. Communication forms a crucial part of managerial activities. Marketing communication in turn helps a company in building a brand, creating brand loyalties, increase in sales, cutting costs, etc. North American market is a very diverse market in general which caters to customers/ consumers from different walks of life, different cultures, ethnic groups and age groups. There is lot of diversity in the perfume market itself. With so many varieties of perfumes available in the market it'll require a committed and consistent effort on the part of Picasso perfume to attract the customers. One of the biggest markets for perfume is the youth segment and Thomas (2007) finds out that this segment is not very loyal to the brand, what they ask for is the fragrance. Studies (Datamonitor, 2007) have suggested that blended fragrance is the most preferred fragrances followed by musk, sandalwood and others. Therefore, Picasso will have to take note of the customer's preferences to establish itself as a quality product in the market. Thomas (2007) further adds that the celebrity endorsement of some particular brand also helps in attracting the youth segment towards the brand. Perfume companies have been extensively