Lord of The Rings :: essays research papers

J.R.R. Tolkiens concept of too much power is summed up by Lord Acton when he once said, "Power corrupts, however absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Tolkiens first book of his fantasy based trilogy, Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings tells a story of a quest to end a powerful dance orchestra throughout Tolkiens created "Middle Earth". This quest was headed by a "Hobbit" named Frodo Baggins who, in the end, becomes corrupted by power himself. This corruption begins when Frodo uses his ring to become unseeable over and over again to escape certain situations. The quest to destroy the powerful "Ruling Ring" forms the basis for this story.     The book begins with Bilbo Baggins celebrating his iodine hundred and eleventh birthday. Many "Hobbits" show up at his party including his third cousin, Frodo, which is the main character of the novel and a powerful wizard named Gandalf. Biblo possed a powerful ring k nown as the "Ruling Ring" which gives "Supreme Power" to whoever has possession of it. At the end of the party, Bilbo uses his magical ring to turn invisible and stun his guests. Gandalf, the powerful wizard, then meets up with Biblo at his house and takes the ring from Bilbo, which is corrupting him. Gandalf examines it, realizing that the ring Bilbo has is the powerful "Ruling Ring". Knowing that the forces of evil ar in search of the ring, Gandalf sends Frodo, a relative of Biblo, to destroy the ring in the only place it can be destroyed, "Mt. Doom". Overhearing the talk between Gandalf and Frodo, Sam, a "Hobbit", that is good friends with Frodo is forced on the quest to aid Frodo.     The two Hobbits set off on a journey in which they meet up with others that joint them on their journey such as Gimli the "Dwarf", Legolas the "Elven" archer, Boromir a "Human" tracker, Aragorn the heir to the &qu otHuman" throne, two more "Hobbits" Merry, Pippin and the powerful "Wizard" Gandalf. They travel across "Middle Earth" fighting off many "Orcs" and "Black Riders" which are in search of the ring by the orders of the powerful evil "Wizard" Sauron. During their quest, they get a line many ambushes by the "Orcs" which they overcome and usually slay. In some of the ambushes, Frodo uses his ring to become invisible to escape from the "Orcs" and "Black Riders".      Boromir asks to see Frodos ring because he has a yearning for power and authority and then tries to take it from him.

The Holocaust :: essays research papers

Hitler had a plan to ?purify? Germany in order to fulfill his vision of a gross(a) nation.In Mein Kampf, a book written by Adolf Hitler which explains his ambitions and explains how he wants to cleanse Germany of all Jews, communists, gypsies, homosexuals, and disabled people. Hitler had targeted specifically the Jewish population because of his hatred towards them. In World state of war Two, around 6 million Jews were persecuted by the Nazis. Firstly, in 1935, the Nazi Party passed the Nuremberg Laws, which were designed to stop Jews and Germans from marrying, to make sure that German blood was not deflower by mixing with other races, and produced pictures warning people about what could happen. People were ?warned? about which shop belonged to the Jews and were discouraged to buy any goods from Jewish stores. It was conspicuous that this racial law passed by Hitler was very degradingly towards the Jews. Despite that most people were not ignorant and knew this was wrong , no one dared to oppose the Nazis due to fear. Anyone that opposed the Nazis was to be shot. Hitler complete that this was not effective enough in order to achieve his goal. The Nazis had a meeting to discuss more than efficient ways to eradicate the Jews. In 1938, the property took a more serious turn for the worst. Called the night of Broken Glass, the Nazis started to use violence against the Jews. Jewish shops, churches, and other buildings were openly attacked. People became subjected to violence. It would lead to the start of more systematic violence. The violence escalated to the pinicle of the tragedy that the Jews experienced, the Holocaust. From 1939 onwards, Jews were rounded up. They were forced to move out of their homes. Jews started getting sent t o areas in cities designed only for them.

Vonneguts Nihilistic Views Exposed in Cats Cradle Essay -- Cats Cra

Vonneguts Nihilistic Views Exposed in Cats rock n roll musician If humans strive to fulfill their void, of a lack of convey in their lives, their folly will cheat them from thetruth. Kurt Vonnegut portrays his inner emotions andfeelings of the insignificance of religion by means of thecharacters of his novel, Cats Cradle. His satiric approachto a subject that many people base their daily existenceupon, challenges the readers faith. As people appear fora deeper essence in their lives, the more confused theybecome. Only to become entwined in the Cat s Cradle oflife. In the beginning, the reader is warned Anyone unableto understand how a useful religion can be founded on lieswill not understand this book either (5-6). The theme by dint ofout the entire novel is knack as, religion is based onlies to give people something to believe, and find meaningin. Vonnegut created a religion in his novel, Bokonism,founded by a man named Bokonon. Through lies, and victimize(p)poems, Bokonon spreads his religion to the people of SanLorenzo, a small desolate island with no future. All of thetrue things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.(5)Vonnegut, through the ideals of Bokononism, gives the readerinsight into the notion that all religions are based onlies, and un-truths. When Bokonon, christened Lionel BoydJohnson, arrived at the Island of San Lorenzo, he saw theplace as a disaster, which would yield no economic wealth orprosperity. Theonly way that he saw possible for of thisplace to become a utopia was to invent lies in which thepeople could base their existence. These lies would enticethe people ... ... ofhuman existence is protein (24). This fact of scienceintensifies the conclusion that human existence is futilewithout meaning, such a meaning that religion provides.However, that is just the educational activity that Vonnegut expectsthe people of the world to make. The void that humans feela need to fill, with thoughts such as religion, will neverbe filled the lookup for meaning is never-ending. Just likean endless, pointless game of Cats Cradle. Bokonon, in hisinfinite wisdom knew not to take his own advice and thevalidity of it was null. There is no truth, there is nomeaning, No damn cat, and no damn cradle (66). BibliographyVonnegut, Kurt Cats Cradle Delta Books 1998. (287 pages) Price, Liana Understanding Religion Through Cats Cradle(http//www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_religion.html) Vonneguts Nihilistic Views Exposed in Cats Cradle Essay -- Cats CraVonneguts Nihilistic Views Exposed in Cats Cradle If humans strive to fulfill their void, of a lack ofmeaning in their lives, their folly will contrivance them from thetruth. Kurt Vonnegut portrays his inner emotions andfeelings of the insignificance of religion through thecharacters of his novel, Cats Cradle. His satiric approachto a subject that many people base their daily existenceupon, challenges the readers faith. As people search fora deeper meaning in their lives, the more confused theybecome. Only to become entwined in the Cat s Cradle oflife. In the beginning, the reader is warned Anyone unableto understand how a useful religion can be founded on lieswill not understand this book either (5-6). The themethroughout the entire novel is do as, religion is based onlies to give people something to believe, and find meaningin. Vonnegut created a religion in his novel, Bokonism,founded by a man named Bokonon. Through lies, and shortpoems, Bokonon spreads his religion to the people of SanLorenzo, a small desolate island with no future. All of thetrue things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.(5)Vonnegut, through the ideals of Bokononism, gives the readerinsight into the notion that all religions are based onlies, and un- truths. When Bokonon, christened Lionel BoydJohnson, arrived at the Island of San Lorenzo, he saw theplace as a disaster, which would yield no economic wealth orprosperity. Theonly way that he saw possible for of thisplace to become a utopia was to invent lies in which thepeople could base their existence. These lies would disposethe people ... ... ofhuman existence is protein (24). This fact of scienceintensifies the conclusion that human existence is futilewithout meaning, such a meaning that religion provides.However, that is just the arguing that Vonnegut expectsthe people of the world to make. The void that humans feela need to fill, with thoughts such as religion, will neverbe filled the search for meaning is never-ending. Just likean endless, pointless game of Cats Cradle. Bokonon, in hisinfinite wisdom knew not to take his own advice and thevalidity of it was null. There is no truth, there is nomeaning, No damn cat, and no damn cradle (66). BibliographyVonnegut, Kurt Cats Cradle Delta Books 1998. (287 pages) Price, Liana Understanding Religion Through Cats Cradle(http//www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_religion.html)

Desegregation, Busing, and Schools Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive T

The come on of desegregation has been a very controversial issue since it was first legally introduced by the Supreme Court in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Favoring or not favoring desegregation has not been the issue near everyone says they are for it on the surface. The statement arises when it comes to how to implement desegregation. Immediately following the Brown decision, which advocated school assignment regardless of race, many school districts adopted a geographic school assignment policy. This plan, particularly in the 1950s, did very little to do away with segregated schools even though it was a race-neutral policy for integration. From that rocky first gear to desegregation, to the current battles over how trounce to implement desegregation through mandatory (or voluntary) busing of minorities and whites, this issue has been in the forefront of discussions about race and cultivation. This paper will sweat to give a drawing history of des egregation in the United States, followed by a discussion of the current events which surround this issue (with balance apt(p) to the viewpoints of both sides), and then gallop advice on solutions which most benefit everyone involved. Brown v. Board of the Education in 1954 was a landmark decision in the education arena. The decision maintained that schools that obscure students by the color of their skin could no longer be maintained. The court apothegm this as necessary, since in their mind schools for vague students would always be inferior. This lower rank would not be caused by lack of resources, although that usually was a contributing factor to the poor quality of the school, physically and performance-wise. As the Supreme Court saw it, s... ...yllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York Plenum Press, 1988. Bankston III, Carl and Stephen J. Caldas. Majority African American schools and social injustice the influence of de facto segregation on aca demic achievement. Social Forces, Dec. 1996, v75 n2 pp535-556. Bobo, Lawrence. Whites oppositeness to Busing Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, v45 n6 pp. 1196-1210. Hacker, Andrew. Two Nations. New York Charles Scribners Sons, 1992. Katz, Phyllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York Plenum Press, 1988. Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1993. Rivkin, Steven G. residential Segregation and School Integration. Sociology of Education, Oct. 1994, v67 pp. 279-292. Desegregation, Busing, and Schools Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive T The issue of desegregation has been a very controversial issue since it was first legally introduced by the Supreme Court in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Favoring or not favoring desegregation has not been the issue almost everyone says they are for it on the surface. T he controversy arises when it comes to how to implement desegregation. Immediately following the Brown decision, which advocated school assignment regardless of race, many school districts adopted a geographic school assignment policy. This plan, especially in the 1950s, did very little to do away with segregated schools even though it was a race-neutral policy for integration. From that rocky beginning to desegregation, to the current battles over how best to implement desegregation through mandatory (or voluntary) busing of minorities and whites, this issue has been in the forefront of discussions about race and education. This paper will attempt to give a brief history of desegregation in the United States, followed by a discussion of the current events which surround this issue (with balance given to the viewpoints of both sides), and then offer advice on solutions which most benefit everyone involved. Brown v. Board of the Education in 1954 was a landmark decision in the educ ation arena. The decision maintained that schools that separated students by the color of their skin could no longer be maintained. The court saw this as necessary, since in their mind schools for black students would always be inferior. This inferiority would not be caused by lack of resources, although that usually was a contributing factor to the poor quality of the school, physically and performance-wise. As the Supreme Court saw it, s... ...yllis A. and Dalmas A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York Plenum Press, 1988. Bankston III, Carl and Stephen J. Caldas. Majority African American schools and social injustice the influence of de facto segregation on academic achievement. Social Forces, Dec. 1996, v75 n2 pp535-556. Bobo, Lawrence. Whites Opposition to Busing Symbolic Racism or Realistic Group Conflict? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983, v45 n6 pp. 1196-1210. Hacker, Andrew. Two Nations. New York Charles Scribners Sons, 1992. Katz, Phyllis A. and Dalma s A. Taylor, eds. Eliminating Racism. New York Plenum Press, 1988. Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1993. Rivkin, Steven G. Residential Segregation and School Integration. Sociology of Education, Oct. 1994, v67 pp. 279-292.

Essay --

Kiryakov et.al.,(2004) have argued that semantic annotation needs to be based upon scene of action knowledge and not to be isolated from ontological commitments. Thus, they use ontology associations to annotate and index concepts from documents. SEWISE (Gardarin et al., 2003) uses ontologies only for describing a common data model in a given application domain that supports Web information organization and retrieval. TAP (Guha et al., 2003) represents documents and concepts are nodes using a semantic network. The main objectives of TAP are the growth of a distributed query infrastructure for ontology data and augmentation of queries with data from surrounding nodes. However TAP supports only keyword search without ranking. Mayfield and Finin (2003) combine ontology-based techniques and text-based retrieval in a screen relevance feedback iteration. In their approach, taxonomies are used for query expansion, and for enhancing the semantic annotations of the documents. The documents are annotated with the help of RDF triples, but ontology-based queries are restricted to boolean string search...

Essay --

Kiryakov et.al.,(2004) have argued that semantic annotation needs to be establish upon domain knowledge and not to be isolated from ontological commitments. Thus, they use ontology associations to annotate and index concepts from documents. SEWISE (Gardarin et al., 2003) uses ontologies only for describing a common data model in a given application domain that supports Web information organization and retrieval. TAP (Guha et al., 2003) represents documents and concepts are nodes using a semantic network. The main objectives of TAP are the development of a distributed query infrastructure for ontology data and augmentation of queries with data from surrounding nodes. However TAP supports only keyword search without ranking. Mayfield and Finin (2003) combine ontology-based techniques and text-based retrieval in a blind relevance feedback iteration. In their approach, taxonomies are used for query expansion, and for enhancing the semantic annotations of the documents. The documents are annotated with the help of RDF triples, but ontology-based queries are restricted to boolean string search...

Me Talk Pretty One Day Essay

Me Talk Pretty One Day. The title already starts questions and as you get through the essay, it makes perfect sense and creates a message to the title. Sedaris is the narrator throughout the essay and nearly at the beginning of the story you finds his feel throughout the essay is kind of a depressed tone, it sounds like he is depressed and put down by the instructor of his french course. Sedaris is passionate in leaning French. He moves to France and starts school there, so that he would learn the run-in better than he could in America.On his first day Sedaris watches his fellow students catch up with for each one other, discussing their summer vacations and the latest news about joint friends. He has a number of first impressions they appear much younger (he is now forty-one years old), they are definitely much more attractive, and they altogether appear to speak French flawlessly. Sedaris soon feels a little out of his element, until his French instructor arrives and makes him feel like a complete imbecile. However, Sedaris is non alone in being belittled by his instructor for she did not just pick on him but the rest of the class.However, he still went home any night and studied everything so that he could go to class the next day and know just a little more so the teacher wouldnt pick on him as much. You find the depressed tone again during class, that everyone wanted to be there but at the same season didnt want to be there. The teacher rode on a high horse because she didnt speak only fluent French but 4 other languages too, including English, which she shows to Sedaris by saying in English I hate you, I really hate you. (Found on page 3, last paragraph) Now why in her right mind does the teacher feel the need to put everyone down, and to say something of this nature stating that she hates him. Why is that, is it because she herself has troubles in her life and she feels in her time of superpower of being the professor of a French course and the only one that can speak it fluently, that she can emasculate everyone in the class.But through all of that all of the students including Sedaris, go home every night and study their French for hours on end, an example of it is stated on page 14, 1st paragraph. I took to expending 4 hours a night on my homework, putting in even more time when we were assigned an essay. Because of that the tone suddenly switches from a depressed tone to an upbeat tone right towards the end of the essay when Sedaris states, Understanding doesnt mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it.Its a runty step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive. The teacher continued her diatribe and I settled back, bathing in the subtle beauty of each new curse and insult. From that moment, the professor goes on to belittle Sedaris but this time he isnt hurt or insulted by it. He takes from it and with confidence replies to her insults with, I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus. Leaving you with a feeling of happiness and joy knowing that Sedaris gained his confidence back.From the tone of the essay, it makes everything feel a lot better in the end. The use of the French in the essay, gives meaning to the times where you dont go out what the counterpart is saying applying the use of words that doesnt embody creates a confusion but also an understantment of how Sedaris feels when the teacher is talking to him. Here you can see the words meimslsxp lgpdmurct apzkiubjxow palicmkrexis fiuscrzsa ticiwelmun kfdtinvfm vkkdyo kdeynfulh.Understanding and speaking do not automatically go hand in hand, but it is better to understand rather than to speak. Which is the point the author is trying to make through the entire selection.. David Sedaris takes a mall down memory lane in his anecdote about his experience learning to speak French in Paris, under the rule of a brute(a) dictator-like teacher. He describes certai n moments of intense cruelty of the teacher, such as when one girl in his class doesnt know the correct irregular erstwhile(prenominal) tense of the verb to defeat.The girl was poked in the eye with a freshly sharpened pencil, and the teacher, although remorseful, did not spend much time apologizing. The students in the class are not fluent in French, and their halting sentences, when translated, sound like sometime me cry alone at nightthat be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. This is the exact way that a student of a foreign language would speak, and it illuminates the difference between speaking a language so that others could possibly understand you, and understanding the language.

Major Factors for a Successful Exhibition Essay

Exhibitors expect to meet visitors so they can do business with. Organizers need visitors to visit their line of battles so they can encourage exhibitors to join their exhibitions, therefore make positive financial returns. On the 28-31 October this year, the HKTDC will organize an international furniture fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition centre.The most happy companies in this exhibition will be the ones that take advantage of the knowledge the event organizers have to offer, and then successfully communicate that knowledge to the project team that will stick out all the elements that will be present within the display booth. Other factors for a successful exhibition in the eyes of the exhibitor include notwithstanding not limited to the following Establish meaningfully goals, and come up with a strong and reliable strategy that will achieve your goals. Put into institutionalize powerful and unforgettable marketing initiatives before, during, and after the exhibi tion. Choose the best type of exhibit display booth that meets your goals and promotional needs as well as your budgetary requirements. Effectively make use of display accessories, banners, graphics, lighting, booth design, and materials to heighten visibility and drive sales. Hand out Promotional products that complement your company image. moderate those working the show argon well trained to fully represent your company, generate leads, and secure sales. Through the eyes of the organizer the key factors of a successful exhibition is when all the exhibition goals have been achieved or completed.Some of those goals I have listed below Pre-promotional strategy as meet it objectives by providing enough entertain in the exhibition All the allocated floor space as been taken up by exhibitors Visitors count by surpassed the expected amount Feedback from exhibitors is good and bookings are taken for the following year Nothing unexpected happens When organizers receive recognition for t heir exhibition A well organized event will enhance awareness, facilitate to capture new business leads and advance customer relationships

Pinnacle Manufacturing Part

Part I. c Summary of Observations Including Assessment of Business encounter Based on the financial ratios calculated, it appears that Pinnacle Manufacturing (the Company) is both using up cash assets and increasing its debt. The Cash Ratio has declined each of the past common chord course of studys indicating that the Company has a decreasing ability to ante up its actual liabilities from cash and will be required to liquidate assets to pay off current liabilities. The Current Ratio has also declined each of the last three years. In 2009, it was 218. % or 2. 186. This means that for every dollar of current liabilities the Company had $2. 18 in current assets with which to pay those liabilities. Inventory Turnover has declined from 4. 04 times per year in 2009 to 3. 78 times per year in 2011. This would seem to indicate that sales argon slowing and inventory is not being sold as quickly as in prior years. This is further supported by the increasing days to Sell Inventory numbe r. In 2009 Days to Sell Inventory was 90. 44 and had full-grown to 96. 48 days in 2011.This acts it important to assess inventory obsolescence in light of these numbers. Debt to Equity has increase significantly from 2009 to 2011. In 2009, the Debt to Equity Ratio was 70. 81%. In 2011, it had grown to 96. 48%. This top executive indicate that the Company does not have room to continue to borrow should it need cash to operate. If borrowing is not available as a financing tool, it is likely that the Company might need to look to its stockholders for additional cash or resort to more costly forms for financing. Gross Profit Margins have declined from 29. 1% in 2009 to 27. 5% in 2011. This ratio is helpful analytically to indicate that thinkable misstatements might exist in the areas of sales, COGS, A/R and inventory. As noted above there is already a negative trend in inventory for the Company. Similarly, Profit Margin for the Company has declined from 3. 77% to 2. 84% amongst 200 9 and 2011. A decline in realize bound can signal misstatements in various operating expense throwaways and balance sheet items. It can also simply signal a declining lineage trend for the Company.Return on Assets shows the Companys ability to generate a profit based on assets and equity. In 2009, the Companys profit margin was 3. 07% and in 2011 it had fallen to 1. 91%. Overall, the Company appears to have slowing sales leading to outgrowth inventory. The Company is increasing its debt burden to help cash ascend since sales seem to be declining and inventory is growing. The profitability of the Company is declining steadily. Finally, if the Company finds itself in default of any bestow covenants it will have to liquidate assets to pay its debts.Forced asset sales are never beneficial to the seller and would only exacerbate the already declining business trends of the Company. Part I. f What Data is More utile in Evaluating the Potential for Misrepresentations? We believe t hat each set of data has its strengths and weakness. The balance sheet data available for Pinnacle Manufacturing is extremely helpful in evaluating whether authoritative income statement items could be misstated. As an example, to know the trend in the asset Accounts receivable Trade made evaluating the income statement item Bad Debt expense easier.As a pass, the financial data for the advert Pinnacle could be cross-referenced more easily. However, the subsidiary income statements allow greater detail into the business components that make up Pinnacle. A possible overstatement in one account for one of the subsidiaries could be cancelled out by a similar understatement in the in the same account for another subsidiary. When the numbers are rolled-up to the parent company, there might not be a noticeable problem in the account. As a result possible insufficient planning would result.With the subsidiary information, an audit of each corresponding account could result in a more accu rate number for the parent company. This would appear to help acceptable audit risk for the audit firm. ? Part I. g Observations based on Accounts Receivable, Inventory and Short/Current Long-term Debt Accounts Receivable Trade has grown in absolute dollar amount from just under $9. 6 Million in 2010 to over $14 Million in 2011. As a result, we believe it is important to look at the reasonableness of the allowance for bad debts and bad debt expense.Confirmation of balances with customers will help to uncover any discrepancies between Pinnacle and its customers about amounts owed and paid. This could impact the internal control over posting of wagess at Pinnacle and whether the money is being diverted through fraud. Inventory has grown from slightly over $25 Million at year-end in both 2009 and 2010 to more than $32 Million in 2011. Growing inventory could be indicative of inventory obsolescence. Obsolete inventory would be subject to a write-down in value. We would want to explore these areas.We have identified Inventory as an area of possible misstatement for Pinnacle. Short/Current Long-term debt has increased from 2009 and 2010 levels in 2011. In 2009 and 2010, the short/current portion of long-term debt was only $41,070. In 2011 it had increased to almost $4 Million. We are concerned that a misstatement has occurred. If the amount is correct, we would want to ascertain why the sudden increase. If it is due to a scheduled one-time balloon payment being due it is less of a concern than if a loan has been accelerated due to default or failure to meet certain loan covenants.The long-term solvency of Pinnacle depends on the success of its operations to raise capital for future growth and expansion as well as its ability to make payments on its debts. If Pinnacle is in default and a loan has been called or accelerated it would negatively impact the Companys ability to borrow in the future. ? Part I. h Going Concern Issue We assess the likelihood that Pinnacle is likely to fail financially in the next twelve months as low. While many of the items discussed indicate that Pinnacle has virtually financial problems, its current ratio is still well over 1.It might be holding some obsolete inventory but even obsolete inventory has some value to generate cash. In twelve months, if the Company does not resolve its growing inventory issues and possibly rework some of its debt deals, the decision might be different. Currently, sales are growing as is Income from operations and net income. The Company has a positive cash flow which buys it time to try to fix its underlying problems. Inattention to these details could cause us to revisit this question next year with a more dire answer.

Dance Styles

Dancing and unison in general has evolved through time. People who springd in style in the sixties would not fit in the generation of the new millennium. As years have passed by, it seems the style of dancing is getting to be bigger. It is inevitable that dance go away change throughout our lives and so will its style. Some of the dance styles around today are tap, modern, swing, contra, country, belly dance and Latin dancing. Dancing has changed in relation back to music, behavior and time passed.My three favorite dance styles are ballet, hip decamp and jazz. Ballet is beauty flow and elegance are inherent in the elements of ballet. Ballet is a classical dance form that can be mastered by it or used as a technical posterior or supplement to former(a) dance forms. Classes focus on overall body alignment and awareness with emphasis on proper usage of feet and legs and operation of turnout. Carriage and usage of upper torso and arms are also stressed. Traditional barre work, ce nter work and combinations are included in all classes.Hip hop is a high-energy class that uses the latest sounds in rap, RampB and pop music together with movements influenced by some of todays hottest music video choreographers. Hip hop encompasses movement that has elements of popping, locking, and breaking as well as freestyle movement to give students the opportunity to develop their own comprehend of style. Hip hop is urban, its street, and its diverse and forever changing. Jazz is an exciting and ever evolving dance form full of round of golf, syncopation, passion and life.Steeped in the rhythm of jazz music, a true American art form, jazz dance brings energy and life to all those who dance it. Jazz explores body isolations of the head, shoulders, ribcage, feet and arms which promote individual expression and the development of personal style. Jazz can be powerful and percussive or expressive and lyrical. Ever evolving, jazz dance is taught with the music of today together with the classical jazz of yesterday. Classes teach basic jazz dance technique, terminology and movement quality with an emphasis on proper performance of jazz isolations, rhythms and style performed to contemporary music.Maybe dance is the best language and the one we should use and that is why all cultures have dance. Dance is smoothing and relaxing. When someone needs a break from anything then the best way to get away is to dance. If someone looks they can find millions of dances to dance to. Someone can tap dance, do other cultural dances or maybe just dance with their heart. When you want to dance then dance as though no one is watching and dance because you want to dance.

Not White Just Right Response Essay

After reading Not White, Just Right, an article by Rachel Jones, I could not help but relate to her. In the article, Jones elaborates more on her popular essay, Whats Wrong with Black English while besides mentioning others who sh be in her opinion. I, too, was ridiculed in school for talking too white. In public schools African American students are mocked and shunned by their brothers and sisters for speaking or even behaving in an intelligent manner, as if intelligence is unacceptable in our community. I have been the outcast for that single reason. However those who spoke exchangeable trinity graders in the tenth grade were praised and welcomed in the Black community. To that I have to admit that we have fallen from the times of Dr. King and Fredrick Douglas, when we knew as African Americans that we are just as intelligent as Caucasic men.This is not the future our leaders have fought so hard for. It is infuriating to witness young African Americans not only in public school but in college speaking as if they have no intelligence. I am only a freshman and I cannot count the number of times Ive heard other freshmen and upperclassmen use grammatically incorrect phrases like, what that is and I aint goin nowhere. Speech like this amongst my African American peers only angered me in high school, now it depresses me. It is depressing to see so many educated African Americans speak as if they had dropped out of high school, just because it is cool and they do not want to talk white. A mentality like that forget always keep us as African Americans at the bottom of society. How do we expect to be seen as equally intelligent as Caucasian people if we do not even speak as if we are educated on a higher level? Therefore, in conclusion, I would like to thank Rachel Jones for writing those two texts about young African American lingual. It is about time that someone made it public to the Black community that this spoken language is NOT conserving our culture it i s keeping us from reaching our goals and becoming successful.

Hcs 571

Capital Project HCS/571 Capital assets atomic number 18 gener eithery purchased to make better case of c ar, or to provide collected equipment for a sensitive service or expansion of an existing service. The key element in chief city budgeting is that the building or piece of equipment being acquired has a lifetime that extends beyond the year of purchase and it is a capital asset or coarse-term investment for the hospital. Capital assets atomic number 18 good financial investments for the institution. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). The electronic wellness picture software dodge is one of the important working(a) priorities in the US wellness compassionate.The tack from paper-based unload system of rules to electronic record system supported by technologies and help for reducing errors and improving quality of care based on best practice. (Song, McAlearney, Lausanne, Robbins, & McCullough, 2011). question a capital purchase of software for filing affected role reco rds tolling more than $5000 Health care giving medications have invested heavily in computer technology. The health care organizations use computer technology and electronic health record in the actual delivery of care and to support clinical areas.The four principal uses of computers for treat are for general teaching, clinical applications, research, and financial heed. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). The health care organizations are in the function of major transformation, and becoming more complex. It is very important to brinytain the safety of patient and to provide high quality care. (Ting, Tsang, Ip, & Ho, 2011). The electronic health record system is considered as a means of technological susceptibility to lower the cost in healthcare organization.The affect for EHR in healthcare organization is based on certain evidences like, It supports guideline-based care, increased patient observeing, act as an in force(p) technological tool for incumbranceive communicat ion in areas associate to patient care, and improves coordination of care(Song, McAlearney, Lausanne, Robbins, & McCullough, 2011). The electronic health record system act as an easy nettle for medical literature and it is considered as a disruptive access system due to the effective utilization of information technology and enhances the healthcare ability system. Hillestad, 2005). Employee development The computer software and electronic health record advances will continue to evolve and that computer use by faculty nurses will become commonplace in most healthcare organizations. In the long run this will likely increase the quality of patient care due to more accurate and timely information, while creating at least rough efficiency in the use of nursing time. This should release more nurse time for patient care. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). Computerization should work both to reduce nursing dearth and to increase nursing satisf treat.The health care organizations struggl e to allocate sufficient funds for information system slaying, maintenance, and upgrade. The computerization of the nursing units has been a potential solvent for nursing shortage. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). Management goals The EHR slaying and governance are link to each other and it is mainly focus on the mission, vision, and behavior related to the management. The decision and action from theatre directors train management is very essential factor for the effective purchase of EHR. Jarvenpaa & Ives, 1991). The support system in the organization related to EHR death penalty helps to support and trip the employees in difficult situation related to the technical failure of the system. (Miller & Sim, 2004). The successful implementation of EMR depends upon the team and technology of the organization. Team refers to people and issues related with organization. The technology related to the choice of the software, hard ware, and design set up of the organization to meet the implementation process.The main components of implementation process are people, process, and technology. The main focus of the assortment management is people and the related objective is to transfigure the behavior for the acceleration of change process. (McCarthy & Eastman, 2010). Cost containment The software related electronic health record implementation demand to be appropriate for the needs of the organization and budget. (Swab, & Ciotti, 2010) The EHR software system has many areas of market depending upon the size of the hospital spang size.The starting criteria for the vendors according to the bed with 100 and small hospital The Electronic health record system cost about between $ 1 million and 2 for the electronic health record system The electronic health record software cost for the organization about medium hospital cost is much larger than the first one. It comes around triplet to ten million. The hospital and organization with more than average bed cost for th e electronic health record system will be higher amount than the other one.The cost and amount of electronic health record system will depend upon the size of the hospital . The management has to see about the budget for the organization. (Swab, & Ciotti, 2010). The organization must evaluate its mission and goals in light of its particular strengths and weakness and in light of the demand for services and ambition in the external environment. Based on that valuation it can make a plan that will take advantage of opportunities like Electronic health record implementation according to the goals of an organization. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007).The planning process explicitly address whether the implementation of new services and programs that make up the majority of operations of the organization are being retained at a steady-state level or whether they are to be contracted or expanded in scope. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). The successful implementation of EMR depends upon th e team and technology of the organization. Team refers to people and issues related with organization. The technology related to the choice of the software, hard ware, and design set up of the organization to meet the implementation process.The main components of implementation process are people, process, and technology. The main focus of the change management is people and the related objective is to change the behavior for the acceleration of change process. (McCarthy & Eastman, 2010). The computerization of the nursing units has been a potential solution for nursing shortage. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). Quality assurance The management of the organization need to review the costs of the software system related to Electronic health record implementation with users of the selection committee before the system demos.The committee includes staff from clinical areas like pharmacy, radiology, laboratory, operating room, and destiny department. The committee needs to invite physic ian champions to participate and observe EHR system demonstrations before selecting the system. (Swab, & Ciotti, 2010). The management of the organization needs to clarify the all of the costs such as travel costs, training class tuition fees, files conversion fees, and other ancillary system fees with the vendors. Another factor need to consider while implementing Electronic health record system is the costs of additional staff required to operate the EHR system.The organization need to consider adding the IT staff, Nurse informaticist, and Chief medical information officer. (Swab, & Ciotti, 2010). Once the plan has been finalized and formalized, it serves as a guide for a number of years. Long- range plans are typically prepared only once every three or five years. Creating a new plan each year would only lead to constant changes in the organizations direction. This would lead to waste efforts, and money. The long-range budgets or strategic plans look in general terms at the ent ire organization over a period of years. Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). Program budgeting techniques are equally effective for reviewing the operations of an ongoing unit as for evaluating a new program like Electronic health record implementation. Business plans are becoming essential for the introduction of new programs. Such plans help managers complete a comprehensive examination of a proposed program. By making such a thorough review, the manager and the organization gain an in-depth understanding of the program as well as its financial implications for the organization. Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). Patient care, clinical research, and leadership role The Electronic health record software system support efficient and good health care. Electronic health record improve the completeness and accuracy of patient records and they improve communication among health care professionals. (Hayrinen,Saranto, &Nykanen, 2008). The larger hospitals, especially academic medical centers with a high acuity case mix, may benefit from investing in Electronic health record espousal.The hospitals with high patient volumes and with complex medical problems need to adopt Electronic health record as a capital asset for the organization. (MCcullough, Casey, Moscovice, & Prasad, 2010). Team refers to people and issues related with organization. The technology related to the choice of the software, hard ware, and design set up of the organization to meet the implementation process. The main components of implementation process are people, process, and technology. The main focus f the change management is people and the related objective is to change the behavior for the acceleration of change process. (McCarthy & Eastman, 2010). The monitoring of EHR implementation process mainly focused on areas like project costs, project progress, schedule controls, control changes, scope of the project, quality management, and risks. (Noblin, Cortelyou, & Ton, 2011). The EHR implementation is considered as a high-cost project. The management needs to consider and monitor equipment costs including hardware and software costs.The workflow inefficiencies need to monitor and need to redesign during the implementation cast is an important step to cross the failure. (Spector, 2010). The workflow reflects the ability of the employee to use the resources to complete the work in an effective manner to achieve better results and it also shows the efficiency of team work. (Lee, Cain, Young, Chockley, & Burstin, 2005). The EHR implementation requires strong leadership and all workers need to participate to deliver their own role for the success of the implementation process.The redesigning process improves the work efficiency and job satisfaction. (Spector, 2010). The change from paper medical records to electronic medical record system improve the quality of healthcare, reduce the administrative cost, reduce medical errors, and pass the unnecessary expenditures for the issues r elated to medical errors occur during paper charting. (Huryk, 2010). The electronic medical record system is considered as a means of technological efficiency to reduce the cost in healthcare organization.The need for EHR in healthcare organization is based on certain evidences like, It supports guideline-based care, increased patient monitoring, act as an efficient technological tool for effective communication in areas related to patient care, and improves coordination of care(Song, McAlearney, Lausanne, Robbins, & McCullough, 2011). The electronic health record system act as an easy access for medical literature and it is considered as a fast access system due to the effective utilization of information technology and enhances the healthcare efficiency system. Hillestad, 2005). Research studies shows that the paper record system is inadequate to give all informations regarding patient to caregivers for the effective care. (Thakkar & Davis, 2006) The effective use of EHR minimize the problems related to healthcare disparities, allows the involvement of patients and their families in treatment plan, and maintain adequate privacy and security. (Podgurski, 2008). Computer uses for clinical care fall into two general areas. The first area is assement of patients.This includes computers used in laboratories to measuring rod blood levels, in radiology for magnetic resonance imaging, and for physical assessment measures such as blood pressure. The second clinical area is storage and management of patient information. Often called the hospital information system, these computer systems store data such as patient demographics, admission, transfer, and discharge information, and documentation of nursing care provided. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007).Although clinical information systems are not directly related to financial management, data produced by these systems can be used to make financial decisions. Clinical systems are used to directly link the use of services to the billing for them. Ultimately, financial management is based on the allocation of resources clinical information systems offer the manager data about the use of resources in the organization. Clinical information systems that combine information from a variety of sources such as laboratory, radiology, dietary, and nursing are called full integrated systems.In these systems the data are entered once and are accessible all over the organization with appropriate confidentiality precautions. These integrated systems improve the flow of information. (Finkler, Ward, & Baker, 2007). The implementation of EHR in healthcare organization is influenced by human and technological factors. The implementation process depends upon many factors starting from employee attitudes and concerns to various technology.The main factors are readiness for the employee to accept the changes related to EHR implementation, resources available for the change, technical concern, availability of finance for the implementation of EHR, motivation of the employee, time, and ability of the individual to use computer for the effective implementation of EHR. (McGinn, Grenier, Duplantie, Shaw, Sicotte, Luc, Leduc, Legare, & Gagnon, 2011). The managers need to take interventions to overcome the factors influencing the implementation process early in the planning stage. (Spector, 2010).The budget development in the initial phase of change process reflects the initial cost and all other related expenses of an electronic health record system. The hardware expense needs to be classified on a yearly basis. The organization need to consider the cost of upgrading the hardware and software system to maintain the efficiency of the system. The cost for the replacement of hardware and maintenance of the computer need to be considered. The training System Success Model evaluation measures the quality and technical achievement of the system.The system quality depends on the elements like reliability, acc essibility, and security of the system. (Delone, & McLean, 2003). The user satisfaction level needs to be evaluated because it reflects the level of competency, skills, and experience of the users. The overall measurements include quality of care in terms of patient safety, and authorisation of care, accessibility of care, and productivity. ( Lau, Hagens, &Muttitt, 2007)The implementation process requires skilled people in areas like computer networking, informatics, administration, management, and clinical workflow.The monitoring and controlling of the proper utilization of the resource specialist will help for the cost management. (Wang, 2003). Consultant packages The consultant from outside the organization for any change process need to be assessed, monitored, and controlled as per the organizational policy and management decision. The health care organization may need assistance from outside consultants for the effective implementation of EHR and that will cause an extra cost for the implementation process and the management need to monitor the necessity of the consultant for the process. Noblin, Cortelyou, & Ton, 2011). The quality assurance of the Electronic health record software system can be done by the evaluation process. The evaluation process need to focus on certain elements like care, human, educational, administrative, technical, and brotherly aspects. (Shaw, 2002). The care aspect of evaluation consists of monitoring the quality of care, continuity, system borrowing from patients and other professionals. The evaluation of organizational aspects mainly focuses on examining the interconnection between different care providers in different settings. (Shaw, 2002).The educational aspects of evaluation focus on the quality of the information system for the retention of the staff, training of employees, and user satisfaction related to EHR implementation. The administrative aspect of evaluation addresses the changes related to EHR implementation a nd the after effect on health care services and mainly focus on areas like access to care, interactions between clients and health care workers, and changes in cost effectiveness related to new electronic system. The technical aspects of evaluation measure the technical quality, reliability, and security of the settings.The social aspects of evaluation focus on the changes in the level of social interaction after the implementation of new system. (Shaw, 2002). The other measurement strategies include evaluating the output of new system by reviewing employee satisfaction and user satisfaction. The organization need to expect post go-live reviews after the implementation process to assessment of system. Conclusion The Electronic health record software system is one of the important operational priorities in the US health care and it should be capital assets for the organization.The health care organizations that are decided to purchase an Electronic health record system should always search for the software system with right vendors, share the costs with selection committee members, and need to think about the costs of additional staff members required to operate the software system. (Swab, & Ciotti, 2010). The other measurement strategies include evaluating the output of new system by reviewing employee satisfaction and user satisfaction. The organization need to conduct post go-live reviews after the implementation process.The successful implementation requires teamwork and effective communication technique between the vendors, health care staff, management, administration, and outside consultants. The health care organization may need assistance from outside consultants for the effective implementation of EHR and that will cause an extra cost for the implementation process and the management need to monitor the necessity of the consultant for the process. (Noblin, Cortelyou, & Ton, 2011). References Delone, W. H. , & McLean, E. R. (2003). The DeLone and McLe an Model of Information Systems Success A Ten-Year Update. daybook of Management Information Systems,19(4), 9-30. Hayrinen,K. K. , Saranto, P. , Nykanen, P. (2008). Definition, structure, content, use, and impacts of Electronic health records A review of the research literature. International journal of Medical Informatics, 77(5), 291-304 Hillestad, R. (2005). Can electronic medical record systems transform healthcare? Potential health benefits , savings, and costs. Health affairs, 2(1), 8-10. Huryk, L. (2010). Factors influencing nurses attitudes towards healthcare information technology. Journal of nursing management, 8(5), 606-612. Jarvenpaa, S. L. , Ives, B. (1991).Executive involvement and participation in the management information technology. Journal of Medical Informatics, 15(2), 205-225. Lau, F. , Hagens, S. , Muttitt, S. (2007). A Proposed Benefits Evaluation Framework for Health Information Systems in Canada. Electronic Healthcare, 10(1), 112-118. Lee, J. , Cain, C. , Y oung, S. , Chockley, N. , Burstin, H. (2005). The adoption gap Health information technologyin small physician practices. Health Affairs, 24(5), 1364-1366. McCullough, J. M. , Casey, I. , Moscovice,S. , Prasad,S. (2010). The effect of health information technology on quality in US Hospitals.Health Affairs, 29(4), 647-654. McGinn, C. A. , Grenier, S. , Duplantie, J. , Shaw, N. , Sicotte, C. , Luc, M. , Leduc, Y. , Legare, F. , Gagnon, M. (2011). relation of user groups perspectives of barriers and facilitators to implementing electronic health records a systematic review. BMC medicine, 9(46), 2-10. Miller, R. H. ,Sim,I. (2004). Physicians use of electronic medical records Barriers and solutions. Health Affairs, 23(2),116-126. Noblin, A. M. , Cortelyou, K. W. , & Ton, S. (2011). Electronic Health Record Implementations- Applying the Principles of supervise and Controlling to Achieve Success.The Health Care Manager, 30(1), 45-50. Podgurski, S. A. (2008). Finding a cure The case f or regulation and oversight of electronic health record system. Harvard daybook of law and technology, 22(1), 107-110. Shaw, N. T. (2002). CHEATS a generic information communication technology (ICT) evaluation framework. Comput Biol Med, 32(3), 209-220. Song, P. H. , McAlearney, A. S. , Lausanne, E. F. , Robbins, J. , & McCullough, J. S. (2011). Exploring the business case for ambulatory electronic health record system adoption. Journal of healthcare management, 56(3), 169-180.Spector, B. (2010). Implementing organizational change Theory into practice (2nd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Hall. Swab, J. , Ciotti, V. (2010). What to consider when purchasing an EHR system. Health care Financial Management, 64(5), 38-41 Thakkar, M. , & Davis, D. C. (2006). Risks, barriers, and benefits of EHR systems A comparative study based on size of hospital. Research Journal in Health Information Management, 3(5), 10-12. Wang, S. (2003). A cost-benefit analysis of Electronic medical records in primary care. American Journal of Medicine, 114(5), 397-403.

Project Proposal for Ministry of Trade Web Portal

COMPUTER SCIENCE incision abide PROPOSAL FOR MINISTRY OF TRADE WEB PORTAL PRESENTED BY RAHAB WAMBUI KIARIE REG NO SP13/20526/08 COURSE CODE COMP 402 PRESENTED TO MR. OMWOYO calmness TIME OCTOBER 2011 A expulsion proffer submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Bachelor of erudition in Computer Science of Egerton University. Table of Contents ABSTRACT3 CHAPTER ONE 1. 0 INTRODUCTION4 1. 1 PROBLEM STATEMENT4 1. 2 OBJECTIVES5 CHAPTER TWO 2. 0 LITERATURE REVIEW5 2. SCOPE OF THE SYSTEM6 STARNDARD REQUIREMENT6 3. 0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENT6 3. 1) HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS6 3. 1. 1) APPLICATION PROGRAM6 3. 1. 2 in operation(p) System6 CHAPTER FOUR 4. 0 DEVELOPMENT PROCESS7 4. 1 PROJECT order of business AND BUDJET8 4. 1. 1 PROJECT SCHEDULE8 4. 1. 2 PROJECT BUDGET9 4. 1. 3 REFERENCES10 ? ABSTRACT As envisaged in Kenyas vision 2030, apportion will be champion of the key sectors to drive economic cultivation of our country. The sector is the link between consumption and production at heart the economy and contributes towards the employment and wealth creation.There are tremendous potentials for consider to play a central division in driving and sustaining growth and poverty reduction in Kenya. The Micro, Sm solely, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), cuts across all sectors of the Kenyan economy but face various development challenges like overreliance on agriculture which mainly depends on unpredictable weather, underdevelopment of Information, Communication and Technology and lack of market entropy of local goods both locally and internationally.This project will provide a solution to investors and MSMEs by providing randomness on the various investment opportunities usable in Kenya apart from agriculture, know about the various trade policies to avoid unfair trade and likewise provide a platform where local companies can upload their company profiles and the ministry promotes their products at trade fairs at an international level. CHAPTER ONE 1. 0 INTRODU CTIONThe Ministry of Trades current mandate is Trade development insurance policy Development of micro and small business Fair trade practices and consumer protection Private sector development and international trade affairs. The ministry will champion the promotion of both domestic and foreign trade by subject matter of and through creation of an enabling business and investment environment as highlighted in this project proposal. The purpose of this proposal is to explain in detail the aim of the project, the methods use of goods and servicesd in the implementation of the system, scope of the system and reckon and time schedule for the implementation of the project.It begins with the introduction which introduces the system to be essential. The next part is the problem statement, the lit review, the scope of the system and the requirements for the system. In the scope of the system we have the system functionalities and its limitations. Since the system is to be developed w ithin a located time frame and cipher constraint, it is imperative that the proposal also contains the budget and time schedule. This explains the time schedule for the system and also the budget for the system. . 1 PROBLEM STATEMENT Kenya trade industry faces a number of challenges unsound business regulatory frame determine leading to multiple licensing and overweight or cumbersome regulations for SMEs which in turn leads to high cost of business transactions Lack of schoolwide trade information on the existing and emerging markets to investors and SMEs. Lack of sound business managerial skills and exposure to international best business practices has hampered the growth of the MSE sector.To overcome the problem a system needs to be developed with the springboard objective of providing Kenyans with a centralized location where they can get trade information and thus lead to economic growth and realization of vision 2030. 1. 2 OBJECTIVES 1. To develop a flourishing Ministry of Trade web portal 2. To identify conditions for successful implementation of a new improved system. 3. To get up access of trade information to Kenyans. CHAPTER TWO 2. 0 LITERATURE REVIEWHaving collected information on the ministry of trade I was able to define the main drawbacks associated with the services of the industry. Information sharing between the ministry and the business passel is not easy. Enormous opportunities exist in the domestic, regional and international markets. These opportunities should be fully exploited through the systematic promotion of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and providing information to them.It is crucial to note that as trade becomes free and global, technological innovations will become increasingly important, offering consumers more and more options at cheaper prices in the country and all over the globe. With this system in place all the requests for trade information, will be available to recipients at any given time. Therefor e potential users are- oInvestors both local and international. oConsumers. oOther ministries in the government that work closely with ministry of trade. oOwners of small and medium surfaced businesses. 2. SCOPE OF THE SYSTEM The web portal will instigate in the availing all the details of the trade industry. It will, as its name suggests, be place where the ministry can act with the general public on matters pertaining its mode of operation. There are several issues about the systems scope. STARNDARD REQUIREMENT The requirements include the following 1. Computers 3. 0 SYSTEM REQUIREMENT 3. 1) Hardware requirements ?Processor Pentium IV with 2. 0 GHz or higher ?Memory 1GB of RAM or more ?Hard Disk size 320 GB for host, 20 GB for client 3. 1. ) Application program Programming PHP and JavaScript, Database design MySQL, Interface Macromedia fancy weaver, Macromedia fireworks, Macromedia Flash, Web browsers Mozilla Firefox, Internet explorer, Web server Apache, System Linux and W indows. 3. 1. 2 Operating System ?Windows XP (32-bit), Vista(32 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32 64-bit) ? Linux CHAPTER FOUR 4. 0 DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The program development process will involve a number of steps as shown in the flow diagram below 4. 1 PROJECT SCHEDULE AND BUDJET 4. 1. 1 Project scheduleMinistry of Trade web portal is a large project that can be accomplished in a period of six months which equates to two semesters. The initial loading of the system with entropy takes place at the commissioning of the system. A complete schedule is as below. Period/TimeActivityDescription November 2011 Acquisition of useful Resources. This involves collecting the useful facts from the ministry of Trade November 2011Databases Design Building individual databases, tables and individual record sets and loading with try test data. December 2011 o January 2012Defining Record setsInvolves defining relations of data within various databases and means of accessing them February 2012Creating a Graphical User InterfaceInvolves creating user interface that users of the system will use to search for information March 2012TestingInvolves testing the system with sample data and correcting any anomalies especially in the database design if any. April 2012Loading DatabasesInvolves modify databases with test data and loading with actual data. May 2012Commissioning the System This involves deployment of the system, hosting it so that it can be accessed by anybody.Table 1) Project schedule 4. 1. 2 PROJECT BUDGET PARTICULARSQUANTITYUNIT PRICE (Kshs)TOTAL COST(Kshs) 1Transport 5000 2Storage devices flash drive, CDs2 GB Flash devolve on 2 Compact Disks 1,000 252,000 50 3Printing expenses1000 4Stationery2 A4 Books 2 pens 100 25200 50 5Computer Machine and softwareAvailable but limited 6Internet be 2000 7Airtime6000 TOTALKshs 16,300 Table 2) project budget 4. 1. 3 REFERENCES ?Ministry of Trade Strategic Plan 2008-2012. ?Hawryszkiewycz, I. (1998), Introduction to System abbreviation and Design, Prentice Hall, Australia.

An Inconvenient Truth: People Who Questioned Al Gore’s Motive Essay

galore(postnominal) people questioned Al thrusts motives for making the nonsubjective An Inconvenient Truth. They wondered whether he created it because he unfeignedly cared about the effects global warming would have on the earth or if he skilful wanted to make himself seem like a better presidential candidate than his opponents. Throughout the documentary Gore presented many facts and statistics that supported his concern, which created the password for his argument. He also treated the documentary as more than of a lecture or presentation for his auditory modality which gave him the credibility that he needed to create the ethos passim the film. Finally, he used his own personal experiences to appeal to the audiences feelings and emotions, creating the pathos. In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore wants to reach a large audience, particularly nonscientists, to stress the urgency in responding to global warming.Gore uses multiple examples of logos throughout his documentary wh en sharing statistics and facts that he came upon. One way he presented these facts was with graphs that showed the amplify in temperature over the years due to the carbon dioxide levels in the air. The graphs showed a dramatic increase in the levels from previous years which were frightening to see. Knowing the actual levels and how fast they changed made the audience see how insecure this problem could become if we keep ignoring the issue of global warming. Another way that Gore portrayed logos was through photos of the earth and how it has changed over the years due to global warming. The photos gave a visual example to the audience of how extreme the effects are.

Douglas MacArthur Essay

Carlos Pea Romulo erstwhile wrote that each of his careers might have been lived in a different country and a different age. Soldier, journalist, educator, author, and diplomat, he was a definitive world elaborate of the 20th century.Romulo grew up in the town of Camiling in the province of Tarlac in northern Philippines. He was innate(p) within the Spanish w in alled city of Intramuros, Manila, on January 14, 1898, at the twilight of one colonial regime and the sink in of another. His father, Gregorio, fought in the revolution for Philippine independence against Spain and, until surrender, America. The bitterness of the conflicts left an impression on the young sonmarking the beginnings of a rebel, as he called itand he made a promise n ever to grinning at an American soldier.His levelheaded father eventually welcomed American schoolteachers who came to Tarlac to teach English, however, becoming the first of the towns elders to learn the language. Likewise, the young Romulos ha tred abated not only because of his fathers compositionnequin but also because he became friendly with an American sergeant.His fathers dream of an independent and popular Philippines lived on. One of the last to take his oath of allegiance to America, the elder Romulo learned to accept the foreign advocates rulings exceptas the young Romulo recounts in his memoirsin the manner of the flag.The American law says we cannot display our flag in any public place, Gregorio Romulo told his family. Well, my bedroom is not a public place.In realness War II Romulo was aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur. As a journalist he wrote a series of articles, after a tour of the Far East, about Japanese imperialism, and predicted an attack on the United States. For this he won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for Distinguished Correspondence, and it was MacArthur himself who delivered to his friend the good news.His skill at utilize words made Romulo the logical choice to become the Voice of Freedom, which broadcasted news of the war effort to Filipinos and Americans alike. a lot contrary to Japanese propaganda, Romulos reports earned the ire of the enemy, who put a price on his head. hardly Romulo kept broadcasting until the Fall of Bataan, and abandoned his post only after MacArthurs strict orders to leave. He flew first to Australia, eventually ending up in the United States in exile, leaving behind his wife and four sons.In 1924 Romulo hook up with Virginia Llamas, a local beauty titlist. They met at a picnic and they married not long after being crowned King and Queen of a Manila carnival. She once commented that she was the type of wife who preferred to glow faintly in her husbands shadow, to which one acquaintance quipped, this didnt leave much room to glow ina jab at Romulos height.Standing only 54 in his shoes, Romulo often made fun of his height. His book I Walked With Heroes opens with the anecdote about being the newly elected chairman of the Unite d Nationsthe first Asiatic to ever hold the postand having to be perched atop three thick New York City telephone books in effect(p) to see and be seen by all the delegates below the podium. When MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines, with Romulo at his side, it was account that the American general was wading in waist-deep water. One correspondent, Walter Winchell, immediately wired back ask how Romulo could have waded in that depth without drowning.He also used his height to his advantage. The little fellow is loosely underrated in the beginning, he once wrote. Then he does something well, and people are surprised and impressed. In their minds his deed is magnified.A very early photo of RomuloTeam members of the University of the Philippines debate team, with Professor Carlos P. Romulo (center). From left Pedro Camus, Teodoro Evangelista, Deogracias Puyat, and Jacinto C. Borja. The photo was taken in San Francisco, California, April 18, 1928, and the c aption reads Four students of the University of the Philippines, under the leadership of Prof. Carlos P. Romulo of the College Faculty, recently arrived in the United States on a tour of the world to debate the question of Filipino independence. The round-the-world debate on the Philippine question is schoolman and has nothing to do with politics.This kind of understanding served him well as he began a career as a diplomat at the United Nations. Describing himself as the barefoot boy of politics, he had never out front attended an international conference and was new to diplomacy. To add to this challenge, he was representing a small nation that had not yet achieved independence. ( on that point already had been reports of Filipino delegates being ignored at international meetings.)Romulowhose lifelong dream was to religious service build a body such as the United Nationsresolved to make the Philippines the voice of all small nations. As a signatory of the charter forming the Uni ted Nations in 1945, he spoke the famed line, Let us make this floor the last battlefield at the first General Assembly. There was at first silence, but then he received a standing ovationthe only one given to any speaker at the conference.Romulo launched himself fully into the world of international diplomacy, standing his end against the big powers and committing himself to the causes of fledging nations. Dismissed by some, like Andrei Vishinsky, chief of the Soviet delegation, as a little man from a little country, Romulo was undeterred, fighting like David, slinging pebbles of truth between theeyes of blustering Goliaths. prexy of the UN General Assembly Carlos P. Romulo introduces US President get at S. Truman to Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky of the USSR, October 24, 1949, during the cornerstone place ceremony of the UN headquarters in New York City. President of the UN General Assembly Carlos P. Romulo introduces US President Harry S. Truman to Deputy Foreign Mi nister Andrei Vishinsky of the USSR, October 24, 1949, during the cornerstone laying ceremony of the UN headquarters in New York City. Dubbed by his colleagues Mr. United Nations, he was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949the first Asian to hold the positionand served as president of UN Security Council four times, in 1981, in 1980 and twice in 1957.Despite all the triumphs, Romulo hit low points in his life. His eldest son Carlos, Jr., died in a trim crash in 1957, and his beloved wife died in 1968, near the end of his terms as president of the University of the Philippines, his alma mater, and, concurrently, Secretary of Education.I had to be outstanding, he wrote, to make the greatest effort to win, to prove I was undetermined not in spite of having been born a Filipino but because I was a Filipino.

Surrogate Marketing (Advertising)

The makers of these scrapes were banned to advertise and they resorted to alternate advertize. It is a sort of advertizement where a cover product is promoted in order to promote the actual product that is banned. Surrogate market refers to intentionally utilizing a company, person or object to help convey the message of another party. The consideration has both positive and negative connotations.On the positive side, refilling marketing is mostwhat akin to basic or viral marketing in which a marketing organization may actively enrol others to help spread the message or can withal be likened to hiring a manufacturers representative to sell your product. However, it is the negative side that seems to have drawn the most attention. A surrogate advertising campaign can be used to indirectly promote products or services deemed by nigh groups as being unhealthy, unethical, and immoral or, possibly, illegal through activities that argon viewed as acceptable forms of promotion. For instance, in some parts of the world where regulation exists that may ban promoting alcoholic beverage and tobacco, firms promote these brands by tying the brand bring outs to more acceptable products. For instance, the same brand refer used for selling cigarettes may also be the same brand name on a juice product. In this way the guest is not only aware of the acceptably advertised brand but also understands the connection to the adjust product. Surrogate advertisements took off not long ago in the UK, where British housewives protested strongly against spirits advertisements luring remote their husbands.The liquor industry found a way around the ban Surrogate advertisements for cocktail mixers, fruit juices and papa water using the brand names of the popular liquors. In India, ministry of health has banned the advertising of liquor and tobacco. But many liquor brands (like McDowells whisky) initiated other products like sodas in the same name which are so advertised. An other instance of surrogate advertising is foursome Square Bravery Awards in the name of Four Square cigarettes.Surrogate marketing is used in two contexts the first is when a company farms come in the entire marketing function and the group providing the service is called a surrogate marketing department. I dont debate this is the context for which you are looking. The second is what is happening in India with respect to the ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising. Companies in banned industries are introducing brand extensions with products that are legal to advertise with the same brand name as the banned product. One liquor company introduced apple juice with the same brand name as the liquor.The idea is the companies can advertise freely the extension thus keeping their banned-from-the-media products in the minds of the customers. So the apple juice, for instance, is the surrogate for the liquor in the ads. The companies also dont care much about the sales of the surrogate products -for instance, it seems that the apple juice isnt even readily available to buy throughout the company. This loophole that the tobacco and liquor companies are exploiting is upsetting the legislature because every apple juice ad that reminds the consumers of the liquor is a slap in the lawmakers faces.But, they also dont quite know what to do about it In general, surrogate marketing is when you promote unrivaled product or service in the hopes of selling another. Why you would want to do that varies. The best movement is that you arent able to legally. But other reasons might be because the two products sell better together for instance, you may make a product and it requires service which you dont provide. You can market a service provider the surrogate who will only use your product.

Nx448 Business Game Report

Contents destiny 1 Introduction3 1. 1 Business Objective3 Part 2 Company mathematical work4 2. 1 Round 14 2. 1. 1 Discrepancy analysis4 2. 2 Round 26 2. 2. 1 Business scheme6 2. 2. 2 Round 2 prefigure7 2. 2. 3 Discrepancy Analysis7 2. 3 Round 38 2. 3. 1 Business Strategy8 2. 3. 2 Round 3 Forecast9 2. 3. 3 Discrepancy Analysis9 2. 4 Round 49 2. 4. 1 Business Strategy9 2. 4. 2 Round 4 Forecast10 2. 4. 3 Discrepancy Analysis10 2. 5 chance on exertion Indicators11 2. 6 Performance evaluation Comments12 Part 3 Learning14 3. 1 Financial Management14 3. 2 humanity Resource Management15 3. 3 Operation Management16 3. merchandise Management17 Part 4 group Performance18 4. 1 Team18 4. 1. 1 Management Team18 4. 1. 2 Decision-making Process19 4. 1. 3 Leadership19 4. 1. 4 Team Role19 4. 2 Individual20 4. 2. 1 My Contribution20 4. 2. 2 My learning a bust legal groupwork and decision making20 4. 2. 3 Suggestions for Improving My Performance21 Part 5 cultivation21 Part 6 reference wo rk22 Part 7 App quitices23 7. 1 Design and Options23 7. 2 Warranty live24 7. 3 Other Key Performance Indicators25 Part 1 Introduction This report will give a clear analysis and translation of the company performance during the stemma second.Learning about four main seam operative atomic number 18as (Finance, Marketing, Operation and Human Resource) will be discussed in part 3. Team performance and individual assessment will be critically evaluated in part 4. 1. 1 Business Objective Moon Star Motors aims to can customers with the expertness to own a car and lead the customers to experience quilt and timberland at an affordable impairment. We believe to create a distinctive place in the commercialize for our products and build up brand entertain of quality and reliability in the mind of customers.The initial business objectives tack up by guidance aggroup is * Increase gain r flushue annually * Maximise our advance * Sell out 98% of our cars for both(prenominal) declamatory * Obtain 16% re change state on expendment by the end of routine 4 City Car TIKI Large Car CRUISER list Forecast Production (Units) 85,000 35,000 120,000 gross revenue Income (? m) 850 833 1,683 grade Tax Profit (? m) - - 20 Bank match before Loan (? m) - - -74 Closing Bank Balance (? m) - - 26 Table 1. 0 Forecast for year 1 Part 2 Company Performance 2. 1 Round 1 2. 1. 1 Discrepancy analysisUnsold line of merchandise In ravish 1, we account to deal out both TIKI and CRUISER. However, lone(prenominal) 80% of TIKI is sold, with 17,393 units left. We concluded three main reasons as fol pitifuling * write out over demand. We ar over confident to stag big volumes with low price, but the foodstuff satisfyingly arenaed saturation. * Unattractive and inflexible options. In parliamentary procedure to maintain low material address, we only offer both options for customers to select. It might affect the popularity of our TIKI and find it less competitive c ompared with other car manufacturers. * Not enough promotion.We invested 23 million on food grocery promotion via television and internet, which is about ? 200for every single car. We didnt invest too much for this rhythm method of birth control beca persona we want to firstly evaluate the effect of advertisement. bread wampum We announce 20 million net do goods and actual figure is negative 116 million. This is in general due to the orotund amount of unsold sprout and ineffective pricing outline. The ingrained contribution is unable to recover our resolved live. In other words, the break-even point is set up too juicy and our gross revenue volume did non r separately BEP.Meanwhile, some command processing overhead times such as professional shows and warranty claims are non properly calculated. piggy boundary line The difference between estimate and go for gross mete of TIKI and CRUISER is 3. 21% and 7. 08% respectively. It is mainly caused by the un dribb leed unornamented manoeuver speak to. For example, the worker sham emergence our labor cost of both models and the option mob-up is more than our estimate. Market packet Our target securities industry share is 1. 5% for TIKI and 1. 2% for CRUISER. We sold out all our CRUIER and hit the large car sales target. However, market share for TIKI is some 0. % less than we expected due to our unsold stock. 2. 2 Round 2 2. 2. 1 Business Strategy New Pricing Strategy The management team decided to adapt average pricing strategy in orotund 2 for ii main reasons * We already access successfully to target market. * blue price steep volumes strategy did not provoke profit. Sales income must be increased in order to recover all overheads in this good turn and most of the loss in earlier labialise. g twist on this, TIKI gross boundary line increased 2% to 14. 24%, while CRUISER gross margin increased 4. 3% to 25. 25%. ProductionProduction for TIKI in this speech rhythm has to de crease due to 17,393 units in stock, and we try to sell them out in obese 2. Meanwhile, results of round 1 indicated that CRUISER won thepopularity in the market so we intend to increasethe merchandise by 10,000 units. base on the production adjustment and market predictions, the market share of CRUISER will increase from 1. 2% to 1. 5%, while TIKI maintains 1. 2% market share. Under this situation, our judge sales will reach ? 2058 million in round 2. Redundancy The harshest decision do by management team is to cut down 574 workers. thus far though we understand this give birth negative effects on industrial relations, it is far beyond our business objective to over produce the cars and livelihood unsold stock by the end of the year. Therefore, we fancy a 2. 4 million of redundancy cost in spite of appearance fit overheads. 2. 2. 2 Round 2 Forecast round 2 forecast TIKI CRUISER Total production/ units 51,000 45,000 96,000 merchandising price ? 11,800 27,800 gross m argin % 14. 24% 25. 25% sales income ? m 807 1,251 2,058 total overhead ? m 262 post tax profit ? 82 closing camber balance ? m 12 2. 2. 3 Discrepancy Analysis There are three main differences between round 2 forecast and results (1) production (2) Sales (3) pre-tax profits. Production Production (units) TIKI CRUISER total Target 51,000 45,000 96,000 Actual 49,668 44,467 94,135 exit 1,865 Our target production is 96,000 units but we actually produced 94,135 units, with 1,865 units missing. This is mainly because the redundancy decision initiated serious worker strike, which is save as 41 days in our company report. Thus, the actual production did not hit our target.Sales Sales (? m) Total forecast 2,058 2,058 actual 2,017 difference 41 41 The discrepancy between forecast sales and actual sales is 40 million. We reserve 387 units CRUISER in stock which could increase our sales by 11 million if we plunder sell them out. And we will get 29 million more if we are abl e to hit the target production of 96,000 unites and sell them up. Pre-tax profit The actual pre-tax profit is less than the forecast due to wrong calculation on current account touch and loans interest. We nurse closing bank balance of minus 270 million last round.According to overdraft facility, we forecast to conduct 11% of 270 million as overdraft interest which is around 30 million, but it actually is 15% of that amount and cost us 40 million. Besides, an extra 8 million is deducted as the interest of 100 million bank loans of round 1 and is neglected when we did fiscal forecast. 2. 3 Round 3 2. 3. 1 Business Strategy Personnel Decisions Management team decided to maintain the size of workforce and to increase net incomes by 8% and training enthronization by 25% in order to improve worker satisfaction and commitment, especially after we beat a bun in the oven a great loss caused by 41 days strike.We hope to efficaciously control the strike in this round and expect the i mprovement of productivity. Automation Investment Management team do a decision of doubling the automation investment due to two main reasons. Firstly, it is recognized that automation idler effectively increase the productivity and decrease the naughty remuneration bill. Secondly, the profit we made in previous round increases our confidence and financial capacity to introduce new equipment. 2. 3. 2 Round 3 Forecast round 3 forecast TIKI CRUISER Total production/ units 65,500 40,500 106,000 selling price ? 12,270 28,600 gross margin % 15. 25% 28. 98% sales income ? m 804 1,169 1,973 total overhead ? m 281 post tax profit ? m 118 closing bank balance ? m 158 2. 3. 3 Discrepancy Analysis Gross profit Gross Profit forecast actual difference Sales (? m) 1,973 1,973 0 cost of sales (? m) 1,512 1,577 65 gross profit (? m) 461 396 65 The actual gross profit is 65 million less than our forecast, even though our sales reach the target. This is mainly caused by exceeded materials costs.It is indicated on company report that design and options cost for CRUISER is ? 7572 per unit, but we only count it as ? 6186 when we forecast. In this situation, we are charged ? 1386 more for producing every CRUISER. It formulates that the options we offer to customers are of great popularity and we should plump out option take-up percentage when doing the material cost forecast for next round. 2. 4 Round 4 2. 4. 1 Business Strategy Sales target supporting(a) by the good financial performance of last round, management team decided to increase the sales by 32% in round 4 in order to further satisfy our shareholders.However, we do not plan to increase the gross margin for both models because we guarantee customers of good prise for money. Thus, we expect the high volumes sales bring us profit. Design and options To make our cars competitive, we add more options to both models for customers to convey based on the popularity indicators (see appendix). Since the ve ry beginning, both 3/5 door hatch with small rail sort locomotive (city car) and MPV with diesel engine (large car) are most popular designs for our target age group. So, the adjustment is focused on the alternative options. Promotion ExpenditurePromotion expenditure will increase by 34% to ? 40 million. This decision is made by management team with attempt to make our products sold infract. Market predictions indicated that city car market and large car market will shrink by 12% and 9% respectively. That is to say, risk of care stock is high if we increase our production in round 4. Thus, we hope the promotion and advertisement could assistant reduce that risk. 2. 4. 2 Round 4 Forecast round 4 forecast TIKI CRUISER Total production/ units 70,000 44,550 114,550 selling price ? 13,900 26,800 gross margin % 15. 34% 30. 73% sales income ? m 973 1,639 2,612 total overhead ? m 308 post tax profit ? m 235 closing bank balance ? m 412 2. 4. 3 Discrepancy Analysis Unsold Stock We expect to touch zero closing stock but actually fork up 12,853 units unsold which worth ? 246 million. As a result, we are unable to reach target sales, post-tax profit and target market share. Market Share TIKI CRUISER round 3 result 1. 20% 1. 51% round 4 target 1. 46% 1. 80%After evaluation, we conclude two possible reasons which contribute to this result * We over estimate our capacity and are hurry to expand the market share. As shown on the table, we increase 0. 26% for TIKI and 0. 34% for CRUISER. It seems better if we execute market expansion tone by step. * The competitors price might rush negative impact on our sales. In final round, in order to offer more alternative choices and high quality experience to customers, we added more popular and high cost options for both TIKI and CRUISER, which increase our direct cost per car and make it hard to decrease the selling price. . 5 Key Performance Indicators Performance indicators round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 Sales 1509 2017 1973 2274 Sales growth (decline) % - 34% -22% 15% Cost of sales 1333 1599 1577 1700 Cost of sales ratio % 88% 79% 80% 75% Profitability Gross profit margin % 12% 21% 20% 25% Operating profit % -7% 6% 6% 12% plunder profit % -8% 3% 5% 9% gift on assets % -24% 12% 14% 26% proceeds on investment % -23% 21% 18% 36% Liquidity Current ratio 0. 64 1. 26 3. 52 3. 24 Quick ratio 0. 13 1. 1 3. 52 1. 45 2. Performance Evaluation Comments In general, sales increased from ? 1509 million in round 1 to ? 2274 million in round 4 an increase of 51%. Over this period, we did not launch any new model and enlarge the sales volumes too much. The main reason for sales increase is the growth of our selling price. Direct cost of sales decreased yearly from 88% in round 1 to 75% in round 4. Even though inflation raises material costs and we offer a pay rise to our workers, we are still able to handle the cost/sales ratio in force(p)ly by adapting smart and efficient pricing strategy .Profitability Gross Margin % The gross margin has doubled from 12% (round 1) to 25% (round 4). In real money terms, our gross profit increased from ? 176 million to ? 574 million. This trend indicated that return on sales im turn out. Although direct cost of sales increased year by year, we adjust our pricing strategy in order to make our business more remunerative. Operating Profit % Operating profit margin improved from minus 7% (round 1) to 12% (round 4) indicatingmore efficient carrying into action management. To be specific, stock upkeep cost and redundancy cost are well managed.The R&D investment and warranty costs are effectively controlled. Even though the investment on promotion and training increase yearly, this cost is balanced by the decrease depreciation cost due to the book nurture of our repair assets reduced yearly. Net Profit % Net profit margin shows an increasing trend from minus 8% (round 1) to 9% (round 4). Our company remains profitable since round 2. This indicated that our business is successful in consistency of earning. Return on Assets % The return on assets grows dramatically from minus 24% (round 1) to 26% (round 4).This indicates that management is more and more efficient in using business assets to generate profit. Return on Investment % The return on capital employed shows a standardised trend, except a slight decline of 3% in round 3. The ROI is 36% by the end of round 4, which has actually achieved our business objective. Liquidity From round 1 to round 3, the current ratio increase from 0. 64 to 3. 52 times, and the quick ratio increase from 0. 13 to 3. 52 times. The increasing ratio indicates that we take over more cash flow to pay our creditors (quick settlement) and meet our short-term obligations.In round 4, the current ratio descent slights to 3. 24 times and the quick ratio drop greatly to 1. 45 times. This trend looks good because high ratio does not mean a healthy cash position of the business. It indicates th at we do not use our capitals properly and efficiently. In conclusion, according to our current liquidity situation, our company is suggested to reduce the stock levels and to invest wasted cash in longer term investments. Market Share From round 1 to round 4, market share of TIKI increased from 1. 21% to 1. 35%, despite a slight decline in round 2.Market share of CRUISER increased sharply in round 2 compared with round 1, then showed a tiny increase trend year by year. It indicated that we are successful in persistently and steady supplying products to the market. Overall, our companys performance has been improved in several ways, (e. g. sales, profit, creditors, market share, etc. ) In addition, it would have been more helpful for the further financial performance evaluation if the industrial average figures and central competitors information had been made available (Behn 2003). Part 3 Learning 3. 1 Financial ManagementIn the field of financial management, cost-volume-profit a nalysis is a powerful tool that helps managers identifies the relationships among cost, volume and profit (Banfield, Newcastle Business et al. 2008). It focuses on how profits can be affected by the following variables selling price, sales volume, unit variable costs, total fixed costs, etc. (Banfield, Newcastle Business et al. 2008). Break even analysis and margin of safety is the important part of cost-volume-cost analysis. The order is shown as following Formula BEP = Total Fixed Cost = (in Units) Contribution per unitMargin of Safety = Forecast bespeak BEP Forecast Demand In round 1, we forecast our total fixed cost and depreciation charge is 241 million, and the contribution per unit is 2316. By using formula, the forecast BEP is 104,000 units. So we decided to produce 120,000 units after evaluating market demand. Our forecast margin of safety is therefore around 13. 3%. However, we underestimated the total fixed cost and overestimated our sales volumes. Thus, we suffered a loss of 116 million in the first round. In round 2, we re-evaluate the cost, volume and profit, and then set up 32. % of margin of safety. Financial performance is improved in this round so we adapted the comparable approach for round 3 and 4, in which our margin of safety is about 39. 1% and 52. 8% respectively. It has been proved that high margin of safety makes profit less vulnerable to demand drops (Jacobs 2002). Even though we have 12,853 units unsold stock, we still make a profit of 198 million in round 4. From the business game, we have practiced how to price products and how much volume of products we must sell in order to make a profit. 3. 2 Human Resource ManagementWhen we practice the Human Resource function in business game, we regurgitate emphasis on rewards, in particular worker wage. High wage will not ever so improve the work performance from long-term perspective, but annual pay increase works (Banfield and Kay 2008). Based on this learning, we decide to pay our worker ? 355 weekly in round 1 and to increase that wage annually. However, we suffered a loss due to bad company performance in round 1, so wage did not increase even though inflation rate is around 3%. In round 2, company performance is improved and we make profit. Thus, wage increase by 9% ahead of 4% inflation rate in round 3.In round 4, wage increase by 5% to ? 404. Overall, from round 1 to round 4, wage increase by 14%, but the strike days only reduced 1 day (8 days in round 1 and 7 days in round 4). It is indicated that a reward cannot help to improve work performance if the pay increase does not meet the employee expectation (Corby 2009). According to data on competition, EMPIRE, our key competitors, pays their worker ? 500 weekly in round 4 and the strike day is controlled as 2 days. From the business stimulation, we realized the importance of financial rewards and the link between rewards and productivity.On the other hand, short(p) management of employee relations oftti mes end up with strikes (Blyton and Turnbull 1998). With this learning, we could have found another solution to allocate our workers instead of redundancy. There are some limitations of business game in terms of HR management. High wage and training investment seems to be the only way to motivate productivity. And some other important HR functions such as recruitment and selection, promotion and employee plight are not covered in the game. Learning experience will improve if those issues are made available in the game. 3. 3 Operation ManagementQuality management refers to the management activities involved in determination of quality policy and its implementation through means such as quality planning and quality impudence (Gitlow 2005). High quality puts costs down and revenue up (Banfield, Newcastle Business et al. 2008). Based on this learning, in order to control product quality, we focus on the R&D (Research and Development) and skills training when we practice the operation function during business game. From round 1, we keep investing on projects of fuel efficient engine and low emissions in order to detect and control the quality of engines.Both of them are successful after 3 geezerhood of research and development. This help to reduce our warranty cost efficiently (see appendix). Due to safety factor, we started to invest on the project of advanced safety systems. We expect the continuous R&D investment bring us long term financial benefit. Meanwhile, we continuously invest on skills training based on the familiarity that investment in skills training can significantly improve product quality (Gitlow 2005). From the business game, I got better understanding about quality management and how quality influences customers buying decision.We also learn how to decide the quality characteristics, set quality standard and measure the quality of our products. One of the limitations in stimulation process is that it is unavailable to evaluate and select the suppliers by ourselves. If this is made available, I believe that the operation cost would be controlled autonomously and learning experience of students about supply chain would be improved. 3. 4 Marketing Management Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value (Kotler and Keller 2011).In carrying out the merchandising functions, the company needs to have a selling program or strategy. This is cognise as the marketing mix (Marc 1997). The conventional view of the marketing mix consisted of four components Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It is indicated that 4Ps crap the cornerstone of any sound business (Marc 1997). Based on this learning, we tried to use the right marketing mix to reach our target market during the business game. Product In round 1, 3/5 door hatch and small engine are chosen for city car (24-40 market), while MPV an d diesel engine are chosen for large car (41-55 market).Options are selected due to the factors such as safety, comfort and style. From round 2, we detect the popularity index and aim to offer the most appropriate products to our customers (see appendix). Price We use market penetration in round 1. In the next three round, we adapt average pricing strategy. The frugal trend and income status of our target customers are also taken into account as well. Promotion We keep increasing our promotion investment from 23 million to 40 million via various media. In round 1, we invest ? 200 for every car and it increase to ? 450 in round 4. by dint of business game, I got better understanding about marketing mix. However, innovation and new product strategy, as another important marketing strategy, is failed to be used in our game. We could have learned more about finding customer value opportunities and creating an innovation culture in our team if we had launched new model. Part 4 Team Perf ormance 4. 1 Team 4. 1. 1 Management Team We distributed our team into four groups in order to cover the four main functional areas of business organization Finance, Marketing, Operation and Human Resource. Based on personal interests and experience, I take the charge of Finance.Dorothy and Kira take the responsibility of managing marketing. Operation is taken charged by Michael and Jayson. Adetoro is responsible for HR. It does not mean that we make decisions and take responsibility separately. Actually, those functional areas are linked with and supported by each other. And everybody of the team is required to know exactly the whole process of our business. In reality, the main purpose of functional areas is to ensure that all important business activities are carried out efficiently. This is essential for a company to achieve its business objectives (Marcouse 2010). . 1. 2 Decision-making Process The overall decision-making was a collective process. During the business game, we d iscussed and evaluated all feasible solutions and make sure every decision is made to help settle the current problems and lead to business objectives. The controversy, however, is sometimes unavoidable. For instance, Dorothy, marketing manager, proposed to launch new model in round 3 due to market attractiveness. I cannot agree with that because we are still experiencing financial difficulty. Our net cash position is minus ? 371 million with poor ability to pay our creditors.Adetoro is standing by my side, thinking from a long-term perspective. He suggested our team not to launch new model until we gain a reasonable market share. The further discussion and conference led to unanimous approval of the final decision. The similar situation happened when we discussed whether or not to adept price skimming strategy for our products. The dispute finally is settled properly. 4. 1. 3 Leadership I was nominated as the leader in business game due to my ability to manage market information a nd provide direction to my team members at the very beginning.Under my leadership, our company is driven to achieve business objectives (execution). I make clear that all my team members are enjoying the game and have learned how to run a business in a real world. 4. 1. 4 Team Role Through my observation, I have set the strengths/weaknesses and work preference of my team members * Jayson and Michael prefer to analyze the current situation and raise the issues that we have to confront (analysis). Michael is a good team worker who communicates and cooperates effectively with others.Jayson, as a monitor evaluator, has a high critical thinking ability but lacking of expression. * Dorothy and Kira are intuitive about the market information, and they often give the creative ideas (plan). Both of them play as plant. Dorothy prefers change and innovation. She can work more effectively when cooperate with the slew who are identified as implementer in Belbin team role framework. * Adetoro used to reflect all our decisions we have made for every round and make everything reasonable and explainable (reflection). He is warm and logic thinker. 4. 2 Individual . 2. 1 My Contribution I have little knowledge about car industry when I take this project, but I quickly realize that I have special interest on costing and budgeting due to my previous work experience. So, I went through the drug user menu and market research then finish the finance forecast sheet before be the group meeting. In round 1, I am responsible for both Finance and Marketing. During the group meeting, I proposed my ideas about cost/price, most of which are accepted by my team members and I therefore am nominated as manager of Finance. We suffered a loss in round 1.After analysing the discrepancy between forecast and results, I suggest to adapt new pricing strategy and set a higher gross margin. The strategy is adapted by management team and makes profit for our company by the end of round 2. I am nomi nated as team leader due to my hard-working, efficiency and reliability. And I actively build up team relation and motivate our team members. I play the role of implementer successfully. I monitor every process of the game and every detail of our decisions, and put emphasis on improving efficiency of every group meeting, and record the minutes. 4. 2. My learning about effective teamwork and decision making Through business game, along with the knowledge I learn from Developing Self module and the experience of residential weekend, I have better understanding about * An effective teamwork involves in a group of people with common objectives and being able to build up trust and cooperate relationship with each other. * An effective teamwork involves in a group of people who have complementary strengths/weaknesses with each other. * An effective team should have a leader who is able to provide direction, open mind to different opinions, ake right decision and take risks. * An effectiv e decision should create the competitive advantage for organization and bring short term profit along with long term development. * An effective decision builds up the core competency of organization and turn competitive advantage into sustainable competitive advantage. 4. 2. 3 Suggestions for Improving My Performance * If the game could be compete again, I would like to think twice before adapting market penetration strategy in round 1 and try to avoid that loss as much as possible. I would like to pay more attention on developing my leadership capability and making better use of the abilities of my team members in order to build up a powerful and effective team. Part 5 Conclusion Overall, our company is successful in the achievement of business objectives. By the end of round 4, our sales have increased by 50%, and our profit is showing a trend of growth. Even though the unsold stock percentage is larger than what we expect, we are still able to control the inventory and keep pro fitable. Return on investment in round 4 is 36% which is much more than our target.Part 6 Reference Banfield, P. and R. Kay (2008). Introduction to human resource management. New York, Oxford University Press. Banfield, P. , S. Newcastle Business, et al. (2008). Managing for competitive advantage, McGraw-Hill custom publishing. Behn, R. D. (2003). Why Measure Performance? several(predicate) Purposes Require Different Measures. Public Administration Review 63(5) 586-606. Blyton, P. and P. Turnbull (1998). The dynamics of employee relations. Basingstoke, Macmillan. Corby, S. (2009). Rethinking reward. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Gitlow, H. S. (2005). Quality management. New YorkLondon, McGraw-Hill. Jacobs, T. (2002). The margin of safety. reputation BIOTECHNOLOGY 20(12) 1191-1191. Kotler, P. and K. L. Keller (2011). Marketing management. Harlow, Pearson Education. Marc, L. (1997). Marketing mix customization and customizability. Business Horizons 40(6) 39. Marcouse, I. (2010 ). BTEC First Business. 1. 4 The main functional areas within business organisations Ed. Retrieved 06/01, 2012, from http//www. teachmebusiness. co. uk/page29/page16/page18/assets/Functionalareas. pdf. Part 7 Appendices 7. 1 Design and Options TIKI (City Car) round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 /5 Door Hatch Y Y Y Y Small Engine (4 Cylinder) Y Y Y Y Multi Location Airbags Y Alloy Wheels Y Y Y Parking Sensors Y Y Y Air Conditioning Y Y Y Y Superior give way System/iPod Y Y Y Security mail boat Y Safety Package Y Y Y CRUISER (Large Car) round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 SUV Y Y Y Y diesel motor Engine Y Y Y Y Multi Location Airbags Y Y Alloy Wheels Y Y Security Tracker Y Cruise Control Y Y Automatic Transmission Y Y Parking Sensors Y Y Y Y Electronic Stability Control Y Y Panoramic Sunroof Y Y Heated Elec Wing Mirrors Y Electric adaptable Seats Y Air Conditioning Y Y Y Y Superior Sound System/iPod Y Y Y Y Bluetooth Phone Preparation Y TV/videodisc Play er Y Y Metallic Paint Y Y Security Package Y Y Safety Package Y Y Y Y Luxury Package Y 7. 2 Warranty Cost Warranty Cost round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 TIKI per car ? 173 170 140 155 CRUISER per car ? four hundred 353 295 348 Total Warranty Claims ? m 26 27 21 23 7. 3 Other Key Performance Indicators